LAST DAY – Working Hard

Posted on January 31, 2024 by hafong

It’s the last day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I am still working hard at it. Now that I have the habit of showing up every(almost) day, it’s a good idea of keeping up the momentum. The challenge can be about showing up every day for writing, painting or/and for working at my paper clutter.

I have already started on the paper clutter, starting with the bills. I discovered that I forgot last month’s. I don’t know what’s happened to me. Is it that I am getting old and losing mental clarity? Is it that I have let things slip and slide too long? It is probably a combination of both and much more. It doesn’t really matter what the reason(s) is. What matter is that it is out of control. I have to pull up my socks, buckle up and get to work on it – today. Tomorrow never comes.

January has been a great month. I wrote 30 posts out of 31 days. I started an acrylic painting class. I had looked forward to it before it started. I hated going when it started. Now I am comfortable and having fun in it. I’m a bit of a weird duck. In January I cross country skied only twice. Now the snow is melting. There will not be much skiing this winter. I am not completely heart broken because finally in the last few days, I can walk without pain. My plantar fasciitis has finally resolved. Pain free is good.

Thanks to Paul, our great maestro for leading us this month. Thanks to all who participated and conversed with me. I think this is the most enjoyable round for me. Having read the Atomic Habits helped a great deal. I’ve let go of many bad habits in my head if not in real life. You must have heard the saying, Change your thoughts, change your life. It really does work.

Day 31 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

ALMOST THERE

Posted on January 30, 2024 by hafong

It is January 30th, a sunny and 6℃ out. The greenhouse is registering 18.5℃. It had reached a high of 23.2℃ at 1:30pm. It has not been in the negative today. Looks and feels like spring. Who would have thought that February will be the warmest month of winter. I remembered February 2019 was the coldest.

I better get my ass in gear and get ready to start seeds. But once again or should I say, I’m still mired in clutters in my environment as well as in my head. I’ve just cleared the dining room table of the paper clutter and my painting stuff. That means I’ve just moved them somewhere else – to be dealt with later. Famous last words. But what can I do? Habits are hard to fix. I am working on them. I can’t put everything on hold until I’m fixed. I have to proceed as best as I can.

I’ve finished #2 of my landscape series. I’m pretty happy with it. The paints are put away for another day. I will work on those habits for the next few days. One more day and the Ultimate Blog Challenge will be finished. Surely I can show up tomorrow. Then I can claim success, missing just one day. On other fronts, I have not succeeded in losing 5 pounds in January. I think I’ve only shed one or two. It’s better than none. So like Bugs Bunny would say, That’s all, folks. Here’s my finished painting.

PLAYING IN THE FIELD OF THE LORD

Posted on January 29, 2024 by hafong

I’m messing around with more paint, starting on #2 for my series of perhaps 10 landscapes. It’s part of the homework for my acrylic painting class. The process is very meditating and playful. As I am swirling my brush through the paint on my palette, the phrase of playing in the fields of the lord popped into my head. I felt I was playing in reverence with our Lord.

The phrase came from At Play in the Fields of the Lord, a movie I saw long ago. It’s based on the book written by Peter Matthiessen. Sounds like a good read. I have the movie on cassette. Not sure whether I’m up to watching it again. I remembered it was long and hard to sit through it all. However, I am intrigued by the book and have reserved it from the library.

Day 29 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

HOW TO KEEP GOING

Posted on January 28, 2024 by hafong

I have 4 more posts to write for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Today is a tough one. I have no idea what to write and I am not in the mood. You think I’m a teenager with attitude. I feel plumb out of metal. I don’t even have a bit of rust to write about. So I went searching on how to write when I don’t feel like it. Here’s what I found:

Find Your “Creative Nook” …
Make It Your Job. …
Take a deep breath. …
Hang Out With Other Writers. …
Sit With the Pain and Grief
Have some sort of ritual or routine to get them into the writing mood.
Write about it .
Plan.
Free write
Pull out your laptop, notebook or whatever it is that you like writing on, and just start writing!

I do have a writing nook and am sitting with pain and grief. Sometimes I do write about it but not today. My problem is I never have a plan. I often just sit at the keyboard and tap away. Sometimes just gibberish but sometimes I write some good stuff. Today is not the day. Today I’m just getting by.

Day 28 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

GROUNDING SATURDAY

Posted on January 27, 2024 by hafong

A lazy Saturday spent resting in hopes of recouping my energy and not falling ill. I felt immediately better when I made the decision to rest. I was not totally idle the whole day. I did some homework on grounding for my painting class. How appropriate, eh? There’s so many other ways to ground oneself besides laying down on the ground. Here’s an excellent article on grounding.

Immersing myself in creating is very grounding. I am connected to the earth and to the riverbanks I am painting. Then I pop in Sheba. She’s still in transition, needing more work. I’m walking along with her. It is very restful and refreshing.

Here’s my grounding work. Acrylics on Arches 300 lb. cold press watercolour paper.

Day 27 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Posted on January 26, 2024 by hafong

It is just another ordinary day in the life of an ordinary me. I have a thundering ache in my head, the inside of which feels as dry as desert dust. Oh, I do grumble on. It feels better to let it out, to let it be known that I am suffering. What a baby I am.

