Masked Man in the Moon ~~ Vic1971

Moon rise tonight

shadow of the night

man in the moon ski masked, clouds

north wind, stole summer

By Phil Specht on September 25, 2010

Spent about an hour today watering the new grass. Planted two weeks ago, and 15 minutes of rain since. My spring is dry, so watering the grass consists of throwing a bucket in the river (which is still high enough that one of the five culverts is working), pulling it up, carrying the bucket 25' pouring it into a watering can, and. . . . The grass, with this care every other day is doing just fine. About 15 gallons, one bucket at a time.

Also spent some time harvesting rocks. Anything big enough to help rim the new bed. And one I've been able to loosen, but not yet roll up the incline it's on. It's huge, and will make a fine cornerstone. I *like* rock work. Musta been a stone mason in another life.

This story comes to mind:

When St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was being built, a visitor was shown around. He saw a carpenter at work and asked what he was doing. "Cutting wood," was the reply. Next came a brick layer. "Laying brick." Finally, a stone mason. "Helping Christopher Wren build his cathedral." Something about stone.

And a garden is? A cathedral of flowers.

Friday, September 24, 2010 4:29 PM, EDT

CLEAR SCANS!!!!!!
Ally's oncologist was able to see the scans (right after the test was completed)
and called Daddy before they even left the hospital!

Oh Happy Day!!!!!!!

Thursday, September 23, 2010 5:17 PM, EDT

New York actually called me back!

It turns out we will have to stay into the next week. They are going to schedule a quad bone marrow and a 4 hour urine test on Columbus Day. Every time we have just one (or two) things like this we try to leave in the afternoon. EVERY time it stresses us out....so we are just going to wait to book a train home for Tuesday, October 12. We are going to think of it as a mini vacation. Auntie Lynn (the special guest) and I are going to bring Ally out to see some of the City over the weekend and we will enjoy not being rushed at the end of our journey.

Please pray for tomorrow.
Ally doesn't have her scans until 2:45, which means no eating after 8:00 in the morning. Pray that her tummy doesn't hurt too much, that Daddy will be able to keep her calm, and that the scans are clear!

PS Grammy and Grampa said Ally did a great job at the hospital today.

Thursday, September 23, 2010 9:53 AM, EDT

Surprise, surprise, the NYC office never called me back. So, I called them.

It looks like we are on for 3f8 treatment the week of October 4th. Mommy will be going with Ally, and possibly a special guest will be going with us.

There are about 4 million little details to go along with going to NYC. The biggest of which is scans. Ally gets scans about every 3 months. These include: MIBG, CT, Quad Bone Marrows, and a 4 hour urine. Ally's home oncologists are away at a conference this week, so she is only getting the MIBG and CT. The folks down in NYC are particular about having ALL the scans completed. So, I am now waiting for another call back about those. The urine shouldn't be a problem. I am hoping we can just do that one of the 3f8 days (since we are there for over 4 hours anyway). The Bone Marrow is going to be the tricky one. Even if we went down the Friday before they would not have results for the following week. So, we are hoping that as long as her scans are clear on Friday, they will be able to hold the bone marrow until Columbus Day (and hopefully that is a working holiday). There are about 3,999,999 other little things we have to do, but the urine and bone marrow may mess things up. Please pray that the NYC team will be flexible and empathetic, and that things will work out well. Also we need big prayers for clear scans, the 3f8 treatment means nothing if those scans are not clear!!!

I will be sure to update again when we hear scan results (which may not be until next Monday).

Autumn Equinox ~~ September 22, 2010 at 11:09 pm EDT

alfredogarciajr

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 9:32 AM, EDT

HAMA NEGATIVE!!!!! (That is good news!)

More details later.

HAPPY AUTUMN! :-D

Autumn arrives, officially, tomorrow. So much for "official". . . .

And there's more where these came from. . . .

LOL! This is Ally sometime last week “taking care of the squirrel situation.” :-D

Sunday, September 19, 2010 11:18 AM, EDT

Today is Ally's last day of the medication that makes Ally moody!!! (Hopefully forever!) This last round has not been too bad. She has been a little moody, but nothing that is not solved with a little hug and cuddle time.

