First day of 2024

This morning we woke to Maddy, our 12 year, 7 month old boxer having a seizure. If you’ve never been with someone having a seizure, it’s pretty scary to see. She was shaking uncontrollably and foaming at the mouth. The shaking caused her to fall off the bed and that woke us up. This is the second time she’s had a seizure so we had a sedative for seizures that I administered through her nostril. 

Maddy is our miracle dog. She’s got so many health conditions that her survival has been quite a gift. We’re thankful for every day we have her. She has a mast cell tumor many years ago. She also has Cushing disease, which is a tumor in her adrenal gland that causes the abnormal secretion of cortizone. It makes her crazy thirsty and hungry. A few years ago she developed diabetes insipidus…a rare form of diabetes. Last year she collapsed with a ruptured spleen. She had hemangiosarcoma which is a highly agressive form of cancer. She also had pancreatitis somehow aggrevated by the spleen rupture. Her spleen was removed and she spent six night at the vet to stabilize her. The prognosis was not good…dogs survival rate after this type of cancer is not good. We’ve been so lucky that she’s been with us for a year.

It’s not that she’s just not dead…she’s alive. She demands a walk every morning and loves that time with Kris and Roxy. She engaged with us and lives a good life, loves her meals and treats, and sleeps with the pack in bed. She’s the grand dame of the pack.

The seizures are being caused by the Cushing disease. She’s had three seizures today. We had planned a luncheon for a few friends for New Year’s Day…it’s a big Japanese deal…food on January 1. We had to cancel after her second seizure.

I don’t understand half the medical stuff about any of the the things going on with her. She’s on an incredible amount of medications and supplements. We’ll keep doing what we can as long as her quality of life is wonderful and so far it is.

Kagami for New Year’s

Mochitsuki – first one in years

The 100 Day Project

I’m having so much fun with the 100 day project. I’m doing 3×3 pieces of whatever art I feel like for 100 days.

I’m a total newbie to everything but photography so this is a little scary for me. The scary part is putting all the stuff out there for anyone to see. It’s definitely out of the safe zone. However, it’s the path I want to take.

One of the biggest challenges is doing art on the road. The travel art kit I put together has worked perfectly. I cut 3×3 squares of 140 pound watercolor paper and found a great hinged tin to put them in. A Windsor and Newton’s Cotman watercolor pocket Box is a great size with a nice set of colors and brush. A water brush works well for travel because you can fill it with water without a need for a container. A pencil and a penn artist pen are tools I need. This Bagallini bag I got from a wonderful friend is perfect for my travel kit.

If you want to check out my small art, my Instagram handle for art is @robinscanlonart or to just see the project #100anykinesmallart.

Green Soup

I went to get a massage and my wonderful therapist offered a taste of the green soup she made. OMG! It was delicious!! She told me that she got the recipe from Splendid Table.  You can get it here: https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/basic-green-soup.

Young added her homemade chimichurri sauce to it. I love chimichurri and I think that that addition made the soup sparkle.

I couldn’t wait to try it myself. The recipe really leaves of room to get innovative and use the greens in your fridge. I used the spinach, kale, parsley and coriander. And I also had carrot tops and radish tops, leeks and green onion. I didn’t have chimichurri so I added chimichurri ingredients to it – jalapeno and vinegar (my version already had coriander and parsley.)

It’s beautiful, healthy and delicious!

 

Quitting Facebook for a while

I ‘m gonna quit Facebook for a while. So much stuff shows up that is very distracting. I’m not disciplined enough to ignore it all.

Posting on a blog requires more time and thought…maybe what I need to slow the stream of social media.

I will still post to Instagram…I’m @robin.scanlon.

So I’m gonna post the stuff I’d normally post on Facebook…like tonight’s dinner.

We get amazing fresh fish at our local grocery store, KTA. This afternoon we picked up two ono (wahoo) filets. I baked them with olive oil, salt/pepper, and lemon slices at 350 degrees for ten minutes. Ono overcooks really easily so watch it.

Topped with a gremolata – lemon zest, garlic, and parsley, a side of basmati rice and steamed spinach it was perfect. Healthy and yummy!

Back on the Blog

When you neglect anything for a while, it’s hard to get back to it. Practice, practice daily and it works better. So here I am…showing up on the page. I love to write, but I’ve been so down on my ability to do anything. At the last meditation retreat I did in Maui, after fifteen years, I figured out the reason I keep at zen practice. Believe me, it’s not an easy one in any way. That was a good thing.

I’ve been reading a lot. Well, actually, I’ve been listening to books a lot. I almost gave up reading because I had such difficulty concentrating. I still do, but listening to audio books has made it easier. The experience is definitely different. I listened to Pico Iyer’s The Lady and the Monk. Mostly I enjoyed going through Kyoto with him. After that, I had to get the book because reading the words makes the images more vivid for me. I just finished Lit by Mary Karr which is well written. I found it hard to get through some of the bad stuff she experienced, but the insights were wonderful. Now I’m listening to Michael Pollan’s A Place of My Own. He narrates it as did Mary Karr and Patti Smith and I love listening to the author read their own work. Ted Kooser reading his memoir, Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps, was one of my favorites. I know, my choice of reading material is all over the place. Anyway, being in touch with the books made me want to practice writing again. So here I am.

Another practice, I’m trying my hand at is drawing and painting. I’ll try anything. I want to try my hand at another form of art practice. Lots of stuff I want to do. I have a humongous collection of art supplies so there is absolutely no reason to procrastinate on this one. I even have images in my head…food, ohia trees and other native Hawaiian plants, dogs and just beautiful things in general. I listened to an interview on Public Radio where the interviewee’s goal in creating work was to give people a reason to be optimistic. It was on Serious Eats and they interviewed Phil Rosenthal. I thought that that was an fantastic goal to have given the current news climate…a perfect goal for me to have whether I write, draw or cook. Looking for the good things is the way I want to spend my life.

My best friend died last year. I still think I can just call or write her about something she would like or think was funny every day. Channeling those thoughts into art would be a way to express those things. She encouraged my writing and watercolor all the time.

So Carolyn…this is for you. I miss you every day.

Phenology – Volcano 3

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Believe it or not, a lot of progress has been made in the last week. The construction tent is gone and we can use our garage. The wall in front of the house is complete and the work table is gone. Now we have a blank canvas to work with.

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The Meyer lemon buds are blossoming and smell divine! Fern shoots in different stages are unfolding. During the week, I was in Maui so I missed the first magnolia bloom, BUT this one:

Volcano 2 – Phenology

These are the two views of the front…they don’t look much different than they did last week.

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The changes were small and subtle: Magnolia buds, small green oranges, a FIG!!, and the Meyer lemon blossoms have grown.

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These are beautiful…

http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2017/10/04/japanese-vending-machines-at-night-juxtaposed-with-a-wintry-hokkaido-landscape/