June 2026 Monthly Blog

Happy birthday all of you June babies. If you have a birthday this month let us know. We’ll send you a birthday card!

I’m home from rehab! Oh my how wonderful. The support staff at California Rehabilitation Medical Center are wonderful but there’s nothing like home. I do have to wear my brace. Folks, how did women wear those corsets back in the 1880’s? The brace has a thick plastic back and wide Velcro sides that keep going around the front so that the two sides overlap, Then, to give insult to injury there’s a tab to pull to tighten it further. It does hold my spine in place, and the rest of me. I can’t imagine how those women danced with their corsets on. It’s like some medieval torture.

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I go back to the neurosurgeon July 1 and we’ll see how long I’ll have to wear it. The happy news is that my quad on my left leg no longer aches. The leg will always be weaker than the right, but at least there’s less pain. I am ecstatic! Happy, happy outcome.

I’m telling you all of this by way of excusing myself from not posting the usual newsletter for June 1. I’ll make sure to do the newsletter for July 1.

This weekend is our Barnaby’s birthday. He’s going to be eight years old. What a grownup boy. I have a hard time with how fast time has passed. He was such a little nugget when we first got him. He was floppy with essentially no bones and would just fall asleep wherever he was when he got tired. He fit under the living room chairs and would go under one of them and peer at us from under the chair as if he could see us, but we couldn’t see him. We used to laugh at that. Now, he’s a big 22 pounds with a bark that resonates throughout the community. We do try to hush him, but sometimes a boy has to bark. And he still does zoomies when he’s happy. Today he got to see his dogwalker and his daycare lady. He was so happy that he did zoomies for each. He absolutely doesn’t act like a senior age dog, that’s for sure. Happy birthday Barnaby!

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Have any of you signed up for snail mail? I keep seeing it on Instagram from different mailers (“snailers” doesn’t sound good!). It looks like such fun. I finally gave in and subscribed to one to see what it looks like. I’m anxiously waiting for the mail. Apparently there’s a small painting, some stickers (I love stickers), and a letter besides something else particular to the sender. Would you be interested in that? Let us know.

The other thing I noticed on my Instagram account was a description of ACEO paintings. So, I sent for some sample watercolor paper with a healthy tooth count and thought that I might try that. I had no idea that people collected these small paintings as if they’re like baseball trading cards. It’s interesting that the small paintings became so popular. Of course, I don’t want to take up too many projects. I still am working on my writing and need to get chapter 15 finished. I got held up when I was out of commission for a few weeks in the hospital and rehab. That’s also how I got to spend so much time on Instagram that I found the two projects (snail mail and ACEOs). It just goes to show that having social media time while on pain medication can lead me into a possible quagmire.

Join us on Zoom June 28th at 2:00 pm Pacific when we discuss The Case of the Elusive Bombay Duck by Tarquin Hall. Tahlia and I loved the book, and I know that you will also. We’ll also play a game after the discussion. Prizes for the winners!!!

Wishing you a cozy mystery,

Karin Diskin

May 2026 Monthly Blog