Jean MacDonald

Follow @macgenie on Micro.blog.

I’ve been on my own the last week, with visitors nearly every day to help out with stuff. I’ve figured out how to do a lot with crutches and/or wheelchair. But the additional hopping around has resulted in more pain in my knee > more painkillers > more naps. 😔

→ 3:33 PM, Aug 19

You might think that with a podcast called @theweeklyreview, @jamesdempsey and I would never miss this important task management ritual. But we fell off the wagon. Listening to the GTD book in audio format helped us to recommit. The latest episode of TWR is here.

→ 12:30 PM, Aug 16

Thanks for the photos! @philipbrewer, @dejus, @dgreene196, @renem, @ron, @hutaffe, @joec, @ronguest, @manton, @Bruce, @Gabz, @cm, @smokey, @martinfeld, @gr36, @Miraz, @jacob, @khurtwilliams, @camacho, @samgrover, @mattfinlayson, @pip, @abridge, @walter, @poetalegre, @vasta!

→ 1:51 PM, Aug 15

It’s the last day of the photoblogging challenge. The theme is gratitude.

I am grateful to everyone who shared their world with me via photographs. I really enjoyed them, and they helped make these 11 days stuck in bed more interesting.

→ 1:50 PM, Aug 15

Day 10 of the convalescent’s photo challenge. The theme: friends.

Here’s my friend Oliver: he drove from Munich to Trieste to rescue me from the hospital, took me back to Ljubljana, and then Munich for my flight home.

(Photo: pre-accident fun at the Gaisberg, Salzburg)

→ 4:43 PM, Aug 14

Day 9 of the photo challenge is here: persistence is the theme.

Only two days to go. This has been a wonderful tonic for me. I am doing a lot better, though I’m not quite up to speed for getting lots done. I always have the energy to look at all your great photos. ☺️

→ 10:39 AM, Aug 13

Six more days to apply to Apple Entrepreneur Camp for women-founded and women-led businesses. This program looks really great!

→ 10:10 AM, Aug 13

It’s Day 8 of the convalescent’s photoblogging challenge, the theme is happiness. Coincidentally it’s also the day I was reunited with my guinea pigs. 🥰

→ 10:48 AM, Aug 12

It’s Day 7 of the the convalescent’s photoblogging challenge and the theme is relief, like I felt when this transport that got me to my connecting flight in Iceland just in time. I’m not sure what I would have done if I missed the flight to Portland, alone and non-ambulatory.

→ 11:01 PM, Aug 10

It’s been a month since I produced a podcast. I figured out how to set up in bed, and I’m really happy to share a new episode of @TheWeeklyReview, featuring @jamesdempsey’s Canadian odyssey.

Coming shortly: a new episode of @voyager_cast! 🖖

→ 11:34 AM, Aug 9

Today’s photoblog challenge theme is “determination.” A couple of inspiring ones by Pip and Miraz are up already.

I created the list of themes by brainstorming what I need to get through this convalescence with a positive outlook. Each photo has helped me be more mindful. ❤️

→ 8:55 AM, Aug 9

So lovely to see everyone’s contribution for today’s photoblogging challenge theme “family”. I have one to contribute: my sister Judy, arriving from Sweden, at the Trieste ER to rescue me after my 24+ hour visit. Just remembering this moment brings tears of joy, gratitude.

→ 10:14 AM, Aug 8

Turns out that being laid up is a new opportunity to research and buy gadgets…

→ 6:24 PM, Aug 7

Thanks for all the photos on today’s theme of “relaxation” in the convalescent’s photoblog challenge. Each one gave me a pause in which I took a breath and let go a little bit more, relaxing into the reality of living a mostly horizontal life for now. 🛏

Next up: “family”

→ 3:42 PM, Aug 7

Thanks to everyone who shared photos in my convalescent’s photoblogging challenge. Your Patience and Movement contributions have brought a smile to my face. The theme for Day 3 is Relaxation. Even though I spend 95% in bed right now, I don’t think I’m actually relaxing. 😕

→ 4:43 PM, Aug 6

Accepted reality and marked myself as “unavailable” for Rover dog walks until the end of September. I’m also sad to be missing out on @lyft driving the next two months. Summer is a fun time to transport happy visitors to Portland. ☀️🚗

→ 12:05 PM, Aug 5

John August wrote this on Twitter, which made me literally laugh out loud, aka LLOL.

