Blog Archives

the Armadillo Blues

5/28/2019

9-Banded Armadillo

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
the best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-Gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain
For promised Joy.
From To a Mouse, on turning her up in her nest with the plough, November, 1785, by Robert Burns

While a swath of land is being cleared for an apartment development on Airport Blvd. at Bolm Rd., this 9-banded armadillo must have been frightened onto the road where he met his demise, later joined by a beheaded possum. These rodents had plenty to eat and safe places to burrow until man's dominion broke Nature's social union.

Belly-up: Photo by CGMartinez

Driving for coffee Sunday morning, I saw it: bloated and belly-up, in the middle of Shady Lane. Since then, it was moved to the side of the road. A classic Central Texas scene.
David Short tells a story about Joni thinking armadillos must be born dead on the side of the road because she had never seen one alive. To set her mind at ease, he found and showed her a live one .

The armadillo became an Austin icon back in the 70's with the Armadillo World Headquarters (a world famous music venue) and the culture that spawned around it.
Poster artist, illustrator and painter, Jim Franklin, began drawing armadillos as early as 1968 for Shiva's Headband first album. Franklin also developed a long relationship with Eddie Wilson and the Armadillo World Headquarters creating the iconic posters, which today are valuable collector's items.

On Memorial Day, the armadillo carcass was still out on the road, along with that of the possum. They had been flushed out, I'm assuming, by the excavator's heavy dirt moving equipment. These displaced animals are left to face the wily and dangerous world, head on.
I can't help but be reminded of the Robert Burns passage quoted above, about a family of mice whose home was destroyed by the farmer's plow. And how in this life, no matter how comfortable we have become, there are no guarantees.

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Dimension Sculpture Garden at 950 Springdale Rd.

5/26/2019

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Just discovered this fascinating gem in our own backyard. It was worth trudging through the thick St. Augustine grass to view this incredible exhibit.

https://dimensiongallery.org/category/exhibitions/

On hold

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HandySports Revisited

5/20/2019

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Tony putting at the 2019 U.S. Disabled Open Golf Championship

My fellow strokie, Tony Poole, with whom I rehabbed at Saint David's Hospital, is my inspiration. Seven and a half years later, we have remained friends. He is an avid golfer and recently competed in the 2019 U.S. Disabled Open Golf Championship at Independence Golf Club in Richmond, Virginia. (See Tony driving off the first tee.) In the video you'll see the left arm is immobilized
After his stint in rehab, this Kiwi from New Zealand continued working as director of Research&Development at BMC Software. Two years ago, he and I began attending meetings of Central Texas Stroke Support at Saint David's.
What my friend Tony has done is nothing short of incredible. It takes great stamina, concentration, and grit to complete a round of golf under normal conditions. The golfers played 36 holes and a practice round over the three day tourney. A tip of my hat to all the international competitors.

Ka-ching!

Why do I call my website HandySports?
It's because most stroke survivors are hemiplegiac on either the left or the right side of their body. Usually, one side or the other is racked with spasticity. Meaning it doesn't move naturally, calmly, or fluidly in unison with other parts of the body. My therapists described it this way: Your biceps are fighting the triceps, and the quadriceps are battling the hamstrings. So everything is locked up, or spastic.
Although my hand is more flexible than my arm and shoulder, spasticity prevents it from performing quick movements or fine motor skills. Throwing a disc or ball are examples, and more deliberate movements like typing or transporting a cup of tea by the handle, I can't do. My right hand is more like a claw.
So there you have it. I call it Handy because the activities have been adapted to require only one hand, as with Tony and his phenomenal accomplishment.
Sports is defined as an individual or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure, often involving the testing of physical capabilities and taking the form of a competitive game such as football, tennis, golf, etc.
And of course, I would like to believe that everything revolves around sport. In one way or another everything we perform, as stroke survivors, is a challenge. Our opponent is either physical or mental in nature, often both. We play against formidable foes like paralysis, aphasia, apraxia, dementia, etc.
Every act we do, as stroke survivors, can be a response to overcoming our disability, whether it be walking, talking, exercising, writing, playing chess, disc golf, traveling by car, plane, or scooter, sightseeing, you name it. I classify all these activities as sport.

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Blogging

5/12/2019

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What have you done for me, lately?!

Coming up with topics for my blog is one of the challenges as a writer. So, I have thought about cannibalizing my earlier works. The fancy term is curating, when I can give a new take on a earlier published articles. Blog about it in a different way.

I got this idea from helping Small Wonders Entertainment (a nonprofit business). While writing a Blog for SWE, I realized that I had all these really long letters on file.
  So now, I don't have to think so hard. I can just take out excerpts and put them to use in a different context. And every once in awhile do something creative and original.

   Writing, I have discovered, is not for the faint of heart. I'm always walking the blurred line that will keep my readers entertained and give them a reason to come back for more. Plus, I constantly make judgments about how much I should reveal about myself and what to keep under wraps.

Readers don't necessarily want to feel uncomfortable, but they like being engaged in some way. I think readers get a kick from a writer who encourages them to pass their own judgement on a given situation.
The anxiety I always feel is that readers won't agree with my conclusions. And my reward, though, is that readers will have their own conclusions. There's the old dichotomy, you can lead a horse to water . . . .

Good storytelling is simple enough to teach but difficult to learn. There always has to be some sort of suspense. Wouldn't you agree? Humor is another good tactic. That always works for me, but my humor is rather dry, and not everybody gets it. More on that, later.

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HandySports?

It's because most stroke survivors are hemiplegiac, affecting either the left or the right side of their body. In my case, and with most other stroke survivors, one of the hands is spastic. Meaning it can't move naturally, calmly, or fluidly in unison with other parts of the body.
And, I would like to believe that everything revolves around sport.That element lends itself to drama.
In one way or another, every act we perform as stroke survivors is a sporting challenge: balance, coordination, strength, and stamina.
Our opponent is either physical or mental in nature, often both. We play against formidable foes such as paralysis, aphasia, apraxia, dementia, et al.
Every act we do, as stroke survivors, is a response to overcoming our disability,

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