Sight I saw while out and about yesterday, enjoying a few moments of sunshine, plus an UPDATE

With Lamont here to help, we took a load of clothes down the 10 steps to the basement laundry room. After we returned there to put the clothes in the dryer, I decided to walk out the building's side door and around to the front door to get back to my apartment which is near the front door. While taking a photo of the sunshine in these banana tree leaves, I caught the guy who had just rattled by on the sidewalk. See him just to the right of the leaves.



He's got a plastic tub stuffed to the gills with something, topped by a black drum, all balanced on top of a skateboard.

Skillfully he pushed his cargo from the sidewalk, through the intersection, and continued south on the street.

Ah, the joys of being out and about in Portland.

UPDATE:  I have  low grade uterine cancer. Friday morning at 8 a.m., I have an appointment with a surgeon who deals with what the scheduler called "cancer from the belly button down," in other words, her specialty is cancer in a woman's reproductive tract. We will discuss the pathology report thoroughly as well as a plan for what's next, which the scheduler labeled a plan for care/cure. I will leave the appointment with a complete understanding of the pathology and the plan.

THANK YOU for your continued prayers, love and concern.

Sights I'll miss until I am about out and about again, No. 5 - no biopsy results yet, maybe later in the week

Portland's a city that communicates in all ways. Here we witness the written word, as in placing signs wherever they will stick. Love Your Farmer. Old Ragged-Time Music. This Is Your Land - Vote.



And here, on top of the instrument case, I can make out one that reads: Eat More Kale.The others are upside down and blurry.

Right now I've been up three hours after a good night's sleep. Ate a little oatmeal for breakfast. Drank some Twining's English Breakfast Tea--that stuff is doggone great! In a little while, I'll make a couple of L-shaped loops in the hallway of my apartment building, probably go down the few steps from my hallway into the vestibule and look out the front door. No pain medications needed--hooray! My sons will be back after work today. I am blessed. Thank you for your continued prayers, love and concern.

If you are worried that I'm about to get stir crazy, to tell you the truth, I don't feel it coming on.  Four great windows in my living room and sunshine outside help a whole lot. Knowing that in a few days I should be able to take my aluminum folding lawn chair outside and sit on the sidewalk in the sunshine is a goal I will achieve.

I took these photos at the Portland Farmers Market on the Portland State University campus on April 29, 2011. Not only live music, but lots of local foodstuffs and flowers. What special places, all of the farmers' markets in and around Portland.

Sights I'll miss until I am about out and about again, No. 4 - no biopsy results yet, not expected until later this week

Steps inside bus front doors, almost completely gone in my experience over the past eight plus years. And, even without undergoing a laproscopic hysterectomy last Friday, this is a sight I do not want to see when the bus door opens. In fact, if I'm not in a hurry and notice these steps through the bus door windows, I sometimes take a chance and wait for the next bus, especially at stops where I have several bus line options.

While the kneeling bus helps in getting from the sidewalk to that first step, the rest of the steps are higher than normal and not easy to maneuver.

RECOVERY UPDATE: After watching on TV the Trail Blazers win over the Grizzlies with Leland last night, I felt good enough to send him on home--I knew he was just a phone call and less than two miles away. (It was Lamont's turn to go to the game. What a fine one to witness, stopping a sweep by Memphis!) I slept very well, waking up twice during the night, but went right back to sleep. Woke up Tuesday morning, April 28, at 4:30 a.m., ate some warmed up leftover plain rice and drank some Twinings English Breakfast Tea. Washed those few dishes. Washed my face and brushed my teeth. No need for pain medication. Much less discomfort in the abdominal area today which I take the mean that the tissues severed at the four small incisions are getting back together satisfactorily. I will not go overboard with activity. I will walk around in the apartment, in the apartment hallway where there is a chair rail at a good height for helping to balance one if one feels tilty. I am happy to have one window open completely, another one open a few inches, because it is 57 now. However, it's supposed to only get to 61, so I may have to close that wide open one some, if it gets breezy.

Thanks for every single prayer, all the love and concern.

A Current Monday Morning Photo!

I took this photo a little while ago with my iPhone 5 so that I could have something current on here! Lamont and Leland's friends Lance and Kendra gave me this superb wall hanging and a couple of other nice items on Saturday, by way of Leland, I think--I was still groggy when I got home from the hospital. Thanks, you two! Congrats on the baby on the way!

I slept fine last night, even with a couple of short naps during the day, woke up at 6 a.m. hungry. Ate a little bit of oatmeal. No pain medication needed--hallelujah! Took a shower without any consequence other than being clean. Decided I wanted some hot tea, thus the photo opportunity. I got that wonderful mug some months ago at the Goodwill Super Store near where I work, walked down there on my lunch hour one day. What a fantastic find for a fan like me!

Lamont and Leland took turns being here yesterday, with some overlap for super hero movies on FX; I watched and/or dozed and thoroughly enjoyed peeking at my sweet sons, all day long. Lamont spent the night and just left to go to work for a few hours. He'll be back later before he needs to head home to get ready to go to the Blazers' vs the Grizzlies game this evening. Leland will come here after he gets off work and stay throughout the basketball game which we desperately need to win. Go, Blazers!

