TheBanyanTree: TheBanyanTree Digest, Vol 76, Issue 7
Anita Coia
anita at redpepper.net.au
Mon Jan 11 01:07:53 PST 2010
Best of luck Chris and good vibes from the Antipodes - though I'm sure you
won't need it. Sounds like they know exactly what needs to be done. I'd be
interested to know what you have on your Kindle and your iPhone...when
you're up to posting again...
-----Original Message-----
From: thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com
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Subject: TheBanyanTree Digest, Vol 76, Issue 7
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Today's Topics:
1. Simon and Lilli (Kitty)
2. Admin. stuff per Paul~e_e (Sachet)
3. Cabin Fever (Margaret R. Kramer)
4. Re: Admin. stuff per Paul~e_e (Dee Churchill)
5. Re: Admin. stuff per Paul~e_e (Laura)
6. Off on a New Adventure (A. Christopher Hammon)
7. Re: Off on a New Adventure (Kitty)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 17:15:07 -0500
From: "Kitty" <mzzkitty at sssnet.com>
To: "BanyanTree" <thebanyantree at remsset.com>
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Simon and Lilli
Message-ID: <B6AB66C4C7FD4A6DA298E9B09B99B493 at laptop>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Sitting on the desk beside my computer are several mementoes received from
e-list friends. Slap up against the desk sits the "cat tree" for Simon and
Lilli, five-month-old sibling kittens.
Soon after the cats came to the condo, I would find some of those tokens on
the floor beside the desk. It started with the fluorescent pink feathered
flamingo pen that Lilli was hell-bent on defeathering. (That task has now
been accomplished. I've purchased more feathers and will be attaching them
soon so her play can continue.) And many of those things that I used to
find on the floor beside the desk are being moved into other rooms.
The other day I thought I heard the cats playing. I'd assumed Simon and
Lilli were wrestling. I was wrong. When I looked, I saw that it was just
Simon. He was either loving or killing the little koala that I'd been
given. The koala and his once glued-on hat had been separated.
Also on the desk is a flamingo pot hanger that I seated in clay. From its
neck hangs a small pink elephant. Now I frequently find the pot hanger on
the floor beside the desk. The elephant will be found as far from the desk
as Simon carries it. A few days ago, only seconds after I returned the
elephant and flamingo to the desk, the elephant was back on the living room
floor.
If you have a cat, have you discovered the joy they get in playing with the
plastic ring to which plastic bottle caps are attached? If not, pry one off
and toss it in the cat's direction. Simon and Lilli *love* batting them
around or carrying them. Eventually I'll have to pull out the stove and
remove the accumulating ring collection.
All is quiet right now. Evidently they're both taking naps. This would be
a good time to gather the toys they have strewn through the condo and put
them in their basket of toys -- or back on my desk.
Kitty
mzzkitty at sssnet.com
kcp-parkplace.blogspot.com
parkplaceohio.com
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:28:03 -0500
From: Sachet <MountainWhisper at att.net>
To: TBT <thebanyantree at remsset.com>
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Admin. stuff per Paul~e_e
Message-ID: <4B491103.60707 at att.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Paul suggested I say something like this:
"Hey, if you like a story tell the writer so; and no, you don't have to
offer a critique or anything other than "thanks for the story"."
So, I am.
Voila!
Also, he thought it would be a good idea for us to change the list
settings so that replies go to the list. Might liven things up a bit;
which would be cool. .
So, I did.
Alas, all this effort has made my fingers weary. ;-) I need an infusion
of chocolate.
...Sachet/Babs/A~B/Barbara/Alfie/punkin
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 17:41:57 -0600
From: "Margaret R. Kramer" <margaretkramer at comcast.net>
To: "The Banyan Tree" <thebanyantree at remsset.com>
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Cabin Fever
Message-ID: <002b01ca9185$5679ef30$036dcd90$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
This past week has been so cold and icky, that it?s takes all my power just
to get to work and home without freezing into an icicle. Joe?s been driving
me to and from work, which is nice to jump into a warm car right after
walking out of the building, but I miss being outside, and I miss driving
myself.
I?ve gone from driving all over the metro on my quest for a job to limiting
myself to a small two mile square area. I haven?t crossed the Mississippi
River in weeks. I?m locked into being St. Paul bound by ice and snow and
cold.
