Lives in a Shoe

Yam Update

We keep thinking we will change his name when he gets here in January and we meet him in person -- but we are constantly talking of him as Yammer, Little Potato-Head, Yamster, Yam-I-Am...

Here is his December 9th update:

It's obvious he's searching for a disc to chase.

New Family Member -- Meet Yam

Yam is a McNab, one of eight in his litter.  He will be here in a few weeks.  George was working in Atlanta over the summer at the Skyhoundz World Competitions and fell in love with the breed and insists that we need one. 

 

Look at that face.

We'll probably rename him but I think his middle name should always be Yam -- the theme of his litter was Thanksgiving, since they were born November 10th.  His siblings are Pilgrim, Puritan, Autumn Apple, Pie, Gather, Pudding, Daisy.

 

Making My Family Sick

This Thanksgiving I tried a variation for the old tried-and-true mashed potatoes. Knowing that George and Marcella both love potatoes but both have issues with dairy, I warned them ahead of time and also got some Lactaid.  I promised them something really good.

 

On the big day, with love in my heart, I peeled and boiled and mashed. I proudly served the beautiful mashed potatoes in my mother's yellow bowl. We agreed that these had to be the very best mashed potatoes EVAH. I felt really good to have given them such a treat.

 

Then. First Marcella, who cannot tolerate butter, and then George, who has some sort of lactose intolerance, got indigestion. Bad indigestion.  Woe was me. Turns out you have to take the lactase stuff for three days before it's effective. I'm not sure that would have helped, but maybe.

 

Anyhow, the potatoes really were terrific. They were my midnight snack and then made a good breakfast, heated in the microwave and eaten by me.  All alone.

 

So here is the recipe..  I guess we can call this:

 

Lucrezia Borgia's Awesome Spuds

 

Five pounds of potatoes. 

One cube of butter.

One square package of cream cheese.

Salt, pepper.

Milk as necessary.

Peel and boil potatoes. Or don't peel them; I don't care. When they're cooked, drain and mash. Add butter, cream cheese. Add milk until the consistency is good. Add salt and pepper.

 

This will either make your family sick right away or it will work on their arteries in a more stealthy manner and they will keel over with a coronary in the middling future.  Lucrezia would probably consider this a win-win.

Circle

In 2005 I walked the Susan Komen Three-Day.  What an experience that was.  Darn near killed me but I bet George that I would walk every inch of the 60 miles.  It was in memory of my mom Mary Voda Daniels who died of breast cancer; it was in honor of my co-mother-in-law Linda Siegle who was diagnosed the same year I was and who also had a double mastectomy -- and who also has survived.  (She and I were born the same day, same year.  My son married her daughter.)  And it was in gratitude to my oncologist Ben Chue, MD. The Seattle PI interviewed me the following autumn -- entire article is here: 

 http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/health/article/Living-Well-Doctor-s-bold-step-paid-off-for-his-1186197.php#ixzz1YzvG3qyx

During the summer there was advance word about the promising clinical trials for a breast cancer drug called Herceptin.... And rightfully so. Herceptin appears to be a direct and effective match for many women with tumors that churn out too much of a protein called HER2. About 20 percent of breast cancer patients are HER2-related cases....The drug doesn't help every single HER2 patient -- common among medications -- but that didn't stop early buzz about the Herceptin trials in July when Catherine Daniels participated in a three-day, 60-mile walk for breast cancer.

"Everyone was talking about it," said Daniels, 58, a breast cancer survivor. "Every day."

Daniels got a chance to tell her story to fellow walkers. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2000...While browsing the Internet, she found out about Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, known for its integrative medicine approachD

 

Dr. Chue talked to George and me about Herceptin and asked us to consider trying it.  Before I'd met with him I had read the book Her-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer and sort of understood in a foggy way.  Wasn't sure it was the best thing to do and asked him how this Her-2 thing is measured and he said "A scale of one to three."

