Trip #1 is about to Launch

Pass to Pass

It seemed like an eternity of shuffling who is going and who is not, watching for wild fires and settling plans but Trip #1 is happening.  Packing is done and the group is gathering in Winthrop to start the hike tomorrow morning. It has settled down to seven hikers – four parkies and three support hiker. Wait, six support hikers if you include the three llamas.

From left to right Brian, George, Esther, AC, and Brandon

Be sure to check “track the hikers” often for a live feed of their progress in the following days.

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Sunflower, revisited.

“I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower, you hung all your associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see—and I don’t.”

― Georgia O’Keeffe

This is from a ‘Raul’ short-story entry I’m working on…

Recording of Bottom, Falling

Robert’s work is always so good. He connects in so many quiet, subtle ways.
I’ve listened to this several times…hauntingly good, penetrative. I am reminded that some of the things I’ve written I feel are best, are simple. And the highly personal, specific context of the work does not detract from how well it connects.

G.

O at the Edges

Bottom, Falling

Through that window you see another bird
rising, unlabeled, unwanted, yet noticed.
A limb’s last leaf. The boy’s breath.
Like the morning after your father died,
when temperature didn’t register
and heat shallowed through the morning’s
end. Still you shivered. Glass. Wind.
Night’s body. How to calibrate nothing’s
grace? Take notes. Trace its echo. Try.

“Bottom Falling” was published in Into the Void in October 2016, and is included in my chapbook, From Every Moment a Second. It was written in response to a note my friend Michael sent me, and as he’s in town and we’re having lunch today, it seems a good time to repost this.

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Summer Reprise – Tips for Staying Positive and Proactive

A Soft Voice In A Noisy World

This was created in May 2014, but I thought it was worthy of another appearance.

Here are some Tips for Staying Positive and Proactive:

• Take care of yourself. The more you know about Parkinson’s, the better. You play the key role in your own health. Seek out therapies/modalities that work for you. Accepting your illness does not mean giving up.

• Appreciate the good in every day. Focus on what you can do! Do not focus on what you can’t do! Savor and appreciate everything.

• Stay flexible in all ways. A rigid pole often tends to break in the wind. A flexible pole will bend and give in the wind. Being more flexible will add a new dimension to your life.

• A person with a good attitude is much easier to be around and is good for our well-being.

• Being positive is a choice! When we label everything “good” or “bad”…

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Aftermath

O at the Edges

 

Aftermath 

   rust. Being one phase of corruption, a matter of
resolve. When I surrender, the implication is of giving
over, moving above, allowance. Delivering despite
the steady flaking away at what colors me intact.
The quiet evening had lulled me to this inevitability:
when oxides subsume the original metal, the expansion
may result in catastrophe. Yesterday’s arc, tomorrow’s
trial. Failure’s bloom.

* * *

“Aftermath” first appeared in the print publication Sheepshead Review. Thank you to Audrey Schultz and staff for taking this poem.

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“And I dreamed I was flying…”

Two years ago today, we lost Michael, in flight.
Yesterday and today the “And I dreamed I was flying” line from Paul Simon’s “American Tune” wouldn’t leave my head. I kept thinking of Michael and a series of conversations we had in the year before he died. And images of him, in flight.
I went back and revisited the whole lyric.
Here’s to you, Michael.
Love ya, Buddy… ——-

“Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
But I’m all right, I’m all right
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home

And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
or driven to its knees
But it’s all right, it’s all right
For we’ve lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune
But it’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all, I’m trying to get some rest” –Paul Simon — 

 

“Mountains are cathedrals: grand and pure, the houses of my religion. I go to them as humans go to worship…from their lofty summits, I view my past, dream of the future and with unusual acuity, I am allowed to experience the present moment. My strength renewed, my vision cleared, in the mountains I celebrate creation, on each journey I am reborn.
-Anatoli Boukreev (via Michael Leming) —

http://lifeonmyfeet.tumblr.com/post/146511819076/on-the-edge-a-lot-of-people-think-about-my

http://lifeonmyfeet.tumblr.com/post/162237619361/because-of-my-jobs-i-often-say-i-wear-a-lot-of

An American Ninja PD Warrior

Twitchy woman

Once I restarted my swing and made my final reach, I knew all I had to do was make that last swing. This is when Mr. PD showed up though.   Jimmy Choi

I am not a fan of Reality TV.  The closest I came was when my daughter was designing clothes and we watched Project Runway together for several years.  At some point, we both became bored with it and stopped watching.  Every season, every episode followed the same formula.  I have watched Top Chef a few times, mostly on airplanes when there is nothing else of interest, and guess what, it followed the same exact formula, just substituting chefs for fashion designers.   Nothing original in these shows.   Is there a difference between “The Voice” and “America’s Got Talent”?  I could not tell you, except that Simon Cowell seems to be everywhere.

Tonite, I watched American…

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Rob Lowe on Fatherhood

My OBT

“Never compare your insides to someone else’s outsides.”

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There is more to this right?

I love the way Benjamin is able to weave together these disparate parts of his life and his condition and his emotions.
Parkinsons is a complex beast. It is not a dragon to be slayed. A dragon, perhaps, to come to a level of understanding with…but not slayed. Not yet, anyway.
The courage and artistry Benjamin summons here and throughout his blog enrich us.

Thank you, Benjamin

Expressions of my life - An evolution of art.

***** please be aware that this post spans a number of days, mindsets and emotions. Please know “I’m fine”

There is a tired that grips me so deeply only those on their death beds and those whom live with high levels of chronic pain, neurological disorders and or cancer treatment survivors know about. It’s at the same place where motivation and inspiration used to live. It’s the void of the chemicals that make up our emotions, a rollercoaster made of medicine and a blank rola-dex where my memories used to be. It’s a tired that makes my soul weak. Everyday I dance with a demon that relentlessly tries to steal my thoughts and arrest my movements. Tendons bound and Frozen in place like steel cables taunt, ridged, as I was walking on the bottom of a frozen ocean. Mean while constantly trying to remember what I was doing…

06-09-2018

The…

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The California Parkinson’s Disease Registry and other things

via The California Parkinson’s Disease Registry and other things