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!
Time to ourselves is a luxury few can manage for most of our lives. We have SO many demands on our time – chores to do, people to see, a house to run, children to supervise and love, spouses asking for our help and companionship, have to’s, and more. The time just whizzes past our heads and we just try to keep our heads above water, doing the best we can.
I never thought I would ‘retire.’ My lifestyle was such that even when I managed to work from home, I was so busy just doing the basics that my hair was blowing in the wind of time whizzing past again. We had a good life, but we couldn’t afford to have someone come and help with cleaning or yard work, workmen to repair things, etc. I saw myself just continuing swimming as fast as I could until I dropped. I wasn’t unhappy, just kind of resigned to my reality.
When my husband and I both got so ill we couldn’t manage, our son came from Thailand, cared for us, helped us make the decision to sell what we owned and move to Thailand to be with him, then helped us get set up here. When my husband had a stroke, we managed to find a caring nursing home so we can visit him several times each week. I’m living by myself in the condo that we thought we would share.
I have to tell you that retirement is great. I have so many wonderful things I want to do that are only limited by time and my energy. Each day I wake up, actually looking forward to going to the gym. Our son and I go interesting places or take care of errands, share meals. I now have a person who not only comes weekly to keep my place spotless, she also brings me flowers now and then! I get a massage weekly, too, and that is a luxury beyond price.
I have found a man who does a great job of keeping my hair looking civilized, and I go every couple of months to get a mani/pedi. I had never had this luxury, either, and I just love figuring out what color I’ll have each time. 😀
I have the time and quiet to read. I am downloading books onto my Kindle and can take that anywhere we’ll have to wait a long time, or just enjoy sprawling on my couch and enjoying someone else’s world for a while.
I love finding and sharing things with my friends who find my blog interesting.
I’m enjoying trying to learn to draw. The challenge of trying to draw what I see and then the fun of painting the sketches grounds me. I’m challenged and having fun like a kid at the same time.
I’m working on a jigsaw puzzle that is the best kind of frustration. 😜 I have headphones so I can listen to music, or even take an afternoon and watch a movie! I’m gearing up to start taking walks in my neighborhood.
I can choose to do whatever I would like (within reason – I AM in a new country and am learning every day about how things are done here.)
I relish having time to myself – whether it’s an afternoon, or most of a day and evening. I just grin like a nut and choose what I want to do next…
We enjoyed dinner with my adoptive family and other friends last night. Lots of good food, people with their kids, conversation and laughter, and even some hugs.
My adoptive grandson is starting to warm up to me now. I gave him another of the dinosaur pics I drew and painted for him and he was happy. Brian played with all the children there during the evening. Everyone made me feel very welcome, feeling like a warm, smiling group hug.
My hearing aids are wonderful. The first time I met these people I couldn’t understand much of was said in the group, and only understood when it was one on one with me straining to read lips. This time I could hear most everything, so my pleasure ballooned. 🤗
I enjoyed several foods I hadn’t tried before – even some that were a bit spicy – and they ALL were really tasty.
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.
I love this. Not only do I love the art work, I love the FEELING that surrounds me when I look at it. Peace, quiet, serenity, calm. Happy thoughts, good coffee, gathering pretty flowers, taking time to be thankful for it all….
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I am getting more used to “The Rainy Season” here in Chiang Mai.
“The rainy season in Chiang Mai generally lasts from May to October, with the heaviest rainfall typically occurring in August and September. While it is called the “rainy season,” the weather is not constantly wet; rather, it consists of short, heavy bursts of rain, often in the afternoon or evening.”
This rainy season has meant, many times, that if it doesn’t rain on us when we go out, it rains on us when we come back. I’m used to always carrying my umbrella and rain suit to be as prepared as possible.
THIS particular rainy season has meant the challenge of staying at the ready in my condo with bucket and towels to sop up water coming inside my leaking windows when the rain storm is very hard. This has happened only twice badly since I’ve been here, but the season has two more months to go before I can breathe a sigh of relief.
