Diane Oser’s Sound Visions

Well, I’m winning the battle of infection from my last surgery, slowly. The second reconstructive surgery didn’t heal well so it’s been a hard go, and I’m still on the antibiotics and still needing dressing changes daily. I’m so tired of being under the weather, fatigued, and fearing illness. I was so delighted to be able to finally take a shower and wash my hair yesterday! I can’t afford to keep going to the salon!

On the up side of things, I’ve finished the 4′x3′ painting of the Cougar, which will be hung soon, downtown Trail, along with 11 of my colleagues’ endeavors. I’m excited to see how it will look in a window, facing Cedar Ave. This coming Friday will be the opening of our Thursday and Tuesday painter’s exhibition, and next Friday will be the opening of our local chapter of the Federation of Canadian Artists’ show “Perspectives”, in Nelson, from 6-9 PM. at the Craft Connection, on Baker St. We are also hanging paintings for our Trail Art Walk early June. Lots going on, art wise, and I’m proud to be a participant in everything.

Doug spent his entire vacation time building our raised garden beds, and, the Environmental group from Trail and Cominco have told us that they will provide the soil and gravel for our beds and paths. I asked them to test for lead, and it was very high. So, it looks like we’re going to have our veggie garden this summer after all:) thanks to them.

Doug did an awesome job, and enjoyed having his new sliding miter saw. Despite his aching arms and back. We were supposed to have gone to Vancouver, and I was scheduled to see a neurosurgeon about my spine, however this infection took hold and we had to cancel that plan. Fortunately, I was able to be rescheduled for the end of June. I will fly down, as I can’t drive alone, and Doug can’t take any more time off. The time was well used…I’m recovering and Doug built us our garden:)

My mom is slowly adjusting to her new environs, and is easier to be with. My uncle, who lost his wife two years ago, has found a new mate, I think, so changes are in the wind.

I’m looking forward to starting a new painting, and I’m enjoying teaching piano and art. I guess you could say I’m a happy camper.

Diane

I haven’t written in a long time. It seems that health issues keep getting in the way. The latest, a one month POST operative infection set in after a remedial reconstruction after my left breast mastectomy. How ugly those words sound, don’t they. Make you shake in your boots.

Well, I don’t like writing them either. I would love to be singing out, ‘I’m well, I’m happy, and I’m strong and healthy’, but unfortunately that isn’t happening for me right now. Maybe, tomorrow. I never lose hope.

I feel sad, and feel like crying, because I am so tired now. I have a huge art project going on, and I want to be able to complete it. It is a 4′x3′ painting of a Beautiful cougar, and I must complete it by the end of May. Once it’s done, I’ll post it. I’m just so tired, and tired of being ill and recuperating and having setbacks. I would like to be as vibrant as I used to be. A million years ago, it seems.

Meanwhile, I keep trucking. I keep making new friends, and rejoicing in every new day. I love living, and love my people. Write to me please. I love hearing from you.

THINGS WE SHOULD KNOW BUT PROBABLY DON’T

1. Money isn’t made out of paper, it’s made out of cotton.

2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.

3. The dot over the letter i is called a ‘tittle’.

4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

5. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.

6. 40% of Mc Donald ‘s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

7. 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

8. The ‘spot’ on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was albino.

9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily.

10. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.

11. Chocolate affects a dog’s heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small-sized dog…

12. Orcas kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark’s stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

13. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

14. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn’t wear pants.

15. Ketchup was sold in the 1830′s as medicine.

16. Upper and lower-case letters are named ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the ‘upper case’ letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, ‘lower case’ letters.

17. Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time, hence, multi-tasking was invented.

18. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

19. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos..

20. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before!

21. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, or silver!

22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa’s lips.

23. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death..

24. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original ‘Halloween’ was a Captain Kirk’s mask painted white.

25. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

26. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can’t sink in quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless..)

27. The phrase ‘rule of thumb’ is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

28. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

29. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It’s the same with apples.

30. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!

31.. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

32. “Guinness Book of Records” holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public Libraries.

33. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it.

34. George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart. “Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she’s behind bars. O.J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the ONE woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and they haul her off to jail.

Well, it’s that time of year folks; a farewell and a welcoming. I find it amazing that we collectively all find it possible to find it in our hearts to be hopeful, expectant. Probably that is why we continue to exist, through the nurturing of hope.
Despite our struggles, and our fears for the future, most of us look back upon the last year, shake our heads, ask of ourselves ‘where did we go wrong?’, and embrace the possibilities of the new, somewhat like an expectant Mother. We know it’s going to be tough, but we do it anyhow. Hoping that we’ll have learned from our mistakes and our successes, and just keep on trucking….

I wish you all a Happy Beginning for 2010.
Diane

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Bobbie demonstrates the Pentatonic scale to a group of scientists, using audience participation. Not to be missed.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from
September through May,
You may live in Canada .

If someone in a Home Depot store
Offers you assistance and they don’t work there,
You may live in Canada .

If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
You may live in Canada .

If you’ve had a lengthy telephone conversation
With someone who dialed a wrong number,
You may live in Canada .

If ‘Vacation’ means going anywhere
South of Detroit for the weekend,
You may live in Canada .

If you measure distance in hours,
You may live in Canada .

If you know several people
Who have hit a deer more than once,
You may live in Canada .

If you have switched from ‘heat’ to ‘A/C’
In the same day and back again,
You may live in Canada .

If you can drive 90 km/hr through 2 feet of snow
During a raging blizzard without flinching,
You may live in Canada .

If you install security lights on your house and garage,
But leave both unlocked,
You may live in Canada .

If you carry jumper cables in your car
And your wife knows how to use them,
You may live in Canada .

If you design your kid’s Halloween costume
To fit over a snowsuit,
You may live in Canada .

If the speed limit on the highway is 80 km –
You’re going 95 and everybody is passing you,
You may live in Canada .

If driving is better in the winter
Because the potholes are filled with snow,
You may live in Canada .

If you know all 4 seasons:
Almost winter, winter, still winter,
and road construction,
You may live in Canada .

(this is my favourite, because how true)

If you have more miles
On your snow blower than your car,
You may live in Canada .

If you find -2 degrees ‘a little chilly’,
You may live in Canada .

If you actually understand these jokes,
you definitely are Canadian and proud to be.