Casa Nova's house

While in Venice you can also float past Casa Nova's house. Not that I know a lot about Casa Nova and his history, but I didn't know that he lived on a canal. Venice is a city with many unexpected twists and turns.

Interesting sights in Venice

Some of the more interesting sights in Venice are not what you would expect. For example, where else would you find garages for boats rather than cars? Cruising around the canals we came across a number of these types of constructions. Generally Venice is a triumph of how people can learn to live in a totally different environment, in this case on a large boggy lagoon. Everywhere there are adaptations, from the thousands of wooden piles the city is built on, steps that lead directly to water, small gardens that fit on edges of the canals, water rather than land transport and or course garages for boats.

Screwed up Faces

When we were in Amsterdam we went to an exhibition where a photographer had worked his way around the middle east taking pictures of people with screwed up faces. Essentially he asked them to contort their face as much as they could then he took the shot. There were some amazing photographs and some evidence that the "fun" of the activity relaxed some of the tensions amongst the people involved in what was a pretty tense time in the area. I had to have a go myself; I guess I was not as good at screwing my face up as some of the people shown in the exhibition, but I gave it a good go.

Wedding photographers

I took this photo at a wedding I was at recently. The pervasiveness of digital photography is everywhere; for many people at an event they are actually viewing it through the screen of a digital camera - or at least they are viewing a significant part of the activity through a screen. Maybe being at the "real thing" gives a feeling for the atmosphere of the event irrespective of how it is actually viewed.

The Thinker

One day while in Paris Sally and I were wandering down from the Eiffel Tower towards our hotel when we came across the Musée Rodin.

It was one of those "stumble across something you weren't expecting" experiences; Even with my knowledge of art I hadn't been aware that there was a Rodin gallery in Paris, or that he had been so influential in the development of the art scene in Paris and Europe.

The sculptures are amazing, and after half a days exposure to diversity of form Rodin produced it is not hard to see why he was able to have such an impact of the art scene. He essentially was beginning to do what the painters were doing, transforming sculpture from an attempt to represent something "real" to a form that has it's own existence.

It was humbling to be able to walk amongst these transformational sculptures and feel the history of modern art all around us.

My First Home

Over my lifetime I have lived in many houses at several locations in New Zealand. In fact the longest period of time I have lived in any house is the house I currently live in - around 14 years. Overall I estimate I have lived in about 17 different houses at six locations.

This photo is of the house I first lived in. Guppy Road Greenmeadows clearly provided a lot of scope for landscaping, and my father is at the front of the house giving it a good go. I was to young to remember anything about living in this house, but it was a starting point.

Each house I have lived in has had it's own character and history. They have become markers for different stages of my life. I wonder if that would have happened if I had lived in one or two houses over the course of my lifetime?

If only they knew

This is a photo of my father heading off on his honeymoon. Nothing fancy, a car, a tent and two people beginning to share the future together. Who would have thought back then that one day this photo would be included in a system called the world wide web, with almost anyone in the world being able to look at it. Also, would they have realised that the photo could be included in an integrated family history that will live on in the digital future? Increasingly we have the opportunity to become digital archivists and to include everything we can about people from the past world as well as the current world. In a sense my parents are still part of the future, a future they could never have imagined they would be involved in. Journeys can be strange things!

Face to face with a black bear

This photo is the location of my most profound wildlife experience: finding my self face to face with a black bear. The place is Vancouver Island. Early in the morning I opened the door of the Backpackers hostel we were staying in and, there right in front of me was a sizable black bear. Black bears are not large bears, but to me it was fairly enormous. In New Zealand the largest mammals you might come across in the wild are goats or deer; they of course will run off, probably  before you even see them. As the bear and I looked at each other I found I wasn't afraid, even though I could have let a dozen stories of how dangerous bears could be run through my mind. Instead I felt calm and enjoyed my brief moment with the bear until it sniffed the air around it and ambled off to find more rubbish bins to forage in. Then it was gone. But, the image of that experience has never left my mind and I realised that enjoying the moment was far more important than racing back into the hostel to find a camera to try and photograph it. In the time it would have taken me to get my camera it would have probably moved on anyway. So, I guess that's why I only have a photo of where the bear and I met; not of the actual meeting.

Manet painting

Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe by Edouard Manet was a painting that had a significant impact on my interest in art, particularly modern art. I studied this painting when I was at the School of Education in Hamilton - and was really excited when, many years later, I stood in front of the actual picture in a Gallery in Paris. The painting was real! I was able to appreciate how far I had come from those early days of College art classes in terms of my understanding of art and how this had impacted on my life. A loop had been closed.

