Active and passionate rest on the water. A little romance on a warm sunny day on the Volga. The city of Konakovo. Russia.

Cyclic, rhythmic rowing on a boat is ideal for strengthening the myocardium. Paddle manipulation trains, in particular, the left ventricle, which is in charge of transporting arterial blood.

The systolic volume of the heart in rowers reaches significant values. Active contraction of the myocardium during the stroke helps to work the "second heart" - all muscle groups that are involved in the return blood circulation and accelerate the outflow of "used" venous blood. At the same time, our "fiery motor" operates in particularly comfortable conditions. He, too, is "swimming" - bathing in oxygen-enriched arterial blood.

Rowing develops the respiratory system, and working lungs strengthen the diaphragm. The pull of the paddle helps the intercostal muscles to expand and increase the volume of the chest, increasing the lung capacity to seven liters!

Those who are engaged in rowing have good muscle tone, a toned figure - an attractive appearance, and fat reserves ... and the appearance is not served. Apparently, they burn out much faster than they allow themselves to be discovered.

The need to keep an effort on the oar, sometimes up to thirty kilograms, including up to 95% of all muscles in the work. But this figure depends on what kind of rowing sport you are doing: family tourism with children and fishing or rowing at the limit of possibilities.

With age, the human musculoskeletal system acquires a lot of irreversible changes. They touch all bones and joints, but are especially noticeable at the level of the spine - our "axis of symmetry". No amount of gymnastics will ever help the skeleton to escape from them. Accumulating, these changes limit the range of motion, radiculitis, osteochondrosis, discosis and other, as one friend of mine says, bodily monsters appear.

Nevertheless, no one forbids an attempt to "swim away" from them. During rowing, the connective tissue elements are stretched and tense. This prevents the deposition of salts in the ligaments and tendons, in the joints of the arms and legs, in all parts of the spine. Rotational movements of the body, right and left, back and forth, "grind" the deposits of "minerals" accumulated in the intervertebral discs.

Anabolic and metabolic processes in the body, activated during rowing, promote the absorption of nutrients and the utilization of toxins. By flicking the paddle, the work of the nervous, endocrine, digestive and excretory systems of the body improves.

 

It is shown to be engaged in rowing at any age - from pioneers to pensioners - and, I must say, at the same time, grandfather with an oar evokes respect and sympathy no less than a young man with a barbell.

If you visit Gouda by boat, you can moor at one of the town’s 200 berths. Small and medium-sized boats can moor at the Turfsingel, the Gouwe, the Regentessenplantsoen, the Haven and the IJsselkade. Yachts larger than 12 metres can be moored at the Turfsingel. If you are the proud owner of a historic ship, you can join the other floating gems in the Museum Harbour. For conditions and rates, please contact the harbour master of the Museum Harbour.

  

The bridges and locks in Gouda’s town centre open during sailing season.

 

I am back from a A heart valve operation. What they have done.

 

Replacing the mitral valve through a small opening (keyhole) is also called Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery or MIMC. For this operation on the mitral valve, the surgeon makes a relatively small incision in the right breast fold and opens the chest cavity, a kind of keyhole. A camera is placed in the chest cavity to support the surgeons with images during the operation. During this procedure, the heart must be stopped and a heart-lung machine is needed. The surgeon repairs or replaces the valve through the left atrium. A temporary pacemaker lead is attached to the bottom wall of the right ventricle. The procedure on the heart is the same as open-heart surgery, and the results are also comparable. The main difference is that the opening in the chest is smaller. This means you have less pain after the operation and you recover faster. An additional advantage is that the scars are smaller.

 

I am glad to be back home

TodaY waS thE besT Day Of mY L!fe ..

2007/11/9

..

my drawing Lo0ol..(**,)

..

Taken & edited By : ♥ me ♥

Ω ѕiℓєит ℓαđч Ω [QTR]© All rights reserved

..

COMMENTS WITH BIG PICS WILL BE DELETED

... , and I felt I was being granted glimpses of blood pulsing silently through the ventricles of an immense human heart.

 

Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain

Giraffe are majestic and fascinating creatures. The elegance with which they stride belies the complex biology that enables such a creature to exist.

 

To pump blood to their heads requires an incredibly powerful heart (with a thick walled left ventricle). A network of elastic blood vessel and valves (to block the blood flow) enable the giraffe to lower it's head to drink, but this means that the giraffe cannot maintain this pose for a long time.

 

As a result the giraffe takes on a lot of water quickly and then raises it's head again. As it does so the trail of water from it's mouth produces this beautiful arc and the oxpeckers which were happily settled on its head are startled. It is a magnificent sight to behold.

 

More information here:

national geographic giraffe anatomy

 

More images from this trip here:

flic.kr/s/aHsmNJYs36

“thought bout a dog, or a cat..

Or maybe some wild life

my ventricles are calloused,

I need to trust a set of eyes”

 

Luxury of Hysteria by Tim Rogers

 

It has been a year since my beautiful companion Ash died.

After a week of bruising from things closer to home, on top of the fires, I really miss her so much.

 

Those soulful eyes that were only for me,

that communicated absolute trust and unconditional love and comfort when it was most needed. The coat of a poodle is curly and like wool and it is the most wonderful feeling to run your hands through it.

 

The eye-roller is nagging me to get another dog. I feel sick every time I think about it. I suppose I’ll come round. I could do with just one set of eyes to hold my gaze.

 

Iguanas are large lizards that can range from 1.2 to 2.0 m (4 to 6.5 ft) in length, including their tails. They possess a dewlap and a row of elongated scales running from the midline of their necks down to their tails. Iguanas have varying types of scales covering different areas of their body, for example, some large, round tuberculate scales are scattered around the lateral region of the neck among smaller, overlapping scales. The scales on the dorsal trunk of their bodies are also thicker and more tightly packed than those on the ventral sides. These scales may be a variety of colors and are not always visible from close distances. They have a large, round scale on their cheeks known as a subtympanic shield.

 

Iguanas have keen vision and can see shapes, shadows, colors, and movement at long distances. Their visual acuity enables them to navigate through crowded forests and to locate food. They employ visual signals to communicate with other members of the same species.

 

The tympanum, the iguana's eardrum, is located above the subtympanic shield (or "ear shield") behind each eye.

 

Iguanas are often hard to spot, as they tend to blend into their surroundings, and their coloration enables them to hide from larger predators.

 

Like most reptiles, an iguana has a three-chambered heart with two atria, one ventricle, and two aortae with a systemic circulation. The muscles of an iguana are very light in color due to the high proportion of fast-twitch, glycolytic muscle fibers (type A). These A fibers are not very vascularized and are low in myoglobin, giving them their pale look. This high density of A fibers allows iguanas to move very quickly for a short period of time, which facilitates short bursts of movement, but is inefficient for long duration movement, since cellular respiration in A fibers is anaerobic.

 

This image was taken in Manta, Ecuador.

Iguanas are large lizards that can range from 1.2 to 2.0 m (4 to 6.5 ft) in length, including their tails. They possess a dewlap and a row of elongated scales running from the midline of their necks down to their tails. Iguanas have varying types of scales covering different areas of their body, for example, some large, round tuberculate scales are scattered around the lateral region of the neck among smaller, overlapping scales. The scales on the dorsal trunk of their bodies are also thicker and more tightly packed than those on the ventral sides. These scales may be a variety of colors and are not always visible from close distances. They have a large, round scale on their cheeks known as a subtympanic shield.

 

Iguanas have keen vision and can see shapes, shadows, colors, and movement at long distances. Their visual acuity enables them to navigate through crowded forests and to locate food. They employ visual signals to communicate with other members of the same species.

 

The tympanum, the iguana's eardrum, is located above the subtympanic shield (or "ear shield") behind each eye.

 

Iguanas are often hard to spot, as they tend to blend into their surroundings, and their coloration enables them to hide from larger predators.

 

Like most reptiles, an iguana has a three-chambered heart with two atria, one ventricle, and two aortae with a systemic circulation. The muscles of an iguana are very light in color due to the high proportion of fast-twitch, glycolytic muscle fibers (type A). These A fibers are not very vascularized and are low in myoglobin, giving them their pale look. This high density of A fibers allows iguanas to move very quickly for a short period of time, which facilitates short bursts of movement, but is inefficient for long duration movement, since cellular respiration in A fibers is anaerobic.

 

This image was taken in Manta, Ecuador.

I recently cycled the 100 miles from Berwick upon Tweed to Newcastle with this group of cyclists, most living with LVAD devices (see below if you would like to know more) , what impressed me most was their positivity. I say most, Luca, the guy at the top of the stairs had a heart transplant just one month before this image was taken, he completed the ride with gusto and he never stopped smiling. Kudos to all.

 

Background of the Electric Cranks Cycling Club

 

The Electric Cranks Cycling Club is a remarkable and inspiring community of cyclists who share a powerful bond: every member is living with acute heart failure and relies on a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) to support their heart function. Formed out of resilience, hope, and a shared passion for life on two wheels, the club represents a pioneering step in redefining what’s possible for those living with advanced heart conditions.

 

LVADs are mechanical devices that help pump blood from the left ventricle to the rest of the body, often used in patients with severe heart failure—either as a bridge to transplant or as a long-term solution. For many, the presence of an LVAD can feel like the end of physical ambition. But the Electric Cranks prove otherwise.

 

Founded by patients, supported by healthcare professionals, and united by determination, the club offers its members more than exercise—it offers freedom, camaraderie, and a sense of control in the face of chronic illness. The “crank” in the name refers not just to the bicycle crankset, but also to the inner drive of each rider—powered not just by electricity, but by sheer will and collective strength.

 

Cycling with an LVAD presents unique challenges—equipment adaptations, battery management, and constant medical awareness—but the Electric Cranks tackle these together. They ride not only to improve physical health and cardiovascular endurance, but also to break stigma, raise awareness, and inspire others living with heart failure to pursue active and meaningful lives.

 

The club rides regularly, supports new members with peer mentoring, and partners with cardiologists, physiotherapists, and transplant units to ensure all activity is safe and empowering. Their motto: “Powered by Heart and Electricity” perfectly captures the spirit of the Electric Cranks—a club that refuses to be defined by limitation and instead rides toward hope, health, and community.

 

23.00h

Pelo que percebo agora a opção não era pôr o coração artificial. Iam pôr as duas máquinas para substituir os ventriculos. Hoje não se conseguiu saber muita coisa dos médicos porque estavam de volta dela. A questão é que a Snow é minúscula, agora deve pesar à volta dos 30 kg, tem uma caixa toráxica do tamanho de um passarinho e não sei há corações artificiais para ela, se têm que vir de algum lado ou como é, não percebo nada disso.

 

Ontem ela de facto piorou muito e hoje a equipa optou por operar já para que ela não piorasse. Dizem os médicos que o coração dela estava muito, muito grande e tinha que ser porque cada dia que passava ela piorava. De manhã esteve mal e subiu logo para o bloco. Lá os médicos queriam pôr apenas um aparelho num dos ventrículos, operaram, puseram o primeiro aparelho e tentaram que o segundo ventriculo recuperasse espaço e recomeçasse a trabalhar. Correu bem e ficou apenas com um aparelho.

 

Agora, pelo que percebi e pelo que os pais perceberam, ela vai ficar lá, a recuperar, não vai sair ainda do hospital. O aparelho permite aguentar, não sei quanto tempo, amanhã saberei. Os pais perguntaram e então se aparece um coração agora? E eles responderam que se pode operar daqui a uns dois dias se aparecer, que não ficassem com medo que ela vai ter o coração que precisa.

 

Esperemos que agora o pós operatório corra bem e as coisas aos poucos vão-se compôr. A nossa menina conseguiu superar a primeira prova.

Uma a uma vai superá-las todas.

 

Bêjos para a Tânia.

 

I understand now that the plan wasn't putting in an artificial heart. They were going to set two machines to replace the ventricles. We couldn't get much from the doctors today, they were too busy with her. The point is Snow is tiny, she must weigh around 30kg, her chest cavity is minuscule. I don't know if there are suitable artificial hearts for her, I know nothing about that.

She took a nasty turn for the worse yesterday, and the doctors decided to intervene. They say her heart was huge. They put a device inside one of the ventricles and tried to make more room for the other one to star functioning again work. It went well.

From what we gathered, she will remain in hospital. If a heart turns up, it will be placed immediately.

Let's hope the post-op goes well. Our little girl jumped the first hurdle. On by one she will jump them all.

 

(...)E quando a noite me entende

E a mão que se estende

É amiga da minha

Mesmo que seja ilusão

Bate mais em meu peito

Esse meu coração, coração(...)

 

Excerto de Quando a noite me entende de Vinicius de Moraes

in: Poesia completa e prosa: Cancioneiro

Central nervous system[edit]

Data is accumulating that air pollution exposure also affects the central nervous system.[58]

 

In a June 2014 study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, it was discovered that early exposure to air pollution causes the same damaging changes in the brain as autism and schizophrenia. The study also shows that air pollution also affected short-term memory, learning ability, and impulsivity. Lead researcher Professor Deborah Cory-Slechta said that "When we looked closely at the ventricles, we could see that the white matter that normally surrounds them hadn't fully developed. It appears that inflammation had damaged those brain cells and prevented that region of the brain from developing, and the ventricles simply expanded to fill the space. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that air pollution may play a role in autism, as well as in other neurodevelopmental disorders." Air pollution has a more significant negative effect of males than on females.[59][60][61]

 

In 2015, experimental studies reported the detection of significant episodic (situational) cognitive impairment from impurities in indoor air breathed by test subjects who were not informed about changes in the air quality. Researchers at the Harvard University and SUNY Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University measured the cognitive performance of 24 participants in three different controlled laboratory atmospheres that simulated those found in "conventional" and "green" buildings, as well as green buildings with enhanced ventilation. Performance was evaluated objectively using the widely used Strategic Management Simulation software simulation tool, which is a well-validated assessment test for executive decision-making in an unconstrained situation allowing initiative and improvisation. Significant deficits were observed in the performance scores achieved in increasing concentrations of either volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or carbon dioxide, while keeping other factors constant. The highest impurity levels reached are not uncommon in some classroom or office environments

 

空氣污染係指一啲危害人體健康同周邊環境嘅物質對大氣層所造成嘅污染。呢啲物質可以係氣體、固體或液體懸浮物等。生物日常呼吸嘅空氣，係由多種氣體所組成，最普遍體元素係氮，其次係氧。每種氣體體成份都有少少唔同，會有輕微嘅轉變。如果空氣中嘅污染物數量少嘅話，對人體同環境嘅影響會比較輕微，不過當呢啲污染物增加到危險嘅水平，就要諗辦法將佢哋從空氣度消除。

害處[編輯]

空氣污染有損健康同會令人感到唔舒服，呢個係每個人都應關注嘅問題。細路、老人家同患有心肺功能毛病嘅人，最容易受到周圍嘅空氣污染所影響。污染嘅空氣亦會損害生活質素。而且，如果長期吸入過量含污染物嘅空氣，就會覺得唔舒服，重會對健康造成長期不良嘅影響。

 

Le développement industriel rapide de la Chine provoque une augmentation de la pollution atmosphérique, en particulier dans les grandes agglomérations du pays90.

 

En 2007, la Chine devrait dépasser les États-Unis en termes de rejet de CO2 et devenir le premier pays pollueur du monde : les émissions de dioxyde de carbone devraient passer de 5,6 milliards de tonnes en 2006 à 6,02 cette année, ce qui représente environ 22 % du total mondial91. mais en même temps, vu la démographie de la chine qui fait 22 % de la population mondiale, cela fait un taux de pollution de 4,42 tonnes par habitant, encore bien inférieur à celui de la France qui est égal à 5,95 tonnes par habitants92.

 

En 2006, la Chine est le premier pays du monde pour les émissions de dioxyde de soufre, qui ont progressé de 27 % entre 2000 et 200558. Le dioxyde de soufre est aussi un composant de la formation des pluies acides, nuisibles aux écosystèmes tels que les forêts et les lacs. Selon le New York Times, « La Chine va supplanter les États-Unis en tant que premier émetteur de CO2 d’ici à 2009 »93. Les émissions d’oxydes d’azote et de dioxyde de soufre sont 8 à 9 fois plus élevées que dans les pays développés94.

 

Les conséquences de la pollution atmosphérique sur la santé des Chinois sont dramatiques : on estime qu'elle est responsable de 358 000 décès et 640 000 hospitalisations en 200494.

 

En tant que pays émergent, la République Populaire de Chine n'est pas contrainte à respecter le protocole de Kyoto. Pourtant, le pays est affecté par le réchauffement global de la Terre : 80 % des glaciers de l'Himalaya se sont réduits, ce qui a des conséquences sur les cours d'eau qui naissent dans ces montagnes et coulent en Chine. En 2006, le Sichuan a connu une grave sécheresse.

 

Le 21 février 2011, la pollution de l'air à Pékin bat un record, selon le service d'observation de l'ambassade des États-Unis de Pékin95.

 

La qualité de l’air ne respecte pas les normes de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé dans 495 des 500 plus grandes villes chinoises. Une nouvelle loi de protection de l’environnement va entrer en vigueur en 2015, avec des amendes quotidiennes, et nettement plus dissuasives qu’auparavant, pour les pollueurs, ainsi que des inspections pour vérifier les émissions de polluants des usines ; 180 sociétés, souvent de grands groupes d’État, se sont vu intimer l’ordre de publier quotidiennement leurs niveaux d’émission de polluants source wikipédia

Esta foto es dedica a dos grandes amigos de la medicina ,mi querida Patricia y Javier cirujanos ..Ella dice son algo así como hijos, en el hospital, se los quiere mucho, se les enseña, y a los 4 o 5 años se van...

 

(PATY ES LA DE LA BLUSA VERDE)

  

Para mí siempre los recuerdo y amo. Como les digo y les diré siempre estarán aquí en (mi ventrículo izquierdo mi Corazón)NUELIAH

 

...........................................................................

This picture is dedicated to my great friends of medicine, my dear Patricia and Javier surgeons. She says they are like children, in the hospital they are loved a lot, they are taught and at the end of four or five years they leave.

 

(Paty is the one with the green blouse)

 

I always remember and love them. As I said you will always be here (my left ventricle, my heart) NueliaH

 

Exploring & lightpainting an old, forgotten storm drain/sewer overflow beneath the city of Glasgow. It has a wonderful oval outline with pleasing brickwork. The rich reds, organic curves & scale in this photo reminded me of Anish Kapoor's incredible 2003 sculpture Marsyas in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall:

www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever-...

© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

 

A sunset from April, with my 90th 'Stranger Portrait' subject taking a sunset photograph for herself next to her kayak.

 

I am sorry for being absent for a few days here on Flickr.

 

I was rushed into hospital on Friday with a suspected heart attack. I didn't suspect one myself because the symptoms, although almost entirely the same as a heart attack, are something that I have experienced 3 times before.

 

I was discharged yesterday after a clear echo cardiogram with the diagnosis of Recurrent Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy. This is my 4th attack with my first being at the age of just 35.

 

Takotsubo Syndrome (also known as Stress Cardiomyopathy or Broken Heart Syndrome) has about the same fatality rate as a heart attack because it does cause an injury to the heart, although the mechanism is quite different. It is little understood but is caused by profound grief, emotional stress or physical stress that releases a surge of stress hormones that cause the left ventricle of the heart to swell and change shape and lose it's ability to work effectively.

 

All of my attacks have been preceded by profound grief and loss. Those of you following my recent tales will know that I have just been ditched by my partner of 20 years and I am facing homelessness, the loss of everything and will have to start my life from scratch, both materially and financially, at an age where I should be looking forward to winding my life down.

