The Stone Saga

Okay! The stone above is not the stone in my Stone Saga, but I had to have an opening picture and this feels like the size of the stone in my saga! I'm referring to my kidney stone that just won't go away! My first lithotripsy procedure didn't work, so I'll be having another one done or a laser procedure. I'm not looking forward to either one of them.

I'm trying to make the best of things, but sometimes it's hard. I'm still uncomfortable and sometimes on drugs so my activities are limited and I'm missing my adventures so very much. I am not a person who can sit around. I need to be outside exploring or doing something with my hands. I've had a few pretty rough mental days. I've cried a few tears, had pity parties, and whined to my family.  I keep telling myself to "just get over it" and do something . . . anything! So here's what I've been doing.

I finally got my Christmas tree down! I love my tree, I really do, but I was so ready for it to come down before I had to start dusting the ornaments! As I took my ornaments off the tree I counted the ones I had cross stitched over the years. There were a total of seventy-nine. The newest stitched piece is a snowman designed by Jim Shores. It's the third one up from the far left corner. 

I've been working on puzzles, especially at night while Jerry watches TV. I usually start a Christmas puzzle the week after Christmas when it's slow and quiet. This one was a little challenging to my foggy brain, but I got it done. In case you are tired of anything to do with Christmas 2020, I promise this is my last picture of the Covid Christmas era!

I've been reading a lot beginning first thing in the morning with my Bible reading. I am reading the Bible chronologically this year using the New Living Testament translation which reads more like a story. There is a group of ladies at church that are all reading the same plan. I love the fact that someone else is reading what I'm reading each day.

My other reading includes books I have on hand or books on my Kindle. If the sun is shining I take my reading outside regardless of the temperature. I read sitting in the sun which helps my mood. I noticed the reflection of my bookmark on the page. Thought that was kind of cool. Yes, I'm desperate to take pictures of something!!

To keep my hands busy and creative I've started a collage book or as some call it a junk book or glue book. I've always collected bits and pieces of papers, pictures, words, postage stamps and such. These bits and pieces are know as ephemera. Ephemera is defined as objects often printed that are not intended to last but are sometimes kept by collectors. I've finally found a purpose for my collection! I found an online site that focuses on vintage collages. The host gives a weekly list of items to find or sometimes a theme to use when creating the collage. There are no set rules. You can follow her suggestions or create whatever you want. It's all about creating. Then we share our collages in a Facebook group. One thing I like to add to my collages is postage stamps. Some of my first ones don't have a stamp, but all my later ones do. I love postage stamps and have hundreds of them, so I wanted to start including them. My pages are small, 7 3/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches which is a perfect size for me as they're not overwhelming. I'll share five of my collages and the suggestions we were given. So far I've done nineteen.

Collage #1 - Typography (use different types of fonts)

Collage #2 - Something Sewing

The pieces in this collage have special meaning. The background pattern envelope, the pattern pieces, and the little girl were taken from a dress pattern my mom used to make me a dress somewhere around 1955.

Collage #3 - Let's Go Out To Eat

This collage represents the wonderful times my sister, sister-in-law, and I had when we were free to meet for lunch each month. Oh, how I miss that!! 

Collage #4 - This collage is an example of using a list of items. They were: glass (the jars), something edible (candy), a repeating pattern in a round shape (paper strip with dots), uppercase font (Joyful), a doodle border (down the right side) and the Bonus: graph paper (feather drawn on graph paper)

Collage #5 - Ocean or sea (picture upper left), something in a foreign language (names on the map), a piece of folded paper (envelope from Greece lower left corner), something you are thankful for (I am so grateful that I've had the opportunity of many joyful journeys), sticker from fruit (banana sticker upper right), and bonus: random piece of washi tape (tape with cameras on it)

I'm really enjoying creating these pages which helps me forget about the pandemic and the stones! If you might be interested collage making here's the link to Margarete Miller's website. 

That's enough for today. If you've stuck with me till the end, I thank you so much! 

A New Year Begins

I started my last post with "Here we are! New Year's Eve!" Well, here we are! Twenty-one days into 2021! How has the new year treated you? For me, it didn't start so well, but I'll talk about that later. We tried to start the new year out right. We had the southern US tradition of black-eyed peas and ham that are supposed to bring good luck for the year. I did learn something new about this tradition. Black-eyed peas are said to represent coins and money which is the reason they are believed to bring good luck. Hmmmm! Not so sure that worked for me.

I also tried to begin the new year with a little fresh air and exercise. I couldn't go far or on a hike, but I still enjoyed the fresh air and this woodpecker beating out his rhythm. 

Right before Christmas we had some gum trees cut down. I always feel bad when we cut trees, but these were necessary. Each year they produce millions of pesky gumballs (and I'm not exaggerating) that must be raked or they'll jam in the lawnmower belts and break them which is quite expensive. They are also very hard to walk on. I don't know how many times I've twisted my ankle as they roll under my feet! Even though it felt bad to cut them down, it was the right thing to do. Two of them were very rotten inside, which could have brought them down in a storm. The picture below is looking into the stump that was left. The next one is a reflection in the water that the stump was holding. When the chainsaw reached the water inside the tree, it came cascading out like a high pressure fountain. After all this time, the stump is still full of water. Who knew a tree could be full of water!

When you take down trees there is a lot of clean up. I drove the tractor and moved the logs into a pile. I had the easy work, Jerry had to put them in the tractor bucket!

The new year brought sadness. The sixth was the one year anniversary of my dad's death. I miss them both so much! I wish I'd picked brighter colored flowers. These just blend in with the dead grass.

My answer to sadness is to get outside and be in nature. I'm grateful that the world God gave us is beautiful and healing!

During the winter, I'm able to get closer to the old railroad trestle behind our house. During other months there are too many snakes and mosquitoes!

There's an area in the creek that flows under the bridge that has a small waterfall. I stood there for a long while just listening to the water. In nature nothing is more soothing to me than the sound of water! I noticed this bright patch of sun on a fallen tree and the waterfall. Sometimes I like to try and make artsy pictures and this looked like the perfect opportunity. This is straight out of the camera, no editing.  I really like how it turned out. It's was bright spot on a rather hard day!

Now let me get to my comment that 2021 did not start well with me. After considerable pain and a visit to my urologist, an 18mm kidney stone was discovered in my right kidney. Yes, it was a monster! Your kidney is only about the size of a fist; about 4-5 inches long, 2-3 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. Put a 1 1/2 inch stone in there and your will eventually have pain; sharp pain that almost makes you pass out! I won't go into any details, why bring up painful memories? I did get my first Covid test and thankfully it came back negative. On the 13th I had an outpatient lithotripsy procedure done. All I can say is I'm recovering SLOWLY and with some pain. Nothing excruciating like before, but none the less pain! I'm afraid it's going to be a long few weeks!

That's about sums up 2021 so far!

Not a great beginning, but I'm hoping for better days soon!