Appointment tomorrow 

My appointment for a splint for my fingers on my left hand is for tomorrow morning!  Yay!  I hoped, but wasn’t certain, I could get an appointment so quickly!  My fear was the next available would be the 13th, when I have my vertigo appointment, but it’s good.  I can be fitted for the splint tomorrow morning, then I start the 6 week path to recovery and hope it does not include surgery.  

This morning the right arm fell off my glasses when it lost a screw.  Meh.  It isn’t like I took out the screw like I did after brain surgery.  I can type with only one hand and can barely see.  Still, life goes on.  I think I’ll go to sleep again, as I can’t see and can barely type.  

Til we meet again…

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I submitted my first writing for publication since 1992 on Saturday!

I submitted my first writing for publication since 1992 on Saturday!

In the end, I realized I would change something about it.  I’m not sure if I want it published or not.  I suppose I’d be happy either way… I don’t know who it was to say: “The kernel of dissatisfaction in one work is the beginning of the next,” but that person is correct.  The “decision” is said to happen by this Saturday or soon after.  Wish me luck, I think.  Whichever way it falls, I will be pleased.  There is another contest I have my eye on, I only don’t know HOW I will adapt the writing to fit into the next project.
For now, my left hand/wrist is hurting tremendously!  When I fell in NYC at the end of my trip I strained something severely, but didn’t recognize it at the time, because I was so focused on the cough I suffered.  Now, my hand is such I cannot grip even a cup or hold my toothbrush.  I am proud I managed an appointment with a hand PT specialist this Friday.  I hope he can help me.  I don’t imagine it will be the quick fix dad sees it to be (cortisone shot), but I don’t see it as as long a rehabilitation process as my vertigo.

If I’m published, I’ll link everyone to the magazine and I’ll put my entry here.  If not, I’ll edit my entry for another publication and keep it under wraps.  Til later!  
Reminder, the images not photos on my blog are used with permission.  Please respect the artist and go to: http://www.sapergalleries.com/Gonsalves.html

Walked to my voting place today! 2 miles each way (hilly) 79 minutes RT!

Dad’s out of town, but I discovered in researching the ballot that I needed to vote today. I can choose the DEM candidate for US Senate on the November Ballot, and many judges are up for election. It’s important enough to walk to the polling place, yes HACKING most of the way. It was good. I’m glad I did it!   
I took a bath (hate showers, can’t balance) upon arriving home and now I’m feeling better. I’m hungry, but far more tired. I’ll wait till after I nap to eat. This evening I need to log on to Sutterfly from dad’s computer and see if it’s worth using the $10 coupon that expires tonight. I expect the shipping will be too expensive. Meh. The $5 mug I ordered cost $17+ with shipping, so maybe I should order another mug? We’ll see. 

I’m still hacking up a lung, but I WALKED today — YAY!

Checking in to say I’m feeling a bit better and I walked a little earlier today.  My sister in law suggested that walking might help my cough and I thought that was an interesting suggestion.  I thought I’d give it a try.  I did 2 laps of the lower area of the neighborhood (about .7miles).  Not too bad.  I coughed a bit when it was done.  It was also 80 degrees out.  BLAH!  I walked when I did, because it’s due to rain this afternoon and evening.  I just took a bath, before the rain started, and feel better now.  I hope to walk tomorrow, again, because it felt good to walk.  I used the cane, even on the lower part of the neighborhood alone.  Prior to my travels I wouldn’t have used the cane, but I feel more comfortable using it now.

I think my hair is almost dry.  I can probably take a nap soon.  Okay, enough for now.  My left hand still hurts.  I’m glad I didn’t hurt my hand until the end of the trip!

I need to start writing!!  Really writing.  Not just in here.  

Moving on… Til later!

Home now nearly 2 weeks

Still have a cough!  UGH!   At least dad is letting me sleep in the bedroom upstairs!  Downstairs is full of cat dander and smells like the litterbox.  Since it’s already hard to breathe, it’s nice to be able to ACTUALLY breathe when I stop coughing long enough to take a full breath in the middle of the night!  

I desperately need to clean downstairs, but that will have to wait until my cough is resolved a bit more.  I saw a “doc-in-a-box” my first days home and he gave me meds, but so far no good.  If it’s still bothering me in another week, I’ll see someone again.  Dad goes out of town for a few days.  When he gets back I’ll have him take me back to the same place.

I’m glad I named this blog like I did.  I can use it year after year.  

I WILL make another entry for Harry Potter World soon.  It will be a PAGE entry, full of photos and fantastic!  

WB Harry Potter UK

WB Harry Potter UK

I’m making this “first post” of my experience at Harry Potter World UK (as I’ve called it) to give my first impressions and tweet about it…  I’ll give my FULL POST by making a PAGE dedicated to the experience!

I post this now, so as not to waste any more time.  It was April 18 and 19, 2016 that I visited!  I’ve let FAR too much time pass without making an entry!

Upon leaving the final day, I was asked, “What was your favorite part of the tour?”

I didn’t have a “favorite part”.  My answer was, “The people I met along the way.”  I meant, of course, the STAFF and HELPERS working at the tour!   

  • Learning the “behind the scenes” bits was interesting….  
  • Seeing the actual sets was fascinating! …
  • But the PEOPLE involved with this experience MADE IT WORTHWILE for me!