 

I now have to deal with all of this while trying to allow my heart to heal from the physical damage, knowing that there will never be a full 100% recovery and that there is no current treatment plan that can prevent a future attack.

 

I hate being a fringe medical case.

 

I am sad to say that while terrified, I almost wanted this attack to take me away from this cruel and painful world.

 

I am emotionally spent. I am mentally spent. I am physically spent.

 

I share this because I wear my heart on my sleeve, I always have. Such a shame that it keeps getting broken. Actually broken.

 

Thank you all in advance for any kind and warm wishes. I will get around to thanking you properly and catching up with your beautiful photography in time. I have to take it a little easy for a while though. It can take up to 2 months for the heart to 'recover' from this. I know all too well how it can cause a great deal of fatigue for a while.

 

Take care my Flickr friends. Be nice to one another in this crazy world.

This is Bair Island Marine Park, a marsh area in Redwood City that's part of SF Bay's Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. It caught my eye from an airplane because of its heart-like shape and intricate river patterns, but the island is so wide and the plane was so low that this is actually two pictures stitched together with some high-precision Photoshopping. See if you can find where things are joined together.

 

The island's shape reminds me of the ventricles of a heart.

This is the complex of nebulosity in Cassiopeia popularly known as the Heart and Soul Nebulas, the "heart" being on the upper right. The "soul" at lower left is also known as the Embryo Nebula. Officially they are IC 1805 (Heart) and IC 1848 (Soul). The extended round nebula off the upper right edge of the Heart is NGC 896, with IC 1795 attached to it at the extreme upper right corner.

 

Lots of other bits of nebulosity in the field carry labels from the second Stewart Sharpless catalogue —

- Sh2-196 is the isolated round nebula at upper left, with Sh2-192 a small round nebula to the right.

- Sh2-201 is the detached bit off the left side of the Soul.

- Sh2-198 is the detached bit off the bottom of the Soul.

 

Several star clusters inhabit the field, most embedded in the nebulas and helping to light them up —

- Melotte 15 is a loose group on the right side (ventricle?) of the Heart.

- NGC 1027 is the bright group to the left of the Heart.

- Collinder 32 is embedded in the right side of the Soul.

- Collinder 33 and 34 are in the left side of the Soul, but don't stand out here.

 

Oddly, two galaxies are also here embedded in the field despite it being in the Milky Way —

- At bottom right is a small yellow fuzzy object that is the dust-reddened irregular galaxy Maffei 1.

- While Maffei 2 is a dim and very small amorphous patch to the left of Maffei 1.

 

Technical:

This is a blend of filtered and unfiltered exposures —

- A stack of 15 x 6-minutes at ISO 1600 with just an Astronomik UV-IR Cut filter, for the stars and base core nebulosity (the pinker bits).

- A stack of 15 x 8-minutes at ISO 3200 with an IDAS NBZ dual-narrowband filter, for the majority of reddish nebulosity.

- So 3.5 hours of exposure in total.

- All with the Askar SQA85 astrographic refractor at its native f/4.8 and with the astro-modified Canon EOS R camera.

- On the ZWO AM5 harmonic drive mount, autoguided with the ASIAir Mini and ASI120mm autoguider camera.

 

Stacked, aligned, blended and processed in Photoshop 2026. Stars eliminated from the narrowband filter stack with RC-Astro StarXTerminator plug-in. Processed to bring out the more subtle variations in colours in the nebulas, so they do not appear as just monochromatic red.

 

Taken from home in Alberta on a very fine, if frosty, night November 18/19, 2025.

Second shot :) This was taken inside a carpark, and a long exposure I think. I'm surprised that this actually looks a lot like a heart. The red parts look like ventricles sort of, and the two huge pipes look like arteries ;P

 

I think I took over 1000 shots on this photo shoot, which I don't advise to anyone else :P I'm still sifting through photos two weeks after the shoot.

 

What's your opinion on this one? It looks so much better viewed on black!

I stopped and talked with Kevin the other day. I asked him if could make a photograph and he spent the next 15 minutes removing 6 layers of shirts and hoodies and telling me about his scars. When he was 16 a bullet grazed his left ventricle. He told me about every bullet that he'd taken and the multiple surgeries he had to remove the bullets from his chest. 11 bullets. I asked him if he had any children and he told, one daughter who's married and lives in Amherst. Kevin is 52.

Khagrachori, Bangladesh, 2008.

 

300 feet deep, inside the physical entity of hills,

They went crossing the narrow artery of water.

 

There, they sat in a ventricle, silently.

To hear the heart beat of the hills.

 

Captured from Khagrachori, Bangladesh. Indigenous children inside a ventricle of hills formed naturally due to erosion by water.

Heart on fire.

Head in the clouds.

Bliss.

Hi, I just wanted to thank everyone for the well wishes on my last post. I didn't want to worry anyone so I thought I just explain what is going on. I've been having some heart palpatations recently which in itself is not unusual for me. They have just been going on longer than normal. I went to the emergency room on Sunday for them and they are still the same kind I always get that are not suppose to be harmful to me at all. My only concern was for how long they have been going for.

 

To give some background information on me also, I had a congential heart defect when I was born which was a hole between the two ventricles. They repaired that when I was 27. Also, I already had two bouts of cancer at age 20 and 31. I am 38 years old now. So with all my medical problems, I have developed some anxiety about them that I deal with now.

 

I know that my palpatations mean really nothing in my head but the emotional part of me is not so sure all the time. I am going to the cardiologist in a couple of weeks to just check them out to be sure but the answer will just be that is how my heart works and it will be something I just have to live with. I will say though, that I'm really tired just living with these things all the time.

 

Basically, I'm not totally myself right now and I don't like being on flickr when I'm like this. It is an enjoyable thing for me and I don't want it to feel like a chore so I decided I would just take a break. So the reason for my break is basically stupid me worrying about things that really don't need to be worried about. I do enough worrying for myself, so no need for any of you to join in (lol). ;^)

 

I thought I would post this shot I got yesterday. It is my first flower shot of the season and I hope everyone enjoys. :^)

 

No need to comment but I thought I would leave the option open if anyone wanted to this time.

 

Thanks for caring! :^)

The Madonna of the Pomegranate was painted in circa 1487 with tempera on a wood panel by Sandro Botticelli. It is now in the Uffizi in Florence. Sandro Botticelli was a leading Italian Renaissance artist from Florence, Italy. The Madonna (art) uses the circular format, better known as a tondo, which focuses the attention on the main characters, the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, who are surrounded symmetrically by angels on each side. Botticelli's use of tempera grassa give the characters a real look, better known as a "naturalistic" style, which is common during the Renaissance. The Virgin Mary is holding baby Jesus gently in her arms while holding a pomegranate in her left hand.

The pomegranate being displayed has a few different interpretations of its meaning in the religious piece. There are many replicas of the Madonna of the Pomegranate due to artists during the Renaissance would copy other established artists' artwork to master their own skills. The painting is currently on display at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

A painting by Fra Angelico often given the same title is in the Prado Museum.

The Madonna of the Pomegranate is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist, Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni dei Filipepi (1445–1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli was born and raised in Florence, where he spent a majority of his life as one of the most admired artists of the Florentine Renaissance. In Botticelli's early teenage years, he withdrew from his studies to begin training as an artist. Botticelli began his training under one of the most influential painters in Florence, Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469). Lippi was well protected in Florence by the well known, powerful Medici family; he also created works for convents and churches. Lippi was well known for his line clarity and the use of female figures, which is significant because it had a great influence on Botticelli's style. Madonna of the Pomegranateis one of many paintings produced from Botticelli out of his Florence studio. Botticelli was already an established artist during the time of the creation of the Madonna of the Pomegranate, with many other well known paintings. It is unknown if the painting was commissioned and by whom.

In the painting, Madonna of the Pomegranate, Sandro Botticelli made it very easy to identify the figures being displayed. In the middle of the painting, Madonna, better known as the Virgin Mary, is surrounded symmetrically by angels with three on each side of her. The angels that are surrounding the Virgin Mary are worshipping her with lilies and garlands of roses. Jesus Christ is lying gently in the Virgin Mary's arms with one hand from both on them on a pomegranate. Both the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus are displaying a sad face. The expression from the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus is intended to remind the viewer of the pain and torture that the Child of God will endure in the future.

Sandro Botticelli was a highly skilled and frequently employed artist throughout his career. In the painting, Madonna of the Pomegranate, Botticelli displays his skills as an Italian Renaissance artist. The style of this painting is "naturalistic", meaning "life-like", which is commonly seen in Renaissance art. Botticelli draws the viewers attention to the Virgin Mary, Jesus and the pomegranate by the use of vertical lines, portraying a shining heavenly light. The use of a circular format of the painting, known as a tondo, assists to focus the attention on these characters. Botticelli displays the use of symmetry by having an equal amount of angels surrounding the Virgin Mary and Jesus on each side. Botticelli began by establishing figures in a careful, freehand, underdrawing in charcoal on the tempera panel. Botticelli was often willing to adopt recent innovations. The most significant innovation in this work was the use of tempera grassa, a type of paint in which egg yolk was modified with adding oil. This made the paint more transparent, as seen in the Madonna of the Pomegranate. Sandro Botticelli is well known for his brush stroke techniques while painting flesh tones and the pigments he used. Botticelli would often apply pigments in a very thin opaque coat, which are better known as scumbles to artists. Botticelli uses semi-transparent layers of whites, ochres, cinnabars and red lakes which are layered over one another, as seen in the painting. The faces of the women he paints are pale, porcelain-like with vague pink brushes over areas of the cheek, nose and mouth. Botticelli paints infants, such as the Child of God with more intense colors such as cinnabar glazes and accents of red lake. The pigments Botticelli uses have a very cool tone but also has a variety of rich colors mixed. Botticelli enhanced the Virgin Mary and Jesus by the use of brighter colors on their skin tones and clothing while the angels carry a much darker tone.

The pomegranate in the painting has been identified as an accurate representation of cardiac anatomy. In the late 15th century, Botticelli was introduced to the reappearance of interest in human anatomy and reclamation of the lost medical knowledge from ancient times. Renaissance artists were able to reclaim this lost knowledge through the dissection of corpses. During the time of the Renaissance, artists found it very valuable to become anatomists, which led them to a better understanding of the human body which would improve their artwork to be more life like. The title of the painting, Madonna of the Pomegranate, derives from the fruit being held in the Virgin Mary's hand. The pomegranate serves as a symbol of fullness of Jesus' suffering and resurrection. In the Christian religion, pomegranates symbolize the transition from life to death and resurrection as it eventually will be born again from the seeds that are left behind. The red seeds displayed in the opened pomegranate are meant to remind the viewer of the bloodshed by Jesus, which saved humankind. The peeled portion of the pomegranate demonstrates non-symmetrical chambers, similar to the cardiac chambers of a heart. Botticelli displays the inner spongy membrane, spitting the arils into five spaces. These spaces represent the atria, ventricles, and the main pulmonary trunk. The crown is separated into two parts, imitating the superior vena cava and the arch of aorta with its 3 branches. The fruit is also being held in front of the left side of the chest, which overlays the position of the heart. These surprising analogies with actual cardiac anatomy and its depiction over the chest make likely the hypothesis of a heart hidden in the fruit held by Mary and Jesus.

Secondly, the inclusion of the pomegranate in the painting helps emphasize the Virgin Mary. Although Jesus is the most important figure in the Christian religion, the Virgin Mary, has a vital role as his mother. The Virgin Mary plays a significant role in Jesus's development as a child by providing both a strong emotional and physical foundation that is supportive of the child's overall growth.[8] As Jesus grows, his mother continues to offer support and provide him with proper nourishment for his growing body. The Virgin Mary's duties as a mother also include, providing protection, teaching necessary skills, rules and values in which Jesus will carry with him for the rest of his life. Because Mary faithfully accepted this special role as the mother to birth and raise the Son of God, she shows that she holds many honorable virtues such as courage, love and utmost faith, as she accepted this tremendous feat from God.

During the Renaissance period, it was not uncommon for artists to imitate other artists artwork. The practice of copying an established artist artwork was important to artistic training. With that being said, there are many replicas of the painting, Madonna of the Pomegranate. After years of removing yellow garnish and after being considered an inferior copy of Sandro Botticelli's work, Rachel Turnbull, a senior collections conservator from the English Heritage, discovered the piece laying in her workshop was in fact an original copy from Sandro Botticelli's Florence studio. After years of working tirelessly with her team, Rachel Turnbull removed paint which had been painted over the original copy to make it look more up to date and was able to discover the original brushstrokes and paint. After expert examination, they were able to run tests of the paint, which led back to the Renaissance time period. The experts from English Heritage in London were also able determine from the style of painting and brush strokes used, that the painting in their workshop was indeed an original of Sandro Botticelli's Florence studio.

© Harold Davis

I missed out on the opportunity to participate in the national Red Dress Day. The initiative to raise awareness for cardiovascular disease takes on a new meaning for me this year.

 

After battling through pneumonia in December, a trip to the emergency room on January 3 revealed congestive heart failure. My right coronary artery and left circumflex artery were 100% blocked.

A normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ranges from 55% to 70%. An LVEF of 65%, for example means that 65% of total amount of blood in the left ventricle is pumped out with each heartbeat. Mine was about 10% when admitted.

 

Thanks to an amazing group of technicians and nurses as well as one very talented cardiologist, after seven hours in the heart cath lab, I emerged with three stents and the blockages opened up. This avoided having to undergo bypass surgery and a much more difficult recovery.

 

I'm on my way back now, doing cardiac rehab as well as some dietary and lifestyle changes and the prognosis is good.

I have always lived a fairly active lifestyle, so this all kind of came out of the blue. Heredity unfortunately plays a huge role. Take care of your heart health people.

 

I must say slipping into a pretty red dress has never felt so good!

My left ventricle calls out for love.

I had a premonition. Whenever I thought about our upcoming riverboat cruise on the Blue Danube two images came to mind: Bratislava and my father-in-law John suffering a heart attack while we were there.

  

12 April, Friday 2013

We set sail from Vienna at midnight and arrive in Bratislava at six in the morning.

  

7:00 a.m.

I am the first to leave our cabin on the ship and when I see that John's door is open and his clothes are on the floor by the bathroom I am alarmed and alert Chris who is not far behind me. But, I carry on to the lounge to finish writing post cards - there are only two days left on the cruise - we are due to return from Budapest, Hungary after breakfast on Sunday morning. The end of an eight day trip.

  

When I am done I climb downstairs to the dining lounge to look for Chris and John. After I walk around the entire room I joke to the last couple seated by the door that it is not like my husband and father-in-law to skip a meal.

  

The first thing I see is John's empty bed and when I realize that he has lost control of his bodily functions I know this is serious. John, who is wearing white boxer shorts and a white tee-shirt, is sitting in a chair by the bed and Chris is standing by. Chris tells me that his father has had a really bad night and that he needs to go to the hospital. The staff has been alerted and the paramedics are on their way.

  

John is sweating profusely and struggling to breathe,. He remembers me opening the window. I move to his side and ask him if this is all right. “Yes,” he says, “I’m dying.” Doctor’s have a name for this conviction: Angor animi, Latin for ‘anguish of the soul’. According to Dr. Gavin Francis, “as a sensation it carries great predictive power”. In the emergency room a patient’s belief that they are about to die is taken seriously.

  

I place my right hand on the nape of his neck and my left hand on his forehead while I assess the situation. John is drenched in sweat. I race to the bathroom sink and wet two wash cloths and place one behind his neck and he takes the other to wipe his face and head. Then he returns to bed, which is one step away, but he does not slide down far enough and his head is in an awkward position.

  

Most people know not to lay someone with breathing problems flat and John is struggling. I show Chris, who is about to pull his father forward, how to reposition John by reaching under his armpit and grasping his back. This works and together we are able to move his upper body forward. I place a pillow so that John is able to sit up.

  

Again I place my right hand on the nape of his neck and my left hand on his forehead. “I'm dying," he repeats "No you're not," I say this as though it is a ridiculous thing to do. I'm thinking, we’re on a cruise! John says that he can’t breathe and that he has water on the lungs. We can hear what doctors call the death rattle, when saliva accumulates in the throat.

  

I am loathe to tell my father-in-law what to do and when he mentions that he quit taking his diuretic as prescribed I do not say a word. But, now I remind him, “Once you receive your medication you will feel all right again”. I say this reassuringly.

  

I encourage Chris to make John’s bag of prescription drugs available - the doctors will want to know the names and the dosages. I grab fresh towels from the cart in the hall and cover John and the bed.

  

The Prestige is due to set sail at noon and I know it is going to leave without us so I suggest we start packing. First I send Chris across the hall to our room. I watch through the open door as our things are hastily thrown together. I call him back and suggest he pack for John - that way he can stay by his father’s side.

  

We are all set to go when the paramedics arrive with Peter, the twenty-five year old Slovakian waiter from the dining room who serves as our translator. As the paramedics work their magic I move partially onto the bed, close to John’s right ear, and explain what is happening. “There are three paramedics here and a doctor,” I tell him. This turned out not to be completely true - there was no doctor. John opens his eyes for a moment and smiles. "Good" he says. "I like a lot of attention." This is true.

  

Chris later told me that when he first saw his father John was seated on the toilet. He told Chris that he needed a minute - he had a bad night - and he said that he needed to go to Stanford Hospital right away.

  

Chris told a cleaning staff member who was in the hallway that his father needed a medical doctor. Wesley, the activities coordinator, came and told Chris that there was not a doctor available who could come to the ship, he had two choices. John could have an appointment with the doctor at 11 a.m. or he could go to the emergency room. Chris asked Wesley to call for an ambulance - John needed to go to the emergency room.

  

By this time John had made his way to the chair where Chris had placed a towel. He told Chris that he thought he had died last night. He woke up sweating, he could not urinate, he was in pain and he had difficulty walking and breathing. He said he was very uncomfortable and he just wanted to die.

  

John leaves the ship in a sling chair, as he is being wheeled through the lobby Artur, (this is not a typo) the Portuguese manager, tells me not to worry about the cost - Viking will take care of it. “Keep on thinking positive,” he says, “and everything it will be okay.”

  

7:54 a.m.

Two ambulances - sirens wailing - John and Peter in one, and Chris and I in another arrive at the University Hospital Old Town (Univerzitná Nemonica Staré Mesto). We are in the medieval center of Bratislava.

  

8:18 a.m.

After a brief stay in the emergency room John is wheeled to the coronary care unit (Interná Klinika Koronárna Jednotka). As he is about to enter the elevator he turns to Chris and says, "Remember what I said earlier about wanting to die, well I changed my mind."

  

10:17 a.m.

Dr. Papinčák, who is studiously calm and attentive, does not take his eyes off me as he speaks, his gaze is piercing. He informs me that John may be able to fly home on Monday with a medical assistant. He is concerned about the high altitude. John suffers from congestive heart failure (CHF).

  

“One of the most important problems for travelers with congestive heart failure is altitude... All patients should be able to walk 100 yards and climb 12 steps if they are to attempt a long plane flight. Heart failure patients may also be particularly susceptible to the symptoms of altitude sickness, which may include shortness of breath and profound fatigue. In general, patients with congestive heart failure should avoid traveling to locations at high altitudes.” - Internet Scientific Publications. The Internet Journal of Health ISSN: 1528-8315 Travel Concerns For Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Patients.

  

10:30 a.m.

Chris uses the hospital’s computer to email his sisters. Typists beware, the z and the y are reversed and the apostrophe and the @ symbol are no where to be found.

  

“Dad maz have had a heart attack last night. He is okaz now, in the hospital... if it will help with medical evacuation.... I would like to get him to Stanford... I think he had a heart attack in his sleep earlz this morning. It is fridaz at ten thirtz here and I§m using the computer at the hospital. I will also trz to make phone calls and e=mail, but communications are difficult right now.” - Chris’ email

  

11:00 a.m.