I went out this morning to pick up the dog poop and that was exciting. I
was out of the house, tromping around in the deep, icy snow, picking up
frozen poop. It felt good to breathe the air and feel the January sunshine
on my face after being cooped up in a cubicle all week. I filled up the
bird feeders and the birds were flocking to them before I even finished
pouring in the seed.
I drove to Target this afternoon and that was an adventure, too, because I
actually was able to drive. And it was great to be out of the house. We
get so housebound during winter days like these. It?s too icy to walk, it?s
too cold to do much, and it?s such an effort to put on warm clothes, a coat,
hat, scarf, and mittens. Then you have to keep track of all that stuff,
plus a purse and a cell phone. It?s so much effort, that I might as well
stay home. And I do. So, going to Target was like going to the circus, all
the colors and people and the excitement of buying stuff.
And speaking of new stuff, I finally got my new stove yesterday. My old
stove?s panel wasn?t sending the correct temperature information to the
oven, so everything I baked burned. It would cost $400 to fix it, so I
bought a new stove instead. The new one cost $398. It was supposed to come
on December 16, but it was delayed until yesterday.
I love to bake and I missed it so much, but I baked a frozen pizza last
night and this afternoon, I baked a batch of brownies. Yum!
I also got Ray?s DVDs back from the camera store. The first one I watched
was the one he filmed from his mother?s funeral in 2002. He had such a good
time, and I don?t mean that disrespectfully, his mother was 92 when she
died, and a small part of Ray?s life at that time, so he wasn?t broken up
about it or anything, but he had a good time because it was the first time
he was with his entire family and was able to do what he wanted to do
without his ex-wife bitching at him all the time.
You know the type, man or woman, who is a control freak, and just can?t let
their spouse alone. They pick and pick at them. That?s how Ray?s ex-wife
was. I didn?t go, because it would have been too upsetting to the family,
but Ray had a gas. And the DVD showed him being silly with his nieces and
nephews, and it was great.
The first time I saw him on the video, I wanted to reach out and hug him
tight. Of course, I cried, but then I got into watching his family through
his eyes.
Family videos are boring to anyone except those who have a vested interest
in watching them, and like many other videos, there are no YouTube moments
in Ray?s videos. But it was like being with him, just like almost two years
haven?t passed, and I could almost throw myself into the video with his
goofy family.
After the service, Ray left the camera on and forgot about it, and I got to
watch the ground as he walked to the car. He pulled up to a phone, Ray just
never got into cell phones, and I could hear him dialing the phone to call
me. I know it was me he called, but I couldn?t hear the conversation, as he
kept moving around and jostling the camera. But I did hear him say, ?Love
you,? at the end. I love you, too, sweetheart.
I watched a couple of other DVDs when the boys were one and three and very
cute. Again, it was comforting to watch my family and ME through Ray?s
eyes. There was one scene when Ray and I were at the North Shore on Lake
Superior and he was filming me scrapbooking. I think I knew he was doing
that, but I just ignored him and kept working. It would bore the heck out
of anyone else, but that little sequence is precious to me.
We?ve claimed more daylight since the winter solstice, but it still gets
dark so early, and it?s really dark, and the dark falls like a lead curtain.
Boom! One minute it?s sunny and the next minute it?s DARK.
And that?s another reason I like staying home. It?s just too darn dark to
go anywhere. I?m going to stay home tonight, light my candles, cook some
chicken soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on my new stove, eat a brownie,
drink a glass or two of wine, and watch football with Joe.
And snuggle up in my little cabin.
Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com
www.polarispublications.com
www.linkedin.com/in/margaretkramer
Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a
friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:? it is the time for home.?
-Edith Sitwell
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 17:29:32 -0800
From: Dee Churchill <deechurchill at gmail.com>
To: "A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own
*original* writings." <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: Admin. stuff per Paul~e_e
Message-ID:
<ba83c98f1001091729n6794c8dci5074ed2601f311b7 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Good ideas, Paulo.
Good work, Hench Wench.
>
> Alas, all this effort has made my fingers weary. ;-) I need an infusion of
> chocolate.
>
Ask and ye shall receive. How does this sound?
http://www.azdrinkrecipes.com/chocolate_caramel_cappuccino_recipe-1835.htm
Hugs, Dee . . .
