Phap Farm 2008

Hmmmmm......



Why is this suspiciously cheerful looking fellow hiding in the trees in front of my house?

He's announcing the long awaited, much anticipated 1st Annual PHAP Farm!

(It's a wonder the neighbours didn't call the cops! Oh wait, they were too hung over form their big LOUD party last night.)

Have you ever wanted to just get away from the real world and get into shape? Get rid of your phlab and tighten up your muscles, (which you just know are hiding under that layer of lethargy and fear)? That same fear that holds you back from being your most creative, from being that best made-in-the-image-of-your-Creator creative that you could possibly be?

We have, and as such we came up with this idea:

Please Join us on
Saturday, July 26th 2008
Noon ~ until the cows come home or the lights go out
at the
PHAP Farm 2008
In LA (Leduc, Alberta)
At Arlene's house ~ backyard to be exact
(we will have shelter if it rains)

Lose some Phlab! Stretch your Imagination! Discover Artistic Muscles you didn't
even know you had!

Some of the activities will include:
Finding your Inner Doodler with Vincent Van Gogh
Think like Leonardo DaVinci and more!

~ PHAPulous prizes ~ What to Bring: Acrylics & Brushes Clothes to Alter &/or Swap Pointy Hat Chunky Stamps Lawn Chairs Picnic Potlucky-type grub

A friend, if you wish
Come dressed in your best ART wear Please RSVP to Arlene

Yes, today was the day! (Well technically yesterday was the day).

And the day turned out sublime, and we had a wonderful turn out at our PHAP Farm. There was no shortage of fun, and everyone was courageously creative, outrageously generous, and absolutely involved!

Who wouldn't love sitting in the sun, crating a one-of-a-kind painted T while these bubbles floated around you in a gentle breeze?

It felts SO GOOD to break out the scissors, pens and glue and make some ATC's!


No one else in the world will have a shirt like Sam's! Brilliant! He's off to a birthday party, proudly wearing his own brand. I'm so proud!


This little person with the huge heart (represented on this hand printed T) was perhaps the most prolific artiste of the day...she set her hand to journal binding, T shirt painting, ATC creation and a lot more. She is inspiration personified. Whew!

One of the highlights of the day was the unveiling of the "Faux Gogh" chair that Dawn "Gogh" Supina has spent the last several months working on.

The chair exceeded all my wildest expectations, and Dawn's gift of time and talent is truly a wonder to me! How can I ever thank her?

Here is the last, never-before-revealed panel. It's a portrait of the artist who inspired it all. I like to think he would approve!

Could you ever be unhappy with this chair in your home?

What a great group of fearless freinds and wonderful co-conspirators!

It's a Masterpiece!

Dawn completed the 5th panel of "The Chair" today, working diligently in my garage while I cracked the whip and did *ahem*, "research and development" on my laptop nearby.

It is stupendous! It's beautiful and gorgeous and I cannot tell you how much I LOVE it!! This is one talented lady folks, and the chair is a testament to her gifts.

I can't wait to show you!

But I will....the "Official" unveiling is on Saturday at the Phabulous PHAP Farm...a day long play date with our wonderful Arty friends of the Pointy Hat Art Posse. And maybe some members of the local press?

It's front page worthy folks! Check back on Saturday, and I promise more pictures!

Here's a little teaser....

The artist signs her name.

In progress...

In the beginning...

Faux Gogh....

Today we are going to finish "The Chair". The chair that has been in a process of Faux Gogh for many months. It's SO exciting! I say "we" meaning Dawn will paint, I will fetch tea and goodies and make the appropriate noises, like...."Oooooooh....Aaahhhhhhh"

Stay tuned....Saturday is the big "PHAP Farm" party, at which there will be an unveiling. And perhaps champagne...or at least Canada Dry Ginger Ale, and goodies and photo ops and artists walking around looking cool and making sage comments about the "quality of light" and "temperature of the shadows", and "luminosity ".

It will be WAY too fancy for the likes of me.

I might post a sneak peek later today, but the real unveiling isn't till Saturday.

See you then!

Poisoning ourselves.

Look at this list...

