The visit with Harvey this morning was challenging. He was obviously feeling despondent and listless. He did tell me he was happy to see me when we first went in, then followed that up soon after, asking if I was “really his wife.” He was unhappy his nurse wouldn’t let down the guardrail on his bed, and had tried to grab her phone out of her hand. We explained to him that she was trying to keep him from falling out of the bed and breaking bones. He was quiet for a bit and then demanded that “I” let the guardrail down. He did enjoy the orange drink Brian brought him, but had little to say.
________________________
I had a good session at the cafe. Here are the latest sketches –
Today I finished sketchbook #4 since I’ve been in Thailand. That means 400 sketches (actually 399, since I threw one away before deciding I would keep them all to keep a record of how I was doing.) I say this because I really think that sketching every day, trying my best to get down on paper what I’m seeing or what I’m thinking is helping me draw better. I know it brings me joy, and that’s the most important part. 😁 🎨
__________________________
It’s time for dinner now. I hope you have a wonderful day.
It is an absolutely stunning day today here in Chiang Mai. It’s only 82, sunshiny, and a nice breeze blowing. It was really foggy early this morning, causing some planes to have to delay or divert, but burned off pretty quickly. Brian said the fog is really unusual.
We visited Harvey at the nursing home this morning. Harvey wanted us to buy him a camera with a long lens and a truck. When we asked him why, it took him a long time to answer. Over the course of half an hour, we finally got that he wanted the camera to take pictures of the nests of the white birds that were congregating in the rice fields outside his window to prove that the birds were having babies, not just ‘tourist birds.’ Ooookaaaaay… The truck was a dual display Izuzu he saw on TV. It doesn’t need a key and responds to voice commands. Can you imagine him trying to d
rive this truck when it takes him half an hour to say, ‘no key,’ and ‘dual displays?’ Not to mention he can’t get out of bed… Since he was calm, showed some interest in what we were telling him, and didn’t seem to be in any pain, we declared the visit a success.
ZenArtSupplies.co
I’ve decided to paint Christmas cards for the people here who have been so nice to me. I have 14 people on my list so far. It isn’t much, but it will at least show them I’m thinking about them and am grateful that they have gone out of their way to make me feel more comfortable in my new country.
ElaineNeoWedding
We have been invited to a wedding at the end of this month! It’s supposed to be a very informal affair. I can’t wait to see what it will be like. It’s exciting to see a couple at the very beginning of their lives together.
Pngtree
I learned a lesson today. I was groggily awake at around 4 this morning when my walkie talkie on my nightstand started making noise. We got these as an emergency measure if I have trouble in the middle of the night when Brian turns his phone off. The device was saying, “Check the battery.” over and over. I charge it twice a week, starting when I get up at 5am. I unhook it from the charger when I get back from breakfast at about 8. Wednesday I was up super early and went ahead and plugged it into the charger. It was charged up before we went to the gym, so I unplugged it. Turns out the hour or so made all the difference on when it needed to be charged again. I won’t do THAT again…
Freepik
The building fix-it guys are due to come tomorrow morning sometime to work on my door. I’m counting the hours. I’ve taken a lot of things for granted over my lifetime, but being able to leave and come back to my place whenever I wanted without the door trapping me on one side or the other didn’t even make the list of noticeable things! I will be really glad if they can make me independent again!
On our travels today, I noticed a shop that was called something like, “Overseas Pet Shop.” We went by it very quickly, but I thought, “I want to visit that place!” Then, as I thought about it more, I decided, ‘No, it would be best if I didn’t visit. I would want to adopt most, if not all, of the animals there, and wouldn’t be able to even get ONE. That would break my heart. (I researched it when we got home and found my instincts on NOT going there are correct. I’m in love with the PICTURES I found.)
Finally, this is the latest painted sketch.
I hope your weather is wonderful where you are and that you’re packing your day with fun things.
I’ve only been home a little while. We’ve been out all day trying to tie up loose ends, and it’s 3:15 in the afternoon Monday here now.
We took the paperwork for Harvey’s medical visa to the visa lady, who looked through everything carefully, approved it for submission, updated Brian’s visa, and confirmed that I have an appointment at the immigration office tomorrow afternoon. Whew! HOORAAAY!
We went to visit Harvey after that. He was fairly talkative today. He did say he missed me, but everything else was about lost phones, wanting judo lessons, and an alien visiting his room last night – none of which were true. He wasn’t in pain, though, and wasn’t upset – a good visit for now.
The next stop was to one of Brian’s banks for a simple correction on his address. It turned out to be quite laborious, but we THINK we got it accomplished.
Lastly, we stopped for chocolate. YUM!
It rained twice while we were out, but we only got a little bit wet walking home from the chocolate place to our condo building.
I got my laundry inside from the drying rack on the balcony, and then started my normal afternoon activities.
I found out my computer was dead. Brian looked at things and showed me my air purifiers were off, too. We restarted those, but this showed us we had had a power outage while we were gone. I now know where the power button is on my computer and how to restart the air purifiers, so it was a good lesson.
I’m feeling pretty exhausted now, but I wanted to touch base with you before taking a nap. I hope you’re well and having a good day.
