What are you up to?

[PaintBoss]

Oh, I love cats. I want to race over right now and talk to them snuggle up. Do you know what I used to love doing with my cats? My big fluffy cats laying on the bed…I used to love putting my face gently on them and hearing them purr Especially their fluffy bellies. I know that sounds weird but I know a lot of people do it! I found it very calming. There’s nothing better than coming into a room this time of year when it’s cold outside, but the sun is starting to get brighter and warmer, shining through the window and the cat is stretched out sunning itself on the bed. Then laying down beside them in the sun. Heaven!
A house doesn’t seem like a home without a cat.
Your cats are beautiful!
I bet your kitty is happy to be home.

 

[TK H-H]

I love kitty purrs. Best sound in the world.
And I agree. I can't stand a house without cats. Many years ago when I went to University, I lived in a townhouse for a while. My cats stayed back home with my parents and my house felt so lonely without them. So quiet.

Even right now. Both are running around chattering to each other and it's making me smile. The house feels full again!

 

[PaintBoss]

I felt the same way when I went to University. I was so lost without my pets especially my cats. These days I can’t have them anymore. I developed very life-threatening allergies just touching a cat. It extends to more animals. They think it is the protein that’s left on the fur when they wash themselves and it’s a protein that’s from the urine. So you can have it with bunnies and other animals. I was heartbroken when I had to rehome my cat and he was very close to me. He was extremely cuddly like you see in those videos. He wasn’t always like that. He was a street cat, but he learned to trust us. I did find him a wonderful home, and I heard that he was quite happy every time I checked up on him. But there was no mistaking it. The last time I touched him almost took me out. He looked so hurt and confused too, when I couldn’t even go near him. It was a little bit heartbreaking. But you know I got 50 years of cats- lots and lots of cats and other animals. I’m so glad that I wasn’t allergic when I was a child. I got to have a lot of the joy. Go give your cats a snuggle for me. They’re absolutely wonderful animals and some people totally misunderstand cats. And they’re like people they have personalities. Once in a while, you meet a difficult one or even a mean one. But mostly they’re awesome. And they are extremely affectionate once they decide to be.

 

[Nerys]

Sunday afternoon painting with my new icy colors watercolors, trying out colors in my little sketchbook and small watercolors painting on last year's buy cold press paper pad.

 

[TK H-H]

Aw... your kitty looks just like Kaido.
We purchased a tracker for him. It arrived on Saturday so we got it all set up for him. We want to get one for Kishka too, but we're still working on her handling. Interestingly enough, she seems to have become more receptive to things since Kaido returned. She's been more accepting of pets since. Too bad she has to go for boosters today, so that'll all go down the toilet...

They really are wonderful pets though. I've kept a wide variety of animals in my life, but cats will always be my favorite. They bring so much joy, affection and entertainment to a house. I feel like anyone who says "cats are boring" just isn't keeping them happy enough.

 

[Triduana]

Sorry I've been a bit inactive on the forum over the last few days - I've been on another city break, this time to Berlin.

Loved it. As usual we did far too much, but there was a lot to see. It's a city that has a lot of stories, and I had a heck of a history lesson.

Some photos:

More to follow ...

 

[Triduana]

The following photos were taken from a moving vehicle. Specifically, this one:

Sounded like a bag of spanners, but it was loads of fun.

And I'll leave you with this pic of me

 

[PaintBoss]

How wonderful! Great photos.

 

[TK H-H]

Nice pictures!

I was also mostly absent lately due to a trip. Me and hubby went to Vegas for a few days. We've never been there, and there was a Nascar race there that he wanted to see, so we decided to make a bigger trip around it. Kind of thought of it like a mini honeymoon (though we want to plan a bigger trip for that).

Neither of us are into gambling or drinking, so we didn't spend too much time on the strip. We did drive through for some sightseeing at night though. Wanted to see all the lights and get an idea of what was down there. We kind of wanted to walk down it, but parking was a bit of an issue at the time. But we went to two races, a couple of shows, tried some new restaurants, checked out an art exhibit, and our favorite - took some supercars for a drive around a racetrack.

