When we left Dublin, in the rental car, during rush hour, it was raining and cold. I had made the foolish mistake of packing for July in Indiana. I figured it would be cooler, but not this much cooler. I'd already purchased myself a sweatshirt/souvenir, but at this point I was wishing I'd gotten something more like a hoodie. Oh well, won't have room for another one in the ol' suitcase, so I'll survive. Anyway, as Tom expertly drove us to the southwest area of Kerry, I was cold in the back seat, covered up by my sweatshirt and I napped. I even slept through going through a toll booth, which means I really was asleep, not just cat napping.
After a couple of hours, we arrived at Muckross House - a Victorian era home of a variety of rich people. While we waited for our tour to start, we roamed around the grounds and gardens. Got some lovely pics. I also hit the gift shop and bought myself a jacket lest my arms freeze and fall off a la Venus de Milo.
Going through the house was very interesting. Having just finished reading a trilogy that took place in the Victorian era, I was able to imagine the book taking place in a house similar to this. What I had issues with was imagining where all 22 of the servants went! And at some point Queen Victoria came to visit and brought with her 50 servants! I'll be happy with my condo and cats, thank you.
We dined and pottied and hit the road for Killarney! After being mislead by the GPS, who we've named Eileen for the trip - on the grounds that she needs an Irish name. I suggested Shannon, but was vetoed... ok I realize that wasn't exactly a full sentence there, but after Eileen failed to get us to our hovel for the evening, we found it by asking a couple of locals.
We dumped the luggage and had a short rest and then piled back in the buggy to check out the Ring of Kerry. This was a 112-mile drive around a peninsula with fantastic scenery, mountains, coastal areas. We left in the late afternoon, feeling safe in the knowledge that the sun doesn't go down until about 10:30 or so. It was beautiful. But I'm pretty sure that Tom got quite a few more gray hairs on that time. At one point, the road was barely wide enough for our car, let alone the one coming head on at us. We saw tons of cows, sheeps, and goats, depending on our elevation.
I told Tom, during one of the especially terrifying parts, that I'd buy him a beer at dinner because he'd earned it. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to civilization, at 10:30, everything was closed. I needed some protein, however, so we inquired and were told about some "fast food" place where people got burgers and such for carryout. We were able to get food - I got fried chicken and was even able to take a piece back to the hovel with me for breakfast in the morning... after all free breakfast is fine, but when all it is is toast and cereal, there be protein-related issues. I set my boob (the chicken, that is) on my open window sill and it was nicely chilled overnight.
The wi-fi at this hovel wasn't working, for whatever reason, so I wasn't able to post any pics, but eventually, we'll get back to someplace with wi-fi and I'll get all of these posted on Facebook at least.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Monday, July 7th
After a good night's rest, Holly and I awoke, too late for breakfast at the hovel, so we hit a Starbucks before Tom and Bill joined us. This was momentous because this was my first time purchasing coffee at a Starbucks. You'll remember, I've only recently started drinking coffee.. and that's assuming I'm not imagining having blogged about it. Hmm..
Anyway, the plan for the day was that we would purchase, for a low price of 19 Euro, a ticket for a hop-on, hop-off tour bus which, as good fortune would have it, stopped right outside our hovel! The first pick up was about 10, so we bought our tickets and got aboard. Along the ride, the driver would impart all sorts of tidbits about the city and its history. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, none of them were as good as Barry.
Our first stop was at Trinity College, an active university whose library houses a copy of every book ever published in the British Isles... I'm wondering where the section was that housed all those dreadful Barbara Cartland romances from the seventies. Additionally, the library is home to the Book of Kells - the oldest handwritten copy of the four gospels in existence. We couldn't take pics of it, so I'll try and Google up a copy.
Trinity College was nice, but I think we all agreed that it would be a pain to attend a college where tourists were crawling all over the place.
Back on the bus - our next stop was Dublin Castle. Ireland, having been under British rule for 700 plus years, didn't have a king living in this castle, but the British King's main dude assigned to keep an eye on Ireland would live in this castle. We got to roam around the upstairs and then took a guided tour of the underbelly, if you will, of the castle. No dungeons, though. I've discovered that Holly is a blood-thirsty thing, wanting to see dungeons and torture stuff. Hmm.. and I'm sharing a room with her.
After we finished at the Castle, we needed to sit down for some lunch and we found an Italian restaurant directly across the road from the Castle. I had a lovely grilled chicken and green salad. Getting actual vegetables in over here is harder than one might think it would be.
Back on the bus - the next place we wanted to investigate was Kilmainham Gaol ("jail") - I'm thinking that this place should have made Holly's bloodthirsty soul happy. We got to tour the jail where all sorts of Ireland's political prisoners have been held and executed. In fact, I now know so much more about Ireland's political history and their rebellions/revolutions and what all it took to become a free republic rather than a part of the UK. I really enjoyed the tour guide at the Gaol - she did a marvelous job.
