Creative Energy - Can it Heat a House?

Today was another crafting get-together day with Cathy and Sharon. We've separated into Cathy and Sharon working on making beautiful handmade embellished theme albums, and me doing some watercolor painting. Today at least, I had the easier project, while they struggled with making punched-out rectangular holes on the sides of the albums. They practiced on scrap board, following the directions for the punching device to the letter, yet every time they lined it up in the middle, the punching was somehow misaligned. They became more and more frustrated with all the punching and cutting, necessitating a couple of well-deserved chocolate breaks to gather their strength and their wits. I stayed at my table by the window and painted flowers on bookmarks, which turned out pretty well. I'm learning. As long as I have a reference picture to guide me, I'm in pretty good shape, except for mixing some colors. I needed help getting the right mixes for the color of green I was after, as well as the right shade of purple. Those are areas where I really need to practice. The whole afternoon was a lot of fun for all of us, regardless of the challenges we faced, and we all ended up with beautiful finished projects by the time we called it quits for the day.

It's been really cold here lately, in the 'teens, and wouldn't you know it - Cathy's household has been pretty much without heat on and off for the past couple of days while they've been trying to get the furnace blower repaired. The repairman was there yesterday, thought he had it fixed, and at 11:00 at night they had to call him back again. He worked on it until 3:00 am, when he finally got it working - until this afternoon, when it was off again while he replaced a part. I called Cathy a while ago, and now I hear they can expect to be without their heat for the next 3 days! They are ordering a different part, a circuit board. They're using space heaters throughout the house, but there's only so much area where a space heater can be effective.

They do have a fireplace, but that's where Greg stores his wine bottles. Oh woe!

PHOTOS: These are the 2 bookmarks I worked on today. Now that I've put them on the blog, I like them less than I did earlier.

Kung Foo Fighting

Soon after we went to bed last night, there was a Battle Royale going on outside our bedroom door. Just from previous experience, we can guess that the participants were Ming Poo and Ball. Not that Ball would have wanted to fight, he just ends up being the one Ming picks on to play-fight. With all the wall thumping and thudding and caterwauling going on, you'd think they were killing each other, but that's her way of playing. Ming has her Ninja-kitty howl that she uses just before she launches herself into an attack, and it can be pretty funny. She reminds us of Kato pouncing on Clouseau in the Pink Panther. Here's a U-Tube video of this classic Pink Panther Kato-Clouseau fight scene for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKfXSh_CC5c

This morning when Jim opened up the door, the round cat bed that sits in the corner was flung aside and overturned, and Paddle and Ming were both sleeping on top of it. Cracked me up. I left them alone and every time I walked past it during the day, another kitty or two had claimed the bed, still upside down. I got my camera at one point and took this photo.

It's been pretty cold the past couple of days, in the teens. On my way home from radiation today, I needed to gas up Christine - one of my favorite chores - and I found I couldn't get the bloody gas cap off. No matter how I turned and twisted the darned fool thing, I couldn't make it work. My hands were freezing, which didn't help. I finally decided this is what a husband is for, and besides - he was the last one to fill up my car and if it was jammed or broken, it must have been his fault. So I got back into the car and went on home. Told Jim I had a problem - gas cap, stuck, yadda yadda - and he came outside with me to check it out. He gave the cap one turn and voila, it opened without a hitch. Damn! Why does that always happen? I struggle till I'm blue in the face with something, and I turn the problem over to him and like magic, the misbehaving whatever makes me look incompetent - again!

Sigh ...

PHOTO: Paddle and Ball taking a snooze.

The Best Laid Plans ...

I usually go to water aerobics on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but now there is an aerobics instructor on Tuesdays who has managed to turn off most of the people in the class. We refer to her as the Pool Nazi, because she doesn't want anyone to talk in class - says "Take it to the locker room!" when women are talking. Obviously, she doesn't get the concept that we go there as much for the socialization as for the exercise. Our complaints (to each other) are that she doesn't have any structure to the class, she relies on jumping jacks and variations thereof for most of the class, she doesn't speak loud enough to be heard, and we end up flailing around looking at each other trying to find out what we're supposed to be doing. Her count is also off, saying 4 jumping jacks, and going on to 6, or saying 6 and switching at 4, things like that. It's not rocket science, but it can cause confusion when half the class is heading in one direction and the other half is going the opposite way. Anyway, because of all that, Cathy and I deliberately planned to forgo Tuesday, and when we went today - guess who was substituting? The Pool Nazi! Sheesh!

Well, it serves us right for being so catty, doesn't it? Meow!

PHOTO: St. Kevin's Church, Co, Wicklow, Ireland. "A hermitage was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century, that flourished and became an entire monastic city. After St. Kevin's death in AD 619, the settlement continued to prosper, but was plundered by the Vikings in the 9th and 10th centuries, and flooded in the 12th century. Then in 1389 the English attack on nearby Dublin destroyed it further, and the settlement finally disappeared in the conquest of Wicklow during the 15th and 16th centuries. Despite this, parts of the monastery still survive, as well as several churches and the cathedral and an impressive round tower." (from The Magic and Mystery of Ireland, Doyle and Newland)

Old Home Week

When I went to the dressing room after getting radiation today, I saw Janet, my friend from Chemotherapy at St. Joseph's. We have this uncanny knack for running into each other at doctor's appointments. We first met back when we were both undergoing chemotherapy and began chatting. Then we would see each other at our surgeon's office. We've exchanged emails when we were both recovering from mastectomy surgery and the dreaded drains. Now we're both undergoing radiation treatment, and we're getting together afterwards next week to have coffee or breakfast. Jim laughs at me. He says I manage to turn everything I do into a social event. He's right!

I also saw Emily again today at radiation. Emily and I first met in the grocery store when I was wearing a scarf over my bald head and she was wearing a hat. She approached me and asked if I was a breast cancer patient, and I said I was. We had a long conversation over the fresh fish case about how we were doing and what our treatments were. She had already had a mastectomy and I wasn't due for my own surgery for a month or more. Now here it is, nearly March, and we are both undergoing Radiation Therapy, our daily appointments 15 minutes apart.

It seems as if having breast cancer gets you into a strange but welcoming sorority of women, of all ages, but all with the commonality of dealing daily with treating a serious disease. It's an amazing experience that I wouldn't have guessed before it happened to me. In the weirdest of ways, I'm so fortunate to have been caught up in this health crisis, because it has opened up my life in so many positive ways. I've met people I never would have otherwise met, and I've been truly blessed.

PHOTO: This is an ancient arch in Ireland. It is the entrance to a Celtic graveyard and church. I love the moss poking through the stonework.

Spending the Kids' Inheritance

Well, I did it! I booked our vacation trip to Southern Italy and Sicily for October 7th-20th. Hooray! It's a 2-week trip on a guided tour with Globus, the same company we've used twice before, Ireland and Italy. Both of those trips were just wonderful, so we'd prefer to go with what we know. I also booked our air reservations, so we're all set. We're both really excited, considering we couldn't go anywhere last year, and even now, we're house bound for the next 6 weeks while I get daily radiation treatments. Last year, between both of our medical issues, we weren't able to travel.

