Yesterday's Dream Lives On

Today is the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's most famous speech, the words of which are just as stirring today as they were when Dr. King first delivered them from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 250,000 people gathered on the Washington Mall. Take a moment to read this most historic and inspiring speech.....

I Have a Dream

August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

Watch the Full 16-min video of Martin Luther King's famous I Have a Dream Speach

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

My Right To Vote

Eighty-eight years ago today US Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification of the nineteenth amendment to the US Constitution.

That amendment reads:

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

The women of 19th century America struggled for more than 70 years, beginning in 1848, for the right to vote. The women of 21st century America are the beneficiaries of their victory. Our right to vote is a gift from our great great grandmothers.

As November approaches remember their struggle. When election day arrives celebrate their victory. Vote! Anyone who knows me knows my political preference. I'm not saying here "Vote for my candidate". I'm simply saying "Vote". It is your right as an American woman.

A Detour

Definition: An alternate path of travel used while a regular path of travel is temporarily closed.

I had planned on being in Scotland by now to start school on September 1st. The first year student orientation was this past weekend. But, as we all know, Life has a way of sometimes throwing us a curveball. I was banking on the fact that my dad's house would sell over the summer and we could have gotten his estate all wrapped up by the time I needed to leave. No such luck in this current crappy real estate market. So I got a deferment from the University of the Highlands and Islands until the fall of '09. As you can imagine, I'm very disappointed about not being able to get to Scotland this year but I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason and, for some reason, I'm just not meant to go this year. That being said, the next question is "What the hell do I do with myself for the next year?" Well....

Option #1
Seattle
After all I do have kids there. It would be nice to be close to Michael and Shauna for a while and since I'm originally from the Pacific Northwest it would feel very much like going home. But I feel like spending the next year in Seattle would be just marking time. And, to be truthful, that's why I hatched this hair-brained scheme of mine. Because I saw my life not really going anywhere. I was just marking time, plodding along from one day to the next, living somewhere because that's where Life and circumstances had dropped me. Not really living life but simply existing in life. I had reached my own point of critical mass. It was time to take control of my life and do what I wanted instead of just following the path of least resistance.
Just because things have not followed my predetermined timeline does not mean that I'm going to go back to killing time. So, as much as I would love to be near a couple of my kids, Seattle is not the place for me.

Option #2
Vieques.
It really is like paradise and Karen could sure put me to work there. It would also be fun to look back afterward and say, "Yeah, I did that. I spent a year living and working on a small Caribbean island." But, honestly, as much as I love to visit there, Vieques is not the place for me either. The ever present intense level of humidity would get to me and I think I'd go island crazy before too long.

Option # 3
Germany!
It would, at least put me back in Europe, where I really want to be. I've lived there before and loved it and, again, I have a kid there. Nik and I talked about it a lot while I was visiting in June. The rules for getting a long term visa are not as strict in Germany as they are in the UK (in my case, virtually impossible until I'm a student). We brainstormed about how I could earn a living while I'm there. My German language skills are OK but not good enough to just jump into total immersion and function at a competent level. So it's not like I could just walk in and apply for a job somewhere. But there is a need for native English speakers. Germans learning English need an avenue by which to practice what they are learning in structured classes. It's called English for Conversation. Since Nikki is an English teacher she sees the need firsthand. She already has several potential clients for me once I get there.
It will also be a pretty good Life skill for me....to do more listening and less talking! I watched Nikki with a couple of her students at an informal appt over lunch one day. She contributed just enough to the conversation to keep it going but encouraged her students to do most of the talking by asking them questions. In learning a new language understanding comes much quicker than production so learners need the opportunity to speak the new language in a practice situation much more than they need to hear it. What a fun way to make a living. Spend time with people from another culture and help them with their English skills! And it's not like the German culture is a foreign one to me. The six year period when I lived there the first time was a wonderful experience. Even though my ultimate goal is to live in Scotland I'm very excited about just getting back to Europe. There just isn't anywhere here in the States that calls to me and says, "Come here. You should live here." It really hit me one day when I was sitting at a cafe at the Castle above Heidelberg a couple of months ago. I was sitting there soaking in the view and thinking about how happy I was to be back in Europe and I suddenly realized just how ready I am to leave the States again on a long term basis. I knew that, even though I still had some really fun summer travels ahead of me, I would be counting the weeks or months til I could get on a plane again headed back across the Atlantic. That's why I'm going back to Germany for the next year. I'm not choosing Nikki over Shauna and Michael. I'm choosing Europe over the States. At least for the next 5 years. I'm sure I'll come back at some point to live here again but now is not the time. Now is the time for me to get my second European adventure started with a year in Germany and then to realize my ultimate dream of 4 years in Scotland.

I'll be in Pittsburgh until the end of September. Steve's birthday is on the 18th (he'll be 17!) and I want to get back to Virginia to see Paul one more time before I leave. After that....pull out the passport and pack the cat!

Happy Birthday To Me!

August 25th, 1957.
How many times in my life have a written that date? Who knows! I have to be careful when I have to write "today's date" on something on my birthday. I'll write August 25th and if I'm not thinking about what I'm doing, instead of writing the current year, I'll just continue with 1957 (I sure hope I'm not the only person who does such a dorky thing).

I played around and found out that, not only do I share a birthday with the incomparable Scottish actor Sean Connery, but also....

Tim Burton
Elvis Costello
Gene Simmons
Regis Philbin
Monty Hall
Leonard Bernstein
Ludwig II (the mad king of Bavaria!)
and, last but not least,....
Ivan the Terrible (first Tzar of Russia)

I wonder if any of them make (or made!) the same mistake when writing "today's date"?
Maybe I should call Sean and we could go for a drink and discuss it......

Today is also National Parks Day. In honor of my birthday (I'm sure that's the reason) you can visit any national park today without having to pay the normal entrance fee!

The End of Summer

It sure has been a great summer. I started my travels the middle of June in Virginia at Paul's with extended family. From there I went to visit Nikki and Bert in Germany where Nik and I made a little side trip to Paris. Two days after I landed back in Pittsburgh I was off to Paul's again for a couple of days before I flew to Seattle to see all my kids there. Then it was on another plane to Colorado to spend a week with Ruth and Bill. After a one night layover back in Seattle I flew back to D.C. for another weekend with Paul and a day out on the boat. That Monday I drove back to Pittsburgh for another 'one overnight' and left for Vieques the next morning. Two weeks on a small Caribbean island is definitely a very good way to end the summer.

So here I am, back in the Burgh with summer coming to a close. Some of you may be wondering when I'm leaving for Scotland. Well, there is a little detour in the coming year.....

Hola de Veiques

I hope you have a few minutes 'cause this is a long one.....

So here I am, sitting on the beach in Vieques staring out over the Carribean Ocean. This island is so peaceful and a world away from, well, the rest of the world. Vieques has so far escaped the
over-developement that has engulfed most of the Carribean Islands. It's only about 20 miles long and 5 miles wide and most tourists get no closer to Vieques than the main island of Puerto Rico which is about 6 miles to the north of this sleepy little island. Those who do find their way here do so because they are looking for the peace and tranquility that can't be found on the more well known islands, such as St. Thomas, St. Crouix, Antiguia or Barbados.

Vieques has no nightclubs, no Starbucks, no McDonalds, no malls, no golf courses, no casinos, no resorts, and no highrise condominiums. Not even a movie theater. What it does have is 56 miles of gorgeous coastline that includes dozens of inlets, bays and breathtaking beaches. Because most of the rest of the world has yet to discover Vieques it is not unusual to find yourself the only person on whatever beach you have chosen for the day, especially during the week when the local residents are mostly working and the kids are in school.

The *hub* of the island is the town of Isabel Segunda which has everything one would expect to find in a small town: a bank, schools, a police station, a medical clinic, family owned restaurants, etc. There are a handful of grocery stores (not supermarkets) on the island as well as hardware stores, several small beauty salons, a couple of gas stations and whatever else the local population deems necessary for daily living.
On the other side of the island from Isabel II is the even smaller town of Esperanza with its open air restaurant/bars that face the water.

The tourists who do come and the people who live here have 2 choices of transportation to get to and from the Big Island: a small 8-10 passenger plane that makes 3 or 4 trips a day or the ferry which also runs several times a day (both times I've been here I've flown in on the little *puddle jumper* plane from San Juan).

Catering to the tourists are a couple of car rental places, locally owned and operated sightseeing/tour businesses, small hotels/guesthouses and a fair number of pretty pricey vacation rental houses. These houses are mostly located in the hills that make up the ridge that runs about center of the island from one end to the other.

