Posted in Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged 2nd Birthday, Birthday Party, Studio's Birthday Party, The Studio on August 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »
We had an amazing birthday party for The Studio yesterday….2 years! We started this last year as we felt that it was a good opportunity to thank all the people who supported us throughout the year. We offered several projects for people to make and take with them.
We love seeing everyone busy creating! Thanks for another terrific year. Looking forward to number 3!
Posted in Serendipity, Small Town Life, The Studio/Classes, tagged birthday, Studio's Birthday on August 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Mark your calendars and come join us Monday, August 29th from 5-7 pm as we celebrate 2 years at The Studio. Hard to believe it’s been two years already. We’ve been having so much fun. Come help us celebrate and try one of the FREE projects we will be offering at the party…it’s our gift to you for being so supportive. (The photos above are from last year’s party!)
See you there….Monday from 5-7 pm!
Posted in Little Known Facts, Serendipity, tagged Olympic Art, Olympics on August 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Jean Jacoby is the only artist to win two gold medals. He won his second with the above drawing, titled Rugby.
Did you know that there was a time that artists, musicians, architects, writers, etc. competed in the Summer games? I didn’t! Amazing. I just read an article about it where they competed from 1912 – 1948. Here is some info about it.
And click here for more info including a list of winners including the following categories: mixed architecture, town planning, dramatic literature, mixed music, composition for orchestra, drawing and watercolors, paintings, and mixed sculpturing.
Fascinating!
Posted in Private Lesson, Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged Beach, Ocean, palette knife on August 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday we had a private party. It was a special one as Ty was visiting from Brooklyn with his “Virginia mom”, Kimberly. And their friend Josh joined in at the party too.
Ty is Kim’s “Fresh Air Fund” son. I learned from their website that “since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, a not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences in the country to more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income communities. At Fresh Air camps in Fishkill, NY, and with volunteer host families along the East Coast and Southern Canada, Fresh Air kids learn new skills, discover talents, build confidence, make friends and have fun. During the school year, The Fresh Air Fund continues to support students through tutoring, mentoring and leadership programs.”
What a terrific program! And what a terrific thing that Kimberly is doing with these kids. Ty was delightful and told me about all the many things they have been doing since he’s been visiting in Virginia.
Posted in daily painter, Serendipity, tagged arthritis, Makoplasty, surgery on August 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I haven’t posted much about my recent knee surgery on my blog. But for almost three years I have suffered with some pretty painful arthritis is both knees but especially in my right one. I tried everything I read or heard about to make it better from Physical Therapy, injections, medications, chiropractic work and more. I even had my meniscus repaired in the right knee back in December thinking that it was the cause of the majority of the pain but turns out that it was mostly the arthritis causing the pain.
Lincoln encouraging me through my PT exercises this morning.
I never realized that arthritis could be so painful. My Granny had arthritis that she often complained about and we just thought she was a hypochondriac. I wish I could tell her how much I feel for the pain she was experiencing. So after trying everything I found a surgeon who used Makoplasty (read about that here) so that I could cut my recovery time in half. I didn’t want to close The Studio for 6 or 8 weeks while I recovered from “regular” surgery. I had the surgery 14 days ago. Today I go for my post-surgical appointment and I am anxious to hear what he has to say about it….and hopefully have the stitches removed.
And I want to find out what is next for the left knee which also has painful arthritis. I am hoping that we don’t have to go through this again real soon. We’ll see.
***NOTE: I realize this isn’t about art (although there are some interesting shades of blue and purple on my leg) or The Studio but I have had dozens of people message me about the knee surgery as they are going through the same thing and have been watching my posts on Facebook so they know what to expect when and if they have to do it. I understand their curiosity because I would have loved to have known more before going through it. That is why I am sharing this today.
Posted in Dogs, Serendipity, tagged Coach Jed, Jed, Physical Therapy, PT on August 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The thing I heard most prior to having surgery on my knee was to be sure, no matter what you do, that you follow the Physical Therapy regime to the letter. Every person I spoke to about knee surgery repeated this mantra. So, of course, I took it to heart and have been diligent about PT….doing everything they have given me to do, every time they said to do it. No short cuts even though there have been a few times I would have liked to slack on it. But I can’t because I have a coach that lies right beside me and watches my every move. And there is just no way I can let him down.
Posted in Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged Brother, Laughter, Sliding Rock on August 12, 2016| 1 Comment »
Brother visits me but Lincoln thinks he was here to see him!
I have always felt that I have many, many good friends but I have been humbled and ever so grateful for the many wonderful friends that have offered and helped during the last week and a half since I had knee surgery. When you live alone and have been independent for most of your adult life it is difficult to ask for and even accept help. I am not sure why that is….it just is. So to require Allen’s help with the dogs for many, many months and having to have someone wait on me for several days after the surgery and even now to have someone chauffeur me to appointments is disconcerting. And while I am blessed to have so many caring friends there is nothing quite like having family check in. (This may not make much sense to those of you who live in the same community with your family members but trust me, it is special.)
