This is the “bouquet-that-keeps-on-giving.” My wonderful housekeeper left this for me last Friday. It was fully in bloom the nearer you got to the vase, with lots and lots of buds going up the stems. As the days pass, more and more buds have opened up. This is truly an amazing flower. It has brought me such joy!
This sweet little guy greeted me this morning on an a/c unit that belongs to my neighbor, I guess. He wasn’t upset when I got my phone and took a picture of him. He looked at me briefly when I tapped lightly on the glass, and then flew away.
Two new sketches/paintings from yesterday.
We were planning to go visit Harvey at the nursing home this morning. Brian isn’t feeling well this morning, so I’m not sure if we’ll actually go or reschedule it.
I hope you have a beautiful day and evening doing something you love.
I love these drawings by Tina Ann. I love her lust for life, her gift for making you smile. Some people frown because it says, “AI modified,” and discount it as ‘not art’ or ‘not real.’ I say, “Bah! Humbug! to that.
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I honestly didn’t realize how bogged down I was getting while we were in Arkansas. We lived in a home we loved on top of a ridge line on about 8 acres outside of the town of Greenwood. We built the house in about 1987. We had the house and the shop we built, (then doubled the size of) where we made our ‘yard critters’ out of scrap metal, our decorations for our mailbox out of 4×8 sheet metal, I etched glassware, did mosaics, etc.
We had an absolutely wonderful life for many years, but as we got older, we became less able to take care of it. We didn’t have the money for renovations or huge repairs. We just had to keep up the best we could. My husband continued to ask me to take over technical stuff he had always handled but no longer could. Our health was deteriorating.
Now that I’m in Thailand and am actually fully retired now, a huge weight has left my shoulders!
I start my day with a trip to the gym to walk on the treadmill with concentration on improving my stamina plus my balance that was affected by the anesthesia in the hospital in February. Brian and I share breakfast and then we decide what we’ll do with our day.
Three times a week we spent 3 hours going to see Harvey at the nursing home.
Other than that, unless we have errands to run, I have the rest of the day to myself or a whole day to myself. I am having a wonderful time deciding how I want to spend my day – what I’m going to do for FUN once my laundry is done and my place is straight.
How wonderful is that! I can make doing something fun a priority!!! Whoopeeeeee!!
Today I’ve spent some time in my art alcove after getting my laundry out on my balcony. I’m keeping an eye out for rain, since that is predicted, but the sun is shining brightly now so I may not have to leap up to rescue my stuff. 😁
Brian keeps reminding me that it’s no trouble for him to order an iced coffee for me, so I’ll probably do that a bit later. I may watch a movie, or I may listen to music, work on my puzzle, read my book, take a short walk, do a session of yoga stretches, bop around the room to dance music with my headphones on and my water bottle in each hand, or take a nap, depending on WHAT. I. WANT. TO. DO. Can you imagine that!🤪
I wish that someone had suggested – no, TOLD me – how important it is to your frame of mind and well-being to purposefully include something fun in each and every day possible. It makes you happy when you are a priority even for a few minutes, when something makes you grin from ear to ear or do a happy dance. When you’re happy, you can be a kinder, gentler person to those around you. It’s simply contagious.
Now this is the attitude I love. The whole idea of doing something for someone ELSE on your birthday, rather than being the center of attention shows a desire to make a difference. This cheeky lady is showing she has a great sense of humor and wants to give others a special day. How refreshing is that! Talk about an inspiration!!! I will try to be more like this amazing lady.
We went to visit Harvey today at the nursing home. It was kind of sad because Harvey wanted to watch TV rather than talk to us, but we wanted him to be interested in something, and that’s exactly what he was doing.
The lady who picked us up to drive us home spoke with Brian much of the way home. It was in Thai, so I didn’t understand any of it, but she smiled warmly at me when I tried to say, “Hello, and wishing you a nice day,” in Thai. Roughly speaking, it sounds like, “Sawat Dee Ka’-ah.”
She took us to a stationery place so I could buy more heavy paper for the cards I make and then we got another Grab to get a chocolate. While we were at the chocolate place, I asked Brian what he and the lady had talked about. It turned out she recognized us, and has driven us out to the nursing home a couple of times now. She asked how Brian’ dad was doing and how I liked being in Thailand. Isn’t that amazingly nice?
I’m enjoying the afternoon now, with time by myself to do whatever I would like. The morning’s rain stopped, so I moved my laundry out onto the balcony. It’s supposed to be rainy all day, and there are some ominous looking clouds, so I’m keeping a watchful eye on the skies as I type.
This is the latest drawing. Those of you who follow the blog know what my ‘inspiration’ for this was. 🤪😜 I’m having a good time trying to get an initial handle on the new puzzle.
I have two more sketches that I did at the cafe to paint, also.
I’m having a great time in the evening listening to YouTube music. There is a search feature where you can talk into the remote, telling it a musician’s or singer’s name and it comes up with videos you can enjoy. I just LOVE that. I’m making a master list of favorite people, plus people I want to listen to to see if I like them or not.
I’m also enjoying watching a favorite movie if I have a totally free afternoon. I’ve watched two so far and look forward to enjoying more. I’m also interested to see what fare Netflix offers in this regard as time passes.
As soon as I finish blog posts for the day, you can giggle at the mental picture of me bopping around my living area with a water bottle in each hand, headphones on and grinning like a nut as I ‘dance’ to music with a heavy beat from the computer. It’s a really fun way to move a lot, exercise my arms and back with weights, all while not seeming to be exercise.
I showed you the flowers my housekeeper left for me last Friday. I think I told you that there are buds all the way to the top of the stems on this glorious display, so it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Here it is this morning!
I hope you’re having a fabulous day and evening, doing something that gives you loads of pleasure.
This is a towel and bucket day here. We skipped the gym this morning because it was raining REALLY hard. I’ve been wringing out towels into my bucket all morning so far. Hopefully, this will become a more gentle rain that won’t pelt into my windows, causing leaks. Update – later – the SUN has come out now, but I’ll still keep my laundry drying rack inside. Dark clouds are looming.
