Nice fish, Jake

Jakey lands a huge bass, fishing from the bank of a small pond on the VCC golf course

A missed photo op

Jimmy only had blood tests Tuesday, but my PET scan took a few hours, giving Jimmy some time to kill while he waited for me.  It turned out that his old boyhood friend Frank King was there, too, waiting for his wife, so they had a great time, sitting together and catching up.

Frank moved to Valdosta from St. Louis in the 5th grade, when his father took the position of minister at First Presbyterian Church.  Jimmy says that Frank showed up to play baseball one day, a chunky not particularly athletic-looking little kid, but his first time at bat, he slammed a massive home run over center field.  Jimmy says he invited Frank home that very night to eat supper, and they stayed big buddies throughout high school.

Frank later went to Presbyterian College on a football scholarship, and Jimmy to Georgia as a playboy, but Jimmy says one summer, they both took a couple of classes together at VSU summer school, and double-dated about fifty times over the course of the summer.

I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of the two of them together, but I didn't. Rats.

Counting our blessings

My PET scan at Emory yesterday was clear, and blood tests normal: 3 years now and cancer free. And all of Jimmy's preliminary numbers are good and going in the right direction.

We are so thankful for Emory and the wonderful people who have looked after us these last six years.  This is a strange and scary and humbling journey we're on, and we treasure every day

Remembrance

Vincent Van Gogh.  Vase with Red Poppies.  1886

In Flanders Field

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
And mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, saw dawn, felt sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from falling hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
                             - John McCrae  1919

Rhododendron

Moonrise over Satulah Mountain

Wine and Wickets

We arrived in Highlands early yesterday evening, for the first time since we left last October.  We'll only be here for a few days. We have appointments at Emory early Tuesday, and will return to Valdosta after that.  When we come back to the mountains in early June, our summer officially starts.

We DID get here for the first day of "Wine and Wickets" though.  Croquet has become a big thing at Highlands Country Club, convening every Tuesday and Thursday, from late spring to early autumn.  As Jimmy describes it, "You get to wear a costume, you get to drink while you're playing, and you're fed dinner afterwards."  He didn't include the fact that you can also be at home asleep by 9 o'clock, which is a biggie with our older membership!

The wine part...

...and the wickets

View of Whiteside

Road runner

Yesterday, on our way back from Pat's graduation in Jacksonville, we saw a panicked animal darting back and forth in the median, uncertain of which way to run.  We were on I-10, a few miles east of Lake City, and the cruise control was set on 75 mph.

"Oh, Lord, I'm about to hit a deer..." flashed through my mind as I braked, avoiding an impact by a split second, as it streaked across the highway.

But it wasn't a deer.  It was a very large coyote.

Wile E Coyote

The Graduates

This afternoon Patrick received his law degree from Florida Coastal School of Law, after three long years of hard work and sacrifice, on his part, and Rosey's and the children's. Way to go Team Kerns! We are so proud of you.

When Pat's name was called, the children cheered, "Yay, Daddy!!!"

This is the note Jake wrote for his "Dady's"  "gradawashine"

(P)eaglets, as in piggy eaglets

Mom and Dad work hard to keep their ever hungry children, Peace and Harmony, filled up. At a little over a month old, they continue to grow and develop at a breathtaking rate.  Already they weigh in at about 5 lbs each, with a wingspan greater than 2.5 feet.

Mom and Peace, Dad and Harmony

These are the talons of an 8 week old eaglet

I only log in and watch the little family a  few minutes a day, but this whole process, from the nesting to the egg-laying, to the incubation period, and now the eaglet-raising, has been such an enlightening and gratifying experience. The thing that has struck me most is how vital to their survival the father has been throughout.  The male parent is every bit as important in the wild as with humans.

Flowers: balm for the spirits

Jackie and Mary sent me a big vase of flowers for Mother's Day.  They were delivered to our house in Valdosta on Saturday, and were here waiting for me when we returned from Amelia Tuesday. I've had a fine old time, dividing them up in different vases, with added greenery from the backyard, so now we are enjoying them all around the house.

A love story

Today is our Andy-Panda's 7th birthday, and what a joy he has been, for Jimmy as much as me.  He wasn't quite a year old when Jimmy was diagnosed with cancer, and had it not been for our daughter-in-law Mary, we would've had to give him away. She and Jackie kept him for us, off and on for at least a year and a half.

My 17-year-old long-haired chihuahua Teddy had died a few months before, leaving that hole in the heart only a dog can fill. Jimmy had said We Are Not Getting Another Dog, but as I was driving down Oak Street Extension, the pet shop drew me in like a magnet.

There was a little fenced area on the floor, with a dozen or so precious puppies, tumbling and toddling around.  "Can I hold him?"  I asked the salesgirl, pointing. "The Shih Tzu?" "No, that little black one, playing with the ball."  He was the ugliest of the bunch, but it was love at first sight.

I have AKC papers on him, but if he's a purebred chihuahua, I'm a teapot.  But no matter.  Jimmy forgave me for buying him (eventually) and fell in love with him, too, and we've all lived happily ever after.

