Proud of my work -- 16 Years of Service

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to me that you take the time to write and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful and help support me through very challenging times. I am forever grateful. As my readers know, I promised to write the blog for a year after Mattie's death, which would mean that I could technically have stopped writing on September 9, 2010. However, like my journey with grief there is so much that still needs to be processed and fortunately I have a willing support network still committed to reading. Therefore, the blog continues on. If I should find the need to stop writing, I assure you I will give you advanced notice. In the mean time, thank you for reading, thank you for having the courage to share this journey with me, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.


As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki



A Remembrance Video of Mattie

July 30, 2020

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. Mattie was in the outpatient clinic sitting at the art table. As you can see it was a busy place! That day, Mattie and his friend, Maya (the only same aged friend Mattie made in clinic), built a stage for a play out of boxes. They worked on it for a while and then proceeded to act out a play  about space aliens. You may not be able to feel the energy through the photo, but there were many children all around us and they were all engaged when the play unfolded. 


Quote of the day
  • number of people diagnosed with the virus: 4,475,979
  • number of people who died from the virus: 151,570


We went for a walk today on Roosevelt Island. Check out what crossed our path! The deer are all over on the Island and because there is less people traffic due to COVID, we are really seeing nature come alive this summer. Needless to say, Sunny was VERY intrigued. 
I think deer are quite beautiful and the ones on the island are used to people. After all, we are visiting their home. The deer are frightened of Sunny and keep a close eye on him. 
A close up of the female deer. 
This is a young buck! Can you see his budding antlers?
Have you ever come close up to a spider web? This one was quite extraordinary. Mattie would have appreciated this. 

Did you know.......
Spiders produce silk from their spinneret glands located at the tip of their abdomen. Each gland produces a thread for a special purpose – for example a trailed safety line, sticky silk for trapping prey or fine silk for wrapping it. Spiders use different gland types to produce different silks, and some spiders are capable of producing up to eight different silks during their lifetime. Most spiders have three pairs of spinnerets, each having its own function – there are also spiders with just one pair and others with as many as four pairs.

Webs allow a spider to catch prey without having to expend energy by running it down. Thus it is an efficient method of gathering food. However, constructing the web is in itself an energetically costly process because of the large amount of protein required, in the form of silk. In addition, after a time the silk will lose its stickiness and thus become inefficient at capturing prey. It is common for spiders to eat their own web daily to recoup some of the energy used in spinning. The silk proteins are thus recycled.

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