On Friday I had some medical tests. I’ve been having some shortness of breath problems. I went to the doctor months after I should have, but I doubt it matters. I now suspect it is more of that acid reflux problem! Probably getting into my lungs. But my doctor thought he heard a new heart murmur so I had to take some tests. I’m sure it’s because my mother had a TAVR last summer. She was so lucky to do so well because she had more wrong with her heart than people usually do who get TAVR procedures. This is less invasive than open-heart surgery as they “go up through the groin.” My mother is now the darling of Spectrum Hospital in Grand Rapids and is featured on billboards throughout the city. She’s so darn cute. Tell me if she’s not adorable.
I’m not worried about my tests because I have seen how bad this acid reflux situation is. I have a splint thingie that I am supposed to wear at night for my TMJ problem, but the acid has eaten through the acrylic!!!
I kid you not.
I go to Mayo Clinic in Arizona because, why not? One-stop shopping for medical. They take my insurance for which I worked my TUSH off by teaching for a pittance for all those years. (If you think I am exaggerating, you would be wrong. Lecturers or adjuncts or freeway flyers, which is what I was, do over half the teaching work in most universities and get paid a tiny share of what professors make. People who clean houses–and do not need high school diplomas–get paid more per hour than I did with my P. H. and D. No kidding again. But I will say I did it with love).
What I noticed at Mayo this time was a preponderance of beautiful art. I hope that somebody loans or donates it to them because I would hate to think that my insurance and my deductible and all is paying for that art. Beautiful Chinese jade pieces, well-made Native American pottery, you name it. They are in glass cases, so I couldn’t really photograph them because of the reflections.
But I will admit that I feel better getting poked and prodded in an artistic and serene environment. Art calms my soul. Kind of like cats do.
A quintessential Phoenix Soleri bell
Another quintessential Phoenician art form
Flowers floating on the wall
The best part of the day, though, were the therapy dogs. I saw three! And they were all beautiful dogs. One a big blondie, another a golden of sorts, and the third? Here he/she is!
What is that noise I’m hearing? Is Kana in a kitchen cupboard again? [Leaves to go check.] OK, I let her out.
Here is my writing update. If I don’t write one day, I try to make up for it the next. This weekend I worked on a piece for a book that someone else is writing. The book is about the beautiful old lakeside park and dance pavilion that my great-great-grandmother’s niece owned and that my father bought from her on a land contract . . . for a time. Since those years of my childhood stimulated my imagination, it’s a story I’ve been writing and rewriting as poetry and prose for years.
I had a nonfiction story taken by a magazine I was hoping would take it (woot!).
The ole memoir is completely restructured now. (Aren’t you sick of hearing about that dang thing?) And I organized my send-out pieces. Three months ago I thought I had nothing left, but I’ve rewritten poems and prose pieces and feel I have some offerings to the world.
I hope you enjoyed Carol Bachofner’s pieces. Years ago, Carol was my student, not for creative writing, but for literature. She was a fabulous student, the kind of student all teachers wish for: passionate and smart and logical and creative. And hard-working.
Are you wondering how Perry is doing? hahaha He’s driving everyone crazy, but he’s so darn sweet. Kana and Felix figured out if they lie on the cat trees by the glass doors, I can put the drapes around them, and Perry can’t get to them. He knows they are there, but it makes it too difficult for him to climb on them.
That is Felix on our left, looking out. You can see his little face in the door. Kana is the black shape on the right side. From the inside of the house, Perry and I can only see the drapes.
If we don’t do this with the drapes, this is what happens. Perry climbs right up with Felix and within a few seconds he starts to annoy!
Perry got to stay up after 10PM for several nights last week because he is so good! The only trouble is that he has to have his bedroom door shut at night because no matter how I wrap the sheet over the gate, he can figure out how to get out. The little smartypants.
What’s up with you this week?
Hope your health is ok. I hate medical tests. There is always something ominous about possibly getting bad news. The cats are wonderful. Their personalities are always amazing.