While Chris is typing Dr. Papinčák comes out to the hall to tell me that John is asleep. As we leave the hospital with our bags a grounds worker Feró, points us in the direction of the Hotel Saffron. This four star hotel is located just around the corner from the hospital and the Staré Město (Old Town) is a fifteen minute walk in the other direction. There are shops, markets, ATM’s, restaurants and cafe’s in between. Everything is within walking distance.

  

At this point we feel tremendous gratitude. First of all, we are grateful that we are docked when the heart attack happens, secondly that the paramedics respond quickly, and thirdly that Chris has family to help with the logistics. And, we feel grateful to be in a position where we are able to stay in Bratislava for as long as it takes for John to recover and deemed fit to fly. We see nothing but the positives and we are excited. Exploring medieval Bratislava will serve as a good distraction and our eight day trip has turned into an indefinite adventure - my favorite kind.

  

2:45 p.m.

I skip lunch but as Chris orders the Pakistani behind the counter seriously wonders, “What are you doing in Bratislava?”

  

3:30 p.m.

Back at the hospital I monitor the activity in the hallway while I give Chris and John time alone. If there are any last words that need to be spoken now is the time.

  

4:15 p.m.

Despite the double expressos and the warm overcast spring afternoon (good for photography) once we settle into our room we are unable to leave the hotel. For the first time ever we decide to settle in early.

  

While Chris figures out how to call his sister using FaceTime I watch racy and fast paced MTV videos on the television. When the rain starts to fall softly I soak in a hot bath. Our large window opens wide - we do not realize that we are facing southwest until the moon sets. It does not get dark until 9:30 p.m.

  

13 April, Saturday

The big questions are; how much damage was caused to John’s already congested heart, what are John’s chances of recovering from pneumonia, which we just learn he has, and when is he going to be well enough to travel home? There are no immediate answers forthcoming as the doctors need information on John’s previous condition.

  

While Chris sits with his father I visit an ancient who is laying in the bed closest to the door. I am pleased to learn that she speaks German, all the older people do she tells me - that was until the communists came to rule in 1945 and stayed until 1989 - now that generation speaks Russian as a second language. This woman, who has two sons, tells me that she has an uncle and relatives who live in “cosmopolitan” Canada, Toronto.

  

14 April, Sunday

We learn that ejection fraction measures how much volume the heart pumps with each beat, 55% to 6o% is considered normal and 20% is too low. John’s ejection fraction in his left ventricle, is 20-25% , it was 35%. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a blood protein that indicates inflammation of the arteries. Levels rise in response to inflammation. You are at high risk for heart disease if your CRP level is higher than 3.0 mg/L. John’s levels reach 140mg/L. And, his leucocyte levels, which measures the number of white blood cells and indicates infection, are high.

  

I have a private talk with Dr. Kašperová. I would like to know what are John’s chances of survival. She tells me that culture is growing in lab - soon they will know specific antibiotic to give him. The doctor thinks a two week stay is optimistic. What is most essential at this point besides hydration is for John to be optimistic. She believes his survival depends on this.

  

Today John is NOT feeling optimistic, he wants out by weeks end. He does not know that he is looking at a two week minimum stay and we are not going to tell him. And, he is concerned that he has no appetite. This does not bode well for John. “Your body is trying to heal,” I tell him. This is what I told my friend Carol when she expressed the same concern a week before she died of congestive heart failure on 23 May 2012. But, we just brought him hot soup and he is eating after two days of no food. It is not until later that we learn restaurant soup is verboten - too much salt.

  

Today is my mother’s 79th birthday. It does not occur to me until now that I can send her emails using Chris’ iPhone. I write: Father-in-law John had a heart attack on Friday and he is in the hospital in Bratislava. We will stay in Slovakia until John is well enough to travel. In hindsight, emailing my mother would have been a good opportunity to write and keep track of our adventures. Viking had kept us busy starting early every morning. It was a great trip while it lasted, in fact, everything was much better than we expected and we only missed the last two days.

  

Except for the ubiquitous and jumbo sized chocolate chip cookies (yes, there is such a thing) I like the small portions of food Viking serves, although John informs me that not everyone is of the same opinion. And, not being a big meat eater, I look forward to the hot rueben sandwich which is on the menu for tomorrow’s lunch. “You know I’m not supposed to eat that,” John tells me, “Too much salt, but I’m going to, I eat whatever I want.” This is not the first time John brags about his see-food diet. The last time it happened he ended up in the hospital with a heart attack. I predicted that would happen. The body keeps count.

  

The first few days we stay with John only briefly as he is tired and sleeps most of the time. We start the routine of dropping off a decaf latte in the morning which progresses to one in the afternoon, and everyday we bring him food and the International Herald Tribune.

  

Near the end, as a treat, we buy him a New Yorker 12.50 € ($17.00) which John has subscribed to for almost sixty years, and a Time magazine which features the 100 most influential people in the world. When we are not hunting for food and gathering reading material for John we explore the medieval city center of Bratislava and I start to learn the Slovakian language.

  

The Slovakian word for thank you is Ďakujem. I have one of the nurses on my voice recorder repeating this word over and over again. I admit that it took me one long week to learn how to say ďakujem without thinking - that is how difficult this word is to pronounce and why the locals are so appreciative when we make the effort. The Slovakians and the Slovenians use ‘Prosím' for please and there are some other similarities, but the Slovakian language uses diacritics that I have never seen before. My curiosity is piqued.

  

15 April, Monday

It is a huge relief to see that John is feeling much better this morning after he briefly lost his optimism. For the first time yesterday we saw the possibility of darkness settling in. But, I notice that the right side of his body is bloated.

  

“We visited Dad this morning and he is doing noticeably better than yesterday. He is more alert and energetic, and his appetite is better. He has bronchial pneumonia in the right lung which is being treated with two antibiotics. He appreciates everyone's concerns and good wishes. Once the pneumonia clears up and he is stronger we can go home. Although he wants to go home he realizes that he is too weak to travel.” - Chris’ email

  

“Dr. Papinčák says it’s too soon for Dad to walk, that he needs to start by spending more time sitting up, physical therapy will start tomorrow. When we visit in the morning we will have him sit up with his legs over the side of the bed and his feet on the floor. He said that Dad is improving, responding to the antibiotics as measured by a lower CRP number. He also said that his heart was not damaged that much more by this heart attack as measured by the EF number. Finally he said that Dad may be ready to travel by Friday or Saturday. We brought him OJ, salad, decaf latte, a blueberry muffin and the Herald Tribune, everything he wanted. Things are going as well and as fast as they can go for now. We are optimistic. - Chris’ email

  

16 April, Tuesday

We wake up to the news that terrorists attacked the Boston Marathon. We feel safe in Bratislava.

  

John is definitely making progress. He is one tough Greek and I tell him so, but he is not convinced. “Wait until we’re in the air,” he says not realizing the potential danger that lies ahead. I notice that he is not coughing. The double dose of two different antibiotics must be working and the right side of his body is not as swollen.

  

“We are going to get an update from the doctor in the morning and hopefully an approximate timeline for when Dad might be able to travel. He is very much hoping to leave Friday, but I don't know about that. While he is clearly improving each day he still has pneumonia and is very weak.” - Chris’ email

  

Today I discover that Dr. Kašperová understands every word of the German language but, like her English, she struggles to speak. The first thing she tells me, without any prompting on my part, is that John is not going anywhere in a hurry.

  

17 April, Wednesday

This morning Dr. Kašperová introduces us to her daughter Julia a blonde medical student who speaks English well. This is a teaching hospital and Julia is studying to become a cardiologist just like her parents. Her grandfather Julius was one of the founders and the main cardiologist in the Slovak Cardiovascular Centre in the former Czecho-Slovakia. In two years she will complete her studies. Julia is twenty-three years old.

  

10:00

Chris buys a disposable telephone at T-Mobile on Ivánska cesta 12, John’s daughters are eager to speak with him. This turns out to be a good call as John’s spirits lift and for the first time he sits up in bed with his feet flat on the floor.

  

It is a little after 4 p.m. when the first call is made. Church bells are chiming, sirens are wailing and John is coughing, a dry hacking cough that does not let up. “ It’s bad.” he tells them. He would like to go straight to Stanford hospital when he arrives in San Francisco.

  

Chris wonders how I know that to call abroad from Slovakia one must dial 00 - the exit code.

  

Today we learn that we must pay the hospital bill in full and in cash on the day we leave. The University Hospital does not accept credit cards. Dr. Kašperová will give us an estimate after she speaks with the billing department.

  

The first option we look into is a money transfer. Western Union is surprisingly expensive, so we go next door to the bank, the only one in the area that deals with money transfers. For a surprisingly small amount we are able to open an account. But, we think this is too complicated, and the bank does do not open until 9 a.m. Instead, John gives us his password and twice daily we withdraw the cash limit from both of our accounts.

  

A few days later Dr. Kašperová tells us that the daily cost of staying in the University Hospital is 113€ ($150.00) plus medicines and procedures such as x-rays and electrocardiograms. We will not know the final cost until the day we leave.

  

John urges Chris to build-up a cash reserve of $3,000€ and then changes it to $4,000€. Chris is hesitant, he thinks this is too much. I want that Chris should take his father’s advice as I am not convinced that John is going to make it home alive. This will not be the first in flight death we will have experienced. Once we had to make an emergency landing in Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada. I wonder how complicated it will be to have John cremated, how much it will cost and in which country it will happen. We are told, by someone who knows, not to tell the airlines that we are traveling with a high risk passenger.

  

18 April, Thursday

John continues to make great strides. Today he walked across the room and back and he was wheeled outside into the sunshine to the radiology department to be x-rayed (antiquated is the word he used) and his catheter was removed. We are all happy about this.

  

This morning Dr. Kašperová tells me that John, who is eager to leave, can go home whenever he wants. I think this is good reverse psychology and I was going to use it on him. When I tell him that he can go home whenever he wants, John says, "Let's wait and see what the doctors say.”

  

More drama today when we find out that John’s eighty-nine year old brother, Spiro, has passed away. We suspect that, if not for John’s pacemaker, he and his brother would have died one day apart.

  

Poor Chris, there have been some difficult moments for him. We are on the street in Bratislava when his sister calls to tell him the news. This is not easy for Chris as he loves his uncle Spiro.

  

I am a little surprised this afternoon when John asks what else was said during this conversation - I was not expecting Chris to tell him unless he asked the specific question. John had made it clear that he did not want to hear anything about Spiro while he was on the trip. Chris finds this moment too difficult so, just like a scene in a movie, I lean in close, gently place my hand on John’s right shoulder and whisper in his ear, “Spiro died.” John, staring off into space, does not say a word. “That’s why we looked so glum when we arrived,” I tell him “I hadn’t noticed.” John replies taking a quick glance over his right shoulder. This is where I stand.

  

Two years ago John threw an eighty-fifth birthday party for himself and invited his close family and friends. At the end of the bash one of the questions I was asked was, who is this woman, a mother of two, with the same last name. John, a psychologist who spent twenty-five years in analysis, never thinks to introduce his children.

  

“You might have introduced your children, “ I say to John as we all pile into the car early the next morning. “People were wondering why …” I get cut-off as everyone agrees. A good idea too late, but it makes no difference, no one feels slighted.

  

John, who lives in Palo Alto, California feels grateful that he flew to New York City the week before our Danube cruise to reminisce with Spiro after he refused further treatment for lung cancer.

  

Near the end of his life Spiro was engulfed by blindness. In part, his obituary read, “Even while struggling with his blindness, Spiro could not be deterred. Throughout the rigorous training at the Guide Dog Foundation, Spiro rallied his classmates, transforming a tense and strenuous course into one filled with laughter and friendship. In appreciation, his classmates named him the honorary “Chief” of the fictitious [Where the?] Fugawe Tribe. It was one of his proudest achievements.” - The Suffolk Times

  

Uncle Spiro worked on the Manhattan project. It says so in the Suffolk Times. Chris says he’s known all along, but he does not know more.

  

We were told that Spiro died in peace and he was joking up to the end. The service was last Wednesday, the church was full and it was a gloriously beautiful day. Aunt Joan, who also has lung cancer, won’t last another three months.

  

I tell Dr. Kašperová in private and in my limited German, that John's brother Spiro died. And, I tell her that he had requested that he not be told, but since he had asked about him the other day and if he were to ask again we were going to tell him. I want her to know just in case John finds the news too depressing - she can knock him out. The doctor agrees, John should know, and she wants to know how he died. Then she tells me that every day when she comes to work she wonders if John is still alive. Dr. Kašperová explains the obvious: John ist alt und er ist krank mit schlechten Herz. John is old and he is sick with a bad heart.

  

4:00 p.m.

Chris is exhausted and he would like to return to the hotel, but I discourage this with wide-open eyes. This is not a good time to leave, John has just learned that his brother has died. Chris agrees and sits back down.

  

We spend the next three hours by John's side as he reminisces. I mention that he is the last of three brothers to survive. John tells me this is something he is going to think about. The eldest Mary, died of pneumonia at the age of two. John’s father showed him a photo of her of one day in his flower shop in the Bronx. John did not learn that he had a sister until he was ten years old.

  

As we get up to leave I tell John that if he gets too sad to ask the doctor to put him to sleep. “Juliana,” he says leaning forward from a sitting position. He takes an unflinching look into my eyes, “I don’t mind being sad,” he tells me emphatically. Then he repeats this for emphasis. Of course I know this already, but who wants to use the words “too depressed”. Now I learn to speak even more plainly with John.

  

Seven days after John is admitted to the hospital he says, “It’s ME time, tell the extended family about ME.” They do not know that John is in a hospital in Slovakia.

  

19 April, Friday

Today the doctors start preparing the paperwork, this is a good sign. If, after the weekend, Dr. Papinčák tells us, John continues to improve we can go home on Tuesday.

  

This morning we leave the hotel and walk right past the public park, also known as the medical garden (Medická záhrada) on our way to the Ondřejská Cemetery. This is a pleasant surprise, a green oasis in medieval Bratislava. I would like to stay longer and photograph all the angelic tombstones, but Chris, who practices moderation to the excess, is hungry, and like his father, he takes his food seriously.

  

We are in the eastern part of the Staré Město and on the way back Chris takes us to see the Catholic Church of St. Elizabeth, also known as the Blue Church. It sits on the corner of Bezručova street and Groslingova. This is another surprise, art nouveau in medieval Bratislava. Built between 1907-1908 everything about the Blue Church is astonishingly blue - inside and out.

  

Chris has been a vegetarian for 34 years now so the lunch menu is somewhat limited. But, this fact is rarely a problem especially in cosmopolitan Bratislava. The restaurant he chooses is owned by Jordanians and our server is an Afghan. While Chris eats his falafel I eat a delicious bowl of vegetable soup made by an Indian chef. When we are done a Slovakian waitress prepares a gyros for John. While we wait I watch CNN with three Jordanians males and learn that the terrorists who blew up the Boston marathon are two young brothers from the Russian Caucasus area.

  

Back at the hospital I wait outside and explore the grounds while I give Chris and John time alone. I know that my behavior is suspicious and that I am being watched when I take notes and speak into my voice recorder. But, it is when I start to take photos that the security guard comes over and asks me not to photograph. “Nerorazumiem,” (I don’t understand) I tell him understanding fully. I want to practice my Slovakian on him. “Razumien.” (I understand).

  

Okay, so there is no soap in the bathroom and the hospital could use a paint job and some Spackling paste and I will not get into the elevator - still it is a solid structure with a set of surprisingly elegant and dilapidated stairways that face each other in the biochemistry and molecular genetics building. John is laying under cathedral ceilings next to two large arched wooden windows that he is free to open. He feels the breeze and he has a view of a Linden tree, Slovakia’s national tree that is measured in centuries, and he can see the church steeple. Like us, he is on the fourth floor. John continues to be amazed that the doctors are working to identical standards and he has a favorite nurse, Anna, who bathes him in the early morning light.

  

This evening I notice that John’s dry hacking cough has returned, I think that this cannot be good. We wait and wonder: What will the doctors have to say about John leaving the hospital on Tuesday morning?

  

20 April, Saturday

I am sure that Chris feels like we abandoned his father this morning but I insist on changing the routine. I think that since John is not sleeping as much he would prefer to receive his newspaper in the morning instead of the afternoon. And, what if they sell out! Plus, I am drawn to the the medieval city centre. I want to walk there and I want to walk fast. On our way I talk just as fast, in part to distract Chris from his uneasy feeling. I think that I have Chris convinced that the doctors are stringing him and John along. Everyday the doctors tell them only a few days more when in private they tell me how dire the situation really is, which is obvious to me.

  

After we buy the newspaper at Interpress Chris relaxes enough to take a detour to the Bratislava Information Service (BIS). He would like to climb atop Michael's Tower before we leave Bratislava. Chris is sure our trip is about to end.

  

It is here, at the information center, that we see the beginnings of what promises to be an even more exciting day. This year Bratislava is celebrating 20 years of independence from Czecho-Slovakia. The Gentle Revolution, also called The Velvet Divorce, took effect on 1 January 1993. The Slovak Republic, also called Slovakia or Slovensko, is Europe’s newest country.

  

As we race back to the hospital with John’s coffee and newspaper we agree to make a dash for the exit, but first Chris would like to make sure that his father is going to be all right. Of course, John gives us the okay and like little children we run out the door and down the street to the Square (Primacialne Namestie). It is 11:00 a.m. and the parade has just begun.

  

We follow thirty professional actors dressed in period costumes, horsemen, drummers, and soldiers, men and women, carrying long rifles, swords, flags and banners. Together we march up to Michael's Gate (Michalska Brana) built around 1300 and the only surviving of four gates that were used to enter the mediaeval city. A large banner depicting St.George slaying the dragon and the message Bratislava Pre Všetkych (Bratislava For All) bars the entrance.

  

Here we watch performances so arresting that I put down my camera. After a four rifle salute declarations are made by someone who looks like the mayor of Bratislava, Milan Ftáčnik, and the banner is raised signaling the unsealing of the city gates.

  

We follow the parade back to the square where we watch a soldier stand on his horse, drape the horse’s leg over his shoulder, lie underneath the horse and place the horse’s foot lightly on his chest while he is laying flat on his back. In the square we are joined by a king and queen. This year Bratislava is celebrating the 450th anniversary of the first royal coronation.

  

Formerly known as Pozsony by the Hungarians and Pressburg (in reference to the castle) by the Germans, Bratislava, became the new capital of Royal Hungary in 1536 after the Ottoman Turks, under the leadership of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, swept into Hungary and overtook Buda at the battle of Mohacs in 1526. Bratislava, the official name since 1919 when it was made the capital of Slovakia in the newly created Czecho-Slovakia, was honored to be the city of coronation and it lasted for almost three hundred years. Ten Habsburg kings and nine queens were crowned in the gothic St. Martin’s Cathedral using the crown of St. Stephen the first king of Hungary who was crowned on Christmas Day in the year 1000.

  

The medieval Crown of St. Stephen, also called the Holy Crown of Hungary, is the symbol of Hungarian nationhood. People from far and wide will come to watch the authentic coronation ceremony which follows the exact same ritual based on historical documents.

  

Nota bene: The coronation ceremony is held every year during the last weekend of June in honor of Maria Theresa who was crowned on 25 June 1741.

  

12:31 p.m.

We are on a mission to find the closest thing we can to a Greek Orthodox church to light three candles for Chris’ deceased kinfolk. At John’s request. On the way up to St. Nicholas, which sits under the walled castle and is in the old Jewish Quarter we stop on Židovská 1 (Jewish) to visit the Museum of Clocks. I see a clock with engravings of the different phases of human life. A poignant reminder of how time affects all of us.

