Day 7: This is What We Want in Congress!!!

(I want to say, "This is what we want in Congress, you dumb Republican mfs!!!") Thanks to Kay at Kay's Thinking Cap for posting this wonderful video of the new Democrat from NY in congress.



Congratulations on your thrilling victory, Representative Hochul!!!

Day 6--Memorial Day

My brother Bob has always been the good son.  Well, all my brothers (including John, r.i.p.) are good, but Bob has been exceptional.  Not only has he always opened his heart and house to visiting relatives, particularly our parents, and sent a sweet, grade-school type valentine to his only sister, but he has rarely missed the Memorial Day program at Fort Snelling, where both Mom and Dad (a WWI veteran) are buried in the national cemetery.  Of course, he has lived in the same house in a Minneapolis suburb for something like 50 years!  Lest you not think that's any big deal, tell me one relative of yours who has had the SAME ADDRESS and SAME PHONE NUMBER for the past 50 years! Those of you who send Christmas cards will know what a blessing it is to always be able to remember someone's address.

Anyway, thanks, Bob....May you be the first in the family to reach 100!! Hee hee....you're lots closer to that than I am!!

Day 5--Domingo...and p.s.

Strange weekend....empty streets in many parts of downtown make it seem as if all the permanent residents are gone away somewhere (to the, um, BEACH??? Duh....the temperature's only been in the 90s since Friday).  The sidewalks by the Spy Museum, however, were crowded with what appear to be visitors: crowds with t-shirts all of the same color (green) bearing a quote from Ronald Reagan. (Their hero?)  Alas, none of the t-shirts or slogans show that Ronald Reagan was the all-time debt-increasing champion of the presidents in recent years. This is what those young, impressionable kids (and tea-bagging parents) should be seeing:

Kids and parents, don't even THINK about cutting Medicare.  Cut MILITARY spending and END THE DUBYA TAX CUTS NOW!!!  Then watch that deficit plummet.  Ronnie would be proud of you, now that he's in heaven and KNOWS BETTER!!!

P.S.  Take a squint at this.....want to thank Dubya for his contribution to our national impoverishment?

Day 4: Feng Shui Blues

I have been in a months-long slump in decluttering (plus dusting, putting away, yada yada) my room. But I have had so much fun blogging every day (never mind FB...it seems more like a drain than anything else) that I started out yesterday morning in a burst of newfound energy to...ta da...at least put away all the books lying around. There are books everywhere, including on the bookshelves, which are full to overflowing. Books on the floor, on the chairs, next to my writing chair, piled higher and deeper on my desk and night stands, on my bed, on the tray of my easel, which is stored in the bathroom for lack of a better place (with sufficient ceiling height to accommodate it). And oh yes...on the back of the whirlpool tub and on the shelves between the tub and sink where I keep extra soap and my weights.

Did I say I have a lot of books? I do. And I love them all.

I started by going through the books on the easel in the bathroom and picked up the big FENG SHUI FOR EVERYDAY LIVING by Stephen Skinner. Hm. I opened it and started reading. This led to deciding to do a proper Ba Gua reading of my space. I got out my compass and mapped out the directions my walls face according to Feng Shui (which is the Chinese art of placement--how to arrange the items in your room so that the chi [energy] flows freely and fortuitously). Rather much to my dismay, I realized I'd hung a painting of a single person in the southwest corner of my room. The southwest corner is the RELATIONSHIP area, according to Feng Shui. All the books advise using decorative objects in this area to honor and encourage the art of being in a relationship. You want candles in your relationship area? Put TWO of them there, preferably red ones. You want a painting or photograph? Put one with TWO people in it (no more than that--two's company, three's a crowd).

Anyway, this painting hanging in the southwest corner of the sitting area of my room is a portrait I did (nearly 40 years ago) of my son when he was about 3 years old, and it's one of the first pictures I ever painted. He's sitting in one of our dining room chairs. Also, despite having many wonderful friends, I file my taxes as a single person, and the whole Feng Shui thing, now that I thought of it, was creeping me out.

So I took it down and moved in two other very fine pieces of art, each with two figures, to try them out. Alas, removing the 4'x4' painting of my son leaves a big HOLE in the decor. The other pictures are much smaller, and the only other painting I've done that's big enough has no people at all in it.  I shudder to think what the Feng Shui powers would do  if I hung THAT up there. 

The point of this post turns out to be how DIFFICULT it is for me to even think about decluttering my living space when I start with books.  I should start with trash bags and throw out all the junk mail and old bank statements.  I'm never tempted to stop and read those. And I should hide my compass and avoid all the Feng Shui books until I can clear a path through my personal wilderness.

Yes, it's day 3....

Oy....There are SO MANY THINGS to blog about today:

#1: Laura & Sean are engaged!

My second oldest grandson, Sean, got engaged this morning!  He's been dating Laura for a long time.  Here they are in Sally's breakfast room four years ago!  We know and love her.  She's pretty, kind, smart, gentle. She teaches whatever the Scottish call special education in a little town on the edge of Edinburgh. Sean has finally finished working his way through college (in a bar, of which he wound up as at least part-time manager) and putting in a year on his new job (not in the bar...some IT firm) after graduation.  Today is Laura's birthday, and she says she was surprised when Sean asked her to marry him.  (I'll bet she was!  This old granny and at least one of his aunts were getting impatient--ASK HER, ALREADY!  DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!)  She did say yes, and Laura says she can't stop smiling today.  God love her.  God love him.  They are two of the most wonderful people on the planet.  I asked him when the big day will be.  And very typically of him, he said "Next summer--a year from now. It'll take me that long to save," etc. etc.  Keep smiling, Laura.  Sean, if I (or the aunt) win the lottery, we'll share.

#2:  Jimmy Feeney's doctor, Dr. Atul Gatawande, gave the commencement address yesterday afternoon to graduates of the Harvard Medical School.  And one of the other doctors sent Jim a copy of the speech.  

Five years ago, Jim was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and given a "only a few weeks" to live!!!  Jim and Sandy, his wife, wanted a second opinion, so they went to Boston...and here's Jim's story in his own words:

After getting an initial exam at the DANA FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE, I was immediately put into the hospital in Boston. I saw, by my personal count, 23 Doctors, one of whom was Dr. Atul Gawande.

Gawande, a few days later, told me that he believed my condition had been misdiagnosed, and while I had an "ugly, fast growing thyroid cancer" in my throat, with surgery, chemo and radiation, I had an "excellent opportunity" for success. They still couldn't get a "proper" biopsy, without my bleeding to death, as I was on a blood thinner due to a stint  inserted the previous week for my heart.

He was right and was part of a three-surgeon team who performed an eight-hour operation and saved my life.

As I was 70, and on Medicare, the best health care in the world was available to me at no out-of -pocket cost.

Do you think I'm a big fan of Dr. G, Dana Farber, and Medicare? YES!

What fun it is to be a cancer survivor, and to enjoy each and every extra day of life I have been given!!

What fun it is for us, too, Jim, that you're still with us and what an inspiration that you're still championing humane causes.  Now where is that picture of you and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy??

UPDATE: Ask and you shall receive dept.: Fun at the Kennedy Compound: l-r, Jim, Ted's nephew, Vicki & Ted Kennedy, Sandy