Patience

patience torments with promises of tomorrow

although strength extends a friendly hand

 

frustration invites you in for a brew
whilst tiredness squishes you tight

 

change wanders absent mindedly
as life kicks balance out from under you

 

fate pulls up a chair
and sits on the sidelines laughing


Linking up with Texture Tuesday.

The Green Eyed Monster

It was hot this weekend and I was so jealous that Bryan and Ravyn got to take a swim in the pool while I sat melting on the sidelines.

 

I've ordered a protective cover to go over my foot dressing in the hope that I'll be able to take a swim but it hasn't arrived yet.





Ravyn lives up to her breed and is a true water dog.  Bryan has been trying to train her with some pool manners but sometimes in her excitement she just can't contain herself.

Joey on the other hand is still wary of the water.  He will run alongside and drink from the waters edge but has yet to venture in. 

He much prefers to sit in the shade and take in all the going's on.

I was supposed to have the stitches in my foot taken out this morning but unfortunately I have to wait another seven days.  One of my incisions gaped open after my fall last week so is taking slightly longer to heal.  I can't wait to get the bandages off and to be able to get my foot in a proper shoe again.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, I'd love to hear what you got up to.

On My Work Table

This piece has been through many transformations but I finally feel happy with where it is at.

 

It just needs a coat of varnish and then it will be complete.  What are you working on right now (doesn't have to be art)?

The Fragility Of Life

a familiar crash against the window pane

a human heart lurches in response

a stunned chickadee lying lifeless on the floor

 

sitting, waiting, watching, protecting

its eyes closed tight

chest rising and falling unnaturally fast

 

tears forming at the corner of her eyes

taking in its delicate features

not knowing how this will end

 

seeing the fear and confusion

its fight and struggle

wanting so much for this tiny creature

 

willing it to live, to sing

to spread its wings

and fly

The View From My Couch

For those of you who were wondering . . . . . my foot operation went well last Thursday (other than blacking out on the nurse doing my IV line).

Since then I have alternated between being laid up on my bed or the living room couch.

You may be wondering what birds have to do with my foot op?

 

Well they've been keeping me company during my recovery.  I made sure I opened the blinds and positioned everything so that I could enjoy a piece of nature even while being holed up inside.

The chickadees have me fixated at the moment.  They keep singing and ruffling their feathers, so fun to watch.

I've been trying to learn the difference between the downy woodpeckers and the hairy woodpeckers.  We appear to have both but it can be quite the challenge to tell them apart.

I love the way the woodpeckers use their tails as a form of support.

The suet was a popular feasting area but my husband had to move it because the raccoons would eat it all at night.  With all that fat I'm sure they may be experiencing loose bowels for a while!

I haven't been getting on too well with my crutches and fell yesterday for the third time.  It was a particularly bad fall and I came down hard on my bad foot, bending my toe in the process.  I blacked out for a while before coming to and realizing that my toe was bleeding.

 

My husband (my hero) ended up coming home from work and taking me to the docs.  Thankfully I hadn't broken anything but I had mangled one of the toes that had been operated.  Even though the stitches had held it was gaping quite a bit.

 

The plan is to keep out of trouble, try walking on my foot more and then in a weeks time I'll be back at the docs to have the stitches out. 

 

I can't wait to be fully mobile again and to get out and about with my camera.

Purple Rain

"Into each life some rain must fall".  Henry Wadsworth

Here I Go Again

Just for the record those are my husbands toes and my legs aren't that hairy!

Over the past several years it feels as though my body has been conspiring against me and that no sooner do I get one issue sorted out than another appears.  Tomorrow I will be going in for my fifth surgery in the last four years . . .  this time to remove a lose bone fragment and bone spur from my foot.
 

I've mentioned it before but hospitals freak me out as do needles in veins (IV's are a particularly stressful experience).  I don't know if this fear has always been there, whether it was the result of a particular experience or simply got worse as I got older.  I have to remind myself to get out of my head, to breathe, to take each minute at a time and to stop over thinking things but it's hard.

I'm going to be laid up for a while but I've got plenty of books, movies and of course my laptop at the ready.

Where Do You Belong?

Whenever I travel (especially to the UK) I find emotions bubbling up to the surface around belonging and a sense of home.

 

When I talk of home it can mean a number of different places for me; South Wales (where I was born), Wantage (where I grew up) or Ohio (where I currently live).  It can get a little confusing when I'm talking to people, especially as I visited all three during my recent trip.

 

After moving to Oxfordshire as a child I lost my Welsh accent so whenever I travel to South Wales I feel like an outsider.  When I visit the town where I grew up people laugh or roll their eyes at some of my 'americanisms' which also makes me feel as though I don't truly belong there either.  Then there's America where my British accent sets me apart and always will.

 

I feel extremely fortunate to have travelled and lived in two countries but it's a strange feeling and one hard to articulate, the sense of not truly belonging in any one place . . . . . but then I look at my family and at my husband and know that wherever they are will always be home.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday.

Feather At Forty

I'd been thinking about getting a tattoo for a long time.  Everyone thought it would never happen but finally during my trip to the UK I went and got one done. 

 

Apparently everyone bet that I would either bottle out or pass out (clearly my family has no faith in me) so I think I surprised them.  It didn't hurt as much as I thought it might but I believe a lot depends on what you have done and the location. 

 

I'm happy with the way it turned out and can't believe that I waited until I was forty to finally have my first tattoo.  I'm already thinking about my second one and hope that it doesn't take me another forty years to get it done.

 

What do you think of tattoos?  Love them or hate them?  Do you have any yourself?  Don't worry about offending me, I know people have opinions both ways.

Photo Heart Connection: May

I just had to chose this image for my photo heart connection.  It's a shot of my brother and sister on the beach in Bournemouth.  We spent a day together, just the three of us, during my trip home to the UK.  I can honestly say I haven't laughed so hard in ages.

 

Here are a few more shots from that day.  People must have been wondering what we were up to but I love when you're able to let go and stop worrying what others think.

 

 

Sun, sand and laughter are the perfect tonic for whatever ails you.

Linking up with Photo Heart Connection.