In June we were all set to go to St. Martin for a week - had our reservations and airline tickets - but I ended up with a breast cancer diagnosis in April, started chemotherapy, and my white blood count dropped dangerously low. My Oncologist said I couldn't travel - I'd be risking ending up in the hospital in a foreign country - and we'd have to cancel our trip. Bummer! I was devastated at the time, but now I'm really pleased that we will be going back to Italy. We both loved the trip we took in 2006, and said we'd like to go back to take in the Southern part of Italy, so that's what we'll be doing. Jim would have loved to return to Venice, but unfortunately it's not on this itinerary. We want to take in the areas that we didn't get to see last time.

Well, now that I have the time, I have some Italian lessons on CD's that I can pull out to get in the spirit of things. I learned some before the last trip, but not nearly enough and I've forgotten it all anyway. Now that's something I can do while I'm doing my watercolor painting.

PHOTO: This is a watercolor I painted today. It's supposed to be a cardinal.

Questions and Answers

I received an email today from someone who has been reading my blog and is on a similar treatment path to what I have been going through. She is going to have mastectomy surgery early next week, and had some questions about what to wear after surgery, getting a prosthesis, how long before getting one, and how to dress. I sent her a reply, and in doing so, I thought that these questions and answers might be some that other women might have as well. So, I decided to post the reply I sent. Perhaps others can benefit from it.

Dear K,

It makes me feel so good that you have been reading my blog and it has been helpful to you. That has been my hope, that I could somehow encourage someone else who is experiencing breast cancer. Another reason I started it was to document it for myself because my own memory gets blurry sometimes, well most times, and I wanted to be able to go back and find out what was said, what the plan of action was, what I learned, etc. I knew that there would be a lot coming at me, and by writing it down as it happened, I would better understand it myself. I knew that if I had to explain it, I would need to understand it myself first. When my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer, I remember her saying she felt as if she had to get a PhD in breast cancer in a matter of weeks, since there was so much to learn. I felt like that initially, but I grew more confident as time went on and I researched the internet. I've also had tremendous doctors and support staff working on my behalf.

You asked what I wore after surgery. I ordered a camisole from Softee to wear post-surgery. It was $59. Here's the website: http://www.softeeusa.com/home/st1/page_267 I had read that a lot of women liked it, and it worked well for them. It is very comfortable and soft; non-chaffing. It comes with 2 fiber-filled prostheses that you velcro in to prevent it from shifting. You can remove some of the filling and adjust it to make it match your other side.

When you come out of surgery, you will be bound with what they call an abdominal binder, secured with velcro. It can either go on top of the other breast or below it. You will find that you really want that binder on. It makes you feel much better to have the security of it compressing you. It also helps to keep the drains in place. I wore the camisole over the binder. I went to a party about 2 weeks after surgery and for that I put on a bra and put the fiber prosthesis into the cup, then pinned the bottom of the bra to the binder and everything worked and stayed in place. I found that I didn't look out of balance, and by wearing a loose cardigan over the blouse I was wearing, I looked perfectly normal and felt fine. The pinning helped to anchor the bra from riding up on the empty side.

Most days, I go bra-less, especially around the house. I go for comfort. When I go out, I either wear the camisole and prosthesis or a bra, but by wearing loose clothing, or having a coat on, no one notices. I find myself less and less self conscious as time passes. Prior to surgery I was obsessed with worrying that I would be flat on one side, but I'm amazed at how little it concerns me now. I also go to water aerobics at the pool, where I have pinned in the other prosthesis to my bathing suit. I feel a little self conscious, but now more because I have all these radiation markings that show, and I think people wonder what that's all about. But most everyone there are my friends, and know what's going on. They are permanent markings covered with clear tape, not permanent tattoos.

I haven't yet gone to get a permanent prosthesis, although I should do that soon. I hear Nordstrom's has fitters that will work with you and have the name of another place nearby that I can go to. I'm in the process of having radiation therapy now, and within a few weeks I expect the area will be tender from burning. At that point I may not want a prosthesis next to my skin, because I've heard it feels like a sunburn. I don't know yet. I've only had 2 treatments so far of 33. Since it's winter, sweatshirts and sweaters are the norm. Once the weather gets warmer and I want to wear lighter clothes, a prosthesis will be a must.

I hope this info is helpful to you. Send me another email if there are other questions I might be able to help you with. And best wishes for your upcoming surgery. It really wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be, and I hope it goes equally well for you. I know each of us is different and has a different experience. My cancer experience thus far has been a positive one, and most of my fears are totally gone. By accepting the reality of my situation and keeping a good attitude about it - which I have tried to do throughout my blog - it's really not a big deal to me any more. I couldn't have hoped for a better outcome throughout this experience, which is simply not the case with many women, I realize that. But for me, things have gone extremely well. I have had wonderful support from my husband, family, and friends. For that reason, I don't think about the negatives any more - such as being flat on the mastectomy side. By the fall I will be getting a new figure thanks to plastic surgery, and I'm really excited about that.

Hugs,
Diane

PHOTO: These are two wild goats grazing along the road our tour bus took in Ireland in 2004.

Busy Saturday

Well, I just finished wrapping up the taxes. I had done most of it a couple of weeks ago, but today I went through everything again and entered some additional things I had overlooked before. Now all we need to do is to print the forms, sign, and mail them off to the IRS and State. Jim thinks I should e-file, but it costs $17.95 to e-file each return through TurboTax, so that's nearly $36 for both. Call me cheap, but I don't want to spend one penny more on taxes than we have to.

Today wasn't all drudgery and paperwork. Jim and I went out to an early dinner at The Iron Bridge Wine Co. in Columbia. It's an upscale wine bar, cafe, and gourmet coffee shop. The atmosphere is nice - all the walls are stacked with wine bottles, there is a fireplace in one room, and the seating is casual - cushions on the hard bench seats. The wine is sold by the glass or bottle and the selection is enormous. One thing I liked was that the generously-sized glasses were positively sparkling clean. I say generously-sized, but that doesn't mean that the serving size was generous. Frankly, it seemed rather meager to me. I recently ate in a restaurant where the glasses weren't clean, and it was a real turn off. When we arrived there were more wait staff than patrons, but before long the place was nearly filled. Jim had a huge mussel and sausage with garlic appetizer and rack of lamb with red cabbage for an entree. I had the red pepper soup and an asparagus, baby beets, and goat cheese risotto entree. A nice herb bread with dipping olive oil came with dinner. The food was delicious. Service was excellent. It was a little pricey. Okay, a lot pricey, but it was a nice Saturday night date, and we don't go out to eat very often.

