Spring has sprung and I'm feeling a bit better.

Well I've been a bit crook for the past month. I've struggled with a condition called Still's Disease since I was a kid. I always have a bit of arthritis because of the joint damage resulting from this but sometimes, not often, I will have a major flare. This one is only the fourth one in my life but when they hit they are big. The last one was 4 years ago and I ended up in hospital delirious with fevers and red skin from head to toe. It was a frustrating time as I'd known I was getting very ill when my arthritis got very bad so that I could hardly walk and I saw the first sign the feint non-scary looking Still's rash. The problem was I couldn't get my doctor or my husband to take it seriously. The doctor came to visit me at home because I couldn't make it down the road to his surgery and he assured me it was just a virus and to wait and see. I was fuming as I told him it was the Still's rash but he didn't listen. My dear husband also seems to shut down and deny the severity of these times by ignoring it as much as he can. But I have learned not to hold it against him, this time, *much*. I guess he is not much good at coping with crisis. And crisis is how Still's presents.

Anyway, this time I let it not go as far. After 3 weeks of severe arthritis I called my parents for help once I could no longer get around the house, it was a while after the rash made an appearance but BEFORE the fevers took hold. They have seen me struggle with this enough to become urgent and they came over that day and took me to hospital. I did not end up staying in hospital because I cannot stand to but I did see a fantastic doctor who has begun a treatment plan with me and I am feeling a lot better.

After 3 weeks of practically being bed-ridden and housebound it is hard not to over-do it as soon as I can walk a bit! Today is the first day of Spring!! It is a beautiful sunshiney day and my garden has been neglected for long enough. I am not quite well enough to do what I want to do which is plant things in the ground but at least I can attend to this and that and give them a little feed and water. I did manage to plant my poor camellias which have been languishing in the their tiny tubes for far too long. And I can walk around the yard and LOOK. There are tiny flowers popping up here and there and our new tree is blossoming magnificently. It is a Cercis Chinensis 'Avondale' aka as a Chinese Redbud. I have never seen one in real life before, I found it online on an ornamental tree site as a recommended small tree that is not well known in Australia. I was nervous about transplanting it because it says they are fussy but it looks happy enough now.








































I have bought a couple of new plants in the last few of days since I felt better. I can only walk a very little so far so I thought the nursery a good place to visit for fun and a little exercise now that there is some new Spring stock in. I got some more nemesia because the other blue ones I bought are doing so beautifully. I got a pink one as well. And I finally got a spoon osteospermum (daisy) that I have been eying off for a while.