The story I'm frantically trying to finish on time, "The Man with the Knives" (about Alec on Kyros) needs, of course, a scene where he shows up and blows everyone in Sofia's village away with an unexpected feat of emergency surgery. My father's specialty is research & rheumatoid arthritis - but surely he knows enough to help me out? Particularly since he has a big collection of antique medical books. So: Phone call:

EK: . . . So anyway I've found a field manual from the Civil War online, but I'm not sure I understand what it's saying. [ADDED] Can I do something with crushed ribs and letting out a hematoma?
Dad: OK. Well, what century does this occur in?
EK: Sometime between 1500-1800
Dad: That's a little before the Civil War. [Discussion interrupted. Dad will call back later.]

EK emails Dad:
http://books.google.com/books?id=w2o-AAAAIAAJ&dq=field+hospital+surgery&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=H6vSSq2MMcvelAfRuLipCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=11&ved=0CC0Q6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=rib&f=false

p. 107 "When the lungs are wounded . . . . "
??
earlier in chapter - trephining?

Dad to EK:
Yes!

Trephining is good.
From Wikopedia:
"Evidence also suggests that trephanation was primitive emergency surgery after head wounds[2] to remove shattered bits of bone from a fractured skull and clean out the blood that often pools under the skull after a blow to the head. "

Have him trephine to evacuate a subdural hematoma.
DAD

And so it goes. We just had a lovely talk about scalp wounds. Any surgeons out there?

Or even someone who can quote Patrick O'Brian chapter & verse? I betcha anything Stephen Maturin does cool surgery I could steal. Scalpels only, if possible, please. A drill would simply ruin the scene.

Ellen: Do you have the address of the friend we're seeing tonight?
Delia: No, but I'm sure it's in our email somewhere.
Ellen: I just wondered if you'd pulled it up and printed it out in advance.
Delia: Yes, well, that alternate universe is not the one we're living in right now.

Skip the jokes, OK? I'm really sick of them. My mother never tells me to "Eat a little something" - indeed, she looks askance when I announce that I'm hungry - which I am every couple of hours, and as a result can't believe everyone else isn't, too, which is why I'm always offering people food. My mother does not "guilt" me when I don't call her often enough; indeed, when I do call her, she gets antsy after about 10 minutes and says, "Well, that's enough for now." My mother keeps a kosher kitchen and reads fluent Hebrew. When she was 17, her parents caught her packing her bags to run away to fight for Israeli independence, and grounded her. All 3 of her children have Biblical middle names. She's a Jewish mother.

The Jewish Women's Archive, a terrific organization I worked with some in Boston, invites us to post your own photos of our Jewish Mothers on their Flickr page.

In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month and in celebration of Mother's Day, the Jewish Women's Archive is creating a special photo collection about "Jewish Mothers."

Photos can show a Jewish mother, now or in the past, in any context -- mothers at home or at work; mothers in the family and in the community; mothers of different generations and family constellations; formal portraits or candid snapshots.

How would you like to represent Jewish mothers?

...was a week ago today, in Norfolk, VA. I intend to write about it, but am a bit busy right now. So here's a glorious collage of the festivities, made by my talented cousin stonz. I am the one in the striped skirt, hidden behind the chuppa pole (next to my other brother). My dad is walking the bride down the aisle. I found the blue jacket for her online, and made her buy it for the rehearsal dinner. You will recognize Delia amongst the dancers, next to my nephew AJ, across from my cousins Paul & Debra.

We are all so happy for David & Lucy Rebecca. They've waited a long time for each other. It's never too late to find the one you're meant to be with.