trying new things

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The wall

August 27, 2009 in Moments by admin | Comments

A couple of weeks ago my niece visited from Boston. We drove her through Rocky Mountain National Park and came home through Winter Park.

I think it was in Winter Park where we found this little climbing wall in a children’s outdoor park. The wall is about twice the height of an adult, and children climb it with their parent spotting them.

Well, as an adult, I would never have thought to climb this children’s wall.  But my plucky niece, who is 20, clambered right up it.

So then I wondered if I could do it. Let’s see…stage IV cancer, recovering from 12 rounds of chemo – did I have what it takes anymore?

I decided to find out. (You can see a child with his parent in the background, as the wall is meant to be used.)

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The beginning


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The triumphant conclusion







































This breathtaking feat gave me enough confidence to consider another sport: kayaking. More about that later.


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In the mountains

August 14, 2009 in Moments by admin | Comments

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Me on the trail

I have been enjoying my “time off” since chemo ended in early January, although I’m still receiving one drug every other week. It has taken my body quite a while to recover from the heavy-duty chemo; I’m not there yet and am learning to live with the chemo after-effects that still remain. If they improve with time, great. In the meantime, I will keep enjoying my life.

My hair grew in a tad curlier than before. The older I get, the curlier my hair gets. I can’t believe I used to have perfectly straight hair when I was young.


I have PET/CT scan scheduled for early September.


A friend and I drove to Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday to hike and sketch. We packed a lunch and art supplies – various kinds of colored pencils and watercolors – and hit the trail to two lakes. Yes, I made it, and with an 18-pound pack!


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Nymph Lake

I will never carry so much again. All I really need for art is a sketchpad, an eraser, and a couple of pencils – no color. I do need my camera, always.


In addition to an excess of art supplies, I toted heavy lunch portions of way too many veggies and grapes, which are full of water. (And I also carried in [but not out] three trays of ice cubes to keep the food cool!) We had enough bottled water and didn’t need more water in the food.


But we made it and had such a wonderful time! One of the lakes had water lilies in it with yellow blooms. Gorgeous place.

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