A Wonderful Video of Ashley's Life, and a Final Message From Her

Hi... to no readers!

I've had to turn off access to the blog due to spamming.  While I get that pornographic irritation taken care of (hmm, there has GOT to be a better way to say that!), I get to write midst the sense of being in a silent Marlinspike Hall, where every footstep begins the ring of a circling echo.  It's empty here...

Ashley Riemer was such a vibrant person, so on the cusp of her transition to independent adulthood... remember how hard and how wonderful that time was in our lives?  She deserves so much credit for -- how to say this?  For becoming a beautiful adult all while being exactly where and what she is, damn, where and what she *was*.

My temporal confusion, at least in this matter, comes from this video (and another series of her memorial service -- she donated her body to the Georgetown Med School for research, bless her!).

The videographers  added a short recordingAshley made to be her "final words," and they are moving words that left me feeling Ashley as very much "here and now."

[Points to anyone who knows what song is playing in my head!  Something about a breeze... a donegal breeze.  (Teachers always give big ass hints.)  Of course, these lyrics are the ones that come to my mind, a mind very different from Ashley's, from her parents.  Always, always being and feeling à rebours, I am.]




Ashley Riemer's Video of her life uploaded to YouTube by Tammy Dennison (at whose channel you can also see the three videos of Ashley's Memorial Service)

With your dark hair in the donegal breeze,

Bringing me softly and sweetly to the ground,

But, there's madness in the sycamore trees,

And there's no salvation to be found.

Right now the only thing that my mind ever holds,

Are long dark silences or screaming that explodes,

Burning rocking beds with visions of a land,

Long dark tunnels, questions and calm,

But, with you, you know I have no doubts,

And fear will have no sting,

With your brilliant eyes and your lost and broken wing,

My head upon your shoulder as you take me in your arms,

Continents will crumble, we will find no harm.

With your dark hair in the donegal breeze,

Bringing me softly and sweetly to the ground,

But, there's madness in the sycamore trees,

And there's no salvation to be found.

Well I'll brace myself against the dark, endeavour to go on,

No matter how long it takes, and even though I might be wrong,

And I will ask a little favour of whatever God I find,

And I will come back for you darling, when I find some peace of mind.

Well I don't know about tomorrow, it will be here and gone,

I don't know about tonight, it'll be too long,

Sometimes I think I'm dying, and I don't care how,

All I know is that I want you, and I want you here and now.

With your dark hair in the donegal breeze,

Bringing me softly and sweetly to the ground,

But, there's madness in the sycamore trees,

And there's no salvation to be found.

i'm not afraid

this doesn't really count as a blog post, i am maintaining hiatus status... but oh, the excitement!

i made my second and third videos with the new camera.

both feature the same actors, two men unknown to me who happened to gather in our tiny vineyard (a new ecotype that will pucker your puss!) about half a pink submarine's length from Marlinspike Hall's drawbridge and koi-cluttered moat.  one vid has an extended view of my thigh and the other seems to have been subject to a poltergeist's antics, but they're clear enough.

a drug deal!

fred is pissed at me, not speaking.

after reviewing the first attempt, i decided to go outside, wheelchair-lady prominently framed by our factitious  florentine baptistry doors, hoot at the two doods, wave, and push record.  being professional actors, they both obligingly turned in my direction and stared at the handycam.  i only wish i knew their names so that i could give proper attribution in the credits.

i think fred believes it might be more circumspect not to advertise one's videography of the local criminal element.  i'm not afraid.  i know fred will defend me.

hmmm....

anyway, once i have enough for a short documentary, i am turning it all over to constable tante louise.  i'm not afraid.  oh, i said that already.

we return you to the already-in-progress blog hiatus.  (i'm on day 3 of a 5-day medication.)

How to Flush a PICC Line (and drop your camera in a sink of water)

The process of giving yourself a "ball" of intravenous antibiotics involves then flushing the lines that the PICC (peripherally inserted central catheters) has in place somewhere around the... oh, i dunno, the superior vena cava:  

So here is my essentially one-handed, one-armed demonstration of the process -- a great film event until the video camera fell backward into a sink full of water.  It seems fine, thank goodness.  Otherwise?  There'd be no more viral cat videos, feline bits of amusement that I know you all live for....

Ecolalia

simple serendipity