Library therapy

For my cattitude

I wrote in my last newsletter about having graduated, in physical therapy for my ankle injury, from crutches and a brace to some walking poles and a list of detailed exercise instructions about as long as Tolstoy's book War and Peace. One of these instructions was to walk a certain number of steps one day per week *however* these steps were to happen in certain conditions: on flat ground and I needed to be able to sit down to take breaks. My therapist suggested going to a gym and walking on a walking track, not a treadmill, provided there was a place to sit down.

Knowing from gym memberships in the past what made walking a gym track bearable was doing it with my wife

J. L. Sullens

and the fun conversations we'd have while going around the hamster wheel. Doing the track without her at the snail's pace I'd have to go, at least at first, sounded about as fun as getting my nails done with a circular saw. I knew that I would do the requested track walking exercises a time or two and then I'd stop.

So I asked my physical therapist about walking in gardens - like the Portland Japanese Garden or the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and Garden. The therapist very firmly said I was weeks or more away from being able to do the inclined ground in the Japanese Garden. About the Historic Site the therapist was very reluctant due to the slightly uneven ground but said I could try it. Long story short, I gingerly and tentatively tried a visit to a part of the park that to my eyes looked like flat ground, and very soon my ankle demanded to know why I was attempting to climb the Swiss Alps.

Seriously bummed about the inability to visit gardens I felt doomed to slowly circling the gym.

The next morning at breakfast I gave myself a pep talk via my sketchbook with a quote from a book I illustrated some time ago: Dr. Bob's Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit.

Our cat helped me adjust my attitude as I put color paints on the page…

… and our cat was still helping with my attitude as I put ink lines over the dried paint.

That's how it went until I'd finished the sketchbook page…

…and I had thought of a way to walk on flat ground, with access to chairs *and* it'd be fun and something I'd be more likely to continue doing.

I would visit the public library!!! They have flat floors and chairs and best of all books!!! Our local library also has a number of branches perhaps I could visit all, or at least many, of them??!! How many branches are there??Perhaps I could make an artist book record of my library visits??!!

All excited about this thought I shared it with my wife who happily agreed to the project!! (I can't drive yet due to my ankle.) Off we went to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library's luscious 5 story building downtown! There, thank heavens, I found my friend Wendy. My wife took this picture of me and Wendy with my new sketchbook labeled “My Public Library Book Of Mental Adventures”.

Wendy gave me a list of all 15 of the library branches and some library stickers so I could decorate my book.

Then I walked slowly, with my walking poles, around the library collecting books with the help of other librarians and I wrote these pages during my “gotta sit down now" moments.

I wore myself out in the process (this is probably why the therapist said to do this exercise only once a week or so) but I feel energized and enthusiastic about my new library book project which will undoubtedly, unfold very slowly and over time take flight.

In the meantime my cattitude has now been fully adjusted and I am voting myself “most likely” to continue my weekly library therapy!!

I hope you have a good day and are able to enjoy your public library too! 💚💚

Thank you, to all of you, for your ongoing patronage and support of my work! I appreciate every one of you! If you're a newly paid subscriber please feel free to download any or all of the 15 ebooks that I've written and illustrated which you can download and access anytime you wish from this index page.
Thank you again for being here!! 💚💚