After our errands this morning, my son asked me which art gallery I would like to visit. I chose a place named Kaew Gallery, which is near the old part of the city. I had looked at their website, seen several photos of the type of products they sell, and decided I would love to see them in person.
True to their photos, the shop was beautifully laid out with souvenirs, post cards, prints, jewelry, and more, but the main focus was on original art. My mind was boggled on the first pass through, so I gathered my impressions and was determined to take a more careful look the second time.
My son helped me up some pretty steep stairs (for me), and was I glad he did! A painting simply jumped off the wall and into my heart. It was a delicious blend of all the bustle in Chiang Mai, electrical wires strung across buildings and streets, flags and signs, the street crowded with vendors and vehicles – all the things I find fascinating about Chiang Mai, all painted in black and white.
The painting was a vertical rectangle. The bottom third of the painting was the part that captured my heart. Colors simply leaped from the canvas, bringing the city to even more life, adding the human element to this beautiful city. There were a couple of similar paintings on the first floor, but the rectangular shape was perfect for me.
The painting was apparently done by Kaew, the owner of the shop. I’m not sure if she was one of the nice ladies who helped us today, but we couldn’t have gotten better customer service. One lady took payment while the other carefully wrapped our painting so that we could carry it in the trunk of the Grab we called.
Brian helped me figure out where to hang the painting – my first really personal pick for MY place. It makes me happy every time I look at it.
I have been in Thailand about 2-1/2 months now. We have had a whirlwind of activity with my husband’s health, moving to my condo, changing out the furniture, figuring out all the details we needed to do every day in order to get our lives going here.
Now things are finally taming down. There are still a LOT of details to be handled, and we are doing these the best we can, but our day to day lives have begun to settle into a routine now, and I’m embracing that new life.
Our typical day now looks like this –
I get up at 5am to get ready to go to the gym with Brian and walk on the treadmill while he runs. We walk back, shower, and then share breakfast and discuss if there is anything we need to accomplish that day. Three times a week that includes half the day going to visit Harvey at the nursing home, making sure he is okay, comfortable, and as content as possible. Many other days, though, we don’t have anything that we can do from our list.
Brian is trying to do more work, since expenses of taking in both of his parents – particularly the hospital/nursing home surprise – is a bit hard to handle. So, if we don’t have anything scheduled, he goes off to work and we then share dinner.
This means he is free to concentrate on doing well for his clients, and I am free to do whatever I would like to do with my day.
Today I spent quite a bit of time in my art alcove.
I love spending time here. I thought I would grieve at having given up all my carefully collected art stuff, but I’m concentrating on trying to learn how to draw what I see better. I keep these in the big fat sketchbook you see here. I have regular pencils, colored pencils, and watercolors. I am choosing pictures I like from the net, particularly YouTube and Pinterest, and trying to reproduce them the best way I can. I’m having SUCH a good time trying. I don’t feel pressured to produce anything for sale. (Thank goodness!) I can simply enjoy the process of trying to draw and paint something for the sheer joy of it, wiling away the hours with a grin on my face. I’m also making small paintings for my housekeeper each week, thanking her for her work, and for my new ‘grandson’ who loves dinosaurs.
I’m always in the middle of a good book, too. The current one is another Nora Roberts book. I can’t believe I’ve missed any because she is probably my favorite author right now, but I’m delighted to dive into anything she has written.
I am trying to balance my walking on the treadmill in the morning with yoga stretches in the afternoon or evening. I’ve been doing these stretches for a long time, but they are especially useful in times when I develop mysterious old lady problems, like the grabbing pain in my back last week, that need to be carefully stretched out to heal.
I, of course, spend time on the blog. If I’m not actively writing a post, I’m researching things to find to share with you. There are so many talented people in our world, and I’m delighted to be able to share their work with you.
I also take time to stare at my jigsaw puzzle. It’s a really good thing that I’m not feeling any pressure to get it done. I find that I’m much slower than I used to be. This “owls” puzzle is difficult, and I may die of old age before it’s finished. That’s okay, too, because I love taking a few minutes here and there to see if I can make some progress.
Last night Brian downloaded Family Tree Maker software for me. We had it for years in the states. Now I have my data attached to it again, and I can spend lots of time seeing old photos, remembering things about relatives, learning new things about people related to us, but I didn’t actually know. I find it fascinating.
In the middle of the afternoon, if I don’t contact him first, Brian texts me, asking if I’m okay and if I want him to order a coffee for me. Imagine that! Today I got a cold chocolate mocha coffee that was delivered to the condo building table downstairs. Brian texted me the order number, and I went downstairs, retrieved it, came back to my place and slurped it. What a difficut life I have!🤪
We share dinner, talk awhile, and then hit the hay because 5am the next morning comes quickly.
