The Day After

 

'Twas the day after Christmas and all through the town

gifts were being returned and prices marked down.

Not interested in shopping, I took a walk by the lake

and there I spied Santa--he was taking a short break.

He still wore his hat but had ditched that red suit.

I waved and he nodded, then off he did scoot.

After a sleepover in Clarksville, he's off to The Pole.

In a year he'll be back and gifts he will dole.

     (If you're good!)

  - - - -

It's been a rough year. First I had a problem with neuropathy--burning legs, elbow pain, numbness, even pain in the eyeballs. I'm not diabetic; I learned that it was caused by a prescription--statins--which I'd been taking for years. I stopped taking them and the burning/pain/cramping stopped; I felt great for a few weeks in July--so good that I moved the summer furniture from the workshop back porch to the deck. That's when the tick must have latched onto the back of my knee. In August I was diagnosed with Lyme's disease. I finished four months of antibiotics a few weeks ago and felt like myself again. Two weeks later our dog Willie began limping. He came home Monday after surgery on his OTHER knee and bladder surgery for stones. What a year--a lost year.

  Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. And here's to a Happy 2015!

Holidays



Wishing you perfect Holidays
and a wonderful New Year!

This is my 2012 card and was painted with Procreate on my iPad.  This was my fifth idea for a card; I liked No. 4 but accidentally deleted it when it was almost finished (which is not easy to do).  Once this reindeer painting was finished I got a cardshop app--nothing as exciting as having a deadline and learning new stuff.  There was no grid for layout; just a tiny piece of ruler across the top of the card showing inches and FIFTHS of inches.  Fifths?  I'm accustomed to eighths.  My only way to check placement was to print one.  Print?  I had never printed from my iPad, and my Canon printer is not one of those compatible with Apple's airprint.

Luckily, the cardshop app has the option of sending a PDF by email.  That worked, but I was unable to print from the PDF reader on my desktop.  So I emailed it to the laptop in the dining room; from there I could send it to the printer in the computer room.  A solution at last.  I printed 75; none were upside-down and the inside greeting was in the right place.  I folded, signed, wrote some personal notes, addressed and stamped the envelopes, and got the cards in the mail yesterday.  I can check that off my list--and my fruitcake has been delivered.

Now it's on to cleaning and shopping.   Perfect Holidays?  At my house that's a joke.

Merry Christmas! 

Christmas of Yore

Visit with Santa 1967, gouache on arches, 18x14

     

HO HO HO!

Merry Christmas

Christmas

First Christmas for Willie 2007

I hope Santa makes it to your house.