Tag Archives: newest painted sketch

Wednesday 1-28-2026

“Sunset Color Burst” – @Dreamcatcher01.bsky.social

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It’s a beautiful day here in Chiang Mai, Thailand today. It’s now Wednesday, Jan. 28th, 10:25 a.m. The sun is shining brightly. Though it was chilly this morning, it’s supposed to get to 85 this afternoon. I’m TRYING to send warm to all the people in the deep freeze in the U.S. melting the snow and ice so they can get back to their normal lives. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to throwing open my windows and enjoying a warm, wonderful breeze through my place this afternoon.

If we were “home” in Arkansas, we would have put up this mailbox decoration. We had such fun using our CNC set-up in the shop to cut the designs out of 4×8 sheet metal on the special table we made. We could capture an image from our computer, my husband would apply a program that changed the image to computer coded instructions, and then we would take the thumb drive to the shop, plug it into the computer there, and the ‘system’ would guide the torch to cut out the design.

In this case, there were two pieces. We welded the head to the body of the snow person with rod. We then welded the design to the mounting bracket we needed to attach the design to the mailbox pole. I painted the piece on both sides with weather resistant paint and then we would spray the whole thing with polyurethane for as much protection from the elements as possible.

We had SUCH fun deciding what we would make, then ‘discussing’ details of mounting, painting, colors, etc. It would make our day when someone would start to drive by as we were getting our mail or changing the decoration and they would stop, telling us how much they enjoyed the changing designs and would drive past just to see if there were a new one up. 😁

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My day will be a happy one. I enjoy writing posts to you that I hope will make you smile or add joy to your life in some way. I love finding talented artists, writers, photographers, and more and sharing their fine work with you. It makes my day when you take the time to like or comment on what you see here.

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When I finish writing my posts, I am planning to tackle my jigsaw puzzle. I haven’t been making much progress on it at all lately. I’m starting to DREAM about working on it, so I know I need to spend some time so I can feel I’m making progress.

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I’m starting this book on my Kindle today. I stayed up late finishing the last one in the series. If you haven’t tried the Jake Moriarity series by R.G. Ryan, you’re missing a real treat.

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I painted this sketch yesterday.

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Here’s hoping you are somewhere where you can stay warm and have a joy-filled day.

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Friday, 1-9-2026

Tracy Chrest – Substack

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Newest painted sketch.

I have two more sketches to paint in my sketchbook. I’m taking a new sketchbook to the cafe to get out of Khun Nong’s way while she cleans my place. This new sketchbook has about 100 pages, like the old one, so I’m hoping to see and feel some improvement in my drawing skills by the end of it.

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My Pet Nutritionist

Last week Khun Weaw, my wonderful massage therapist, went home to be with her family for part of the holidays. I’ve been feeling my body calling her name particularly the last few days, so it was wonderful to have her back. She worked miracles on me, getting rid of knots, finding lots of sore or stiff places that needed her attention. I feel wonderful right now as I type. AHHHHHH!

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If you aren’t signed up to enjoy Substack, you might consider giving it a try and see what you think. I’m just kind of on the periphery, not really having an ‘account’ where people can support you – or not, as they choose – but I’m having a good time posting my stuff on there and seeing what’s going on.

There are a lot of good articles, news, photographs, art, and more. As I connect to more people, I am very interested in the caliber of people there.

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MAKE this is a great day.

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Friday, Jan. 2nd, 2026

Drawing – Mouse in Stone

This is my latest painted sketch.

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The Kavanaugh Report

We stretched, then walked up and down the long, well-lit, well-paved parking lot for 30 minutes this morning before dawn, the last day we need to do this before the gym reopens after deep-cleaning and maintenance.

Horizon Education Centers

It’s “The Cool Season” here in Chiang Mai, Thailand (my first) and I’m having a bit of difficulty adapting. The low is supposed to be 50 with the highs in the low 80s from November 1st until around February 15th. I love the afternoons, but struggle a bit to stay warm in the early mornings and evenings.

There is no heat here – 3/4 of the year is really hot, so they gear up with air conditioners for that and just weather through (pardon the pun) the cooler season. No space heaters are considered safe. Same with electric blankets. I am learning to dress in layers, heat up water to drink if needed, take warm showers (instant heaters there), and enjoy being able to sit beside my window when the sun comes up.