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Otherwise, things are good here. I’m about to have breakfast with Brian and then plan to enjoy the day, moving from one fun thing to another – assuming the rain calms down enough. 🙂
Besides having a sparkling clean place, this is what greeted me when I came home. My wonderful housekeeper left these gorgeous flowers for me! When Brian received a text from my thanks to her, he read it to me. It said, “It is good ‘Mom liked the flowers.” What a sweet lady. I LOVE it that she calls me ‘mom’!
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When I was in the cafe yesterday killing time, I enjoyed watching the traffic outside the window. I’m in awe of the motorcyclists! Brian says they have all been riding on, or driving motorcycles for years and have lots of experience.
The riding gear varies all over the block. Some wear helmets, others don’t. Almost all wear long-sleeved shirts, jackets, or hoodies. Some wear health masks.
I saw a father, his child, his wife, and another child on ONE motorcycle yesterday. I saw a mother with her toddler in front of her on one. Lots of people are carrying things, too. I’ve seen people with big boxes between the driver and the passenger. Bags of food and drink hang off to either side. Backpacks are full. Some actually carry pipe for repairing plumbing, pictures in frames, animals, and more.
The sheer number of motorcycles boggles my mind. For every car – and there are three lanes of traffic going each way – there are a dozen or more motorcycles zipping around and between vehicles. There are few stop lights and no cross walks. I wouldn’t call it ‘aggression,’ but more ‘quiet insistence’ that vehicles will ease into traffic or change lanes. It is utterly amazing.
“Celebrating my life for everything that it is” includes being grateful that I can visit my husband, hug and kiss him, tell him I’m glad to see him, and be happy that he’s not hurting, even though he wasn’t cooperating with the nurse on taking his medicines and made little sense when we visited today.
It also includes the fact that on the way home from the visit, we went to an arts and crafts store called, “Chunya Art & Craft” where everything in the store was handmade by the owner/artist.
I bought two things: a handmade notebook and a tablecloth.
The photo doesn’t do the notebook justice. The painting on the front is very subtle, but shows an elephant with a beautiful cloth on his back walking in dense jungle of green, blue and purple. The rope that ties the pages together is done in an intricate, lacy pattern that allows you to open the book, lay it flat. I thinks it’s wonderful.
The tablecloth is batik. The card that came with it says, “Each piece of Batik painting has a unique feel as a result of endless combinations of the dye coloring., wax effects, the fabric typs, and most importantly the story-telling of love and joy we want to pass on. Hope you love our Batik!” – Nisa C. Tanakorn.
I think it’s a work of art. I LOVE the way it brightens up the whole end of the room.
The owner/artist of the shop could not have been nicer to us. She answered questions and was honestly thrilled I was so happy with my purchases. I can’t recommend her shop more highly. I left a review with pictures on Google Maps that I hope will send more appreciative customers her way.
I’m getting my place ready for my housekeeper to come tomorrow. I’ve changed the sheets, will change out the towels and empty the trash, trying not to leave a mess (other than my puzzle table, where there is only so much I can do to neaten it up.)
I’ve been sketching, working on the puzzle a bit, and reading, since I haven’t been able to get to my computer until now because it was in the middle of doing an upgrade. It turned out that it didn’t work the way it should and Brian said he would try to get it to work again later.
This has been a good day. We’ll share some dinner soon and then I’ll enjoy listening to music on YouTube. I like it that I can use the remote on my TV to request music by people I like or want to hear for the first time, just relaxing with my headphones so I don’t bother anyone. 😁
This is my new jigsaw puzzle. I’ve been working on it about a week. I only have the outside edge and some various small groupings done. I just love this picture. I would like to GO here, sit by the water and simply soak up the ‘calm.’
These are my two newest sketches/paintings.
Today I’m going to do a good, longer session of yoga stretches than I normally do. I feel kind of ‘compressed’ for some reason, so this will help bring me back to normal. I haven’t decided if I’ll do my water-bottle-weights exercises or simply dance to some bouncy music yet in addition.
We’re having a beautiful day here, full of bright sunshine, with thunderstorms hopefully holding off until around 5pm if my phone app is correct. That would be lovely.
I watched one of my all time favorite movies yesterday afternoon – “Patch Adams.” I hadn’t seen it in years. I love Robin Williams and am still sad he’s gone. It’s the sadder parts of movies he’s been in that really get to me. It seems he had such a giant heart.
I hope you, also, have several things that you can do to regroup and relax. Things that bring a big smile to your face and fills your heart with hope.
I rescued my recently hung laundry because a rain came just after I finished that and before I sat down at my computer. I dragged my rack inside and put a sheet under it to keep any drips from the floor.
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As I sat at the computer, a small black bird was trying his very best to land on my window sill. I have a very narrow sill, so he couldn’t sit there. He tried over and over, the feathers on his head lifting in the wind so it looked like he had a crest. I tried to look up what kind of bird he was, but couldn’t find him among the common small black birds in Chiang Mai.
Before he was finished, another black bird came and they started fighting mid-air, like hummingbirds do. And then – I couldn’t believe it – a THIRD joined the fight. There was squawking, wings flapping, beaks open – all right outside my right corner window. Since none of them could get any traction on my sill, they finally left to fight elsewhere – or go have a drink… 😋
And NOW, of course, the rains have stopped for the moment, and the sun is out. There are thunderstorms forecast for right now, according to the app on my phone, so I’ll at least wait a while before dragging the drying rack back out…
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These are the latest sketches/paintings I’ve done in my little alcove.
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My phone alarm just went off, reminding me that I need to go get my duvet from the laundry. I can’t do this by myself, as it’s too large, so I’m glad I can get help from time to time.
I’m going to see if I can draw and paint this, just for giggles. I took the owls puzzle apart this morning. It is now neatly in a gallon baggie with the picture. I’m going to put it in the area where – if you want it – you can take it. Brian ordered the glass print of the finished puzzle today! 🥳
I started the new puzzle this morning. Impressive, isn’t it? 🤣
This is the new puzzle image. I just love the calmness and fantasy of this. And, it has water, of course, one of my favorite things, plus purple!
Brian took a break from working and came to see how I was. We went for chocolate – always a wonderful thing – and we’ll meet later to share some dinner.
I made some more thank you cards for my housekeeper yesterday.
