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ME AND OPHELIA

Thursday, February 24, 2005

 
SNOW HERE
By the seaside

Yesterday afternoon, a dear friend brought a snazzy fire heater for us to use until the heating situation here is sorted out here. It has five electric bars radiating heat through space agey silver mesh and works with a remote control. Ophelia loves it. She is stretched out in front of the fire, basking in its light that beams brightly like the sun.

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The past four weeks have taken its toll dealing with the heating problems and getting my phone to work while I am online. Right now, I am feeling on the verge of tears. I am not feeling sorry for myself, it's just one of the many symptoms, along with physical muscle pain, that I suffer whenever I experience stress. I need to rest and may have to take another blogging break.

My friend and her husband are very kindly helping me to get the heating and phone sorted. It may take a few more weeks yet. I cannot imagine what I would have done without them over the past five years. They seem like angels to me and I am hugely grateful. If the majority of people were like them, the world would not seem so harsh.

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The next photo by Louis Leclézio, courtesy BBC, has the caption: "Geneva recently experienced a cold and windy winter. The result was ice, ice and more ice."

In the mid 1980's I visited Geneva for the day with an American friend. We had a memorable journey on the brand new TGV express from Paris. We lunched at a restaurant overlooking Lake Geneva, spent the afternoon shopping for a Swiss watch and arrived back in Paris just before midnight.

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The next photo of the Hoover Dam brings back more memories. As I lay here horizontal 23 hours a day, it seems unreal that I have walked all around Boulder and stood inside the little building at the foot of the dam. Many workers lost their lives building the dam. A few were encased in the concrete.

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Photo by Mike Abbott, courtesy BBC, with the caption: "The Hoover Dam. Taken by my son Tom Abbott while on a week's holiday in Las Vegas."

More photos at BBC.

# posted by Ingrid @ 2/24/2005

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

 
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Terri Schiavo

Today, I received an email from Tim at ProLifeBlogs "because of a critical situation that has developed in the case of Terri Schiavo."

Tim explains that today, the courts rejected the pleas of Terri’s parents to stop her husband, Michael, from withholding food and water from her. He has promised to begin starving her tomorrow at 1 pm. Here is an excerpt from Tim's email:
Terri is not a "vegetable" or "brain-dead" as Michael and his lawyers claim, but responds to others and is aware of her surroundings. She laughs, smiles and, according to her nurses, has a small vocabulary. Terri is not on life support and is healthy. She needs help eating and is fed through a tube (helping someone eat and drink who is impaired has never been considered artificial life support).

While Michael asserts he is carrying out Terri's wishes, he waited until after he received a large sum of money from a lawsuit against her doctors before making this claim. During the lawsuit, he alleged negligence and motivated a financial award with the potential cost of Terri’s rehabilitation.

However, Terri has been denied rehabilitation that experts testify could allow her to eat and talk. The courts in Florida have consistently blocked appeals to give Terri proper tests and therapy that would improve her life. Terri may not have the capabilities she once had, but she is no less valuable and no less a person.
Please see Tim's post that helps explain what you can do to help.

I have not yet read the latest reports on why the US courts rejected the pleas of Terri's parents to stop Michael Schiavo from starving their daughter, but having seen several posts on the issue, I am responding to Tim's email by blogging this in support of many bloggers who are going to a lot of trouble and effort to raise awareness of the plight of Terri Schiavo and her family.

Note, it is taking a few hours to publish this post. Either my ISP is having problems or the net is so busy, it has ground to a halt. Hopefully these two issues are contained within millions of posts zipping around the world.
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GLOBAL BLOGGER ACTION DAY CALLED TUES FEB 22
By the Committee to Protect Bloggers

Committee to Protect Bloggers blog is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites today, 22 February, to the "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day". Please see previous post here below. Thanks.