And that’s our new routine. I’m studying some Thai language tapes, trying to learn some very basic phrases. I will be able to learn more quickly, I hope, when we see the last hearing aid people and I get some hearing aids. (Trying to reproduce a sound when you can’t hear it accurately isn’t quite a waste of time, but close to it.)
More plans in the works as we get more details settled.
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ―Anaïs Nin
Kateryna Hilznitsova – Unsplash
Writing is a greedy obsession. We write because we HAVE to write. It’s a compulsion, a need to reach out, to connect, to communicate. We would write whether anyone read our words or not, but it feels empty and we lose our enthusiasm, our motivation.
Of all the things I left behind when we moved to Thailand, the thing I wanted to get back as soon as possible was my blog. I tried to write it using my phone, but it was really difficult for me. I’m still learning how to do things on the MAC (I was using Windows), but it’s such a relief to be able to include a picture or two now. I’m not back to full speed with my more ‘normal’ posts yet, but I’m getting there slowly.
For me, the reaching out, the communicating is the most important reason I write. I feel connected to the people who take the time to read my blog. Some have become long distance friends. I love sharing what is happening, how I feel about it, exciting things I’ve seen, new things I’ve learned, wonderfully talented people I’ve found on the net, and more.
Reading comments is an important part of my day. I want to know what you think. Sometimes I get spam or someone being mean for no good reason and I blow those off. More often, I hear that someone has related to something I’ve said, it made them feel, it reminded them of a similar thing in their lives. Sometimes I get treasured messages of support, or kudos because someone likes the way I have written something, or agrees with what I’ve said.
It’s greedy because ‘I’ wrote it, ‘I’ wanted to reach out, ‘I’ put it out there, and ‘I’m’ getting to read any feedback. Me, me, me. BUT – in that greediness, I HOPE I’m providing a real person’s outlook on things, honest appreciation for other’s work, a bit of entertainment or a smile or two.
The blog is good because you can receive emails each time I write, or you can simply come to the site when you’re in the mood and scroll down.
THANK YOU for reading what I write. THANK YOU for hitting the ‘like’ button when you want to. THANK YOU for writing a comment when you have the time or inclination. All are much appreciated. 🤗
This is the jigsaw puzzle I’m trying to put together currently. I have a “Puzzle Table” in my living area, just inside the front door of my condo. 😁 As a statement of my joy in creating my own space for the first time in my life, I have devoted one of the prime spots in my place to a thing I love.
Brian actually bought some cushions to tie to the wooden chair I’m using, to make it more comfortable.
Since I’m older than dirt, I’ve spent a lot of time in my life WANTING to be able to devote ANY place to a jigsaw puzzle. It got to be such a problem in my house that I put them away for a long time, just giving them up because it wasn’t important enough to cause strife. Stupid problem.
NOW, my puzzle is proudly showing most of a border now on the table. My stepping stool sits beside the table, holding the boxes of unused pieces. Since it’s been there a while, I have thought about related things lately, compiling a kind of informal list of things I’m learning as it sits…
The puzzle is a metaphor for life – it is what it is
It will sit there as long as someone gives it space – and it’s important to give mental, emotional, and physical space to things that give us pleasure.
It’s not how quickly the puzzle comes together – it’s the joy in the DOING – the pleasure in seeing pieces that might create something else coming together at whatever speed, creating a more pleasing picture.
It’s not the finishing that is important. It’s the starting of something new. Something you’ve never experienced before. It’s opening your mind and heart, expanding your horizons as it lives in your place.
It’s the stopping and finding a piece in life you didn’t see before that make joy burst inside.
It’s continuing to spend time and effort at something even when the rewards may be few that leads to character building.
Life is a work-in-process, a quiet building, day by day, toward the person you would like to be.
When the pieces don’t fit, change your perspective.
You get the point here. I’m not as a good a puzzle person as I used to be. It doesn’t matter. No one cares how long it takes me to put it together, or even if I EVER get it put together. The puzzle is not a measure of my worth – it’s a joy-filled time when I can shift focus and concentrate on something enjoyable, trivial, that might bring a smile to myr face while I spend time with it.
I hope you have what amounts to a puzzle table in your life, that it grounds you and adds something special. Enjoy each piece.
65 years ago a boy and girl fell in love. She was 14 and he was 17, about to go into service in the Marine Corps.
That was it, as far as love for anyone else went. We just waited until his next leave from the Marines. I finished junior high, high school, and almost finished college. He got out of the Marines, came and joined me at OSU in Stillwater, Oklahoma, discovered he had used up whatever remained of his patience with the ordinary world and left school. I managed to secure the last semester of my teaching degree in Tulsa, where both of our parents lived, and that was the end of all the waiting.
