Dingle Balls 2019!

Brain cancer is...

...ready for Christmas!

When we were in the Caribbean with Beth and Geoff, somewhere in the middle of the week, the palm trees lit up and the Christmas season began.  It took until yesterday, in Dana Point, for us to see the beginning of the holiday season here in the States.

We came home from a great vacation today and celebrated with dinner at the Dog with Lennie and Christine.  Now we know it's holiday season because...we did the dingle ball drive!

Above you see the dingle balls and the reflections of a Mercedes Benz dashboard.   Yay for the first of many 2019 Dingle Ball season photos. Yay for friends with nice cars...even if said friends don’t appreciate birds.

Could life get any better?

Have time for Doheny Beach highlights?  Click here for a link.

All our best, Team D!

 

Friday is black?

Brain cancer is...

...appreciating  Friday, which was not black.

We saw many lovely sky photos from family. 

Here’s to tomorrow, the last day of November...and the launch of winter holidays!

A Whole Day for Grateful

Brain cancer is...

...thankful. Some more.

How great to spend a whole day appreciating life’s goodness together.

Finally! Vacation!

Brain cancer is....

 ...ready for Thanksgiving with family at Doheny Beach.

We enjoyed a great sunset and dinner today and are settled in for more grateful fun this weekend.

The view north

The view south

 

 

 

 

Who is enjoying this book most?

Nova and G'Mama!

Sweet, sweet babies!

Everybody’s Frolicking

Brain cancer is...

...frolicking.

Today was a great day with good balance, including lots of frolicking.  Above you see that we walked/frolicked in the park with Christine to begin our day.

It started badly when Christine asked, first, with a flat out eye roll, “Do you think we’ll see nine species of birds today?” And then she chased it with, “Most birds are rats with wings.”  Really Christine?

She redeemed herself with a sighting of this beauty...

...which I will not name because too many people apparently think I am weird.

There was so much frolicking today!  Please,  enjoy.

Team D Frolics

First, skeletons--who should definitely know better--frolicked.  We thought that all skellies hibernated starting November first.  So wrong.  Clearly.

The Mayfield twins are young, so maybe they need some guidance (Lennie?  Christine?).  But we feel worst for Sherry, whose Skelly just wants to party.

We love that her Skelly is set for a month...and we're looking forward to Skelly's New Year's choices.  We believe in you, Skelly.


Other Team D members also frolicked.

Kristine and family frolicked in Saguaro National Forest.

And Zach and Summer frolicked in the season’s first “snowed in” day in Greeley.

But nobody frolics better than a Labrador Retriever in the season's first snow.

 Alternate YouTube link (here)

We love you, Mousse. We love you Team D.

Frolic on!

G'Pops Is funny!

Brain cancer is...

...already getting great smiles from Nova.

Tiana, Alex, and Nova had one more day with us.  Yay!  We started the day with a walk at the park with Beowulf.

Beowulf and G'Pops had a great time fantasizing about how they, as a team, could take down the largest flock of pelicans we've ever seen in one place.  What the helican?

Here they are on land and in the sky:

Fall is shaping up to be a crazy bird time.  We think that these are American white pelicans, coming southward to winter in warmer places on the coast, as part of the Pacific Flyway. (Here's a link.) 


(Geoff:  Christine assured me you'd be as interested as she was in this great flock. I just realized that that's maybe not saying a lot.)

And then things got interesting.  You already know that Nova is smile gifted.  She seems particularly tickled by G'Pops.  Who isn't?

Here's an animation to capture some of her delight.

The above image is still.  Click here for the animation.

Keep smiling, Team D.  It'll delight your people.

Nova is 1 and 1 on Football Sunday

Brain cancer is....

...only partially pleased with football outcomes today.

Above you see that we brought New England to a win at Islands today.

Despite the fact that the females wore green and gold and we all ate cheesecake and pizza, we couldn’t pull a Packers’ win.  

We did, however, capture some cute views. Happy Sunday, loved ones!

Nova's Sip and See

Brain cancer is...

 

...enjoying Nova meeting family.

Today Nova was reacquainted with some family members (like Granny, Charlene, & Ryan) and met others for the first time (including Brady and Linda, Gary, Nancy, Greg, and Gordon).  Here are a few of the moments.

 

GPops

Grand Uncle Brady

Great Granny Annie

Great GPa Gordon

Grand Aunt Nancy

Grand Uncle Gary

Grand Aunt Linda and Grand Uncle Brady

And here's the four-generation picture:  Gordon, G'Pops Darrell, Papa Alex, and the star, Nova.