My friend, Karen, is a transplant from Arizona who moved to Vieques almost 6 years ago. She has built herself quite a nice business here by *managing* 17 of these vacation homes for the absentee owners. She has a team of about 9 people who work for her and she sees to the the care and maintenence of the houses when they are empty as well as readying them for the arrival of the owners coming for vacation or renters who have contracted with the homeowners for the use of the house, usually for about a week at a time. Most of the houses that Karen manages are used as vacation rentals on a regular basis. She also does the meet and greet for the arriving guests and is their contact should they need information or assistance during their stay. After they leave she and her team clean and close up the house OR work like madmen to turn it around and ready it for the next group or family who sometimes arrive later that same day. She stays very busy to say the least! The owners of these beautiful houses range from nationally known politicians to people in the entertainment industry or big business to just plain people with big bucks.

As luck would have it, just as I was planning my visit to the island, Karen, on behalf of the owners, was arranging for some outside plastering to be done to one of the houses as well as the installation of some new windows. With all of the scaffolding up the owners were a little uncomfortable with the house being unoccupied while the work was being done. But they couldn't very well have scaffolding up and workmen around while they had paying guests. "Weeell," says Karen, "I have just the solution for that".
So......guess who gets to stay at this lovely big house with its beautiful hilltop ocean view? The work is going on at the back of the house and I'm gone most of the day anyway so I hardly even notice that anything is being done. I just wanted to come visit my friend in paradise and here she sets me up with a gorgeous house and even made an arrangement with one of her other clients for my use of their car while I'm here!

It's been really nice to see Karen again. We've stayed in touch since she left Tucson (she better than me) and she's a really good friend. I've been promising her that I would come back to visit ever since she moved here; about 5 months after the first time I came with her (my first time, not hers) to visit her cousin, Colleen, who has now lived on Veiques for about 20 years. I'm just wondering why it took me 6 years to get back here. But I'm here now and savoring every minute of my visit.

Life is good!

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One Of Life's Little Nuggets

I left Colorado last Thursday. After a one night stopover back in Seattle I flew to D.C. on Friday. To fly to Seattle and back on my free ticket from Alaska Airlines I had to leave from Washington D.C. because Alaska doesn't fly out of Pittsburgh. That was OK with me. It just gave me a reason to spend a couple of days with Paul and company before I left and again after I got back. So I left my car with them in Haymarket and my cousin played airport taxi for me.

Paul picked me up from Reagan National Airport Friday night and we got back to his house around 10:30pm. Genelle had planned a suprise birthday luncheon for her mother, Wanda, on Saturday afternoon so her sister and two little nephews had flown in from Los Angeles for the the weekend. Julianne and the boys had the guest room upstairs so I slept on the futon in the *man cave*(Paul's recording studio in the basement). I guess nobody thought to tell Zach about the sleeping arrangements 'cause the next morning he said he spent most of the night sleeping on the couch in the living room until he somehow realized that I wasn't sleeping in his room like the last time they had a houseful of people (for his graduation party in June). That weekend Paul's parents were in the master bedroom, Paul and Genelle moved upstairs to the guest room, Paul's sister Shelley and her husband Steve were in the man cave and I got Zach's room. Not quite so much juggling to do this weekend but somehow poor Zach never got the room assignments!

As usual, after everyone else turned in, Paul and I ended staying up till the wee hours of the morning drinking beer, listening to music and hanging out in the man cave. It was a lot of fun but the next morning I was definately feeling it. By the time we left for Wanda's party I was pretty sure I could keep food down but I knew I wasn't drinking anything that day. Paul kept trying to get me to have a beer with lunch and after I said I just couldn't for about the 10th time he made me say out loud, "I'm a wienee". So after making me verbally humiliate myself, did he quit? Noooo........then he wanted me to do a shot of tequila with him in the bar. After about 6 No's I finally said OK. You should have seen how he twisted my arm! After a while Zach comes to find us. He has this accusing look on his face and says, "You left me alone......with all old people". I had to laugh. He did it with such a straight face.

That night Genelle, Julianne, Austin and I got into a very weird game of some kind of gin rummy while Paul snored on the couch. We didn't finish until after 1:30am so it was another late night for me.

Paul and his friend Scott (who I've met before and like very much) both own speed boats so the next day we had 8 adults, 3 teenagers and 4 littler kids out on the Potomac river on the 2 boats. Add one tube to pull behind one of the boats and you have the makings for a really fun day. Those who didn't want to ride the tube stayed on Scott's boat which was anchored in one place. Those who wanted to ride got on Paul's boat. The women all elected to stay stationary but this just looked like too much fun to me. Never one to turn down a new experience, I had to try it! The tube holds 2 people so the first time I rode Paul went with me and Scott drove the boat. The second time Scott went with me and Paul drove. Of course, both times, whichever one was driving, they each did their best to scare the crap out of me without actually dumping me into the river. I think it worked, too. It was all I could do to keep myself from screaming like a girl as the boat would make a tight circle and the tube would go flying out to the side in reaction to it. I'm not sure exactly how fast we were going but from where I sat it was plenty fast enough! And I would just like to say now that Paul and Scott both got thrown out while I managed to stay IN the tube both times I rode ( I think the only reason I didn't get thrown was because I had a death grip on the handles! But don't tell my cousin that) . What a blast!!

When we finally called it a day Genelle, her sister and kids and Austin went to Genelle's parents house for the evening and Paul and I went home to shower, eat pizza and watch the Redskins play the Colts in the Hall of Fame game. The Redskins won.

You never know what nuggets Life will hand to you when you least expect them. Who would have thought that, in losing my dad, I would meet my cousin for the first time at his memorial, that we would hit it off so completely that first day and that I would then end up so close to him on the East Coast? Or that over the last few months we would have gotten to know each other, not just as cousins, but as really good friends? I think Paul will be one of the people I miss the most when I leave for Europe. But the good part is that, no matter what, he will always be my cousin and we'll always be friends.

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Higher And Higher

It's been over a week since I last visited my blog and I think it's time for a little catch up.

Let's see, where was I?... Oh yes, I was in Colorado with Ruth and Bill. It was a great visit, as usual. Ruth and I went to Glenwood Springs three different times. Driving through the Glenwood Canyon still just leaves me in awe. The first time I traveled through that amazing corridor it was a good thing that I wasn't driving. It was still just a narrow and winding 2 lane road that hugged the earth between the side of the canyon and the river. And there I was hanging out the car window with my camera, snapping pictures at every turn, trying to capture every nuance of the visual feast that Mother Nature had laid out before me. I still experience that same sense of wonder whenever I go through the canyon. The towering cliffs on either side are an amazing shade of red with just enough green trees to set off the hue of earth. These days, though, it's no longer a little 2 lane road but a continuation of Interstate 70 with 2 lanes in either direction, the westbound lanes sometimes elevated above the eastbound. And it is still a feast for the eyes.

I got to see some new places, too. One day Ruth took me up over Cottonwood Pass. I have heard the pass mentioned over the years and wanted to see it for myself. For the first 10 miles or so it's just a very pretty drive on a paved road up and up around the mountain just to the south of Glenwood Canyon. Nothing but cattle ranches and natural terrain for as far as the eye can see with the monstrous Mt. Sopris off in the distance. Very serene......until the *maintained* road runs out. By this time you're up pretty high and the dirt road starts getting really rough. It hugs the side of the mountain with a sheer drop on the other side. I can't imagine what one does if another car comes from the other direction. Fortunately I didn't have to find out. Once you reach the summit the road starts to gently descend the other side and eventually gets easier to travel again. More cattle ranches. And then you see the valley up behind Gypsum spreading before you. You pop out on Gypsum Creek Rd. just a couple of miles from the house. Pretty cool!

Ruth also took me up Brush Creek to Sylvan Lake, another area I have heard about but had never seen. It's a beautiful drive and once again I had my camera earning its keep!

We had lots of time to just hang around the house too. I got my political fix watching politcs on TV with Bill and discussing the election. During my week stay the 3 of us also managed to get to the antiques show at Beaver Creek over the weekend and drive up to the quaint little town of Redstone for lunch on another day.

Ruth and I had planned on doing a lot of hiking but 2 days after I arrived she broke her kneecap by falling when she tripped on a rock! Fortunately she won't need surgery but she will spend the next 4-6 weeks in a leg brace that goes from the top of her thigh down to the middle of her calf. So hiking was definately out but, as you can tell, we still found plenty to do! The hard part was and still is to convince Ruth to try to stay off her leg. There she is every day out back taking care of her yard and all her gardens. She can't get down on her knees and pull weeds so she brought out a long handled hoe. The one big thing that she has had to give up for the duration is her yoga, which she usually does every morning. It's a little hard to turn yourself into a pretzel when you can't bend one leg!

The kids and are all going back for Christmas this year, with Steve and Bert in tow. Winter wonderland, here we come!

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Rocky Mountain High

There is something almost magical about this part of Colorado, from Vail all the way west through the canyon and to Glenwood Springs. I've been coming here for almost 30 years now and it never seems to lose its wonder. I'm not sure if I love it more when the valley is in all of its 'Winter Wonderland' glory with several feet of snow quietly blanketing the landscape or at this time of year, the heighth of a perfect summer. As I sit here on the patio I hear several different kinds of birds calling out. A dozen or so hummingbirds are buzzing around their little feeders and Ruth's gardens are all basking in their summer beauty. No matter what the season, it seems, this is such a peaceful retreat from the rest of the world.