Later on I'll eat some of the baked chicken Lamont got off the bone for me--Leland picked it up at Fred Meyer on Saturday at Freddie's, along with a few other items. I've been eating it with plain rice, but yesterday I asked Leland to buy some russet potatoes and carrots which Lamont has scrubbed, wrapped in foil, put onto the cookie sheet and placed in the oven for baking. I'll check on them after the timer goes off. They will go very well with the baked chicken. By tomorrow, I should be able to eat something like a hamburger from The Blue Diamond! They've said they will deliver to me! And some folks from work put some funds on the books there, in my name, for just that purpose. Thanks, y'all!

Unless something unexpected happens during the day, I shall be A-OK by myself tonight and in the morning. Today, when I feel like I need a nap, I'll take one. No over-doing it for me, period. I'll wait until one of the sons is here to walk a short distance in the hallway of the apartment building. It is supposed to be 77 here today. Maybe I'll go, with help and support, out the front door onto the sidewalk in the sunshine! I promise, no over-doing it for me, so do not be alarmed at my maybe.

Thanks for your continued prayers and concern and love. We don't expect any biopsy news until late this week, so, until then, no news is good news!

Sights I'll miss until I am about out and about again, No. 3 - plus an update

Graffiti, Portland style. I took this photo April 26, 2008. Looks like it was a nice sunny day for leaving a trail.

RECOVERY UPDATE: Slept pretty good, in the recliner which meant less stress on my body. Thank goodness I had the laproscopic procedure, not the full abdominal one; that should make my recovery less stressful. Lamont sacked out on my twin bed. I ate a piece of toast around 6 a.m., took a Oxycodone and a 600 Ibuprofen at 6:20 a.m. By 7:20 a.m., outrageous nausea set it. Lamont and I both thought we'd heard two names of over-the-counter nausea meds, so he got in his car and drove to Freddie's where he found nothing, not even a helpful employee; then he drove to Walgreens where a worker explained to him that both were prescription drugs. Lamont called me to report this. While he was on the way back here, I was able to call the discharged-from-the-hospital-within-five-days advice nurse and get some advice: Eat some protein, like a scrambled egg, and some dry toast, slowly, over a period of time. Within two hours of having done that, if I still felt totally terrible, call back. She said it could have been either pill that caused the nausea.

Well, it worked! Actually, by the time I ate it, an hour and a half had passed since I took the pills, so a bit of relief seemed to be already on its way. But, eating that dry scrambled egg and that dry toast, slowly, over an hour, made a huge change. Since then, I've walked in the hall of the apartment building, as well as around in the apartment between kitchen, bathroom and living room. I've had a bit of baked chicken and some plain rice, plus a few strawberries from the box of cut fruit that Leland got yesterday when he went to the grocery store for me. Today he got a few more items that I wanted but didn't think of yesterday. I'm heading for the recliner in a few to take a nap.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and concern. We really appreciate it.

Sights I'll miss until I am about out and about again, No. 2

-->

Seeing people reading on the bus and/or listening to their music on their commute. I sometimes read or listen to music, but most of the time I'm looking out the windows or watching people.

SURGERY UPDATE: No complications from the operation, no need to be cut wide open--hooray! Woke up when I was supposed to with family and friends there in my room. Kept going back to sleep and still managed to sleep for a couple hours at a time during the night. I cannot remember exactly when I did it, but in the afternoon I managed to walk about 75 feet using an old-style walker for confidence. Ate jello and popsicles. This morning ate room service breakfast, hospital style--scrambled eggs, toast and jelly, sausage links, chilled hard-boiled egg, fruit cup, cranberry juice. I left bits of everything, but managed to consume enough that I felt happy to have eaten. Then, I fell asleep again in the chair--pretty comfortable chair once you get the pillows behind you. Oh, I forgot. The surgeon came by around 7 a.m. and said that I could go home in a few hours. So, that's where I am now! Just ate a little bit of plain rice and a baked chicken leg. I'm about to eat a few pieces of fruit and then take a nap in the recliner.

RESULTS/DIAGNOSIS - unknown at this time, waiting for the extensive biopsy results, may know by the end of next week.

THANKS for all of your prayers and well wishes! 

Sights I'll miss until I am about out and about again, No. 1

-->

The bike racks outside my work building, particularly crowded on this sunny February day in 2012. I took this one while on my lunch hour.

Surgery is scheduled for 7:30 a.m., Friday, April 24; I'm having a hysterectomy due to the presence of atypical cells which we all want to turn out to be precursors, not actuals. Time and biopsies will tell.

Check in at the hospital--5:15 a.m.

Gosh, that early time means I'll be waking up practically before I've gone to sleep! But, it'll sort of feel like when one heads to the airport for an early departure for the United Kingdom, like I did last October, or to Disneyland, like I did last January.

