The Barbers in New Zealand

Thursday, Feb 9

2012-02-09T20:26:00.002+13:00

The biggest news around here is that Joseph has started getting college acceptance letters--much sooner than I had expected! He got an e-mail (not surprisingly) from Digipen Institute last week, and got a packet in the mail today. And yesterday he got a very nice, personal letter from Earlham (making reference to Harry Potter, and Quaker camps) accepting him and offering two merit scholarships--one President's scholarship, and someone else's...it all adds up to less than a quarter of the total cost, but that isn't anything to sneeze at.

Four more to go, and he is to make a decision by the first of May. He is very much enjoying his summer, with lots of friends still around before they go off to various universities, mostly over the next couple of weeks. He has made spaghetti for a gang of them tonight, as they play some game that isn't quite Dungeons and Dragons, but like that.

Joseph got his full driver's license two weeks ago, just in time for Emily to start school, and for him to start picking her up from school, which is very helpful. Emily likes her new, young and energetic male teacher. She is in Year 8, the top of the school, with lots of emphasis on leadership and independence and setting a good example. In two weeks, they will go to school camp for a week, and hers involves going on the Tongariro Crossing--supposed to be the best one-day tramp in New Zealand, some 12 kilometers over a mountain...I'm just as glad someone else gets to coax her onward...

Hiccup and Charlie are still getting along swimmingly. Hiccup starts adolescent puppy class in two weeks. He is still the cutest thing on four legs.

A new year

2012-01-06T19:52:00.003+13:00

I am sorry for being so very delinquent in my blogging. It is not that nothing is happening...the last semester was a very busy one, and it kept on going after classes ended, right up until the middle of December, when the university closed up and we went home.

Highlights of the last six months:

In July, Joseph went off to Greece and Italy with his classics class (under the pretext of looking at vases and old stone buildings). My sister Sarah came for two weeks, and had some quality time with Emily, since my between-semester break did not correspond at all to Emily's between-term break, thanks to the biggest media event of the year (you may not have noticed), the Rugby World Cup.

In October, Emily and I went on a cruise! It was a small one (four days), to try out the concept--big boat, thousands of people (well, 2000). I wasn't sure how it would be, but we enjoyed it--Emily liked the kids' programme, and I liked reading my book on the balcony and not being able to do dishes even if I wanted to. We might try it again in a more exotic location (like Asia or Pacific Islands) sometime.

In November, my college roommate, Marian, and her friend, Pam, came to visit. They explored some local attractions on their own (Rotorua, The Shire, where they had just finished filming the Hobbit) and we went to Taupo and Napier over a long weekend. Highlights were the Art Deco walking tour (Napier was destroyed by an earthquake in 1930-something, and rebuilt very prettily) and the gannet colony, where we saw gannets hatching.

Joseph finished his last exam in November, and became a "high school leaver". This doesn't sound like much of an accomplishment...but we tried to celebrate, in spite of minimal cultural support.

The BIG EVENT, however, was Christmas, and its aftermath...Emily got a puppy. Ok, we all got a puppy, but he is Emily's, officially, and Charlie's friend. He wasn't actually under the tree--just a package of puppy accessories that very, very slowly dawned on Emily as she opened them up. It included a picture of the puppy, on a dog tag necklace, which she wore for the next 10 days, while we went to the Quaker Summer Gathering, and then picked him up on January 3. Emily has named him Hiccup. He is a Tibetan Spaniel, five months old.

So the anniversary of Manford's leaving was marked also by a new beginning. We did have some words about him in Meeting that morning, and the yearly meeting gave us a fern to plant in his garden.

Hiccup and Charlie started off slightly leery of each other (Hiccup barked, which scared Charlie, who is about 8 times his size), but they have quickly become friends, and started romping in the yard within two days. I will post pictures.

And by the way, Joseph turned 18 on the 30th, and (I'm not supposed to know this) had a date with a girl on Boxing Day (the 26th). The mother grapevine is strong. And I got myself a car for Christmas--a Honda Jazz, which is called a Fit in the US, I think. It will replace the minivan, as we downsize. Still plenty of room for us and the dogs.

Shortest days

2011-07-13T06:43:00.002+12:00

It is July, midwinter--still getting used to that. We are past the shortest day, so someday soon it will be light by 7, but not now. I went to a conference in Dunedin, a far piece south of here--almost to the bottom of the South Island--last week, and it was even darker there, and colder, but nothing like Kansas cold. It was a university town--30,000 of the 110,000 inhabitants are students--and the oldest university in New Zealand (that's not that old...maybe 100 years? maybe a bit more?). I liked it, but really didn't get to see much of it because it was dark by the time we got done with the conference every day, and I didn't really have time to linger. Emily stayed in the boarding house at her school, and enjoyed it, at least for a five-day stint. Joseph held down the fort at home, eating nothing but chicken tenders and pizza, as far as I can tell.