Of course, I'm sure a lot of the atmosphere here has to do with who we come to visit. Ruth and Bill have created this nature filled oasis, just outside of Gypsum, bit by bit, since they bought this house and two acres 27 years ago. The flower gardens, vegetable gardens, chickens, goats, dogs and cats have all flourished under their loving and constant care. They are the reason my kids and I keep coming back to the valley in which their father and his seven brothers and sisters were raised. My (former) mother-in-law is truly my hero. At 76 years young Ruth still amazes me. She has the energy and physical stamina that would put most 30 year olds to shame and even after eight kids she has a better figure than I ever dreamed of having. She hikes all over these mountains during the summer and in the winter dons her cross country skis or snowshoes.

Ruth and Wades father Dale moved their large family from Wisconsin to Vail 40 years ago and, though all but one of her children have left this part of Colorado, Ruth has continued to thrive here in the life that she and Bill have built over the almost 3 decades that they have been married. I have been fortunate to see my friendship with her strengthen and continue to grow over the years and I am always so pleased when we find similarities between the two of us. Other than my children, her opinion of me is probably more important to me than is that of anyone else in my life. I can't express how loved I feel when she introduces me to someone and says that I'm like another daughter to them.

Though Ruth was married to Dale for the first 30 years of her adult life, she found her mate when she met Bill Moran shortly after her divorce. Bill shares her love of Colorado, dogs and their home. This Rocky Mountain Retreat that continues to draw my kids and me back year after year has been a joint labor of love between the two of them. It would not have been possible for either of them alone to create, but together they have coaxed their common dream into reality.

And so here I am, in one of my favorite places with two of my favorite people.

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The Travels Continue......

I'm sitting on Ruth and Bill's back patio up on this beautiful hill just outside of Gypsum Colorado. Today is Monday and I arrived here last Tuesday from Seattle.

I had such a good time spending two weeks in Seattle with all of my kids. Nikki flew out to Green Bay on the same day that I flew to Denver. On Saturday of the last weekend all 3 kids, Steve and I went downtown to do the obligitory Seattle Harbor tour. They had all taken the tour before but I hadn't and it was a perfect day to be out on the water. So we bought our tickets, boarded the boat and found great seats on the upper deck in preparation for the 1 hour tour. The running commentary from the guide was very interesting but the young woman with the microphone had the most annoying voice! Everyone has their own personal cadence when speaking and this girl was very slow and deliberate. It seemed like she drew out every word to twice its natural length. Aside from that it was an enjoyable hour. We even got to see 3 bald eagles, 2 adults and a juvenile, sitting on a barge that was anchored out in the harbor. After the tour we poked around Pike Place Market for several hours. There was lots to see and do.

The next day we drove over to the peninsula to Sequim, Wa. to the annual Lavender Festival. We visited four different lavender farms and I think we ate our way through each one! We had lavender sausages, lavender chicken, lavender grilled salmon, lavender ice cream, lavender cheesecake and let's not forget the lavender margueritas!! Lavender has a very light flavor and who knew you could use it the same way you use any other garden herb? Well, evidently just about everybody except me. I thought it was used only to make things smell good. I had no idea you could cook with it, too! The last thing we did was to visit one of
U-Pick fields so Shauna could take home her own little bundle of freshly picked fragrance.

On Monday evening we grilled at Steve and Shauna's with Ron and his younger brother, Orrie. After dinner Amy came over. She stayed the night so to be there in the morning to take Nikki and me to the airport. I didn't get to spend as much time with Amy as I would have liked to this visit. Michael and 2 others are still renting her townhouse but Amy herself moved in with John several months ago and now lives in Issiquah, which is a bit south of Seattle. So it was nice for Nikki and me to get a little more time with her just before leaving town.
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Public Transportation and Free Food

Seattle is one of those cities that has a great bus system. People here ride the bus, not because their car is broken down or because they don't own one or because they've had their license suspended for one too many DUIs; they ride the bus because it is economical, environmentally responsible and available. The transit system website is easy to use. So figuring out which bus to catch and where to make your transfer is just a piece of cake. Nikki and I have ridden the bus all over town this week while all of our peeps were occupied with their daily obligations. We rarely had to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes for the next bus to come along. Of course, Nik is used to public transit. She rides the Strassenbahn (streetcar) in Ludwigshafen every day. It is her primary mode of transportation. I remember riding the city bus as a teenager in Salem and I've used public transportation in lots of European cities but, as an adult, I've not lived in an American city that has a decent bus system. I know lots of cities in the Northeast have mass transit systems that are integral parts of their personalities but few cities in the West can make the same claim. Hooray to Seattle and her citizens!

And now to free food.....as you all know (because I have bragged ad nauseam), Shauna works for Google. One of the many perks of being a Googler is that there is free food everywhere all the time. All the snack foods (both healthy and not so healthy) you can imagine, drinks of every kind and what they call micro kitchens containing quick and easy foods should anyone get hungry in between the free breakfast, lunch and dinner that is offered every day. Needless to say, Shauna doesn't do much cooking at home. She eats at work. I joined her for lunch last Thursday. The salmon was delicious. Yesterday Michael, Nikki and I had dinner with her. BBQ ribs! Nikki and I were downtown this afternoon when Shauna texted us to say that tonight's main dinner entree would be prime rib. Would we care to join her? We absolutely made a point of being there at the appointed hour. Hooray to Google and her chefs!

Hangin' In Seattle

I love the Pacific Northwest! Since I grew up in Oregon, coming to Washington always feels a little like coming home. It's been very interesting spending the last several months on the East Coast. There is definitely a difference in the day to day atmosphere of life between the two sides of this huge country of ours. I don't think I'm articulate enough to put it into words but anyone who has lived on both coasts knows what I'm talking about. Neither one is right or wrong, better or worse, just different. It's all in what you're used to, I guess, and except for my six years in Germany I have spent my life on the West Coast. I've lived in California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. Even though I spent more years in Arizona then in any of the other states my formative years were spent in the NW, so no matter where life takes me this will always be 'where I'm from'.

I arrived in Seattle on Wednesday last week and Nikki got here the next evening. On Saturday we toured the Boeing factory (Michael has worked at Boeing since early April). It was pretty cool to see the whole process of putting planes together. The assembly hangar is huge. It's divided into five different bays but the whole building is so big that you could put the entire Disneyland park inside of it and still have twelve acres left over for parking!

On Sunday Nikki, Shauna and I went to the Highland Games in Skagit County about an hour north of Seattle. Americans and Canadians of Scottish ancestry but the music was fairly authentic and they had lots of men in kilts throwing big heavy things so we could, at least, pretend we were in Scotland! That evening the three of us and Michael went to the Space Needle to oooo and ahhhh at the view of Seattle and the surrounding area from 520 ft up. We saw the Cascade mountains to the east and the Olympic mountains to the west. It was a really clear evening so Mt. Baker and Mt. Ranier were both visible. We watched the ferries cross Elliott Bay and looked through the telescope to Shauna's apt across Lake Union. We texted Steve at home so he and his friend, Josh, went up to the roof and waved like madmen at us. We waved back but I don't think they saw us back. We were up there long enough to watch the sun go down and see Seattle light up after dark.

Shauna lives on one side of Lake Union and her office is about three miles away on the other side of the lake. She jokes that if she owned a kayak commuting would be really easy! As it is, though, she usually walks (or takes the bus if the weather is bad). Nikki and I have walked her to work each day this week. It's a really nice walk there and back. We stop at the Starbucks around the corner for our morning coffee and just yak, yak, yak all the way to Google. About half of the way there and back is a walking/ biking path that hugs the perimeter of the lake. We are going to meet her at work this evening for dinner. Google feeds its employees (and their occasional guests) for free three times a day. BBQ ribs tonight! After dinner we'll meet Michael and Steve at Hale's Ales!

Amy moved way to the other side of Seattle so Nik and I haven't gotten to see her yet, but she is going to take Friday off (she works at Microsoft) and the three of us will go hiking.

This coming Saturday we are going back up to Skagit County to the annual Lavender Festival and then on Sunday we're going to do the Harbor Tour. Last time I was here it was Xmas and cold. Not the kind of weather in which to even think about going out on the water (brrrr!) but it's gorgeous this time of year!

