A Little Less Pain, A Little Progress

I didn't do any knitting last week as I thought I might but I definitely wanted to do something. Not exactly experiencing boredom, which Webster's Dictionary defines as the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest. Not weary and not really restless (although I've had days when I was definitely restless) and not experiencing a lack of interest. To the contrary, I was very focused on being interested, just struggling to figure out on what since I'm still limited in what I can do. With a small sketchbook and pens sitting on the coffee table nearby as well as my Amazon Fire tablet, I suddenly knew what the interest and urge was: to revisit several Zentangle videos I'd saved from a series devoted to tangling to a sense of well-being, using variations on a tangle they call "well", which at its simplest is a circle in a square with slightly curved lines radiating from the circle out to the four corners of the square. I enjoyed working through these and ended up shading mine a little differently from the example. A lot of the Zentangle method is encouragement to make these tangles your own. I can see several things I'd like to try differently with number 5 including adding some color. Ignore the faint pencil Zentangle in the upper left - I was trying to do one from memory and was not happy with how it ended up so didn't ink it in.

Here's a little surprise I discovered while lamenting that the double petunias I planted in the pot by my front steps have not gotten much bigger nor put out extensive overflowing blooms. Suddenly I have 3 tiny pansies blooming in there. Or rather violas probably, but I have no recollection of having specifically planted any in there. Perhaps I scattered some bee seeds prior to this season that had some violas mixed in. I can't imagine that they are wild as I see them no place else. They are little gems though, a half inch to an inch across and very welcome in that pot. 

I had a better week last week as far as my pain level goes, partly because I had less activities going on. No two ways about it, the more I do, the more time I stay upright or sitting, the more my lower back hurts. But I am still walking without extra pain or the pain down into my hips and without the aide of a walking stick so that makes me happy. And I keep eyeing the extension of my old daily route, so wanting to walk past the Goodwill and across the main drag over to the little park where I could sit in the sun and enjoy a different view. Soon, I think, because my longings got the best of me last week on a day when I was feeling really good and energetic, and I turned the corner at the end of my street where I generally just turn around to head back, to walk along the next street over which creates a loop around my neighborhood. Didn't take the full loop but went quite a ways before I turned back. I estimate that I walked about 2 blocks that day.

I have my 6 week post op appointment on Wednesday, another hour and a half drive to the clinic but perhaps that too will be a bit easier on me than the first 2 week post op one was. I nearly couldn't find someone available to drive me which has made me more anxious than ever to get cleared to drive. First have to get off the pain killers - I'm working on it!