My husband and I are getting older now. And as such, it is rare that we can go through a single night, either of us, without getting up at least once to use the toilet. Calling it what it is, just one of those things that happens as you get older and we're both well into our 60's - well, me a lot more so than him. Unfortunately, I have just realized recently that my bathroom habits are much more regular at night than they are during the day. It's 11:30, 2:30 and 4:30. Yes, TMI!!! Makes it a bit difficult with the cats sleeping with us as I believe my habits have now taught my lovely "sweet baboo" Siamese that she must also get up at 4:30 and she now apparently believes that it is then time for me to stay awake and feed her. As a result, she usually gets banished from the bedroom at 4:30. That aside, I can say that it's not totally written in stone - yet. Some nights are better than others and sleep is more consistent without interruptions but those nights are becoming further and further apart.
Recently my husband and I had a diving trip in Mauritius. What a lovely trip and you can read about it and see my photos in my blog "Diving in Mauritius - and Other Stuff". Getting there is what is referred to in the airlines industry as a "long haul flight". From London Gatwick to Mauritius, it is 11 to 12 hours and 12 to 13 hours on the way back. Luckily for us, they start both ways in the evening so you can try and sleep for most of the flight. As we left Mauritius for the return at 11:35 P.M., the first thing I did once in the air was recline my seat and lights out to sleep. Didn't even care about getting any food at that point.
What is it about airplanes that makes one want to go to the bathroom??? Is it the steady drone, the rocking/bouncing/lulling motion (hopefully without turbulence), the lighting/the heating, the soft murmur of voices (hopefully no kids talking loudly or crying), or something else entirely? I just realized on this flight that something makes me need to get up and head for the tiny closet that passes for a toilet even more than is usual for my nightly habits. From the time I closed my eyes at approximately midnight until the lights were switched back on for breakfast, I woke up and headed to the bathroom no less than 7 times!!! And after breakfast, I went to the toilet an additional two times although I do admit that the last time was just because they said it would be our last time as the toilets would be locked for landing soon.
So 9 times in 12 1/2 hours! AND this is all without drinking anything past 10:30 P.M. when I had a diet coke in the airport. How absurd is all of that!? As I was thinking about it as I climbed over my fellow passengers feet once again, i realized that being in a plane makes me want to pee almost constantly it seems. I have never been on a flight, even a short 40 minute flight, where I have not felt the need to use the toilet. Yes, once again TMI but there it is, out there for everyone to ponder. I would certainly be interested in knowing if there is a study on this. I'm sure there is as governments and some people have way too much time and money on their hands and will spend it on foolish experiments and studies like "Toilet Usage on Planes - Long Haul versus Short" or some such type of title.
Anyway, for now, we are lucky enough to be travelling in business class on these flights but that will change once we are retired. Then what? Nowadays some planes are announcing that you cannot stand in the aisles while waiting to use the bathroom. I can foresee a time when I am booking seats right next to the toilets so that the minute it is open, I can jump up and run into it. It's gonna be that or - horrors - dare I say it - the adult version of diapers. OMG. please NO!!!!
Monday, March 7, 2016
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Naked Piano Course
Just love doing different things. I have many hobbies that I pursue, much to the sorrow, I'm sure, of my long suffering and patient husband. Most of my hobbies are gadget intensive which is really appealing to an engineer (my husband) but can get up there in the price range. Some of the things I do are: scuba diving (he enjoys this with me), stained glass and fusing glass and occasionally glass blowing, (lots of glass and he enjoys this as well), mosaics (we are both just starting in this hobby so still have to get lots of tools and such - yea), jewellery making, reading, and travel. All my life I have wanted to learn the piano as well. AND we have a piano in storage back in the states so it's not like I have to go get one. Thus, several years ago, my family gave me a keyboard to pursue this. While it is a long-time dream, it is still quite difficult to fit it into my schedule and practice and learn because I am an absolute beginner. I tried taking lessons from a piano teacher and she loved me because I would actually go home and practice - not like many of her young school students. BUT because of travelling and school holidays (when she would not work), I wasn't getting too far too fast.
