We were pulling in our driveway after the memorial service and the late afternoon sun was lighting up our house. So I got out and took this photo.
Love when that happens.
We are taking it easy, trying to find some balance in what has become an out-of-whack life. Don has talked some more with Adrian and the feeling is if the surgery is successful, he’ll have much more freedom than he’s had for the past year or two. He’s been basically anchored to his home and the beach (they live in Ventura, CA) but even walks on the beach have often had to be curtailed because he was out of breath. We’re not sure yet when the surgery will be. In times like these, we wish we were still out in California, if only to be there with Adrian and his wife, Margaret, while all this is going on. We love it here, but we sometimes miss California in the winter – and now.
Have you seen the movie Belfast? Don and I watched it the other night and it’s simply wonderful. It’s written and directed by Kenneth Branagh and is about a family living in Belfast in the 60s. The cast is wonderful. The little boy at the center of the story is brilliant (and his last name is Hill, hmmm….my Irish ancestors came from Northern Ireland…perhaps a distant relative??) And Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds are, as always, excellent. I recommend it highly. It’s incredibly heartwarming.
I’m trying to fill my days here with something creative. I’ve taken to doing a little pen and ink sketch a couple of times a week – I have a little Moleskin notebook that I’m using. My thought was to sketch things at various rehearsals, and I did a sketch during rehearsals for Noir (the project I just finished.) Obviously, that can always be an option, but since we’re not headed to Broadway with A Man of No Importance, there’ll be no more sketches like that for the foreseeable future. But I’ve done one of the sofa in the den and the table next to my chair. They’re impressions, really. Don says they remind him of New Yorker sketches.
By the way, Darko tells me that the two performances on Friday for theater owners went very well. Fingers crossed.
And I’m starting something I did once before long ago – way back in my San Diego days. I’m filling a notebook with Morning Pages, as talked about in The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. They are pages written first thing in the morning; stream-of-consciousness style. You write every thought that comes in your head, with no editing. Three pages, every morning. And they’re private. The goal is to clear your head for the day ahead. If you’re like me, your brain is teeming with thoughts every second and the moment I get up, my brain goes into overdrive. It’s also a form of meditation. I write them with one of my fountain pens, which makes the process even more pleasurable for me. You don’t need to reread them.
Hopefully, I’ll get back to painting soon, as well. But I’m not motivated enough yet.
Last week, on my Blythe IG account, we had a prompt for “A Doll a Day January”, which is being done by one of the Blythers. I’ve been doing it off and on all month long. This one was The Beatles. Here’s what I came up with.
Holly and Harper are examining our original 45 of I Want to Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There. They aren’t sure about these guys. We’ll have to school them in all things Beatles.
Posing these girls so they would stay erect while sitting, as well as getting the 45 to stay in place took quite a while and more than one curse word was heard.
Reminder for those of you who send me mail at our PO Box. We are not renewing it as the cost has increased way too much compared to how often we use it. So if you want to send me something, contact me. It expires tomorrow.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
glad to hear about your focus on creative endeavors … writing, sketching … hopefully you’ll be painting again soon (no pressure intended, but said because you enjoyed painting the pottery and also because you have obvious talent)! :)
will continue praying for you, don and everyone else here as well as your friend adrian …
it is very cold here (high of 6 degrees is forecast) and i don’t feel like getting out in it. i will so can spend time with members of my family, but do some things here first. trying to start a cross-stitch project, too (several, actually, in my plan to make something for every household in my family).
here’s to better days ahead for everyone!
kathy
Thanks, Kathy. Always good to start a new project, isn’t it? Enjoy your day and stay warm!
Stay safe.
Have you thought of moving back to Ca?
I think you mentioned that is where Don’s family is living. It doesn’t seem to like you have any ties to the area you are in. We thank God for every day because it is indeed a gift. Tomorrow is not promised.
Oh, heavens no! Don’s father is dead and he’s not close to his half-siblings. We do have ties to the area we’re living in, not the least of which is its proximity to NYC. We live and work out here and have no desire to relocate.
California has a boatload of problems now and the cost of living has only grown higher. We only miss CA when it’s cold and dark and gray. Within a few moments, we look at the mountains across the street from us and that feeling is gone.
Stay safe.
I hope your Morning Pages works well for you. It actually sounds like a great idea…to clear your thoughts early, and get on with your day. Seems like worry can be a constant for some of us…oh, how I long to be worry free.
It’s beautiful here today. We got a little over 7 inches of snow, and the sun is shining brightly, but it is frigid. Good day to stay in and putz. Enjoy your day! ;)
I do wish we had some snow on the ground. The only appreciable snowfall we’ve had was in early December.
Thanks so much, Donnamae.
Stay safe.
good for you Claudia….love the photo…..but mainly your ability to focus on what makes YOU centered. It is all about balance. The sun is out….and so were the sea gulls that bombed my car. Going out now with a bucket to wash it away and then take a walk around the neighborhood. I hope I DON’T meet anyone. Do not feel like small talk….no phone or distractions.
Enjoy your day
Maria
There are so many times that I hope I don’t meet anyone when I’m out. I understand!
Stay safe, Maria.
I totally understand that feeling of getting balance… especially after feeling like you were just tossed around in a washing machine! Balance is one of my favorite words! Your writing sounds like an excellent way to confront some of the craziness…as well as the peaceful times and experiences. Well, we having a couple of really cold mornings, for this area anyway…but the sun is out and the sky is blue…a nice balance! Hope your day is good!
Balance is good. The past week has taken a toll on both of us. Besides all of the loss, we are stretched financially. Praying that work comes our way very soon. Affirming it!
Stay safe, Barrie.