Things are still tense between the cats. Ball gave Paddle a wide berth this morning, but later I saw him curled up next to her in the round kitty bed. I thought all was forgiven, but later there was more hissing and growling from Ball, and Paddle took off after Ball again. Ball is feeling so defensive that he continued to growl on Jim's lap and even hissed at Jim. Ball knew Paddle was on the floor next to his chair and couldn't relax. We hope this argument gets settled soon. It's so unlike the cats not to be snuggling and grooming each other and best of friends. Oh! Paddle just jumped up onto the chair where the other three are, and everyone is partaking in a communal lick-a-thon. Peace!

PHOTO: A burro who lives off a road behind our property. Next to him is a donkey. Very sweet, both of them.

Crazy Catz!

The radiation machine was fixed, up and running this morning. At 7:30 I got a call telling me that yes, they were open for business (we had some snow and ice overnight) and the machine was repaired, so off we went. No traffic at all, to speak of. I thought the treatment would be pretty short, but it was still about 15 minutes. It seems that the actual number of radiation "blasts" that I get is a lot, if I can go by the number of times I'm told to take a deep breath and hold. I'm going to count them next time, but I think it was around 10 or so today. Also, the length of time I'm supposed to hold my breath seems to be about 15 or 20 seconds each. I'll start paying more attention.

Paddle, our old-lady Tonkinese cat, went berserk again today, charging after Ball and attacking him. What on earth is going on? Another full moon, true. She went nuts one other time a few months ago and did the same thing. That time she attacked Ball when he came in from outside, and I thought she must have smelled something strange on him. Usually she is so timid, but she was extremely aggressive, with all her fur standing out straight, fury in her eyes, relentlessly chasing after Ball until she had him cowering and growling in the furthest corner of our closet. The screaming, shrieking and caterwauling was enough to wake the dead. Not only did she do it once today, she did it 4 times! We intervened to protect Ball, grabbing Paddle, but once she was down on the floor, it all started up again. After the 3rd time, Jim captured Paddle upstairs in our bedroom, carried her down, and gave her a time out in the basement. When she came back up things were quiet for a while, then WHAM, all hell broke lose again. I don't know what set her off. Ball hadn't been outside to pick up any strange smells. To us, it was a normal day. Ball must have called her a bitch or something equally offensive. He's been hiding somewhere for hours now, totally traumatized, and Paddle has been acting like her sweet little self, meowing and purring, jumping up to be petted. The other 2 cats got themselves out of the way and steered clear of the fighting.

We were supposed to get a snow storm today, but it didn't happen, and it looks as if we aren't going to get one tomorrow either. That's good. I didn't get out today except to the radiation appointment, and I'm ready!

PHOTO: Ball, sadly looking through the window next to the front door. Doesn't he look like he needs a hug? Tonkinese are known for their aqua eyes - blue from the Siamese and gold/yellow from the Burmese, the 2 breeds that originally started the Tonkinese breed.

A Fly in the Ointment

The streets were not a problem this morning, but Jim drove me to the Radiation Center anyway. We left plenty early, and arrived at 8:15 for my 8:30 appointment. As I walked in the door, Peggy said she had been trying to get in touch with me at home and on my cell phone, (which was in the charger) because the radiation machine was out of order. They were at that time trying to get in touch with the repair man.

O-kay. She said she was sorry, but we should go home, I should go ahead to my water aerobics class, and give her a call at 12:30 when I got home to see how the repair was coming along. Well, I did, and at 12:30 they were still working on the repairs. Peggy said she'd call me later in the afternoon if she could reschedule me. Not only me, but all the other patients who were supposed to come in today.

She called just after 2:00 to cancel the appointment for today entirely, because apparently the repairmen needed to pick up a part. I will come in tomorrow, assuming they were able to obtain the part they needed, but now we have another glitch. There is a snow storm scheduled overnight. I'll have to wait for a call in the morning to see (1) if the office is open and (2) if the roads are drivable.

It's unfortunate that my initial treatment is starting off on a rocky path, because in a perfect world, it would be done regularly. They want the treatment done at the same time every day, 5 days a week, for consistency, 33 times. If I miss tomorrow, I won't go in again until Monday. Hopefully, this will be the only snag. But I'll just have to take it one day at a time.

PHOTO: Birds doing lunch in our back yard. Lots of cardinals!

Radiation Treatment Begins

I started my radiation therapy regime today, number 1 of 33 treatments. This treatment included a series of x-rays lining up the body marks with the x-rays that had already been done, and plugging in all the data they had gathered from the simulation they did last week. Lots of physics involved, that I have no clue about, as well as mapping in 3 dimensions to make sure the radiation beam goes exactly where the doctor wants it to go. There were 2 women technicians involved, a physics specialist, and Dr. Sallinger. It took about an hour, I think. It's hard to remain motionless for all that time. The movements that needed to be made had to be done by them, moving the sheet below me, in millimeter increments. If I let myself, I could be frightened by the huge machinery and the feeling of being the subject of some science fiction/alien abduction experiment, but I just closed my eyes and went somewhere else. My only job was to take deep breaths when told, hold it for about 20 seconds, and breathe again. Many times. Finally it was over, and I was able to get up, shakily, get dressed, and leave. The back of my neck, the top vertebrae, was really painful when I left. It was resting on the hard edge of the body form and very uncomfortable.

The staff are very nice, very accommodating. I asked if there was any way I could change the rest of the treatment times from 1:15 to an earlier time, and it turned out that 8:30 was available, starting tomorrow, so I grabbed it. That means I need to be there, seated and dressed in the gown and waiting at 8:30 to begin, so I will need to get there about 8:20 every day. That's fine, I'd much rather have it over and done with early so that I will have the rest of the day free. We had some snow today, so Jim will probably drive me tomorrow, but on normal days I will go by myself. I think I should be in and out within 15 minutes from now on.

Stopped in a store and did some shopping for a while before I went home. For the rest of the day I didn't do much of anything. I was so tired this afternoon. I ended up taking a long nap and was still tired when I got up. I can't believe it's from the radiation. I must have just been tired. I sure hope I won't be feeling this way every day. I do know that I will have to go to bed earlier in order to get up and out of the house every morning. I usually end up going to bed around 12:30, sometimes reading for a while afterwards, and that's not going to work.

I should be able to go to the pool tomorrow afterwards. That'll feel good and should wake me up.

PHOTO: Chesapeake Beach in Annapolis, MD.

Timing is Everything

How do you like my Black Capped Chickadee? Did you know that was what it was? I enjoyed painting this tonight. I'm starting to trust myself and I'm taking chances and trying new things. I'm learning what different effects can be produced with the mixing of colors, different brushes, and a few tricks - like using salt. Salt was used in making this painting. Jim liked it, and I took a couple of his suggestions in tweaking the painting. He was right, and the changes made it better.

I went to the pool today, and exercised in the cooler lap pool. I enjoyed being there, getting back into the structure of my normal activities. It felt good, and I need the exercise.

