WTF, American Cancer Society?

After yesterday's exhausting walk at Oso Flaco we decided to stay home (mostly) today.

Of course he has to go with me when I bring Ben and Abby to school-he adores them so. And that gives John 30 minutes of quiet time to work (he works at home. That can be challenging, especially when he's trying to participate in a conference call and the idiot dog WON'T. STOP. BARKING.).

There were the usual visitors: My mom, AKA Bubbe, (dish washer, hedgehog mender, pooper scooper), and Mrs. Harlan (dog walker and banana pudding chef). Today Sam and I taught Bubbe to play dominoes. Sam still kinda plays his own dominoes. I have to help sometimes, principally if there's a rematch. As for Mrs. H., rather than bringing banana pudding today, she brought the ingredients. So this afternoon Sam and I made banana pudding. I almost forgot the bananas. That got a laugh.

We had an extra special visitor today. Lisa, our counselor from Camp Reach for the Stars, drove all the way from Ventura along with her daughter to see Sam and everybody. Aside from the tragedy that Sam does not remember her, we had a lovely visit. Here's another tragedy: The American Cancer Society pulled their funding and administrative support from both the local camps. The "North" camp will go on thanks to a local oncologist and nurse (Jim and Jessica, a husband-wife team) who are starting a foundation to support it. The "South" camp, which was located in Ojai, is no more. The camps were a source of comfort and normalcy for so many families from Ventura to San Luis Obispo County. It makes no sense that ACS would not continue to support this service. When we spent the weekend in Cambria we were surprised and pleased to learn that much of what we enjoyed was donated-the food, the activities, the personnel were all volunteers. The costs to ACS were minimal, so what gives? Here's Jonathan Agin's take.

Last night I mentioned that some Grover Heights moms were getting together and organizing a fundraiser for the broader purpose of funding research. I provided a link to the Facebook event page, but not everyone uses Facebook so here's a link to the event page on the Alex's Lemonade Stand site:  Lemonade and Love for Sam. This will give you details on how to attend the event or donate. If you are a Facebook user please go to the fundraiser's community page (https://www.facebook.com/ALSF5Cities) and like it so that you can get updates, and join the event (https://www.facebook.com/events/156485581216230/).