The Blog: Spellbound by our own imperfect lives...

When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, I didn't want any part of a support group. I imagined it to be a bunch of strangers sitting around on folding chairs, talking morosely about their disease. I couldn't even say the word cancer so a support group sounded like some kind of fresh hell. I was wrong. In January, with Michele's help, I stumbled onto the Livestrong at the YMCA program in Mankato. It's part of the Livestrong Foundation but it's the only program in Minnesota (Yay, Joy!) I hadn't heard of it, no surprise, but Michele alerted me to its existence and I acted immediately, big surprise, and got myself enrolled pronto. Michele and I drove to Mankato every night for twelve weeks. Well, she drove because I suck at driving. We missed two nights due to weather but otherwise we were faithful attenders! Sometimes we commiserated in the car all the way to Mankato about how we had trouble sleeping, didn't have any energy, didn't want to go

I have been on a rant about this for a long time but I have finally changed my perception. I saw this today and laughed because I could never walk and text at the same time. I can barely text in a seated position. But the world is changing and if I want to keep in touch with my kids, text is mostly the way to go. Then I watched this flash mob and was disturbed at first that so many people watching had their cell phones between them and the experience. But my next thought was: maybe this is how people document and catalog their experiences now. Yesterday a woman at the tax center was ranting about Facebook and how her sister wants her to get an account but she doesn't want to and why can't people just come and see her instead. Well, sister, it's the way things are. I enjoy Facebook and have been constantly amazed at all the connections there are between people. Almost every week, I meet someone in the flesh who I have recognized from Facebook...or they have rec

I don't know it happens but the past week has gone by like a giant blur. I haven't been sleeping very well, which probably makes the days seem weirder and out of focus...hence the blur but it feels like I have been very busy...too busy. All good things...but too busy. I like a little more sedentary time! Today we worked at the tax center and the cutest lady came in to have her taxes done. She was 90, had the cutest old-fashioned name (who would expect that?) and she was dressed like a million bucks. She had on tiny sparkly earrings, a beautiful string of pearls, and a beautiful bright red beret with a pin on the top. She said she believes in fancy clothes. She was a gas. Today, everyone was friendly and happy, unlike last week when everyone was pissed off about something and usually it had to do with their taxes. Today I saw friends from down the street, Betsy and Stan...met new friends Peter and Mary Kay...visited with Janice who is a friend from way back...and talked

I woke up at 3:30 and felt wide awake but that didn't last long and I ended up sleeping until 7:30. If I haven't said it before, my sleep these days is blissful. I have a full agenda this week, thank you google calendar. Nothing all-day except Wednesday...just bits and pieces of nice things...meeting friends for coffee and lunch, YMCA, writing letters, reading, Scrabble, dance walking. That kind of busy. There were snowflakes in the air yesterday. Snowflakes. I am not outraged because I know it's typical of spring in Minnesota. Hell, we could have snow until May as we did last year. But...as I left Gustavus yesterday (after The Vagina Monologues) I noticed the pussy willows were starting to burst forth. I climbed up on a bench to take a picture but of course, the two pics I took are awful...blurry and indecipherable. Regis went off to do some things this morning so I am free to putter around the house in my pajamas doing this and that. Jan is coming to help me clea

Here we are dance walking around the Andreas Cancer Center. Michele's last appointment is April 11th so they put it on the calendar that we will be there! It was so much fun. I've never thought of myself as a dancer but I figured out this morning that you can learn most anything on Youtube so I have videos cued up so I can learn some moves. I also learned how to watch video from my iPad on the big television. Ha! What a blast! This is Kristi, one of the instructors for my Livestrong class. She has been such a lot of fun and such an inspiration. I feel like so many threads of my life are coming together in such a wonderful fashion. I know my writing has probably gotten sappy and less funny as it has gotten less sarcastic and cynical. Ah, well. The price we pay for peace. This is Tiffany getting her 29th birthday tattoo. It's her name written in Korean. She said she thought it was accurate (Tiffany Kim) but if some day she found out it wasn't (Tiffany Jim),

I hope you read my post from March 20 and took the time to watch the video of the dance walkers. That evening, I was on my way to the YMCA Livestrong class where I knew we would be going out on the Red Jacket Trail for a walk or a run. I suggested dance walking. I brought my iPod with Kelly Clarkson's song Stronger, Michele brought her small speaker, and away we went. There were about ten of us, dancing our way down the trail. It was great exercise and so much fun. We did a 5K...not dancing all the way because it is a lot of work. The next morning, Kristi and I met Michele at the Andreas Cancer Center where we dance walked two laps around the treatment room, then down to Michele's doctor. Many patients waved and chair danced with us, one fellow in a camo jacket (Bob) joined us, a nurse joined us, and the cleaning lady danced behind her cart. It is absolutely infectious. Kristi, Teresa, Laurie, and Michele Later, I danced my way down the frozen food aisle at HyVee a

According to the Farmer's Almanac: The Vernal Equinox Ah, spring! This season brings increasing daylight, warming temperatures, and the rebirth of flora and fauna. The word equinox is derived from the Latin words meaning “equal night.” Days and nights are approximately equal everywhere and the Sun rises and sets due east and west. At the equinoxes, the tilt of Earth relative to the Sun is zero, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun.  Frankly, the science of it is not as interesting to me as the fact that the days are getting longer and the days are getting warmer. Disclaimer: My garden does not look like this yet...these are photos I dug up from past years, but they make me lust for spring. I can't wait to see what my renovated garden looks like...new hostas everywhere! And here is the list published by the Star Tribune...the facts of the winter of 2013-14. 50: total days with lows below zero 17: consecutive days of