Esmeralda the goat

I took this photo at the Picasso museum in Paris. One of the amazing things about most galleries in Europe is that it is OK to photograph art works (providing you don't use flash of course). People photographed art, they painted their own picture of the art, they viewed and absorbed the works. When I thought about it I realised that of course Picasso would have approved. For Picasso, and the other painters of his era, once a work of art had been produced it was a thing in its own right. It existed as a tree or house or any other object and therefore could be treated as such. This would include it being photographed. Once I had this thought I snapped away (without flash) with the best of them.

Styles of blogging by people with life threatening illnesses

http://www.butdoctorihatepink.com/



Ann Silberman's blog helped me to realise that there are many people talking about their illness on the web, and almost everyone has a different style.



Some people talk about what their illness means for them, some talk about how they cope with their situation others talk about experiences at different stages of treatment and so on. This puts together a rich mix of experiences and personal knowledge of what it means for anyone to be in the situation of living with a life threatening illness. For example, consider Ann Silberman's recent blog on Kevin MD:



http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/12/person-cancer.html



I thought this was a good blog from someone who has obviously thought about the way people approach her and what that might mean for her and for others in a similar situation.



By reading through these blogs people in similar (does not have to be exactly the same) situations can:

• Gain some reassurance that their situation is not totally different from experiences other people have had

• Get ideas from other people regarding how to deal with specific day to day living situations

• Be more prepared to deal with the health system which becomes an increasing part of day to day life for people with a life threatening illness

• Come to realise that it is OK to talk about yourself and that this can be therapeutic and helpful to others

• Obtain specific information that might help decision making around treatment options

• come to realise, that even with a life threatening illness, life goes on.

Aerobatics

There was always something special about doing aerobatics in the high country area of the South Island. Here my plane waits for another session of loops and rolls around the mountains.

Kite in the park

I took this photo early in 2011 at a park in Devonport, Auckland. For over an hour this, quite disabled, little girl worked with her father to get her kite flying. In the conditions flying a kite was not easy; trying to fly the kite from a wheel chair was even more of a challenge. She didn't give up, and eventually she got the kite flying. It may not seem like a big thing, but from the perspective of this girl this was a major achievement. It reminded me that often we do not celebrate the remarkable things that many disabled people achieve. Unfortunately, we are more likely to take note of non-disabled  people achieving (in our minds) extraordinary things, rather than disabled people achieving ordinary things. Yet, the effort and determination required to achieve the goal may be similar!



Denys Yeo

upi:dyd-dgyeo





Burano Houses

The Island of Burano, Venice Italy, has an amazing assortment of colourful houses and an assortment of leaning towers. Well worth a visit, particularly on a sparkling Italian summers day.

Salt water Crocs

When I visited Australia Zoo one of the most amazing things that happened was a demonstration (for want of a better term) of feeding salt water crocodiles. I guess these are one of the most dangerous reptiles in the world, but by developing an understanding of how these creatures function the zoo handlers were able to control what happened in the show to a remarkable degree. For example, at the start of the show the crocs swam slowly up the long canals to the feeding area and then lounged around in a pond waiting for their food. One clambered out of the pond and the handler demonstrated how close you can get to one of these crocs without it leaping and grabbing you in its enormous jaws. Then a handler stood on the platform and the crocs leapt up to grab their food like a well trained dolphin. Unbelievable, but it did suggest to me that if you understand well enough how something works you can sometimes use that knowledge to make extraordinary things happen.

Where Romans walked

These stones form part of a path from the Forum to the Colosseum  in Rome. As I walked down the path I knew I was stepping on stones that Caesar may have walked on. History does not only exist in the big things, the small components that make up the big picture are also important. That's why many of the photographs I have taken while travelling overseas have been of paths and walls and the more obscure parts of buildings. Then I can say "where the Romans have been I have also been".

One of the greatest experiences of my life was climbing up and down the Leaning Tower of Pisa

As I climbed and "swung" my way up the steps to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa I could not stop thinking to myself, here I am following in the footsteps of Galileo. While it is probably unlikely that Galileo used the tower to carry out his experiments on the effect of the weight of an object and its speed of descent, it seems likely to me, given he grew up in Pisa, that be would have climbed the tower at some time in his life - even if it was just to take in the view. On the other hand, even if Galileo never entered the tower, climbing it with thoughts of what he achieved gave me a real feeling of being part of the world where modern science began.

The importance of early experiences

As a young person my partner and I moved to the Waikato area so I could attend the local university. Accommodation proved to be difficult to find so we looked around at cottages for rent on local dairy farms.  Eventually we were offered a cottage on the understanding that we would run the farm for a month while the farmer went away on his annual holiday. This was not just rent in lieu of working on the farm, it was accommodation for actually running the farm! I said yes, we could do that although I had never really been on, or worked on a dairy farm in my life.  We had a weeks induction and then we were in charge! It was one of the greatest challenges in my life but we did it; the farm survived and I learnt an important lesson. Don’t be afraid of taking on really big challenges, even though they may seem daunting at the outset they are usually achievable. More importantly, by taking on big challenges you learn how to utilise the resources you will need to achieve the outcome you want. I have subsequently faced bigger challenges than running a farm for a month, but I am sure the lessons I learned from this experience made these new challenges more possible to achieve.