We married in June of 1969, right after my graduation. We bought a house, I got a job teaching (he already had a good beginning Computer Science job.)
We had our son, Brian, finally, not knowing it would take 10 years to do that. (I had three miscarriages before him and one after.) After almost two years, we had our daughter, Jade, only to lose her two months after birth of SIDS.
We moved to Arkansas, built a home on top of a ridge line that allowed us to feel that we owned all the land we could see. We enjoyed wonderful pets, treasured friends, and more.
We both got sick last February and had to call Brian, who had lived in Thailand for several years, to come help us. We ended up moving to Thailand with him! We were building up our strength from our horrible illnesses, and my sudden health crisis, taking walks with Brian every day here, trying to eat right, enjoying living in the air bnb in the condo building, when Harvey had a stroke and fell. A month in the hospital and now a full month in the nursing home and our lives are very different.
Now we go visit him, hoping he will recognize us each time. He finally does, but he has become very aloof since the stroke. Brief glimpses of the man I married show up from time to time, such as when I asked him what the greatest accomplishment of our marriage had been. He looked at Brian, then at me and said, “Him.”
And so right he is, because Brian has been here though all this, helping us through, making his dad as comfortable as possible while helping me try to build a new life here. Talk about a kind heart and strong shoulders!
Today is a celebration of a boy and girl who have loved each other, so far, for a total of 65 years, 56 years of which they have been married and built a life, memories, and a legacy that will continue long after we are gone.
“Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” ―Mary Oliver
I know it’s true of myself, and I suspect it may be true for many others, that people live their lives oblivious to most of what makes it special.
“Live in the moment” is really an important thing to do. And not just SAY it, or INTEND to do it, but DO. IT.
You are reading this from one who has learned first-hand that life rarely gives second chances, and that it is eye-opening to discover how much of what you THOUGHT you were doing was simply giving lip-service to the idea.
In one night – when my heart stopped twice in the ER in Arkansas, I realized that if I hadn’t been there, under the care of the good ER people for another issue, I wouldn’t be here typing this. I would have died one night last February.
I look at the world through different eyes now. We had decided to retire and move to Thailand at the suggestion of our son, Brian, who had come home to help us when we were ill. I was amazed when Harvey, my husband, agreed to sell everything we had and make the move and lifestyle change. I will never know if it would have worked for him, but he was giving it a shot, and so I consider him a winner for doing that.
When he had his stroke here, spent a month in the hospital, and ended up in the nursing home, these plans for the future went into a permanent limbo state. I am schooling myself not to ‘expect’ or ‘hope for’ anything as far as his behavior or ability. Most of who he was may be completely gone now. How he is at one visit bears no significance to the next. We need to deal with what is, make him as comfortable as we can make him, and hope he will one day be content.
My determination to not waste my second chance at life remains. Some might think it cold that I plan for my own future here now, trying new things, trying to get as healthy as possible, enjoying each day as much as I can, etc. I am trying to learn some phrases so I don’t sound like a complete dork and show that I’m trying to honor the wonderful people who live here, for example.
Our son is trying to meet both of his parents’ needs. We are doing all we can for my husband. Brian is trying, when I’m feeling up to it, to arrange for ‘adventures’ each day where we explore something new, share time together. He is guiding me into life here, teaching me what I need to know as I can absorb it. What more could anyone have?
I want to hear the birds sing each morning. I raise my shades in my condo and welcome the morning light with a huge grin on my face. I welcome each new animal I see. I am playing in my art alcove. I am playing on the computer. I am working at my puzzle, though I’m very slow and less patient now. I’m reading a great book. I’m reaching out to friends, trying to tell them how very much they mean to me. I’m embracing each new chance to become a better, fuller person by learning something new, experiencing something I’ve never tried before, and more. I want to end each day, usually sprawled on my couch with my headphones on, listening to and watching YouTube music videos silently so I don’t bother my neighbors, wanting to feel I have packed as much into that day as I could, and end it grinning, the way I started it.
Don’t just SAY it. Don’t just MEAN to do it. Actually DO it!
Brian got us some “Matcha Lattes” around noon today. They are made with Japanese tea, coconut milk and sugar. I was a bit skeptical, though I have no bias against the color green. I was very pleasantly surprised by how good it was!
It’s supposed to be good for you, as well. It has been said it lowers blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, both of which I have. 👍
The fact that it tasted good, as well, made it a winner for me, and we plan to get some often.
My housecleaning person, Kuhn Nong, is due here from 2:30 till 5:30, so we will leave soon to run some errands and “become scarce” while she does her thing.