Meanwhile, I’m writing posts for the blog and then I’m going to paint some of my latest sketches.
I have to tell you that I really love my life lately. I can move from one fun thing to another, spending my day grinning from ear to ear, whether working a puzzle, reading on my Kindle, working in my art alcove, listening to music, watching a movie, writing blog posts, playing on the computer, taking a short walk, taking a nap, and more. I’m totally spoiled and loving every minute of it.
We go to visit my husband at the nursing home tomorrow morning. The last time he wasn’t hurting, had no complaints, and made sense much of the time. He’s still playing with the squeeze ball. We brought him the book he said he wanted, but we don’t think he’ll read it. At least he knows we love him and want to do whatever we can to make him happier and more comfortable. Hopefully tomorrow’s visit will be a good one.
I hope that you are finding joy in your life. Life is too short to be taken up only with have-to’s. Really work to set aside some time for YOU. Tell the people you love how much they mean to you as many times as they will let you. 🤗
These are the newest sketches/paintings from my art alcove.
Brian and I will go out for errands soon and then I’ll probably have the afternoon to myself. I plan to do a combination of watching a favorite movie (!) and starting some sketches.
My weather app says, “Rainy conditions will continue all day.” Right now the sun is shining, so I’m taking a chance and my drying rack is out on my balcony. It won’t be the end of the world if it all gets rained on while we’re out.
I felt better today, so I went to the gym and walked my mile NOT touching the handlebars, concentrating on not losing my balance. My ARMS got a bit tired, so I kept changing up whether I swung them down at my sides, up by my waist, or up higher with my fingers closed. Worked pretty well.
I spent much of yesterday afternoon taking in my two pairs of jeans and two pairs of cut-off-exercise jeans. I’m trying to make these last until I get to the weight I want to maintain. THEN I’ll splurge and buy a couple of pairs of jeans that fit well, encouraging me to maintain my weight. The exercise cut-offs don’t matter as long as they stay on. 🤣
Oddly enough, on my list of things I would like to get when we can get to it is a couple of sweatshirts – one to wear, if needed, and one to be in the wash while I use the other. We often go places where we need to wait a long time and they keep the a/c on “KILL.” I get chilled, then downright uncomfortable. I’m taking a suggestion from Brian, who carries a sweatshirt in his carrier for these situations. My light hoodie and jean jacket just aren’t enough.
I just love Tina Ann’s artwork and sense of fun. I just can’t find enough of her work to satisfy me. 😃
My day has been a bit of a mixed bag. It started out with my feeling woozy with low blood pressure and opting out of my gym workout, to be closely followed by POURING rain and some leakage of my windows, necessitating towels and my bucket. I did my laundry and set up to have it dry on the rack inside. I then rested.
Now I’m feeling fine, my blood pressure is almost perfect on half of my BP pill, and the sun came out, causing me to move my drying rack out onto the balcony. I’ll watch closely to see if the weather changes….
Brian and I are at work on getting an image of the finished owl puzzle printed on glass by a company called FractureMe.com who made the wonderful image of my dad’s painting Brian got me as a housewarming present for my new place.
My idea is to do this for each of the puzzles I finish and put the glass images on the shelf in my living area with the painting my dad did as the centerpiece of the display. I love the idea of my vision growing and making a special statement. I took a pic of the owl puzzle earlier and sent it to Brian. He said it sucked (not in those words) and will take a better image for this project when he comes to my place later.
I’m going to concentrate on doing some sketches this afternoon. While I was typing this, though, I was distracted by birds singing their hearts out outside my window. I hadn’t heard them before and now CAN – because of my new hearing aids! What a delight!!!!!
(By the way. although each of us is different, if you’re in the market for help with your hearing, the brand I settled on is Oticon Intent 3. I love them because they are so comfortable I forget I’m wearing them. (an example of this is that I started to put my headphones on the other night to listen to YouTube on top of my hearing aids!) They have rechargeable batteries, so I take them off and put them in the charger until I want them again. There is a phone app so I can adjust them to suit conditions, making them louder or softer or using the ‘voice boost’ feature – when I’m needing to quiet the background noises. End of commercial. 😂
I hope that you’re having a wonderful day or evening, depending on where you are and that you’re finding beautiful things to enjoy.
I just love this painting. The more I look at it, the more I like it. I can almost hear them playing and singing. I hope it makes YOU smile, too!
This is my dad. His birthday is today. He took pride in the fact that in 1918, the year he was born, it was Labor Day. He thought that was very appropriate. He would have been 107 today. He was super creative, ahead of his time on a lot of things. He ran a one-man advertising agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma, winning advertising awards and local recognition for his radio advertisements. I miss his sarcasm and his great sense of humor.
My cleaning lady came a bit earlier than usual, and I was just getting ready to leave to be out of her way while she cleans. I thanked her for doing such a wonderful job for me, and she totally surprised me by hugging me! I hugged her hard in return. When I came back later she had left these flowers for me!!! I’m already spoiled by having her help, and hugs and flowers are simply priceless. 🤗
We went to see my husband, Harvey, in the nursing home this morning. He looked at us as if we were “invading” or something when we entered. He asked, “What are you doing here?” I replied, “We came to see YOU, of course. Is that all right?” He laid his head in my hand and said, “It’s wonderful.” Then, though we tried to talk to him, he made it clear he wanted to watch TV, so we gave up and left. He isn’t hurting, he knew who we were, and he had something he wanted to do, so that’s all good.
I have too many good things to do this afternoon, so after I finish sharing with you, I’ll get to at least one of them. Have a great day!
We lucked out on the rain today again. At the time we were planning to leave to go visit my husband, it was raining HARD. We decided to wait awhile and see if things got better, or at least more definitive.
It turned out the rain stopped, so we were on our way only a half hour later than usual. My husband was more alert and feeling better today. He wasn’t hurting and wanted to talk! What he SAID was complete drivel – like a woman with horns visited his room and critters came in and bit his feet – but it turned out that was some show on TV. He has real trouble telling what’s real and what isn’t these days. He also couldn’t remember what we were doing in this country.