So I am doing the self taught courses of which I have numerous books and two on line courses I am following. Still very hard to find the time. BUT I have found that after I do my exercises in the morning, (some pilates mat, walking on the treadmill, and my knee strengthening exercises), I seem to be in the very mood necessary to sit down and practice my keyboard. My piano teacher told me once that if I wasn't in the mood, don't even waste the time. The odd bit is the desire to practice hits me the minute I come out of the shower and walk into my bedroom, naked as can be, and right there is the keyboard. If I stop to get dressed - which includes doing all the creams and lotions and such as I'm older now and the body needs the special treatment, the mood is gone. So, it's sit down to the keyboard, naked as a new baby, and practice! Luckily, usually, everyone is gone to work or at the gym or elsewhere engaged so I don't have to worry about anyone catching me except the cats and they don't care. Wonder if I could start a trend?
So I am doing the self taught courses of which I have numerous books and two on line courses I am following. Still very hard to find the time. BUT I have found that after I do my exercises in the morning, (some pilates mat, walking on the treadmill, and my knee strengthening exercises), I seem to be in the very mood necessary to sit down and practice my keyboard. My piano teacher told me once that if I wasn't in the mood, don't even waste the time. The odd bit is the desire to practice hits me the minute I come out of the shower and walk into my bedroom, naked as can be, and right there is the keyboard. If I stop to get dressed - which includes doing all the creams and lotions and such as I'm older now and the body needs the special treatment, the mood is gone. So, it's sit down to the keyboard, naked as a new baby, and practice! Luckily, usually, everyone is gone to work or at the gym or elsewhere engaged so I don't have to worry about anyone catching me except the cats and they don't care. Wonder if I could start a trend?
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
The Broken Tooth
Teeth are important and I do try to take care of mine but genetically, I have been "blessed" with less than optimal teeth, hair, nails. Hair is thinning, nails rip and tear off anytime I look askance at them, and teeth like to crack. So there are a lot of crowns - fillings - and even a few caps in there, and one implant. Otherwise, my teeth are still my own so not doing too badly at my age, I guess.
My teeth have personality and minds of their own. They have made it a point to always give me grief when I travel. Is it because they know I am eating strange foods, or they know there is a dentist close by that might not have been trained in hygiene? Whatever the reason, during the last two or three years (and yes, I do travel a lot), I can count on something going wrong inside my mouth either during the trip or immediately before the trip. On occasion, my teeth have messed up the timing - giving me enough opportunity to run to a dentist and get it fixed before I go. Today they have caught me out as we're leaving on holiday tonight and one of my fillings is broken.
Is it possible that dentists are like many manufacturers these day in that they build in obsoleteness into your fillings and crowns so that you have to come back for more? Or are my teeth really sentient on their own and hate to travel while most of my other body parts love it. Whatever it is, for the next two weeks, I must remember to chew only on one side of my mouth, keep my tongue from exploring the broken bit, and hope that it doesn't get worse before my return.
My teeth have personality and minds of their own. They have made it a point to always give me grief when I travel. Is it because they know I am eating strange foods, or they know there is a dentist close by that might not have been trained in hygiene? Whatever the reason, during the last two or three years (and yes, I do travel a lot), I can count on something going wrong inside my mouth either during the trip or immediately before the trip. On occasion, my teeth have messed up the timing - giving me enough opportunity to run to a dentist and get it fixed before I go. Today they have caught me out as we're leaving on holiday tonight and one of my fillings is broken.
Is it possible that dentists are like many manufacturers these day in that they build in obsoleteness into your fillings and crowns so that you have to come back for more? Or are my teeth really sentient on their own and hate to travel while most of my other body parts love it. Whatever it is, for the next two weeks, I must remember to chew only on one side of my mouth, keep my tongue from exploring the broken bit, and hope that it doesn't get worse before my return.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
My glass hobby.