  

It is a steep climb up the stone stairs to St. Nicholas which is hidden behind a row of buildings. Built in 1661 the entrance to this nondescript baroque church is flanked by trees. A statue of St. Nicholas stands in the niche above the door and above a coat of arms which is partly obscured by leafy branches. When we walk in through the open door we are stunned into silence. There are no pews only chairs lining the south and east walls. The adherents are standing in the center gathered around three heavily bearded Orthodox priests dressed in black cossack robes and wearing pectoral crosses. It feels as though we have just stepped into the Middle Ages.

  

“We found a beautiful, old Orthodox Church today, St. Nicholas, and lit three candles… and gave them a donation as Dad had requested. We took lots of pictures to show him, and he was pleased. They were in the middle of a ceremony with singing and prayers, the Church was full, and 40 minutes later everyone left and the Church was locked up so we just made it.” - Chris’ email

  

2:16 p.m.

I do not have a voracious appetite during our sojourn in Bratislava, I only eat two full breakfast’s and three main meals, one of which is a delicious bowl of goulash soup mit dunkel Brot at the Pivnica U Kozal on Panská 27.

  

We sit outside. When I am done I walk through an archway and climb down a broad set of stairs to the restaurant/bar deep underground. Who can believe this place with its low arched ceiling and dim lights. There is only one group of men sitting at a table immediately to my left as I enter and a lone man sits on my right a few tables over. I pay them no heed and carry on. I feel uncomfortable as I try to open the door to the WC (water closet) and realize that someone is in there and I have to wait. But, I think it is only a case of nerves and after I calm myself down by looking at the art on the wall I ask the lone figure if there is anyone in there as I try to open the door once again. This time it opens.

  

I find my fear curious and take some time to soak in the atmosphere in this most unusual restaurant underground. I am looking at a vintage tin beer sign across from the men when one of them orders me to, “COME, SIT!” I am paralyzed by fear. Then I am ordered to “DRINK BEER!”

  

What happens next to my field of vision is interesting. All I see as I turn around is someone pushing something aside and patting down a place for me to sit and I see a table topped with huge glasses and a pitcher filled with pivo (beer) which one of the men is holding aloft. I never see the men themselves, but I know by how they sound that they are big burly types who have been sitting here for a while.

  

I find the thought of joining them and drinking beer, in this cave, in the middle of the afternoon so ludicrous that I laugh out loud and in the same loud and commanding voice I reply, “THAT is NOT going to happen." There is dead silence. Released from my paralysis I take this opportunity to escape and run up the stairs without ever looking at the men.

  

Once outside I tell Chris about the unique restaurant/bar below and still curious about my fear I follow him downstairs and hang out while he uses the WC - still never looking at the men. But, as we are walking out I lift up my camera and take a photograph. In the photo one of the men is lurching drunkenly towards me. I count a total of six big celebrating Slovaks. It is not until we arrive home that I learn that Pivnica means cellar.

  

Today John walks across the room and when he arrives at the sink he shaves himself. Talk is still about returning Tuesday and for once I believe that if John continues to make progress we will indeed return sooner rather than later.

  

21 April, Sunday

10:07 a.m.

No matter how many times we mention the festivities taking place in Bratislava this weekend John does not let us go. Instead of music, dance shows, and horse races this morning we wheel John outside for some fresh air and we walk the length of the corridor, twice.

  

This whole thing feels surreal - we’re in medieval Bratislava, Chris is pushing his father in a wheel chair and I’m looking over my shoulder every time I want to take a photograph.

  

10:48 a.m.

Dr. Soña Kiñová tells us that John’s cough will last for a couple of weeks. And, she tells us that John is good to go home on Tuesday. But, this is not her decision to make - still we prepare ourselves mentally.

  

Dr. Soña speaks fluent English. We pepper her with questions about Bratislava and Slovakia. Then she tells us about the students who study at this University Hospital. They come from all over the world, she explains, because it is relatively inexpensive to study here. Twice she mentions that the Greeks are the laziest students and she explains why. In Greece, in order to own a pharmacy, one must be educated as a doctor. The Greek students do not want to learn, but they want to own pharmacies.

  

At first I think it is interesting that the Greeks are the laziest students, but after she mentions it a second time I start to feel uncomfortable and I look at Chris and John, but neither say a word. I think Dr. Soña knows that John is a Greek but Chris tells me this is not so. I think she knows by the name - Beletsis. Anyone with any experience with Greeks knows that a family name ending in "sis" hails from mainland Greece.

  

1:16 p.m.

Michael’s Tower, also called Michael’s Gate because it is a combination of the two, was built around 1500 and it is more than 50 meters high (seven floors, I counted). Climb the narrow circular staircase for a postcard view of Bratislava.

Only so many people are allowed entrance at a time and there is a guard on every level and a military museum with a collection of medieval arms and military uniforms. The enthusiastic guard on the top level insists that Chris take a photo of me from the inside looking out. Since he speaks no English he gestures wildly for me to step outside and come around to the window. He thinks this is an excellent idea. I photograph them from the outside looking in. The guard poses but he does not smile.

  

When we visited the Czech Republic in the spring of 2000 I read that the people complained that the playwright president Vaclav’s Havel’s new wife since 1997, the actress Dagmar Veškrnova, smiled too much.

  

5:02 p.m.

John, who is wearing a hospital gown, leans out the window. I too lean out the window. He comments on the good weather. I quote Chris. “We arrive in winter and stay until spring.“

  

22 April, Monday (Eleven days later)

12:36 a.m.

Our airline Lufthansa is on strike. Hopefully it will last for one day only. I lay awake and wonder, what will Dr. Kašperová say about John leaving the hospital on Tuesday morning?

  

There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that we can leave tomorrow and the bad news is that a medical escort will not be available for one more day. Will his father play it safe? I make Chris a bet and I lose. John is adamant about leaving the hospital tomorrow.

  

John is sitting up in his hospital bed munching on a gyros - not looking at anyone. Chris is standing on John’s left leaning against the wall and I am standing to the right of John. We are near the foot of the bed where Dr. Kašperová stands deep in thought - she is looking down. There is silence.

  

Dr. Kašperová is in charge, she is the one who must determine when John is fit to fly and she has just received the news that John has decided to return home tomorrow without a medical assistant. Chris and I look at each other and together we look at John who refuses to look at anyone. We look at Dr. Kašperová who is still deep in thought and looking down at the floor. This goes on for some time - around and around Chris and I look while John continues to munch refusing to look at anyone and the doctor continues to thinks things through.

  

I tell Dr. Kašperová that John has an option - stay one more day and return with a medical assistant. Dr. Kašperová does not take her eyes off me as she digests this information. John, who is adamant about returning tomorrow, looks up at Dr. Kašperová and with great cheer says, "I'm fine! “ Then he tries to explain that he lives in an independent and assisted senior living retirement community. Dr. Kašperová demands more silence as she looks to the floor once again for answers. Around and around we go again. Chris and I look at each other, then we look at John who continues to munch and refuses to look at anyone. This makes us smile.

  

Dr. Kašperová looks up and tells me that she had made it clear on Friday to those responsible that John could go home on Tuesday and that she had ordered a medical assistant. Earlier in the day Dr. Papinčák had also made this clear to us - arrangements were made on Friday. I acknowledge this and express our frustration with with those who are responsible for our predicament. We all prefer that John return with a medical assistant by his side.

  

Finally, Dr. Kašperová says that it is fine for John to travel home tomorrow and she suggests that he have a drink - whiskey. This makes me laugh and I feel relief that John will be able to leave without a medical assistant and with the doctor’s blessing. Dr. Kašperová explains that she will give us medicine if Johns blood pressure should rise and if he has difficulty breathing. She gives Chris her email address and her mobile telephone number and asks that we contact her when we arrive in Frankfurt.

  

This is our last night in Bratislava. John is in high spirits as we prepare his clothes for a 7:15 a.m. departure. Piece by piece I hold them up for his approval. When I come to his boxer shorts I hold them high. John exclaims, "Aren't those cute Juliana!" After eleven days in the coronary care unit John is excited and ready to return home.

  

Bratislava, located in southwestern Slovakia, is the only European capital that borders two countries - it is within walking distance to the Austrian and Hungarian borders. The trip west to the Vienna airport by private car will take one hour. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the driver we hire is the hotel receptionist’s boyfriend, Matej.

  

Back at the hotel we pack, one small backpack each. We have reservations, but no tickets. It is not until late into the nights that we learn that all the arrangements have been made. Lufthansa will fly us from Vienna to Frankfurt and United Airlines will fly us direct to San francisco.

  

23 April, Tuesday morning

7:00 a.m. Sharp

Matej is waiting for us in the hotel lobby. He greets us with a smile. He drives what seems a long way out of the way as the hotel is just around the corner. But, he explains that the car must take a different route. While the hospital guard and Matej figure out where to park Chris jumps out of the car and I miss my opportunity to say goodbye to the doctors and nurses.

  

Chris said that when he went to pick up his father it didn’t look like anything was happening. The curtain around John’s bed was closed and the staff was busy. Chris drew the curtain aside and there was John, he was laying down, fully clothed and ready to go. Dr. Kašperová came over and John’s favorite nurse, Anna, helped him into a wheelchair, but not before he surprised her by giving her a big hug. It took only a few minutes to pull it all together.

  

When John is wheeled into the daylight he calls my name. I turn to look at him and in the excitement of the moment I clap my hands and give him two thumbs up. This is indeed an exciting time.

  

On our way out Matej, a compassionate humanitarian, tells me that our kindness made the old man with the cane cry. While we waited we helped him to his seat on the bench. “Dobrý!” (Good) I exclaim with a big smile once he is settled. I see that his eye is red and teary, but I do not make the connection. I think this is due to his condition.

  

Matej, who was once a tour guide, takes us on the scenic route to the Vienna airport. Along the way he tells us that, “Socialism has good sides and the bad sides. Bad thing is, the bad sides stayed and the good ones are gone.”

  

8:53 a.m.

As we check in to special assistance the attendant says to John, “Good children, you are flying business class.” John replies. “I feel very special.” She does not know that we came directly from the hospital.

  

Because he can, Chris sends Dr. Kašperová an email. She promptly replies, “Dear Chris and Juliana, it is nice to hear from you, thank you for the message. We wish you good luck and a lot of strength for Mr. John. Kind regards, Viera Kašperová”

 

We arrive early and the Frankfurt gate reads destination Brindisi. I happen to know that this is where one catches the ferry to Greece. I am ready to keep moving and ask John a spirited traveler. I can see us heading south and me racing him around in a wheelchair.

  

In flight, Chris and I check on John several times. I ask the flight attendant to keep her eye on him and I explain that John is a high risk passenger. John later says that the flight back was really difficult for him, but he shows no signs of distress. He just looks like a worn-out traveler.

  

In San Francisco we hand over John to his daughters and son-in-law who take him home and we catch our flight to San Diego. We sit by the emergency exit doors. The flight attendant would like to know if we are willing and able to help in case of an emergency. She would like that all the passengers see that we are reading the instruction manual.

  

On our way to our car I quiz Chris. “In what position do you place your arms when you slide down the emergency chute?” Chris holds his arms high in the air and says “Whee!” It feels good to laugh again.

  

It is not until we are on the I5 (Interstate 5) heading north that it hits me. I sure am glad that things worked out well as they did, after all, it was me who suggested we invite him on this trip. John said that he was glad that we made the best of being in Bratislava and that we did all the right things. He thinks that we saved his life.

  

It turns out that my father in-law did not suffer a heart attack after all. Although, what he did experience, a heart exacerbation, a sudden worsening of an already bad condition, is just as serious. John did all the right things. He ate a salty lunch which is verboten, he drank alcohol which is verboten and he stopped taking his diuretic as prescribed.

  

Complicated times (his words, not mine) for John indeed. The difference between the photo taken of him on 7 April about to embark on the ship in Passau, Germany where the trip started and 7 May, two weeks after he arrived home, is astonishing. John came back an old man leaning on a cane. His doctor tells him that it will take at least six weeks for John to feel well rested and to regain his strength.

  

The Danube Waltz

My father-in-law was lucky, his last trip abroad nearly cost him his life and travel insurance covered his flight home and trip interruption. The hospital bill, which we paid in full and in cash the day before we left, amounted to only 1,889.36 € ($2,500.00) and that was covered by his medical insurance and Travel Guard.

  

John, who would like me to make him look heroic, spends eleven nights and twelve days recovering in the oldest teaching hospital in medieval Bratislava. During his stay Boston is shutdown by a manhunt, the death toll rises when a Texas fertilizer plant implodes and his last remaining brother Spiro dies. John loses his sense of humor only once when he is hungry and it is brief. His unshakeable optimism and indomitable spirit saves us all.

  

I have an easy time with it all, in part, because I do not concern myself with the logistics. I provide moral support and look to my late friend Count Alfonso de Bourbon for words of wisdom, “Don’t make it any more difficult than it already is.” Chris agrees, “It is what it is.” Plus, the doctors are really nice and they think we are “awesome people”. They “threaten” to come and visit us when they come to California, but not this year.

  

We are somewhat of a novelty in Bratislava. Most tourists come for a single day, riverboat walking tours last two hours. We stay in Bratislava for twelve days and for the most part we frequent the same markets, cafe’s and news stands. The Bratislavs are curious.

  

Free wireless and John’s cafe latte’s are not the only reason to go to The Green Tree Cafe on Obchodná ulica (street). It is helpful that Chris has a sob story to share with the staff - father is in the hospital, we’re going home soon, I’m buying the coffee’s for him. These girls are young and they are sweet, but they never ask about John, it is me they wonder about. “Where is your wife?” they ask when I am missing. They are curious and they are always smiling.

  

What to expect if your father-in-law has a heart attack In Bratislava, Slovakia and the ship leaves without you? Expect the doctors and nurses in the University Hospital Old Town to be ”exceptional” - John’s word.

  

“Not only were they competent, but how much they cared about me, how concerned they were about my getting home safely and how Dr. Kašperová wanted to know, after I got home, by email or a phone call, that all is okay. Most people complain about doctors, that they're very impersonal, they don't pay any attention to them, they don't really care about you they just want to get doing what they have to do, and get rid of you, These doctors and nurses were so different. It was very special and unusual to have that kind of care shown by anybody and we after all we were strangers too - which makes it even more important." - John Beletsis

court house subway station, washington d.c.

  

www.maybemaq.eu

Meg is my younger daughter. My long-time flickr friends have seen her often in my photostream. She was born with Tetralogy of Fallot. Her right pulmonary valve was pretty much missing, and the opening from the ventricle to the pulmonary artery was constricted. She also had a hole between the two ventricles.

 

For the first several years of her life, she was prone to bouts of pneumonia for which she was hospitalized at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. The pneumonia resulted from her heart condition.

 

She has undergone four heart surgeries between 1984 and 2002. Further, when she was 8, she had her ureters rei-mplanted into her bladder.

 

During the mid 90s it was feared that she had contracted HIV from a bad transfusion in the 80s. Fortunately, she tested negative. But, while she was pregnant with her son, Gavin, a routine blood test revealed that she had contracted Hepatitis C from a bad transfusion received in 1984. She underwent treatment between May and October, 2009. I helped with her boys during this period. She's now clear of Hep C, and things are relatively normal. She'll go for another test in May, 2010

 

Meg married Joe Jenkins on the Mexican Riviera in 2005. They have two boys, Tyler and Gavin.

 

Meg trained as a gerontologist at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, and worked with seniors in several facilities. After Gavin was born, Meg chose to remain at home, and ran a children's daycare program out of her house. She gave the daycare up when she commenced her Hep C treatment last May. The treatment is quite exhausting, and having a house full of kids wouldn't help the situation.

 

She's now volunteering in Tyler's class every Thursday morning.

 

Meg's a toughie...but a soft-hearted one. She has a great affinity for animals, seniors and children, and loves her boys to death.

Why don't you listen to a bit of cello music? I've got a tube of a Bach Cello Sonata, played by Rostropovich, one of the undoubtedly best ever cello players ever .... here!

 

i

 

Rostropovich, King's College Chapel

 

It was there, between us, palpable -

wrapped in blue air, outlined almost

in gold, like dust from the wings

of an angel (if such things existed),

damming the music in its flood

like a heavenly blood-clot, clenching

ventricles, nailing the heart

to the great ribbed vaulting (this landbound

ark) and one of us crying, it's not

clear who, as if for joy, or loss; and the dust

stirs briefly like the tremors of love

satisfied, or of grief. And it's gone

 

and you catch yourself thinking

this is the moment; this mystery,

this is where history starts.

And somewhere else a wing unfurls:

here, you're caught up once

and lifted, shipwrecked, drowning.

 

ii

 

Steven Isserlis, Exeter Cathedral

 

After all those words

a river of uncluttered notes.

'I'd like to be voiceless now

for days,' you whisper.

Something beyond language

opens its wings inside us;

bears us out streaming

into blue silence.

 

by Roselle Angwin

 

As coincidences go, I have some snail photos to upload and I thought I might combine it with a photo of the 'snail' of my cello.... Then comes along the weekend discussion of TWTME and I thought I might change around my photos a bit to offer you my 'darling cello' for a change!

I admit, I do love the different woods in this compo (which is entirely natural and not staged). We have a beautiful 3 door armoire in the background, to the left you can see the dusty piano of Hero Husband and proudly in the front the perfect body of my cello.... :)

It's interesting, this photo is 'fully natural' (soc) with no flash or manipulation and yet it has a shine on the body as if.... Can't help it!

 

© All rights reserved

Kindly visit my Flickr DNA for more information on me and my work. Thanks!

 

If you have time, please visit my EXPLORE portfolio. |I| And/Or maybe you want to look up what 'DOPIAZA' considers as the MOST INTERESTING photos. |I| THESE are MY personal 50 FAVES… (and they change often as I delete one for every new one!) |I|

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=====Van Cleer Manor=====

 

*Everything seems much darker since Arkham City. It hasn't stopped raining since it opened, and right now the wind howls, battering against the windows of the Walker Residence. Drury's on the phone, whispering in hushed tones. Miranda watches his lips closely, as he mutters "Nah, can't be" under his breath, and mumbles "God... Thanks, though." He hangs up, smiles weakly, then slinks into his armchair*

 

Miranda- Trouble?

 

Drury- Eh? Just a work query dear- Did you know how much sugar is actually in fudge? Let alone those chocolate orange ones you like... A real eye opener.

 

Miranda- I'll bet.

 

*She looks over her newspaper, the front page describing yet another incident in Arkham City, suspiciously at her husband, watching as he jumps to his feet, and heads into the kitchen. But before he's at the door, Sharpe bursts through it, sweat dripping from his brow, Gaige in hot pursuit. Catching up with him, the good doctor tackles Chancer*

 

Miranda- Daddy? What the hell?!

 

*Chancer gasps for breath under Gaige, who finally releases him, wheezing out a warning through deep breaths "Zombies! Fuckin' zombies Walker!" Paranoid, Gaige starts to close all the curtains*

 

Drury- What is-?

 

Gaige- No time! Were you followed?

 

Chancer- I...

 

Gaige- Talk, you fucking idiot, talk!

 

Chancer- You sat on my ventricle! I... I don't know... Maybe... Probably!

 

Gaige- For the love of....

 

*Gaige shoves past Chancer, and cracks open his suitcase*

 

Drury- Followed? Followed by who? Gaige-!

