Bedtime story

Date night for Mom and Dad.
Saturday night with Grandma and Grandpa!

37

Finished with my treatments!
More thanks than I can ever possibly express to all those wonderful
folks at the hospital up at the end of our street!

T-rex and the apples.

This is one of the mechanical pieces I made a few years back (2003), as Uncle Don's Mechanicals. With the demise of making "consumer products for children under the age of 12", I'm rethinking trying some mechanical stuff again. My main goal right now is coming up with an interesting mechanism that creates interesting movement, without having it too expensive to sell any!

One basic question still eludes me - whether to expose the mechanism to public view, or leave it a mystery? Clue - in this one the main mechanical device is a pinch clothespin!
I only sold a couple of pieces back in 2003, but go look at the web page with those original pieces. I'll maintain the prices listed there - at least for a while. Below is the first video on the web of one of my pieces.... this one is not shown on that original web page --- I think I have a couple of them? Price on this one $125. This one is SOLD (4/7/2009) but I can probably make more :-)

Video of "T-Rex and the apples" below.

Valentines Day

My Valentine is in Philadelphia :-(

I had Valentine's Dinner with my parents ;-)
The Valentine above was from the folks who Zap me every day in the Radiation Oncology Deptartment at Highland Hospital! I can't tell you how much I thank them for the Valentine, for the smiles and greetings I get every morning, and for the daily Zaps that hopefully are sending my cancer cells on to their great reward!

Our second Praise figure

More Praise!
More Thankfulness!
More Joy!
Just More!

There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you."
Will Rogers

More stuff I've learned about my cancer treatments!

Click on the image for a bigger more readable view.

They have been telling me for a while about how precise and controlled the radiation is that bombards me each day, but the other day I figured out more about how they do it. While the computer, programming, etc. are pretty complex, the mechanics are pretty simple. The graphic above - created by me - explains the basics. The circle above is basically the view I get as I slide under the head of the machine each day.

A whole series of pretty thin lead plates are moved back and forth with little servo motors to open up just exactly the right shape "window" for the radiation to come out of. The plates are thin as you look up at them, but they are pretty thick vertically, and are neatly "notched" on the sides to make sure there are no gaps for extra radiation to leak through. As the machine head rotates to each of the 7 positions where it stops to "zap" me, those little lead plates slide around to open up a differently shaped little window at each position. That creates a very specific pattern of radiation that hits where they want to hit, and skips what they want to avoid. I think they are even able to vary the radiation strength in different areas of the window!

The other thing I learned today was that I won't know the results for at least a couple of months! The cancer cells have been rendered weak, but not dead and gone for while after the treatments stop. I was picturing a blood test next Tuesday after my last treatment, with a PSA of ZERO, but I guess not --- :-( Oh well!

The Kennedy Center

A year ago, Cheryl and I had a Trunk Show at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, during the Alvin Ailey Dance show. We sold quite a few Barack Obama pins that we were making to raise money for the campaign. (along with lots of our dancers) I well remember selling one in the box next to the Presidential Box during the show we got to see. In our box with us was a family - Mother, Father, and two delightful little girls. I remember the thought going through my mind that selling that particular pin just a couple of feet from the Presidential Box, was contributing to Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha possibly being there next year..... well, it is next year, and they were there last night!

Cheryl was there. We're having another Trunk Show this year. Unfortunately, I'm home getting my daily Zap! When we talked around 8PM last night, all she had seen was a lot of bomb sniffing dogs, and Secret Service folks, but she was there just a little bit away from that Presidential Box!

I guess that magic pin worked!

An aside ---- I love the fact that the spell checker always highlights Barack Obama as obviously a misspelled word!

Our Better Angels

President Obama (doesn't that sound nice?) has talked about "our better angels" quite a bit..... those impulses that lead us to better thoughts, better actions, better places. We've made lots of different kinds of angel figures over the years, but thought we'd revisit some of them ...... These three are a revision of some previous figures. More to come.

I couldn't figure out why nobody had visited the blog for 4 days until I figured out that when I adjusted things for this new look, I lost the little piece of HTML code that works my counter thingy. I think I've got it fixed now.