"Dr. Benjamin Asher provided the following information regarding products that contain formaldehyde or FRP's which can cause eczematoid-type dermatitis, headache, or symptoms of asthma. He pointed out that aspartame converts to formaldehyde and children are particularly sensitive to this compound. Some products that were listed in an article from Pediatric Annals 36:1, January 2007 were:
These contain formaldehyde:

Shampoo: Avon Kids 2-in-1 Super Gentle Shampoo for Normal Hair, Avon, Dove Shampoo, Extra Volume, Unilver, Johnson's Baby Shampoo, Softwash Baby Shampoo, Kissably Baby Soft, Johnson & Johnson

Conditioner:
Avon Kids Super Gentle Conditioner, Detangler, Avon, Dove conditioner, Intense Moisture, Unilever, Nizoral A-D Non-medicated Daily Conditioner, Janssen Pharmaceutica

Hair Gel:
Avon Kids Super Gentle 2-in-1 Soft Styling Gel, all hair types, Avon, Dove Shape & Lift Volumizing Gel, Unilever so multiplicity discipline smoothing gel, Innovative Styling Options

Baby Wipes:
Huggies Natural Care Baby Wipes, Unscented Kimberly-Clark Huggies Newborn Baby Wipes, Fragrance Free, Kimberly-Clark Pampers One-ups, Baby Wipes with Aloe, Alchohol Free, Proctor & Gamble

Vitamins:
Flintstones Children's Complete Multivitamin Chewable Tablets, Bayer; Centrum Kids Complete Vitamins, Chewable Tablets, Wyeth, One-a-Day Kids Scooby-Doo Multivitamin plus Calcium, Chewable Tablets, Bayer."



I have not checked the accuracy of this list. If you have any information on formaldehyde in products marketed for children, please forward it to me in the comments section. This seems straight up criminal to me!


Happily, I found Creations From Eden, a local mom who sells wonderful, natural products, cleaners and shampoos. I really like the shampoo and conditioner.

Birthdays are so much fun!

Ada and Nialle again...sharing a birthday!

Seth and his mommy Kath. The Huthinson clan do there part in keeping birthday cake on the menu MOST days in July. This was Lana's BD party.

Liam (on the right) and his new buddy Luca.

Grandpa Town and baby Ada.

Kaden and SherriLynn.

Vanessa checks out Ada's new wardrobe.

Birthday cake! Grandma, can I have a bite?

Mmmmmmm....I LOVE cake! Thanks for inviting us to your birthday Elizabeth!

Birthday parties = camera happy Grandmas....Cheese!!

Keltie and Lana relaxing.

Summer Garden pictures

I am...

I had a nice comment from a blogger in Australia, and on her wonderful blog I found this link, to a poetry exercise that I have seen before, in Mary Pipher's book, "Writing to Change the World".

I had to do it again...the outcome changes according to my perspective. I wrote this thinking of my mom and dad, and their roots deep in the farming community where I was born, and where I still feel a deep connection.



I AM FROM


I am from clothes lines, and early chores, from pin curls and Saturday night dances .

I am from bare feet running in sandy soil. I am from the woods and fields, the sun beams and shade, and fresh cut hay.

I am from the wild rose, the raspberry, the willow and the poplar.

I am from homesteads on Star Lake, from Ruby and Tennison and Bessie

I am from hard working woman and stubborn to the bone. From elbow grease and whistling girls come to no good end.

I am from families who lost four children to scarlet fever in five days, yet survived and were forgiven the spoiling of the fifth.

I am from exodus. From leaving the familiar to make whole new lives in the green places.

I'm from rhubarb pie and venison.

From double cousins, home made boats to cross the lake, fresh fish and the long winter walk in the dark to school.

I am from Ruby May's research, from those who think clearest with a hammer or a shovel or a cast iron pot in their hands. From those tied to the land like a name written in the family Bible. Inseparable, permanent.

I am from the long rows of names carved into stone, lying deep in the black earth in the Grassland cemetery...from Annie Partridge, from Stanchfield and Tennyson and Earl D'lancen and Wiliam Ballard.

And from Oliver.

I am from the pioneer. I am strong and I am free.

Newest and Biggest Little news

Meet Ada Grace

Ten days...I have a hard time believing that my biggest, best little news arrived Ten Days ago!


Little (though not so little as we feared she might be) Ada Grace arrived on July 9, on her Daddy's birthday!! Of course this news is All About Me! I am Grandma now to a little girl. I waited 26 years for a girl, and Ada is a gift to me.
At least that's how it feels!

She is a little dream too...peachy pink perfect skin, strawberry blond hair, (hair!) long graceful fingers, and a little dimple in her chin when she smiles! And she has lots to smile about...she has the best Mommy and Daddy, and a perfect big brother in Liam. He is already a great helper.

Here he is saying hello for the first time.