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 10:43:07 -0500
From: "Laura" <wolfljsh at gmail.com>
To: "A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own
*original* writings. " <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: Admin. stuff per Paul~e_e
Message-ID: <4B49AF3B.24965.48B45D at wolfljsh.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
On 9 Jan 2010 at 18:28, Sachet wrote:
> Also, he thought it would be a good idea for us to change the list
> settings so that replies go to the list. Might liven things up a bit;
> which would be cool. .
As a Hench Wench (our pet name for our female pet moderators) you
totally ROCK, Sachet!
--
Laura
wolfljsh at gmail.com
http://wolfsinger.wordpress.com
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:30:53 -0500
From: "A. Christopher Hammon" <chris at oates.org>
To: The Banyan Tree <thebanyantree at remsset.com>
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Off on a New Adventure
Message-ID: <4B4A00BD.8010305 at oates.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I am off on a grand new adventure at the out set of this year and
decade. It is not one I would choose, however, but it seems to be the
one that I have drawn to be my next grand adventure.
A microscopic trace of blood in my urine sample during a routine
physical before Thanksgiving prompted an abdominal CT scan the beginning
of December to check for any problems with kidney and bladder. That was
an interesting experience and included my first ever experience with an
IV. The last time I was in a hospital as a patient was for a
tonsillectomy in 1957, when they still used ether...that was traumatic.
As an aside, I had my second experience just before Christmas for a
combination endoscopy and colinoscopy. I couldn't resist asking the IV
nurse to be gentle, it was only my second time. To which she promptly
shouted out for all to hear, "Hey, I've got almost a virgin here." Gotta
have some fun with this stuff.
The abdominal CT turned up no problems with the kidneys or bladder, but
much to our surprise we discovered mucinous material secreting from a
tumor on my appendix; apparently a rare condition known as pseudomyxoma
peritonei. This is not good. The good news is that it is very treatable
(you just have to recover from the treatment) and that it is typically
benign. It is a "Trouble with Tribbles" story where cells we need on one
side of the intestinal wall were reproducing on the wrong side of the
intestinal wall ... where they had no place to go except to accumulate.
The next stop for getting started on this grand adventure was to meet
with my lead tour guide, the surgical oncologist in the area that
specializes in the treatment for this. He is a great doc; a prof at the
medical school with a rep for being really slick in the OR
The most successful approach to this in current practice is to
surgically debulk all of the mucinous material gathering in my abdomen,
remove the appendix, gall bladder, areas of the colon where the mucinous
cells have gathers (in my case, most likely the right half), and a lot
of the omentum. Then as part of the surgical procedure to introduce a
heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy that they slosh around in the
abdominal area for a little over an hour. This generally gets it and
life goes on once you recover from the surgery. My job, the big part of
the adventure ahead, is to recover. And then they added that the big
side effects of the surgery/chemo are that it zaps all of your energy
and depletes your immune system. It will take time, patience, and
perseverance, they say.
So it is "game on" for this grand adventure; we have the surgery
scheduled for January 13.
The good news is that with the exception of this I am in very good
health and should be able to get right on through this fine. I
anticipate plenty of stories coming out of this and hopefully I will
find the energy to write them down before they get away from me. I have
loaded up my Kindle with fun reading while I recoup and my iPhone with
plenty of music. I also have myself a stack of DVDs to entertain me.
Most important to me, though, is that I am gathering the energy of
friends and family as cheerleaders to help me sustain my energy through
the journey. Family members have opened up a Facebook group where they
will be posting updates, if anyone is interested (Updates on Chris Hammon).
And now, like it or not, I am off on this grand new adventure to see
where my journeys take me and to learn what I might learn along the way.
In the meantime, I made my reservations for the week long bicycle tour
of Indiana State Parks in September that includes bicycling all of those
Brown County hills. I still plan to make that.
Cheers and bon voyage,
Chris
/_________________________________________
A. Christopher Hammon, D.Min.
Director of Online Learning and Publication //
Wayne E. Oates Institute
Integrating Spirituality, Ethics, and Health
http://www.oates.org/
/Affiliate Faculty, Doctor of Ministry Program
Drew University Theological School/
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:48:56 -0500
From: "Kitty" <mzzkitty at sssnet.com>
To: "BanyanTree" <thebanyantree at remsset.com>
Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: Off on a New Adventure
Message-ID: <C1AB8A37ADAC40A28AB0C779E038D96F at laptop>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=response
I really enjoy "travelogues". We'll be watching for Banyan Tree posts when
you're in the mood to write and monitor Facebook for early updates as well.