Arlington National Cemetary

I'm back in D.C. I drove over from Pittsburgh to Paul's house in Haymarket, Va. yesterday. We had a fun evening. Paul's band had practice last night. He has a recording studio in his basement that I have dubbed 'The Man Cave'. But you can't just say it normally. You have to deepen your voice and say it in a 'manly' manner. Anyway, it's been a long time since I've sat around and watched a band rehearse. It was a lot of fun. We all shared the two bottles of Weisen Bier that I brought back from Germany. The guys loved it. Bert, you would have been so proud of my pour!
Paul dropped me off at Arlington around noon today. I didn't get to see it when I was here in April so it was a good way for me to spend the afternoon while Paul was working. I saw the burial site of JFK, the Tomb of the Unknowns and did a tour of Arlington House, the home of Robert E. Lee and his wife before the civil war. It is all quite interesting and very historic. The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns is very solemn and moving to say the least. I also visited the Women in Military Service Memorial. It is its own building and tells the story of women in service from the Revolutionary War until the present. Though my time in the Air Force was relatively short, I was proud to be standing in that building knowing that I was a part of that story.
I'll spend this evening with Paul and Genelle (Zach and Austin are out of town), then Paul will take me to the airport tomorrow morning to catch my flight to Seattle. But first, we have two more bottles of good German beer to drink!
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Observations

A word about blogging.... I just spent some time cruising through Amy's blog and then Steve Randall's blog. They both have a certain flavor in common with Nikki's blog that I admire. Nikki, Amy and Steve all use their blogs to not only record what they're doing but also what they're thinking. They blog about their observations of their surroundings, the people they come in contact with and just their thoughts on life in general. Sometimes the posts are thought provoking and sometimes they are just entertaining. I laughed out loud at Steve's post called To Own The Day (from June 29th) where he compares his actions with that of Jack Bauer from the TV show 24. Amy's post on July 3rd titled Fie on 'clean' is very self examining in a way that causes the reader to examine their own thoughts on the merits of cleaning. And, of course, I'm always a huge fan of everything Nikki writes.

My blog, on the other hand, seems to be merely a record of what I'm doing. "First I did this, then I did that". I'd like to do more observing within the framework of blogging and not just recording. I don't know if it's a matter of practice or if perhaps these three are just more introspective than I am. Maybe I care too much what other people think to put my naked thoughts out there to be analyzed, with all their blemishes and cottage cheese thighs, by anyone who happens by (or worse yet by people who know me!). I'm not sure, but it's something I would like to try a bit more of in the future. For now, though, it's almost midnight and the only thing I need to observe is my pillow! Thoughtfulness and introspection will have to wait until tomorrow!

Life Is What Happens......

Happy (day after) 4th of July everyone! I spent the day yesterday traveling back from Germany but I hope you all enjoyed your celebrations, whatever you did.

So here I am, back in Pittsburgh, and missing Nikki already. I really had a great visit with her and Bert. It was good to see Nik in the day to day life that she has made for herself. When she went to Germany in Sept of '06 it was for 9 months. None of us really thought she would be ready to leave after so short a stay so it wasn't surprising when she began looking for permanent work that would allow her to stay longer. And there was the little matter of that tall handsome German to whom her heart was not willing to say good-bye! Love doesn't always show up only when and where it is most convenient. So she just left her return date open ended. She wasn't sure when she would *come home* but eventually..... And I think, without realizing it until now, that's how I've continued to think of her stay in Germany. Longer than a year but still just temporary. Until now. Funny how Life has a way of its own. After spending a couple of weeks with her it is evident that there is nothing temporary about this new life of hers. It just IS her life. Though she misses her family, she has no problem signing a two year cell phone contract or buying furniture with Bert or doing any of the myriad of other things that one does in their daily life when they are settled in somewhere. That's not to say that she will never live in the States again. Who knows? But it's pretty certain that it won't be any time soon. Nikki is not just marking time over there or *having the experience* of living in another country for a while. This is her life and she's happy. And as her mother I could wish for nothing more!

The Week That Was

Well, it has been a very busy week since Nikki and I returned from Paris last Sunday. That evening Bert, Nikki and I went with their friend, Nadja, to an outdoor beer garden to watch Germany play Turkey in the European semifinal soccer match. The restaurant had set up a big screen outside and the atmosphere was very festive. We ate, drank and cheered our team on to victory and a place in the final match. The walk home after the game was absolutely wild with excitement! People spilled into the streets to celebrate. Cars filled with exuberant fans waving flags and honking horns zoomed all through the town. It was a beautiful summer night and the celebrations lasted well into the wee hours of the morning.
The final Championship match was played last night between Germany and Spain. We watched the match with Nadja again, at the same biergarten. Alas, a victory for Germany was not in the cards. The final score was 1-0 in favor of Spain.

On Tuesday I went with Nikki to Heidelberg. She teaches classes in Business English at the Fachhochschule (a university of applied sciences) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Her time was committed from 9:30am until 2:30pm so I busied myself in the pedestrian shopping area with a bit of window shopping, a bite to eat and then a visit to the castle which is one of those must see venues to anyone playing tourist in this part of Germany. When I worked for the USO our tour to the Heidelberg Castle was one of our most popular. It's construction was begun in the early 13th century and it has a history of destruction and rebuilding over the next 500 years or so. The castle sits on a hill overlooking the town and it is a 262 ft. climb to get there. You can reach the castle by way of 3 different routes. You can walk a cobblestone path, climb the stairs or you can take the tram.
The castle hosts over 3,000,000 visitors a year, mostly from the U.S. and Japan and boasts the world's largest wine barrel. The barrel is over 27 ft long and 24 ft high and has a capacity of 55,345 gallons of wine! I took a one hour guided tour of the castle and then poked around a while on my own afterward until it was time to meet up with Nikki back down in the center of town. We chose one of the many outdoor cafes and enjoyed a late lunch before returning to Ludwigshafen on the train.

On Mondays and Wednesdays Nikki teaches English (at various levels) to employees of the chemical company BASF, which has its world headquarters here in Ludwighafen. One of her classes is comprised of only 2 students who knew very little English when she began with them. Nikki normally meets with Swen and Wolfgang in one of the classrooms on the BASF campus (it's huge!) but since it's summertime and the weather is so beautiful she and they decided to meet outdoors for lunch this week. Their goal is to become proficient at conversational English so chatting over lunch becomes not only instructional but a practical experience. And by having me along it gave them both the opportunity to speak English with someone unknown to them as well as their instructor. Swen and Wolfgang are friends outside of work and like to travel. On their agenda in the next couple of years is a trip to Scotland for a week of hiking! We had a very enjoyable lunch and it was fun to watch Nikki teach under the guise of conversation.

On Thursday afternoon Bert took off from work a couple of hours early and he and I went bike riding along the Neckar river. We biked about 10 miles and stopped in a little town called Ladenburg. The town was on the other side of the river so we crossed with our bikes by ferry. The ferry was big enough to carry 2 or 3 cars plus a number of people. We left our bikes in the middle of the town and spent about an hour exploring the medieval town by foot. Though the evidence is not concrete, Ladenburg claims to be one of the oldest towns in Germany. It was lovely and we took some wonderful pictures. After a while we stopped at a little outdoor cafe for something to drink and to just sit and enjoy the early evening. We boarded the train, with our bikes, a little after 8pm. Nikki had just finished up with a meeting in Mannheim so she hopped on our train when we pulled into the station and the three of us finished the ride to Ludwighafen together.
After returning home Nikki and I decided to go for a walk. We walked over the the Park Insel (island) and spent about an hour just strolling around the perimeter (a couple of miles) and talking (of course!). When we left the Park Insel we wandered back across the bridge and settled ourselves at an outdoor table of yet another cafe for some coffee and tea. When our waitress heard my accent she asked if I was from America. She told us her boyfriend is an American soldier from North Carolina. He is stationed here but has been deployed to Iraq since September. We had quite a long conversation with her in a mixture of English and German. Most of my conversations with anyone but Nikki and Bert tend to be a mish mash of the two languages.

Nik has no teaching obligations on Fridays. She usually uses the day to prepare lessons for the following week but this Friday was consumed with packing in preparation for the big move to their new apartment the next day. Bert had already packed most of the living room so I tackled the kitchen while Nikki concentrated on the bedroom and bathroom. This small one bedroom apt was quite sufficient for Bert when he lived alone but since Nikki moved in a year ago it has just gotten more and more crowded. Time for a bigger apt!

We were up early on Saturday and ready to get started by the time about half dozen of their friends arrived to help with the move. Moving day is always a lot of work but when there is a group of people helping it can also be a lot of fun. I really like Nikki and Bert's friends. We all worked hard and the English and German just sort of floated around amidst the laughter. Around noon Nikki and Nadja and I walked to the grocery store from the new apt and picked up picnic food to feed the troops. We laid out quite a spread and everyone took a break for lunch. Then it was back to work! Once everything had been transported and everyone had been thoroughly thanked, hugged and plied with beer before they departed, it was time to put the furniture back together. Martin stayed behind to help Bert with the bedroom wardrobe. German bedrooms don't have built in closets. So the closet is a free standing piece of furniture. And this one is enormous! It covers one entire wall with doors and drawers and hanging spaces and a full length mirror.