K took a Mercedes GTR AMG. He originally booked an Aston Martin, but it ended up not being available for the day, so he took the Mercedes as it was the other car he was debating on.

I took a Lamborghini Huracan. I always liked the look of Lamborghinis growing up, so that was a treat. Super fun car to drive! Was a major step up from my Kia Soul.

Was a lot of fun. We enjoyed the cars so much that we're thinking of going back some time in the future and booking a few each to try. They have two more Huracans available that are even more powerful than the one I drove. Kind of got my eyes on those. Just have to decide which one... (first world problem to have, right?)

We drove all the way to Vegas and back, so we had lots of nice landscape views along the way. Lots of green hills and waters, mountains, got into a snowy area once we climbed into the mountains which reminded me of home, and then headed into the desert. The desert eventually became really desolate. Was kind of unnerving in a way. I can't imagine your car breaking down out there or something. There's literally nothing anywhere for miiiiles!

Anyways. Was a good trip. We had fun.

 

[Ellen Easton]

The last few months have been so busy for me that I'm not sure where to begin. Back in October (I think it was October) I ended up in the hospital again. I won't tell the whole story because it's really a comedy of errors as the cliche goes, and when it was over and I came back home to go in and get a post-hospital check, my caregiving clinic up here told me that the hospital could have killed me. What happened was that I had an iron infusion by IV and another transfusion both of which came loose and both of those went out into my arm instead of the veins where they belonged. And the nurse finally came in, uncovered my right arm and muttered "that's gonna leave a mark" kind of under her breath. They took the iron and blood bags away and after awhile and at intervals here and there I kept asking if they could take the tape and stuff off my arm because it was bothering me and the nurse said, "No that would just make a mess". I let it go, but was thinking that was stupid because I've never seen or heard of such a thing as removing tape from a removed IV causing a mess. What had happened, though, was half a bag of blood and a full bag of iron infusion had emptied out into my soft tissues of my arm and not into my vein, which could have killed me. I also had had a port put into my left arm so they could use that instead of my veins but it didn't work because there was a kink in the line and the nurse who had put it in had to come back the next way to see why it didn't work. I ended up with blood pressure being taken on my leg because my arms were so "busy" with IV's and stuff. What I had gone to ER for was that I was vomiting from a bowel obstruction so I also had an NG tube and when the nurse tried to put that in, it went the wrong way and I couldn't breathe and couldn't say anything so I just pulled it back out. I've had one of those before years ago and it went in just fine. Having worked in a hospital before, I know how frustrating it can be when a patient pulls something out they shouldn't, but I had no choice. LOL

There's a lot more to the tale of the fiasco at the hospital--I'm never going to go back to that hospital---but I won't bother everyone with that. I didn't get my Christmas paintings done and sent out but I feel really bad about that and I still have the addresses to send mine when I do get them done.

And then right before Christmas mail started pouring in. My daughter had sent a letter entering me in to a website called Love for our Elders. She had forgotten having sent it because it was a long time ago. But I got literally hundreds, if not a thousand, letters and cards from all over the world...even from China. Some people sent me gifts. I have a whole closet and then some of boxes and boxes of those cards and letters and gifts. One young lady from high school said she really admires the Mona Lisa and asked me if I had been able to see the Mona Lisa when it was first painted. LOL I really get a chuckle every time I think of that question. I'm sure she'd be embarrassed if she knew it was painted in 1503 or thereabouts. That's one of my favorite letters. I spent hours and hours every day opening the letters and reading them. I was determined to read every single one, though.

When I got home from the hospital I found an ad for some iron pills that sounded hopeful----I haven't ever been able to take oral iron before and that's why I had to start taking iron infusions. I thought what could it hurt to try just one more? And good grief! I actually can take it! It tastes awful but anything is better than having infusions of iron and more trouble with having to have transfusions again. The iron tastes like an old rusty iron skillet that's sat out in the rain for a couple years, if you know what that smells like. I usually take a whole handful of pills at once and think nothing of it but now that I have that iron pill in with the others I just hate that taste. It's incredibly unpleasant. So in a way, I dread taking it but that feeling is overcome by sheer joy that I can take oral iron and not have transfusions and iron infusions.

