I’ve been crazy busy this last week and a half getting paintings ready for the show in July. Other than not being able to find my favorite spray varnish, the work has been coming along nicely. Which is good, because on a personal level, I’ve been struggling with my old 9/11 PTSD the whole time. Need I remind you the Birds series began when Trump was inaugurated in 2017? Although painting helps, my sleep is mixed up because of dystopian nightmares, and I don’t want to leave the house. One positive thing that has come out of this is I’ve repainted three pieces I wasn’t happy with. They weren’t bad, they just didn’t sing. One of them, the American Bald Eagle ABE, has been repainted twice. When I posted him on Facebook the other day, someone who I respect said it was devastating. I loved that. Another of the do overs is Gideon, the first painting I did from scratch after the initial cataract surgery. When I wrote about him in December, I mentioned how surprised I was that he wasn’t as angry as I was feeling. Wary, yes, alert, but not nearly as upset as one might expect, given the chaos in my life at the time - my WIFI dying, finding out all the family history I grew up believing was a boatload of blarney, having my eye cut open etc, and of course, the election. What changed this week was his background. He previously had my coppery golden signature color. Coppery gold has a lovely surface. It compliments everything and most importantly, it is safe. Gideon’s’s new pale peachy color might be regarded as even safer, except now he really pops. In fact, ABE also had that coppery background the first time around, and he certainly pops more now on his baby blue, too. The third bird that has been done over bothered me so much, I never even posted about him. I’m still not certain if I’m finished with him yet, so maybe I won’t show you him until I am sure. He plays nicely with a piece I started before my UK trip and completed today, so maybe next time. I do need to report that the post cataract surgery saga continues. As you may recall, I finally got a new prescription for lenses to correct my double vision and seeing close up issues. I had high hopes the new glasses would be ready in time for the UK trip, but of course, they were not. Instead, I went with my old prescription sunglasses that deal with the double vision but interfere with my new distance vision, and several pairs of reading glasses in different strengths - which is what I’ve been doing since November and am still doing today. Because, surprise surprise, when I picked up the new glasses upon my return, they weren’t right. Partly because of a lab error and partly because the prescription was wrong. So back to the lab they went. Fingers crossed, hopefully they will be ready by the end of next week. Or the week after that. Onward.