My son contacted the handyman who said that LOTS of work other than painting will happen soon, like resealing leaky windows! We’re are looking into the possibility of being able to add some type of canopies above our windows to be installed along with the resealing. This combination would make the NEXT rainy season a lot easier. 😁
You might question my sanity, in that I check the weather app on my phone sometimes more than once a day in order to find out what to expect. Like the U.S., the weather forecasts sometimes seem a suggestion or wish, rather than something on which you can rely. For example, the ‘heavy rain all day’ forecast here for today (causing me to hang my laundry INSIDE) was correct part of the morning, but the sun is shining brightly now, with no sign that will change any time soon…
Labor Day “honors the contributions of labor movements that fought for better working conditions, fair wages, and reasonable hours. The holiday was born out of a time of immense industrial change and often-harsh working environments in the late 19th century.”
As with a lot of holidays in the United States, people lose sight of the meaning of the holiday – just enjoy having the day off from work, a day to play, have a gathering with good food, games, and more. Children who have started school for the year cheer about a day off.
Labor Day weekend has become larger and larger over the years, with parades, craft fairs, organized sports games, concerts, and more.
Whatever your form of celebration, I hope that you have enjoyed a fabulous weekend and that you will enjoy your Monday off.
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A personal memory – My dad loved to say that he thought it was quite ‘appropriate’ that he was actually born on Labor Day, September 6th, 1918.
I think this is great advice. I’ve wasted a lot of my life. When I was 14 and in love with the man I would marry 9 years later and share over 56 years with, I counted off the days until I would see him again – practically holding my breath until his next leave from the Marine Corps. Then he finally got out of the Marine Corp, but we attended different colleges, so it was marking off days again until the time we could make to be together.
After the waiting and marking off days portion of my life finally ended, my goals of getting my teaching degree, and then a Master’s Degree, and then my first teaching job, and then starting my own reading clinic overshadowed my day to day life.
We finally had our son, and then our daughter and our life was complete – only to be shattered two months after our daughter was born – when she died of SIDS. We eventually found the strength to go on, devoting ourselves to our son and each other.
I got regular jobs so that I was contributing to our income, starting two career moves – working as a medical transcriptionist/bookkeeper for a busy 8-general surgeon portion of a large clinic in Fort Smith where Harvey had accepted a job. During this time, my son designed a website for me to display and try to sell my artwork. I discovered that I could include the work of other artists for only the cost of my time, so I ended up with a website, “Creative Artworks,” which displayed and sold the work of 100 people. I ran this for 17 years, finally shutting it down because too many of the artists didn’t share the values and work ethic I did, and the reputation of the website is a collective thing. If one person didn’t keep up his/her part and stand behind their work, we all suffered.
I transferred my own work to Etsy, concentrating on learning new forms of art, such as woodburning, glass etching, painting fabric products, using different techniques, materials, etc. It was a fun time.
Then Harvey and I got sick, Brian came from Thailand to help, we sold everything we had in the states and moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand, ready to retire, try to adapt to our new lives, relax and enjoy living under much less stress. Two weeks after we arrived, my husband fell, had his stroke, and is now in a nursing home. I am living in a condo by myself in the same condo building as our son.
Minutiae of ‘life’ – its obligations, the busy-ness of it all, the endless chores at home after working full time, keeping up the house and yard, etc. eat up the time and days/weeks/months/years pass in a blur. Things change and life isn’t what you planned.
The advice at the top of this is to ‘be present.’ Live in the moment. Notice all the wonderful things around you. How precious life is. How precious good health is. How wonderful your friends are. How many good things are happening and how grateful you should be.
You can only be present if you have your health. That’s one of the reasons why I am making exercise, eating healthy food, losing the lard, correcting the things I can a priority.
Happiness isn’t given to you. It comes from inside you. It’s a combination of attitude and gratitude – if you’ll pardon the rhyme. When my mother-in-law moved with her husband to a retirement facility in Tulsa years ago, I asked her how she was feeling about it. She said she would love it. When I probed further, she said she would make new friends, discover new interests, and make it her home. And she did. I have always admired her for that, and I’m trying to emulate that now.