This apt is wonderful. Much bigger than the one they just left. It's a split floor plan with the master bedroom and bathroom on one side, a large living room, kitchen and dining area in the middle and the second bedroom and bathroom on the other side. The floors are a very nice light hardwood and Nikki chose very pretty warm paint colors for the walls. Since Nikki does so much work at home preparing for classes she is just giddy about having her own office where she can retreat and spread out. She feels a little guilty about claiming the extra room for herself since Bert doesn't get an equal space but Bert is already calling it 'Nik's office' and insists that it be so. It will, of course, double as a guest room when family and friends visit but its purpose is to give Nikki somewhere to work other than a corner in their bedroom.
They are on the second floor of the building and the living room and both bedrooms all have double glass doors that open onto a balcony which runs the full width of the apartment. The whole place is filled with natural light and has a very open and airy feel to it. The view from the balcony is very pretty and quite peaceful. It's also going to be a great place to entertain! Nikki and Bert are very excited about their new home and it's really sweet to watch them as they settle in and plan what they will do in this room and what they will buy for that room. I help when I can but also try to just stay out of the way sometimes and let the two of them build their nest together. It's wonderful to see Nikki so happy.

Three Days In Paris

I'm in Germany! I landed last Thursday morning in Frankfurt. After going through customs and collecting my bags I hopped the train for Mannheim to be met there by Nikki and Bert. The three of us then continued across the river to their apt in Ludwigshafen. We had a little breakfast and then Nikki and I headed back to the train station. Three and a half hours later we arrived in Paris! After a short ride on the Metro, which is the Paris subway, we emerged from the underground about half a block from our hotel. Nikki found a great deal. To find anything decent for 100 euro ($165) a night in Paris is really hard. But through her diligence she found a room for us at the Hotel de Paris for 55 euro a night!! It wasn't fancy by any means but it was, to use a military term, "clean, dry and serviceable". We spent just enough time there to shower and catch 6 or 7 hours of sleep each of the three nights we were in the city. The rest of the time we were riding the Metro all over Paris to see the sights.

As most of you already know, during the time that we lived in Germany back in the late '80's and early '90's I worked for the USO. I wore a couple of different hats during my 4 and a half years with the organization. One was that of tour guide. And one of my favorite tours to lead was to Paris....of course!! What nut wouldn't want to go to Paris as often as possible? I had the great fortune of going at least a dozen times or more. I just had to take anywhere from 20 to 40 other people on the train with me! But, Hey!, I was getting paid to go to Paris!! (Me! A kid who grew up dirt poor, dreaming of Europe (no kidding), a place where, in my child's mind, only rich people went). All that was over a decade and a half ago, though. So I was just as excited as Nikki about our 3 days in The City of Light. She went once when she was about 12 but her memories of that first visit are rather vague and are kind of snapshotish so we were excited together.

After checking into our hotel, getting some coffee, buying Metro passes and making a plan of attack we were off to see Notre Dame, the magnificent 12th century Gothic cathedral that sits on an island in the River Seine. Bridges connect the island to both the Right and Left Bank of the Seine. We elected not to ride the metro all the way to the cathedral but to get off at the river's edge so we could walk across the bridge known as the Pont de Neuf. The bridges of Paris are wonderful in themselves and should be experienced and not just viewed from the riverbank or from the window of a car or a bus. As we turned a corner and Notre Dame came into view Nikki and I said in unison, "Wow!" It is such an imposing structure. There is definitely nothing delicate about Notre Dame but its beauty is in the workmanship of the stone masons who labored for decades and sometimes died to bring into being this miracle of medieval engineering.

Next on our agenda was a stroll down the Champs Elysees, known as one of the most famous streets in the world and the second most expensive strip of real estate just behind Fifth Avenue in New York City. We began at one end at the Place de la Concorde, the largest Place, or square, in Paris. The Champs Elysees is about a mile and a quarter long and at the other end stands the Arc de Triomphe. Speaking of expensive, a stroll down the Champs Elysees should include a stop at one of the many sidewalk cafes along the way, if only for a cup of coffee and some people watching. But, Beware. We had one cup of coffee and one cup of tea and it cost us 18 euro (with tip 20 euro). That's about $33!!!!! To be fair, though, we did sit down at one of the most expensive cafes along the Avenue. But it was beautiful and perfectly located and the little sponge cakes that came with our drinks were very tasty! We sat for about an hour in the late afternoon and just watched all the people going by.

When we finally decided it was time to resume our stroll we continued in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe. The Arch was built by Napolean Bonaparte at the beginning of the 19th century to commemorate his military victories. The best part of visiting this Parisian monument is standing at the top of it and watching the crazy drivers below. About 6 or 7 streets all meet at this point like the spokes of a wheel with the Arch as the hub. The cars enter the traffic circle surrounding the monument and jockey for position to exit the circle at any of the other intersecting streets. There are no lanes and seemingly no rules. It's kind of like a grand prix free-for-all. And it's an awful lot of fun to watch! Fortunately, pedestrians access the Arc de Triomphe by way of tunnels that run under this racetrack. The alternative is harrowing just to think about!

It was almost 9pm by the time we reentered the Metro heading for our final destination of the day.....the Eiffel Tower. As with Notre Dame we could have gotten off the Metro very close to the tower but I wanted Nikki to see it from a particular vantage point so we got off at the Trocadero stop instead. From this direction you walk through the center platz of a beautiful theater, along a tree lined path on the other side that is surrounded by grassy slopes which are occupied by lots of people just hanging out and enjoying the end of the day. There is also a huge rectangular fountain that at times is alive with spouting water and spotlights after dark. Place de Trocadero is a gorgeous area with the Eiffel Tower looming at the end of the park and just across the river. The tower is huge! And the closer you get, the huger it gets until you are standing directly under it craning your neck to see the top. We paid our 12 euro each and waited in line for the glassed in elevator that would take us 180 meters (about 550 ft.) to the top of the tower. From this open air deck you can circle the peak of the tower to see the city in all its glory. It's an impressive view no matter the time of day but truly the best time to find yourself at the top of the Eiffel Tower is after dark. Paris is called the City of Light. It is always alive and awake. Consequently the entire city is lit up after dark. All of the major buildings and monuments are illuminated and easily recognized from this particular vantage point. And what a sight to behold! It was so much fun to watch Nik and see her reactions to this very unique experience. The night was warm and the wind was calm. We stayed for quite a while occasionally moving to a new position to see a different part of the city or to watch the boats cruising down the river (another activity that, in my opinion, is best experienced at night). After finally taking the elevator back down to terra firma we retraced our steps back across the river and to Place de Trocadero. To me even leaving the Eiffel Tower and walking through this open airy park setting is somehow more magical at night. Even at 11:30 on a Thursday night it is alive with people. As we headed back to our hotel on the opposite side of the city we were tired and hungry yet fully satisfied with the day. Earlier in the day we had seen a small simple cafe located next to our hotel and we were looking forward to sitting at one of the sidewalk tables and leisurely ending our day with hot food. It was 1:30am before we finally tumbled into bed that first night.

We got a bit of a late start on day two but we had only one destination....the Palace of Versailles, about 12 miles and an easy train ride from downtown Paris. Begun as a hunting lodge by Louis XIII in 1624, it was enlarged and transformed to a sumptuous chateau by Louis XIV. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lived here at the time of the French Revolution in 1789. The palace is a massive example of 17th and 18th century French luxury with all of the art and statues and painted ceilings. It is a feast for the eye, especially the Hall of Mirrors. I was most anxious to explore the grounds, though. It seemed that whenever I had the opportunity to visit Versailles in the past I either didn't have enough time or it was raining or just too blasted hot to be wandering around outside and I was determined this time to see the grounds. It was a beautiful day so Nikki and I set our speedometers to stroll and set out down the path along the Grand Canal. We passed statues and fountains and gardens and groves of perfectly groomed trees. By 3pm we still hadn't seen all there was to see but I was satisfied for the time being and we needed at least a couple of hours to see the inside of the palace. So we stopped at a food stand on the grounds for one of my favorite foods in Paris, a baggette with jambon and fromagge (ham and cheese on a long chewy roll) and ate on our way back to the palace. When we had finished touring the inside we hopped on a little tram that took us to another part of the grounds and Marie Antoinette's private gardens and playground. After a very full day we departed through the gates of Versailles about 7pm. We once again ended our day at the little sidewalk cafe near our hotel, tired, happy and full.

Day three began at Sainte Chapelle, a chapel built by Louis IV in the mid 13th century. I wanted Nikki to see Sainte Chapelle after seeing Notre Dame. As beautiful as the stained glass windows are in Notre Dame, they pale in comparison to what you see when you emerge from the staircase into the upper chapel of Sainte Chapelle. 600 square meters (6456 sq. ft) of beautiful stained glass windows. Two-thirds of this stained glass is original, over 700 years old and in pristine condition. The windows of the chapel were removed and safely stored away during the revolution in 1789 and then again during WWII in anticipation of the German invasion of Paris.

