Cheating escheats, birthdays and 2 new countries

This is Steve's cousin I happier times. He has stopped eating and talking. Steve's brother has been visiting him daily

A rare photo of Steve dancing. This was at Naomi's wedding years ago. The wedding didn't last long

Every night at 6 a herd of 8 deer slowly walk through our yard

Hannah and birthday cake

Oliver and Steve with their birthday cake and pie

Twenty years ago a man buys a few shares of stock in a new promising company. Following advice to just leave the stock alone without constantly checking and reacting to market fluctuations, he lets it sit in his account. He is aware that his initial few thousand investment now is probably worth a thousand fold more and will help him in retirement. One day he decides to cash in and to his dismay, the account is empty!! Has he been robbed? Yes but legally. The brokerage firm by law has to turn idle accounts over to the state. Theoretically the firm is supposed to notify you by mail but if you don't respond , they assume you don't exist. The state then converts stock shares into what it is worth at that time and it is up to you to reclaim it. So he got his original investment back plus it had gone up a bit but not the fortune he was expecting. How long is an account considered abandoned. Varies but in some states as little as a year. Many of these escheated accounts go unclaimed, a boom to the states that hold them. Free money! What is unclear to me which state gets the money, where you live or the state that the brokerage firm is located. I do know that I get a few forms per year asking if I am still alive because I didn't initiate  any activity in the account. I have not retitled certain accounts of mine into a trust as their retitling requirements are so onerous (like requesting of the original trust document) Steve is always checking to make sure our investments are still there.

It is still winter, which I hate. So far, excepting its early start in November it has been relatedly mild though the dirt roads have been sheets of ice that school buses refuse to go down. I continue to run and yesterday as it was slightly above freeing (brakes don't work below freezing). Still haven't planned to escape out of here in the winter. We were expecting Steve's brother to stay with us for a while but until his cousin dies, which will be soon, he doesn't have concrete plans. We do have a trip in late spring back to Europe. This time, everything is planned for us and no more hectic transfers though last time everything went smoothly and I did most of the planning so it wasn't  hard for him.

Steve and Oliver both have birthdays on the same day so that was celebrated.

A fun morning was spent in the hospital so Steve could have an endoscopy for his funky digestive system. No damage that they can tell. A friend visited me while I waited.

I made an online enemy by trashing Trump and his followers in response to Trump saying he is considering cutting 'entitlement' programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Technically they are entitled programs as I paid into them for years so I am entitled to get out at least what I paid but that's not the sense the Government uses as is its through their largesse we get these benefits and as such they can take it back at any time to fund a wall or whatever. How dare I criticize Our Commander in Chief!!!! How much respect now the rest of the world has for us! (not any country that I visited, the Dutch in particular can't get over his windmills cause cancer comment)Look how well our stock market is doing!!!
Nothing to address cutting social security which from the looks of things, he is much more dependent on than I am along with the rest of the orange followers. And how many of his followers actually invest in the market. Not the base. It was on a friend of a friend's Facebook. Lesson learned: don't engage. 

My life as a mutant

new mirror

I am currently making a photo calendar of our travels. Regensberg

Salzburg

Last night I met up with my fellow (though all female even though both sexes are equally blessed with these genes) mutants. We meet 4 times a year though I missed a few meetings due to my travels. We were equally divided last night into BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers though in the past, CHEK and PALB people have shown up. All were younger than me and had much stronger family histories than I have. Families in which every female gets ovarian cancer in their 30s (surprisingly BRCA2 which usually strikes later). There were women in their 30s who are trying to finish their child bearing so they can remove their ovaries before cancer strikes. They do have mastectomies before the babies as breast cancer develops even earlier, breasts not absolutely needed for pregnancy, and pregnancy floods the body with hormones that spurs breast cancer on. Some of them are going to preselect their embryos so as not to continue these awful genes. This is a divisive  issue in mutant world as we would not exist had our moms this option. Playing God?

