New pictures

Only because I haven't posted dog pictures in a long time

This was in a marketplace in Korea - it actually smelled wonderful!!

And this is in my back garden - six year old bamboo plants.

Finished!!!

But what will I do next????

This was started on April 10th, finished on May 25, 2006.

I worked approximately 150 hours on this, mostly in the evenings (while listening to movies) and on weekends.

Stop all the clocks....

W. H. Auden

Since I first heard this in the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral", it has been a favorite piece of poetry.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West.
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Meeting of the buzzards

Airport Annie made a short pit stop in Michigan - actually, only at the airport. We had long enough to get her out of the secured area, back in line for another boarding pass and then back through security. But for a Michigan buzzard and an Oregon buzzard, we couldn't be ships that pass through the night. It was well worth getting up early on a Sunday.

She's a sweetheart!!!

Mayan God - progress picture #2

They found something!!

I had an MRI of my knee on May 4th - not very exciting of a test. Basically you lay on a skinny table, your leg is immobilized and they shove you in a tube. I tried to take a little nap and thought to myself "Star Wars noise", "Star Wars noise", "Star Wars noise", ooops, "Star Trek noise".

Thrills and excitement. About the time that I said "I wonder how much longer?", they pulled me out of the tube.

But the best part, and this really makes me wonder how much of a sick puppy I really am, is that they found problems!!! I have:

1. Degenerative type tear of the lateral meniscus with large associated meniscal cyst (not a Baker's cyst)
2. Blunting of the body of the medial meniscus with a tear of the free edge
3. Patellofemoral osteoarthrosis

This could be a new injury or it could be a recurring problem from an old injury. And it doesn't really matter. I was just worried that nothing would be found, like what happened in 1999. My appointment with Orthopedics is on Monday, May 22.

Why I want to loose weight

I don't want to be the largest American on a tour bus in Korea again. And I was. I hope that I am smaller than I was in 1999.

Am I fishing for complements? Not really. I want visual reminders of where I came from and where I am heading. And especially, where I don't want to go back to.

Looking back I wish that I had weighed myself before going to Korea. Because that is truely the highest I weighed in my life.

Pink Flamingos

Dear Bev:

Well, I finished your piece last night and I wanted to tell you a little story. I knew that I was going to bead embroider you a flamingo - I figured that out as soon as I knew that we were going to swap. But I couldn't find a picture of a flamingo that I really liked.

So I asked Kat if her daughter, Jesscera, could draw me a picture of a flamingo. Within a day or two (actually, it was April 21), I received this great picture that was just what I wanted!

I've combined the two pictures on the attachment, so that you can see the inspiration and the result.

My only request is that in your will, would you have your family send this piece to Kat for her daughter?

I really enjoyed doing this for you. And since the swap isn't due until mid-June, I have lots of time to get it in the mail to you.

p.s. Bev - ask Marcie if the pink beads look familiar. They should, she had them in with my swap bracelet that I received on the cruise.