OK now on to the cougar thing. The cougar population is way out of control and I've mentioned it before here. Now it's to the point where nobody goes out after dark or at dawn or dusk. This cougar has even been seen in my yard as well as everywhere else in the park. One night my daughter had to go up the hill a little way to get something stored in a trailer up there. She shined her flashlight around in the edge of the trees and saw glowing eyes---the cougar was right there in the edge of the forest which is very close because we live in the national forest. It was very, very cold but she kept her light on the eyes and sidled slowly to the door of the trailer and went inside. She stayed in there awhile, cold as it was, and finally she went back out, but the cougar was still there. She started backing away down the hill while shining her light that direction. Then the neighbor up there let his big dog out and it started barking real frantically and she took that opportunity to hurry back home. It sometimes jumps up on her roof, because she lives right where it's often seen in morning or evening. Two neighbors have gotten cougar tags so they can legally kill it if it threatens anyone. I live right on the bank of the creek where it drinks and one neighbor was hoping for a good snowfall so he could track it to see where its lair is but our luck---no lasting snow so the cougar is still with us. Cougars are apex predators and they aren't afraid of people at all so all a person can do if they see one is just pray, simply put. One big dog isn't enough to scare a cougar. A pack of dogs can cause it to just go away, but it's illegal to hunt them with dogs.

There are a lot of black bears this year hanging out together and usually they don't hang out in groups so that's unusual too. The bears come around but they haven't come into the park that I know of.

Anyway, I'm back and I can tell I'm much stronger. I've been on this iron for about 5 months now. One of my granddaughters gave me the money to buy a six month supply of iron. Bless her! I'll be able to have it in case they quit selling it or something.

I'll quit for this thread. I've also got wonderful news about some art things. At least, to me it's wonderful. Others might not find it such an exciting thing, but I'll share it anyway for those who might be interested. I'll find the right thread. I'll have to do it tomorrow though.

 

[PaintBoss]

Ellen, it’s so good to hear from you. I was wondering if something had happened. First of all I’m so very glad that you’re doing better. I’ve spent a lot of time in different hospitals and we had one that was a real problem. I had some great staff, but I had some awful stuff. But it sounds like that hospital was particularly inept. Amount to put a mildly. My goodness it’s scary just from what I’ve read. And oh, that is such good news that you found an oral pill that will work for the iron. just make sure your other pills aren’t affected by the iron or that you’re able to absorb iron taking some pills. They can all affect each other in weird ways. But it sounds like it’s working. You must be feeling a lot stronger. I sure know about bad taste. Prednisone is terrible and the oral potassium especially when you can’t water it down very much which I have to because I’m have to limit at my water intake, it’s not our only intensely horrible, but it burns. But the things we will put up with because there is an upside, and the other options are not good!
Oh my goodness how exciting receiving all that mail and well wishes. That would’ve taken me a year to read. I think you could’ve posted to us sooner if you didn’t have all that mail to read! Lol how wonderful. And how cute about the Mona Lisa comment. I’m glad you took that stride. People do mean well but there’s many people who are just very uneducated about many things.
Good grief about the cougars and bears. Both can be terrifying. I’m glad the bears haven’t come into the park yet, but that surprised me. You guys must lock up your garbage really well. Now the cougars routinely perching on your relative’s roof and just basically always being around is alarming. I hope no one gets hurt. I know some types. Don’t seem to understand that you have to get rid of nuisance animals. But if they’re not afraid of people and they’re constantly coming into human spaces, they are dangerous, beautiful but dangerous.
That was a good update. I can’t wait to hear what other things you have to tell us. Especially about your art news. Again I’m happy to hear you’re feeling better now. Just the bowel obstruction alone would’ve been miserable. And sometimes it’s one thing after the other, you know, especially when it comes to medical problems.
Hope you are having a great day today!