 

*Drury looks down at the shotgun forced into his arms and back at Gaige, who's now armed both Sharpe and Miranda. Lastly, after bandaging his fists and tightening his bandana, The Tiger Shark very suddenly rips off his shirt, and grabs a harpoon from off the mantle piece*

 

Gaige- It's always the same story. Fucking Owls. Miranda- get the pre-schooler to the bunker. Sharpe- tell the twins to grab their costumes. Walker- Call Lynns, tell him to put his place on lockdown, the bastards won't fuck around.

 

Miranda- Dad! Those kids aren't fighting!

 

...

 

Miranda- Just stop for a minute. What happened?

 

Gaige- It's the Court of Owls. Chancer must've found one of their nests. ... How *did* you find one of their nests?

 

Chancer- This tunnel... it just... just opened. These things came out, and I ran

 

*The trio look at Chancer. And that's all it takes for them to know he's lying*

 

Drury- Chancer...

 

Chancer- What? Might've been gold or something...

 

*Out of the corner of his eye, Sharpe noticed Miranda grasping her gun more tightly and heard a sound from Gaige not dissimilar to an angry whale*

 

Miranda- Should've known you couldn't change.

 

Drury- Stop it, the both of you. Chancer's with us, ok. I'm calling Gar. You deal with the kids. We'll make a stand

 

=======

 

*Dozens of dark figures moved about outside, generations of Talons stood poised for attack, swords in their hands. Leading them, was another figure. It let out ragged breaths from beneath it's dark grey mask. It knew this place. Once. And if it knew all that it had forgotten, it would realise it had become the same thing it had once despised. A puppet. It raised a gloved hand to it's forces, and nodded*

 

=======

 

*Drury put down the phone. Gar was safe- thank god. He was in Strykers with Josie, visiting her mother- Superman just a call away. Fully dressed, Kitten and Axel thundered into the room, alongside a bloodied Chancer*

 

Kitten- Daddy, what's going on, your crazy friend barged into my room and told me to suit up.

 

Chancer- She punched me in the nose!

 

*Drury put his hand on his daughter's shoulder in reassurance*

 

Drury- Well sweetie, my crazy friend has gone and brought an army of Talons here. Cammy's in the cave, you ought to join him.

 

*Axel snorted*

 

Axel- Typical.

 

Kitten- Urgh, that's so annoying! I had my hair done and everything.

 

*Drury smiles. These were his kids through and through, and he loved (and sometimes hated them) for it. He ran a finger across Kitten's curled locks*

 

Drury- Heh. So, huh, who's the new boyfriend Katie?

 

Kitten- You... wouldn't know em.

 

Axel- Bet it's Red Hood, she loves those Robi- ow!

 

Kitten- Nuh-uh, he's mean!

 

Drury- Heheh... I want you two in that cave ok?

 

*Under his breath, Axel says "Like that'll happen," a snot gun gripped in his hand. Cammy safely away, Miranda stands in the doorway, a faint banging noise behind her*

 

Miranda- They're here.

 

Drury- Sounds like they're... singing.

 

"Beware the Court of Owls, watching all the time. Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch behind granite and lime. They see you in your hearth. They watch you in your bed. Speak not a whispered word of them"

 

Talon- Or they'll send the Talon for your head.

Week 7.....For Valentines Day, I give you my heart <3

 

Strobist info:

3X SB-600's shot against white seamless

1-cam left into 48" shoot thru umbrella

2-cam right into 1m octobox

3-bare onto background +2 stops

Triggered with Cyber Syncs

Well that has to be one of the maddest episodes of my life! So to finish it off here's a mad picture of my dad with his giant mushroom he's been looking after while I've been in hospital! As soon as I called round last night to pick the dog up he showed me this beast of a mushroom!

 

To cut a long story I've had 6 days on a neurological wing for them to decide that my brain ventricles are different sizes and this isn't what is causing my headaches. So yesterday I left none the wiser with a big bag of pills, a car covered in parking tickets and unfortunately still a stinking headache! (Also many memories but they will be written somewhere else)

 

Today I've been for a sports massage and tomorrow I'm getting my eyes tested. Need to get this sorted!

 

Just put a blog together about the lens used on this shot;

 

oliverwrightphotography.com/blog/view/review-of-the-zeiss...

 

At certain brain wave frequencies, a sense of "ego boundary" vanishes. In the "theta" state, we are resting deeply and still conscious, at the threshold of drifting away from or back into conscious awareness.There is also a prana breathing tube that runs through the body. It connects the apexes of this Star Tetrahedral field. Learning how to breathe through this tube, combined with rotating the fields, produces the merkaba, a vehicle of ascension. As the brain enters deeper states, our consciousness is less concerned with the physical state, our 'third eye' is active, and separation becomes natural. You can be aware of your truth in every moment of every day by drawing on the deepest blue strand you can find. That strand won’t let you listen to third-dimensional words that are designed to deceive you. You will walk away from words that are not in the highest truth. With your truth strand out front, you won’t be deceived. You’ll know and hear truth, and if you hear an untruth, it will not work for you.Your blueprints have always been available to you, and when they’re interwoven, you can use this exercise to travel through the etheric fabric to find what you’re looking for. When you present your request properly to your higher self, you’ll be surprised by just how much you do know about where you want to go. Much of what you know is unsaid, hidden in your feelings, but accessible..Prana breathing tube that runs through the body. It connects the apexes of this Star Tetrahedral field. Learning how to breathe through this tube, combined with rotating the fields, produces the merkaba, a vehicle of ascension.he photon energy belt that the Earth will move through during the Shift is so huge that I cannot provide you with a precise description of its immensity. Second, prana is a vital life-giving breath, involving deep inhalation, which allows the photon energy to enter into the body through the crown chakra. Finally, your pineal gland is the receptacle of the photon energy in the body..These are three identical fields superimposed over each other, the only difference among them being that the physical body alone is locked, it does not rotate. The merkaba is created by counter-rotating fields of energy. The mental Star Tetrahedral field is electrical in nature, male, and rotates to the left. Since the higher energies work with your feelings, your focus must be on your emotional body. If you learn to think emotionally, you will be aware that your emotions guide everything within your realm. Your emotional body is between your mental and physical bodies, so when you feel something, the latter two bodies go along for the ride..The emotional Star Tetrahedral field is magnetic in nature, female, and rotates to the right. It is the linking together of the mind, heart, and physical body in a specific geometrical ratio and at a critical speed that produces the merkaba.The MerKaBa (sometimes spelled merkavah and, or merkabah) is a vehicle of Ascension. It was believed in ancient times, and even written about by the Hebrews, that the merkavah could be turned on by certain principles in meditation. This involves breathing changes & mind, heart, and body changes that alter the way a person perceives reality..The word “Mer” denotes counter-rotating fields of light, “Ka” Spirit, and “Ba” body, or reality. So the Mer-Ka-Ba then, is a counter-rotating Living field of light that encompasses both Spirit and body and it’s a dimensional vehicle. It’s far more than just that, in fact there isn’t anything that it isn’t. It is the image through which all things were created, and that image is around your body in a geometrical set of patterns.The field extends out a full fifty to sixty feet in diameter (18 to 20 meters), depending on your height. It looks like a flying saucer (Fig. 1). That field is an immense science that is being studied everywhere throughout the cosmos. How well someone understands the MerKaBa, is usually in direct relationship to their consciousness level..

If, when speaking to your higher self, you say, “I want to get from here to there and I want you to guide me,” your higher self will do whatever it wants, and it might be years before you see any results, because your higher self has no concept of time. If you want the unseen energies to guide you, you must learn to communicate with them effectively, and that means you must work with your feelings. The unseen energies do not understand language or words as you know them. They can feel you, and if they can feel you, they will know what you want. When these energies respond to your feelings, you will feel the responding communication from them. So, when you ask your higher self to guide you from here to there in the shortest manner possible, it means nothing, unless you focus on getting the feeling of where you want to go, and how and when you want to get there. If you give those feelings to your higher self, after you’ve woven them through the two brains, you will accomplish your goal. The key here is weaving the local and omni brains together. Practice this by contacting the Elven world, where the language is closest to yours here on the Earth plane. Photon, or love, energy is at the root of the current Shift in Consciousness. Pineal gland is the true master gland. It is situated between the eyes. It is the organ of clairvoyance, Third eye, the eye of Ra or Heru (God). Biblical Jacob saw God face to face on the island of Pe-ni-el. Its secretes melatonin which is anti ageing in effect and anti oxidant in nature. This also secretes melanin which colours our skin. The pineal gland, the most enigmatic of endocrine organs, has long been of interest to anatomists. Several millennia ago it was thought to be a valve that controlled the flow of memories into consciousness. René Descartes, the 17th-century French philosopher-mathematician, concluded that the pineal was the seat of the soul. A corollary notion was that calcification of the pineal caused psychiatric disease, a concept that provided support for those who considered psychotic behavior to be rampant; modern examination techniques have revealed that all pineal glands become more or less calcified..The pineal organ is small, weighing little more than 0.1 gram. It lies deep within the brain between the two cerebral hemispheres and above the third ventricle of the spinal column. It has a rich supply of adrenergic nerve fibers that greatly influence its secretions. Microscopically, the gland is composed of pinealocytes (rather typical endocrine cells except for extensions that mingle with those of adjacent cells). Supporting cells that are similar to astrocytes of the brain are interspersed.. The pineal gland contains a number of peptides, including GnRH, TRH, and vasotocin, along with a number of important neurotransmitters such as somatostatin, norepinephrine, serotonin, and histamine. The major pineal hormone, however, is melatonin, a derivative of the amino acid tryptophan. Melatonin was first discovered because it lightens amphibian skin, an effect opposite to that of melanocyte-stimulating hormone of the anterior pituitary. Secretion of melatonin is enhanced whenever the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated. Of greater interest, however, is the fact that secretion increases soon after an animal is placed in the dark; the opposite effect takes place immediately upon exposure to light. Its major action, well documented in animals, is to block the secretion of GnRH by the hypothalamus and of gonadotropins by the pituitary. While it was long thought that a decrease in melatonin secretion heralded the onset of puberty, this hypothesis cannot be supported by studies in humans. It is possible that the pineal contains an as yet unidentified hormone that serves that function. Melotonin is the only hormone secreted by the pineal gland. (The pineal gland is a tiny endocrine gland situated at the centre of the brain.) Melatonin was discovered in 1958 by Aaron B. Lerner and other researchers working at Yale University. Melatonin is produced in humans, other mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. It is present in very small amounts in the human body. Melatonin was previously known to cause the skins of amphibians to blanch, but its functions in mammals remained uncertain until research discoveries in the 1970s and '80s suggested that it regulates both sleeping cycles and the hormonal changes that usher in sexual maturity during adolescence. The pineal gland's production of melatonin varies both with the time of day and with age; production of melatonin is dramatically increased during the nighttime hours and falls off during the day, and melatonin levels are much higher in children under age seven than in adolescents and are lower still in adults. Melatonin apparently acts to keep a child's body from undergoing sexual maturation, since sex hormones such as luteotropin, which play a role in the development of sexual organs, emerge only after melatonin levels have declined. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that children with tumors of the pineal gland often reach sexual maturity unusually early in life, presumably because the pineal's production of melatonin has been hampered. Melatonin also seems to play an important role in regulating sleeping cycles; test subjects injected with the hormone become sleepy, suggesting that the increased production of melatonin coincident with nightfall acts as a fundamental mechanism for making people sleepy. With dawn the pineal gland stops producing melatonin, and wakefulness and alertness ensue. The high level of melatonin production in young children may explain their tendency to sleep longer than adults. In mammals other than humans melatonin possibly acts as a breeding and mating cue, since it is produced in greater amounts in response to the longer nights of winter and less so during summer. Animals who time their mating or breeding to coincide with favorable seasons (such as spring) may depend on melatonin production as a kind of biological clock that regulates their reproductive cycles on the basis of the length of the solar day.When activated, the pineal gland becomes the line of communication, with the higher planes. The crown chakra, reaches down, until its vortex touches the pineal gland. Prana, or pure energy, is received through this energy center in the head. With Practice, the vibration level of the astral body is raised, allowing it, to separate from the physical. To activate the 'third eye' and perceive higher dimensions, the pineal gland and the pituitary body, must vibrate in unison, which is achieved through meditation and / or relaxation. When a correct relationship is established, between personality, operating through the pituitary body, and the soul, operating through the pineal gland, a magnetic field is created. The negative and positive forces, interact and become strong enough, to create the 'light in the head. ' With this 'light in the head' activated, astral projectors can withdraw themselves, from the body, carrying the light with them. Astral Travel, and other occult abilities, are closely associated with the development of the 'light in the head'. After physical relaxation, concentration upon the pineal gland, is achieved, by staring at a point in the middle of the forehead. Without straining the muscles of the eye, this will activate the pineal gland and the 'third eye'. Beginning with the withdrawal of the senses and the physical consciousness, the consciousness is centered in the region of the pineal gland. The perceptive faculty and the point of realization, are centralized in the area between the middle of the forehead and the pineal gland. The trick is to visualize, very intently, the subtle body... escaping through the trap door of the brain. A "popping sound" may occur at the time separation of the astral body, in the area of the pineal gland. Visualization exercises, are the first step, in directing the energies in our inner systems, to activate the 'third eye'. The magnetic field is created around the pineal gland, by focusing the mind on the midway point, between the pineal gland and the pituitary body. The creative imagination visualizes something, and the thought energy of the mind gives life and direction to this form. 'Third eye' development, imagination, and visualization are important ingredients, in many methods to separate from the physical form. Intuition is also achieved, through 'third eye' development. Knowledge and memory of the astral plane, are not registered in full waking consciousness, until the intuition becomes strong enough. Flashes of intuition come, with increasing consistency, as the 'third eye' is activated to a greater degree, through practice. Universal Knowledge... can also be acquired...The pineal gland, corresponds with divine thought, after being touched by the vibrating light of Kundalini. Kundalini starts its ascent, towards the head center, after responding to the vibrations from the 'light in the head.' The light is located at the top of the sutratma, or 'soul thread', which passes down from the highest plane of our being... into the physical vehicle. The 'third eye,' or 'Eye of Siva,' the organ of spiritual vision, is intimately related to karma, as we become more spiritual in the natural course of evolution. As human beings continue to evolve, further out of matter, on the journey from spirit to matter... back to spirit, the pineal gland will continue to rise from its state of age - long dormancy, bringing back to humanity... astral capacities and spiritual abilities...Your body produces its own photon energy, but you can bring more of this golden energy into your body by prana breathing it in through your crown and down through your pineal. That simple activity will awaken your God cell, also known as your Signature Cell, which is in your pineal gland. Prana breathing will flow the golden particles from the pineal through the whole of your physical body, affecting the emotional, mental and spiritual bodies in the process.Next, your thought process must be pure. If you want to get from Manhattan to a specific place in Queens and you’ve never been to Queens, you must have pure thoughts about the journey, concentrating only on the specific place you want to reach, feeling every aspect of it. Then you must go into the etheric pattern until you find and get through that little “gray space” that lets you know you’ve left the third-dimensional reality. You will find yourself in Queens, looking at the specific place you wanted to reach. You will then have to back away from it until the neighborhood where it actually is comes into focus. You will recognize the surrounding neighborhood. You may not have seen how you got there, but you will have enough information, such as an address, to Google it or to ask someone how to get there. You can go from where you are to any place in the world that way during these pre-Shift times. As a four-bodied energy, you have spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical bodies, and you have four strands of DNA that correspond to each of those bodies. The first strand of DNA is the physical, the second, the emotional, the third, the mental, and the fourth, the spiritual...The four strands of DNA are powerful, but one strand is more powerful than the rest and that is the golden strand. Each set of four strands of DNA has one golden strand, which is found in the spiritual, or etheric, body. The golden strand is pure photon energy. The photon energy you bring into your body through prana breathing gets woven with everything else via the pineal gland. During the Shift, you will let go of your third-dimensional reality with the help of that magical golden fourth strand of DNA, which is equipped to transfer you into the fourth dimension.The foundation of our spiritual practice has to be very clear to us, otherwise it is very easy to enter into mistaken techniques and practices. In the Gnostic tradition, we always seek to re-evaluate our spiritual approach; our teacher Samael Aun Weor was very rigorous in his analysis of himself, his spiritual practice, and his technique. He constantly re-evaluated his method, and corrected himself in order to ensure he was on the right path. This is because he relied on practical experience, and was constantly examining the nature of suffering in himself, and was not satisfied with concept or theory. Samael Aun Weor suffered a lot, and that suffering is what gave him the impulse, the motivation, to constantly revise his spiritual practice in order to conquer suffering, and also to help others to do the same. Really, this viewpoint about suffering is the foundation of every genuine path, so understanding suffering is the foundational aspect of all teachings. In essence, spiritual practice is about harnessing energy. In the first levels, in the foundational and Mahayana levels, the two classifications of teaching, we are really learning how to discipline our mind stream and attune it with the mind stream of Christ. This is why Bodhichitta can also be translated as Christ mind (bodhi = wisdom = Chokmah; chitta = mind).

Bodhichitta is a kind of energy that vibrates with the ray of creation, with the Ain Soph Aur, a type of light that emerges out of the Absolute, a light that comes from Adhi-Buddha, the primordial Buddha. This light, which is the supreme clear light, is the type of light that is absolutely perfect, and is the first and primordial expression of the divine. It is a light of unbelievable, indescribable radiance, whose chief characteristic is a brilliant, shining love. If you meditate on that, simply that, you will comprehend why most of the teachings of Tantra you find in the world are black. They are completely contradictory to that light. That light is not interested in pleasure. That light is not interested in the satisfaction of desire. Those are the interests of demons.

When that light emerges out of the Absolute abstract space, it emerges as a form of an archetype, related to the world of Atziluth in Kabbalah. An archetype is a blue print, a primordial form that has not yet become. For that becoming to happen, there has to be a long process of development, and that is the path of initiation, the path through which the soul is born, the soul is created. We are only the embryo of soul, a seed. We are not a soul yet. This is why Jesus said, “With patience you will possess your soul.”

The development and creation of the soul depends upon it being nourished by the light of Christ, this Christic force, which is also called Avalokiteshvara, Quetzalcoatl, Vishnu, and Osiris. They are all the same force. Christ is not a person, but an energy, an intelligence, a light.

That energy creates what we see here as the Tree of Life. That energy descends and condenses and unravels and reveals everything that exists. It is also called the great breath, and is symbolized in Kabbalah and other religions as the breath of God that emerges out of the nothingness. That great breath, that exhalation, is how everything comes to exist, macrocosmically and microcosmically. That Great Breath in Sanskrit is called Prana. The relationship between the Pineal Gland and the Sun shows how much influence the Sun has on us. It is our body clock. The Pineal Gland also reads the Sun and informs animals when it is time to hibernate..Many primitive cultures related to the Sun as the closest physical structure to God due to it’s influence on daily life. Without the Sun life would be over, but the Sun shows up everyday and on-time. The Sun not only influences human bodies internally, but provides the energy for the food humans need to survive to grow. Thus the Sun is the source of life on this planet.

Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaenia, Dibamidae, and Pygopodidae).

 

Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, and on most smaller land masses; exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, the Hawaiian archipelago, and the islands of New Zealand, as well as many small islands of the Atlantic and central Pacific oceans. Additionally, sea snakes are widespread throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans. Around thirty families are currently recognized, comprising about 520 genera and about 3,900 species. They range in size from the tiny, 10.4 cm-long (4.1 in) Barbados threadsnake to the reticulated python of 6.95 meters (22.8 ft) in length. The fossil species Titanoboa cerrejonensis was 12.8 meters (42 ft) long. Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the Jurassic period, with the earliest known fossils dating to between 143 and 167 Ma ago. The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene epoch (c. 66 to 56 Ma ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event). The oldest preserved descriptions of snakes can be found in the Brooklyn Papyrus.

