“Aria Among the Trees” – AnnaB – @bvornforart.bsky.social
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Sorry about not posting yesterday. I was under the weather and slept most of the day, plus all night. I feel much better now. Since my digestion has been an issue, I’m going back to a mostly low carb diet for a bit and see if that does the trick.
We will leave soon to go visit my husband at the nursing home. True to “Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives” (sometimes aka “Murphy’s Law”) I go to VISIT him and he either doesn’t remember me or doesn’t have anything to say to me. Yesterday the staff sent Brian a video of Harvey saying, “I already miss her” when apparently told we were having to delay our visit to today because I wasn’t feeling well.
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I didn’t work on anything at all yesterday, so have no paintings to show you. Hopefully, I can finish some I’m working on and show them tomorrow.
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Good to be “back” and hope all of you are feeling sassy.
“Shaped over time by rivers, waves, currents, and winds, [driftwood gives] us a glimpse into the connection of past and present. It’s all here; Wood and Water, forest and Sea, life and transformation.” – Adrift Collection
Doris Brixham
“Driftwood, as the part of this symbol that has survived the sea, becomes a sign of transformation and rebirth.” – AnnFossa
Doris Brixham
“I take walks on the beaches and gather items that speak to me, eventually turning them into art.” – Deb Birkam
Drawing totally in charcoal. This artist is fabulous, isn’t he?
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2nd try at the elegant lady in the white dress. It still isn’t what I had in my mind, but it’s the best I can do right now.
This is the other one I finished yesterday.
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Brian and I just finished taking my laundry. On the way, I stopped and visited my Koi fish! I could stay there for half the day. It’s so calm and restful there. The fish are so well taken care of. Today the aeration had been increased and I think some of the fish were larger, if that can be believed. I’m not exaggerating when I say that some of them are right at 2 feet long. We continued our walk to go around the long way. The weather was perfect for this.
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One of the issues I had on leaving the hospital a year ago in February was that I had a fairly significant hearing loss. I ended up with a realing nice set of hearing aids called the Oticon Intent 3 miniRITE. They are wonderful, easy to clean, and rechargeable.
The last few days, though, the right one has been acting up – or, to be more specific, isn’t working. The battery shows it’s fully charged, so I’m not sure what the deal is. Brian is trying to get me an appointment to see the people at the place where we purchased these to see if they can help. I’m functional, but it would be nice to be able to hear out of both ears again.
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When I finish my posts, I’m going to do my yoga stretches and then practice my guitar. I’ve also promised myself to do a bunch of reading in-between sessions working on my puzzle. I’m hoping our glass print of the cheetah puzzle will arrive soon. I will probably spend some time at the cafe this afternoon. Just a nice, relaxed, nice day.
As most of you know, two weeks after my husband and I moved to Thailand to retire and live close to our son my husband fell and had a stroke. He spent a month in the hospital and then was transferred to a nursing home where he now resides.
He is bedridden and quite frail. He eats through a nasal feeding tube, though can eat a bit with supervision to guard against choking or aspiration into his lungs. His brain suffered a lot of damage during the stroke and following surgeries.
My son and I visit twice a week. We want him to know he is loved, make sure he is as comfortable as possible, and that he’s getting the 24 hour care he needs. On our visits we start where he is that day and just go with the flow, trying to brighten his day a bit.
Most of the time he knows who we are. He lives in a fantasy world, not able to discriminate between what he sees on TV and what is real. Otherwise he lives in a world about 40 years or so ago. Tuesday as I left, I told him I loved him as I hugged him as I always do. He said, “You must, to put up with me.”
A few nights ago I woke up to realize that I had been writing him a letter in a dream. Those thoughts continued, since I was unable to go back to sleep. I finally decided to write them down. I wanted him to remember who he is.
He will never see it. I tell him parts of it whenever we visit. I show him how I feel. But the writing of it helped me and I’m sharing it with you today.
This lady is such a talented sculptor. I’m in awe of her work.
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This is the newest addition to Harvey’s “Happy Wall” at the nursing home. He seemed pleased with it, though didn’t remember that we cut this out of sheet metal, making a mailbox decoration. He said once that he likes waking up to the pictures on his wall, so I’m trying to make sure that I take additions to it on a regular basis. The next one will be Saturday, when I take him our 57th wedding anniversary painting.
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Yesterday the workmen finished cleaning up the porch area that is being redone at the cafe we like. They then spent the day spreading cement, patiently waiting for an area to be ready for another smoothing. They were still there, finishing up, cleaning up after the cement work, at about 6:30 last night. I don’t know what happens next.
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I’m working on several sketches at once. I’m doing the base painting on some, plus some more thank you cards today. I’ll post one of them later today in one of my posts.
