14 days...

and Dottie's checkup today was fine; she hadn't "coughed" anything loose and the surgeon said that everything seemed to be right where he left it, despite the cold that lingered into a 2nd round of antibiotics.

Angel is stronger and walking further each day; though her head is still at a 30 degree list and her balance is very "off", she walks to the front door now and only wants a finger on her collar to steady her as she goes down the two steps to the yard; yesterday she walked the 100 feet to the backyard for the first time and wandered around her favorite haunts, then back to the front door.

Of course, eating canned dog food for the first time in her life seems to be her favorite part of the whole thing! (That and dinner rolls with her meds in them...)

Dottie is on the phone now talking to her sisters and updating them; thus my chance to do the same thing here...

May the week be kind to each of you! Thank you for all the well wishes and warm thoughts!

alan

Walking the dog...

though I still have to carry her outside, she's walking/staggering about now; walked at least 60' today and other functions have started again as well! I'd have never thought an ear infection could strike so suddenly or lay someone so low!

Fingers crossed, things are looking much brighter today!

May the weekend be kind to each of you!

alan

Strange days...

Dottie's surgery went well and she finally got her drain out yesterday. Sadly, the day before our dog of 14 years collapsed, showing all the signs of a stroke. We got her to the vet yesterday, who came out to my son's van and spent a 1/2 hour checking her over and then drawing blood, etc. and he said he hopes it's just an ear infection throwing off her balance and with her already weakened back legs (arthritis) that that's the reason she can't stand or walk. He started her on antibiotics and steroids...he also said if it's a brain tumor the steroids would help with it for a while then things will start slipping again.

Meanwhile, she's eating, drinking and loving all the extra attention.

Gotta go because if I walk away she'll crawl to try and follow me and Dottie's gone right now (the minute the drain came out she was ready to be "out and about") to pay the vet and pick up some canned food for her since she can't seem to deal with the dry she's always eaten and we've been cooking burgers for her on the George Foreman.

May life be kind to each of you!

alan

She's home...

very grumpy, very sore, but happy to be "out"!

alan

Krzysztof Kieslowski...missed so very much!

Those of you who "know" me know I love film; you also know how easily I fall under the spell of people and things.

When I used to read the "New Yorker" at work I would read the film listings and saw rave reviews for a retrospective of Kieslowski films ahead of the release of his "new" one at the time, "The Double Life of Veronique". There was only one "art house" here at the time and with the hours I worked, getting there was pretty much impossible. Luckily, it wasn't all that long after I noticed on Cinemax that "Veronique" was playing. I recorded it, caught up with it not so long after and was completely spellbound. The film; the story; the music; the cinematography...a perfect magical package!

When I discovered a local video rental that handled foreign and early cinema, I was in heaven. I started exploring some of Krzysztof's earlier works. The brothers that ran it told me that had just ordered "The Decalog" and that I really needed to watch it. When it came in, 5 volumes of two pieces each, they were constantly out and I only got one tape watched before they lost their lease on the theatre they were running. Thankfully, they've moved up and onwards and now run the best "arthouses" in Kansas City, but the video club never began again.

In the meantime I acquired DVD's of the film trilogy he did; "Three Colors: Blue", "Three Colors: White" and "Three Colors: Red"

So when my younger son gave us a Netflix subscription a year ago last Christmas I was delighted to find a lot of the old silent cinema I'd been unable to find locally, along with Kieslowski's ouevre and so many others. (My queue is 384 movies at this point.)

These last few weeks I've been going through "The Decalog", in order 1-10 and find myself captivated and replaying them in my mind while doing other things. Loosely fit to the "10 Commandments", I got to "Decalog 8" last night and have no doubt that I will be haunted by Kieslowski's poignant "ethical hell" for the rest of my life...

Knowing Dottie would be wanting to come to bed soon (I was watching in our bedroom), I watched some of the extra features on the disc. One was "100 Questions", a group of film writers in an interview with him.

Several times the great man insists that he doesn't believe in the power of cinema to change people or society; that if people see a film and "choose to reflect" on it and then change, that is their choice.

I'd like to think he left them no choice but to reflect...

If you don't mind subtitles, these are all wonderful; both the movies I mentioned and "The Decalog" as well!

As an aside; I've never heard film music more wonderful than the scores by Zbigniew Preisner! I first fell in love with the score he wrote for "Veronique"; it has echoed in my soul since the first time I heard it...

Dottie goes in for surgery in the morning then she's on sick leave for at least 6 weeks, during which I'll be going back to work to keep us "afloat". I don't know how much time I'll have here, given her "anti-blogging" stance, but will post an occasional update while she's in the shower or something.

May the week and the ensuing weeks be kind to each of you!

alan

Slip-sliding away...

The year...life...my leisure...

I've finally shaken "the cold", grateful to have it "gone" but worried as Dottie is starting to cough and she has surgery next week. Hopefully her constant exposure to things at work will protect her a bit.

In the moments I had where I felt good last week I managed to drill the garage floor and bolt down the new air compressor; wired it; spent some time drawing a manifold system for it (air distribution) and made trips to Lowe's and Harbor Freight to accumulate the pieces for it. I assembled most of it yesterday and discovered I was one $1.08 piece short of finishing it; I've already been out today to get it and am waiting for the rain to subside so I can move the boat out enough to move my roll-away and assemble the last bits and leak check it. Having watched pipefitters do this kind of thing for 30 years at GM paid off handsomely. Having always worked at the long end of too much air hose at home, perhaps my "lug gun" will actually break the ones on my truck now instead of me doing it by hand!

Not much else going on at the moment...

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan