Happy Valentines - What a Wonderful World

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Copyright © 2007, 2008, 2009 by Constance Pelkey.

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Connie

Emergency Surgery, Anyone??

Monday started out like any other day. I went to work until 10AM and then it was time to take Mom to her monthly lunch meeting of blind and low vision folks. We got back home and the rest of the afternoon was normal too.

Mondays are Nancy's long days at work so she wasn't due home until 8PM-ish.

As the evening went on I was feeling more and more terrible. I was having cramping in my belly that started to radiate around into my back. It got worse and worse. Eventually the only place I could find any sort of relief at all was flat out on the floor on my belly. Even that wasn't too comfortable at all.

As soon and Nancy got home she called 911 and I was brought to the ER.

Eventually I was diagnosed with a pretty major blockage in my intestines. Seems that once you have had abdominal surgery a couple times your innards get "tacky" and can slip and twist more easily. In the last 10 years I've had a hysterectomy, gastric bypass and my gallbladder removed. I had a large section of intestine that was just black on the ex ray. So, at midnight on Monday I was headed into the surgical wing.

The surgeon found that about one third of my large intestine was twisted up and inside itself and was getting no blood supply. Once he got things untwisted and organized again they pinked right up and everything was fine. I was brought to my room around 3AM and don't remember a whole lot of what went on until Wednesday. I was so sick and out of it.

I came home yesterday afternoon.

I'm feeling a little better today. I'm very sore and tired. I have about a 9 inch incision running from above my belly button to my pubes with staples holding it closed and I have a belly band with Velcro that I have to wear.

I'm fine and thanks in advance for the well wishes.

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, the you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Circus at "The Big 'E" (The Eastern States Exposition)

Nancy's Mom is a tour bus guide and she took Nancy on a recent trip down to Springfield, MA to the "The Big 'E'" (eastern states exposition).


These are a couple pics of the elephants in the circus.

Here's a link to the set on Flikr.

More weight loss pictures

This is my before and after video I made back in March.


Me in a robe I USED to wear.


I could barely button this up then...


Now, we BOTH fit in it!!

I have now lost a total 260 pounds!

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, this site is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

July 4th tripity, trip! Food, fun and folks!

This was our annual July 4th lobster pot! Sunday we gorged ourselves on Lobster, corn on the cob, and fresh strawberry pie ala mode! YUM!!! We had Mom down and our friend "D" came over and ate with us too.

"P" house and puppy sat for us while we went to Peaks Island Thursday afternoon, stayed over one night and then back home.

She REALLY helped with painting the double living rooms downstairs! More pictures of that coming soon!

Last fall we went to a benefit (for George Carman who suffers from cystic fibrosis) motorcycle ride and pork roast. I won a gift certificate for a nights stay and a dinner voucher at the Inn on Peaks Island.

It was simply wonderful!! Gorgeous weather, beautiful views, delicious food, yummy drinks, fantastic company (smooooooch -----> sweet meat) super comfy king size bed, pristine room with a luxurious jet tub - simple divine!!!


This is The Inn on Peaks Island, where we stayed on the third. GORGEOUS!!


Arriving on the island.


Nancy and I on our private deck.


The king size bed!


The view from the couch.


Heading back down to the dock Friday morning.


Us waiting on the ferry.


The ferry we rode over and back.

A video on the ferry back to Portland.

Some of Augusta's fireworks. Taken with my new phone, a Samsung Slider.

More fireworks, even more pics and videos HERE.


Hope you all had a WONDERFUL holiday!

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, this site is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

The Way Life Should Be: Marriage in Maine

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, this site is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

A sweet story...

I came out many years ago - to myself. You see this was 1980. We, my then partner and I, were each others' "firsts." As in, first foray into lesbianism and all it's glory! We quite literally thought we were the only two women who loved women, who ever lived on this planet, in this life form - EVER!

Ah! To be young and innocent again!

Ha!

We first learned of other lesbians by going to the library and taking out any book we'd find on the subject. I ran across a number of books that touted the virtues of Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin.

Wow! I really grew to look up to these two as true pioneers in the lesbian visibility/ rights department!

I'm so heartened to know that they are still together! Here I am on my 7th relationship. Yep, all with women, I've never been with a man.

I wish I could have found the woman I'm with now when we both were kids!

I really want to spend the rest of my life with this woman. Whatever life is left for us, I am 47 years old ya know? My Mom wonders how she could have a 47 year old kid!!?

I want to be with this woman so much so that I want to be legally married to her!


Nancy,

Will you marry me?

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"I now pronounce you wife and wife"

If you cry at weddings, grab a hankie; the news of these upcoming nuptials already has me tearing up at my desk. Next Monday, June 16, at 5 p.m. PDT, Mayor Gavin Newsom will preside over the marriage of Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 83, at San Francisco City Hall, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

You may well remember these two brides from their first trip to the altar back in February 2004. Martin and Lyon, who have been together more than 50 years, were the first same-sex couple to be issued a marriage license by the city of San Francisco. (For a refresher, their iconic wedding photos are here and here.)

