Our dogsitter Auntie Bev, is taking a break from daily duties, but she directed us to a great woman named Layne Novak, who we have hired to care for Girlie and Gimel while we are gone. Layne has a professional pet sitting service and you can contact her at watchyourtail@yahoo.com. We are happy to have her on the support team. The girls already jump to greet her when they see her car appear in the driveway!

Bev will still see the girls on Saturdays and Jill and Max Savage will be there for them on Sundays. Jill is one of our jockette hero pals, and takes G&G on long walks in the cane up in the cane fields, swims in the Wailuku river, and to their doggie delight, weekly car rides!

Many of you know that we have a bird feeder here at round top. Jenda got it up for us using medical tubing from Jim's feeding bags... i realize that sounds deviant, but just get your minds out of the sewer for one minute! I love to feed things, people, and it has been comforting to know that if you hang it, they will come. (Feed the birds, tuppence a bag...)

We've enjoyed watching the fine feathered population dine at the cedar gazebo, and having them here every day brought to mind an old favorite Emily Dickenson poem - just right for our circumstances...

Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul.
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.

Anybody out there need to be rubbed the right way? This is an unabashed plug for our friend and massage therapist extraordinaire Kris Short. You can reach her in her home studio at Kilikina Massage - 961-5767. If you live on the Big Island and want to experience therapeutic horizontal heaven, give her a call.

And speaking of heaven, Dylan Morris is starring in the Hilo High Performing Arts Learning Center Production of Jekyll and Hyde. And I do mean starring. This boy can act, move and oy, such a singing voice!

His performance was a bright celestial object streaking across the sky. Listening to his voice - like velvet as Jekyll, like gravel as Hyde - gave me chicken skin. I am proud to be one of his former directors. Imua, kid. Shine on.

My much-loved and only brother Mikey is celebrating his 45th birthday today in Denver. Wish that we could be together...and we hope he gets whatever he wishes for when he blows out his birthday candles. He believes the NCAA final four has been scheduled on his birthday weekend as a present directly handed down from above. I believe it too. May my brother have all the love and joy and roundball that life can offer.

We were welcomed home from the hospital today (Saturday, 4/5 ) by an amazing present that came from Volcano. Janet, Toni, Norrie and Jay fashioned the most beautiful quilt we have ever seen. Each of the fabrics is an art piece, and best of all, there are dozens of good wishes printed on many of the segments from HAVO, HVO, VAC, Kileaua Chorus, and other dear Volcano friends.

We thank all of you for the work of your hands and hearts. We will wrap ourselves in this quilt and be comforted by your aloha.

We like to drive on roads other than the H-1 freeway whenever possible. So far my favorite route to the hospital is Nehoa over to Keeaumoku and on to Beretania for two reasons. 1) there is a cool little roundabout thing, which for some reason makes me feel like I'm in Europe, (I've never been there) and, 2) we get to pass by the 8 FAT FAT 8 bar and grille on Beretania. We've never eaten there, but brother Dave tells us that Frank Delima says the food is ono.

I just like the name and the way it looks so happy, painted boldly on the side of the building. 8 FAT FAT 8!

Several friends have sent us the following poem. We share it with you and hope you like it as much as we do.

Crying by Galway Kinnell from Three Books (Houghton Mifflin)
 
Crying only a little bit
is no use.  You must cry
until your pillow is soaked;
Then you can get up and laugh.
Then you can jump in the shower
and splash-splash-splash!
Then you can throw open your window
and, "Ha, ha!  "Ha, ha!"
And if people say, "Hey, what's going on there?"
"Ha ha!" sing back,
"Happiness was hiding in the last tear!

Mazel tov to our friend Avi Soifer, who has accepted the postion - (will assume the position?) of Dean of the law school here in Honolulu. Avi and Marlene ( if a rabbi's wife is the rebbetzen, does that make Marlene the deanitzen?) will be calling Hawaii home before summer's end!

Friday night 3/21 offered us a harmonious and welcome break from television war coverage. As the sun went down over Punchbowl, na leo nahenahe - the sweet voices of Kamehameha students rang out in the air. Live from the Blaisdell arena, and televised for our enjoyment, the 81st annual song contest was a perfect gift at the end of this long week.

Jim has memories of being really nervous during his song contest years. Dave is onstage tonight in his regular gig with Frank DeLima, so I didn't get the chance to ask him about ghosts of song contests past.

It's still going on as i write this, so we don't know which class will win. So far, the junior boys and the senior girls sound like pretty strong frontrunners...Imua Kamehameha!

In the radiation center waiting room there is a giant television that is always tuned to Fox news. In our opinion, this is an appalling choice of waiting room programming. We think they could have slack key guitar music playing or something equally as soothing, but so far, we don't get to make those decisions. (give me time...) It is rude to be constantly bombarding cancer patients with grim news. But last week, we walked in on the tail end of a story that was actually wonderful, and not about violence and war.

If we weren't hallucinating, we believe it was a report that Stephen Sondheim intends to adapt the movie Groundhog Day into a stage musical for Broadway. Like the bookmark says, there are some things that cancer cannot do, and diminishing our pure unadulterated glee at hearing this news is one of those things. Can anybody confirm this? And if it is true ---oh joy ---- we have planned our first post-cancer trip. Save us two seats on the aisle...

We have been learning to appreciate the beauty of O`ahu. There are different birds here than there are in Hilo, and though none are native, they still give lovely morning concerts.

The air is decidedly non-voggy, and the views from Round Top are breathtaking - or breathgiving.

The Ko`olau mountains are tall, green and sentinel-like.

As Stephen Stills might say, "love the island you're with..."

Dear Kathy O. sent a section of the San Diego Union Tribune dated Feb. 26th. We were delighted to see one of Jim's credited photos. The paper must have pulled it off the USGS website. The skylight in the picture is called "cookie monster."

Our cardinal strengths are serving us well. For those of you who have been worried about me holding up, please believe that I am nothing if not resilient. I have felt the rubber in my soul flexing and bouncing again.

Jim is gathering data like the world-class scientist he is - quietly and reflectively taking in stuff - reading Lance Armstrong and other books that friends have sent.

We've got great books to dip into - kitchen table wisdom, full catastrophe living, wherever you go there you are, love medicine and miracles, lots of cancer literature, and dave barry's column every sunday.

Grammy awards night when we sat on the couch together and watched and listened as James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma played their chicken skin duet.

Jim's sense of humor is alive and well and..."surviving" last night he said he is going to name his pink throw up pail "Wilson."