I keep saying I am going to write a post about each one of them or all of them together, and then I still haven’t. They all need little “character sketches” because . . . they are characters hahaha!
I know! People think all cats are alike. I’ve had a lot of cats in my life and no two were alike. Not even similar.
I so agree.
I hope everything goes okay for you. It’s never any fun to be on the patient side of things. I love that your mother made the billboard, though. That’s pretty cool. And congrats on the nonfiction story!
Thanks Carrie for your wishes and congrats! I so appreciate them. She is so darn cute that they drove her up to Grand Rapids for her photo shoot and all. She was interviewed at length, etc.
Best of luck, Luanne, with your medical situation. No fun at all! True to you, however, you found a silver lining, and we, your readers were the lucky recipients of your art observations. How cool that your Mom was featured on billboards! And it was great catching up with your kitty family. I’m actually STILL suffering repercussions and some referred pain from breaking my back 6 months ago. I’m sick and tired of it and long to get back to normal (or, as my son says, “normal-ish.”) Hey, I’ll settle for “ish.” Despite the slowness of healing, life goes on. I have been doing mild hikes and I’m about to visit my stepmom in Florida (Amelia Island, off the east coast – a lush and beautiful place.) I’m looking forward to being by the ocean! Also, I’ll get a lot of writing done (sequel to ALL THE WRONG PLACES is underway). Have a great week.
Elaine, I am so sorry you continue to have trouble from your fall. It must be so painful. May your travels be easy on you and your back. I hope you can enjoy the ocean and your stepmother’s company, as well as produce a terrific sequel!!! many hugs to you!!
Congratulations on your nonfiction story…woot! Your mother is just the cutest, Luanne. I really enjoyed the article you shared on Twitter over the weekend. I’m sorry to hear about your health issues. My father has been experiencing something similar.❤️
Thanks, Jill. I was really happy that they liked the story! I’ll tell my mom you said that!
Your father has had shortness of breath? Or heart troubles? I’ll keep him in my prayers!
He’s described a burning or shortness of breath when walking. Thanks for your prayers! xo
So sorry to hear about the medical issues and tests, Luanne–but it’s great that you could be distracted by the art and dogs. Your mom on the billboard–how did that happen?
The cats are funny and adorable.
Congratulations on your story and on getting your “send out” writing organized. That’s on my to-do list. 😉
Mayo makes it pretty easy with their landscaping, art, and dogs! I feel so lucky to be able to go there.
The hospital contacted my mother and asked if she would be part of their marketing campaign. She agreed and they spent a lot of time interviewing her and had a car drive her up to Grand Rapids for a photo shoot! Woot! Lots of people have seen the billboards and contact her. She’s a celebrity :).
Thanks re the story! I’ll share it when it’s published. And good luck with organizing your work. It really helps for sending out and knowing what to work on next. Plus, I think it helps me feel that I actually have accomplished something. When it’s all a mess, I forget that!
It’s so nice to have this very personal cat-ch up from you 🙂 Congrats on the published story and the bill-boarded mama! Fun all round really! I really enjoyed that piece from Carol and its good to know she was your student – sends you spiralling up into the cosmos of my estimation 🙂 So Kana climbs into a kitchen cupboard too? Is it a particular cupboard? Orlando has a particular cupboard he fancies living in. I don’t know why as he can’t fit in, but still, he opens the door and tries his best. Love that you wrap the other two in the curtains to keep Perry at bay. I wonder how long it will be before he figures out how to circumvent that barrier.
Haha, cat-ch up. Love that, Pauline. And thanks for the congrats! Oh, Orlando. You silly boy!!! Don’t you know you are too big? Kana opens ALL the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room cupboards! Her favorite is the one with the giftwrap and tissue paper in it (kitchen). She thinks it’s a bed just for her. Then when the door closes on her by accident, she tries to open it from the inside, but she can’t. I try to watch for this because once we had a cat get stuck in a cupboard at the shelter. He wasn’t found for THREE DAYS because of the noise level at the shelter and was very traumatized.
