By Ted Grussing
… a good place to be whether it is refuge from a rough and stormy sea, a hangar when gale force winds are blowing and the sky is not a place to be, that quiet place inside when storm and turmoil fill your life … a place of refuge and healing … a place we can create for ourselves and be alone and ponder life.

I took this shot in Half Moon Bay Harbor a couple of years ago and it brings back memories of Corky and I waking on our boat in Newport Harbor, years ago … the quiet of the harbor before everything came to life. I like the simplicity and purpose of my new boat, but it wouldn’t take much to return to the former … I won’t of course … but …
Healing from major surgery is really a different thing and my daughters are keeping close tabs on me; had planned to drive up to Flagstaff for an appointment tomorrow, but slipped up, they got wind of it, and thanks to a generous friend I have been saved from my enforcer (loving ones) daughters.
Everyone I have talked to about hip surgery has said that their only regret is not doing it sooner …I probably feel the same as each day is now bringing quantum leaps in improvement and my reliance on the walker is rather minimal at this moment. Still as the PT person at Oasis told me, I just had the top of the largest bone in my body lopped off, a spike with a new ball pounded into that bone, a hip socket removed and a new one screwed into place and then put back together again and yes you do feel like that … the original hip pain is gone and it is just the healing from the insult to the body to fix the wrong … I’ve taken their warnings seriously about not pushing too hard so I do not screw up the beautiful job they did on me. Amber Randall, MD and her staff are absolutely amazing and Oasis is a fabulous hospital … I walked 500’ the day of and after my surgery and have taken no pain meds of any kind … I did, however, indulge in a Klondike Bar tonight and few things can make you feel better than a Klondike Bar … first introduced in 1922 it has been a best seller ever since. They have been available to almost every living person today since they were born and they are still just as good as when I was a kid.
Saturday, morning I looked in the mirror, smiled and decided that the programs of calisthenics and weights I have been doing every morning for the past 59 years were gone … going to do a new regime utilizing exercise bands and get that program underway as early as next week. Putting the palms of my hands flat on the floor whilst standing and so many other exercises would not work well with the new hip and I am not going to mess it up … so rather than alter the existing program I am chucking it and actually looking forward to an entirely new exercise regime … like, 59 years of the same old same old every single day? Keeping the aerobics on the rower and got some of that in today too.
The surgery has had another and I think adverse effect on me … milk chocolate no longer tastes good to me and I have switched to 70% Lindt Dark Chocolate … this is very disturbing!!!
So, I’m back … have a beautiful day … drink coffee and tea from Burman Coffee ( www.burmancoffee.com ) for your health and smile sharing your joy in life with others. Such a nice thing to be walking along and see someone smile at you.
Cheers
Ted
For a few hours here in the still morning I wash myself clean of civilization, and purge myself of things and the accumulated rubbish of time.
I push back history, dismiss interpreters, and stand erect before the dawn, looking the universe in the face, and asking my own questions.
Tomorrow I shall return to the human wheels; but now I defy the world of customs and laws, of sophistry and serfdom; and I yield myself childlike
to the light and the air and the sweet scented dew.
— Max Ehrmann
###
The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
More about Ted Grussing …