 

Most species of snake are nonvenomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some possess venom that is potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans. Nonvenomous snakes either swallow prey alive or kill by constriction.

 

Etymology

The English word snake comes from Old English snaca, itself from Proto-Germanic *snak-an- (cf. Germanic Schnake 'ring snake', Swedish snok 'grass snake'), from Proto-Indo-European root *(s)nēg-o- 'to crawl to creep', which also gave sneak as well as Sanskrit nāgá 'snake'. The word ousted adder, as adder went on to narrow in meaning, though in Old English næddre was the general word for snake. The other term, serpent, is from French, ultimately from Indo-European *serp- 'to creep', which also gave Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō) 'I crawl' and Sanskrit sarpá ‘snake’.

 

The fossil record of snakes is relatively poor because snake skeletons are typically small and fragile making fossilization uncommon. Fossils readily identifiable as snakes (though often retaining hind limbs) first appear in the fossil record during the Cretaceous period. The earliest known true snake fossils (members of the crown group Serpentes) come from the marine simoliophiids, the oldest of which is the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian age) Haasiophis terrasanctus from the West Bank, dated to between 112 and 94 million years old.

 

Based on comparative anatomy, there is consensus that snakes descended from lizards. Pythons and boas—primitive groups among modern snakes—have vestigial hind limbs: tiny, clawed digits known as anal spurs, which are used to grasp during mating The families Leptotyphlopidae and Typhlopidae also possess remnants of the pelvic girdle, appearing as horny projections when visible.

 

Front limbs are nonexistent in all known snakes. This is caused by the evolution of their Hox genes, controlling limb morphogenesis. The axial skeleton of the snakes' common ancestor, like most other tetrapods, had regional specializations consisting of cervical (neck), thoracic (chest), lumbar (lower back), sacral (pelvic), and caudal (tail) vertebrae. Early in snake evolution, the Hox gene expression in the axial skeleton responsible for the development of the thorax became dominant. As a result, the vertebrae anterior to the hindlimb buds (when present) all have the same thoracic-like identity (except from the atlas, axis, and 1–3 neck vertebrae). In other words, most of a snake's skeleton is an extremely extended thorax. Ribs are found exclusively on the thoracic vertebrae. Neck, lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are very reduced in number (only 2–10 lumbar and pelvic vertebrae are present), while only a short tail remains of the caudal vertebrae. However, the tail is still long enough to be of important use in many species, and is modified in some aquatic and tree-dwelling species.

 

Many modern snake groups originated during the Paleocene, alongside the adaptive radiation of mammals following the extinction of (non-avian) dinosaurs. The expansion of grasslands in North America also led to an explosive radiation among snakes. Previously, snakes were a minor component of the North American fauna, but during the Miocene, the number of species and their prevalence increased dramatically with the first appearances of vipers and elapids in North America and the significant diversification of Colubridae (including the origin of many modern genera such as Nerodia, Lampropeltis, Pituophis, and Pantherophis).

 

Fossils

There is fossil evidence to suggest that snakes may have evolved from burrowing lizards, during the Cretaceous Period. An early fossil snake relative, Najash rionegrina, was a two-legged burrowing animal with a sacrum, and was fully terrestrial. One extant analog of these putative ancestors is the earless monitor Lanthanotus of Borneo (though it also is semiaquatic). Subterranean species evolved bodies streamlined for burrowing, and eventually lost their limbs. According to this hypothesis, features such as the transparent, fused eyelids (brille) and loss of external ears evolved to cope with fossorial difficulties, such as scratched corneas and dirt in the ears. Some primitive snakes are known to have possessed hindlimbs, but their pelvic bones lacked a direct connection to the vertebrae. These include fossil species like Haasiophis, Pachyrhachis and Eupodophis, which are slightly older than Najash.

 

This hypothesis was strengthened in 2015 by the discovery of a 113-million-year-old fossil of a four-legged snake in Brazil that has been named Tetrapodophis amplectus. It has many snake-like features, is adapted for burrowing and its stomach indicates that it was preying on other animals. It is currently uncertain if Tetrapodophis is a snake or another species, in the squamate order, as a snake-like body has independently evolved at least 26 times. Tetrapodophis does not have distinctive snake features in its spine and skull. A study in 2021 places the animal in a group of extinct marine lizards from the Cretaceous period known as dolichosaurs and not directly related to snakes.

 

An alternative hypothesis, based on morphology, suggests the ancestors of snakes were related to mosasaurs—extinct aquatic reptiles from the Cretaceous—forming the clade Pythonomorpha. According to this hypothesis, the fused, transparent eyelids of snakes are thought to have evolved to combat marine conditions (corneal water loss through osmosis), and the external ears were lost through disuse in an aquatic environment. This ultimately led to an animal similar to today's sea snakes. In the Late Cretaceous, snakes recolonized land, and continued to diversify into today's snakes. Fossilized snake remains are known from early Late Cretaceous marine sediments, which is consistent with this hypothesis; particularly so, as they are older than the terrestrial Najash rionegrina. Similar skull structure, reduced or absent limbs, and other anatomical features found in both mosasaurs and snakes lead to a positive cladistical correlation, although some of these features are shared with varanids.

 

Genetic studies in recent years have indicated snakes are not as closely related to monitor lizards as was once believed—and therefore not to mosasaurs, the proposed ancestor in the aquatic scenario of their evolution. However, more evidence links mosasaurs to snakes than to varanids. Fragmented remains found from the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous indicate deeper fossil records for these groups, which may potentially refute either hypothesis.

 

Genetic basis of snake evolution

Main article: Limb development

Both fossils and phylogenetic studies demonstrate that snakes evolved from lizards, hence the question became which genetic changes led to limb loss in the snake ancestor. Limb loss is actually very common in extant reptiles and has happened dozens of times within skinks, anguids, and other lizards.

 

In 2016, two studies reported that limb loss in snakes is associated with DNA mutations in the Zone of Polarizing Activity Regulatory Sequence (ZRS), a regulatory region of the sonic hedgehog gene which is critically required for limb development. More advanced snakes have no remnants of limbs, but basal snakes such as pythons and boas do have traces of highly reduced, vestigial hind limbs. Python embryos even have fully developed hind limb buds, but their later development is stopped by the DNA mutations in the ZRS.

 

Distribution

There are about 3,900 species of snakes, ranging as far northward as the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and southward through Australia. Snakes can be found on every continent except Antarctica, as well as in the sea, and as high as 16,000 feet (4,900 m) in the Himalayan Mountains of Asia. There are numerous islands from which snakes are absent, such as Ireland, Iceland, and New Zealand (although New Zealand's northern waters are infrequently visited by the yellow-bellied sea snake and the banded sea krait).

 

Taxonomy

All modern snakes are grouped within the suborder Serpentes in Linnean taxonomy, part of the order Squamata, though their precise placement within squamates remains controversial.

 

The two infraorders of Serpentes are Alethinophidia and Scolecophidia. This separation is based on morphological characteristics and mitochondrial DNA sequence similarity. Alethinophidia is sometimes split into Henophidia and Caenophidia, with the latter consisting of "colubroid" snakes (colubrids, vipers, elapids, hydrophiids, and atractaspids) and acrochordids, while the other alethinophidian families comprise Henophidia. While not extant today, the Madtsoiidae, a family of giant, primitive, python-like snakes, was around until 50,000 years ago in Australia, represented by genera such as Wonambi.

 

There are numerous debates in the systematics within the group. For instance, many sources classify Boidae and Pythonidae as one family, while some keep the Elapidae and Hydrophiidae (sea snakes) separate for practical reasons despite their extremely close relation.

 

Recent molecular studies support the monophyly of the clades of modern snakes, scolecophidians, typhlopids + anomalepidids, alethinophidians, core alethinophidians, uropeltids (Cylindrophis, Anomochilus, uropeltines), macrostomatans, booids, boids, pythonids and caenophidians.

 

Legless lizards

Main article: Legless lizard

While snakes are limbless reptiles, evolved from (and grouped with) lizards, there are many other species of lizards that have lost their limbs independently but which superficially look similar to snakes. These include the slowworm and glass snake.

 

Other serpentine tetrapods that are unrelated to snakes include caecilians (amphibians), amphisbaenians (near-lizard squamates), and the extinct aistopods (amphibians).

 

Biology

The now extinct Titanoboa cerrejonensis was 12.8 m (42 ft) in length. By comparison, the largest extant snakes are the reticulated python, measuring about 6.95 m (22.8 ft) long, and the green anaconda, which measures about 5.21 m (17.1 ft) long and is considered the heaviest snake on Earth at 97.5 kg (215 lb).

 

At the other end of the scale, the smallest extant snake is Leptotyphlops carlae, with a length of about 10.4 cm (4.1 in). Most snakes are fairly small animals, approximately 1 m (3.3 ft) in length.

 

Perception

Pit vipers, pythons, and some boas have infrared-sensitive receptors in deep grooves on the snout, allowing them to "see" the radiated heat of warm-blooded prey. In pit vipers, the grooves are located between the nostril and the eye in a large "pit" on each side of the head. Other infrared-sensitive snakes have multiple, smaller labial pits lining the upper lip, just below the nostrils.

 

A snake tracks its prey using smell, collecting airborne particles with its forked tongue, then passing them to the vomeronasal organ or Jacobson's organ in the mouth for examination. The fork in the tongue provides a sort of directional sense of smell and taste simultaneously. The snake's tongue is constantly in motion, sampling particles from the air, ground, and water, analyzing the chemicals found, and determining the presence of prey or predators in the local environment. In water-dwelling snakes, such as the anaconda, the tongue functions efficiently underwater.

 

The underside of a snake is very sensitive to vibration, allowing the snake to detect approaching animals by sensing faint vibrations in the ground. Despite the lack of outer ears, they are also able to detect airborne sounds.

 

Snake vision varies greatly between species. Some have keen eyesight and others are only able to distinguish light from dark, but the important trend is that a snake's visual perception is adequate enough to track movements. Generally, vision is best in tree-dwelling snakes and weakest in burrowing snakes. Some have binocular vision, where both eyes are capable of focusing on the same point, an example of this being the Asian vine snake. Most snakes focus by moving the lens back and forth in relation to the retina. Diurnal snakes have round pupils and many nocturnal snakes have slit pupils. Most species possess three visual pigments and are probably able to see two primary colors in daylight. The annulated sea snake and the genus Helicops appears to have regained much of their color vision as an adaption to the marine environment they live in. It has been concluded that the last common ancestors of all snakes had UV-sensitive vision, but most snakes that depend on their eyesight to hunt in daylight have evolved lenses that act like sunglasses for filtering out the UV-light, which probably also sharpens their vision by improving the contrast.

 

Skin

The skin of a snake is covered in scales. Contrary to the popular notion of snakes being slimy (because of possible confusion of snakes with worms), snakeskin has a smooth, dry texture. Most snakes use specialized belly scales to travel, allowing them to grip surfaces. The body scales may be smooth, keeled, or granular. The eyelids of a snake are transparent "spectacle" scales, also known as brille, which remain permanently closed.

 

The shedding of scales is called ecdysis (or in normal usage, molting or sloughing). Snakes shed the complete outer layer of skin in one piece. Snake scales are not discrete, but extensions of the epidermis—hence they are not shed separately but as a complete outer layer during each molt, akin to a sock being turned inside out.

 

Snakes have a wide diversity of skin coloration patterns which are often related to behavior, such as the tendency to have to flee from predators. Snakes that are at a high risk of predation tend to be plain, or have longitudinal stripes, providing few reference points to predators, thus allowing the snake to escape without being noticed. Plain snakes usually adopt active hunting strategies, as their pattern allows them to send little information to prey about motion. Blotched snakes usually use ambush-based strategies, likely because it helps them blend into an environment with irregularly shaped objects, like sticks or rocks. Spotted patterning can similarly help snakes to blend into their environment.

 

The shape and number of scales on the head, back, and belly are often characteristic and used for taxonomic purposes. Scales are named mainly according to their positions on the body. In "advanced" (Caenophidian) snakes, the broad belly scales and rows of dorsal scales correspond to the vertebrae, allowing these to be counted without the need for dissection.

 

Molting

Molting (or "ecdysis") serves a number of purposes. It allows old, worn skin to be replaced and it can remove parasites such as mites and ticks that live in the skin. It has also been observed in snakes that molting can be synced to mating cycles. Shedding skin can release pheromones and revitalize color and patterns of the skin to increase attraction of mates. Renewal of the skin by molting supposedly allows growth in some animals such as insects, but this has been disputed in the case of snakes.

 

Molting occurs periodically throughout the life of a snake. Before each molt, the snake stops eating and often hides or moves to a safe place. Just before shedding, the skin becomes dull and dry looking and the snake's eyes turn cloudy or blue-colored. The inner surface of the old skin liquefies, causing it to separate from the new skin beneath it. After a few days, the eyes become clear and the snake "crawls" out of its old skin, which splits close to the snake's mouth. The snake rubs its body against rough surfaces to aid in the shedding of its old skin. In many cases, the cast skin peels backward over the body from head to tail in one piece, like pulling a sock off inside-out, revealing a new, larger, brighter layer of skin which has formed underneath.

 

A young snake that is still growing may shed its skin up to four times a year, but an older snake may shed only once or twice a year. The discarded skin carries a perfect imprint of the scale pattern, so it is usually possible to identify the snake from the cast skin if it is reasonably intact. This periodic renewal has led to the snake being a symbol of healing and medicine, as pictured in the Rod of Asclepius.

 

Scale counts can sometimes be used to identify the sex of a snake when the species is not distinctly sexually dimorphic. A probe is fully inserted into the cloaca, marked at the point where it stops, then removed and measured against the subcaudal scales. The scalation count determines whether the snake is a male or female, as the hemipenes of a male will probe to a different depth (usually longer) than the cloaca of a female.

 

Skeleton

The skeletons of snakes are radically different from those of most other reptiles (as compared with the turtle here, for example), consisting almost entirely of an extended ribcage.

The skeleton of most snakes consists solely of the skull, hyoid, vertebral column, and ribs, though henophidian snakes retain vestiges of the pelvis and rear limbs.

 

The skull consists of a solid and complete neurocranium, to which many of the other bones are only loosely attached, particularly the highly mobile jaw bones, which facilitate manipulation and ingestion of large prey items. The left and right sides of the lower jaw are joined only by a flexible ligament at the anterior tips, allowing them to separate widely, and the posterior end of the lower jaw bones articulate with a quadrate bone, allowing further mobility. The mandible and quadrate bones can pick up ground-borne vibrations; because the sides of the lower jaw can move independently of one another, a snake resting its jaw on a surface has sensitive stereo auditory perception, used for detecting the position of prey. The jaw–quadrate–stapes pathway is capable of detecting vibrations on the angstrom scale, despite the absence of an outer ear and the lack of an impedance matching mechanism—provided by the ossicles in other vertebrates—for receiving vibrations from the air.

 

The hyoid is a small bone located posterior and ventral to the skull, in the 'neck' region, which serves as an attachment for the muscles of the snake's tongue, as it does in all other tetrapods.

 

The vertebral column consists of between 200 and 400 vertebrae, or sometimes more. The body vertebrae each have two ribs articulating with them. The tail vertebrae are comparatively few in number (often less than 20% of the total) and lack ribs. The vertebrae have projections that allow for strong muscle attachment, enabling locomotion without limbs.

 

Caudal autotomy (self-amputation of the tail), a feature found in some lizards, is absent in most snakes. In the rare cases where it does exist in snakes, caudal autotomy is intervertebral (meaning the separation of adjacent vertebrae), unlike that in lizards, which is intravertebral, i.e. the break happens along a predefined fracture plane present on a vertebra.

 

In some snakes, most notably boas and pythons, there are vestiges of the hindlimbs in the form of a pair of pelvic spurs. These small, claw-like protrusions on each side of the cloaca are the external portion of the vestigial hindlimb skeleton, which includes the remains of an ilium and femur.

 

Snakes are polyphyodonts with teeth that are continuously replaced

 

Snakes and other non-archosaur (crocodilians, dinosaurs + birds and allies) reptiles have a three-chambered heart that controls the circulatory system via the left and right atrium, and one ventricle. Internally, the ventricle is divided into three interconnected cavities: the cavum arteriosum, the cavum pulmonale, and the cavum venosum. The cavum venosum receives deoxygenated blood from the right atrium and the cavum arteriosum receives oxygenated blood from the left atrium. Located beneath the cavum venosum is the cavum pulmonale, which pumps blood to the pulmonary trunk.

 

The snake's heart is encased in a sac, called the pericardium, located at the bifurcation of the bronchi. The heart is able to move around, owing to the lack of a diaphragm; this adjustment protects the heart from potential damage when large ingested prey is passed through the esophagus. The spleen is attached to the gall bladder and pancreas and filters the blood. The thymus, located in fatty tissue above the heart, is responsible for the generation of immune cells in the blood. The cardiovascular system of snakes is unique for the presence of a renal portal system in which the blood from the snake's tail passes through the kidneys before returning to the heart.

 

The vestigial left lung is often small or sometimes even absent, as snakes' tubular bodies require all of their organs to be long and thin.[71] In the majority of species, only one lung is functional. This lung contains a vascularized anterior portion and a posterior portion that does not function in gas exchange. This 'saccular lung' is used for hydrostatic purposes to adjust buoyancy in some aquatic snakes and its function remains unknown in terrestrial species. Many organs that are paired, such as kidneys or reproductive organs, are staggered within the body, one located ahead of the other.

 

Snakes have no lymph nodes.

 

Venom

Cobras, vipers, and closely related species use venom to immobilize, injure, or kill their prey. The venom is modified saliva, delivered through fangs. The fangs of 'advanced' venomous snakes like viperids and elapids are hollow, allowing venom to be injected more effectively, and the fangs of rear-fanged snakes such as the boomslang simply have a groove on the posterior edge to channel venom into the wound. Snake venoms are often prey-specific, and their role in self-defense is secondary.

 

Venom, like all salivary secretions, is a predigestant that initiates the breakdown of food into soluble compounds, facilitating proper digestion. Even nonvenomous snakebites (like any animal bite) cause tissue damage.

 

Certain birds, mammals, and other snakes (such as kingsnakes) that prey on venomous snakes have developed resistance and even immunity to certain venoms.Venomous snakes include three families of snakes, and do not constitute a formal taxonomic classification group.

 

The colloquial term "poisonous snake" is generally an incorrect label for snakes. A poison is inhaled or ingested, whereas venom produced by snakes is injected into its victim via fangs. There are, however, two exceptions: Rhabdophis sequesters toxins from the toads it eats, then secretes them from nuchal glands to ward off predators; and a small unusual population of garter snakes in the US state of Oregon retains enough toxins in their livers from ingested newts to be effectively poisonous to small local predators (such as crows and foxes).

 

Snake venoms are complex mixtures of proteins, and are stored in venom glands at the back of the head. In all venomous snakes, these glands open through ducts into grooved or hollow teeth in the upper jaw. The proteins can potentially be a mix of neurotoxins (which attack the nervous system), hemotoxins (which attack the circulatory system), cytotoxins (which attack the cells directly), bungarotoxins (related to neurotoxins, but also directly affect muscle tissue), and many other toxins that affect the body in different ways. Almost all snake venom contains hyaluronidase, an enzyme that ensures rapid diffusion of the venom.

 

Venomous snakes that use hemotoxins usually have fangs in the front of their mouths, making it easier for them to inject the venom into their victims. Some snakes that use neurotoxins (such as the mangrove snake) have fangs in the back of their mouths, with the fangs curled backwards. This makes it difficult both for the snake to use its venom and for scientists to milk them. Elapids, however, such as cobras and kraits are proteroglyphous—they possess hollow fangs that cannot be erected toward the front of their mouths, and cannot "stab" like a viper. They must actually bite the victim.