Agree with everything you said about Belfast, hubs and I enjoyed this movie very much.
Reality check for many of us for what we hope to be golden years, sadly family and friends facing age-related challenges or worse and knowing our time for the same could come at any moment. Losing a beloved brother in 2019, M-I-L in 2020, F-I-L in 2021 and just lost a niece prior to Christmas. Two of the four were cancer. And now friend in TN just had first combo chemo/radiation treatment while a five-yr. old grand niece also taking combo chemo/radiation. Daunting and overwhelming on worst days.
Yes, stay creative in the many ways you are creative! I admit, I need a reset so my mantra for 2023 “My goal is no longer to get more done, but rather to have less to do” (Francine Jay, if I remember correctly) and maybe, just maybe, I too will get back to doing crafty and fun little endeavors. This worry thing is a real b—-. It plays w/ perspective and a hard thing to contain at an acceptable dose.
So to all, may you be blessed with more, “better” tomorrows.
I completely understand, Chris. That’s exactly where I am. It’s too much, so find some time to play, if you can.
Stay safe.
You’ve had a very creative day writing and sketching. I like that it’s something you do just for yourself. Hope you’re able to keep the momentum into the rest of the winter. Holly and Harper make good little Beatle fans. Those are two of my favourite Beatle songs. Hopefully, something will come up work-wise for you and/or Don. Life can can hold surprises, good ones. Hugs, Elaine
Let’s hope so! Trying to stay positive in the midst of a lot of sadness.
Stay safe, Elaine.
Morning Pages; have never heard of it. I’ve journaled at the end of a day, doing a ‘worry list’ to get it out on paper so I can sleep better, but never at the start of a day. Interesting. Will try it.
It’s indeed hard to sometimes turn off the mind. I often feel that both my husband and I have thoughts churning ‘way too much, preventing relaxation; on info-overload. Case in point, I continue to be stunned (and very concerned) with how much it’s costing to live at this old(er) age. We’re struggling with high natural gas costs for heating; our city sewer/water bill is a big hit each month. It feels like each bill I crack open lately is $200, $200, $200, and those $200s add up.
The food bill is also staggering for as hard as we try to curb what we want to buy. We’re taking some time this week to again look at where we can cut; where possibly we can still reduce expenses.
And I find it troubling that even with three types of medical insurance including prescription-drug assistance we pay for (it’s all a big hit at the beginning of each month), we’re spending a lot of money on the drugs as both of us now have more and more health issues along with the aging. For instance, I’m on a new drug I can’t be without (this stuff is what’s keeping me alive) and every time I refill it, it’s a lot of money. For this single drug, I’m paying $1700 for the year cash-out-of-pocket and I take a host of drugs beyond just this one. There isn’t any way to order it except once every 90 days and when the pharmacy says, “That’ll be $538, please…”, it’s very stressful.
I am beginning to hesitate now when a doctor wants to start me on an additional new drug because I don’t want the extra cost (I’m currently saying ‘no’ to two drugs the doctors would like me to take; I don’t know how long I can hold out without damaging my health; it’s risky).
Just finding it harder and harder to make the money stretch, and my husband is considering finding a part-time job with more hours than the one he has now, but he’s facing major surgery soon (it keeps getting delayed due to surgery schedules and bed space at the hospital; I don’t know all what) and the guy is over age 70 (after working his whole life really hard for fifty years). We absolutely have gotten to the point where we have no wiggle room and it’s deep-in-the-soul alarming, so I can understand, in part, what you’re going thru, Claudia. Of course you and I both have a mortgage payment each month, too.
We’ve had to give up some retirement dreams for sure. Hard to let them go. Things we know won’t happen now. Sometimes I feel like there can be no long-range planning and that we’re living quite tentatively, so much so that it doesn’t feel secure, and that we’re one step from what could be disaster.
But I try not to catastrophize too much. And, in some aspects of late, my health has improved even significantly, so it’s important to emphasize gratitude; and, as always, have hope. (Or so I continually remind myself.) My husband and I try to be champions for each other; encouraging each other; reassuring each other. It helps. A lot.
Took a long drive yesterday. We have an older car that’s still getting pretty-good gas mileage, in addition to a gas station offering really-great fuel prices, so we feel justified to get out once a week for our sanity, just in our nearest locale; the usual ‘radius’ (but we never get bored with it); some of our Southern Calif beaches are still closed due to all kinds of beach erosion and problems, including washed-out roads, since the bad storms about three weeks ago. But we’ve got snow on the mountains since a bit more rain last night, so it’s quite stunning to look to the right and see sun shining upon pristine white ‘frosting’ on tall purple-mountains-majesty above the green-green foothills, then to the left and see beautiful-blue ocean; really magnificent January days with amazing landscape, cloudscape, skyscape, seascape. Always appreciative.
That kind of drive helps to change our perspective. Glad you did that!
xo
It’s such a shame that we have to worry about the cost of medicine in this day and age. I’m sorry you have to worry about that, Vicki. We are really stretched financially, as well, leaving both of us in a constant state of worry.
Sending love and support, my friend.
Back atcha.
xo
Where did your snow go? Oh my! All that green! We’re due for some this week, they say (much to Rick’s chagrin.) It’s getting warm enough that he can’t even go up north to ski.
I remember the days of doing Morning Pages. It was tremendously therapeutic. It’s a wonderful practice, all of The Artist’s Way. You’ve had so much in your head of late — your friends who are ill and the funeral and the show and the winter — time for a big dump. Daily!
The girls are looking cute!
Daily dump, yes! I almost forgot to do them today but all is entered into my notebook.
Stay safe, Jeanie.