morrowlife

Here’s Mia taking a ride on a friendly lion. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at the Oakland Zoo during our recent visit there, and part of my famous Statue series.

Joanne and I have been to the Bay Area twice in recent days. The latest one was last weekend. Katie and Cliff had an engagement party on Saturday evening and we decided to attend. Flew in on Friday morning, visited downtown Pleasanton for some gift shopping, checked in to our hotel, and went back to downtown Pleasanton for dinner. We found a sushi place that looked good. It turned out to be good, fortunately.

Saturday morning, we went to Katie/Cliff’s place, chatted for a bit, and picked up Mia to take her to the afore-mentioned Oakland Zoo for the afternoon. We had a great time! It’s not a huge zoo, but the displays are nice and the company was fun. They have a kiddie land with rides near the entrance, so we stopped on our way out to ride the zoo train (one of my favorite things to do at a zoo), the carousel, and the little roller coaster. Joanne opted not to ride the roller coaster, so that one was just Mia and me. Come to think of it, she didn’t ride the carousel either. I stood on that one while Mia rode.

Anyway. The party was great fun. Lots of people attended, including Cliff’s dad. It was great to see Pat and him again. Joanne got invited into a game of cribbage with a couple of guys. She was delighted to not just beat them but thorough trounce them both. She’s an excellent cribbage player and an enthusiastic competitor. She routinely beats me at just about everything, just to keep me humble. It works. Did I tell you about our family bowling experience several days ago?

We came home from the Bay Area Sunday morning, but we’ll be going back in a couple weeks for a visit to Sonoma and to hang out with Katie and Cliff again.

In the meantime, I’m heading back to Detroit on Sunday morning to be with my mother. I don’t remember whether I mentioned it yet in this space, but she’s been diagnosed with liver cancer. It’s not operable and she appears to be too weak for chemo, so they’re talking about giving her radiation soon. She’s in the hospital right now to deal with complications from an earlier surgery that put in some drains for her blocked gall bladder. Her cancer was diagnosed when her gall bladder was blocked and she turned a pretty bright yellow color. We don’t yet know how much more time she has, but I’m. to sure it’s multiple years at this point. Sandy has expressed some frustration that the doctors don’t seem to be willing to give her an accurate assessment of Mom’s chances. I remember being very frustrated with our doctors’ refusal to state any odds of survival for us. They appear to be trained to try to give people an optimistic, cheery outlook. I understand that there’s a psychological component to fighting cancer and they want patients and their families to stay optimistic, but misrepresenting the magnitude of the challenge ahead of you seems to me like a nonproductive way to generate that optimism. I can tell when they’re hiding the truth from me.

Anyway. I’m looking forward to being with my mom. Chris and Tony are there now. Tony will be leaving just an hour or two before I arrive. Chris may probably still be there, but his return plans are still extremely sketchy. We don’t think there’s an immediate need to be there, but we all felt drawn there just the same.

Joanne and I are going to Green Valley Ranch this weekend. It’s a very nice resort here in Henderson. We’re getting a massage on Saturday and will probably spend the rest of the day hanging out by the pool or some similarly relaxing activity. She’ll take me to the airport early Sunday morning and pick me up Friday afternoon.

More fun trips on the near horizon. Details later. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this chocking food violence news: beef rib fire!

See you Monday.

Here are Mark, Heather, and Andy riding the chairlift up the mountain at Park City. Great Art taken in June during the McCulloch family reunion and part of my famous Event, Machinery, and Vacation series.

I’m back! Did you think I would never return, Loyal Readers? Is anybody even out there anymore? Hello? Is this thing on?

Anyway. Lots of things have happened since my last post. We went to Park City and enjoyed seeing everybody. Mark took my car home and I rode to Denver with Andy and Heather. Spent two nights there and then flew to Detroit, where I stayed until the 7th of July. Then I flew home.

Mark went to San Jose to visit friends again on the 15th. He’s on his way home right now. Should be here in half an hour or so. I’m looking forward to having him home again. He’s starting school at UNLV Real Soon Now.

Joanne and I were scheduled to go to a big jazz festival in Ontario, California on the 19th, but the promoters canceled it at the last minute. So we took a poll and decided to go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico instead. We spent four days there and then went on to San Jose to see Joanne’s son Desi’s karaoke shows. While we were there, we also saw Katie, Cliff, and Mark. On our last night there, we also went to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Fun! We finally went home and life got back to normal. We’ve been out to eat at a bunch of places, been to see other things, and generally kept ourselves entertained.

And that brings us to today. Mia arrives for a five-day stay on Monday the 4th of August. We have some fun plans for her visit. Then we’re going to Katie and Cliff’s engagement party on August 16 in Emeryville. Then I go to Michigan again. Explanation below.

Now for the difficult news. My mom has been diagnosed with liver cancer. They still don’t have many details, but she’s going for radiation prep tomorrow and we expect it will start soon. She’ll get radiation for five weeks along with chemotherapy as she can tolerate it. We don’t know what the future holds for her yet, but we hope she’ll still have several happy, healthy years after this is done. So my weeklong trip to Michigan is to be there to help her get to a week’s worth of her radiation appointments. I’m looking forward to being there again and helping however I can.

And that’s enough for my welcome back post. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: meal-eating, chair-stealing thief!

See you tomorrow.

Here are some ancient Egyptian cows doing a bit of plowing. They seem a bit ineffective up there on a platform above all the plants and weeds, but who am I to criticize ancient Egyptian farming methods? Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at the Luxor hotel and casino in fabulous Las Vegas, and part of my famous Las Vegas and Machinery series.

