What makes me feel good...My son calling from 3,000 miles away to say he is coming home in 2 weeks for a visit! I haven't seen him since we visited him the first week of May. I am so excited!

Pat

Pat - what wonderful news! I'm so happy for you!

This will do better for you than all the meds in world!

YAY!

Love,
Erin

Erin, Thank you and you are so right about the meds! I just miss him so much and can't wait to give him a big hug & kiss!

Pat

Annie & Sue - Thanks for the encouraging comments about my photos. They are all for my own enjoyment, I so much like the little details of flowers, and I am glad to hear you liked my Tecomaria photo. I come from a farming and nature loving family myself, although I have taken the love of plants to an extreme. I understand why you like Pyramid lake and the Badlands...such great spirit in places like that...like seeing into the soul of the earth.

Connie - I will try to find you on facebook.

Anyone else on facebook? I am somewhat new to facebook and have not told most of the people I have as friends on facebook that I have MG. How do you tell, or do you tell people, you have MG? I welcome all of you as FB friends if you want.

Pat - I like to feed the birds and wildlife too. Had to give up feeders with birdseed though...the hawks found out about the birdseed and were finding easy meals. Now I have a garden with plants that produce year-round food for the birds. A hummingbird family lives here, and lizards, quail, dove (the list goes on)...I love keeping track of all the different creatures that find my garden a good place to be. I enjoy adding new plants to my hummingbird/butterfly garden.

Allen - I too like coming to this board hoping to be accepted with all my MG related problems. I feel like I have become crazy person with MG. I enjoyed your list of simple things you enjoy.

Nick - Thanks for the list of specifics. How fun. I like your list of poetry, books and music you like and I want to make a list for myself but my post is too long already (my favorite author is Herman Hesse and my favorite music today is The Doors and Nick Cave). Natural health feels great and I too try to learn and experiment when I can. I am starting a garden with plants to use for herbs and tea...loving it so far. I would enjoy a natural health thread...we should start one (or continue a previous thread).

Lizzie - I love hawks, especially redtails...I used to have numerous dreams about redtail hawks.

Thanks for the thread Annie! It felt great to share. Thanks to everyone!

Hey Annie,

I know! It's really hard to paint! I noticed years ago that it was getting difficult, but I thought that it was from a bad back...Turns out it was from a bad chest! lol...Do you find that it's mainly your arms, neck, and/or chest? It's not my arms so much as my neck and chest...My hands get tired too, but get better after a minute of resting...

Have you ever tried computer programs? My cousin bought a pretty cheap program, and she's been coming up with some cool stuff with it...The only problem, is that it takes away from that kinesthetic part of creating...Seems like it'd still be pretty rewarding to get your thoughts out there as 'unassisted' as possible (by the actual program, I mean), though...When I get some extra cash, I think that I'm going to buy one of these...

What types of things do you like to paint and what medium?

Nicky

Nicky, Well, let's see. I love almost any medium. I am an art teacher, having a BS in art education. I have a Masters in design, so I'm a graphic designer too. I ended up doing marketing in education and health care. I love acrylic and oil painting, pencil drawing, photography, all kinds of graphic design (especially logos/branding), caricatures, photo/caption projects, carving pumpkins (see below) and lots of other stuff! My hands and arms are the biggest problem although my breathing muscles get affected by things like carving pumpkins. Last year I got so bad that I needed physical therapy for my back! Not fun.

I do photoshop but even that can get tedious. My hands don't have that fine motor coordination anymore. I just do what I can when I feel like it.

I think creating is probably the best thing a person can do to feel good, besides giving of your time to others.

If any of you guys want to try to do pumpkins like this, do the following. I bet even doctors could do it if they tried!

Choose two shapes you really like that you think look good together.
Draw an oval or round pumpkin shape on a piece of paper.
Put those two shapes within that area, varying the sizes and positions.
Sometimes it helps, once you're done, to turn it upside down.
You'd be surprised at how the subconscious mind works that way!
Then carve away. The white pumpkins are often easier than the orange ones.
I have found that carving out the bottom of the pumpkin works best.
It also helps if you have someone else clean the pumpkin out for you! Or carve it for you!
You can also take the pieces you carved out and pin them (with "T" pins) onto the outside of the pumpkin.
Then put a candle in it and behind it for taking photos.

If you can physically handle it, it's lots of fun.

Thanks for the question, Nicky! I'm glad you like to be creative too. It's hard but it's worth it. BTW, I didn't do all those pumpkins at once! They are from several years of doing them.

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OMG, Annie- those pumpkins are so stunning! They look like jewels...You have the perfect balance of negative and positive space...

You've made me very excited for Halloween, I'll tell you that much! Thanks for sharing those!

Nicky

Thanks, Nicky. It's hard for me to share my designs, especially when they are on pumpkins and people will more than likely think I'm bonkers! But this post was about what makes us feel good and carving makes me feel really good.

And I like that someone else knows about negative and positive space.

BTW, the one on the bottom row, 4th from the left (or 2nd from the right!) is called Chronic Illness. Wonder where I got the inspiration from that one from?

They're all spectacular, but my favourites are the third from the left, in the top row (with the circular patterns) and the single one...I like the curvy pieces that you attached at the top of the single one...Nice repetition and balance!

Pumpkins are so perfect for carving...it's only too bad that they can't be preserved

That's so cool that you were an art teacher...Art class in highschool was always my favourite...I felt completely relaxed and at home there...When I went to college for arts, it was smoothe sailing- until the blasted hand and chest weakness...But I loved the experience of it...

It's cool that you like Georgia O'Keefe...She was my OAC art teacher's favourite as well

I think that my favourites are Van Gogh and this other guy who I discovered on TVO...He's Russian-Canadian and he does these remarkably realistic paintings-they look like photographs, but they have this motion in them that reminds you that you're looking at someone's particular perspective, not the objective perspective of a camera...He does every day themes...He did one painting of a nun in a sunflower garden...I've tried to look up the painting for so long to get his name, but I haven't been able find it...I loved the simplicity of the idea, and the motion and colours he put in the painting....

Nicky

The third from the left I call "Bubbles."

Sorry to burst the bubble (sorry, couldn't resist) but I never taught more than summer school. I realized that, while I liked teaching, it was not for me. At least not right then. It might've been nice to teach at the college level. Oh well.

They have pumpkins now that are made out of some hard paper material that you can get at Michael's. They last forever but are much harder to carve.

I have lots of favorite artists too. Arshile Gorky was weird but I loved his stuff. Unlike most people, I really don't like Picasso past his blue period!

Annie