When I came home, Jim said the radiologist's office had called and want me to come in tomorrow to start the treatments. The appointment they have me down for is 11:30 tomorrow morning. Well, shucks. I had plans for tomorrow to go to a Red Hat event, a pizza party at our "Queen Mother's" house. It would have been nice to go, but not a terribly special event. The appointment will take about an hour, so that shoots going to the party. The more disturbing thing is that they want me to have my daily time slot at 1:15 in the afternoon. Every day for 6 1/2 weeks. Gee, could they slice the day up any worse? Yes, they could, because the only alternative is a 5:00 time slot. The actual time I'll be there should be about a half hour, from the time I arrive until I leave. Grrrrr.....

I know, I know. I need to think of my priorities, and I'm very grateful that I'm being taken care of, that I have a top notch medical staff, and that I have medical insurance that will cover most of my treatments. The people are very nice, and most of the treatments throughout have been relatively pain free. My hair is growing back, and I have received many compliments on it from different people, some strangers in stores. I have a lot to be grateful for. So, I can put up with a bad time slot. It's only 6 1/2 weeks, after all. Then I'm done until the reconstruction in the fall.

A Social and Cultural Day

Our Book Club met today at Carolyn's house. We had a great time, starting off with wine and appetizers, then homemade soup, muffins and breads, and a whole cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory for dessert. There were 4 different kinds to choose from, and we managed to finish off about 2/3's of it. Really delicious.  And, we spent a long time discussing the book, as well as quite a few other books we have been reading. Sometimes we breeze over the book, but not today. We were very proud of ourselves.

Carolyn has 2 sweet 10-week old kittens she got from a Rescue Shelter. They were so cute! Two brothers from the same litter, named Spooky and Sparky. They kept us entertained, but were remarkably well behaved as well. Slept most of the time we were there. I see that my Ming Poo has stolen a skein of expensive wool yarn from upstairs and is tossing it up in the air and acting like she's afraid of it in a game of her own invention. So far she's wrapped it around a plant stand and has about half of it unraveled. I spent about 10 minutes last night winding it, and she's going to have it totally unwound it a couple of minutes if I don't intervene. She loves yarn balls.

After a quick meal of a spinach chicken salad, I was off to my Watercolor Class. Tonight there were only 4 of us, plus our instructor, Carolyn. (A different Carolyn, although both are artists and teachers.) This is the one I wrote about in yesterday's blog whose elderly mother fell and broke her hip. The surgery required inserting several pins to stabilize it. I asked how old she is, and she's nearly 97! This fall has been the deciding factor in her finally moving in with Carolyn, although she won't like it. Before that happens, she will have to go into a nursing home for rehab. I feel so sorry for her. This has been a confusing ordeal for her and a difficult time for Carolyn. Many decisions and bureaucratic hurdles to deal with.

Anyway, back to the Watercolor Class - we spent the evening painting skies, trees, and landscapes. In our exercises, we cut the paper to a vertical size, making the sky and clouds the main elements in the painting. Carolyn displayed various samples and techniques of paintings across the whole front of the room, giving us lots of examples to use as inspiration. It was a good class, very relaxing and productive, but we also chatted a little - of course!

PHOTO: The Children's Garden at Surreybrooke Nursery, Frederick, MD.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Nobody wants to hear about my day. I spent it in my craft room again, listening to my book on CD. I should just repost yesterday's blog and that would about cover it. The good news is I only have 2 more discs to go on the book - good story - and this time I really am almost finished with the room project. I felt bad putting away all my beading things. It's not that I don't want to do any more beading, I just want a break from it to try the watercolors. At least all the beading supplies can be accessed easily when I'm ready to play with them again.

I haven't done my watercolor homework yet. I'll have to do it tomorrow morning. I'm actually wondering if we will have the class tomorrow evening. Cathy heard that Carolyn's mother, who is in her 90's, (Carolyn is our watercolor instructor) fell and broke her hip and had surgery on Saturday. Can you believe, they are sending her home tomorrow? The poor woman! She still lives in her own place. Carolyn is in touch with her daily by phone and goes to see her all the time, but she prefers to be in her own house. Now Carolyn is in the process of looking for a nursing home for her recovery, one that has space available now. With all that Carolyn must be faced with making arrangements, I am thinking the class may be cancelled. On the other hand, it may be a good distraction for Carolyn. We'll see.

Speaking of watercolors, Last night I watched a free DVD that came with the watercolor pencils I bought. These pencils are used like regular colored pencils, except that they are actually made of solid paint, and when you put water on them, they become liquid paint. They are very useful in many ways, and the DVD did a good job of showing the technique for using them. I have already been using them on a few practice works. I really like them. The set I bought has 24 colors in it, so it has a good range of colors. I like using an aqua brush with them, which is a brush on one end and a plastic barrel for the handle. The handle unscrews and you fill it with water. By tipping the brush down, it becomes wet and you paint the watercolor pencil marks, turning them into watercolors. They can also be used by dipping the brush into your paint palette like a regular brush. The aqua brushes are great for working outdoors, since you can get away without having a water cup with you. By just squeezing the barrel, water comes out, cleaning the brush.

PHOTO: Taken on a walk through Cold Saturday Farm, across the road from our house.

Nearly There

I spent a good deal of time in my craft room today, continuing to revamp it. What a mess. I just took armloads of everything off the cabinet shelves and tossed them willy nilly onto the floor so that I would have to make a conscious decision about every scrap of paper, spool of thread, jar of beads, skein of yarn or box of buttons. I have managed to get rid of 2 trash baskets full so far - mostly various papers and old greeting cards. There' also s a nice pile of things for charity that I no longer want or need, but are either new or in nearly new condition. I should finish up tomorrow. I'm getting excited about having the space readied for watercolor painting. Jim bought me an easel a year or more ago that converts from an upright to a flat one, and until now I haven't used it. This is the third time I've signed up to take this class, and twice before it was canceled due to lack of participation. He bought the easel when I was signed up the first time. It's been sitting in the corner of the room, looking very artsy but unused ever since.

One thing I've been able to do while working in the room is to listen to my book on CD for Book Club on Monday. I'm almost through disc 4 of 9, so I should be able to finish the entire book tomorrow without any problem. The book is The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. It's a good story so far. I see lots of room for conflict and tragedy to follow, but don't know how it will unravel. I still have Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan on CD in my car, and I'm on disc 10 of 17. Wow, it's really a good book, at least in my opinion. It's read by the author, and she does a beautiful job of it.

Well, I think I'll get back to my project and for a while longer before I go to bed. Fired up! Ready to go!

PHOTO Just a photo of our clock, but I like it.

My Craft Room Threw Up

Whew, I'm really pooped tonight. It's been a long day, and I've worn myself out. Started off with Jim taking me to the car dealership to pick up Christine, my Cadillac. They had taken care of the front differential seal recall issue, and while they were poking around, found that the rear differential seal was leaking, and were kind enough to repair that as well, and without charging me. Not only that, but they also washed and vacuumed the car out. I can't ask for more than that. How nice to have such generous service.