And that's a good thing, because this whole week I've not been able to drive the short 1/2 hour trip to her house to help in any way, or to visit and coo and cluck. (Her Daddy was home from work though, and they've all been busy getting to know her.)Yes, I've missed a whole Six Days of the first month of her life! I've been driving the other direction every morning, to deliver her Uncles to Camp Shakespeare. (and yes, I am a little bitter. Thanks for noticing) Not that I didn't visit her three times in the first three days of her life either. *sigh*

Here are her Uncles meeting her for the first time.

Ah well, today is the day. I get to visit her and hold her and deliver to her a package from her Great Aunty Holly, who was in Ottawa when she arrived, and who promptly went shopping and bought, not one, not two or three...but TWENTY FOUR little girl outfits for little Ada! Ha!
(In her defense, there has been quite a string of boys in the family for the last 15 years. She hasn't had much contact with little girlie things since her own two dolls have grown up. Her baby is graduating this year!)

So femininity is set to ensue. And frilliness and pinkness and lace. Not to mention joy.

And picture taking. *ahem*

Just saying. Be aware people...and be warned.

Where the "Experts" got us

In Defense of Food is a wake up call. (Most days I just want to hit the proverbial snooze button).
Which is probably why I feel as bad as I do. Dealing with Fibromyalgia is still a challenge to me, and I want to learn how to better manage the symptoms, especially the painful, groggy feeling that can persist for days at a time.

Will changing the way I think about food, and therefor eat, help? I believe it will.

I've listened to the diet experts my whole adult life. I know I'm not alone in noticing the crazy way the "experts" change their minds all the time. Look at trans fats as an example. Do you know who told us they were a good idea? That they were better for our health than the evil butter they set out to replace? Who promoted the "lipid hypothesis - the idea that dietary fat is responsible for chronic disease"? The experts: the FDA and the American Heart institute.

In chapter three of In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan writes:

"The American Heart Institute, eager to get Americans off saturated fats and onto vegetable oils, (including hydrogenated vegetable oils), was actively encouraging the food industry to "modify" various foods to get the saturated fats and cholesterol out of them, and in the early seventies the association urged that "any existing and regulatory barriers to the marketing of such foods be removed." end quote

Yes, that's right. The American Heart Institute was the one putting pressure on government in the US to stop the hold up, as they pushed for an entire society to stop eating a traditional diet and switch to eating the newly developed (cheap to make) trans fats. Even though at the time, and to this day, the theory behind the belief is that it is saturated fats that cause heart disease. That's right, it is still just a theory, hence the term "lipid hypothesis", and it has been questioned and disproven many times in many cultures. Have you heard of the French paradox? High fat diets, less heart disease, less cancer etc?

So my point is, the experts are apparently not as reliable as mothers the world over. Or Great-grandmothers more likely. In our society we have a few generations who have been fed this line of crap, and bought it.

Traditional diets may have as much to do with the way we eat, as they do with what we eat. Hmmmm. Why can the French eat as they do and not have heart disease and obesity rates like we do in North America?

More food for thought. I highly recommend his book.

Food as Food

Me..on a bridge. I'm crossing over to a better way of thinking about food.

A friend recently asked me in passing if I could recommend a good book on nutrition. Without thinking about it too much I rattled off "Nourishing Traditions", because I just bought it and because it's REALLY thick, (that's got to mean it's good, right?), and because it smacks of anti-establishment philosophy. (see the entire title here and you'll get my drift).

I do like the book, but I haven't read the whole thing yet, (it's an involved exploration of a lot of traditional, strange (to me) food preparation methods from diverse and ancient cultures).
So I probably shouldn't have recommended the book yet.

The other reason I shouldn't have recommended any book on the subject of nutrition is that I have yet to get my diet and health in line with what my body needs. I've used many excuses over the last year, and put out a lot of effort and energy on a lot of things beyond my control, but the fact is I've let one of the most important things in my life (health) take a back seat to the urgent things I seemed to be up against, week in and week out. I seemed to live from one crisis to another, and let myself get swept away in the tide of worry and pain and angst, and let my health and other critical aspects of my life get swept away.

What did that get me? Ummmm....I've been sick, exhausted, fuzzy headed, and sore. Friendships I really care about have suffered. My energy levels are so low as to be virtually non-existent. Causes I care about have been neglected. Life has been so much harder than it needed to be.

The basics are simple. Good health encourages resilience. Resilience encourages strength. Strength equals the power to overcome.

