Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1455486
38 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MARCH 2022 We are re-evaluating conditions for possible in-person meetings. We will let everyone know the schedule via email and the Daily Report. The club has restarted our twice-a-month Work Study Group via Zoom. The group meets on the second and fourth Thursdays at 4 pm. Sessions cover planning club activities, editing in Adobe Photoshop, and related programs. We are addressing rescheduled events and planning our photo outings for the coming year. In addition, if you have a question, you are always welcome to join us. Contact Jacque for meeting times and dates for the Work-Study Group. This month's images are two very different photos — the first from our Four Seasons Cars & Coffee and one from far-away Alaska. If you have not received our emails, contact Jacque at jacquesneddon@gmail.com. She will be happy to add you to the mailing list. ~ John Baeyertz, ohnbz1453@gmail.com Photography Club Writers' Club Shadows There came a day when a stranger stared back at me in the mirror: bald, gray-haired, unsmiling, and wrinkled. The sunset I thought was still-distant had been nestling under my roof for some time. A verse written by a relative a century ago then came to mind: "Now, after climbing the mountain of life, you go away noble and ardent youth… With no dawns to greet me again, it will take great courage to go down after the climb." So, we become witnesses to our descent. More than 20 years ago, when a doctor dismissed my loss of the sense of smell (Anosmia, a "blessing in disguise"), I was already harboring a Trojan horse unknowingly. Then, while dreaming, I started jumping out of bed or throwing punches. With "Deep Sleep Disorder," we respond physically to our nightmares. I might have to wear a restraining vest to sleep. A noticeable reduction in the size of my handwriting (Micrographia) was just another trivial anomaly. But these are forerunners of a condition with a name and a surname: Parkinson's Disease. Persistent hand tremors and encounters with foot obstacles finally made reality sink in. Parkinson's destroys the dopamine-producing neurons required to transmit signals to the muscles. The affected body behaves like a car with an out-of-tune engine. Thus far, there is no cure, only mitigation. As the body adapts, remedies lose efficacy. There is no battle to fight, just submission. And, maybe, meditation on possible outcomes: Uncontrollable tremors eventually will preclude social interaction. I would end my descent shuffling behind a walker, tripping over pebbles. Or, because over half of Parkinson's sufferers develop dementia, I could then be talking to unseen companions, my mind gone and my body a burden. Alternatively, another illness could sprint ahead. Undetected rebellions may be a-brewing, while my annoying prostate grows benignly. I may have overlooked other possibilities… Nikos Kazantzakis says in "Report to Greco": "The day has ended. I collect my tools: sight, hearing, smell, intellect... The ridges of my mind still retain some light, but the holy night is winning." He was able to gather his tools at sunset. It seems I have been losing mine along the way. - Ricardo Suárez-Gärtner The Writers' Club meets at 1 pm each second Tuesday in the RCN CR. Contact Mary Lynn Archibald at mlarchibald@mac.com. ~ Ricardo Suarez-Gartner Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska - photo by Howard Levine Ford Roadster at Cars and Coffee - photo by Jacque Sneddon