2024 Eclipse Mini Road Trip

The Diamond Ring. Photo by Amir Omar.

We made a mini road trip to see the 2024 total eclipse of the Sun. This despite our backyard being smack dab in the path of totality. For a week leading up to the eclipse, we anxiously checked the weather forecasts. They were stubbornly pessimistic, predicting rain for the day of the eclipse. But...the National Weather Service said the odds of seeing the eclipse were better the farther northeast of Dallas you were. So, to improve our chances, we planned to drive 100 miles to Paris, Texas, on the morning of the eclipse, then check the forecast and local conditions and decide what to do from there. And so we did.

Merry Krampus Nacht!

"Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure in Central and Eastern Alpine folklore who, during the Christmas season, scares children who have misbehaved. Assisting Saint Nicholas, the pair visit children on the night of the 5th December, with Saint Nicholas rewarding the well-behaved children with modest gifts such as oranges, dried fruit, walnuts and chocolate, whilst the badly behaved ones only receive punishment from Krampus with birch rods." — Wikipedia

"How Terribly Strange to be Seventy"

"Can you imagine us years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be seventy."

I wasn't yet twenty when Simon and Garfunkel released the album "Bookends" and I first heard those lyrics from "Old Friends" that would haunt me all my life. Fifty years on, I don't find it terribly strange to be seventy. What I find terribly strange is to reflect on the fact that there are no songs about what it feels like to be 120. The milestones in my life are piling up behind me. The road ahead is becoming less congested. The horizon is ever closer. Melancholy fills me. That is what I find to be terribly strange.

When it Rains, It Pours

When I tried to get some sympathy from my family for my plight with the Great Freeze of 2021, I received this response from my son living in tropical Jakarta, Indonesia:

"Meanwhile I'm in shelter at a friend's house due to massive flooding in Jakarta. I'm fine but will likely have to spend a day or so here for the water to clear. I wasn't at home when the flood happened. I had to walk through waist deep water to get to my friend's apartment and he graciously put us up until the water goes down. There are multiple cars stranded and barely visible above the water. Can't drive on the roads at all now."

So, yeah, there's that.

2020 Gets Last Licks In

Just when I thought we were through with this annus horribilis, 2020 proved it was still capable of causing mischief. The last week of 2020 brought me some bad news. But it wasn't all bad news. The good news is that by the time my test results came back confirming my suspicions, my symptoms were already disappearing or already gone.

Symptoms, you ask. Symptoms of what? That's the bad news. I've been tested for COVID-19 and the test results came back positive. It was a nasal swab PCR test. It was irritating, but not intolerably so. What was more irritating is feeling that Ellen and I have been good at wearing facemasks, social distancing, avoiding gatherings, etc. And yet I still caught it. It's a nasty disease.

Garden & Gun

When my family was young, we used to play a game when we were driving on cross-country car trips. The game was called "McDonald's or Burger King?" I wasn't asking where we should stop to eat. Instead, I'd point out a store name and we'd discuss how good of a name it was for a business. For example, which name is better for selling burgers? Burger King is a great name for that. Which name is better if a burger place wanted to expand into, say, selling sausage biscuits for breakfast? The name Burger King was a handicap for that. McDonald's was the unanimous choice for almost any kind of business expansion we could imagine. Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, etc., were all so limiting. But McDonald's is a nondescript name that could work with any business the company might want to get into, anywhere in the world. It doesn't even have to be fast food.

My First Car

The photo shows me being presented with the keys to my first car, a 1958 DeSoto Firemite. It's a 3/8 scale car with a polystyrene plastic body, whitewall tires, a gasoline engine, and battery-operated headlights, taillights and horn.

Yes, there's a story behind it. In 1958, Chrysler Corporation dealers were promoting their new cars. When my Uncle Floyd bought his 1958 DeSoto station wagon, Winnebagoland Motors held a "Family Days Car Jamboree" contest for new owners. Floyd entered the name of his six-year-old nephew, me. I was lucky enough to win a new car. I've never had quite that same smile on my face since.

Flashback Fourth - 2017

A year ago, Ellen and I watched the fireworks from the eleventh floor of Clements Hospital near downtown Dallas. We were hopeful and anxious, as I imagine the Founders were on our nation's first celebration of independence in 1776, when the outcome of the grand experiment was still unknown.

I Married into Royalty

What do Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, and I have in common? Quit sniggering. The answer? We all married (or are engaged to marry) into the British royal family. Again, quit sniggering. I'm serious. Kate Middleton married Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. Meghan Markle is engaged to Harry, Prince Henry of Wales. And I, of course, am married to Ellen, princess/duchess something/something, ...well, read on.

Engraftment

From 2017 06 30 UT Southwestern

Pop quiz: Which of the following describes the photo above?

1. Dallas 4th of July fireworks as seen from Ellen's hospital room
2. X-ray of Ellen's intestinal system after chemotherapy
3. Joy in my heart when Ellen's bone marrow transplant engrafted
4. All of the above

The correct answer is "All of the above" but the Fourth of July is long gone and the nausea is mostly gone, so "engraftment" is the answer that prompts this celebratory post. Engraftment is when, after a bone marrow transplant, new blood-forming cells start to grow and make healthy blood cells that show up in your blood. It is an important milestone in your transplant recovery. Ellen has reached that milestone. After chemotherapy and full body radiation, Ellen's white blood cell count had dropped to zero, as intended. Within three days of engraftment of transplanted stem cells, her white blood cell count rebounded to "normal" range, a level Ellen hasn't seen in two years. She was discharged from the hospital to continue her recovery at home. I'd say that's reason enough for fireworks. Celebrate.

More photos after the jump.

Day Zero

The Prelude is over. In the next movement, shit gets real.

The day you receive your new cells is often called "Day Zero". It's your new birthday. The cells are put into your body through an intravenous line. The procedure is like a blood transfusion. The donated cells 'know' where they belong in the body. They move through your bloodstream to settle in your bone marrow. This is where the cells will begin to grow and produce new red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

Walter D. Tiedeman, Jr.

Walter D. Tiedeman, Jr. September 27, 1921 - March 29, 2017

More photos

Walter D. Tiedeman Jr. 95, of Richardson, TX passed away on March 29, 2017. He was a long-time resident of Evansville, IN, moving to Texas in the fall of 2006 to be near his daughter.

Late Winter in the Steger Garden (2017)

From Flowers

Prelude

An evening at Prelude, a nighttime outdoor art exhibit in the Dallas Arts District. Beautiful weather. The greatest company. An inspiring message of determination and hope. Serendipity. An encouraging prelude to an uncertain next act.

A Family Celebration

We visited family in Appleton the week before the Fourth of July. A good time was had by all.

More photos after the jump.

Late Spring in the Steger Garden (2016)

From Flowers

Spring in the Steger Garden (2016)

From Flowers

Bonus photo after the jump.

Joe Garagiola, RIP

The news came yesterday that baseball great Joe Garagiolo had died at age 90. He had a middling career as a catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s and 1950s and a long career as a baseball broadcaster. My personal memory of Joe Garagiola was his broadcast of Game One of the 1988 World Series between the Oakland A's and the Los Angeles Dodgers. That photo of Kirk Gibson above is the reason I'll always remember that game and Joe Garagiola.

Late Summer in the Steger Garden (2015)

From Flowers

Early Summer in the Steger Garden (2015)

From Flowers