From Sainte Chapelle we made our way to the Musee Rodin. I'm not really much of an art lover. I can look at a famous painting and think, "Oh, OK, that's nice, but..." I never really understand what all the fuss is about. I've been to several of the art museums in Paris, including the Louvre, but more just because I thought I should go rather than out of a real desire. That was probably the reason I went to the Rodin museum the first time, too. I don't remember. What I do remember is the way the sculptures of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) just took my breath away. For the first time in my life I was actually moved by something artistic! I could have spent hours wandering through what was once the sculptor's home, studying the minute details of his creations which were displayed throughout the house, upstairs and downstairs. I fell in love with a life sized white marble sculpture simply called The Kiss, not realizing at the time that this was one of his most famous pieces along with The Thinker and The Gates of Hell. The Thinker was the only one I had ever heard of, but before that day could not even have told you the name of the artist. Auguste Rodin was the first and so far the only artist to actually make me stop dead in my tracks and whisper a long drawn out "Wow". He was such a student of the human form. The Kiss which is made of cold white marble shows such tenderness between these two people held in each other's embrace. The man's hand laid gently on his lover's hip is one of my favorite parts of this sculpture. I wanted Nikki, who loves all forms of art, to see this artist's legacy to the world. And I wanted to go back there myself to see if Rodin's sculptures truly did move me the way I remembered or if perhaps I had just romanticized the experience over the years. They did and I hadn't! We wandered from room to room oooing and aaawing over each new discovery and pointing out little nuances as we detected them. One time I crossed the room to Nikki to say, "Oh Nik, come look at this one!" To which she looked a little perplexed and pointing to the sculpture in front of her said,"But...but...I'm looking at this one." I guess I was getting a little carried away. After satisfying our hunger for art we decided to satisfy our hunger for food at the cafe located within the gardens of the museum.

From Sculptures to Skeletons....We went from the Musee Rodin to the Paris Catacombs. Toward the end of the 18th century the population of Paris was burgeoning and more building space was needed. The cemeteries were also becoming overcrowded and because of mass open graves, improper burials and earth saturated with decomposing organic matter the residents near some of these cemeteries were getting sick. To solve both issues it was decided to close all existing cemeteries within the city and restrict new burials to 3 new cemeteries located outside of the city limits. The remains of the dead which were buried in the condemned cemeteries were disinterred, some of them hundreds of years old, and transported under the cover of darkness to a section of the underground mining tunnels beneath the city. This macabre sight has been open to the public since the late 19th century. To reach the Catacombs you first descend about 60 ft underground via a narrow stone stairway. There you begin walking through a series of tunnels which are perhaps 5 ft wide and 8 ft tall. Eventually you come to a tunnel with a sign over the entrance which reads in French Here Lies the Kingdom of the Dead. As you enter this tunnel you see stacks and stacks and stacks of human bones, mostly arm and leg bones with human skulls used to create patterns or designs in these subterranean burial walls. It is quite a sight and something definitely off the beaten path of most tourist attractions. The last time I was in Paris there was no line to get into the Catacombs. This time, however, the line of people waiting to wander through The Kingdom of the Dead was quite long. The tunnel floors were also a bit muddy back in the early '90's but now they have a nice layer of fine gravel upon which to tread. And the whole experience is just as creepy as ever.

The last thing on our agenda was to take a boat ride down the Seine River. This is also best experienced after dark so we had bought our tickets earlier in the day and planned to catch the last cruise at 10:30pm. After the Catacombs we had enough time to go back to the hotel, freshen up and grab our jackets before heading back to the docks. Did I mention that last Saturday was the Summer Solstice? In celebration of the longest day of the year there were city wide music festivals all day long and into the night. Everyone was celebrating. As we cruised along the Seine on the open air upper deck of the boat it seemed that the entire Paris population was lined along the banks of the river and both sides of every bridge traversing it. They would yell and cheer to the boat passengers as we slowly cruised past them so, of course, we would yell and cheer back at them. It was such a party atmosphere and as usual the whole city was lit up. The commentary on the boat was given in several languages and pointed out those monuments and historic buildings that were spotlighted and easily seen from the river. The river cruise lasted an hour and it was once again 11:30pm before we called it a day and returned to our hotel....with a stop at our little cafe for a late night dinner before turning in.

We left Paris at 9am on Sunday morning and settled in for a pleasant 3 1/2 hour train ride back to Germany. Fortunately the train was not crowded so Nikki and I were both able to stretch out and catch up on a little sleep before arriving in Ludwigshafen where Bert met us at the train station for the short walk back to their apartment. It was such a fun trip and totally satisfying. I have wanted to go back to Paris for so long and to be able to go with Nikki just made it all the better!

We took a ton of pictures but haven't gone through them yet. I'll post them as soon as I can.

A Family Affair

• What a fun weekend! I arrived at Paul's house about 7:30pm on Thursday. It's such a beautiful drive between here and there and I do love a roadtrip. Aunt Carmen and Uncle Dick were already there and Shelly and Steve got in about midnight on Friday. We were all determined to wait up for them and were pretty bleary eyed by the time they got there. Then, of course, everyone had to sit around and talk for a while. We couldn't just go straight to bed. It was my first time meeting my cousin and her husband. I wish I had gotten to know my family much earlier. They are so much fun and just really great people. To give you an idea of what they are like I think the family motto should be Take No Prisoners. There is constant teasing and laughter. If you don't think you can hold your own you better not stick around. I had to really be on my toes. Speaking of which, graceful little thing that I'm not, I tripped going UP the stairs, which happen to be in plain sight of everyone in the living room. As soon as it happened Paul jumped on it, making as much fun of me as possible and his father and son joined right in. All I could do was laugh and say, "Shit, I was hoping nobody saw that." But I got in a few of good ones of my own here and there over the course of the weekend.
  

The big party for Zach was Saturday night. Well, technically it started at 2pm on Saturday afternoon but it went well into the night. Genelle's parents came plus a bunch of Paul and Genelle's friends. Genelle worked really hard to put everything together and she did a great job. Food, decorations and enough beer, wine, tequila, rum and Crown Royal to pickle everyone. Not the kids, of course, but the rest of us did a damn fine job of it. Eventually the party migrated to the game room and to Paul's recording studio, which are both in the basement. Between ping pong, air hockey and an impromptu jam session it got pretty loud.
With the exception of Genelle's parents and my aunt and uncle I was the oldest person at the party and I was the last man standing at the end of the night! Most everybody had either gone home or gone to bed so Paul, Shelly, Steve and I decided to watch the movie I had bought Paul for his birthday. Did I forget to mention that in addition to Zach's graduation the weekend also included Paul's birthday on Friday? We were talking about movies last time I was there and he had never seen Start The Revolution Without Me. So that made his birthday gift an easy one. Anyway, Shelly and Steve lasted about a half hour into the movie before they threw in the towel and headed for bed. Paul lasted longer but didn't make it to the end of the movie either. He fell asleep (or should I say passed out?) on the couch. We were downstairs in the game room. So it was about 3am when I threw a blanket over him and headed for my own bed. Actually I headed for Zach's bed, having taken over his room for the weekend and relegating him to the couch in the living room. When you are trying to sleep nine people someone will always end up on the couch and Zach drew the short straw. So I tiptoed past the family's newest high school graduate as I made my way from the basement and through the living room to the upstairs.

Everyone was moving kind of slow the next morning, especially Paul and me. It was Father's Day and for some reason he and his dad thought they should get special treatment. Imagine that! All they got from everyone else in the house (besides gifts) was a hard time. We didn't do much that day. Genelle made a big breakfast (which my stomach politely declined) and we vegged out most of the day in front of the TV. Shelly and Steve had us watching NASCAR, then Paul had us watching golf. It was the last day of the U.S. Open and I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I got really into it. It was neck and neck between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate at the end and they finished the tournament in a tie so they had to have a golf-off today. I actually watched the end of it when I got home this afternoon! Tiger won by one stroke. The Open ended about 9pm last night so we put in Will Smith's movie I Am Legend. It's not the kind of movie I would choose but it was really good. Really suspenseful and creepy. I was sitting next to Genelle and she kept jumping when the movie would startle her. She also shushed me a couple of times at the beginning of the movie so a while later when Shelly and Steve were whispering I pointed at them and told Genelle she needed to shush them! That cracked her up. When everybody else went to bed after the movie I stayed up with Zach and Austin to watch an episode of South Park. Then I went to bed. Who knows how long they stayed up!

Genelle had to leave for work about 6:30am this morning and the rest of us had to get on the road so we were all up early. Carmen and Dick were driving back to North Carolina with Shelly and Steve before flying back to Las Vegas next week. Paul rolled the boys out and the 8 of us all went to The Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Needless to say there was a lot of picking and poking and laughter around that table. We said goodbye in the parking lot and I pointed my car north and west back toward the 'Burgh.

