Friday...November 7th...2008

I just read an article about a person rethinking her priorities....it is worth repeating:

1. Have more fun.....it's about balancing one's obligations and not allowing them to take priority over enjoying life.

2. Listen to my voice....it's about paying attention to what's important to you and not get caught up in how others are doing it...avoiding comparisoms.

3. Don't forget me...it's about not relying on others to make you happy....take care of yourself.

'nough said!

Thursday.....November 6th...2008

We still are exceeding 4 miles of walking per day...and have a pedometer that allows downloads on the laptop to document and "date massaging"....right up my alley....

We are almost "post election day" recovered.....watch for the appointments coming...it will be greater indicators of what kind of President we will have...

Great weather this week after a couple of cloudy days....and good outlook for at least a week...

We have new cell phones and a new company.....no more Sprint.....goodbye to a company that was very hard to deal with..now we're with Verizon....tried to get AT&T but couldn't transfer our numbers (after having their phones for 24 hours and learning all the tricks of the keys and all)...now we can use a cell phone within our Florida home without standing next to a window....

Did I say we are on a cruise out of Tampa in two weeks to celebrate our 28th anniversary.....

Tuesday...November 4th...2008

Incredible!!!!! ...and Florida went Obama!!!!! ...Unbelievable!!!! ....we will all be better people as a result!!!!

"The rest of the world will wake up tomorrow and see hope as we do"......Heard on MSNBC tonight....

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"Barack Obama is a genuine voice for the issues we face in America and the world. His vision and leadership has energized Americans and people around the globe to demand real change. "Voz Unida" in Spanish translates to "united voice." I know we can make the world better by working together and listening to one another. This will bridge the divides that only lead to misunderstanding, intolerance and conflict—divides that concern me as a world citizen, a husband, and a father. ".......Rafael López

"Hearing Senator Barack Obama emphatically state, "I want to end the mindset that got us into war in the first place," I was moved to hope that the next President of the United States would share my belief in the possibility of world peace. I immediately began to make a work of art to support Senator Obama's ideals and, more practically, his campaign. It is my hope to help him through this action to become the leader who would strive not only to change the policies of our nation, but the outlook of its citizens. " ........Lou Stovall

Monday....November 3rd....2008

Tomorrow...VOTE!

Hockey Saturday night....dinner and a game....lucky Linda! She actually likes the hockey games....

Linda thinks her plueritic pain is easing...she has a stiff neck....tomorrow the "needles" of acupuncture will surely deal with that....

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At the Meatloaf concert:

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Dinner before the hockey game...also where the cruise ships dock..we told the waitress that our ship had left without us:

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At the hockey game which the Lightning won in a shootout...we had never been to a game with a shootout determining the outcome:

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Friday...October 31...2008

Today...with two other couples, we (Linda and I) bicycled a little less than 19 miles (you heard it here) on the Pinellas Trail......located on the gulf coast almost directly west of us....

The bad news is I forgot my camera to document this occasion..but we were all proud of...some simply amazed about...Linda's ability to complete this venture....

Not much left "in the tank" for Mz. Linda..she is tuckered out tonight...but doing well....

She is a bit miffed as only two trick or treaters showed tonight....

Tomorrow we do NOTHING as the warm weather has returned today...tomorrow even warmer.

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Thursday...October 30th....2008

The Phantom of the Opera was great..redeemed myself for dragging Linda to Meatloaf Concert...booking a cruise out of Tampa for our anniversary puts me in the bonus points!
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Thursday...October 30...2008

Rays lost the Series 4-1

We're still walking

We booked a cruise for our anniversary next month

We're heading to see Phantom of the Opera today

Linda's pleuritic pain still persists...another acupuncture next week

Sunday....October 27th...2008

Sickening...that's how the Rays played tonight...we "thinkist" it "be over" tomorrow night......

This Florida is crazy....our social calendar has filled quickly...folks around here have "time on their hands"! In Oregon everyone is too busy to get together.....

