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Happiness returns

Fireworks explode over Boston Harbor near Faneuil Hall on New Year's 2003. (AP Photo / Lisa Poole)

Just got back from the vet: Good news! He's sending an email with technical details as soon as he gets a minute -- is on emergency duty so rarely gets a minute, of course, so it may be awhile. Doctors and technicians are available 24/7 at Angell Memorial, the salvation of many an ailing animal in the Boston area when local vets are unavailable. They're also a center of cutting edge research in veterinary medicine. When the automobile traffic is light, as it was this afternoon, it's only 25 minutes away.  During normal traffic times, it can take 45 minutes or more to get there from Chelsea-by-the-Sea.

We listened to the good doctor's explanation, but all we really heard was the longed-for word that Tiny doesn't seem to have anything serious the matter with her. Irregularities on x-rays seem to be an expected result of her lifelong airway disease, feline asthma, and suggest we should consider possible future course of treatment. We gave Dr. Grossbard a big hug of appreciation and made a generous end-of-year contribution to Angell [You are so predictable. --ed]. 'Will add info and kitty pix here later on for our wonderful commenters who have been asking about Tiny and lending their support. For now, just feeling happy and ready to celebrate the New Year with one of our infamous candlelight dinners -- for two -- followed by watching the spectacular Boston Harbor fireworks simultaneously on TV and out the front windows. Boston's world-famous "First Night" has the most unspectacular website imaginable. Geez. We were hoping for a great photo we could use here . . . Had to find one at random in cyberspace instead (above).

Fun sidenote: When we asked Dr. Grossbard for a written description of his diagnosis so we could post it on our blog, we were delighted to learn that he knew what blogs were but as a veterinarian shied away from blogging as it would mean a zillion commenters asking for free advice. It would quickly get out of control. As we noted, he wouldn't have time for anything else [a business opportunity for some enterprising person?]. There ARE some web sites where colleagues post questions and answers for each other regarding unusual cases, however. When Tuck mentioned that our humble blog just passed the half-million mark of visitors, the doc seemed to sit up and take notice.

Update:  Excerpts from Dr. Grossbard's report:

Fortunately, Tiny's clinical condition has improved with the antibiotic therapy.  There is no way of knowing she has some component of viral or bacterial airway disease (pneumonia) without doing invasive diagnostic tests such as the thoracocentesis or what's called a transtracheal aspirate.  Given the fact that she is improving, I would not push for those test because they are relatively invasive and have potential side effects.  It is very possible that she picked up a viral or bacterial airway infection that may have added to her prior airway disease and caused the clinical signs that made you bring her in to see me initially.  My recommendation would be to continue the course of oral antibiotics and monitor her "asthma" episodes.  It may be helpful to keep a diary of her attacks and include things such as time of day, relationship to feedings, interactions with other pets or people, weather changes, etc.  This information may be useful when decided how to manage her long-term.

Final radiology report is pending. Doc recommends we consult with our regular vet or one of Angell Memorial's internists regarding long-term management of her inflammatory airway disease/asthma. Meanwhile, as of New Year's Day, she came to wake us up for breakfast this morning and ate her food with gusto.

"Blogger blogs own wedding"

The heart that loves is forever young. Properly out of focus -- thanks to you-are-there nearly instantaneous cell-phone photo posts from Brendan Loy's wedding reception yesterday -- groomsman Sean and bridesmaid Shannon celebrate Brendan's and Becky's march down the aisle.

"As I titled my e-mail to InstaPundit, 'Blogger blogs own wedding.' :)" writes the irrepressible Brendan Loy of The Irish Trojan's Blog.  You may remember the young weather buff's early and accurate scoops of Hurricane Katrina last summer. We love Glenn Reynolds's wedding wish, referring to an odd hurricane's -- Zeta's -- forming at this late, post-hurricane-season date in the Azores:

I see this as Mother Nature's way of marking hurricane-blogger Brendan Loy's wedding.

We sons and daughters of Adam and Eve are forever reading meaning into random acts of nature. It's a good thing!

You're only as old as you feel?

She's looking up to snuff, meeping every inch of her home territory this evening after a hearty evening meal.

When a veterinarian calls your baby girl an older cat it kills your soul. What do they know? According to some site we googled today, our own little ones, at 9 1/2 in kitty years, are about as old in human years as we are at 61. Obviously, we ain't buyin'.

You're only as old as you feel?

Oh, yes, and don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark, where youth springs eternal.

Update:  Vet just called.  He asked us to come in a half hour early tomorrow so we can do a new x-ray . . . He was encouraged at our report of how much better Tiny seems after taking the antibiotic.

Update II:  Next morning, Saturday, she seems even better . . . came over and walked all over us abed to say it was time for breakfast. Outside now.

