hi dear friends,
It's been a bit of a challenge to keep up with all the emails coming in, so thought we would try this as a way to stay in touch and keep you updated about Fred.
(He's gone out to get some air and feeling a bit stronger today).
Thank you so much for the outpouring of support and love!
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22 comments:
we love you Fred!
meg and mikki
Pat and Fred, hang in there. I know how hard these times can be. It WILL get better. I went through something similar with my grandfather and though it didn't seem so early on, he made huge improvements in time.
Fred, you must get better soon so that we can share some key lime pie.
Lalena and Tom
You both are loved so much. We are rooting for you and praying for you. I am thrilled to read Fred got out a bit today! We'll figure out a time to get Andrew at least north.
Safe journeys, Meg!
"Goldfinches" by Mary Oliver
Some goldfinches were having a melodious argument at the edge of a puddle. The birds wanted to bathe, or perhaps just to dip their heads and look at themselves, and they were having trouble with who should be first, and so on. So they discussed it while I stood in the distance, listening. Perhaps in Tibet, in the old holy places, they also have such fragile bells. Or are these birds really just that, bells come to us—come to this road in America—let us bow our heads and remember now how we used to do it, say a prayer. Meanwhile the birds bathe and splash and have a good time. Then they fly off, their dark wings opening from their bright, yellow bodies; their tiny feet, all washed, clasping the air.
Holding you in my heart, your names whispered in my prayers.
Loving you,
M.
Fred, Angel sends kisses.
Pat, now I know who can help me improve the blog page for my speech class.
love to you both,
carolyn
Hey, we would love to know when Meg's plane arrives. Mikki, if you get a moment and could shoot us an email I'd really appreciate it.
I also hope that you are doing all right and whatever happened with your grandma has come to a happy conclusion. What a strange time this is.
Thanks,
Marguerite & Andrew
Everything
has to do with loving and not loving.
This night will pass.
Then we have work to do.
~Jelaluddin Rumi
Blessing Words for Pat and Fred
when you cannot see us
we are still here, around you
in a bigger circle than you can know
we are loving you
when you think you are falling
we will be the ground
under your feet
we are holding you
some things do not change
when you can, rest
against the things that do not change
they speak peace
even here, even now
there is their peace
and our love
time is too expensive, sometimes
so there is only this moment
and this love
like your love for each other
so too, you are loved
may you feel it and know it
among the things that do not change
Fred on Friday>>>>>Yesterday was a very good day for Fred. He is now in room #387, which is rehab, and more tranquil....a private room with a cot for Pat. Pat stood guard by his door so Fred could get some solid hours of uninterrupted sleep which did him much good. His physical therapist was surprised and very enthusiastic with his improvement, that with her help, Fred was able to stand upright. That , apparently earned him a wheelchair. This was a huge advance....to have Fred sitting upright, alert and determined to be working towards health. In rehab, patients can wear their own clothes, so to see Fred looking like himself, watching the Penobscot River flow by, was more beautiful than I can relate.
nance
In re-reading the blog I just offered, I realize that days are now rated on a whole different scale than before. Fred and Pat likely didn't see it as a 'very good day'....in fact, in so many ways it was lousy and hard beyond belief. But the progress was wonderful and heartening.
nance
Fred...Virtually present! And loving you through another day of gaining!
Pat...just breathe....in strength, out stress, in love, out stress, in compassion, out stress..in, out, in, out....
XXXOOOO,
m.
When I just spoke to Pat, I could hear you, in the background, making comments on what she was talking about. Sounds like normal to me!
Yesterday, in the Friday art class I have been teaching, I used two Fred-ism's. "if you can't attach it one way find another." and "Someone will like it." The kids thought the second saying was hysterical and kept repeating it all morning.
I send both of you courage, synergy, and love.
Buzz
Sending love to you both from half-way around the globe. We're anxious to join the communal embrace. Together we'll get us all through this.
xoxooxo,
J&D
I am crawling into a new technology tunnel, I can feel the whirl and the shicka shicka boom.
I just love this big tentacled letter with a million folks about to jump on, I am all about gettin in here right away!
Leave it to Fred to be responsible for my continuing education. Even when I won’t listen and I can’t learn I agree with Buzz, “somebuddie’s” wise words are rattlin around in my head and makin me a little more sensible and with the glint of a smile on my face – cause with those words I’m appearin to be a little wise. God forbid a fool like me considerin myself wise.
I learn’d somethin this winter, at least, I came to an agreement with myself, that great art is about empathy. That is the soul in it/of it. I believe this now. Technique and technology, chops, all that jazz is the structure that holds it, but without the empathy there is no art there. That, I think, I learn’d from Fred too, but I didn’t know how to articulate it.
