One Week Later

It's a week later and physiotherapy is helping - I can nearly make a fist and can now touch all my fingers to my thumb. According to the physiotherapist, although nothing's broken, I've damaged a bone in my hand and a deforming lump is forming just where a pen or paintbrush touches my hand when I use them. His advice is don't use either until laser treatment calms down the area. To alleviate boredom, I have tried a few activities - gentle gardening - no good, I can't bear any weight or do anything productive with this gimpy hand; washing dishes - good, the warm water feels great and my children are very happy about this and are only too happy to contribute glasses and plates to the cause; beading - very good if I don't do anything that requires twisting wire. Usually I don't bead until the fall when the rains start because sunshine makes me want to garden... but let's not talk about my poor garden right now (a gardener needs two strong hands to do a good job).

YOOOOUCH!

Is it just me, or do you feel this way too: whhen you can't do thingsn becausenof a circumstances beyond your control, you suddenly feel that you really really want to do all sorts of things youve been putting off for weeks or even months?

yesterday I tripped over uneven pavementn and went down like a ton of bricks. It really did seem to happen in slow motion, just lie in the movies... my knees hit the pavement, followed by my outstretched right hand, then my lips and chin. Justbeforemy mouth hit thepavement, I thought, oh no, i'm going to smashn my teeth... I lay on the ground clutching at my mouth, completelystunned. i was thankful to note my teeth were intact and the blood onmy handswasfrom my lips. my daughter and two passersby came to my aid - one of whom had a mini first aid kit and wasn able to give my a bandage for my bloody knee and an antiserptic wipe for my mouth. an x-ray told me my hand isn't brroken, so I suppose the swelling was probably caused by my finfers hyperextending when theyhelped to break my fall. i'm very sore today, wondering if the exray was read correctly, as my hand has swollen totwice it's size and I'm inable to hold anything. i look like i've been mugged and beaten, so i', hiding inside, unable todo the many tasks i need to do to prepare for this weekend's show... plus, i'm imagining all sorts of inlikely thingsi feel compelled to do that require the useof my useless right hand (i'm right handed and am typing right now with my left hand a d my right thumbnail - sorru for the typos)

i'm thinking thatn if my hand was working (IMHWW) i'd be baking a raspberry dessert with fresh berriesfrom my garden (as if! each morning forthelast 10 days i've been picking berries and depositing them directly into my mouth!); IMHWW i'd try the chicken alfredo recipe i read about yesterdayh before my fall (as if! i've been so busy prepping for the show thatmy charming and ever supportive husband has been preparing dinners every night!); IMHWW i'd finish painting the front of the house (it's waaaaaaay too hot to paint outside today, and i'm tiredof having to tryto paint into the deep recesses in the stucco - who the bloodyhell's idea was it to start painting the front of the house?! OK, i admit it was my idea and i had laughed devilishly when i'd slapped several brushstrokes from the sample jar on the deqad centre of the front of the house, figuring this was a surefire way to convince my hubby that this was the year to paint the house); IMHWW i'd clean outthe garage (hahahaha! highly unlikely as it's filledwith heavy hubby toys I couldn'tpossibly move anyway - an old boat, a dilapidated car, broken down motorcycle he plans to restore and take on a legendary roadtrip, old televixioms and ancient computers and their defunct components).

Ta-ta ... I'm off to soak my hand in epson salts before i re-ice it and think of other things i could be doing IMHWW.

Coasting

After all that power painting for last Sunday's show, today I fizzled out as far as working with paint in the studio goes. Instead I began working with some of the glass, pearls and semiprecious stone beads I purchased earlier this year on various of my travels - a fun change of pace. I sat down at my work table and before I knew it the day was over and I had a dozen new pieces - earrings, necklaces, bracelets. Just in time for a wee country fair I'm participating in on the 20th of this month in Halfmoon Bay.

Never a dull moment

Ahhhh... the winery show is over and I was pleased to have 10 new works to exhibit there, along with a few older works and some of my beaded glass jewellery creations. The day started out a bit dreary with iffy weather and an hour and a half road closure due to a rather serious car accident at the end of the street (before a single art appreciator could find his/her way to the delightful grounds of the winery). However, the sun eventually shone, the temperature warmed a bit, and people began trickling through the acre or so of artworks. It's very interesting to see the wide variety of works at group shows - there's always something that will appeal to one's taste, no matter how mundane or avant garde. No matter how much or how little I sell, I find I invariably walk away with some intensely helpful information, generally shared by a generous and well established artist or artisan, and that's the truly beneficial part of participating in these events - talking the talk and walking the walk with like-minded folks.

This afternoon, just as I finished putting away all the accoutrements necessary for Sunday's outdoor display, TA-DA! The Eagle landed.



It just fits under the deck, outside my studio door, with only an inch or so to spare above it's upper wing.

A blast!

I'm enjoying a pre-exhibition energy blast: painting from early in the morning until the wee hours of the following morning every day.