Two years ago

It was just about this time two years ago that I was on the phone with my doctor and heard the words 'abnormal CT scan.' I try not to talk about these landmarks too much. I think it annoys people and I don't want to give the impression that I'm always dwelling on my past illness. Still, it was a major episode in my life. Before that phone call I was able to dismiss any worries as premature. After that moment it was clear that something was up. There were more tests and appointments to go before I really knew what was going on but by then I was on my guard to hear whatever news might be coming my way. Remembering these things helps me to hold onto the lessons I have been trying to learn from that experience.

A couple of trips

I haven't posted anything here in some time. I've been busy with this and that and the blog got away from me a bit. This morning I realized that it had been over a month since I wrote anything here and it seems time to catch up. As usual, the summer seems to be slipping away very quickly. Aside from day to day things, I've been on two trips over the last month and a half that seem worth reporting. The first was to the American Library Association conference in Chicago in July. Chicago is a remarkable city with wonderful restaurants, striking architecture and lots of public art. It was interesting to see that the downtown area actually seemed busier over the weekend than it did during the week.

When we were there, we tried to see at least a bit of the city. One of the highlights for me was going out on the Skydeck Ledge at the top of the Sears Tower. It's and enclosed balcony with a glass floor. Here's a photo of me looking down through the floor.

Another adventure was to get up before dawn on our last morning there and watch the sun come up over Lake Michigan. We were very fortunate with the weather the entire week but that morning seemed particularly beautiful. It struck me how quiet it could be there by the lake right on the edge of such a big city.


At the very beginning of August, I went with Audra and her extended family (more than 25 of us) on a cruise on the Carnival Inspiration from Tampa to Grand Cayman, to Cozumel and back to Tampa. We had a great time, swimming with stingrays, snorkeling, eating, and dozing. Here is a photo of a sunrise from the back of the ship on the way from Grand Cayman to Cozumel.

And here is a photo of the beach in Cozumel. We went out in clear kayaks at that spot and went snorkeling afterward.

This is a carved melon at the midnight buffet one evening. I would love to be able to do something like this.

And finally, here are the very cool plastic trophies that Audra and I won when we went to the salsa dancing class. We didn't realize that they were going to have a dance competition right after the lesson. We gave it our best and tied with another couple. Our success was due to our remarkable talent, I'm sure, but I think it helped that we stopped off on the way to the lesson and sampled some of the ship's fairly potent tropical drinks.