What are you up to?

[Grapes]

Arty, I'm glad to hear from you and that you are healing ok. Don't worry about reading the forum and being in front of screens. That is probably the worst for recovery if there are headaches and other. We keep forum running for you meanwhile.

 

[laf.art]

Hi Ayin, lovely to see you back here, glad you're recovering well, take care.

 

[Hermes2020]

So glad that you are on the mend, Ayin. Don't try to do too much at the beginning.

 

[Enyaw]

Good to hear good news. Be safe Ayin, time is a healer.

 

[brianvds]

Signs of spring around here:

The butterflies are buttering:

The beetles are beetling:

The wild lilies are in bloom:

And free gum arabic is dripping from the thorn trees:

 

[Jade]

Beautiful pictures

 

[Hermes2020]

I love that beetle shot.

 

[Marc]

Was driving and shading my eyes with a stiff right-angled cupped hand to the bright but low sun also to my right when I noticed a lady on the left side of the road in some form of wide belted outfit in cadet blue.
Turning my head abruptly to note her distinctiveness she quickly saluted back as I passed her.

 

[Ellen Easton]

Wow, so much going on for everyone!

I'd describe myself as having been very actively inactive for a lot of 2025 so far. I wasn't doing too badly till right after April Fool's day when I fell and broke my hip. After they fixed that, then from the hospital they put me into rehab for two weeks and after that, I had another week of assessment while at home.

Originally my daughter and I planned on putting in a big garden this past summer but then the unexpected struck and I got an unexpected financial boost as a result of the death of my first husband and the fact that I was supposed to have been getting his income for over a year, for which they had to pay me a back lump sum payment.

Then within less than 2 months my oldest grand-daughter's fiance' was killed in a car accident. They had been boyfriend/girlfriend since elementary school (for 22 years) and it devastated us all to lose him.

To add even more to the busy life I'm leading I was able to buy a bigger place here in the RV park where my daughter and I will each have our own arts and crafts room.

And I bought new flooring, a new dishwasher, a new sewing machine, and a new queen sized bed, so now I'm not in a twin size anymore. There's a fly in the ointment, though. There should be a law against 80-year-olds buying satin sheets. I fell out of bed---or maybe more accurately----slithered---out of my bed onto the floor in my sleep one night. I traded places with my little dog after that but alas, she also slithered out of bed onto the floor in her sleep a few nights later. Sigh---so much for geriatric glamour.

I bought plenty of thread, straight pins and fabric because I want to make some rag dolls and other toys for the great-grands for Christmas but before I get started on that, I need to help unpack and get things in good order. I haven't painted anything since I broke my hip buti It's on my to-do list.

 

[Ellen Easton]

@Triduana I look forward to seeing pics and hearing about all the festivities at the festival. Think... paintings....

Ayin, at least you know people care enough to lecture, right? Nearly as good as a furry pup.

I had a stroke a little over six years ago- no notice, no health problems. Turns out I have a bad allele on my MTHFR gene (I will take a few seconds for those with a wicked sense of humor to just guess what that acronym stands for...) which is one of those Who knew? things. It is usually found if there are fertility problems, but that is to laugh- I used to figure I could get pregnant using a guy's toothbrush. Turns out, one of my sisters and two of her daughters have it, (and she and one daughter have had TIAs) and my daughter has it; I'm unsure of sons because, while they all told me, Yes, Mom, I'll get that checked, they haven't. Same with our siblings, although we've both been vocal about just getting a genetic test and find out; we were all always adventurous children, mayhap they still are.

I lost bits and pieces of my left side- a muscle impulse into my hip, my knee, my ankle and the two smallest toes, and proprioception (knowing where a body part is without looking/touching it) for a couple days on the left, and have a 1.5 cm bright spot (dead area) on the right posterior basal ganglia- the part of your brain that tells everything "GO!" So, while I can walk, easily, every so often my left leg is a fraction of a second slow in moving, especially the foot rolling through the stride, and I limp, although if I don't pay attention, it's more like Igor clumping along. I'm right handed, so no problems there, but have what is called parathesia (para= abnormal, thesia = sensation) in my left hand which means it is pretty much always asleep-feeling, so sometimes if I am hurrying, I forget that hand can't "feel" correctly and can drop things or jerk or just act weirdly. Not that such is anything new.

Just part of living- I was pretty danged healthy all my life- a couple injuries that healed well, no disease or problem, so I was far more lucky than many. I'm Medicare-age now, which is a nonplussed idea- getting to fifty took forever, and the next decade was still quite long, but these past five years have gone lickety split!

Keep moving around, Folks- it's the best way to stay alive.

Yeppers, my wicked sense of humor caught that acronym right away.

 

[TK H-H]

Haven't done anything too interesting.
Had a foot procedure a while back, and just had the other done this morning. So been mostly relaxing in bed all day because walking isn't the easiest task right now. This one ended up being a bit more involved than the previous. Normally the previous was the more problematic, but this one decided to have a small complication. Had to temporarily take a medication for it, which was unfortunately making me feel sick all week too. But I was told I can discontinue it today. It's more painful than the prior too... The other foot didn't bother me much at all during recovery.

Have another appointment next week to see if there's any further treatment options for my damaged knee. It's been damaged for 11 years now, and I was able to find a lot of relief with a gel injection last year (wasn't a complete fix, but it drastically improved the pain and helped stabilize the joint). Unfortunately, I overextended it when my foot slipped on a smooth floor last week, and it's been unhappy since...

Those problems have been making sleep uncomfortable, so I've been struggling to get a proper night's sleep... I already have sleep troubles, but this sure ain't helping. So been exhausted.