Kitty
mzzkitty at sssnet.com
kcp-parkplace.blogspot.com
parkplaceohio.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "A. Christopher Hammon" <chris at oates.org>
To: "The Banyan Tree" <thebanyantree at remsset.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 11:30 AM
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Off on a New Adventure
>I am off on a grand new adventure at the out set of this year and decade.
>It is not one I would choose, however, but it seems to be the one that I
>have drawn to be my next grand adventure.
>
> A microscopic trace of blood in my urine sample during a routine physical
> before Thanksgiving prompted an abdominal CT scan the beginning of
> December to check for any problems with kidney and bladder. That was an
> interesting experience and included my first ever experience with an IV.
> The last time I was in a hospital as a patient was for a tonsillectomy in
> 1957, when they still used ether...that was traumatic. As an aside, I had
> my second experience just before Christmas for a combination endoscopy and
> colinoscopy. I couldn't resist asking the IV nurse to be gentle, it was
> only my second time. To which she promptly shouted out for all to hear,
> "Hey, I've got almost a virgin here." Gotta have some fun with this stuff.
>
> The abdominal CT turned up no problems with the kidneys or bladder, but
> much to our surprise we discovered mucinous material secreting from a
> tumor on my appendix; apparently a rare condition known as pseudomyxoma
> peritonei. This is not good. The good news is that it is very treatable
> (you just have to recover from the treatment) and that it is typically
> benign. It is a "Trouble with Tribbles" story where cells we need on one
> side of the intestinal wall were reproducing on the wrong side of the
> intestinal wall ... where they had no place to go except to accumulate.
>
> The next stop for getting started on this grand adventure was to meet with
> my lead tour guide, the surgical oncologist in the area that specializes
> in the treatment for this. He is a great doc; a prof at the medical school
> with a rep for being really slick in the OR
>
> The most successful approach to this in current practice is to surgically
> debulk all of the mucinous material gathering in my abdomen, remove the
> appendix, gall bladder, areas of the colon where the mucinous cells have
> gathers (in my case, most likely the right half), and a lot of the
> omentum. Then as part of the surgical procedure to introduce a heated
> intraperitoneal chemotherapy that they slosh around in the abdominal area
> for a little over an hour. This generally gets it and life goes on once
> you recover from the surgery. My job, the big part of the adventure ahead,
> is to recover. And then they added that the big side effects of the
> surgery/chemo are that it zaps all of your energy and depletes your immune
> system. It will take time, patience, and perseverance, they say.
>
> So it is "game on" for this grand adventure; we have the surgery scheduled
> for January 13.
>
> The good news is that with the exception of this I am in very good health
> and should be able to get right on through this fine. I anticipate plenty
> of stories coming out of this and hopefully I will find the energy to
> write them down before they get away from me. I have loaded up my Kindle
> with fun reading while I recoup and my iPhone with plenty of music. I also
> have myself a stack of DVDs to entertain me. Most important to me, though,
> is that I am gathering the energy of friends and family as cheerleaders to
> help me sustain my energy through the journey. Family members have opened
> up a Facebook group where they will be posting updates, if anyone is
> interested (Updates on Chris Hammon).
>
> And now, like it or not, I am off on this grand new adventure to see where
> my journeys take me and to learn what I might learn along the way. In the
> meantime, I made my reservations for the week long bicycle tour of Indiana
> State Parks in September that includes bicycling all of those Brown County
> hills. I still plan to make that.
>
> Cheers and bon voyage,
> Chris
>
>
> /_________________________________________
> A. Christopher Hammon, D.Min.
> Director of Online Learning and Publication //
> Wayne E. Oates Institute
> Integrating Spirituality, Ethics, and Health
> http://www.oates.org/
>
> /Affiliate Faculty, Doctor of Ministry Program
> Drew University Theological School/
>
>
>
>
>
>
------------------------------
______________________________________
TheBanyanTree
http://thebanyantree.remsset.com
Send posts to: thebanyantree at remsset.com
End of TheBanyanTree Digest, Vol 76, Issue 7
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