Cheryl is off to The Kennedy Center in Washington DC for a trunk show, and then off to Philadelphia for our big wholesale show. I'm going to be staying home so I can continue to get my radiation each morning.... can't give those bad guys a chance to recover before they get the full dose. Cheryl and I are both kind of amazed at how much we are not looking forward to time apart ---- 10 days! Rich, one of my radiation guys, says it will help us appreciate each other more. His wife is off to help her sister with a new baby. One of the gals says "big deal"! Her husband is off on 90 day assignments in the military on a regular basis. All three of us agreed that we have it a lot better than the families whose loved ones get 15 month assignments - and get shot at!

May our better angels be in and with all of us!

Final version of Praise Dancer

Here is the new head on Praise Dancer # 1
A couple of other colors below.

#350!

What could I say about this young woman other than we love her!

In the middle of winter?

These are for Anne! All three of my grown-up African Violets are blooming now. In the cold house, next to the cold window, but in nice southern light.

Below, a tomato plant that developed from a tomato I bought last fall in Cohocton that had sprouted seeds inside!

New!

This isn't the final version of our new "Praise" figure! She will have a new head/face soon. She also has a sister who will appear here soon. Comments, suggestions, and orders gladly accepted!

We went to a great party for Brother Walker tonight .... see entry below if you missed my small world story. I actually got 140 hits on that blog story in one day - ten times normal! The people at Pictometry, and the American Cancer Society were pleased with the story, and 5 more staff at Pictometry signed up for ACS's "Road to Recovery" volunteer effort. The world is full of really good people.... Thank You.

Another small world story

I've used this picture before. It is an aerial photo of the farm I grew up on. This is a story, not about growing up on this farm, but about a connection about 55 years later. I love the way the universe gives us little stories, and big stories. My dad loves to tell what he calls "small world" stories --- about the ways we are all connected, and the ways we can sort of connect back to ourselves.This man is Brother Timothy Walker. He was there the first time I went to the Highland Oncology Department to get measured, fitted, x-rayed, scanned, and tattooed! He shared stories with me, and put me at ease. He had the appointment right after mine every day, and always had a friendly word and a smile, a handshake, or a hug! I only say "had" because Friday was his last treatment, and I now need to face the rest of these treatments alone, though I now have met others who are just starting, and I have tried to pass on Brother Walker's good cheer!

One day last week, I met a young man named Ethan, who had driven Brother Walker to his appointment. The next day, there was a young woman in the waiting room, and something told me to ask if she was driving Brother Walker? "Yes, I am..... I'm Kelly" I asked where Brother
Walker managed to find all these great young folks to drive him? "The company I work for asked the Cancer Society what we could do to help, and they assigned us to drive Brother Walker to his appointments each day. We take turns." What sort of company has it's employees drive people to cancer treatments on the clock?" "I work for Pictometry" Kelly replied..... and of course I had to ask what they do, because that is a remarkable company! I'll shorten it to the summary that they work with digital aerial imagery.

"Oh. That is cool. There used to be a company in our building named Aerial Surveys, that processed film from pilots all over the country that took aerial photos of places like the one above of our farm when I was a kid."

What a chain! 55 years ago Henry flew over our farm, took a photo, processed it, and dropped by later to sell it to my dad. 25 years later, his business moved into the same building where we ran The Toycrafter. Today their space is our laser room, painting room, and my office. Years later, I get cancer, meet Brother Walker, and meet his young friends who drive him to the doctor, and work at today's version of what Henry did 55 years ago!

Things that make you go "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM".

The view from here

Here is the view as I walk into the room with my friendly neighborhood radiation machine. The entire front portion of the machine rotates, pretty much centered on the middle of that computer screen. The radiation comes from that big over head round thing. I lay on that table to the left.... it will rise up and move under the head. My prostate neighborhood will be centered on the rotation axis of the machine, and directly under the head. Servo motors rotate the head, and also move around shields inside that focus the beam narrowly to hit just the right spot each time. Below is me -- the real me this time - not a stand-in. The big head of the machine has rotated around and is now aimed upward from under my right hip. The technician took this shot on the way out of the room. The machine will now "zap" me twice from this position, and then rotate about 45 degrees and do it again, continuing 5 more times until it is on this side of the picture, with the last "zaps" coming up through my left hip. The blue thingy under my legs is my personally molded bean bag leg positioning device. If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can read my name on it..... Olney - not a number!

