Tracy Chrest – @tracychrest989204 on Substack
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I just got back from a nice couple of hours at the cafe, drinking an iced latte by the front window (yes! I got “my spot!”) sketching. It is really a wonderful way for me to relax and concentrate on getting something down on paper. All my worries fall away for a while and my biggest problem is the perspective on a bench or the eyes on the monkey… 😁 🖌️
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We visited with my husband, Harvey, at the nursing home this morning. He was comfortable, interested in several things, and made almost no sense at all. He is still talking about taking all the sketches down from the Happy Wall and putting them up on the cork board in the shop. (The fact that the shop is in Arkansas, doesn’t belong to us anymore, and never had a corkboard are just ‘details.’) He wants us to get him a Phillips screwdriver and a light he can have installed by the maintenance staff there on his headboard. (The fact that he HAS no headboard was a point of contention until we took a picture. We got him a reading light that he can put around his neck with adjustable tubes with lights on the ends that have two levels of brightness. I got it out and showed it to him again.
He seemed to be happy we were there. He wanted Brian to get him a subscription to “How It Works” magazine. The fact that he might be interested in this makes sense. We will go back to the place we got the one “How It Works” magazine we got for him almost a year ago and see if we can get more. From one visit to the next, though, he may change his mind, so we won’t try for a subscription yet. He wanted a pizza, so Brian ordered him one after we left. The nurse sent us a video of him enjoying it. We’re going to try to get the staff to include him on at least one meal a day of what everyone else is eating, now that he is able to eat French fries and pizza without choking. We’re hoping they can cut back on the nasal tube feedings at some point. He wasn’t having to wear an oxygen cannula today!
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Ugly American was NOT at the gym this morning. I’m afraid to hope that this means his ‘visit’ is over and he has gone back to the States. I’m afraid he’s just toying with me.
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The weather was odd today. It was raining when I got up this morning, but stopped just before we headed for the gym. Then the sun came out strongly. It rained again while I was at the cafe. It makes it a bit difficult to figure out how to time things. I’m just going with the flow now and carrying my rain gear.
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