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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Kiss a Stingray?

Yep, one of the highlights of the cruise.

Getting acquainted

The Kiss.

Rachel, a 120lb female, was a real sweetheart!

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Merry Christmas, John. Your pc is sleeping...

Life is good. I've just returned from a Caribbean cruise; one less item on the bucket list. Even better, there was encouraging news Christmas eve from the medical establishment. In response to lingering concern over spots on my liver discovered in February, I endured a couple of industrial strength chemo sessions in November. The latest CT scan revealed no change, which indicates the liver problem has "stabilized".

So I'm free again to pursue my bucket list. Next item, thanks to a Christmas present from brother Larry & his wife Diane, a guided 2-hour tour through uptown Charlotte on a Segway Personal Transporter, a.k.a., Robotic Mobility Platform! Yes!

All things considered, I'm doing very well. My appetite is good. My energy is good. And above all, my outlook is positive. What else could it be with all the support I receive from family, friends, former colleagues--and the "oncology angels" who administer the chemo at Oncology Specialists of Charlotte. Thank you all!

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Steps

Encouraged by the wind,
      maple, oak, and poplar
            spread a crispy carpet
                 of crimson, gold, and beige,
                       hiding hazard to aging bones
                            of hollows, roots, and stones.

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Do you hear what I hear?

   God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
     then walks with us silently out of the night.

     These are the words we dimly hear:

     You, sent out beyond your recall,
     go to the limits of your longing.
     Embody me.

     Flare up like a flame
     and make big shadows I can move in.

     Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
     Just keep going. No feeling is final.
     Don't let yourself lose me.

     Nearby is the country they call life.
     You will know it by its seriousness.

     Give me your hand.

         Book of Hours, I 59 --Reiner Maria Rilke

             If this does not speak to you, 
                      you are not listening properly.

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Catching up

                             Honest–To: God

                        Cancer?...
                                     ...me!!!
                        Was it something I said?

It has been several weeks since I've posted anything regarding my pc, as before, an indication that things are going moderately well.

In late August, doctors repaired the hernia that had developed after the Whipple procedure. As a result I now have a 9-inch long scar, a flat belly, and no navel. I'm thinking about joining a freak show as "The Man with No Navel!"

Every month or so the lab runs tests of my blood drawn by the newest member of the lab, a young woman known as "Baby Vampire". My "tumor indicator" has been high of late, but no conclusive diagnosis. Still, I am to begin a new series of chemotherapy next Monday. Just two treatments over 21 days, but yet another delay in getting to my "bucket list".

I am approaching my 16-month anniversary as a cancer survivor–still upbeat, feeling great and gaining weight.

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