Uncle Frank has a new Hat!!!

Most gardens around here have a "santos" standing guard; most often it's St. Francis of Assissi. You often see him covered with bird necklaces and such, with terracotta painted animals around him. The other day David and I went to a cactus garden, which was a wonderful place full of more cacti than we'd ever seen, and also wonderful oleander and Mexican heather for sale. The owner was also selling Mexican hand-thrown pots (drool) and tucked in amongst them, little Mexican "santos" of varying sizes. This one caught my fancy and I brought him home to stand watch outside our door and to keep the mice out of the herb garden (hah). However, the big deal for me is the beaded halo on his head, as I never thought I'd get back enough use of my hands to be able to ever bead again--in fact, all my beading supplies, along with the yarn and needles and knitting books, went to Susannah or my friend Lauren and the rest got sold in our "Mother of All Yard Sales." With help from David with the crimping tools, I managed to bead him his


new headband! And look what else I've managed to do this week: No, the scrap of knitting to the left is not the bottom of a bikini but the beginnings of a lowly cotton dishrag--something that is taking me a full week or more to make because I have about fifteen minutes before my hands stop working, but I'm determined to finish this and then take a picture of David using it. The bamboo and wicker towel rack is half-painted, too. Same problem holding a paintbrush for any length of time, but still, half-finished or not, I decided to hang it up and use it, take it down and paint on it, until it's entirely done and David can give it a coat of clear acrylic to seal it. If you click on the photo you'll see the design better and see what's not yet complete. These three things, compared to the handwork I used to whip out in a weekend pales really in comparison, yet for me, right now, they are the sweetest things I have ever put my hands to...because I was ABLE to put my hands to them. It's such an old saw, "You never know what you have until it's gone," but the reason it's an OLD saw, is because there's so much truth in it, it hangs around to be said over and over. Laying in that damned recliner night after sleepless night with only a candle in Lindy's crystal lotus she gave me and some Christmas lights for company, unable to move my hands, arms or legs without the most excruciating pain, I would have many a discussion with old Uncle Frank (as some around here fondly call him) about the worth of my life, and how could I find the grace to live in a helpless state, and asking for just a bit of shoring up around the edges until I could find my way out of my own private Idaho of pain and darkness and despair. It was truly the Winter of (All) Our Discontent, because life then was no picnic for David, or Susannah, or Dotty, all of whom not only had to deal with their own complicated and difficult lives, but deal with me all the time as well...every dark, cold and dreary day. And now, the Universe (with, I think, a little of Uncle Frank's help) has squirted us out of that particular worm-hole into a place where there's Light and Heat, Understanding and Health. I have no idea what our desert lives might be like from here on in, but I know they've been changed forever by our recent experiences. And I'll take mine as it comes at me, grab it and revel in it, because I know I am so lucky and so blessed to have it.

I think David has some more photos of our house and gardens and he wants to try another slide-show, so I'll sign off. Just wanted you to know how things are progressing in my lil' old life these days. Love to you ALL!!!