Perry is already working on how to “circumvent that barrier” hahahahaha. Have a great week!!
Oh, and I use baby locks on some of the cupboards–the ones with cleaning products, etc.
Luanne, so great to read your updates (but sorry for your medical tests, I have suffered bad bouts of GERD in the past, so I feel your pain and hope you get good relief and soon). And your mom, wow! That must be amazing seeing her up there, and what a testimony to great medical care. Great to hear you’re back to the memoir. I was, other stuff came along (so what’s new pussy cat, ha) and I’m following in your footsteps with the ongoing restructuring. Congrats on the magazine publication…and what happy kitties! Get well! xoxo
Do you have the silent reflux or do you get really bad heartburn? I’ve had a few bouts of that with the horrible pain, but mainly mine is silent. But my sore throat was SO bad a few weeks ago. Ugh.
Tell me about it with the other stuff that comes along. And memoir writing being such. hard. work. Ugh. Restructuring is helping me. It helped me cut a LOT. But whether this restructure will work or not is another matter. Not yet sure. Thanks so much, Sherri! Good luck to you with your memoir! xo
I had the painful kind, thought I was having a heart attack. It’s awful isn’t it? So sorry you’re having to deal with it and hope you feel much better. Arrgh..yes, it is really hard! I’ve found the same with restructuring for the same reasons, and also like you, will have to wait and see how it works out. And so it goes! Phew.! Thanks so much to you too Luanne, good to know we’re in this together! Happy Easter my friend, and I’ll catch up with you again very soon… hugs… xoxo
I hope your tests come back the way you want them to. 🙂
They just started coming back. Good so far! Thanks, Robyn.
Being poked and prodded is no fun! I sure hope you’re feeling better soon.
Thank you so much! The tests are coming in good so far. I am 99% sure it’s the acid reflux causing more trouble. I think I am going to have to go on a blander diet and eat smaller amounts. No more pigginess.
Hey, you! What a bummer to have such annoying health problems, but, yeah, what a nice setting for testing! Like you, I do hope the art is donated and not bought ;). Congrats on getting published (again :)), and thanks for the update on the kitties. We had to take Junior and Maxine for checkups today. There was a rambunctious young one in the cage next to the front door. While I waited to be waited on, I played with him. He did all kinds of gymnastics as well as chewed on my fingers. He’d be a terror for our fur babes so … again, no more cats. Plus (and I hate to complain but I’m still bummed), Maxine has “a lot” of bacteria in her urine. She’s asymptomatic: her urination is the same as it’s ever been and she doesn’t appear uncomfortable or the least put out. The vet is sending her urine out for a second culture (cha-king) because the course of antibiotics we had her on apparently had no effect. I’m bummed because we feel that the vet is not being systematic. She put Max on one antibiotic when the urinalysis showed the bacteria. It was liquid and difficult to dose her. When we took her back for that recheck, the bacteria was there so then she recommended a culture …. which she probably should have done from the beginning; i.e., find out which antibiotic might work first. So she prescribed another antibiotic. Again liquid and we tried twice and said, “no way can we dose her with liquid.” So then we got pills. That was perfect, but it didn’t work so we have to do another culture. When I asked the vet what do we do if the third antibiotic doesn’t work, she said they would order a “consult” to find out if the bacteria is one that cats can live with, without it affecting their kidneys. Hello? Couldn’t we have had the consult first instead of dosing Max with multiple antibiotics??? Sorry to complain. I’ve only been home an hour and I’m still frustrated. I’ll pay anything to ensure my cat’s health but I don’t like this piecemeal approach, especially when there is added risk. Sigh. I’ll calm down soon. I know you’ve had plenty of health issues with your kitties. I just hate how helpless it makes me feel ;(
Marie, I’m so sorry I’m just getting back to this now! That is so frustrating! How is it going now? Is Maxine feeling ok or punky? Please let me know what’s going on, either here or by email!
Goodness. So much to comment on. I have acid reflux which I control with meds and watching what I eat. Before it was diagnosed I was at the hospital twice thinking I was having a heart attack. Nice news about a non-fiction story being picked up. Good for you. And boy, talk about determination with that memoir. You are amazing.
