ho, ho....where'd the other ho go?

Celebrate. Ya' teeh kess-messh. I Feel Good. Laughed until my cheeks ached. How to do that when you're dealing with powerful disease like Kancer?
HERE IS HOW IT'S DONE: Be one with: family, friends and phone calls. Sunday morning, the sun yet to stretch its warmth and light here at home, and the house is quiet despite nine sleeping relatives here from Iowa and Ill. They are scattered about the house at this hour and not a relative is stirring 'cept my little mouse--er. Lucky-Cat Friar Brian here for 4 weeks now and this kitty's a keeper. He lays quietly on my lap, eats but little, mimes his meows and hides for thirty min. when company comes over and yet he still receives constant attention and pleasantries. Makes me jealous.
But jealous might others be from how I've being treated. Ten days or so ago I was invited to a "blessed, blessed night" at our neighbors, Lisa and Pat Horning, where scrumptious food and festive planning had been afoot. Early evening - school night and Peg-and-I and Mandy walk into their kool haybale homestead. Low and high I see a huge banners, with a funny pictures and paper cut-out snow flakes writen with "Get better", "We miss you at school", and "The Bestest?" Standing around the Horning's southwest wonder-room are dozens of my students from Page high school. They greet me: cheering and laughing and hugging me with smiles if not smilies. Other snowflake cutouts carry other memories: High Fives, Most Awesome Music, You Go Girl, Ight, waz up G? and my favoirite: "Will you please stop your excessive blabbering?" I guess they must of learned something in all those years, more true now are what I underestand of Louie A's lyrics "They're really saying 'I Love You'". So for a short slice of this wonderful life I was treated to 2-3 hours of sharing, laughter, spagetti, salad, garlic-cheese bread, and dessert after dessert after cookies. And the school night played on. The roses I received still smell as sweet! Students,(that includes all of us humans) time to take some notes. Write this down in your heart. It's important, not for school or a report card but it will help for living the "A" life. Students, friends and family you gave me an evening that fill the tip-top of my misty, happy heart. Filled me to the tip-top of my contentment and satisifation quotient. You gave me strong medicine even if it limited my thanks to one, teary eyed sentence..."Laughter and learning is the best combination". That thought is what brought us together and binds us; that is the receipe for creating love and caring. Thank and bless each every one of us.

More jealous others may be. Two days later my brother, Peter< and Richard from France, putted across Lake Powell for a 3 hour tour. Boat ran perfecto; weather outside was frightful, water dead-flat and wind calm but the atomosphere a chilling 30' and threating snow. I did my tour spiel and a dam drive by, told the usual flood story of 1983 and blah, blah, blah...but wait, is that a bald eagle watching from the red sandstone hoodoo? Yep. Sitting still as the stone, and posing for photos as we idled past. 20 min later, on the return, he still sat and we still putted by and we still shot him with kodak-ammo. Steered passed a few tumbling, half sunk tumbleweeds, avoided the nearly exposed rocks jutting out and then spied another tumbleweed from the warm cabin of our crusier..."But it looks like it's moving to the left", I said to Peter. So again we stopped and we stared and we finally recognized a coyote in mid-lake swimming toward the cliffs and beaches below Lakeside Drive. Whoa. Doglike, with its head level and his bouyant tail looking like a floating rudder, Coyote paddled its best coyote-paddling, deliberately, slowly, in quiet cold water, always making headway to shore. We followed for 20 min. or so and watched him successfully waddle, limp and hobble onto the red sand beach. Coyote turned and looked at us, stumbled a little and tried to climb up a stone bench about 20" high. Half frozen, he half jumped and fell down; cyote jumped again, fell again, and on the third try, the same clumsy faliure. Turning up the slope, coyote found a gentler incline and wound around the step. Now 10 min from water's exit, and having warmed its hypothermic limbs, coyote began a slow lope toward a distant tree shelter. Minutes later we noticed a large bird overhead and as it's shadow covered the boat my first thought "Tyradatycl"! Ancient animal, huge wing span and an extended neck that that rivaled a giraff. My scientifically-trained brother Peter, corrected me and tagged the bird a "Swan". We looked to each other, thinking of the bald eagle, the water-logged coyote and the soaring swan. We smiled and I said "Pretty nice episode for "Wild Kingdom, don't you think?". Nice day on the lake.

Even more jealous you may be. Same week, Saturday at Grand Canyon, annual community holiday party in the El Tovar...more on that party later, time to wrap this up and send it off and bid all a toasty two days till christmas...love and laughter, marcus