This picture of my dad was taken at Mom and Dad's 80th birthday party just five days before he died. 

Karen: My dad died last night

My dad died last night. He was 80.

We had a joint 80th birthday party for my mom and dad on Saturday. Everyone was there-- the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids-- excepting Ben, in Iraq, and my kids, who were with their biological father. Earlier this week, Dad saw his brothers and had lunch with some friends... I talked with him on Thursday afternoon and he sounded great. Mom said he ate a good dinner, sat down in the chair, had a seizure and then a heart attack, and died. So he died at the end of his best day. That's the way I'd like to go, too-- quickly, at the end of my best day.

--karen

What Karen has to say today

It is not so much our friends' help that helps us
as the knowledge that they will help us.
- Epicurus

Porcupine - Katherine Hocker

Karen sees the movie "Kinsey"

GO SEE THIS MOVIE. It is worth the time and effort to find it.

Here is Roger Ebert's review.

Here is the Internet Movie DataBase's information about the movie.

I wrote a little review of the book it is based on:

Kinsey: Sex - The Measure of All Things by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy. I've really enjoyed reading this book, long as it is. It is the antidote to the nasty biography written by James Jones. I think it is more accurate, certainly less opinionated and better substantiated than the Jones book. I recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in the estimable Dr. Kinsey.

Don't forget to stay after for the credits! While they are rolling, footage of actual Kinsey Institute film archives are shown, of various animals mating. The first is little Dr. Shadle's porcupines mating, and it is very sweet.

The film is rated R, mostly for nudity (including male frontal nudity). Not much language, very little violence. An extraordinary movie about an extraordinary man.

Karen's New Year's Resolutions 2005

1. As part of my ongoing effort to divest myself and my household of as many material possessions as possible, something leaves the house very day and doesn't come back. This has been a standing resolution since 1999.
2. Simplify.
3. Get a job. This situation is fast becoming desperate.
4. Go to church every week. Not because I have to, but because I need the community that surrounds and supports me there.
5. Blog every day. :-)

Karen's Life Motto

"Life's purpose is not to arrive safely at the grave in a well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in sideways, totally out of breath, shouting, "Holy sh*t! What a ride!"