A Walk in the Local Woods

Spackle and I went to Woodland Park today, to pee in some nature (him) and take some pictures (me). One of the things I'm learning in my life right now is discernment, and so I'd like to point out that, even though there are a LOT of photos here, I weeded a lot out. Take my word for it. 

I love that this bridge, seen like this, doesn't scream "I'm crossing Highway 99!"  

It's a spectacular time of year for moss. 

 Flowering tree. 

 Inexplicably glowing lamp, in the middle of the afternoon. 

 Patriotic birds live here. 

Warty Sentinel.  

 Spackle enjoying his illicit fetch. 

 At Woodland Park, this is a beautiful example of wildlife. In our attic just 2 miles away, it's a rodent.

 I love the swirl of the bark here. 

Close-up of some of the moss.  

 Velvet-covered tree. 

 Cherry buds, hinting at the glory they'll display for one fleeting June weekend. 

 I like how these trees are coupled. 

 Mossy stump. 

Back in the car after a successful parking. 

Winter Lace

Moss and lichen putting on a show. This amazing branch is gracing our southeastern border on the Orcas land. The shape of the white looks very coral-like to me.

Bringing the Photos Up to Date

I love this stand of trees. It's down on the waterfront at Golden Gardens at Shilshole, in Seattle. I love the space between the trunks. I'd like to swing, monkey-like, through these trees. 

One disappointing thing about photographing dawn in the city is that the mind can ignore the signs of civilization when you're simply observing, but it's impossible to block out the roofline and wires in a picture. Nevertheless, isn't this a spectacular sky to be seen off our side porch?

Get used to it--there are going to be many portraits of Spackle-dog. Here he is in a contemplative moment at Mom's house. 

And here he is in action, fetching a tennis ball, which is Spackle's delight. 

Early in January we had a visit from Tessa and Sadie, the Jerome Creek dogs. It was like having friends stay over. Licky, goofy, willful friends. Tessa was on her best behavior and ate nothing she was not supposed to. Sadie slept on the people bed in the guest room instead of on her bed, but Spackle has slept on the people bed at her house. 

Tessa, portrait by Ian Taylor.

Sadie, caught in a moment of repose. 

Oooh--exciting! Evening piddle walk in the city! With leashes!

Still life of dining room window display. 

What appears to be a massive explosion, but is actually a late-January sunset, as seen from our living room. 

Same sunset, playing with focus. This is the dogwood Friend S gave me as a bridal shower gift. 

One of the joys of living with Ian is that he occasionally spends a weekend creating something delicious. He's recently begun baking bread again, after a several-year hiatus. First loaf back: baguette! Cutting board decorated by Friend S.

Father and Dog, snoozing in the basement. 

Bat-eared Spackle getting ready for a nail trim. Photo taken by Ian Taylor. 

Spackle breaking in our new Persian rug. 

I took several pictures of him rolling around, rubbing his back and his jowls and his ears, and maybe someday I'll figure out how to turn them into a video. Or Ian will, if I beg. 

Dog and father.

Dog and Muzzer. Photo taken by Ian Taylor.

Adolescent bald eagle seen at Discovery Park.

Artistic shot of flowers in winter.

Spring is on the way!

Spackle has a new name tag!

I love, LOVE all the bare branches at this time of year. 

Last year's cones, and this year's cones. 

Video Chat? That's so old news. BO-RING.

 Turns out, when Ian goes away, I stay up WAY TOO LATE into the night. This conversation ended at 9pm. These are about 1/20 of my yawns. I'm going to bed.

Picture, Please

For Christmas Ian bought me a fancy new camera, a Canon Rebel Ti4 (I think. I know it's a really cool camera). I've been taking pictures, and plan to post some here, with, of course, pithy captions. So, I maybe won't be writing quite as much, but I will be, I hope, more of a presence in your life again, Joel. 

You may not be surprised to find out that the pictures featured here were NOT taken with the fancy new camera but are, rather, screen shots from Ian's and my first successful international Google Video Chat (Ian's in Canada). 