Below is the view as I look up at the ceiling -- pretty much no where else to look ;-)

Winter Seen

These little mountains were on top of our hedge as I returned from Mom and Dad's house last night. It looked a lot better without the flash --- thus the sort of yellow street light illuminated picture. Kind of a nice view of the neighborhood.

Skip today's entry if you are easily offended, or are sensitive??

I love it when the universe gives me a chuckle! I got two today! The picture above is of a couple of magazines on the table in the waiting room at my favorite oncology unit! Moving the smaller magazine reveals the originally intended message from the magazine publisher, but I love the way the Gods arranged them for me this morning!

On similar? note, I have developed one of the "side effects" of my treatments. The written material I got at the beginning of the process refers to this "side effect" as "loose bowel". As I tried to politely describe what happened to me yesterday afternoon, Anne interjected --- "Oh! You sharted!" Being a bit slow on the uptake, I started to ask ---------- her reply "That's a combination shit and fart" Another wonderful moment in my morning! A review of the internet - UrbanDictionary.com yields the definition " a small, unintended defecation that occurs when one relaxes the anal sphincter to fart (blend of "shit" and "fart")

I hope you will return for more adventures in the future despite my indiscretion today ;-)

Back to the future

For those who missed their plane, or who realize they really wanted to be there yesterday, this is the line for you!

Maeve's plane back to school this morning broke down, so she had to catch a later flight - I guess she missed the line that could have gotten her on an earlier flight? That gave Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Don a chance to go hang out at the airport for a while and enjoy!

Mystery pictures

Where in the world?

Elly

Met with the Oncology social worker on Friday. A great woman - 83 years young, and still plying her trade! I really enjoyed the chance to spill a few! She is sort of a "central casting" grandmother! She gave me a little talk about journal writing as a helpful and accepted thing to do, and gave me a very nice bound "journal" to use. Being more of a computer person, I thought of rejecting it, but it looked like a nice book. I was expecting nice blank pages ready to accept my hopes, complaints, and other such, but upon unwrapping it at home, discovered it to be more of a "workbook" sort of thing. Only about 1/2 empty, and with far too many "guiding thoughts".
"List the ways your bald head is beautiful." "This page is for your Joy thoughts" "What about your cancer makes you angry?" Lots of that sort of thing. Even a list of "Feeling Words" - circle those that apply? Part of the chapter entitled "I Want To Be Positive, But I Feel So Negative"

My favorite line from the author of "My Healing Companion" --- in the "Write to Survive" chapter ---- "I have all types of cancer patients who journal: prostrate patients, .................................." I pretty much quit right there. I guess spell checker didn't catch that one.

Don't get me wrong..... I'm very glad to have Elly on my side. She is very warm and understanding, but with a strong sense of reality and practicality --- "Bring me a copy of your Health Care Proxy next time!" She is going to be a great resource. I like writing/blogging, but I think I'll skip "My Healing Companion"!

Check out my Great Great Grandfather's Blog!

That's my great great grandmother and grandfather above.

Henry Cadmus Olney, and Sarah Esther (Hill) Olney

That's Henry's 1886 diary above.

I will be putting my Great Great Grandfather Henry C. Olney's 1886 diary on line in blog (http://henrycolney1886.blogspot.com/) form, starting at 12:01 AM January 1st, 2009 - 123 years after his analog version was created. You might enjoy it. Mostly in picture format with photo's of his original diary pages. His handwriting is pretty good, and the photos came out clear. I'm also adding comments and side information as I go. I'm trying to stay ahead, with each picture posted ahead of time with a scheduled publish time of the first day of each 4 day spread.

The first two days and my intro have been posted!