Tranquil bush scene



A tranquil section of bush near lake Wanaka New Zealand.

upi:dyd-dgyeo

Terry Yeo, Glider pilot

upi:dyd-dgyeo

Jon Morrow

John Morrow is an associate editor at CopyBlogger. He has shown that, using techniques that he has helped to develop (and off the shelf), his disability has not been a barrier to success.

Jon Morrow accesses his computer using speech recognition software. He has produced a very good video on how to do this called speech recognition for bloggers. Using this technology he has produced some great blogs.

He blogs about his mother's fight to help him survive so that today he is one of the oldest people in the world with his condition. Not only is this a remarkable achievement, but he has recently moved to live, independently, in another country.

One of his blogs that I have found most interesting is his blog on how to be interesting! The best way to check out Jon's other blogs is to Google "Jon Morrow blog".

Shane Burcaw: Communication Hero

Shane used Tumblr for his blog, which he calls Laughingatmynightmare. He introduces himself  in his about me section. It is then important to read his first blog which puts his condition and reason for blogging into perspective. I think once anyone has read this posting they will realise Shane is no ordinary person. Shane's blogs can be cheeky, off beat which often makes the reader laugh - which is not surprising - as he has noted in a number of places that this is his intention. On the other hand he has written some pretty powerful pieces that provide insight into what it is like to live with his condition. Shane also makes good use of video to show some of the things he gets up to. For example, using a feeding tube and catching a baseball. Shane has a large following of people which, for me, is a sign of a successful blogger. He has tapped into contemporary social media, and disabled or not, has shown - and continues to show - how it can be used effectively to share one's day to day life. He has recently featured in the Daily.Dot, a newspaper for the Web (NEWSPAPER ARTICLE!).  He is also planning  to write a book.

on the edge of happiness

When people ask me how I am, and I say I am OK and happy, I wonder if they really believe me? Or that they believe that this is possible. Sometimes I wonder if it is possible. After all, how can I really be happy when I live with a life threatening illness? Of course it does depend a little on what the idea of "happiness" means for me, or anyone else. For me it means that I am feeling good about myself, I am getting pleasure and enjoyment out of my day to day activities and that when something amusing happens I can laugh. Then, isn't that what a lot of people would like? If yes, then I don't see why being happy is not possible for any medical condition one might be living with; if no - well it's probably more than just a medical condition that has be dealt with!

Happiness is something that has to be worked at, irrespective of one's health and living circumstances. For me, having decided that I am not going to be unhappy for the rest of my life, however long that may be, this is especially true. I will comment on how I have gone about trying to achieve this in future blogs. Key point here: so far whatever I am doing appears to be working, because I am OK and happy.

Experiences in an ever reducing lifetime

Over the past couple of years I have been producing blogs related to my ideas of creating a digital presence, partly to put material about myself onto the world wide web, but more importantly to encourage others to do the same. I am not sure if I have managed to influence anyone, yet, to get their stuff onto the web; but I have noticed a steady increase in the discussion on this topic - over a range of forums. It does appear to be an area that is getting the attention of at least some people.

As I look at the blogs I have produced to date they are fairly closed - from a personal perspective. This was deliberate; my intention was to try and provide some objective thinking around several areas of interest rather than a personal narrative. My thinking here was it is not to hard to find personal stories from people dealing with life threatening illnesses on the web; did I want to add one more? Probably not. So I have kept to a more or less objective focus on topics I have found relevant to  my condition and my attempt to manage it.

But, in recent times I have read more personal stories from people who have had to deal with the fact they are living with cancer, and looked more closely at some bloggers who are willing to be far more open than the average. Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine, is a champion in this area. His blogs on how he managed his prostrate cancer have set a bench mark for others to follow.

 Reading an essay by Stephen Jay Gould really made me think - here was an article written by Stephen pre 2002, that I can read on the web, that had a real impact on me. It didn't matter that there are many other examples of people writing out there; they hadn't had an impact on me - this essay did. I realised that I should write, and video, material that is more open - because sometime it may have the message that someone will find helpful and relevant for them.

Then I came across an interesting blog Dancing naked down the street on ProBlogger. Why not? I realised that by not putting a full range of material onto my digital world I was not following my own expectation of putting a diverse range of material onto the web.

So this is the blog where I will now attempt to be open about how I manage my life threatening medical condition and cope with the inevitability of a very low probability of survival for even one more year. Hopefully it will sit "comfortably" alongside my other blogs and my other weaving myself into the web activities.