In some ways I am glad that I found out so late as there aren't so many decisions to be made though it would have been real useful to know it when I had breast cancer so I would have gotten a mastectomy 12 years ago. But then I would have to tell my children and they would have been tested and then I  might not have had so many grandkids. If I knew about my bad gene when I was younger, would I have gotten a mastectomy before I could get cancer? These ladies that night had little trouble with that decision as they had seen their moms die of breast cancer. Of course insurance now covers these preventative surgeries but they didn't previous to Obama care.

Not all BRCA2 mutations are the same and there are thousands of them. A few keep recurring within a given ethnic group so predicting its lethality is easier. The commercial genetic test 23 and Me only tests for one known BRCA2 (and two BRCA1 mutations). I have known people think that that since they tested negative they are free and clear. Yeah in very small print they are warned. But the less common ones, how do they tell? My mutation is known and classified as 'pathogenic'  Through lots of searching, I discovered it is Norwegian in origin. According to Ancestry, I am only 3% Norwegian and I could have inherited that on either side. What were the chances of a person of  Northern European ancestry having one of the BRCA mutations? 1 in 800. If I were Ashkenazi Jewish? 1 in 40.

The big red flag in my case is having triple negative breast cancer though that is more strongly associated with BRCA1. I was a bit old to have it though (and now I am even older so I am just hoping my risk has decreased a lot; removing my ovaries further decreases it along with keeping my body fat to a minimum)  When I was diagnosed with cancer, my mom was the only one who had cancer (at 64 nd not an aggressive kind) I knew of no one who died young except from accidents or suicide. Lots of relatives living on both sides until their 90s. On my father's side, there was a great aunt who died in her 30s, of what I am trying to track her down. Has a very common name.

Fingers are pointed at my mom's side as she did have breast cancer. Later her sister had a very early form of it. I only recently learned a cousin died at 55 with biliary duct cancer, which could be BRCA2 mediated. I contacted his widow to warn that their adult children should be tested. She promised to send me the results but that didn't happen. Either she blew me off or the kids refused to be tested. When I warned my cousin, the one I am closest to and whose mom had breast cancer, she stopped speaking to me. Yes we do shoot the messenger. Did she warn her adult  children who are having babies? Probably not. Should I warn her children and my other cousins adult children?

The consensus of the mutant group  is YES!!!! I could be saving their lives though all of them have run into the  same problem with various family members.

These cancers caused by gene mutations keep occurring at earlier and earlier ages with each generation. The usual figure is 10 years. I was 9 years younger when I was diagnosed than my mom. what about her parents? Her mom died in her late 80s had had plenty of long living siblings. Her dad was only 72 but died of Parkinson's. These BRCA mutations effect women more lethally than men. so my ancestors had to be carrying these genes but maybe something else killed them before cancer could get to them.

On the surface it looks as if I have BRCA light, as it hasn't affected many family members. Molecular biologists can somewhat predict how bad a mutation is by the position of the deletion. Doesn't look good there. But also there are two many databases that track all that are tested and what effect a given mutation it has on the family members. One is called ClinVar where most testing companies (but notably not Myriad) load their data. Myriad prefers to keep its own data base which is quite large as they had a monopoly on testing the BRCA gene until 2013. They do not share much to the consternation of physicians and genetic counselors. I find them irresponsible.

Recently there was an article in the Wall Street Journal about a BRCA2 family. One of the members was tested because she had breast cancer and she had the gene. She urged other members to be tested including several women in their 30s who weren't finished having children. They didn't want cancer however and had their breasts and ovaries removed. Then a few years later, Myriad contacts them  tell them their gene has been downgraded from 'pathogenic' to not pathogenic based n their database, which was mostly this family's genes. They were pissed!  I would be happy though. I can minimize some of the risks of certain cancers but not all of the, And it would be a relief to know that my children and theirs and theirs would not have to deal with this. ClinVar still classifies their gene as pathogenic though.

One of the dumbest comments I read online was from some idiot who thought the chances of getting ovarian cancer of 25% wasn't high enough to justify removing her ovaries. As HE put it, if a sport team had a 75% chance of winning, he would definitely put money on it. But he fails to see the difference in the case ,if the sports team loses, he is out a few bucks. If she ends up with ovarian cancer, she'll probably die or at the very least go through horrific treatments.

