I'm A Procrastinator - Now I'm In Trouble

It's my job to sort out our airline tickets for the upcoming trip to Greece and I fu__ed up royally. I can't get us a flight out of here on our preferred date. Three weeks ago I started checking airlines and dates and trying to figure out how I could avoid Olympic Airlines. Those who read regularly will remember my rant of last October, well deserved I thought, and my vow never to fly with them again.

After doing much checking for important things like leg room and luggage allowance my foggy brain finally realized that I had no real choice. Not if I wanted to take more than 24 kg of clothes for 7 weeks and have more than 12 inches of leg room (that's Transat). My other alternatives where of course to fly through another airport with either Lufthansa or KLM which required changing planes and in effect turning a 12 hour trip into anywhere from 18 to 20 hours. That's not really a good option for someone with arthritis and fybromyalgia. I'd be dead by the time I finally arrived in Athens.

So yesterday, I bit the bullet and called the trusty travel agent and asked him to book September 2. Seems that I waited too long to decide and now that flight is full, booked solid... Well not quite, there is one ticket available, but there are two of us. What gives, I thought people weren't flying, I thought we were in a recession?

I'm getting a headache trying to figure out what to do next...

Angry Sky

Doesn't look terribly angry just yet but about five minutes after this photo the sky went pitch black, the winds picked up dramatically and the rains came, again. It's now rained and stormed every day in July.

This one did a fair bit of damage, lots of trees down but it didn't last long. After the storm the sky looked like this. There was actually a bright red ball but by the time I got my camera it was gone.

We are now meant to have 48 hours without rain...

Rhodes In Flames

The fires in Greece have begun again and now one of my favourite islands has been in the news. Over two thousand tourists have been evacuated due to heavy smoke and encroaching flames. Not a pretty sight and devastating for the tourist industry during the busiest months.







Very sad indeed...

What's With The Weather?

A little update; it's official, we broke the record for the most rain in June and July since they started keeping records back in 1937. We had 269.8 mm of rain the July's not over yet. For a video go here...


We are back from our little respite at the cabin Let's see, we left home in pouring rain, arrived at the cabin in pouring rain, it rained off and on for 6 days with some spectacular lightening to boot. It rained when we left to come home and it rained when we arrived home and it's still raining. It doesn't rain constantly mind you, there are period of time when it actually stops but they are far and few. When it actually stops for any length of time the temperature climbs and the humidity levels are off the charts. Oh, and the mosquito's come out and trust me, this year they are the size of a bat and very very hungry. Good thing they don't like me though...

This summer might go down as the soggiest on record. So far in June and July we have had 240 mm of rainfall. There have been a lot of flooded basements around town and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon.

In between all the rain my sweetie did a little fishing and I did a little potting. Not as much as I'd have liked to mind you, I was having trouble getting the pots to dry with all the humidity. I can make lots of stuff in a relatively short period of time but I need the stuff to dry to a leather hard stage so I can trim bottoms and put on handles. If the stuff doesn't dry that can't happen. So I really had to plan how much finishing I could actually manage on my last day. As it was I had about six hours worth to do on Sunday and by the time I was done my back hurt. Guess I'm getting old, there was a time when I could work ten hour days.

Well, time to batten down the hatches...there's another storm coming in.

We Are So Out Of Here...

The weather is perfect and the fish are calling so we are leaving to spend a few days here. Kind of rustic but we like it. The building on the left is the pottery studio and I hope to spend some quality time there.

I'm told the mosquito's are quite healthy and hungry but what the heck, they have to eat too...See you all next week sometime.

My Worst Nightmare...

Came true for someone else last night. A woman backing out of her driveway ran her car over her Mother and killed her. The elderly woman was waiting at the end of the driveway and somehow slipped and fell as the daughter was backing up. The daughter is traumatized.

When I say this was my worst nightmare, it truly was. When I went anywhere with my Mom she would walk to the end of the driveway and wait for me to back up. After a couple of times I changed the system. I made her wait at the top of the driveway and after I'd finished backing out I'd go get her. She didn't like it, said it made her feel old, was a constant source of irritation for both of us but I stuck to my guns and insisted.