Came home and began the dreaded laundry. I've been working on it off and on all day. I've done most of it, but didn't quite finish the job. The rest will be waiting tomorrow, lucky me. I did break away and spent the afternoon with Cathy and Sharon crafting. My craft was watercolor painting, while Cathy and Sharon worked on paper crafts. They made some gorgeous embellished photo albums, starting by making the covers out of matting boards. There was a lot of activity going on involving hole cutting tools and measurements. I was focused on the paintings I was working on - small ones, bookmarks actually, so I couldn't see what they were doing, but I was really blown away when I finally saw what they had put together. Very beautiful. Now I want to make some myself.

When I came home I tackled my craft room, reorganizing everything to accommodate the influx of painting related materials and relegating the yarn-related projects, polymer clay and beading to the rear. I started by redoing the bookshelves. Removed all the books, cleaned and dusted, and put them back. I have a bank of cabinets along one whole wall that I use in my craft room, and I just decided to dump everything out onto the floor and start fresh. So I did. Cyclone city! The floor was/is covered about a foot deep in my "junk." I figured that was the only way for me to evaluate everything that went back into the cabinets. I ended up with lots of things that I'm giving to charity, lots of things that ended up in the trash, and the rest that I haven't gotten to yet. My back is killing me, but I'm determined. By the end of this weekend, my craft room will be finished, will sparkle, and will be a joy to work in. To keep myself entertained while I'm at it, I've started a book on CD that I have to be finished with by Monday for Book Club, so I can kill 2 birds with one stone, so to speak.

Now it's off to bed before I fall asleep at the computer.

PHOTOS: These are 2 bookmarks I made for Sharon and Cathy for Valentine's Day. I scanned them into my computer before I gave them to my friends, and I was happy that they liked them. Cathy has framed hers, the bamboo, with a background of palm and a beautiful frame. Sharon has decided to use a coordinating fabric for her background. I'm pleased that they wanted to do this, but I really thought they'd be using the bookmarks to mark their page in a book!

P.S. My scanner editing program doesn't give me true colors, so the colors are off a little. The Iris is actually more violet and the Bamboo green is slightly different, but you get an idea of what they look like.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have to show off the bowl Jim made in his bowl turning class. He gave it to me today for Valentine's Day, along with an absolutely beautiful card. The cherry wood bowl itself was made in a one-day class, but he had a lot more work to do creating the glossy finish. He sanded it and gave it 4 coats of a "salad bowl finish" sealer. It really shines, and has beautiful patterns in the wood. I love it!

I started off this morning with good intentions of water aerobics. I went to the pool, but made the mistake of going into the warm pool. I should call it the hot pool - today the temperature was listed as 93°! I lasted for 30 minutes, and decided then that you could stick a fork in me - I was done! I was definitely overheated and sat out for the rest of the hour. Next time I'm going into the lap pool.

I had an appointment to take Christine in today for a recall issue. Something about a differential seal that needed to be replaced. The dealership was very nice in giving me a ride back home, but poor Christine ended up staying there overnight. By the time they called to say she was ready and they were sending a driver to our house to pick me up, I told them we were just on our way out the door. As it turned out, they discovered other seals that were leaking and they fixed those as well. I didn't ask if they were charging for that - I figured we'd talk about that tomorrow when I pick her up. It's a really good dealership, and I'm pretty sure they did it without charge. The receptionist said that when they replaced the differential seal, they discovered other leaks and went ahead and fixed them, which is why it took so long, and by that comment I'm thinking they aren't charging for it. Jim said he had noticed a drip on the garage floor under my car. I'm glad it's been taken care of - Christine doesn't like to be drippy.

Then we left the house to meet Cathy and Greg and Sharon and Nolan for a Valentine's Day dinner at the Outback Steakhouse. The timing was great - we didn't have to wait even for a minute, as I had called ahead and Cathy had our table secured as soon as we walked in. If I hadn't called, the wait would have been 45 minutes - and that was at 5:00! By the time we left at 7:00, the place was a zoo and we could hardly get out of the parking lot onto the street. We all had a great dinner together. Lots of good food and fun. The guys didn't want dessert, but Cathy, Sharon and I split a Sydney Sinful Sundae between the 3 of us. Delicious!

PHOTO: My new cherry bowl!

Radiation Treatment Preparations

Today I had 2 appointments in Radiology. The first at 9:00 was called a simulation, which was very complex. Throughout the entire procedure I had to remain perfectly still with my arms out over my head. It started out with me lying on a sort of bean-bag on the table. This bag was form fitted around my body until the doctor felt everything was just so. The air was removed from the bag, causing a chemical reaction that turned the bag contents into a foam that immediately solidified into a body mold impression. Next I was marked all over my torso with a permanent marker and tape. These marks must remain throughout the treatment to allow for exact positioning at each treatment. Then X-rays were taken while I was inside the tube. The whole procedure lasted quite a while. I was there for an hour and a half. When it was finally over, my arms had fallen asleep and I felt a little light-headed.

The next appointment, in another building, wasn't until 2:20, so I had 4 hours to kill. I went to the car dealer's to make an appointment to have a recall issue taken care of tomorrow, went to Michael's and got the brushes I needed and walked around the store for a while, and then spent some time at the library. I went to a Mexican restaurant to have lunch, decided to call Jim, and caught him on his on his cell phone driving to Westminster on his way to the gym. He met me at the restaurant, and we had lunch together, which was nice. I left the restaurant and headed over to my second radiation appointment.

The second appointment was for a CT scan, once again lying on a table on top of my body mold. More markings, more tape, wires taped to my body, and then the scan. The procedure didn't take as long as the morning one. Good thing, because it was freezing in there. I wasn't supposed to move, and I was trying not to shiver. From these procedures, Dr. Sallinger will calculate the dosage and exactly where I should get the radiation treatments. I will probably not have my first actual treatment for a week. It will take them a few days to work everything out, then I will have a sort of "trial run" and from then on the treatments will happen 5 days a week. It's very exacting. Because my tumor was on the left side, and the heart is also on the left side, they have to make every effort to minimize radiation to the heart. Even having me take a deep breath will raise the chest up a slight amount, giving that much more distance away from the heart. There was a metal plate behind my back and a rod touching my skin in front to measure that elevation as well. I realize I'm not explaining this very well. You had to be there, I guess.

The weather is supposed to get nasty again, so I'm not sure if I will go to the pool tomorrow, but I'd like to. I asked Dr. Sallinger about going into the pool, and he said I could for now, but as the treatments progress, the chlorine in the pool may not work well on my skin if I am experiencing a burn. It may react somehow. Sigh ...

PHOTO: A reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg. An amazing event we witnessed in 2003 shortly after we moved to Maryland.

Who Says Chemo isn't Fun?