It may not be a communication method we're willing to try again. Considering. 

Conversation With Ian This Morning, Causing Me to be Late for An Ear Appointment. My Ear is Progressing as Desired.

Ian (looking unaccountably excited for a Wednesday morning): “I just got an email from my dad. Can I share it?”

Me (willing to be late to find out what the excitement is all about): “Sure.”

Ian: “Okay. So when my mom’s mom passed away [25 or more years ago? Ian was a kid . . .], they told all of us kids to go through her house and if we saw anything that we liked, we should say something. So I saw this stuffed turtle, and it had marbles for eyes, and I thought it was pretty cool, so I asked for that."

Me (in my head): Hmmm! I wonder how old it is? They must have used glass for stuffed animal eyes before plastics became so popular.

Ian: “Anyway, I haven’t seen it in years and assumed it was gone, but my dad just emailed to say that, during his move, it turned up!”

Me: “Cool!” (okay . . . )

Ian: “I wonder where I’ll put it!”

Me: “Maybe it can sit on that giant green ball in the dining room, that you haven’t touched since you made me bring it back home!”

Ian: “Grrrr.  No, maybe I could take it to my office!”

Me: “The green ball, or both of them?”

Ian: “Yeah! Oh, but maybe there’s a law against that . . .”

Me: “Against having a giant ball at the office? . . . Wait a second . . . do you mean a TAXIDERMIED turtle???”

Ian: “Yes! A taxidermied turtle!”

Me: “Oh. Yes, the National Marine Fisheries Service might have rules against keeping taxidermied turtles in your office." 

Testing, Testing

I found out this morning that I *will* be receiving the fancy new drug, TDM1 or, as it's recently been named in preparation for sales, Trastuzumab Emtansine, when I begin my clinical trial infusions on Thursday next week. The drug is almost ready for full FDA approval, but does not yet have it, and so my oncologist is really, really excited that I get to take it in the trial (there was a 2/3 chance in the favor of TDM1 in this randomized study. My other option would've been a Taxol-like chemo [read: pretty traditional, with hair loss and neuropathy and nausea.]). 

This drug is a new combo-drug, where Herceptin (the trastuzumab part) and a really evil chemotherapy agent (the emtansine part) are somehow connected, and infused together as one thing. The Herceptin brings the chemo to the Her2-positive metastasized cancer, and something happens at the site of the cancer and the chemo agent is released, right where it belongs.

There are supposed to be very few side effects, essentially no more than with Herceptin itself, and so it's relatively easily tolerated, as long as your heart keeps ticking along.

 

Yesterday I got the results from all my scans of a fortnight previous, which were as follows: 

• MUGA (heart function): normal. 
• CT of neck to pelvis: soft tissues normal with the exception of the lungs, which show evidence of healed trauma. Some evidence of sclerotic changes to bones, but not many. This could be arthritis, but I'm not feeling any pain in any of the places. 
• MRI of Brain: Stable. 
• EKG: normal. 
• Usual blood counts: Normal. Tumor markers high. 

At this point, Dr Specht was wondering if I had enough evidence of active cancer in my body to qualify for the study, but yes, I did still qualify. And besides, my bone scan was slightly less good than my other scans, but things that had shown up before on my ribs weren't there anymore, and the other things that showed up as different in the bone scan couldn't necessarily be verified as cancer activity. 

My new schedule starts next Thursday, and is a 3-week schedule, just like the Herceptin alone was. I've already figured out how to adjust my treatment dates to accommodate travel this fall, which means that for the next few months my "every three weeks" is going to be slightly off--21 days, then 21, then 19, then 18, then 24, or something like that, so that I'll be able to fit 3 weeks in South America in to my schedule. I do hope the promise of limited side effects holds true, because for all this to work, I will be infused on my 40th birthday.

We did have a couple days of summer here . . . it's not too late . . . we may still get a couple more . . .