Time Flies!

It is hard to believe it is six weeks from my last blog post.  It was a busy six weeks.  We finished two home remodel projects.  We had a friend spend a few nights with us as he traveled from OH to FL.  He stopped on the way down and also on the way back.  I worked the gallery three days in a row.  I was sick with the flu for a week.  Brian & Sarah came for a visit at the same time their daughter Megan & her family were here staying with her husbands parents.  In between all these things we went to exercise and yoga classes and bowled in our leagues. We also had doctor's appointments.  No wonder I did not have time to do a blog post.

I'll post photos of our home improvement projects first. This is a before picture of what our kitchen counter looked like.

Here are a couple of photos of what it looks like now with the counter cut down and new quartz counter tops.

We also tiled and painted our guest bathroom.  I did not take before photos.  Here is what it looks like after the work was done.

I did an abstract painting when we lived in MI that matched the color scheme of the bathroom perfectly so I hung that over the towel hooks.  I thought I could use another painting over the cabinet that was on the opposite wall so I painted another abstract to compliment the original painting.

The above painting is titled "Swirl & Whirl".  The one below is the new one which I call "Hodge Podge".

This is the only painting that I did in the past six weeks.  Between all the activities and being sick I did not have time to paint. 

Here are two family photos including a 4 generation photo.  As I said in the title of this blog, time flies.  It is hard for me to realize I am now the oldest person in a 4 generation photo!

We enjoyed the company we had and are looking forward to seeing more family who will visit us in a couple of weeks.  Our oldest grand-daughter, Stacy, and her family be here for a long weekend.

When I was cleaning the guest room I realized that one of the paintings I had hung in that room is one that I did when we lived in Ohio.  Back then I did not do much canvas painting.  I did this one for myself and have hung it in homes we lived in OH, AZ, MI, and now NC.  I painted it in 1995 and had never taken a photo of it to post online.  Since I did it for myself and never showed it in any exhibition I did not give it a title.  I have decided to finally give it a name which is "Study in Teal".

I am currently working on a large painting that I plan to enter in an exhibition that will feature paintings done by artists age 55 or older. Hard to believe I have been in that age group for over 20 years.  As I said, Time Flies!

Things Happen!

Much has happened since my last post a week ago.

It started on Dec. 8.  We had ordered new bowling balls and they came in that day and we went to have them fitted and drilled that evening.  Before we left the house I had Roger take a picture of me with our Christmas tree.  (I was having a good hair day.)

Around 9 PM the balls were done and we were given an alley to practice.  I got 7 pins on my first throw and got a spare on my second throw. As I was watching the ball roll down the alley I backed up and as it hit the pins I backed into the ball return and fell backwards onto my butt and tried to catch myself with my left wrist.  I knew something was wrong when I stood up and tried to pick up my ball and realized I had no strength in my left hand.  I didn't think anything was broken but because a massive snow storm was predicted to start in the middle of the night I decided it might be smart to go to the ER which was just 2 miles from the bowling alley.  It was the right  decision.  My wrist was broken.

They put on a soft splint and told me to go to the orthopedic doctor the following week once the roads were cleared of the snow that was coming and come it did.  It started in the middle of the night and snowed most of the next day.  It was a record breaking snow for NC.

 
We were snowed in for three days.  I went to the doctor on the 12th.  Surgery to put a plate in my wrist was recommended.  I was told it would give me more flexibility in the future and that it would be a shorter recovery time.  They scheduled the surgery for the next day which was yesterday.  I had the surgery at 4 and was home by 7:30.  All went well and I am in no pain.  I was told to keep wiggling my fingers and that using a keyboard was good exercise so I decided to do a blog post.

I'm so glad it was my left wrist that broke because I was still able to paint.  That is all I did on those three days we were snowed in.  I finished a peacock painting I had started a few day before and did a Pretty and Prickly painting from start to finish.  Here are photos of both.

Roger took advantage of the time to design a stained glass window that will go in a window in our entrance hall.

I'll post pictures when it is done and installed.

I have one more painting to show you.  This is the last tray I painted in MI.  With all that was going on with the move I never posted a picture of it.

 
I think my fingers have had enough exercise so I will end this post now.  I'll do a Christmas post soon.