Mehitabel Asleep - Oil on Canvas - 28" x 22"

Had a good time in open studio today. There were five of us painting. It always amazes me how different our styles are and how much we have all advanced in our skills since we began painting with Trish Harding. She is an amazing teacher. This painting looked like this last time I worked on it. All I did then was the under painting. Now it is on its way to being finished.

After painting I went over to Silverado to see Arvin. This morning I called and suggested we move Arvin to the other side of his room where there is no heater sending hot air right at him in bed. We were going to make the move this afternoon. But when I got there his room was unchanged. Leah and Ali met us and we all talked. Last time we updated Arvin's care plan they mentioned that he had lost quite a bit of cognitive ability since he entered in January. I could see it too. They thought it would be soon time for him to move to the other side of the building where people live who need more care. Today they suggested we consider doing that now rather than make two moves. I could see their point and so we went across to the other side and found a room for him there. On Friday he will move. My heart sank with the realization that he is now failing faster than I had expected. And I was not delighted to realize that the cost of care goes up when more is needed. So my heart is a bit heavier today but I knew that this time would come. 

When I got home Lynda called and we had a good long talk about this news, her sister, her dad and how I am doing. She gave me some thoughts to consider that helped me feel a bit less sad. And her support helped me recognize that there might be some mercy in a quicker progression to this awful disease. So now I am typing and thinking about how life can change and surprise you.

I also spent some time ranting about the current healthcare plans that the Republicans and DT are working on. It makes me sad and angry that we seem to be currently a nation of people who care more about money than they do about the health of everybody in this country. Compassion gives way to greed. I do not understand this way of thinking. How can people not care one wit about how others must live. We have such riches in this country and yet the current government wants to spend money on the tools of war, not on the care of those who need care. I am disgusted and embarrassed to be an American at this moment.