The View From Here

Where Does Time Go?

2012-01-26T11:15:00.005-05:00

It seems like just yesterday I was getting ready for Christmas and now it's the end of January. I have many things on my mind these days but nothing I can share without breaking confidences and I'm not prepared to do that. The only thing I can say is that it feels like I am surrounded by people with cancer and near the end of life. It sucks and it drains my energy thinking about it. I try not to but you know what, that is hard to do.

Meanwhile I knit, I tweet, I read other blogs and every once in a while I go on Facebook just to see what's new.

This is the Ishbel Shawl that I have made before, twice before in fact...I really love this pattern. I've made it in different yarn weights and I've made both sizes. It goes in my "gift" box for just in case. Or maybe I'm getting a head start on Christmas presents, who knows...

Before being blocked...

Looks different doesn't it...

The colors are beautiful...

This is a cabled pullover pattern from Vogue 2007. If the yarn looks familiar it is. It has been around in two incarnations neither of which worked. The first time I made a cardi with it and it was too small. I re knit it and it was too large, sigh...the yarn was put in my stash for about a year and now it has a new life.

It worked, it fits...

Now I'm searching for something new to knit. I still have unfinished projects hanging around but they are no fun right now. I need something new and challenging to help me not think about all the other stuff. Have a great day...ciao

Merry Christmas

2011-12-19T19:22:00.004-05:00

I will return in the new year and I promise to post a little more often. There has been much controversy about saying Merry Christmas. It's okay here in the land of political correctness to say Happy Kwanza, Happy Eid, Happy Diwali etc.... but god forbid you say Merry Christmas. I've made a point of saying it to everyone I meet and I counter Happy Holiday with Merry Christmas.

So to all my friends I want to wish you a very very Merry Christmas and I leave you with the following clip, it made me smile, I hope it does the same for you.

Aarrgghhh Deadlines!

2011-12-12T14:16:00.002-05:00

Today was the last day to get parcels in the mail for Christmas delivery at regular prices. After that the only option is Xpress post which costs double. I'm happy to report that for the first time in four years I have managed that deadline. The parcel went out an hour ago.

I woke up this morning, a woman with a mission and I was like a whirling dervish. The list was long with numerous stops and then home to pack. Fortunately for me the cookies had already been baked and I did mange to hide them from Steve. Otherwise there would have none left. I'm not sure where all my new found energy comes from but I suspect not having any more pain has something to do with it. I'm now almost a week post surgery and I feel amazing. I still have my usual collection of body aches that come with RA but that awful grinding pain I had in my gut is gone and gone for good.

We will be alone this Christmas with our kids in Calgary and California. Nobody can come visit this year. I am so not anxious to fly anywhere into the U.S. After hearing of another elderly woman being strip searched on a flight from New York to Florida it is the last thing on my to do list. I would definitely be singled out because I beep going through the security and I absolutely refuse a full body scan. Maybe we will just head to Cuba or somewhere warm.

That's it for today, I'm off to do some decorating while I'm still feeling great...

It's All Good

2011-12-07T20:47:00.001-05:00

It was a stone, no visible sign of cancer but a biopsy will be done nonetheless.

I'm in pain right now from all the gas they pump into you but that too shall pass. They almost kept me because my blood pressure went down to 40.

Having a gallbladder removed with keyhole surgery is the fastest way to do it and has the shortest recovery. Unfortunately the can't see or get the stones in the bile duct. I don't know what the odds are but with my luck, well we all know how that is.

I am happy, I dodged a bullet but I was one terrified person. Now I'm going back to sleep.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

When Things Work Too Well

2011-12-01T22:14:00.001-05:00

I get nervous... especially with the health care system here in Canada. Everyone here expects to wait at least three months minimum to see any kind of specialist and some waits are much longer such as the one for the foot surgeon. That wait was three years.

My gallbladder was removed just before Christmas in 2007 and ever since I have had occasional ongoing pain just as if the gallbladder where still there. I probably had three or so attacks a year and they lasted about ten excruciating minutes. Now in fairness to my GP, he did an ultra sound that showed a slightly enlarged bile duct and told me that if I had another attack I'd need a CT scan. Life got in the way, and I pretty much ignored the pains blaming it on diet, stress etc. Then came the big one. This last attack that happened back in July scared the bejeesus out of me because it lasted nine hours. Steve of course wanted to call an ambulance a number of times and I refused. I could no longer avoid the inevitable. I saw the surgeon just before we left for Greece and she ordered the MRI for when I came home.

That MRI was two weeks ago and surgeon that removed my gallbladder informed me that she had arranged an appointment with a gastroenterologist just about immediately, I was floored. Seems my bile duct is 5 times larger than normal. The cause, that is the question mark but it needs to be dealt with.

I saw the gastro doc and she will do an ERCP next Wednesday and that boys and girls is fast. This test involves sending a flexible camera through my mouth into the small bowel. They will then send a catheter through the bile duct and or the pancreatic duct. Then they throw a little dye down there and x-ray the whole mess. So what are they looking for? A errant gall stone would be the absolute best outcome. Next best would be something call sphincter of odi which is a little teeny weeny muscle that doesn't open and close properly allowing the bile to flow freely. If it's the muscle then they will cut it (sphincterotomy) The really bad one would be a tumor. All three have been discussed.

I have signed the release acknowledging the possible complication of pancreatitis. The test is next Wednesday...keep your fingers crossed, I'm due for a break.

Where Has The Time Gone

2011-11-17T15:46:00.003-05:00

Time has gotten away from me and I really didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted. Now most of you know already that we are home since I've been visiting blogs and commenting. I'll try to recap my life since end of September.

Our trip home was uneventful with the slight exception of the wonderful (tongue firmly in cheek) people at the Air Canada check in counter in Athens. Now, we went to Greece with three suitcases and decided to return with only two. Mostly because I didn't feel like paying 50 Euros ($70. Cd) and also because I left a lot of things there for next year. I packed very carefully and distributed things evenly or so I thought.

Turns out I was wrong. One suitcase was two kilos under the allotted weight and the other one was 4 kilos over. Those 4 Kilos were going to cost us $70 Euros. Yup, you read that right. An extra suitcase that can weigh 22 kilos costs 50 Euros and the 4 extra kilos in an existing suitcase costs 70 Euros. So there I was on the floor (I'm beginning to get used to this), opening the offending suitcase and removing the 4 kilos to stash in my carry on. The next problem was that they didn't like the size of my carry on even though the weight was easily within the limit. Seems that the measurement was wrong by one inch in the length and 3 inches on the height.

I did what I normally do when stressed, I started to cry.

Once we got home I just about immediately went to my family doctor to discuss the ongoing problem I had in Greece. I was tested for Ecol i, Listeria, Parasites and C dificile. All came back negative and an emergency colonoscopy was arranged. I had that about a week ago and it showed nothing, not even a teeny weeny polyp, zip, zilch... The problem continues to plague me. I've also had an MRI of my upper GI tract and the Bile Duct. Next week I see the surgeon for some kind of resolution. I cannot live this way.

In case you think I've just been sitting on my bum doing nothing, not so... I've been knitting.

A cardigan for Elliotte in my favorite color. I ran out of yarn with just 16 stitches left to cast off. Talk about stress.

I searched in my knitting basked and found this...

Believe it or not, there were just enough little pieces left to finish casting off. Wow, that was close, now the hunt for some pretty buttons.

On my next project I did the same darn thing again, cut it really close. This is the Ishbel Shawl that I've done before and really liked.

Again, look how little yarn I have left over. I have to calculate things better in future.

There are also socks I'm working on but no finished pairs as of yet, just a lot of singles. Attention deficit strikes again. Oh yes, before I forget. When I got home I also had an appointment with a foot surgeon. This is the same surgeon that I waited three years to see and out of sheer desperation found another one to operate (ruin) my foot. He is the best in Ontario I'm told and he said yes absolutely he would fix the foot. He will operate but wait for it, the wait will be somewhere between one and one and a half year! Oh joy...

I only offer one excuse, I really really feel like crap, pun intended...ciao

Packing

2011-09-27T11:41:00.004-04:00

What a mess! I'm trying to reduce three suitcases to two. What are the odds... I refuse to pay 50 Euro ($70) for the third suitcase. I'd rather leave stuff behind. Now to decide what comes and stays.

Thursday morning if all goes according to plan we will be on a plane home. This time I'm smarter, I'm bringing food. Apparently we get one meal and one snack for an eleven hour flight. I won't be caught unaware again...

Yes - Finally

2011-09-11T05:25:00.002-04:00

After three years of struggling with an old stove inherited from my late mother in law, I have a new stove.

Now this isn't quite as easy as in Canada where you just plug the darn thing into a special 220 outlet. Nope, here it requires an electrician to come an install a special wire and then attach the whole thing to a wall wire. In order to get that done I had to do the following...

That's the electrician in the middle, he likes to eat...

Since I had these from the trees in the garden...

I christened the oven by making this...

There was also time to go swimming, the best part of being in Greece.

Happy Sunday...

Island Of Naxos

2011-09-07T08:00:00.006-04:00

The trip started on the Blue Star Naxos ferry which stops in Paros, Naxos and Santorini. It is a fairly comfortable ship and you can buy tickets with numbered seats which cost more or take your chances finding a seat on one of the outside decks or cafes. We chose numbered seats for the six hour trip even though I spent a fair bit of time outside. I get sea sick (did I mention that) and do better in the fresh air.

The trip was fairly uneventful and the pre ordered taxi was waiting for us at the port when we arrived. Lesson number one in Greece, never ever trust a hotel website to tell you t he truth ever. That's a lesson I've learned from two experiences in the Greek Islands. During last year's trip to Paros we booked a hotel that promised the beach to be just a 15 minute walk. That turned out to be a total fabrication and the truth was it was actually a half hour hike down the side of a mountain. That particular hotel's only saving grace was that the manager and owners were incredibly friendly and kind in other aspects and the price was right. I would definitely go back there and recommend it to friends.

The experience at the Lianos Village was not quite so good. Now this property is a 4.5 star hotel and for the price we paid we were expecting a little more. The property itself is gorgeous, the sea view and sunset stunning, but only if you overlook the stagnant pool of water between the hotel and the sea and if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, the smell. The brochure promised a 5 minute walk to the sea which in reality was half an hour for a healthy person. Very creative photography was used to give the impression that the beach was close by.

For me, I didn't attempt it because going was downhill and I would have managed it but coming back was too daunting, all steep uphill. The rooms also looked much nicer on the website than what we actually had and the beds were hard as rocks. All of this stuff would have been ignored on my part if the staff had just been a little friendlier. Not one person smiled, not one person had a friendly word and the day manager in particular has no business working in the hotel industry. Coming in and out of the hotel she would look up at us and not utter a single word. She was snarky and downright rude when I inquired about the promised free WiFi on the entire property. It was in fact only available in the lobby. You need to rent a car to get anywhere from this property. We did that and spent much time on the wonderful beaches of Agios Prokopios instead of the smelly one by the hotel.

Okay, all of that aside Naxos is a pretty island. Different from all the islands I have visited thus far. There are many similarities and many differences. One village in particular was very pretty and I'm told more of the Cretan style than Cyclades. Actually the inhabitants are descendants of refugees who fled Crete to escape Turkish repression.

The village of Apiranthos is built on the slopes of Fanari Mountain.

I walked up those stairs...

I could have used a ride...

That would be it for today. I need to rest a little. What I haven't shared is that I'm not in really good shape on this trip. I have had what I thought was travelers diarrhea since my arrival here a month ago. I've tried the usual remedy Imodium and some not so usual like yeast bacteria pill and antibiotic aimed specifically at the bowels but nothing seems to work. It's not only annoying but tiring me out. I am taking some electrolyte supplements. Going to a doctor here is not in the cards. I suspect that this is all connected to the possible gall stone that may or may not be stuck in the bile duct. I read somewhere that a blockage in the duct slows down the production of bile and can cause my problem. I only have three weeks to go before I get home and back to my family doctor. Of course if my skin or eyes turn yellow I would definitely seek treatment although I don't know what else can be done that isn't invasive...

Sunset...

Later...

Back

2011-09-05T13:59:00.001-04:00

Just a quick note for now, we are back from Naxos and we had a great time. I have many photos to edit and upload to Flickr so I need a few days. I also have unreliable internet at the moment. Just wanted to pop in as a sign of life...ciao

One More Try

2011-08-31T07:10:00.003-04:00

At planning and this time I hope it works out. Off to Naxos tomorrow morning for a few days. The ferry leaves at 7:25 AM and we plan to be on it no matter what.

Meanwhile my time in Germany was quiet after the first two days. Thursday evening there was the Wine Festival and a good time was had. It seemed like the entire population of Wiesbaden was there. I did get to visit with my aunt and uncle twice, met a cousin I hadn't seen since childhood and do a little shopping, well a lot of shopping actually. I really do love the style in Germany and had overweight on my luggage. I will say that Agean Airlines handled it with grace and didn't charge any extra, nice airline.

Much wine was consumed...

Some really cool jazz and blues straight from Detroit...

My friends Petra and Hildegarde

And then came this...

I'm happy to report that by the time I left the cast had come off and was replaced with a bandage and a brace. It is a torn tendon and will of course require a few weeks healing.

Meanwhile I hope to have a good time on Naxos and will have free internet at the hotel. Whether I will feel like blogging though is debatable...ciao

The Best Laid Plans

2011-08-23T12:37:00.002-04:00

Of mice and men... or something like that. I had a fairly decent flight from Athens to Frankfurt where my friend picked me up. There was the Wiesbaden Weinfest (wine festival) happening so after a short rest, off we went. I was a ton of fun and of course as usual on my first night in Germany, I drank too much. It seemed to me that the entire population of Wiesbaden was there. There was one man in particular who caught my attention and I couldn't stop looking at him. He so reminded of of my uncle Heinz who in turn looks exactly like my late father. Funny how family resemblances happen. I was tired, I'd had too much wine and I think I turned shy otherwise I would have asked him what his name was. When I mentioned it to my aunt the next day after a quick phone call, it was confirmed that it was indeed my cousin Rainer who I had not seen in close to 30 years. I hope to meet up with him on Friday.

So, back to best laid plans... we were meant to leave Monday for the roadtrip south destination France. Saturday afternoon my friend tripped on a lose stone and tore a tendon in her foot. We spent Saturday at the hospital and after x-rays she sports a nice dark blue cast. Tomorrow we see the ortho to see how serious this whole thing is and how long the cast has to stay on. Meanwhile on Sunday I fly back to Athens hoping she can cope on her own. She's on crutches and lives on the second floor without elevator.

Our trip, well... there will be other times to come...

Suitcase Packed

2011-08-17T12:50:00.004-04:00

Again... seems like I just got here when I'm packing again. Off to Germany tomorrow morning for some fun and frolic (well as much as my wonky hip will let me) with my childhood friend Petra. We meet up once a year and always have a blast for two old broads. We were born three days apart and even though we don't look anything alike we are almost like twins.

We are also taking a road trip here, are you jealous? We will leave from Wiesbaden and follow the wine road along the river Rhine, south to the northern part of France.

Last Saturday night (full moon) we had an impromptu picnic on the beach...

The moon as splendid although my little cheapy camera can't do it justice. It is celebrated in Greece and downtown Athens was party central. The Acropolis and Parthenon were open free. We didn't go though as I've been many times and can't really climb to the top of Acropolis right now. I hope you all saw that splendid moon.

So tonight I loose my mobile internet stick and in Germany unless I can find Wifi for the Ipod things will be quiet from my end. I did get a present from my sweetie before we left Canada. He bought me a Kindle 3G (mostly so he wouldn't have to lug my 50 pounds of books) and I can get emails on it. It is not possible to post, its not that sophisticated a device. If I find Wifi then I can use the Ipod. We'll see, meanwhile I'm off to parteeee...

Life's A Beach

2011-08-11T15:17:00.007-04:00

Yes it truly is, at least from where I am at the moment. Thank god for beaches though, the weather has been brutally hot with temperatures hitting 43C which is 109 F for my American buddies.

We have been to the beach or on the boat just about every day and the water sometimes feels like warm soup but anything to cool off. My Greek relatives find the water cold and I have to laugh at them. They've never been swimming in a Canadian lake, then they would know cold.

Some days trips to the beach are planned and others they are impromptu. One evening our neighbor Sophia came upstairs just as we were sitting down to eat our very simple supper of scrambled eggs and fried eggplant and announced that we were heading to the beach. I watched in awe as she put together a picnic using my meagre offerings. Scrambled egg sandwich for everyone were prepared in moments and we were off. I have to to say it was lots of fun to swim under moonlight.

Being on the boat away from people suits me just fine too. The swimming is easier when I don't have to walk into the water and it's better exercise for my hips in deeper water. I'm brave for a non swimmer, I just jump right off the side of the boat. Of course I'm holding my noodle and have a life belt around my waist so there is no danger. Getting back in the boat up a tiny ladder is a little trickier but I've managed. After doing that a few times yesterday I did find myself very stiff and sore today.

Lunch on the boat is always a pot luck affair. Yesterday we had Mousaka, various cold meats and cheese, fresh bread and a nice big watermelon, yum.

On Saturday there will be a full moon and a full moon in August is celebrated in Greece. Our plan is to head to the beach where there will be a part with live bands. Should be fun. I am borrowing an internet connection until Sunday. I'll try to post some photos on Sunday, after that it will be hit and miss probably only posting from the Ipod when I'm at a hot spot. Next Thursday I head to Germany for 10 days and I don't know if I'll be posting from there.

It's Hot

2011-08-05T11:29:00.002-04:00

We have safely arrived in Greece and I'm bitching as always. It's hot, it is so hot that I'm sure an egg would fry on the sidewalk. The thermometer showed a whopping 41C yesterday. Human nature I suppose, we complain when it's too cold and we complain when it's too hot. My sweetie on the other hand, loves this weather.

I've been in the Mediterranean and it was heaven. My BIL took us out on his boat and we spent hours in the water. I look like of funny wearing a lifebelt around my waist and a noodle under my arms and everyone kind of laughs at me but what the heck, better to look silly than drown. I'm not a swimmer and if my footsies can't touch bottom I panic.

Our trip was close to ten hours and I wish I could say something nice about Air Canada. I seem to have problems with airlines but this airline beats anything I've endured for my last five trips. We were lied to regarding cost of extra luggage and and pre booked seats. I swallowed the extra cost and decided to settle into the seat given without complaint. But the food, oh my god the food... the only thing I can say about the food is that I wouldn't feed it to my dog if I had one.

We were given dinner within the first hour of flight (on a ten hour trip) and it consisted of a small piece of chicken, a serving of rice, a small bowl of cold corn, a teeny weeny bun and a small piece of chocolate cake. I asked them if if there was more food available and was informed there would be a continental breakfast within an hour and a half of landing. I asked would there be anything offered in between and was told, nope, that's it. Could I buy some food I asked and again the answer was no.

Let me tell you about the wonderful continental breakfast. There was one muffin which my husband told me tasted like straw (and he's not fussy), one small yogurt (which I hate) and juice and coffee. I didn't eat any breakfast but did ask for two glasses of juice and coffee which was grudgingly provided. Good thing I had some power bars and chocolate bars in my carry one and that carried me through the flight. You do have wonder though how on a flight that costs over fourteen hundred dollars a ticket they can justify giving their passengers such a cheap meal. I figure that it didn't even cost them 5 bucks and that's being generous.

I am putting this out of my mind for the time being and when it's time to fly home I will be sure to have a packed lunch with me.

I'll write again when I get internet again. For the moment I'm borrowing my neighbors mobile WIFI stick.

It's Time

2011-07-28T01:34:00.001-04:00

Getting back to writing is really difficult but I thought I'd give it a try. Many things have happened in the last few months, some good, some bad and some downright ugly. I won't bore you with details and I've survived the worst. One of the bad is that I will need some medical investigation as to why I still get these horrible "gallbladder" colicky pain that lasts anywhere from ten minutes to eight hours. Since the gallbladder exited my body roughly four years ago, the suspicion is either a stone hiding in the bile duct (requires surgical intervention), or something called "sphincter of odi" also requiring surgical intervention. So you see, there is really no perfect outcome.

Meanwhile I need two tests. An MRI and an ERCP where they send a camera down your throat to have a look see but the wait is roughly three months. So we are packing up and getting out of Dodge, well T-Dot actually an heading to Greece next week.

We will be gone two months and as usual I'm also heading to Germany for 10 days of fun and frolic with my childhood friend Petra. Our plan is to drive south along the Rhine river into France to explore, and of course check out the wine.

I sure hope my sphincter of whatever cooperates since this would not be covered by my travel insurance. Would also not be fun.

Since I have no idea what my Internet situation will be in Greece this year I don't know when I will post again. But hey, at least you all know I'm still alive...later gater

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Where Do I Begin?

2011-03-21T15:28:00.003-04:00

It really has been a long time (again), me bad. I probably have many excuses but I won't bore you with them. I'd say that mostly I'm just plain lazy recently. I have been very seriously thinking of ending this blog and completely deleting it. I came awfully close to hitting that delete button one night. I may still do it, who knows.

I've been to many medical appointments none of which have offered a resolution to my wonky hip and I'm pretty much at the point of giving up. Problem is though that will probably turn me into a druggy so really, I'm not giving up.

I've had two appointments with the "wonder" surgeon. The first appointment went really well, the second, not so much. During the first appointment he explained to us what he thought the problem might be. He suggested the the "cup" implanted is meant to move but in my body it seems to catch somewhere. He sent me or blood work to be certain there was no infection and gave me another appointment for March 17th. He was very clear that he would take care of me and explained how this problem would be solved surgically and which parts he would replace.

I also out of courtesy and because I have a long history with surgeon number one, made an appointment to see him. He did a fresh set of x-rays and told me her saw absolutely nothing wrong with the hip. He suggested and MRI which will of course happen sometime in the distant future, this being Canada. I told him I was getting a second opinion and he said he'd arrange one with another surgeon in the same hospital. I let that hang...

My second appointment with the "wonder" doc didn't go quite as well as the first one. This time he said he could see no real reason why the hip was hurting as much but thought that maybe the cup needed to screwed in instead of being left to move. He told me that this particular prosthesis causes pain for some patients and it's not always visible on x-rays. He suggested I go back to my original surgeon for whom he had a lot of respect and who he considered to be a wonderful surgeon. So what the heck happened in that one month between appointments? He did let slip that he had sent a letter to him which kind of freaked me out. I can only guess that they know each other and communicated about me.

So now I'm doing nothing, I'm seeing a chiropractor twice a week until my money runs out and I'm signing up for a Pilates class.

Other than that I've done nothing but knit and watch the disasters in the world unfold. We live 20 kms from a nuclear plant and even though they tell us that what is happening in Japan cannot happen here is does concern me somewhat. Oh yes, I also celebrated another birthday one day during the last month...

Where Have I Been?

2011-02-02T14:49:00.005-05:00

Here actually, the whole time here. Reading blogs, watching news and battling the mid winter blahs or possibly a depression, who knows.

I've been doing some knitting, lots of knitting actually and spending too much money on yarn. It's just too darn convenient to order on line.

Socks, yes always sock on the needles and this is a pair of Jaywalkers.

Also finished is a Silky Alpaca Lace Scarf but I used Merino and Silk.

This is one honking long scarf.

A vest that is knit from the top down is starting to take shape. I'm using Noro Kuryon for this one since I really love the colors. This pattern is from the Interweave Knit magazine Fall 2009 issue.

In honor of our blizzard it had to go out and check out the snow. Since it was still snowing the colors are not as vivid as they really are. I am starting to see some definition where the sleeves will be. I'm not really sure what I'm doing here so I'm really trusting the pattern and my ability to read it correctly.

I also knit some man mittens for my sweetie who always gets cold fingers whilst shoveling snow. At first he wasn't convinced he'd like them but now raves about them. All leftover yarn with double yarn so they are really warm.

And one more thing for me, a nice warm tam.

I've also been trying to figure out what to do about the hip with my regular ortho surgeon telling me that there's nothing wrong and the physiotherapist telling me that it's not supposed to hurt where it hurts. The pain plus the clunking that I hear when I walk is making me crazy.

My wonderful GP has referred me to another ortho surgeon who I'm told is known for fixing bad surgeries. If I can believe what I've read about him on Ratemd.com the man is a God. Better yet I thought I'd have to wait a couple of months to see him but luck is on my side and I have an appointment for February 17th.

I've also been watching and reading the news and tweets out of Egypt and a blogger that I follow is now fearful or his life. It would be a very scary time to be living in that part of the world.

So that's about it for now and hopefully I won't stay away so long...

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T22:26:00.002-05:00

Instead of bemoaning my bad karma this past year, I am focusing on all the good things in the world.

This video of a flash mob in Welland, Ontario made my spirit soar... enjoy and Merry Christmas to all my friends.

Some Recalls Are Worse Than Others

2010-12-14T17:10:00.005-05:00

The world is full of recalls these days. One day it's lettuce from California, another time it's contaminated peanut butter or once in a while it's a car that does strange things that it's not supposed to. While annoying these kinds of things are fairly easy to deal with. But how do you deal with a recall of a hip? How do you take that back easily? What does one do, walk into the hospital and say here, take it...give me a new one?

Now I don't know for certain that this is the hip that I have, just a gut feeling that it is. I base this on a couple of things. First, the hip never worked quite right, there is pain where there isn't supposed to be any, I can hear it go clunk or click from time to time and almost three months of serious physio therapy have not helped.

There was a news report a couple of days ago and the symptoms being described by the woman being interviewed were the same as mine. I have been complaining about the same symptoms but no one is listening. One thing I know with certainty; I can't take another operation, I just cannot and will not. Where's the Prozac...

I Hate Our Hospital

2010-12-01T15:51:00.003-05:00

I have in the past had a problem with blood pressure. I also thought it was under control. I haven't needed any pills for a couple of years and my blood pressure has been textbook. Since returning from Greece it has been running just a bit on the high side. I'm not sure what's causing it. Maybe it's the stress of worrying about my hip, which is still painful six months post surgery or maybe because we've just spent a lot of money on a new car. In any case yesterday when it hit 176/106 I decided a trip to the ER was in order. I was also feeling lightheaded and headachy.

The charge nurse didn't seem to take me very seriously and after waiting almost three hours I bailed. I just couldn't take any more waiting. This morning my husband took me to the walk-in clinic at my doctors office (he was not available, personal emergency) and when I told them my symptoms I was seen immediately, no waiting, none at all.

The very nice doctor gave me a prescription for a beta blocker and now two hours later my blood pressure is 120/80. I see my doctor next week to discuss what might be causing this. Meanwhile I'm going to sit and work on this really nice tam using two strands of yarn. It's not something I do regularly and some concentration is required but it's turning out to be fun and a relatively quick knit. I'm not just sure who is getting it.

