A new day

Things are looking up. I've been put on a new pain medication and it seems to be working. Because of the hip and back pain I was up to using six or seven Norco each day; about twice what I had been before. This drug, Nucynta (tapentadol) is a very strong opioid unfortunately, but it is a timed release one, taken just twice a day. I started taking it last Thursday and until this morning, it hadn't done a thing for me. I was still taking Norco. It's noon on Monday and no Norco yet and the pain is at a manageable Level 3. I was even able to get into the pool at the gym...for twenty minutes. I used to spend an hour exercising; today it was simply floating.

This enforced sitting around the house has me frustrated. We were out for an hour last Thursday to have coffee with my daughter...she didn't show so we managed all by ourselves. It's a great little coffee shop and I get to indulge on a weekly basis because they have apple fritters. On Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market for 45 minutes. All very enjoyable minutes. I love the energy you can find here. Sunday found us at church (historic Bidwell Presbyterian) for an hour and that was the end of our outdoor adventures. Three hours.

I guess I forgot to mention Tuesday's. That's my day for art and I go to the Art Center here in Chico. Or my wife drives me if I have had too many Norco. There are seven other painters here and I'm the keeper of the key. I open and close ur classroom space. We don't meet as a class for instruction, we meet to paint and talk. Any medium is welcome as long as it isn't oils. The small room can't hide the smell of oil paints. The group has been meeting for over a dozen years and I've been coming for about six years. I'm also the only male and the only abstract expressionist among them. Some have started playing around with abstract painting and have been quick to blame me for it. I got the group interested in opening a Facebook page and then a few weeks ago were were asked if we wanted to put ourselves in the running to have a show of our own at the gallery next year. We did and we filled out the application quickly as they were deciding the lineup the next day. 

I noticed that the application asked us to fill the name of our website in two or three place. That gave me an idea and I went home and went to the Blogger website. I designed a blog and asked for the name Tuesday Painters as that was are Facebook page name. Strangely, tuesdaypainters dot com was available. I say strangely because Google told me that there are quite a few groups with that name. We're quite happy with the name and I'm doing the editing and posting right now. The design is a work in progress and when I can I will add some things to it. I can only sit for so long and stand for so long, so the editing has to take place during the sitting. Obvious, I know.