To sock or not to sock, the mannequin's main question, back on April 23, 2009

I think this was a window at Nordstrom, downtown Portland. Well, I know it was downtown, and I'm pretty sure that I took this sort of photo at Nordstrom because I walked past it to get to the homebound bus after being out and about, maybe at a movie at the Fox Tower or ushering at what was then the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Anyway, the socks and/or lack of socks caught my attention. Here's what I found online about those words in the window: Moschino Cheap and Chic (women's secondary line, created in 1988)



The socks fascinated me, especially these mint green ones worn with what look to be brown suede high-heeled sandals.



Are these made of raffia, maybe decorated only with it? I don't know much about fashion, but I'm certain that these sock-less mannequin feet and ankles are much more comfortable than any human feet would be in these. In other words, I don't much like the cut of the toe opening or the height of the heel. I wonder if, back in 1972 when I wore particularly outrageous platform shoes with hot pants and mini skirts; I wonder would I have felt limber enough and in balance enough and strong enough to have worn them?



The angle of the mannequin's foot makes these shoes look abusive to the ball and the arch of the foot, but I am once again fascinated with these socks. I can just imagine the pains taken by the window dresser with each sock, perfected until satisfaction flooded that person's mind. Yep, that's what I believe happened here as well as with the mint green socks in the top photo. Much more rewarding to sock, for sure!

About Moschino itself: Moschino is an Italian luxury fashion house, specilialized ready-to-wear, leather and fashion accessories, shoes, luggage, perfume etc., founded in 1983 by Franco Moschino.

My goal, to be well enough to go to Schreiner's Iris Gardens on Monday, Memorial Day, May 25, or the Sunday before.

Easy to see why, right? Lots and lots of beautiful blooms, arranged in flower beds surrounded by green grass. It's a great place to go for me because I get to take lots of photos. Since I don't have a yard, I don't have to make a decision about which ones to take home and plant--I just enjoy myself. May 25 is a month and a day from my surgery--planned for Friday, April 24. I believe my goal is achievable. It's only an hour away, down near Salem. I like to take the state highway for a more interesting drive.

Seen at the NBA Playoffs at the Rose Garden, April 21, 2011.

-->

My first-ever NBA play off game, in person! I turned up, all excited and not knowing what to expect, certainly not someone in a rabbit suit wearing a Martel Webster jersey and being photographed by other fans. Fun!



The first syncopated drum group I ever heard, back in my old Southeast Portland neighborhood in the summer of 2006 when they were in a parade. When I walked up and heard them, I got so excited! I love their sound! Google and find videos of them on YouTube--The Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers. They are superb! I am somewhat disappointed in the perspective of my photos of them outside the Rose Garden Arena--what the name of the building used to be where the Portland Trail Blazers play their home games. I should have joined those people seen in the shade on the right edge of the photo; I'll bet they got some great photos along the drum line.



Once inside, I found the balcony that used to overlook the arena campus. I heard the LRSD, looked over, and took a few photos. I took this at 6:01 p.m.; the game probably started a little after 7:30 p.m.



A closer shot of the LRSD in action. I like this photo!



Blurry, but still fun and representative of the enthusiasm of Blazers' fans! I cannot remember if I discovered why they were looking towards where I was sitting, but the game wouldn't begin for almost on hour and a half, so they had plenty of time to look around, watching people just like I was doing. The lady on the right is pointing out something which she evidently finds delightful and wants to be sure those two with her get to see it, too. I wonder what I missed by not looking that direction? The next photo in line gives no clue.



Each fan got one of these special noisemakers as we entered the arena. Talk about fun to shake and make a loud drumming noise!



Closer look at this fun little item which I still have!



Before games and at the end of half time, this inflated, remotely controlled Ford flies around the arena, intermittently dropping coupons for random items, DVDS, caps, I cannot remember whatall because I don't pay attention. Where I sit the Ford doesn't fly, in my opinion because it wouldn't take long for some exuberant fan to fall from the 300 level while attempting to catch a small piece of paper falling this way, falling that way, enticing folks to act foolishly with no regard for their safety. I'm thankful that I don't sit where this happens, though the next season when I had my first season ticket seat on the front row of that 300 level, a man on the row behind me foolishly thought that a T-shirt shot from the basketball court from a giant slingshot operated by three members of the Portland Trail Blazer Stunt Team would be within his reach. The guy landed on my left shoulder and that side of my head. I looked at him sideways and said, "Get off me." He did.



Chiropractor fodder, some of these folks bending their heads back as they watch the inflated Ford fly. Notice the noisemakers? A couple of people appear to be shaking them for all they're worth already, and tip-off is still about an hour away!



Part of the magic witnessed when the home team introductions took place at the Rose Garden Arena. Go, Blazers!



Blazers win! Blazers win! That's what game announcer Mark Mason said after the Blazers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 97-92. We won the next home game on April 23, 84-82, but lost the series after Dallas won the next two games in Dallas.

Since I'm having surgery on April 24, I doubt I'll get to attend any of the Trail Blazers' first-round playoff games this season. If we make it out of the first round, I may get to go. The Blazers must play astronomically better than they did in Memphis on Sunday night for that to happen.