First short essay

Yesterday was my first memoir writing class. The class size is quite a bit smaller this term, which I think will be a good thing. I am still by far the youngest; a few of the other women (no men this term) are close to my mother’s age. Our first in-class assignment was to write about ice cream. I worked on it a little bit more today, and here’s what I have written.

JP Licks is a chain of ice cream parlors in the Boston area, including one not far from where our children and grandchildren live. The ice cream is rich and creamy and there is a wide variety of flavors and toppings from which to choose.

One of the continuing side effects of my treatment for a brain tumor a year and a half ago is that many flavors do not taste as intense as they used to. I do not know whether this is a result of the tumor or the treatment. But, as a result, mint chocolate chip, my standard order at ice cream shops for many years, tastes like plain vanilla to me now. So on our most recent visit to JP Licks, I made a spur of the moment decision to try the peanut butter ice cream.  The peanut butter flavor was intense and surprisingly tasty.

Can I learn something from ice cream flavors? Before my life took changed so abruptly, I was blissfully happy with my family, my work, my vegetarianism, even my ice cream flavor. I was not looking to change anything except perhaps my weight. But life can take us in directions we had not planned. While I continue to be pleased with my slimmed-down self, I can no longer do all I would like for my family and I was forced to retire from a job that I still very much enjoyed. So I cannot recommend cancer as a weight-loss program, and although I have a new appreciation for many things, I believe that I could have learned all of them in a less painful and challenging way for my family. Nonetheless, as my daughter often says, “it is what it is.” I just need to find that peanut butter ice cream in this new life.

Have a nice weekend! Eat some ice cream.

Love,

Rebecca

Not a new idea....

I was intrigued by an interview on the CBS Morning News with Hollye Jacobs, a woman who, following her breast cancer diagnosis, started a blog to keep family and friends informed of her progress. Ms. Jacobs has now written a book called The Silver Lining based on that blog, which according to amazon.com is scheduled to be released in March.

Breast cancer survivor turns blog into book - CBS News Video

This is not a new idea. Many of you have kindly suggested I do the same. It is also another one of those things that I would never have given much notice if not for a whole cascade of events….the diagnosis, the radiation oncology resident (my husband’s student) who led us to Caring Bridge, the wonderful notes so many of you posted over those six months, and the frequent encouragement to continue the blog.

I did go to the web page and read a bit of her blog. The design, the links, the organization and structure are all quite impressive. But it has a perky optimism that I find somewhat annoying. Does it border on trivializing the disease and treatment? This is an issue with which I have struggled quite a bit. Without a doubt there are bad days, days when I am annoyed, disappointed, even angry, days when all I can think about is how much I miss my old life. Barry has discouraged me from committing those feelings to pen and paper (or in this case, to Word documents) to protect both of us from sliding too far into negativity, and I appreciate his wise counsel. But as I read some of Ms. Jacobs writing, I found myself being annoyed by that perkiness. It is all just too perfect. Anyone who has been through this knows that life is not really that way. It is a standard to which I cannot rise and perhaps should not even aspire.

www.thesilverpen.com

So, on second thought, perhaps I will pass on this book.

Love,

Rebecca

Greg, say it ain’t so

For those of you not familiar with her, Christine Lavin is a New York City-based singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music. I was reminded this morning of an old Christine Lavin song, “What Was I Thinking?”

As you readers know, I am a big fan of The Allman Brothers Band. But since 1971 the band has only included one actual Allman brother, Gregg, because on October 29^th of that year, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. Early this morning, I was watching the local news on CBS and saw a commercial for Geico motorcycle insurance. The musical score was "Midnight Rider." 

How can this be? Who would think that a company could use music composed by someone who was killed in a motorcycle accident to sell motorcycle insurance? Assuming that the Allman Family must have had some say in this, I cannot help but ask “what was Gregg thinking?” Is there no limit to the distasteful things people will do to make money?

I am also attaching here an instrumental called "Little Martha." Listening to that definitely calmed me down.

I know this is of little consequence in a world filled with pain and suffering. But still….

Love,

Rebecca

Enough said?

We had a quiet Friday night dinner and had dear friends over for lunch on Saturday, and they stayed well into the afternoon. Over the past year, Barry and I have been playing Rummikub on Sabbath afternoons, generally going for the best two out of three games. Lately I have been winning the first two, but admittedly I have been quite lucky in drawing at least one of the jokers. Yesterday Barry won the first game, I won the second (I drew one joker), and then Sabbath was over so we called it a draw.

This morning we headed into The City to see “Enough Said,” the new movie starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini. A.O. Scott of the New York Times liked it, calling it “a small miracle of a movie,” and it received a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was hard to know how much those were influenced by Mr. Gandolfini’s sudden and untimely death at age 51 in June of this year. I am glad to report that the reviews were well deserved.  The two main characters are each divorced, and each has an 18 year old daughter about to leave for college. They meet and their humorous flirtation quickly leads them to fall for each other. But a rather-unlikely-in-real-life complication (I do not wish to spoil the movie for those who might want to see it) leads them to a break-up. The film does not insist on tying up the package with a perfect little bow, so ends on a cautiously optimistic note. We both thoroughly enjoyed it.

The movie left me singing an old James Taylor song, “The Secret of Life,” which I will attach here, along with the movie trailer.

We then went to Noi Due for a mid-day meal. With all the holidays, we had not been there in a month or so, so it was nice to be back.     

