Flower Doodling.....

 While recovering from an EBV (eppstein barr virus) flare up I drew flowers experimenting with different watercolor pencils/pan sets.

 Extreme stress causes the EBV to flare up and all you want to do is sleep.  I draw/paint flowers as a diversion to help me stay awake and focus on something else besides my bodies ability to stay healthy.

 I experimented with different watercolor pencils and pan sets.  My favorite brand is Derwent's reg & inktense wc pencils but are pricy even with Michael's coupon so I don't have the whole set.  I buy individual pencils from Dick Blick in the colors I know I will use but, each time as I sharpen them I think about the cost to replace it.  I will still use them.  The colors are richer, bolder.  Artist's loft are my least favorite and are a good starting out  wc pencil.  Their products are for students who will usually use them once and then sit in a drawer for years.  Their products are affordable but you do get what you pay for.

Most of the pan sets leave a chalky residue when dry that gets all over you.  I did find a pearlescent set but, don't remember what brand it was.  They're blingy....which I am so into.  I experimented with color, what colors I like together, which ones I didn't, which colors I would like to try, etc.

 I haven't had any lessons in watercolor pencils so it was all trial and error.  Shading was the hardest, I'm use to acrylics so I still don't have that down good.

The good thing is I wasn't following any rule, I just played.

Some colors that I used a lot, greens & yellows are half their size from when I started.

Some pages I liked, some....not so much.

I kept doodling and painting, keeping supplies by my recliner so my art room feels neglected.

Pink!  How do I love thee....I can never have enough shades of pink.

There is a Dick Blick store by Detroit but, with the price of gas shipping is probably cheaper.

But, it's hard to see exactly what the color is online or in a book.  I want to hold it and see the color for myself so will take a trip one day....as soon as I can talk Farmer into it.  Michael's carries prismacolor color pencils individually but not watercolor pencils.  Everything else are in sets.

What a better way of trying out an unknown product.  Buy a couple of wc pencils from each manufacture until you find the ones you like.

One of these days I will paint flowers on my wall...probably in the bathroom of my art room....

I'm not good at drawing so I usually end up making up my own species of whatever I'm attempting to draw.

I'm making art.....everyone doesn't have to like it and there are times when you won't like what you've done yourself but, at least you're making art.  Never give up!  Never surrender......Try not....DO !!!

They grow so fast

Xuxa is 10 weeks old and weighs 3.8 lbs.  She is growing so fast and I realize I haven't taken enough photos of her.

This is what she looked like when we got her at 6 weeks.  She is wearing a dress I made for Poochie (our Maltipom) in the 80's.  She is 1.4 lbs here.

Xuxa wearing her new Carnival dress and hat.  Our Sheltie, Sam and her play together well, the cats aren't bothered by her but, we will see when she gets a little bigger.

Life with a puppy....

 We bought a puppy a week ago....a female Yorkie-poo, born on December 24, 2011.  She weighs 1 lb 4 oz, tiny little thing.  I wanted to name her Kaiulani since we already have Liliuokalani but, Gary said he wanted a name he could pronounce....so I named her Xuxa (shooshuh).

 She's a smart little puppy and not afraid of anything.  She likes to steal Sammy's big dog toys and the cat's toys even though we bought her smaller toys for her. 

 Xuxa had been eating Pedigree puppy food but, she prefers what the animals are eating.  At breakfast they play 'musical' cups.  Take a few bites then take somebody else's cup of food.  When Xuxa finds the 'right' cup she growls at whoever tries to take it away.  Size doesn't matter.

 Lucy (one of our ferals, Liliuokalani's siter) patiently waits for Xuxa to finish so she can eat what's left.

 When it's time for a nap Xuxa comes to my chair and whines, whether I'm sitting there or not.  If I'm in another room she whines loudly until I come and sit down.  She chews on a plastic spoon until she falls asleep beside me.

 I crocheted this dress, making up the pattern as I went which meant a lot of undoing a lot of stitches and starting over.  She wears the dresses and hats after a bath to help keep her warm while we snuggle.

 Back of the dress with it's ruffle.

Gary calls it abuse.........

What a year.....

Ever have one of those days where nothing goes right?  I have one of those lives.

JANUARY- Finally healed from the bariatric surgery(Dec), had energy was able to get things done.  Insulin was decreased from 100+ 2x a day to 20 units a day.

FEBRUARY-  Had cataract surgery that everyone said was a piece of cake.  Unfortunately the shot to deaden the eye bled causing a blood clot which they had to break up before doing the surgery.  A lot of hard pressing around my eye to break it u. So was left with blood in the eye and huge black and blue area.

I got the weirdest looks from people....but, simply pointed to my husband and laughed. 

APRIL- My mother was in the hospital for a week, came home for a day and went back in.  Her wheezing was caused by aspirating fluids (she had to thicken everything for months), her trachea collapsed and the tumor on the remaining thyroid was bigger but they couldn't remove it until the trachea was fixed.

MAY-  A week before our 40th Anniversary my husband was rear ended on his motorcycle while stopped at a light.  The guy they figured was doing about 45 mph when he hit him and then didn't even get out of his van to see if Gary was ok.  He broke 2 ribs and snapped off 5 points on his vertebrae.  He was off work for a couple of months, and yes he did buy another Gold Wing when he was better. 