I thought of my dad a lot yesterday. I spent most of my life without him but yesterday was the first Father's Day in 12 years that I didn't buy a card or make a phone call. Looking around me, though, at the family he gave me, I felt his presence in their love.
Thank you, Dad. I love you.

Let the Summer Fun Begin!

I'm off to Haymarket, Virginia this afternoon. Paul's son, Zach, is graduating from high school and this is the celebratory weekend. My Aunt Carmen and Uncle Dick (Zach's grandparents) flew in from Las Vegas and their daughter, Michelle, and her husband Steve are coming from North Carolina.

I still get excited about spending time with my relatives. For so much of my adult life the only people I knew who I was directly related to were my children and my brother's children. It's still a novelty to me to look at someone from my dad's family and think "This is my family. We are related."

I will have just enough time when I get back to unpack and repack because next Wednesday I'm going to spend a couple of weeks with Nikki in Germany. As soon as I land we are going to Paris for 3 days! What fun!

So Long Hedley...

We lost one of film's funniest actors yesterday. Harvey Korman died at the age of 81. In a career that spanned 40 years his best known role was probably that of Hedley "don't call me Hedy" Lamarr, the conniving politician, in Mel Brooks' 1974 classic Blazing Saddles. But as much as I love that silly movie my strongest memories of Harvey Korman are from the The Carol Burnett Show. He was a central player on the show for 10 of its 12 year run from 1967-1978. Harvey played the eternal straight man to the antics of Carol and the incomparable Tim Conway. Who can forget his portrayal of Rhett Butler to Carol's Scarlett O'Hara? Or Harvey and Carol trying desperately not to laugh at Tim's ad libbing? Along with Vicki Lawrence they were the original Dream Team. Thanks for the laughter, Harvey. Sweet dreams...

Music In The Family

If you've been reading my blog you've undoubtedly heard me refer to my cousin, Paul. His mother is my dad's younger sister. Paul lives in Haymarket, Va. with his wife, Genelle, and their boys Zach and Austin. Aside from his day job, Paul is a singer-songwriter and musician. His latest CD is called I Wish My Girl Was This Dirty and I've borrowed some of his lyrics for my Lyrics To Ponder on the sidebar. Paul calls his music "Rock for grownups". I think he has a little something for everyone on this CD. I especially like the last four songs. If you are looking for new music check out Paul's website. http://www.paulmcdonaldmusic.com/home.html

Puerto Rico, Here I Come!

I've been promising Karen that I would come visit again ever since she moved there in 2002. She keeps saying that she'll believe it when she sees it. Well, I hope she's looking, 'cause I'm on my way! I land in San Juan on the 5th of August and will be there until the 19th. Karen has arranged for me to house sit while I'm there which will pay for most of my plane ticket. She manages 17 vacation homes on the island of Vieques and the owners of one want a house sitter for a couple of weeks. Vieques is about 20 miles long and 5 miles wide and is absolutely beautiful. Most of the tourists get no further than the main island so Vieques is very quiet and there really are no crowds on the beaches. Karen has even offered to put me to work while I'm there just in case I don't want to lay around on the beach every day. So I guess this will be sort of a working vacation. What a deal!! And a great way to end the summer!

If It's Tuesday It Must Be Belgium

I went to the doctor yesterday. Everything is healing as it should. I even got back into my jeans yesterday! I've been wearing comfy pants for the last couple of weeks since the surgery and it feels so good to put on my jeans again. I feel like I'm really dressed now.

I wanted to do some traveling this summer but I didn't want to make any plans til after the surgery and until I knew if there was going to be anything else to deal with in the coming months.

Now that I know everything is OK I can make my summer plans. Shauna is coming for a few days weekend after next. Hooray! Then the middle of June I'm going back to my cousin's house in Virginia. His son Zach is graduating from high school.

Next on the itinerary is a trip to see Nikki in Germany on the 18th of June! I'm using the flight voucher with USAir that I got last July when Michael and I let ourselves get bumped on our way back from Dublin. I'll be in Germany until July 4th. We're going to go to the Rodenbach pool! Talk about memory lane! I'm hoping to get back to Paris for a few days, too.

I'll have about 3 days after I get back from Germany until it's time to use another voucher and go to Seattle! This one is through Alaska Airlines and I got it last December when I volunteered to get bumped going from Seattle to Denver. The hitch is that Alaska Airlines doesn't fly out of Pittsburgh, but they do fly out of D.C., so I'll drive to Paul's on the 8th, stay over night, leave my car with them and Paul will drop me at Reagan National the next morning. Nikki arrives on the 10th so I get 12 days with all my chickens in Seattle! Amy has offered to take me kayaking! That sounds like a blast. I'm anxious to see Michael's new car, too. He has always been very conservative and driven only what he can afford. Since he got his job at Boeing he can finally afford a nice car so he bought a 2006 Accord. Everyone says it's really nice and I'm so proud of him for waiting until he could afford it.

Nik and I both leave Seattle on the 22nd. She is going to Green Bay to spend time with the other half of our family (Wade, Sarah and little sisters) before heading back to Germany at the end of the month. I'm going to Colorado from Seattle to spend a little over a week with Ruth and Bill. I'll fly back to Seattle on the 31st and and then back to D.C. from there on the 1st of August. Paul will pick me up at the airport and I'm going to hang out with him, Genelle and the boys for the weekend. They have a boat and Paul says they are out on the river almost every weekend during the summer so that will be fun.

The other trip I want to get in this summer is a couple of weeks in Puerto Rico visiting Karen. I haven't booked anything yet. I'm still looking for a cheap ticket for the first couple of weeks in August after I get back from everything else.

Musings on a Rainy Day

My recuperation is going well. Nikki left on Saturday and I miss her terribly. It's wonderful to see the kids when I get to but it's always hard for the first few days afterward. I'm kind of housebound at the present. I see the doctor on Monday and I'm sure he'll release me to drive next week but in the meantime.....
So I've sort of given my car keys to Steve while I'm out of commission. He's loving being able to drive to and from school and where ever else he needs(!) to go. The deal is, though, that he has to drive me when I need to go somewhere. I really don't mind him driving my car. I guess it's just one more thing that I can do to continue to build our relationship. He really is a great kid and pretty much has my heart wrapped around which ever finger he chooses!

Pittsburgh is quite the sports town. At the moment everyone is consumed with Penguin fever. The Pens are up 3 games to 0 over the Philadelphia Flyers in a best of 7 match up to see who goes to the NHL Stanley Cup finals against (probably) Detroit. Game 4 is in Phili tomorrow evening. I'm not an ice hockey fan but Steve has just insisted that I should have a Penguins shirt so he and I went to the sporting goods store today. We chose #58, a player named LeTang because he's a rookie this year and so am I. So I guess I'll be wearing my Pens shirt tomorrow night along with about 90% of the rest of Pittsburgh!

I'm really missing my long daily walks. I started walking around the block a couple of times a few days ago. I'll build back up to my 8 miles a little at a time, I guess. It's been raining off and on most of today but I got in a walk a little while ago.
When I got back to the house I just didn't want to go back inside so I decided to get my book and sit out on the porch. I brought Lucy out with me. She loves to come outside and explore. I followed her around the yard for a bit while she smelled everything and ate some grass and then finally convinced her to just settle down next to me on the wicker couch. So here we sit, Lucy and I, watching the misty rain as the evening deepens. It's starting to get a little chillier now so we'll probably go inside soon but for now we're content.

Beltane/May Day

May 1st was Beltane, a very important day in the ancient calendar. It was the day when the Celtic people of the Isles would celebrate the rebirth of Spring and the hope of fertility, as Samhain (sow-en), represented the celebration of the harvest in Autumn. As I was busy having my own little unfertility ritual on that day and I didn't get to blog about Beltane on the day of Beltane, I'll do it now.....


According to http://www.tryskelion.com/tryskelion/beltrad.htm

The word Beltane literally means, "shining fire." This is one of the most exciting festivals of the year. It is also one of the only holidays that is usually celebrated in the light of day.

The collecting of spring flowers is one of the popular customs of Beltane. For thousands of years, people would go into the fields to collect the pretty flowers and exchange them. Townspeople would often proceed through the village streets putting flowers on all the houses and buildings. People inside the homes would offer them wonderful food and goodies to eat as sort of a spring version of "trick or treat."

Another benchmark tradition of this holiday is the Maypole. In tradition, a fir was used. The young, unwed men would go to the forest and return with the tree that would be fashioned into the pole. The pole was brought to the center of the village to be guarded through the night until the first day of May. On that day, the people would come and dance around the maypole clockwise to bring fertility and good luck. Later, brightly colored ribbons were woven around the pole by the dancers as they wove around eachother. This symbolizes the balance of masculine and feminine energies and the duality of life. The ribbons would then be removed and kept in a safe place to be burned in the Beltane fires of next year. This action represents the old dying to give birth to the new.