Wicked worried about Tiny

Wicked worried about Tiny.  Took her in to Angell Memorial this afternoon when she didn't jump up onto the counter for supper, wasn't that intrested in treats and just wasn't herself.  Lots of tests:  x-rays, blood work and such. Doc will call tomorrow. It could be something or not that much, and we'll just have to wait. Meanwhile, she's resting comfortably on the library couch upstairs after receiving sub-cutaneous fluids and oral antibiotics.

Update:  Next morning she jumps up on counter and eats all her breakfast but is still not herself.  'Hates to take antibiotic via eyedropper.

Update II: Late afternoon report Friday.  Blood work within normal limits -- slight elevations of glucose (stress being at the vet) and white blood count (fever yesterday). Now must find out why she has accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity underneath her lungs, spotted on the x-ray yesterday and confirmed by the radiologist today as an area of concern. Many possible causes, from lymphoma to chylothorax (which itself may have a number of possible causes, including ideopathic). Vet does NOT suspect heart failure. They'll draw some of the fluid and send it off to the lab tomorrow afternoon to try to narrow it down and plan treatment. She has had feline asthma since she was a tiny kitten, but vet says fluid wouldn't be caused by that. Meanwhile, she came running with enthusiasm and jumped up onto the counter when we said the magic words, "Want your supper?" a few moments ago. Will continue giving her antibiotics every 12 hours. Thanks very much for well wishes from her fans in the comments.

You've got the cutest little baby face

We knew this brand new little fellow -- in a bloggy kind of way -- when he was just a gleam in his papa's eye.

Cybercigars to everyone in the immediate blogosphere in celebration of VodkaPundit's firstborn, seven-pound, ten-ounce Preston Davis Green. A hint at why so many cigars will be required, an excerpt from the proud new father, Steven Green's oeuvre just after he and his new bride, Melissa, returned from their scuba-diving honeymoon, Summer '02:

The United States has no business invading Iraq, toppling Saddam Hussein, or even calling publicly for his ouster. Unless, that is, we mean to do for Iraq in the coming ten years what we did for Germany and Japan in the years following the Second World War.

Here we are, a mere three years later, and Iraqis are squabbling over election results in an orgy of compromise that gives every indication of being the birthing of a democracy, even as Preston Davis Green, having had greatness thrust upon him at an early age, is enjoying the Edenic glory of being the center of the universe until further notice.

"It's all shades of gray"

"We at the UN see no justification in calls for a re-run of the elections," said Craig Jenness, a Canadian who led the United Nations election coordination effort in Iraq, who apparently "told the Times the same thing Monday, but the paper, unfortunately for itself, didn't grasp the significance," reports Slate. Presumably network news still hasn't grasped the significance either, as we noticed during the surf-intensive 4-to-5 a.m. hour, when CBS's early-morning news show was topping its broadcast with footage of angry protesters accompanied by inflammatory sound bites and little or no context: "With some Iraqis calling for the withdrawal of troops, the debate here in Washington may become louder as well," suggested an on-message reporter helpfully feeding the fires of anti-Bush hysteria. On the other hand, calmer heads at CNN International online were reporting the facts. Yahoo!News is another great source of all things Iraq.

For on-the-scene news from the horse's mouth, of course, one heads straight for Iraq the Model -- featured since the election in Pajamas Media's "Special Report" section -- on the scene and following the horsetrading that suggests reason to hope rather than despair that democracy is really taking hold on Iraqi soil. A sampling:

As everyone can easily see, Maram* [the Sunni lists, along with ex-PM Iyad Allawi’s multi-confessional secular list and others, who joined together last week to contest the election results "in order, at the least, to have the results reviewed and their complaints addressed," according to Publius Pundit] has rapidly grown in size and number of participating parties . . .

The parties within this bloc has also chosen a negotiator and a semiofficial leader for them, Allawi, and they have also signed a “charter of honor” that requests from all participants to remain under the umbrella of this bloc and not separate from it after the parliament is formed.

This has apparently inspired the UIA-who feel threatened by the growth of this bloc-inspired them to unite their lines even more . . .

Anyway, the worst possible outcome of this struggle isn’t going to be thick black, the same way that the best outcome isn’t expected to be pure while; it’s all shades of gray and we hope we can end up with the lightest one possible.

It's better than all the others that have been tried. Regarding what Publius Pundit refers to as "the problem at the heart of this issue, the fact that Islam puts a special emphasis on religious and politics being intertwined, inevitably leading to the tendencies toward totalitarianism":

Perhaps we should be looking at the Turkish model as a way of approaching the problem of creating democratic societies in Muslim countries.

