Going to Michigan Again

I am getting ready to go back to Michigan and visit Dad. This time flying alone, Russel needs to stay here and work while school is still on. Not having Russel to power me through the airports will be very different.. I haven’t flown alone in over 20 years. Funny how dependent we get on one another.

Dad is done with treatments, and getting weaker all the time. He still is eating and walking slowly, but having a hard time getting up from a chair. He is clear headed and we talk every couple of days. But how long he will stay in this place is anyone’s guess.

They don’t know if the last round of radiation helped shrink the brain tumors, and won’t even do a scan for another month. Meanwhile the spots on his lungs have grown. The writing is on the wall I guess.

Home Health are coming in now 4x a week for a few hours
in the morning to help with bathing and such. Sue is handling most everything else.

My being there will mostly help me I think.. they are fine and family is abundant, but I only have one Dad, and I would like to see him at least one more time while he still can laugh and be with me.

So I leave April 25 – May 9 unless I need to stay longer. Sue keeps saying he isn’t dying yet, but I am not so sure.

I wanted to book this general time in February, but at that point Dad was improving fast and really thought he would be out planting his garden and mowing the lawn this year.

So I wish I had (booked then) as I wanted to catch a Bruce Cockburn show in Ann Arbor at the Ark on the 20th. But trying to book so late I couldn’t get a flight that met my needs until the 25..oh well. I do hope he makes it to California sometime this year.

Early Spring Garden

Finally a bit of rain after some gloriously sunny and warm spring days.
Russel is doing a burn today, and hopefully this weekend..slash from tree cuttings that just seems to pile up so fast.

He is getting the fencing in place on the new flat, don’t think we will be able to get a greenhouse going this year though we will plan for next. I have some lettuce and salad greens in the garden, the beds are amended, the raised beds ready to plant. The mounded beds still need to be shaped.

I hope to plant most everything else out as soon as I get home. (another Michigan trip)
I will need Russel to look for specific veggie starts in early May.

Spring

Today is one of those beautiful spring days. I walked to the meadow down the road from our place. I started doing that just to get the feeling of being in nature. Even though we are surrounded by forest and no houses, when I am out side here all I see is the work that needs to be done.

What a shame, I need to change that mind set some how. We are so lucky in so many ways.

Dad was doing good the 3 months since we were there, then last week he collapsed. Now he has brain lesions.. and is getting radiated again for them. He has been through so much this past 2 years. I feel his time is very short, and it brings up so much stuff for me.

We missed some very cold days when we left mid- December.
Once back it has mostly been nice for a month or so. Finally getting some needed rain in March.

Along with it being spring one day and winter the next.
Of course just thinking spring brings up the ton of work it takes to get ready to garden.

Computer Woes

January – February

Settle in and start dealing with a computer (XP-Pro P4 5 years old) that needed just a bit of tlc.
Long story short, my computer guy (who built this and past systems) essentially killed it.
Many trips to Eureka, many days trying to fix long distance. Was up and down for 4 weeks or more.
Finally I had a new build done by someone else (Vista 64 dual core2 yada yada yada) and I am still learning my way around that one.

The XP system is fixable and has life left in it, I just need to find the right person to tune it up.

Christmas in Michigan

Well it snowed a lot. It was below freezing many days we were there. Ice storms and snow.

Sue had us doing a puzzle for her.

Anything to keep us distracted from what was really happening with Dad. Although he was doing pretty good considering all he had been though.

It was a good trip but glad to get home.

Brother John and his girls, Laurie and Kelly did make it down for a visit.

Paddle Out for Randy Today

Going to Michigan .. again

The ‘paddle out’ for Randy is today. We are in a winter storm warning.. with rain snow and freezing temps. I hope everyone makes it over the hill safely. A lot of the Aikido family and Randy’s surf family will be there.

Russel has been sick with a chest cold for over a week now. Today is his birthday and he still feels punky. But he is going to the paddle-out.

I have been making all the travel arrangements and contingency plans for being able to get out of here and to Arcata to catch a flight on Tuesday 16. Flying into Salt Lake City then Detroit.

We will be at Dad’s Dec 16-Dec 28. I am hoping my nieces show up at some point and my brother. Dad is eating better now and we just hope for improvement in energy and well being.

To all who may come here:
Hold those you love close. Enjoy each minute as your last.
Happy Solstice !! (early )

Randy Foster – RIP

Randy Foster caught his last wave Tuesday November 25 at Shelter Cove.

Gone from mystery into mystery
Gone from daylight into night
Another step deeper into darkness
Closer to the light

~ Bruce Cockburn, Closer To The Light

Wave on wave of life
Like the great wide ocean’s roll
Haunting hands of memory
Pluck silver strands of soul
The damage and the dying done
The clarity of light
Gentle bows and glasses raised
To the charity of night

~ Bruce Cockburn, The Charity of Night

His bright light of being will be missed.
Randy and Sarah with their Aikido family at Benbow in 2004.

Randy Foster with Mateel Aikido family -2004

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I love the pounding of hooves
I love engines that roar
I love the wild music of waves on the shore
And the spiral perfection of a hawk when it soars
Love my sweet woman down to the core

There’s roads and there’s roads
And they call, can’t you hear it?
Roads of the earth
And roads of the spirit
The best roads of all
Are the ones that aren’t certain
One of those is where you’ll find me
Till they drop the big curtain

Hear the wind moan
In the bright diamond sky
These mountains are waiting
Brown-green and dry
I’m too old for the term
But I’ll use it anyway
I’ll be a child of the wind
Till the end of my days

Little round planet
In a big universe
Sometimes it looks blessed
Sometimes it looks cursed
Depends on what you look at obviously
But even more it depends on the way that you see

Hear the wind moan
In the bright diamond sky
These mountains are waiting
Brown-green and dry
I’m too old for the term
But I’ll use it anyway
I’ll be a child of the wind
Till the end of my days

~ Bruce Cockburn, Child of the Wind

Mountain Lion

Last night (23 September) I glanced out the window,
and what did I see???

First time to see a mountain lion here. We had been gone all day and Kaya had been out side. This lion seemed fairly young and Russel was sure it was a female. She was at the outside edge of the garden and about 10 feet from the bedroom window which is where I blindly stuck the camera up to get a shot.
I wish I had spent the brief amount of time she was here looking at her, instead of documenting it.

Very good looking cat. 🙂
She had a very long tail.

On My Beat

Living in the hills of southern Humboldt