We're still walking twice a day...Sadie too!

Couldn't resist continuing the following........

Friday...October 24th...2008

See W.....It is something to not miss.....

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Friday...October 24th...2008

Rain today....what the #$*#?*! We do have to have rain once in a while I guess....keeps things lush and fills the ponds.

Rays are 1 and 1....heading to Philly.

Phantom of the Opera comes to town next week...we have tickets...Linda's favorite (I owe her after Meatloaf concert).

Lightning are losing more than winning with the season just starting....we'll see a game in a week or two.

Linda is starting to think about planting planters of Florida shrubs and flowers in the lanai....will keep her busy. The leaves kept falling off our artificial plants (three years in the sun)...so she wanted to try "real" ones.

No relief from the pleuritic pain...she's trying Celebrex...not doing anything yet..it also is hard on her kidneys so I'm not too big on it......another acupuncture session next week.

Off to a movie today....

Tuesday....October 22nd...2008

Today was Linda's day at the acupuncturist....the pain had increased....much more than before...he said that was news for him to work with...when he hears nothing has changed, he has little to work with....Linda's pain was pretty intense tonight...

Tonight was an evening of "Aw..Ha's".....we bought the new book "Anticancer...A new Way of Life"...by David Servan-Schreiber....a book for everyone to read..not just those with cancer...I could not put it down. It talks about cancer as "part of the human experience" which can be dealt with..

As I was reading and listening to my IPOD, Charlotte Church began singing "The Prayer" with Josh Groban...a powerful song with a message that can be applied to the "journey through cancer"...it starts like this:

I pray you'll be our eyes

And watch us where we go

And help us to be wise

In times when we don't know

Let this be our prayer

As we go our way

Lead us to a place

Guide us with your Grace

To a place where we'll be safe

Tomorrow we are starting a series of sessions on Reiki......we hope to enhance our set of tools for self healing..

Finally....tonight we received an email from a fan/friend, who took a picture of the two of us at our last racing event (Long Beach Grand Prix) before we got swallowed up in the merger of Champ Car with the Indy Racing League....we realized that we missed the involvement (even though it was hard work)...we miss the fans....the activities....and the Champ Car employees, who gave so much to a job that was their passion.....and finally ....to see Linda's hair and realize how far she has come......

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ps.....We didn't make the list for Ray's tickets...got a "sorry" email and that was it....

Sunday.....October 20th....2008.

Tampa Bay wins their series...now on to the World Series...........!!!!!......!!!!!......!!!!!

We've put our names in the "hopper" for tickets for the World Series..the drawings are tomorrow morning.....who knows......it would be a "kick" to get to go to at least one game.

ps...Linda is doing ok....back still a problem....blood pressure down a bit...me too.

Saturday...October 18th....2008

What about those Rays??????.....up 7 runs in the 7th inning and lost!....tonight all will be well (I hope).

Meatloaf was great..his sound mixer was not..way too much volume on the base...drowned out the good stuff.....

Today was the semi annual garage sale weekend in the area...hundreds of folks selling...junk. We did buy a few things but I looked behind a lot of the sales to see garages still stuffed with more junk...

We voted yesterday in the November 3 election by Oregon "vote by mail"....it is amazing to read the Florida newspaper about potential problems here and realize how things lag down here. Other examples include people ejected from their cars and die because seat belts are not required...every day, a motorcyclist dies, it seems, because helmets are not required. and it goes on.

Linda has great pain in her back...Tuesday is her next appointment with the acupuncturist..we shall see..

Wednesday....October 15th...2008

What about those Rays!

3 and 1!

Wonder if I can get World Series tickets (maybe 1 for 1 game)? Would be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Linda did her first acupuncture yesterday..goes in once a week...no immediate pain relief...quite sore today. She is joining the quilters club today at the Wilderness Lake preserve....that's where she's at now..they are doing quilts for cancer.

Friday we are going to a Meatloaf concert......I'm getting a lot of "grief" from Linda and friends....I am excited....one of my favorites....Linda's not....and he "ain't".