One thing that I have learned about Ireland that I think they could improve upon is the important lesson learned at Graceland, i.e., "exiting through the gift shop." Now, if you go to Graceland, you will not be able to leave any of the various sections of the estate without exiting through the gift shop. Ireland, however, if they have a gift shop, it's only selling a few dinky books. I'm thinking that Gaol could have had a gift shop with books, yes, but also all sorts of things.. action figures of the political figures, a toy gallows, paper dolls of the prisoners with different prison outfits.. you get my point. They are missing a prime income generating opportunity here!
When we got back on the bus, the next stop we made was the Guinness factory. Not that any of us were really interested in going through the tour, but Tom was interested in seeing the gift shop. Here was another missed opportunity. You HAD to take the tour to get to the gift shop. NO ! They should have had the gift shop available to anyone passing by. I might not want to take the tour, but I might be inclined to buy a doodad with "Guinness" written on it.
After all of this excitement, when we finally made it to our last stop on the tour, the Jameson Whisky factory (are you sensing a trend?), it had already started it's final tour, so while Tom was disappointed, I can't say that I was. And my sore feet definitely weren't!
Soon our bus dropped us back off at the hovel. It was too early to go up to our TV-less room, so we headed off in search of dinner at a pub with live music. We asked the guy behind the counter at the hovel and he suggested two places not far away, in the Temple Bar area. We found the first one, and there was no room in the inn. So we headed for the second, it had a table, but the music wasn't all that outstanding. We ate some food and fabulous desserts and I had not one but TWO cranberry juices (I know, I know - don't judge me!) then we roamed back down to the first place in time to hear the musician's last two songs which were very enjoyable. Made me wish we'd have been able to fit into that pub in the first place.
Anyway, the plan for the day was that we would purchase, for a low price of 19 Euro, a ticket for a hop-on, hop-off tour bus which, as good fortune would have it, stopped right outside our hovel! The first pick up was about 10, so we bought our tickets and got aboard. Along the ride, the driver would impart all sorts of tidbits about the city and its history. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, none of them were as good as Barry.
Our first stop was at Trinity College, an active university whose library houses a copy of every book ever published in the British Isles... I'm wondering where the section was that housed all those dreadful Barbara Cartland romances from the seventies. Additionally, the library is home to the Book of Kells - the oldest handwritten copy of the four gospels in existence. We couldn't take pics of it, so I'll try and Google up a copy.
Trinity College was nice, but I think we all agreed that it would be a pain to attend a college where tourists were crawling all over the place.
Back on the bus - our next stop was Dublin Castle. Ireland, having been under British rule for 700 plus years, didn't have a king living in this castle, but the British King's main dude assigned to keep an eye on Ireland would live in this castle. We got to roam around the upstairs and then took a guided tour of the underbelly, if you will, of the castle. No dungeons, though. I've discovered that Holly is a blood-thirsty thing, wanting to see dungeons and torture stuff. Hmm.. and I'm sharing a room with her.
After we finished at the Castle, we needed to sit down for some lunch and we found an Italian restaurant directly across the road from the Castle. I had a lovely grilled chicken and green salad. Getting actual vegetables in over here is harder than one might think it would be.
Back on the bus - the next place we wanted to investigate was Kilmainham Gaol ("jail") - I'm thinking that this place should have made Holly's bloodthirsty soul happy. We got to tour the jail where all sorts of Ireland's political prisoners have been held and executed. In fact, I now know so much more about Ireland's political history and their rebellions/revolutions and what all it took to become a free republic rather than a part of the UK. I really enjoyed the tour guide at the Gaol - she did a marvelous job.
One thing that I have learned about Ireland that I think they could improve upon is the important lesson learned at Graceland, i.e., "exiting through the gift shop." Now, if you go to Graceland, you will not be able to leave any of the various sections of the estate without exiting through the gift shop. Ireland, however, if they have a gift shop, it's only selling a few dinky books. I'm thinking that Gaol could have had a gift shop with books, yes, but also all sorts of things.. action figures of the political figures, a toy gallows, paper dolls of the prisoners with different prison outfits.. you get my point. They are missing a prime income generating opportunity here!
When we got back on the bus, the next stop we made was the Guinness factory. Not that any of us were really interested in going through the tour, but Tom was interested in seeing the gift shop. Here was another missed opportunity. You HAD to take the tour to get to the gift shop. NO ! They should have had the gift shop available to anyone passing by. I might not want to take the tour, but I might be inclined to buy a doodad with "Guinness" written on it.
After all of this excitement, when we finally made it to our last stop on the tour, the Jameson Whisky factory (are you sensing a trend?), it had already started it's final tour, so while Tom was disappointed, I can't say that I was. And my sore feet definitely weren't!
