'. . .my purse is empty. . .'

Being an inveterate people watcher, I can't stop myself from a) watching and b) photographing the watchees. These three were admiring Marc Chagall's paintings in Philadelphia this spring. I liked the progression of the smaller work and short lady to larger painting and taller women, with Erica listening and viewing. So, I present you V for viewing, viewers and viewee [me]. Visit ABC Wednesday for more vees.

My name is Marc, my emotional life is sensitive

and my purse is empty,

 but they say I have talent. 

Marc Chagall

enough already!

In an effort to curb my complaining about our late spring, I found some lovely reminders of the hardiness of Minnesota flora with these examples to send on to Today's Flowers.

Lady Bird Johnson once wrote: Where flowers bloom so does hope. Words to remember for the week ahead. Dr. Daughter is coming for a few days' visit this week so I concur. That will mean sunshine aplenty.

A multitude of small delights constitutes happiness.

 Charles Baudelaire

L is for laughter, bright and beautiful

I'm late posting for ABC Wednesday, having to over think everything. . .but, who doesn't love the sound of laughing babies? In particular these bathing beauties. That's ticklish Dr. Erica [who will turn 30 this Saturday!] on the left and little Audrey on the right in our back yard in Virginia with their dad, early '80's. Finding this old photo of my dear ones truly lifted my day. Hope it does yours too.

Visit Mrs Nesbitt here for more lovely L's.

Hand to Heart

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:

it goes on. — Robert Frost

Last year this month I attended Erica's match day at Georgetown--to see where she would be doing her residency. As we waited for her group to be given their envelopes to be opened at the stroke of noon, the nervous energy was palpable which lead to Erica's racing heart. That's my hand on the left feeling her pulse in her throat while her hand holds her scarf.
H is for heart and hands. Remember? she had open heart surgery to replace a faulty valve only three months before she started Medical School. Now her hands help heal patients she sees in the emergency room.
See more H's at Mrs Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday.

always watch for pedestrians

Frogs, be they ever so pedestrian, are my pick for ABC Wednesday's letter du jour, F. Above is a photo of now Dr. Erica on a vacation in Maine when she was in third grade. Already a budding scientist, she was amazed & a bit nonplussed, at finding this little guy in our hosts' front yard.

Fast forward to the present when Dave and I were visiting our favorite pie spot, the Norske Nook in Wisconsin, where we were momentarily distracted from our rhubarb pie to watch this intrepid frog scale the window with its two beady eyes on the hanging geraniums above.

More F-u-n here.

'I'd like to see Paris before I die. . .

. . .Philadelphia will do.
Mae West

Just flew in from Philadelphia and boy, are my arms tired! after spending a long Halloween weekend visiting Erica. We spent one day downtown and another out in the gorgeous Pennsylvania countryside at a pumpkin patch/dairy [read: pumpkin ice cream]. On Halloween night we took a trolley ride through old Philly looking for ghosts. The rest of the time was pretty much filled with eating pretzels or cheese steaks and watching scary movies. Below are some city views:

Above is a mural view of the hospital in Center City where she is doing her emergency medicine residency. The ER is around the corner.


More downtown views

Can you tell I had a great time? Its always hard to say goodbye to her. . .

D is for Duct Tape, or a lesson in style

On Erica's first day of her residency at the ER, she found her car had been broken into during the night before, and title and insurance cards stolen. She was left with a pile of glass inside and outside the car and a wounded sense of justice. We like to refer to it as 'The Army of Wrongness' on the move again--if you've read Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's you know just what I'm talking about. So, armed with a clear shower curtain and duct tape, this is how she shook her fist at stupidity. Who knew there could be such stylish duct tape!?

Or as Orson Welles said, “Create your own visual style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.” More D words to see at ABC Wednesday.

Wordless Wednesday. . .or before she was a doctor

she's gonna fly now

Under the radar for the past two weeks, we're back from an incredible experience. On May 23rd our youngest daughter, Erica Joy, graduated from Georgetown School of Medicine as a doctor of emergency medicine. Pride, joy, love, excitement, memories. . .these words barely scratch the surface of our emotions as we watched her move across the stage and into her new life after four grueling and incredible years.
The benediction for the commencement included a plea to the Creator on behalf of the 'young warriors' to 'look down and call them to do extraordinary things' using 'their own deep gladness which can meet the desperate needs of the world.' They left DAR Constitution Hall to the theme from Star Wars--fitting battle music!
We helped her move to Philadelphia the next week where she will begin three years of residency at Hahnemann University Hospital. When Erica was little I used to raise her little toddler arms singing the theme from the film Rocky because she was such a tough, energetic and curious creature. Little did I know she'd start her career in the same city years later. Life is sweet that way.