I have certainly been blessed with so many moments of love and support since my Dad died, and while he was sick. Today I can think of him with a smile more often than tears. Compassion and patience from those closest to me have helped so much. I had no idea how hard this would be. Yet I know it was harder because I was physically run down, weak and exhausted. A lot of that was due to my lack of care of my own self.

My wonderful, wise friend has gently led in the right direction concerning health and spiritual matters. She is on her own journey, and has faced her own many challenges with glowing health, and a calm, energetic perspective. It was she who recommended Nourishing Traditions. I am testings it's waters, slowly getting my head around the new/old concepts. Dipping in my toes, so to speak. I've also been inspired by this friend who is making wise choices for her health's sake, and accomplishing important goals. (Go Karyn!)

The book I should have recommended to Kathleen when she asked is Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food". He draws much insight from the work of Dr Weston A Price, the same Dr who inspired Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions.
Michael writes about the failure of "nutritionism"....North America's reliance on experts to tell us what we need to be healthy. Modern food science would have us ignore the obvious results of this trust we have in what he dubs "a priesthood" of those-who-know-better-than-us to continually develop better, more complicated and constantly shifting guidelines to eating. We have ceased to trust the ancient cultures we were born into, (commonly known as "mom") and bought into this irrational feeding frenzy of "edible foodlike substances". We have been blinded by the bright lights of consumerism and have failed to recognize the undeniable facts...we are fatter, sicker and more prone to disease than can be accounted for in this age of plenty.

Please, if you're like me, always searching for that magic nutritional bullet, read this book. He outlines a few simple guidelines summed up by the three suggestions:

"Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much."

(Simple. Not Complex. Sound familiar?)

Maybe I'll post soon a bit more of what that looks like.

Herbal Cleaning

I love essential oils. I have a great new source that I am SO happy about. It's local, and the owner, Randi, is helpful, knowledgeable and very accommodating. It is so nice to order so close to home, with no customs to worry about. Her site is Creations From Eden.

I've been building up my supply of Essential oils, and using them to make healthy, safe cleaners for the house. I found great recipes on line here and here and here. Vanessa has a great recipe here for an herbal fruit and vegie wash.

My favorite oils to use in my diffuser are currently Clary Sage and Lemon Grass. I can't get enough!

Like Liam.

He loves it too.

It makes me nuts to watch him enjoying it.

A new oil I just purchased is Rose Geranium. It's heavenly. Such a clean scent, it clears the mind and brightens the mood. I'm using it today in pot of hot water that I hang my sorry, stuffed up head over as I try to clear my blocked sinuses. I can almost smell the goodness as I sniffle and inhale the steamy, scented water. I thig it's hepping a mhit.

news update

I know it's been a long while since I posted. I thought it would be a good place to update on the baby situation. Here's a time line:

June 20th...Nessa has ultrasound and stress test. Baby raises a few eyebrows. Grandma (me) goes out for evening with Liam and the guys; Nialle and Nessa go out for dinner, then get a call from the doctor telling them they needed to go to the Miseracordia Hospital in Edmonton for monitoring. They quickly pack, can't reach either set of Grandparents, and head in.

June 21...Grandma Town's birthday, and she is told that she will be soon introduced to her new grandbaby. Hurray! But wait...baby shouldn't be arriving yet. Prayer and a wee bit of anxiety ensues.

June 22....Waiting....waiting. Then news that baby is perfectly comfortable as is, is in no danger, nor in a hurry to make an appearance. Thanksgiving and excitement and food to follow.

Notes from the Hotel

Daniel and the boys are off to The Great American, a theme park of humongous proportions about 30 minutes south of our little hotel on the bay.  I decided I needed a day to rest, drink my magical elixer from Mountain Rose Herbs,  and NOT shake myself silly on death defying roller coasters.  It's been hard to get enough water, tea and fresh fruit and vegies while on holidays, and my fibro myalgia is starting to really make me aware I need to be more careful.  But a day resting at the hotel isn't the worst thing to do on holidays, now is it?

It's quiet here by the pool, and the wireless internet is wonderful.  I have lots of good books to read (we stocked up at Maker Faire) and with the computer and a nice soft down comforter on the bed I'll feel good as new when the guys get home tonight.  *sigh*

The hotel provides a big buffet for breakfast and dinner, and our entertainment in the morning is watching the food one particular hotel guest can pack away.  The first few days we were here, we politely observed without comment, but the last few days it's been a race to get down in the morning to watch this master of consumption at work.

He's a tiny little chinese guy who probably weighs just over a hundred pounds.  He sits by himself and eats, and eats and EATS. 