Friday morning I get my new vehicle (of course it's for me), while my sweetie gets to drive the old van. Isn't that cool? I'm getting a nice spanking new Ford Escape to bomb around in while he gets the old one. Of course the old one isn't nearly as old as the 91 Astro van that's heading to wherever old cars go. It has served him well and he's a bit sad. That's life I tell him, my older van is safer, at least it has airbags. The good thing is that after lots of shopping around we stuck with a North American built car. Hope it serves me well...

Ah Yes... Wikileaks

2010-11-29T16:31:00.005-05:00

I'm reading and watching on TV as Obama and Clinton have their knickers in a knot and political talking heads turn this story every which way. It's really amusing actually, listening to them. So far in the documents most world leaders have been trashed to some degree. I'm waiting to see what they have to say about Canada. It makes for very interesting reading.

Photo Gallery of how the U.S. sees world politicians.

One previous American Ambassador to Canada yesterday said, "never put anything in writing that you're not prepared to see on the front page of the Globe and Mail". How true...

Demonizing the Wikileaks guy is kind of dumb at this point wouldn't you say? America wanted to be better regarded in the world after Bush but it seems to me that this way doesn't do it.

Lots of good reading in Spiegel today and I hear the Guardian is posting more momentarily. I'm just simply fascinated at the arrogance. The administration should be very embarrassed...

A Sign Of Life

2010-11-16T20:49:00.002-05:00

Yes, I'm here, truly. I feel really bad for not having written anything for such a long time, but hey, that's life. I've been toying with the idea of quitting this blog for the last little while. It's been five years and sometimes I run out of things to say.

We are home from Greece, in fact have been home almost a month now. I'm still sick, I can't seem to shake a cold I've had for over a month now and the weather doesn't help. I'm also having issues with the hip. I've seen the ortho surgeon and he arranged an immediate bone scan and blood work. He want to eliminate the bad stuff like an infection in the joint or an actually appliance failure. I find I can't bear wait on the leg, especially in the mornings. I'm of course hoping that its now of the above and may just bursitis. I really truly cannot take another surgery. I'll find out next week.

On the knitting front, a beautiful cardigan that I'd been knitting off an on in Greece was finally almost finished. I was just about to sew it together when a little light bulb went off and I decided to just stitch it lightly. It was too big. It would have fit two of me. So it got frogged (for non knitters that means ripping it apart) and now I have consigned the yarn back to the stash. I can't look at it anymore, at least for a while.

I've also had a major computer failure on my favourite little laptop. None of the files are retrievable even though once in a while I try to turn it on in the hope that just once it will work allowing me to get some of the data. No such luck, it has really rolled over died.

I bought a new machine a few days ago that I'm not totally happy with. I'm having problems with the keyboard and touch pad and getting used to Windows 7 after XP is creating this old brain to fry at times.

I've signed up for a course on spinning with a spindle one night a week. I need to get out of the house for more than physiotherapy and grocery shopping, I'm becoming a boring person.

I've been following very closely the controversy in the U.S. with the TSA and how they are groping all passengers wanting to get on airplanes. The one video that stuck with me was of a 3 year old child screaming "don't touch me". Has this all gone too far?

When I get down in the dumps, I just look at the photos from Greece and remember how beautiful it all was...

I'm Sick!

2010-10-08T03:45:00.002-04:00

For four years I have managed to avoid Greek hospitals. This time I wasn't as lucky... I have bronchitis and my brother in law absolutely insisted that I go to hospital to have it looked at. We did try his private doctor first but he wasn't available. The hospital he took me to was a private one instead of a public hospital and wasn't too bad. The wait was less than an hour and I was out of there with antibiotics. A couple of things did bother me though. The first was when I arrived and the triage nurse didn't take my temperature. I was just asked if I had one. I had no idea really, I just felt like crap. The second thing that really bugged me was when I had a chest x-ray. I was asked to strip to the waist and no gown was provided. The x-ray techie was a really young guy and I was pretty embarrassed. I lost a little dignity as he got a good look at my sixty plus year old boobs. Eighty euros later I will report that the pills are starting to work and I'm feeling a little better today.

I still owe a post about Paros which was wonderful. I have put the photos on my Flickr page which can be accessed on the side bar. My friend has returned to Germany sadly but we had a great time. More later, I'm going back to bed.

From Wonderful Paros

2010-09-28T11:56:00.001-04:00

What a pretty island in the Cyclades, all blue and white. Since this post is coming through the Ipod I can't show pictures just yet although I am taking many.

Paros is a four hour ferry trip from the port of Piraeus. Thanks to my lovely neighbour Sophia we had our tickets in hand last night and a fairly decent hotel booked.

We have already started exploring on foot and tomorrow we are renting a car to see more sights. There are not many tourists at this time of the year so it's lots o fun.

Tonight we will find a taverna right on the beach and eat calamari and drink lots of wine.

Thinking of all my friends...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Island Hopping

2010-09-21T03:35:00.004-04:00

Last week we spent a few days on the island of Mykonos. The weather couldn't have been better and my sweeties son thoroughly enjoyed himself. The eye candy on that island is amazing for a young man and I don't mean the old buildings. He discovered Paradise Beach and from then on it was party time for him.

After a bit of a disaster finding a room the first night, we lucked out with this little gem on day two. I won't even tell you about the first room, other than to say it was disgusting. Having just come from a 6 hour ferry trip and feeling the beginning of a migraine Steve rented the first room he found just to get me to a bed. There is a lesson there for me, always trust the Lonely Planet. The very first listing for budget hotels was the Hotel Philippi in Hora. It is described as a "charming place with wonderful garden ambiance that smacks of more exotic locations" and I wish we'd found it the first night because it was true. Even though the rooms were on the small side, they were clean and bright and for 65 Euros a night fairly decent. The owners were super charming and went out of their way to make our stay pleasant. I loved sitting outside at night watching the stars and listening to soft Greek music in the background. Altogether a charming spot and I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.

On Saturday my friend from Germany arrives for one week and we plan on leaving Tuesday for Paros another island of which I've read good reviews. Not so much a party island as Mykonos, a little more quiet for older people. Since we will be traveling alone without the benefit of Steve to help us with the language it should be a blast. I will make sure I have my Lonely Planet with me to help find a hotel.

We will have to be a bit low key though, Germans are not liked much here in Greece at the moment. I've now been told by three (fairly intelligent I thought) people that we Germans are cannibals. Amazing how many people fall for internet hoaxes, kind of sucks...

Today we are heading off to the Peloponnese and the seaside town of Pylos for a couple of days before my friend arrives. Should be fun...

Life's A Beach

2010-09-07T18:01:00.002-04:00

Life's been busy here in sunny Athens, there just seems to be one beach nicer than the next. We discovered a new one on Saturday with the help of Sofia of course. She seems to know all the good places to go. We packed up fairly early and headed out. Sofia is very well prepared and brought along a half tent contraption, a beach umbrella and various other necessary items.

This is what it looked like when we first arrived.

And this was about an hour later. It was wall to wall people with not an inch to spare.

There was a fabulous restaurant on site where we had numerous meals, beer and coffee throughout the day. We had intended to spend the night there but because there was a wedding on site there was not one room available for us. The Calamari were amazing.

In spite of that we had a great time and truthfully I didn't mind coming back home to sleep in my own bed. I have stayed in these smaller hotels here and didn't much like the beds offered anyway. They are generally quite small and I have gotten used to this wonderful king sized bed of ours.

Yours truly having an amazing day. In the back ground they were setting up for the wedding reception. We stayed long enough to watch the bride and groom arrive by boat after the church ceremony. Unfortunately it was too dark to get a decent photo. The beach was lined up with pink flares just as the boat arrived. It was truly a spectacular sight.

On Sunday night we were expecting son number one from California to arrive. He didn't, at least not when he was expected. Has anyone ever seen the move Before Sunrise? It's a cute little romantic comedy about a young man who meets a girl on a train and spend twenty four hours with her missing his plane home. That was my first thought when I heard that this wayward son of my husbands missed his connection in Frankfurt. The reality was though that he simply fell asleep waiting for his connection. Fortunately Lufthansa found him another flight the same night and he arrive rather sheepishly five hours later.

All is well now and we are certain he will enjoy his two weeks here getting reacquainted with his cousins.

I'm Dying - From The Heat

2010-08-28T07:02:00.002-04:00

Yes, yes I know... most people would envy me being here in sunny Greece. The truth of the matter is, I am not good in the heat. I tend to want to stay in a cool air conditioned room and never move until after 7 at night when it does cool off a bit.

So here's what we've been up to. We bought a bed. Finally, after three years of sleeping on cots and an air bed we have the real thing. A nice king size bed with a memory foam mattress that comes in two pieces. That means when either of us turns around or gets up at night the other won't be disturbed. Real cool...

We also bought patio furniture, no more putting our coffee cups on cardboard boxes. We're stepping up in the world.

We've been out to dinner at a wonderful seaside taverna and pigged out on seafood. It was Sophia's birthday.

And then there was the sunset...

We're Here

2010-08-24T04:59:00.003-04:00

So we have safely arrived in Athens and it's hot...man is it ever hot. I suppose that most people would envy me being here but the truth is that I do not tolerate heat very well. Most of the summer in T-dot was exceedingly hot as well and I rarely left my air conditioned house.

The trip was fairly uneventful in that nothing bad happened. The plane left late but arrived on time. We travelled with a charter company but in their first class section and I was expecting the seats to be a little larger than they actually were. On the other hand there was much more legroom and the seats did recline much further than in economy. The service was first class, the food amazing, there were real dishes and real cutlery and drinks were served freely in real glasses. There were two attendants for 20 passengers and they spent the night checking if we needed anything. The blankets we were given left blue fuzz all over my white pants and my steward went out of his way to give me his own defuzzer to clean myself up. I had a look at their economy section and I would never travel with this airline in economy. I also had a look at their foot trays and they were not impressive. Since this was a treat only because of my new hip it was probably a one time deal unless I win the lottery.

Overall if I had to rate this Air Transat I'd give them an 8 out of 10 but only for club class. On the other hand I'm told they are a cheap way to get to Europe and lots of students and young families on board.

I will update as I can. My lovely neighbour is sharing her mobile internet stick with me but I don't want to take advantage.

Where Has The Time Gone?

2010-08-20T08:57:00.002-04:00

It seems like just yesterday that I wrote my last post and I was horrified today to realize how much time had actually passed. Well, there's not much I can do about that is there..

It has been a busy summer for us here in T-Dot, with the hip recovery that sent me to therapy three times a week, a wonderful visit from my offspring and family including of course, my granddaughter Elliotte. What a joy that little girl was.

Yesterday they went home and to my horror I now have two days in which to pack for two months away. Making decisions on what to take and what to leave behind is proving difficult this year. The airline has very severe weight restrictions with every overweight kilo costing ten bucks. Makes me think twice if I really need maple syrup or if I can live without it for two months. Those are my dilemmas and I'm sure to most people they are trivial. Yes well that's life, to me some things are important...
My biggest problem as always are shoes. Since the hip was measured as being 2 cm shorter I had all my shoes adjusted to 1.5 just in case there was a change. Well there has been a change since I started physio and now on the eve of leaving that figure has changed to 1 cm. It's too late to go back to the shoemaker so I spent a little time out in the garage with the grinder myself . I did mess up a bit and have a few gouges on a couple of heels but I'm working on it. I still have a couple of days left to get it right. If not I hope they have shoemakers in Greece.

The hip still hurts almost three months post surgery but I'm told that that is normal. I'm told that after six months I won't even know it's there. I wish I could remember how it was with the first one but I cant. Old brain I guess...

I will post some pictures and impressions from Greece as I always do but this time I will be more careful not to go negative on the country. Seems that from time to time I upset some Greeks with my observations as an outsider.

Later...

The Last Thing I Want To Do...

2010-07-30T21:03:00.003-04:00

I don't want to go to Greece this year, I really don't. It is a country in turmoil at the moment and somehow I don't think it will be over in three weeks. Currently the truck drivers are on strike and they are the good gents that deliver fuel. Hence, there is a fuel shortage in and around Athens. The port workers go on strike occasionally which means any plans to go to an island via ferry could be a problem. The air traffic controllers are doing work to rule which means most flights are not landing on time. So there are my reasons but since the tickets are bought and paid for I guess we're going.

Three weeks ago we finally went to open up our cottage and this weekend we are going to close it. Number of trips in between, zero. I hope that next summer we will use it more or it's time to sell. No point keeping a place that we don't go to. Next week my offspring and family are coming to T-Dot for a vacation which will be a treat. I'm looking forward to seeing my granddaughter Elliotte and wondering if three is too young to learn how to knit. I sure would like to teach her.

As for me, well you know how Murphy's Law works in my life by now don't you. Seems my surgeon can't measure properly and my right leg is 2 cm (3/4") shorter than my left leg. So I trotted off to the shoemaker with three single shoes and asked him to put lifts on the bottoms. I asked for 1.5 cm because I was told the muscles might stretch a bit during therapy. When I went to pick them up two shoes were good, one was not. He can't measure either, he made it 2 cm. I wonder if he knows the surgeon.