I think we can all agree that an ancient Egyptian plow is machinery, no?

Had a good few days since I last posted. Let’s see if we can remember what’s been going on, shall we? Joanne and I went over to the Luxor yesterday afternoon, hung around their pool (which was freezing) and their jacuzzi (which was about the temperature their pool should have been) and had a delicious sushi dinner at one of their restaurants. We walked around their shops, did some browsing in one or two stores, made our way to Mandalay Bay and back, and generally had a nice time.

Monday, Joanne came over and I acted as sous chef for her creation of her family’s traditional spaghetti dinner. It was excellent! We added a very fancy tossed salad, Italian bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and Italian blood orange soda. She had earlier helped me cut up a little watermelon with the intention of eating it with dinner. We forgot it, so there’s a lot of cut-up watermelon in the fridge right now. Help me, Mark!

On Sunday, Mark and I went to Laura’s house for a combination Melanie’s birthday/my birthday/Father’s Day dinner. It was delicious and the company was excellent. We had a very nice time. Thanks, Laura and Tyson! Thanks, everybody else who contributed! Which didn’t necessarily include me.

Saturday, Joanne and I went with the Dining and Vining meetup group to a Japanese restaurant for their hibachi dinner. The food was excellent and the chef was very entertaining. The only fly in the ointment was that it took a total of about four hours to eat the meal. The service was so ludicrously slow that it came fairly close to ruining the experience for several people. However, the company was great and we managed to have a fun time anyway.

And that brings us to today. I need to go to bed right away because Mark and I are heading to Park City tomorrow morning! I’m looking forward to the beginning of my epic trip. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that I’ve changed from driving the whole way to flying. I looked at the cost and it appears that flying and renting a car in Michigan will be slightly cheaper than driving, so that’s what I’m doing. Mark and I will take the Taurus to Park City for the reunion, as planned. He’ll drive it home and I’ll hitch a ride to Denver with Andy and Heather. After a two-day stay, during which I expect to see Katy, Cliff, and Mia, I’ll take the Super Shuttle over to the Denver airport and fly to Detroit. At the end, I’ll fly home, where Joanne will pick me up and spend the day with me. While I was kind of looking forward to the road trip (and, indeed, that was originally the whole point of the trip!), I’m happy with the way it’s turning out. I’ll enjoy being with family and Mark and I will have tomorrow’s drive together. Wish me luck, Loyal Readers!

Not a whole lot more to tell tonight and, as mentioned previously, I need to get to sleep before my long, long drive tomorrow, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: 76,000 pounds of beef ribs burn in Ludlow big rig fire!

See you tomorrow.

Here are Joanne and me holding up the statue of Eiler Larsen in downtown Laguna Beach, California. The guy was the unofficial town greeter and now his statue has taken over. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken by our tour guide, and part of my famous Joanne, Statue, and Vacation series.

Pretty good day today. I sent a PhotoDoc registration code to our first customer today! He paid for the program on Sunday. So I made my first sale on my birthday! Cool!

Mark and I dropped the Taurus off at the Ford dealer this morning. It needed an oil change and I had been saving up a few other things to have them look at, so it ought to be there for a couple days. I miss it. The garage looks so empty!

Joanne and I went to dinner with her friend Maria at Gordon Biersch this evening. They were having a bratwurst special. It made for a pretty good meal. Stopped at Rubio’s on the way home and picked up a shrimp burrito for Mark.

I was listening to some music this afternoon and had a moment of grief. Mark heard me trying not to cry and came into the office and put his arms around me. The tears came and lasted for a few minutes. I’m so grateful for Mark. He’s really there when I need him.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: accountant-catching crocodile!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s the cruise ship I took on my March 2014 trip to Mexico. Note the threatening weather. It was pretty rugged that day, but it didn’t last long. By the first night, we were out of the cloud cover and the rain had stopped for the duration. Weather in Mexico was sunny, warm, and beuatiful. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at the cruise ship terminal while I boarded the ship, and part of my famous Cruise, Machinery, and Vacation series.

No post on Friday. Can’t remember why not. But I’m posting tonight!

Had a great weekend! We went to Laguna Beach, California to celebrate my 57th birthday. That age seems younger every year, doesn’t it? We ate at a lot of very nice restaurants, took a harbor cruise in Newport Beach to look at the homes of rich people (where I got a sunburn on the tops of my knees), did a little scavenger hunt thing around town, got a Thai massage, and went on a food tasting tour of the little beach town there. I had a great time!

The Thai massage was a very interesting thing. The masseuse was a small (fortunately) Thai lady. They had me lie down on a comfortable but firm mat on the floor and the masseuse spent a pretty good part of the time kneeling on me, except when she was leaning on me with her elbows. At one point she was both kneeling on the backs of my thighs and bearing down on my back with her elbows. I came out of there extremely relaxed but with my muscles quite thoroughly stretched. Final verdict: it was a bit more rugged than a Swedish massage, but I would definitely do it again.

The place we stayed was right on the beach and was beautiful. Highly recommended. Laguna Beach is quite crowded on weekends, making getting around a bit of a challenge, but we managed. It was much less crowded today.

The drive there and the return home were uneventful and relaxing. I love road trips.

And that’s about it for today. I’m healthy, happy, and doing well. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: fugitive Chinese chicken! (Warning: autoplaying video. Yuck!)

See you tomorrow.