previous months: 1/1/2026 -- 7/30/2026 
8/7/2026   8/8/2026   8/20/2026   9/6/2026   9/16/2026   9/23/2026   10/15/2026  

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8/7/2026

This marks the 'turning of the page' in my blog here. As I described in the posting just prior to this one. this flip happened back in 2007 as a result of the growing set of entries and the occasion of my first remission. I have something of a 'new' remission story to add here. Not long ago, Jill's neurologist told her that she could probably stop taking her MS medication Avonex without any problems. She hadn't had any new lesions for years, and the new consensus for chronic diseases is that they can be subdued to the point where they won't necessarily be active.

Before I left New York, Dr. Pearse had suggested that I might consider stopping my Lenalidomide (Revlimid) since I also had no real myeloma activity for over ten years (since my transplant, actually). Dr. Kwok confirmed this sentiment and suggested we do another bone-marrow biopsy to check on any low-level cancer activity. We did the biopsy a few weeks ago and... no myeloma activity detected! They're using several much more sensitive tests to check, and they are all negative! We're still awaiting one final test, but it's expected to be negative too.

So this 'remission flip' also takes place when I am stopping my maintenance chemotherapy. If the cancer comes back, I have some good therapeutic options, including the new CAR-T treatment. I hope I won't need them, though!

8/8/2026

When I was much younger -- high school even, and certainly undergrad college years -- dusk, the gloaming, would seem magical and special. It seemed to portend the future, the unlimited realm of possibility. Like this: It still does, only now I'm seeing the sun setting across Puget Sound: How did that happen? How did I get here? There is so much left to do! The possibilities!

I'm sitting out by our fire table, sipping cloudberry liqueur. How can I capture this as music? That's what I used to imagine, music of the light across the late summer fields of Indiana. And now, here.

8/20/2026

Just a few weeks left in August. It's finally turned into the glorious summer we have here on Whidbey Island, although we did have some smoke from the wildfires on and off. September will be here, and for the first time in over sixty years I won't be going back to school. I wonder what I'll do?

9/6/2026

A week ago we gathered in Columbus, Indiana to share in a "Celebration" of my father's life. It was very moving for us to see all the people who came, the stories they shared, and their heartfelt condolences given to all of us. We also received many e-mails and text messages with remembrances of Dad and how he affected people's lives. He was an amazing man, and the best father I could have had.

It was wonderful to get the family together, too. We're not a large family, and it makes the times we can spend with each other all that more precious. Little Johnnie was there, Shai and Naomi, the cousins Lian/Daniel/Stefan/Bo, and me/Jill/Brenda/John. My sister did an incredible job of putting everything together. We billed it as a 'Celebration of Life', a description that I have found somewhat misplaced at past services for people I knew, especially when the death was sudden or unexpected. But seeing our friends and family, seeing the 'displays' showcasing various aspects of Dad's life, hearing what people said, this really was a celebration of my father. Thank you Sissy!

I have almost all the materials (eulogy texts, videos of the service, photos, etc.) together to build a memorial web page for Dad. I'll be posting it once it gets settled. I wrote a piece for the ceremony, too. My memories of Dad, in sound. I'll post a link to that here also.

Columbus has become a very pleasant town, sporting some new restaurants and even a few(!) microbreweries. Live music, too! The politics are semi-annoying, but there are good people there. Will I ever get back there again? Most likely -- for one thing, they are renovating a city plaza/park and it will be dedicated to Dad: The Robert D. Garton Plaza. There is one existing now, but this will be a major upgrade. They're starting construction this Fall, and I imagine I'll be back for the dedication.

Speaking of Fall, I really feel it here on Whidbey Island. The climate is somewhat cooler than the Midwest and East Coast where I have spent most of my life (although it doesn't get that cold here in the Winter). That coolness and the uncanny slant of the sun makes it feel more like late September or mid-October. Yikes! I need to get my syllabi together! Classes are... well, not. My academic life-schedule of more than six decades is now moot. More about this later.