I am feeling much better now after some rest, laying down on floor with my legs up on a chair. It’s a restful position, letting everything hang loose. I’m a person who cannot handle too much in a day. I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning. Everything A-ok, good for another year. Then after lunch I had a two and a half hour painting class. Learning is exciting but it completely drains me. I have only 2 paintings to show for it.

Day 26 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge

MY LEFT FOOT

Posted on January 25, 2024 by hafong

Well, I’m stumped about what to write about today. So I’m going to grump about my aches and pains. I’m at an age when that’s legal and my right. You’ve heard me talking about my plantar fasciitis on and off all this month. It didn’t just happen in January. It has been an ongoing thing for a long, long time.

I’ve had problem with my left foot for so long, I can’t remember where the pain started – heel or ankle. I know that I couldn’t do a lot of walking or running. I don’t do the treadmill at the gym. I got a tricycle to run Sheba with when she was a puppy. I couldn’t walk to work regularly without developing pain. I must have done ok walking as a nurse. It wasn’t walking continuously. It was go, stop, go, etc. I don’t remember experiencing any feet discomfort. That is except for the time someone ran over my foot with a stretcher with a patient on it. My little toe was broken. It hurt for months.

This time my foot pain started in the fall in my left heel. It got so bad that it was painful to walk from Fresco to the Dollar Store in Market Mall and even to my parents house which is only half a block away. I bought a couple pairs of new shoes, insoles and wedges. All to no avail. I was already doing stretches, heel raises, etc. Also to no avail. Then it popped into my mind that my problem could be due to poor body alignment. Social media and YouTube are wonderful sources of helpful exercises.

So after a month of doing some hip, arm and feet exercise, I’m getting relief longer than a moment. I had a wonderful ski out at Wildwood Golf Course. I did the whole outside perimeter. I was feeling it in my foot by the end. It was a little stiff and achy first thing this morning but with a round of exercises, it went away. It was not only a left foot thing. It was a left body thing.

Day 25 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY – The Greenhouse

Posted on January 24, 2024 by hafong

I’ve come to the keyboard late again for wordless Wednesday. This is the building of our greenhouse in the autumn of 2020. It was the worse of times. It was the best of times. It was how it was. Looking forward to our 4th season growing in the greenhouse. It will begin in March.

Day 24 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

TUESDAY MORNINGS

Posted on January 23, 2024 by hafong

I’ve come to love my winter Tuesday mornings. I look forward to playing Wordle and Spelling Bee each morning. On Tuesdays I have an added bonus of an online class on Canadian history. Contrary to my previous belief that Canadian history is boring, it is very exciting and interesting. Tuesday mornings I also do my sourdough bread. It wasn’t ready for the oven today but it was still wonderful to feel and shape the dough. It was soft and alive in my hands. It sits chilling in the fridge, waiting for the morrow.

Now I’m basking in sunshine, tapping out my words on the keyboard. What makes a good day is having something to look forward to – anything that tickles our fancy. It tickles away those early morning aches and pains. If not, it makes them bearable so that we can get on with the day. It is still January. The forecast is for above temperatures of 4 – 6℃ above 0 next week. I’ve detached myself from much skiing this winter. There’s not much snow. The tracks are not good. I’m very happy to say that my plantar fasciitis is almost gone but it would be wise not to over tax my feet and ankles. So I’m cool.

It looks like we might have an early spring. It is not too early to think about starting peppers and eggplants. They take a long time to mature. I can think about germinating some snow peas. They like it cool. So do radishes. It is almost February. Soon I can take my lettuce into the greenhouse. I can device a little greenhouse in the greenhouse for them. There’s so many things to experiment with. We are only limited by our imaginations.

Here’s my effort in reworking my tree painting. Not sure I like it but I understood the rational in using the reference photo and I grew to love the photo. It taught me the rule of thirds, to paint background first and then the tree trunks and branches. I might rework it again. I can do that. It is acrylics.

Day 23 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge

QUAGMIRES AND DIPS

Posted on January 22, 2024 by hafong

It’s hard to keep up the momentum of inspiration. There are many quagmires and dips along the way. In those times I have to dig my heels in and work hard to get over them. That’s where I am now. I am almost within sight of finishing the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m not quite there yet though. 9 days left. My plantar fasciitis is almost resolved but not quite. I can’t give up on them. I’ve worked hard to get here. I have to work a little longer to reach ultimate satisfaction.

Our weather is a roller coaster of highs and lows. It takes me up and then drops me like a brick. It’s not optimal conditions for the body or mind. I have to reset my mental and physical thermostat to cope. However, it is our reality so I mustn’t whine. I don’t have to smile the while either. I just have to keep moving. If I do, maybe I can skim over the quagmires and dips to the other side.

Working on my paintings from my Friday class will transport me. I worked on this painting over the weekend. I got over my disappointment with my performance in class. I felt maybe I can paint after all.

I will try to bring some magic to this painting next. Working on a problem chases the blahs and whatnots away.

Day 22 – the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

onethousandandtwo

Looking at Infinity

Monthly Archives: January 2024