When I woke up this morning, there was a blanket of snow covering the ground. Not a lot - only about an inch or so, but it was slippery snow. I had an appointment at St. Joe's at 11:00 for a Herceptin infusion, so I decided to go out beforehand to vote in the primary. It's no problem getting out when we have snow - what becomes a problem is getting back up our hill. I went by myself, because Jim is registered as an Independent, and in Maryland he's not allowed to cast a vote in primary elections. When I got back home, poor Christine (my Cadillac) tried her best, but she couldn't make it up the hill, so I had to pull her over, park on the grass, and walk...back...up...to the house. Once we were ready to leave, both Jim and I walked back down the hill, climbed into Christine, and went on our way. By the time we got back home, the snow on the hill had melted, so we were able to drive all the way up and into the garage without any problem.

My visit to the Oncology Office was just great after such a long time away (last infusion was on November 1st.) It took longer than I thought it would - 2 1/2 hours - but it was time well spent. I had a nice visit with the nurses, who are such a sweet group of women. I love 'um! The group of 6 or 7 men and women patients who were in the Infusion Room were a really pleasant group. We all had a nice conversation going, and that is unusual. Other times I've been there, people were napping or reading. Today we talked about books we were reading, our homes, our families, the state of the world, you name it. One of the women overheard me tell Cathy, my nurse, that I had been to see Dr. Sallinger, the radiologist, yesterday for the first time. She told me that Dr. Sallinger's a really nice doctor, and all the women who work there are wonderful. That's one thing I've noticed about being around other patients in chemo - people open up with each other and share their experiences and offer uplifting advice. Meanwhile, the nurses were on the other side of the room, talking and putting together a total of 70 Valentine bundles for all their patients. It was so sweet of them. Every one was tied with ribbons, contained a variety of sweets, and had a handwritten Valentine card tied to it. They had handed one out to each of us as we came in.

Tomorrow morning I'll return to the Radiology office to work out a daily schedule with them. In the afternoon I'll get a CT scan, and I'll be on my way with this treatment. Good!

PHOTO: This is a photo I took in Ireland. I think it would make a good watercolor to practice painting.

At Least Mine Aren't Lollipop Trees

Today Jim and I went to my radiation doctor, Dr. Sallinger, who I met for the first time. He seems like a nice doctor, and I'm sure I'll be in good hands with him. I was a little annoyed that I was kept waiting for such a long time before he got in to see me. I hope that once I have a daily routine, things will go more quickly. I will go back again on Wednesday at 9:00 for a scheduling conference, where we will agree on a time slot. Apparently, each patient is scheduled in a 15 minute appointment. Then I will go to another building at 2:20 for a CT scan and some mapping markings on my skin. Radiation therapy apparently does not have as many side effects as chemo, which wasn't too bad for me, so I don't expect too many problems with radiation. We'll see. Side effects could be fatigue and burning of the skin. I'll see Dr. Sallinger once a week during my treatments, so he will be able to keep an eye out for any problems.

By the time Jim and I left Sallinger's office, it was 2:30, so we went out to a late lunch, and made that our main meal of the day. Since I had my Watercolor class at 6:30, it worked out well, not having to cook dinner before I left at 6:00. The class went well, although I find myself in a funk with my lack of self confidence. This was the 3rd class, and for the first time, all 7 of the students were present. Most of the other women, if not all of them, have been in other art classes together, and I feel at a disadvantage. This is the first art class I've ever taken, and I have so much catching up to do. Not being able to draw is a real problem. We're starting on landscapes, and today we covered sky, clouds, foregrounds, and trees. I found that I will need to purchase 2 more brushes - a fan brush and a liner brush. The fan brush is used to make tufts of grass and knolls and hills. The liner is a fine brush that makes very thin lines - wispy grass, whiskers, anything that needs to be really fine. I have homework again - this time make a picture with clouds and a tree that we will complete as a landscape when we meet next Monday night. I really need to practice on my trees. Mine aren't "lollipop" trees, at least, (round green balls on brown sticks,) but they also don't look like trees you'll see in nature. And my leaves aren't very convincing either. I tried about half a dozen brushes before I finally found one that made believable leaves. My problem is that I can't come up with a convincing picture out of my imagination. I'm better at copying.

Tomorrow we're off to St. Joe's again for a Herceptin treatment. This one will be a little longer, since it's a "loading dose" but after this the treatments will only be an hour. I hear there's an art store near the Towson Center, so perhaps we can find the brushes I need to buy. That will be fun.

PHOTO: Now here's a gorgeous tree that would make a beautiful watercolor painting, if I knew what I was doing. Taken across the road in Cold Saturday Farm. I love this photo, with the light shining through the trees.

Sunshine on Hat

Tomorrow I will have my Watercolor Class again, so today it was high time to do my homework. Our assignment was to use one of the techniques we learned in making a finished painting. I have been fretting over this all week. After flipping through a watercolor magazine for inspiration, I settled on a picture of a hanging hat, and here's the result. I've lost all ability to evaluate my own work. I was telling Jim tonight that when it comes to writing, I know when I have written something well or when it's in need of work, but I just can't connect with what I paint.

Maybe it's because I haven't yet found my own style. Perhaps I shouldn't be trying to copy someone else's watercolor painting. That's a thought, but I don't know yet how to paint an interpretation of a scene in front of me or how to create a painting from a photo. I don't know how to draw, which is how a painting begins. I don't know enough about colors to jump in on my own and create. I'm trying, but it's a struggle. I found myself holding my breath while I was painting today, and had to tell myself to breathe. It's supposed to be relaxing, but I haven't gotten to that point yet.

Our weather here today is cold and very windy. This afternoon it was blowing hard outside, and suddenly there was a loud thump as a big branch crashed into the window. It didn't break the glass, but it broke the siding on the house between the windows. Yikes! I think the worst of the wind is over, although it's still blowing. Jim went out as soon as the branch hit to check out the damage. He said it can be fixed - anything can be fixed. I wonder if any water will seep in now that there is damage to the siding. Really not a big deal in the whole scheme of things, especially being mindful of the tornadoes that occurred this past week.

Cement Hauling

Jim was gone most of the day with David working on the hole for the Basketball hoop. David rented a "Dingo" to dig the hole - an auger that bores a hole into the ground. The rental place is in Westminster, quite a distance from David's house, so a lot of time was spent driving back and forth, as well as the trips to The Home Depot for cement. The hole ended up being about 4 feet deep and 2 feet in diameter, and they bought a ton of cement mix to fill the hole. I'm not exaggerating! They bought 25 bags at 80 pounds per bag, or 2,000 pounds! They made 2 trips to The Home Depot, because David didn't want to overload Karen's van. Somehow I can't imagine they'll need that much cement, but who knows. If they don't need it all, they can return what isn't used. The cement mixing and pouring has been extended to next weekend. Doesn't it always seem that projects that you think are no big deal end up 10 times as complex as you imagined? I have the same problem with my own projects. Never fails.

I played Domestic Goddess again today. Spent quite a bit of time working and piddling around the house, doing my thing. I should have gone outside and spent some time enjoying the nice weather. We were supposed to get some snow, but instead the temperature was in the 60's. I did get out, but just driving in the car to the grocery store. Came right home after getting everything I needed for the soup I planned to make - Pasta e Fagioli. When I finally decided to start it about 6:00, I read the recipe and saw that it was supposed to be cooked for 7 hours in a crock pot.

