Dolly's Dreamings

Two down three to go

Well I have done 2 of my three radiotherapy sessions. I am so pleased. It's not nice, my poor booby is already red and hot and a bit painful but it's my shoulders suffering. It's not an easy position to assume for that amount of time. BUT 2 down. That's great news and now I have the weekend off.

I have painting to share today ... I think I am doing more painting than scrapping at the moment. I thought I'd post a selection of bird paintings today

 

 

This was a Matthew Palmer tutorial that I really enjoyed and like the finished picture. It's larger than A4 size

 

 

This was my own for a challenge at paul Clark - I liked the colours and the salted background

 

This was for my art class - we had to paint a bird. I spoilt this one with the background . Both the Parrota nd the woodpecker are large - over A4 size

 

and these two are small - just 4 x 6 poctures

 

 

The good news is we have made a decision on or bedroom. We had several companies come and quote and draw up designs and have gone with Hammonds. We plan everything - furniture, wall,s carpet, curtains, all being really neutral and bland so we can add our colour with the bedding and accessories and that way I can have lots of different colours. For the last 13 years my bedroom has been cream with all of my bedding being teal blue shades. I'm ready for cream and pink and navy and green and grey . It's not being done until the summer but despite the upheaval, I think it will be lovely.

Today I am thankful for

• 2 sessions down
• the kindness of staff
• painting fun

 

 

Back in the saddle

I have missed out on a fair bit of design team work over the past few months as I haven't been up to it, but I am back on my horse again now and I have a class over at A Trip Down memory Lane this weekend.

You can buy a kit or use your own stash and there are three pages with full instructions on their website.

This is one of the class pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been drier today (though just starting to spit and spot now - and so we went out for a little drive and then called in and bought some new shrubs and compost and had an almost pleasant time in the garden. We are NOT gardeners and Nigel has to be dragged out kicking and screaming really. But the three plants are in (they replace ones we lost last year and I expect these will die too but heck!) the pots are redressed with gravel and the patio furniture is back out. Slowly slowly.

I start Radiotherapy this week and confess to being a bit nervous. I know they have to give you worst case scenario all the time but goodness me it is horrible what can happen, but hopefully won't.

I will be glad when this is all done and then I only have the medication to worry about. I still don't know what I will do when my 6 week break is up.

I have done two bird painting this week and there will be more as it is a challenge at a facebook group I play along with this week.

These were last week's efforts - I prefer the woodpecker without the background. I ruined it with the background

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely Sunday
• Spring in the air

 

Pencil drawings

I love watercolour - I really do - but I love the precise nature of pencil drawing. I love the slow pace, the time, the detail you can get.

The pictures take much much longer than watercolours, but these two have been a labour of love.

I have done drawings of the two boys and today we went out and bought frames for them.

 

Here are the two boys (I have to say they look nicer in real life) They are by no means perfect but we like them and they do capture the two of them, the differences in colour etc.

 

 

 

 

 

In other news we had a lovely day out for Mother's Day yesterday and the boys (all three of them) bought me chocolate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• the pleasure that art brings me. I may not always like or keep the finished products but I love the process.

 

 

The last step has started

It's been a busy week of appointments from DEXA scans to dentistry and then my radiotherapy planning appointment.

And what was I most nervous about - the dentist of course. I have had big pieces chopped out of my boobs and not paniced and a dentist trip still freaks me out. She had found some decay on my recent x ray and so it needed filling and even she said 'goodness that was a lot deeper than I thought!' Thankfully it didn't hurt and hasn't hurt since. Better filled than not I guess.

Yesterday I had my CT planning appointment. Another new department of the hospital to explore. The radiotherapy girls were, like all of the staff, just lovely. They were very calming and patient, went through lots of info first and even discussed anastrazole with me. They didn't seem to think it was a problem if I came off it. And I was reassured that it was on my records that I was considering stopping it - so the oncologist WAS listening after all.

You then do the radiotherapy planning which involves lying in a fixed position under the scanner where every single bit is measured and marked up and logged and computerised and then you are scanned and then you have three little dots tattooed on you for ever. Another reminder of the cancer journey. They made it as easy as possible but 15 minutes lying down with your arms above and behind your head holding onto a bar was quite challenging. I am glad I did all the breast and arm exercises - this is why they tell you you have to do them.