Other than that the visit was a good one. He knew who we were and seemed happy to see us. Tomorrow we’re meeting him and his main caregiver at the hospital for tests in followup to his pneumonia and low blood oxygen of last week. Hopefully, the tests won’t take long. We’ll also speak to his main doctor and see what he thinks and what he recommends.
We’ve been invited to dinner with friends tomorrow, so even thoug
h the day will be long, the ending will be pleasant.
I hope that you in the USA are enjoying the Labor Day holiday today and have had a fun weekend.
My friend Carla (the pretty lady in yellow) and her son, Clint – to the left of her in the photo – were the car race feature winners last week! They share a love of fast cars and racing, and they enjoy being together to build the cars and try to win on the weekends at the local racetracks. Mother/son adventure – BEAUTIFUL!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!👍🥳
Making progress on the owls puzzle. I’ll work on it again this afternoon.
We are still trying to decide whether to try to go visit Harvey this morning or not. My phone app is saying “Very Heavy Rain” basically from now through the rest of the day. We looked at a radar image of the storm coming toward us from Vietnam, and it looks like the worst of it is going to the south of us (thanks also to Sheila for this info.)
If it looks like ‘just rain,’ we’ll go. If it looks like our places may need bucket and towels and that we might get stranded at the nursing home which is a good 40 minutes away, we’ll cancel the trip for today. We’ll decide closer to the time.
I hope that good things are happening with/to/for you!
I’m having a good morning. I’ve had my workout at the gym, breakfast with Brian, washed and hung my laundry on the drying rack on the balcony, and have fun plans for the day.
I’m going to work on the owls puzzle. I may die of old age before I actually finish this, but I’m determined to do it, even if the very last thing I do is to put in the final puzzle piece before I croak.😋
I did some sketches at the cafe yesterday and will start painting them later today. I’m in the middle of “Mirror” Book 2 of a new trilogy, “The Lost Brides” by Nora Roberts on my Kindle. I found out that Book 3 won’t be available until November, but I now have a card I can use to download books to my Kindle from Amazon even though I’m in Thailand now. I’m thrilled.
I’m planning to do a good job on more exercising today. I’ll start with yoga stretches and see how I do with that. I’ve TALKED a good game lately, but have been sloth-like in my actual implementation…
I discovered some good videos about living in Thailand. I’m enjoying listening to those and trying to absorb all the good information.
I got an alert on my phone yesterday that we’re under the gun again from another humongous thunderstorm coming this way from Vietnam. We’re supposed to get it tomorrow, August 31st. ☹️ We were planning to go visit Harvey tomorrow, so we’ll have to look at what’s happening and the timing on what is forecast to see if we think we can get to the nursing home, have our visit, and get back before potentially bad leaking from our windows occurs again. (The round trip when we visit is about 3 hours, so we may have to just decide it’s too big a risk and stay home.) We’ll see.
We’re having a nice day today. The sun is shining. I’m having some time to myself before my wonderful cleaning lady comes, so I’m going to put in some time on my puzzle. 😁
My laundry is actually out on the balcony, rather than inside on the rack with a sheet under it today! There’s a good chance my stuff will get dry and I can bring it in and get it put away before I need to leave.
I’m looking forward to reading on my Kindle and doing some sketching while Brian and I are making ourselves scarce while Khun Nong cleans.
Did I tell you I really like my life here? I had my weekly massage this morning, the cleaning lady comes this afternoon. Puzzles, sketching, reading, napping, playing on the computer, going interesting places with Brian, working out at the gym, eating good food, or making plans to get out and explore my neighborhood some make up my days now.
We visit my husband at the nursing home every three days when things are going well. I’m so relieved he seems to be past danger with the pneumonia and low blood oxygen. The nasal tube is out, he is able to eat and had good appetite yesterday morning when we visited, and was sleepy from getting his tummy full. The staff there tries to arrange an outing in his wheelchair on all days the weather will permit, so he can get fresh air and maybe see a doggie or two.
I have a wonderful son who is doing everything he can to make sure things are going as well as possible for both of us. The latest challenge of leaking windows from the last major storm may be addressed as early as next week if the handyman can send crews. We’ll keep our fingers crossed they can at least improve the situation until it can be fixed more permanently when the weather dries out.
So this happy camper is very spoiled and counting her many, many blessings. I hope that things are going well for you, as well.
We went to see my husband at the nursing home this morning after deciding that we PROBABLY wouldn’t be hit by the awful thunderstorms that have been causing windows leaking in our condos. We didn’t want to leave our places any more vulnerable than possible, and we were ready with buckets and towels to sop up the water. Happily, we only had a regular rain this morning and none since – yet.
The good news is that Harvey greeted me with, “I missed you,” almost causing a meltdown in me. The nasal tube had been removed, and he was able to eat regular food. The owner of the nursing home said she had a doctor look at him before removing the tube, and that he ate a LOT when it was gone. He looked better, though he was really sleepy – probably from eating so well. We left after just a short visit, because he really needed the rest.
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The Telegraph
PROGRESS REPORT: I’ve lost 73+ pounds an 68+ inches from my heaviest now. I’m finally about 15 pounds away from my goal weight. At the gym, I’m concentrating on NOT holding onto the handlebars when I’m walking. This is causing my brain to really work hard, first concentrating on what I’m doing rather than holding on and rather mindlessly putting one foot in front of the other. Secondly, my brain is constantly having to adjust so I don’t lose my balance and fall on my head. I’m watching a video as I walk, and the paths twist and turn, making ME react to stay on the path. I can FEEL that I’m standing straighter and my weight is shifting differently than when I’m slightly bent over holding onto the bars. I’m hoping to retrain my brain and body to improve my balance over time.
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Brian contacted the handyman for the building, sending him pictures of the leaks in Brian’s place and mine during the last big storm. The man said he would contact Brian, but it looks like we might have crews doing some resealing next week! It may be that this is a temporary fix to be shorn up later, but I’ll be very grateful for anything they can do to make our problem less intense. Help may be on the way!!!!