Hey Susanne, would you mind telling me a little more about what you are doing to control the reflux? I’d especially love to know meds that work. Can you email me?
Just sent you a message via your blog contact info.
I got it. Thank you!
Reflux is no joke. Ugh. I used to suffer somethin terrible. Just terrible. I woke up gasping one night. Ugh. I feel for you.
That’s wonderful about your mom on the billboard, and about your insurance.
I’m quite taken with the art as well. I do find it peaceful and calming, and thank you for sharing it.
I’m so sorry you’ve had the reflux devil, too. Hideous. I’ve had the knife through the chest, out the back, and radiating down a few times, but mainly mine is what they call silent except for the side effects like ruined vocal chords, sore throats, that sort of thing.
The art is very calming, and I’m sure it’s there for the same reason the therapy dogs are there. It’s nice to know there is a hospital near here that takes my insurance that offers such a peaceful environment.
My mother has the silent GERD. :/ My father died from complications due to esophageal cancer. :/ I got off the meds and made serious dietary changes back in 2012 and took up apple cider vinegar in 2015. I seldom experience any problems now, unless I am dumb and eat chile encrusted burritos at midnight or somethin.
When it’s silent, it’s so hard to tell what your triggers are. 🙁 You’re getting treatment though?
Gosh, I’m so sorry about your father. I didn’t realize that. I know Chardonnay is a trigger, that’s for sure, so I haven’t had any since. And probably mint and chocolate. All the good stuff. I was taking Prilosec, but hate being on it all the time. I am supposed to take Gaviscon after every meal. Still trying to figure it out. Do you think I should try the apple cider vinegar thing? I’m making chicken bone broth today with 2 T of apple cider vinegar in it.
I do think it’s worth a shot. That’s why I did it. Worth a shot. I started out putting it in ice water before dinner and drinking another after dinner. I couldn’t believe how well it worked for me. About two tablespoons a day, and within a week, I was amazed. Now, I know it hasn’t worked for everyone, but it sure did help me. Now, I just put it in my bedtime water, unless I want to eat a chile encrusted burrito 😉
My mother does shots of it every morning, which you can, if you’ve got caps or dentures, but it’s hard on natural enamel. She swears her hair is shinier and it keeps weight off. I don’t share that experience, so ymmv, but it’s good for your gut even if none of the rest pans out, eh?
Tastes vary, but now I think water tastes weird without it. lol “Why is this gym water so plain?” lol
OK, I am going to try it. I’ll dilute it. I think the acid reflux has done enough damage to my teeth. It ate a hole in my TMJ splint thingie, so I can imagine what it does to my enamel. Thank you!
Oh Luanne… your health stuff sounds tough ( I try not to use words like problems !!!!) do hope you start to come right and your tests and treatment go well… Your mother looks wonderful… fancy being on a billboard !!!
Teaching for a pittance seems to be the lot of so many people who love teaching and don’t get recognised…I so admire you for all your achievements, which include your writing, and getting accepted, and of course the rescuing and rehabilitation of gorgeous Perry… your little miracle – he sounds utterly adorable…
Valerie, I am fine. It’s just a matter of working on the acid reflux because it’s been quite damaging. But it could have been worse. No mention of the heart murmur, so maybe it was my doctor’s imagination!
Aw, thank you so much for all your kind words, especially about Perry. He’s been very naughty for three days. He gets that way where he won’t leave the other cats alone–especially the two big ones (like he is)–and I have to keep pulling him off them and sounding disappointed in him which makes him sad. But it’s because he wants attention all the time, like an annoying little kid, which he is!
Acid reflux is serious! I’m so sorry you have been handling this for some time now, I suppose my antennae finally picked this bit of news up, Luanne.
Your Mother is Darling! How sweet and wonderful to have her up there on a positive billboard! I would definitely get a better photo and put it in the kids’ photo albums!
Perry is quite persistent. Those curtains crack me up, dear friend!
