Recovery

Last week I had surgery on my right knee, a complete reconstruction.  I temporarily live on the first floor now with twin bed in the living room. Disrupting flow of the house....grateful it is not a hospital bed.

Such a bother, so I try to think of activities I can do, books I can read and movies I can watch. But with the pain or the spaciness from the painkillers my attention  is greatly compromised.  I am the center of attention I try to make the bed less obvious with an Indian block print tapestry and a plethora of throw pillows. How exotic!

To comfort myself I remember people before me who had a stretch with convalescence. My mother when she was 9 was in bed for a good part of year with Pneumonia. Her Mother treated her as a delicate flower to the rest of her days. the pinnacle example of convalescence was Freida Kahlo, who spent most of her life in bed, where painted such beautiful self portraits that read like her autobiography.

I feel grateful of mine is brief and I well be active physically in my own recovery. I think of movies watched that had great characters in bed, but I am not the young girl who twisted her ankle in a rainstorm on the moors.  I dream of scenes where there are billowing silk curtains in a Palazzo,in  Italy or of Mrs. Wilcox in the country english cottage called Howard's End...The list could go on, laying about in your bed has a very romantic role in our literature and in films.

Am I that romantic figure on my bed? Reading my iPad from social and news sites? Or is it the Vicodin playing games with me.

Nah I am just this middle-aged Mother..........

then....

'Good morning Lady Grantham" my husband greets me this morning handing me my coffee.....

I love that man!

 this one of the favorite rooms in our house, our porch.

the beginning, our move...and who we are

Hello, from my Porch.

My husband Chris: our two children Duncan 12,  Fiona 9, my mother disabled Mother, Jan and I moved to the West End neighborhood in Hartford CT in the Spring of 2011. It has been one of the best decisions of our lives. We moved from the suburbs where we only knew our next door neighbors to a community where we know so many with in a few weeks moving.

The West End is a vibrant neighborhood filled with tree lined street with old Victorian homes (for the most part) with lovely gardens and warm citizens. The West End also is also very dog friendly.

I am an Artist who paints mostly with Oil Paint, and Chris is a history High School teacher in one of the more at risk neighborhoods of Hatford. He absolutely loves it. Duncan goes to school with him  in the morning. Duncan is one of those bright kids, who mushroom themselves if given the chance to sit in front of the computer for hours, where he socializes through gaming and Skype. Fiona is a force of Nature who at any given time out in the neighbor hood with her Gang of friends, biking or some game of espionage that requires running through our neighbors yards.

I wanted to start a blog about community living in a City neighborhood so here it is. I hope you enjoy reading.