LOOK MOM, NO . . . .

Look Mom, no cane! It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, but I've been walking without the cane for about a week now. Every night, Scott and I make a lap around the neighborhood (and in this heat, that's no easy feat). I still have a bit of a limp, which will hopefully go away as the knee heals. But, still, the biggest thrill of all is having a straight leg.

Hope everyone had a peaceful Memorial Day!

And we're walking . . . .

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers reading this blog today. The photo of the amaryllis is one of several red ones blooming in our front flower bed right now.

As a special tribute to my mother, I'm attaching a little video fresh off the camera. As most of you know, I had a complicated total knee replacement on March 24. Complications were the result of a fractured tibia 8 1/2 years ago, the removal of some of the screws from that 2001 surgery and the removal of part of the plate that came in contact with the new knee. The second photo was taken two weeks ago at my first post-surgery doctor's appointment. Rehab is slow and until this past Friday, I still walked the way I did the past 8 1/2 years with my right knee coming close to my left knee and my right leg hitting the ground at about a 10 degree angle. I had a revelation this past Friday night, however, when I realized that my new knee could "pop" out to the right and my leg could hit the ground much straighter. Now, I'm working on getting more comfortable with this new straight walk. I had in-home therapy for four weeks, then daily out-patient 2-hour therapy sessions for the past two weeks, and tomorrow I begin four weeks of 2-hour therapy sessions three times a week. Hopefully, in another couple weeks, I relinquish my death grip on the cane. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts, prayers, get well cards and gifts. Hope to see you all soon without the cane!

"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow"

For all you friends and family snowed in on the East Coast, in the Pittsburgh area or in South Bend, these photos won't mean much to you. But for us Texans whose counties don't have snow plows or salt trucks, it's been a unique day and tomorrow's commute to work should be pretty exciting too. Most of us don't even own a snow shovel or carry an ice scraper in our cars -- but luckily I drive a Subaru and Scott has a 4-wheel drive Honda Ridgeline. It's 9:30 p.m. and the snow is still coming down. At 5 p.m., it measured 7 inches; and at 10:00 p.m., we had 9 1/4 inches, and it's still coming down. Must go find my gloves, hat and boots!

"On a Bicycle Built for Two"

Our neighbors, Mitzi and Richard Cook, were testing out their son's old bicycle built for two. I even got a test drive around the cul de sac. Here's a little video of Mitzi and Richard on the bicycle.