This is a day of hope!

For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.     Amanda Gorman

1. The maker . . . 

I have continued with a 100 Day Creative group so I am doing a little stitching when I can.  If I am busy, I just skip it that day but I am enjoying the process knowing I have flexibility depending on how things are going.  

This is a great book for me.  It shows how to do lots of different stitches and I have lots to learn. 

I did get the hand stitching completed on this triptych.  I will now, at some time, finish the edges and mount it on a canvas.  I hope to be able to rejoin the Artists Gallery this spring or summer and I want to have more small pieces ready for display.  This will finish at about 9 x 12.  

I wanted to start a larger project inspired by the book above so I did some practice on a smaller piece.  This may bloom into something of its own or it may remain just a place to practice.  

And then I started with this piece.  It is a piece of sun printing that I did last summer and I will enjoy lots of experimenting with it as I move forward.  

2. The love . . . 

I continue to rely so much on the love of my Bob.  I am so thankful he is my partner.  

3. The fight . . .

With each infusion, I find new levels of tiredness and nausea.  I have the tools to manage it and I just keep trying to move forward.  I have different reactions each time.  Just when I think I know what to expect, it changes.  But, that is the reason, every hour of every day, that I am so thankful to have my Bob.

Keep on moving forward . . .

 But - it is getting harder with each infusion!  I am glad I am tough!

1. The maker . . . 

This week I started again to do a little hand stitching with an online group that goes for "100 Days".  I have done this a couple times and I rarely get something posted each day and I know this won't be any different, but it keeps me focused.  I am wanting to make some small pieces.  This will be a triptych.  It will be about 10"x 5" when complete I think.  I did a little stitching on the middle one the first day.  Then I filled out the stitching on that one the second day.  So you can see I am moving slowly.  

2. The love . . . 

I have been working on some short stories  as part of a Christmas gift that will be put together.  Each week I get a question to start a short memory story of my childhood and then they are all put together in a book form.  I can include pictures.  It has been hard for me to do.  But, I am getting some movement going and I know I will enjoy the process and well as the product.  Here is a picture of me when I was young with my mom.  We lived on a farm in the central part o Montana.  She was always so tiny and it amazed me that even when I was little, I was probably bigger than her.  

3. The fight . . .

Well, it continues.  What more is there to say?  I am more tired, but also tolerating it pretty well considering everything.  So I just keep on going forward.  

I can get the Covid vaccine if I am comfortable doing it.  I will get to feeling better in a couple days since my last infusion was on Tuesday and then go get it.  My doctors are pretty clear that I would not survive Covid so I don't see much choice.  They are not sure how the chemo impacts the vaccine, so I would continue to stay very isolated.  Bob will get his as soon as possible.  

Our new governor has opened up the state without restrictions and the vaccines are scarce so it is kind of a scary time. 

What a week!

Without going into what everyone already knows has happened, I will just do a quick update.  It has been a week . . . 

1. The maker . . . 

Not much made here this week.  I have even had trouble picking up my crochet hook.  But, I did make some "muffin tops" with almond flour and they are sure good.  They are gluten free, dairy free and sugar free.  I am back on eating what I know I should.

2. The love . . .  

This past week has been just Bob and I - visiting, talking, and sometimes  -  even - ignoring each other.  But we are still here.  

3. The fight . . .

This last chemo that I had right before Christmas has been more debilitating.  I know it is cumulative in effects and I have felt it.  That is one reason I need to be more careful about what I eat.  If I stay on what my bowels can digest, I do feel a bit better.  

I have chemo again this coming Tuesday and I now know I need to be better prepared to rest more, eat more in line with what my body handles better and try to find good things in every day.  

Happy New Year - 2021

“Sometimes we can only find our true direction when we let the wind of change carry us.”  Mimi Novic

1. The maker . . . 

I woke up hungry today - it was day 11 from infusion so I am beginning to understand the cumulative impact of this journey.  We usually eat cereal - hot or cold - with berries but I wanted eggs and toast and potatoes so I decided I felt good enough to cook.  Bob was right there to help because I knew my "wants" are sometimes more than my "cans".   So together we made our favorite "egg scramble with toast"  and we added a mandarin orange.  It tasted good, but I could not eat it all.  

2. The love . . . 

And Bob, my love, was right there to help and clean up.  I am blessed for sure.   

Yesterday we spent our afternoon making phone changes.  Our cell service reception out here where we live has gotten really bad in the past couple months.  It is something Verizon is doing with the addition of 5G capabilities, or something, to their current towers.  They sent us a signal extender and that worked great for me with my iPhone 8,  but Bob's phone was too old to use it so he needed a new phone.  I wanted a new phone and he didn't care so I got the new phone, an iPhone 12 and he took over my phone.  AND, we worked together to make the changes of transferring data and records, and changing SIM cards from his old one to the iPhone 8.  We feel pretty darn capable!  Or else we just don't have much else to do in this isolated life.  

Love the new camera in it!  Now to get better photographing my art!  So I have a lot to learn!

3. The fight . . .

As I said earlier, it is Day 11 from infusion.  The last two times previous, I was better by Day 9 so I am starting to understand "cumulative".  I am way more tired.  Eating was hard for the 10 days.  And for those who know me, know I have rarely missed a meal or met food I didn't like.  Nothing sounded good or tasted good. And I have quite an army of "anti-nausea" remedies at my beck and call. It was a nice feeling to wake up this morning and actually feel like I was "wanting" something for breakfast. I now have about 12 days to feel pretty darn decent and to get some work done.  I am excited about that!  We are going for a ride today - I am going to drive.  I have not felt like driving for 11 days so that is also a good feeling.  It is all good!

Happy New Year!