Soon our bus dropped us back off at the hovel. It was too early to go up to our TV-less room, so we headed off in search of dinner at a pub with live music. We asked the guy behind the counter at the hovel and he suggested two places not far away, in the Temple Bar area. We found the first one, and there was no room in the inn. So we headed for the second, it had a table, but the music wasn't all that outstanding. We ate some food and fabulous desserts and I had not one but TWO cranberry juices (I know, I know - don't judge me!) then we roamed back down to the first place in time to hear the musician's last two songs which were very enjoyable. Made me wish we'd have been able to fit into that pub in the first place.
Sunday, July 6th
For our first day in Ireland, we had bought tickets for a day bus tour to Cork and the Castle Blarney. The only problem with this tour as far as I could see was that we were supposed to be at the arranged meeting place at... gulp... 6:50 am! One supposes that if you're physically inclined to do so, you could snooze on the bus, and I did a little bit, but not much.
Now Bill (Sporty Spice) is the one who found this tour company and I assume he just Googled, but it was a home run! Our driver/tour guide was Barry and he was great! Funny, accented, but not too thick as to be unintelligible. We learned that cyclists are the "spawn of Satan" from him as well as the details regarding the sport of hurling and "Irish football" - not to be confused with American football or soccer!
We drove about two hours, with a potty break in there somewhere, and our first stop was the Rock of Cashel - this was a surprise to me as I only thought we were doing Cork and Blarney! But it was very pretty, the ruins of the seat of the ancient kings of Munster which was later given to the Church. After a short video we were able to ramble around. The "youngest" building was built in the 1400's. There was a very pretty cemetery, St. Patrick's Cross, and a beautiful rainbow - so beautiful, it almost seemed fake!
After about another hour, we arrived at the Castle Blarney. Bill, obviously not feeling that he had enough blarney in him, wanted to actually kiss the Blarney Stone. Holly and I chose instead to wander around the grounds and see things like the witch's kitchen, the druids' cave, and a fairy ring. Then as the time came for us to wander back to the bus, we hit a shop or two, including a chocolate shop that gave us samples.
We then drove to and were let loose upon the town of Cork. By this time we were ravenous and we looked for someplace to eat - found a nice cafe - then ambled through shops until it was time to rejoin our bus. My knee, at this point, was beginning to hate the bus, but it managed to survive. We arrived back in Dublin a little after 7pm and it was too early to return to our TV-less hovels, so we checked out the pub next door to our hovel and had some wings. I am on a campaign to find iced tea - I ask for it everywhere. So far my only non-alcoholic, non-carbonated choices have been water and cranberry juice. Of course, part of the problem in my iced tea quest is that there's no ice in this blessed island!
After a relaxing couple of hours in the pub, we returned to our room and passed out. We were pooped.
Finally, I apologize for there being no pics associated with this blog. I'm doing all of this via my iPad and it's a lot more effort than I'm willing to devote to get the pics in this. Sorry. :)
Now Bill (Sporty Spice) is the one who found this tour company and I assume he just Googled, but it was a home run! Our driver/tour guide was Barry and he was great! Funny, accented, but not too thick as to be unintelligible. We learned that cyclists are the "spawn of Satan" from him as well as the details regarding the sport of hurling and "Irish football" - not to be confused with American football or soccer!
We drove about two hours, with a potty break in there somewhere, and our first stop was the Rock of Cashel - this was a surprise to me as I only thought we were doing Cork and Blarney! But it was very pretty, the ruins of the seat of the ancient kings of Munster which was later given to the Church. After a short video we were able to ramble around. The "youngest" building was built in the 1400's. There was a very pretty cemetery, St. Patrick's Cross, and a beautiful rainbow - so beautiful, it almost seemed fake!
After about another hour, we arrived at the Castle Blarney. Bill, obviously not feeling that he had enough blarney in him, wanted to actually kiss the Blarney Stone. Holly and I chose instead to wander around the grounds and see things like the witch's kitchen, the druids' cave, and a fairy ring. Then as the time came for us to wander back to the bus, we hit a shop or two, including a chocolate shop that gave us samples.
We then drove to and were let loose upon the town of Cork. By this time we were ravenous and we looked for someplace to eat - found a nice cafe - then ambled through shops until it was time to rejoin our bus. My knee, at this point, was beginning to hate the bus, but it managed to survive. We arrived back in Dublin a little after 7pm and it was too early to return to our TV-less hovels, so we checked out the pub next door to our hovel and had some wings. I am on a campaign to find iced tea - I ask for it everywhere. So far my only non-alcoholic, non-carbonated choices have been water and cranberry juice. Of course, part of the problem in my iced tea quest is that there's no ice in this blessed island!
After a relaxing couple of hours in the pub, we returned to our room and passed out. We were pooped.