The day after I got back was Book Character day at Emily's school, and I realized as I dropped her off that this is the Halloween equivalent here. They barely celebrate Halloween, and not at all at school, so I'd been kind of sad she was missing out on dressing up and parading around--but then they have this day, which is the culmination of Book Week (they have some authors come and talk to them--not sure what other things go on), when they get to dress up as a character from a book, and they talk about it for weeks, and come in an array of costumes, from casual (a bow and a book, and you're Matilda) to elaborate (I saw a girl in an enormous hoop skirt and wig struggling out of a car). Emily was Robin Hood's daughter. Don't ask me what book that was.

Joseph was off long before dawn this morning to a "fixture" in Auckland--that is where all the sports teams from one school go to another school and play all of their teams. Joseph is on the chess team, and looks a little out of place with all the jocks in their school track suits...then tonight, at midnight, he and a friend are going to the opening of the last Harry Potter movie. Complex emotions. I have no idea what his are. Then, Friday morning, he leaves for Greece and Italy, with his school Classics class.

My sister Sarah is here, hanging out with Emily during the day, as Emily is on the break between terms (she has three weeks). She has been here two days and is nearly recovered from the trip, I think. She and Emily and Charlie walked to Hamilton Gardens, a big park a good walk away, between rain showers yesterday.

We've got the basics of Manford's memorial garden put in, now, and I can see it out the living room window, where he spent his last month. There is a Japanese maple in back of the Buddha, but it is just a stick right now--and the flowers are barely there, but in time I think it will be lovely. I am working on some mosaic on stones at the hospice art therapy group to add one of these days.

Twenty years on

2011-05-28T13:19:00.000+12:00

We have celebrated, and weathered, Manford and my 20th wedding anniversary this week. The last month or two have been hard, I suppose the reality of loss setting in and work no longer working as a way to get away, so I approached the anniversary worried, and with a bad cold. Most of our big days are spread across two days here, now, since the date comes first here, then in the US, and we are not sure which is the real anniversary. So on the 26th, here, I had lunch with a friend who brought beautiful flowers, and had a massage, and at home with the kids we lit a candle after dinner and looked at wedding and honeymoon pictures (which Emily loves to do). We remembered many friends and family that way, some of whom are gone, some changed a lot, some changed very little. Then on the 27th, I had six friends over and we opened the bottle of wine Manford and I brought back from St. Victor la Coste, where we spent much of our honeymoon. The wine was a bit harsh, but the company was good, and we toasted Manford.

This time of year is the most confusing for me here; I don’t know if that is worse this year or if it is just the juxtaposition of it being May, but so clearly autumnal, that I can never figure out what the date is, and feel very disoriented. Here they would say “disorientated,” but I can’t bring myself to do that. It is a beautiful sunny day at the moment, but there are big grey clouds hanging about and it could change rapidly. We have some amazing varieties of fungal life growing in the garden, the most spectacular of which is called a basket or lattice fungus, apparently, and it looks like something man-made. First there is a small roundish brown egglike thing in the grass, and then out pops a white structure like a latticework ball, about as big as a softball. A few days later, it collapses and stinks. Apparently it is part of the “stinkhorn” family, but it is definitely not hornlike.

At Easter, we went on a trip to Wellington and then on to Nelson, at the top of the South Island. All three of us went to Wellington, and ate good food and explored for a couple of days before Joseph went up to Young Friends Camp at Whanganui, and Emily and I went on the ferry to the South Island. We drove to Nelson, and spent four days there. It was a bit rainy, but on Good Friday (which is a holiday there, along with Easter Monday) it was not yet rainy and we got to go sea kayaking and got very close to a dozen or so seals. I also learned to try to steer with my feet (the double sea kayak has a rudder controlled by foot pedals) and coordinate paddling with Emily, which was challenging because she has learned to kayak in smaller single kayaks where she steers by paddling strategically or chaotically, depending on her whim. At least she has gotten over her previous habit of dropping the paddle every ten minutes.

We had a good time, but punctuated by the realization that everywhere in New Zealand (and the rest of the world) is either somewhere I went with Manford, or somewhere I didn’t go with Manford. Maybe we need to work on taking him with us, still. Happy Anniversary, my love, and everyone else who remembers it.

A month later

2011-03-23T12:29:00.003+13:00

It seems like it has been a long month, though most of what is happening is not to us--upheaval of all sorts in many parts of the world. Here, Emily has happily joined the ranks of the myopic...she has been waiting for years for the coming-of-age that getting glasses seems to represent for her. Or the joining the family, or something--she felt left out being the only one without glasses. Now she is not different any more, and seems to be adapting well to wearing her glasses most of the time, though she doesn't really need them all that much...