Oops ...

Oh well, I just went ahead, browned the meat, chopped the veggies, threw it all together and cooked it for an hour as I had planned to do. It tasted fine, very good in fact. I don't know that I would have gained anything cooking it in a crock pot except the ability to have made it ahead if I were leaving the house. Or, it may have melded the flavors together more with longer cooking. Well, I'm going to have to freeze most of it. It made enough to feed a restaurant full of people!

PHOTO: Sherbet colored yarns at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival.

Entertainment

Today was a crafting day with friends Cathy, Sharon, Carolyn and myself. Sharon was the only one of the 4 of us who actually did any crafting - she made some really nice rubber stamped leather luggage tags - but we came up with some fantastic ideas for projects that we can do when we get together next time. Sharon and I don't want to even think about beads any more - at least for a while. We're both beaded out. And decoupage is a dirty word for us as well. The majority of the crafting ideas we liked had to do with various garden and garden-related crafts, as well as some really creative paper crafts. Cathy has lots of wonderful crafting books with beautiful photos, and we all oohed and aahed over what we saw. Carolyn, our professional artist, has some really creative and clever ideas. It was a great afternoon, and naturally we had goodies to eat and drink. I came home with a pump to make a table fountain, along with a book about making them, and now I'm all stoked with creative energy. I've been tempted to make a fountain for a long time, and now's my chance. Haven't quite settled on the design yet, but I will soon. Stay tuned.

Dinner tonight was some delicious swordfish that Jim cooked outside on the grill. We're trying to eat more fish in our diet, so this was the second time for fish this week. A few days ago I poached some salmon that also turned out really well. Tomorrow I'm making some Pasta e Fagioli Soup, a recipe I found on the net that's as good as The Olive Garden's, or so I hear. I love making soups. Earlier this week I made a Rotisserie Chicken Soup that was another winner. Five stars.

Jim will be leaving the house early tomorrow morning to help David put in a post at the edge of their driveway for a basketball backboard system. The backboard won't be installed until next weekend, but they'll get the post installed tomorrow. Sounds like a good project for them, and the boys will have years of fun playing basketball. The backboard height is adjustable, so they can make it 7 1/2 feet high for Chris, who is just 6 years old. Alex is 12, and he will have an easier time with a lower hoop as well. The two of them play really well together, and this is just the thing to get in some extra practice and good old-fashioned exercise.

PHOTO: A gorgeous sunflower in a bouquet I received. I'd like to try to paint this in watercolor.

Back in the Pool Again

Today I went back to the pool for water aerobics. I haven't been there since last May, when my oncologist said not to go into a public pool while on chemotherapy. That's because the immune system is compromised while on chemo, and it would be risky. Of course, after the chemo I had surgery, and had to heal from that, so it's now okay for me to go back into the water, so I did. It was great to see everyone again, and I enjoyed it. There are 2 pools, the lap pool that is kept at about 82° and the arthritis pool that is kept at about 92°. I have been pretty stiff lately with arthritis, so I chose to spend my time in the warm water today. It felt really good, and after about a half hour, my knee, that had been hurting before I got in, felt much better. Between the warmth and the movement, it was much improved. I pretty much did my own thing as far as exercise is concerned. Didn't want to overdo it, and it all worked really well.

I've been staring at the tax paperwork piles all day, and they just stare back. I should have done some more today, but just couldn't make myself sit down with it again. I deliberately left all the paperwork on the kitchen table to guilt myself into working on it, but even that mess didn't motivate me. I did think about it for a while, so maybe that counts. Poor Jim had to try to make himself a space to squeeze into to eat breakfast this morning!

Jim has been reading a book on lowering cholesterol, and one of the recommendations is to eat barley cereal, a healthy grain. They gave a source, so he called and placed an order. Apparently the shipping cost is a little high, so he decided to get his money's worth on shipping, and ordered 3 bags at 3 pounds apiece. It came today, and we now have 9 pounds of barley cereal to eat. They included a sheaf of recipes using barley cereal, and so I made some barley cereal blueberry muffins for dinner. Why, you ask? Because it was the only thing I could make with what I had on hand in a relatively short period of time. And I used up 1/2 cup so far!

PHOTO: A holly bush in Chatham, MA, on Cape Cod.

A Taxing Day

Well, I was productive today. Got out tons of paperwork and worked most of the day on our taxes. I'm using Turbotax, so it's not as painful as it might otherwise be, but nonetheless, it's been a challenge. Actually, I began working on this project yesterday, but after working for about 2 1/2 hours, suddenly the Turbotax application quit, and I lost about the last 45 minutes of entries. That was enough to ruin my mood, so I set it all aside until today. More hassles cropped up today, but I won't bore you with the details. I have finished the first "go through." I'll go over it again more thoroughly tomorrow or whenever I get back to it, but the majority is entered. Obviously, most of the calculations had to do with medical expenses for both of us, and that's actually a good thing. Because they were so high, it will reduce some of the tax burden this year. Yay ...

Just as I began this blog entry, there was a huge clap of thunder, and it terrified the kitties. They were all snoozing peacefully in a pile on the couch, and when the loudenboomer crashed, they took off like they had all been scalded. Poor things! Pong and Ball crept back and laid down again, but Paddle and Ming are still hiding somewhere.

This storm seems to have passed, but it's part of the system that caused so many tornadoes last night. I heard that 52 people had died and hundreds were injured as a result of them. What an awful thing to happen. The destruction is terrible. I can't even imagine what those people are going through, to have their homes leveled in the span of a few minutes, everything destroyed, some people buried under debris. I've said it before, I sure don't remember such violent and drastic weather occurrences happening when I was growing up. Not to the degree that we see nowadays. What on earth is next?

PHOTO: This is about as high up in the house as Ming Poo can reach, just under the 9-foot ceiling. She managed to get up there by jumping from the floor to the counter, onto the refrigerator, and from there to the cabinets. That wasn't enough for her though. She leaped about 4 feet across the corner where the windows are, from one set of cabinets to the other on the adjacent side of the room. Then she just laid down in her meatloaf position and waited until I got the ladder and climbed up to get her. Had to get a picture first, though.

Bureaucrats

Today started off balance, when I got a call from my doctor's office telling me not to come in. I have a new insurance company as of January 1st - Blue Cross - and they need a week to approve the Herceptin treatment I was supposed to get today. Interesting. They push papers around for a week, delaying medical treatment, while they make a decision about paying for the treatment my doctor has ordered. So on what basis are they coming to their decision? They will look it up in their policy guidelines. And it will take them an entire week to search out this answer? They can't poke a few codes into their computers? They're not pulling down dusty tomes from vast library shelves, for heavens sake.

