Four down, 16 to go

It's Friday in Phoenix (and many other places, too). We're toward the end of week one of our radiation vacation.

We hit a speed bump in the road Monday, when the Dr. decided new measurements were needed, so no radiation that day. That was okay, but it put us off schedule on a program that was due to end just before Memorial Day. Fortunately, on Thursday, Dr. Wong offered to do a treatment on Saturday (tomorrow), since he's on call that day. Others on the Mayo staff told us later they've never heard of that being done before, so we're fortunate. We jumped at it; it makes it a short weekend, but we do get to pick up the dog and the mail and feed the cats and spend two nights in our own bed, plus we get back on schedule to finish by Memorial Day. So, all is good.

We used Monday to visit the Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix. A delight! I think I was more impressed with the sculptures than with any museum I've been to before. A couple examples are shown. We were fortunate to take a tour with a very good interpreter; it was nice to see school groups touring the museum as well. Lunch in the Courtyard Café was delightful, too; a bowl of red gazpacho in a setting with shade, gentle breezes and the sound of trickling water.

One of the enjoyable things about the Heard is the inclusion of Indian art that is today and tomorrow, not a repetition of yesterday. The mudheads sliding down what appears to be a curved surfboard is an example.

Probably half of the pictures we're taking are of flowers. This one is an almost fluorescent cholla bloom, but many others are attracting our lenses, too.

Tuesday we started out to do flower photography north of Phoenix. But, it was already hot, and the light wasn't good, and there was a big mall we hadn't explored, and there was a cineplex with a movie we wanted to see ... so we wound up going to a movie ("Water for Elephants") at 10:30 a.m., lunching on popcorn and being totally on vacation.

We hit another mall this morning, the Promenade mall, right across N. Scottsdale Road from where we're staying. There's a free outdoor jazz performance there this evening, so we plan to go over for it, maybe have supper at Benihana beforehand. Last night, Cinco de Mayo, we walked over to Carlos O'Brien's ... it was a zoo. Glad we weren't out driving on "Drinko de Mayo!"

The SleepInn in Scottsdale is really working for us. We hit the pool every day for exercise, plus there's an exercise room. An adequate breakfast room (good early coffee is the main thing!) and a nice room at special rates for Mayo patients, all only 10 minutes' drive from the Mayo. Our home away from home for a month. tv