We have lived here in Arkansas over nine years now but sometimes still feel like visitors. I don’t think we could ever go back to Arizona to live though and have it feel like home for there are too many people there now. Nothing really feels the same – except a few places like the Temple.
Our house is getting to that age of needing repairs and replacements. Dick just did the front porch decking for it has been bad for years and he finally just decided to use the money we were saving to go on a cruise and do it with the kind of boards that are not wood and are supposed to last 25 years and cost more. Actually there was a sale which prompted him to do it now.
Before… dark worn buckling boards…. After......
He worked hard at this with the help of his good ole’ golfing buddy, Farley Kichen. Dick likes projects like this and there was a lot of laughing and telling of tall tales. It actually sounded like fun.
Dick has also been doing a picture of three golden retrievers that belong to Nick’s new little bride’s family. They were so kind and good to us all during the wedding and David felt that this would be a nice gift of appreciation for our family to give to them.
Now we need to matt, frame and ship it to them. It is 18” X 24” so will be hard to do with glass. Dick really liked these great big lovable dogs so enjoyed drawing them.
He is going to do a drawing of our sweet little Bonnie now and will demonstrate with it in his classes. He will have lots of emotions while doing this one.
We just made something fun …. A Thunder Gourd. Have you ever heard of this? It is made of a gourd and has a drum membrane over the cut off bottom and then a long spring attached and when you wiggle it the sounds of thunder are made that are so cool. I guy from Idaho came up with this and sells the springs and membrane material. It was easy to do after cleaning the gourd and figuring out what to paint on it to decorate it. This first one I just painted trees and mountains but we want to get more creative on the next ones we make.
I think that we will make these for gifts if we can get the gourds. We are going to the big arts and crafts show at War Eagle next month and there is supposed to be a lady there that sells the gourds. These Thunder Gourds sell for from $40 - $200 but I don’t think we want to get into making them to sell. Who would ever have thought that we would be doing gourd stuff….
I have also been working on making crocheted filet names for wedding gifts. This one is for our grandson, Lars who is getting married Oct. 4 in the San Diego Temple. I have made these for all of our kids, my brothers and sisters and some nephews and enjoy doing them but this repeated motion is causing me pain in my wrist and thumb. It isn’t carpal tunnel but similar. I wear a brace but don’t like to and should quit doing these kinds of things - but not yet.
I am in so much pain anyway that one more thing is no big deal. I hurt most of the time-
Muscles, nerves, joints – and sometimes it gets so bad that I want to holler “UNCLE!” The doctors and chiropractors don’t help and there really doesn’t seem to be anything to do about it. I was put on a special antibiotic for Lyme’s disease because I was bit by a tick several months ago that fit the criteria to be a carrier, but now???? Just hurt a lot and maybe someday it will get better. After weeks of bronchitis I still have a croaky voice and congestion. Boy these bodies are sure demanding and require a lot of maintenance. And for what???? To live longer?
I got pictures of Aunt Sine’s birthday party and so wished that I could have been there with them. She is still so cheerful and fun and a joy to be with. Her girls made a little book of some of her poetry and stories and I ordered one from ‘blurb’ who printed them. She wrote about fun things and mostly for children. The girls illustrated her writings and it was nice to see their talents as well. This is a page from the book….
There is joy found in celebrating the accomplishments and success of others
So it is good to look for the good.