I chose one person who brought the experience to life for me!  If I trust my memory, which is dangerous to do, I will say her name was Louise… She was in the Backlot Cafe on day one.  She helped me choose which line to go into for Butterbeer ice cream!  (Then, on day 2, when there was a long line and I was EXHAUSTED and broke, she came out to explain the less expensive sandwiches so I could purchase something less expensive and more filling!  I walk with a cane, and carrying my tray, plus my bag and the cane is an ordeal!  She very graciously took my money to the register, and brought back an eggs mayonnaise sandwich in a bag!)  I will find her name and photo in my photos.  She said I impacted her!  I’m not sure as much as she impacted me!  
After I filled up on my sandwich, I took my remaining photos and had enough remaining to enjoy a small Starbucks coffee at the entrance, before taking a taxi back to my Airbnb in Watford.  The next day I journeyed back to Amsterdam and flew to NYC.  After a few days in NYC, I flew home.  I’m home now!  What an AMAZING TRIP!

My SurvivalDay20

My SurvivalDay20

The stone I placed is the pink one at the top, above the R in “MARGOT”.

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I visited the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp Memorial.  It was exactly where I wanted to be today.  I have Miriam at my hotel, Restaurant und Landhotel Michaelishof, to thank for the experience.  She pre-arranged, by phone, a taxi-bus service for me.  I caught the first taxi at the nearby bus stop just before 11am, to go to the Bergen Hauptbahnhof station.  From there, I caught a second taxi to the Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen.  I spent the entire day at the Memorial site.

I spent as long as I needed at the exhibition center.  I learned of the Russian Prisoners of War held in the camp before it was made into a concentration camp, which I was not aware had occurred.  I witnessed several films, and observed many photos and sobering reminders of what horrors one person can do to another.  Some, I was aware of.  Some, I was not.

After taking a short break, I walked out onto the grounds to the mass graves and located the memorial stone for Anne Frank and her sister Margot.  I left the stone I have carried for Anne since last October atop that memorial.  I’m not certain if the photos will post now, but I will try.  I wanted to make the entry today, as it is April 16, 2016.

I’m back in Germany

After a long journey from my brother’s in Sweden to Northern Germany, I’m in my hotel room in Bergen, Germany.  Tomorrow I visit Bergen Belsen, day one.  The ceremonies to commemorate the liberation don’t begin until next week. I checked the website.  That’s okay.  I’m not here for that.  I’m here for my own reasons, and for my own anniversary.

It’s time to go to sleep, though.  Very brief post.  I’ll fill this in with a better account of my journey later.  Time to crash.

With my brother’s family in Sweden

With my brother’s family in Sweden

It’s very nice.  I’m enjoying it very much!

It’s a bit trying to my nerves, in that I’m not used to being around children.  

  • They have a 6 year old, who is very active and I knew from a distance in the states.  He’s my “Sir William The Great” (As great as ever!  He now speaks far more Swedish than English, understandable as he’s lived here since age 3 (late 2012) and,
  • a new niece, about to turn 1 at the end of April who is the happiest baby one moment then SCREAMS BLOODY MURDER the next!

I’m glad to have the time with them and not roaming Europe somewhere.  Watching them manage their day to day lives is astounding!  My brother has his own men’s haircut/shaving shop.  My sister-in-law works two days a week, as she’s starting back to work following her pregnancy leave of absence.  Parental leave is generous in Sweden.  In the US we “claim” to care about families, but no one passes policies to project this deep seeded “feeling” proclaimed by our politicians.  The best we can say is we can take off unpaid time to care for a sick family member/ourselves and not lose our job, if we’re lucky…

Anyhow, not going to go into all that.

As it is, I’m running out of money.  Rather, I’ve run out of money.

What I have:

  • I have my train ticket from Sweden through Denmark to Germany/Bergen Belsen, 
  • I have my train ticket from Germany through Bruxelles to London, 
  • I also have my two days’ tickets at HarryPotterWorldUK,
  • The Airbnb paid for walking distance from HarryPotterWorldUK,
  • Overnight from London back to Amsterdam –>> a stroke of brilliance by my sister-in-law, called “rail and sail”!

What I do not have:

  • Money to mail a box home from Sweden, the flat rate box is about $75,
  • Money for the taxi from the train station to the hotel in Bergen, Germany (not sure how much),
  • Money for the hotel at BergenBelsen,
  • Money for the bus to BergenBelsen memorial for two days, unless I meet a nice guest with whom I can bum a ride,
  • Taxi back to the train station when it’s time to leave,
  • Money for food from April 14 – 20th, the hotel in Bergen provides breakfast, but otherwise I’m on my own,
  • Money to reach my Airbnb from Downtown London,
  • Money for souvenirs at PotterWorldUK, but that’s the least of my concerns.

Traveling all day to Sweden is EXHAUSTING, but it will be WORTH IT!

My day began at 3am…

It’s currently 8:06pm

I’m traveling by train to my brother’s home near Stokholm, Sweden (Linkjöping) from Southern Germany.

There’s still nearly 2 hours of my journey remaining.

I LOVE that Swedish trains have free wifi!

I’ll write a better entry when I’m not dizzy as FUCK!  The rocking of the train makes it almost impossible to focus.  At least I can semi- focus and type because this is my machine.  This is my homeboy, so to say.

The last two seats I had were someone else’s and were claimed…  I had no idea my ticket included a reservation or I would have sat here from the beginning.  I’m facing forward and have use of a table!  Who’d’a’thunk!

My giant pack is back by the main door.  I get off before the two guys who helped me so far on this train.  They say they’ll help me get the pack off the train.  Or at least out of the baggage place they hoisted it.

I am SO FUCKING TIRED!

I haven’t eaten much, but that wasn’t the most important thing today.  Getting here was the key.  Now that. I’m almost in Chris’ car, it’s almost all okay again!  He will complain about my pack smelling like cats, but he’ll get over it.  I hope to wash it a few times while staying with them and fix that.

Okay. Gonna stop this now.  Getting super dizzy.  I’ll write more when I get there.