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I’m making a bit of progress – both on memorizing more chords, plus making a better sound – when I practice on the guitar the past couple of days. Still agonizingly slow, and my fingertips still complain vigorously after just a few minutes, but the progress IS there. The voice still sounds like a sick frog, but I’m the only one here to complain… 🤣🎸🎵
We went to visit Harvey this morning. He was almost totally unresponsive, seeming tired, though not uncomfortable. He liked the headless snowman I brought him for his wall – another one of pictures of mailbox decorations we made out of sheet metal in Arkansas.
The only other thing he said was that I ‘had thrown him into the lake off the dock at Tate’ (Tate Mountain, Georgia) one summer. I don’t remember it, but if I did, he deserved it.
Last night I woke up from dreaming that I was writing a letter to him. I continued writing it in my mind as I remained sleepless. I’ve decided to write that letter in my sketchbook.
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We are indeed entering the rainy season here. It was cloudy this morning, but I went ahead and got my laundry out on the drying rack on the balcony. On the way back from the nursing home the skies opened up and it POURED to the point it was hard for our GRAB driver to see or get around. Then, as suddenly as it started, the faucet was turned off and the rain stopped. By the time we got to the chocolate place, it was as if it hadn’t rained at all. We’ve been to the gym, the nursing home and the chocolate place today and haven’t gotten wet at all.
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We’ll go to the cafe after a while for Brian to work and me to sketch. Hopefully, our luck with the weather will hold.
There were workmen redoing the stones on the front porch at the cafe. They had a pry bar, a drill, and a hammer, and managed, somehow to get all the heavy stones up and moved. They continued breaking up the rocks until they could put the pieces in a gazillion sacks. They then rested and waited for a pick up truck. They loaded all the sacks into the back of the truck and then covered whatever they were going to put down with tarps to protect the material from the rain. All in one day. I only saw 3 men. Today there is a crew putting down whatever the new stuff will be. I know it will look great, but I really liked the old, worn, broken stonework…
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Brian just texted me that there was a parcel outside my door. He had encouraged me to find some books at an online book store. I chose two Nora Roberts books I’ve probably read, but didn’t recognize, plus a book called, “Just Draw It!” The Dynamic Drawing Course for Anyone with a Pencil and Paper.
Wheee! I need all the help I can get, so I’m thrilled to get this one. Added bonus – the books were wrapped in bubble wrap, so guess what this old lady will enjoy doing this evening…
These images were all gathered on Pinterest. Some were given credits, but most were not. We can just smile and enjoy them. I love the creativity shown in these. I can’t imagine children not being drawn to them.
Matt Dixon likes to make pictures of robots. He’s also a freelance illustrator and concept artist. since 2007, providing illustration and concept design for print and digital media. He has created a line of “robot life’ called “Transmissions” as a personal sideline. He offers originals drawings, premium prints, books, and greeting cards on his website MattDixon.com. He writes a newsletter for which you can sign up that tells you the latest.
Mr. Natural – @neilmathestonb66.bsky.social – Diane Leonard
I’m in awe of the person who painted this. The light here is magnificent, just glowing – through the air, bouncing off the girls’ clothing, showing in the reflection in the water!
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I’m just back from my massage, feeling loose as a goose and smiling. Khun Weaw, my massage therapist, is getting better and better at zeroing in on different ways to reach the areas where I tense up the most – and then fixing them for me. There is no way to thank her enough.
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Brian and I are at my place, doing this and that until it’s time for us to get out of the way so Khun Nong’s sister can clean my place. I’m hoping that I can write the posts I have planned before we need to vacate.
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My new puzzle “Beach Cats” was delivered yesterday, so I told Brian I had finished the “Rooster Runway” puzzle. He took a picture of it and sent it off yesterday for a glass print to be made. We haven’t received the glass print of the Cheetah yet, so he’s looking down his nose at me, saying I picked a puzzle that was too easy and didn’t take me long enough. It’s true – the Rooster one went fast, but I choose based on the picture and how I’ll feel while I’m trying to put it together, so Brian will just have to “deal.” (Actually, he’s being wonderful about my new past time.)
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Brian has decided that we should have a “snack” on Fridays when we’re both here at my place before going to the cafe. He usually orders it from the same place – the place that makes the to-die-for ‘creme brulee’s or whatever they are that we love and we are enjoying a lemonade with that. Today we opened the delivery bag to find this nice note and the sweet little drawstring bag as a ‘thank you.’ Isn’t that amazing?
Matt Dixon likes to make pictures of robots. He’s also a freelance illustrator and concept artist. since 2007, providing illustration and concept design for print and digital media. He has created a line of “robot life’ called “Transmissions” as a personal sideline. He offers originals drawings, premium prints, books, and greeting cards on his website MattDixon.com. He writes a newsletter for which you can sign up that tells you the latest.
