Black currants and wanting to walk

For most of my life, I have walked a great deal. It has always been my favorite form of exercise and since I was twelve, I have loved wandering paths through woods. I used to walk around 3 ¾ miles at least 4 times a week in all seasons. On vacation or doing research we walked across Paris several times, through London and 10-12 miles on various trails in Scotland and the Everglades. But ever since my gym accident when a shorting out treadmill threw me clear across the gym so I landed on my knees, my knees have been problematic at best and often quite painful. When I had my first knee replacement, I had visions of being able to walk on the trails and old sand roads on the Cape I have loved for decades. But the second replacement never worked as well as the first. My back has been bothering me more and more, so that I can’t stand for long or walk far. I had a preliminary procedure to a possible ablation of my lower back two days ago. In two weeks, another of rhe same in preparation for a possible lower back ablation. I hope that might help. I dream about walking in the woods again. The gardens are most peculiar this year. We are getting eggplants and some peppers already; no tomatoes yet. We’ve never had peppers before at the earliest mid August. We are still getting lettuce in July; never happened before. We’ve been eating zucchini and pattypans for several weeks. But we had zero germination in our first sowings of beets and parsnips and the basil is extremely slow. All in all, a peculiar year in the gardens. Some plants and bushes are early; some are late. The peonies bloomed late, for instance. We have abundant black currants. We picked some last week and I started making a liqueur. Yesterday we picked and picked. Usually I make black currant vinegar but I still have several bottles from last year. I made 7 half pints of black currant freezer jam instead. Between picking, picking over and making jam, it took 4 hours. I have been wrestling with the question of whether to get a kitten. Six weeks have passed since Sugar Ray died. I’m trying to decide if it’s a good idea or not. I decide to get a kitten; then I decide not to. It’s a difficult problem because of my age and how the other cats might react. I wrote some poems this week and am revising them. We also took on my spice and herb area yesterday. The area in my kitchen was a complete mess. Some herbs I had unknowingly duplicated [or triplicated] and some I was almost out of. Some were so old they’dlost their savor and even their scent. Earlier in the week, we tucked the big hall closet where we store out of season clothes, quilts, many objects not in current use. We got rid of several boxes of junk and clothes never to be worn again. I finally swept my office and bedroom for the first time in at least two months. I may be a really good cook but I’m a lousy housekeeper. Little by little, nonetheless, we are working on our house as well as our garden.