Improvized frozen vegetable cold packs. Win win: eat the peas after they defrost,
I wish I could start today’s post by reporting that my back spasms and pain have resolved. They haven’t. I should buy shares in ibuprofen.
Meanwhile, as you may have noticed—Christmas is in one week and Channukah starts even sooner on December 22nd this year. We have out of town relatives arriving on Christmas Day. Unless there is a Christmas miracle at our home, I’m probably not going to be “the hostess with the mostest” or even a reasonable facsimile thereof. We may be trying out the Uber Eats restaurant food delivery service for the first time. Even our son who lives in Mexico City uses it.
I’ve already missed several holiday parties because of my back spasms and pain and I’m afraid the Pulmonary Division of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is going to have to party down without me this evening. I’m sure they’ll somehow manage to have a wild good time. After all, Mr./Dr. Excitement will be there.
However, I really, really hope I will be able to attend the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance of Handel’s Messiah this Sunday. A friend and I have been attending every year for over 25 years. Each year, it’s interesting to see and compare how various guest conductors and soloists perform their own version of the same Baroque oratorio.
I got started a little early on holiday gift giving this year by gifting myself a set of 25 watercolor paint pens. However, as we’ve all been taught, it is far better to give than to receive most of the time. There’s a Zentangle tradition I learned about when I participated in the 2015 Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) training seminar (#18) in Providence, Rhode Island. The idea is to engage in a Random Act of Zentangle. There is even a Facebook group dedicated to this concept and it is this week’s challenge.
Hump Day Zentangle® Challenge #23
Engage in a Random Act of Zentangle (RAZ)
(If Zentangle is a new concept for you, you can read more about it here.)
This week’s Hump Day Zentangle Challenge is to do one or several Zentangle method or Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA) tiles and leave them in public places. Then, post a photo of your shared tile in the place where you left it in the Hump Day Zentangle Challenge Facebook group. If you can’t get out because maybe you are having back spasms of some impediment, you can still share your RAZ tile. Of course, you can also post it elsewhere. If you have a blog post incorporating your RAZ tile, please leave the URL to your post in a comment below.
I was looking forward to trying out my new watercolor paint brush pens. In the past, I’ve had problems trying to tangle on top of tiles painted in watercolors. My felt tip pens would soon pick up too much of the paint and stop working. This was not the case with my new watercolor paint brush pens. I did 3 tiles, aiming for different looks with the colored substrate.
For my first two tiles, I used the paintbrush pen directly onto the tile. On the last one, for more subtle color, I used a wet sponge to thin out the color directly on the tile.
And, here’s the message I wrote on the back of each tile:
It occurs to me, that I might leave a message about how to contact me if someone is interested in attending an introductory Zentangle class. I wouldn’t leave my work email on a RAZ tile in a bathroom at a rest stop on an interstate highway, but maybe within the community where I live. Have you ever advertised a class in that way?
Please Share Your Hump Day Zentangle® Challenge Creations!
Please share your responses to this week’s challenge with us in the Hump Day Zentangle Challenge Facebook Group and/or on your Instagram, Twitter or Flickr feeds. Use the hashtag #hdchallenge23. If you’re not a member of the FB group, ask to join and I’ll be happy to add you. The more the merrier.
There are other ways to share your work: We also have a Pinterest group board to share our Hump Day Challenge responses. Email me at suzanne@boomeresque.com if you’d like me to add you as a contributor to the Pinterest board or you can mention that in a comment below with your Pinterest name.
If you have your own blog and are posting your challenge responses there, leave the URL to your blog in a comment below so people can paste it into their browser and find your post. (PS: The first 2 times you comment, I will have to moderate the comment. After your first two comments on Boomeresque, your comments will appear without moderation.)
Feel free to share your work for this or any challenge at any time—even next week, next month, next year, ad infinitum. Participation in the challenges need not be linear!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Suzanne, a few years ago me too had a lot of pain in my back (arthrose) and I had also pressed nerves. I was depressed and tought it would never feel good again but I was wrong. I ‘m waring special arch supports, I followed hydrotherapy, I do every day special stretch exercises, I don’t sit longer than one hour, make little walks and rest a lot. In our bathroom we have installed infraredlights.Little by little the pain disappeared.Ihated to take Ibuprofen but I don’t need them anymore. I just take the innocent FLexipur. (Curcuma) I hope you will be better soon. When the pain was hard, a little tool that gives small electric shocks helped me when I put in on the places where the pain was intense. (it costed only about 50 Euro)
I wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a happy New year!
Ria, thank you so much for your encouragement. I actually have a first appointment for physical therapy this morning. You are right that back pain can be depressing because it can feel so limiting. I am anxious to learn what I have to do to keep this from happening again. Everything you mentioned, others have also told me. I think at certain times in our lives, we have to understand that if we want our bodies to take care of us, we have to take care of them.
I’m sure you will get better but it takes time and I agree, just as you wrote, we have to take care of our bodies!!!