Magazine Posts

"On an evening in December 2023, 43-year-old small business owner Sarah Rosenkranz collapsed in her home in Granbury, Texas and was rushed to the emergency room. Her heart pounded 200 beats per minute; her blood pressure spiked into hypertensive crisis; her skull throbbed. “It felt like my head was in a pressure vise being crushed,” she says. “That pain was worse than childbirth.”.. " More at TIME ➜

What happens next,
anything or
nothing at all?
I need more,

information to
provide or mention,
for a choice,
or a direction.

I just heard the answer.
Not what I was hoping to hear.
As stated, you have Stage 4.
life expectancy, less than a year.

Well that was not a surprize.
for sick has been a sensation,
for quite a time. It's OK.
No Chemo or Radiation,

Move into a different care,
which is OK. The odd part,
is I feel stronger than I have
in many a year. Onward/upward.

https://www.donsmithphotography.com

Was it a shock,
or a hidden fear,
when I was told,
"Less than a year?"

"Three to four months",
not wanting to hear.
I won't be around,
not even a year.

Wait one! I'm the one,
who's dying,
so why are you,
the one trying?

To take all the
minutes and time,
away from me,
my family entwined.

A grand gesture,
I most certainly say,
but thank you NO!
Not on my day.

I was lost,
a hole in my heart.
Your caring ways,
helped to heal that part.

What to do,
when you're old and grey,
with long memories,
going away.

You may become stoic,
when seen every day,
but in reality, your fears,
are kept at bay.

There is a time.
There is a place.
It's not now,
you're in my face.

I refuse to go,
quietly into the night.
I place my trust in God,
to do what is right.

How long must I,
try to be brave,
by covering up the truth,
trying not to misbehave?

I try to put on,
a Stoic look,
suppressing emotions,
into a mental nook.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Do other stars have planets like our Sun? Surely they do, and evidence includes slight star wobbles created by the gravity of orbiting exoplanets and slight star dimmings caused by orbiting planets moving in front. In all, there have now been over 5,500 exoplanets discovered, including thousands by NASA's space-based Kepler and TESS missions, and over 100 by ESO's ground-based HARPS instrument. Featured here is an illustrated guess as to what some of these exoplanets might look like. Neptune-type planets occupy the middle and are colored blue because of blue-scattering atmospheric methane they might contain. On the sides of the illustration, Jupiter-type planets are shown, colored tan and red from the scatterings of atmospheric gases that likely include small amounts of carbon. Interspersed are many Earth-type rocky planets of many colors. As more exoplanets are discovered and investigated, humanity is developing a better understanding of how common Earth-like planets are, and how common life might be in the universe.

Photo by Martin Vargic, Halcyon Maps

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why are these clouds multi-colored? A relatively rare phenomenon in clouds known as iridescence can bring up unusual colors vividly -- or even a whole spectrum of colors simultaneously. These polar stratospheric clouds also, known as nacreous and mother-of-pearl clouds, are formed of small water droplets of nearly uniform size. When the Sun is in the right position and, typically, hidden from direct view, these thin clouds can be seen significantly diffracting sunlight in a nearly coherent manner, with different colors being deflected by different amounts. Therefore, different colors will come to the observer from slightly different directions. Many clouds start with uniform regions that could show iridescence but quickly become too thick, too mixed, or too angularly far from the Sun to exhibit striking colors. The featured image and an accompanying video were taken late in 2019 over Ostersund, Sweden.