It's over, done, kaput...

One week ago today I finished radiation but more importantly, my entire 8 1/2 months of cancer treatment. :) I've been mostly sleeping this week, in between going back to work half time.

A small group of friends, including the uber fabulous chicken men, showed up and surprised me at the last treatment. Another friend, who is a cancer survivor, came with flowers. The radiation staff gave me a certificate. How cool is that?

My wonderful boyfriend took us out for breakfast afterward.

It's great to feel my energy slowly come back.

Yet another blog...

I've started another blog. It's intended to be a listing of sites/resources I've found with regard to historic designations and home owner politics in Roanoke. Here is the link:

www.thisismyroanoke.blogspot.com

Community Gardens

I attended our neighborhood association meeting last night and heard a terrific presentation from a guy named Mark Powell who has started some community gardens in Roanoke. What a neat dude! I was so impressed with his attitude and committment to the cause that I volunteered my back yard for use as a community garden this year. The part that convinced me this was a Good Idea was the fact that all the gardens his organization plants are organic. Perfect!

I thought that having a community garden in my yard would be a wonderful life affirming thing. What better way to get my strength back from my cancer treatment? And make new friends to boot!

One of my neighbors is already talking to me about planting in my yard. Bring on the seeds!

Bring Spring! Like, Now!

I have that flu that's been stomping through the Roanoke area. Somewhere along the line it managed to turn into bronchitis.

Four more radiation treatments and I am oficially done with cancer forevah! Like, totally.

The house is neglected, poor thing, while I cough and hack. I have a basement drain to unstop as soon as I can muster the energy for it. Ah! The joys of home ownership. Bring on the baking soda, vinegar, and the snake. Oh yeah!

A friend has offered to help me plant a garden this year. I seriously need to look at some garden planning books. I have big dreams of an herb garden and a labyrinth.

Here's a description of how one goes about walking a labyrinth on the veriditas.org site:
http://veriditas.org/about/guidelines.shtml

Wouldn't it be lovely to have one right in one's own backyard? Ya know, next to the chicken coop? :)

Ask Google and Ye Shall Receive

Here is a link to the Department of Historic Resources website:

http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/index.htm

Of particular interest, to me at least, is the FAQ:

http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register_faq.htm

I found this entry really interesting:

"Some friends live in a historic district, and they tell me that they have to get permission from a board to repair their porch or paint their house. Will I have officials looking over my shoulder if I register my house? No. Only locally designated historic districts are subject to local zoning ordinances and procedures. Sometimes, a property or district may be listed at the national, state, and local levels but it is only the local designation that places restrictions on private owners."

So the actual registration of a property does not mean that the owner will be subject to restrictions on what they can do with their property. Those restrictions are left to local governments, who are organized under a Certified Local Government (CLG) program. More info here:

http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/clg/clg.htm

This makes sense in terms of the differences between varying Architectural Review Boards.

I have a lot of questions with regard to accountability, the public's role in setting these CLGs up, and citizen aproval processes, if any.

There's a local DHR office right in Roanoke. It would be interesting to pay them a visit and get a detailed overview.

Another Unpacking Party?

One of the friends who helped organize the unpacking party thrown for me last summer is talking about doing it again. It's true that I am completely overwhelmed with boxes and spending my unpacking energy getting back to work. Lucky for me, there's a terrific pizza place a few blocks away that makes yummy box unpacker feeding goodies. :)

Also lucky for me I have little shame when it comes to my messy house. :P

My friends amaze me on a regular basis.

Someone Else's Local Politics

Here's an interesting article about a neighborhood battle over a historic designation:

http://hamptonroads.com/node/336441

I'd like to find out what the procedure is for a Historic Designation application. One hopes that it is a more democratic process than the one outlined in htis article.