We just keep on, keepin' on

Jimmy had his April blood work done in Valdosta, and the results we got back this week show that the Rev/dex is effectively knocking the myeloma back down.  He finished his 3rd round of chemo Tuesday, and every month his numbers have improved, while the RBC, WBC and platelets hold steady.  He continues to have issues with the meds, but that's okay: they're working!

At the end of this month we'll go to Emory for checkups, including mine this time.  I'll have the usual blood tests and a PET Scan, which I expect to be fine.

Jimmy and Jamey at the Ocean Club on Tuesday

Boat Mountain

On one of those long stretches of nothing between Statenville and Fargo is a field, and in that field is a large pile of dirt and debris, and sitting on top of that large pile of dirt and debris, like a star on top of a Christmas tree, is a boat. I laugh every time we pass it, coming and going from Fernandina, and wonder how  it got there and why.

Melissa's photo

my photo

"Seymour, darlin', I been thinkin'. That big ol' fishin' boat of yourn'd look mighty fine, gracin' the top of that trash heap down the way."  Well, that's as good a scenario as any.

I got tickled last week, when I logged in to Facebook and saw that Melissa Boatenreiter had taken a picture of it, and posted it with the caption, "I've always wondered how in the world that boat got on top of that pile...and YOU KNOW if you've ever ridden the back roads, you have wondered the same!!!! "

Visually connected

"Ping....ping......ping..ping!"  I could hear my iphone in the next room making its little pinging sound, letting me know that I had gotten a message: four messages, in fact, in less than a minute. It's unusual for me to get four messages in a DAY.

Each ping was a photograph, two from Suenelle in France and two from William on the west coast of Florida.  I hope they don't mind my sharing.

Fat French sheep

An assortment of local French goat cheese

William's porch on Boca Grande.  When I first saw this I gasped, it reminded me so much  of our beloved Seagrape

A ladies' tarpon fishing tournament in Boca

It's so nice to be able to vicariously enjoy the sights and experiences of others

 from my little perch, in the den at the beach

Mothers

Mary Cassatt  "Mother and Child" 1897

Mama and William,  1952

Ellen and Jackie, 1977

My babies ...now...

...and then

Roundabouts: just the facts, ma'am

Leaving the country club after an afternoon of bridge (the laughter and the camaraderie more than compensated for a spate of bad cards) I breezed through Valdosta's one (I think) roundabout, only to get bogged down at interminable traffic lights. It took forever to get to Winn-Dixie.  I could have gotten there 10 minutes sooner on a bicycle.

Amelia Island roundabout

Paris roundabout

There are at least 5 or 6 roundabouts in our immediate area on Amelia Island, and I marvel at the speed and efficiency with which they route a fairly high amount of traffic. Interested, I googled "roundabouts" and Wikipedia had quite a bit of information on them. Did you know that:

1.  Roundabouts have 40% fewer vehicular collisions than signalized junctions
 2.  Roundabouts have 89% fewer injuries.
3.  Roundabouts have 90% fewer serious injuries and fatalities.
4.  A single lane roundabout can be expected to handle 20,000 to 26,000 vehicles per day.
5.  A roundabout may operate much more efficiently than a signalized junction because drivers are able to proceed when travel is clear without the delay incurred while waiting for the traffic signal to change.
6. These advantages also reduce air pollution from many idling vehicles waiting for lights to change.

Bottom line: I like 'em. A lot.
.

Hat trick

A Van Gogh painting + a Longfellow poem + a reference to eagles = :)

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, post-impressionism): Sower with Setting Sun, 1888 

The day is done, and the darkness
 Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
  From an Eagle in his flight.
                           - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Eaglet report

At 3 weeks old, the eaglets are growing so rapidly you can see them changing from one day to the next.  Their darker secondary down growth has come in, and they are at the stage where they look like they are wearing barrister wigs.  Their beaks and feet grow at a disproportionate rate that makes them look downright comical, waddling around on their huge clown feet.

I've thought for the last couple of days that maybe I ought to stop watching them.  They keep getting way too close to the edge, and I have more to worry about than eaglets falling out of their nest.

Northern pike for supper

Nick Saban's lake cottage, Part 2

Way back on October 18, 2008, I posted a blog about Saban's "cottage" on Lake Burton, along with this picture I took, so I was especially interested to read today that it has been listed for sale for a modest $10.9 million. Roll Tide!

Cinco De Mayo

I don't think the date had any significance in Caroline's choice of attire today, but she was so darned cute I could hardly stand it.  I smiled every time I looked at her.

If her eyes look funny, it's eye shadow  

Hats and horse racing

The Kentucky Derby excites even the horse-race ignorant, non-gambling sort of viewer, such as I am.  " The Kentucky Derby's about to start!" Jimmy called from the living room, so I ambled in, clueless about any of the horses, jockeys, trainers...anything.

"And they're OFF!'' They thundered out of the gate, hooves pounding and slinging mud over the rain-sodden track, the leaders streaking ahead of the pack of laggards. One of the laggards was Orb, the favorite, who hung back, maybe not dead last for the first half of the race, but close to it.

Then he made his move: one by one, he began gaining ground on the other horses, and right at the end, he surged ahead to win.

 It does get your adrenaline going. 

Edgar Degas, French, Racehorses at Longchamp, 1873

But I REALLY enjoy looking at all the hats. :)

Henri Matisse, French, Woman in a Hat, 1905