Happy Memories.

 Roberto Matta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

Today is another unpredictable day, 1 minute it looks pleasant, the very next there is torrential rain, it is just like April and not like August.                                                         

Global warming is really starting to have an impact now, as all our seasons are turned around, summer in spring and autumn in the summer.

Again I slept really well last night; I even managed to sleep through until midday today, something I have not done in years.

That means that I'm late going to the shower, toilet but no worries as it is nice to have a lazy day on Sunday.

It reminds me of Sundays before I had MS, when I loved a lazy morning, lying in bed, drinking tea smoking joints and talking to Richie.

Pleasant memories of happy days, we had at that time a lovely Staffordshire terrier cross called Daisy.

She liked joining us in the bedroom; she would on command get her bed as well as her blanket, the bed she would put by the radiator and the blanket in bed for her to snuggle under.

Daisy was very clever like that; she also knew how to put her toys away at the end of the day which no other dog we have had since can't do.

Our trio of beautiful dogs, Marleen, Cyril and Tina get on very well together and make a wonderful happy pack.

What is really brilliant is seeing how happy and confident Cyril has become; his confidence has grown tremendously since the beginning of the year.

Finally he has been able to be a dog, something it seems he was not allowed to do in his old home, horrible to think of an active dog like Cyril being deprived of exercise.

 I'm so glad we took him in January 2011; it has been quite a challenge trying to win his trust, now one year and seven months later we have a lovely dog.

Re-homing dogs is very worthwhile thing to do especially because it means avoiding buying dogs from puppy farms, something we do not agree with. 

Finally the rain has stopped and the weather has improved, at precisely 20.00 this evening the sun came out and the sky is blue now.

Richie is making us a delicious dinner which I am looking forward to, after we have eaten or look for artwork and put this on my blog, happy days.

An Enjoyable Day Despite The Weather.

Roberto Matta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta

Today's weather is such a contrast to how it was last week Saturday, then it was a scorching hot day with temperatures above 35°.

We have had occasional glimpses of tiny bits of blue sky, which quickly changed to thick cloud cover and torrential rain.

Richie told me that when he went out around 11 o'clock this morning it was pleasantly warm outside despite how it looked.

Which was like an April day and not a day in August, I hope that Richie was safe from the downpour of rain inside the Turkish shop where he went to do the shopping.

I'm looking forward to him coming back laden with goodies, hopefully there will be a lovely selection of soft fruits, as well as delicious Turkish soft goats cheese.

Angela brought a couple of tins of hard cod’s roe, which Richie is going to make some delicious Greek taramasalata with, something I like very much.

He says that he will also make some Greek humus and to go with both, there will be roasted vegetables, aubergine, paprika, garlic as well salad and cubes of Tempe, Tofu and Turkish flatbread.

It sounds like a delicious meal I would love to eat it right now; Richie got back from his shopping expedition and managed to avoid the rain which is brilliant.

I was so happy when Richie walked in; it was lovely to see him, as soon as the apartment door opened the dogs went wild with excitement at seeing him again.

They all started running around and playing with their toys to show Richie and me what lovely dogs they are.

Despite the constant pain and discomfort I slept well last night and did not have such a bad time waking up as I usually do.

Now I'm going to stop writing and choose a picture from Roberto Matta, a wonderful surrealist artist from Chile, then I can relax.                                                                              

Thunder And Lightning

Oscar Dominguez 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Dom%C3%ADnguez

Yesterday evening when Richie and the dogs were in the park, I saw dark clouds and thought that any moment there would be a thunderstorm.

Luckily nothing happened while Richie was in the park, and the dogs had a great time.

Later on after we had gone to sleep there was a thunderstorm which went on for hours, every time I thought it was finished there was another roll of thunder.

It was accompanied by torrential rain which lasted all night until it was daylight.

The noise of the storm and the rain was soon replaced by the sound of birds on the bird feeder outside the bedroom window.

There were jackdaws who like the fat balls and parakeets that come for the peanuts as well as blue and great tits.

We have been thinking about putting a web cam on the balcony so that we can see exactly which birds visit our bird feeder.

A couple weeks ago a woodpecker was one of the visitors; at our last apartment we saw 24 types of birds in the garden behind us.

We saw sparrows in the garden but since we're live here I have not seen any not surprisingly as they like to stay close to the ground.

The other reason we don't see them so much is that they are becoming almost extinct in the Netherlands.

Despite the storm last night I somehow managed to sleep which was good, today is the third day of the bacteria treatment and it is going well.

Next week Tuesday Richie has an appointment with our doctor, so she can take swabs in order to check if the treatment has been successful.

I expect we will have to wait at least a week to get the results back from the laboratory so we have to be patient and hope it has worked.

It will be brilliant if Richie is finally cured of this horrible skin infection which has been so painful for him for the last four years.

A Huge Relief.

 

Roland Penrose 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Penrose

During the night there was a sudden loud thunder storm, followed by a downpour of rain.

I tried to go back to sleep this was difficult, somehow I managed only to be woken up sometime later feeling really dreadful.

As I was half asleep it took me a while to realise what the problem was, which was that I was trying to pee and couldn't, not something I should be noticing.

Not with a catheter, at the same moment I started to feel really hot as if I was going to burst into flames.

Richie came over as soon as I called him; he immediately went to get one of the saline sachets used to flush the catheter.

The contents went in and came back out with no problem, Richie reconnected the catheter bag however there was still no flow of urine.

I was still feeling distressed, Richie got another catheter bag, he took off the old bag and connected the new one.

Instantly the urine flowed and my problem was solved which was literally a huge relief for me.

Amazingly we both went back to sleep, this morning I asked Richie what time it was when I called him, he told me it was just before five o'clock.

Thinking back it must have been the need to urinate that had my legs spasming just as I was dozing off.

It was so late when it started and I was so tired, that I remember my last thought had been I don't care what the legs of doing I'm sleeping.

Marleen who had been sleeping on my feet decided she'd had enough and jumped off my bed to go and join Richie in his bed with the other two dogs.

What a night, thanks to Richie's quick thinking the problem was solved within minutes.

Richie just came back from the doctors; with news that his painful shoulder is luckily only a trapped nerve for which he's got anti-inflammatory drugs.

When he went to the chemist to pick up the prescription he bought me a present, which got me very excited, Richie got me Nina Ricci shower gel, I feel very happy to be so spoilt, he really is my absolute darling.