Finally, I apologize for there being no pics associated with this blog. I'm doing all of this via my iPad and it's a lot more effort than I'm willing to devote to get the pics in this. Sorry. :)
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
July 4-5th - Leaving on a Jet Plane
July 4th - I woke up to a beautiful, cool morning. Had breakfast, cuddled with the kids and then set out for Indy and the beginning of my latest travel adventures.
My first observation was that Samantha (my GPS) seems to take me to Indy via a different route every time I go. I think she just likes to test my faith in her ability to get me where I'm going. But I was in a good mood, so I just let her do the navigating and bopped along with Casey Kasem's AT 40 from sometime in the 70's. good times.
I received a text while driving, from the grandson of a friend asking me to get a picture of a Leprechaun for him and his twin sister. I was concerned for a minute that he didn't realize that they weren't real, but then decided that the odds were than we'd probably see someone dressed up like a leprechaun during the trip, so I accepted the challenge. Yes, I admit that I texted my response while driving - this was bad of me.
I drove straight through to Indy which, in retrospect wasn't wise. I was almost crippled (my knee, remember) when I was getting out of the car at Chez Burns. A friend of Tom's came and picked us up to take us to the airport - I thought this was very nice of him. Turns out I think he was just killing time before the next World Cup game.
Upon arrival at Indy Int'l Airport, upon checking in, I discovered that I could "upgrade" my seat to a bulkhead seat for a mere $19, which I did - this was a wise decision, as it allowed me more leg room and I was able to stretch my leg out more. We also made arrangements for a cart to assist me in getting from gate to gate in Chicago. After going through security, we immediately hit the gift shop! I bought a bottle of water and a couple of adorbs refrigerator magnets.
The flight from Indy to Chicago was uneventful and upon arrival, there was a cart to trek us from our gate to the security office, where I was then was transferred to a wheelchair for transport via trolley to the international terminal. Turns out that the decision to do this was also wise, as I'm not sure my knee would have made the trip. Plus, the guy who was steering my wheelchair, and getting us through security, was incredibly nice and funny.
At Chicago, I was able to "upgrade" my seat to the "infant" seat aisle. This aisle, it turns out, has more room because there are baby changing tables on the wall (like in a McD's bathroom) that can be pulled down. Fortunately there were no babies. And while the leg room wasn't great, it was much better than it could have been and I was right near the bathroom, so if I needed to get up, I could easily make sure there wasn't anyone in there before I got up. Also, I know about the mile-high club and all that, but while contemplating raising myself from the seat in the tiny bathroom, (which action requires thought and preparation), I'm noticing how small the room was. Now I realize I'm a big girl, but this is a tiny room. HOW do they do that??
Our flight didn't leave until a little more than 30 minutes after it was scheduled to leave, but yet, due to fabulous tail winds, we arrived in Dublin almost an hour ahead of schedule! Incredible. Oh, and just let me point out that if you're going to travel, traveling on July 4th is highly recommended. The airports were all quite empty. Two thumbs up for traveling on a national holiday!
As I said, we arrived early, but it turns out that Bill, our traveling companion, was arriving late due to a flat tire. I think I've mentioned Bill. He is Tom's best friend, was his best man, and is a fun guy and a very picky eater. Other than the picky eating thing, he fits in well with the group. I have christened the two of them, Bill and Tom, the Spice Girls because spicy foods are not their forte.
Bill's plane finally arrived and after a few Abbott/Costello-like moments, we found him. On to the rental car place! Now remember, we're in Ireland and there's the whole driving on the left side of the road thing... along with the steering wheel being on the right side of the car. I was very glad that I'm not the one driving. Although more leg room would be nice :) ! We found Bill and Tom's hotel, got them checked in and (after first being given someone else's room,) dumped their luggage. Next we were off to find Holly's and my's hostel. I was under the misunderstanding that we were staying in a college dorm. I know we are in Edinburgh, but this is an actual hostel. The room is very small. In fact, square foot wise, I'm thinking it's about the same size as a cell that we saw in the gaol (jail) later on on the trip. But we have a working toilet. But for about $45 per person per night, and considering we aren't spending that much time in the room, it is fine. Plus, we get free breakfast! Which is more than Bill and Tom are getting at their hotel. But they have TV and we don't, so it's a draw.
After dumping our crap at our hostel (I seemed to want to incorrectly call it a brothel at first, and now I just lovingly refer to it as our hovel), we met up with the guys and took a walk to the Temple Bar district to the actual Temple Bar - it was very noisy and busy, and really sort of what I envisioned. Not being a big bar person, I would have preferred a nice meal at a restaurant, but it was definitely an experience to be had. There appeared to be two different bachelor parties going on and despite it only being like 6-ish, they were well onto having a very good time!