I finally had my eyes tested now that they have healed from the cataract surgery and went off to have glasses made. One pair for reading, one pair for the computer and one pair of sunglasses with readers so I can knit in the car while my sweetie drives. I'll give you one guess how that turned out. Yup, if you guessed two out of three your right... two were good and the sunglasses had to be redone. I guess Meatloaf had it right, two out of three ain't bad... I remember actually liking this tune a lot in the day, in fact I liked all his music. Lots of good parties were had to this music. Just listening to it again makes me really happy.

Oh yes, after six weeks of waiting I'm finally getting physiotherapy, three days a week. There's something about three... Have a lovely weekend.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

2010-07-21T16:56:00.006-04:00

First and foremost, I am okay... I seem to have two good days and one bad day but that's okay. It could be worse.

I have been meaning to post about a subject near and dear to my heart and that is, the treatment of women in some cultures and countries. Last year here in Toronto, a young girl was brutally murdered by her brother and father because she wanted to be like all other teens here in Canada and not wear a hijab. Take a good look at this young girl and tell me she deserved to be murdered. Wanting to be like everyone else cost her her life.

Aqsa Parvez

Last month her father and brother where sentenced to life in prison, which in this country means 25 years if we're lucky. The most disturbing thing to me was that at the sentencing hearing this child's mother pleaded with the judge not to put her husband and son in jail. He murdered her for family honor.

But the case that deserves every one's attention just now is the one of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. This woman has been sentenced to death in the most horrible way in Iran, by stoning.
Now there are a number of videos available on YouTube but they are so awful I won't link them here. If you are curious I'm certain you will find them. What they do is wrap a person/woman up in a white sheet and put them in an open grave. Then she is stoned until she is dead. You can see the blood on the white sheet. This is a barbaric form of punishment.

This woman's crime was alleged to be adultery. Can anyone in imagine being put to death for that? Her son's are pleading for her life and for the moment the stoning has been put off. That doesn't mean it won't happen, it just means Iran will wait until the world has calmed down and isn't paying attention anymore. They may instead hang her. Her life is still at risk. Go here and sign the petition to save her life. Oh yes, she's already been flogged.

Oh The Joy!

2010-07-09T21:12:00.003-04:00

What you might wonder has brought me so much joy today. Something as simple as taking a bath. Not just any bath but a bubble bath in my 22 inch deep tub. I had my six week post surgery checkup yesterday and all restrictions have been lifted. That means I can bend the hip past the 90 degree mark without risk of dislocation. It also means I can do things like sit on a normal toilet without that dam booster, a regular chair without a 16 inch cushion to raise it, drive my car again and the absolute best part, get in the tub.

I have been reminded gently that I've been a bit quiet over here but that's because I've been seriously concentrating on getting better. I exercise a lot, walk a lot and when I'm done all of that I have little energy left for blogging. I also think constant updates on how I'm doing are boring to my readers. There have been challenges along this road but it's not stuff that I need to share on a daily basis.

I would like to say that with all of this stuff happening my sweetie who is definitely my anchor, tends to forget about his own health but I remembered to book a colonoscopy for him before I went to the hospital and he had it this morning. He now has a clean bill of health after having a scare three years ago. He had pre cancerous polyps and had three follow up tests in the first 18 months. Now he's good for three years and I couldn't be happier. It is definitely a life saving test for colon cancer which if caught early is very curable.

This weekend for the first time this summer we are going to the cottage where Steve can do a little fishing and I will spend some time knitting again. It doesn't look like we will be going there too often this summer since my offspring and family are coming from Calgary in early August. After that I need to get packing again. Oh yes, the annual trip to Greece has been booked and for the first time ever I'm treating me and the hip to first class.

Happy weekend all...

Wordless

2010-06-28T14:39:00.002-04:00

My City Is Burning

2010-06-26T19:28:00.004-04:00

The G20 has brought out the worst, a group know as the Black Bloc have infiltrated legitimate protesters and at the appropriate time broke away and created havoc. It's not over yet, as long as the world leaders are in town it will continue.

This group is so sophisticated that when they have finished torching and breaking they change back into regular clothes and mingle. They are hard to catch. It will be a long night and a long weekend in T-Dot...

I Love This

2010-06-14T20:27:00.002-04:00

Because I don't have a single positive thing to report today I want to share this with you. It's my offspring's blog and it's just so positive today.

Have a lovely day...

This Isn't Working!

2010-06-13T11:07:00.000-04:00

Most people get to spend two weeks in Rehab after hip replacement. I got ten days. Most people get a trial weekend at home, I didn't. If this were
my trial weekend I'd be begging Steve to take me back right about now and it's only Sunday morning.

My house is too small to negotiate a walker comfortably and that is a big problem. Now I realize how difficult it must have been for my Mom to get around. I keep banging into stuff and that jars the hip causing pain. Steve went out this morning to see a job thinking I'd be okay...not.

I am not allowed any arthritis drugs because of the blood thinners and my hands don't work. I dropped my coffee cup and the cereal box when I tried to get my breakfast. No matter how bad the food was at the hospital and trust me it was bad, at least it was there and I didn't have a battle to get it. The last straw was when I dropped the cane. I am not allowed to bend to pick anything up, it might dislocate the hip. I struggled to my room to find my picker up gadget to get the cane. Then I forgot the cushion to raise the chair so I had to go back again All in all, getting a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal took about an hour. How wii I cope when Steve goes back work? Time for a nap...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm Home - I'm Home!!

2010-06-12T19:32:00.007-04:00

There has never been a happier person than me to be home. Well I'm sure that's an exaggeration. Anyone who has to spend anytime in a hospital is always glad to be home. I've had some really ugly experiences this time around and some really good ones.

The bad was a nurse called Doris. I swear she got a kick out of inflicting indignities on patients. She had absolutely no empathy, was abrupt with me, had a phony smile and blamed me for vomiting for three days straight...ya right, I was really enjoying that.

What was really bizarre was that she was the exact same nurse I had six years ago and she was just as awful then.

My time at the rehab hospital was incredibly positive. There was not one bad nurse in the bunch, not even a hint of bad, at least not to me. There were some that were mean to my roommate but that's a story for another day. The physio therapists are amazing and I had a 45 minute session in the morning and hot pool exercises in the afternoon. In between that time I walked, lots and lots of walking. Since I'm still a smoker (a little), I walked outside to the beautiful rose gardens and made friends with other patients and staff who had the same addiction. The first few days I used a wheelchair, then alternated with a walker and the last two days used a walker exclusively. Now at home I'm using mostly one cane and the walker just occasionally.

I have been gone for 18 days and it's time to relax and enjoy my home and garden. I'm going to take the next couple of days to visit some of my friends blogs and see what they've been up to. It's nice having internet again. I didn't really miss it as much as I thought I might. I also didn't miss not having a TV, not even a little and for a news junkie like me, I was amazed at that.

Life went one without me and the world is still turning...

I'm In Rehab

2010-06-02T15:55:00.001-04:00

I was moved at 9 this morning and haven't been left alone since. There are doctors, nurses, occupational thereapists, physiotherapists, deiticans and so forth coming to talk. I am exhausted.

There is no wireless service here so the IPod Touch has been sent home along with the laptop. There is a dinasaur in the lounge that I am using to write this. It took about 10 minutes to boot up. I might donate one of my extra computers to this place when I leave. It will certainly be fast than this baby. I will come on line once a day to check emails an so forth and I'm simply not going to bother with the news. It's just too painfully slow to load anything. I'm sure the world will still be there in two weeks. The blogs that I normally read I can't right now but I will catch up when I get well and home again.

I am in a better mood, in a better place and I feel quite confident that I will make a speedy recovery...

Two Steps Forward One Step Back

2010-05-31T09:42:00.000-04:00

I thought I had this beat. They changed my drugs, no more vomitting, I was walking a little and after almost a week I finally had a shower.

The nurse removed my dressing and I heard him say "oh f--k" under his breath. I wasn't supposed to hear. He called the head nurse and she basically told me the incision had opened up and they were calling my surgeon.

He will stop by this morning between surgeries. Meanwhile, I feel clean and scared...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Little Update

2010-05-28T19:57:00.000-04:00

So it's Friday and I'm still alive, just barely mind you, but alive. After three days of retching, not being able to eat and trying to convince all and sundry that morphine was not a good drug for me someone finally listened. I've also had the misfortune of having the same nurse I had six years ago who I not affectionally called "Nurse Ratchett".

There was no love lost between us and I'm glad I don't have to see until Monday. Yes I will be here at least until then and if I am medically stable will go to rehab for two weeks. They need to get my electrolytes sorted out.

I have been up walking and it's not too bad considering all I'm taking now is Tylenol.

Internet service is spotty and I can't always send them. I hope I can post this.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

She Lives!

2010-05-25T19:16:00.003-04:00

Greetings, all.

For those of you who are in the know, I would be Teddy. The Specified Offspring.

Reporting in to... um... er... report that the Maternal Parental Unit (Rositta) has survived her hip replacement, and is suitably harassing the nurses for more morphine.

More news when it becomes fit to print. But so far, all's well. I will talk to her tonight, and pass along warm feelings of morhpia induced peace and love to y'all.

Cheers!

|Teddy

Off To The Hospital I Go...

2010-05-24T20:01:00.005-04:00

For what I truly is the last time for a long long while. Those of you who follow this blog will know that I've had my share of crap these last two years or so and I pretty much hope that this is the end.

By this time tomorrow I should have a brand spanking new hip. To say that I having been counting the hours recently is an understatement. The pain in the last 10 days or so has been excruciating to the point that I spend way to much time planted on the sofa in a horizontal position swallowing heavy duty painkillers. Tomorrow that will all end, I still have a mountain to climb after all...

I finished these little anklets just in time to take with me. I wonder if they will let me wear them in the O.R.?

I'll write when I can and let you all know how it's going. I have real hopes of getting into a rehab hospital for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, later...

I've Been Meaning To Do This...

2010-05-19T21:19:00.003-04:00

Send you over to visit Dr. Jim at StorytellERdoc. This has become one of my favourite blogs to read. Dr. Jim makes me laugh, cry, sad and happy and that says a lot. I have over 200 blogs on Bloglines and yet he is one of the first I check out. Of course knowing on which days he will post makes this easier. Go have a look, read a couple of his stories and I guarantee you'll be hooked.

Sorry Dr. Jim, I've been meaning to blogroll you for a while now but stuff just got in the way.

Six days to the hip replacement, I can hardly wait...

Round One - To The Neighbourhood

2010-05-12T20:42:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago when we returned from our sojourn in the wilds, we were greeted with a letter from the City of Toronto Planning Department informing us that someone had applied to demolish a house around the corner from us and build two detached houses its place.

So what's the big deal one would wonder? This is a very established neighbourhood of detached homes, some bungalows and some two storey. Every now and again a little bungalow will be sold and a new two storey monster house erected on the site. No one generally complains about it thinking that it would increase the property value of the neighbourhood and generally that is so. The only problem with that is it generally raises taxes for everyone else since we have market value assessment, but hey what the heck, unlike some other countries we actually don't mind paying taxes if we get services for them.

So what has mobilized this neighbourhood in this instance? It is the fact that this sleazy builder (we know him) is trying to reduce lot sizes and build two skinny houses. This is also a builder who has been known to not build exactly to his approved plans sometimes increasing window sizes or building height and then run to the city again for a minor variance. The neighbours of his last project are so angry with him but were not at today's meeting because they are out of the immediate area.

The normal lots sizes run somewhere between 39 feet to 45 feet with the occasional lot around 58 feet frontage. It is one of these that this builder/speculator is trying to divide into two lots around 28.5 feet each. It doesn't suit the neighbourhood. From what we know the official plan shows that you need a minimum lot size of 39 feet to build a house and he was looking for over 10 feet less frontage! He was calling this a "minor variance" on his application.

Generally when these types of notices arrive I toss them but something made me read more carefully. I saw a couple of the neighbours the next day and we knew we had to mobilize. I emailed my councillor (with whom I have had issues in the past) and was pleasantly surprised to discover she would be on our side, but hey...it's an election year. Do you think that had anything to do with it or am I being too cynical again?

My immediate neighbour got a petition going and managed to get a fair number of signatures and letters of opposition and today there was a meeting at what's called the Committee of Adjustment where you can apply for minor variances. Because of my hip pain I was unable to go but I got the good news as soon as it happened.

He lost, we won round one. Considering that this man paid almost half a million dollars for this property we know he will go the next step and appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board where he may or may not win. At least we tried...

Uncelebrated Events

2010-05-11T12:07:00.002-04:00

With all the stuff happening in my life these days we completely forgot about our wedding anniversary last weekend and Mother's day was pretty much ignored in this household. Steve's Mom died a year ago and my own Mother died one day before Mother's day three years ago. I suppose there will come a time when we will again celebrate these events, they just didn't seem terribly important this year.

Yesterday I had to go for pre op at the hospital that is doing the surgery. I spent seven hours and still didn't resolve the most important issue... rehab, seems the social worker left for a meeting just around the time when I was done with all the other tests. Convenient I'd say. What did I spend seven hours doing you wonder, me too. Most of those hours were spent waiting. Steve dropped me off at 8 am and I waited half hour for the nurse. We went through my medical history and I tried to address some of my concerns with being sent home four days after surgery. She insisted these concerns would be addressed by the (disappearing) social worker later. She kept insisting that I needed to appoint a "coach", someone to help me at home after surgery, drive me around to physio (at my expense), and someone to make me meals. I kept insisting that nope, don't have a coach nor can I get one. All my friends work and I'm not about to ask neighbours to take care of me. This is the busiest time of year for my contractor husband who is generally gone by seven and not back before five and my offspring lives in a different province. What are they thinking...