The main thing she will notice is that my place looks pretty spacious right now, since the movers came and took the old people-swallowing sofa away. The replacement sofa is not due to be delivered until June 5th, so it’s a good thing I have several chairs and a brand new bed to use until the last piece of furniture we ordered is set up. I have to admit that I was kind of fond of the sweet old sofa and will miss it.
We have some errands, plus Brian tries to find something else in the area we’re going to any given day so that we can see something interesting while we’re in the area. This can be a coffee place, an old shop he remembers, a shop new to him, but found as we walk around. I love the mom and pop type places the best, rather than the fancy modern type stores.
I’m enjoying writing reviews for these places on Google, hoping that a favorable recent review will be a further thank you and might bring them more business. I just wrote reviews for the man who cut my hair and the lady who made my new tote bag.
I hope that you’re having a happy day or evening. It gets confusing sometimes when I’m writing and am on a different day than many of you. 🤣
This is part of my beautiful room in Laos. This hotel was really well run. The people were friendly and helpful, and great places were within walking distance of the hotel.
We went to the hospital today, as usual. Sadly, Harvey didn’t recognize us. He was sitting in a chair, though, when we came into the room. A therapist was there with mental and physical small ‘games’ to work on verbal skills, hand-eye coordination, emphasizing use of his left, or weaker, hand. Then the big muscle physical therapists came in and took over, doing all kinds of chair exercises, then helping him walk down the hall with an aide on either side and a ‘belt’ for them to use to make sure everything went well. He walked down the hall to the therapy room and did more exercises. He was pooped when he returned to the room and slept through lunch. He has real trouble standing up straight and holding his head up.
We left about 3pm. Brian cheered me up, taking us to an art store in the mall. We got a big sketch book full of paper, two regular pencils and an eraser, and a plastic container of 24 colored pencils. I’m planning to use some of my time trying to draw some of the simpler ‘learn to draw’ images on Pinterest, as well as YouTube videos. I want to just work on it every time I get a chance, just delighting in the act of trying to create an image, rather than worrying about the result. I may fill all the pages of the sketch book and toss it in the trash, replacing it with another to try again until I show some improvement. It will be a joy. 😊
While we were out, we crossed the street from the mall and went to a church type building that was filled with shops. It was quite lovely, with way too much to see in one walk-through. We stopped at a coffee shop and both got citrus-y cold coffees, perfect for the temperature outside.
Brian will be here soon with a salad he’s ordering for us to go with the roasted chicken chunks and fruit we have left over from yesterday. YUM!
We are narrowing down the options for a nursing home for Harvey. We have two main candidates that look good so far. We plan on getting some more answers from each of them and then will probably go visit very soon.
Closing on the condo has been moved to Wednesday, cutting the timing really short. I’m supposed to check out of the air bnb on Thursday, so it the closing doesn’t go as we hope, I may be asking for people to pay me to STOP singing on the street in order to get another air bnb hopefully in the same building until I CAN move.
We are back in Chiang Mai. This lovely fruit shop was on a “corner.” We got dragon fruit from there that was super delicious to have with our breakfasts at the hotel cafe – a lovely open air spot with ceiling fans that brought in a beautiful breeze, rain or shine, creating a beautiful place to eat. There was a rooster who lived nearby who sang particularly well when the sun was shining. 😁
Hopefully, we will close on the purchase of our condo Monday. Brian and the realtor laid more of the groundwork for that yesterday after we got back to our place. I’m due to move out of the air bnb on the 30th or the 1st, and I’m HOPING I can move directly to the new condo. This is a wonderful situation for me here. I’m in the same building as our son, so I feel secure. We share meals, we go get a Grab to go to the hospital to see my husband each day, Brian brings food he has ordered from various wonderful places where is he able to order food that meets with my low carb diet. I will try to adjust VERY GRADUALLY to Thai food. The one-half inch of one sliver of a veggie I ate almost blew my head off it was so hot. I had to drink an entire glass of water to get my eyes to stop watering and my lips and tongue to quit burning. 🥵🔥 I’m a wuss.
We got a good report on my husband’s progress yesterday. He was able to feed himself better without choking. (He still has to be monitored for every bite or sip to make sure he remembers to swallow.) He was able to walk using a hand rail for a bit yesterday. They are not saying anything about his communication, so we’re hoping he can say a few more words in response to us or others, or able to recognize us today. Here’s hoping!
Today was Day 6 in the hospital. After a carotid artery ultrasound, he was moved from ICU to a private room. We are now on the 11th floor of the hospital. I think this is the top floor.
We were worried about this move because we thought he still needed the really close monitoring, and we didn’t know what to expect in a private room. We hired an extra nurse for tonight to make sure he got the care he needed.
After spending the day in his room, we are calm now that he is receiving excellent care. There are nurses, physical therapists, doctors, and all sorts of people coming in all the time to do some special thing.