I’ve been following Matt’s work for years, signing up for his newsletter, drooling over drawings of the whole world of robots he has created. It amazed me at first that he could evoke emotion with a drawing of a robot, but he manages to infuse feelings in each of his creations. Amazing.
Shout-Out to my SIL who is having a birthday. (I’m celebrating today because it’s the 4th here, but she won’t be celebrating until tomorrow because of the time difference. Please join me in wishing ML a very happy celebration whenever she has it!!!! 🥳
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Adobe Stock
I’m not really feeling THAT bad, I AM having to stick close to my place again today, drinking lots of fluids plus Gatorade, taking meds, eating very carefully with Brian, and getting lots of naps off and on. I wish we knew what it was we ate, but we don’t. We have a HINT that it MIGHT have been a chicken and rice and sauce dish that was really good…
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This is the latest painted sketch I finished yesterday.
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I’m working on two sketches now – one of a woman caressing a cat, and the other – hopefully – a more successful sketch of the elegant woman in the flowing dress. We’ll see. Fingers crossed. 🤞
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Meanwhile, I’m using whatever energy I have to try to get ready for my housekeeper’s sister to come clean tomorrow – I’ve changed the sheets, gotten out fresh towels, gathered trash.
I’m grinning as I type this. I looked up, “Broken Record” to find a picture, and found it described as a “round vehicle used for listening to music.” Do I feel old or what????
To add insult to injury, I was looking up the phrase to apologize for once again having to tell you I’m having a relapse of my digestion problem from a couple of days ago, sticking to home and ‘facilities’ today. UGH. So I’m not feeling well and feeling OLD, to boot – and that makes me think probably my phrases “to add insult to injury” and “to boot” are older than dirt, as well. My reaction to all this is that I’m delighted to be alive to BE ill and to spout old-time phrases that many of you are probably too young to understand.
Vecteezy
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One good (or bad) thing – depending on who’s looking at it – is that I just finished my “Rooster Runway “jigsaw puzzle. (This is one of the things that happens when I’m sick.) I know Brian will be THRILLED to have to come take another photo and order a glass print of it. (We haven’t received the print of the Cheetah yet and he’ll already be ordering another. )
This is the puzzle that is on its way. I laughed aloud when I found this one – particularly when I saw the cat upended in the bucket.
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I have a sketch to paint today and another couple of ideas for more bouncing around. My guitar is calling to me, and – on a more practical note, I have some laundry to do and some jewelry to clean…
“Autumns Past” – Paul Willson – @pauljwillson.bsky.social
I LOVE the light in this photo!
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I am in the land of the living again, I think. I feel MUCH better this morning and went to the gym as usual. I even walked without holding on to the handlebars! Whee! Unless either of us have problems this morning, Brian and I are planning to go visit Harvey this morning.
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These are the last painted thank you cards, and then my interpretation of an alterations lady who has her entire shop on a three-wheeled bicycle so that she can stop anywhere, and repair or alter something as you wait. (This sewing machine looks very smiliar to one my mom had when we first moved to Tulsa OK in the 50’s. Hers was pedal-powered, and she was able to do incredibly fine work on it for years before she finally replaced it with a Pfaff.) I’m not sure of all of the details on this one, except that it’s belt-driven. The creativity and can-do attitude of the Thai people really impresses me.
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Two days ago a man and a young boy came into the cafe and asked if I would take a 3-minute interview to be conducted by the young man as part of an assignment for his learning-English class. The man was the instructor and the boy was in 5th grade primary somewhere local.
The questions were general, and the boy stumbled a bit over the more challenging words, but he certainly did better in English than I would have in Thai. I told him at the end that I thought he did a wonderful job, and his face simply lit up the room with his smile.
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I’ve been practicing my guitar tuning and chords daily (except when I was sick). Things are coming along slowly, but I WILL get it. I’m also making really good progess with my roosters jigsaw puzzle. I’m going to look into order the next one today.
I started off the new month here with a bang by reacting to something we ate last night (I guess). I opted out of the gym and am just now feeling pretty good – particularly after taking a lengthy nap. We ate a Thai dish last night, and I must have been reacting to some spice they used. Brian has been really careful to shield me from too spicy food here, but we’re consciously trying to branch out a bit now, since we ARE in Thailand…
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This is the birthday painting I did for a friend yesterday. He was pleased, so I was relieved and happy.
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I will make this a super quiet day today. I’ll probably head over to the cafe in awhile – just for a break in my day – and a delicious iced mocha. I want to finish some sketches I started yesterday.
I wish you a happy month. Hopefully Mother Nature will decide to give everyone a break and give us all some weather we can wrap our arms around.