Mayor Newsom has said that Lyon and Martin's love story inspired him to start issuing marriage licenses to lesbians and gays. But the couple's first marriage license and those of more than 4,000 other couples who got hitched during San Francisco's Winter of Love were later ruled invalid by the courts. Undaunted, Lyon and Martin became plaintiffs in the lawsuit that in May led the California Supreme Court to rule that same-sex couples do have a right to marry.

This isn't the first time that Lyon and Martin have broken new ground. Back in the '50s, they were also pioneers, founding the country's very first lesbian organization. "The couple first met in Seattle in 1950 and moved in together in a Castro Street apartment on Valentine's Day 1953," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. "Two years later, Lyon and Martin and three other lesbian couples founded the Daughters of Bilitis, which historians call the first lesbian organization in the United States. Lyon and Martin have been leaders of the lesbian community ever since. Their organization's monthly magazine, the Ladder, was an influential publication in the LGBT rights movement and began publication in 1956. Both women were inducted into the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Hall of Fame. A San Francisco medical organization founded in 1979 as a clinic for lesbians -- Lyon Martin Health Services -- was named for them."

The state of California officially starts issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on the morning of June 17. But California has granted permission to San Francisco to start conducting same-sex ceremonies at 5:01 p.m. on June 16, after the state's official workday ends. In deference to their pioneering role, Lyon and Martin's wedding will be the only same-sex marriage held in San Francisco on the evening of June 16. The next morning, same-sex couples around the state will be free to marry, too.

Broadsheet Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, think it's fitting for San Francisco to honor Lyon and Martin's lifetimes of activism by letting them go first: "At a time when being openly gay cost you everything you cared about, they were. And they took risks and spoke out from the 1950s on in a way that I certainly do not believe I would have nor would most of us," Kendell said. Inviting the couple to be the first to marry "is the absolute least we can do to acknowledge how critical their legacy is to the lives of all of us."

Lyon told the San Francisco Chronicle that it's "heartwarming" that San Francisco wants her and Martin to be the first couple to marry, but ever the activist, she said that what really matters is that so many other couples will now have the chance to do so, too: "Hundreds of thousands of couples will be getting married this time, and that's the important thing," Lyon said. "It's something that has been due for a long time, and thank God, it's here."

-- Katharine Mieszkowski

Motorcycle ride - not for slow dial up connections!

Isn't the price of gas !!!????



Until my shoulder heals up some more I am relegated to the "b*tch seat" on Nancy's bike - Bella, an 1100 Yamaha V-Star.





I am wearing my new Skid-Lid, half helmet with a loverly purple rose on each side! Aren't you jealous!? You should be!! HA!






Here's a couple of little videos I shot while riding along RT. 196 from Topsham to Lisbon Falls. That's our freind "D" riding lead.

Link to first video.

Link to second video.

And a google map -

View Larger Map



Moxie only costs .99 at this little corner store in Lisbon Falls! *G*

We had a WONDERFUL ride!! It was warm, sunny, and there were luscious flower scents all along the way! We a GREAT ride!

Weekend

Yesterday I went to work again. I worked from noon 'til four. It was good. Good to get out of the house other than errand running or going up to Mom's. I was tired out after getting home last night!! I'm vastly overestimating how quickly my shoulder is healing. Don't misunderstand... it's healing wonderfully and my physical therapist, Dana, say that it's leaps and bounds ahead of my right shoulder, which was repaired by the same surgeon last summer. I'm being impatient. Because it's doing so well I want it to be better, completely. NOW! Dammit!! I'm tired of being in a sling, I'm tired of being severely limited as to what I can do. I'm tired of it hurting. I'm just impatient.

I'd put some turkey cutlets in the crock pot yesterday morning along with some crushed Italian tomatoes and paste and some Italian veggies and mushrooms. What makes them Italian veggies as opposed to... say French veggies I'll never understand. *G* It was delicious when I got home and we ate. I LOVE no fuss yummy meals!

While I was gone, Nancy worked some more upstairs... details. DETAILS! The old saying "The devil is in the details" makes perfect sense to me. These rooms are taking much longer than we'd anticipated. She scraped and primed the crown molding in the bedroom and touched up ceiling spots in both rooms.

This morning after leisurely cups of coffee and home made banana walnut muffins on the front porch, we went upstairs and worked a bit more. She painted out the crown molding in the trim color while I finished caulking and trimming out the two windows. She then moved into the dressing room and scraped and taped the crown molding in there. I also vacuumed up all the loose paint chips from the painted floor and we realized that it was chipping. Easily. Ak! So, that will get another coat of paint and then a final coat of satin finish polyurethane. Hopefully that will stop the chipping.

This afternoon we are being deck dogs again. It rained yesterday and today it's a mix of clouds and sun, but nice and warm... so here we sit, me putzing on the laptop and her doing her Sudoko and reading her book. The dogs are lazing in the sun too!