He had a really good session of physical therapy today, with him sitting on the side of the bed by himself for a minute or two (bookended by the therapist and her strong male aid), standing twice and lasting for several seconds both times, getting arms and legs exercised, encouraging him to do the moves, but aiding him if he wasn’t able to fully yet, and more. He showed a lot of progress and really put honest effort into it.
He said several words today – one word answers to questions, but answers don’t have to be lengthy, do they? He tried to say other things but we couldn’t understand. He kept putting his hands up near his nose, concerning us, because he still has the nasal feeding tube in. We explained to him that he needed to leave it alone, but then watched him like a hawk because his hand would come up over and over. We explained what the tube was for, and that it would be removed once he showed he could swallow reliably. I also mentioned at one point that if he managed to get it out, they would have to put it back in. Hopefully, that and the extra nurse watching him tonight will do the trick.
The carotid artery ultrasound showed plaque in both arteries, but not enough to cause a stroke or need surgery. They think the stroke was caused by atrial fibrillation plus really slow heartbeats per minute to the point of stopping for some seconds (this sounds similar to MY problem in February! He is now scheduled for a brain CT tomorrow we think, to make sure there is no bleeding. Next they will install a pacemaker (the second in our family in two months!) They think that the pacemaker and a blood thinner that they will start soon will give him the best chance going forward.
We went to the hospital today with all electronics in plastic bags. Brian even got us fancy bags for our cellphones especially made for protection during the water festival. It hangs around your neck, completely sealed. We made it to the hospital without incident. It started raining while we were there, making it really difficult to navigate on the way home through the throng of party-goers undeterred by the rain, all heading to Maya for drenching, dancing, listening to music, drinking until all hours, etc. I have honestly never seen anything like this.
Three lanes of vehicles on either side of the big highway and several lanes of motorcycles and motor scooters, each holding from one to four people – and animals! all darting in and out of the lanes, between the cars, nose to tail all traveling at a high rate of speed. Truly amazing to watch. And then a gazillion people walking on both sides and filling up all available space. The rain was causing the streets to flood, and water was half way up my shoes when we got back to our condo. Thankfully, though the entrance to the condos was full of revelers, no one shot us.
This was Day One of the Songkran new year’s water festival. We have two days not only LIKE, but exceeding what I saw today. Hard to imagine. It’s a challenge to travel, and if we didn’t need to, we wouldn’t. We ordered a Mexican dinner to be delivered this evening, but were notified the order was cancelled due to the Grab motorcyle rider refusing to deliver in the pouring rain. I don’t blame him. Luckily, we had some chicken and some canteloupe left over from yesterday.
Here’s to Day Two of the Water Festival. I really hope we don’t get doused because Harvey’s room is like a meat locker.
I melted when Lisa sent me this photo of her husband (and our new friend, Tim) and our sweet dog, Amber. Tim and his family adopted Amber when we decided to move to Thailand. We met this wonderful family when we were starting to shed some of our stuff before an auction that will be held next month.
Tim, Lisa, and their daughter, Serena, each found things they would like – happily falling in love with Amber in the process and providing a loving home for her. Amber won the lottery, gaining a new family, complete with kids, dogs, and a cat. I think this is a classic photo of bliss. I’m so happy for all of us.
My husband and I got our first pedicures ever yesterday. (yes on Sunday!) To say we’re delighted and feel quite pampered is a vast understatement. My husband looked astounded at how good his poor, diabetic feet looked and felt. That’s the most important thing here. He wouldn’t allow me to photograph his feet, so you’ll have to make do with mine. I feel very decadent, having such well scrubbed, lotioned feet with well cut toenails, including the ones that have been trying to become ingrown, and my mauve colored toenails. 😌 We will see how long their good work lasts, and then plan to return for another pedicure.
I wrote a good review on their website yesterday. Brian says that a lot of small shops like this one struggle to make a good living, and I was particularly impressed by the great job the lady did on my husband’s feet, since I have tried to cut his toenails and had a very hard time, both cutting the nails and not hurting him. I hope the review helps them because they really deserve it.
This is our condo building. It’s called “Hillside 2”, and has 10 floors. We are in an air bnb on the 4th floor while we wait for our condo on the 5th floor to be available for us to move in. Our friends are on the 8th floor, and our son is on the 9th floor. We are all in good communication. Our massage place is on the lobby level, and there are two halves of a 7-11 on either side of the lobby level. One has more pharmaceuticals and the other more general supplies. There is a also a place we can wait in comfort while our son calls for a Grab to take us someplace.
