Let's Face it

Sometimes I see tourists at Morro Rock in Morro Bay and they actually get out of their car to throw away their fast food wrapper into the gull food dispenser and trash disbursement unit. Occasionally they will be so venturesome as to approach the water and take a picture, usually of a ground squirrel. I like to approach these people and see if I can get them to line up their faces with the Big Face on BirdShit Rock and trust me with their camera. I got George to do it with a friend here. Everyone should do it. I think I got 5 people once. I always wanted to have a big concert event at the Rock, Rock at the Rock, and show surf movies on the Rock. I didn't get it done.



I wonder if there are places on this earth that are channels of healing energy. The Salinan and Chumash Indians have been using the Rock in their ceremonies for many years, and I may have found some spots here at Stanford. If you look at this Google Earth shot looking down at The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, 200' from my room, you can see that the hospital has an open center with terraces and gardens from each floor. There is a fountain in the center of the first floor, and then more gardens off each floor. The shadows in this pic do not help - the first floor garden is half in shade. If you Google Earth these coordinates you can zoom around it better.

These small gardens create little private places where families can go and work with the universal forces they need to help bring them to completion and if not harmony, the power to go on; plants and water fountains help them stay connected to the life forces they are clinging to. And here is my point - That cement walkway that circumnavigates the very top layer of the hospital is the rooftop garden. I read there every day. You can only access it from a certain elevator and with a secret code that never changes and they will give any patient. The elevator closes at about 6pm, so if I go at 5:45 I have my own rooftop garden, sunsets, views, yell at the sky, pound my chest, but most of all I soak in all the hope and healing energy I can that is emanating up through all the floors of that hospital and those gardens below me. At least I can think that.

There are so many people helping us get through this time and space, and we appreciate all that has been offered and done, so much help from our neighbors the Kaspians and the Campbells, watching over the Fiore lads in their susceptible times. It really helps us deal with the stresses of dealing with the medical side.













This is a reunion Dana and I stumbled on, of 20 year Bone Marrow Transplant recipient/donors. It felt so hopeful!


Nick Blozan came to visit yesterday, here he is at Rodin's Gates of Hell, and looking like he just escaped! We had such a different visit than in '05. I think I was pretty sick then, and this time we were trying to figure out how to get 9 holes in on Tiger Woods' college course. The second pic we are at the Arizona Cactus Garden, in front of this giant gnarly cactus that could guard the gates of hell. The Arizona Cactus Garden is also a special healing spot on this earth, with these plants that can thrive on so little and yet offer so much protection.

We walked all around, and went to the California Cafe for an appetizer, had a great time. Nick has been like a brother to me since the day I met him, and was integral in teaching my kids the finer points of machismo cussing, emphasis, and timing. I had a large collection of Championship Softball t-shirts in large part because of Nick's ability to get people to get it done, and not look to see if you were bleeding after you got drilled by a 120mph 'soft'ball in the shin. If I threw a walk, I would hear him at shortstop - 'Would you just pull your head out??'. Love that guy. I posted his kid's pics earlier, so I need a pic of his wife Dyan so you can see how his kids ended up good-looking.

I remember the faces I had, like pictures that hang on the walls of my house, and then I am mildly shocked to find the mirror with today's face. I was organizing photos and getting hung up on the faces and remembering the aspects of joy from some of them. When I was rooted to the center of the universe through Willie Mays' chair in the Bing Dining Room, I felt I was connected to all time, that the universe was made of arteries and veins and synapses, that all these faces we had we still have, somewhere.

I am a great believer in the great cosmic soup, and a great wonderer of who made the soup. I've said before, I cannot fathom the incomprehensible, even using the other 95% of my brain, so instead I give you these faces old and new.

This is my Mom and Dad.

This is Patience, granddaughter of Mike and Sue, sweet and smart and loving life.





This is my Dad and my sister Lisa looking fabulous.

This is me at 24, before steroids.

I am waiting for the chowderhead clan to come visit, they should be here in an hour, and we are cruising campus. The new day nurse tried to lay out how I had to check in every hour, and I went over my rules with her, gave her my cell phone and pointed out how I am healthier than she is except for leukemia pain in the ass, and she was very pleasant and could see I would be no trouble if she couldn't see me. So today we really extend the borders and cruise Stanford Campus, and myabe actually find the golf course for some putting. Wish me luck.