| TABLE of CONTENTS |
DECEMBER 22, 2011:
So many of you have written loving letters of concern that it brings tears to the eyes. I have not been able to respond to more than a few so far, so I thought I'd better write a bit of update news on my condition and thoughts about this very remarkable Season. 2011 has proven to be the richest and the scariest of years - possibly the most so of any of my entire life. Imean - going from doing speaking parts in a dozen little films and one actual Hollywood film to being suddenly told you have Stage IV cancer and getting "plugged in" to the medical machine is quite enough to turn one's entire prespective completely around. "It was the best of years. It was the worst of years." That pretty much sums up 2011 for me. Sometime between today and yesterday it was the shortest, darkest day of that year. Slowly it will reverse and the light will start to lengthen out again.
The most often asked question is 'How am I? ' To tell you the truth, I don't know how I am. Right now I don't feel too bad at all, and getting a sort of "mini-vacation" from all that. It's been periods of intense treatments, both radiation and chemo. Travels for 2nd opinions. Horrendous copays. My hair fell out in July. I stopped persuing films. There were periods of pain and sleeplessness ( Oh, those "wee small hours!")and depression. But right now things are in a sort of waiting and watching mode. I qualified and was approved for a very new and expensive targeted chemo medicine and am taking that twice daily without fail. I'm not in much pain, but I do tire easily. We'll see if this medicine has done any good when I get my next CT scans end of January. Mwanrtime, I intend to put this in the background of my mind and make the most I can of this Christmas.
That is proving easier this year. For the first Christmas in many I have company. My daughter has come to stay with me - all the way from Colorado - for an indefinite stay. She insisted on a tree. I haven't had one in years - just a couple of bubble light trees perhaps. I had this unused prewired thing in the basement - bought as a post Christmas bargain some years ago. I decided I'd go that far and erect it atop the old dusty putz and decorate it with "warballs," those clear unsilvered ones from WW II and a few 1950s "Shiney-Brites" from the bubble light era. The effect surprised us both. It turned out to be far more pleasing and unusual than anticipated - almost a modern sculpture of a tree. I can't really photograph one of the most remarkable effects - the reflections of the mini clear lights in the clear spheres. It's as if tiny stars are in there - floating in space like goldfish in bowls - in 3-D, as if each ball contains a tiny star-cluster galaxy of it's own.
Atop the tree sits a Noma "Elite Angel" ca. 1945. Not only did I have that exact type angel on my preschool tree in Johnstown, PA during WW II, she is a film star, too, appearing atop the Old Professor's little tree in "THE BISHOP'S WIFE," (1947) one of my favorite Christmas movies. (Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven.) If you're not familiar with this movie, I recommend you see it this year. It will make your "top ten" list.
We'll do Christmas Eve at my Cousin's. Christmas Day at a friend of hers. We're "pigging out" on Christmas treats and hope the Christmas movies just keep coming. Relaxed and meditative. I wish you all peace and joy for this day and for the year to come, and please keep you prayers and positive thoughts coming. My doctor is quite delighted with me. I believe the prayers are working.
"God bless you - every one."
- "Papa" Ted
A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
- and update on me.
ANNOUNCEMENT and EXPLANATION
A Turning Point for Papa Ted's Place
I know that you - my loyal friends - have been wondering whatever happened to "Papa Ted's Place?" I am still here, though it would not appear so. It has been a confluence of heavy-handed things.
I had a tough time finishing 2010. Houses of the Month just stopped coming in. It was becoming ever more evident that just about everything truly significant about the little houses had been said. Oh, yes - little points of minutia will turn up here and there for years to come, but the main story has been told. This charming era has been set down for those who care .. and even some who will come to care. People always have and always will have fascination for miniaturized emulations of the world. This is how they did it in the first half of the 20th Century. But i just basically ran out of stuff to say.
Then Eternity called my number. Earlier this year a diagnosis of Non Small Cell Lung cancer, stage IV. Since then, that battle has become a full-time job. There is real hope, but it keeps me busier than I have ever been - with tasks i have never hated more.
I can't really get excited about material things anymore. Nothing in this life is really ours at all. But i still have a goodly stock of doors and windows for those who need them. I will try to post any amazing photos of Christmases past that come in. Exceptional putzes, Letters from Folks and things like that.
And, actually, I am looking for ethical, responsible people to help me dispose of my collections of vintage toy trains and Christmas lights and Christmas houses. Ornaments. I am here all alone and none of my family cares at all about such things. I need help.
And I need your prayers. Hope has come up for me in the form of a new clinical gene-targeted vaccine that shows great promise, but there are insurances and bureaucrats to fight. It's very expensive. So prayers by all means! I am a believer in that. Keep them coming!
Love to you all,
-Ted
PS ! - A DUPLICATE BACKUP of "Papa Ted's Place" has been constructed on the fabulous Christmas website of PAUL RACE who graciously suggested and offered me the space. This is in case anything should suddenly happen to me or to my current webhost, just for safety's sake. The site is exactly the same, except you'll notice that the hit counters look a little different and remain frozen.So, bookmark the following URL: If you can't get on the site at some time, you'll also be able to reach it at:
http://www.CardboardChristmas.com/papateds