I hope you find a safe, non-invasive procedure to correct this or ? I am so not a medical expert. . .
I’m going to feature you and Merril tomorrow on my blog posts. They may bring a curious person over to visit. 😀 ❤️
I am trying to get a better photo of the billboard. Mom says she will send me one, but she forgets to do it. They sent her a big framed headshot of herself! it’s so pretty.
I’ll be ok, but need to really watch what and when I eat and drink and to take meds for the reflux. I’m a work in progress ;).
Thank you so much for your “feature article,” Robin! You are the best!
You are very welcome, my “Midwest girlfriend,” Luanne. I enjoyed being able to feature you once again.
The billboard is such a great photo of your Mom. I’m sure the portrait is great for “bragging rights!” Or maybe your Mom isn’t like my silly Mom.
Hope something works out to help you even out your acidity in your system. Hugs! 💮❤️
I was thinking about your question, Robin. I think my mother’s response to this whole ride has been a mix of excitement/wonder/embarrassment! She’s an introvert, and she was never anybody who was looking for the limelight.
Thank you about my acid reflux!
Have a splendid end to the workweek today and tomorrow! xo
No, most people are shy and prefer to pass through Life without fanfare. I am not sure when I got a little less shy, but I do believe it helps to be a little brave. Your Mom made her “mark,” so to speak. ❤️
She did. My father would be so proud of her!
OhMy! I am so sorry for your health problems. I hope you will get much better very very soon 🙂
Your mother is a myth!
Perry is a wonderful guy, anyway 😆
Ciao
Sid
Hah, I will tell my Mom you said so, Sid!
Perry is so cute. He’s been naughty for 3 days! He tries to wrestle Felix and Kana, and they get mad at him. So I pull him off and put him down somewhere else, and he goes right back to them! He’s bored and wants to play. He needs a kitten but my husband says NO.
A kitten, or a little laser red dot! It works 😁
I found mine in a chinese flea market, cheap but efficient 😉
Ciao
Sid
I think I better try that before a kitten haha!
Forum sure 😀
For sure 😀
Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Sid
I hope things are okay for you, Luanne.
Thank you, Jennie. It’s all reflux, and I am working on the problem!
🙂
That post is like a long, good letter to a friend. I’d say you have mastered the form.
Re: GERD, it’s pretty annoying and then some. I did have a cough from acid reflux, but that has gone away. Then I had a cough from my eye meds, but that has gone away.
Your cats seem happy.
I’m sorry to say that you, personally, are paying for that gorgeous art at Mayo. Take some home with you next time.
Don’t get me started about adjunct / part-time teaching in universities. I’m sure that despite the wage disparity, you created an environment for learning and personal growth in the classroom.
I went to a wedding last weekend in Chi and managed to gain two pounds. This even though I was unable to eat chocolate or drink alcohol, both of which there was plenty.
What a wonderful compliment. That makes me so happy.
I can’t eat chocolate either and I shouldn’t drink alcohol, but I’ve found that a dirty Shirley is easier on my GI system than the white wine which I’ve had to eliminate from my diet. Maybe the two pounds is water weight?
Thank you for your lovely replies here. Maybe Mayo should pay for the adjunct salaries haha.
Thinking about you.
Thank you, Sally. That’s so kind of you!
I hope you recover soon, Luanne
Thanks, Derrick. The problem is all caused by acid reflux, so I have to watch my diet, etc.
I wish you well
Enjoyed this post so much! The only problem is that it’s so chock full of newsy stuff that by the time I got to the end (i.e., now) I forgot all the little comments I wanted to make. Except this one: your mom is a DOLL on that billboard!! 😀 Oh, and the therapy dog – stunning! And your kitties – adorable! And your writing/sending out – awesome!!! Ttyl – I’m just trying to catch up on my reading, ay yi!!
Haha, that happens to me quite often with long blog posts. We need a way to submit little comments throughout ;). The ad agency just sent my mother a large framed headshot of herself, and she sent me a digital copy–so pretty! Thank you for your wonderful responses, Ellie. Have a great week!
