David Crook – Page 2

This is National Heart Month

February 8, 2012 By Administrator

chdlogo300 Did you know that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States? So says the Centers for Disease Control: one in every three deaths is from heart disease and stroke, equal to 2,200 deaths per day.

“So…” you might say.

I get it. Not everyone is touched by heart disease. About six years ago my brother, David Crook, had a heart attack, & was quickly taken to a great Phoenix hospital where they did a five-bypass surgery. It really hit home when the doctor said, “Yes, I held his heart in my hands. We fixed it, and now everything is working fine.”

And it is. We often go out hiking and photographing. And he hikes regularly with his daughter, Michelle. Plus doing 101 other things daily.

Why not learn what you can about heart disease on a global basis? Find a nonprofit or NGO to support either in the U.S. or overseas.

For example, Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian has a project that has saved over 80 children’s lives, and he does most of it through donations. He’s a consultant paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon, and is chairman and one of the co-founders of the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation.

“Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are a lethal constellation of birth defects of the heart that affect millions of newborn infants and children worldwide; a killer that claims thousands of lives every year,” says his website. “Eight of every 1000 children born alive (0.8%) will have some form of congenital heart defect.”

You’ll find many excellent nonprofits in the U.S. that provide life-saving surgery and other types of support for people with every kind of heart disease.

Find one. Or consider Dr. Mani’s group. But do something. Raise money. Or raise awareness. Give web/blog support; give time, give money. Whatever works for you.

Columbus Day at the Zoo

October 13, 2011 By Administrator

iguana-2 Monday morning, my brother, David Crook, friend Martha Retallick, and I, went to the Phoenix Zoo. We had a wonderful time.

Retallick recently published a book, Bike-tography. “When I was in my early twenties,” she says, “I set the goal of bicycling through all 50 of the United States. I accomplished this over a twelve-year period, traveling more than 15,000 miles in the United States, plus a bit of Mexico and Canada.”

These days she lives in Tucson, where bicycling is a huge culture, and she covers many events, bicycle and other, by using her bike as transportation.

monkey-2 I’d hoped to show her the Komodo Dragons, but they weren’t visible, so we went off to see what else we could find.

We discovered lots of little creatures in the first part of our trip, since only one elephant was visible and it stayed near the shelter. We finally got to the area where the giraffes lived, which is always fun.

koi-2 Martha hiked around that area while David and I grabbed a hamburger. We stopped to enjoy the brilliant, beautiful koi, then headed back for Peoria.

Wednesday afternoon photo shoot

February 16, 2011 By Administrator

My brother (David Crook) and I took a few hours off this afternoon and drove out to the White Tank Regional Park. I’d never been all the way up the Waterfall Trail, and that was my goal. However, I chickened out at about the half-way point. I am just restarting my fitness program and plan to be in better shape each day.

Although there weren’t many blossoms, there was so much to enjoy: amazing rock formations, petroglyphs, an ever-changing sky that opened up just for us, birds, bird nests, lizards, cactus, and many, many people hiking up and down.

Here’s a shot (redigitized by me) of a curved-billed thrasher’s nest:

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And here’s a petroglyph collection:

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And here’s a cactus wren:

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And finally, just a lovely scenic:

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Special Christmas with special people!

December 26, 2010 By Administrator

edmichelle

What a wonderful Christmas at the Ed and Michelle Dias home. Ruthann Clemens and I entered a home filled with fun, joy, family, food, and Lucy. Lucy is an itty bitty dachshund that we all love. We spent the afternoon and evening with Ed, Michelle, Brian Collins, and David and Janet Crook. Ed is remarkable at many levels, one of which is cooking.

He and Michelle put on a fantastic Christmas dinner. Including barbecued sweet potatoes. And there’s a delightful dish with broccoli and spinach with touches of sausage. Dribble on some freshly squeezed lemon juice, and…yum. Plus moist turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, croissants, dressing, fruit salad, and more!

Janet’s doing well with her upper arm fracture. She only forgot once while we were visiting in the living room, and reached out for something with her right hand. Unfortunately, the fracture is in her right arm.

We had such fun time visiting and reminiscing and laughing. And one of the nicest parts of the day was the fact that Ed and David pretty much cleaned up the kitchen. David got a much-deserved back, neck, and head massage.

Brian got a Kindle, which was fun, because I have one. And I was able to point him to Seth Godin’s blog post with a link to all kinds of fantastic Kindle downloads, many of them free. David enjoyed his iPod Touch.

Ruthann and I headed out into the warm, clear evening, both thankful that we’d been embraced and enchanted by some very special people. I dropped her off and went home to my two hungry but forgiving cats (they would have preferred my staying home).