Vacation Recovery
The past few days have been very low-key and restful. Steve’s still on vacation from work (until Thursday), and we’ve been taking advantage of the downtime to make the craters in the sofa even deeper, sleeping late, and burning up the batteries in the TV remote. It’s amazing how exhausting a vacation can be!
I had plans to work in the yard today, but that didn’t happen. What has me so pre-occupied is setting up my new laptop and getting used to the quirks of Microsoft VISTA.
I finally did it… I replaced my old dinosaur of a laptop! My old laptop was the one I bought specifically for the move to AK; the one I did all my trip journaling on, and then later this journal. It lasted more than 5 years, and served me well, but with its 40GB hard drive, and very slow processor, it just wasn’t working efficiently for me any longer. Lately it’s started shutting down when I asked it to do too many things at once - which caused me to launch into a long tirade of expletives that just might make a sailor blush. Steve couldn’t take it anymore. *grin*
I only hope that this laptop serves me as long as the last one did. So far, so good.
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While we were traveling, I received an email from THE STASH, letting me know that there was a proceeds check waiting for me at the store. That was exciting news, but I had no clue what had sold.
Steve and I stopped in, while we were out checking out laptops, and I discovered that several of my greeting cards had sold, as well as some notecard sets I had put together. Rachael (co-owner of The Stash) then informed me that some of my framed and matted photographs had sold earlier this month.
When I looked at my “wall”, I noticed that two of my largest prints were gone (11×14 mounted/framed to 16×20). A woman had come in and purchased both prints for her home! It is always so very satisfying to me, to know that my work is being enjoyed in someone else’s home. Of course Steve gave me a big hug and kiss and told me how happy he was for me. I should have been the one giving out the hugs and kisses, as he has always been my biggest supporter and cheerleader.
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We officially canceled our bear viewing trip for September 13th. I feel sad about it, but at the same time, we have to be realistic about the situation. There are no guarantees that we’d be able to fly to Katmai, and the money we’d spend on fuel and lodging to get to Homer - plus the cost of the trip itself - would pretty much fill our heating oil tank. With winter only a few months away, we have to prioritize. We’ll try again next summer - hopefully.
I’m just glad that we’ve been able to travel as much as we have. And we still have one more roadtrip planned for August - to Valdez. But it was sobering to see the costs involved in the two trips we’ve already taken. Fuel alone (the truck only gets about 10mpg when towing the camper), was a hefty $1300. This year’s summer trips were saved for throughout the year, so it was in our budget, but who knows what the situation will be like next year? There may not be much to put towards summer traveling with heating oil costing almost $5/gallon.
We sent in our applications for the Denali Road Lottery. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we win this year. If we do, we’ll have one final trip of the season to do. Thank goodness Denali is only 125 miles from here. The lottery weekend is September 13th-17th. It just so happens that Steve’s off for his 7-days at that time, so any day would work for us.
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On a more personal note….
Please continue to keep my SIL Lisa and her family in your prayers. I talked to my brother Mike tonight, and Lisa is back in the hospital with a very low platelet count. She was admitted the first time because of seizures. She developed a brain tumor(s), from the breast cancer spreading. She had radiation treatments, which shrunk the tumor, but they think that perhaps the seizure medication she was prescribed is what is causing the low platelet count. I don’t know how much longer she’ll be in the hospital. Mike and I had to end our call, when Lisa’s dinner came. I’m going to try to call him again tomorrow and see how things are.
It’s been a real tough battle for Lisa, and she’s a real trooper. I am in awe of her courage and determination to beat this horrid disease. She’s fought so hard, and I know she’ll continue to fight. My thoughts and prayers are with her, my brother Mike, and their two sons, Michael and David.
Oh Susan, I will send prayers out for your SIL and her family. I was reading your older postings here the other day and was wondering how she was doing.
I’m anxious to hear your thoughts on the new Vista. I’ve heard of alot of ‘quirks’ with it.
I hear you on the cost of gas and fuel. There won’t be any vacations in our future anytime soon. Uff-dah! I get my ‘vacation time’ in by coming to your blog and drifting off to Alaska reading and admiring the beautiful photos! I even go back and read your Florida to Alaska journal and read through the past 5 years! It is just such a wonderful adventure, it never gets old!
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Comment by Lynn in MN — July 16, 2008 @ 9:31 am
Prayers sent out for your SIL Lisa here too, and family. I agree, it is a terrible thing for someone to have to go through.
It is a shocker everytime I go to the gas station….prices just get higher & higher & I certainly understand why you & Steve cancelled the bear trip. Hope you & Steve win the Denali lottery this year.
Congrats on your sales at the stash! That is great!
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Comment by Heidi (Las Vegas,NV) — July 16, 2008 @ 1:42 pm
Susan, I will keep your SIL in my prayers, and I will ask for prayers for her from our church as well.
Marylyn
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Comment by Marylyn — July 16, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
Susan, I am behind on all my blogs and don’t know what is going on with your SIL…I will try to find time to go back and read. Anyway, thoughts and prayers are with you/her/her family.
