Vacation photos

Being used as a dartboard has been distracting, so I never got around to posting the photos from our Ashland trip.


The Sundial Bridge, Redding, California


Mt. Lassen, California


Our lunch view from Wooldridge Vineyards, Applegate Valley, Oregon


Black Butte, California

For more, see my Flickr site.

Torna al'Italia...

My youngest daughter is now in Italy, doing a year at the University of Padova (that's Padua for you non-Italian speakers). She flew out there the same day I had my surgery, and very graciously left me a "get well soon" message from the tarmac at JFK. Of course, the best laid plans of mice often go astray...

[... and men! It's "of mice and men."
"Men? What have men got to do with it?"]

Her flight got in late, she missed her connection, and didn't make it to Padova until 11PM instead of the scheduled 1 PM. On top of this, her luggage has yet to make an appearance, and she chose to fly in her pajama pants. A new pair of pants was her first purchase - cheap and funny looking, she says. Of course they're funny looking - they are pantalones! That even sounds funny!

She has a new cell phone (one that works in Europe) and apparently can receive calls for free. We shall see. In any event, despite all this she is delighted to be back in Italy, and I am very happy for her.

Convalescing

Doing better today. I had to wear a catheter the first night, and that wasn't fun. It was so uncomfortable that the only place I could sleep was in a reclining chair. Luckily, that worked pretty well.

The nurse told me to call the doctor's office in the morning to see if it could be removed. Even though I called right when the office opened, the medical assistant thought it might be too late for that day. She called the doctor (who was in his Hollister office) and he gave her the go ahead, but it had to be right away.

This was, of course, the first day of school where my wife teaches. Luckily, the principal is very sympathetic, being a prostate cancer survivor himself, and took over her class so she could leave immediately and take me to the doctor's office. It was very efficient, and she only missed the one class.

What a trouper - I feel incredibly blessed.

I survived!

Surgery came and went yesterday, and the doctors told my wife they were very pleased with how it went. I'm still a little woozy from the anesthetic, but not doing too bad overall.

I'm going to sit in my comfy chair!

Surgery approaches...

I go in for my surgery on my prostate on Tuesday afternoon. The doctors I have been seeing for the treatment will both participate in the implantation of the radioactive seeds. The procedure should last about 2 hours, and I will be under a general anesthetic. However, it is outpatient, and if all goes as it should I will be home Tuesday night.

On the exact same day our youngest daughter flies to Italy, where she will spend about a year studying at the University of Padova. Keep us all in your thoughts!

Time flies....

Well, the Bach Festival has come and gone, and was a wonderful experience. The high point was our St. Matthew Passion on the third and final weekend. Something magical happened, and everything clicked in a way that let to the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Libby Walfisch, concertmaster, brought out a level of subtlety and emotion for "Erbarme dich" that was stunningly beautiful. Joanna Blendulf's viola da gamba playing was superb as well. Audience and performers alike left the performance in tears. I will not forget the feeling soon.

Elaine and I took about a week to venture north to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival again. We took in two plays (well, *half* of two plays - they just start too late for us to last past intermission these days...) They were "Distracted" and August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean." Both were done extremely well, and we enjoyed what we saw. The main reason for the trip was to see our friend Pat and attend her recital with other friends from long ago. The recital was delightful, with some wonderful viol playing. I was happy to get the chance to play viols with all of them afterwards just for fun.