Much love in the house!

Five Great Things about Friday

Brain cancer is...

...very happy with our Friday, for at least five reasons.

1.  We had a great night's sleep. (Young people:  There will come a time when a six-hour stretch of sleep feels like a gift from the gods.  You'll see.)

2.  Our walk at the park was beautiful. It was so lovely, in fact, that fellow walkers stopped us to comment on it.  Shared loveliness is the best kind of beauty.

Additionally, we saw eight bird species.  Yes, we often see birds, but never so many species in one day.  (Here's one:  Summer's spirit animal, the hawk. We miss Summer and feel happy when we see her animal.)

3.   I found the kitchen again and baked.  And it's only November! (The roasting pan is for a water bath for the cheesecake. Duh.)

4.  We had a great day at home, putting things back in order after vacation.

5.  I one-click shopped this gift for GPops. Any day is a great day with a Darrell smile.  (Nova, this is graduate level Dr. Seuss.  It'll be a while before you're ready for the majesty of Mr. Sneelock. Be patient, sweet child.)

And a bonus great thing:  We think we'll go to bed at 9:00 again.  Luxury!

Here's hoping your day had at least five great things too, Team D!  Welcome to the weekend.

A Thursday Friday in Movember

Brain cancer is...

...celebrating Movember with Gordon.

Movember is the month to sport a mustache (however you do so) and give special attention to men’s physical and mental health issues.

Check out Gordon’s Movember stache, above.

Rock on, Gordon.  Rock on bro’s.

We May as WELL be on Grand Cayman!

Brain cancer is...

...finding many parallels between our Caribbean and Californian lives today.

Last week's Caribbean chocolate cake:

Today's Californian chocolate cake:

Last week's Caribbean rainstorm:

Alternate YouTube Link

Today's Californian rainstorm:

 Alternate YouTube Link

Last week's Caribbean sharp dressed man:

Today's Californian sharp dressed man:

We conclude that life is pretty great, wherever we are.

Team D., Meet Tim!

Today we had the pleasure of hanging with--for the second time--Tim, a fellow Optune user.

You know that Darrell lives a life of gratitude.  In the early days after diagnosis, one thing Darrell was very grateful for was that it was he, and not his sons, who received a GBM diagnosis.

At 28, Tim could be one of Darrell's sons.  And he received the diagnosis.  And GBM is not his first cancer diagnosis.  It's his third.

Check out Tim's blog (here), Team D., for Tim's story and his awesome tagline:  "I don't live with cancer.  Cancer lives with me."

Thanks for your inspiration, Tim.  Thanks for taking cancer for a ride.  Until we meet again.

"I have never in my LIFE seen that."

Brain cancer is...

 ...stymied.

In all the time we spend at parks, we see many wondrous gadgets.  One example from today is a leaf blower on wheels.  However, most are familiar to us.

Upon spotting the above contraption this morning, Darrell exclaimed, " I have never in my LIFE seen that!"

Have you?

Vacation Lens Pic

It may not be the Caribbean, but...

...here's a sunset over Brea.

Darrell, the Bringer of Chips

Brain cancer is...

 ...veeerrry popular with Andi’s grad students.

All four of Darrell's and Andi's feet are back planted firmly in our work world.

No, really, it's okay. 

The day was very productive.  For example, as is usual, Darrell ensured that Andi's students had salty, empty calories to crunch loudly for stress relief throughout class.

Above you see the only six chip packs that survived tonight's session.  Everyone is just a little better off as a result.  Chip bringer mission?  Accomplished!

Grand Cayman Catalog

Also okay?  We're pressing those vacation lenses close to our faces, refusing to remove them.  Here are a few lists that Beth, Geoff, Darrell and Andi created as we catalogued our amazing trip.

Reptile Sightings

(Missing:  a blue iguana sighting.  Next time, blue guys!)

Green iguana

Northern curly tailed lizard

Snorkel Spottings

Angel fish

Banded butterfly fish

Blue tang

Graysby (grouper)

Sargassum triggerfish

Spanish hogfish

Squirrelfish

Tarpon

Triggerfish

Countries of People Who Shared Their Stories

Albania
Argentina
England
France
Latvia
Canadians
Philippines
Grand Cayman
Hungary
India
Norway
Peru
Sweden
Zimbabwe



US Stories:  Represent.
Detroit
Long Beach
Lodi
New York
Kansas City
Murrieta
Texas



One benefit of lists?  Seeing what's missing in order to plan for next time!