GETTING THE LARD OFF PROGRESS REPORT – to date, I’m down 94 lbs and almost 92 inches from my heaviest and widest. I’m finally to my goal weight. I’m 5’4″ and shrinking and I this morning I weighed 111. I’m trying to stay in a 3 pound range of 110 now, monitoring my various ‘numbers’, watching my portions, and making changes as needed to stay here.
My biggest challenge is to undo the damage being in the hospital and dying twice a year ago did to me. It’s amazing how much that messes you up. Trust me, you don’t want to do it. I had significant hearing loss with accompanying balance issues plus I have the normal getting older issues of stamina, flexibility, strength, etc. I am working on getting back into my regimen after having the ‘cold from Hell’ for over a week.
Brian and I got to the gym this morning. I walked my mile, but I didn’t feel steady enough to do it without holding on to the handlebars of the treadmill. I will give it a better try tomorrow.
This afternoon I will do my water bottle exercises for the first time in a week. I may do a shortened version, but I WILL get back into my routine!
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I had ‘firsts’ yesterday and today on my art! Yesterday I was sitting at a table on the side of the cafe. All of a sudden there was a tapping on the glass beside me. A muslim woman (I’m assuming that, as she was dressed head to toe in grey dress, head covering, etc.) Her face was not covered, however. She had a huge smile on her face and pointed to the bird I was sketching (above.) She made a thumbs up gesture and smiled again. Then she pointed to her camera. I said ‘yes’ and she took a picture. Made the thumbs up gesture again and left. I walked 3 inches off the ground the rest of the day.
Today I had a long time Internet friend ask me for a favor. He wanted me to make a birthday painting for a friend of his who is getting married. His wife to be is having a birthday on the 3rd, and he asked my friend was who did the drawings he had been shown. Long story short, I just did the base painting on a birthday painting and will finish up details at the cafe this afternoon so I can send it to my friend today. 😁
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Yesterday we visited my husband. He was alert and glad we came. He was drinking the tiny bottle of good-for-the-digestion stuff we bring him. All of a sudden he stopped, looked at me and said, “You’re wonderful.” That’s it. He went back to drinking. And I sat there, having melted into a puddle for seeing my husband for a few seconds. Otherwise, he was mentally back over 40 years ago when we visited a place called Tate Mountain in North Georgia. He wanted his notebook and I gave him a pen. He wanted to try to draw a diagram of the layout of the place. He was quite engrossed. Though his hand shook, we were able to calm the tremors by merely putting our hand over his for a few seconds and he would continue. The finished drawing wasn’t meaningful, and his mumbling about dams and bedrooms didn’t make much sense, but this is the definition of a good visit now.
David M. Bird creates “Becorns” – acorn critters that are very active in our world. He then puts them in situations where he takes exquisite photos, making them transcend being cute “critters” and become works of art. His website is DavidMBird.com
I just can’t say enough about this man’s talent. I wish I could afford to buy a packet of his cards for each of my friends so we could all enjoy his work personally. Fortunately, we can visit his website and see what he is doing!
Brian wasn’t feeling well this morning, so we didn’t go to the gym. Just as well – not that he wasn’t feeling well – but we had a pretty large storm just as we would have been outside trying to get to the gym. With the way it was pouring, with lots of close lightning and thunder, it would have been hard to collect ourselves to concentrate on walking on the treadmill when we got there.
The rain has stopped, so I have some laundry out drying (I hope) on my drying rack on my tiny balcony. We are planning to go visit Harvey at the nursing home this morning, if Brian’s stomach feels settled. He’ll let me know in a while if he wants to go and when.
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Happily enough, my windows were wonderful! No leaks! This definitely would have been a “bucket and towel brigade” night and morning. Brian is going to check some ‘channels’ the builders installed on the outside of the building around each of the condos to make sure they are running freely and taking care of any excess water. (He used a straw on one of his, blowing some debris out of one of his channels this morning.) I will watch carefully to see where mine are.
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Here is my latest painted sketch. I’m not happy with this. Because of my meager drawing skills, I have very little idea of perspective. In my mind’s eye, she is taller, quite slim, with the gauzy dress and hat billowing in the breeze as she walks past.
The thing that caught my eye in particular, other than her elegance in the middle of all the activity on the street, was that she was on her cell phone. The juxtaposition of the “Gone With the Wind” type dress and hat with the modern cell phone intrigued me.
I will probably try this again, trying to figure out a different way to do her justice.
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I also sketched out 4 thank you cards. I have them base painted now, along with another larger sketch, but I need to finish the details.
David M. Bird creates “Becorns” – acorn critters that are very active in our world. He then puts them in situations where he takes exquisite photos, making them transcend being cute “critters” and become works of art. His website is DavidMBird.com
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