I have a big week coming up with my classes resuming this week. The students in the music class had decided to study Beethoven this term. And I am returning to the memoir writing class. I am hoping to put more effort into that this time around than I was able to do last year.

Meanwhile, have a good week.

Love,

Rebecca

I Love New York

The Weather Channel web site is displaying the following header:

Winter Storm Atlas Forecast: Heavy Snow, Blizzard Conditions in Parts of Wyoming, South Dakota, Western Nebraska

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/winter-storm-atlas-forecast-20131001

At the same time, it is over 80^o in New York again today. So I have a simple question: why would anyone want to live in South Dakota?

On his (relatively) new iPhone, Barry has SIRI. For those of you who are not familiar with it,

Siri /ˈsɪri/ is an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator which works as an application for Apple Inc.'s iOS. The application uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of Web services. Apple claims that the software adapts to the user's individual preferences over time and personalizes results.^[4] The name Siri is Norwegian, meaning "beautiful woman who leads you to victory", and comes from the intended name for the original developer's first child.^[5]

So, we asked SIRI, “why does anyone live in South Dakota?” And SIRI answered that she had no information on that. Being a clinical researcher at heart, I needed to know if that was the answer she would give no matter what place we asked about. So I suggested we ask SIRI “why does anyone live in New York City?” And SIRI came back with lots of links to recreational activities in New York City.

So there you have it, from SIRI. There is absolutely nothing in particular to do in South Dakota. And so I ask again, why would anyone want to live in South Dakota?

I had a little time this morning and started to work on the NY Times crossword puzzle. This was wishful thinking at best, because to the best of my recollection I have never completed a Friday puzzle. I finished about half of it in the first hour, and then was busy with other things and had to set it aside. Then I came back to it a few hours later and very quickly was able to finish it. A FRIDAY PUZZLE!!! But lest you be excessively impressed with my crossword puzzle skills, I just took a look on Rex Parker’s puzzle blog and, not surprisingly, he rated today’s puzzle as “Easy/Medium.” Nothing like bursting my bubble!

A new exhibit called “Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden,” opened for members today and will be opening to the public tomorrow at the New York Botanical Garden. These folks have again simply outdone themselves! I will post a few pictures but I simply cannot do this any justice. It only runs until October 27^th, so if you are in New York and can find any time this month I do urge you to go see it. We tend to think of chrysanthemums as “throw-away” flowers, but this will give you an entirely new view of them.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Rebecca

To Serve Man

In an effort to improve my cognitive skills, in addition to Lumosity and other games, I have been trying to read a little each day, often aloud to Barry, who is probably eligible for sainthood for his patience with this. I am reading on-line, where I can increase the font size. I am not sure I fully understand why, but this does seem to help. Dr. DeAngelis tells me that this is consistent with the area of my brain where the tumor was located. Since I have trouble differentiating letters from each other, often “seeing” a different letter than the one on the page, I imagine that having the larger font size helps me to focus more carefully.

As I scanned the New York Times web page, I saw the following in a piece published last week:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, stepping up his effort to blunt a diplomatic offensive by Iran, plans to warn the United Nations next week that a nuclear deal with the Iranian government could be a trap similar to one set by North Korea eight years ago, according to an Israeli official involved in drafting the speech.

This brought to mind an episode of an old television show called The Twilight Zone, that aired from 1959-1964. I was just a young girl (the same age as our granddaughter Ella is now) when it began, so I imagine I must remember it more from when it was later in syndication when I was in high school. You can sometimes find episodes being shown on various cable TV channels. A particular favorite of mine is one that first aired in 1962 called “To Serve Man.” If you have never seen this, I really do not want to give anything away. Instead, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I attach it here. It is about 25 minutes long and is, in my mind, a classic.

For all of our sakes, I hope that this is not what Iran has in mind.

Love,

Rebecca

Super Hero

Our dear friend Michal has been nominated for the Super Hero Spotlight Award given by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association. Quarterly, JP W.O.M.E.N. features a woman in the baby product industry who is doing great things either in her work, for her family, in the community or through her volunteer leadership.

Michal's story is summarized here. Please consider voting for her at the link below!

Michal Chesal, Baby K'tan, LLC

Michal Chesal is a mompreneur who co-founded the Florida-based juvenile products company Baby K’tan, LLC with her business partner, Isaac Wernick.  It all started with her desire to provide her son, Coby, born with Down syndrome, with the sensory nourishment he required for optimal development, while also wanting to carry him as much as possible for parent-child bonding. Thus, the first prototype of the Baby K’tan Carrier was born as a homemade hybrid that improved and incorporated different aspects from other carrier models available. With a background in marketing, she soon realized that the attention she was getting for the carrier was a sign that she should take it to market.  Introduced in 2007, Baby K’tan has relied on pure organic growth to become one of the strongest brand names in infant carriers. A devoted mother of three, Michal graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, and spent two years studying abroad. Starting her career as the Director of Academic Affairs for her overseas university, she moved on to spending three years as an equities trader, to being the sole proprietor of a regional marketing firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On a volunteer basis, Michal assists in chairing events that promote advocacy and acceptance of the special needs community. Additionally, she serves as an active member on numerous children’s advocacy organizations, and sits on the board of the Broward Gold Coast Down Syndrome Organization and the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance.

You can cast your vote for Michal at:

http://jpma.org/content/about/jp-women/super-hero-spotlight