goodbye.....

ok, so our friend mack died this morning...after a long battle with a brain tumor, that wasn't really a brain tumor....more like a brain melanoma......he was a renaissance man....an orthopedic surgeon, a runner, a cyclist, an environmentalist, a saxophone player with his own combo........he was devoted to the preservation of the historic stone fences.......he rebuilt those on his own farm....and helped to rebuild those in his general vicinity.....when i broke my foot years ago...falling down my mother-in-law's steps trying to make it to the bathroom in the middle of the night with flagrant food poisoning...we drove back to danville with my foot wrapped in an ace bandage so mack could take a look....and in the emergency room he and i had such an intense conversation about the kneading of bread that he forgot to write a prescription for pain medication.......and so my poor spouse had to track him down later when the lapse became intolerable.........he fought the good fight, and when the fight was over he passed peacefully...at home......a historic place written up in numerous magazines for it's dedication to time and place in decor, landscaping.......and things will never be the same....at least for the everyothersunday crowd......who gathered for meditation in his art studio...just down from his chinese-style outdoor woodfired kiln.......the last time i saw mack was at an impromptu clean-up/repair visit to the studio....that ended up with a hike and a pot-luck.......and he was jolly, and optimistic.....as we all should be on this short passing-through we call life on earth...........