My sister, who lives in Santa Fe, NM, has been here for the last 10 days visiting Mom and I. We grabbed our aunt last week and the four of us headed for Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea again. We had a wonderful time visiting the Montery Bay Aquarium (fabulous, incredible place well worth visiting if you’ve never been there!) and eating some lovely meals out. But Mom woke up quite sick Friday morning, so we came on home. It turned out she had a urinary tract infection, a common ailment in the elderly. After a tough four days, and trying two different antibiotics, she’s finally on the mend. Seeing her today, all bright-eyed and bouncy, you’d never know she’d been sick enough to end up in an ambulance on her way to the local ER.

I’m a little bummed, now. I just took my sister back to the airport. I love it when we get together and wish we could do it more often. She’s such fun to have around! We spend most of our time laughing. 🙂

I sent her home with this:

Rocky is Jami’s beloved, goofy, most amazing bull terrier in the world. He’s getting up there in years (sort of like Stallone) but he’s enjoying a second puppyhood at the moment. Go Rock! The drawing was done with watercolor pencils, colored pencils, and ink on watercolor paper.

A couple of nights ago I tried my hand at scribble-interpretation for a Twitter group for illustrators. The talented illustrator who created #3yroldscribble has her 3-year-old son draw a scribble each week, which she then posts on Twitter. The challenge is to “see” something in the scribble, illustrate it, and post it back to Twitter, including the hashtag #3yroldscribble.

So, I went ahead an interpreted and art-ed my little heart out. I posted it on Twitter last night, the very first time I’ve posted something to an art group on social media. Fun! I’m looking forward to comments from the other illustrators, most (if not all) of whom are far more experienced than I.

Here it is:

Scribble Hippo. Watercolor pencil, colored pencil, and inck on Bristol paper.

My rheumatoid disease intruded frequently during our travels and didn’t let up much after we got home. It ached and throbbed in my hands and feet, but also showed up as sharp, intense, but brief pains in my right groin as I walked. That’s arthritis in the hip–oh, joy–a problem I haven’t had for a very long time. I ended up having to find a CVS where I could buy a cane (I’d left my old one at home, not expecting to need it). The new cane helped a lot.

Today, I’m still fighting my hands and feet. It gets old, doesn’t it. Tomorrow I’m finally seeing my new rheumatologist; I’m hoping to convince him to switch me to another biologic. At nearly five months, Enbrel still isn’t working and my RD is steadily worsening. With luck, my new doc will agree. If not, I guess I’ll have to finish the full six-month trial. Sigh.

But hey, it’s all good. Today the new drafting chair I ordered arrived. I’ll delighted with it. Unfortunately, the first chair I bought for my drawing table wasn’t quite tall enough, forcing me to put a pillow under my backside, hoping to sit up a little higher. It didn’t work very well, and I finally had to admit defeat. So–a new chair. It’s perfect!

Here’s wishing everyone a fun and relaxing Labor Day weekend. I’m ready for some autumn weather and colors, aren’t you? Thanks for reading!