As you can see in this photo, my brother-in-law John is definitely on the mend. And if he's feeling better that means his beloved wife Lorraine is too. He'll be going home today (Saturday). It's hard to imagine that someone who had coronary bypass surgery on all six arteries a mere five days ago could be ready to leave the hospital so soon, but apparently he is. On Friday they had him up and walking--even climbing stairs--off and on all day.

So often we bemoan the state of our world in 2007. And with good reason. We still have a lot to learn about living together as one human family, not to mention how to treat the Earth with the care and respect she needs and deserves. But when it comes to advances in medicine, we are light years ahead of where we were even a decade ago. These advances show up dramatically in areas like cardiology. Imagine the people you know who would be alive today if they had been able to undergo surgeries like the one John and a number of our very own PBasers have undergone successfully. So many of us have lost loved ones to heart attacks. In my family alone I lost my maternal grandfather, one uncle and two first cousins, one of whom died as a young man back in the 1970s. John was saying today that they recommend men get regular stress tests after the age of 50. With women the age goes up to 60. For conditions like his blocked arteries, that is the test of choice. EKGs can miss it altogether.

How grateful I am to be alive during this time of radical change. And because of these changes, my dear brother-in-law John is alive today.

To change the subject completely, on Friday evening I added five more images to my list of submissions to the 2007 Black and White Spider Awards competition. CLICK HERE to see them.