Thanks Marsha, and yes it is fun!  Takes a lot of concentration sometimes to get a likeness right but I love drawing and painting portraits.  Flowers too sometimes, I love colour.  I`m really hoping some others will share their creations too, and I would love to see some more of your glass work! 

I`m so pleased your hip is much better, that is great news!  The therapy seems to be giving you a lot of relief then, keep up the good work! 

And by the way, I love your new avatar photo!  Are those your dolls?

Thanks everyone, and I`d certainly love to see more of Marsha`s work! 

Actually we used to have a thread where members could post their artwork and photo.  Here`s a link to the first one that I started, way back in 2011...

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t42050790/the-gallery-is-now-open/

And when that one got full and people were having difficulty loading the thread, Malcolm started a second `Gallery` thread...

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t55442762/the-gallery-is-now-open/

There`s a lot of very interesting stuff in those threads!  Check out some of Malcolm`s photos!! 

Thanks for all the beautiful artwork Jill and Marsha! Little do people realize that we're often surrounded by such talent but never get the opportunity to share it.  Maybe we need to establish a thread to do just that! I'm sure we could have our own popular version of "Who's Got Talent?" !! 

Jill - your work is really good, just lovely!  Thanks for sharing!  It must feel fantastic to be able to create something so beautiful.  That goes for your art work too, Marsha.  Thank you both for sharing.

Penny 

Thanks all, Jill, I would love to see some of your artwork. Yes, doing art is relaxing and soothing, that is when you are not doing it as a business.  I seemed to be needing to refill my cup a lot, so as inspiration would keep bubbling to the surface.  Would work long days into the night for weeks, and then go hiking or to coast for a couple of weeks and get back in touch with the source. Nature and meditation for me.   Penny, thanks for sharing that about the core stuff, that is my next step, the pool and core strengthening. He also showed me some exercises that can open the vertebrae a little, using the ball.         Tig, You're amazing, no one would even guess you had been through all that when you cruse down the street at 85 mph in that cute little red Lamberdinie. Seriously, do you think it had anything to do with holding a torch and your neck holding a 10lb helmet? Do you have osteoarthritis?  I will change my ways as far as how I treat my back.  Too many KH oxy tanks I carried up into the studio on a regular basis, pulling them in and out of my 4-runner. That was at almost 50. Thanks, Marsha  yes, fishy~we just had our annual salmon festival ~ great stuff. 

Marsha,

Your artwork is beautiful; I like the fish very much.  It's sort of other-worldly and ethereal.

I was diagnosed some years back with a lumbar spinal stenosis, or a narrowing of the spinal canal in my lower back, that caused the nerves to become compressed.  My back and butt hurt like heck, and my whole leg would go numb, and my toes tingled. 

I had mechanical traction a couple times a week for months to decompress the nerve.  It helped a lot but didn't correct it.  I finally saw a spinal surgeon who referred me to physical therapy for core strengthening and decompression exercises.  Those exercises and learning my limits did the trick!     

I hope you have as good an outcome as I did.

Penny

Hey Marsha

Glad you found out the cause of your issue, I've have similar back problems, the inversion table can help, but time is the best cure with being very careful not to aggravate it for several weeks.  Hope you find some peace with your very good art work.

matt

coolheat wrote:

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The pain in my hip has been diagnosed. My PT rolled me around and had me do some moves and now feels that I have a bulging disk.

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 I hope the inversion table works for you. I know back related pain can just make it impossible to get things done. I ruptured 4 disc and fractured 5 vertebrae last year and it was painful. I was scheduled to have follow-up surgery in November (1 yr post-op) to remove metal hardware used for spinal fusions but that had to be re-scheduled until after I finish HCV treatment. That's fine with me. It doesn't bother me. Mine was due to trauma. They'll likely be able to treat yours without surgery. Being pain free is soooo worth it. Good luck Marsha

-- Edited by wmlj1960 on Wednesday 14th of October 2015 02:39:39 AM

Hi Jill, thanks for checking and finding the thread from Malcom. That was perfect, some things just seem to drop off the page lately, not sure where they go, just know there is a blank spot on the page. Hahaha   

P.T. says he wants me in the pool to do some kind of work or maybe strengthen something. Will find out next week.  Also he said to sit in a reclining chair if I had one, so as not to compress the disk anymore than it is.  The pain in the hip and down the leg are directly related to the disk compression. He also said something about an inversion table to work like traction. Anything he can do to take the pressure off of the nerves and tissue at the disk.

Thanks about the fish, they were fun to do. I was in a gallery in Carmel ca., he had a room with not a lot of light, one large wall was all black velvet, then he had me put my fish up there with the seaweed and shell and directed track halogen lighting on the fish.  It was like you were under water with them, that was really fun.