Ange -

And if it should not be you, after all -
Down the long passage, turning in the hall;
Or slipping at a distance through the light
Of streetlamped corners just within my sight;
I will not then turn back into my room,
Chilled and disheartened wrapped in angry gloom;
But warm myself to think the mind should send
So many shades of you to be my friend...

Gordon R. Dickson

A real treestory from Highland Park, Rochester NY

A Wrench

Sometimes, when a wrench gets thrown into things, the results can be beautiful...

Goodbye Four Eyes!

I have been dependent on corrective lenses for sixteen years. For the last five or so of those years I have been contemplating laser eye surgery. Just the thought of being able to open my eyes in the ocean or wake up in the middle of the night and see the time on my alarm clock or watch a movie from the back row or go for a jog on a windy day or go camping and not have to worry about dropping a contact in the dirt - all of these things would be a dream come true - and finally that dream came true. For the last 24 hours I have had 20/20 vision - without glasses or contacts. Yesterday I underwent the Lasik procedure to correct the myopia that has been a burden since I was sixteen years old. It is a miracle. I could see immediately. Riding home from the surgery in my sister's car I began laughing robustly. My sister asked me what was wrong. Nothing was wrong. I could read every street sign and every business sign as if I were wearing glasses. But I wasn't! I was giddy with delight. I could see! I could see everything! This gift of sight is phenomenal. I can only imagine how much better it will be once my eyes have completely healed and my vision becomes even sharper.

Now for the educational part (because I'm a bit of a geek):

LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis and is a procedure that permanently changes the shape of the cornea, the clear covering of the front of the eye, using an excimer laser. An instrument, called a microkeratome, is used to cut a flap in the cornea, leaving a hinge at one end of the flap. The flap is folded back reavealing the stroma, the middle section of the cornea, and pulses from a computer-controlled laser vaporize a portion of the stroma changing the shape of the cornea. Then the flap is replaced and smoothed back over the eye. The cornea helps focus light to create an image on the retina, much like the lens of a camera focuses light to create an image on film. By reshaping the cornea its focusing power can be improved and, thereby, vision corrected.

My attractive post-op goggles

The Imperial Cities of Morocco

After getting used to seat-less toilets, persistent touts, and pervasive feral cats, Morocco really is the most invigorating of places. My sister Sarah and I took a whirlwind ten-day trip this past October to get lost and wowed by a country that is equally old world and bustling metropolis. From the daily calls to prayer infiltrating the cities through loudspeakers to the mule drivers shouting "balak" (look out) in the medinas, to the pungent smell of the Fes tanneries - this small North African country is a sensory overload.

Knowing zero Arabic and little French, it was a big relief to meet up with my AT hiker friend, Mack, who was doing a semester abroad in Ilfrane. She can carry on a whole conversation in Arabic (which turned out to be a disadvantage when we found ourselves on a 40 minute taxi ride with a loquacious and persistent driver who wanted Mack to marry his son). All Moroccan craziness aside, we had great time fumbling around the medinas, sipping mint tea at sidewalk cafes, and searching for hotels with clean sheets.

See more pictures on Shutterfly - click on the link at right under "Moments Captured".