He starts with a plate piled high with sausage and hash brown patties, a dozen of each at least.  Yesterday there was bacon instead of sausage and he must have had at least three pounds of it stacked on his plate.  It was fascinating watching it disappear, one slice after another, down the hatch.  

Next come the waffles...these are huge waffles that you cook yourself on an electric griddle.  They are the size of a dinner plate, and about an inch thick.  Our hero sticks his fork in the middle of the waffle, and holing it upside down, he begins working his way around it, from the outside.  The man is like a machine...chomping, chomping ...or maybe it's more accurate to say he nibbles, till it's al gone.  He eats carefully and methodically, not stuffing and belching...he is quite polite, though he doesn't have western cutlery mastered yet.

And the fruit.....he loads up a big cereal bowl with cubed melon and packs that away.  Sometimes two bowls.  And yogurt, a few containers at least,  and while he's eating his other food, he eats bananas; half a banana to a bite, with one hand, while holding his waffle carefully balanced on the end of his fork in the other hand.  He is a marvel!  At the side of his plate he has another bowl of granola and milk, or sometimes Fruitloops, that he somehow manages to sneak in with all the rest of his food.  

He never speaks, and rarely takes his eyes off the TV in the corner of the room while he eats.  I don't know where he goes in the daytime, but we suspect he works at one of the huge corporate headquarters that surround the hotel.  Wal Mart's head office is within walking distance, and my theory is that he was sent here as a trade delegate by his country to sell more cheap consumer goods to Americans.  Daniel thinks he's a computer genius making six figures, working at the Hitachi headquarters across the street, and that he's saving so much on groceries that he will soon be a millionaire.  

I'ts kind of impossible not to speculate about him.  He shows no evidence that he is aware his eating is anything out of the ordinary.  The food is there, free for the taking, and I imagine that's not the case in his past life, whatever that may be.

When he is finally finished, he stands up, clears his table completely, and leaves quietly, (without even staggering or loosening the waist of his one blue suit!)   He usually fills up two styrofoam cups with sausage and hash browns from the buffet table to take with him, though I can't imagine him being hungry for days after consuming that much at one go.

(*ahem*...do toothpick people watch me at a buffet table with the same fascination and disbelief?)

San Francisco

I'll try to sum up a few of this week's experiences...

 

The Palace of Fine Arts: Overwhelming.  It's under renovations and I want to come back to see it when it's complete.  

The beach:  It's been very windy al the time we've been here.  We wanted to do some tidal pool exploring but the waves are so big! (and why do they always show those Tsunami shows on Discovery when we're on holidays on the west coast?)

China Town: ...great deals, interesting food, colourful characters, strange aromas and sore feet.

Cable cars: Vintage  San Francisco, where riding public transportation is an event.

The Aquarium: Experiencing the undersea world without getting wet.

Taking a ferry around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge: windy, wild and exciting!

Makers who made my head spin

Art Car(Truck) with 3D flames and a garden growing in the box. Ooooh...Aaahhhh.

Silk screen guy at Swaparamarama. We got a guitar done on a cool shirt for Levi.

This girl had it good...she had this cool chair to cruise around Maker Faire in style. Yup. It is remote control and speeds right along. No sore tootsies for her!

Recognize the guy who has Levi by the neck? Yup, it's Adam Savage of Myth Busters. He's an amazing maker who builds models and all kinds of cool stuff. He started out building models out of paper when he was a kid, and was an artist who made sculptures before he got into movie sets and special effects. He's a really nice guy!! He makes altered books! (and he's actually signing Levi's T, not choking him).



These sculptures are made of metal cable over a pipe armature. The girl in the background is TALL, and her hair is made of chains that hang loosly down over her shoulder. They are beautiful.



This Art Car was so beyond belief! It is covered in antiqued ceiling tiles, metal embellishments of all sorts and even musical instruments.

Made by a guy known as "The Pen Guy", it's a "Mercedes Pens", covered in crayola markers that are attached with silicon. Fun, and all the kids loved it!

Survival and Arrival

We did it. We drove the last leg of our trip south today, leaving Reno and our $24 hotel room...



Yes, it cost $24.
I booked it through Hotwire.com. It's a cool way to get great deals if you have a sense of adventure. The Hotel name is a secret until after you pay, and there are no refunds. You pick your general location (city), view a synopsis of the hotel amenities, read reviews by other users, and pay. THEN you are told the hotel name.