We trotted back to the hovel, hitting a gift shop or two on the way, and then finally Holly and I collapsed in our room. I called Mom using the Viber app (which if I haven't mentioned before, allows for free telephone and texting over the internet, so you don't have to deal with international calling) and the sound quality was off the charts! Very impressed. After reassuring Mom that her precious baby girl (and the other one) had arrived safely and inquiring as to the status of my precious babies, Rose zonked out. It had been a long day, covering six different time zones, and I'd earned a good night's sleep.
My first observation was that Samantha (my GPS) seems to take me to Indy via a different route every time I go. I think she just likes to test my faith in her ability to get me where I'm going. But I was in a good mood, so I just let her do the navigating and bopped along with Casey Kasem's AT 40 from sometime in the 70's. good times.
I received a text while driving, from the grandson of a friend asking me to get a picture of a Leprechaun for him and his twin sister. I was concerned for a minute that he didn't realize that they weren't real, but then decided that the odds were than we'd probably see someone dressed up like a leprechaun during the trip, so I accepted the challenge. Yes, I admit that I texted my response while driving - this was bad of me.
I drove straight through to Indy which, in retrospect wasn't wise. I was almost crippled (my knee, remember) when I was getting out of the car at Chez Burns. A friend of Tom's came and picked us up to take us to the airport - I thought this was very nice of him. Turns out I think he was just killing time before the next World Cup game.
Upon arrival at Indy Int'l Airport, upon checking in, I discovered that I could "upgrade" my seat to a bulkhead seat for a mere $19, which I did - this was a wise decision, as it allowed me more leg room and I was able to stretch my leg out more. We also made arrangements for a cart to assist me in getting from gate to gate in Chicago. After going through security, we immediately hit the gift shop! I bought a bottle of water and a couple of adorbs refrigerator magnets.
The flight from Indy to Chicago was uneventful and upon arrival, there was a cart to trek us from our gate to the security office, where I was then was transferred to a wheelchair for transport via trolley to the international terminal. Turns out that the decision to do this was also wise, as I'm not sure my knee would have made the trip. Plus, the guy who was steering my wheelchair, and getting us through security, was incredibly nice and funny.
At Chicago, I was able to "upgrade" my seat to the "infant" seat aisle. This aisle, it turns out, has more room because there are baby changing tables on the wall (like in a McD's bathroom) that can be pulled down. Fortunately there were no babies. And while the leg room wasn't great, it was much better than it could have been and I was right near the bathroom, so if I needed to get up, I could easily make sure there wasn't anyone in there before I got up. Also, I know about the mile-high club and all that, but while contemplating raising myself from the seat in the tiny bathroom, (which action requires thought and preparation), I'm noticing how small the room was. Now I realize I'm a big girl, but this is a tiny room. HOW do they do that??
Our flight didn't leave until a little more than 30 minutes after it was scheduled to leave, but yet, due to fabulous tail winds, we arrived in Dublin almost an hour ahead of schedule! Incredible. Oh, and just let me point out that if you're going to travel, traveling on July 4th is highly recommended. The airports were all quite empty. Two thumbs up for traveling on a national holiday!
As I said, we arrived early, but it turns out that Bill, our traveling companion, was arriving late due to a flat tire. I think I've mentioned Bill. He is Tom's best friend, was his best man, and is a fun guy and a very picky eater. Other than the picky eating thing, he fits in well with the group. I have christened the two of them, Bill and Tom, the Spice Girls because spicy foods are not their forte.
Bill's plane finally arrived and after a few Abbott/Costello-like moments, we found him. On to the rental car place! Now remember, we're in Ireland and there's the whole driving on the left side of the road thing... along with the steering wheel being on the right side of the car. I was very glad that I'm not the one driving. Although more leg room would be nice :) ! We found Bill and Tom's hotel, got them checked in and (after first being given someone else's room,) dumped their luggage. Next we were off to find Holly's and my's hostel. I was under the misunderstanding that we were staying in a college dorm. I know we are in Edinburgh, but this is an actual hostel. The room is very small. In fact, square foot wise, I'm thinking it's about the same size as a cell that we saw in the gaol (jail) later on on the trip. But we have a working toilet. But for about $45 per person per night, and considering we aren't spending that much time in the room, it is fine. Plus, we get free breakfast! Which is more than Bill and Tom are getting at their hotel. But they have TV and we don't, so it's a draw.
After dumping our crap at our hostel (I seemed to want to incorrectly call it a brothel at first, and now I just lovingly refer to it as our hovel), we met up with the guys and took a walk to the Temple Bar district to the actual Temple Bar - it was very noisy and busy, and really sort of what I envisioned. Not being a big bar person, I would have preferred a nice meal at a restaurant, but it was definitely an experience to be had. There appeared to be two different bachelor parties going on and despite it only being like 6-ish, they were well onto having a very good time!