 

It has been suggested that all snakes may be venomous to a certain degree, with harmless snakes having weak venom and no fangs. According to this theory, most snakes that are labelled "nonvenomous" would be considered harmless because they either lack a venom delivery method or are incapable of delivering enough to endanger a human. The theory postulates that snakes may have evolved from a common lizard ancestor that was venomous, and also that venomous lizards like the gila monster, beaded lizard, monitor lizards, and the now-extinct mosasaurs, may have derived from this same common ancestor. They share this "venom clade" with various other saurian species.

 

Venomous snakes are classified in two taxonomic families:

Elapids – cobras including king cobras, kraits, mambas, Australian copperheads, sea snakes, and coral snakes.

Viperids – vipers, rattlesnakes, copperheads/cottonmouths, and bushmasters.

There is a third family containing the opistoglyphous (rear-fanged) snakes (as well as the majority of other snake species):

 

Colubrids – boomslangs, tree snakes, vine snakes, cat snakes, although not all colubrids are venomous.

 

Reproduction

Although a wide range of reproductive modes are used by snakes, all employ internal fertilization. This is accomplished by means of paired, forked hemipenes, which are stored, inverted, in the male's tail. The hemipenes are often grooved, hooked, or spined—designed to grip the walls of the female's cloaca. The clitoris of the female snake consists of two structures located between the cloaca and the scent glands.

 

Most species of snakes lay eggs which they abandon shortly after laying. However, a few species (such as the king cobra) construct nests and stay in the vicinity of the hatchlings after incubation. Most pythons coil around their egg-clutches and remain with them until they hatch. A female python will not leave the eggs, except to occasionally bask in the sun or drink water. She will even "shiver" to generate heat to incubate the eggs.

 

Some species of snake are ovoviviparous and retain the eggs within their bodies until they are almost ready to hatch. Several species of snake, such as the boa constrictor and green anaconda, are fully viviparous, nourishing their young through a placenta as well as a yolk sac; this is highly unusual among reptiles, and normally found in requiem sharks or placental mammals. Retention of eggs and live birth are most often associated with colder environments.

 

Sexual selection in snakes is demonstrated by the 3,000 species that each use different tactics in acquiring mates. Ritual combat between males for the females they want to mate with includes topping, a behavior exhibited by most viperids in which one male will twist around the vertically elevated fore body of its opponent and force it downward. It is common for neck-biting to occur while the snakes are entwined.

 

Facultative parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis is a natural form of reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization. Agkistrodon contortrix (copperhead) and Agkistrodon piscivorus (cottonmouth) can reproduce by facultative parthenogenesis, meaning that they are capable of switching from a sexual mode of reproduction to an asexual mode. The most likely type of parthenogenesis to occur is automixis with terminal fusion, a process in which two terminal products from the same meiosis fuse to form a diploid zygote. This process leads to genome-wide homozygosity, expression of deleterious recessive alleles, and often to developmental abnormalities. Both captive-born and wild-born copperheads and cottonmouths appear to be capable of this form of parthenogenesis.

 

Reproduction in squamate reptiles is almost exclusively sexual. Males ordinarily have a ZZ pair of sex-determining chromosomes, and females a ZW pair. However, the Colombian Rainbow boa (Epicrates maurus) can also reproduce by facultative parthenogenesis, resulting in production of WW female progeny. The WW females are likely produced by terminal automixis.

 

Embryonic Development

Snake embryonic development initially follows similar steps as any vertebrate embryo. The snake embryo begins as a zygote, undergoes rapid cell division, forms a germinal disc, also called a blastodisc, then undergoes gastrulation, neurulation, and organogenesis. Cell division and proliferation continues until an early snake embryo develops and the typical body shape of a snake can be observed. Multiple features differentiate the embryologic development of snakes from other vertebrates, two significant factors being the elongation of the body and the lack of limb development.

 

The elongation in snake body is accompanied by a significant increase in vertebra count (mice have 60 vertebrae, whereas snakes may have over 300). This increase in vertebrae is due to an increase in somites during embryogenesis, leading to an increased number of vertebrae which develop. Somites are formed at the presomitic mesoderm due to a set of oscillatory genes that direct the somitogenesis clock. The snake somitogenesis clock operates at a frequency 4 times that of a mouse (after correction for developmental time), creating more somites, and therefore creating more vertebrae. This difference in clock speed is believed to be caused by differences in Lunatic fringe gene expression, a gene involved in the somitogenesis clock.

 

There is ample literature focusing on the limb development/lack of development in snake embryos and the gene expression associated with the different stages. In basal snakes, such as the python, embryos in early development exhibit a hind limb bud that develops with some cartilage and a cartilaginous pelvic element, however this degenerates before hatching. This presence of vestigial development suggests that some snakes are still undergoing hind limb reduction before they are eliminated. There is no evidence in basal snakes of forelimb rudiments and no examples of snake forelimb bud initiation in embryo, so little is known regarding the loss of this trait. Recent studies suggests that hind limb reduction could be due to mutations in enhancers for the SSH gene, however other studies suggested that mutations within the Hox Genes or their enhancers could contribute to snake limblessness. Since multiple studies have found evidence suggesting different genes played a role in the loss of limbs in snakes, it is likely that multiple gene mutations had an additive effect leading to limb loss in snakes.

 

Behavior

Snake coiled on a stick in Oklahoma. It was brumating in a large pile of wood chips, found by this landscaper after he bulldozed the pile in late autumn 2018.

In regions where winters are too cold for snakes to tolerate while remaining active, local species will enter a period of brumation. Unlike hibernation, in which the dormant mammals are actually asleep, brumating reptiles are awake but inactive. Individual snakes may brumate in burrows, under rock piles, or inside fallen trees, or large numbers of snakes may clump together in hibernacula.

 

Feeding and diet

All snakes are strictly carnivorous, preying on small animals including lizards, frogs, other snakes, small mammals, birds, eggs, fish, snails, worms, and insects. Snakes cannot bite or tear their food to pieces so must swallow their prey whole. The eating habits of a snake are largely influenced by body size; smaller snakes eat smaller prey. Juvenile pythons might start out feeding on lizards or mice and graduate to small deer or antelope as an adult, for example.

 

The snake's jaw is a complex structure. Contrary to the popular belief that snakes can dislocate their jaws, they have an extremely flexible lower jaw, the two halves of which are not rigidly attached, and numerous other joints in the skull, which allow the snake to open its mouth wide enough to swallow prey whole, even if it is larger in diameter than the snake itself. For example, the African egg-eating snake has flexible jaws adapted for eating eggs much larger than the diameter of its head.  This snake has no teeth, but does have bony protrusions on the inside edge of its spine, which it uses to break the shell when eating eggs.

 

The majority of snakes eat a variety of prey animals, but there is some specialization in certain species. King cobras and the Australian bandy-bandy consume other snakes. Species of the family Pareidae have more teeth on the right side of their mouths than on the left, as they mostly prey on snails and the shells usually spiral clockwise.

 

Some snakes have a venomous bite, which they use to kill their prey before eating it. Other snakes kill their prey by constriction, while some swallow their prey when it is still alive.

 

After eating, snakes become dormant to allow the process of digestion to take place; this is an intense activity, especially after consumption of large prey. In species that feed only sporadically, the entire intestine enters a reduced state between meals to conserve energy. The digestive system is then 'up-regulated' to full capacity within 48 hours of prey consumption. Being ectothermic ("cold-blooded"), the surrounding temperature plays an important role in the digestion process. The ideal temperature for snakes to digest food is 30 °C (86 °F). There is a huge amount of metabolic energy involved in a snake's digestion, for example the surface body temperature of the South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus) increases by as much as 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) during the digestive process. If a snake is disturbed after having eaten recently, it will often regurgitate its prey to be able to escape the perceived threat. When undisturbed, the digestive process is highly efficient; the snake's digestive enzymes dissolve and absorb everything but the prey's hair (or feathers) and claws, which are excreted along with waste.

 

Hooding and spitting

Hooding (expansion of the neck area) is a visual deterrent, mostly seen in cobras (elapids), and is primarily controlled by rib muscles.[98] Hooding can be accompanied by spitting venom towards the threatening object,[99] and producing a specialized sound; hissing. Studies on captive cobras showed that 13 to 22% of the body length is raised during hooding.

 

Locomotion

The lack of limbs does not impede the movement of snakes. They have developed several different modes of locomotion to deal with particular environments. Unlike the gaits of limbed animals, which form a continuum, each mode of snake locomotion is discrete and distinct from the others; transitions between modes are abrupt.

 

Lateral undulation

Lateral undulation is the sole mode of aquatic locomotion, and the most common mode of terrestrial locomotion In this mode, the body of the snake alternately flexes to the left and right, resulting in a series of rearward-moving "waves". While this movement appears rapid, snakes have rarely been documented moving faster than two body-lengths per second, often much less. This mode of movement has the same net cost of transport (calories burned per meter moved) as running in lizards of the same mass.

 

Terrestrial lateral undulation is the most common mode of terrestrial locomotion for most snake species. In this mode, the posteriorly moving waves push against contact points in the environment, such as rocks, twigs, irregularities in the soil, etc. Each of these environmental objects, in turn, generates a reaction force directed forward and towards the midline of the snake, resulting in forward thrust while the lateral components cancel out. The speed of this movement depends upon the density of push-points in the environment, with a medium density of about 8[clarification needed] along the snake's length being ideal. The wave speed is precisely the same as the snake speed, and as a result, every point on the snake's body follows the path of the point ahead of it, allowing snakes to move through very dense vegetation and small openings.

 

When swimming, the waves become larger as they move down the snake's body, and the wave travels backwards faster than the snake moves forwards. Thrust is generated by pushing their body against the water, resulting in the observed slip. In spite of overall similarities, studies show that the pattern of muscle activation is different in aquatic versus terrestrial lateral undulation, which justifies calling them separate modes. All snakes can laterally undulate forward (with backward-moving waves), but only sea snakes have been observed reversing the motion (moving backwards with forward-moving waves).

 

Sidewinding

Most often employed by colubroid snakes (colubrids, elapids, and vipers) when the snake must move in an environment that lacks irregularities to push against (rendering lateral undulation impossible), such as a slick mud flat, or a sand dune, sidewinding is a modified form of lateral undulation in which all of the body segments oriented in one direction remain in contact with the ground, while the other segments are lifted up, resulting in a peculiar "rolling" motion. This mode of locomotion overcomes the slippery nature of sand or mud by pushing off with only static portions on the body, thereby minimizing slipping. The static nature of the contact points can be shown from the tracks of a sidewinding snake, which show each belly scale imprint, without any smearing. This mode of locomotion has very low caloric cost, less than 1⁄3 of the cost for a lizard to move the same distance. Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that sidewinding is associated with the sand being hot.

 

Concertina

When push-points are absent, but there is not enough space to use sidewinding because of lateral constraints, such as in tunnels, snakes rely on concertina locomotion. In this mode, the snake braces the posterior portion of its body against the tunnel wall while the front of the snake extends and straightens. The front portion then flexes and forms an anchor point, and the posterior is straightened and pulled forwards. This mode of locomotion is slow and very demanding, up to seven times the cost of laterally undulating over the same distance. This high cost is due to the repeated stops and starts of portions of the body as well as the necessity of using active muscular effort to brace against the tunnel walls.

 

Arboreal

The movement of snakes in arboreal habitats has only recently been studied. While on tree branches, snakes use several modes of locomotion depending on species and bark texture. In general, snakes will use a modified form of concertina locomotion on smooth branches, but will laterally undulate if contact points are available. Snakes move faster on small branches and when contact points are present, in contrast to limbed animals, which do better on large branches with little 'clutter'.

 

Gliding snakes (Chrysopelea) of Southeast Asia launch themselves from branch tips, spreading their ribs and laterally undulating as they glide between trees. These snakes can perform a controlled glide for hundreds of feet depending upon launch altitude and can even turn in midair.

 

Rectilinear

The slowest mode of snake locomotion is rectilinear locomotion, which is also the only one where the snake does not need to bend its body laterally, though it may do so when turning. In this mode, the belly scales are lifted and pulled forward before being placed down and the body pulled over them. Waves of movement and stasis pass posteriorly, resulting in a series of ripples in the skin. The ribs of the snake do not move in this mode of locomotion and this method is most often used by large pythons, boas, and vipers when stalking prey across open ground as the snake's movements are subtle and harder to detect by their prey in this manner.

 

Interactions with humans

Snakes do not ordinarily prey on humans. Unless startled or injured, most snakes prefer to avoid contact and will not attack humans. With the exception of large constrictors, nonvenomous snakes are not a threat to humans. The bite of a nonvenomous snake is usually harmless; their teeth are not adapted for tearing or inflicting a deep puncture wound, but rather grabbing and holding. Although the possibility of infection and tissue damage is present in the bite of a nonvenomous snake, venomous snakes present far greater hazard to humans.  The World Health Organization (WHO) lists snakebite under the "other neglected conditions" category.

 

Documented deaths resulting from snake bites are uncommon. Nonfatal bites from venomous snakes may result in the need for amputation of a limb or part thereof. Of the roughly 725 species of venomous snakes worldwide, only 250 are able to kill a human with one bite. Australia averages only one fatal snake bite per year. In India, 250,000 snakebites are recorded in a single year, with as many as 50,000 recorded initial deaths. The WHO estimates that on the order of 100,000 people die each year as a result of snake bites, and around three times as many amputations and other permanent disabilities are caused by snakebites annually.

 

The treatment for a snakebite is as variable as the bite itself. The most common and effective method is through antivenom (or antivenin), a serum made from the venom of the snake. Some antivenom is species-specific (monovalent) while some is made for use with multiple species in mind (polyvalent). In the United States for example, all species of venomous snakes are pit vipers, with the exception of the coral snake. To produce antivenom, a mixture of the venoms of the different species of rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths is injected into the body of a horse in ever-increasing dosages until the horse is immunized. Blood is then extracted from the immunized horse. The serum is separated and further purified and freeze-dried. It is reconstituted with sterile water and becomes antivenom. For this reason, people who are allergic to horses are more likely to have an allergic reaction to antivenom. Antivenom for the more dangerous species (such as mambas, taipans, and cobras) is made in a similar manner in South Africa, Australia , and India, although these antivenoms are species-specific.

 

Snake charmers

In some parts of the world, especially in India, snake charming is a roadside show performed by a charmer. In such a show, the snake charmer carries a basket containing a snake that he seemingly charms by playing tunes with his flutelike musical instrument, to which the snake responds. The snake is in fact responding to the movement of the flute, not the sound it makes, as snakes lack external ears (though they do have internal ears).

 

The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 in India technically prohibits snake charming on the grounds of reducing animal cruelty. Other types of snake charmers use a snake and mongoose show, where the two animals have a mock fight; however, this is not very common, as the animals may be seriously injured or killed. Snake charming as a profession is dying out in India because of competition from modern forms of entertainment and environment laws proscribing the practice. Many Indians have never seen snake charming and it is becoming a folktale of the past.

 

Trapping

The Irulas tribe of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in India have been hunter-gatherers in the hot, dry plains forests, and have practiced the art of snake catching for generations. They have a vast knowledge of snakes in the field. They generally catch the snakes with the help of a simple stick. Earlier, the Irulas caught thousands of snakes for the snake-skin industry. After the complete ban of the snake-skin industry in India and protection of all snakes under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, they formed the Irula Snake Catcher's Cooperative and switched to catching snakes for removal of venom, releasing them in the wild after four extractions. The venom so collected is used for producing life-saving antivenom, biomedical research and for other medicinal products. The Irulas are also known to eat some of the snakes they catch and are very useful in rat extermination in the villages.

 

Despite the existence of snake charmers, there have also been professional snake catchers or wranglers. Modern-day snake trapping involves a herpetologist using a long stick with a V-shaped end. Some television show hosts, like Bill Haast, Austin Stevens, Steve Irwin, and Jeff Corwin, prefer to catch them using bare hands.

 

Consumption

Although snakes are not commonly thought of as food, their consumption is acceptable in some cultures and may even be considered a delicacy. Snake soup is popular in Cantonese cuisine, consumed by locals in the autumn to warm their bodies. Western cultures document the consumption of snakes only under extreme circumstances of hunger, with the exception of cooked rattlesnake meat, which is commonly consumed in Texas and parts of the Midwestern United States.

 

In Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia, drinking the blood of a snake—particularly the cobra—is believed to increase sexual virility. When possible, the blood is drained while the cobra is still alive, and it is usually mixed with some form of liquor to improve the taste.

 

The use of snakes in alcohol is accepted in some Asian countries. In such cases, one or more snakes are left to steep in a jar or container of liquor, as this is claimed to make the liquor stronger (as well as more expensive). One example of this is the Habu snake, which is sometimes placed in the Okinawan liqueur Habushu (ハブ酒), also known as "Habu Sake".

 

Snake wine (蛇酒) is an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. First recorded as being consumed in China during the Western Zhou dynasty, this drink is considered an important curative and is believed to reinvigorate a person according to traditional Chinese medicine

 

Pets

In the Western world, some snakes are kept as pets, especially docile species such as the ball python and corn snake. To meet the demand, a captive breeding industry has developed. Snakes bred in captivity are considered preferable to specimens caught in the wild and tend to make better pets. Compared with more traditional types of companion animal, snakes can be very low-maintenance pets; they require minimal space, as most common species do not exceed 5 feet (1.5 m) in length, and can be fed relatively infrequently—usually once every five to 14 days. Certain snakes have a lifespan of more than 40 years if given proper care.

 

Symbolism

In ancient Mesopotamia, Nirah, the messenger god of Ištaran, was represented as a serpent on kudurrus, or boundary stones. Representations of two intertwined serpents are common in Sumerian art and Neo-Sumerian artwork and still appear sporadically on cylinder seals and amulets until as late as the thirteenth century BC. The horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) appears in Kassite and Neo-Assyrian kudurrus and is invoked in Assyrian texts as a magical protective entity. A dragon-like creature with horns, the body and neck of a snake, the forelegs of a lion, and the hind-legs of a bird appears in Mesopotamian art from the Akkadian Period until the Hellenistic Period (323 BC–31 BC). This creature, known in Akkadian as the mušḫuššu, meaning "furious serpent", was used as a symbol for particular deities and also as a general protective emblem. It seems to have originally been the attendant of the Underworld god Ninazu, but later became the attendant to the Hurrian storm-god Tishpak, as well as, later, Ninazu's son Ningishzida, the Babylonian national god Marduk, the scribal god Nabu, and the Assyrian national god Ashur.

 

In Egyptian history, the snake occupies a primary role with the Nile cobra adorning the crown of the pharaoh in ancient times. It was worshipped as one of the gods and was also used for sinister purposes: murder of an adversary and ritual suicide (Cleopatra). The ouroboros was a well-known ancient Egyptian symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail. The precursor to the ouroboros was the "Many-Faced", a serpent with five heads, who, according to the Amduat, the oldest surviving Book of the Afterlife, was said to coil around the corpse of the sun god Ra protectively. The earliest surviving depiction of a "true" ouroboros comes from the gilded shrines in the tomb of Tutankhamun. In the early centuries AD, the ouroboros was adopted as a symbol by Gnostic Christians and chapter 136 of the Pistis Sophia, an early Gnostic text, describes "a great dragon whose tail is in its mouth". In medieval alchemy, the ouroboros became a typical western dragon with wings, legs, and a tail.

