Wonderfulness: Festival Luminis at Eilean Donan Castle

One of my favourite places near Plockton is Eilean Donan castle. Festival Luminis recently chose the castle for a light-show extravaganza, and the photos are marvelous. Check it out on BBC News, and don't forget to poke the slide show (ILLUMINATING EXPERIENCE / Eilean Donan Castle lights up night sky with artist's help / In pictures)


You'll also be amazed at the gallery of photographs on the Festival Luminis site.

Post-op Visit 5/31

Back to the scene of the crime. No significant improvement, but I'm not worse than I was. But if there will be beneficial effects, it can take some time, so I go back in 4 weeks for another check. I asked about other options and the picture's not good. He says that there's a surgery, but that I'm not a good candidate for that. He says that an artificial/repaired disc can work for discrete damage, where the surrounding discs are good, but that when they are bad (as is the case for me, for a total of 6 discs), then it can create stress on the remaining discs and cause a domino weakening effect. Arrgh. So it looks like, for me, the remedies are constrained to meds and injections. Tomorrow I see the pain doc for a checkup, to determine when I can be up/out/around.

Kevin's latest movie hails Grantie

Kevin's Cinematic Career

Choose "Rat Bird" and find out what happens to people who rat out other people's birthdays.

Doing better

The docs warned me about significant pain after the megadrugs wore off, but since I came through it so well I knew that I'd be fine. Wronnnnnnnng. The pain came, the next day, and was much worse than I thought it would be. I did a lot of lying down, and I guess it did me good because I'm doing fine now. Post-implentation walk-through is on Wednesday.

My sleep is all askew, because of pain meds etc., but that has its perks. I stepped out a little while ago just as one of the new fox babies was strolling by. All by himself! He pitterpattered nonchalantly along the cliff-edge promenade, smelling this and that, and seemed completely unaware that I was there, so I got a great good look at him. What a darling.

Pìcaro figures all this loafing entitles him to 72 varieties of catfood rather than 35, to be refreshed/replaced at 30-minute intervals instead of 90 minutes, so he's having a high old time. He's been very protective, though, (bless his heart) and brought me many fine, fat gophers to eat.

Be assured I'm babying myself as well, and taking it real easy. And thanks to everyone, for everything so far.

Home safe and sound

Did good. Ate pizza. Need chocolate. Nap time.

Surgery 5/24 Update

Looks like it should be pretty minor, except for the anaesthesia. They say the whole shebang will be only about 2-1/2 hours. As it looks now, Candy will deliver me and "Dad" (Kevin's) will collect me.

The docs say that the worst pain usually comes around the 2nd or 3rd day, and that usually it gets very abruptly better after that. It doesn't help a lot of people, but it helps some, so I'm hoping. If it doesn't make a substantial improvement, then there'll be 2 more surgeries for each hand, and I don't know what the next step would be for the neck.

Candy has a key to my home as does Kevin's family, and I'll keep the portable phone up in the loft, so I should be fine if anything comes up.

No flowers, anybody. Hopefully, you won't feel the need to send anything, but if you must, then here's my preference:

Contribution to Donna's efforts on behalf of Avon's Walk for Breast Cancer:
Donna's Cancer Walk Page

Recommended: Dr. Seuss: You're Only Old Once

[Contributed by Marnie Ellison:]

Recommended: Negotiating Like a Child

[Contributed by Debbie:
"Look into the eyes of a child and you will find yourself face-to-face with one of the world’s greatest negotiators. Tongue in cheek yet eminently practical, this book explains how to implement child negotiation techniques to get what you want." Some sample chapters: "Pretend You Don’t Understand to Get the Other Side to Offer Something They Didn’t Plan on Conceding," "Give Yourself a Time-Out," "Solicit a Bribe," ...]

Unbeaten Drums

Some of the thoughts coming to me as I contemplate the good parts of what retirement could mean are reflected in this poem I wrote back in 2003:

Unbeaten Drums
Lehua ©2003

Once again an old year fades
Like a spinster pulls the shades
Seals the hope chest
Quits the life quest
Joins the row of sere old maids

Seasons lost without recall
Spring and summer crushed by fall
Now the autumn
Having fought them
Dies as winter conquers all

Chances that we never took
Would-be friends that we forsook
Love unspoken
Contracts broken
All without a backward look

Rumor is a new year comes
Even while the old one numbs
Hard believing
While still grieving
Dust upon unbeaten drums

©Lehua January, 2003

My beloved friend Lord Idehen: Moods

Moods
and many other entrancing creations

http://www.myspace.com/apoeminbetweenpeople

Beloveds

A ringin' phone -- I got happies from Sybil, then Kalena, then Wally, then David. What a wonderful day! Much love to all.

Big Laugh for Mothers' Day, from Kevin

Kevin was pretty late getting his mothers' day movie together, so I got a call about an hour ago that it was ready to upload. I hadn't seen it until now, and when I ran it I laughed so hard I hurt myself. The backstory is that his mom lost all her hair during chemo,
and is just now growing it back.

Enjoy:
Kevin's Mothers' Day Movie

Retirement Now

Well, I've done it. Sent the signed paper. After 6/30, I will be released to wholesome, positive environments.
Retirement Countdown

In Search of Sensitivity: a Short Story on Corporate "Life"

In Search of Sensitivity, from The Happy Day Scenario

Retirement?????

"The package" is allegedly on its way to me, ostensibly for review rather than actual action, but I feel quite prejudiced in favour of going for it. For purposes of benefit calculations, they required a straw-man retirement date, which I gave as 6/30. I might lose my home, live on the streets, starve to death, but... it could also give me a chance to live before I die. I go forth and ponder.

Needful Words

My head is full of words that should be but aren't.

Here are a few:

• Integritous
  
  Possessing much integrity


• Encrudulate
  
  Become encrusted with crud, as in "my keyboard is encrudulated."
  Adj.:  Encrudulous


• Boobonga
  
  A substance similar to ZooDoo, but occuring naturally in the wild, and gathered from the ground at watering holes and wildlife crossings. It can contain droppings from rhinos, hippos, elephants, zebras, dikdiks, kudus, and other exotic animals.  Boobonga is reknowned as ideal for slinging.

Cabriolando, Part 2

So there I am, dusk after dusk, watching my precious flowers wiped out before my eyes. I was on the phone with Debbie when I made my decision to get a gun. There he was, again, this time taking both an alyssum and the new white daisies at the same time. Using serious dingle-dangle words, I threw rocks at him until my entire stash was gone.

"Hang on, Debbie ... I'm going after him." To reach the few feet from my lanai to the perp would require going through the house, up a flight of stairs, around to and down the clubhouse stairs, and over to my yard. Too much time. "I'm going over the rail, Deb."

So I rig a pair of rickety mini ladders, one up and one down, and Debbie's hollering at me to not do it because of the bad-ish fall I'd taken doing that very thing, and I tell her I'll keep talking so that she can call 911 if I go silent, and I go for him (pun pre-excused). He's ducked in, of course, but I stomp and pound and squash his little door into nonexistence. [more dingle-dangle words]


So I order a gun. Few know that I have a marksman ribbon for my dress uniform, from my old Coastie with the Mostie days. I order hunting BBs for it, specially designed for vermin. Five days, the arms dealer tells me. And each of those five days the slimeBag gopher's been coming out for his dusk dance of derision.

To be continued...