In a week, Mark will have been away from home for one month... I'm not sure there's been any improvement.  Of course, he wants to come home.  He says they're only doing P.T. half an hour a day and it doesn't seem like that is going to get him stronger very fast... "We could get a stationary bike and I could exercise a lot more!" he says.  Yes, but how would he get ON the bike?  How would he get OFF?  He's wearing adult diapers right now because he can't get to, on or off the toilet by himself - I'm sure it takes two people to get him up and cleaned up when... well, there's an "accident"... I hate to even call it that, because if he has to "go" and he uses the "call for a nurse" button, it takes them awhile to get there, and nature takes it's course.  I don't know what's wrong that he can't hold it - his digestive track has been fucked up since they removed his gall bladder, and it seems to have gotten worse over time.  So he goes from serious constipation (not being able to go for up to 2 weeks!) to complete blowout diarrhea.  It's not wonder he's come to point of not being very interested in eating!

Which brings us to what I feel is the real problem with his weakness.  He's lost SO much weight, and looks like a walking skeleton.  His thighs about the size that his muscular arms used to be, and his arms have no muscle on them anymore, so it almost looks like the skin is resting against his bones.  It's just so terribly sad to see him so feeble...

I had an appointment at 3:00 to go see him today, but he learned that he had a follow up appointment with the gastric doc who fixed his hernia at the same time, and I couldn't move it because 3:30 is the last appointment time.  **Sigh**  It's been a week since I saw him, but at least they're going to let me in to see him Wed., Thurs. & Fri...  For a whopping half hour each time.  

Ok, I've got the sad part of my life out of my system for the moment so I'll move on to plant things, the distraction I am so very grateful for!  That and my daily communications with Marco (who reads this - thank you, Marco!) These are the things that keep me sane! My friendship with Marco is based on our mutual interest in Hoyas and the fact that we're the same age.  What's nice is that I can tell him anything... I have a very close relationship with my Mom and we can talk about anything, too, but when it comes to what's going on with Mark, if I say too much she gets very worried about the stress affecting my health.  I don't want her to worry about me, so I try to spare her some of the details of my worry, my sense of guilt, my fears of how I will go forward financially if this turns out to be permanent... Marco is a good sounding board so that I don't keep those things bottled up, and he doesn't judge me.  He's an awesome friend!

Plants - well, everything is growing and/or blooming magnificently!  I've always believed that plants are a reflection of our mood, and "mood" isn't even the right word.  More like a reflection of our happiness or lack of happiness, and our worry, stress, all of that can affect how they grow. (I'll throw in a reference to the book The Secret Life of Plants as a footnote to this belief...)  So I was a little concerned as we came into the growing season that my plants might not do so well this year with all the worry and concern I've had over Mark.  And it's possible that they may have done better if all of this wasn't going on, but I can't imagine much better!  Maybe it's just a sign that I have learned to keep my inner being on an even-keel in spite of what's going on in my reality.  

I was cleaning another section of the walls of my GH this morning and had to pull a shelf out.  I found my H. pachyclada blooming and got a good pic of it, though a better pic of the foliage than the flowers as they're not all open...

It seems to be very happy this year!  Just below it is the H. sp. aff. vitellina that has made me quite a bit of money this year and it was well worth taking all thos cuttings last year as it is filling back out beautifully!

 

The new leaves are just gorgeous!  As of right now, I've made a little under $350 on this one and I still have a few left to sell...

I put H. macrophylla albomarginata out in the tree this year and it's going a little crazy!  Lots of new growth, nice variegation.  I took several cuttings from areas that didn't seem so variegated - as they age, the variegation on some leaves fades to a light green, so instead of the cream margins, the margins appear a little lighter green than the inner part of the leaf.  So you have to look close to see the variegations. You can see one of those leaves toward the bottom.  I wish I understood the science of this...

And my H. fusco marginata - that thing can be so temperamental!  It starts to grow a leaf and next thing you know, it dropped!  About one in 8 or 10 actually makes it to maturity.  They're incredibly beautiful with their black rim, but oh-so frustrating and it ends up looking long and leggy, lot's of vines and few leaves.  I put it out back on the shelves I set up next to the north side of the house and wow, did it fill in!  Check it out...

 

I took a photo of one side, turned it and took a photo of the other side.  Impressive, right?!

Also out on that shelf I put H. multiflora.  This has never been one of my favorite Hoyas.  It's less like a succulent than most, more like a tropical.  But it's a reliable bloomer and is often blooming in the middle of winter when nothing else is, so I hold onto it.  It was looking a little tired this spring, so out onto that shelf it went.  Well, I brought it in a couple days ago and look at how big it's gotten!

It was a challenge getting the whole thing in one shot! Bonus:  it's budding up...

Back in the spring, Claude from the cactus club gave me a start off his crest Crown of Thorns.  I had one a few years back but lost it.  Crests can be very unstable.  Well, I almost expected it to collapse before summer's end, because it was so very delicate and barely rooted.  But here it is, hanging on and even growing a bit, with a "head" of new leaves!

 

(Got a little clover growing in there, too!)  Everything has those stupid "droppings" from the cedar tree, ever since that wind storm that took out the power for 2 days.  They're even inside my GH!  It blew out that screen again and blew a bunch of debris in off the tree!

Well, that's enough for today.  I need to go do some watering.  Tally-ho!