Grand-Cats on CameraCritters

Meet my very own grand-cats making their debut on Camera Critters. Above is Baby [aka Baby Phat, Fatima, Fatsa, etc.] who belongs to Erica and lives in cat luxury in Washington, D.C. She's a rescue cat who had lived on the street for a time resulting in some residual, umm, weirdness. We think she is a black variety Korat Cat, all black with a tiny white star on her chest--even black whiskers!
This is a Maine Coon Cat who owns Audrey and also lives in the lap of luxury in Chicago. Before she came to Audrey, she had a neglected past, and was later rescued by someone who named her Squirrel. Dave and I especially like playing volley ball with her--she sits, we throw a sparkly ball which she spikes across the room, we go get it. . .and so on.

More beautiful creatures here.

red in my neighborhood

Erica and a bit of her red [favorite color] umbrella as she walks the red brick sidewalks in Georgetown.

Bright reds of Impatiens gracefully circling this lovely front porch in a St. Paul neighborhood--note the tree is full of deep red crab apples too. A timely reminder from another neighborhood, in red and turquoise. To my eyes it doesn't get any better than that.

Celebrate Tuesday by visiting Mary's cheerful meme Ruby Tuesday.

Y

what's a mom to do?

[Erica on left]

Last night five students from Georgetown Medical School had been selected to participate in a special taping at the White House of an ABC News t.v. program–Primetime’s “Questions for the President: Prescription for America.” Our Erica was one of the five. Here's the question she posed:

I am interested in providing medical care to all patients in need regardless of their ability to pay, but I will graduate medical school next year with over $200,000 in loans and I worry about how I will fulfill my professional and personal goals as well as meet my financial obligations. How do you plan to extend quality medical coverage to the growing number of un- or under-insured Americans while protecting health care provider compensation in light of the soaring cost of tuition? I come from working class roots in Idaho, and getting to (and through!) medical school has been both a personal and financial struggle for me. I have a congenital heart condition for which I underwent open heart surgery in the year I started medical school. Although I have always been insured, the uncovered portion of the medical expenses has always been burdensome for me, especially as a student living on loans without parental support. I forgo regular follow-up examinations, and have in the past chosen between getting an echocardiogram and buying books. Despite the hardships I have experienced related to the high cost of healthcare, I am fortunate to even have a degree of insurance. Many people close to me, particularly younger friends and family, have no coverage at all. This means that they do not receive regular life-saving screenings or preventive health care measures, and are one medical emergency away from financial collapse. The problem extends beyond my immediate circle, and requires urgent action by those in healthcare and the government. Throughout my career I hope to contribute to the extension of quality healthcare to all in need.

Unfortunately she wasn't able to ask President Obama during the program...let's just say it was a very media-oriented agenda designed for Diane Sawyer & Charlie Gibson to pimp the President using the most general issues in the shortest amount of time with way too many commercials. You can read all the students' questions concerning health care reform in a letter written by the School of Medicine's class president and later given to Obama here.

[Erica second on left]

To say Dave and I were ecstatically proud of her would be an understatement. She was excited to be in the White House, meet the President and since she is committed to health care change we were glad she was able to participate.

Catch me if you can!

Time marches on. . . .
we're highlighting C on Round 4 of ABC Wednesday.

C for me always reminds me of my maiden name, Cuoio, which means leather in Italian. Perhaps there were shoemakers in our family. As leather goes, I do know there were cousins who left Italy and traveled to South America to work as gauchos on ranches there. Then there's the sugary delight with never ending versions: the 'Betty Crocker' cupcake from my favorite place, Cupcake in Minneapolis. If you'd like, I'll meet you there for lunch; Tomato Basil Soup and a baby cake, o.k.?

American Impressionist painter, Mary Cassatt with several of many paintings and drawings of children. My favorite being the last on the right because Erica used her left index finger as a binkie when she was a baby too. Sweet memories and likely some needed orthodontic work as a result!

The book that most influenced me during my tentative adolescence, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. While the rest of my lit class was involved with the class reading list, I kept this book in my desk and surreptitiously read it instead. Eloquent, tortured bad-boy Holden Caulfield became my James Dean and I've never quite let go of that crush.Finally, one of my favorites, Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli.

Visit Mrs Nesbitt to see other bloggers' C-words for ABC Wednesday.