Still here!

Three of the "Girls"

July 4th was the second anniversary of the onset of the symptoms which eventually lead to the diagnosis of my pancreatic cancer. Though I experience almost constant indigestion (belch!), I am content and enjoying my life among family and friends.

I sold the house in Sedona which provides me with the means to pursue my "bucket list". My brother and his wife continue to tolerate the neighborly presence of my fifth wheel in their front yard. Romeo is my constant companion and source of solace.

I receive visitors--most recently, Jane McHan, who was visiting her brother who lives nearby. I'm busy: I mow the six-acre lawn and just completed construction on a secure home for our new brood of eight Rhode Island Red hens. No eggs yet, but they are a delight to watch as they go about their peculiar chicken ways.

All things considered, due in no small part to your continuing support, life is good.

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Justice...?

OMG! George Zimmerman is free! How did this happen?

What a pity Trayvon Martin didn't kill Zimmerman with his "sidewalk weapon". Martin, a seventeen year-old boy, was stalked by an adult male with a handgun.  Surely he had the right to defend himself and would have been exonerated by Florida's "Stand your Ground" provision. Justice would have been served. 

Our economy is broken. Our government is broken. Our criminal justice system is broken. How long before we admit that the proud U.S.A. is a failed nation?

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Not Gone Guys

Ram Dass 1968: Be Here Now

Ram Dass

Ram Dass 2002: Still Here

John Floyd 2013: Me, too!

Wayne Dyer

Those who know me, know that Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now, is one of my heroes, along with Wayne Dyer of Your Erroneous Zones fame. At times I feel the three of us (and others perhaps) are living parallel alternative lives of the same being. The three of us are mature, bald, stocky, PhD psychologists shaped by the turbulent sixties.

We are all educators, the two of them on a much grander scale than me, though I am proud of having pioneered online Distance Education in 1996 at UMUC in Europe.

I've not met Wayne Dyer but have met Ram Dass on two occasions, the first at an assembly on the campus of Duke University in 1970. I was star-struck, in awe of his charisma, his presence, his utter nowness. Dass suffered a stroke in 1997. When I met him again at a Prophets Conference in Sedona, AZ, in 2004, he was in a wheelchair, but except for the expressive aphasia, he was unchanged.

In so far as I know, Dyer is in good health. Dass and I have had our personal challenges but are Still Here -- and still in the Now.

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Show and Tell

At the risk of seeming a braggart and a show-off... I just purchased a 2013 Toyota Prius. You know, the ultimate eco-friendly, neo-Yuppie hybrid auto.

The whole process from choosing the Prius to settling into its new car smell brought to mind the purchase of my very first new car nearly half a century ago, a 1967 VW Beetle. Like the VW, the Prius looks like no other car on the road. It's almost as much fun to drive as the "four on the floor" VW and it gets 50 mpg!

Unlike the VW the Prius is loaded with gadgetry, e.g., a solar powered ventilation system to prevent heat build up in the interior when parked in the sun and a remote control to turn the A/C on a few minutes before you return to the car.

I may never get around to learning how to work all the gadgets, but I'll have fun trying!

P.S.
The name Prius is not derived, as some think, from the Greek god of fertility Priapus, but from the Latin word for "to go before". Volkswagen means "people's car", but it had some "going before" in it too.

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Another CT-scan...

Another reprieve... Another cruise!

I had my umpteenth CT scan last week. Only slight growth (.5 cm) of the spot on the liver. All together à la Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah!

I will undergo further chemo treatment, but not until after a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. I'm off again to blue skies, turquoise water, and warm breezes with my friend Liz, brother Larry & Diane, and sister Margie & Jerry. Party time in Puerto Rico, Grand Turk, and St. Thomas!

Hasta la vista! And Happy Valentine's Day!

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A dog's life

Junior high was a seminal time of my life. The early 1950's: Rock and Roll was emerging from the Afro-American culture with songs like "Dance with me Henry", "Annie had a Baby", and "Sixty-minute Man". I discovered girls and, to please them, learned to dance. I took up the trumpet and with diligent practice quickly moved up to the first section in the school band. And--the world of literature opened up to me, beginning with Albert Payson Terhune's tales of a collie named Lad.

I recently re-read Lad: A Dog, which was first published in 1917. The language is stilted, the action not quite credible, and anthropomorphism abounds. Even so, the text retains its cloying charm and the emotional power to elicit the tears and joys usually associated with stories about man's best friend.

I no longer play the trumpet, but I do still listen to '50s music and dance with girls when I get the chance. I've read hundreds of novels--a few of my favorites (alphabetically):

     Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
     Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (unlike Paul Ryan I've out-grown it)
     Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
     Door into Summer by Robert Heinlein
     Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
     Lord of the Flies by William Golding 
     The Magus by John Fowles (I own a first edition)
     The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
     The Sot Weed Factor by John Barth
    
And it all started with Lad: A Dog.

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Something old, something new...

It's been over a month since I've posted anything to this blog. Still, no news is good news. No change in the status of my pc. However, I feel obliged to enter something just to keep this blog alive. So...

Having spent more than twenty years in Germany, I collected more than a few cross-cultural traditions. One for the winter months was the enjoyment of Gluhwein, in English, hot mulled wine. You can buy teabags to use in making Gluhwein, but the old fashioned way is more authentic and better tasting.

            Gluhwein for One
In a 1 or 2 quart pan:
   3/4 cu water
   1/4 cu sugar
   peel of 1/2 orange, in strips
   peel of 1/2 lemon, in strips
   1 stick cinnamon, in pieces
   6 whole cloves
Boil for ten minutes

Strain, retain liquid & add:
   2 cu red wine
   1/8 cu Triple-Sec
Heat without boiling
Serve hot in a coffee or tea cup

          Gluhwein for Two:
   Double water, sugar, wine, & Triple-Sec

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