If you live in the moment, being grateful for all you have, determined to let happiness well up from deep inside you, spilling out in all directions, your ‘path’ writes itself. Everything about this gives you the confidence you need to pursue life at its fullest. And the grin that splits your face tells everyone that you have ‘the secret…’
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!
“Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower.”– John Harrigan
@Miya1156.bsky.social
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”– Frances Hodgson Burnett
@ioneblue.bsky.social
“I’d rather wear flowers in my hair, than diamonds around my neck.”– Unknown
@Rina2012.bsky.social
“The smallest flower is a thought, a life answering to some feature of the Great Whole, of whom they have a persistent intuition.”– Honore de Balzac
“Backlit” – Joe Giordano – @xtjoe.bsky.social
“A flower’s appeal is in its contradictions — so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect.”– Terri Guillemets
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….) 🤣
My reaction to this is almost embarrassing. It simply filled me up. My juices started flowing, and I felt joy in every part of me. I’m going to save this because I will try from time to time to use my watercolors to attempt to get a small part of this effect. I know I will never reach it, but, WOW.
“I’m a self taught artist, with a particular interest in wildlife art, and canine portraits. Pastel pencils and soft pastels being my favourite mediums to use.”
I can’t say enough about Paul Miller’s art. You can see more on X – @Paulmillerart
Dealing with banks in Thailand is an interesting challenge.
When I first moved here, I couldn’t open a bank account at all. I needed to have lived here for 3 months and obtained a ‘Retirement Visa’.
Once you HAVE that, each bank has different requirements. They ALL require my retirement visa stamp on my passport, but then they vary all over the place.
Proof of residence, title, deed, driver’s license, social security number from the U.S., is just the beginning.
It’s truly amazing to me that what will obtain an account at one institution isn’t acceptable at another. The amount of paperwork is amazing, as well. It’s almost as much as we needed to buy our house 40 years ago…
Thank GOODNESS Brian goes with me, speaking Thai, answering questions, translating, telling me what I need to do next, bringing paperwork, etc.
13. Murphy’s Law of Lockers – If there are only 2 people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.
14. Law of Physical Surfaces – The chances of an open-faced jam sandwich landing face down on a floor, are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.
15. Law of Logical Argument – Anything is possible if you don’t know what you are talking about.
16. Brown’s Law of Physical Appearance – If the clothes fit, they’re ugly.
17. Oliver’s Law of Public Speaking – A closed mouth gathers no feet.
18. Wilson’s Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy -As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it.
19. Doctors’ Law – If you don’t feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you’ll feel better… But don’t make an appointment, and you’ll stay sick. This has been proven over and over with taking children to the pediatrician.
About an hour ago, the sky turned really dark and the rain came down HARD. It pelted my windows so hard I thought it must be hail, but I couldn’t see any when I looked out. I DID see completely flooded streets – water rushing by like a river – with cars and motorcyclists (poor people!) at a standstill.
Since then, I’ve been mopping up water in my place. It filled up the window sills on the inside and spilled over and down the walls. The floor had some standing water and the bottom side of the rug was soaked.
I think most of it is under control now. I got towels and sopped up water on the window sills, wiped down the walls as best I could, soaked up the water on the floor, and now have two portable fans on high aimed at the floor and the rug bottom.
I can only imagine what kind of flooding people at street level had. I feel sorry for the shopkeepers and people who live at street level who must be trying to do what they can to contain the damage.
This IS the ‘rainy season’ in Thailand. It’s supposed to continue until around the first of November…
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!
7. Law of the Bath – When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.
8. Law of Close Encounters – The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with.
9. Law of the Result – When you try to prove to someone that a machine won’t work, it will.
10. Law of Biomechanics – The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
11.. Law of the Theater & Hockey Arena – At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The aisle people also are very surly folk.
12. The Coffee Law – As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.
creativeartworksblog 