We will be vacationing in Carmel and environs through this coming week, and then traveling down Hwy 1 to
Cambria and Moonstone Beach for a few days. It is our first real vacation for quite a while. I will attempt to post messages in the coming week using Sue's laptop.
SRH
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Call Me Ishmael....
This opening line from Moby Dick has always riveted my imagination. There is expectation and foreboding wrapped in these three words. I don't know why this has been with me for the past days. The words keep coming to the forefront of my mind and I sometimes say them aloud when no one is in earshot. Were I to have the opportunity now, I would name a son "Ishmael", and maybe even get away with naming a daughter "Ishmaela". I'd have a little explaining to do later, but I think once the literary distinction was explained that understanding daughter would be proud to have the moniker.
Seriously....."Call me Ishmael" opens the door to a life-chamging series of adventures and harrowing events for a young man who signed on to a Nantucket whaling ship in search of something new. He is a pilgrim in a way....one not quite sure about what is to come...a pilgrim on a voyage of discovery.
I would think at some point in our lives that we all would want to be called Ishmael.
Call me Ismael
SRH
Seriously....."Call me Ishmael" opens the door to a life-chamging series of adventures and harrowing events for a young man who signed on to a Nantucket whaling ship in search of something new. He is a pilgrim in a way....one not quite sure about what is to come...a pilgrim on a voyage of discovery.
I would think at some point in our lives that we all would want to be called Ishmael.
Call me Ismael
SRH
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Trauma
A fellow "pilgrim" had recommended I search out internet message boards and blogs that featured commentary by "survivors" of coronary by-pass surgery. Perhap I could find comfort, if not inspiration, in the narratives of others like me who were coping with the emotional and physical impact of the surgery. Yesterday, I followed through and located two message boards...one being more popular than the other and therefore carrying more traffic.
Frankly, I consider myself fortunate to be where I am in mind, body and spirit some thirteen weeks after the triple by-pass. I called this "coming to terms". Others have not come to terms, as evidenced by many of the despairing messages I read. Often a spouse was writing about the pall of darkness and depression that settled over the relationship and the family. Other messages were posted by the patients...and only a few were positive and vainly tried to reassure the traumatized that life could be good.
I was truly disturbed and wondered if there was something I was missing. The predominant attitude was that life was over and death had been put off for a short time. Was the end going to be within six months....or next year....maybe two or three years? So, what's the use in the lifestyle change required for ongoing health?
Many were experiencing renewed symptoms of angina, shooting pains, shortness of breath...and fear.
Perhaps my surgeon was the best compared to some less-than-best surgeons that did their job inside of the chest walls of these people. Perhaps my heart, though at risk, had not suffered any damage and theirs had.
Perhaps I am naive and should be harboring some fear for the future. But I am not where many of these people are in recovery.
I think that we travel our life path taking so much for granted. When some event shatters our assumptions about how things should be, we are tested to our core. If our spirit is not strong, if it is not founded upon solid ground, if its values are undefined, then recovery from that trying event is difficult, if even possible.
I'll continue looking for other blogs and message boards and keep you in touch.
SRH
Frankly, I consider myself fortunate to be where I am in mind, body and spirit some thirteen weeks after the triple by-pass. I called this "coming to terms". Others have not come to terms, as evidenced by many of the despairing messages I read. Often a spouse was writing about the pall of darkness and depression that settled over the relationship and the family. Other messages were posted by the patients...and only a few were positive and vainly tried to reassure the traumatized that life could be good.
I was truly disturbed and wondered if there was something I was missing. The predominant attitude was that life was over and death had been put off for a short time. Was the end going to be within six months....or next year....maybe two or three years? So, what's the use in the lifestyle change required for ongoing health?
Many were experiencing renewed symptoms of angina, shooting pains, shortness of breath...and fear.
Perhaps my surgeon was the best compared to some less-than-best surgeons that did their job inside of the chest walls of these people. Perhaps my heart, though at risk, had not suffered any damage and theirs had.
