Tag Archives: Harvey’s Happy wall

June 6, 2026 · 1:14 am

Saturday 6-6-2026

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…

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May 11, 2026 · 9:17 pm

Tuesday 5-12-2026

I painted these for Harvey’s “Happy Wall.” I’ll give him the “Tasmanian Devil” a week from Saturday, spacing these out, hoping he enjoys adding them to his wall.

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We will go visit him today. Nothing special is going on this week, but NEXT week we have to get his thumbprint on about 20 pages and pictures of him in the bed to apply for another renewal of his medical visa. We have a lady who helps us, so we are just go-fers on this, thank goodness. It would still seem obvious that Harvey isn’t going anywhere soon, and you would think they would have different KINDS of medical visas, but we will do whatever we need to do to keep things legal.

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Yesterday at the cafe I had the nicest thing happen! The lady that I told you brought me the fresh Thai bananas recently came in. We smiled and I motioned her over, telling her how wonderful I thought the bananas were and how much Brian and I enjoyed them. I then gave her a thank you card I had painted. She looked at it, teared up, and hugged it close to her. Then got up and hugged ME. It turns out that she speaks pretty good English (!) and she said she had wanted to see my art work but was afraid of ‘disturbing me.’ (Can you imagine that?) Anyway, I told her I would be happy for her to look through my old sketchbook, and that I would start bringing it in my art bag in case she had the time to look. The Thai people are SO kind!

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May 8, 2026 · 9:12 pm

Saturday 5-9-2026

I just finished a very short session of trying to learn and get my guitar sounds to sound clear. I remembered that I thought I had a picture of a drawing a friend of my family growing up drew when he and his wife came to see me perform at “The Dust Bowl” in Tulsa, OK when I was starting high school and continuing through college. The date hanging from my foot says, November 2, 1964, so this was in the dark ages. The next summer I would meet and fall in love with my Harvey and he would soon join the Marines for the next 4 years.

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We will leave soon to go visit Harvey. I have “Mr. Natural” ready to take to him and put up on his “Happy Wall.” It would be nice to get a smile, but we’ll meet him where he is and try to brighten his day a bit. We’ll probably stop for chocolate on the way home, regroup, and then spend some time at the cafe.

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Brian opted out on the gym because he’s still coughing hard. Hopefully, in another couple of days we’ll both feel like resuming our normal early morning schedule. He did find some cough medicine that seems to be loosening his cough and helping him get rid of the problem.

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dontgiveupworld.com via QuotesGram

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April 4, 2026 · 2:36 am

Saturday 4-4-2026

CeCe – @cece14.bsky.social

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We went to visit Harvey today. I put the Easter Bunny up on “Harvey’s Happy Wall” to remind him that we love him and think of him whether we are there with him or not.

He was a bit down today, but mostly made sense. We texted the manager after we left that Harvey was upset at all the sticking of his fingers for blood sugar tests. When we were in Arkansas we tested our blood twice a week because Harvey had diabetes (Type II) though he wouldn’t admit it, and I was pre-diabetic. He would have to stick his fingers two or three times because we couldn’t get enough blood to do the test. We had to tell the manager today that he was threatening to hurt the next person who tried to ‘torture’ him. She agreed to change the monitoring to once a week. Fingers crossed. Brian ordered French fries to be delivered this afternoon. We told him so he would have something to look forward to. Brian and I stopped for chocolate on the way home.

Update: the nursing home just sent Brian a video of Harvey enjoying his French fries. From his plate, it looks like the store sent him a note and a cookie extra. 😁

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Yesterday we spent much of the afternoon at the cafe to stay out of Khun Nong’s (my housekeeper’s ) way while she cleaned. I lucked out and got my preferred seat at the cafe by the front window. When my favorite server brought my mocha, I pointed to my art backpack – with the pouch he gave me for Christmas hanging from the clip on one side. I have used the pouch ever since he gave it to me, but he may not have noticed it lying beside the table. Anyway, his face lit up like a torch. He rushed away, then came back, wanting me to read something on is phone. It said, “I’m glad you liked the gift, Auntie!” and we smiled and bowed to each other. A really happy time for both of us.

While at the cafe, I took some photos that will help me with the new street sketch I want to try. This next one I want to emphasize the electrical system of power lines they have here. As with the first sketch, this one will take me quite a while to do…

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March 14, 2026 · 1:56 am

Saturday 3-14-2026

St. Patrick’s Day mailbox decoration

As the holidays come and go, I feel a bit nostalgic about our mailbox decorations. We changed these out twice a month – quite a laborious process. We made a hanging rack that hung near the ceiling in our shop and the decorations had hooks so that regardless of the size of the decoration, it would hang pretty neatly next to the ones on either side so we wouldn’t get clobbered trying to walk under the rack and they could hang without bashing into one another.

We would get out our tall ladder and my husband would climb up and fight to get the decoration off its hook without falling or dropping the decoration. We would have ‘discussions’ every time. I was right there ready to steady him or take the decoration, but he stubbornly wanted to do it himself.

We would put the decoration in the back of the truck and drive down our long STEEP driveway (over 650 feet) down to the road. We always carried the two wrenches needed to get the old decoration off the mailbox and attach the new one. It took two of us, one holding and the other using the wrench to loosen and then tighten nuts and bolts. This was such a fun time in our lives and I miss it now – although I’m not sorry to leave the steep driveway behind.

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We visited Harvey at the nursing home this morning. We weren’t sure which days we’ll visit next week, so I went ahead and brought the two St. Patrick’s Day cards I painted – one for the manager of the nursing home and the other for Harvey’s full time nurse, plus the new addition to Harvey’s ‘Happy Wall’ to put up.

Khun A. Porn, the manager, was delighted with her card. I explained that the shamrock was supposed to bring good luck. She said she actually has a shamrock tattoo! As we were leaving, she thanked me again and gave me a big hug. It was Peem’s (Harvey’s full time nurse) day off, so I left her card propped up on a table.

This is Harvey’s “Happy Wall” in his room at the nursing home. We got the go-ahead at his birthday to put pictures up, so now I’m trying to leave him reminders that he is loved when we can’t be there to tell him ourselves.

Today’s visit was good and bad, as usual. He recognized us today, said, “Hi, Babe” when we came in. He liked the picture I made for his wall and he liked my earrings. Not so good was he still thinks things have disappeared – been lost or stolen – when they haven’t. He also insists there is a shelf on the wall behind his bed on which several things have been placed. Today Brian took a picture of him and the wall behind him, but he wasn’t deterred. He also told me that he ‘talked Peem (his nurse) into sleeping with him last night.’ (Who could resist an 82 year old man, bedridden, frail, with a nasal feeding tube who makes very little sense?) I congratulated him and we talked of other things…

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Freepik

I had a great time sketching at the cafe yesterday. I got my favorite spot (hooraaaaay!) and sat there comfortably sketching while drinking an iced mocha, watching people come in and leave the cafe, and goggled at the insane traffic outside the window.

I’m looking forward to starting to paint at least one of the sketches this afternoon.

“Flowers and colours everywhere, I am so glad that March is here.”
― Anamika Mishra

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