It's almost the end of February and that means that it is time for my wife's birthday and I'm in a quandary; I can't remember how old she she is now. She was born in 1943 and that makes it 79 years ago. But was it 79 years ago today and 78 years yesterday? Or 79 years ago yesterday and 80 years today? I could always just tell her to have a Happy Birthday and forget mentioning age altogether...
Yes, that's the answer. Art is what I should be talking about. There is no need to be discussing the atrocities happening in Ukraine. We went through all of this when we were in the 1st grade or kindergarten. There was always a bully on the playground and right now we have 3 bullies on the world playground, with the USSR determined to have their way while the USA and it's smaller gang are making noises, boo'ing and making threats. The PRC is isn't saying much but they will be in the USSR's corner, willing to help them.
In the meantime, our President is making the appropriate noises but no actions. He seems to be determined to help the Republicans win the the midterms and if he jumps into the Ukraine, it's a certainty that the Democrats will lose, so he won't do anything dangerous and the USSR knows this. Amidst all of this, Ukrainians are dying.
Wasn't I supposed to be discussing art? I have two larger canvases out in the studio and I have been working on them, though it is taking me a long time to get anywhere near finished. A lot of the work requires a steady hand to paint some small lines and I can't paint small lines anymore. Heck, I can't paint any sized lines, my hands shake too much. I like these two paintings, though they are not the type of work I normally do. I have one more very large canvas to work on. It's still wrapped and untouched, also it's the last one, so there is a lot of pressure on me to make it a good one. Self induced pressure.
My pulmonologist phoned me last night. What a great guy...I wish he was my GP. When you visit him in his offices, he is focused on you and he doesn't put a computer between you. My cardiac surgeon is the same way...he doesn't even have a computer in the room with him. Back to my phone appointment... He has some new drugs for me; a new inhaler and some Prednisone for my coughing.
If you are 81, you see a lot of doctors and have appointments all of the time. If you are me, I should say. I will be seeing my optometrist soon and I am eager to hear what she has to say about my sudden loss of vision clarity as well as the feeling that everywhere I look, it's dark, as if someone should turn on more lights. Maybe that is all that's needed, more lights!
The lack of humidity is terrible. It's down to 26% here, in the front room. We have a pot of water on the stove and it's starting to boil. That will bring the number up very soon. I better look for a more economical way to raise the level. Our solar power system takes care of most electrical costs, but that boiling water is sitting on a gas range and gas is expensive these days. Okay, I will look in the Amazon Warehouse for a good humidifier. I have a very slightly used 2 TB solid state hard drive arriving tomorrow and I bought it in the Warehouse for a good savings...okay, I found a humidifier for $10 off and it's missing a manual and the packaging is damaged. Manuals for everything are found on-line. Why clutter your drawers with them. They are PDF files and are easily filed on your computer.
Update...It's been 2 hours since the humidity was at 26% and now it is 33% with the simmering pot on the stove. Back in the days when we used a wood stove to heat our house in Janesville, we always had a cast iron pot filled with water sitting on top.