We trotted back to the hovel, hitting a gift shop or two on the way, and then finally Holly and I collapsed in our room. I called Mom using the Viber app (which if I haven't mentioned before, allows for free telephone and texting over the internet, so you don't have to deal with international calling) and the sound quality was off the charts! Very impressed. After reassuring Mom that her precious baby girl (and the other one) had arrived safely and inquiring as to the status of my precious babies, Rose zonked out. It had been a long day, covering six different time zones, and I'd earned a good night's sleep.
Monday, June 30, 2014
T Minus Three Days
This month has zoomed by...
I do hope to have access to wifi at some point and maybe get some blogging done on the road. If not, I'll take copious notes and we'll have tons of pics, I'm sure, so I'll be able to fill you in on the fun when I get back. Until then... Rose OUT!
- I've been going to physical therapy twice a week and my friend Amy was right, they are really physical terrorists! I was assigned to Nic, a very nice guy who's all "we're gonna get your knee ready so you can walk around Ireland" at the initial evaluation. And then at my twice weekly appointments, he turns into a sadistic dictator! They have this rolly chair, which I lovingly call the "Chair from Hell" and they make me sit on it and then push myself across the room using only (now get this...) my BAD leg! Oh, the humanity! Ok, it probably isn't that bad, but the chair is agony. One day, I think I really depressed Nic when, after he did his best to kill me, he asked me to rate my pain on a scale of 1-10, and I said "0." It was like I'd ruined his day. My last appointment before "vacation" (NOTE: imagine angels singing the word "vacation" there) is Wednesday. Assuming I survive, maybe I'll bring him back a postcard.
- In addition to my twice weekly appointments, I've had my at home exercises to do. Admittedly, I've never been good with homework. I credit it as a miracle from God that I graduated, because actually doing homework was not my forte. But Nic laid on the "do you really want to have paid all these big bucks for surgery and not do your best to get a good result?" and "do you want to have spent all this money on a trip to Europe and not be able to enjoy it because you didn't do your homework?" (Did I mention that I think I hate Nic?) Anyway, while I may not have done them twice a day religiously, I've been doing them. The best part are my assistants who show up to help me the minute I lay down to start my exercises. Sophie immediately hops up and plops her fluffy butt on my stomach, and Cleo tends to hop up and plant her chubby butt on my ankle... the ankle on the leg that I'm supposed to be lifting. It's one thing to attempt to lift my leg, using muscles that are being reconditioned, but it's totally another to have the Super Chunk sitting on the leg.
- Despite one of my four bosses being on vacation for the first two weeks of the month, it's been very busy at work culminating in two of the bosses have BIG things due on the same day. I have to admit, there were a few tears that day. Sniff...
- One would think that the weekends would be relaxing, but this was my month to be the "clicker" in the soundbooth at church on Sundays. It's amazing the amount of stress I feel when I'm doing this. During the songs, I'm generally doing good. As long as I don't get carried away in singing along that I forget to click. Or, like there was this song we sang yesterday. Don't recall the name, but on one slide, the same three lines were repeated twice, then the next two slides were identical... so basically, the same three lines were repeated six times.... (4 times too many for my taste), but the big problem was that I had to pay attention - and if you know Rose, you KNOW that I'm easily distracted. I mean, I've had to force myself to just pay attention to what I'm writing here! The second stressor that I have is during the actual sermon. Now, one Sunday, the Pastor didn't have a PowerPoint, and I told him that if he loved me, he could feel free to take the rest of the month off, PowerPointedly-speaking. Well, I guess he showed me, because we had one for the rest of the month!! And yesterday was really bad. Now, first, when Pastor Dave is opening up with a prayer, I'm sitting there praying that I won't make a spectacle of myself via the Powerpoint. So having said my usual, he starts his sermon, and I'll be darned if within the first three minutes he isn't already talking about stuff that's on the LAST SLIDE!! Oh, my stars... Rose was almost having palpitations. Fortunately we both made it thru and I don't have to click for the rest of the year. Whoo hoo!!
- Saturday I started packing for the great trip. I swear to you, after gathering all of my electronics, the iPad and its case, the iPod, the iPhone, the Kindle, and all of their assorted chargers, and that thingee that allows me to use electricity in the UK, I may have to take another suitcase!
I do hope to have access to wifi at some point and maybe get some blogging done on the road. If not, I'll take copious notes and we'll have tons of pics, I'm sure, so I'll be able to fill you in on the fun when I get back. Until then... Rose OUT!
Monday, June 2, 2014
Don't Know Much about Geography...
I've decided that passport stamps, like tattoos, can become addictive. It took many moons and
several "Year(s) of the Passport" for me to actually get my passport, then once I got it, it was another couple of years before I actually used it. But I did. Of course, we all know how that trip worked out for Rose... leaving a body part, in bits no less, in Scotland and all. I didn't really get to see much of Scotland. I saw the countryside from the train window, but I was in pain and feverish, so I can't claim that I took much in. I saw the city from the train station to the hotel, then from the hotel to the hospital, and then hospital to the dorm where we stayed while I awaited being able to leave the country, then the dorm to the train
station. So I'm sure Scotland is a very nice country, and while I can wholeheartedly recommend going there for emergency surgery, I just don't think spending a week at the hospital was a good way to acquaint myself with the country of (some of) my forefathers.