I have been meaning to contact you and see if you have ever come across Sky Watch Friday in blogland. It was the concept of Dot, whose blog is Strolling Through Georgia. Then she handed the reins over to Tom of Welcome to Wigger’s World. And he and friends have now started a blog just for Sky Watch Friday–
http://skyley.blogspot.com/
All you do is post a picture to do with the sky on your blog and then go to the above sight and sign in. I have often thought how awesome it would be to see some of your Northern Lights there…I have only been participating a few months and have not seen any.
Anyway, he is in UK, so it opens early. I always go ahead and post my picture Thursday evening. Then if you have time you visit other participants but it is not mandatory…all just for fun.
I hope you will check it out–I would love to just one time see some of yours on there.
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Comment by Rose — July 17, 2008 @ 4:53 am
Praying for your SIL, Susan! I know it is terribly difficult for your brother and their children. We have a good friend in Anchorage going through the very same thing.
Congratulations on the sales of your photographs and your note cards! I never doubted the sales! You are one of few that captures the essence of the scenes you photograph.
Sorry Steve didn’t get a King when he was here. Hopefully he will get one next time he comes.
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Comment by Carmen and Gip Moore — July 17, 2008 @ 11:05 am
So very sorry to hear about your SIL. I’m sure its at times like these you find it harder to be so far away.
I’m looking forward on catching up on your recent travels!! It’s kind of like candy..I save your entries and then one evening when the little ones are snuggled in bed.. I get out my “candy”- that would be your journal ;).. and a cup of pre-ground Starbucks I keep on hand for those special moments.. and get reading!
I’m not at all surprised you had a nice check waiting for you! Someday, Steve will be quitting his job to help keep up the demand for your work!
Hope you can get some rest.
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Comment by Another Susan — July 18, 2008 @ 5:46 am
Sue, Enjoyed our talk at 11:11 tonight.You know what I mean.
I don’t want to go to sleep tonight, because when I wake up, I’ll be taking my honey home to die. It hurts just to write it. She fought the good fight for 8 long years, and never gave in. It was, in fact, the doctor who gave in this time, telling us there is nothing more that he can do. Never once did she shy away from any treatments, as devastating and brutal they were. Cancer treatments are still so prehistoric.
The cancer has now spread from her breast to her liver, lungs, brain, bone , and adrenal gland, not to mention whatever other parts of her body that have not been CT scanned, MRI ed, poked, or prodded.
I’ve been with her at the hospital for the time that she’s spent here this time around, so when I get home, I’ll be sleeping in our bed for the first time, without her.
I remember as a kid, hearing the adults talk about what a “heartache” it was to lose a loved one. I now realize that the heartache is actually a tangible and very real sensation. My heart is actually breaking, and it literally hurts.
Thankfully, St. Mary medical center is an awesome hospital, and had a social worker take care of the logistics involved in moving my Honey to our house, to live out her final days. They told me on Sunday that she has a “few weeks” left, but, by the looks of things, and her rapid deterioration, I’d be surprised if she’s still with us this time next week. Three days ago she was sitting up, eating and laughing with her two nieces from Ocean City, who came up to see her. Now, she can’t eat, has had 2 seizures, and is completely without feeling down her entire right side of her body. The most devastating effect of the brain metastasis though, is that she can no longer communicate her thoughts, because one of the tumors is in her speech center. She can hear and understand, and can think complete thoughts, but can’t put into words what is on her mind. So very frustrating for both of us.
Tonight, the Hospital Clergy came and anointed her with oil, reading her her last rights. I cried like a baby. Its those moments that remind me that this is all too real, and not just a bad dream.I guess her strength, and putting on a good face through all that she’s been through, lulled me into a false sense of normalcy. Her latest condition is a real reality check.
To this point, as late as 5:00 tonight, she was able to drink from a straw, to take the meds in pill form, that weren’t flowing through her chest port(which she’s had to live with for thpast 8 years).Now, even that simple ability is gone…No response to the straw being laid against her lips; the same lips that gave tender kisses last week.
Well, its 12:20 AM here, and the big move is tomorrow. Katie and Maggie, our two dogs, haven’t seen “Mommy” in over two weeks. I’m sure there’s going to be lots of licking going on. Katie, our Yorkie, found Lisa’s cancer 8 years ago, sniffing incessantly at her underarm, until she forced Lisa to take a look at the area that Katie found so interesting. That’s when she found the lump. Katie was also there with Lisa, every second of every day that she was bedridden, after the first round of Adriomycen and Cytoxen, the 2 chemo agents were administered…Chemo agents that are so caustic that the nurses wear two sets of gloves, for fear of getting chemical burns on their skin, from mere contact…so primitive. It literally causes the patient’s eyes to cross, when first administered, like something out of nazi Germany prison camp “medical tests”… There’s got to be a better way.
Well, I’ve rambled long enough. Sue, I’ll be looking for that Dove tomorrow, I’m going to need him, Love Brother Mike
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Comment by Brother Mike — July 29, 2008 @ 7:32 pm