Hey Luanne! I’m just starting to surface – was laid low with a cold yesterday. Kept scaring my kitty with my sneezes! LOL! So nice tht they sent pix to you and her!!
Hope you’re all well!
OMG forgot – so sorry re your medical thing!!!! Hope you feel better soon, and that it’s easily treatable!! <3
It’s sort of easily treatable–if I didn’t have taste buds haha. It’s all acid reflux, but I need to keep whittling down what I can eat and drink :(.
Gosh there I go again, forgetting details. Ay yi! How are you feeling??? What a drag. You must be losing weight drastically, I imagine…
I hope you are doing better, or at least on the right track health-wise. Glad you had the art to calm you. And the dogs. Congrats on the accepted story; isn’t that a great feeling! The kitties are so cute and funny. But your mom is the most adorable part of the post:)
You know, those dogs and the art really do create an environment where it’s more difficult to be anxious. I have been in hospitals and medical places that only made me more anxious because they were so hectic, uncaring, ugly you name it! Thanks re my Mom!
Luanne! First of all, my condolences on the medical tests and health challenges you’re dealing with. 🙁 sad face
Next, congrats on reorganizing your memoir and your send-out pieces! (I love that term) I love hearing the commitment to write every day or make it up the next day. That’s huge!
And as always, loving the cats-status. I think of you and Perry and your managerie every few days. We have only our two but they keep us busy. Lately the problem child, Mittens (with overweightness, joint issues, and she’s kind of stinky because she can only reach her toes to groom) ventured all the way upstairs to the third floor to jump up on the padded kitchen chair next to my desk and beg for pats. I was impressed. Pickles, who was sitting on my lap at the time, did her best hissing-at-the-other cat (even tho they are siblings) and finally dropped off in a snit. Mittens couldn’t have been more happy. 🙂
Again, congrats, and my thoughts are with you!
Poor Mittens! Does she know she stinks? Can she have a bath or a half bath? I am impressed about the 3rd floor, too! Who has a 3rd floor haha?! Do you live in a tall skinny house or condo? I’ve heard about those. Or maybe it’s a walkout. I’ve been in those before. You’ve gotten my imagination going with that one word ;.
How often are you writing, Theresa? Just curious. I am keeping my word to myself so far about everyday a poem, although it can be tough–and it is preventing me from prose right now.
Oh! Lots to respond to in your message Luanne! I am counting myself lucky to be in a collaborative conversation with another poet where we can talk about cats and third floors and whether we are writing and how we are writing . . . hah!
Mittens. I just read about being able to bathe a cat. So, I’m enlisting my spouse to help me problem-solve how to accomplish this with Mittens. She takes grooming very well (with a brush) – purrs the whole time. I suspect adding water to the equation will be less well-received. But we may try more regular grooming first (I’ve only been brushing her when it gets really bad, every few weeks, going to try weekly, she’s short-haired) and then progress to something involving water. Any suggestions welcome!
3rd floor – when we moved into this house it had 2 floors, and we did a small remodel to push out a very small bedroom on the 2nd floor over the flat-roof kitchen addition. We had an architect design it, because the house is a 1920’s Tudor and we wanted the new to look like it belonged w the old. The architect put his head up in the attic-like space above the 2nd floor and said, “oh! you could put a study up here!” (steep roof) We caught his enthusiasm and ended up putting in a new stairway and 3rd floor study, bumping out the back of the 3rd floor over the new enlarged bedroom. It’s in a “T” shape, with the stem of the T over the bedroom and the bars of the T to either side laterally toward the front of the house. We practically live up there, when kids were small they watched TV and did homework, up there, Jim and I each have a desk, etc. The only drawback is it’s all open space (I’m in one of the “bars” of the T, Jim and Alec’s desks were around the corner in the “stem”), and so I can’t really close a door and be alone with my writing. Headphones. 🙂
Writing! I’m so excited you are writing a poem a day. Yes! I am edging forward on my Little Book of Lies, as I set myself a goal to strive to complete the ms by end of March, and I’m happy to say I’m almost there. I set it aside last fall and now I’m finding the stories are getting close to where I want them to be, a relief. So it turns out every day I have been writing at least another small scene or paragraph for one of the 2-3 stories (of 14 in the collection) that still need updating. Finding I have more skill now than last fall, that’s a relief!
