The weekend was peaches and rainbows, our tree was drooping from the weight of all of the ripe fruit, and the squirrels were eyeing them. Squirrels like to get in the tree, take a bite out of a peach, and then throw it on the ground. Gypsy and Velcro are pretty good at chasing squirrels but I have to see it first to let them know. They don’t find squirrels nearly as exciting as bunnies.
Today was a bit of a struggle all around. Dennis was home from work, he usually doesn’t get Mondays off but this week he did. I went for my run. I usually start my week doing a lot of office work, and I need to pay sales tax for the special events I attended last month. Why in the hell the state needs to make this so complicated, I have no idea. There’s a license for the city, the state and county, and one for special events in the state and county, plus special events in the different cities. It’s enough to drive you crazy, and this time I only owe eleven dollars for the state and county tax here, but I cannot figure out how to pay it because after I filed the forms, I saw what I owed but when I try to get in there to pay, it doesn’t show that I owe anything. I am so confused. It’s maddening and I wasted 45 minutes this morning when I would rather have been doing just about anything else. The payment is due on Friday, so I have a few more days to knock my head against the wall and see if anyone replies to my email I sent. All this aggravation for effing eleven dollars! Stupid. I don’t mind paying taxes at all. But make it easy.
I got a package with the yard sign I ordered for the upcoming studio tour. After that I went out in the studio and played with some little canvases to warm up, and then I had to face the bigger paintings. I worked on the purple aspen one and it seemed like nothing was going well.
I wrote to a friend I’m going to see at the Palisade show, I told her about it a couple of months ago and I messaged her this morning to say hi and see if she was still able to make it to the show. She told me she found out in August that she has breast cancer and is going to have surgery in early October, then chemo after, and AIs after that. (AIs are aromatase inhibitors, a drug given mostly to post menopausal breast cancer patients to block estrogen production when their cancer is driven by estrogen.)
Stopped me in my tracks. I feel so bad for her and that she has to go through this. It hurts my heart. I know a little about her background and it won’t make things any easier for her to deal with this. And that I’m not closer- she lives 5 hours away in good weather and weekday traffic- across the state from me. Her husband has been supporting her and going to all her appointments with her. She said he’s trying to be strong for her, but we know it’s a struggle for him too. She wants to come to the show that weekend anyway, so I’m glad I’ll have a chance to see her.
We met back when I was still a nurse in ICU, and she was a respiratory therapist. We worked together a lot, and we went hiking and talked. She was having a hard time at work there in the hospital, she was burned out and depressed, and I was having similar issues. We bonded over being able to vent about work and being outdoors. Right before I left ICU to go to oncology, her husband got a teaching job at a small college in Kansas, and they moved about 6 hours away. I saw her when I used to drive to races in the Midwest, but I haven’t seen them since they moved back.
She went to nursing school while she was in Kansas, she decided she was burned out on respiratory therapy. I knew nursing wouldn’t be any better, actually, worse than RT, but that’s what she wanted to do. Eventually her husband got a job in Colorado, but on the western slope, so they moved back. She is working as a nurse there. But they are still 5+ hours away from me. I really hope she can take plenty of time off for treatment. Nursing is brutal enough, to be forced to go back to that kind of work before your body and mind are ready is torture.
I want to do a painting for her that she can look at and enjoy at home while she’s recovering from surgery and going through treatment, something that will be calming, healing, and uplifting.
I thought about her the rest of the time I was painting, and I found that doing random brush strokes was helping me process my feelings better than trying to work on a painting in progress, so I just scribbled on those small canvases and put the other ones aside.
Tomorrow I am going to see my friend Crisann and meet her new dog, Thelma, and take her some peaches and tomatoes. And I am going to breathe and let the day unfold as it will.
How do you make digital prints of your work? Or prints, in general? Sounds like a good week, despite the grief of being unable to help a friend. I’m sure she’ll appreciate the garden gifts!
Alene, I love the sign and your peach on the dashboard art. Your art is always so colorful. I was heartened by the bounty of peaches and the rainbow beauty.
I'm so sorry about your friend getting diagnosed with breast cancer. I know what that's like, as you know, and it's terrifying. She's lucky that she has you as a supportive friend and her husband. The AIs were tough. Who am I kidding? The whole road is tough.
Please feel free to give her my email if she feels the need to talk to another person about breast cancer. Also the American Cancer Society has a Reach to Recovery program for those who've been diagnosed with breast cancer.
I will keep your friend in my prayers.