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Today I used my phone for the first time to adjust my hearing aids. When we were in a Grab, being driven to see Harvey, the driver was on the phone with several phone calls. His voice was so loud he made my ears hurt! This is a first since I got my new hearing aids. I got my phone out, accessed the app, and was able to turn the volume down to a level that didn’t hurt! How neat is that!!! (What I didn’t figure out until later was that I inadvertently fat-fingered a toggle icon at the bottom of the screen, turning off the ‘voice boost’ setting that I like and need. When we got home, I found that I needed to turn the volume up again to hear Brian well, and we figured out that I hit the icon, too. We toggle it back on, adjusted the volume, and I’m fixed again. I’m delighted that I can adjust these the way I need (assuming I’m smart enough to use the app correctly….) 🤣
This morning I changed things up and took our son’s suggestion that I just walk using no incline and NOT gripping the handle bars as I have been doing to make sure I don’t fall.
I used a speed of 3.5 ( my normal walking speed) and just touched the handle bars with my fingertips. They were there if I needed them, but I didn’t have to grab them today. I DID notice that I held myself differently when NOT gripping the handlebars. I had to concentrate a LOT more, and I FELT muscles working in my back, my butt, and the backs of my legs. I may be sore in the morning, and that will show I’m waking up this old body and building new strength. I also am retraining my brain at the same time, so this is a really good change.
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The nursing home texted Brian with a video and some pics of Harvey in the wheelchair outside, getting fresh air and a bit of sunshine yesterday. He also was petting a couple of dogs we hadn’t seen before. The nurse said he didn’t want to give up the squeeze ball we brought him, so she just let me hold it as long as he wanted to. She said she thought it was a great toy for him. 😁
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Today we’re going to run a couple of errands. I’m hoping we don’t drown in the rain and I’m watching the skies to rush to get my laundry in before we go if the rain starts up again. So far, so good.
I hope that you’re finding something today that makes your face crack you’re grinning so hard!
Today I did 28 minutes at an incline of 12% at a speed of 3mph on the treadmill. Hooray!
At breakfast this morning, though, Brian brought up a great idea. I’ve told you that after my surgeries in February, I had a hearing loss that eventually required hearing aids. I also read that anesthesia for old ladies like me also has a possible side effect of balance issues.
Brian suggested that I slow the speed even more, NOT have any incline, and just rest my fingertips on the handle bars of the treadmill, rather than gripping them as I do. This would force my body – my legs, hips, back, and brain – to work together on balancing without having to grip anything. The bars would be right there if I needed them, but this practice might help resolve my problem. I’m going to try it!
This is a new toy Brian got for my husband at the nursing home.
It’s a squishy ball where the ‘bubbles’ come out through the mesh when you squeeze the ball. It’s super soft, very colorful, and mesmerizing.
The bubbles are different each time. It’s fun – much like popping the bubbles on bubble wrap, but doesn’t make any noise. We’re hoping he likes it. Brian, who knows me well, got TWO of them – one for Harvey and the other for ME! 😁
Other than visiting Harvey at the nursing home, it should be a quiet day. My laundry is out on the balcony drying – even though my phone weather app said it should be cloudy all day, the sun is shining brightly. I’m hoping that if my clothes aren’t dry by the time we leave to see my husband, they’ll be ready to bring in by the time we come home.
I did 25 minutes at 12% incline on the treadmill this morning! I used 5 minutes to get up to the 12% incline and then just walked the rest of the time. I think I will do the 12-3-30 method one day and the Japanese method the next to keep my body awake and working without hurting myself. 💪🏻
I will also TRY to do a better job of getting my yoga stretches in, as well as my exercises with water bottles, and my dancing to wonderful music. Since I’m a lazy woman, I think I will try for ONE of these things each day in addition to the treadmill and then try to incorporate more once I actually DO this – rather than just INTEND to do it.
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I’ve been working on my owls puzzle, and have to admit it’s still frustrating me, although I am DETERMINED to get it done eventually. I got the owl eyes in the middle recently, but they were running into pieces in place toward the top. When I looked super closely, I had to remove some pieces in the top owl to be reworked. 🤨
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Two sketches I painted recently. I really love trying to reproduce designs I find on the net the best I can and then paint them. I’m hoping to improve my ability to draw what I see. My progress is slow, but I have a blast trying and the time flies by so fast! 😄
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I’m very happy with my new hearing aids. I had one afternoon where I was overwhelmed by sounds all around me that I haven’t been hearing since my surgery in February, and then smooth sailing after that.
They are rechargeable, so they go from my ears to the charger. They are comfortable – in fact, sometimes I forget I’m wearing them! I can hear Brian now whether I can see his lips or not, whether I’m facing him or not, even though he is VERY soft spoken. I miss a word or two now and then, but he doesn’t have to repeat virtually everything he says anymore.
I can hear the traffic now, but the background noises don’t drown out someone else’s speech. If there is any problem with unduly loud background noise, I can use my phone to either increase the volume or use a thing called ‘voice boost.’ I haven’t had to do much fine tuning with my phone, but it’s great that I can do this myself, rather than having to get an appointment with the place that sold us the hearing aids to get an adjustment.
The critters we saw today weren’t nearly as ‘impressive’ or ‘regal’ as this beautiful tiger painting, but we enjoyed them thoroughly nonetheless.
We saw a frog that was HUGE sitting by a wall. We just stood and admired him, trying not to bother him. He was at LEAST 4 inches tall, if not more. He looked beige colored, but he was in the shadows, so it was hard to really tell.
We also saw a cat sleeping on the seat of a motorcycle in the parking garage. I spoke to him and he looked at me briefly, then stretched and got comfortable again. I’ve never seen a cat sleep on a motorcycle before. I don’t know whether it belonged to its owner or not, but the cats around the building seem to be strays that wander in and out. He was a pretty, gray striped cat.
Lastly, a rust brown dog with a collar was running down the heavily traveled street, barking occasionally, looking madly happy running after someone on a motorcycle. We have seen him before. He has a collar, so he has a home. This is apparently one of their ‘togetherness things.’ The dog negotiates the traffic really well, speaking of lots of experience. He certainly looks joyful as he runs.
We visited my husband at the nursing home again this morning to make sure he was continuing to improve from his pneumonia. He was resting comfortably and shook his head slightly when we asked him if he were hurting anywhere. He didn’t cough while we were there, but he wasn’t nearly as responsive as he was yesterday, so we just stayed a little while and then left.