We stopped for a coffee this morning at the end of our walk, right next to our building, called, “Yesterday.” My husband likes the cappuccinos they make while I’m becoming addicted to iced coffee. While we were there, Brian’s friend, Effie, came over to our table visit with her seven month old daughter, who is cute as a button, in a stroller. The baby held Brian’s finger, and smiled when my husband played with her toes. She captivated everyone. Plus, we got an invitation for dinner Wednesday evening! 😊
I think I go see the ear doctor tomorrow. Hopefully, he can help me get my hearing back.
This is my new computer! It looks greeen in this photo, but it’s glorious purple. The screensaver I chose is of Dubai, not only because I like the photo, but also because ‘it’s purple.’ ☺️. I’m really having to work at using the keyboard because it’s little and cute and the keys are much closer together than I am used to. I’m trying to place my fingers on the home row and then plant my wrists on the counter so I don’t flail as much. I’ll get this. It’s going to be wonderful. Any problems are user errors🤪.
We just came in from a morning walk. We did a little better today. We said hi to the koi fish, rested a bit, walked on to our people-watching steps and rested some more, and then came home. There are LOTS of steps in our walk and the streets and sidewalks are very uneven – a challenge for old, weak folks. We have to really watch where we are going, when we’d rather be swiveling our heads trying to see everything. We are getting better at doing the walk, not falling on our heads, AND getting to fish and people watch.
We are going for our first ever pedicures today! My husband is a diabetic, though he’ll deny that, saying he has a sugar problem. He has trouble with his feet and we would like to provide something that eases that and brings him comfort. Hopefully, the pedicure will solve a couple of problems for him. I’m just along for the ride, soaking up the luxury of having one.
Not sure what else is in store for us today, but it’s all good. We are solving problems daily on endless details needed for us to be legal, up and functional, etc. We will solve all this eventually, and are learning new things every day.
I hope things are good for you today. It’s Sunday here, 10:21 am.
It’s almost noon here. If I’m calculating correctly, that means it’s midnight on the 4th for people in the United States. I hope that my publishing this doesn’t cause notifications that wake you up.
I took a picture of my brand new computer (!) with my phone but I can’t get it to show up here yet. It’s lovely. It’s lovely, purple, and the brains of the thing are in the monitor. Other than the slim monitor, there is what to ME is a teeny tiny keyboard on which I am bringing “fumble-fingered” to a new art form. Then there is the rectangular “mouse.”
All my computer habits are wrong now and I’m frantically practicing and taking notes on how to add websites I frequent to a special favorites folder, get ONTO the websites and do what I normally do, all the while typing the wrong keys… I will learn how to use this. It’s sleek, stylish and not at all like its owner – but that can be one of its character-building tasks. 🤪
I went to get an audiogram this morning regarding the sudden hearing loss I have since I left the hospital. We will now take the results back to the ear specialist I saw last evening. I really am amazed that people have evening hours and have appointments on the weekends here. I’m going to get used to this in a hurry. 😄
My husband and I have an appointment for pedicures tomorrow (Sunday!) This is especially wonderful since my husband has Type II Diabetes and needs to take care of his feet, which have numb spots. His toenails are especially hard to cut, so having a pedicure by someone who understands his situation will be wonderful. I’m going along for one, too, just to indulge myself. Neither of us has ever had one.
We are trying to do two walks a day now, continuing to try to build our strength. Yesterday we took one while the maids were here to clean the air bnb. It’s included in the price of this place. This is the first time I have ever had anyone clean a place I lived, and I really like it. Our son has a maid come either once a week or once every other week, I can’t remember. He says it costs next to nothing. Amazing.
Yesterday was busy, exhausting, and very good. Amber’s adoptive parents were here, plus my good friend, Carla, buying more stuff. They came twice. They’ll be back again today. It really makes me happy that they are finding things they can use and take joy in.
Carla took Jet (aka Monster Cat) and all her stuff yesterday. That was the first time we had no pets in over 40 years. Even though it seemed really empty, I was so happy and relieved that the animals will be well cared for. This morning I ordered a women’s medical alert bracelet that says, “Pacemaker” that will be delivered on the 25th – HOPEFULLY in time for me to wear it on the trip.
Conde’ Nast Traveler
We are due to get our passports today! Then the real count down begins on getting ready for our trip. Our son will start work on routing our trip and getting tickets. Before, it was still abstract that we’ll be leaving, even though we’re giving away and selling lots of stuff and I’m preparing to shut down my Etsy site. Once the passports arrive and our son lets us know the date we’re leaving, it will all be REAL.
I found a phone app on speaking Thai. I really want to be able to be polite and respectful and try my best on pronunciation. I know our son will help us, but he picks up new languages pretty easily. (He speaks English, Mandarin and Thai). We will need lots of practice and guidance before the new words sink in.
