I am deviating from my normal posting categories. We had some great news this week when we heard that my father's kidney cancer is not worsening and the frequency of the CT Scans will be reduced to every 6 months from 5. So my parents were getting busy sorting out their travel insurance for their upcoming Europe trip in September and then I got urgent some calls and an email.
My father, Joe had a stroke yesterday at about 4:00 pm. He was in emergency at VGH until 10:00 pm. He was settled into a room in NICU at about 11:00 pm. When I left the hospital at 11:00 pm my father was stable. He could move both legs and one arm. He understood everything we said but had difficulty responding in words.
Life is full of twists and turns. Live each moment fully.
Sunday 23 June 2013
Sunday 16 June 2013
Week 10
This was an intentionally quiet week.
Swimming - once, physio is taking a lot of much time!
Physio - Still working on strengthening my ankle, knee and hip joints to alleviate the pain in my foot and calf.
Life Drawing - Haven't been in 2 weeks. Went surprisingly well given I hadn't practiced figure drawing in over 2 weeks.
Lunch with my Mum and Dad to celebrate her birthday and father's day.
Had a terrific night of dancing with Paul Friday night to the band "Tainted Lovers". We had so much fun.
Art History Class - Got my first assignment back. Made some stupid technical mistakes on my essay. Have really forgotten the rules of essay writing! The Prof said the content was good and well researched though.
Some of this week's art.
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| Inspired by Sumerian Art |
 |
| Inspired by Minoan Art |
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| Inspired by Egyptian Art |
The semi-abstract flower is inspired by a technique I observed when watching Nita Leland's DVD on creativity. She takes an old slide frame and looks at a scaled down part of an image in a magazine. Then enlarges it as a sketch and uses it for art inspiration. Believe it or not but these flowers were inspired by the wet tendrils of some fashion model's hair.
The next 2 are random faces from my imagination. And the last was painted in ink and water colour inspired by an image of a cupcake that was portrayed in a similar way on one of my birthday cards. 
Lows - Feeling down
Misses - No dance classes this week.
Near Misses - none
Monday 10 June 2013
Week 9
Highs
Swimming
again! Twice And enjoying it each time.
A great coffee
catch up with a friend.
Walking
with a friend.
Dinner with
my Aunts and Uncles on my mother’s side and my parents. I hadn’t seen my Aunts and Uncles in years.
Book Club - We read "The Night Carnival". I enjoyed some of the visual imagery however had a really difficult time getting through the book because it had no plot in my opinion. One of my book club mates surprised me with some lovely tarts for my birthday.
Birthday Dinner at Amarosa with Paul. Had my favourite lasagna!
Country
Line Dance hoe down at Marpole/Oakridge Community Centre. What a group of energetic seniors from ages 50 to mid-80s! One lady was about 85 and still instructing. 2 of our classmates from our line dance lessons made us feel most welcome and tried to teach us.
Watched 8 hours of art history DVDs. I decided I needed something that brought the art to life as the textbook from my course is really dry. One of the DVDs was particularly interesting and very much focused on culture and politics. It's a BBC production called "How Art Made the World". It shared information about how art was used as a to honour of the gods, how art depicted the gods as granting ruling rights to some and how rulers used art for political agendas covering from Paleolithic to Roman times. The other DVD called "This is Civilization" focused more on the Medieval, Renaissance and Modern art. It was interesting to hear the description of modern art reflecting a time of uncertainty, change and absence of a defined direction or rules.
Watched 8 hours of art history DVDs. I decided I needed something that brought the art to life as the textbook from my course is really dry. One of the DVDs was particularly interesting and very much focused on culture and politics. It's a BBC production called "How Art Made the World". It shared information about how art was used as a to honour of the gods, how art depicted the gods as granting ruling rights to some and how rulers used art for political agendas covering from Paleolithic to Roman times. The other DVD called "This is Civilization" focused more on the Medieval, Renaissance and Modern art. It was interesting to hear the description of modern art reflecting a time of uncertainty, change and absence of a defined direction or rules.
I tried my hand at a bit of abstract collage art this week.
 |
| Honouring |
 |
| Urban Jungle |
 |
| Sunrise |
Lows
I’m not
allowed to jog for 4 weeks due to physio recovery. I know for some people this wouldn't be a low but I love jogging early in the morning when hardly anyone is around and with the sound of the birds in one ear and my Ipod plugged in the other.
Misses
Life
Drawing again due to a book club conflict.
Near Misses
None
Tuesday 4 June 2013
Week 8
Highs
I finished my first essay in 20 years. After thinking and thinking and thinking about it for a while, I threw caution to the wind and just sent it in. Hopefully, the instructor's remarks will guide me for the future essays.
I had a wonderful lunch with a friend I haven't seen in 2 years. She is very pregnant with her first child at 41 years old. She looks amazing!
Also had a fun dinner out with a friend.
Went swimming for the first time in nearly 2 years. It felt really good!
Finally went to the physiotherapy after suffering from heel, ankle and calf pain for nearly 2.5 years. I'd been avoiding going because of how much time it takes up between travel and appointment time and hoping that I could cure it on my own. Now that I'm on sabbatical, I have time. I have to go twice a week for 4 weeks.
This week's art focused on two stencils that I purchase some time back. I had a lot of fun using the stencils as texture on a variety of paintings. Here are a few.
Also created a piece of art in Rojia's style, the abstract artist whose demo I attended a couple of weeks back.
And attempted some print making by rolling or painting acrylic paint on a plastic duo tang, then laying a page over top and burnishing the back so the paint transfers to the page.
Lows
Paul's had to start another court proceeding.
Misses
Life Drawing - I was too self critical to enjoy drawing this week.
Near Misses
None
I finished my first essay in 20 years. After thinking and thinking and thinking about it for a while, I threw caution to the wind and just sent it in. Hopefully, the instructor's remarks will guide me for the future essays.
I had a wonderful lunch with a friend I haven't seen in 2 years. She is very pregnant with her first child at 41 years old. She looks amazing!
Also had a fun dinner out with a friend.
Went swimming for the first time in nearly 2 years. It felt really good!
Finally went to the physiotherapy after suffering from heel, ankle and calf pain for nearly 2.5 years. I'd been avoiding going because of how much time it takes up between travel and appointment time and hoping that I could cure it on my own. Now that I'm on sabbatical, I have time. I have to go twice a week for 4 weeks.
I put up a
squirrel proof bird feeder and within 5 days, the birds had eaten all of the
seed. I large field mouse showed up as
well and ate a lot of the seed that was dropped by the birds.
Dancing at
Starlight to the Young Executives with Paul.
Last line
dancing class of this series. Was
invited to a hoe down
This week's art focused on two stencils that I purchase some time back. I had a lot of fun using the stencils as texture on a variety of paintings. Here are a few.
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| Arum Italicum |
 |
| Inspired by a wall in Turkey |
 |
| Tre Chic |
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| Under the Sea |
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| Rocking It |
Also created a piece of art in Rojia's style, the abstract artist whose demo I attended a couple of weeks back.
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| Blue Moon Sunset |
 |
| Penguin Fun |
 |
| Curious |
Lows
Paul's had to start another court proceeding.
Misses
Life Drawing - I was too self critical to enjoy drawing this week.
Near Misses
None
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