spending time with my buddy Bubba
This photo of Bubba was taken on August 22, 2012.
I am losing my little Bubba. After many excruciating tests, it has been determined that Bubba has an extremely aggressive form of cancer. Tomorrow we will meet with an oncologist to determine how to make him more comfortable. These last three weeks have been hell, and that includes my ten day vacation taken at the first of this month.
Back in June, I had started to notice his eyes weren’t looking quite right, but after numerous visits to the vet, all his blood work and such were excellent. Then the Thursday before I was to leave for my vacation (my first one in five years which was already very much paid for), Bubba suddenly became listless and lethargic. After rushing him to the vet, it was determined that his eyes were not moving or dilating, but again his blood tests were excellent. They suggested I take him to an ophthalmologist which I did the next day, and this doctor said that the problem did not stem from the eye and that I should take him to see a neurologist. But the neurologist would not answer my calls. Nor did they return them before I left on Monday. Shit!
They eventually caught up with me while I was in Newport, and I booked an appointment for him first thing the first morning after my return — Thursday, October 11. The news wasn’t good. Something was pressing under his brain and causing nerve damage. They did an MRI and kept him overnight, and then did a tummy sonogram. The MRI showed some deterioration in the bone under his brain. All these tests have failed to determine exactly what kind of cancer he has. The doctors suggested a biopsy, but this is risky and there’s a strong chance that it too will not be able to determine what this cancer is. I don’t want Bubba to go through any more drastic medical procedures. Even if they were able to determine what he has, the location of the cancer will prevent medication from treating it effectively.
If you’re wondering about my time in Newport… It was ok. Castle Hill Inn where I stayed was wonderful, a piece of paradise. Unfortunately, I was desperately sick the entire time with a nasty head and chest cold. The weather sucked and the fog horn boomed every 10 seconds for most of the time I was there. But I did manage to see all of the old Newport’s “cottages” from the Gilded Age. At a later date I will tell you about my GPS fiasco—multiple voices and multiple directions.
So please bear with me and understand that as long as I’m in this damage control phase, blogging will be sparse. I’d rather not blog about sad stuff, but I thought an explanation was needed for my lengthy absence.
what’s a girl to wear?
What to pack? Decisions decisions decisions…
I’m having a packing dilemma. I’m flying off to vacation in Newport, RI for ten days and just realized that I have two suitcase sizes to choose from. One’s way too big, and the other is way too small. Drat. Why didn’t I think about this before my last day in town? But I’m very prepared otherwise. Since it’s truly autumn up there, I’ll be packing for cool weather—which means bulkier clothing—which means I have no other choice but to use the larger bag. Drat!
FYI: That doll critter is known as the Patsy Ann doll, which my mother named me after. Funny thing is that when I purchased a vintage version and showed it to my mom, she was so disappointed. Evidently, she had remembered another doll which was much better looking. Definitely not this one. Hah!
up close and personal
A detail of my cast stone statuette shot with my new macro lens.
She may be showing her age, but in statuary, this is very desirable. Her provenance is unknown, but if she’s from Texas, her flecks of time took decades to form. Perhaps you remember her from a previous photograph, even if it was a shot of her rear profile. This time I wanted to use her as the subject using my new Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens, which you see above. For the following photo, I switched back to my standard zoom lens.
her sunday hat
Is it a hat or parasol? You choose.
She came with peonies. A former high school friend was in town visiting her aging mother and dropped by yesterday to visit. We both are very into our gardens — a common interest that we would not have known about if we hadn’t reconnected through Facebook. It was great fun catching up, and now she’s on her way back home. I’ve had this odd glass jar for many years and have never known what she had been used for. Perhaps olive oil. Someone else must have liked her odd shape and had decided to paint her face, but all that’s left now are flecks of red on her lips.
a new day, a new look
Photo by Harrison Evans
Welcome to my new website. Everything is now visually under one roof. What I mean is that it’s not just a blog but much more. I purchased a premium portfolio theme (template to those not in the industry) and extensively customized it. It’s powered by WordPress and uses some newly available web tricks such as HTML5, CSS3, and media queries. Media queries is just a fancy term for a fluid site that will shape itself to fit all devices.
Please understand that a portfolio website is one that is loaded with heavy graphics and will have slow downloads on handheld devices. This kind of site is best looked at on any display larger than a smart phone. Another problem is, unfortunately, Internet Explorer which has been less than cooperative in keeping up with all the newly available technologies. It’s the only browser that required me to include gobs of extra code in order for my site to be seen somewhat as I designed it. IE is so hated that a lot of web designers have stopped catering to it. The browsers that are perfect angels are Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari. Love them, but hate Internet EXPLODER! Anything older than IE 9 will cause my site to look like doo-doo.
It still requires tweaking, but is ready for prime time. Have fun!