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HAPPY SPRING!!! I forgot it was the first day of Spring yesterday and so didn’t wish you a happy one. So sorry. Thailand essentially has several different summers each year – including wet summer, dry summer, smoky summer, and so it will be an adjustment to not celebrate spring and fall. I have to admit I won’t miss winter, but will take time to look at beautiful pictures of it each year. :0)
I have my blog on my phone now, though I’m still using my computer here. I found out I can write you a note, but I haven’t figured out how to add any images yet, so I may not be able to do that. I CAN read comments and reply, so I’ll try to send you messages on what is happening until our son has the time to get computers going for us. I hope you will bear with us.
We will have a super busy day today with our friends coming to buy more stuff, deliveries, etc. An amazing time for us, for sure.
I hope that your Friday is a wonderful one, with a great weekend to follow.
I am still among the land of the living and am finally feeling strong enough to try to get one blog post written this morning.
There are lots and lots of changes going on around here, due to the sudden events of the past 2 weeks or so. I appreciate your bearing with me on things I’m having to do differently as I adapt.
To summarize the events of February, my husband and I both were diagnosed with Flu A (husband flu plus pneumonia. Me flu plus bronchitis.) at our walk-in clinic on the 6th. The doc there strongly suggested I go to the ER due to low blood oxygen. We went home and I called a friend, who drove me to the ER. I was admitted there, transferred to the ICU, had two operations in three days due to my heart stopping beating, one for a temporary pace maker and the other for a permanent one. I was released on the 12th.
I asked our son to come home from across the world from us. He dropped everything and traveled 24 hours to get here. He has handled all the cooking, cleaning, medications, animals, taking care of us beautifully. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without him.
We are both improving very slowly. I am on oxygen, but am trying to wean myself off of it as I can.
Yesterday our new bed came and the fridge guy came to look at the ice maker in the new fridge. The bed will be fine, though we both need to do some adaptation. The tech ordered a part for the fridge, so that will be handled eventually, too.
The most impactful thing from all of this is that my husband and I have always planned carefully for future scenarios, not wanting to be caught flat footed. We honestly hadn’t thought about the fact that I could croak first. This has upended everything. We also never planned for both of us to be sick at the same time, and that upended anything that was left. I have to admit I am rocked down to my core on this one. I could handle being the survivor, but I seriously worry about my husband’s ability to function by himself.
This will take a lot of thinking and replanning, and possible scenarios we never even considered before.
Again, thank you for taking the time to read all of this. I hope to be able to get back to the regular blog posts starting tomorrow. I’m trying to give myself some slack, though, since I tend to give out at the slightest effort, and will need to work to build my stamina again.
Meanwhile you’ve been on my mind and I hope you’re doing well.
I can’t imagine a life without books. To say I’m a voracious reader is a vast understatement. I’m usually reading at least two at once. We have books in every room of our home. We built floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in almost every room and we still have to juggle to find room for our collection.
I’ve loved reading from the time I was very small. I sat in the middle of my parent’s living room, watching my dad devour a book on geology, my mother with her lapboard, working the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzle, and my brother reading a comic book. Frustrated, I finally blurted out, “I wish to HELL I could read!” After several moments of complete silence, my mom sat on the floor and started to teach me.
Now I have a master’s degree as a ‘Reading Specialist,’ taught in the public schools in Tulsa OK for 8 years (getting in trouble for teaching phonics to my kids while playing my guitar.) I ran my own reading clinic for three years, helping a lot of kids discover they WEREN’T ‘stupid,’ teaching them the keys to making sense of it all.
Between books, the Internet, and YouTube now, there isn’t enough time in the day to learn all I would like. I love the fact that you can learn so many things in the privacy of your home that may change your life.
I have favorite authors – Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, Robert B. Parker, Lee Child, Grisham, so many others; and it’s a gift that I’m discovering new authors, such as R.G. Ryan.
I hope that kids are receiving books this Christmas and that their parents are reading to them, showing them how much fun it is to read and learn, helping them get books from the library and build their own collection – encouraging them to escape from current worries, to dive into other worlds.
I’m of several minds about getting older. It may be ‘multiple personalities,’ or dementia, or a combination of both, but I’m split mentally and emotionally so many ways I feel I’m in a ‘sliced-and-diced’ commercial for fancy knives.
One big part of me – the part I’m encouraging – is embracing life, living life to the fullest, finding joy, taking my time to enjoy things, choosing to do things that bring me happiness and peace, learning new things, trying to develop new skills, trying to be as healthy as possible so that my life is the best quality possible.