I asked, "Where do I fall?"  "Three-plus," he said, "If you were my mother I would strongly encourage you to do this."  So I did.  And I'm alive now.  Don't think it would have this happy an ending without Herceptin because these tumors tend to be "aggressive and resistant to treatment".  As it was I had three tumors and the disease had spread to my lymph nodes.

Fast forward to the present.  My beautiful niece Leigh has done.the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and mentioned Mom and me on her webpage: http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/LosAngeles?px=6205640&pg=personal&fr_id=2060 

I got my credit card ready and was just about to go there and click my donation -- I was closing a news site when I read this about a "Holy Grail" treatment for breast cancer:

The new drug combines an existing drug, Herceptin, which revolutionised breast cancer treatment 10 years ago, and a new anti- cancer treatment. It is the first time two drugs have been used in this way.

My bolding.  Entire article is here: ://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/273486

I've learned that many cancer treatments are introduced with a great fanfare (think Interferon) and then quietly fade away.  So we'll see if this one really is the grail or another tin cup.

Meanwhile, Leigh and thousands of other walkers are helping to cure this awful disease, one step at a time.  Thank you so much, Leigh and all of you.  Thank you.

Note for my family below: 

 

Welcome to the Family, Smokey!

Melikssa and Mario's new mutt.  He's a tiny black pug and I hear he's a Very Good Boy.

 

Summer 2011

 
Skagit County Fair, August 2011.  Left to right:  Tanya, Derek, Di, Jeff, Melissa, Cath.

Kittehs

I am auntie to these tiny felines who live in Brice and Claudia's house.  New family members Lucy, hunting invisible mousies --

-- and Fred, looking adorable.

 
 

Claudia says they are smart and are already a handful.  As cute as they are I don't think it matters.  Just looking at them is pleasure enough.. 

Disc Dogs!

 Video here:

http://www.goskagit.com/home/article/mount_vernon_man_dog_learning_to_fly/

 

 

 

 

 

(I have to break in here to note that in this photo Rick has the disc in his mouth so he appears to be dedicated -- but really it is so he can go "Nyah nyah nyah" to Radar and keep it to himself.)

 

 

 

Dad, USMC

My brother Greg found this photo in a book he's reading, which he got from my Dad.  We don't believe Dad read the book, which was a gift to him, but we think the conductor in this photo could be Dad -- middle of photo, with pith helmet.  Looks like him.

 
From Greg's email:

I've been reading a book about the Solomons campaign.  I knew that Dad was on Guadalcanal, and I knew that that island had been declared secure before he got there (They were married in Jan of '43 and he left shortly after so I peg his arrival about March).  As I got older I always assumed that Dad was just repeating stories he heard from the veterans of the fighting on Guadalcanal (like the one about 'Washing Machine Charlie').

 

What I hadn't realized is that there was fierce fighting all the way up the island chain through '43 and '44.  Guadalcanal got the press because it was the first, but there were many bloody battles after that.  A lot of the names of these islands bring back memories of his stories.  Rendova, Vela Lavella, Bougainville and Espritu Santo are just a couple of names that I remember.  Now I wish I'd talked to him more about his experiences.

                                            ....

By the way, Dad rarely talked to me about the war either after I had grown.  The only thing he told me once was that he had to act as a machine gunner on a plane and strafe barges the Japanese were using to reinforce the islands.  The barges were full of troops and he got really emotional describing it, so I didn't press it.  As I said earlier I doubted that there was much combat after he arrived over there but now I know better.  Did he really do this?  Well, he was attached to the First Marine Air Wing (which flew planes duh!) and being a musician wasn't exactly a full time job so it's not unlikely that he could've been pressed into service like this. 

Pocahontas

George is in Texas visiting granddaughters who love the Disney princesses.  I loved princess stories as a girl and it's wonderful to know that little girls still dream like that. 

Someday, though, I hope they learn the real story of Pocahontas instead of the
politically correct claptrap from the cartoon movie.  The real heroine is far more interesting than any plastic princess could be.