52 Pick-me-up: Hero

"In our world of big names, curiously, our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs.  

          Daniel J. Boorstin, 1914 - 2004" [source]  

David Bowie's "Heroes" came up on my iPod during my commute last week and the above quote came in my "Quote of the Day" newsletter. Synchronicity! 

Celebrate your hero(es) this week for 52 Pick-me-up.
I have many, don't you?

I decided to feature the wonderful nurses of the infusion clinic at Harbor/ UCLA.
I sketched them on the sly over the course of my chemo treatments in 2010-11.

Gee, I thought I'd sketched more! I guess I took stealth photos, which I won't post.
Here's my last day in the clinic, 6/29/11

with Mariciel? (can't remember her name)

Bowie:

Who is your hero this week? Link and tell!

Throwing Caution To the Wind

Close up of my skirt print. In my mind, it's all the road sign colors:
Stop Red
Exit Green
Info Blue
and
Caution Yellow

I wore this for both Qi Gong and a routine checkup appointment at Harbor/UCLA on Friday, it worked out great.
Not so great was the interminable wait to see my doctor -- 3.5 hours!!!!
(I'm on the dole, so I pay with my time). I became REALLY REALLY bored, so I played with my kaleidoscope app:

upper right is original shot used [same as close up] to make these images

and took random photos:

Actual face time with the doctor? Maybe 10 minutes!
Ah, Harbor General, teaching me patience yet again.
ps: I'm fine!

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday. Because it's Monday!

A Breath of Fresh Air -- Fitness for Mind, Body, and Soul

Every Friday, I go up the hill to Clover Park to practice Qigong.
We are outdoors, under chinese elms, and can hear birds chirping and children playing as we do our series of movements.

"The word Qigong (Chi Kung) is made up of two Chinese words. Qi is pronounced chee and is usually translated to mean the life force or vital-energy that flows through all things in the universe. The second word, Gong, pronounced gung, means accomplishment, or skill that is cultivated through steady practice. Together, Qigong (Chi Kung) means cultivating energy, it is a system practiced for health maintenance, healing and increasing vitality." [source - National Qigong Association]

Our group is held under the auspices of The Cancer Support Community, Benjamin Center. We all have had a brush with cancer -- we are victors, caregivers or still in treatment. We practice two forms of Qigong. The first, liangong, was developed by Master Wen-Mei Wu. It's a series of 54 movement sets.

ISBN: 0865681996

The second, guo lin qi gong, is a walking practice. It combines breathing and moving energy with walking. More info here.

Here's a simple relaxation technique from Master Yu that is easy to do anytime:

[image from p124 of above book]

Remember to breathe deeply!
Have a great weekend!

I'll be linking up with Katy's Friend Beauty Friend Friday. This month's theme is Health and Fitness.
See what others have to say on the subject here.