Celebrating Healing and Increased Mobility!!!!!

My life seems to be one celebration after another lately. Here is just a few of the things I am celebrating:

I can once again move about the house without a cane and lately I have been experimenting with not using it in the grocery store....I can always grab the cart if need be.

I can go for short walks alone around the neighborhood

I can stand for the length of time it takes to shower so the shower chair is GONE!!!!!!

I'm able to do some light house cleaning so my house is cleaner

I'm able to prepare and cook meals and have the energy to make my green drinks in my Vita Mix again!!

I am doing the laundry (even carried a small load up the stairs) freeing up more time for Don.

I am sleeping more hours during the night and have less pain at night!

I am able to do short stints in the studio playing around with acrylics and easy projects

Brain swelling is decreasing so I have less brain fog (although still have a ways to go in that department), less headaches and vision is a little better

I find that I can go out a do short activities as long as I plan to rest the next day. Two days in a row sets me back too much.

Pain is better, legs are stronger, mobility is much improved

Inflammation is improving

Hair is growing back Yay!!!!!!

Anyway this is just a short list of some of the many ways I have seen improvement since being brought before John of God and working with the healers at Sojourns. perhaps the most exciting thing is that Don got the bikes out today and I was able to take a short spin around the neighborhood. Don was so blessed to see me on the bike again!

Looking at the photos below it is easy to see the difference between now and a few months ago!

2 Batches of Smoothies for a Hot Summer Day!

I am really falling in love with this mixed media painting trend so Sunday Don drove me to Michaels in Keene and I bought some supplies and then we went out to lunch. Today I was feeling really fatigued from the tag sale we had on Saturday and shopping yesterday so painting was out of the question. I though instead t it would be relaxing to make up a couple of batches of smoothies in the Vita Mix.

The first batch (will last 2 of us about a week) was a Green Drink that included veggies and some fruit I needed to use up. The ingredients were:
watermelon
pineapple
apple
mixed spring herbs
mixed spring baby salad greens
Spinach
celery
cucumber
coconut water
The coconut water make it so scrumptious but be sure it doesn't have added sugar or other added junk.

The second batch is one that has been a favorite of our for years. It is very thick almost the consistency of creamy ice cream when you eat it straight away. We eat it with a spoon fresh from the Vita Mix  and freeze leftovers which turn out more sherbert like. You need to thaw slightly before eating the frozen batch this can be done by poping it in th emicrowave for a few seconds.
All fruits are FROZEN
Mango chunks
Blueberries
Strawberries
Black and red raspberries
Plain low fat yogurt we use Stonyfield Organic
Very small amount of cranberry raspberry juice
Small amount of water...add more water if Vita Mix jams up because mix has gotten too thick.

Studio Activity, Another Acrylic on Paper

I started a third experimental painting using acrylic on paper and so far I am not lovin these acrylic paints. Thinking of switching back to gouache or water soluble oils. The acrylic is just so plasticy and dries too fast. At least with the gouache you can blend it even after it is dry. Anyway this is a small complaint compared to the joy  I feel at being able to spend time in the studio creating again.

Feeling antsy to get back to painting on silk and screen printing some silk scarves but I don't want to push too hard and set myself back again. I seem to be on an even keel and I want to really honor my body's healing process and not push too hard....still the creative mind is bursting with impatience :~)

Here is the one I am working on now. So nice to see photos of activity in the studio after it being empty for 8  months!

Gratitude

Having a wee bit of a set back this morning (probably from over doing it the last 2 days), so I have decided to focus on gratitude this morning. Sometimes healing happens so slowly and in such small increments that I think we forget to look back and see were we were and where we are now. Shifting our perspective and looking at our progress from a different vantage point can remind us of  the progress we have made on our healing journey.

I was lying in bed and all of a sudden it dawned on me that I no longer need help getting in and out of the shower and a few weeks ago we removed the shower chair from the tub. Being able to take a shower when I want is a huge blessing and the shower chair made me feel so geriatric that it makes me happy every time I step in the shower and it's gone.

I no longer wake up so filled with pain that I feel like I have been sleeping on a stone pillow, instead I am able to lay in bed and meditate for a while before getting up. When I eat my jaw no longer feels like I am chewing on pebbles and I can eat things like steak and apples again! I no longer need a wheelchair, rarely need a walker and around the house I rarely need my cane. And the biggie is that I can hold a brush and paint again for short periods with less pain.