Most of you know that I am from Georgia, born and raised, and that is where my family – small though it is – just Brother and Sister and their families – still lives. We don’t get together as often as I would like but as often as we can with everyone’s busy lives. So last night when Brother came to visit it was like a tonic. There is something about reminiscing about crazy things we did as kids, places we visited, etc. and all the laughing that ensues that does something to aid in healing. One of the stories we recalled last night was about Sliding Rock, a place we used to go to as kids when we camped in North Carolina. My folks enjoyed camping and we did a lot of it as kids all around the southeast. There was an article in Southern Living Magazine in the August issue about the South’s Best Swimming and Watering Holes and it was featured for the North Carolina entry. I was telling Brother about the article (See it here) and we laughed about how we used to slide and slide down this natural water slide as it was always a favorite highlight of any trip to that area. Brother’s best memory of it was how at the end of the day the “ass was worn out of his shorts”! LOL Laughter is the best medicine!
Posted in Art Class, daily painter, Serendipity, tagged Class at Michael's, Terri Nicholson on August 11, 2016| Leave a Comment »
My painting
Terri Showing us how it’s done!
Yesterday I got to be the student at an art class. It was so nice! For years I have been friends with the wonderfully talented artist, Terri Nicholson. We met through the Blue Ridge Arts Council and showing work through their exhibits. Later when I was teaching classes at the Arts Council Terri was thinking of teaching at Michael’s and asked me for some advice on how to go about it. I said she should sit in on my class as the easiest way to see what I did and she did. Not long after that she started teaching at Michael’s in Winchester and Martinsburg. Ever since then, which had been 4 or 5 years ago, I have wanted to take a class with her but we teach on the same days. But yesterday, since I am off recuperating from my knee surgery, I went over the Winchester with a friend to take Terri’s class. It was so much fun. She’s a wonderful teacher. Check her out at Michael’s. I’ve invited Terri to come and be a guest instructor at The Studio. We are working on a date for her to come soon so watch for the date. Trust me, you’ll enjoy her so much.
Posted in Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged caretaker, Dogs, Sandy on August 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »
So many of my friends have heard me talk about Sandy over the past years and some of you know her. She is my dog-sitter extraordinaire. She is the one who most often stays with my boys, Lincoln and Jed, when I travel taking care of them and even neighborhood dogs like Dixie when she decides to jump the fence and let herself in for a visit (like she did yesterday). That’s Dixie in the kitchen with Sandy in the photo above. LOL. She is terrific with them and they love her. And now she can add to her list of amazing skills “in-home nurse and caretaker.” She has been the one staying with me since I had knee surgery last Tuesday to not only take care of the boys but to care for me too. And that is quite a BIG job.
I didn’t realize that it would take me so long to be able to get around on my own as it has. I guess I thought I would bounce right back like I did after the meniscus surgery but that was not the case. Plus I have needed to keep the ice therapy machine on my knee to keep the swelling down and that has required refilling every few hours, 24 hours a day. Sandy has done all of that with a smile and a sense of humor. She has been simply wonderful. I can’t even begin to thank her for all that she has done for me and the boys.
I wish she could stay for several more weeks but alas, she has to leave today to go to another job in Maryland so we are going to miss her so much. The good news is I can do most everything for myself now….very slowly but I can do it.
So here is to Sandy…the best caretaker, dog-sitter, and friend that a girl and dogs could have. We thank you for it all.
Posted in Serendipity, tagged Knee Replacement, Makoplasty, Partial knee replacement on August 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I’ve missed a blog post or two and been a little slow in reacting to messages because I had knee surgery on Tuesday. Arthritis in my knees is so bad that I finally couldn’t function any longer without getting it fixed. Because of my age (young by arthritis standards) and because I really only needed the outer side (lateral) repaired, I opted for a type of surgery called Makoplasty. My reasoning was mainly because the recovery time is suppose to be cut almost in half which appealed to me as a small business owner because I had a lot of anxiety over closing my Studio for a long period of time. (Read more about Makoplasty here.)
The surgery went well on Tuesday (Day 1) and I was even allowed to come home that afternoon. That night and evening was difficult with LOTS of pain. I’m not sure that would have been the experie)ce of all patients but I have an unusually high tolerance to pain medications and most doctors don’t believe this when you tell them even though I have records from previous docs that indicate it and so they started me out on a regular dose of meds. To make a really long story short things got better when I started taking what I knew I needed instead of what they prescribed. So Day 2 I finally got some relief and sleep.
Day 3, yesterday, I started Physical Therapy and I have regular schedule of therapy to keep for a few weeks but I am planning to be back to work at The Studio in two weeks.
In the meantime I will continue to share with you art that I am working on, or from The Studio or other interesting tidbits that I find. And for all my students and friends who have sent well wishes, they mean so much more to me than I could ever express. Thank you all!!!
The Studio 