Sunday...October 12th...2008

What about that Tampa Bay baseball team.....1:40 am it was over last night (our time)...games on the east coast start at 8 pm....hard to get up before noon with that kind of start time..particualrly when it's an extra endings game.....

Saturday...October 11th...2008

Pheeewww....a week went by fast...

We left Mexico last Monday...flew home...got home at 1 am...had approximately 24 hours before flying out again.....to Florida...and the "list of to-dos" was long....

One important thing on the "to-do" list was for Linda to make contact with her doctors to try to figure out her chest/back pain (12 weeks in duration). The chemo oncologist wasn't much help again...but...Bingo!...the radiation oncologist had the answer. He called it pleuretic pain...the result of the radiation...debris impacting the pleura. The bad news is that it may be with her forever, with the only relief being pain medications.

Linda's not too hot on pain meds but she went back on them and it has offered relief......and....we have made an appointment with an acupuncturist here in Florida...thinking maybe relief can come that way...and we know "Doctor Steve" as his wife sold us our condo when we first came to Florida....Tuesday is the day.

Now that we are in Florida, we are doing some serious "pool time"...and sleeping (til noon)....

Linda is doing well, although tired and the pain stuff.....

Dave

Sunday...October 5th....2008

Tomorrow afternoon, we fly away from Puerto Vallarta....what have we done for the last two days?.....NOTHING! We did go to town each evening for dinner..walking was our exercise for the day......mostly we read and watched movies and let the ocean breeze sooth our bods.

The many faces of Linda (as only I can get her to do) at dinner the last two nights:

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ps....I forgot to express our "song" from Listening Heart...as we do our Commitment Statement, each couple is given a song...Linda and I have had this one a few times before.....this is the second time by Placedo Domingo (which Linda thinks is the best):

Time After Time

Placido Domingo

Time after Time

I tell myself that I'm

So lucky to be loving you

So lucky to be the one you run to see

In the evening, when the day is through

I only know, what I know

The passing years will show

You kept my love so young

So new

And Time after Time

You'll hear me say that I'm

So lucky, to be loving you

Saturday....October 4, 2008

Yesterday we did ABOLUTLY NOTHING....sat by the pool....watched the boats go by....watched the waves come in....today we were to do a tour but we decided to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING....and that's ok. Maybe tomorrow we will do ABSOLUTELY SOMETHING....or again, NOTHING.

Last week we were in Listening Heart, a Wings Seminar (http://www.wings-seminars.com/) for couples....in the seminar, the couples develop a Commitment Statement together....we did ours almost 20 years again, in the same seminar, as participants....here it is:

Dave and Linda Wood's Commitment Statement...

We are one…

We commit ourselves to creating a safe environment within our relationship where we can exist in open and honest disclosure.

We commit ourselves to share our truths and to listen to each other with an open heart and without judgment.

We commit ourselves to getting below the surface and sharing our really deep feelings and dreams.

We commit ourselves to celebrating our differences as they are an asset to our relationship.

We commit ourselves to seeking and reaching collaboration when at cross purposes, recognizing that the feelings underneath are the same.

We commit ourselves to having peace around Jonathan’s death and keeping his memories alive in our hearts.

We commit ourselves to exotic travel.

Dave and Linda Wood February 1990

Revised October 1990

Revised October 1995

This is the picture taken of us after reading and reaffirming our Commitment Statement last week:

Thursday...October 2...2008

This is my "Palin" relief exercise....after the "debate" tonight......pictures from today.....

ps....sorry if I've offended any Palin fans.....

Oh, yes, the pictures.......

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Wednesday....October 1st....2008

We stayed "put" today..both of us are still trying to get over the colds which are a week plus old now...tomorrow we go to town to "shop til we drop" (yea right!)......weather is great...no high humidity as expected....all the doors are folded open..no air conditioninjg needed....we need to move here (as well as Florida , Hawaii, Dominican Republic, St. Johns, etc., etc..)
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