Best Of 2025 and a Health update
I have two purposes in publishing this post. One is to share my best (or favorite) photos from 2025. The other is to give an update on my health.
My schedule of posting every Monday was interrupted in December. My doctors discovered that the four arteries leading from my heart were all 90% blocked, a condition that urgently needed repair. A week later, on December 22nd, I was in the operating room undergoing quadruple heart bypass surgery.
The surgeon removed a long blood vessel from my left leg and used it to build the four bypasses. The operation was a success. After five days at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, I went home.
On the Banks Of the Brule River
My step-daughter, to whom I am eternally grateful, is caring for me. I’m now doing cardiac rehab three days a week. This weekend is the first time I’ve been alone overnight since the surgery. Tuesday, for the first time, I was allowed to drive.
Before the surgery, I needed drugs to keep my blood pressure down. Now, it is in the healthy range without using any of the drugs. All indications are that I will end my recovery healthier than I was before the surgery.
My best photos from 2025 are below. I included one self portrait because it reminds me of being on the banks of the Brule River on a pleasant October afternoon when the northwoods were awash in color.
Best Of 2025
“It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time. Give yourself permission to be a beginner.”
—Julia Cameron, “The Artist’s Way”