Today my uncle Butch passed away. This death was expected, and isn't as hard on me as my father-in-law's was. I wasn't very close to my uncle. He was still young, late 40's I think, but he died because of the bad decisions he made with his life.
My uncle was a schizophrenic, he talked to himself and at times thought he was Jesus. He also got into drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc since he was young. He had contracted hepatitis C from sharing drug needles, his lungs were bad from smoking, his liver and kidneys had failed from alcohol abuse, and recently he had gotten sudden severe diabetes they believe attributed to his recent diet change of eating only cakes and cookies.
Until now he had been living with my grandmother, since he was unable or unwilling to care for himself. She had recently just bailed him out of jail, on charges of assault with a knife. His wild behavior had also caused her to loose her home recently, so she's had to move suddenly to an apartment in a bad part of town (only one available on short notice).
We knew he didn't have long. A few days ago grandma called an ambulance to get him, since he could not get out of bed, and he had been suffering urinary and fecal incontinence with blood present. They would not let her visit him in the hospital because he was unresponsive and critical condition. He passed away this morning, it is my understanding that he was taken off of life support.
My mom had gone to see him at the hospital with my grandma. My mom tells me they had to go through security decontamination procedures in order to see him. I don't know if he had something infectious, but they took all kinds of precautions.
I will be trying to attend the funeral this Thursday. The only thing I can say to others about my uncle's life is too be smart about what decisions you make. Choosing drugs and partying may sound like a good way to enjoy life, but it really is a quick and painful way to die. Not to mention the pain of a mother who had to nurse her adult son, and now has to bury him.
This is the first one I made, a plum tree. Since this was made in the "beginner's course" of the Zokei Bonsai class, the flowers and buds are store-bought. The focus was learning to create an attractive tree trunk and branches. Near the base is a piece of drift wood that was incorporated into the trunk.
This is the second one I made, an Iris. The focus was learning silk flower making, so this is an "Ikebana" type arrangement. The flowers are layered sheer Japanese silk, and the petal textures were created by wringing the silk between gauze rags in a particular way.
This is an azalea. The flowers and leaves are all silk, and their textures were created using a special type of stick-shaped iron that looks like a soldering gun.
A small arrangement of African violets. The leaves are silk and formed the same way are the iris petals, the violets are satin and were formed with the stick-like iron with a rounded tip to form the cup-shaped petals.
A bonsai I made for New Years: Shochikubai. Shochikubai is a combination used to decorate during the New Year as a symbol of happiness, using pine, bamboo, and plum. The arrangement is accented by a dry riverbed of white pebbles. The pine tree is elevated on a cool rock, and the pine tree's roots are snaking down the rock.
These are some camellia I made that were left over from a camellia tree I did. Unfortunately that tree is still in my instructor's possession, so I do not have pictures of it.