 

[Ellen Easton]

That Mona Lisa question just hit my funny bone. I'm old but not quite that old. If I ever have time to answer some of the letters, I won't mention it to her and embarrass that sweet girl. LOL

I'm feeling SOOOO much stronger and I've got much better skin color. Before this, I was falling more than once a day even with my walker and some of it was fainting and I also didn't have enough oxygen because of the lack of iron. It was getting so I was feeling very concerned about whether I was going to die shortly. Now aside from back pain so that I still have to use my walker I feel like I could live another 50 years. ( Just a joke) I've gotten so I don't always need my walker in the house sometimes, which is great.

OK my good news is that there are now quite a few listings on Amazon for 100% cotton paper in huge amounts for great prices. I've tried a few and been quite surprised at how good some of them are. I tried several and only 1 was flimsy and thin. I'll try to make a list sometime this evening for everyone to go check out if they want. They're all Amazon.

And from my Vine Voices thing I got a wonderful sketchbook that's full of 100% cotton paper and get this---it's a loose leaf one you can remove pages from and replace paper! It advertises that it's leather but it isn't---I've worked with leather a lot---but even so it's still a nice cover. You do have to punch your own holes if you replace the paper with some other kind you like better but I don't mind that. And I do believe the paper is cotton but masking tape doesn't stick so tightly to it that it would tear the paper. Not sure what that says about the paper or its sizing but I thought it was a plus. It's quite thick paper.

Another wonderful thing is the walnut wood palette Fuumuui and Lightwish and another I don't remember who the company was are offering. This palette is awesome. I don't care for the Fuumuui one quite as much because the pans don't come out, although I swear by that company for their brushes and some of their paper products. It does come with two travel brushes in the pallet and the others don't...I like Lightwish better for the removeable pans but they're not standard size so when I reviewed it, I mentioned that. Both the Lightwish and Fuumuui have a screw thing so the palette can be put on a tripod and I tried it on a tripod----sure enough, it works! I love that! Each is about $50 or a little under. The ones whose name I can't remember are around $30The sketchbook is $20 or $17 if you do a recurring order thing. All these are walnut wood and they fold up to about 6x9 or so and have little brass water cups and a mixing area right in the palette. It closes securely with magnets. I got my Fuumuui from a gift card from my son for Christmas and then one of my grandchildren got me one of the Lightwish ones too for Christmas.

I'll post links to everything. I'll put them in this post but mods can move them or delete them if they're not appropriate here and I'll repost wherever they tell me they belong.

I've edited many times to try to get that one link that says Amazon sign-in to change to just the url for the palette of Fuumuui but every time I do "save" for that one it shows on the edit that the link is what I want it to be but after it posts, it's back to Amazon sign-in so I don't know why it won't work. I'll try something else so people don't sign in to my amazon. Okay there. I think I fixed it. Sigh---it still says Amazon sign-in when I post it. What am I doing wrong?

Fuumuui:

Amazon Sign-In

Lightwish:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNDYG7CY?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1

[/URL]

 

[Ellen Easton]

Darn it, now my time for editing has expired so I can't change it. I don't want people to be able to sign in to my Amazon if that url will let it do that.

OK I had to sign out and then go to the page and add the url from there. But now I have to figure out how to get back into Amazon because I can't remember my password. Crapola.

 

[PaintBoss]

I clicked the link Ellen and it doesn’t get into your personal account. It is only the account sign in page. And the boxes are empty. They’re not showing any information of yours. So no one can get into your account or see anything with your sign in info-no worries.

 

[Hermes2020]

Ellen, I am so sorry to hear about your health issues. You seem to be doing better now; I wish you continued improvement. Reading about your experiences puts the relatively minor discomfort I am currently experiencing in perspective. Over the weekend I suffered an outbreak of shingles for the first time in my life. I am on medication and I hope it will not take too long to clear up the painful welts on my back and ribs on the right side. I am just not feeling up to working on the second attempt at the batik design I started a few weeks ago. More on that in another post.

