I felt like painting...

...so am using my left hand (since I've hurt my finger on my right hand).

I tried using a pencil to draw (I have done a drawing with my left hand a long time ago as part of a drawing exercise) but that was frustrating. So I got out the children's gel crayons. They are nice and chunky and so are the tips.

I drew a silly bird, and did a bit of spraying water on the coloured areas. But I was sitting down, and my left arm is not used to this, it wasn't moving freely enough and it was tiring. So, I tried standing. I found this much easier.

This is a large A3 sketchpad. I don't usually work this large even with my dominant right hand. But, I didn't think I would be able to do smaller detail with the left hand.

This is unfinished. But, I am just showing you this unfinished, part way through for the moment. I have to get rid of that stupid bird outline, so it is going to be a leafy branch or two.

It is not easy working with a left hand, but I seem to have some control with it. As a child my right arm and hand was often bandaged up (ligament problems) so I had to learn to write with my left hand. But I have not done this for a long time. It is surprising how weak your non dominant hand and arm is. So, I am just doing a few minutes at a time and standing up which makes it a heck of a lot easier.

Feeling a bit out of sorts today as the person I saw at Doc's surgery is a new person, is not English, hardly speaks any English, it's very broken English...and to a profoundly deaf person, makes communication near impossible and stressful. I wasn't expecting a new person to change my pessary, no warning was given to me. I have always had the same person the last 14 years or so for my pessary change, so this was a big shock to me.

Maybe this is unusual getting the same person for so long, but I wasn't expecting a new person (old person has apparently left, I think), and I had absolutely no idea what this new nurse was saying. Her name suggested Russian. Her voice was so heavily accented I couldn't make anything out.

I feel old, tired and weary. I want to hide from the world. I'm tired of struggling to understand/hear people. My confidence has gone a bit.

I'll be fine tomorrow. I just need some sleep. I need to paint.

Take care x