Tomorrow is back to reality. Nancy goes back to work and I have a big day with Mom. It's our monthly go-to-lunch-with-the-the-low-vision-group and then I'll do her groceries.

On Tuesday I'll get back to trimming out the dressing room.

Connie

~ Life's too short to use cheap beads! ~

Nancy, Dilly and Nero

Daddi, Dilly and Nero
Originally uploaded by connie_clays

Now, doesn't this look like an idyllic scene??

We spent Sunday afternoon being deck dogs. It was wonderful!

Offensive?? I think not!!

Yesterdays post was NOT my norm. I'm not very political, although I do follow what affects me. This blog is for me, a place where I can talk about me, my loving partner, our home, our beloved pets and of course my main focus is my art work. It seems every time I stray from my regular focus and comment on something political, as I did yesterday, that's the day that someone comes to my blog, for the first time, looking for polymer clay work or jewelry, they see that political (usually about my Lesbianism) post and wham! They are so offended that they find it necessary to shoot me an email telling me what a terrible person I am for throwing my sexuality in their face! They (innocently) are looking for artwork and they happen across my "offensive post!" Sheesh! Get a grip people! Talking about my basic rights as a human being having been denied me is NOT offensive. Talking about what my (yes, female) partner did to help me whilst I was having shoulder surgery is NOT offensive! I read other artistic blogs all the time and they always post about their family life and various things that affect them. Do I find that offensive?? Nope. And if I did, I'd simply mark it as "read" in my reader and go on about my day! We all have things in our lives and beliefs that not everyone is going to agree upon! Just let it be and don't bash someone because they do or believe in something that you don't!

*shaking head*

So, without further political ado.... here's some shots of the flowers and yard I took the other day!

Ah spring!

Here's Dilly underneath the flowering tree in our back yard. It always puts on a glorious show in the spring! It smells nice too! Anyone know what kind of tree it is?

Dilly and the lilac...

Lilac close up.

My tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, basil and chive plants.

A flowering bush out front, I believe it's some kind of holly.

Our house plants live on the front porch all summer, the aloe has seen better days, seems every time it gets to looking good the dog knocks it over and breaks a bunch of leaves! The orangy-red begonia was sent to me by a dear woman I know when I had my shoulder surgery. It's quite lovely!

And our front porch...

ooops!

Better not look at that last foto, it has a rainbow flag (gay pride) hanging there in your face!

*removing tongue from cheek!*

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!!

Connie

~ Life's too short to use cheap beads! ~

Scary Driveway Pig

Scary Driveway Pig
Originally uploaded by connie_clays

Nancy happened upon this "wild boar" AKA the Scary Driveway Pig while doing field work the other day!

Ha!

My partner, Nancy rocks!!

My partner, Nancy rocks!!

We had a wonderful 5 days when she took off for my surgery. I admit Wednesday wasn't the best day ever, but the rest were just great! She saw to my every need, my every whim and desire. We did very little except lay about and watch TV. She did groceries and bought me all sorts of fun things like puddings and granola bars and ruby red grapefruit juice and sushi for lunch!!

YUM!!!

It was tough on her and me, her going back to work yesterday. Mondays are her long day and she left around 8AM and didn't arrive back home until a little past 8PM! I missed her terribly!

She is certainly a keeper!

Connie
~ Life's too short to use cheap beads! ~

Surgery, pain and healing

I had my shoulder surgery last Wednesday. Things went well, no real surprises this time around. I had a large rotator cuff tear and a LOT of arthritis. He went in and repaired the tear and scraped out the arthritis. LOTS of pain upon awakening in recovery. Apparently they've had a lot of trouble with the pain pumps leaking and not working correctly, so they aren't using them any more!!! The nurses were telling Nancy that they've had a TON of trouble with folks coming out of surgery in huge amounts of agonizing pain. After pumping me full of narcotics that did very little to relieve me, the anesthesiologist gave me a pain blocker in my neck artery. Knocked me out for hours! We finally got home around 5PM, we arrived at the hospital at 9AM. It was a long day!!

Sweetie was a champ though it all!! I am a total bitch when I have unresolved pain. I can hear the little sane censure voice in the back of my head telling me to keep my mouth shut and be nice, but the drugs sap my patience and make me say the the most mean things to sweetie and the poor nurses who are all doing their absolute best to take care of me. All the while, my mouth is running on and on, spewing sarcastic comments and malevolent statements aimed at whomever happens to be within earshot. Immediately upon saying them, I'm apologizing for them!

*sigh*

Because of all the drugs I had on board, they were very concerned about me sleeping and told sweetie to pay attention to my breathing that night. We all slept downstairs on the couches, and I was awake practically every hour on the hour!! Sweetie got very little sleep, I was in agony and poor Dilly had no clue what was going on except she knew I was not right and she sat and stared at me most of the night.

Bone surgery is the most painful kind of surgery there is! Ow!

More later... typing one handed sucks.....