Herbal Conference in NC

Good Morning!

We're at Asheville, NC for the weekend. I'm having flashbacks, as we're staying with old friends from Bastyr in Seattle and headed to an educational conference for herbs, where I'm likely to see some old classmates--old professors are already on the schedule!

Our friend Holly is hosting us at her house. She's a part-time nurse and a mom to Cece (born 4 days after Alex), Eloise (turning one year old this week), and Amba (her stepdaughter). James, Cece's dad, hung out with us for the evening last night, too. He has a fantastic acupuncture clinic here in Asheville and gave us a tour and some great ideas.

Well, off to get ready for the conference...

The Most Notorious Brit of the 18th Century

I spent the day hanging photos of my ancestors in my hallway. Mostly a bunch of long dead people... Anyway, I love to find old pictures of the people that I came from. The stories are fun, too. I'm not interested in it for honor and glory, to say the least... but there were some characters! I think I'll periodically throw one in the blog just for the fun of it and tell you a bit about them. The first will have to be William, Duke of Cumberland--voted the most notorious Brit of the 18th Century!

My Pack ancestors take great pride in being descendants of King George I of England. The connection is supposedly that William, George's favorite son (but not the heir to the throne), had an illegitimate son, Joseph Pack, with a commoner named Mary Packard. Joseph Pack received a large land grant in America by King George III, who loathed the debauchery of his forefathers and was eager to get rid of those illegitimate cousins! (This is my interpretation from reading historical accounts--obviously not what I was told by my proud relatives!) Joseph Pack founded Packsville (now Paxville, SC) and later participated in the American Revolution, so he obviously wasn't strongly loyal to King George III, either! Anyhow, Joseph Pack was ancestor to Mary Elise Pack, my great-grandmother.

Back to Duke William...well, William is notorious for leading a very successful campaign against those rebellious Scottish folks. Remember that scene in Braveheart where the Scottish peasants are hung from the rafters in the barn? Well, that sounds much like the wake that Duke William's military left behind them. This has earned my illustrious ancestor that prestigious title, "the Most Notorious Brit of the 18th Century".

Lasik consultation

Whew!  I just got back from a 3 hour Lasik consultation/eye exam.  The coolest thing was that my eyes have improved from about -3.5 to a -2 prescription strength.  The optometrist was amazed!  She did say that pregnancy and all that associated stuff can worsen myopia, so that may have been why they were so bad a few years ago (we're basing my old prescription on those ancient glasses...).  Anyhow, I think it probably helps that I'm not constantly hitting the books any more.  You hardly ever see a brainy student without glasses, if you think about it!
 
So...my appointment for the Lasik surgery is set for June 13th.  I was lucky to meet a fellow FIGHT class member working there, and he gave me 20% off (his max discount) of my total cost-- which is substantial!  Lucky me!  Oh, and he said he'd give it to anybody I referred, as well--just FYI! 
 
I'm so excited about it.  It'll be fantastic not to worry about glasses anymore.  This will mean, though, that I'll be holding off on taking any scuba classes for some time, though, as they make a corneal 'flap' in the surgery, and that flap will have to heal before I go putting pressure on it.  Oh well, I wasn't planning on doing that very soon, anyhow!
 
 

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Our Orlando Family Trip

Note family resemblances between Michael & Grammy; Michael & Jeff; and Sonya & Alex! I love Fiona's saucy pose for this pic! We took these while waiting in those ridiculous lines...

We went to Orlando for Mother's Day weekend this year--all of us and Michael's family (Grammy & Gramps and Uncle Jeff and his girlfriend Seresa). We spent a day at Universal Studios and then we relaxed at the pool at our resort for the rest of the weekend.

The kids were sweet as pie. They’re both maturing and are so much easier than they used to be! Fiona helped point this out, as after she said, “thank you for taking us to the pool this morning” while we were heading back to our resort room, she added, “Now don’t you want to take us back again to the pool another time?” I’m always telling her how I don’t want to take them places again if they have a tantrum when we have to leave. I didn’t really fully appreciate that she had thanked me until she pointed it out!

We had lovely weather, and we went to see a Pirate Show for dinner on Mother's Day. The kids enjoyed waving their pirate flags, and Fiona commented "This is a very unique restaurant!" It was a good trip, overall.

Clinical Pearl: Fire-Cupping to Treat Bruising

Now that the weather is warmng up, folks are playing outside more and injuring themselves.  I've been using fire-cupping lately to treat quite a few patients with massive bruises.  At first it seems counter-intuitive, since cupping often creates bruises--but since there is already a bruise there, I am using the suction to break up the coagulated blood stagnation, and it's working very well!  I've been using as big of cups as possible, depending on the location, and as many cups as necessary or practical to cover the entire effected area.  I use regular glass fire cups, and leave them in place 15 - 30 minutes.  In most cases so far, the bruising has resolved within 48 hours of the treatment.  One of my patients has even begun using fire cupping to treat her friends who have bruises, and she is also seeing very good results.

 

Michael A. Ard-Kelly, L.Ac.

Lowcountry Natural Health Center, L.L.C.

Astrology profile

Hi there,
I've been filling out the personal profile for this blog, and that 'Gemini' listing for my astrological sun sign is bugging me! Though I don't claim to understand astrology deeply, I have Cancer Ascendent and Mercury, Pisces moon, Taurus Venus, and Leo (in 1st house) Mars in my chart. The Cancer sign is way dominant, so I just wanted to throw in that caveat to the 'Gemini' sun sign listing! Of course, I do have the intelligence and multiple interests of a Gemini, but those other signs definitely negate the fickle, two-faced, manipulative qualities of Gemini, right? :)

While I'm mentioning astrology, I thought I'd throw in that Alex and Fiona are earth signs, Capricorn and Taurus respectively, with Leo abounding in their charts. They are remarkably both Leo ascendents and Leo moons, and they show it! They happily refer to themselves as the 'lazy lions'. Alex picked the only Unitarian Universalist (UU) king throughout history as his UU Superhero at church last Sunday, while wearing his embroidered lion emblem proudly on his new shirt (he specifically likes that brand because of the lions).

Michael is Aquarius (strange, forward-thinker) with Gemini rising (jack of all trades) and Scorpio moon (vengeful secretive type). Explains a lot, hmm? He's wonderful, though!

Thanks for putting up with all my astrology gibberish! It's one of my favorite subjects to go on and on about...wait until I get started on all of my ancestors with the genealogy!

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trying e-mail and a Lasik appointment

Hi everyone,
I'm attempting to see if I can add a post from my e-mail account. It seems like it would be the easiest way to post blogs, really!

We have a lot of upcoming events, but a fresh new one is that I've scheduled a Lasik consultation for Wednesday. I've managed to lose my umpteenth pair of glasses yesterday, and I'm down to an old heavy Coke-bottle thick pair from years ago, so I thought we might actually save money if I go ahead and fix my eyes, which I haven't yet managed to lose... I'm just a bit nervous about it and would love to hear any of your experiences with it!

-Sonya

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Trying to Blog!

Hi everyone,
I'm inspired by my long-time, wonderful friend Toni to create this blog, though I really know nothing about how to do it. I adore following her wonderful family adventures, and it seems like a great idea to share with our friends and family this way. This is really just a test entry!
-Sonya