Regis started his new job this week as part-time city transit driver. Senior citizens (of which I am one) can ride for a dollar. I think I'll just ride around with him from time to time. Woodrow has been spending a lot of time under my leopard chair recently and this morning I thought to investigate. Sure enough...three cat-sized holes in the fabric and a few things stashed in there. He gets in there and lays around like it's his personal hammock. This is such a dirty time of year. As the snow melts, it leaves behind all the dirt and birdseed and crap that accumulated over the last four months. My new teapot and my reading list for the week. I love this shiny new red teapot. I can't find a book I read this winter that now I want to read again. In the Body of the World by Eve Ensler. I think I loaned it to someone and I rarely lend books except to reliable folks. I'm sure I'll get it back one day. Regis and I are going to a comedy show t

A few days ago, I published a photo of the grill nearly covered with snow. Monday, we decided to hell with it. The temps were high enough to sustain the charcoal so Regis got out the snowblower and a shovel and cleared the area around the grill. I bought steaks, stuffed peppers, and stuffed mushrooms at the store and we had the best meal. We haven't grilled since October and it tasted so good. Ah, spring. A friend of mine in California said she had never seen anyone grill in the snow before. Happens all the time here, folks!  I'm enjoying kind of a lazy week. I went to see Mary yesterday, spent some time with Alex, and took a nap. Today, I'm working at the AARP tax center but that isn't exactly strenuous labor. The biggest issue is that it's so hot in there I can barely stand it. Ack. Better get dressed. They frown on volunteers who show up in their pajamas.

It felt like Sunday so I slept until almost ten o'clock and didn't get dressed until noon. I am piddling around with a few projects, putting warm woolen sweaters away, taking faux fur to the basement, organizing my office space, and making slow progress on my next pile for the Epileptic Foundation. I also have Regis's go-ahead to start organizing his side of the office but I am little nervous about that. I don't want to disturb his feng shui. We are going to the store to buy the biggest steaks we can find because...it is the maiden voyage of the barbecue grill today! First time since October! Yesterday I saw my neighbor washing his car in the driveway and today we barbecue. Signs of spring. Huzzah! I better not sit here too long. When you sleep until ten, the day gets short.

Look at that. No severe weather alerts. No wind chill warnings. No below zero temps. No igloos! I opened the back door to let Gus outside and it felt balmy! It may not seem like 20 degrees should be balmy but after a winter of many, many sub-zero days...20 feels balmy. I read the forecast and we may hit almost 50 today. Wahoo! Time to get naked and lay on a flat rock in the sunshine. So many signs of spring: I saw splotches of sidewalk and street yesterday. The birds are raucous this morning. The high clouds look like spring clouds instead of low lying winter clouds. They're puffy and white and they scoot across the sky. Ah. spring. We have missed you. I didn't get much of what I meant to do yesterday done but I did some other things...some long-time projects that were easy to put off because they required thinking and organization. I was annoyed in the afternoon because I spent several hours learning how to use an app called Pepperplate for meal planning and recipe

I haven't written for a week. I have some words and some pictures to share this morning as I try to gather my thoughts and possessions after a busy week. Both are strewn across the landscape of my life. The house is an untidy mess, my clothes are piled deep in the bedroom, the mail is unsorted on the table, my hammock chair is in a tangled heap, and my office organization project, begun last week, is unfinished and occupies an entire room which is not the office. Time to get going but I am writing first. We had a busy week which means that Gus and Woody had a quiet week although Regis did manage to get Gus to the park every day at least once. Karen, I have a half-written letter to you laying on the file cabinet. It's a sunny spot and Woodrow has decided to lie there and chew on the bottom of the pages. I didn't think you would mind. We'll think of it is as his greeting to you. The picture below is me (of course) in my vintage chenille coat by a famous d

Всем доброго времени суток! Сегодня нашел в интернете один замечательный ресурс. Вот посмотрите пожалуйста: как оформить группу в контакте[/url]. Вы не пожалеете, что побывали тут. Wait, wait...whaaaat?

I had a second bone density scan a week or so ago. I knew it wouldn't be good because I had one in October of 2012 and that was not good...osteoporotic, as they say. That makes me laugh...sounds like chicken erotica. Osteoeritica. What the hell. So, I have been reading about the medicine and I am not inclined to take it. Risk of esophageal cancer? Risk of uterine cancer? What the hell. If anybody has advice about this, I am taking a survey. I am going to change the settings to make it easier to comment so if you are reading this and plan to try to sell me viagra or a russian bride, forget it. You will be caught by my spam filter! I am subbing Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. We are working at AARP Wednesday. I have the YMCA Livestrong class Tuesday and Thursday nights. Regis starts training for his new job. It's a busy week so I am trying to get my marbles in the right slots by organizing the grocery list, the menus, the weekly calendar, and my wardrobe. Did

I heard somewhere that we have entered meteorological spring, whatever that means. Here's what it looks like here in Minnesota. I see they don't even dare put the feels like temp on there anymore...just the igloo and the red alert. I heard it was 38 below (wind chill) in Fargo this morning. No words for that. You see, there are three different classifications of the seasons, including the spring season. The one we know best is called Astronomical Spring. It is based on the Earth's tilt on its axis. The Vernal Equinox marks the beginning of Astronomical Spring. It occurs on or around March 20 and signals when the Earth's tilt on its axis is neither toward nor away from the sun. On this day, we see an equal amount of daylight. And it marks the time when the Northern Hemisphere will tilt toward the sun for 6 months our days will get longer as we head toward summer. The spring that arrived on March 1 is called Meteorological Spring. It is based on temperature,