I'm glad I did, I would not wish to be the daughter in this story today. Always look, look and look again before backing up a car...you never really know what's there.

More Bad Drugs! Cipro On The List

This is starting to get kind of ridiculous isn't it, I mean we take drugs to get better not to give us a whole new problem. This is not the first time I have a bad experience with a drug, last year it was Metoprolol that gave me difficulty.

This time the drug is Ciprofloxacin a very common antibiotic give to treat Urinary Tract Infections. Without getting too personal here suffice it to say I have had to take a fair bit if cipro in the last few months, some of it for preventative rather than for acute treatment. Now in the United States the FDA has warned against the use of this drug, Canada has not followed suit.

A light bulb went off in my head last night when I heard on the news that the drug Cipro has been linked with Tendon damage. In my case it's a foot issue and thumb problem. I broke my foot in April of 2007 during a particularly bad time in my life and didn't deal with it at that time. In time it did heal and arthritis set into the joint. I had a cortisone shot just before going to Greece last year and managed fairly well with it.

About January of this year the foot became incredibly painful for no apparent reason. I hadn't been doing an excessive amount of walking and my Rheumatologist was kind of puzzled. She set up an appointment with a Orthopaedic Surgeon for a consult. This doctor although well known was a disappointment for me since he said he wouldn't operate on my foot until I was "sitting in a wheelchair".

The search was on for another Ortho guy who I saw this past Monday. He was a little friendlier than the last doctor but made it clear that any surgery would only make the problem worse. He also couldn't understand the incredible amount of pain I was suffering. There are days when I can't step down on my foot. This has definitely put my plan to hike Mt. Indefatigable on hold for the moment. In fact, I'm kind of worried about going to Greece this fall.

Is Cipro responsible for my foot pain? When I consider that my use of Cipro started in January, after seeing the news report and doing some more reading it is highly suspect in my mind. Back to the doctor...

Who Will It Be - Obama Or McCain?

I tend not to write about American politics not because I don't have an opinion, but because I hate it when Americans come over here and try to influence our elections, Michael Moore comes to mind. I also happen to believe that Americans are generally smart and will vote en masse and get the government they deserve.

And I rarely link to other bloggers but this post is worth reading if you'd like read an Egyptian mans opinion. The Sandmonkey is based in Egypt and although it's a bit of a long read I found it interesting, you might too. I know what Canadians think; a recent survey showed that 99 percent of Canadians would like to see Obama as your next president. If nothing else it should be an exciting time...

Happy 4th Of July

For all my American friends, Happy Fourth of July...

Rositta

Fun And Relaxation!

Well not really...not with a cottage full of visitors to take care of. This is Nick with son Michael. Together they caught the biggest bass of the weekend. Michael is a cute little boy but as all children of divorce is incredibly clinging to Daddy and just about the only things out of his mouth most of the time was "daddeeee" and why. Daddy of course is right there to inquire what his little darling needs at that moment.

By Sunday night I'd have liked to toss him in the lake (just kidding). Am I loosing my patience in my old age? Good thing they spent most days out on the lake fishing. Even Steve, who is usually the most patient of men with children had a headache by the end of the day. Of course, he had him in the boat all day.

Meanwhile, I was cleaning out the studio. The mice had been quite active there in the years I haven't used it. Took me most of Saturday and half of Sunday to get things into reasonable shape and sort out all the clay materials. When I was finally ready to sit down at the wheel I realized that my tools were all back in the city.

A little wine break was in order.


A quick phone call to my old teacher solved the problem. She loaned me a few things I needed to get going. Once I had my hands in the clay it all came back to me, like riding a bicycle, you never forget. I made a few mugs, a couple of bowls and called it a day.

I also forgot my tripod in the city so no pictures of me at the wheel. No one else was around to take a picture and I haven't trained the chipmunks to do it yet. Maybe by the end of the summer...