Things can be quite messy in mutant world.

And now outside is all white. Another storm. Waiting impatiently for spring.

so far this year

our granddog came to visit. She is now 7 months old. Our Christmas tree frightened her

our annual Moms party coinciding with meeting for forty years. We were originally a post partum support group

I made a flourless almond chocolate torte I overcooked it so I am not happy with it

selfie of my fishnets. I have 12 pair of different patterns. Lacking places to wear them

Hannah celebrated her birthday over 2 weekends

I forced some bulbs to bloom. When these die down, I'll plant others

we finally sold this car. We got it almost 13 years ago we were still working though we knew ours jobs were in jeopardy. We actually bought two of these in one day. Josh eventually paid us for the other

at Hannah's Frozen themed party, there was face painting. New haircut or Tess

Prince Anna showed up at the party to sing and play gams

Hannah and her family

the party guests. Oliver thought he as too old to participate

So we are in our second month of drab winter though last week was unseasonably warm so I was able to bicycle and run. Right now my potential path is covered with ice as it was yesterday. It might melt this afternoon. If not, back down to our basement with the elliptical trainer again which is boring despite my music.

• Wineless January.  This seems to be on everyone's list but in my case, I really need to cut back. So far I have been just been having wine on Saturday. Do Bloody Marys count? Well at least they have a bit of nutrition. I blame my weight gain on that surgery in July. I was able to stay within a few pounds of my goal for two years but now I am a size 8, not a size 4. Now my former self trying to squeeze into  size 14s would be happy with that and I don't think anyone would call me overweight but I want to be thin. Starches are also off my list again.
• new iWatch. The cold was making my current watch black out before I was finished exercising. Also would not last the whole day on very long bike rides. The newer watch has a better battery. Steve had been tired of me whining and had got me one for our anniversary. Alas the box had been empty and I was told to wait. He waited for my usual complaining the other day and gave me a full box this time. As Shanna isn't so demanding of  watches, the old watch is now on her wrist.
• can now park our other car in the garage. as we have a 4+car garage, we probably could have done this earlier with some rearranging. Our original buyer fell through but Josh marketed it at work and we soon had a taker. As Steve keeps reminding me, it was in better shape than our new car no dings or dents despite its age and 6 months in Naomi's hands)
• mystery dent and hole in new car. Steve just noticed this yesterday and immediately blamed me though he had been the last one to drive it and drives it much more than I do. We didn't take this car to NYC because he was sure it would get banged up there (though we might have been spared the tire fiasco of the old car). My crime was parking it in Ann Arbor though in a huge spot. I did see from a distance an Amazon delivery truck double parked beside it. It looks like a spike went through the bumper. Meanwhile he has a habit of pulling into a parking spot too deep and hitting the cement thingy. We blame each other for this. I think he thinks I am lying but I am not.
• new computer. This one I am typing on is really old and buggy but it has all my programs that I am not sure I can load on my new one sitting right next to me. I have a few things to finish before I switch over.
• put most of the Christmas stuff away. As I have three trees, this took a while
• finally used the  air fryer that we 've had for 2 years. Can make things crispy with a minimum of fat. Now that it is on our counter, we will use it more often

Sugar Hill and beyond

We had such a nice early start but less than thirty minutes into our 620 mile drive, a blow out! Hadn't had one of those (except on my bike) since I  was a teenager. And it wasn't even the suspect tire. What to do..what to do. Curse the fates? Cancel the trip? AAA showed up within a half hour and put on a temporary but our early start meant that we'd have to wait for a tire store in Toledo to open. Two and a half hours later, we were on the road

New (to us) Goethals bridge crossing the Hudson. Used to be a scary bleak too narrow structure

 NJ party bus to NYC with loud music, flashing colors was by our side for most of our traffic jam

we will try to ignore the rash of anti-Semitic attacks that occurred during my stay but maybe that is the Brooklyn way. Thanks to the Orange Asshole who encourages this