We should not be asking whether democracy and secularism can live alongside Islam, or any other religion for that matter. Furthermore, we should not try to achieve pluralistic societies in the Middle East by attempting to mix Islam with democracy. Instead, [the Turkish ambassador to the United States, Faruk Logoglu] believes that democracy and Islam should be separated, with religion being relegated to the private sphere completely, much like what we do here in the West.

"Most people, it turns out, want a religion with moderate costs and moderate benefits," according to the findings of sociologists Rodney Stark and Roger Finke reported in their book Acts of Faith. Moderation in all things still has a great deal to recommend it. "People voted for their religious and ethnic leaders this time, but it's too bad, really. The reality is that the Iraqi people are a diverse group," Yunadum Kana [head of one of several political parties that will push for major revisions in the constitution to enhance women and minority rights, and clarify the role of Islamic religious law] says. "We have to bring back the mentality that we are brothers and we are part of the country."

Update:  Austin Bay [via InstaPundit] explains the TV network disconnect:

Television, the medium where image is a tyrant, finds incremental economic and political development a particularly frustrating story to tell. A brick is visually boring -- a bomb is not. The significance of a brick takes time to explain, time to establish context, while a spectacular explosion incites immediate visceral and emotional responses. In the long term, hope may propel millions -- hope that democracy will replace tyranny and terror. But in the short haul, violence and vile rhetoric, like sex and celebrity, guarantee an immediate audience.

So the "big stories" get lost in the momentum of the "now."

Enter the blogosphere, where the big stories are grist for our mills.

*Maram is an Arabic acronym for the Conference Rejecting Rigged Elections. Chads, anyone?

"Be kind was the bottom line"

Tuck has chosen to excavate the basement surrounding the steam-leaking heat pipe rather than dig up the Italian tiles of our kitchen floor above -- as our plumbers had advised -- to fix the ailing heating system.

"As with many things, the advice seems deceptively simple: Be kind," was the bottom line at the recent Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference [via Arts & Letters Daily], something we would never attend, especially after we googled the philosophy of the keynote speaker, the disagreeably all-about-me Patch Adams. Yet there was much there that made sense:

The relatively young science of psychotherapy -- 120 years old -- has spent much of its time focusing on just one person in a couple, thinking that curing that person's neuroses would automatically improve the marriage, Zeig says. Not until recently have researchers begun focusing on what successful couples do to foster enduring marriages.

Q: What's the most common problem for couples in jeopardy?

A: Often it's a struggle to be right, and couples will sacrifice being effective in order to be right.

As he excavates the site around the offending heating-system pipes, Tuck decants the soil into big old, mostly joint-compound and driveway-sealer blacktop containers and then wheelbarrows them out to the west forty.

More from the "Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference:

Q: What are things people do that doom marriage?

A: Criticism. Any generalization that begins with, 'You never,' or, 'You always.' Criticism is a communication stopper. Using contempt. Calling your partner names. Incessant defensiveness and not being willing to listen to your partner's position. And the most damning is sullen silence. It's just deadly.

Undistracted by his Grandma's and Grandpa's obsessions, Baby is transfixed by a black-and-white puddy atop the fence that runs along the retaining wall out back.

"Be kind" is the bottom line. It works miracles. So simple you'd hardly ever think of it, but try it, early and often.

"Their guts are spilling out in back"

Alan Arkin as Captain Yossarian in the film version of Joseph Heller's Catch-22 realizes that "his care for Snowden was useless and there was nothing he could have done to save him. Snowden grows weak and cold in the chill of high altitude flight and dies muttering 'I'm so cold.'" The death throes of our own MSM come to mind.

"I’d say the undeclared war on President Bush being conducted by elements in the CIA, the MSM, the Democrats and the Washington establishment is the big story of 2005," writes Pat of Judicious Asininity in the comments at Austin Bay's Au-some challenge to his readers to nominate "The Big Story of 2005" [via Dymphna at Gates of Vienna]. We agree totally but would go one step further. Attempting to add our own two cents' worth to the debate, we started to feel paranoid [You always do. --ed] when our comments didn't appear on Austin Bay's site until we noticed his admonition to "Remember, thanks to the moderation routine, comments usually take anywhere from two to four hours to appear." Two to four hours? Gak. To calm ourselves down while waiting for our own words of wisdom to appear, we decided to blog about it. Our nomination for TBS of 2005:

Having sustained a fatal wound beneath its flack jacket, the MSM still doesn't get Snowden's secret.

Snowden was, of course, the gunner who dies in hero Yossarian's plane in Joseph Heller's Catch-22. As Yossarian was treating him for minor leg wounds, Snowden was dying of fatal chest wounds concealed beneath his flack jacket. This commentary from a googled Catch-22 study guide resonates:

Yossarian keeps speaking about Snowden's "secret" -- man is garbage without his spirit.