Then I saw a anesthesiologist who explained the latest technique of spinal freezing instead of general anesthetic. The next step was a neck x-ray, blood work and EKG. Each of these required traipsing to different parts of the hospital. Trying to get a coffee or something to eat was near impossible with the strange hours of the cafeteria and I finally did end up with a sandwich at 2 o'clock. By that time I needed Tylenol 3 just to be able to walk.

My last stop was with the on site doctor who checked me over head to toe and pronounced me fit for surgery. By the time I called Steve to come and get me seven hours had passed and I was beat.

Last night I Googled hip replacements in Germany and if I had 10,000 Euros I'd go there. I'm embarrassed to be a Canadian citizen in the Province of Ontario. With all the extra tax money they have taken from us in the last four years specifically for health care we have gotten nothing back, in fact they have cut services across the board, sadly...

Update

2010-05-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

The cataract surgery is over and I survived. I currently have no close up vision and can't see the computer screen with any of the half dozen or so "cheaters" that I have but I can see the screen on the IPod Touch, go figure. Must be the way it's backlit.

All will be well...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Finally - The Wait Is Over

2010-05-02T12:23:00.005-04:00

Monday morning after waiting three months, I will have the cataract in my left eye removed. It has been a long wait fraught with second guessing and second opinions. I was told that the first eye is probably not going to get much better which depresses me. I don't have a single pair of reading glasses that works for that eye. Nevertheless the second eye has to be done. It is my hope that by the time I go for my hip replacement the doc will have set me up with some type of reading glasses. They don't like to prescribe them until at least six weeks post surgery but I don't have the luxury of time on my side. I need to be able to see when I'm in hospital.

Meanwhile, some pictures in my garden that make me smile. The Japanese Maple survived the winter brilliantly...

I'm not too crazy about bleeding hearts but I have one anyway...

This is only a small patch of raspberries...there are a few more scattered around the garden. It will be a bumper crop. These bushes yield twice a year, once in July and again in September. Of course I'm never here for the September crop but the woman that takes care of our garden sure loves them...

We were not planning on doing a vegetable garden this year. We had originally planned on going to Greece in July and leaving the garden dormant for a year. Things change, best laid plans and all that, with the hip replacement in May I will not be traveling to Greece before September. So, there will be a garden...

Our friend Pasquale, contributed the tomatoes. The seeds for everything will go in before the end of the month...

And last but not least, I have been doing some knitting. I have 5 projects on the go right now. Two pairs of socks, one blanket and two sweaters but when I got the pattern for this wonderful shrug I simply put everything else away and started knitting. After today though I suspect all projects will be on hold for a while. That will probably include blogging and even reading which really sucks... As my friend in Germany said to me, "what's the alternative".

Peaceful

2010-04-28T17:27:00.004-04:00

It was a gorgeous week in Norther Ontario cottage country last week. The temperatures were around 20 c all week and the sky was bright blue. Skip and Steve were busy installing a pine ceiling...
Liz was painting the siding...

And me, well I was just being spoiled. With all the time on my hands I went for long walks and took some photos. I am doing my utmost to build up my stamina and muscles prior to my hip replacement next month.

The week was too short...

Time For A Little Push Back?

2010-04-25T20:54:00.004-04:00

I've been away from news and Internet for a few days but reading today's paper and commentary gave me a chilling effect. Seems that the satirical show South Park, you know the one that trashed Canada a few years back, has been threatened by a few Muslim extremists and has caved in. The show has been censored.

As free citizens of free societies we seem to have the right to criticize, satirize, question, ridicule everything we want, except of course Islam. Doing so brings immediate threat of death. Is it time to push back and defend our right to express ourselves freely? If not now, when...

P - Is For Prednisone

2010-04-18T12:51:00.003-04:00

I have five weeks to get through to the Hip Replacement surgery with a quick stop at another hospital for Cataract Surgery in two weeks. I'm not sure I'll make it.

I saw my Rheumatologist this past week who insisted I go back on Prednisone. Both my knees are swollen and stressed from limping around especially the left knee. She hopes the Prednisone reduces the inflammation and helps with some of the pain. I am living on codeine based pain meds the last few weeks and I'm terrified of turning into a drug addict. The pain is especially bad at night and wakes me every hour or so. To say I'm in a miserable mood these days is an understatement. Sadly it is the one person who is my greatest champion, my DL who is getting the brunt of most of my anger. The "why me" syndrome has kicked in big time. Is that a syndrome or am I just making that up?

I have decided that once this surgery is done and I am well healed I will take the one step I have been avoiding for the last year. I will take the doctors advice and go on the drug Methotrexate to treat the RA and hopefully save whatever joints I have left. It is a drastic step for me and I'm not taking it lightly. I can already feel my left hip, which was replaced in 2004 hurting me.

I'm going to have to chill out a bit since we are going to our friends cottage for a week. My sweetie is helping them with renovations and I know that Liz will take really good care of me. She spoiled me rotten after my foot surgery. There will be no internet for me for a week and I hope the weather is nice so I can go for some walks. There should be no bugs yet which will be a treat. I hate black-flies with a passion but they love me.

I'm taking my knitting and a good attitude and will be back next weekend. I wish all of you a lovely week.

I'm Tired Of Hospitals

2010-04-14T20:36:00.002-04:00

And yet there is another one in my immediate future. Not counting the second Cataract surgery coming up on May 3rd, there is a hip replacement in my immediate future. May 25th to be exact, I will get my second new hip.

What was so shocking to me today was how quickly by Canadian standards this is happening. The usual wait list here in Ontario is anywhere from 6 to 8 months and I was already Googling this surgery in India where it could have been done immediately at a cost of U.S. $12,000. I had pretty much decided that if my wait was more than two months that I would seriously consider India.

My Orthopod knows me well and knows my generally high tolerance for pain. When I told him I could no longer tolerate the pain, that my DH on occasion had to carry me to the loo at night because I couldn't put my foot down, that and the x-ray results was enough for him to put me in the first available spot. He also told me he would try very hard to get me two weeks of rehab although he couldn't guarantee it. The thought of coming home after four days and trying to negotiate the stairs in my house scares the bejeesus out of me. With my first hip I had two weeks in rehab and I was pretty terrific. It makes all the difference in my view.

My friend in Germany had one just recently and spent nine days in hospital and three weeks in rehab. I think the German health care system is one of the best in the world. I think if I ever win a lottery I would move there in a heartbeat. I've pretty much had it with Canada...

WTF

2010-04-13T22:48:00.004-04:00

So what do you think he's telling Prime Minister Stephen Harper?

Listen up Stevie, you'd best stay in Afghanistan... maybe? Maybe it's just me but I find pointing a finger at someone highly offensive.

Another Canadian soldier will be making the trip down the Highway of Heroes this week after loosing his life in Afghanistan.

In Preparation For...

2010-04-02T11:45:00.003-04:00

Easter and the arrival of Boy 1 from California, I did a little baking. Oatmeal cookies with some chocolate chips and macadamia nuts thrown in for good measure. I need to put some of the weight back on that I lost being ill this past week.

They are delicious...

For my Greek Orthodox husband... Easter Bread

Didn't turn out half bad...

Tomorrow I will dye some red eggs just for him. A very Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate...

Oh Canada - Maybe!

2010-04-01T10:01:00.001-04:00

Media Diplomacy...

The Gall!

2010-03-31T21:33:00.005-04:00

Hilary Clinton was in town this past week and as she has been doing in other countries has been telling us off, so to speak. A couple of things came up during and interview that I find annoying.

First and most importantly, Canada has said for the last couple of years that it is leaving Afghanistan in 2011. This was voted on in the Legislature and had all party support. Ms. Clinton was very blunt saying she feels Canada should stay in Afghanistan. Putting it out there via the media puts the government in a touchy spot. The Prime Minister, leading a minority government, is in no position to change this without all party agreement.

The second thing that has the Liberal opposition in an uproar is the coming G8 meeting being held here in Ontario where Prime Minister Stephen Harper's initiative on improving maternal mortality and womens health does not included funding abortion. There was a very public statement from Ms. Clinton that disagreed with Prime Minister Harper. Our liberal opposition parties grabbed on to this like a dog with a bone.

Here's part of what she said;

You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health," Ms. Clinton said at a news conference after a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Gatineau, Que. "And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion.

You can read the whole what I think is a smack down on a number of issues here...

So here's the thing...whether you agree with abortion or not, she speaks from the same government that has signed into law a health care bill that specifically excludes abortion. So, we have Liberal Ms. Clinton telling Conservative Prime Minster Harper that excluding abortion is not cool while being part of President Obama's government that restricts abortion (sorry about the source). What part of this doesn't make sense? I don't think I've heard her say these things back in America.

I am personally neither for nor against abortion, I believe it is a personal choice each woman has to make. Just making that clear. Back to my knitting...

Travel

2010-03-31T13:25:00.003-04:00

When my stepson from California gets on a plane for Toronto tomorrow he will have to go through one of these new body scanners. Ever since the Christmas Day scare over Detroit, security is nuts. Instead of racial profiling, which is something the Israelis do, all travelers are subject to the full body scans. My question has always been, can they really see everything? We're going to embarrass poor granny who has to wear Depends for nothing.

Here's an article in today's Times Online that puts this entire security measure into doubt. Seems that breast implants can be used to bring a plane down. Will the scanners detect this threat? I for one won't feel much safer flying.

The End Of The Rainbow

2010-03-24T22:59:00.003-04:00

A Pot of Gold? No, but that's not what I wanted. I found another Ophthalmologist and have an appointment next month. That's what I really wanted, another opinion.

Fate

2010-03-22T20:18:00.002-04:00

It didn't happen this morning as planned, I still am in possession of my cataract. I was just too sick and coughing too much to have this surgery. Just the image of the doc cutting my eyeball when I have a coughing fit was enough to send me to the phone at 6AM this morning to cancel. He was not impressed. The new date is May 10th, six more weeks of waiting.

My doctors office offers a walk in clinic on weekends and I availed myself of that service yesterday. Steve on the other hand wanted to take me to the ER. I saw no point in waiting 6 hours plus in an ER when a family doctor would do. Less than hour later I was out the door with antibiotic and a codeine syrup for the cough. I am starting to feel better now.

I am not totally upset at how this all played out. I had misgivings about having this second eye done when the first eye is still not working well. I would like to at least have one eye that works well. I spoke with the doc's nurse and told her that I wanted my first eye fixed before I do anything else. I see the doc next week and I promise not to let me sweet talk me into waiting. I'm tired of the "trust me" thing, really really tired. Fix my eye and then I'll trust you, is what I'm going to tell him.

Fate handed me a chance to explore other options and I'm going to take it...

This Should Be Fun

2010-03-19T11:51:00.002-04:00

The title is deceptive isn't it. It wasn't fun and it wasn't possible. What... I tried to post from my Ipod Touch while I was in bed. It didn't work, I somehow couldn't get past the title. Oh well, I'm up and out of bed for a little bit.

What has me down and out is a most horrible cold and cough, the worst I've had in two years. I've been coughing to hard it feels like a horse kicked me in the chest. Now normally I wouldn't stress too much but since my other cataract surgery is Monday morning and you really can't be sick to have any surgery, I need to get better fast.

So, I've been in bed with a vaporizer and Vicks that's turning our little bedroom into a steam bath, cough syrup and lots of tea with honey and lemon juice. My poor DH has been delegated to the spare room for the duration. I'm going to have some more chicken soup and then back to bed. Here's hoping I'm all better by Monday morning.

Yes, There Was Cake

2010-03-15T20:47:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I sort of celebrated another birthday yesterday. I'm all of 62 now. Yikes, where did the years go. My one and only offspring turned 44 this year and my grandchildren are 22, 21, 19 and 3. It just doesn't seem possible.

I hadn't planned on celebrating since I'm not seeing very well, I'm still in a RA flareup and I have caught a horrible cold from my husband, but what the heck, what's the alternative... So I baked a little cake, we went out for dinner with some friends and had a good time.

Since playing around with my offspring's IPod Touch at Christmas, I really coveted it, I mean I really really wanted one. My sweetie got me one for my birthday and it's just lovely. It's like a little computer besides being a music player. I'm having so much fun with it. There's not much I can't do with it if there is a Wifi connection around. The only thing it doesn't do is take picture, sadly.

So now I'm off to bed to nurse my cold and play with the games I've already downloaded...

Wow - It's Been A While

2010-03-11T21:59:00.002-05:00

I had no idea how long it's been since I've written anything and I'll be surprised if there is still anybody out there. Oh well, that's life...I do have a good excuse. I'm still not up to snuff and since I don't want to whine I'd rather ignore the blog. In another two weeks or so my other eye will be operated and I hope for a better outcome. My eye doc finally admitted that yes, maybe there was a problem with the eye. He now says that the implanted lens is wrinkled and that once the other eye is done and healed there would be some laser correction.

Today the woman who takes care of my house brought me these...

In return, I gave her this...

I knit it just for her, doesn't she look great in it?

She periodically brings me flowers and I give her knitted stuff but his time it was because it's my birthday soon and it's her birthday too. We are both Pisces.

Gold In Hockey!!

2010-02-28T21:33:00.006-05:00

My apologies to my American friends, but the Canadian Men won, full stop.

We had plans to go out for dinner and our reservation was for 6:30 thinking we had lots of time, the game would be over. It was not meant to be of course, they went into overtime and there we were standing with our coats on, door open, non hockey friends waiting outside for us and we weren't budging until we either won or lost.