Another part of me – one I’m kind of hiding from – is having to step up in areas where I feel totally inept, such as figuring out what is wrong with something and trying to fix it, programming new technical things, handling things my husband has always done, but needs help with or total takeover from now. I’m having to really PUSH myself since this is becoming the new normal – that I am an adult and supposedly able to handle much more than I ever have. My main goal at this point is to try to remain calm in each situation that comes up, figure out what I need to do, how to try to work with my husband, how to keep priorities straight, figure out who to call if things go south, etc. I want to cover up my head, escape, ignore – but that’s not possible.
SO – how to deal with my getting older, having changing needs, and helping my husband deal with HIS changing body, abilities, personality, and ego – how to go forward?
My dad told me something that he lived by and has helped me a lot – to try to stand back and see the humor in a given situation. Many times you have to work really hard to see it, but usually, it’s there. That helps in keeping your cool, keeping priorities straight, and taking things one step at a time.
Take a deep breath. And another one. Maybe take a walk around the yard, do a session of yoga stretches, use weights to bop around with some nice music and exercise videos.
Stay busy. Don’t let things overwhelm you. Have projects that will change your focus for a while, using your energies on something you can look at afterwards that makes you feel more in control.
Do things that bring you joy. For me, that’s spending time in my art room, listening to music, reading, writing this blog, searching for good things that make you smile, walking outside, getting a massage, visiting with a friend.
Try to be a good communicator. Letting others who care about you know how you feel and really listening to what they are saying, as well as to the person/people who may be a challenge.
We will all face this kind of thing at some point. What do YOU do to handle it?
I have the old style Kindle Fire 7. If things go the way things have in the past year, it’s probably on its last legs and will die a cruel death soon. :0(
I have always liked REAL books. They are in shelves all over our house, plus in ‘discrete’ piles :0) elsewhere – I LOVE real books and fought the idea of getting a Kindle for a LONG time after my husband got one. He loves his and rarely reads a real book anymore. I do like the fact that I can throw my Kindle in my purse and take it places and read where I’m having to wait a long time.
I also fought the idea of Kindle Unlimited, where you pay a monthly fee in order to have access to lots of ‘free’ books at no extra charge. The main reason I like this now is that a LOT of books being written these days that are truly awful, in my humble opinion. I like characters with whom I can identify or I can admire. I like plots where I care what happens to those characters. I won’t read a book with lots of grammatical or spelling errors. I also don’t like ‘formula’ stuff that is predictable, being buried in questionable language, or kind of shocked by too much explicitness when I appreciate ‘romance.’
I can upload a book, get started with it, and send it back from whence it came in a matter of seconds without feeling guilty about having ‘bought’ yet another bad book not worth reading. There is no limit. I DO have to return one in order to download another from time to time, but that just takes a second.
I still prefer a real book, but paperbacks now, since the arthritis in my hands makes it uncomfortable to hold a hardback these days. The Kindle enables me to read as much as I like without guilt – a great thing for sure!
My talented, caring massage therapist, Lynn Moody 479-629-7501, found all my sore and stiff parts and healed me, at least for the rest of the day. Ahhhhhh! After Lynn made me feel loose as a goose and happy, I went to visit my dear friend, Linda, who lives at the retirement place where Lynn’s business is now.
(Kay on the left and Linda on the right at Linda’s retirement center.)
Linda has been a long-time friend here in Arkansas. I really believe she is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known. Her memory is mainly in the moment now. She recognized me, but didn’t remember that SHE was due for a massage at 1pm. Thankfully, Lynn comes and gets her so that she doesn’t miss out. She said she hasn’t seen or heard from Kay and Bud, our other Lunch Bunch core people, either. I saw our Lunch Bunch waitress at Walmart recently, and she said that she didn’t think Kay recognized her the last time they were in the restaurant. It’s sad when times change, but I’m thankful to have so many wonderful memories.
I dragged the trash can up to its spot and got the mail when I came home, then fixed lunch. When my belly was full and I was comfortable in my chair, I stretched out and enjoyed a long nap. I cooked dinner, but that was really the only other thing I did. I’m a GOOD sloth.
Today my husband and I will try to get the fluorescent bulbs in my closet changed out. The ones I have have been dim for quite awhile, so it will be good if we can do this.
Otherwise, I’ll do my exercises like a good girl today – the ‘fit sticks’ videos (warm up plus at least two more) today plus my yoga. My eating plan and exercise are finally yielding good results. I’m less than a pound away from an interim goal now. Maybe I’ll reach it tomorrow.
Fun At Home With Kids
I plan to spend time in my art room today. I have some things almost finished and a couple of things ready to start. :0)
We may get gusty winds and some rain this afternoon and evening. So far, my friend in Florida is safe, and my SIL outside of Charlotte in North Carolina, are safe from Hurricane Helene. I’ll be keeping up with news from this today.
creativeartworksblog 