"Journalists are garbage without their spirit" suggests itself. As our sis just imailed about the current state of the MSM:

Their guts are spilling out in back, while they apply bandaids to their miserable credibility in front.

Dan Rather's bubble-bursting "fake but accurate" dealt the fatal blow. Our sis also reports this heartening story from the normally left-of-center Newburyport News:

There was a front page story in our local rag, about a soldier who has just returned from Iraq. He said, in effect, that it is totally unbelievable what the mainstream reports about the war. He said things are really going so well over there, and that 90% of the Iraqis love the Americans. The other 10% are the insurgents and "mostly come from other countries."

Lots of good words -- true and accurate -- coming from the blogosphere and spilling out into the larger sphere of public discourse wherever it may be dispersed these days. There is room for hope.

Making it all seem effortless

Goomp was stumped by the dynamics of this image from yesterday down Maine that we emailed him this afternoon. Check out his beautiful black pussycat Lucie at the center, perched upon the wrought iron railing facing right outside the seaward door,  with nearly perfect symmetry of tree and house elements reflected in the winterized glass panel of the door (left), screened in summer and oft velcroized by the Babe.

Your photo-management program really does make a difference.

We were using the ponderous Microsoft Windows 98 down Goomp's for the last few days of intensive family bonding and intermittent photodocumentation of Christmas cheer. Unlike our Apple iPhoto that brings up every new batch of images in a thumbnail-heavy contact format, with Windows you have to plod through a text window with pauses for each image you want to view. Once we got back home with iPhoto, we realized what a damper the Windows program had been on our "creativity." There were several fab images we hadn't noticed at all, and others we had seen in a quick review but never got back to. You gotta have iPhoto. Now on to some of our faves that dropped through the cracks the last couple of days:

Rosemary on a bed of overlapped slices of bacon, carapace for our beef tenderloins as they went into the oven.

Madonna and childs:  Chris, Susan and Matthew mug for the cameras as they and other celebrants cook up a storm in Goomp's kitchen prior to our Christmas Eve extravaganza. The days the kitchen bonding happens are the happiest.

"That's my Barney" is one of Susie's favorite quotations from her favorite musical, "The Music Man," the words every proud mother calls out when she sees the flesh of her flesh doing her proud. These are her Barneys, our own beloved and totally awesome nephews.

In the night kitchen, cats loom large and small, depending upon your point of view (tiny Baby, left and bigfoot Tiny, right).

Just because it was so beautiful, a parting shot of yesterday's Christmas Luncheon of Coquilles St. Jacques with Salad à la Sisu.

Tradition. We made it through with flying colors, for the most part achieving our goal of making it all seem effortless as we depended on the kindness not of strangers but of family members. But despite our own self-protestations, today as we drove back home with Tuck at the wheel and Baby and Tiny as our co-pilots, for the first time in ages, we felt so relaxed . . . No tightness in the chest or compulsive clearing of the throat. We think Dr. Helen may be onto something in her provocative "Sloth: The New New Year's Resolution?" post:

Now I congratulate myself on a day where I sit in pajamas until 3:00 in the afternoon contemplating getting up long enough to check my email or post something.

Happy New Year.

Family rituals

The timeless rituals of a Finnish Xmas Eve: Matthew performs the laying on of hands for the Scalloped Fennel and Potatoes prior to their trial by fire (one hour @ 400° F) for last night's Christmas Eve dinner.

The table is set for dinner at 5.

Wrapping the beef tenderloin in bacon and rosemary before roasting at 450° for about an hour.  Don't forget to open the windows and turn on the fan.

Chris stops by to present Regan with the Hat of the Year.

A feather in her cap.

Tiny gives a final inspection and paws up to the table decorations.

Our Inside-the-Beltway correspondents Sarah and Heather lend glamour and panache to the evening's festivities.

Tuck can't decide which pipe he likes best. We got 'em the other day at Federal Cigar in Portsmouth, THE place to go for all your nicotine-delivery-system needs.

Xmas Day today brings stockings and Coquilles St. Jacques for every good girl and boy.

Regan, Chris and Matthew perform a carefully choreographed scullery dance that makes short work of the mess we made of the kitchen.

Matt and Regan present the case for the hottest book of the season, Now: Discover your Strengths. Now's web site explains:

At the heart of the book is the Internet-based Clifton StrengthsFinder Profile, the product of a 25-year, multimillion-dollar effort to identify the most prevalent human strengths. The program introduces 34 dominant "themes" with thousands of possible combinations, and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career success.

You have to buy the book to get access to the online test. Kind of fun, but our own -- and Tuck's -- first response was "astrology with a Harvard education."