Our Make-A-Wish event at TGIFridays was super fun. Ally got some special gifts and even got to check out a limo (see photo!).

This week we find out HAMA results on Wednesday. On Thursday Ally gets her MIBG injection. On Friday she has her MIBG scan and CT scan. Please pray she remains NED (No Evidence of Disease). Scan time is always a stressful time for us.

PS: Preschool is going GREAT!!!

Hi Everyone,

Pepsi Cola is running a campaign called 'Refresh Everything'. Basically what they do is allow different organizations to suggest ideas that need funding. The top two vote getters receive $250,000.00!!! One of the ideas is to find less painful treatments for Neuroblastoma patients. This research would be done at Memorial Sloan Kettering (where Ally is being treated) in New York City.

The link below will bring you to the site where you can sign up and then vote. You can vote twice a day until the end of September. The 'vote' button is in the upper right hand corner. This $$ would go a LONG ways toward helping the cause. Feel free to share this link with anyone you think would like to know about it and participate. Thank you so much for your help and continued prayers for Ally!

Blessings,
Ally’s Grammie & Grampa


http://www.refresheverything.com/armswideopenchildhoodcancerfoundation

Tuesday, September 14, 2010 4:46 PM, EDT

Our weekend was great! On Saturday we went apple picking and stopped by Ally's school to check out the playground. She loves the sand box there, and it is the size of our backyard! We also visited parks and restaurants. Sunday was a nice relaxing day with nothing to do!

Yesterday Ally spent the day at Grammy and Grampa's house. She had a blast, of course. Today she got to go back to school! She was very excited when she woke up this morning. Of course she already has the sniffles, but hopefully it will not turn into a fever and just stay a runny nose. I actually had a workshop, just up the road from Ally's school, and it let out just in time for me to meet Ally at school! She was surprised!

Ally is currently in her 2nd week of the grumpy medicine, for her 6th and FINAL cycle!!!! Late afternoon preschool, followed by a short nap does not equal a happy Ally, but next week she will be!

Ally has a HAMA draw on Thursday morning. We will get results from that on the 22nd.
On the 23rd Ally gets her port accessed and the MIBG injection. On the 24th she gets a CT and an MIBG scan. Unfortunately 2 of the doctors will be away and the 3rd doctor then has the work of all 3, so we may not hear any results until the following Monday. It will be an excruciatingly long weekend, but we have done those before.

Tomorrow night we are headed to the TGIFriday's near here. They are doing a Make-A-Wish Fundraiser. Ally actually has her picture on a plaque on the wall there!

Edwin Newman died today.

Funny, that got me thinking about my relatively brief correspondence with Scotty Reston. He'd taken an Amtrak trip, and had written to customer service about it. Luck of the draw, I got the letter. I didn't know who he was, but the writing was outstanding, and I thanked him, and complimented him on his "picaresque" tale. He was evidently charmed that some no name in customer service knew the word and wrote back to tell me so. We wrote back and forth for several months; me on Amtrak stationery, he, on his own. It wasn't till nearly the end of it that I finally realized who he was. And foolish me, that I didn't steal the correspondence from my employer, who didn't care about it at all. I did. He was a lovely, funny, kind man.

". . . for there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life."

~~ Rilke



Oh, your life will change. Against your will.
Love leaves
and even the edges of possibility change
The walls around you hung with pictures
Surfaces, holding memory
The floor buckles

Later, in another country
water rises and more is lost
Refugees travel light and lighter

Resettled, digging out yet another
garden, moving rock, making dirt
planting, yes, by the sweat of your brow

The river wall gone now, and terraces and stairways
The very earth moving

Your life will be changed for you
again
and again



jjl
15 September 2010

UPROAD LOOKING DOWN ON NEW GARDEN

After the Fire

little permanent

sifting through ashes a joy

class ring memories

By Phil Specht on September 13, 2010