I’ve been having fun painting a cats sketch I did recently. I’ll post it when it’s finished.
I’m trying to get closer to my goal of doing the 12-3-30 method of walking on the treadmill in the mornings. Today I used the first 10 minutes to go from 0-12% incline, then set the speed back to 3 kilometers per minute and walked for another 20 minutes. I’ll try to add another couple of minutes tomorrow, speeding up the incline gradations a bit. (The goal in this method is 12% incline at 3 kilometers per minute for 30 minutes.
It’s been raining off and on all day, so my laundry is on the drying rack inside. I have the fan turned to ‘medium’ and have it blowing on the clothes and towels, so I’m hoping things will dry by tonight, or at least overnight.
Very soon we’ll be leaving to see my new doctor in follow-up. 3 months ago we went for an initial visit, and my blood pressure was so high she prescribed blood pressure meds on the spot. Any other issues could wait. We went back in a month and things were better. She suggested I lose weight and exercise. (Surprise😜)
It is now 2 months later. I’ve been going to the gym daily with our son, walking a mile on the treadmill and then tweaking my workout in various ways that are supposed to be more effective. I’ve lost 8.55 kilos, or 18.85 pounds since we saw her last. She will be doing bloodwork, but I will have to wait a day or two for the results. I’m hoping we’ll see some improvement there.
I’ll have the afternoon to myself once we get back from that. My friend Marsha wanted to know if my art has improved. I’ve been trying to learn to draw better and then painting the sketches. I don’t know if I’ve improved or not, but I’m having a really good time trying. Here are some of the latest –
I charged my new hearing aids overnight with no problem and got them in this morning. Everything is still really loud, including my own voice. Thankfully, Brian installed an app on my phone that will allow me to adjust the sound, boost voices, and more. I’ll tweak it today, continuing to adapt my BRAIN to being able to hear things like light switches, napkins being crushed, water being sprayed, etc. 😃. It’s WONDERFUL to be able to hear again. I’m SO grateful to be trying to adapt to such a great thing!
The “Rainy Season” is really living up to its name here lately.
My umbrella is open, drying on the floor by my door, from when we were out.
Yesterday I sopped up water from my center window leaking. Today I noticed wet footprints on the rug under my dining table next to the window. I now have used a bath towel to sop up water that leaked down the wall and under the rug. I have a fan pointed directly toward the area with the floor cleaned up the best I can and the bottom of the rug drying. I also had some leakage in my art alcove.
We will have to wait until November, when the rainy season is over, to get the windows resealed. At another time, when we have saved up enough money, we will look into getting the floor repaired. The most damage was done when the previous tenants had my place. I’m just trying to keep things at the level they are now, rather than allowing them to get worse.
“Joke” – eatingthaifood – Mark Wiens
We had a really nice breakfast. I told you about this dish before, but we hadn’t eaten it since the first time, so I had to have Brian remind me what it’s called. “Joke,” or rice porridge, is kind of like a breakfast stew here. Rice porridge is the base, but then whatever you have handy goes into the pot. We had sliced sausage in ours this morning. Brian says it usually has a bunch of ginger in it, sometimes making it ‘too spicy or hot’ for a lot of people (including me.) Today it was nicely flavored. I loved it – and only drank my water as a drink – not a lifesaver. 😃
I found another article about using my treadmill workout more efficiently. I’ve already told you about the Japanese Walking Method which I’ve been doing, consisting of 3 minutes ‘slow’ walking followed by 3 minutes ‘fast’ walking for 30 minutes. (except I do 2 slow and 3 fast so that I have a couple of minutes to cool down at the end of my workout.)
Yesterday I read about the 12-3-30 Method which consists of walking 30 minutes at a speed of 3mph at a 12% incline. (Since I’m old and WORKING on getting more fit, I did a modified version of that.) I did my Japanese method for the first 15 minutes, increasing the incline 1% at 5 minute intervals. The second 15 minutes I set the speed at 4mph and just kept bumping up the incline 1% each 5 minutes. I ended up at 6% incline before I started my cool down.) We’ll see if I’m stiff and sore tomorrow. 😜
Chuckles – Pinterest
I finally broke through my plateau on losing my lard. This morning my BMI chart is smiling at me getting well into the healthy range. (I have been in the morbidly obese, then obese range for about 5 years now.) My BMI is 22 now.
I have lost 73 pounds since my heaviest now. (Almost 19 pounds since my initial doctor visit here.) I’m hoping she will see that I’m serious about trying to take care of myself, lose the lard, and get in better shape.
I hope that your day is a good one, giving you a big smile at least once.
This was sent to me by my good friend, Cathy, who knows me very well. She got me with this, and I love it. 😃
I thought Arkansas weather was changeable and challenging to deal with, but I now think that Chiang Mai, Thailand could teach a master class. My phone app said it would be rainy all day long, and it HAS rained twice today so far, but strong sunshine came out afterward each time.
I am determined to try to get my laundry dry. I pulled in the drying rack that lives on my tiny balcony, setting up to hang things inside over a large sheet I keep for this purpose. When I got things washed, the sun had come out, so I moved the rack back onto the balcony.
Since the sun was really shining brightly, my place was heating up, so I pulled the shades down again to allow it to cool off and the a/c not to be strained. Then it got cloudy again, to the point I had to turn on my lights inside, so I went around and pulled the shades up again.
I’ve done all this three times with the shades and twice with the laundry. This may be a good addition to my gym workout! I will just have to stay alert and keep checking things while my things HOPEFULLY get dry…
I have some fun stuff set up to do today, since we don’t have to go out.
I did several sketches yesterday and will start painting them. I’m making good progress on my owl puzzle – finally – and will see what good I can do on it. I’m in the middle of a good book by Nora Roberts.
My day will fly and I will keep grinning – even if I can’t get my laundry dry today!
Carla made me crack up with this new picture of Jet, who is ‘helping’ her organize trash bags….
The day got away from me. We were away almost the whole day. I am just now back to my place and settling down for the night. It’s Friday, August 15th at 6:45 PM.
I will try to write tomorrow, but I wanted you to know I was thinking about you and hoping you are doing well.