Perhaps I am naive and should be harboring some fear for the future. But I am not where many of these people are in recovery.
I think that we travel our life path taking so much for granted. When some event shatters our assumptions about how things should be, we are tested to our core. If our spirit is not strong, if it is not founded upon solid ground, if its values are undefined, then recovery from that trying event is difficult, if even possible.
I'll continue looking for other blogs and message boards and keep you in touch.
SRH
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Looking out a Window...
I visited my cardiologist this afternoon. The waiting room was full. The other patients looked like they wanted to be somewhere else. Or maybe their appointments were falling behind; I know mine did...by about 45 minutes. I had the latest Los Angeles magazine to keep me busy. I wonder how many people are out there who need a $20,000.00 watch encrusted with jewels. But then when did cars start costing $45,000.00 and more? Cheap cars cost around $20,000.00...the same as the aforementioned watch. Something is out of balance. I bought a hot little Fiat Sport Coupe for $3500.00 in the early seventies. Now Fiat is back in the market. I saw an ad in the L.A. Magazine for a tiny little "pop-top" convertible car Fiat is introducing to American carbuyers. Cost was not quoted, but I expect a price tag of close to $20,000.00 with tax and license. The same price as the aforementioned watch. I would rather have the car, even if it isn't encrusted with jewels.
Frankly, I tired of the L.A. Magazine with its ads for outrageously expensive everything, and its coverage of very chic restaurants and fashions. So I picked up a year-old People magazine. Actually, the oldest magazine I found in the waiting room was over two years old. There were magazines piled up everywhere now that I think of it.
Try reading a year-old People magazine. Serious dis-orientation is the result. The same crap going on today was going on a year ago. The only giveaway that you are reading "history" is that some celebrity-mom-to-be back then was sighted just yesterday carrying her toddler on her hip. Bikini-bodies, tanning, celebrity break-ups, Prince William, diet-plans....nothing changes. One has to ask who or what is defining our interests and lives.
When my turn came I was ushered into a room....in the corner was a treadmill. It was the same room I had undergone the stress test back in March. This room was where it all started, in a sense, though the reality is that "it" had all started years ago because of my lifestyle.
I stood there looking out the third story window. Cars and trucks sped by below. The Whittier Hills, the same that rise behind our house, stood out brown and sunburned in the near-distance. A shuttered car agency across the street was a reminder of our economic mess and lost jobs. A few kids peddled furiously by on bikes as if pursued. Life was passing...Time was passing.
SRH
Frankly, I tired of the L.A. Magazine with its ads for outrageously expensive everything, and its coverage of very chic restaurants and fashions. So I picked up a year-old People magazine. Actually, the oldest magazine I found in the waiting room was over two years old. There were magazines piled up everywhere now that I think of it.
Try reading a year-old People magazine. Serious dis-orientation is the result. The same crap going on today was going on a year ago. The only giveaway that you are reading "history" is that some celebrity-mom-to-be back then was sighted just yesterday carrying her toddler on her hip. Bikini-bodies, tanning, celebrity break-ups, Prince William, diet-plans....nothing changes. One has to ask who or what is defining our interests and lives.
When my turn came I was ushered into a room....in the corner was a treadmill. It was the same room I had undergone the stress test back in March. This room was where it all started, in a sense, though the reality is that "it" had all started years ago because of my lifestyle.
I stood there looking out the third story window. Cars and trucks sped by below. The Whittier Hills, the same that rise behind our house, stood out brown and sunburned in the near-distance. A shuttered car agency across the street was a reminder of our economic mess and lost jobs. A few kids peddled furiously by on bikes as if pursued. Life was passing...Time was passing.