Our reward was very naughty - a Macdonalds breakfast! Something we almost never do and a wicked but enjoyable treat however - whilst I totally get the need for cardboard cutlery as it is helping save the planet. What I DON'T get is how can they possibly produce forks that won't hold whilst you try to cut soft pancakes

Other than hospitals we have had a few trips out and generally a nice few days. My radiotherapy starts later this month and once that is done I can start to put the last 5 months behind me. It's been quite the roller coaster.

This is a new digital page made for a challenge listing the many things I am thankful for through that whole journey

 

 

 

I have never painted a portrait before - this was for a challenge and kind of worked. It was very quick to do

and this was another digital page - a new release from Palvinka at Pickleberrypop

 

 

and this was for another challenge

 

Today I am thankful for

• nearly all of the medical appointments done
• kindness of NHS staff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another day another hospital

We have three hospitals in our trust - Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch. Thus far I have had surgeries and appointments at both Bournemouth and Poole, today I had my only appointment at Christchurch (and thank goodness as it took us over an hour to get there with traffic!) It was a simple DEXA scan which is a baseline for the medication I am on. I didn't like to say I wasn't sure if I would STAY on the  medication.

As we were over that way we decided to go out and in the end ended up at west Quay and IKEA. We were looking for bedroom ideas - didn't find any - for a specific ornament - didn't find one - and we happened to visit Nigel's favourite shop in the world (as there isn't a shop that just sells model buses!!!) Hotel Chocolat. Well it would have been rude not to.

We also had a lovely lunch out at a New Forest Pub. It was a day or normality after so many days of not normal.

I have done my first design team scrapping for a long time - can't share that of course yet - and I have been drawing and painting

Two recent paintings - one a tutorial (the post box) and one of the local landmark Old Harry Rocks

 

 

 

 

and this was a drawing from two weeks ago that was fun.

 

Today I am thankful for

• little bits of normal

and how amazing are these

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back down to earth

It's been a few days now and I think I am finally processing the events of the last 5 months.

I still have a mess of appointments - DEXA scan and CT scan next week, radiotherapy sessions etc etc but I am so relieved I can't tell you.

I have even been scrapping a  little for my iconic America album

 

This was opposite the restaurant in Capitol Reef National Park which turned out to be one of the most amazing nights of our life

 

 

We do enjoy going to see the more unusual places - this was a must see in Wyoming

 

 

 

 

And this had us all over it - the tiny town of Lebanon in Kansas where you can find the geopgraphical centre of the contiguous states of the USA. As we were travelling the states coast to coast and north to south - the centre simply had to be done. And it was lovely

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I have even been painting

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• recovery
• support
• life and health

A quiet weekend

We have enjoyed a quiet weekend as we prepare for another busy medical week next week.

I have my appointment witht he oncologist on Monday to discuss the medication, radiotherapy etc. We have a long list of questions and I confess to being a bit nervous.

I am then in hospital for day surgery on Tuesday - gynaecological this time. I am hoping it is a one off and I will get the all clear from that and then I really can say I am cancer free. It's quite a week ahead and coupled with the endless headache which I ams ure is medication induced, I have just wanted to be quiet

 

Some recent scrapping for various internet challenges (I am struggling to find the motivation to scrap at the moment)

 

 

This oe is for the Iconic America album I keep dabbling with

 

and a bit of art too

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for quiet times - we need those too

 

 

Sunny walks

We have had a couple f days of nice walks in the sunshine. It is my favourite sort of weather - crisp and cold and sunny. I love it.

Yesterday we went to Weymouth which was lovely

 

 

 

 

 

 

and today we walked at 'our' beach and it was lovely too

 

and I have scrapping to share

 

This was for challenges at Scrap Squad and Hey Little Magpie and it uses a photo of the Kingfisher I painted which I was quite pleased with

 

 

 

 

and this again was for challenges of Osmington Mills from Sunday

 

 

 

In other news I have done a 4 day pastel pencil course. I was stupid enough to buy the pencils - the full set of very expensive pencils - before I realised that pastels are probably NOT for me.

 

They are messy, they are imprecise, I find the hard to control and I love my polychromos

This was what I did before the course of Koda's eye (the left is the reference photo)

 

 

These were the three fur lessons (they are tiny - just 2" square)

And this was the eye lesson

 

I'm not impressed but I will have another go - one day.

