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Sorry – no Green Thumb Today

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I’ll bet that all my Green Thumb Sunday members have been wondering why there was no GTS post last week or so far today? Well, I’ve had a bad week or rather both my husband and I had a bad week.

Chris ended up being admitted to the hospital last Friday because he had chest pains while at work (in same hospital he was admitted to – how convenient!).

If you read the post I linked to on my other blog you can learn more about his heart trouble. Basically they think he might have a rare heart arrhythmia that can cause sudden death, but haven’t been able to prove it just yet. We’ve been living with this since 2004. The doctor that admitted him to the hospital last Friday also noticed that on previous trips to the ER and or admissions his Cholesterol had always been quite high – both the good and bad cholesterol as well as having very low triglycerides, so he thought that it might be good to do an angiogram on Chris to take a look at his heart and make sure that he didn’t have any blocked coronary arteries.

As it turned out, we had to wait until Monday for the angiogram and the test was clear. His heart looks good from the inside. So he was discharged Monday evening with a prescription for Cholesterol lowering meds (Crestor) and instructed to set up some out-patient tests like a 48 hour Holter monitor and a stress test.

He’s been home all week recovering from the angiogram, but he’s feeling fine. He’s going to go back to work on Tuesday. He really only felt bad on Friday afternoon – so he wasn’t the best patient in the Acute coronary ward at the hospital because they had to keep telling him to stop wandering around the hospital. LOL he just didn’t want to be there since he felt ok.

Luckily the hospital is only a few blocks from home – a 10 to 15 minute walk. So I was able to just walk back and forth to visit. However, since I’m not all that healthy myself (Crohns, vitamin d deficiency and bad back pain over the last year) it took a toll on me and I’ve kind of been recovering over the last few days too. Believe me, it sucks to be sick, especially when your spouse ends up also being sick and admitted to the hospital!

As I said in my last GTS post my Amaryllis was in bloom so I took a whole series of pictures from buds to full bloom. I just haven’t had a chance to prepare the pics. They are still on the camera and I’m sure they need some cropping … so that will be next weeks Green Thumb Sunday post – hopefully!






Worried about pesticides in your food?

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Are you worried about the pesticides that might be contaminating the fruits and vegetables that you eat? If you are, you’re in luck.

The Environmental Working Group has come out with a list of 45 fruits and vegetables ranked according to the level of pesticide contamination. The results were based on U.S. Food and Drug administration testing.

The most contaminated fruit and vegetables include strawberries, apples and celery. The top of the list of most contaminated food items is Peaches with a pesticide load of 100.

The cleanest fruit and vegetables include mangoes, pineapples, onions, and avocados. The least contaminated of the list has a pesticide load of 1.

I never realized that peaches had such a high contamination load. I always thought apples were the worst of the bunch.

What the report lacks is actual amounts of pesticides. The items rated on the list are organized on a scale that shows which produce has more pesticides, but without knowing the exact amount of contamination it’s hard to say if the pesticide contamination in peaches is harmful or if the low amount found in pineapple really is a safe level.

If you are worried about pesticide contaminants the best thing to do is limit your exposure.

Not everyone can grow all of their own food supply, nor necessarily do it organically, but you can limit your exposure to pesticide contaminated fruit and vegetables by trying to make some of your purchase organic produce. Know what’s on the list and try to make sure that when you want to buy some of the items that are listed as being most pesticide contaminated, like peaches and apples, that you make those purchases organic.

If you do happen to have a garden try to grow organically. My garden is organic and I find it quite easy to maintain and as you can see from all the photos on this site my plants are very healthy.

Cleomes and phlox in the garden

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Cleomes are strange looking flowers. They grow on long stocks and bloom as they grow. They have long spidery things that stick out all around the blooms giving them their strange look.

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I plant these flowers along the back edge of my garden. They grow to approximately 4 feet tall so they help screen me from my neighbors once they’ve grown enough. I always try to grow some white ones as well as pink and purple.

Another flower that I grow is Phlox David. I have four clumps of it in my backyard garden and it’s just lovely when it’s in full bloom.

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I like having some white flowers scattered throughout the garden. They seem to highlight certain areas of the garden, and of course at night these flowers are still visible so they add a nice touch if we’re sitting out on the patio.

Sorry my post was a little late today. We seem to have the flu or something like it running through the house and it appears to be my turn to fight the bug. Ugh.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

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