Scribbles and Photos

Candy Stripers I slept like the dead last night – the kind of deep, dreamless sleep that comes from sheer exhaustion.  It was quasi – not fully – restorative.  I’ve been burning too many candles at too many ends for one night’s sleep to put me back together again.  But I do feel better today and perhaps I’ll enjoy another sound sleep tonight. I’m now on a plane to Seattle where I will spend the next week wandering back and forth between a bland hotel room and the convention center.   Maybe I’ll have time to take in the Space Needle or take a ferry around the harbor.  Mostly, I’ll be in meetings or at receptions and dinners.  I don’t feel nearly prepared enough but I’m sure I’ll muddle through.  I always do. My JetBlue TV is broken – the sound system emits a very high pitched squealing sound no matter what headphones I use – so Wrecking Ball , Bruce Springsteen’s latest, plays quietly as I write this.   There is something bluesy about this vintage of Bruce and I’m loving i

Twist & Out A favorite quote from a Midsummer Night's Dream -- "Lord, what fools these mortals be." Happy belated 448th (maybe) birthday to William Shakespeare.  I acquired that little factoid from Bing, via Twitter.  Although, upon digging deeper, it's not 100% sure he was really born on this day.  So there you have it -- our modern world in a nutshell.  Some 30 years ago, if I'd read that yesterday was the Bard's birthday (in 140 characters or less), I would have taken at face value.  In this day and age, I feel compelled to fact check just to be sure.  Technology -- how can it be at once time-saving (easy access to information) and time wasting? ......this just in, I  am earning about $1.21/quarter for Facebook -- that's according to papers filed today .   That's up from 2007 when I would have been worth $.30.  I guess I need to get cracking on helping Facebook to make money.  I'm going to sign up for that online degree program,

It's that time of year where I feel like I'm swimming as fast as I can against a REALLY strong current.  As a result, I have no coherent thoughts tonight -- just a few photos that seem to pair nicely. WATER Little waterfall (Central Park's North Woods) shot from above Big waterfall (Victoria Falls) shot from above FLOWERS First flower picture I ever loved from my first ever digital camera Among my favorite tulip photos from this past weekend from my first ever digital SLR CREATURES Amazing the creatures that roam around in Central Park Amazing the creatures that roam the plains of Africa SLEEP .....and now to bed, perchance to dream of calmer days spent walking along a wide empty beach as the waves roll in...... Big Wave Coronado (unusual, I know!)

End of the Road (Shakespeare's Garden) It's April 16, 2012 and aside from being tax time -- it's also National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) .  Death and taxes -- two of our least favorite topics.  I'm pleased to turn my blog over to Nathan Kottkamp, Founder and Chair of NHDD, a man who believes passionately in the need for us to be honest about what we would like at the end of life.  He encourages us to have an important conversation -- with ourselves and with each other. As for me, somewhere I have an advance directive which I need to swap out for a MOLST form  (I count myself fortunate to live in a state that has this form -- having been through the time when NY was not so enlightened and one needed a DNR signed for each care setting.  I pretty much know what my Mom would want (although it is not entirely clear to any of her children who is her proxy).  In a nutshell, I have a bit to do on all fronts and I plan to take some time to get it all done.  If I h

Volcano National Park - Ferns Coming Back It's National Library Week and here is a short list of favorite books that I borrowed from the hometown library in Connecticut.  A bit of framing may be in order before revealing my list. This list is reflective of what I was likely reading between the ages of 8 and 18 (at which point I left for college and the list and the access to books totally changed (different blog post that is for sure). I think I graduated from the children's to the adult library around age 10 in terms of borrowing (and I think my parents may have had to say that was OK before I could do so). I was a reader and I grew up in a time when we had ever widening geographic circles of "where we could go independent of parents."  At some point, I had permission to cross Fern Street, Trout Book, and Farmington Avenue to get to that Library in West Hartford Center on my bike.  It was mecca and I was in heaven (freely mixing a couple of metaphors). I

Dwarf Iris (Shakespeare's Garden) Call me fickle, but I have moved on from Freddie Couples to Bruce Springsteen.  Sadly, I was slow on the uptake for tickets to the Wrecking Ball Tour (currently in full swing tonight at Madison Square Garden).  Sometimes the Internet giveth (floor seats at MSG for one concert) and sometimes it taketh away (locked out of EVERY show in this area for Wrecking Ball).  So, I'll live vicariously through my friends' tweets and posts on this go around. I well remember the first time I heard Springsteen in a way that made me pay attention.  Vinyl.  College. Good friend Geoff.  Asbury Park.  It was the kind of day where you flung your dorm windows open and blasted music.  Blast away we did and I was a convert. My first concert was at the OLD Giants Stadium in 1984 -- Born in the USA.  And, we were born to rock with Bruce.  We had delayed our departure for vacation in order to seek out tickets at the Ticketron in Middletown, CT -- driving Sout