 

And I painted this happy little cow too

 

Today I am thankful for

• new art supplies - though NOT the pastel pencils
• lovely walks
• the sea - always

 

There's a chill in the air again

It's been lovely and sunny here but goodness is there a chill in the air. But I am not complaining - my favourite sort of weather.

We headed out yesterday to Osmington Bay which was lovely - on the South Coast coastal path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also stopped at St Mary's church and we were amazed at the yew tree which is believed to be 1700 years old - incredible.

 

 

 

here are a couple of really quick art pieces I did last week

 

 

 

and finally some scrapping ... I enjoyed this one of Shepton Mallet Prison - it make me laugh

 

 

 

One of St Mary's hot off the press

 

 

 

 

and more snowdrops

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a nice painting morning
• finally getting my prescription sorted out

 

 

Fireplace renovation complete

I can finally say our fireplace renovation is complete.

 

We have agonised for a long time about what to do with our fireplace. We had the fireplace installed 30 years ago when we had been in the house for just a year. There was massive purbeck stone fireplace there which we had taken out an a new gas fire (real fire effect) and surround fitted. It looked lovely  though they made a mess fitting it and it has slopes at the side of the hearth where they hadn't removed all of the old stone. We couldn't get rid of the slope for fear of damaging the marble hearth. We'd only had it for a couple of months when we had to have the chimnet mesh covered as once the chimney was opened the May Bugs (goodness I hate those things) were attracted to the light and so came down the chimney and into the lounge. The man who fitted the mesh told me I didnt need anything that fine as birds wouldn't get through. I told him I wasn't concerned about the birds!

Then we bought Bengal and from then on we had to have a fire guard for fear the cats would attempt to go up the chimney. I hated the fire guard and we almost never used the fire because it was inefficient and expensive.

So last year we decided we wanted to change the fire. We wanted the chimney blocked to keep the warmth in (blocked so that new people could unblock it easily), the gas taken out and a new electric pretend flame fire. Who would have thought it was so difficult? There are very few shops where you can see these fires in reality and we didn't want to buy it online not having seen it. We went to several specialist stores who were not terribly helpful and who didn't have what we wanted. We didn't know what we wanted really but knew we would know when we found it. Then we found Fire and Flame in Charminster and it was perfect. Ben, the owner and installer, was brilliant, offering lots of advice and we found the exact thing we wanted. We were thrilled.  I cannot recommend him highly enough. We have never had such a clean worker in our home or such a perfectionist. He did an amazing job and we are thrilled.

 

These are the before and during

 

 

 

 

 

The new fire surround is a lot lower and so we knew we had to repaper and paint the chimney breast which we finished yesterday

 

 

 

 

We are thrilled - it has made such a difference.

 

In other news we have some scrapping

 

 

This was from a trip in 2004 on our Wild West tour to Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood to see the graves of Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane

 

 

 

and some recent quick paintings

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful that

• renovations are done - it was stressful for Koda - he really doesn't cope with any form of noise or change (he's his Mommy's boy!)
• a job we are happy with

and finally some more amazing tattoo art. I'm not really into tattoos but I admire the skill of these

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decorating 101

The change of fireplace meant we had to do some repairs to the lounge decor, which we knew in advance. The old fireplace was taller and narrower. the narrower didn't matter - the taller did. We knew we would have to strip the wallpaper off the chimney breast and replace it. Thankfully we had spare paper, there is no pattern match and I had new paint mixed. Nigel worked out we could get away with just three pieces of paper to stripped to those joins and it went in like a dream and now it is painted you would never know it had been any different. I am also pleased because I have been an advocate of paint pads for years and Nigel has always flatly refused to even consider them. He used pads today and agreed they are much better - less messy and far quicker. Yey.

We also found time for a nice drive in the sunshine out to the New Forest which was lovely.

I have some new scrapping to share

 

Seems odd that I should scrap a page called Happy at a time when we were both terrified of the results when we saw the surgeon. However, it was whilst we were on this beach walk that we got the phone call to say my result appointment, cancelled due to strike action, had been re-arranged and there was only a 24 hour delay. Perfect.

 

 

This is a photo I love (I have a copy up on our fridge - and have never scrapped.

 

 

 

 

And this I am rather proud of. I used a photo of a barn owl from Pixabay and he is drawn with my polychromos.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• jobs completed
• sunshine