Mother's Day 2008

Mothers are allowed to wax philosophical at least on this one day a year. When I walked this morning at Green Lake, through a corridor of flowering trees, I thought about what an extraordinary life I lead. I am paid well to do interesting work. I have a family that supports my efforts, whether creating a book, puttering in the garden, or walking 60 miles. The photographs below illustrate how time teaches us to be patient.

I planted this small lilac in 2006, and it only now has been able to make one bloom, but it is a perfect one. Just in time for Mother's Day!

Though it is hard to see -- probably because there is a mock orange tree behind it -- this is my new Mother's Day lilac, planted earlier this week. It is tall and gracefully open this year, with a dozen or so lilacs. Next year this time, it will be filled in and covered with sweet smelling blooms.

Here's Leroy is his study this morning, having finished final corrections and edits on a very long paper he is working on. We expect that within a week he will have cast off his crutches, waiting patiently for a bone in his foot to heal.

Flowers and gardens are always part of Mother's Day weekend because Cassandra and Sabrina always send me beautiful flowers. Here are the ones from Sabrina and her family....

...and her are the flowers from Cassandra and family.

James & Lauren are cooking dinner this evening, and tomorrow morning I am scheduled to speak with the executive editor at Taunton Press who handles house books. As I said, an extraordinary life....

"I think that I shall never see/ a poem lovely as a tree...." -- Joyce Kilmer

Until I started training last year, I was actually a pretty good gardener. Since then, a few things have gone by the wayside. So it is that I am waiting expectantly for a nearly full size lilac tree that is to be installed for Mother's Day. Trees are eye candy for walkers, so I will be sure to post a photo of my new tree. Above, a photo shot as part of the book I wrote about renovating the house and the gardens in 2006. In the photo, Rene Benvides is planting out a section of garden that was gutted to make room for an extension on Leroy's study. A side benefit for Leroy is that Rene planted scented bushes underneath the new windows.

Get up and dance..

I have $7,200+ posted on my donation site and another couple of thousand in pending matching gifts, so I should be about one-third of the way to the $30,000. I think Penny mentioned there are about 80 folks signed up so far this year for our team. There's a photo to the right, of us marching into the stadium at Seattle Center at the end of last year's walk.

Yesterday I had foot and joint measurements that preceed a video gait analysis on the 20th. The goal is to find out if I already have the right orthodics and shoes or if I need something else. This program looks very promising and is a combination of medical professionals and physical therapists.

I did enjoy the measurements, which included range and flexibility positions for the joints. Amy puts me through that routine in the gym twice a week. I scored highly on a number of them. The therapist double checked the chart on my age, which made me want to get up and dance.

"The best way out is always through." -- Robert Frost

I am pleased, very pleased, in fact thrilled, to report that my colleague Denise, who has battled pancreatic cancer for over a year, has been diagnosed as cancer-free.

She was a model of calm and courage all the way through the chemotherapy and radiation treatments, the surgery, and then more chemotherapy treatments, which she is now beginning to finish.

Leroy and I are on the way to hear Maria Larionoff lead a chamber group through Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" as well as two violin concertos by Bach....a fitting salute to Denise's triumph.

Tomorrow, a walk here in Seattle on flat land to try out my larger and wider Brooks shoes, which I've been test driving downtown on the hills. Then Sunday up to Everett to walk with the Kindred Spirits team. Life is good.

Gettin' after it.

Leroy and I attended the benefit jazz concert for saxophonist/composer Andrew D'Angelo at Roosevelt High School tonight. Listening to the jazz band took us out of space and time.

My reaction was similar to most concerts I attended when James played bass trombone for four years in that band. It is amazing -- but not surprising --that young people can understand and interpret and improvise music so clearly. Scott Brown, the band's director, teaches his students about collaboration, about listening to one another, about taking one's turn. He insists upon something very close to perfection through countless rehearsals. He's the reason that these kids care so deeply about how well they play and how as a group they inspire one another to play better. As a musician himself, he models the behavior and the artistry he expects from his team.

James grew as a musician and as a person being part of both the Eckstein Middle School Jazz Band (Mr. E.) and the Roosevelt Jazz Band (Mr. Brown). In those years, he played Lincoln Center four years running in the "Essentially Ellington" competitions. He became a world traveler, traveling with the band to locations like New Orleans, Mazatlan, China, the North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreax Jazz Festival, and concerts in to-die-for locations like Luxembourg Gardens in Paris and the San Sebastian Jazz Festival in Spain.

It was nice to see a new group of jazz band members playing to that same standard of excellence that Mr. Brown brings out in each successive band. Tonight's concert included an Ellington piece (it's the Duke's birthday today), followed by "Urban Jungle," then one commissioned by last year's graduating band ("Roo Tune?"). The band finished with an astounding arrangement of Bob Marley's "War." I hope that the event raised a lot of money for Andrew D'Angelo's medical treatments, past and future.

Cancer shows no mercy.

Many readers know that my walk honors four or five very special people, who are survivors of different cancers. Here's an especially heartbreaking story....about a musician I will add to my roll call this year.

From Earshot Jazz:

Raised in our town, and educated at Roosevelt High, Andrew D’Angelo is experiencing a health crisis after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. On January 25, the saxophonist and composer suffered a major seizure in Brooklyn, New York, where he lives. Tests revealed a large tumor in his brain. After surgeons removed most of the tumor, they determined that the growth was cancerous. He faces a long and difficult battle over the next several years if he is to regain his health.

At this writing, it is unclear what form his treatment will take. Andrew has been frankly discussing his experiences on his website, www.andrewdangelo.com, and his entries there suggest that the most likely options are radiation and chemotherapy, with or without further surgery.

He speaks on the blog of the difficulties he faces in affording the extensive treatment he has already undergone, and the additional treatments he will need. One aspect of his struggle will strike many jazz musicians, and working musicians of any kind, as sadly and chillingly familiar: Andrew has no health insurance. And already he has amassed huge medical bills.
Friends and colleagues of the popular saxophonist have rallied in the most heartening way to his cause. They have established a fund for him, to help with the costs of his surgery and recovery; for details, see www.andrewdangelo.com/donate.php.

And, in an extraordinary display of concern and affection, friends and fellow musicians have also planned benefit concerts in cities in the United States and abroad. As this publication goes to print, events had already been staged in New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, and the Boston area, as well as in cities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Belgium, Iceland, Spain, and Norway.

Many more are in the planning – in Brooklyn, New York, and Maine, and in Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium.

-- Excerpt from Article in Earshot Jazz by Peter Monaghan
Copywright 2008 Earshot Jazz, Seattle

Concert is at Roosevelt High School, $15 for adults, $10 for students. It begins at 7:30pm. It will be great music all the way round. All proceeds to Andrew.

Another park, another view

I got up early and drove to Everett to meet the Kindred Spirits team at Legion Park, pictured in an early photo many years ago. By now I should have figured out that Penny never usually has us actually walk in a park -- we park our cars there and then walk out. Today it was through the historic district of Everett all the way over to General Hospital, then back.

I was lucky to walk with Ginny, a friend from last year's walk. We had a chance to catch up. She is such a positive person in her outlook, and this year she is walking in honor of a young breast cancer victim who herself has just decided to join us in the walk even though she is only half way through her treatments. What spunk! My hip held up fine both on Saturday (4 miles) and today (5.6 miles), but the Nikes don't seem to offer enough support. They are designed without much headroom in the toebox, so back to Super Jock & Jill before next weekend's walks.