I don’t look this good today. With the two big doses of Vitamin C my son mixed up for me in orange juice yesterday, my sore throat is relieved, but I seem to have degenerated now into an old fashioned common cold. UGH.
Brian and I went to visit my husband, Harvey, at the nursing home this morning, and I was very careful not to touch him, hoping I wouldn’t give this to him. When we got home, Brian mixed me up another dose of Vitamin C and I took a long nap. I hate being sick…
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These are the latest painted sketches. Painting today is helping distract me from how yucky I feel 😁
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I signed up for Substack about a month ago. I am really enjoying looking at the articles on there and meeting new, interesting people.
Sheila Murrey – @sheilaspiralsister is my friend, and she writes articles for Substack. She is a multi-talented lady I am proud to know and I’m happy to recommend that you look for her there. She just included a chapter from a book she’s writing that discusses sounds and frequencies and how they affect us.
R. G. Ryan – @rgryan is an author I met through reading his Jake Moriarity books via X, and then he decided to start writing serious opinion articles on Substack. I followed him there and was happy I did. Now he has changed his focus from opinion pieces to ones such as, A Lot to Carry Pain Is Not Passive, where he is focusing on what we as ordinary people are carrying around on our shoulders that is affecting our ability to live life to the fullest and to interact with others.
AND there are several people who post pictures and videos that make me laugh or bring me to tears, or both. Very talented artists and photographers post there, as well. I find this platform well worth my time. I thoroughly recommend it. Substack.com
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I hope that Mother Nature has decided to give you a break now, and will let the ice and snow melt, raise the temperatures, and allow you to enjoy your days more.
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.
It’s hard to believe it’s already December! I’m busily working on sketching and painting Christmas cards. I think I have 6 more to do, and then I’ll figure out who gets which card and carry them with me so I can give them to people as I see them, starting around the 15th.
We are now into “The Cool Season.” COOL SEASON – (November- mid-February) – highs 30 degrees C. (85 degrees F) & cooler mornings and evenings. Lows 10 degrees C. (50 degrees F.) This doesn’t sound impressive as ‘winter,’ I know, but we don’t have heat here. I can get hot water in my shower, and I can make hot water in my teapot, but there is no heating unit. There is just sunshine – and thank goodness for that.
I sat in beside my window this morning with the sunshine streaming in. It felt SO GOOD on my back! I’m learning that I need to have more sweatshirts, sweat pants and hoodies to be comfortable for this season. I have a wonderful throw that Brian gave me as a housewarming present that I am using over my duvet on the bed. I sat at the computer today with a towel over my legs as I waited to go to the gym. It’s quite an abrupt change from the hot temperatures needing a/c and my bucket and towels brigade due to my leaking windows!
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I am LOVING the fact that my door works well now, and I can go out and come back in all by myself! It acts like a real door! Added to that, we ordered and put up a Christmas wreath a couple of days ago. I smile every time I go out or come back in. 🎄
Add to that my new window frames, windows, and sealing from the outside! I should no longer have any leaks. They even put up ‘rain roofs’ that should keep part of stormy weather from pelting against the top edges of my windows. I’m thrilled. I have enjoyed a couple of days now of “the great window opening” when the temperature is 79 degrees F, as it is now. I open at least a couple of windows to get a nice cross breeze, pulling the screens across to keep any intrusive bugs out, grinning like a nut. I LOVE IT!
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We went to visit my husband, Harvey, at the nursing home today. We took him a pineapple ‘pie’ – a packaged dessert that we would have steered him away from while he was better, but that now we encourage. He has a nasal tube, and gets his main nutrition through that, but he is again able to eat and swallow without choking. We are all still being very cautious, but he enjoyed the pie and a cup of coffee while we were there. 🥧
He noticed that I need a manicure and new polish today! The fact that he looked and realized that, instead of previously not knowing who I was, who HE was, or anything about our situation, almost made me cry today. He did ask about the scheduling of his first ever massage. He thought it was this Friday. (It was actually scheduled for the 2nd week in April, after we first moved here, before he had his stroke.) It’s challenging to see him bedridden, a shell of the former Marine Corp veteran and sharpshooter he once was, but he IS ‘in there’ showing up every once in a while. He wasn’t hurting today and I thanked his nurse and hugged her for taking such good care of him.
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I have newly discovered ‘Substack’ a place where I’m finding delightfully talented people, people who think, who can write intelligently, artists, photographers, and more. I’m very new, only having followed a few people so far, but it’s like a treasure chest to be opened with care, taking time to examine and ‘ooh and ahh’ at what is found.
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For some reason I was awake at 3am today. I tossed and turned, finally getting up and getting ready to go to the gym. I sat at the computer in my gym clothes, my husband’s lined flannel shirt/jacket and a towel over my legs to feel warm. Now it’s just after 4pm and I’m beginning to feel a bit zombie-like. I foresee an early evening for me.
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Here is one of the mailbox decorations my husband and I made for the Christmas season. I miss getting to change the decorations each month, celebrating holidays, honoring favorite cartoon characters, etc.
A thing I’ll never forget is when we would be changing one out and someone would start to drive by, stop, and tell us how much they enjoyed seeing what we were displaying. Some actually said they drove by JUST to see if we had changed the display!
What a joy to be able to work together to make the decoration, choose the one we would display and drive down to put it up, and then have someone kind enough to make our day with such kind words. I’m so glad my husband and I shared this time together.
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Make this a special month for you and the ones you love.
As I type, I’m hoping that the handy man for the building can make time to come fix my door. It swells when it’s rainy or there is high humidity, making it really hard to open and close. Lately, it has gotten to the point that at times I CANNOT get out, or can’t get IN again. Thankfully, Brian lives in the same building. I can text him and he comes and helps; or many times, if we’re going somewhere together, he just comes and gets me and then makes sure I’m in again before he leaves me when we get back. The handy man is super busy so fingers are crossed that he can get to me today. If not, I’ll hope for tomorrow…
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Latest painted sketch.
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My work on the dolphin puzzle is going well. I have asked Brian to try to order the turtle puzzle for me again as soon as he can. I would really like to tackle that one after I meet the challenge of this one.
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I have been spending more time on Substack lately and am following several people now. I am finding some wonderful sources for things I love and want to share with you here. You might check out Substack and see if it’s something you enjoy.
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We visited Harvey at the nursing home this morning. He was sleepy and almost completely non-responsive today. He squeezed my hand, but said nothing, even though I talked to him a lot. Disheartening, but he didn’t seem to be hurting.
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I hope your day or evening is one that makes you smile.
I “met” RG Ryan on Twitter/X. – (RGRyan777 on X). I followed him (wow, I sound like a stalker, don’t I?) because he’s a musician playing and singing music with his band that I can appreciate; he’s a writer; and because his posts on X are witty, ironic, and sometimes make me smirk, grin, snort, or laugh out loud.
I tried one of his books from Amazon – a series with Jake Moriarity, a ‘finder of people’ as the main character. I find him fascinating. He’s a no-nonsense, “get-it-done-the-best-and-most-efficient-way-possible” type of man; yet there is a softer side he shows rarely that has brought me to tears. He has a wonderful group of friends – made family over time – who are loyal to each other, helping each other at the drop of a hat, a bond that is eternal.
He has very recently expanded his writing to Substack, where he can write what he thinks. Substack is a platform where people appreciate well-written reasoned opinions. The people there feel free to comment, but there is less vitriol or attempts to ‘shoot people down’ because they don’t agree.
I love his posts here, too. He makes me think. He researches, states both sides of an issue, challenging his readers to not just read, not just click on an emoji, not just spew the trending meme, but THINK and maybe rethink your position.
Interesting man with clear thinking, compassion, and many sides to enjoy. I’ve posted links to his work on Amazon, X, and Substack. Maybe I can ‘capture’ one of his posts from Twitter/X where he gives a sample of the band playing… ENJOY.
creativeartworksblog 