I learned how to make stained glass windows using copper foil (the Tiffany method) back in the 90's when my daughter gave me a class as a present. I loved it and have since spent much time and money working the glass. I also learned how to do leading at the same time but was much happier doing copper foil. When we moved to Houston from California, I set up a workshop in my garage, had a small business, took some commissions and enjoyed it very much.
Subsequently though, we moved to Singapore and then Korea and then lived in various places while my husband worked rotation in Angola and Nigeria. I didn't lose my enjoyment of making window panels and other such stuff with my glass but it was all popped into storage and set aside for a good number of years. .
When we were informed that we were going to live in England for awhile, I determined that I could get my stuff out of storage and take it with me and start up my hobby again. This was gonna be great and exciting and I could hardly wait, I thought. Unfortunately, I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned so my glass and tools sat in the garage of our rental house for well over a year. Our garage was underneath a deck and was just dark and dank. Not exactly a place for the wonderment of having light and glass and colors and such.
Finally, some progress though. I found a place to go learn stained glass again and also learn how to fuse glass. OMG. Do I so love that. I have discovered that in the intervening years between my Houston studio and small business, my osteoarthritis has made it much more difficult to cut glass and shape it into the small pieces I used to love to do with copper foiling. So I am leaning towards loving making leaded pieces now and fusing. Fusing uses powders and frits and glass and all kinds of possibilities.
Over the years, my tools and my lead came that had been in storage for years suffered from the neglect. Traditionally, you get the lead came and you stretch it (I say traditionally because there is a lot of debate on line now as to whether it needs to be stretched or not). Stretching it puts some rigidity into it and helps keep it in line with where you put it. The lead I had in storage was so rigid, I couldn't move it into place at all and finally took it to a metal recycler and just got new lead. So I need to stretch it some. I have a little shed that I have put up for my work. I have a lead vise on a small bookcase and can put the lead into it, pull on the other end, and get some stretch. Unfortunately, the bookcase isn't very heavy and you do have to put quite a bit of umph into the pulling. So I have to stand on one foot, brace the other foot against the bookcase to keep it from moving, and pull hard to get a stretch in my lead. There's a line between pulling the lead too hard and having the bit break off in your pliers and you go flying backwards, and just pulling enough to get any kinks out and give it some rigidity but still pliable enough to shape. Still working on finding the fine balance.
Also, when you lead, you really need a solid steady surface to place your pieces, put your lead on, push them together, fit them together, get it all in good shape before you solder it all. I don't have that. My table is an old craft table that wobbles. So when I am leading, everything shakes, I do a lot of un-doing, re-doing, un-doing again to get it tighter and so forth. So while I like leading a lot now, sometimes it just is too frustrating to finish a piece. AND I am having so much fun doing fusing.
My glass guru is a wonderful artist who studied for years, has worked in the industry for years and has her glass windows all over England in wonderful places like the Tower of London and such. Not a hobby for her but her livelihood and passion. Thank goodness she does love to teach and I take every class I can get from her. Fusing is great. You pile up your glass in a pattern of some sort (having a pattern does help), which might involve cutting some glass, might involve a lot of frits (glass gravel) and such. Then it is cooked in a kiln. You come back later and voila, you have a wonderful piece of fused glass for your window or whatever. I was so fortunate to become a good friend of my guru as well and when she bought a new kiln, she loaned me her old one to use and practice my skills.
Of course, I promptly broke the dang thing! how absurd is that. But I managed to fix it so that it still works (and I do promise to get it fixed professionally before I return it). And now I'm happily fusing away whenever I can manage to find time to get enough things ready to pop into the kiln and set it going. I think our electric bill has climbed a bit because of it.
