ThingsINotice

Sunday, May 19, 2013

And Life Goes On…

Eleven years ago I had two discs in my neck removed and a titanium plate put in that helped fuse three of the vertebrae together. Some say that this is more common in (old) F-16 pilots who pulled very high “G’s” for many years and I can definitely remember a few times when I had that electric pain as soon as I jerked back on the stick. Over the years I have had a twinge once in a while, but all-in-all I’ve been doing okay. Until last Wednesday. The pain was overwhelming. But of course, I’m a baby, so that must be taken with a grain of salt. Saw my acupuncturist on Thursday and she helped a great deal, saw the neurosurgeon on Friday. I have to get X-Rays and an MRI and will start PT next week. Muscle relaxers, pain killers, etc., etc., etc. They both say that I have probably exacerbated my neck injury with stress. Go figure. How could that have happened?

Many, many people sent me birthday wishes yesterday and I enjoyed each of them! Made me remember how many people I’ve gotten to know and become friends with over the last couple of decades. I can’t believe I’ve lived this long, I really didn’t think I’d make it past 30, forty amazed me, fifty was awesome, 60 incredible, and….well, every day’s a miracle.

Yesterday, Kyle was playing a baseball game–in the rain. I guess they didn’t call the game for weather because there wasn’t any lightning. But there was rain. I had my camera under a trash bag. That reminded me of a shoot many years ago I did at the Battle of Manassas site. Rain was pouring down but I did get some good mood shots. I put some of them on my photography site, here’s one of a cannon in the down pour.

Added: I’m offering a 30% discount on my Photography Site in honor of all those who fought for our country. Come and visit and even if you don’t buy anything (most don’t!), enjoy the photos. If you do order, the shipping is a killer unless you use the normal, old normal USPS delivery–which I recommend.

Battle of Manassas – Cannon in the Rain

2 comments

Chris - May 19, 2013 - 7:39 pm

Oh my gosh!! So sorry about the neck, babe!! Not something you needed right now but that’s when the garbage always hits! Glad the acupuncture helped! Sure took the fun out of your birthday, huh? We both hope you are doing better and that the x-rays, etc. will tell you exactly what’s wrong so you can tackle it! People don’t realize what the lifetime effects of being a warrior that protects all of us are!!! Prayers for you, Darlin’!! Please feel better soon!! Love you bunches!!!

Lisa McQuail - May 19, 2013 - 8:56 pm

So, Lee– is this a Confederate cannon or a Yankee cannon??? LOL!

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Headed Back Up The Hill

Well, family things are sort of back to normal. Or, better said, to the normal that we now re-define every day. And we have to admit, there is a bit of adventure in this particular way of living. Diane worked half days at the end of last week and was determined to make it through each work day even though she was absolutely exhausted before she even started. I don’t think she slept at night more than an hour or two for three days. Lots of new symptoms this time around. Chief among them was the lack of sleep followed very closely by the mouth problems. She doesn’t have a lot of taste other than the mysterious metallic flavor in everything including just plain saliva. She has lots of mouth sores and has to keep on top of that constantly. I’m not very adept at keeping up with all of the symptomatic changes. We have a routine that we are into with all of the drugs and the pain and other discomfort. Not pleasant, in fact downright icky, but it’s the new things that keep us off balance.

Rain on Roses

Of course, this weekend is Mother’s Day. The kids have spent time figuring out what to do for her; Kyle and I bought bird feeders. She wants to “feed the birds” so we either had to come up with the feeders or “tuppence.” Sorry. Couldn’t resist. We set the bird feeders up but haven’t had birds yet. Of course, I’m not known for my patience so I’m guessing that hopefully the birds will discover us. Soon. Diane’s a great mom and this cancer thing really hasn’t slowed her down, just changed the rhythm!!

Friday was sort of unusual. Kyle and Kelsey were on separate sleepovers so it was just Diane, Kirsten, and me. We watched a movie, yuk. C-. The new Tom Cruise movie. The morning…the most unusual. Kyle is normally up racing around relatively early and then chatting online with his buddies. But. This morning it was quiet. I drove by myself to Old Town to have breakfast with an old friend and walk through the market. There were

Rain Rose

rain showers on the flowers, hence the photos in this post. Kyle’s baseball games were cancelled today which was okay except that it is rescheduled for tomorrow. During dinnertime so Mother’s Day will have to be adjusted a bit. I think of my mom quite a bit but especially on Mom’s Day. And her birthday is May 10 so we always “Double Celebrated.” I always felt a little guilty buying only one present all of those years. Oh well. I wish I could have visited her more often during the last few years of her life. I guess I didn’t know what I was missing until she was gone. I think that I have preserved and project many of the values she taught me. It took a little bit longer than normal to hit—the value system—but, at least it hit. I think my kids and relationship have benefited. Thanks, Mom.

Rain Showers On Pink

2 comments

Chris - May 11, 2013 - 7:00 pm

Your Mom & Dad raised a unique & fabulous man!! The values they instilled in you will be the rocks on which your children will build their lives……and those will be happy & successful lives! You are and have always been an amazing addition to this slightly whacko family! None of us are even near normal (whatever that is) so you fit right in! But we are good hearted and caring people! Bless you for caring for & loving my sister as you do……and for your special insight thru your camera that gives me views of people and things that I never had before!! The raindrop pix are awesome!!!! Waiting for the ones of the birds!! Love you a lot, Bro!!