Our first night we stayed at the Best Western in Idaho Falls Idaho. It was nice, with a great breakfast. They served my Dad's favorite American breakfast, something I'd never had before, biscuits and gravy. Tasty, but sort of weird. It made me think of him and wish I could tell him about it.
The falls were right across from the hotel.

There was a freak snowstorm and when we woke up Thursday morning everything was white. Aaargghhh!

Our second day of travel took us past Twin Falls Idaho, and when we stopped at a tourist info for a rest, it turned out it was the spot on the Snake River where Evil Knievel attempted to jump over the canyon. WooHooo! Remember him? Yes, he lived to jump again.



We ended our drive at our new home (for the next 9 days) in South San Francisco. This room was also booked on Hotwire.com (honest, I don't get a commision!!). It is at the Hilton Homewood Suites fir $66 a night. We were happy with this reservation. It's great, and it's right on the Bay.






Tomorrow morning...Maker Faire.

I may be too tired to blog about it.

Global warming???

We drove 13 hours straight south yesterday, at lot of that at 75 MILES an hour at least...we arrived at Idaho Falls Idaho last night.

It was sunny when we arrived, thought there was some snow on the drive. We woke this morning to a blizzard.

We're driving to Reno tonight. Expecting better weather.

Time Off

There are a lot of people I have missed seeing, talking to, arting with. There are a lot of books I have not been reading. There is a lot of life I have not been blogging about. I have been living, loving, hurting and laughing, missing and sharing and planning.

So please excuse me for a little while. I'm off to have an adventure now. I'll write when I can.

In the meantime, this is pretty much how I feel about a lot of things:

the important novel and I

Poem by George Bilgere

Once Again I Fail to Read an Important Novel

Instead, we sit together beside the fountain,
the important novel and I.

We are having coffee together
in that quiet first hour of the morning,
respecting each other's silences
in the shadow of an important old building
in this small but significant European city.

All the characters can relax.
I'm giving them the day off.
For once they can forget about their problems—
desire, betrayal, the fatal denouement—
and just sit peacefully beside me.

In the afternoon,
at lunch near the cathedral,
and in the evening, after my lonely,
historical walk along the promenade,

the men and women, the children
and even the dogs
in the important, complicated novel
have nothing to fear from me.

We will sit quietly at the table
with a glass of cool red wine
and listen to the pigeons
questioning each other in the ancient corridors.

For my Dad

These last few weeks that I've been away I've been doing the most difficult, love filled and amazing thing I could ever imagine.

I've been helping my Dad die well.

He passed on...(what a perfect term)...on April 11. His seventy second birthday was on April 10th.

He had been diagnosed with lung cancer early last year, had been given a prognosis of just a few months to live, had decided to try chemo anyway. And he had a wonderful year full of love, and life and happiness and productivity. Untill about three weeks before he died he was working on his newest project almost every day...his Model T Hot Rod that he designed and build from scratch. When he got to weak to continue the work, he was admitted to the hospital and his friends finished it, doing the final body work and the paint job and promising my sisters and I that "the T would win it's first race". The doctors said Dad had just days to live, as his lungs were no longer functioning, and these friends worked around the clock to get the T ready. Then they loaded it onto a flatbed, hauled it to the hospital and we brought my Dad from his room in a wheelchair to see the finished work.
He stood up and walked around the car, had them put his oxygen tank in the back and he got into the truck and drove it away! He even squealed the tires leaving the ambulance bay! He got to fulfill his dream. A dear friend had called the local news paper, and his picture appeared on the front page of the next weekly addition, along with a little story. It was a miracle, and it meant more to me, and to my family, than I can say.

I was able to stay with my Dad as he returned home for a week after that. He had company flood in to see him, and grown men cried as they told him they loved him, and that it was an honour being counted as his friend.
I took night shifts and sat with him through the difficult dark hours as he struggled to draw each breath, never once complaining or expressing fear. I held his hand, rubbed his back, wiped away my tears and talked to him about the special times we had shared as a family. He said, as more and more people drove for many hours, or flew accross the country to see him once more, "This is what it means to be rich".

Yes Dad, you were a rich man. Blessed in ways few men of money could comprehend. You lived life on your own terms. You lived fearlessly, sometimes recklessly, but always authentically. You never stopped to ask yourself who you wanted to be. You lived who you were and gave tirelessly of yourself to everyone who came to be a part of the ever widening circle you called family and friend. You were a creative genius, and a master craftsman. You will be missed more than I can ever say.

I love you Daddy