I had a good walk at the gym this morning. I’m gradually speeding up my ‘slow’ and ‘fast’ speeds (2 minutes and 3 minutes respectively) so that I’m adding a small bit of distance to my 30 minute walk. So far the changes have resulted in my walking almost 1.5 miles each morning, up from 1 mile. 😛
I’m using part of today to get ready for my cleaning lady to come tomorrow. I’m changing the sheets on my bed, gathering trash, gathering towels for wash and putting out clean ones. My laundry is on the balcony drying.
I am enjoying having a cleaning lady for the first time in my life SO MUCH! I am neater here than I was in the states. Much of it has to do with not having so much STUFF. Another part is having so much less space to put stuff IN. Part of it is living alone. Even with being neater, though, it is wonderful to have someone scrub things from top to bottom, dust EVERYTHING, and she even lines things up – MUCH neater than I do – so that things are perfect when she leaves. She even puts up with my puzzle pieces now filling the table. (I’m also using my step stool to handle the bagged single pieces I have left.)
I hope that you are enjoying your day (or evening) and finding lots of things that bring you joy.
My wonderful friend, Carla, who adopted Jet for me when we moved to Thailand, sent me this great photo this morning she labeled, “Trying to pack the cooler.” Looks like Jet is demanding she be included on the trip!
And here is our Amber playing with her new boy, Remington, in their pool. Amber was adopted by Lisa and Tim, and I’m forever grateful to Carla and them for making sure our animals continue to have wonderful lives.
This is a drawing I did a while back.
This is the thank you card I will leave for Khun Nong next Friday.
Today I’m enjoying a quiet day. I’ve been able to bring in about half my laundry from the balcony so far. The rain is supposed to start about 1PM, but I’m keeping an eye out in case the clouds don’t read the weather report on my phone.
I’m planning to do some painting of the sketches I’ve done lately, do more thank you notes for Khun Nong, and work on my owl puzzle, among other things.
I’m researching foldable or collapsible walking canes, since I’m still having short waves of dizziness. Since I’m planning to start taking short walks where I don’t have to cross busy streets, this would add steadiness and I could carry the cane in my carrier when I’m not needing it. There is also one with a “seat” that might come in handy, but that one wouldn’t fit in my bag.
Yesterday I found an art gallery, a craft shop, a stationery and art supply shop, and a basket shop, all of which seem to be places I would love. I would like to visit each when the timing works out with trips to visit Harvey. I texted Brian the list and he said they looked good. I LOVE Google Maps!
Tenor
I’m on a plateau as far as losing my lard. Brian and I eat breakfast and dinner. We enjoy a coffee or a chocolate drink sometimes mid-day. Dinner is the meal we are going to zero in on, trying for smarter choices or my simply eating less in the evening. After dinner, the only physical thing I’m doing, other than getting things ready for the next morning, is doing a session of yoga stretches. (I’m doing my water bottle weight exercises and bopping to dance music in the afternoons.) Hopefully this new focus will cause my scales to stop looking bored with me.
I have inherited the new, simplified-design Kindle that Brian bought for my husband. Harvey has always been a voracious reader, but this is one of the many ways he has changed since his stroke. He can’t handle the simplified Kindle, and he seems to be unable to dive into a book anymore. He has two paperbacks by his favorite authors on the table beside him, but he isn’t reading.
I’m enjoying the new design. It doesn’t have any bells and whistles, just larger, clearer type and ease of use. I can throw it in my carrier when we vacate my place for my housekeeper. I really enjoy being able to do that. I am enjoying “Inheritance” by Nora Roberts right now, the first of a trilogy.
We went to visit Harvey today. He announced he had taken a new wife. He said her name is Amaterasu. He said that she is the daughter of Ka Pook, Harvey’s former 24 hour nurse, who has taken a new position in Bangkok. She is 18, tall and beautiful. Harvey said they had a quick ceremony since the marriage was a business arrangement, since she could go to the States if she married a citizen. He didn’t seem to worry about bigamy, or my reaction to the marriage. He was concerned about making arrangements at the airport.
I asked him if, since women seemed to be throwing themselves at his feet, finding him irresistible, if he planned to marry wife #3. He looked at me and said, “I’ll take it as it comes.”
Later we Googled the name, discovering that she is the Japanese sun goddess, a central figure in Shinto mythology. Apparently, he ‘met’ her on TV.
At home, I’m watching the skies, trying to get my laundry dry on the balcony. I brought in several dry things earlier, then rescued some other stuff a few minutes ago from a sudden rain, only to put the them out again about 10 minutes later. Doing laundry during the rainy season in Thailand teaches one to be alert and fast moving. 😁
I sketched several things while we were at the cafe staying out of my housekeeper’s way yesterday. I plan to draw some more thank you cards to leave for her plus start painting some of the sketches.
I hope you’re having a good day and finding reasons to smile.
Yesterday Brian and I found a craft shop where I wasn’t excited until I turned around and saw an embroidered piece on the wall that looked like stained glass. It was really stunning. Colorful, with silky type material used. Just wonderful.
I thought about it the rest of the afternoon. I told Brian I wanted to see how much it cost. We went back today. I was afraid it would be gone, but it was still up on the wall. When I asked her how much she wanted for it, she said it was not for sale.
To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I could “SEE” the piece on the wall above my computer, making me smile each time I saw it.
We went for a chocolate – our go-to place when we’re needing a pick-me-up, so the trip wasn’t completely wasted. Brian said he will look for other similar shops that we can visit. (Sigh)
On the good side, I had a wonderful massage this morning. We will vacate my place in about an hour to let Khun Nong perform her miracle while I’m gone.
Susy suggested that I install some apps on my phone that will help in my efforts to eventually become more independent here. I already had Google Maps, but Brian also installed “Friends and Family” so he can see where I am if I take a walk. We also talked about the fact we have a chat program on which we communicate all day long if I need him, plus I have his phone number. He basically said that the Google Translate app is not as good as one would hope. He is always available, and he pointed out that people have stopped and helped us when I had a problem before and probably would again, if needed.