This was the day they hauled the bike away, it was like losing an old friend but it saved my husband's life.


SUMMER- was spent driving mother back and forth to Ann Arbor's University of Michigan Hospital for appointments in preperation for the surgery to put a stent in her trachea

AUGUST- We took a trip down to Oklahoma to see our our oldest son who lives near the Grand Lake Of the Cherokees.  Unfortunately they were having 100+ heat so never got to go out on the boat or sit on the deck and enjoy the lake but, we enjoyed Phil and Leah's company. 
                   2 days after we got home mother had her stent surgery in AA, it was suppose to be outpatient but, when they took the breathing tube out she couldn't breathe so was admitted for 4 days.  Sallie and I drove back and forth each day thinking that she would be coming home the next day.  We were exhausted.
                   At the end of  the month mother felt well enough to go to Munishing in the UP for our family reunion.  We had a great time seeing everybody and revisiting old haunts.

Mother and Sallie (older sister) in front of Totem Village in St. Ignace, MI.

SEPTEMBER-  Mammogram was clear, I am still cancer & lump free.  YEEHAAAA!  Dr decided infusions would be better for ostopenia than pills.  6 years of cancer drugs weakened my bones.
                          Mother had the rest of her thyroid removed and pathology reported it was non cancerous.  great news and a big relief.

 Mom's neck after thyroid removal.
                           We start a weekend project of replacing the shower in our bathroom.  It turns out to be the bathroom from hell

OCTOBER-  I started having high sugar symptoms but my sugar would only be at 100.  Started reducing the insulin.  A1c was at 5.4, an all time low for me after many years.
                     Gary turned 60 but couldn't plan a party,  I was hospitalized with chest pains.  Found out later they were esophageal spasms, I now carry nitro with me.

NOVEMBER-  Taken off insulin and put on metformin the day before we leave for Oklahoma.  Diabetic episodes were happening more often.
                           Go to Oklahoma so father and son could go hunting.  They get their deer the first day they go out but, as Philip describes it, His father's deer had a diaper and a pacifier!  I have 3 more 'episodes' that seem to be worse.

DECEMBER- My yearly check up with the surgeon, I have an episode while there and they wheel me to Er.  The episodes turned out to be TIA's...mini strokes.  MRI or MRA show I have an aneurism.  CT angiogram showed I didn't but, as soon as the test is over I have a seizure.  EEG is abnormal, you think?

                       Work starts on the back room, we hire someone to finish the bathroom from hell, DIL takes me out to do Christmas shopping.  The house is in chaos.  Everything from the bathroom is in our bedroom and hall.  Everything that was on the hall wall is now on the dining room table.  Everything from the back bedroom is in the kitchen, garage and wherever there was a space.   Back room is done, bathroom is done, floor replacement starts in the kitchen and hall which mean everything from the kitchen and hall is put anywhere we can find room.  It doesn't get done before Christmas but, we just work around it. 

Decided not to wish for a healthier new year as that is what I wished at this time last year.  I do wish that everyone HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Going back....

In August after the reunion we stayed in St. Ignace and reacquainted ourselves with some souvenir shops we had been going to for over 50 years.

The Curio Fair is on US 2 in sight of the Mac Bridge.  They are not lying when they say there is something for everyone.  Most of the shops there are now offering antique and vintage items for sale to help with the slow economy.

When I first started coming here in the 50's it was less then a dime to climb the lighthouse and see the view of the Mackinaw Bridge.  Like everything else that has gone up in price which no one minds paying, it's an awesome view.  With my knees the way they are I no longer climb the many stairs in the 8 story tower.

Part of the outside walls of the Curio Fair have shells cemented in which makes an awesome look.  Wouldn't mind doing that to a wall in my house except I'd have to be constantly dusting & cleaning the wall....so I won't.

Down the road is Totem Village, another favorite stop.

My mother and sister in a Kodak moment.

 Yooper weather is taking it's toll on the wood.

My mother and I...

Mother and sister talking with our relatives outside Totem Village.  There is a museum out back but, have stopped paying to go through it now.  Found a cool CD here about Michigan and when I figure out how to upload it someday you will hear it.   The Mystery Spot is down the road on US 2 and, haven't been there in years but, is a very interesting place.  Along US2 from St. Ignace to Naubinway there are excellent sandy beaches...stop in some time.

Life has taken over....

Haven't been here in awhile, been a busy summer.  Have one more dr's appt and then I think I'm done for the year.  I think....can't remember.  Haven't worked in my art room all summer, needs to be cleaned again.  Too tired.  Bought a book to alter to start a new art journal, ripped and taped pages but that is as far as I got.  Painted the living room last week and still trying to get the living room back together.  Went to Art Prize yesterday and saw as much as possible until my feet were screaming in protest.  Would like to sleep a week but there is too much to do.

On the shores of Gitchigami....

I still get goosebumps when I see the Mac rising above the trees as you get closer to Mackinaw City but, it's the towns that mean more to me after you cross the bridge.  Epoufette, Rexton, Garnet, Naubinway, Trout Lake, Brevort, Hulbert, Engadine, Newberry.......land of my ancestors.  Family......Home.  

Lake Superior.....Gitchigami as the Ojibwe Tribe named it.  Never warm, always cold no matter what time of year.

but, beautiful.