Fertility is a central theme of Beltane. The people lived in close connection with the Earth. To have food to eat, the crops and the beasts of the fields would have to be fertile. In the time of the ancients, this was a life and death matter. For this reason, we have a number of holidays and rituals that are connected with fertility.
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When I was a child we would make small paper baskets the day before May Day. The next morning we would get up early, fill the baskets with wildflowers, leave them on the neighbors doorsteps, ring the bells and run. That way, when the neighbors came to the door they would just find the flowers and not know who left them. That was in the mid 1960's. Even then, the leaving of May Baskets was a dying tradition in this country. My grandmother told us to only leave them at the door steps of our older neighbors. It would bring a smile to their faces to see that there were still a few children who had been taught about the tradition of their own childhood. She explained to us that it was a way to celebrate the coming of Spring. Little did my grandmother know how far back this innocent little exchange reached into our pagan roots!

Baby Steps Back

Well, I'm feeling human today, but it has been a tough week. Healing from the actual surgery has been the easiest part of this whole ordeal! The worst part has been all the extra complications. First came the migraine on Friday, the day after surgery. Then the reaction to the anesthesia that created a viselike feeling in both shoulders on Sat and Sun, and the awful gas that about brought me to my knees on Sun (although this was expected and normal). To top it off I caught an intestinal infection right after I got home! I lost track of about 30 hours from early Mon til early Tues. The doctor told me to go to the ER to get checked out and he called in a script of antibiotics for me. Tues was still kind of a rough day but things have gotten so much better since that night. I'm not really in any pain anymore. The appetite is coming back a little at a time (I've lost 10 lbs!) and I know from past surgeries that it will be a good while before I get all of my strength back. But I'm on the road. Nikki changed her plane ticket so she's staying until Sat. Yay! I sent her out with Sherry this afternoon to do some shoe shopping. She has been so focused on me for the last week that we all figured she could use a few hours of distraction to clear her head. Well, that's about it. Just wanted to let you know how goes the war! Hopefully I'm on the way back to normalcy now. No more talk of cancer. Just healing and getting back to life!

The Price of Gas

Hi Everyone! It's me! It's a little after 6pm on Sunday and I've been home for almost 2 hours now. Leaving me tucked up in bed, Nikki and Steve have gone to get my prescriptions filled. Sherry is flying and will be home Tuesday evening. So Nik gets to play stand in mom to Steve for a few days as well as nurse to me.

Nikki has been an absolute angel. I can't imagine what I would have done without her during the past few days. She didn't even have time to deal with her jet lag before she jumped in with both feet. Sherry picked her up at the airport Thursday night and brought her to the hospital Friday morning. Just now is the first time she has left my side since she got here. She has fed me, washed me, massaged me, gotten me in and out of bed, and helped me to take baby steps up and down the hallway, all the while keeping the rest of the family in the know and even posting to my blog for me!

The last few days have been rough. It would have been so much easier if all we had to deal with was just the post-op recuperation but it was the added issues that complicated matters. Nikki wrote about the migraine on Friday. That was horrible enough but as soon as that was resolved I developed gas pockets in my shoulders, a normal and expected complication from the anesthesia, according to the nurse. It didn't hurt as long as I was laying down but as soon as I would get out of bed to go to the bathroom or try to walk a bit, it felt like both of my shoulders were caught in vices. It has made moving around very painful but movement is the only way to work it out. Then there was the little matter of needing to pass gas before I could be discharged. It's required of every post surgical patient and (believe me!) much easier said than done. Surgery messes with your bowel system and I blew up like the Hindenburg! Between that and the shoulder pain I spent several hours this morning in excruciating pain. Neither one of those problems has completely resolved themselves yet but they will in time.

As for being 4 days out of surgery, I'm actually doing well with the abdominal healing. The worst is definitely behind me. I can get in and out of bed myself now and it was easier than I thought it would be to get up the stairs to my room when we got home this afternoon. All in all, after a rough few days, I'd say I'm doing pretty good now. And the best news of all is that there is no cancer! The day nurse today told me that I was her only non-cancer patient. I simply cannot express the relief I'm feeling right now.

I want to say thank you to all of my friends and family who have been so supportive during the last 3 months. I love you all and look forward to pestering you for many years to come!

Open wide for the airplane, bbrbrrbb

Thank goodness, it seems the migraine has finally had enough cavorting around in Mom's skull! It's left some achy footprints behind, so she's still not entirely 100% (above the neck), but at least things are calmed down enough to focus on healing below the neck.

She's giggled, as much as her stitches allow, that it's payback time. I'm helping her to pee, to eat, to get in and out of bed, and to take little baby steps down the hallway. She was so weak last night that I was able to overpower her and force-feed some pudding. We almost dribbled all over ourselves as I tried not to make her laugh, guiding the "airplane into the hangar". She's done pretty well with the food and liquids today. We graduated from the IV and she's actually consumed -- gasp! -- a half-cup of yogurt! You know you're feeling like crap when you haven't eaten since Tuesday and don't really care.

Mom probably won't be discharged before tomorrow, but things are definitely comfier and she's much more alert and coherent. She'd like to thank everyone for their phone calls, emails, flowers, and other outpourings of support and love.

Meanwhile, I think I'll pick up this phone and order some coffee!

The Good, the Bad, and the Tasty

Well, good middle of the night, everyone!

Foreign correspondent Nik here, to report on the latest events from the Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

First thing's first: there is not a sign of cancer!!! The doctor came in to confirm their original impressions (though the official pathology report will take a few days yet), and we went just about giddy. He said they opened her up and everything apart from the mass looked clean and healthy. They didn't even bother to remove the appendix, which they were planning on doing. Best news possible at this point!

What made today particularly difficult, though, and all but eclipsed the discomfort of post-surgery, was the migraine. It started quite early on -- around 8:30am -- but because they have to put in an order from the pharmacy every time a new medication is called for, the Imitrex didn't reach her in time to act as any sort of prophylactic. And anyone who knows Mom's migraines knows that once it reaches that point, there's no stopping it. Thank God they had already given her anti-nausea medication earlier, or she'd have been vomiting from the pain. But frustratingly, the staff didn't seem to realize that this wasn't some mildly uncomfortable "headache" as a result of the surgery: this was a separate, excruciating, urgent condition that was likely triggered, but not caused, by the surgery. They of course had no experience with Mom's notorious lack of response to narcotic pain medication, and so kept trying to tell us that the morphine drip she was already on for the surgery itself should "take the edge off". I realize they were just trying to follow procedure, and, not knowing the patient's background, wanted to start out step by step, experimenting with the smallest little half-measures instead of just slamming it down in one fell swoop. But they also wouldn't listen to us! We repeatedly reassured them that we knew exactly what had worked in the past and what hadn't, that we'd already done this whole series of trial & error at the VA hospital in Tucson, so just give her the damned Demerol and have done with it!

Well, to skip over the next *ten hours* of hemming and hawing on their parts, being first inactive and then indecisive -- Mom ended up swimming in half-effective narcotics, pupils the size of purely theoretical particles and remarking that now she was on drugs and suffering a migraine -- the staff finally changed. A brusque Valkyrien doctor came swooping in and declared first her name, then her intention to get Mom's head out of its vise. She was followed by a competent, businesslike, thoughtful young nurse who anticipated all of Mom's needs, checked back frequently just to give us updates, and who then decided to just go forward with the Delaudid (a Demerol counterpart) while we were still waiting for the order to be written, because Mom had "waited long enough for it." Huzzah! I think I must send both of these women chocolates.

So now she's finally getting the closest thing to peace she's had all day, and I'm settling in on my little trundle chair. She still hasn't eaten anything, but hopefully now that the migraine is on its way out, she can focus more on getting her belly to heal. I'm in suspense to see how she feels in the morning!

All inconsiderate, non-Demerol-dispensing, first-round doctors aside, the Magee Women's Hospital is awfully nice. It looks more like a fine hotel, with spacious, elegant, oak decor -- even the curtains covering the large windows of our room are done up in a sort of rose-and-gold, softly Klimt style. Mom has her own room, replete with bathroom. And get this: the food isn't automatically brought to patients on a sort of "here's lunch" schedule. Instead, each room comes with a truly gourmet menu -- seared ahi tuna, anyone? -- provided room-service style! You call down anytime between 8am and 11pm, order whatever and however much you'd like, and they bring it on up. This probably works so well because most patients wouldn't have much of an appetite between surgery and being discharged. But their guests do! Guests' trays cost an extra $6.50, but hey, for all you can eat off a restaurant-quality menu? Bring it up!

Well, I think I'm going to try to join Mom in the shuteye department. Things are only looking up from here, and she's being well looked-after now. I'll send any updates as they arise!

I hope everyone is having a happy, healthy day. Love to all!