SRH
Sunday, July 17, 2011
On the Death of a Shrew
No.....this is not about a mother-in-law, or a toxic wife, or a high maintenance girl-friend. It is about a shrew, unfortunately deceased, I recovered from a black and white cat lurking in our backyard. The fact that there was a cat in our backyard was singular enough because that form of life is standard fare for the coyotes that regularly course through our yard and the neighborhood.
But this cat had sat back on her haunches on the lawn in plain view from the window over my desk where I had sat back on my haunches to review the morning's news on my computer. Sure enough, the cat was toying with some very small "gray thing"....batting it around with her paws, snapping it up in her jaws and then dropping it back down for more alternating swipes of her paws. Cats don't sit down on a lawn to relax. They usually are tending to some cat-business....like toying with some unfortunate critter they have snatched up in a hunting foray. Actually, I don't think cats ever "relax" when coyotes may be near. Though focused on her little game, this cat was wary.
Curious to see what the cat had captured I went to the sliding door and opened it, knowing that the noise would frighten the cat and expecting that she would leave the "gray thing" behind. I hoped it wasn't one of my lizard buddies I had befriended on my Bataan-like "death walks" around the house during recovery. As expected the cat dashed off and left its prey behind.......a dead shrew. Aside from being dead, the shrew was in near perfect condition. I picked it up and examined it and then took it inside the house where it now lays on my desk about six inches from my keyboard as I peck out these words. It hasn't moved one little bit, so it isn't playing "dead". The early sunlight is slanting in through the door and highlighting the shrew's fine gray hair, or is it fur. The most remarkable things about this little mammal are the feet and the small face with its mini-snout and tiny eyes. It is not a male, or at least I can see no "male-like" equipment. There is no sign that it is nursing a brood, so there are no shrew-orphans nestled somewhere dark and secluded. That is a relief.
The shrew is probably full-grown. Its body is no more than two inches long from snout to rear-end and the tail is just under two inches long.
This little animal is one of the smallest mammals in creation. Its heart beats hundreds of times a minute. Its
appetite is voracious. Its attitude is big. Its lifespan is short. And this one lies dead on my desk. I find that sad. The cat did what cats do. Nature is merciless, really. There is no sentiment. That exists only in human beings......but not always.
Finding this animal reminds me of the jet-black shrew I found floating in our pool months ago. Its hair/fur was so dense it floated atop the surface of the water. It was dead. I guess it couldn't keep its snout above the surface and it drowned. That little shrew is in a plastic zip-lok bag stowed away in the freezer. I don't think Sue knows it is there, so I will take this opportunity to bury it with this morning's find.
Life.....
Stephen
BTW......to keep a balance here, I will allow that the male human equivalent to the aforementioned female types would be a "RAT".
But this cat had sat back on her haunches on the lawn in plain view from the window over my desk where I had sat back on my haunches to review the morning's news on my computer. Sure enough, the cat was toying with some very small "gray thing"....batting it around with her paws, snapping it up in her jaws and then dropping it back down for more alternating swipes of her paws. Cats don't sit down on a lawn to relax. They usually are tending to some cat-business....like toying with some unfortunate critter they have snatched up in a hunting foray. Actually, I don't think cats ever "relax" when coyotes may be near. Though focused on her little game, this cat was wary.
Curious to see what the cat had captured I went to the sliding door and opened it, knowing that the noise would frighten the cat and expecting that she would leave the "gray thing" behind. I hoped it wasn't one of my lizard buddies I had befriended on my Bataan-like "death walks" around the house during recovery. As expected the cat dashed off and left its prey behind.......a dead shrew. Aside from being dead, the shrew was in near perfect condition. I picked it up and examined it and then took it inside the house where it now lays on my desk about six inches from my keyboard as I peck out these words. It hasn't moved one little bit, so it isn't playing "dead". The early sunlight is slanting in through the door and highlighting the shrew's fine gray hair, or is it fur. The most remarkable things about this little mammal are the feet and the small face with its mini-snout and tiny eyes. It is not a male, or at least I can see no "male-like" equipment. There is no sign that it is nursing a brood, so there are no shrew-orphans nestled somewhere dark and secluded. That is a relief.