 

[Ellen Easton]

I clicked the link Ellen and it doesn’t get into your personal account. It is only the account sign in page. And the boxes are empty. They’re not showing any information of yours. So no one can get into your account or see anything with your sign in info-no worries.

 

[Ellen Easton]

Ellen, I am so sorry to hear about your health issues. You seem to be doing better now; I wish you continued improvement. Reading about your experiences puts the relatively minor discomfort I am currently experiencing in perspective. Over the weekend I suffered an outbreak of shingles for the first time in my life. I am on medication and I hope it will not take too long to clear up the painful welts on my back and ribs on the right side. I am just not feeling up to working on the second attempt at the batik design I started a few weeks ago. More on that in another post.

Oh my gosh, shingles isn't a relatively minor discomfort. I've never had my shingles shot but I need to do that because I've heard shingles is terribly bad. At one time when I was taking 60mg of prednisone for a serious crash of my health due to the autoimmune things going on with me, I had a blister and had had a severe pain in my back and my rheumatologist said it was a shingles blister but that the prednisone might have thwarted a full blown shingles attack. At any rate, if that was what it was, I sure never want any more. I really hope you can stop having that outbreak very soon. And of course, I hope you can get back to your batik design real soon, too. Being unable to create always frustrates me no end and I'm sure it does for you, too. In fact, I always take some watercolor supplies and things with me when I have to go to ER or anything like that just in case they keep me awhile. I took along a bunch of crochet stuff once because it was holiday season and I was making afghan squares for blankets for great-grandkids. lol I may not feel much like painting when I'm in the hospital nowadays, but I won't go without a sketchbook and palette and things just in case I do feel like painting or sketching.

 

[Ellen Easton]

I forgot to mention the tripod that my palettes work with. Here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DSZYVY6K?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1

And also a selfie/tattoo light that can be used to take pictures in a nice light:

Amazon.com

I want you all to know I don't work for Amazon. I do freelance writing of reviews and in return I get the product in exchange, so it's nice but I'm not trying to sell stuff for them. I just know maybe others might appreciate a heads-up on things I find out about through this thing I do. And it's an invitation only thing so Amazon contacted me and I was shocked. I didn't open the email for a couple of weeks or so because I didn't think it was anything but maybe an advertisement or something. People can't apply for it, they just invite whoever they want to. I guess being such a blabbermouth in the reviews I've done in the past on Amazon is a good thing. But I do honest reviews and I wouldn't post anything here to try to sell anything. I'm just sharing what I think about things I find to be really good for us artists.

 

[Ellen Easton]

Actually, belatedly before I forgot to post the link, I'll add this 300 pages of cotton paper because it was one of the papers I tried that I was actually surprised how much I enjoy using it. I do think this is a good paper at a price so cheap I figured it would be pretty much just junk.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D9H7JKF1/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1GQ09C2R61KHX&th=1

I do a lot of my work on small sizes of paper so when I got this order and tested it out, I was very surprised to find that it's really nice to paint on, in my opinion. Others may not find it suits them, but we're all different and if you're like me, you'll try whatever comes along less expensively than some of the better known brands even if only to use it for practice.

Now that our election has brought back Trumplestiltskin who is not a frugal person's friend I know we're going to see inflation soar tremendously in the near future, so I'm stocking up on what I can while I can.

 

[Artyczar]

Kay: your photos of Germany are really good.

Ellen: so sorry to hear about your health issues.

I've been absent for a while now. I can't sit at the computer long, but in a nutshell, I had pneumonia at the end of my solo show in January that later turned into some kind of infection that has given me incredible headaches since February. All day, every day! I've been seeing a lot of doctors and am still getting tests, different types of MRIs, etc., and trying all kinds of medications to curb the pain. Not much has worked yet. It's all about waiting for the insurance to cover the meds and the tests. Blah blah blah. So sorry I've been away. I'm working hard to get back to the forum, but I'll probably never catch up with everything I've missed.