Everett Bailey - May 11, 2013 - 9:31 pm

Lee,
I certainly do appreciate and admire your posts while you folks are going through this battle with cancer. Your post regarding the values inherited from your mom was very heart felt. I ran across the pictures of you and Steve Bakk with my mom on her front porch….she still remembers and cherishes that visit. (And so do I) Diane and your family are in our prayers. Stay strong, young man!

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Not A Great Day…except for a short walkabout

Diane isn’t having a great day. Lots of pain, general discomfort. Not fun. Kelsey and I left for a short while this morning to have a quick walkabout. We went down to Hidden Pond and discussed the mysteries of life. Well, maybe not of life but of shutter speeds, f-stops, depth-of-field, ISO, and on and on and on. But most importantly, we talked about seeing things. About the difference between snaps and photos. And about art. Because what we are doing is art, some will like what we do, some won’t, most won’t even notice. As I droned on, I realized that there’s actually quite a bit to this photography thing. Most of the technical things I don’t think about anymore but those things still need to be done. I shoot in the manual mode. That’s what I’m teaching Kelsey although I told her it’s okay to use P,S, or A. But learning what all the pieces do is important. I’m reminded of when I learned to drive, my dad taught me to drive on a manual transmission, a 1959 Rambler station wagon with a three speed manual on the column. Hmmm. No such thing as Rambler anymore and I’m pretty sure there is no such thing as a three speed manual on the column either. I could be wrong about that.

Pathway in the Woods

We walked about in the woods, a few hundred yards of the path were on the raised walkway in this shot. But most was on rough dirt pathways. That’s another technique about walkabouts that I’ve learned the hard way. Watch where you are going so you don’t trip or step into a hole! Or on a snake. I get down on the ground a lot and the snake thing is not a preposterous idea. In fact, because I hate snakes so much, I’m pretty sure that they are waiting for me specifically and the only reason I haven’t been bitten yet is because I am so careful. I know that’s unreasonable and that my fear of snakes is unreasonable. But that’s the way I am. As much as I would like to someday visit Australia, you can be quite certain that such a visit is beyond the pale. At no time, no way, no how would I visit a place with so many incredibly dangerous critters…and they’re mostly snakes. I know about the spiders, too, but that’s just icing on the “stay away” cake.

The walkabout was short and necessarily focused on the woods. Next week when Diane is better, Kelsey and I can go to Old Town for a longer walkabout. I think she’ll find that outing more fun. But then, we’re both biased, we love Old Town. Right now, we’re trying to help Diane. The day isn’t good but Kyle has a ballgame, grocery shopping, Kelsey has a school outing, I’ve got a couple more hours of work (job-work) to do. Whine, whine, whine. The day isn’t about me or the kids, the day is about Diane–keeping her comfortable and, to the extent possible, distracted. Every chemo session has produced a slightly different “suite of symptoms.” It’s sort of like the body is piling on—piling on itself. The good news for this dismally awful day is that this is probably the worst of the session and this is the halfway mark. That brings a smile to my face. Not to Diane’s…not yet, maybe tomorrow will be a better day!

Kelsey in the Woods

1 comment

Chris - May 5, 2013 - 2:39 pm

How wonderful that you & Kelsey have a profession in common! I’m sure she loves every minute with you even more than before and that was awesome! You are such a great dad!! So the chemo sysptoms aren’t the same each time? Crud! You can’t even count on getting things down to a system of any kind! I was gonna call but perhaps another time would be better. She needs to take her pills that make her sleep. Let her know I was thinking about her & love her bunches! Love to all of you!! Good luck with that game, Kyle!!

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Observation Homework

This is chemo week. Diane has been doing fine, today and tomorrow will be the worst but she’s being strong. Kirsten is home for the summer so we have the whole family together. Makes me happy.

I’m taking this course (distance learning) on creativity. I had to do an errand at lunchtime yesterday and so decided to incorporate my homework which was: Spend 30 minutes in one place observing things. Write them down. I summarized and copied below.

Things to Notice – Overload. An incredibly beautiful, bright, sunny day. I went to “Hidden Pond” at mid-day because I thought few people would be around. And, there weren’t too, too, too many but there were many. And a goose family. And color. And quiet. And smells. The “texture” of everything exuded “NEW.” And clean. Even though the dirt was still dirt, the bugs were still buggy, and some of the places could have been in a Fabreze commercial (dead animal, garbage). I tried to “observe” but actually think that might be my natural state, so I tried to slow down, but that would have been a negative pace.

There was a young couple lounging on a park bench deep into each other who became uncomfortable with my very large camera so close by and waving dangerously close to their direction. After 10 minutes or so, they moved to a more secluded spot and I stole their bench which was right next to the goose family. But, like the teens in love, the geese weren’t fans of the camera either and they too moved on. But I stayed on the bench and soaked up the world for another half hour. Turtles lounging, bugs scrambling, walkers walking, birds singing and singing and singing. I took a shot across the lake of what I thought was going to be focused on the building peeking out of the woods. When I downloaded the photo, however, I saw this bright splash of red! How had I missed that when I was there in person? I was probably worried that I would meet the skunk I was smelling.

I guess I was observing too fast.

In the shot of the lake below, I tried to figure out how I had missed the bright color contrast. I decided that perhaps in “real life” the contrast had not been so obvious. To demonstrate, I painted out all of the colors except the red. And it was very green. So in fact, you can see that there really aren’t that many red flowers. So I conclude that the contrast was too subtle for me. Yeah, right. I’m thinking I need to hone my observation skills.

Family of Geese

Red Flowers

Un-retouched Photo, notice the Green!!

1 comment