 

In the Bible, King Nahash of Ammon, whose name means "Snake", is depicted very negatively, as a particularly cruel and despicable enemy of the ancient Hebrews.

 

The ancient Greeks used the Gorgoneion, a depiction of a hideous face with serpents for hair, as an apotropaic symbol to ward off evil. In a Greek myth described by Pseudo-Apollodorus in his Bibliotheca, Medusa was a Gorgon with serpents for hair whose gaze turned all those who looked at her to stone and was slain by the hero Perseus. In the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses, Medusa is said to have once been a beautiful priestess of Athena, whom Athena turned into a serpent-haired monster after she was raped by the god Poseidon in Athena's temple. In another myth referenced by the Boeotian poet Hesiod and described in detail by Pseudo-Apollodorus, the hero Heracles is said to have slain the Lernaean Hydra, a multiple-headed serpent which dwelt in the swamps of Lerna.

 

The legendary account of the foundation of Thebes mentioned a monster snake guarding the spring from which the new settlement was to draw its water. In fighting and killing the snake, the companions of the founder Cadmus all perished – leading to the term "Cadmean victory" (i.e. a victory involving one's own ruin).

 

Three medical symbols involving snakes that are still used today are Bowl of Hygieia, symbolizing pharmacy, and the Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius, which are symbols denoting medicine in general.

 

One of the etymologies proposed for the common female first name Linda is that it might derive from Old German Lindi or Linda, meaning a serpent.

 

India is often called the land of snakes and is steeped in tradition regarding snakes. Snakes are worshipped as gods even today with many women pouring milk on snake pits (despite snakes' aversion for milk). The cobra is seen on the neck of Shiva and Vishnu is depicted often as sleeping on a seven-headed snake or within the coils of a serpent. There are also several temples in India solely for cobras sometimes called Nagraj (King of Snakes) and it is believed that snakes are symbols of fertility. There is a Hindu festival called Nag Panchami each year on which day snakes are venerated and prayed to. See also Nāga.

 

In India there is another mythology about snakes. Commonly known in Hindi as "Ichchhadhari" snakes. Such snakes can take the form of any living creature, but prefer human form. These mythical snakes possess a valuable gem called "Mani", which is more brilliant than diamond. There are many stories in India about greedy people trying to possess this gem and ending up getting killed.

 

The snake is one of the 12 celestial animals of Chinese zodiac, in the Chinese calendar.

 

Many ancient Peruvian cultures worshipped nature. They emphasized animals and often depicted snakes in their art.

 

Religion

Snakes are used in Hinduism as a part of ritual worship. In the annual Nag Panchami festival, participants worship either live cobras or images of Nāgas. Lord Shiva is depicted in most images with a snake coiled around his neck. Puranic literature includes various stories associated with snakes, for example Shesha is said to hold all the planets of the Universe on his hoods and to constantly sing the glories of Vishnu from all his mouths. Other notable snakes in Hinduism are Vasuki, Takshaka, Karkotaka, and Pingala. The term Nāga is used to refer to entities that take the form of large snakes in Hinduism and Buddhism.

 

Snakes have been widely revered in many cultures, such as in ancient Greece where the serpent was seen as a healer.[148] Asclepius carried a serpent wound around his wand, a symbol seen today on many ambulances. In Judaism, the snake of brass is also a symbol of healing, of one's life being saved from imminent death.

 

In religious terms, the snake and jaguar were arguably the most important animals in ancient Mesoamerica. "In states of ecstasy, lords dance a serpent dance; great descending snakes adorn and support buildings from Chichen Itza to Tenochtitlan, and the Nahuatl word coatl meaning serpent or twin, forms part of primary deities such as Mixcoatl, Quetzalcoatl, and Coatlicue." In the Maya and Aztec calendars, the fifth day of the week was known as Snake Day.

 

In some parts of Christianity, the redemptive work of Jesus Christ is compared to saving one's life through beholding the Nehushtan (serpent of brass). Snake handlers use snakes as an integral part of church worship, to demonstrate their faith in divine protection. However, more commonly in Christianity, the serpent has been depicted as a representative of evil and sly plotting, as seen in the description in Genesis of a snake tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden. Saint Patrick is purported to have expelled all snakes from Ireland while converting the country to Christianity in the 5th century, thus explaining the absence of snakes there.

 

In Christianity and Judaism, the snake makes its infamous appearance in the first book of the Bible when a serpent appears before Adam and Eve and tempts them with the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. The snake returns in the Book of Exodus when Moses turns his staff into a snake as a sign of God's power, and later when he makes the Nehushtan, a bronze snake on a pole that when looked at cured the people of bites from the snakes that plagued them in the desert. The serpent makes its final appearance symbolizing Satan in the Book of Revelation: "And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."

 

In Neo-Paganism and Wicca, the snake is seen as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Additionally, snakes are sometimes associated with Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft.

 

Medicine

Several compounds from snake venoms are being researched as potential treatments or preventatives for pain, cancers, arthritis, stroke, heart disease, hemophilia, and hypertension, and to control bleeding (e.g. during surgery).

The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.

 

The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser.

 

The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).

 

The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi).

 

The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.

 

The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal. Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).

 

The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity.

 

They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females.

 

The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Recorded sightings in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.

 

The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released in Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and it may only persist due to continuing escapes or releases.

 

The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.

 

Bar-headed geese have a slightly larger wing area for their weight than other geese, which is believed to help them fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the power output required for flight in thin air, birds at high altitude still need to flap harder than lowland birds.

 

The bar-headed goose has been suggested as being the model for the Hamsa of Indian mythology. Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.

The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.

 

The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser.

 

The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).

 

The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi).

 

The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.

 

The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal. Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).

 

The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity.

 

They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females.

 

The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Recorded sightings in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.

 

The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released in Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and it may only persist due to continuing escapes or releases.

 

The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.

 

Bar-headed geese have a slightly larger wing area for their weight than other geese, which is believed to help them fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the power output required for flight in thin air, birds at high altitude still need to flap harder than lowland birds.

 

The bar-headed goose has been suggested as being the model for the Hamsa of Indian mythology. Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.

This is for you Camille. You are an absolute star!

 

"In June 2009, Camille was diagnosed with an Intracranial Ependymoma situated in the fourth ventricle between the cerebellum and the brain stem at the base of the brain. The tumour is currently pressing against the cerebellum and brain stem making surgery too dangerous. The treatment plan is to offer chemotherapy to shrink the tumour away from these two areas so surgery can take place. Chemotherapy started on 23rd July 2009 and is planned to last for 12 months or more."

 

Camille's mum belongs to an online community that I've been a part of for a long time. We've all been through a lot of things together, births, marriages, break ups, make ups, but I don't think anything has touched us quite as much as Camille's story.

 

A group of us also belong to the flickr community and wondered if there was anything we could do here to help raise awareness. Can I please, please ask you to take a look at this group and become a member and invite your contacts. It would also be great if some of the pictures reached explore so if you could comment or fave (preferably both) this would really give the appeal a boost.

 

Can I also ask you to look at Camille's website and read Martin's (Camille's dad) blog. What Camille's family are going through is truly heartbreaking. Please, please do what you can.

 

Thank you for reading.

“WASHINGTON, D. C., July 3 – The dangers of sending U.S. astronauts to the moon without first engaging in extended space operations in earth orbit are pointed out in the July issue of AIR FORCE/SPACE DIGEST. First, writes Technical Editor J. S. Butz, Jr., we must learn more about the physical effects of extended space flight, information that can only be gained through operating a manned space station.

 

The four-man space station shown in this conception by artist Gordon Phillips could be built and launched within the present state of the art, to study effects of long-term weightlessness and other space phenomena in the period before the U.S. will be ready to send astronauts to the moon. Physical problems most feared are a relaxation of the blood vessels, reduction in capacity to withstand the shock of deceleration on reentry, pooling of blood, disorientation, and effects on such body cavities as the sinuses, ears, and heart ventricles

 

The station would be boosted into a 200-250-mile-high orbit unmanned, followed by two men each in a pair of Gemini capsules, which would dock in the baskets affixed to the station. Once inside, men could live and work without protective clothing. One man would be replaced each three months, so that one member of the original crew would remain in space for a full year to ascertain possible debilitating effects of long-term living in space. One of the four crewmen would be a physician.

 

In the illustration, one astronaut is relaxing in crew quarters below, two are working at instrument and communications consoles, and the fourth has just left the station through the air lock to check out systems in one of the Gemini vehicles. The third docking basket is reserved for a resupply Gemini capsule, which would arrive at the station periodically. The flat panels at the bottom are solar cells, providing power to operate the station.

 

This design meets the general requirements of the U.S. Air Force’s Military Orbital Development System (MODS) and NASA’s Manned Orbital Research Laboratory (MORL), both of which are now under consideration

 

AIR FORCE/SPACE DIGEST, published monthly, is the official journal of the Air Force Association, Washington, D. C.”

  

At the National Archives website:

 

nara.getarchive.net/media/artwork-nasas-manned-orbital-re...

 

Other works by Mr. Phillips. DANG, who knew?!:

 

nara.getarchive.net/media/artwork-pluto-artist-gordon-phi...

 

nara.getarchive.net/media/artwork-a-11-artist-gordon-phil...

 

nara.getarchive.net/media/artwork-live-reconnaissance-art...

 

picryl.com/media/artwork-tfx-concept-artist-gordon-philli...

 

picryl.com/media/artwork-soviet-aerospace-almanac-artist-...

 

nara.getarchive.net/media/artwork-usaf-command-and-contro...

 

picryl.com/media/artwork-dyna-soar-hypersonic-glider-arti...

 

nara.getarchive.net/media/artwork-ways-to-push-technology...

Above credit the National Archives website & Picryl

  

www.facebook.com/976457059052412/photos/from-john-charles...

 

scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/13418594_118815386...

Credit: Facebook/Blue Gemini/John Charles

 

And this...fascinating...and really cool:

 

www.thespacereview.com/article/3752/1

The Space Review website

adding glitter to dorling-kindersley diagrams. I make quality valentines.

Model: Marina

City: Omaha, NE

September 14, 2012

 

photo by overgroun: facebook.com/overgroun

 

Copyright © Overgroun video & photo. All Rights Reserved.

 

www.vimeo.com/overgroun

If you didn't see my notation on the previous puppy photo of Noah from this morning you don't know that he suffered a seizure this morning at 1:00 a.m. He's in a local intensive animal care facility where he's been well tended all day. The physician just spent an hour with us and we went through the situation and its implications.

 

Noah has congestive heart failure with enlarged left and right ventricles, pulmonary hyptertension and pneumonia. He's been coughing for a few weeks and we noticed his panting was more frequent. He was checked thoroughly for these conditions in late February after a bout of coughing, he was diagnosed with a heart murmur on a 3/6 scale at that time, and when discharged the coughing stopped entirely, until a few weeks ago. We learned today his condition has rapidly deteriorated and he is a very sick dog, and is living in an oxygen-infused cubicle. He was very excited as we were when we got there this afternoon but began to experience more air hunger so the doctor pulled us out and we met with him.

 

His heart is damaged, his lungs are filled with fluid and his liver is enlarged. He is getting ICU care and we will see what happens over the next few days. Realistic prognosis was described as 5 to 8 months life expectancy with several medications and the possibility that he will need to make visits to have fluid drained from his stomach.

 

Tucker is a trooper but is suffering. Will keep you updated.

The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.

 

Taxonomy

The grey goose genus Anser has no other member indigenous to the Indian region, nor any at all to the Ethiopian, Australian, or Neotropical regions. Ludwig Reichenbach placed the bar-headed goose in the monotypic genus Eulabeia in 1852, though John Boyd's taxonomy treats both Eulabeia and the genus Chen as subgenera of Anser.

 

Description

The bird is pale grey and is easily distinguished from any of the other grey geese of the genus Anser by the black bars on its head. It is also much paler than the other geese in this genus. In flight, its call is a typical goose honking. A mid-sized goose, it measures 71–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length and weighs 1.87–3.2 kg (4.1–7.1 lb).

 

Ecology

The summer habitat is high-altitude lakes where the bird grazes on short grass. The species has been reported as migrating south from Tibet, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia before crossing the Himalayas. The bird has come to the attention of medical science in recent years as having been an early victim of the H5N1 virus, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), at Qinghai. It suffers predation from crows, foxes, ravens, sea eagles, gulls and others. The total population may, however, be increasing, but it is complex to assess population trends, as this species occurs over more than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi).

 

The bar-headed goose is one of the world's highest-flying birds, having been heard flying across Mount Makalu – the fifth highest mountain on earth at 8,481 m (27,825 ft) – and apparently seen over Mount Everest – 8,848 m (29,029 ft) – although this is a second-hand report with no verification. This demanding migration has long puzzled physiologists and naturalists: "there must be a good explanation for why the birds fly to the extreme altitudes... particularly since there are passes through the Himalaya at lower altitudes, and which are used by other migrating bird species." In fact, bar-headed geese had for a long time not been directly tracked (using GPS or satellite logging technology) flying higher than 6,540 metres (21,460 ft), and it is now believed that they do take the high passes through the mountains. The challenging northward migration from lowland India to breed in the summer on the Tibetan Plateau is undertaken in stages, with the flight across the Himalaya (from sea-level) being undertaken non-stop in as little as seven hours. Surprisingly, despite predictable tail winds that blow up the Himalayas (in the same direction of travel as the geese), bar-headed geese spurn these winds, waiting for them to die down overnight, when they then undertake the greatest rates of climbing flight ever recorded for a bird, and sustain these climbs rates for hours on end, according to research published in 2011.

 

The 2011 study found the geese peaking at an altitude of around 6,400 m (21,000 ft). In a 2012 study that tagged 91 geese and tracked their migration routes, it was determined that the geese spent 95% of their time below 5,784 m (18,976 ft), choosing to take a longer route through the Himalayas in order to utilize lower-altitude valleys and passes. Only 10 of the tagged geese were ever recorded above this altitude, and only one exceeded 6,500 m (21,300 ft), reaching 7,290 m (23,920 ft). All but one of these high-altitude flights were recorded at night, which along with the early morning, is the most common time of day for geese migration. The colder denser air during these times may be equivalent to an altitude hundreds of meters lower. It is suspected by the authors of these two studies that tales of the geese flying at 8,000 m (26,000 ft) are apocryphal.[8] Bar headed geese have been observed flying at 7,000 metres (23,000 ft).

 

The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity.

 

They nest mainly on the Tibetan Plateau. Intraspecific brood parasitism is noticed with lower rank females attempting to lay their eggs in the nests of higher ranking females.

 

The bar-headed goose is often kept in captivity, as it is considered beautiful and breeds readily. Recorded sightings in Great Britain are frequent, and almost certainly relate to escapes. However, the species has bred on several occasions in recent years, and around five pairs were recorded in 2002, the most recent available report of the Rare Birds Breeding Panel. It is possible that, owing to a combination of frequent migration, accidental escapes and deliberate introduction, the species is becoming gradually more established in Great Britain.

 

The bar-headed goose has escaped or been deliberately released in Florida, U.S., but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and it may only persist due to continuing escapes or releases.

 

Physiology and morphology

The main physiological challenge of bar-headed geese is extracting oxygen from hypoxic air and transporting it to aerobic muscle fibres in order to sustain flight at high altitudes. Flight is very metabolically costly at high-altitudes because birds need to flap harder in thin air to generate lift. Studies have found that bar-headed geese breathe more deeply and efficiently under low-oxygen conditions, which serves to increase oxygen uptake from the environment. The haemoglobin of their blood has a higher affinity for oxygen than that of low-altitude geese, which has been attributed to a single amino acid point mutation. This mutation causes a conformational shift in the haemoglobin molecule from the low-oxygen to the high-oxygen affinity form. The left-ventricle of the heart, which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body via systemic circulation, has significantly more capillaries in bar-headed geese than in lowland birds, maintaining oxygenation of cardiac muscle cells and thereby cardiac output. Compared to lowland birds, mitochondria (the main site of oxygen consumption) in the flight muscle of bar-headed geese are significantly closer to the sarcolemma, decreasing the intracellular diffusion distance of oxygen from the capillaries to the mitochondria.

 

Bar-headed geese have a slightly larger wing area for their weight than other geese, which is believed to help them fly at high altitudes. While this decreases the power output required for flight in thin air, birds at high altitude still need to flap harder than lowland birds.

 

Cultural depiction

The bar-headed goose has been suggested as being the model for the Hamsa of Indian mythology. Another interpretation suggests that the bar-headed goose is likely to be the Kadamb in ancient and medieval Sanskrit literature, whereas Hamsa generally refers to the swan.

Well, here it is in all of it's gorgeous glory.

 

Jason, you were right, it was a ventricle! :)

 

Alright, so backstory.

 

My mom raised me essentially alone. She and my father divorced when I was barely a few months old. He pretty much wasn't in my life, very occasional visits, and a phone call on my birthday and Christmas, in which he'd usually talk to my brother more anyway. (My brother was 7 when my parents divorced, so he'd always had a better relationship with him.)

 

It wasn't easy for my mom to raise my brother and I. We were on WIC and welfare, my father was shitty about paying child support, and we usually got our clothes at second hand stores unless someone else in the family was buying them for us. She managed to get a nursing degree by the time I was 4, and worked full time at a nursing home.

 

My brother moved away when I was 11 or so, and my mom and I started to become a lot closer. Eventually I graduated high school, and I spent a whole year just mooching off my mom, I didn't even have a job. We fought a lot during that time. I finally decided to get off my ass and go to school, and I wanted to go to the Art Institute in big bad Pittsburgh. (We lived about 45 minutes from Pittsburgh, but rarely ever went there.) My mom begged me to go to the community college, but I was determined.

 

I spent the first 3 months in school housing, which my mom never saw the inside of. She did come out once while I lived there, but she was not in the mood to go see the apartment (it wasn't much to see anyway). My mom doesn't like to get lost, she doesn't like Pittsburgh. After I moved into a new place, my aunts brought her out again, and she was able to deal with that a little better. Eventually she started coming out almost weekly to take me grocery shopping and to do my laundry. She bought me a toaster and a microwave and other necessary household items.

 

Two years ago, my mom had open heart surgery. One of the valves in her heart was very leaky, and it caused her a ton of problems. She ended up being in the hospital for 2 straight weeks, recovering. She would've been out sooner, but she stopped breathing one day, and had to have a pacemaker put in. The day she stopped breathing, was the first day I wasn't going to go see her in the hospital, I called her room on my way to work, and someone picked up, said her name twice, and hung up on me. It had just happened. The entire experience was really hard on me, seeing my mom like that. She obviously pulled through, and ever since then, I've wanted a tribute tattoo for her.

 

This idea literally came to me last Thursday morning. I'd been brainstorming for 2 whole years. And suddenly, there was the perfect tattoo in my head. And I knew that I had to have Mike do it, because his style and his shading are just gorgeous to me. And I didn't expect it to happen this soon, but I'm so glad it was able to happen. Her birthday is August 19th, the 2 year anniversary of her surgery is September 21st. I'm going to wait until one of those two days to unveil it to her. (Rick, if by chance, you see this, and you say a single word to ANYONE about it, there will be hell to pay. Seriously.)

 

So the heart has a bandage because it's repaired. And it's inside a rose because while it may be a slightly damaged heart, it's incased in something very beautiful. (I asked my mom last year in preparation for this what her favorite flower was, and she told me roses. So last year for her birthday, I sent her roses to throw her off my trail. :D And it's purple because if it was red there'd be too much red, and purple is my favorite color. Haha.)

 

Placement because it's close to my own heart, it's somewhere easily hidden/no one will see it unless I want them to.

By Elisa Schorn.

 

From the anatomical literature and drawings collection at Heidelberg University--HeidICON.