Skip to main content

Posts

Likes & Loves

My list of fun stuff that I want to create this year continues to grow. For this week’s  Thursday 13 , I  share the 13 new things I recently added to my list. Sew new curtains for L Studio. The above photo shows some of the fabric I’m putting together. Sew an iron board cover. Make bookmarks out of fabric scraps and beads. Reupholster Mama’s love seat that Mama bought in the 1960s. I love this ratty tatty love seat. Sew a garden apron with deep pockets. Grow dahlias. This year I started the seeds in eggshells and they actually popped up. I transferred 21 sprouts into individual tiny pots. So far, so good. Make a jar of pickled bamboo called atchara the way Mama did. Sew a dress of many colors. (This will be the year I do it, by golly!) Paint at least one mural on the fence. Make concrete steps for garage. Paint the garage door. Paint a wall mural in the hallway bathroom. Make Asian dumplings from scratch, except for the wrappers. To check out other Thursday 13   participants, click her

Another Thursday

(1) True confessions, as opposed to false: If I don’t publish this post today, I will have two unfinished Thursday posts.   Keep on chugging along, Su-sieee! Mac.  (2) Do you have a day of the week in which you have a lot of physical and mental energy? Thursday is usually when I feel self-motivated, creative, and productive. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been the other days.  (3) This morning was quite fruitful. I pedaled my under-table bike for 10 minutes or so before breakfast, then later followed a short Qigong video. I must’ve unblocked some energy. The Husband found me dancing to golden oldies while getting ready for my physical therapy session.  (4) Today was my last prescribed PT session. Eight weeks, twice a week, 30 minutes, more or less. I don’t believe Sing 2.0 would be as sturdy and assured as she is today without a professional showing me how to stretch and strengthen her. (Sing is my left knee who got her joint replaced two months ago.) The surgeon, who I saw for a follow

Singing Me Onward

(1) Be forewarned, I'm talking a lot about Sing in this Thursday 13 post. Sing is my titanium and plastic left knee joint. Yep, by golly, I am anthropomorphising (what a long word!)  my artificial joint. Sing a song of sixpence. . . . (2) Sing celebrated her sixth week anniversary yesterday, Wednesday, by revealing her name to me.  Whoot, whoot!  (3) I’m now up to 20 minutes of steady heel-toe, heel-toe around the neighborhood with a walking stick, no less. Knee-haw! There’s definitely a difference in my gait with Sing taking the lead. I feel like I’m walking stronger and surer. My right knee joint isn’t protesting too much, thank goodness.  (4) Spoiler alert: My future artificial right knee joint will be called Song. Hence, one day in the near future, with Sing and Song, I shall be hiking through meadows, crossing creeks, and climbing mountain trails. Ahhh. Delightful.  (5) Another milestone: I drove Sally Forth today. After our walk, the Husband and I jumped into the car for me

Today’s Creative Visitor

This week’s prompt for Poets and Storytellers United ’s Friday Writings  is: The Visitor. Here’s what I came up with, stimulated by today’s every-so-often visitor.   A Morning Caller She drops by from no where approaching silently,  stepping stealthily, suppressing giggles.  She whispers.  I didn’t know I had heard but here I am  enjoying her flash of inspiration, cleaning the microwave.  Yi-haw!    ♾️ I’ve a grand update about my Knee Joint Replacement Recovery Update. Happy, giddy news. I danced in the kitchen this morning to Creedence Clearwater Revival, Martha and the Vandels, the Hollies, Santana, and others. My new joint loved it. Knee-haw!  Off I go to visit other  Friday Writings   participants. Please, come join me.

Self-Motivation x 13

Hi ya! Yes, today is Friday. Before I could publish this post yesterday afternoon, the Internet server went down. As was the cable, it turned out. Nothing until this morning. Without the iPad and TV, the Husband and I had a wonderful time reading, talking, and not falling asleep on the couch. Old-time doings, to do more often.  So, on with yesterday’s post. See ya. . . . This week, LeeAnna, hostess of I Like Thursday , asked participants if and how they make lists. Yep, I certainly do, especially when I have a bunch of things to remember or I need to seriously keep myself focused on task. Lately, except for writing things we need at the supermarket, I’ve an aversion to list making. Not much gets done when that happens.  So, today, I’m encouraging myself with a list of thirteen things to tell myself when I hesitate to try, start, do, and finish stuff. You can do it! Keep on keeping on. Onward and upward. Take one step. Take another. Now another. Breathe.  Center of the Earth within my s

Sit Around Sue

Dive bomb!  I wonder what the blue jay saw on the decomposing leaf covered ground, and what was he eating in the leafless persimmon tree.  The sun is out. The sky is a clear blue with fluffy white clouds streaming by. The clarity after the storm.  This winter we certainly are having our share of storms with floods, landslides, broken levees, fallen trees, and evacuations. Three weeks worth, so far. Fortunately, the Husband and I haven’t had to experience any of that, knock on wood.  With all this rain and reports of oversaturated ground, some people probably believe our drought is over.  No more need to conserve. We can go crazy with lush lawns, landscaping, and vegetable gardens once again. Nope! Uh-uh.  No, siree, Bob, and Nancy.  Parts of California, including our area, may be good for water this year, if that, but the drought is far from over. We need it to rain throughout the winter and early spring, gently and kindly, alternating with dry days. Maybe then, our reservoirs and grou

Starting the Year with Art

Bunnies dancing through fields of wildflowers towards the sea. This week I’ve been participating in The Happy New Year Challenge, hosted by Artist Karen Abend , a free five-day event with prompts from Artist Gaia Marfurt . The drawings on this post are from days two, three, and four. You can see day one’s piece here .  The challenge has been fun. And, self-revealing of sorts.  Hearts Born While doing this challenge, I’ve learned that prompts tend to freeze me up rather than free me to create. That’s bothersome. Maybe my deeper self is reminded of art time in grammar school when I felt discouraged and timid to draw, paint, paste, and craft my creations because they didn’t look like the ones the teachers favored. House and Fly flying high and loose in the cerebellum. Another aspect of the challenge that reared up my young insecure self was sharing my work at the challenge’s Facebook page. I got one, two, once three, likes for my work while others got double digit and triple digit likes.