I’m doing extra knee bends, and leg lifts, and push ups or pull downs, or twist this thats, whatever is needed to take the pressure off my favorite teacher in perpetuity “sympathetic calisthenics” just for you Fred. All my love, Annie O
ok I was taking Fred out in the wheelchair for a visual break and to see his blog. this required leaving rehab and going down to the lobby
to pick up wireless. I showed him the blog, we read people's entries, Fred was moved by it but exhausted. each small task is exhausting. so
i brought him up to third floor but said to him do you want to see the river...yes....so we visited the river. I spoke about the Salmon River Estuary in Oregon and now this river with the ice flows
breaking up for spring and I thought of the Eagle and told him about the eagle who flew over my head with the other 3 artist/writers on
our hike last week (can that be possible)up the mountain, Cascade Head or Bald Mountain as the Indians named it. so i asked him to remember our hike last year up that same mountain and to close our eyes and pray to the eagle spirit or great spirit or whatever is sacred ...to pray for the returned use of his beautiful left hand, so
like the eagles ...strong usually like a vice grip...then i talked about Deepak Chopra and his insistence that there are no coincidences
that everything is ripe with meaning....I don't know why i was saying that but nance and I had been talking about that and the interesting
things we had been told by Buzz from the woman in NM....balance, trust etc.the breaking open of the heart chakkra... with that i see
an eagle fly down the river and land on the bank. i pointed and said well there you go. that eagle is telling us something...so we moved
on in search of art supplies from occupational therapy. the nurse at the desk took us down the hall and found a few supplies. fred wants
to draw.....and there were 3 people in that room chatting together privately...one, an elderly woman in wheelchair with lovely and
lively eyes the other two were Olympia Snowe and her husband. the older woman is his aunt who shares rehab!!!!with Fred....chew on that!!!!!!!! i of course greeted the senator reminding her that she
may remember me as I spend a great deal of time in her office. said in a non threatening way...then I told her about Fred, there with me in the wheelchair and we proceeded to converse in a most kind way. her husband is very nice. she was easy.....so god what is going on!!!!
Meg called, she is in Portland making her way north. Tom called will arrange to fly east to overlap with Meg who will be with us for 10
days. they will xray Fred to see if he fractured anythin when he fell he has great pain in the hip now.
pat
O my god....how was that for synchronicity!! You two and Olympia meeting in the most human of ways. That timing is so encouraging to me...the great, perfectly choreographed dance.
I felt you both so keenly...you had all my attention most of the night. The opening of the heart is so tangible...I feel it as a pressure and a yearning and a sob, smack in the middle of my chest.
I love you both dearly.
nance
So with Olympia there, is this more of the threading together of our lives to create some balance? And than I think maybe just the word Olympia related to Olympics. Isn't Fred having his own kind of Olympics? The redefining of muscle and movement? The courage it takes to break open your heart chakkra, the courage and compassion it takes to unbind your heart, these are olympian quests.
I loved your drawings.
And I love you all. So glad Meg is here!
From one heart breaker to another,
Buzz
Dear Fred,
this is Irena speaking, for myself and Chris (not that he would normally like to be spoken for).
We feel as if we know you - reflected in Pat herself, from the lovely DVDs from Deer Isle that she let us view a while ago, from your brooches and rings that she wears so well.
We are thinking about you, cheer at the reports of your gains and improvements, and toast you and Pat frequently in the best aussie red wine we can get our hands on. The Cascade Head community is with you! They all keep asking about you.
I was reading messages from your many friends here - and the one referring to the two "Freddisms" really got to me. The first one '...find another way' resonates with my sometimes dificult European heritage; the second one 'somebody will like it' has just changed me!
So keep on!!!
We hope to see you and Particia in Australia sooner rather than later.
our warmest thoughts for every day.
Irena and Chris.
Act two-- after a slight delay. I am nurturing the artistic soul of the Sanitary Engineer at Baltz Elem. School, where the Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education offices have moved. He's a great fan of rock and roll and his collages are for the Moody Blues and other rock bands. I don't know squat compared to him in the rock music scene. But he is putting his heart into these and so I am looking at them with seriousness. Annie O. Thinkin of you!!!!!
Fred- Martyrdom doesn't become you. There is much remaining to be done and it's piling up, awaiting your brilliant (and humorous)resolutions. Florida, in particular, still needs a lot of work. I can't do it all by myself. Come back to work!
We wish you a full and speedy recovery! Much love.
John Cogswell and Barbara Chapman
Fred,
Just wanted to send you my own dose of positive, healing energy. I am praying you have a full and swift recovery.
All my best,
Kevin Whitmore
Fred,
Sending you the laughter and energy from my 4 1/2 month old son Xavier. He is just learning to crawl with vim and vigor.
love,
Kathryn Pearce
Please let "Uncle Fred" know that Erich Vierthaler just heard that he is dealing with health issues. We would like to send him our best wishes for a speedy recovery. (Erich is the oldest son of Art & Ruth & a former college room mate)
Take good care.
Nancy
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