Good Creature/Bad Genes

I feel like I am racing against a clock. It's exhausting and a bit exhilarating, but it's working.

Terrain Vague before the fence build

Now I don't mean the literal one or even the proverbial one we often talk about, but the one that ticks when you have big aspirations and a timeline that suddenly bends and tangles without notice, with just one phone call.

Unfortunate necessity is a fence, but I am also a private person who needs a secret place to garden.

I left a gap at the bottom so the animals that explore this space can still come in. I am trying to be a good creature to other great creatures.

This week's phone call was one that Hallmark movies can make a lot more dramatic. I was kind of expecting it anyway, so it wasn't like I was shocked. I wasn't surprised because I come from a long line of maternal genes that tend to misbehave once the body reaches the 40th decade. I am three years older than my mother was when she received her news, five years older than the age my grandmother died from it. I have always been a late bloomer.

Not 100% pleased I had to use treated wood, but I guess this fence will be around for awhile.

So, it seems I have breast cancer. I get a pink ribbon. The better news is that because I knew I have this family history and because I live in a time when computers can see better than a human, and I am blessed with good insurance (unlike others), I was meticulous about getting my mammograms. It's very early in my naughty cells' ardent revolt. Well, ironically, I was a bit late this year by about half a year and I was reminded by my primary physician I was overdue. Also, ironically, I joked with my sister that this would be my year because I was late (secretly, between you and me, I was going to skip it this year because I was thinking I had dodged the bad gene bullet...I think there is a lesson in here to pass on). 

A cat likes to visit the lot

So, I am racing against a schedule that will include surgery in the next few weeks. I have such big plans for Terrain Vague this spring and I hope I am not going to be down too long. But, because I am in the dark on the recovery time at the moment, I am working double time to get some logistical items completed. Particularly items like fence building that uses a bit of muscle and grit. Today, I managed to build part of the fence (I would have finished it, but I could only fit 15 pickets in my clown car). Next week, I plan to transport the other 15 pickets I need and build a gate. I also have a few fruit trees already here with more to come (nectarine, figs and a plum) to get in the ground and raised bed boxes to build. I have compost and soil being delivered soon. I have plans to build a greenhouse from old windows I have scavenged. I need to do all of this pre-surgery.

I am also speed reading because, this week, all of my long waitlisted books came in at once at the wonderful public library in my city. I love the library. I support the library. I am a Friend of the Library. Currently, my three favorites out of the giant stack of books are:

• Veggie Garden Remix by Niki Jabbour
• How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery (p.s. read her book The Soul of the Octopus)
• The Nature Fix by Florence Williams*

So, Terrain Vague should be dramatically altered in just a few weeks, not Hallmark movie dramatic or anything, but enough that I can escape and breathe when the fear of anesthesia and anger with my bad genes overcomes me. A place where I can plant some seeds, water them with tears and hope something grows.

*Unbeknownst to me, again ironically, I saw Florence Williams also wrote a book called Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History which is absolutely going on my next hold list.