This past year, my family presented me with a gift certificate to learn how to blow glass as well. My husband and I found a groupon for a one day class and we went and made paperweights. Then I got the gift cert and had a day blowing glass at a studio in Cranleigh. That was marvellous as well. I'm not very good at the blowing bit though. My instructor just gives a puff and his glass has a nice bubble and shape. I blowing for all I'm worth as hard as I can to get the same little bubble.
Think that my love is fusing though. It is the easiest for hands and eyes. So I am experimenting a lot. Don't have it all sussed out quite yet. Sometimes my colors come out wonky and sometimes my shapes don't do what I expected but I'm learning and it's great.
Subsequently though, we moved to Singapore and then Korea and then lived in various places while my husband worked rotation in Angola and Nigeria. I didn't lose my enjoyment of making window panels and other such stuff with my glass but it was all popped into storage and set aside for a good number of years. .
When we were informed that we were going to live in England for awhile, I determined that I could get my stuff out of storage and take it with me and start up my hobby again. This was gonna be great and exciting and I could hardly wait, I thought. Unfortunately, I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned so my glass and tools sat in the garage of our rental house for well over a year. Our garage was underneath a deck and was just dark and dank. Not exactly a place for the wonderment of having light and glass and colors and such.
Finally, some progress though. I found a place to go learn stained glass again and also learn how to fuse glass. OMG. Do I so love that. I have discovered that in the intervening years between my Houston studio and small business, my osteoarthritis has made it much more difficult to cut glass and shape it into the small pieces I used to love to do with copper foiling. So I am leaning towards loving making leaded pieces now and fusing. Fusing uses powders and frits and glass and all kinds of possibilities.
Over the years, my tools and my lead came that had been in storage for years suffered from the neglect. Traditionally, you get the lead came and you stretch it (I say traditionally because there is a lot of debate on line now as to whether it needs to be stretched or not). Stretching it puts some rigidity into it and helps keep it in line with where you put it. The lead I had in storage was so rigid, I couldn't move it into place at all and finally took it to a metal recycler and just got new lead. So I need to stretch it some. I have a little shed that I have put up for my work. I have a lead vise on a small bookcase and can put the lead into it, pull on the other end, and get some stretch. Unfortunately, the bookcase isn't very heavy and you do have to put quite a bit of umph into the pulling. So I have to stand on one foot, brace the other foot against the bookcase to keep it from moving, and pull hard to get a stretch in my lead. There's a line between pulling the lead too hard and having the bit break off in your pliers and you go flying backwards, and just pulling enough to get any kinks out and give it some rigidity but still pliable enough to shape. Still working on finding the fine balance.
Also, when you lead, you really need a solid steady surface to place your pieces, put your lead on, push them together, fit them together, get it all in good shape before you solder it all. I don't have that. My table is an old craft table that wobbles. So when I am leading, everything shakes, I do a lot of un-doing, re-doing, un-doing again to get it tighter and so forth. So while I like leading a lot now, sometimes it just is too frustrating to finish a piece. AND I am having so much fun doing fusing.
My glass guru is a wonderful artist who studied for years, has worked in the industry for years and has her glass windows all over England in wonderful places like the Tower of London and such. Not a hobby for her but her livelihood and passion. Thank goodness she does love to teach and I take every class I can get from her. Fusing is great. You pile up your glass in a pattern of some sort (having a pattern does help), which might involve cutting some glass, might involve a lot of frits (glass gravel) and such. Then it is cooked in a kiln. You come back later and voila, you have a wonderful piece of fused glass for your window or whatever. I was so fortunate to become a good friend of my guru as well and when she bought a new kiln, she loaned me her old one to use and practice my skills.
Of course, I promptly broke the dang thing! how absurd is that. But I managed to fix it so that it still works (and I do promise to get it fixed professionally before I return it). And now I'm happily fusing away whenever I can manage to find time to get enough things ready to pop into the kiln and set it going. I think our electric bill has climbed a bit because of it.
