Back in The Saddle, Again!

So, time flies when you're having fun, or something like that!  It has been just about 3 months to the day since my last post.  During this time, I have had several items occur which has put me in a creative funk.  The major event was a total knee replacement surgery which I had done on my left knee.  The surgery took place on July 30th.  I was in the hospital for several days, before being transferred to a rehabilitation care facility.  There I stayed for 2 weeks while learning how to walk again with my new implant. It just happened to coinside with most of the Summer Olympics in London, England, and I watched several hours of coverage that I normally would have missed. I also discovered some new events like Trampoline and men's & women's water polo! Pretty exciting stuff!  Unfortunately on the morning of my surgery, I had to put my only cat Ziggy to sleep.  We had recently discovered cancer throughout her poor little body, and it was the only thing I could humanely do for her. In hindsight, I realized that little trauma kind of kept my mind from stewing on the surgery which I was about to have that same morning...

After my release from the rehabilitation care facility, I finally made it back home to my parent's house.  And began the journey of learning to manuever around the house and the outside world with the use of a cane. I am not so much using the cane anymore, so progress has been made in that area.

Then, around the third week of September, I flew out to Denver, CO for a visit with some good friends whom I haven't seen in quite a long time in Fort Collins, CO. My good friend David flew me out for about a 10 day visit. What can I say? I'm one lucky girl. I really enjoyed myself, and it made me realize just how much I miss living out there. In fact the picture below is of a card which I made for my friend David.

So, now I am trying to get back into the groove here in Ohio, and finding it harder than I would have thought.  But appointments need to be made, commitments met, etc. I guess I just find myself daydreaming of the mountains and the western life which I miss so much, that it makes it hard to be very productive. The card which I made (above) reflects some of that beautiful country out there. I used foil gilding to reflect the beautiful, golden Aspen trees which were in peak color in the mountains, along with the various colors of the willow, mountain maple and other low-lying shrubbery that reflected more of a reddish color. The stylized maple leaf die cut in the center of the card represents the foliage in the lower elevations which had not turned into its fall colors yet. And at the very bottom right of the card, in black print are the words "thank you". 

Well, that was a very quick and brief overview of why I have been absent for the last three months. I will try to push myself and make a better attempt to post things more frequently now that I am back home!