Wow! Long Time Ago

OMG, it has been a lonnnnngggg time since I have posted anything here. Lots of changes in my life. It turned out we were wrong about what John was suffering from when we were last in Costa Rica together. Unfortunately, we found out that John actually was suffering from stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. He could have gotten paliative chemo treatments to extend his life, but after trying half the dose and feeling so sick he couldn't do anything, he decided to just live out his time working on finishing up some recordings of songs he had written and performed with his band. We also decided to get married so that I could be involved in caring for him during his last days. We married, and two and a half weeks later his life here on earth ended. I was devastated and depressed for a long time. Some friends of mine invited me to go to the Country Music Park in Cortland, NY, where they introduced me to another couple that they had become friends with. This couple are now my BFFs. I got in the habit of going to the "Park" every Saturday night. I spent a lot of time with tears rolling down my cheeks, but due in large part to the camaraderie I enjoyed with my new friends, I met a wonderful guy at the Park in 2012. We have been living together for almost a year now. His life has changed a lot also! He had not been in a "relationship" for over 14 years and had not expected to be in a relationship at all. Fate brought us together. We love each other so much. I hope God let's us have a long life together.

I hope to get some more of my photos posted here in the near future. Have a wonderfully happy day!

I'm Baaaaacccckk

I thought I would keep up this blog while I was in Costa Rica, but found it unrealistic to try. There was just not enough time. We did not have internet access at our house or even a telephone. When I went to the internet cafes, it was all I could handle just to keep up with emails and my Facebook activities. I had thought about typing into my laptop and taking to the internet cafe, but our electricity was not a direct hook-up. We received our electricity from a line hooked into our neighbor's line. I had to be careful with the amount of electricity used and also loss of power was too frequent for me to be comfortable using my laptop much. I did get a surge protector and power backup eventually. I had difficulty finding one as I didn't know where to look and couldn't speak enough Spanish to inquire where to find one for the first month or so I was there.

We came back earlier than planned. We had planned to return on June 10th, but John injured himself (ripped muscles around the ribcage and nerve damage associated). We decided to return home where his health insurance would cover physical therapy and doctor visits.

My cats were well-cared-for while I was gone. They seemed not to care that I had left them for three months. And, it's great to have my desktop computer set up again and online once more.

Sharing

Great source for photo-related info and gadgets:

Having Fun

I'm having so much fun creating new art from my photos! Check this out:

New Creation from Costa Rica Photo

I joined an online artistic creation tool site a few weeks ago. Using one of my photos from my last Costa Rica trip, I created this:

(Click on the image to see larger image...and you really need to see it larger to fully appreciate it.)
If I had fabric with this print, I would make curtains for the house in Costa Rica!

Autumn is "Leafing"

Actually, I think Autumn has "left". I found this leaf on the ground at John's house last weekend. I thought it was colorful.

How Time Flies!

It has been a month since I posted anything on this blog--and then it was just a photo! I've been busy playing with Phoenix and Peacock on Aviary.com, learning to create art from my photos. I especially like this creation:

It started from this photo that I took at the Cornell Plantations a few months ago:


I've also been sleeping a lot lately. I need to have a new sleep study done, I believe. Even with my BiPAP machine, I am waking numerous times that I'm aware of and who knows how many times I stop breathing without waking enough to realize it. It's like pulling teeth to get anyone to take me seriously and follow through on setting up the study for me. My doctor's office was supposed to check into this months ago but I hadn't heard anything from them so I called and got a call back a couple days later saying I could just call the center and set up the appointment. I was given a different story by the sleep study center. They told me I had to do it through my doctor's office. So I called them back and was told they would do that and call me back the next day. It is four days later and I have not received that call yet. If they don't call me tomorrow, I am going to call them again. I'm tired of being tired all the time!