And lastly, one of my kitties had to go to emerg a few days ago. So been taking care of him all week. Poor guy needs 5 meds daily, with a 6th every other day for the next while. Potentially adding more when some tests come back. He's been taking everything like a champ so far though. He's such a good boy.

I started a new crochet project early in the week, but didn't get very far with everything going on.

That's pretty much it...

 

[Ellen Easton]

It sounds like we're having similar "excitement" these days. Since I broke my hip back in April, my daughter has been insisting I can't do anything to speak of and that I have to use my walker, so I spend a lot of time reading, cruising Amazon for art and craft supplies, and doing stuff anyway when she's not looking. My doctor said I don't have to use a cane or walker or anything unless I want to but she thinks I'm lying, so it's easiest to just be stealthy and do what I want. LOL Seriously, the doctor did tell me to just not use anything if I don't feel the need.

 

[Nerys]

Painting papers for collage. Also gelli printed small papers for collage. Did 15 minutes sorting out art supplies.
Went outside just patio garden area with my cane for 5 minutes fresh air. Visitor cat is asleep on garden table.
Feed the birds bread bits. Did a little collage. Skies are grey gloomy daylight so no painting today. Started christmas coloring this week.Christmas Mandalas Creative Haven from Doverpublications.

 

[stlukesguild]

While we are mostly settled into our new home and only have a few more items of furniture to purchase (and assemble) I am still doing small things on a regular basis… such as hanging works of art and family photos. Today I spent an hour or two in the basement going through the storage boxes of CDs and selecting another 80 or so to bring upstairs to my office/library where I have room for these and where they will remain more accessible. Eventually, I will set about organizing these CDs as well as my books. The basement art studio remains a project for Spring.

 

[Hermes2020]

While we are mostly settled into our new home and only have a few more items of furniture to purchase (and assemble) I am still doing small things on a regular basis… such as hanging works of art and family photos. Today I spent an hour or two in the basement going through the storage boxes of CDs and selecting another 80 or so to bring upstairs to my office/library where I have room for these and where they will remain more accessible. Eventually, I will set about organizing these CDs as well as my books. The basement art studio remains a project for Spring.

I would love to see some photos.

 

[Ellen Easton]

I'm excited! Today my grand-daughter and her fiance' brought me an early birthday present and I'm thrilled with it. They brought me a big cage and some bird food and two beautiful little parakeets! I've always loved these little birds and have always had at least a couple until I moved back to Oregon. Just before I moved back, one passed away and then right after I moved back, the other one also passed away. I've been wishing I could have more, but they cost much more now than they used to so I've just been wishing and letting it go at that. There isn't any pet store up here so all I did was just daydream.

My new little companions are already entertaining me. One is a very pudgie budgie who is a beautiful blue. The other is a svelte, slim and trim, green budgie. I've already named them after the cartoon of Pepe le Pew and Penelope Pussycat. The blue one is Pepe and the green is Penelope, Why did I name them after the cartoon? Because Pepe is a clingy little pudgie budgie who always wants to sit right beside Penelope---always touching---but Penelope doesn't want to do that and moves away. Never one to take a hint, Pepe just puts his round little head down and scurries back over to sit against Penelope, who once again quickly moves away. lol They're just babies so I don't have a clue what their genders are but they're Pepe and Penelope anyway.

 

[stlukesguild]

I would love to see some photos.

My brother, who lives with us, is disabled. He’ll likely need knee replacement surgery sometime soon. My wife also struggles with steps so we set about looking for a smaller ranch-style home… a single story not counting the basement. The house we bought is in one of the nicer suburbs of Cleveland… about 15-20 minutes from my job. The home is approximately 1000 square feet with an equal square footage in the basement. The basement includes a workshop, laundry room, and a sizable pantry with shelves all around… likely built back when many Americans canned and jarred vegetables and fruit for the minter. The remaining room… at least 500 square feet… is semi-finished and I’ll be using it as my studio and maybe a party room. We have a small back yard that gives our pups a place to run about. There’s a sizable porch overlooking the back yard that will be ideal when having friends over in warmer weather for cook-outs.

 

[stlukesguild]

I had to assemble 8 book shelves, 2 baker’s racks, the danish room table and benches, 2 couches, one seat, the office desk/table, 4 lamps, 4 lamp stands, and two beds… not to say anything about organizing and putting things away.

 

[Hermes2020]

Well, that was quite a big job, but you have done well.

 

[Jade]

I'm excited! Today my grand-daughter and her fiance' brought me an early birthday present and I'm thrilled with it. They brought me a big cage and some bird food and two beautiful little parakeets! I've always loved these little birds and have always had at least a couple until I moved back to Oregon. Just before I moved back, one passed away and then right after I moved back, the other one also passed away. I've been wishing I could have more, but they cost much more now than they used to so I've just been wishing and letting it go at that. There isn't any pet store up here so all I did was just daydream.

My new little companions are already entertaining me. One is a very pudgie budgie who is a beautiful blue. The other is a svelte, slim and trim, green budgie. I've already named them after the cartoon of Pepe le Pew and Penelope Pussycat. The blue one is Pepe and the green is Penelope, Why did I name them after the cartoon? Because Pepe is a clingy little pudgie budgie who always wants to sit right beside Penelope---always touching---but Penelope doesn't want to do that and moves away. Never one to take a hint, Pepe just puts his round little head down and scurries back over to sit against Penelope, who once again quickly moves away. lol They're just babies so I don't have a clue what their genders are but they're Pepe and Penelope anyway.

Oh how cute! Enjoy x