Winter, spring, summer but hopefully not fall(-ing)

So, it's been a while....are you still there???  It's been one hell of a ride these last few months.  Read on if you're interested.  If not, wait for next time.....I'll be back posting art stuff again very soon.

How I Spent the Last Six Months  (kind of like a school essay)

I fell ill in February with the worst head cold I have ever had, and since then I have totally lost my senses of both taste and smell.  It's interesting, in a way, but I'm ready for this experience to be over, let me tell you!  My roses, I cannot smell my lovely roses....not to mention my dinner!  I am learning to eat for colour and texture only. I had my kids over for dinner the other evening and I had to ask my neighbour to come over and tell me if the sauce was ok!!  It's a quality of life thing, to be sure!

And then, whilst recovering from that nasty bug, I was getting back into the workout routine that I do at home here, introvert that I am.  I'd finished the elliptical trainer workout and was doing my pilates/yoga thing....one of the floor exercises hurt but I pushed through the pain...it's what we do, right??? Wrong!!! Since then I cannot walk and x-rays have indicated that I need to have both of my hips replaced...they are in terrible shape.  Lovely!! It is presumed that I have broken off a piece of bone and that it is floating and dancing its way around my hip joint...perhaps it's having fun but I most definitely am not....super strong pain killers (which I hate taking) and the likelihood of at least a one year wait before surgery....gotta love our system here.... Alas, I have been unable to do any fibre art since then.  Big loss, let me tell you!

But fortunately, I had enough prepared for the Oak Bay Studio Tour in April and was once again lucky enough to show in my artist neighbours' studio.  It was a fun event and wonderful to see all the lovely folk that came out for the happening!  I'm hoping I'll be able to get something ready for next year...we'll see.

Since I am unable to stand for more than 10 minutes at a time, and that only with the aid of my walking sticks, I am also unable to do any painting or dyeing of fabric.  So then, I mean, come on, what's a girl to do.....well, online classes, of course.

So this month I have started two new online classes....one is with Susie Monday, called Art on the iPad, for which I had to purchase an iPad, what fun.  Very exciting and a lovely distraction.  The second class is with Roz Stendahl and it starts this friday.  It's a sketching class that looks pretty amazing.  I will have to go out and sketch in public (yikes!), and one has to commit to at least 30 minutes of drawing daily, but I am going to do it.  I will have to do the sketching from my car, but I can still drive (thank goodness!) and my neighbours (the artists) have chickens in their yard, so I'll be able to set myself up there and draw those little critters to my heart's content.  And I shall.  I am signed up for another course with Liz Steel this September and a course with Jane Davies in the fall as well.  Going to be busy and suitably distracted!!

I am frustrated beyond words that I cannot walk and quite frankly,  I am hoping that I can get a surgery date before a year is up for at least one of these non-functioning joints!  Imagine looking forward to surgery! And I'm using my walking sticks all the time, so I don't fall....nope, definitely don't want to fall.

So it hasn't been all fun and games around here and I admit to having been quite down for too long a spell.

But lately, I have found renewed energy for my life and for where it may take me.  I'm not going to stop doing my art....I am excited about these new courses and in fact, about all the new directions my life has given and continues to give me.  I am blessed with dear friends, lovely, kind children, my sweet daughters-in-law, my precious grandchildren and a lot of love.  Indeed, my life has always been about abundance and I see no reason for it to stop now!

If you managed to read this all the way through, yay!!!  Thanks for sticking with me!  For sure, I'll be back.....