It's been a hot minute

 since I popped on here.

How is it possible that it's now APRIL?

 

Up until 3 weeks ago, I still had pixies and mushrooms on the mantel.

My grandson and I enjoyed having the pixies out so much  at Christmas

 that we decided they needed more time -

but they required a different habitat than bottle brush trees.

 

So, we made mushrooms -

from Styrofoam balls, covered with masking tape and clay

which we then painted.

What a fun project!

Perfect for not needing to be perfect.

                                    We both agreed the pixies seemed delighted with the results!

So much so that we decided NOT to put them out next Christmas 

and have them be our Jan - March decorations instead.

Valentines Day came and went in there somewhere/somehow.

 As did another snow fall

and perfecting a shrimp poblano recipe.

And now, somehow, 

spring seasonal items made their way upstairs

from the basement - very carefully.

In the midst of all of the seasonal changes, 

sadly, a constant has been that I've continued to struggle with health issues -

 in what feels like a game of medical whack a mole.

One illness pops up, 

you get that whacked down 

and another condition pops up somewhere else.

 

Trips to multiple specialists,

an admission to the ICU,

physical therapy several times a week

and trying to just maintain the ADL,

(jargon for activities of daily living),

consumes most of my energy on any given day.

 

To be honest, the biggest struggle is with the changed image of myself;

in my mind, I'm 20 years younger,

independent, with no physical limitations,

able to do what I want, when I want.

Mobility issues, 

feeling reduced to being a collection of interesting symptoms

and spending hours every day 

merely moving from one spot of rest to another in my cottage

(no matter how charmingly decorated)

has undone me.

But lest you think its all seriousness here,

there remains a wonderful amount of ridiculousness

courtesy of two peas in a pod.

 Yet all of sudden, I stepped outside - on my way to therapy

and the world is bursting with new life;

signs of hope that renewed my spirits

and made me believe I could press on for a bit longer.

 

Sitting in the sun has been restorative,

as has driving to local parks and seeing so much beauty, 

it takes my breath away.

 

It's not as though the world disappears -

how could it with awareness 

of the atrocities being committed in Ukraine,

power being misused in attempts to regulate others sexuality, orientation

and reproductive health issues that are none of anyone else's business;

not to mention blatant attempts to destroy democracy and

corrupt faith in the very institutions that were designed to insure equal protection under the law

(I'm looking at you Judge Thomas and your equally dangerous, goofy wife);

but, the reality is that, after 60+ years of being hyper aware of all things political,

I'm contenting myself with my own small sphere of influence.

 

I DO NOT have to respond, with vested energy or diatribes, 

to every real injustice or hyped up situation.

(Seriously Will Smith? Grow up and learn some self control. 

Stop using a comic who made a joke about your wife's hair 

as a stand in for every man who made you a cuckold.)

 

Life does, in fact, keep going on.

Art Boy, I guess I should say Art Man at this point, 

currently has an exhibit  of his work at the Haw Gallery in Kansas City,

featuring work from his New Mexico period...

and GI Joe has been busy too.

Some mountaintop experiences and some time in the valley of dry bones -

in other words,

I'm just living a normal life over here.