Scattered Thoughts . . .

Liza and the kids walked over to our house for a short visit yesterday just before dinner.  As always, it was nice to see Liza and the kids.  I had a chance to shoot a few photos while they were here playing in the yard. You can see the very small album of photos at my Zenfolio webpage here. Last summer Lukas liked sitting in the sailboat and it is obvious in these photos that he is going to enjoy being out in any of the boats.  Just for fun, we placed him in one of the small cargo compartments of one of our kayaks and he was happy to just sit there as long as we let him!

When I wrote about Sheila's awards ceremony the other day, I mentioned that I could write a separate piece just about the problems I had in shooting photos at that event.  Well, I am going to keep this as short as possible because it is a boring topic for most people, but here is some info on the problems I had that day. I suspect that most people probably assumed that I had problems shooting photos that day because people kept getting in the way.  That does, indeed, happen at many events but that did not happen at all at this event.  Not at all.  The few people shooting photos at this ceremony were polite and considerate, ensuring they weren't in the way of others and always being aware of their surroundings. At other events, however, this type of thing is often a huge problem.  Wedding photographers have a nightmare at every wedding because so many people constantly jump in front of them to shoot crappy photos with their cellphones or cheap compact cameras.  Of course, e

A couple of weeks ago, we had an absolutely beautiful spring Saturday that was like a sunny, early summer day.  My health was relatively good that particular weekend so we dropped everything we needed   to do and instead did something we wanted   to do.  It had been a long, cold winter with far too many months spent inside our small home so we decided to get out and about to do some socializing and spent about 12 hours bar-hopping in Burlington on picture perfect Lake Champlain. The Burlington Boathouse at the waterfront. The weather was absolutely beautiful that weekend.  We managed to spend time with a good number of friends over the course of the weekend which included this entire day in Burlington with two close friends.  It really was a great weekend and any time spent at the waterfront and on Church Street in Burlington is always a good time and time well spent!  Especially when you spend it with close friends such as Frank and Christine! Lately, 'good health' wee

I had the pleasure and honor to accompany Sheila to an awards ceremony today in our State's capital, Montpelier.  We were attending the State of Vermont's Department of Corrections annual awards ceremony and luncheon.  Sheila was a distinct honoree at this awards ceremony for earning the honor of being chosen as the Administrative Employee of the Year. When we arrived in the State's capital and pulled into the parking lot where this luncheon was being held, Sheila was immediately surprised by the number of cars already in the parking lot.  As we approached the building, we couldn't help but notice the two Department of Corrections Honor Guard members flanking each side of the entry doors.  I think it was at this point that Sheila realized this event might be a bigger thing than she had anticipated! Once inside, we were greeted by more Honor Guard members in the lobby.  When we entered the grand room where the ceremony was to be held, it was already crowded with

I'm still recovering from the excruciating kidney pain I had all last week and through the weekend but I am up and about and accomplishing small things around the house.  Although we still do not know for sure the cause of this intense pain, it is good that the pain is waning and I am able to accomplish a few little things again. What I am now struggling with, however, is unbearably hot weather so early in the year.  I had to retreat to inside the house by 11:00 am because the heat was so oppressing.  When I retreated to the protection of our home, our little weather station was showing the temperature to be 93 degrees.  By the time I had finished lunch, I was wishing we had the air conditioning units installed in our windows. My health does just fine when the climate is in the 70s.   When it is in the 80s, I need to take a lot of breaks to cool off.  One of the quickest and effective ways to cool down my body is running cold tap water over the blood vessels in my wrists.  This

Today I awoke feeling so miserable and in so much pain that I needed to call my doctor to ask if I should make an appointment or just go directly to the emergency room.  You know when you are already thinking of an emergency room visit before you even call your doctor, the pain is bad! Since Monday morning, I have been awaking every morning with intense pain in the area of my kidneys.   This pain has been so bad at times that I can barely walk across a room. The odd thing is that the pain has mostly been when I awake in the morning and then wanes throughout the morning. This problem, however, seems to be a relatively common problem for those of us suffering from the more aggressive form of Systemic Mastocytosis.  The mast cells erroneously attack an internal organ, for instance the kidneys, and that causes irritated and inflamed nerve endings on and around my kidneys.  But, before we assume this the cause, we must rule out everything else. For Systemic Mastocytosis patients, ther

The past few days have been quite miserable, to say the least!  In one of my blog posts from the other day, I mentioned that I was thinking my mast cells were attacking my kidneys.  I suppose that could be happening but this is, by far, the worst pain I have had in a very long time.  We came uncomfortably close to an emergency room visit yesterday morning.  Sheila stayed home from work until we decided to either drive me to the hospital or until my pain subsided enough to handle the day on my own. The pain is only problematic between 3-9am...  I still have the pain throughout the day but it is quite tolerable the rest of the day.  This pain is a burning, searing pain seemingly emanating from the lower part of my kidneys in my back and then radiating out to all of my lower abdomen down to my groin making the simple act of walking excruciatingly painful, if not impossible.  This pain rates an 8 on the 10 point pain scale. I've been flushing my body with as much water as my stomac

In my post about an article featuring the Waterbury Train Station in Model Railroader magazine the other day, I mentioned that I had created a painting of this station shortly after it was renovated and restored. Since I had mentioned it here, I felt I should add an image of my painting as it can be seen hanging on our hallway wall. This is an 8"x10" Giclee print on heavyweight art paper, double matted, and framed to 11"x14".  This is a really nice size since it does not require a lot of wall space. I have always had an interest in trains and am a lifelong model railroader so my attention is often diverted toward old railroad tracks, old stations, and old trains.  I also have a background in civil engineering and architecture so distinctive architecture always captures my attention.  This landmark is no exception.  Someday I should just spend an entire day at this station shooting photos starting from before the arrival of the first Amtrak Vermonter in the mor

I had an incredibly fun...  an amazingly beautiful... an uncharacteristically busy...  and a thoroughly entertaining weekend.  Sheila and I spent the entire weekend together and had a very busy schedule of fun activities.  As all patients struggling with Systemic Mastocytosis know all too well, getting to spend quality time together and sharing 'good health' is a blessing...  a rare blessing! We went out to a few restaurants in Waterbury on Friday and got to spend some time with some local friends in town.  Then on Saturday, after a nice breakfast at home, we headed up to Burlington on Lake Champlain to do some shopping for sailboat parts and supplies.  I was feeling relatively good and the weather was beautiful so we decided to make a day of it up in Burlington! We had planned to meet some friends, Frank and Christine, up in Burlington sometime after we finished our shopping.  Turns out we both pulled into the parking lot at the same time.  It was still early in the day...

I received the latest issue of Model Railroader magazine yesterday...   both in print and digitally through Zinio (I love my magazines in digital format through Zinio for use on my Kindle Fire...  more on that in another blog entry)...   and I came across an article about the recently renovated and restored Waterbury Train Station! I had created a painting of this beautiful train station right after it was restored.  This truly is an historic and beautiful train station.  Now, it is being featured in Model Railroader magazine.  They even included scaled drawings of the train station for those modelers who desire to model this historic building. It is always nice to see a local landmark in a national publication!  For those train and model railroading enthusiasts, pick up the June issue of Model Railroader magazine!