Thanks for asking! I have more to say about poetry study based on a college course I’m auditing this quarter involving William Carlos William’s “Spring and All” and “Paterson.” Looking forward to hearing your thoughts when I post about that! 🙂
I hear you on the grooming. I’ve decided I need to brush Perry everyday because his fur is a menace in the house. Every time he leaps from one surface to another a pound of fur and dander flies off into the air!
So excited for you on the BOOK!!!!!! Wow, Theresa, I can’t wait!!! So happy that you feel the improvement! And really, Paterson? I was JUST thinking about Paterson the other day. It suddenly struck me what an incredible feat it was!!! Not that people including myself usually want to read a book-length poem, but what he accomplished was not something most people could accomplish. And to think it was done by our “tiny poet”!!! I’ve never read Spring and All as a whole. So your course is al WCW? I’ve never heard of such a focus on him!!!
Good to know another cat-mom who has the fur-dander challenge! 🙂
Wow, I’m so impressed you have all this background in WCW. The professor teaching this course is a huge WCW fan, and he’s been telling us that WCW’s work, especially his reaction against the “gloom and doom” effects of Eliot’s “The Waste Land” and the Prufrock poem, was the major basis for later poets like the Beat poets and so on (Ginsberg, etc.). He’s been talking about how much WCW focused on “what you can see, what the world is like” and the poet’s response. He talks about WCW’s study of the concept of imagination. Maybe you already know this, but the prof told us that “Kora In Hell” was created out of a year of WCW’s “improvisations,” where he would jot down something every day on a slip of paper (a snatch of dialog, a scene, a visual image, etc.) and put it in a shoebox, and at the end of a year, he took out the slips, organized them into themes, and then he wrote his own responses, and that’s how he constructed “Kora In Hell.” How amazing! 🙂
We’re not doing only WCW – that’s probably about half the course, and then we’re shifting to Milan Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” and he’s combining the study of that book with studying the Beethoven quintet that he says is what Kundera derived the structure from for the novel. (?!) We’ll see! 🙂
Luanne! My spouse said, “Ask about the half-bath.” What is that? 🙂
Hahaha, it’s what we had to give Tiger yesterday after she peed all over herself in anticipation of getting her nails trimmed. I held her butt over the faucet while the gardener cleaned her ;).
Ah! So a half-bath is a quick water-rinse in the sink? 🙂 Poor Tiger!
Thinking good thoughts about the test, and also about the GERD. My husband has that, and it can be so painful. I am NOT tired of hearing about the memoir, and congratulations on the acceptance, getting work out, all of it—so nice.
Thank you for saying you’re not tired of hearing about it. It’s been years now hahahaha. GERD stinks, and mine is the “silent” kind so it gets really bad without me knowing it. That’s why I can’t sing. My vocal chords are shot.
Hi, Luanne. So that’s your mom on the billboards around GR! I will look for her when we’re on the road. So glad that her surgery was successful. Good luck with your procedure(s) too. I hope it’s something that is easy to fix. And sorry to disappoint you, but the hospitals do buy the art–based on our experience!!
That is my mom! They sent her newspaper clippings, and she was astonished how big the picture of her was in the paper! Hahaha. Thanks re the health stuff. I’m doing well! That is so strange about hospitals and art. You would think they would showcase art, but not buy it.
Good luck with all the tests, Luanne.
Thank you, Lavinia! I am doing well–working on the acid reflux!
I know those acid reflux problems very well and can only agree that it can well be the source of your breath shortness. Good luck with the tests!
Your cats are adorable! ☺
Thank you so much, Sarah! They think it is the reflux. Then I got a respiratory bug. I can’t win haha.