I guess part of successful aging is coming to terms with decreased productivity…in my case also decreased vision, focus, retention, energy. All my life I have held myself to the highest standards, not wanting to be like my mother who seemed so lazy. It’s a good thing, maybe, that I have never experienced any serious disabilities until the accumulation of the ravages of age…highlighted by moving, downsizing, and giving up the independence that driving seems to bring…and generally less sureness (Agency) and the constant picking away at strength/vision/balance/stamina that causes people to say, “Aging is not for Sissies.”
I did finish some pretty decent art work this week, but I haven’t finished one of my promised (to PAFAC) 100 small dolls yet. I feel that I must learn to be less hard on myself…nobody really cares what I accomplish but me. I’m still working on moving my savings and checking to all be in one place and within walking distance. Monday I must spend time on the phone trying to get my new address registered with Social Security. The banker said she did it for my monthly payout…but what about the$111.00 Medicare deducts monthly as a co-pay for health insurance?
My brother is endlessly generous with offers of rides to Safeway when he does, and I looked online to see if I can get the tart cherry concentrate that relieves my gout symptoms there…it looks like I can, so I don’t have to take the bus to Sunny Farms. David was also very generous to treat Brian and me to dinner last night at Paradise, a restaurant about which we had all wondered, and is down the street from where I live now. It was an interesting blast from the past, with lots of mirrors and very old patrons…I should talk! Now I always order something I can eat for one or two more meals…Scallops, shrimp, and crab in a pastry puff for breakfast today…and tomorrow.
When I get really decrepit, I can have Safeway deliver and next year just walk down the block to the library and bank…then maybe I’ll have more energy to make things…I’ll also reach out to find as many kindred spirits as possible…Anne’s Gallery is just down the block…and I haven’t been into the new Sequim museum yet…. Patience and slow living!
A painting I made in 2021 from a vision, and a smaller version I did in colored pencil on 4.23.24 It doesn’t have to be Great Art to be worth doing.
Port Williams with Colleen on Monday…It was a perfect day and she hadn’t been there for years. She is still in better shape than I, as we hiked until we saw a sign for target shooting and not to go any further. The third picture on the right is the field across the street from my house that now grows Sequim potato rocks…and where residents take their dogs to pee…I am fascinated by this strange landscape.
A couple of images of earlier works…so many stages and changes over the years…coasting is maybe OK now…I was never going to be Picasso…I do not have the gene for effective self-promotion…never did much, now less than ever. I will learn to give up on acclaim, for all the little it is worth.
pamelabythesea 