Spending the last 2 days in the studio was so wonderful. I really didn't have much energy to put into my painting projects but just going through the gestures was an awesome experience. Even though I am pretty fatigued this morning I may spend some time in the studio just putting paint on paper with no agenda. Just a light painting experience as exercise for the soul. Then I think I will rest and read some this afternoon.

Below is a painting I was playing with yesterday, I didn't finish it and am not sure I will go back to it but it was fun.

Wooo Hooo first day back in the Studio!!!!

Yesterday was an amazing day as I was able to get out some acrylic paints and actually push some paint around on paper for the first time in many months. It was an amazing feeling and I was so filled with gratitude to just be able to be doing some sort of artistic expression that involved physical involvement. I only had enough energy to do a small abstract painting but it felt like a huge accomplishment to me. 

I was so charged up I couldn't sleep last night and I am exhausted today but I am thinking of giving it another go to see if I can paint a bit more today. I have never like acrylic paint, preferring oils on canvas or dyes on silk but I have to say I really enjoyed the simplicity the acrylics on paper offered me yesterday. Cleaning up was a snap with is important until my energy levels improve more. I don't have a great selection of colors, just a odd assortment of tubes, I am not even sure where they came from but it is enough to play around with.


Here is my first non digital painting in months. Acrylic on 80Lb paper.

"Beneath the Surface"

I just want to take a moment to acknowledge others  that are suffering from debilitating inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. I am holding you in my heart and sending you compassion , love and hopes for remission today.

My Life's Feeling a Bit Like a Beatles Song These Day's........

The last week has been a week of steady improvement and I am feeling so grateful. I keep thinking of the Beatles song:
"I've got to admit it's getting better
A little better all the time
I have to admit it's getting better
It's getting better
Since you've been mine"

Each day feels incredibly pregnant with possibility. I still have to submit to the fatigue and pain when it comes but I am able to get more done each day in between flares. Yesterday I finished straightening up my studio and after it was done I had wicked pain spasms but I was so overjoyed to see my studio looking so good that I couldn't leave it. Eventually I literally got stuck standing in one spot, frozen with a pain flare, and I had to have Don come in and help me to a chair. It didn't matter though because even just sitting in my studio felt so great.

Last night I did another digital painting in my iPad so my creative juices appear to be flowing again which is awesome! The infection in my arm is healing and although it is still quite painful at times I am able to use it more. I am really dieing to do some real painting in my studio and although I have never been a big fan of acrylic paints I may pull out a dusty old basket I have of them so I can play around a bit with real paint on paper. I have been so grateful for the ability to do the digital paintings while laid up but for me it just does not give me the same release as when I am pushing real paint or dye around on paper or silk.

Here is my latest digital painting. It's called Celestial Angel.

Awakening

Awakening

I feel as if I am  slowly awakening from a long slumber
That I am remembering for the fist time who I really am and why I am here.

It has been a long journey and it is far from over
but  it is clear that I am not the only traveler here

There is someone always at my side,
Ready to take my hand the moment I remember to offer it

                                                                             ~L.Marcille

What a Long Strange Trip it's Been!

Wow it has been a month since I have written a blog post so I am not even sure where to start. After a long period with a really bad A.S. inflammatory flare I seem to be improving again. Slowly but steadily I am getting my strength back and am able to go for walks and do more around the house. I still have pretty high pain and fatigue levels so I have not been able to go back to my silk painting yet but I am still holding out hope that one day I will be back at it.

Because I am no longer working in my studio every day it was becoming a "drop spot" for all sorts of things and that was getting me really depressed because I am still really hoping to be able to walk in there one day and get back to work. So I had a chat with hubby and he removed all the "stuff" that he had accumulated in there and yesterday I went in and did a small bit of sprucing up. I wasn't able to do much but the little bit I did really made a big difference in how I feel emotionally.  I have also been getting out more, I went to a fundraising event downtown and have been going for frequent short walks and this extra activity is such an incredible blessing. The mild weather has been a balm as well.

Below is a digital painting I did recently called surrender. For about a month my hands had gotten so swollen and painful that I could not even do the digital paintings on my iPad. I would love to get back into the studio to play around with some real paint...soon perhaps!