I wrote about this myth that the WGA refuses to negotiate. (I put it on my blog, which is like Medium except I own it.)

→ 11:51 AM, Aug 5

I created a short photoblogging challenge with the selfish purpose of giving me something to look forward while confined to bed as my knee surgery heals. Each day’s theme is something I need to keep in mind. For today, to kick off the challenge, it’s patience. 📷

→ 8:57 AM, Aug 5

A Convalescent's Request: Share Your Photos With Me
It’s been three weeks since my mishap in Trieste. It will be three more weeks of staying in bed while the knee surgery heals.

There are a lot of things I miss about being ambulatory. One challenge to my mental health is that my view is very limited. The bedroom and the bathroom are the only two places I see. Related to that, I realize how much I miss taking photos. There are only so many photos I can take of my leg in a brace. Even if I did leave this corner of my house, I wouldn’t be able to maneuver my iPhone to take a photo while balancing on crutches.

So I’m asking you, dear internet friends, to share some photos with me and give me some new views. I’ve created a daily photoblog challenge to make it more fun. I’ve chosen 11 days worth of themes that will inspire and cheer me. Tag me (@macgenie) so I’ll be sure to see them. I will collect them and share them on my blog as well.
- Day 1: Patience
- Day 2: Movement
- Day 3: Relaxation
- Day 4: Family
- Day 5: Determination
- Day 6: Support
- Day 7: Relief
- Day 8: Happiness
- Day 9: Persistence
- Day 10: Friends
- Day 11: Gratitude
Thanks for giving me something to look forward to.
→ 8:48 AM, Aug 5

All Structures Are Unstable. (Knees Included)

One of my favorite passages from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I’ve been thinking about it a lot during this long wait to regain mobility. My mishap was a big lesson in how quickly your life can change, and how little you control what happens.

As I was walking with a friend through a beautiful nature reserve near Malibu in California, we came upon the ruins of what had been once a country house, destroyed by a fire several decades ago. As we approached the property, long overgrown with trees and all kinds of magnificent plants, there was a sign by the side of the trail put there by the park authorities. It read: DANGER. ALL STRUCTURES ARE UNSTABLE.

I said to my friend, “That’s a profound sutra (sacred scripture).” And we stood there in awe. Once you realize and accept that all structures (forms ) are unstable, even the seemingly solid material ones, peace arises within you. This is because the recognition of the impermanence of all forms awakens you to the dimension of the formless within yourself, that which is beyond death. Jesus called it “eternal life.”

→ 12:26 PM, Aug 4

I received a postcard from myself in Ljubljana which was supposed to be for my dad + stepmom who were staying in my house while I was gone. It was a cushy monthlong guinea-pig sitting gig that turned into two weeks home health care assistance when I returned ahead of schedule.

→ 11:53 AM, Aug 2

I think my nephew was happy to get a Sound Of Music postcard from Salzburg?

→ 7:14 PM, Jul 31

I enjoyed this whole interview with the creator of Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but skip ahead to 4:23 if you want to see the guinea pig headshots she received when casting for the true star of the show. #wheek

→ 7:08 AM, Jul 31

Grace and Ada are on their way to the guinea pig rescue’ boarding service. My best friend is coming from NYC to take care of me for a week. She’s not really a rodent fan. It will be easier for both of us to hand them off to the professionals.

I will still miss them!

→ 12:20 PM, Jul 30

While everyone is inside worrying about taking care of me, we forgot my dog niece Olive is outside wrestling with her life’s big question.

→ 4:57 PM, Jul 29