musing minds

I usually post this on Veterans’ Day (Canada’s Remembrance Day), but Memorial Day is also an appropriate day to post this poem:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That 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, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing 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.

Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)

Via Windy City Parrot:

We have a small rescue/sanctuary right outside of Athens, GA.  Yesterday we got in a Greenwing Macaw, a Blue & Gold Macaw and a Double Yellow Head Amazon.  Their cages  are horrible and falling apart plus they are too small for these birds.

We are asking for donations of either Macaw sized cages or a monetary donation so that we can purchase cages.

We are registered with the State of Georgia as a Non-Profit, licensed by the Department of Agriculture and our 501(c)(3) is pending.

We would really appreciate any help you can give us. At this point we have been taking care of 2 injured Cockatoo’s and there is just no money for cages.

If you would help us, you can give me a call at 706-599-5631 or contact us through our website at www.deeshaven.com.

Thank you for considering helping these birds.

Donna Kristosik

CEO

We’re finally getting back to normal. Mom’s surgery was a rousing success. The doctor did a laporoscopically assisted hemi-colectomy. Three tiny incisions, one a few inches above the belly button, one right above the belly button, and one a few inches below the belly button. And a 3 inch incision to the right of the belly button.

Surgery was Monday the 11th and she was discharged on Thursday the 14th. She slept a lot for the first few days home and she is doing really well.

On Friday morning the surgeon called and said that the pathology was back on the excised tissue. He said there was no spread to lymphatic tissue and it was stage 2. He said he considers her cancer free. She should make a follow up appointment with a medical oncologist for tracking her recovery.

No chemo and no radiation will be necessary.

UPDATE: surgery was successful! The surgeon was able to do the more minimally invasion version of the surgery that he wanted to do. She came through well. We’re just waiting for her to get out of recovery and move to a room. She’ll be here for a few days, but might be able to leave Wednesday or Thursday.

Today Mom is having surgery to remove a small cancer in the colon near the cecum and the appendix. Her blood work wasn’t showing cancer markers and CT scans didn’t show anything outside the colon so we’re hopeful that the surgery will take care of it completely.

Mom wasn’t feeling well, was anemic and had low B vitamin levels. The doctor ordered the colonoscopy. So this cancer was caught very early.

She’ll be going into surgery as this posts. I’ll be hospiblogging later to update.

Mom, Mothers' Day, 1962

My Christmas Cactus is blooming again. So today it’s a Mothers’ Day Cactus.

Mothers' Day Cactus

Mothers’ Day (and my 11th Wedding Anniversary [yesterday] cake)

Mothers' Day / Anniversary Cake

We’re going out to lunch at Chili’s then a matinee of Star Trek (zero)!

I woke up with this earwig. So now you can have it too!

I studied really hard for this test (3 day prep) and I passed!

There are a couple of scattered diverticulae and a couple of internal hemorrhoids and that’s it. No polyps, lots of healthy colon.

Praise the Lord.

So, my intestinal difficulties are probably irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) which is fairly mild and can be controlled with medications.

Chicago has a Zombie Readiness Task Force. True.

Prom queen Amanda Counts (right), of Chicago, waves to passing motorists along North Clark Street as she and a pack of fellow zombies migrate to their next drinking destination in the second annual Zombie Pub Crawl. (Photo for the Tribune by Darrell Goemaat / April 26, 2009)

Busy week ahead. School, colonoscopy Wednesday (I’m on day 2 of a 3 day prep. Fun, fun, fun!) 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday, Mother’s Day Sunday.

Please keep my mom in your prayers. She has a small cancer in her colon (up near the appendix) and will be having surgery on Monday, May 11th to have it excised. They’re pretty sure it’s been caught early and hasn’t spread anywhere else, but prayers always help.

Hubby said he figured out why Obama chose Biden for VP… insurance.

Arlen Specter switches parties.

Of course he’s doing it for his survival as a U.S. Senator. Pat Toomey is too close to unseating him in the Republican primary in 2010. So, instead, he’ll give the Republican nomination to Toomey and run against him as a Democrat.

He’s been more Democrat than Republican for years, so I guess this is him finally telling the truth about his ideology.

He’ll be stepping on a lot of toes with this too. With his nearly 36 years in the Senate, he might take over a chairmanship or two. Displacing the current holders of those positions.

And what about the Democrats that were going to run in the Democrat primary? Will they still want to challenge Specter as a seated Democrat Senator? Will they quietly drop away so as not to interfere? Will they be happy about it?

Note to all Republicans who switched to Democrat to vote in the Pennsylvania Democrat Presidential Primary. Get thee to the county clerk’s office or League of Women’s Voters, or the DMV or wherever one needs to go to switch registered parties. Get there and switch back to Republican.

Of course, one could stay a registered Democrat through the primaries of 2010 just so you could vote for whichever Democrat will actually mount a primary challenge and make him lose that!

Hot Air has more.

Update: Arlen Specter just said that the right has moved further to the right. Mr. Specter: The right hasn’t moved. The left has. That makes it seem as though the right is further to right, but it’s just a matter of perspective.

Yesterday we finally got to see Doubt with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. I was somewhat afraid that it would be a Catholic bashing movie. A movie that makes the assumption that all priests are pedophiles or some other such nonsense.

I was quite pleasantly surprised that that wasn’t the case. The movie was quite well done, and Meryl Streep’s performance was outstanding as much of her work has been. Amy Adams as Sister James, a young nun, was also quite good, somewhat torn between her liking of Father Flynn and her subordinate role to Meryl Streep’s Sister Aloysius Beauvier, principle of the school.