He again talked about crossing streets, and I assured him I wasn’t planning to throw myself under a bus or get creamed by the 4 lanes of traffic plus motorcycles all moving like bats out of Hell in the busy street. I promised him that if I fell, I would arrange to fall INTO the buildings, NOT into the street…
I don’t feel pressured to go out by myself. I just don’t want to let my natural cautiousness curb my ability to enjoy going a few places on my own.
This is a gazing ball that I refurbished when the metallic surface had deteriorated from years of sitting in the sun and weather in our birdbath. I just tried for a free-form autumn theme. When I finished and put it out in the birdbath, the birds made me smile, flocking around it as if they were giving me their approval. 😊
We didn’t have any have-to errands today, but Brian texted me awhile ago, asking if I wanted to go for cash and chocolate. I get cash each week so I can pay for my massage and my housekeeper on Fridays. We enjoyed our chocolate ‘fix’ and then stopped in at a craft store I saw out of the corner of my eye a few days ago. The lady was really talented. I particularly liked one piece that looked like stained glass. There was another craft store right next door to this one, but it was closed. We’ll check that one out another time.
I’m flirting with the idea of taking some time one afternoon when we don’t have anything scheduled and going out by myself and taking a walk. This is a bit daunting since 1) this is still a very foreign country where I don’t speak the language, 2) my hearing is impaired and I have to be especially careful about traffic, and 3) I am geographically challenged, able to get lost in a box in the middle of my living room if you turn me around three times fast. (That’s a BIT of an exaggeration, but not much. I’m pathetic.
I don’t want to be afraid to go out by myself, particularly if I don’t go far from home and don’t have to cross busy streets. I talked to Brian about the idea today while we were out. I can see that the idea makes him really nervous, so I’ll move into this slowly. I’ll keep my outings at first where I don’t have to cross any streets (streets here are a challenge because there are at LEAST 4 lanes of cars plus more motorcycles than you can imagine darting in and out of the lanes. People go to the hospital all the time because they make mistakes trying to cross, or actually lose their lives.) I have promised Brian I’ll text him when I leave, tell him where I’m going, and text him when I get back to my condo. Baby steps.
As we were out walking this morning, Brian pointed up into this tree. At first I was distracted by all the incredibly lush leaves. Then I noticed the beautiful pink blossom. And THEN I noticed the bunch of bananas! I guess I never thought about bananas. I knew they grew in bunches, of course, but I hadn’t gone beyond that. These are the small bananas grown here, rather than the giant ones we had in the states. Sad to say, for many reasons I don’t eat bananas anymore, but I can sure appreciate seeing them grow!
Our gym was without power today so we found a park to wander around in. There were lots of people walking, jogging, or just strolling, so we had a lot of company. It was getting ready to rain, so it was cooling off some, a thing I really appreciated. The last time we visited this pretty place, I had to stop and rest several times. This time, I didn’t need to stop at all, so I must be making progress in my exercise efforts.😁
We just got home from visiting my husband at the nursing home. He was more alert than last time, but was spouting a bunch of stuff about needing to get to the airport to go back to Tulsa. (This is from around 50 years ago.) He DID look at me and say he was grateful we came to visit and that he loved me. He also said “I’m sorry I’m a mess,” and I almost lost it right there.
We brought him this wooden cube toy today. He showed some interest in it at first and we thought it might give him something fun to do with his hands. We said our goodbyes and were waiting for our Grab ride when his nurse came out and said he was calling for us. We hurried back to his room. Apparently he wanted us to take the cube home with us. We almost missed our ride, and we’re not sure what was going on there. I have it back on my shelf and we’ll try it again later. We have more toys on the way we hope he’ll like.
We had 3 minutes or so of real communication in the over an hour we spent there, but I live for those moments now.
Two of my latest drawings/paintings. I’m having a lot of fun trying to draw fun pictures I see on the net.
I’m slow, but I’m having fun trying to work this jigsaw puzzle. I am determined that before I croak I will finish it and post it on the blog. My son has said I won’t finish it, in effect daring me to give up. 🤪😜
It has been raining off and on all day. I didn’t have a lot of laundry this morning, so I’m just trying to finish a few things up, moving them back and forth between my rack on the balcony and hanging from various places inside. I must be adapting at least a little to the weather here. I fell asleep this morning before we were due to leave to go visit Harvey. I woke as if someone had nudged me, went out to the balcony, brought my few things inside, and then the rain started as soon as I shut the balcony door.
I hope that you are finding some fun things to do today.
This is my new haircut. It feels good and is super easy to care for, with my just having to blow it dry when I shower each morning.
I’m having a quiet day today. I walked a little over a mile on the treadmill using my new ‘slow-then-fast-for-me’ walking method. (Japanese Walking). I’ve been doing this for a couple of weeks now. The video says that this method is much more effective for health than the ‘set-the-speed-and-walk-for-30-minutes’ method I was using before. It sure keeps me more ‘engaged’. I’m walking for a slow speed for 2 minutes, then fast-for-me for 3 minutes in 5 minute increments over and over for the 30 minutes, so I have a slow speed to warm up and one to cool down at the end.
Today is a quiet day for us, with nothing we HAVE to do, so Brian and I ate breakfast and talked a bit, and will meet again for dinner this evening. Otherwise, we are free to do what we want. Brian will work and I will play. I feel a bit guilty about that – but, having worked all my life starting with summer jobs at 14, I feel I that embracing my fun and sloth is a wonderful thing.
I’m working on painting some sketches I started recently. I’m also making progress (in fits and starts) on my owls puzzle. Sometimes I think I won’t live long enough to finish this one, which is truly challenging. You can’t tell what part you’re working on, even after studying the picture. I’m looking forward to the day when I can display the finished puzzle for you!😋
I’m exercising with Mike, from More Life Health on my computer. He gears his workouts on various parts of the body so that you can choose what you feel you’re missing from your other exercising, geared to seniors. I do one of his workouts several times each week. No special equipment needed and the site is free.
I’m reading a good book on my Kindle; enjoying finding things I think are great on the computer; writing blog posts I hope you’ll enjoy; doing my yoga stretches and other new exercises; and more. The biggest problem is deciding what I want to do when!
I hope you are finding things that give you joy in your day.
creativeartworksblog 