The phone rang and it was my stepson from California. He was gloating a little that the U.S. team had tied it up in the dying seconds of the third period. So said I, "who do you think will win it?" His response was that he didn't want to jinx anything so he wouldn't say. At that very moment, Canada scored and I said "Nick, we just won it". There was dead silence on the other end of the line, it was comical. He didn't believe me. Seems his station had a couple of seconds delay. To say he was stunned and disappointed is an understatement and since I didn't know what to do with his silence and didn't want to gloat I handed to phone over to Steve. Even though Steve is an American/Canadian dual citizen he was cheering for Canada and I heard him gloat. That Sydney Crosby is some terrific hockey player.

I have to say that I never liked the phrase "Own The Podium" very much but I am very proud of what our athletes did in the last couple of weeks and we have won the most Gold medals by any country in winter Olympics ever...

When we finally did get downtown for dinner, the streets were alive in a sea of red flags. Cars were honking their horns and whistling and even the police got in the act by letting off their sirens just for fun.

So to all the journalists (if you can call them that) from good old England and the New York Times, who trashed the games, the city, the weather etc., stuff it were the sun don't shine...

Rheumatoid Arthritis - Fybromyalgia

2010-02-19T13:26:00.004-05:00

When I woke up this morning, I knew I was in trouble. I'd been unually tired, cranky and headachy the last couple of days but this morning I woke with a burning and tingling sensation that worked it's way from my left buttock down the whole leg. I knew the signs right away having had them often enough over the last 15 years or so. It is a flare up of Fybromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Once it starts there's not much I can do except ride out the pain as best as I can. Right now the headache is raging and I know it's not a migraine so the usual drugs won't work, and every joint in my body aches.

Back to bed with heat, Tylenol 3's and Diflunisal for at least two days or so before this resolves itself. I hope I feel better as we have our monthly bridge get together and I hate to miss is. At least there's the Olympics to watch on T.V. God, I hate being sick.

A Plug For Costco

2010-02-05T12:19:00.002-05:00

I'm not only into trashing companies that I feel are doing wrong, I also like to comment on those that do something right.

In December 2008 I bought six months worth of multi focal contact lenses from Costco. They were fairly expensive I thought, something like two hundred dollars or so. They are monthly disposable type and I used about two pairs before my right eye started giving me trouble. That's the eye that was diagnosed with a retinal hole in January and was operated in March of 2009. After that I rarely wore them any more.

When my eye healed I was given a new prescription for eyeglasses and the contact lenses I had were pretty useless. They sat in my drawer gathering dust.

Since my cataract surgery last week my eyeglasses don't work and I've already removed the lens on the right eye and replaced it with clear glass. I found myself still kind of wonky when walking though and out of desperation one day decided to try a contact lens in my left eye. That worked really well especially for driving but it was still the wrong prescription.

Today I went to Costco with my new prescription and asked the really nice Optician if I could buy just two pair since my left eye will be operated soon. He said sure, no problem and it would cost me about a hundred dollars or so. I was quite prepared to pay when suddenly he looked at me and asked if I had any of the old lenses left. Yes said I, I have three left. Go get them and I'll just exchange them, no charge. Wow...

Fortunately I don't live too far from Costco so I went home, got the old ones and he gave me three pairs with the new prescription. He knows I'll come back when it's time to get either new glasses or new contacts when both eyes have been done and healed. My eye is getting better distance vision now but close up is still toast and I doubt it will come back but I did have a good morning...

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Has Seen The Light!

2010-02-04T19:29:00.004-05:00

Last summer when I had to refill a prescription for Premarin I got sticker shock. The price had gone up roughly 800 percent. The pills went from .14 cents to $1.24 a pill.

I called medical reporter that I know who has her own Canada wide health show and who decided it merited a story. I also wrote about it a couple of times in May of 2009. Watch the video clip from that story and those of you who don't know me can actually hear my voice, he he...

Today while the tv was on in the background I happened to catch Avis Favro, the medical reporter for CTV say quite clearly that Wyeth had lowered the price of Premarin to .28 cents a pill. It's still twice what it was but I guess a 50 percent increase is better than an 800 percent increase. See, you can fight big pharma... I wonder if I could interest her in in doing a story about doctors who don't want to do what the patients wants like my Ophthalmologist.

You Gotta Love This!!!

2010-02-02T08:40:00.003-05:00

When the ultra rich Premier of Newfoundland Danny Williams, travels to the United States for heart surgery, you have to wonder about our system, hmmm...

As an aside, I was talking to my friend in Germany yesterday who is having hip replacement this month. She told me two things; she gets to spend 9 days in a real hospital and three weeks in a rehab hospital. She also told me that everyone who needs cataract surgery gets the multi focal lens, no cheapy stuff. Yet most Germans complain about their system...

One Week Post Cataract Surgery - Update

2010-02-01T13:05:00.003-05:00

It's been a week and thus far it hasn't been a great one. I've been near suicidal a couple of times, bawled like a baby and almost tripped over a curb that wasn't where my eye said it was.

The distance vision has improved somewhat since last week to the point where I can read the fourth line down on an eye chart from 20 feet. I have this chart stuck on a door and check my eye daily. We've replaced the lens on my eyeglasses with plain glass and I have absolutely no close up vision nor can I see the computer screen which is 23 inches with the right eye. My left eye is doing all the work and it gets really tired and irritated. I am really angry that he wouldn't give me multi focal lenses and wishes I'd had the time to find another doctor for another opinion. Unfortunately for me, I really didn't.

I've tried cheaters in different strengths but so far haven't found any that really work. I know that everyone recovers differently but because I know four people who have had this surgery and all of them could see clearly the next day I am worried.

Tomorrow I have my one week check up with the Ophthalmologist and intend to tell him that no, I am not as happy as he said I would be. when I can't knit, read or browse the net I am unhappy. Hopefully it will get better from here...

The Cataract Story

2010-01-26T20:41:00.004-05:00

Just still a little blind.

Monday morning I had one cataract removed. It was a day from hell. It didn't start well when I wasn't allowed to drink coffee or anything else for that matter and I could smell the coffee I made for Steve, grrr...

We drove the 45 minutes to the hospital in the foggy and rainy darkness not really knowing exactly where we were going. On arrival we found a parking spot right by the door and I thought, wow are we ever lucky. The parking meter swallowed my credit card and no matter wouldn't give it back. By this point I'm in a friggin tizzy because I'm due in Admitting in like 5 minutes and I'm frantically trying to get my card out of this machine. In case your wondering why I needed to use a credit card for parking? The price for parking was something insane like $3.50 per HALF hour.

Steve being the good man that he is went off to find a security guard and when he returned with one I left them both guarding the machine and card and took off to Admitting.

I'm sent off to the eye surgery floor and given a gown to put on over my clothes, have an I.V. inserted in my shrunken dehydrated vein and sit to wait. This is the fifth different hospital I've become acquainted with Since December 2007 and by far the worst of the bunch.

In every other hospital the day surgery department has recliners for waiting patients and you are given a warm blanket. Not this time. Just a hard chair in a dinky little room and Steve couldn't even stay with me. There were four people ahead of me and I thought it would be a long wait...not. My ophthalmologist was churning them out every twenty minutes. Steve told me that the nurse told him he was doing 26 operations.

My turn arrived and the anesthesiologist said he'd make me comfortable. He lied big time because I felt every little thing and it hurt like hell. I asked the doc about that this morning at my checkup appointment and told me that the Ontario government has asked hospitals to use the absolute minimum anesthetic thereby shortening the recovery time needed for the patient. I guess that's how they can do so many surgeries, in and out like a factory line. When the Ontario government promised shorter wait lists for cataract surgery they compromised patient care in the process. I remember when my later mother had hers done she was treated much better and had no pain at all. My eye still hurts today.

We retrieved the car and were home by eleven with a list of instructions and eye drops. Most instructions are easy to keep but I can't wash my hair for 7 days and that's going to be the hardest. I spent most of yesterday snoozing off and on.

As far as my sight goes, I still don't have clear vision in my eye although today is better than yesterday. I see him again in a week and hope it has improved by then. The one big thing I noticed and it was pretty amazing, the world through the operated eye is brighter. Whites' are whiter and colors are brighter now all I have to do is get rid of the fuzzy. I'm booked for the second eye but not until end of March. So much for the promised three weeks, it's somehow morphed into almost two months.

As far as the credit card goes, I never did get it back and when I got home had to cancel it.

Cataract Surgery

2010-01-20T12:18:00.003-05:00

In less than a week I'm having cataract surgery on one eye with the second to follow about three weeks later. Now I have what I think/thought a really good Ophthalmologist and I trust him, kind of...

What has me in a quandary is the IOL (lens) being implanted. When I went for the measurement in early January, I knew very little about lenses. I knew there were mono vision and multi vision lenses but that's about it. I knew though that I wanted the multi vision lens because after wearing glasses for the better part of 60 years I really wanted to toss them, permanently. I also wore multi focal contacts from time to time and really liked them. Well good old Dr. R point blank said no, "we don't use them in the hospital because they can cause problems" without telling me what those problems were.

I started thinking about this and did some research on various lenses. Then I started obsessing about why? Was it a cost issue and was our overburdened public health care system trying to save money by not giving us the best lenses?

I saw his nurse during a recent pre op appointment and asked about cost. She gave me the prices for three upgraded lenses ranging from $155. to $875. I left a message for him to call me to discuss the lenses. He did, at 7:30 am the next morning when I was half asleep and could barely function. He basically told me that an upgrade was unnecessary, hadn't we already discussed this, and I would just have to "trust him", I'd be very happy.

I suppose I should have left well enough alone at that point but you know I'm not like that. Whenever someone says trust me, I have a problem. The last doc who said that to me messed up my foot for life.

I became totally convinced that the lens I wanted was the Acrysoft Restore Multi Focal and nothing but nothing was going to change my mind. I've been having sleepless nights over this so last night around two or so I got up and typed up a nice letter to Dr. R and faxed it to him. Feeling somewhat better I was able to fall asleep. Well at 6:45 am, (doesn't this guy sleep), he phoned and very nicely told me that nope, that lens is not an option for me because of the retinal scarring surgery I had in March of 2009. Seems that even though that surgery was successful, there is still some scarring there and he feels the multi focal lens won't work for me. Why the heck didn't he just tell me that in the beginning? He would have saved us both a lot of grief and me sleepless nights.

I give up, whatever will be will be...

Happy Birthday Mom

2010-01-14T11:21:00.004-05:00

My beloved Mother who died in May of 2007, would have turned 87 today. This is our third birthday without her and I truly thought she's still be with us. We miss her terribly.

I see so much of her in our granddaughter Elliotte, who she sadly never got to meet.

Dontate to Haiti - Please

2010-01-13T22:39:00.004-05:00

The following links will take you to places you can donate to help the victims of Haiti.

Canadian Red Cross

Medicins Sans Frontiers

Oxfam Canada

World Vision Canada

My Favourite People

2010-01-10T11:42:00.004-05:00

I'm posting these photos for my German and Greek friends and relatives who wouldn't otherwise see them.

My Granddaughter Elliotte...

Elliotte on Christmas morning. Notice how Santa was nice enough to put the train track together for her...

Christmas morning, Oma (that's German for Grandmother) with Elliotte...

There is a story behind this colorful dress. You all remember Sophia our neighbour in Greece? She wore this dress when she was a little child more than 25 years ago. When we left Athens in October we were presented with this dress for Elliotte to wear. She looks really cute in it.

Steve with Elliotte...

My oldest grandson, Justin...

My middle grandson, Bradyn...

My youngest grandson, Cassidy. Cass will be passing through Toronto at the end of this month and has asked me to knit him a hat. If your reading this Casss, the hat is knit and waiting for you.

It was a wonderful Christmas, it was just too darn cold. I hear though now that we've left they are having a Chinook, grrr...

Flying To The U.S. - Do I Really Want To?

2010-01-03T15:26:00.003-05:00

If I have to go through one of these, it will be a cold day in hell before I ever fly to the U.S. again. Somehow I don't think I'm the only person who feels this way, or am I...

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T19:52:00.003-05:00

Wishing all my friends the most wonderful 2010.

We had a nice Raclette feast just the four of us with lots of Martinis and good wine.

At midnight the Calgary Zoo had a fabulous fireworks display which was visible from the offsprings house. A little cold though at -25 Celsius. Shortly after midnight we all crashed out.

Flying back to T-Dot in the next couple of days

Feliz Navidad

2009-12-18T13:57:00.000-05:00

I'll be back in January, meanwhile I leave you with this.

To all my friends a very Happy Holidays...

Should I Or Shouldn't I???

2009-12-17T11:03:00.002-05:00

That is my dilemma this morning and it concerns having a CT Scan. It has been widely reported in the news these past few days that CT Scans can cause cancer.

My doctor highly recommends I have the scan of my bile duct. The suspicion is that there is a gallstone stuck in there somewhere that wasn't seen when I had my gallbladder removed. The ultra sound only showed a dilated bile duct. He says it's important. Why am I worried and am I worried for nothing? That is the question of the day...

Getting Old Sucks - Big Time!!

2009-12-08T23:26:00.004-05:00

It's been really hard to sit down and write something on this blog. There are many things I could write about and the usually come to me just as I'm about to drift off into blissful sleep. Of course getting up at that point is really not an option.