I want to return. My mother, who graciously bankrolled the previous trip, is no long up to doing the airport 5K, running from one gate to another, so she is out as a travel companion unless we can get where we're going by car. I had two options: 1) my friend Annette and B) my sister Holly. Well, sorry Annette, since Holly had actually suggested that we might like to go back and see all that we'd missed before, I asked her first and she was game!
So here we are now, Me, Holly and her hubs Tom will be traveling on Fourth of July - there's nothing quite like being in a different country on the Fourth of July, or as Europeans call it, Friday... although technically, we won't arrive until Saturday morning, so we'll be spending the bulk of the Fourth in the air skipping time zones like a stone in a pond. Tom, for those of you long-time readers, is the Tom of the Dear Tom feature which appeared during the blog entries regarding mine and my niece Natalie's vacation to Gulf Shores in 2010. He knows a lot and what he doesn't know, he's not afraid to make up. Anyway, he was invited to go as me and Holly's chauffeur as neither of us wanted to drive around in a foreign country. Since he'll be along to share his "wit" and "wisdom," the Dear Tom feature may rear its ugly head again in future posts about this upcoming trip.
The plan is to spend one week in Ireland, see if we can find us some Lucky Charms or a pot of gold. Tom's friend Bill will be joining us on this leg of the trip. I gather going to Ireland is on his bucket list. I don't plan going into details of the trip at this time because a) I'll probably be blogging about it then, and don't want to bore you; and 2) we don't really have any firm details set. We know where we'll be laying our collective heads each night and that's it. We learned on our previous trip that a lot of the universities there rent out dorm rooms during the summer and other breaks super cheap, relatively speaking, and you get breakfast in the dining hall! So Holly and I spent an evening a couple of months ago plotting out our plans, and making room reservations! If nothing else, we'll have a good knowledge of the university dorms!
The second week will be spent in Scotland. There are a couple of things
I'm really looking forward to. First, we're going to spend the night in a castle!! I'm a big fan of time-travel romance novels, and while one of my vacation dreams is to find a dead body on the beach, meet a cute detective, solve the crime and live happily ever after, the other of my vacation dreams is to be in England, or Scotland, or Ireland, you know, somewhere in that general geographic region, and fall and hit my head on something and wake up in another century, meet a cute dude and live happily ever after. Of course, with time travel comes the issues related to germs, food prep, bathrooms (or lack thereof), and no air conditioning... so of course the end result is the cute dude would come back to today's time to be with me, of course. Anyway, spending the night in a castle gets me a little closer to that possibility. Especially since I've been to various beaches multiple times and have yet to discover a dead body. The dead jellyfish doesn't count.
The second thing I'm looking forward to is going to the Battlefield at Culloden. There's a really good series of books (time travel romance) that I adore and the first book of which is being made into a TV series later this summer, and the Battle of Culloden plays a big part. Plus, it just wouldn't be a Barger Vacation without going to either a cemetery or a battlefield, so this is a must!
station. So I'm sure Scotland is a very nice country, and while I can wholeheartedly recommend going there for emergency surgery, I just don't think spending a week at the hospital was a good way to acquaint myself with the country of (some of) my forefathers.I want to return. My mother, who graciously bankrolled the previous trip, is no long up to doing the airport 5K, running from one gate to another, so she is out as a travel companion unless we can get where we're going by car. I had two options: 1) my friend Annette and B) my sister Holly. Well, sorry Annette, since Holly had actually suggested that we might like to go back and see all that we'd missed before, I asked her first and she was game!
So here we are now, Me, Holly and her hubs Tom will be traveling on Fourth of July - there's nothing quite like being in a different country on the Fourth of July, or as Europeans call it, Friday... although technically, we won't arrive until Saturday morning, so we'll be spending the bulk of the Fourth in the air skipping time zones like a stone in a pond. Tom, for those of you long-time readers, is the Tom of the Dear Tom feature which appeared during the blog entries regarding mine and my niece Natalie's vacation to Gulf Shores in 2010. He knows a lot and what he doesn't know, he's not afraid to make up. Anyway, he was invited to go as me and Holly's chauffeur as neither of us wanted to drive around in a foreign country. Since he'll be along to share his "wit" and "wisdom," the Dear Tom feature may rear its ugly head again in future posts about this upcoming trip.
The second week will be spent in Scotland. There are a couple of things
The second thing I'm looking forward to is going to the Battlefield at Culloden. There's a really good series of books (time travel romance) that I adore and the first book of which is being made into a TV series later this summer, and the Battle of Culloden plays a big part. Plus, it just wouldn't be a Barger Vacation without going to either a cemetery or a battlefield, so this is a must!
