Look how beautiful that is. Just like fireworks. It's today's apod. I'm a sucker for a good star picture. This one just captured me and I have been staring at it on my monitor. Instead of working. My computer hasn't had an IP address for the last two days and it has been a pain in the neck (and other parts,too). I'm not sure how that happened. When I left on Friday it was fine. I was off on Monday and on Tuesday, I was IP-less. PK told me how to 'grab' one but I was afraid I would take one that belonged to a neonatal unit or something and mess up a whole department. I am part of the health system. I called the help desk yesterday and put in a request and called again today to reiterate the importance of my request. Make friends with your IT person. They can save your computing life. My IT buddy called and put the request in as high priority and by lunch time today, Voila! It works. So now, I will never turn it off again. The waste of electricity galls me but I have client treatment plans and other documents that I use every day stored there and I was going crazy without access.

The endoscopy went fine. I survived. I wasn't nervous until they had me lie on the gurney. Suddenly, my heart started to beat quicker and my breathing got shallow. My bp shot up to 175/110. I was scared. After a little bit, I calmed down and they poked and prodded and put things in my nose and mouth and then I don't remember anything. When I woke up with a mighty thirst and a sore throat, the doctor came in and told me that I had some gastritis(stomach irritation which everyone has or else they wouldn't be shoving tubes down your throat!) and there were some lumps in my stomach that she biopsied. The results will be back in a couple weeks. I see her on the 25th and we'll discuss it. I'm trying not to be anxious but I did a bad thing. I googled one of the phrases on the sheet that they gave me and the only references I could find were connected to stomach cancer. Now I know that the odds are against it being cancer but it's planted in the back of my brain and in odd moments finds its way into my consciousness. It's going to be a long three weeks.

Saturday is PK's day. He is going to fly in his T6 Texan (a WWII training plane) and do aerial stunts. Personally, that is my idea of Hell but he is as excited as a little kid at Christmas. He sent me the weather report for Saturday. It's predicted to be gorgeous, warm and sunny. Pk will fly in the plane and then we are going to the beach for the day. We are planning to go to Cape May. It's famous for it's "painted ladies", large Victorian houses that have mostly been turned into bed & breakfasts and restaurants. I'll pack a picnic lunch and we'll spend the day on the beach. Emily and Jim are coming and it looks like a good day is in store. (btw, I stole that photo from History Flights, the company that does the flights). PK has always been a WWII buff and this will be his chance to be one of the heroes that he has watched in so many movies. He doesn't have to fly a plane to be a hero. To me, he's the best kind of hero. An everyday one.

And Emily reminded me that I didn't post for Kate's birthday yesterday. Yes, my 'baby' is now 19. Her last year as a teenager. It's funny because Kate's birthday always creeps up on me. She is usually in the middle of preparations for her convention and we celebrate on the fly. Kate was born at 2:50 am on August 5. She weighed 8 lbs and 91/2 0z. She was and is a beautiful person. Kate is the light of my life. She is full of joy and cheerfulness and compassion. And has managed to hold her own in the family. When she was very little she came to me and said "Mom, they're lying to me again" When I asked what "they" were lying about, she replied "they told me I would always be the youngest". As I tried to explain (without laughing) that yes, she was always going to be the youngest but she was also the best. "After all, I had Elanor and then wanted another and then had Emily and still wanted more. Then we had you and that's enough. You are the best and so we stopped". That seemed to work and she was appeased. She is even-tempered and funny and smart and just plain beautiful. I love her with a ferocity that surprises me even after all these years. My Katiebaby.

So, I hope you are all having a good week. Mine has certainly been eventfull.......