Point is, I seem to be unable to concentrate on anything other than health issues recently and that really pissses me off. When all you can talk about or write about is the crappy foot or the blind eyes maybe it's time to pack it in.

The good news of course was that I didn't have retinal detachment and the bad news is that both my eyes have cataracts, one worse than the other. I was warned about that back in March when I had the retinal surgery. I was told that the small cataract that was there would grow more quickly than normal and would probably have to be operated within a year. Well it didn't make it to a year. The eye started going fuzzy in early October while we were still in Greece and is probably the reason I fell. I just simply didn't see the curb. So next week I go for pre op and in early January I will have that surgery. Because this Ophthalmologist likes to do both eyes and because there is a small cataract on the other eye there will be another surgery in February. The good news here is if all works out I will be able to throw my glasses in the trash forever.

I also saw the foot surgeon and had a few choice words for him. I lay the blame sqarely on the technician who removed the pins from my toes for the infection. I blame the surgeon for messing up my foot so that my toes no longer bend. He says there's no reason the shouldn't and can't understand why they dont. I think I figure it out. He straightened them too much, pulled the tendons too tight and that's why they don't move. He also told me that they would probably never bend again. Hah... he doesn't know me. I have started a rigorous program of soaking the foot in hot water and manually bending them a couple of times a day. I'm at the stage now where I can pick up a pen off the floor with the toes. I dont give up easily. I did tell him that he should never touch another human being again, ever. He didn't book anymore follow up appointments with me.

Since I have become so deconditioned by not being able to walk properly for such a long time I've also devised an exercise program for myself which includes a few miles on my stationary bike, some dumbbells and some balance exercises. I am so determined that I will some day hike Mount Indefitigable in Alberta.

And then there's my abdominal pains, mustn't forget those. Since I had my gallbladder out two years ago I have had about six attacks that feel just like a gallbladder attack. It's bizarre and I asked my doc if maybe they'd made a mistake and it was still there. The suspicion at this point is that there might be a small stone hiding in the bile duct. I had an ultra sound last week and will know by the end of next week what the score is. Hope it's nothing bad, that darn ultra sound woman was totally non comittal.

So there you go. If you made it this far into my rant you deserve a medal. Hell, I deserve one for being able to see enough to type this. All my knitting is on hold, there's no reading happening and I don't spend a lot of time on line because it just bothers my eyes too much.

I am though, seriously looking forward to the trip to Calgary even though it's a freezing -27c there at the moment. I'm hoping for a chinook by the time we get there...

Soon!

2009-12-01T21:33:00.003-05:00

Just 22 days until we leave for Calgary and I get to see not only my granddaughter Elliotte but also this group of guys below. The three amigos I call them and they are my three grandsons. From left to right are Jay, Cassidy and Bradyn.

They are going to help me climb my mountain next year. The offspring is helping too, just as soon as my foot heals and my eye get operated. They may have to carry me up, but I'm getting up there...

Only In Canada, Eh...

2009-11-30T14:00:00.002-05:00

Presented myself to an ER of a large metropolitan hospital one rainy night last week with symptoms of retinal detachment around 8:30 pm.

Was triaged by 9, check... made it into the actual ER by about 9:30, check, check... was given a reading test by about ten or so, check, check, check...

Watched the ER doc constantly shuffle my chart to the back of the list, listened as I was being discussed as the "eye patient" and watched as other people with lesser symptoms were treated and sent home.

Left the ER in disgust with no resolution by about 12:30 am, checkity check check...

I Am Alive

2009-11-24T20:06:00.004-05:00

Yes truly, I am here and still kicking. I just don't feel much like blogging these days. This month my blog has been around for four years. I'm having a relapse of fybromyalgia and I feel like poop. I guess I've been lucky since it's been well over a year since I've felt this way. My foot is also giving me some grief and I'm kind of housebound. I did see my hip surgeon last week and he suggested that my hip could wait a couple of years. I suspect that it has something to do with our waiting lists.

In less than a month we will on the move again. I know I said I was tired of flying and I am but we are going to Calgary to spend Christmas with the offspring and family. Ideally if I had a choice I'd be heading to Cuba instead, somewhere warmer than Calgary in winter, but what the heck...it's family.

I don't know when I'll be back but assuredly I will be following all my favourite blogs and commenting...ciao

Time To Stay Put

2009-11-11T20:47:00.003-05:00

I feel like I'm constantly on the move these days. Most of the summer was spent living out of suitcases while visiting various friends cottages and I haven't even finished unpacking from our two months in Greece. We've just come back from another four days at our friends cottage and I'm not packing to go anywhere for a while. I just want to stay home and sleep in my own bed for a while. I'm tired of traveling.

It was a picture perfect few days with bright blue skies, foggy nights and hoarfrost in the mornings. While my sweetie was plastering and tiling I was knitting and taking pictures. Oh yes, eating lots of good food and deserts provided by our hostess Liz.

Toronto Wins - For A Change

2009-11-06T16:59:00.002-05:00

I woke from a nap to hear that Toronto won the right to host the Pan Am games on the first ballot. Finally a little good news for T-Dot. Let the party begin...

The other news around town didn't excite me very much. Prince Charles and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall have are visiting Canada and have spent a bit of time around the GTA. Sorry, I can't get very excited about a man who committed adultery. I also think it's time Canada severed it's ties with the Monarchy.

We've recovered from the trip, have a pretty busy social schedule this weekend and are heading out of town on Sunday for a few days at a friends cottage. A little R & R and knitting in the cards for me. For Steve, not so much. He's helping with some renovation...

The Berlin Wall - Twenty Years

2009-11-02T15:36:00.006-05:00

One of the symbols of communism is the famous car of the day, the Trabant. A car that most people had to wait ten years to own and probably kept until death.

I saw one of these beauties on my trip to the former east Germany last year. A perfectly preserved "Trabi" as the nostalgic former East Germans liked to call it.

I think my cousin and his wife actually owned of these once. I think the top speed was around 60 km h. Big difference from the car he chauffeured me around in last year when we actually hit speeds of 200km on the autobahn.

For interested readers here is the history of the Berlin Wall that divided Germany for too many years.

A photo gallery of then and now can be found here.

Survived Halloween

2009-11-01T08:49:00.003-05:00

It was the quietest Halloween ever around here. There were hardly any Goblins out in our neighbourhood. It gave me the time to sit and watch this movie last night. They used to put on this production live every Halloween eve in a small Toronto neighbourhood theater. I went once, it was a riot...

Welcome Home...

2009-10-31T16:21:00.002-04:00

Those were the words of the Canada Customs agent that greeted us and never have I heard sweeter words. Yes we are home and I for one am glad. Not that I didn't have a good time with some wonderful people and relatives both in Germany and Greece, but there really is no place like home.

I don't know if the airline gods just hate me or if I just have bad travel karma but geesh, I really do have the worst luck. The new Olympic Air brought us safely to Paris as promised but the wheelchair that was to be waiting for me never did materialize. I gritted my teeth and told me sweetie we would walk. Biggest mistake ever...

Paris has three terminals of of course we needed to get to the farthest one. There is a labyrinth of moving sidewalks, escalators that criss cross each other and an electric train. It took us an hour to reach the correct terminal. Good thing we had plenty of time.

The Air France flight was overall pretty good. The service on board was better than with the old Olympic Airlines and the food was quite tasty. What was bad for me was the non existent leg room. The Airbus 340 was so tightly configured my knees touched the seat in front of me before it was even reclined. We unlucky had two young women travellers sitting in those seats and they immediately reclined them and then proceeded to bounce around in excitement for the duration of the trip. At one point Steve asked one of them if she wanted to sit on his lap, she was practically there anyway. They didn't get it.

Now we just need to get over the jet lag and I need to heal my foot. By the time we got home my ankle had swollen to twice it's size. Of course there are four suitcases that have to be unpacked...someday soon.

Shit!!!

2009-10-26T09:54:00.003-04:00

I wasn’t going to post again before leaving since there are so many things I need to get accomplished. Best laid plans and all that…the trip to the centre of Athens isn’t happening. Instead I’m hobbling around on the foot below. Bad thing is that it hurts like the dickens, good thing is that I didn’t hurt my hip and it wasn’t the operated foot. Although I now have two feet that don’t work well for the long trip home…sigh.

In my defense, I had things on my mind and that curbs that just jumped up out of nowhere to trip me up…

Our Going Away Party

2009-10-21T12:58:00.007-04:00

I suspect this will not be the last party...

Yours truly...

The younger Sophia...

The elder Sophia...

Steve having a ball...

This will be my last post from Greece. There are more pictures to be found on my Flickr page on the sidebar...

We're Going Home

2009-10-15T04:44:00.002-04:00

Yes, Olympic has come through with tickets for our return. It will not be an easy trip for me but at least it will happen without any additional cost to us. We will have to fly the new Olympic Air to Paris, wait for a few hours for a connecting Air France flight to Toronto via Montreal. Total time is roughly 20 hours start to finish if there are no unexpected delays along the way. Air France would not have been my first choice since they’ve had a couple of crashes recently but we had no real option.

Life here in Athens/Glyfada has been quiet this time around with not a lot of traveling. We may go to Pylos this weekend but that’s dependent on whether legal stuff gets sorted out in time. The weather hasn’t been as good as in the past and there have been fewer beach days. Steve has also been super busy clearing out his mom’s apartment and the bureaucracy of settling an estate and buying property is unbelievable by North American standard.

The apartment has a little furniture most of it from my MIL’s house. It’s not my choice or style but I have very little input here. I think Steve keeps most of it for sentimental reasons and I get that, so I have a dining room suite that doesn’t really suit me but it works and various mismatched dishes. I did draw the line at the sofa and bedroom furniture. I won that battle but as a result we still don’t have a sofa or a bed. At this stage I think it will wait until next year. The airbed is still hanging in despite a slight mishap that found us flat on the floor at 5:30 one morning. It wasn’t funny at the time but now we joke about it.

I haven’t gone far from home on my own because truthfully, my foot is not working very well. I brought four pairs of reasonably comfortable shoes yet all of them hurt after a short while. It’s been almost four months since the operation and even though I was told full recovery would take 6 months I had hoped to be further ahead than I am. Maybe I’m just too impatient. I have wanted to make a trip into the centre of Athens to do some shopping but either I’m having a bad foot day or the shops are closed. Oh yes, the store hours! Shops close at 2:30 pm every afternoon and reopen at 5:30 pm for a few more hours, except Mondays and Wednesdays of course, and then they stay closed after 2:30. I guess coming from a country of 24/7 shopping I am spoiled if you call finding an open pharmacy after 2:30pm spoiled?

There are a couple of things that really grate and unnerve me here. The first is the noise, the truly unrelenting noise. It’s either motorcycles that roar with machismo down the street at all hours of the day and night, jackhammers with all the building going on around here the junk man/men who drive their trucks through neighbourhoods every hour or so with a big bullhorn, the dogs barking and what I call the “banshees” running around the streets after school every day screeching at the top of their lungs. I don’t think kids have homework here! I miss the peace and quiet of home and miss waking up to birds singing instead of jackhammers. I told Steve that if I thought I had to live her the rest of my life I would go to the roof and hurl myself over the balcony. He thought I was joking.

To say that I counting the days before we leave would be an understatement. A little more than two weeks and I’ll be home again. I may do a Pope John Paul and kiss the ground when I get there.

I miss having an internet connection without having to go out to a café, I miss reading my favourite blogs, I’m totally out of the loop with news of the world, darn it all, I even miss CNN. I guess I’m not ever going to be a good transnational. I have heard some expats say that Greece speaks to their soul. Greece doesn’t speak to me, it yells out loud and I don’t like being yelled at.

Most of all I miss craft shops and wool shops. I have yet to find even one…

Just for a little fun, meet a Greek weather girl...

Every Neighbourhood Has One

2009-10-07T11:31:00.002-04:00

And this is ours…

A stray dog that just hangs around looking for handouts.

He’s a rather cute puppy probably less than a year and he just appeared out of nowhere a few weeks ago. At first I thought he belonged to someone but now I’m certain he’s been let go. That’s pretty common here in Greece by the way. People start out wanting a puppy but when they grow a bit or the realization hits that these are living, breathing beings some find it too much work and just put the dog out to fend for itself.

He’s started to take possession of the street and barks at cars as they go by. Mostly though, he just snoozes against the side of a house or wall on one of the four corners of this street. Unfortunately for us though, he’s picked our sidewalk to do his business and we end up cleaning it up every day.

Still no news from Olympic Air regarding our return trip, who promised me a return call within 24 hours…

Olympic Airlines - The Final Screw

2009-10-03T05:51:00.002-04:00

So we all know I hate Olympic right? Nothing new there except why do we always fly with them. I suppose it’s because it’s one of the only non stop flights from
Toronto to Athens and because they allow us somewhat more luggage than other carriers. I’ve come to realize that it’s a low cost carrier and made allowances. I always bring my own blanket and earphones just in case and lots of snacks for when I get hungry in the middle of the night. I know from experience that the flight attendants are nowhere to be found; they are usually snoozing in first class.