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Like a Surgeon, Hey!
Just a quick post-op update on the knee. My surgery was Wednesday and
as advertised, it took only about 20-30 minutes. I'd intended to
ask the doctor if someone could take a pic mid surgery for my blog, but
as I'm sitting here typing, several days later, I can't recall why I
didn't. Not that I'd have actually thought they would do it. I'm
pretty sure that my phone has to be the nastiest thing in existence so
there would definitely be sanitary issues!
So the doctor came out and told Mom that all went well, and that I'd be in recovery soon. I, on the other hand, woke up feeling as drunk and druggy as I ever have. You know, that "your head is too heavy for your neck" feeling and my brain was somewhat awake, but my mouth was unable to speak the words it was told to speak. My peeps at work had high hopes that I'd "drunk text" them, but I don't think I could have even held the phone! And by the time I had the phone, my usual self control had re-exerted itself.
After getting my snack of sweet tea (I'd earned the real stuff) and peanut butter crackers (NOTE: if you have dry mouth, do NOT choose peanut butter crackers as your snack), Mom packed me up in the party van and drove me home. I got ensconced on the couch with my knee propped up and an ice pack on it and Mom left to go pick up my pain meds. She also had instructions to go to the grocery store and pick up some Bunny Tracks ice cream.
Despite the pain meds and very good nursing care, that first day, I was pretty sure that I was going to die. I tend to get maudlin after surgery - don't know if it's the pain, the drugs or the difficulties associated with getting up from the toilet. I also had the mother of all headaches - a side effect from the anesthesia, one supposes. The sad part was that none of the pain meds were even chipping away at the headache. Thank God for Aleve - I popped a couple of those and laid down - upon waking it was gone.
Thursday and Friday, each day the leg was better. I still needed the crutches to motor around but, if I use the difficulty of getting up from the toilet as a barometer, I was definitely improving.
Saturday, I was motoring around without the crutches. I even took the elevator down (stairs are not something I'm ready to tackle) and walked around to the front of the condo to get the mail.... the sad part being it was all trash. I even took a shower! I do have to say that there were a couple of minutes of fright getting the leg in and out of the tub, but all worked out.
So, tomorrow morning, at (gulp!) 7 am... I really wasn't thinking when I scheduled that, was I?... is my first physical therapy appointment. My friend Amy tells me that they are actually physical terrorists, so she suggests that I take all the pain meds as I can before I go. The only problem is that I plan to go to work at least for a half day afterwards. I'm not concerned about working on drugs, it's the driving from the condo to PT and then from PT to work. I'll have to figure something out.
So the doctor came out and told Mom that all went well, and that I'd be in recovery soon. I, on the other hand, woke up feeling as drunk and druggy as I ever have. You know, that "your head is too heavy for your neck" feeling and my brain was somewhat awake, but my mouth was unable to speak the words it was told to speak. My peeps at work had high hopes that I'd "drunk text" them, but I don't think I could have even held the phone! And by the time I had the phone, my usual self control had re-exerted itself.
After getting my snack of sweet tea (I'd earned the real stuff) and peanut butter crackers (NOTE: if you have dry mouth, do NOT choose peanut butter crackers as your snack), Mom packed me up in the party van and drove me home. I got ensconced on the couch with my knee propped up and an ice pack on it and Mom left to go pick up my pain meds. She also had instructions to go to the grocery store and pick up some Bunny Tracks ice cream.
Despite the pain meds and very good nursing care, that first day, I was pretty sure that I was going to die. I tend to get maudlin after surgery - don't know if it's the pain, the drugs or the difficulties associated with getting up from the toilet. I also had the mother of all headaches - a side effect from the anesthesia, one supposes. The sad part was that none of the pain meds were even chipping away at the headache. Thank God for Aleve - I popped a couple of those and laid down - upon waking it was gone.
Thursday and Friday, each day the leg was better. I still needed the crutches to motor around but, if I use the difficulty of getting up from the toilet as a barometer, I was definitely improving.
Saturday, I was motoring around without the crutches. I even took the elevator down (stairs are not something I'm ready to tackle) and walked around to the front of the condo to get the mail.... the sad part being it was all trash. I even took a shower! I do have to say that there were a couple of minutes of fright getting the leg in and out of the tub, but all worked out.
So, tomorrow morning, at (gulp!) 7 am... I really wasn't thinking when I scheduled that, was I?... is my first physical therapy appointment. My friend Amy tells me that they are actually physical terrorists, so she suggests that I take all the pain meds as I can before I go. The only problem is that I plan to go to work at least for a half day afterwards. I'm not concerned about working on drugs, it's the driving from the condo to PT and then from PT to work. I'll have to figure something out.
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