And about "more later": back in my blog entry for July 10 this year, I talked about how I was feeling a little maudlin with "more on this later". What was happening was that a (new) preliminary colon cancer test had come back positive. I had to get a regular colonoscopy, and of course I was convinced that I had traded my myeloma for colon cancer. The colonoscopy was negative for cancer, but I did have a few 'pre-cancerous' polyps removed. I'll need to go back in 3-5 years to check again. The proctologist didn't seem too concerned -- "Colon cancer is very slow-growing, if it even appears again at all."

I do have an odd situation happening in my left eye. I noticed some strange artifacts in my left vision. Turns out that I have a slight swelling in my retina (not macular degeneration like I assumed I had! My ophthalmologist explained that it was probably relatively common, but most people didn't even notice it. It was also just recently that the technology was developed to spot this situation. So I have an appointment with a 'retinal specialist' in a few weeks, and hopefully this will be treated by eye-drops. We Shall See.

I think I'm doing ok, although I'm convinced my body is falling apart. Retirement, again! Karen Pekle (Weill-Cornell PA) used to admonish me, "don't consult with Dr. Google!", but it's hard not to. All hell breaks loose there.

I have stopped my Revlimid (Lenalidomide) and all seems ok. I've finished a few more pieces -- I'll post them here when I can. I think life is still good.

9/16/2026

Here is a link to some recent work: Finished at the end of August, but things were going on and I wasn't able to complete the final mastering-adjustments until yesterday.

And here is a link to the piece I wrote for my father's eulogy:

The eulogy was a part of our "Celebration of Life" service for Dad held on August 30: Classes started at Columbia a little over a week ago. Shai has entered fifth grade, and Naomi is now a kindergartener. Our friends Sam and Alena were here visiting. The weather is Fall. Time, time.

9/23/2026

The day started with grey. Cool and rainy, Fall and Winter are just around the corner. Something about the air still reminded me of trips taken to the mountains. We're surrounded by them here: the Cascades to the east and the Olympics to the west, Mt. Rainer south of us and the Mt. Baker/start of the Canadian Rockies to the north. It's isolated in a way, and conversely isolating. But we're all still connected. It's kind of fun. We'll see how the winter unfolds with no academic duties.

10/15/2026

I've been traveling! Jill and I had a short little 'getaway' at the end of September, staying a night at Lake Quinault Lodge and doing some hiking in the Olympics. Good food, good walks (although wet, but it is a rain forest, after all!), nice.

Then we went to New York for about two weeks, using our apartment as a 'home base' to visit friends in Roosevelt (the Ellentucks hosted a party for us with many of our former neighbors, very nice!) and then to visit Brenda and Mom and family up in Western Massachusetts. We were only in the City for a few days, but we did get a little bit of sight-seeing done (Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and a couple of nice dinners near our place).

I also got together with the new "CMC crew" to see how things were going. They're going well! I'm really happy with the direction that Ted and Anna are charting, a continuation of a lot of the work I, and Seth, had done to make the Computer Music Center a really interesting and exciting place. Columbia has started a job search for my position. I may write more on this later, but I'm not involved with the search at all. Columbia takes this retirement business seriously.

We're back on Whidbey Island for a while now. I'll be returning to NY at the beginning of December to celebrate holidays with family and friends out there. Today we woke to foggy skies and coolish weather. The Pacific Northwest winter is approaching.

Before Jill and I left on our travels I managed to finish another new piece:

but I'm only just now getting around to posting it on-line. I don't think it's deep and serious music, but I like it. I'll be doing more -- I like retirement!

I've been thinking about Dad a lot. Since he died I've had thoughts of him at least once every day. I never had a total break-down grief episode, probably because of the slow erosion of his dementia. And the end was not good, but (as I've said) he has peace now. My relationship with Dad was complicated, but I believe that to be true of all our close relationships. I'm remembering a lot now. It's good.