Adorable grandchildren of Steve's cousin. The smaller one was Frida Kahlo for Halloween which I had posted 

Tasteless 'shot' dispenser we found in a party store

One of the many light photos I took in the Dyker Heights neighborhood

Of course it was raining when I walked around too but hopefully it cut down on the usual crowds

I liked the bamboo

map of the 71 endangered bird murals I could find in Harlem, mainly in Sugar Hill, if it weren't windy, pouring rain, cold and getting dark

But crazy lady that I am, I found some of them

How many times have I run up and down the Coney Island Boardwalk? Countless but on this day twice, an even five miles

The beach

we were going to try a new Italian bakery. Too popular on New Year's Eve with a line around the block and we were afraid our old stand by would be similarly crowded so no rainbow cookies for you. Cherry cheese knishes though...

names of Brooklyn places crack me up. This is near my in-laws. Other favorites: Appetizing, Very Modest, 80s Tea (the latter I want to try, very good reviews for rolled Thai Ice Cream)

Leaving Brooklyn under the Esplanade on the BQE minutes before we almost met our death. We rounded a sharp corner and had a second to slam on the brakes for a car parked in the middle of the lane. Could not move to the left lane then and for the next 5 minutes. Drunk? Heart attack victim? Not amused. As I noticed the situation before Steve, I see it as another time I saved him during the trip. Fifteen minutes later he didn't notice a red light with cars coming right at him. Saved him again by my front seat driving, which generally goes unappreciated

last non blurry photo of Manhattan which we could not leave without getting lost for the umpteenth time. When will we be able to do this flawlessly? I did it myself driving with a person unfamiliar with the place

You must take the "A" train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem
If you miss the "A" train
You`ll find you missed the quickest way to Harlem
Hurry, get on, now it`s coming
Listen to those rails…

Instrumentals by Duke Ellington

I do have to agree with the ninety year old  lyrics, the A train is the fastest way to get Harlem. From the reaches of the southern part of Brooklyn (not to be confused with South Brooklyn which is actually in the north)to the 145th street stop..one hour which included a transfer from the nice clean computer this and that bestowed F train to the dirty crowded A train.  You could not do that in a car especially towards rush hour when I made my trip, in under 2 hours. Actual distances mean little in NYC. I ran from the south into the Bronx and then back down to the bottom of Central Park in less than 4 hours during the marathon so I suspect we are only talking about 10 miles as the crow flies. As in everything there, seems much longer. One reason that the trip was fast, helpful too that  my transfer went perfectly, is the A train is express for most of Manhattan though I had some anxiety whether it was going to stop where I wanted to get off.

What am I doing up in Sugar Hill when the last you found me back in tundraland though in a warm spell so I was able to get in one more long bike ride? Steve's cousin and best friend has metastatic cancer. Not news to us but they had to stop treatment and will never be able to resume it so the tumors are progressing fast and he just entered hospice. As dire of straits my friend 

Debbie was in, his cousin is much worse, unable to get out of bed and barely can eat and breathe comfortably. Steve wanted to say goodbye and was going to take off that day. I said I'd come too if he waits a day (Maya duty yet again). Throughout the trip I kept repeating 'good thing I came or....."

Yeah, he had no idea that we had a spare (one that has very limited use)or where it was hidden though he said maybe he wouldn't of had a flat if he didn't drive over whatever (though what did he drive over, who knows)if I wasn't in the car. I do know he wouldn't have discovered that the EZ pass was in the trunk, not on the windshield until he needed it in the second hour. Or fourth hour as it turned out)

And the weather was warm. Driving through the Pennsylvania mountains can be treacherous if there is ice (a bit coming back but the salt trucks got to them) so we had a wide window and no more Maya duty for a while. And until we hit the usual awful traffic of Staten Island, it was smooth sailing. Had our really good lunch in the good Italian place in Du Bois, I did my puzzles and Duolingo, he listened to what he wanted. I did drive about 100 miles (much more on the way back). Bonus, a good parking spot in front of his brother's though he was loathe to leave it. Took a lot of convincing so we could go out one day. Why didn't we take our new much more comfortable car? Not a chance. Cars routinely get banged up even while parked. I would never think to pull in my side mirrors while parked but a necessity there.

