Happy Anniversary – 3 years and counting.

Happy Anniversary to me!  I mean, Happy Cancerversary to me! Three years ago today in 2013 I got the biopsy that started my breast cancer treatment adventures. It seems like something to celebrate because every month that passes without evidence of a return of disease, there is a slightly better chance that I will remain…

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Navigating the Medicine Show

“Step right up! Step right up! Hear about the amazing healing powers of Dr. SmartyPants’ patented formula!” If pharmaceutical drugs were distributed out of the back of a charlatan wagon at a medicine show  would they have fewer takers?  Wait a moment, what about commercials for prescription drugs? You know the ones, with the huge list of possible…

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Standing up for Water.

The mighty Columbia flows past my front door. Meanwhile on the other side of the continental divide, her sister river, the great Missouri, with her winding ways and beautiful chalk bluffs, flows towards the east. The song birds are somewhat different there, singing in the cottonwood trees that line the water. Though this time of year they are few…

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Broody Hens

We have been keeping chickens for nearly ten years. These days we have three large hens, and a whole mess of bantams. This fall three of the bantams were broody – one successfully hatched 4 chicks, and the other two spent their time arguing over who got to sit on a golf ball. Which made me wonder, am I…

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Burning Books and The End of Bad Expectations.

I have a confession. I have burned two books in my life. I am not a fan of censorship, I did read Fahrenheit 451, and to be fair I didn’t seek out every copy and destroy them, or start to steal them from public libraries to prevent others from reading them. Nonetheless I am a book burner. The…

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Am I a Better Person Yet?

Does cancer make me a better person than you? Does it endow me with Special Qualities? How about Special Wisdom? Have I Conquered it? Am I now one of the Chosen Ones? Is the “Suffering” I “Endured” during treatments more terrible than anything you might have possibly experienced outside of cancer land? Am I a…

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Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

When my MRI appointment came onto the scene in September my anxiety reached near epic proportions. It is stunning to me that I could be more, much more, anxious waiting for a routine check up than I was at nearly any time during my year of treatments in 2014. I am coming to recognize that anxiety is in part simply a communication between…

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Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. This is true. I also live in the rainiest city in the US – we receive close to twice as much as the famously rainy Seattle and Portland. I live in the midst of a bonafide temperate rain forest. Which is particularly noticeable…

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Love in these times of peril.

I awoke this morning to beauty here in the Gila of New Mexico where I am visiting my sister.  And then the disheartening election results. A win of the electoral college, though not the popular vote, will put a dangerous man at the forefront of our nation.  The work to heal hatred is very real,…

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Halloween, Samhain, Dia de los Muertos 

To my ancestors we are in an important moment in the year. As we descend into the darkness of winter, the ancient Celts had a three day period of time-out-of-time, days not considered part of the normal calendar. This is the space to get your affairs in order, pay debts and follow through. On Samhain –…

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Mr. Weatherman, and the Boy who cried Wolf.

The weather men were all a tizzy last week. “Batten down the hatches.” They said. Well, as it turned out  the big blow never really showed up on Saturday. Though everyone stayed home to watch for it, and most all events were cancelled in these parts. Can’t help but liken it to the way it…

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