Organ Donors Rule!

Recognize this person?

This week in November recalls the time I was in an isolation room 33 years ago for a bone marrow transplant. My brother donated his matching bone marrow and saved my life. I had a fatal form of Aplastic Anemia and PNH (paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria). This transplant was my remaining hope. It was a highly experimental and new procedure back then. After massive doses of chemotherapy, I lost my hair and gained so much more. My story, Recovery, is based on my 2.5 months spent in the hospital.

You can see my hair grew back, no problem.

More amazing--my (younger brother) was just seventeen when he donated his bone marrow without a blink's hesitation. Now he's VP of Global Sales traveling the world for UptoDate, which provides medical knowledge to professionals worldwide. How can I not brag about this?

Ironwork

Here's another pretty November morning in Boston's South End. I like to imagine the artisans who labored to create these beautiful wrought iron railings--ornate, fanciful creations of function and design. There's optimism in these curling shapes. This section of Boston is recognized on the Nat'l Register as the oldest and largest Victorian neighborhood in the country.

Twinkie twilight

I believe Twinkies might have been my first brush with alien life, beyond anything I'd experienced before. My mother rarely bought them. But I adored them. They seemed to come from outer space, like some kind of futuristic food. Sitting on my hard, wooden chair in school, they took me to another dimension, instantly. One spongy bite and I was out the window, far far away from multiplication tables and rulers, and #2 pencils. 

Fall Finale (in our neighborhood)

Couldn't resist this splendid outburst of color as I walked home from the library.  Makes you wonder about all the glorious things that go on around us without making a sound, or so it seems. How easily I could have passed by without notice had I not turned my head as I climbed the hill toward home.

Gazebo in the Sky

Gazebo-has the word: gaze in it. This one looks perfect for sky gazing.

Boston Book Festival, 2012!

All roads lead to the Boston Book Festival and beautiful Copley Square on Saturday, October 27, 2012.  Walk, run, drift in; take the commuter rail, hop the trolley. Your favorite books are calling. Authors, readers, bookstore vendors, food, music, trees, cobblestone sidewalks—All events are free. Here's a link for complete details. http://www.bostonbookfest.org/

And some pictures from last year's event:

If it's Boston, it's paved with bricks

A walking city (Newbury St is one block from here)

Side view of Trinity Church (one of the BBF venues)

Books and Cupcakes go well together

Boston Public Library (Copley Sq. entrance)

Boston Public Library, inside courtyard

BPL skyview from courtyard

Vermont Reverie

Do you have a specific place or region, town or home away from home, that sings to you whenever you visit? Maybe it's a particular beach, a hillside, a secret forest?

The Mettowee Valley in the Southwestern part of Vermont functions like an emotional warm spot for me. For one, there's the physical beauty of it. Every time I drive through the region, my spirit floats.

Here are a few pictures looking west and south for you to enjoy.

The area is full of working farms. And the people I've met here are passionate artisans--glass makers, farmers, cheese makers, fine potters and barn builders.

Vitresse Glass by Lucy Bergamini

  
Barn Love

Rising Meadow Pottery

Larson Farm (sustainable)