Brooklyn is interesting. The first morning, my sister in law and  I went to Prospect Park, a half sized Central Park. The main road is closed to cars with separate lanes for bikes and another set for runners/walkers. Arrows go in both directions though 95% of the runners ran counter clockwise even though they go up the steepest side of the hill (160 feet according to my iWatch altimeter) I ran clockwise for more than 2 circles so over 7 miles. I hadn't run that much since before my surgery. Back in the 80s when I first was running there, the east side of the park faced some scary neighborhoods so most of the activity was on the west side. The east side has since gentrified but still much more crowded on the west side.Then on to Coney Island Avenue to get 'real' bagels fresh at the Appetizing store.

On to hospice in this very bleak Brooklyn industrial section. His cousin's two children and their children were there (he also has 3 stepsons). We spent the afternoon there. He was able to talk and smile. It was a good visit. At the time we thought maybe him being put in hospice was a mistake (he seemed unclear about the rules) but 2 days later, we returned and it was obvious that he won't last much longer . And on that day he was totally miserable. Our visit was probably more draining than helpful though this time his wife was there so it was a break for her.

Brooklyn has lots of Italian neighborhoods with lots of Italian restaurants. Their absolute favorite has closed down but there are plenty of alternatives. We had a nice dinner and then on to see Christmas lights in nearby Dyker Heights, a place known throughout the country for best lights ever. Lots of crowds even though it had started to rain. They all waited in the car following me around as I walked. Pictures (a small sample of many) above.

It rained all night and most of the following day. It was only drizzling when I ran up and down Ocean Parkway but the puddles were impossible to avoid. Avenues named after the alphabet come off the parkway along with a few big streets like King's and Bay Parkway In 2 miles, the whole alphabet is accounted for so lots of pesky intersections to deal with. Usually I am dealing with slow moving walkers and bicycles but the drizzle cut down on that at least. And less cars as it was the holidays though it was pointed out to me that they are Christian Holidays. My sister in law was teaching school on New Year's Day. But that's not a religious holiday is it? Christian new year from a Christian Calendar. New Year's was back in September..

While they were otherwise occupied, I went up to Harlem by myself hoping to sight see before meeting up with my niece who has her own health battle. I had my Audubon mural map loaded on my phone. The rain had returned along with lots of wind. I was wearing a not so stylish rain parka but since I needed access to my phone (to take pictures) I didn't button it up and became soaking wet. It was hard to find the murals with my foggy glasses and obstructed view with this huge hood (at least my head kept dry). I stopped in a coffee shop to regroup and pee. Most of the murals were on Broadway which I was walking up so I did find a fraction of them. I knew approximately where my niece lived as I stayed there the year before) but failed to remember the exact address. All the buildings looked the same. My sopping wet fingers and phone were not cooperating. I called her twin sister by mistake who did not pick up. Finally got a hold of the right sister who told me the address (right next to me) but then didn't tell me the apartment number so I couldn't get in. Got in through a delivery person and guessed correctly which apartment it was. I wanted to take her out but given the weather and her now more frail health, she stayed inside and had cooked us dinner. It was a nice visit. She lent me some sweatpants as mine were still drenched. Trains run less frequently late at night so my journey took longer. People ask if I was scared walking around Harlem at night. No but this very long deserted dark industrial area in Brooklyn under the train I walked down with junkyard dogs growling at me did. I walked as fast as I could. I could have gotten off at another safer stop. Lesson learned. Get off at P not N. The house is on O.

More running the next morning this time on the Boardwalk. Bought some Chinese pork buns at one of the many Chinese bakeries Lunch at his brother's favorite Bahn Mi shop. Another hospice visit and an early New Year's Eve night as we got up before dawn to avoid Manhattan traffic. A good visit.

Now just waiting for it to warm up a bit more for  my bike ride.