Monday, October 22, 2007

Things I almost forgot about my Dad


The picture above was probably taken about 1921 -- my Dad and his baby brother Donald.

I was thinking about my Dad a couple weeks ago when I suddenly remembered that he could play the harmonica. Then I recalled an evening when a stranger stopped by the house. A stranger with a concertina. He sat in our railroad house living room and played a bunch of tunes. And before he quit, Dad got out his harmonica and accompanied the fellow on a couple.

I remembered that, although Dad didn't seem to be any sort of a singer, he could yodel cowboy style.

I remember that on rare occasions he would travel 'up the line' to the railroad house at Corfu where he would play a mysterious card game named 'Pan' with a group of mostly Greek railroaders. Pan was mysterious to me because of the great stack of cards that occupied the center of the table ... many, many decks of cards shuffled together.

I remembered how my Dad could skate backward and do figure eights.

And I remembered how he once stopped the car after traversing a rain shower, and let my brother Neil and I race away through the sagebrush, chasing a rainbow for its pot of gold. Everyone should get to do that at least once in a lifetime. At least once.


Friday, October 19, 2007

Big C


It's been a while since I've said anything about my Cancer and my Treatment. I've switched oncologists, or rather Bookworm switched my oncologists for me. From Dr. Uncommunicative to Dr. Communicative. I've had one chemo treatment with the new Dr. Kim and I came away from it with a better understanding of what's hopefully going on.

Dr. Kim had a new cat scan generated and showed me the pertinent frames compared to the original cat scan made eight months ago. The 'rind' being formed by the asbestosis growing on the outside of my right lung has visibly thickened over the eight months .... though some of the thickening is scar tissue from the biopsy procedure -- and the liquid that had accumulated in the right lung was no longer in evidence. The node with the tumor was totally unchanged. The original doc had described it as 'shrunken', but it wasn't. Dr. Kim said you don't 'shrink' them, so to speak, you 'arrest' them in their progress. And that is a measure of success.

The current chemo protocol takes about an hour and forty-five minutes, as compared to the original seven plus hours. Afterwards, I was sick for two days, rather than five or six. So that's an improvement! I believe I am running out of breath a little less quickly and have been able to catch up on a lot of little tasks that have been ignored for weeks. And today I am feeling pretty good.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

To Photos .....




There is a link to the right that goes to my photo pages, but if it refuses to work for you, try the site address below. I've posted 32 'vows' pix there ....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10561585@N00/

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Wonders of Short Notice


Sunday afternoon, about 1:15, I was idly watching a football game on the new flatter'n a pancake TV ... not even sure who it was ... nobody I was rooting for anyway, an' I hear this with my left ear - the one pointed at the kitchen telephone.

"We're going to renew our vows at 4:30 and it would be real nice if you could come. Okay. See ya!"

"Who were you talking to?" I inquire as Bookworm crossed the room towards the main phone in the Family Room.

"Chris." And she dials a number and gets someone's answering machine. "Hi, Jim and I are going to renew our vows at 4:30 today and it'd be really great if you could be here. There'll be pumpkin pie and champaigne and you can bring some food if you want. And come as you are!"

My mind begins to absorb the info it's receiving and it comes to me that something real is rolling downhill and picking up speed. RENEWING OUR VOWS! And then my mind flashes to the one small, lonely Safeway pumpkin pie in the freezer ... cooking required.

On and on she rolls, call after call, half answering machines, half actual people. "RENEWING OUR VOWS!" "4:30!" "Come!"

By now it's after 1:30 and I'm thinking this is insane ... there's no planning .... there's no champaigne ... she'll be lucky to get a half dozen people here on three hour's notice.

At this point Rev. Liz rings the bell and presents herself to do her pastoral duty by me - me being the sick person and a legitimate center of attention. But no, the day hath fled in another direction. Rev. Liz is confiscated and incorporated into the ceremonial plan and then set to work helping to clean up the house and make it presentable to the imagined guests.

Are you thinking What ceremonial plan? Well, somehow granddaughter Rachel has fallen in with Bookworm's enthusiasm and is on the computer, running off copies of 'vows'. Except for the living room, the house is a bleeding mess, stacks of boxes full of books and junk, BUT - not to worry - Rachel and Kay rush off to Safeway and return with more pies and numerous bottles of champagne.

Three pies go into the oven together. Rev. Liz glances over the 'vows' and says something to the effect of "we can work with this." There is a great and prolonged swiffing and swaffing with brooms, vacuum cleaners and swifers. Junk begins to vanish ... into the laundry room. Rachel hoses off the deck and 'arranges' the deck furniture to hint at the coming ceremony. By 4:00, everything is spick and span and most partylike and the three of us are pokin' at the pumpkin pies with knives, trying to figure out if they are done yet. I offer the wisdom, "I think it may take longer when you try to bake three pies at once."

4:15 -- we await in great anticipation. What will be the actual effect of those phone calls. Seems like most of them were to machines. What if only a couple people show up .... plenty of pie then, I guess.

4:30 -- counting Rachel and Bookworm and I, there are thirty people wandering thru the house, admiring the new floors, new paint, and new furniture. Fellow bloggers 'Mom' and 'Brown Shoes' are here. Grandson Aleister shows up with his other grandmother. Rev. Liz's husband arrives and pops a loaf of bread into the oven to bake. And friends, friends everywhere.

Around 5:00, we are all assembled on the deck where short speeches are made [Aleister stood forth in turn and announced "You are the best grandma and grandpa in the world!"], poems are read, vows and rings and kisses exchanged .... and then the corks did begin to pop & fly.

Special thanks to Rachel, who did dozens of tasks just as they were needed, prepped the scene, and took 304 photographs. Special thanks to Rev. Liz for adding a slightly formal touch while letting it flow. And a special, special thanks to Bookworm for having such an awesome spontaneous outbreak. And all my love is aimed out there at all you wonderful friends who dropped what you were doing and came a runnin'! I'm glad we had the chance to share that with all of you. I'm still a little stunned!


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