This time though I was more hesitant to book with them knowing that they had been sold to a private investment group called Mafin. The deal was closing September 30th and our return trip is October 29th. I asked the most important question of our travel agent when booking, will anything change. The answer was a definite no, all flights would remain the same. NOT…

It came as a shock to find out about three weeks ago that many overseas routes were being abandoned by Marfin including Montreal, Toronto and New York. For three weeks there was no news other than what I was able to get from Greek bloggers. I received a text message from a friend who heard that Olympic would code share with another airline and honor all tickets so I didn’t worry too much. Two emails to our travel agent have remained unanswered thus far but I have received one email directly from Olympic. It states the following;

Dear sir/madam,

we kindly inform you that due to Olympic Airlines closure and change of ownership, for any information, bookings, change of reservation or refund you should either refer to the closest Olympic Airlines office or call directly the Athens reservation department at +30 210 966 66 66. The latter will be active by september 30th.

I have phoned this number a few times to no avail. It is not possible to speak to a person and I can’t stay on hold forever. I have a pay as you use phone card for a cell phone that is incredibly expensive so I could run through a 20 euro card very quickly and never get to talk to anyone.

So today Steve made the long trip into Athens to see about the tickets. He came back with bad news. The Olympic Airlines office in Athens is closed with no information as to where the new Olympic Air office can be found. There is no easy way to get this information either. Steve is going to make the trip to the airport on Monday and hope to find an Olympic Air representative who will have a solution for us. There are no easy resolutions for anything here… It is estimated that there are between 3000 and 5000 stranded passengers and I suppose we are just collateral damage.

Two Women Named Sophia

2009-09-28T05:16:00.002-04:00

We have been officially adopted by them... They live in the apartment below us and have decided that we are in need of their help. They are grandmother and granddaughter and are probably the most unique personalities I have ever come across. They personify Greek hospitality in a way few can imagine.

From the very first day here they have brought us platters of food daily. The younger Sophia has helped Steve bring up the stove and install ceiling fixtures in our apartment. Steve isn’t crazy about doing electrical stuff at the best of times but the wiring here totally puzzled him.

We have been invited twice this week for dinner to their home where the elder Sophia sets a table that would put me to shame. The collection of guests has been eclectic and thus far we have met a captain for Royal Caribbean from Florida and his pretty young Belarus girlfriend who also works the ships. We have met an expat from Australia who I sensed regrets her decision to live here, various mothers’, grandmothers and aunts. It was an altogether amazing group of people.

We sit around on the patio eating, drinking and having great conversation. Most of the people speak excellent English and it’s been a lot of fun for me.

It is easy to understand why this country is seductive. The temperature as I sit here on the balcony today is a lovely 25c with a nice breeze. But it isn’t always this way. Yesterday the skies opened with a downpour the likes I haven’t seen in a long time. Because two of the mountains behind our house burned in the summer, there is nothing to hold back the water and as a result the streets turned into rivers with water up to the ankles. When it was over stones from the mountain was washed down to the streets. There is nothing to hold them back.

I have learned to be patient about getting things done. My brother in law would much rather be fishing than to help us get a refrigerator and it took two weeks to get the washing machine. There are little successes for me, yesterday I baked my first cake and because it is unlike Greek pastry I was hesitant to take it downstairs with me. I needn’t have worried; it was gobbled up in record time. My oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were also well received. Soon I will make a carrot cake and see how that goes over. I let them bring me food and I bring them cakes, fair trade…

Getting Sucked In - Slowly

2009-09-22T12:03:00.003-04:00

Have you ever been newly in love and uttered the words “I’ll go anywhere you go”? Well I did many years ago, twenty five to be exact, and they are starting to come back to haunt me.

There is a lot of family pressure here in Greece for us to stay, to give up our live in Canada and a whole way of life that I have lived for almost 60 years. I’m a little surprised that Steve is even considering it truth be told but the fact that he has bought an apartment here tells me he is in fact considering it.

His brother is trying the soft sell on me just about daily. While picnicking on the beach for example, he throws out his arms and utters things like, you’ll never find this in Canada. Yeh so what, says I… you don’t have beautiful unburned forests and crystal clear lakes. We go back and forth this way with my limited Greek and his limited English. Yes, the Mediterranean is lovely and the sunset was gorgeous last night but there has to be more to keep me here.

His sister too is in on the act but since her English is pretty good I can tell her how I really feel. It’s a beautiful country in its own way, but it’s not my way. I remind her of the time her Mom was in hospital in April and how abysmally she was treated. I remind her of her stresses in daily life. I look at her face and see nothing but a difficult life lived. There is no joy in her face and yet she chooses to live here. She has a choice, she is a Canadian citizen.

I have a son in Canada, I have grandchildren and I have friends. Here I have one friend here, a very good one, but still only one. At my age and with language limitations, making new friends is difficult.

Of course there is the most important reason of all, my favourite yarn suppliers in America, don’t deliver to Greece, sigh…

Then again I may be stuck here for a while. It seems that Olympic Airlines which was sold will most probably not fly us home. The new owners have suspended all flights to Toronto and we will have to find another way back. Just another thing to deal with…

The Father Rhine

2009-09-15T12:30:00.003-04:00

I was born in Germany and have been back more than half a dozen times but have never gone down the Rhine on a ship, ever. We did it by car two years ago on our Mosel river trip but decided a boat trip was definitely overdue. Our goal was from Mainz to St. Goar were we would spend a few hours wandering before catching the return ship. That, by the way became another adventure, but that will be the next post.

We started early in the morning and the fog was still fairly dense. Once it cleared it was a perfect day with not a cloud in the sky. The ship, the Koeln-Düsseldorf, was not crowded and we snagged some nice upper deck chairs. That was later to change but for the moment it was very relaxing to cruise down the river through the fog in almost total silence.

The trip lasted four hours and anyone visiting the area should do this trip. If you are in the country on the third Saturday of September you can do this cruise in the evening for the special day called Rhine In Flames. I have never been fortunate enough to see it but hope to some day.

Cafe Weisses Haus - Wiesbaden, Germany

2009-09-14T06:41:00.003-04:00

Americans will appreciate this photo. It is a replica of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Way back in the early 1900’s there was a gentleman named Friedrich Wilhelm Soehnlein, (sorry, my keyboard doesn’t have umlauts, those funny little dots that go on top of the o’s and u’s in German words, hence the oe in this guy’s name). He was a well known rich dude who produced sparkling wine (Sekt) in the region and contracted to build this villa for his wife. She was the well know Emma Pabst of the American brewery family and he wanted her to feel at home in far away Germany hence the name Weisses Haus,(White House).

There’s a bit of history as well with Americans as they liked the house so much the American military took it over in 1945 and used it until 1990. The family that owns it now started restoring in 2006 and about two weeks ago it opened as a café. I wish them well but have serious doubts about the success of this café. The setting is to die for with beautiful gardens and a wonderful view of one of Wiesbaden’s many gorgeous parks across the street. The service is another matter altogether.

It was a comedy and a tragedy and in spite of being annoyed, my friends and I couldn’t stop laughing at the comedy of it all. When you enter this café you choose your cake and are given a slip of paper with the cake number written on it. It appeared not help an iota as two of the three were the wrong. Our coffee arrived first and by the time the cake eventually arrived at our table it was actually cold. We observed two couples actually get up and leave in frustration. There were four wait staff and a supervisor type person and all appeared totally clueless. There was not one dedicated waiter per table and we personally were served by three different people. We watched as three waiters and supervisor got into a loud and heated discussion at the next table with the customers over the bill. We watched and laughed as waiters came out of the restaurant to the patio and went from table to table asking if this was their order! Kind of bizarre as each table was numbered and if the staff was dedicated to a table this would never have occurred.

We ordered some wine since it was my last day. The menu offered .1 liter and we asked for double that amount. We watched as the waitress brought the wine out and again went to four different tables before finally getting to ours. She simply could not remember an order from 5 minutes earlier. But the icing on the cake so to speak, we were not allowed to have a double glass of wine. Even though the glass was large enough and showed the .1 and .2 liter marks we were told, sorry no can do… We decided not to have a second glass and they lost about 12 euros on us. When the we asked for our bill another comedy ensued. The waiter didn’t know exactly what we had and my friend Petra quietly told him what we owed.

I don’t usually comment too much on restaurants but this time I couldn’t help myself. This is not an inexpensive place by any stretch. The simplest of breakfasts will set you back 15 euros and a piece of cake comes in around 4,70 euro. Mistakes like the ones we witnessed should have been ironed out in the first week max and this place should have been running like clockwork. Sadly it was not. Will it survive? Probably… but only because of the amazing ambience, not the service…

We Have Arrived

2009-09-03T14:14:00.006-04:00

After a twelve hour flight finally, Athens. Olympic Airlines didn't disapoint. I had low expectations and so it was. The only good thing this, the flight wasn't full so there was lots of room to stretch out. I scored a row of four seats and was able to stretch out and snooze most of the flight. The food was abysmal but the flight attendants were friendly, definitey a bonus. I guess since the airline has been sold everyone is worried about their jobs.

This is our new apartment. We have bought a two bedroom unit on the second floor. On a clear day you can see the Mediterranean.

For the moment it's fairly empty. We have a little fridge, a blow up bed and a couple of patio chairs. Of course I expect that to change fairly quickly. On Saturday I leave for Germany for one week and during that time my sweetie will get us a new fridge, a stove and a washing machine. There will also be some furniture from his late mother's home that we can have. When I return we will see what else needs to be bought. I think a trip to IKEA is in the cards.

It's kind of exciting furnishing another home. I think our plan for this apartment is to rent it out during some of the summer months to tourists. It would be a waste to have it empty ten months of the year.

I will not post from Germany since I'm not taking the laptop. I'm going to have enough trouble just taking me...

Never Say - Never Again

2009-08-31T10:47:00.000-04:00

It usually comes back to bite me in the bum. Last year when we flew to Greece on Olympic Airlines I swore never to do so again. Well guess what, we're flying Olympic. What has changed? Not much really although Steve tells me his trip in April was more pleasant than normal and he was give a pillow a blanket and earphones. Those were the things missing on last year's flight. Since we're not talking short hop here but an almost twelve hour flight I consider these necessities. My biggest beef though was that between dinner at eight and breakfast at eight in the morning it was impossible to get juice. I was told that if I got some then other people would ask as well. Water was offered.

So why are we flying Olympic? It's a non stop (sort of) and they have a larger luggage allowance than any other airline. Including the carry on we have two hundred and eighteen pounds of stuff. I think it's actually a bit more but I'll let Steve sweet talk the check in people and maybe they will let it go.

I found this video last year on another blog (can't remember which one, sorry) and saved it for the appropriate time. This seems to be it. Watch it if you want a chuckle. Turn up the volume and listen closely, the Captain has a very strong accent but is really funny..

I don't know when I will next blog but I will make it to the local Internet joint to answer emails. I will also be in Germany for a week starting Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing my friend and my elderly aunt and uncle.

Wish us a good trip...

It's That Time Again

2009-08-24T19:21:00.004-04:00

The time to pack for the trip to Greece and trying to decide what I really can't live without is difficult. So I've pulled out just about everything I think I need and put it into 10 pound piles. We are allowed four suitcases of 50 pounds each plus carry on. Of course since Steve has his hands full taking care of me and the laptop, he considers me his "carry on".

The plan is to spread this stuff evenly amongst the four suitcases and try to maybe put a few clothes in as well. Again I need two separate wardrobes since I decided last week to go to Germany as well. My friend left a message saying that if I was coming she needed to make a trip to the winery. That did it for me, I picked up the phone and said yes, foot or no foot, I'm coming.

So what can't I live without? There are pecans, baking soda, maple syrup some for me some as gifts. There is coffee and kitchen gadgets. There is cutlery and scissors and really really sharp knives. There are sheets and duvet covers and of course my pillow. I never ever go anywhere without my pillow. Of course some of this stuff is available in Greece but here's the problem. We won't have a car immediately, there are no really good shops within walking distance, there is no mall close to us and the foot is still not good enough for long walks.

Speaking of the foot. This is the before...

This is the after...I went for a pedicure today. It's still not perfect and truly I had no idea that the recovery would be this long. I'm told the swelling could last another four months or so. But it does look better doesn't it? It was worth it, I hope. I just need to be able to walk pain free.

Were We've Been

2009-08-18T19:11:00.012-04:00

So take ten adults and one teenager in a three bedroom cottage with one bathroom and you get the following...

The women...knitting, crocheting and reading.

The men... figuring out how to put on a railing with Steve supervising.

The fishermen... Steve and Aaron with their catch.

The boat ride... obviously we didn't all fit in the boat.

Some quiet time with Sudoku.

Me, looking for a little solitude.

A quick game of Crokinole.

And of course bridge, lots and lots of bridge.

We have now been gone 16 of the last 18 days traveling around to different friends cottages and it's been a blast. I am glad to be home though, it's funny how now matter how much fun I'm having I miss my own bed.

Now I have two weeks to get ready for the annual sojourn to Greece and I suppose tomorrow I'll go into panic mode. For today though, I am thoroughly relaxed. This has been an amazing summer in spite of the weather.

A Reunion Of Old Friends

2009-08-12T20:36:00.002-04:00

Does it look like we're having fun? Until the rains came we were having a blast reminiscing, eating and drinking. We are a group of Realtors who started working for the same company in 1980. Some of these people I haven't seen in 15 years. We range in age from 50 to 75 with me somewhere in the middle. Three people are missing, two deceased and our manager who is in a loosing battle with prostate cancer and was too ill to attend.

There were more agents working in our office but it seems this group always hung out together. We also got and gave advice and supported each other through many traumas over the years. This was the first time we have gotten together but we promised to do it again next year.

Meanwhile I've done the laundry, repacked the suitcases and we're on the road again tomorrow for another five days in northern Ontario. There will be no Internet, no blogging and no emails.

See you all next week some time...