On This Date

Five years ago today,

the LOVE of my life,

My Knight in Shining Armor, 

left this earthly home and traveled on to the stars.

We were together over 30 years.

I think I miss him more with each passing day.

Life goes on.

With love ....

On This Date

Four years ago today,

the LOVE of my life,

My Knight in Shining Armor, 

left this earthly home and traveled on to the stars.

We were together over 30 years.

I think I miss him more with each passing day.

Life goes on.

With love ---

If The Night Sky Seems Brighter ...

Mr. Dragon completed his journey back to the stars

Saturday evening.

He left this world very quietly with style, dignity and grace.

He was my Knight in Shining Armor,

my best friend,

my everything.

But, life goes on and with luck

I will celebrate life. 

Wishing you well.

Peace

My Favorite Christmas Gift

From Mr. Dragon

 

He is my knight in shining armor.

Thank you, my love. 

Kuan Yin

Image from Dharma Crafts

Kuan Yin is the Bodhisattva of compassion. Her name means "she who hears the cries of the world". Depicted here in three aspects, she holds a lotus flower symbolizing the innate purity of the Buddha nature, a sutra symbolizing the enlightened wisdom of the Dharma, and a mala, or rosary, symbolizing the vow of the Bodhisattva to save all beings from suffering.

When Mr. Dragon and I started on this journey called cancer, we knew the odds were stacked against us with a 30% survivor rate at three years. The latest news is not good and after much thought, Mr. Dragon has decided against further therapy. So now we enter the final journey for him. From the stars we come and to the stars we will return. We ask, once again, to send your prayers, good thoughts, white light as we complete this journey.

Wishing you well.

Postcard Friendship Friday

We lived on Galveston Island for many years.

 Dickens on The Strand is held there in December .

I remember it as a lovely Victorian celebration of Christmas and found this post card at one of the shops along The Strand.

This is a reproduction moving action Santa greeting postcard.

His arm with the paint brush moves.

There's nothing Santa

more enjoys

Than making toys for

girls and boy,

And in his way he's 

wondrous wise,

For he knows just

what'll please

your eyes.

Fun!

A big thank you to Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday.

***

Mr. Dragon is home with his oxygen.

We learned a very sad lesson ... never believe your doctor until the FINAL path report is in.

Cancer cells were found in the fluid that has collected around his lungs.

We have an appointment on Monday to see what is next for treatment.

Thank you for your support, your prayers, your emails.

It means a great deal to both of us.

As Thich Nhat Hanh says:

"Smile, breathe and go slowly."

Wishing you well and a JOY filled weekend!

Good Morning!

(Image from Paragon.com)

***

Sorry I haven't visited or posted recently.

Mr. Dragon has been in the hospital since Sunday.

The good news, all tests negative for cancer.

The bad news, he needs help breathing and has some other problems.

He may be home today.

Keep those good vibes, juju, prayers, thoughts, white light and all coming!

Thank you!

I promise I'll visit -- hopefully soon!

Medicine Buddha

Image from Dharma Crafts

This is the Medicine Buddha (Bhaisajyaguru in Sanskrit). He is invoked for healing physical illness as well as to pacify the inner afflictions of attachment, hatred and ignorance. His right hand, extended in the gesture of giving, holds the stem of a healing plant. His left hand holds a jar of healing nectar.

Once again we are asking for your good thoughts, prayers, white light, good juju as Mr. Dragon once again is going to M.D. Anderson for more tests next week. He has had a rough time the last two months, continues to lose weight and because of an injury during the surgery has trouble breathing.

Thank all of you so very much.

Wishing you well.

A Brief Note...

(Image from Offerings: Buddhist Wisdom for Everyday by Follmi)

I wanted to fly by and let you know that Mr. Dragon's surgery went very well. It was long, but there were no surprises for the surgical team. He will be in the hospital 7 - 14 days. Lots of tubes and wires and he's cranky. Keep those good thoughts, prayers, juju, white light, chanting, and all coming ... we continue to need them and THANK YOU!

Dick's Art

The real artist in the family is Mr. Dragon. Here are three of the projects he worked on last semester. I thought I should post them before the new semester starts. He also did some wonderful pen/ink sketches and for some reason I can't find the photos. I'll have to keep looking and, if all else fails, take more pictures!

This was a study on texture. The green and yellow squares are a real *scrubby* -- the green the scrub part of the two-sided sponge and the yellow the sponge. The photo part was a picture of shredded carrots that was later changed to a very red rose. (Needed more color!)

You just knew baseball would eventually make an appearance in his art! Look carefully and you'll see two different sizes of baseball players with a bat. Sort of tessallated baseball players. This one is on the list for framing!

This is definitely headed for framing. Self-portrait in black and white a la Chuck Close. I can't tell you how much time this took.
Good thing he is retired! Painting the bristol paper 9 values between white and black (a favorite theme of the instructor). Cutting them out, Pasting them on.

WOW

Dick's Homework

I've had several people ask how Dick's drawing class is going and would I please post some of his artwork. Your wish, etc! I picked his last two homework assignments.


The shirt was homework due last Monday. In class they studied and sketched the 9 values from white to black and the assignment was to draw a white shirt with all of the values. I think he did a great job.

I think this charcoal piece is really cool. It was fun to watch it being "born". It is his homework assignment due tomorrow. After one class in charcoal he said he really didn't like it and must have gotten into a lot of trouble with his mother when he was a kid and was having flashbacks about getting dirty. Working with charcoal is a real mess and he didn't enjoy it much. He had to cover the page with charcoal (accomplished outside with extra charcoal washed into the grass) and then work the charcoal off with a special eraser (it gets kneaded and wadded up like clay). The wash room was covered with drop cloth to catch any stray charcoal and Dick did his Johnny Cash impression dressing all in black. Tomorrow the class is working with ink and Johnny Cash will be attending class again.

Someone should have told us we should have stock in Texas Art Supply. Amazing how many erasers he went through for this charcoal project!

Batty Evening

Dick signed up for a "Photography at Night" class with Leisure Learning. The class met at the bat viewing platform at the Waugh Street Bridge. The what?!! We drove over several days before class and sure enough there was a platform overlooking the bayou and bridge. Near the platform is one of our favorite fountains.

Doesn't this fountain look like a dandelion?
We believe it's official name is the Wortham fountain.

Dick printed this picture out for his drawing class.
Two point perspective!

Downtown Houston

Dick said the most interesting part of the class was the talk about the bats! The bat colony numbers around 300,000. It is a matriarchy - only the moms and their youngsters live at the bridge. The males pack their bags and move out when they reach maturity. When the bats make their nightly flight to dine on mosquitoes, they fly down the bayou toward downtown Houston. Sometimes there's a heron or two waiting below the bridge just in case one of the bats gets too close to the ground. The peregrine falcons from downtown also think "bat" is a tasty treat.

Here come the bats -
just starting out on their dinner meal.

The view from under the bridge.
It's an older bridge and built in a way that makes
it an easy place for the bats to live.
You can just make out the parallel lines
under the bridge - bat condos!

The most famous bat colony in Texas is probably the one in Austin under the Congress Street Bridge. It is said millions of bats live there. Leisure Learning even has a class to go bat watching in Austin that includes dining in a restaurant on Town Lake before the bats make their nightly foray.