One thing I have learned in this experience with cancer treatment is that it is important to maintain a structured schedule with treatment. Maintaining regular medication levels in the body is key. Dosages are carefully calculated and monitored with each and every treatment patients receive. So having a delay in the timing of treatment can have an impact on a patient's response to treatment. Does delaying treatment for a week matter? Perhaps, perhaps not. It's a medical/scientific call. That's my point. It shouldn't be decided upon by clerical workers who have a full in-basket of paperwork. Medical decisions should be made by the medical doctors, and the insurance administrators should not have the clout to hold up treatment while they drag their feet on authorization. Thank you for listening.

Tonight was fun, our crafting night. Carolyn hosted Ladies Night Out again, which she does on the first Tuesday of every month. Our crafts for tonight were a decoupaged box and a snowman jar. The Mason jar had a snowman head, complete with a cap and scarf. I've never done any decoupage before, and it was a real challenge. Very messy and sticky. The box was heart shaped, and looked nice when it was done, but what a goopy mess getting to that point.

PHOTO: Lotus leaves on a pond at Surreybrooke, a beautiful nursery in Frederick, MD.

Watercolor Class Again

Tonight was my second Watercolor Painting class, and we learned a lot. Carolyn taught us quite a few techniques using various materials to come up with different effects, such as using salt to create a crystal effect, using a sponge and stencil to lift paint, using masking medium to leave an area of the painting white, and using crumpled Saran Wrap to create a mottled effect, to name a few. I had read about some of these techniques, but seeing them done and then doing them ourselves is a lot different.

Since there are so few of us in the class, it's very individualized instruction, and it's fun. The time just flies by. We have a homework assignment for next week. Each of us is to bring in a completed painting that uses predominantly one of the techniques we learned tonight. I haven't decided what I'll do yet.

I had a haircut today. I decided it was time to get it trimmed and neatened up. The texture of my hair before chemo was fine, and now it's a little more coarse, and it tends to want to stick up or out as it grows in. For the time being, at least, I plan to leave it real short. It's quite thick in the back, but the sides and top are somewhat thinner, and I'd like to see if it will fill in any more. Also, there's virtually no upkeep with it short. I'm wondering if the texture will change back again. If not, keeping it short may be the best thing. My cowlick in front makes bangs impossible. It automatically grows toward the side.

Tomorrow it's back to St. Joe's for a Herceptin infusion. I'm looking forward to seeing the nurses again. It's been over 3 months since my last treatment. I've stopped in now and again to have a test or to say hello, but haven't had an actual treatment since November 1st.

PHOTO: Now here's a palette of colors! A woolens shop in Avoca, Ireland. This is the town where the BBC TV program Ballykissangel was filmed. I used to watch it every week.

Super Bowl Sunday

Jim went on his hike today, and came back pretty tired, but he enjoyed himself. It was an 8-mile hike on the Appalachian trail, adjacent to the Potomac River. I'm proud of him. The others hike several days a week, and he does it once a month! He's been pretty quiet the rest of the afternoon. The most difficult aspect of it is the unevenness of the trail. It's full of rocks and roots.

I made some Beef Bourguignon for dinner tonight. It turned out really well, excellent in fact. I served it with mashed potatoes.

The Super Bowl is nearly over, and Jim's home team - The Patriots - are losing. It's a sad day in Mudville. I thought they would win, but with 35 seconds left, ...

I worked on my watercolor painting today, and I've decided I'm finished with it. I spent a lot of time on it. I thought I'd put it on the blog to share it with you. Jim said he thought it was "excellent." The only criticism he had was that the bars above the door are not evenly spaced, but he said it's not that noticeable. He likes it. I've lost my objectivity after staring at it for so long. There are quite a few things I'm not totally happy about, but I will leave it alone. I think it's recognizable as the photo in yesterday's blog, and that's a plus.

Playing with Paints

This was another beautiful day, after a rainy one yesterday. Jim was gone most of the day in Frederick at a Sierra Club meeting. Tomorrow he will go on another 8 mile hike - this time along a portion of the Appalachian Trail. I kept planning to get out and do something, but as usual I ended up spending the day inside. Once I got through my chores, I spent some time playing with my watercolor paints. Ming Poo wanted to paint too, but after foiling her multiple attempts to climb up onto the kitchen counter where I was working, I felt sorry for her and moved closer to the end where she could watch me from her kitchen stool perch. She seemed fascinated with what I was doing, especially since I kept turning on the water faucet, which is one of her favorite things.

Most of what I ended up painting was out of my imagination. I worked on some distant landscapes and then practiced on painting trees with leaves. I had a pretty fine brush and found a technique that made the leaves look fairly realistic. My trunks need some work, but the branches were believable. I was pleased with my attempts at mixing colors.

Yesterday I sent away for some prints of my digital images so that I could use them as watercolor subjects. This is the first time I've made any prints of my digital images in about 8 years. I'd say I'm a little behind the times! I was amazed when they appeared today in the mailbox. How is that possible? These were some photos I had taken in Ireland that I thought would make good subject matter. Tonight I started on one using masking medium to "white out" certain parts of the picture. We'll see how it turns out when I go back to it tomorrow. I stopped painting before dinner and haven't gone back to it.

One of my weaknesses in this whole process is drawing. I've never been able to draw, and that's a big part of painting, I think. My sister Debbie was an artist. She took many art courses over the years, and her drawing ability was exceptional. I think much of it was self taught as she practiced over the years. She loved sketching. For me, something gets totally lost in the eye-brain-hand-pencil path. I can't make that come through. And I have tried, although I've never taken any courses. I'm sure it's one of those things that requires practice. I guess I've never had the patience.

PHOTO: This is one of the prints from Ireland that I am using to copy in watercolor. I've masked off the white of the door and windows and have "washed" the building so far. Tomorrow I'll work on the ivy and finish it. Hope my leaf technique works!

Friday Night's Date Night

What a soggy day it's been here! We've had a lot of rain, although catching up with our low precipitation levels would take a month of downpours, I think. Every time we drive over the bridge above the reservoir, I get sad looking at it. It's a muddy field, where it used to be full of water. Now there's just a pitiful little meandering stream running along.

I spent some time today looking through my art books, trying to learn about watercolor techniques. I have quite a few really good books, full of very good information. Once we start going over some of the techniques in class, it will sink in more, I'm sure. Jim cut me a backing to tape my watercolor paper to today. He had a nice piece of white, stiff "something-or-other" that will work beautifully. It's lightweight. Carolyn told us to bring a piece of Masonite, but this will work just as well. It's purpose is to keep the paper flat and to protect it while it's being worked on.

Jim and I went to The Outback Restaurant tonight for dinner, compliments of my dear girlfriends. They gave me a gift card yesterday for the Outback, which is one of our very favorite restaurants, to celebrate how well everything has been going with my cancer treatment. Can you believe it? Friday night has always been "date night" for us, so off we went. Both of us had a drink, a salad, and the prime rib. It was delicious. Then we split a Sinfully Chocolate Sundae (to die for!) and waddled out to the car to head on home. It was a great evening together, and we have my friends to thank for it!

PHOTO: A hibiscus flower growing on our patio this summer.