A week after surgery I still wear that pained expression, but Baby Dylan looks great. Normally terrified of the Paparazzi, Dylan was captured off guard because he didn’t realize that a camera could lurk inside a cell phone. His “Mommy” is not that advanced, as blogging is the outside extent of my techie-ness. To me, a phone is a phone and a camera is a camera. I’m certain this will be the last time we’ll be able to fool Dylan into saying “Cheese”!
Since inserting pictures is easier for me at this point than keyboarding a lot of text, here are some recent ones taken just before my surgery. The pictures are worth thousands of words—of which I’ll add just a few for clarification:
Any of you parents, grandparents, and great grandparents have undoubtedly had at least one “Flat” in your life. Above you can see our third—“Flat Ethan”, a facsimile of Three Dimensional Ethan who lives far away in San Diego. Flat Ethan was not prepared for the quiet life Joe and I enjoy in Nashotah, Wisconsin (who ever heard of THAT?)—but he coped beautifully whether buying produce, eating at our neighborhood Chinese restaurant, or simply perusing books while Joe, Dylan, and I slept. (Since Three Dimensional Ethan loves books, it follows that Flat Ethan does likewise.)
Baby Adetokunba Bridget Josephine Adesokun at three weeks old. (Now she’s nearly six weeks.) Due to a stand off with MRSA and surgery, this was one of the last times I was able to hold Tuks—(rhymes with books). But better days are coming, soon!
Left to right: Joe, and our Denver grandsons Joel and Nathaniel Been with two of my paintings (framed in yellow) currently on exhibit at the Delafield Arts Center.
With all my present restrictions, a few activities are allowed and encouraged: knitting (only finger motion is required of my right hand when knitting), limited piano practice (again, fingers only in the treble clef), some keyboarding, and left handed art. The art delights my heart as more each year I’m realizing that abstraction (with a slight element of representation) is my forté—the “Whom I Really Am” in this recently discovered passion.
A large factor in abstract expressionism is the discarding of presumptions, assumptions, and that human desire for “control”. What remains? A serendipitous freedom from agendas or any kind of “other generated” expectations. This freedom is possible only in the arts! We certainly wouldn’t want it anywhere else—that would be anarchy!!!
Finally, our Heaven on earth. 🙂
Margaret L. Been, 2013