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Wikimedia Commons

My massage therapist has gone home to be with her family, so I won’t have my weekly massage today. Instead, I’ll do an extra-long session of “Old Lady” yoga stretches to try to make up for it.

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http://www.leaveusthemess.com

Khun Nong, my wonderful cleaning lady, comes this afternoon, so I will vacate the premises so she can clean in peace. Brian and I will go the cafe to be out of her way. I’ll take my sketchbook and supplies, my Kindle, my earbuds so I can listen to music, and my sweatshirt, in case they have the temperature in freezer mode. 🥶

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I am starting today to try to add to the pathetic list of Thai phrases I can say. I can say, “Hello, and have a blessed day,” (sounds like ,‘sawat dee KA’-ah) and “Thank you.” (sounds like, ‘cawp coon KA’-ah)

For a while I gave myself a pass because my husband had a stroke, I was moving into a new condo, I was in a strange place trying to recover from having to have a pacemaker installed due to my heart stopping twice Feb. 11th in the ER at the hospital. After the hospitalization and surgeries, I discovered my hearing was significantly affected, plus my balance. I now have good hearing aids, and I’m working on re-training my brain on the balance and inner ear issues.

So, no more excuses. My plan is to add one new phrase each week. This week’s phrase is “sorry.” I have a really good source of YouTube videos with two ladies teaching Thai phrases. My son, Brian, says their pronunciation is good and is encouraging me to imitate them as closely as I can. (He also reminds me that I frown when I’m concentrating, so I’m trying to remember to try to keep a pleasant, smiling face while I’m trying to come up with the proper phrase…🤪)

This is part of honoring the traditions and language and customs of Thailand, my new home. I am slow, but I will really try hard to show everyone how happy I am to be here.

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Thai Bananas – Nam Wah

One of the cleaning ladies gave Brian a bunch of Thai bananas a couple of days ago!

And one of the ladies in the office came running to catch me yesterday as I was going to pick up a coffee from the delivery area. She held the elevator for me and gave me a bag of these Thai tangerines!

Both of these show how wonderful the people in our building are. Brian gave cards with a hand-written note and a bit of cash to each of the staff here for New Year’s. I had given each person a hand-painted Christmas cards earlier. The kindness of Thai people is the thing that stands out beyond all else here. They continue to ask about Brian’s dad in the nursing home, and come up and hug me, asking how I am (with Brian’s translation.) I’m simply overwhelmed.

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I hope that you are entering 2026 with a wide-open heart, hopeful that we will all enjoy a new year full of reasons to smile.

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It’s Monday, Nov. 17, 2025

Newest painted sketch.

This pampered lady took her clothes (the largest part of it) to the laundry. It will be ready to pick up tomorrow a little after 9:00. Can you believe that? I have never been able to take advantage of a service like this before and I am loving it! 😊

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The repair men are due here around 1:30 to 2:00 this afternoon to see if they can fix my door. I sure hope they can do something so I can just walk out of my condo and back in again any time I would like without having to text my son…

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I lost another bit of weight, and now am 7 lbs from my goal. I may adjust that once I get there, but it seems like a good weight for maintenance purposes. It’s in the healthy range for my height on the BMI chart. More importantly, I am FEELING better now than I have felt in a long time. The combination of eating twice a day, watching my portions, not eating between meals, and then exercising are finally coming together.

I’m walking on the treadmill, doing online balance exercises, old lady yoga stretches alternating with exercises with water bottles for my arms so I do each every other day. I’m dancing to wonderful music on my computer, just to be moving around and grinning like an idiot.

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I am getting started on sketching and hand painting Christmas cards for the locals here. This will take me some time, so I’m trying to work on the project a bit each day so I won’t feel rushed toward the deadline. I will be giving them to people as I see them, so the distribution will take some time, as well. What a happy way to spend time between now and Christmas!

I did a little research on Christmas in Chiang Mai, and discovered though most people here are Buddhist, they like the idea of giving and receiving gifts, Christmas decorations, music, and festivals, so there are several ways to celebrate. I’ll be sharing some of that with you in the coming month.

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I hope that this is the beginning of a really nice week for you.

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