BWHS '66 Mens Lunch Group @ Beer Barrel Pizza Dublin, Aug 16, 2023
L-R: Mike Del Bianco, Dave Roush, Bill Tribbie, Brian McNamara, Me, Joe McCarthy, Kevin Ryan & Jim Merckling. Chuck Kaps also attended but was away from the table when our server took the picture.
Department of Absolutetly Nothing To Do With Anything:
Many of you have heard of Andre Rieu, the Dutch Violinist and orchesra leader who has sort of become a Europe's modern day Laurence Welk. I stumbled upon this video the other night and cannot stop listening to it, over, and over, and over.
This may be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen!
I am head over heels in love with 15 year old Emma Kok.
Note: She is Dutch, singing herein French. The words are something about "That's it, I just want you to love me. I write stories that I want you to read."
Her little brother is in the orchestra and her older brother, ENZO is also a viloist sitting in the crowd.
(P.s. I love hearing her speak Dutch in other videos. It is such a fun language to listen to.)
....... I dare you not to get a lump in your throat !
Inquiring minds want to know - ? Congenital esophageal atresia? (Where developmentally the esophagus is shorter, ends blindly and does not connect to the stomach.)
This is a different singer, but this video supplies the French with English translation. The song was so powerfully rendered by young Emma Kok that I had to find out what she was actually saying since my French could not begin to keep up.
Yes, esophageal atresia would require a percutaneous (inserted into the stomach through the skin) feeding tube in order to supply nutrition.
Although this is a bit out of my area of expertise, I assume that as an infant/child the patient would be too small to permanently surgically attach the esophagus to the stomach (create an anastomosis) as well as present difficulties as the patien's internal organs grow and so that surgery would have to be delayed until the patient was more fully grown. Feeding tubes could also be a permanent solution but those can be difficult to manage and be a portal that could be subject to infection and other complications. Delayed surgical repair - and there may be several methods that could be used - would seem to me to be the good approach.
Again, the video did not give her definitive diagnosis but esophageal atresia is certainly a likely possibility.
Jim
P. S.
Upon searching the Internet I found that Emma suffers from gastroparesis, not esophageal atresia. That is a totally different condition in which the nerves that control stomach peristalsis movements are impaired thus gastric emptying is impaired. There are several disorders that can cause this. Treatment is usually with medications but they are often only partially effective. Electrical stimulation ("gastric pacemakers") may help some patients. Percutaneous tube feedings are needed in many cases.
Several posts back Mike M. brought up something that I am sure rang true for most of us. He said:
We were surely lucky to have the childhoods we did. I know the passage of time turns everything into a sentimental watercolor, but even flat out objectively we had a privileged, wondrous collective childhood in a time of peace and prosperity.
This reminded me of a song by Mary Chapin Carpenter that I did a cover of (and no doubt posted here before, although I am sure it was several years ago at least, so hopeflly it will bear revisting). Ms. Carpenter is ten years younger than us, so the line about being held on her father's shoulders while watching RFK's funeral train pass by obviously does not apply to our expereince age-wise or geographic-wise, but aside from that I am sure we all can identify with the Moms calling across the yard for the kids to come home, or the skipping of stones, or the riding of bikes, etc. etc. So here it is again to get your nostalgic juices flowing.
Ok I know we're avoiding politics but I've thought about this a long time and I won't respect myself if I don't come out and say that If we just elected a president based on the coolness of his name, Vivek Ramaswamy wins going away. That's a name you could use as a mantra.
First ever tropical storm warning in history for southern california. We get them all the time in Florida but the west coast waters are cooler. Or used to be.
Perhaps the globe is warming. Just a thought. For you landlubbers hurricanes form mor easily in warm offshore waters,
In other news you might see stories about a shyster who staged a fake exhibit of Basquiat paintings in Orlando so he could turn around and sell them for millions. He embarrassed our museum, which had hired him as its director and got taken in by the guy. As I did, I'm ashamed to say.
I didn't see through him but my sweetie had his number from the get go.
I have no idea why this woman is with me. I feel like I won the lottery by mistake.
WOW. That waterfall shot. You framed it perfectly and the colors just jump right out at you. I can just hear that water and feel that mist in my face. That is one beautiful photo. It makes me want to be there.
Meanwhile down here in the "Low Country", 2 views of the May River (Johnny Mercer's inspiration for his song, Moon River. He lived in Savannah and had a house here in Bluffton on the river.
A sunset from our short dock....about 100 feet straight out from my front door.
And a shot in the other direction across our "deep water" dock (about 50 yards to my left) looking towards Hilton Head Island.
The neighbors sometimes gather on the dock to watch Dolphins swim by, or share a drink and some conversation (when the breeze is "up" and the mosquiitos and "no-see-ums" are "down"). The covered porton at the end of the "fixed" pier is about a 15 foot square of bench seating. The outer portion is on a large hinge that allows the boat dock portion to rise and fall with the tides (between about 8 and 11 feet). That varies by monthly lunar factors. The rise and fall is about every 6 hours, 12 minutes and a few seconds. The view is never the same.
The local "Shreeimp" are delicious in the summer, and the "Ohystas" are to die for in the months ending in "R".
Added later (almost forgot - we also tie boats to, and swim off of that lower free floating dock at the bottom end of that silver ramp)
Thanks for adding some Southern images for World Photography Day.
Mike McL,
Thanks, that was one of my favorite shots of Hayden Run Falls in Columbus. It was running full after some summer rains. And, you are correct, due to the spray I backed up to keep the camera from experiencing a dousing of water!
Also, by your statement "it makes me want to be there", confirms one of my objectives in landscape photography: creating a scenic that draws the viewer into the picture.
Beautiful capture of an Aurora Borealis on a stary night and super composition with the reflecting body of water. I envy you for staying up late, doing those night time photographs and probably fighting more than a few mosquitoes. But that's what it takes to make an awesome photograph!
Kudos! Please keep sharing your photos on this Forum!
Thanks Jim, Shooting the night sky does indeed push hard against my usual 9:30 ish bedtime but once you're out there, in the middle of the night and middle of nowhere, all by yourself, it gets pretty exciting. In June, that far north, it really isn't completely dark until 11:30 which is when I started shooting that series of pictures. Also, night sky photography is pretty simple. All you need is a tripod, a remote shutter release and a fairly wide angle lens. Select "Bulb" on the camera, set your ISO to 3200 or 6400 and expose for 30 sec. Actually, I'm seeing pretty decent night sky shots from the iPhone 14... Love your shot of Fall by the way. And David, the reports of my existance are greatly exaggerated. Wish I could have been at the gathering a couple weeks ago. I am amazed at how important my childhood relationships have become to me in my old age. I was so privilidged to grow up where and when I did and I know that many of you feel the same way. Love to you all...
