Tuesday, January 20, 2009
(for Whitman)
Rising Tide
We are the water, we are the boats
the rising tide lifts
rushing into the bay
wearing down the shoals.
Do you remember how to swim?
There within our genes the sea salt
of a billion tears of struggle
the sea salt of origin
the ocean of the passage
not only slaves, but every creature
a child of water
of passage.
No need to stay dry
the water is warm
it is us ...
~~ Phil Specht
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2009 11:56 AM, EST
We took Ally outside today. She helped us clean up the driveway by using her mini shovel (a sand shovel) and putting snow on Daddy's car! It was a good time. The snow is still coming down very fast, we will probably have to go out again in a few hours and do it all again.
Quirky little Ally got a fantastic sled for Christmas. She is deathly afraid of it. Whenever we bring it out she cries and refuses to sit in it. Grammy and Grampa have been able to get her to sit in it and go around the driveway a couple of times. What a strange little girl we have! Maybe it is because she still thinks snow is "yucky".
We are working hard on her eating. We have received MANY suggestions, thank you! Ally generally has 3 bowls of food going at one time, taking bites here and there, we are trying to introduce a new food every now and then, but we don't want to overwhelm her. She gets VERY stressed out when we are encouraging her to eat. We just have to trust she is doing what her body needs her to do, and that when she is hungry, she will eat.
Have a great day off tomorrow if you have it, and enjoy the peaceful transfer of power on Tuesday!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Woke up this morning with the very loud sound of a perfectly tuned Mack truck in my ear. I ignored it. Got louder. The bed began to vibrate. I groaned and opened one eye. Yep. A big Mack, wishing me to get up and do something for him. I stalled. But at last, as he knew I would, I did. Get up. And do something for him.
jjl
Friday, January 16, 2009
pictures of an actual polar bear attack
Bear Attack in Churchill, Manitoba , Canada.
These are pictures of an actual polar bear attack in Churchill.
These pictures were taken while people watched
and could do nothing to stop the attack!
Reports from the local newspaper say that the
victim will make a full recovery.
The photos are below. 
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009 05:32 PM, EST
Ally went to her hospital appointment today. The end result was, other than the shot she needed, a waste of a trip. Ally, Daddy and Grampa got to see the oncologist for about a minute and a half, no time to answer any of the questions we had. Then they waited around for the nutritionist to tell them to feed her high calorie foods....dumbest advice ever...we already know that! Ally is down to 18 pounds 3 ounces. She still has a restricted diet, so that limits us a bit. No peanut butter until she is 3. That is a stinker, we were hoping that since she is close to 2 she would be able to eat that now, but no. Well, we will continue to constantly offer her food and even trick her into eating. Hopefully she will at least maintain her weight for the next 2 weeks, when we have to go back for another hospital visit.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
FRIDAY, JANUARY 09, 2009 07:40 PM, EST
Wow, it has been awhile since my last blog entry. I think that is a record.
Ally has been in a good mood during the days this past week. She seems to get cranky in the evenings, and tonight she was a MASSIVE cranky pants. The docs told us that some of the side effects of her medicine might show up as crankiness. I am hoping she was just a bit overtired tonight, because she is on this stuff for another four and a half months!
Ally is still not wanting to eat. We are constantly offering her food, and pretty much letting her eat whatever she wants (popsicles, cookies, etc.) just so she will get calories into herself. We are meeting with the nutritionist on Wednesday. There are so many restrictions on what she can eat, that it is a little tricky.
Have a super weekend!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Monday, January 05, 2009
Twelfth Night is a holiday on January 5 that marks the 12th and final night of the Christmas season. Twelfth Night is the eve before the twelfth day of Christmas or the Epiphany celebration, which commemorates the adoration of the Magi before the infant Jesus.
In Tudor England, the Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows Eve--which we now celebrate as Halloween. A King or Lord of Misrule would be appointed to run the Christmas festivities, and the Twelfth Night was the end of his period of rule. The common theme was that the normal order of things was reversed. This Lord of Misrule tradition can be traced back to pre-Christian European festivals such as the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.
After Twelfth Night the Carnival season starts, which lasts through Mardi Gras. In some places such as New Orleans, Louisiana, the night of January 6 with the first Carnival celebrations is called Twelfth Night.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
For David, our Subway Serenade. . . .
In passing.
faint echo of love
music at the station
steam rising
sure it was heard
David, if just a tiny fraction
of the love you have given
circles back in that unbroken circle
it will break over you
in that crashing wave
and then the gentle surround
of a thousand angels
lapping against the beach.
Phil Specht
4 January 2009
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Friday, January 02, 2009
Flame burns, twice bright
Wind lifts the branches of the fir
Your face, still far
lights everything I am
Promises made, still keeping
held close, glow
as far as we have come
still to go
Small animal, stirs, breath showing
in the crisp night air
curls back to sleep
nose in mate's belly fur
And the warm pocket, next
to each heart resonating
with winter song
waiting on the light's return
Orion's belt, last night
reflected in your eyes
There is nothing more
to ask, after all
jjl
2 January 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2008 01:29 PM, EST
We are back from the hospital! All of Ally's tests came back fine. Her counts are great and all of her levels are good enough for her to start her 2nd round of meds, which she will begin tonight. Not all the news we got today was good though. Ally's weight is down. She was up to 19.4 pounds a couple of weeks ago. Today she was 18 and some change. In a couple of weeks we are going to meet with a nutritionist to see if they have any ideas how to put weight on her, and make it stick. The poor girl will be 2 years old in a month and she still has to face backwards in the car seat! Hopefully they will have some good ideas for us.
Have a happy new year...2009 can't suck as bad at 2008 did!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
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never cool enough porch
the Delta night pressed close
guitar
moving cross field singing
boss coming, boss coming
has a whip
echo down the line
groan of bag dragging
growing
pick it up, pick
up
pick
cross color line
don't cross that line
boy
don't cross that line
dont cross that line
What line? Where?
there is no line
(never was no line)
just chains and whips and rope
no line
no coloreds
no line never was no line
just rope
boy
do you hear me? can't you read?
no coloreds
all behind?
under tin roof juke joint
Senate dome
put it all behind? hope, now hope
pick hope
pick Lucille
black past, line gone
going, groaning, growing
hope, not cotton
pick hope
but not without blues guitar
echo in the air picking cotton
Chicago?
pick hope
for even here in the northland
we are sons of the Delta
and Lucille
~~ Phil Specht
Jan 13, 2009 1:42 AM