Sunday, June 19, 2016

Turning in the Widening Gyre

My father in 2011, before the Parkinson's diagnosis
A very brief post here. My father passed away on the last day of May.  He was a few months shy of 88 years old.  He hadn't walked since some back surgeries about eleven years ago, though for some of those years he could get about the house with a walker. He endured lots of health problems, from pneumonias to broken ankles, but Parkinson's Disease was the most debilitating, relentless to the very end, leaving a working mind trapped inside a wasting and barely-responsive body. I was his caregiver. The last three or four years were very difficult, to put it mildly. The last six months were appalling, more so for him, of course, but appalling for me as well, if in different ways. Now his suffering is over. I'm grateful to many sympathetic friends who have helped me to keep going through this difficult time. And I'm looking forward to getting back to a number of projects that have stalled at various points over the years while filial duties took precedence.

On a much lighter note, Mashable has put out a three-minute version of Peter Jackson's Hobbit films.  It's just the right length.  View it here.  Enjoy.