Born To Live

Well, I am putting on some weight and building muscle. Not much cooperation from my body which has sprung a hernia (operation scheduled for January 13, 2025). Lots of doctors still on the list and not a lot of options. Have adjusted to the new cancer meds and my blood has been storing oxygen. Go Hemo, Go!


So, I keep walking and talking. Put here to live and then die. Walk and talk. No need to worry about what the future holds. The sands on the hour glass trickle at an excruciating rate, which, for me, is just fine. More time to do what I do and more time to play with Sharon.

Blast From Past

Sharon was cleaning out her closet and found a blue jean jacket I had grown out of. Err, it shrunk and I expanded. The sleeves were rolled up girly style, like Sharon is prone to do and there was a tissue in the pocket (I use the sleeve for drips).

In years past, I wore this jacket. Oh, yes, how the years pass. Went from rebel to pariah. Saw things differently from many. Not always right. Seldom totally wrong.

Some years,  not so painless. Used pot to ease the pain, all bought illegally until recently.  And the last years, the ones to come, will be no different, pain wise, though more peaceful. ☺️  I will use the same remedy with my chemo pills and the blood transfusions.

The jacket I turned over to Sharon had been personalized. The one I got back had no decorations. Kowing what they meant to me, Sharon had saved them.

On the sleeve was a “Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” patch. Do you even know what I’m talking about or does it make you wish you were high? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers

On the back was an American Flag, upside down, a sign of distress or extreme danger for the country or for the person flying it. Today, however, people have begun using this old war cry in response to political uncertainty or as a way to show their unhappiness with the direction the country is heading.

Also on the back, somewhere, was a Liberate Marijuana patch. Now, who would know now that one day in the not to distant past great penalties were exacted from people suspected of using marijuana. Oh my, stop and frisk, Reefer Madness, teen pregnancy (sic), Paul Sinclair, people sentenced to jail or forced to do community service. Worse than that, people rejected people who smoked or ate the drug and talked the talk or those who had seen the stars (and lived on them). Now, many states have made marijuana legal or available with a script from a doctor.

Debating whether to buy another jacket, one that fits. Florida whether makes it inutile. And who can predict the size I’ll be or whether I will be alive long enough to wear it, wash it, or decorate it?

Sunday Stroll at Arthur Marshall

So, it’s Sunday and time for a stroll in our swamp at Arthur Marshall – Loxahatchee. Vegetation closing for the winter, slowly.

Hard to slip around unnoticed. Spies hide out in the trees.

Leaf droop, unfit for a king, but good enough for us.

 

 

 

Sharon Turns 76

Sharon. Never be afraid of your lines or sagging. Don’t fear wrinkles or varicose veins. Don’t lose that spirit to live that looms so large that there is enough for you and still a little left over for me. Without you, life would be so empty and not worth living. You make me want to get up in the morning.

Our dear friend Howard Kane sent this orchid arrangement to Sharon. Lovely. Just lovely.

Duck’s Yizkor Lights

WE always light candles on Yizkor. Depends on how many people we want to remember and how much light we can handle. It’s a Jewish custom to remember the dead. A cemetery visit would not hurt, but its geographical range is limited.

We also make a donation. By being better people, we elevate the memories of the dead, most of whom should not have died in vain.

Here, we honor and remember Sharon’s mother and father and mine. The middle candle is for all the people whom no one remembers, including all the people killed in Israel this year, all the people of Palestine killed this year and all the people killed in the Ukraine.

May there be peace.

Blood Today

SO, you have to have a blood sample analyzed. Now, instead of going to a hospital or lab near all the other imaging and testing devices, they send you to a place once called a drug store, but now a place that sells everything and takes your blood. To get there, opportunities arise to buy, buy, buy.

Modern check in. Doc has forwarded by text or fax the order. Reservations made on line like getting a table in a restaurant. Identify yourself, verify your insurance and personal information.

Take a seat.