The shrew is probably full-grown. Its body is no more than two inches long from snout to rear-end and the tail is just under two inches long.
This little animal is one of the smallest mammals in creation. Its heart beats hundreds of times a minute. Its
appetite is voracious. Its attitude is big. Its lifespan is short. And this one lies dead on my desk. I find that sad. The cat did what cats do. Nature is merciless, really. There is no sentiment. That exists only in human beings......but not always.
Finding this animal reminds me of the jet-black shrew I found floating in our pool months ago. Its hair/fur was so dense it floated atop the surface of the water. It was dead. I guess it couldn't keep its snout above the surface and it drowned. That little shrew is in a plastic zip-lok bag stowed away in the freezer. I don't think Sue knows it is there, so I will take this opportunity to bury it with this morning's find.
Life.....
Stephen
BTW......to keep a balance here, I will allow that the male human equivalent to the aforementioned female types would be a "RAT".
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Carmeggedon......
OK.....I have to keep up this blog.
Early Saturday morning I dragged Sue into the Explorer and we set out across town to catch a glimpse of the chaos that was to result from the closing of "The 405". Likened to the impact of a nuclear bomb with its associated shock waves emanating out in all directions, the shutdown has captured national attention as the inhabitants of that overcrowded section of the city have wrung their hands in despair and fear over the dreaded perception that life as they know it will end this weekend.
Carmaggedon....the shutdown of a city, the loss of millions of dollars in retail sales, the impossibilty of driving
over the Sepulveda Pass, the probable outbreak of roadrage shootings, the likelihood of becoming stuck in unmoving traffic jams and dying of Carbon Monoxide poison.
I have to report that all of the above is not going to happen. I have never seen lighter traffic in the streets of Westwood and on Wilshire Blvd. I don't think most people are stupid....they won't be like lemmings and
go out as they would regularly do and confront a situation they know will be a headache..
We did see traffic police stationed on intersections for several miles out from the epicenter. Detour signs were everywhere. There was nothing to do.
Steve
EDITORIAL CORRECTION: Ms Hamrock was NOT dragged into the Explorer. She climbed in willingly for what she initially thought was a fool's lark. She had fun.
Early Saturday morning I dragged Sue into the Explorer and we set out across town to catch a glimpse of the chaos that was to result from the closing of "The 405". Likened to the impact of a nuclear bomb with its associated shock waves emanating out in all directions, the shutdown has captured national attention as the inhabitants of that overcrowded section of the city have wrung their hands in despair and fear over the dreaded perception that life as they know it will end this weekend.
Carmaggedon....the shutdown of a city, the loss of millions of dollars in retail sales, the impossibilty of driving
over the Sepulveda Pass, the probable outbreak of roadrage shootings, the likelihood of becoming stuck in unmoving traffic jams and dying of Carbon Monoxide poison.
I have to report that all of the above is not going to happen. I have never seen lighter traffic in the streets of Westwood and on Wilshire Blvd. I don't think most people are stupid....they won't be like lemmings and
go out as they would regularly do and confront a situation they know will be a headache..
We did see traffic police stationed on intersections for several miles out from the epicenter. Detour signs were everywhere. There was nothing to do.
Steve
EDITORIAL CORRECTION: Ms Hamrock was NOT dragged into the Explorer. She climbed in willingly for what she initially thought was a fool's lark. She had fun.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tonite....Full Moon
I knew tonight was Full Moon night. I drove the car to the gas station and saw it rising.....a luminous golden orb...and stopped at the local park to get a better view. This is the fourth New Moon of the blog, and the first I have been able to view. I was in the hospital or the overcast obscured it on the other nights.
I like the idea that two people can view the New Moon at the same time and be in two different places.
SRH
I like the idea that two people can view the New Moon at the same time and be in two different places.
SRH
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