Life, the Universe, and Everything.

[curiouswombat]

Hmm - well life, anyway.

The good -

• work has been busy, but in a good way. I've been teaching and it tires me out - I have nothing but admiration for those of you who do it full-time.
• S2C and I went out for a very good dinner last night - and then met D-d to go to see comedian Milton Jones.  The tickets were her birthday present to her Dad - and were an excellent gift as we all enjoyed him very much.  Although there was a woman behind us who could have got employment as a one-person laughter track for TV sitcoms...
• I have been busy wrapping shoe-boxes to send Christmas gifts to the children of the Chernobyl area, where life is still blighted by the events of 26th April 1986 - no, not our wedding, the other events of that day!

The bad -

• Those of you who are friends of S2C will know that he went to the opticians for his routine check-up yesterday, knowing his sight was getting worse, and that he would doubtless need new glasses, only to be told that the deterioration in his right eye was so great since last time that the optician is very worried about it and wants to do more tests.  As S2C's eyesight has always been very poor (both D-d and I are used to cries for help if he puts his glasses down somewhere and then they fall, or he moves a little - without them he cannot see anything), then deterioration that worries our optician worries us too.
• The weather this summer has been so bad that the turnip harvest has failed at the 'folk village' of Cregneash - children who would usual attend the fun-days making traditional turnip lanterns for 31st October (hop-tu-naa to us), are being told to bring their own turnip if they can find one... or any other large root vegetable they might be able to hollow out!  Can you imagine a spooky lantern made out of a carrot?
• I almost didn't get home from work tonight as so many of the roads between Douglas and Peel were flooded - and I'd got stuck on the Peel side of the floods.  But I did - so perhaps this belongs in 'Good'!

The ugly -

• The guy who was the support act last night.  Well not so much down right ugly, as really not very good.  Really, really, not very good.  He was called Hal Cruttenden - avoid him if you can, I think.

Comments

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

I saw S2Cs post about his eyes. I hope there might be something that can be done to improve his eyesight. They can do some amazing surgery these days! *fingers crossed*

Teaching is tiring isn't it! I hadn't realised myself until I stopped doing it :)

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

I truly hope there will be no more deterioration. *hugs*

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about the vision problems ... I hope the tests reveal something that they can fix, or at least stabilize.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Having attended a concert and a comedian's show recently, I've decided that if I were Queen of the Universe, I'd outlaw warm-up acts.

My thoughts are with your husband's eyes (that sounds odd, I know). I've been having difficulties with mine, and my ophthalmologist up and died on me. Poor man. Definitely unexpected, and he hadn't made plans for a transition. All his staff were just out of work, as it is too expensive for new doctors to buy a practice outright. I'm going to have to break in a new doctor, and I'm very loathe to do so. We only have two in town, and I don't like one, so I better like the other!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - we will know more in a couple of weeks. It would have been sooner but he didn't want to go on days when he should be asleep.

Pumpkin soup is good...

Yes - my first couple of Halloweens in the NE were odd to me, as there were no children with turnip lanterns, nobody singing door to door... I'm guessing these Celtic traditions are the ones that crossed to the USA and became trick or treat over time.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

We really have to just wait to see what the problem actually is. One possibility is a cataract - which would be slightly unexpected as it is me whose every elderly relative has had cataracts removed, not him.


I find that after teaching 4x1/2day study sessions in 2 days I am really tired. Glad to be back to the mixture of phone calls, visits, note writing and so on.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. We'll know better when we find out what is causing the problem - hopefully then we will know what can be done.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

He is having more tests in a bit under 2 weeks time - it could have been sooner but he preferred then, to fit in with his night shifts. I am reassured that the optician didn't try to insist he go back sooner!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Having attended a concert and a comedian's show recently, I've decided that if I were Queen of the Universe, I'd outlaw warm-up acts.

S2C agrees with you - it is one of the first thing he'd do if he ruled the world, too.

We are fortunate that we have had the same optician for the last 18 years or so - he knows all of us and knows our eyes well. Even better, in some ways, we first went to him when he was only new to practice - so is slightly younger than us and likely to stay in practice for a few years yet.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - he's going back near the end of the month and then we'll know whether there is any specific cause for it.

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

I knew about S2C's eye issues from his LJ post form a few days ago. I echo all the concern that others have shown.

[ukamikanasi.livejournal.com]

I hope S2C's eyes are okay! My eyes are pretty messed up, so I can sympathize.

My birthday is also on 4/26 (but I wasn't born in 1986.) :D

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - it really does help to know that people are there, and sympathetic.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

We actually got married on 26/4/86 - so we never forget what day Chernobyl blew.

Can you remember it happening on your birthday?

I can remember the headlines in the papers on my sister's 8th birthday - the USSR had invaded Czechoslovakia!

[shirebound]

Oh gosh, good luck with all that flooding! Stay safe. And my best wishes to S2C; vision loss must be incredibly frightening.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Flooding seems to have subsided now - thank goodness. He appreciates all the good wishes - not being able to read is one of his greatest fears. We do hope it is something easily arrested, or possibly even improved, though.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

R¡That turnip looks great! It's the same idea as carving a pumpkin except it has a string handle. Are the turnips used because it's a traditional crop?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

You need the string handle because you carry them from house to house. Do people not do that with pumpkins in the states?

Our children who have gone over to pumpkins still give them handles.

But yes, turnips are a very traditional crop - and the stuff cut out of the middle would either have been used in soup or fed to the animals, with the remains of the lantern quite probably being fed to them later, too!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Some children carry large plastic pumpkins like baskets and the treats are put inside them but not real ones. Real pumpkins are quite heavy! And the little ones are too small to hold many treats. LOL
Mostly they carry decorated paper bags. The pumpkins stay home with lights in them in windows and on porches.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Emily's been going through various tests, too ... I know how stressful the waiting can be.

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

then deterioration that worries our optician worries us too.

That does sound worrisome. Fingers crossed it turns out to be not so problematic, after all.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. We'll know more in a couple of weeks - he could have had the next lot of tests done sooner, but wanted to wait until he was on nights off.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

http://www.powells.com/blog/guests/wombat-poop-fudge-by-michael-hearst/

I wouldn't have taken a second look if it hadn't been for you. I learned something--wombats poop cubes!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I have found myself wondering, since my daughter pointed the same fact out to me a while ago, just how their internal sphincter muscles must be formed to achieve this - but have never quite got around to reading it up in deadly earnest!

I think I'd rather have his fudge without the mental image of it having been processed by wombat bowels...

[ukamikanasi.livejournal.com]

I don't actually remember it happening on my birthday-- I think because we didn't really get news of it until the next day (since the USSR tried to keep it a secret).