non-obligatory blogging

Hi, I'm Laurie and I'm a Chuckoholic. I have become obsessed with and addicted to a television show. Never before in my life have I done anything like this but I was vulnerable and in need of serious escapism and comedic relief in my life during the past year. I hate to sound so dramatic but the NBC show Chuck sorta saved my sanity even while inducing an insanity of it's own into my life. With all the drama associated with what has been happening with my grandmother's deteriorating health, this silly little techy fantasy (which combines comedy, romance and spy action and a tiny bit of drama with colorful, endearing characters that are surprisingly well acted) became my weekly escape from reality and a bit of a tonic for my mental and emotional well-being. I discovered it last spring while house sitting for my daughter in Colorado. I never would've seen it at home because at the time we didn't have local channels. After returning to NM, I watched online so we...

. I feel so sad and relieved all at the same time but Gramma passed away this week on Wednesday. I didn't know it was possible to feel both emotions to this extent, all at the same time. What a fighter she was. CHF, diabetes, heart valve issues etc., and 95 years of age but man, such a fierce little thing. She actually had a fever of over 108 degrees before she finally gave it up the other day...it was crazy. Her nurse said he had never seen anything like it. She was always so fussy about her appearance and grooming she would've hated the way her hair looked that day. She was also very, very picky about her personal comfort. We were always fluffing pillows and changing her sleeping (beds, bedding, etc.) and resting (chairs, couches, recliners, etc.) accoutrements because it seemed her opinions about such things changed weekly. Her food preferences changed frequently also and she preferred a varied menu up until the last week or so. Except for a few standbys. If nothing else sou...

. I guess that's what it is. Maybe, hopefully, it's just a temporary condition because I'm just so tired of watching my gramma die slowly, ever so slowly -- a little bit more of her gone every day it seems. It's very sad. And it's wearing me out -- draining the life out of me -- more mentally than anything. Her hospice nurse said that she had declined around 30% during the month of March when he visited last Friday and I'm not handling this prolonged, protracted dying process very well. I wish I had taken the beautiful photo above but I found it here and I loved the comment that one person made, "A very nice shot. I congratulate you for this picture and it really touch my heart because the water drops on it can't make her alive anymore." I can actually feel the reality that this photo portrays. Consequently, I'm not very creative right now. I feel a little brain dead myself and like I want to hold at bay all feeling and emotions. Too painful ...

Just got this one back from the framer in Socorro. This is an ATC (3.5" x 2.5") I did several years ago to use as an example of a hand-painted artist's trading card. I needed it in a hurry for part of a presentation to a group I was trying to interest in the concept of ATCs. Anyway, it was a quicky painting accomplished (again) by sort of cheating because I didn't have much time. I turned a photo of a tea cup (this one I had actually photographed myself) into a line drawing in photoshop or illustrator (can't remember now what program I used) which I then printed out on watercolor paper in a very, very faint light gray. Then, using watercolors, I hand-painted it using the original photo as a guide for the colors.

I got a call yesterday from someone requesting that I donate some art for a silent auction to benefit the local hospice program. How could I refuse since the hospice program has been such a benefit to us with what has been going on lately with my grandma. I messed with an art idea yesterday that had been on my mind to try but still didn't come up with anything appropriate for their "spring tea" benefit luncheon being held tomorrow afternoon. I was awake this morning at 4 am so I decided to try again and throw together something a bit more tea partyish. I put a "borrowed" photo through a bit of digital manipulation to make it little less photolike and then made a mask from the outline of the photo printed onto regular copy paper and adhered that onto watercolor paper cut to 5"x7". I then rubbed in powdered pigments all around the masked area and sealed that with matte acrylic. I flipped the photo in the program I was using (Illustrator), printed it onto...

. Here's a photo of my cutie gramma, Leona. She's 94, going to be 95 on March 25 if she is still with us. Knowing her, I'd be surprised if she isn't. I call her the energizer bunny because it doesn't seem to matter what happens, she always seems to bounce back and keeps going. She has been living by herself for the most part except when (because of her health) she requires some extra help (like right now) and then my mom and I are there. She broke her hip five years ago and bounced back from that and several things since then. The last few weeks she's been declining in health and vitality and had a five day hospital stay. It was pretty serious the day she went in and we don't remember ever seeing her so out of her head. Turned out to be a sinus infection and from what we've been told, any type of infection can be serious for the elderly. It's been up and down since she went in on January 3. One day we think she's not going to make it and the next...

. Not sure I even need to add anything to that title -- it applies in so many ways in life. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like there's any real improvement for a while but eventually even discipline can bring rewards. Surgery went well. At least I got by with the arthroscopic surgery instead of the full-blown, open up your knee kind. So now I'm healing from the surgery and I'm still healing from the injury but I can walk without crutches and I've started physical therapy and so despite the continued pain and discomfort, there is definite progress.