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How time has flown…

Posted on September 19, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | 2 Comments

With my (not so) recent intrest in photography, I been hunting down old photos on my hard drive for inspection and came accross this one that had been scanned into the PC.
It was taken about 7 years ago in front of Dorval Shops in Montreal, Quebec.

The teddy bear, was Chelsea’s Christmas present that year (I had just finished shopping) and a friend had a few frames left on a camera she was taking in for processing and decided to snap this picture as a xmas gift for Brian. I sent it, nicely framed and to this day, it sits on our bookcase.

Seems like just yesterday I posed for this picture!

The “C” word

Posted on August 15, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Irony Anyone?, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity | 3 Comments

Recently, we had a bit of a cancer scare at home. And by “a bit of” I mean full blown panic. A large portion of my family has been lost to cancer of one kind or another so I can be a bit paranoid at the slightest change in a mole or freckle much less the dreaded word tumour.

My father passed away from a melanoma on his cheek, a gruelling and terrible thing to witness, so when my husband had a bump in his nose checked out and the doctor as much as blurted “Cancer!” I went into full meltdown mode…

Upon recovery, we made plans to see a specialist and have the offending “bump” removed. It turned out to be a full blown surgery that had Brian in the hospital all day and rather groggy that night. Thankfully, the pressure that had preceded the operation has eased instantly, leaving him feeling a bit better.

From there, it was simply the waiting game. Wait for pathology to check it out, wait for another appointment with the specialist. Wait, wait, wait…

I hate waiting in the queue at the bank, this nearly did me in!

Finally, we managed an appointment after the results had come in. The verdict was…non-cancerous tumour.

There is, however a 30% - 40% chance of it growing back and there is no guarentee that it won’t be cancerous next time, so Brian is meant to go back to the doctor shortly for a post op exam and then every 3 - 6 months for follow-ups to make sure there is no re-growth.

It’s certainly not something I’d ever wanted to have to go through with my husband, and I think I uderstand a little more how my mother felt when my dad went in to have a “little bump” checked.

Somehow, knowing that there is always going to be the possibility of disaster is more real now. You don’t think about getting hit by a bus everyday of your life, but a near-miss will make you look both ways…twice.

Day 15 - Goodbyes and Hellos

Posted on August 1, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | Leave a Comment

Our last day was not only hectic but very sad for both of us so I didn’t take notes on what happened so I’ll have to go from memory.

We got ready that morning pretty quickly and took our luggage down the the office where the Ryokan was kind enough to store it for us until we had to leave for the airport.
We felt a bit frantic as we knew this was our last chance to see anything we had missed.  We headed out to Asakusa first. Sandy had decided at last minute that she wanted to buy yukatas for a few of her friends and Asakusa was where we had found the best ones for the best price. We walked around for most of the morning just taking it all in and feeling the impending moment when we would have to say goodbye. Around 2, we collected our bags from the Ryokan and headed towards the airport. It takes about an hour and a half to get there so when we arrived I stowed my bags for a few hours and went to check Sandy in. We wandered through the mall in the airport, stopping to pick up some sleeping tablets and have a late lunch. We were both pretty emotional and didn’t talk too much for fear of crying. That in itself is astounding! If you know me or Sandy personally, then you know that quiet is not a word used to describe either of us very often.

Finally it was time for Sandy to go through security. We hugged…a lot, and cried…a lot. It’s not easy saying goodbye to your best friend for an indeterminate amount of time. It feels like goodbye forever. We made promises to do it all again, with our Mother next time… maybe in Rome because that’s where Mum would like to go.

Then she went through security and was out of sight.

I bawled like a baby and wandered off to get my bags and go to my terminal. I think I must’ve looked a sight because everyone was so kind to me (helping me on and off the bus with my bags) though, to be honest, everyone in Japan had been very kind at any time. I truly loved the politeness and propriety of the people there and learned to say “Arigato gozaimas” (Thank you very much) an awful lot.

11 hours later and I was home again. Connor met me at the airport while Brian avoided paying for airport parking (such a rip-off!) and we headed home.

As much as it was hard to leave, it was good to be home!

 

 

Day 14 - Tokyo…ANOTHER Earthquake!

Posted on July 14, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | Leave a Comment

As a woman, I must admit that I love to shop and with the end of our holiday looming we were in dire need of souvenirs for friends, family and work colleagues. We had managed to pick up a few small things in Kyoto and Mt Fuji but now it was time for the big guns…

We took the train to Asakusa where we found the best market ever! More stores than I could count with everything from paper fans to kimonos, key chains to beautifully painted porcelain dishes, mobile phone trinkets to gold statues…and so much more.

We wandered from stand to stand trying to figure out what gift would suit which person and trying not to buy things for ourselves. This was gift shopping!

Alas, I have no control…lol I bought 2 yukutas for myself while choosing one for my mother and best mate Maggy.  I bought a painted porcelain fan for Sandy and one for myself because they were too beautiful to choose between.

Laden with bags we stopped for brunch in a little café above the markets. I had a rice omelette with miso soup (OMG YUM) and Sandy stuck to non-Japanese food in the form of cinnamon toast with whipped cream (also yummy…lol)

By the time the proprietor had stopped piling food on our table, I had to use the facilities pretty badly. We hadn’t seen any public washrooms anywhere in the markets so figured this was our last chance. I asked where the toilet was and was pointed to the back of the café whereupon I found…a single Japanese style toilet.

Uh oh.

Up until now, I had always manage to find (or wait until I found) a western style toilet. In the end, desperation won out and I managed to successfully use the facilities without falling in or embarrassing myself. I did however warn Sandy before she got up and she chose to wait. LOL

We made our way down to the end of the markets where we found…another temple!

 

(They really are EVERYWHERE) What was new, was that the fortune shirne had bilingual fortunes. Sandy had gotten one in Ueno but as it was written in Kanji, she didn’t know whether to keep it or not. (If it is a bad fortune, you are meant to tie it to the shrine where the wind blows the bad luck away from you.) She had planned on bringing it back to the Ryokan to ask the staff dor a translation but somewhere between Ueno and home…. It disappeared.

Sandy was very disappointed and upset that her fist fortune in Japan (something she had been really looking forward to) had disappeared and she didn’t know whether the bad luck would stay with her.  I reasoned that if it was bad luck, it blew away on its own…a good thing!

In any case, we had found another shrine and one with English! Sandy pulled twice and both times got terrible fortunes. Both were tied to the shrine post haste. The third time was obviously a charm (Sandy was determined to get a good fortune.) She finally got one that was positive… an excellent keepsake of our trip to Japan!

The Bad Fortune

To Sandy’s chagrin, the first fortune I pulled out was glowing. It couldn’t have gotten any better. I think I may frame it, if I ever remember to pull it out of my “Japan” file at home.

Back at the hotel, we desperately made an attempt to pack our souvenir spoils into our already bulging suitcases.  We looked at the pile of shopping carnage (bags, boxes and paper removed to make packing easier) and wondered how in the world we were going to get this all back home.

Time to do some strategic paring down of our “necessities.”  Anything that got ruined in the wash, socks with holes worn in them from incessant walking … bin. Anything not needed back home (travel soaps, shampoos, creams etc…) got put on the table for our use on the last day and then binned. I lost my favourite pair of jeans to a split in the leg that I have hoped to repair but gave in and tossed them in lieu of my new yukatas. It was a difficult process but in the end, we managed to pack everything.