This past year, my family presented me with a gift certificate to learn how to blow glass as well. My husband and I found a groupon for a one day class and we went and made paperweights. Then I got the gift cert and had a day blowing glass at a studio in Cranleigh. That was marvellous as well. I'm not very good at the blowing bit though. My instructor just gives a puff and his glass has a nice bubble and shape. I blowing for all I'm worth as hard as I can to get the same little bubble.
Think that my love is fusing though. It is the easiest for hands and eyes. So I am experimenting a lot. Don't have it all sussed out quite yet. Sometimes my colors come out wonky and sometimes my shapes don't do what I expected but I'm learning and it's great.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Spiders, ugh
Not a fan of spiders, any, really. But I can manage to catch them and release them outside, if they are daddy long legs or something I recognize. I am also not too squeamish about squashing them if they are in my house space but I do always feel bad about doing that since I know they are useful. And I have been known to shriek and leave the room quickly and yell for my husband if it's big and nasty and fast. All gametes of spider phobias and dislike and acceptance all in one place so I can understand others being freaked by spiders.
Had to make an emergency run to the vet on Friday. Not for any sick pets, thank you, but I was dangerously low on cat food. Our fuzzy babies are all on special diets and while it wouldn't hurt them to eat something else for a day or two, we're trying to get our two big boys (one of ours and our daughter's cat) to lose some weight and that's what I needed.
Luckily they had about 5 bags of the food and I snatched up 3 of them. I paid cash and the lone young lady working the desk had to go get the safe key from the vet and go get change from the safe. As she is handing me my change, I notice a rather large daddy long legs close to the bottom of her shirt. She is wearing a nurse-type of shirt - buttons down the front but does not tuck into her trousers. I tell her she has a spider on her shirt.
She immediately goes totally rigid and says "I HATE spiders" and her voice is quivering. I tell her to get close and I will brush it off. But that dang spider with all it's little spidey eyes saw me coming and started working it's way down her shirt and the minute I reached for it, he went underneath her shirt.
"Opps" is my comment.
If it was possible, she got even more rigid and says in a squeaky and timorous voice "It went up inside, didn't it."
"Yep". She starts squealing because she's still trying to hand me my change and has dropped a coin. I tell her to forget my coin and run to the back and get help. She manages to scoop up my coin and practically throws it at me as she is dashing to the door that leads to the back of the vets office. Now she is yelling, "Spider, spider, spider, help, get it off me."
Poor girl. I can feel for her. I think she had her shirt unbuttoned by the time she hit the door.
Had to make an emergency run to the vet on Friday. Not for any sick pets, thank you, but I was dangerously low on cat food. Our fuzzy babies are all on special diets and while it wouldn't hurt them to eat something else for a day or two, we're trying to get our two big boys (one of ours and our daughter's cat) to lose some weight and that's what I needed.
Luckily they had about 5 bags of the food and I snatched up 3 of them. I paid cash and the lone young lady working the desk had to go get the safe key from the vet and go get change from the safe. As she is handing me my change, I notice a rather large daddy long legs close to the bottom of her shirt. She is wearing a nurse-type of shirt - buttons down the front but does not tuck into her trousers. I tell her she has a spider on her shirt.
She immediately goes totally rigid and says "I HATE spiders" and her voice is quivering. I tell her to get close and I will brush it off. But that dang spider with all it's little spidey eyes saw me coming and started working it's way down her shirt and the minute I reached for it, he went underneath her shirt.
"Opps" is my comment.
If it was possible, she got even more rigid and says in a squeaky and timorous voice "It went up inside, didn't it."
"Yep". She starts squealing because she's still trying to hand me my change and has dropped a coin. I tell her to forget my coin and run to the back and get help. She manages to scoop up my coin and practically throws it at me as she is dashing to the door that leads to the back of the vets office. Now she is yelling, "Spider, spider, spider, help, get it off me."
Poor girl. I can feel for her. I think she had her shirt unbuttoned by the time she hit the door.
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