We enjoyed visiting with Carleen and Bob Franz, from Lawrence, over the last week or so--Carleen was here visiting a friend in Taupo, and then Bob joined her and they came her for a couple of days, during which she graciously taught one of my classes and talked with some people at Emily's school about learning disabilities--maybe sowing some seeds to come back and do more exploring.

Charlie and I have been enjoying morning walks in the part, but the dawn comes later and later every day, and is encroaching on the time I need to prod Emily into getting ready for school. Our time has not changed yet, but will in a couple of weeks. The weather is still lovely, though--almost like Fall sometimes, then slipping back to summer. I was corrected in the tea room, though, for calling it Fall. Autumn.

I have been trying to fathom structural equation modeling, which I think was not really invented yet when I took statistics. The good news is that I am starting to putter around in some data that has been sitting here for nine months, waiting expectantly(maybe appropriately, being as it is about pregnancy). But there is always more to know, more to learn, more to do.

Severe earthquake in Christchurch--not here

2011-02-22T15:44:00.002+13:00

We are just hearing about the severe--not so high on the Richter Scale, but very damaging--earthquake in Christchurch today. No, we didn't feel it; it is very far away, but we are sad for the people there, and for the loss of some beautiful old buildings. I just saw a picture of the Christchurch cathedral, a centre city landmark which I think is in one of these old blog pictures, with the top broken off. I hear there has been loss of life (which fortunately there was not in the last big quake there) and much damage downtown. We can all hold them in the light.

Orlando report, while I still remember...

2011-02-13T09:02:00.003+13:00

Time is slipping by; I went back to work this week, and am figuring out how to juggle and/or coordinate things. Emily tried out for Girl's Choir(which is a chapel choir, which means things I'm not sure I yet understand) for the third year in a row, and got in this year, much to her delight. This means she has rehearsal after school until 5 on Wednesdays (which is good, no after school care that day) and before school at 7:45 on Fridays (which is good, I get to go to work early, but this Friday we nearly forgot, which would have been a fatal error and she is convinced would have meant she was kicked out of choir, but I remembered at 7:20, five minutes after she got out of bed, and we made it...). Joseph does not have Chemistry, because of a scheduling conflict and a full class, so he has one open period this year, and is enjoying sleeping in on Tuesdays and planning two groups of Dungeons and Dragons followers. He is the dungeonmaster, which means he makes up the plot, kind of, and it seems to involve quite a lot of more careful notetaking than I've ever seen him do for school...

Step back three weeks, to Orlando...We spent one day at Harry Potter Wizarding World (or, more correctly, at Islands of Adventure, which includes HPWW), and one at Disney World Magic Kingdom. We stayed at one of the hotels affiliated with Universal, so we could just take a water taxi to HPWW, and got in an hour early, at 8 a.m. This might not have been Joseph's ideal plan, but I dragged him out of bed and we did go early, because I had insider's tips from the night before in the hot tub, when I talked with several young men who worked at HPWW. They said go to Olivander's Wand Shop first, because it has the longest lines, and then the Forbidden Journey, which is the Hogwarts Castle ride. So this is what we did.

As you can see in some of the early pictures, when we got there it was to a very empty park. There were a couple of dozen people from the park hotels, all making a beeline for HPWW. Islands of Adventure consists of six different themed areas--Dr. Suess (which Emily and I enjoyed), Marvel Comics (where Joseph went after HPWW), Tune Lagoon (old fashioned comics like Blondie and Popeye), Jurassic Park, Lost Continent (sort of vaguely classical mythology) and HPWW. Each has a few rides and/or shows, and lots of shops...

Harry Potter Wizarding World was very well done--it consists of an entry with a very small bow to the Hogwarts Express--part of a train and a little station, and a street that is kind of a blend of Hogsmead and Diagon Alley--it has many shops and two restaurants, the Three Broomsticks and the Hogs Head, though really they are the same building. Some of the shops are just storefronts, but there are plenty you can buy things in...a candy shop (Honeydukes), a joke shop (Zonko's), Flourish and Blotts, which should be a bookstore but is miscellaneous souvenirs...and Olivander's, the wand shop, where we did start. They let in a few people at a time into what is essentially a show in the shop, where Mr. Olivander picks and child (Emily was disappointed not to be picked, but enjoyed it anyway) and he goes through the process of having the child test out three wands, in roughly the sequence Harry experiences in the first book--the first wand makes all the wand boxes bang and rattle, the second collapses some shelves, and the third glows and makes magic happen...then you all move out and the parents of the chosen child get to buy the wand, if they so desire...and everyone else can buy a wand, of course. We have wands, so we did not need to buy one.

Emily was wearing Quidditch robes--the red and gold robe Sue Wine made, with minor assistance from me, for Joseph's long-ago Halloween costume. He wore it several years, and Emily has been making good use of it lately. Joseph just wore one of his regular Harry Potter t-shirts, and acting nonchalant...

Then we sped on over to Hogwarts, it still being before 8:30 in the morning, and there was no line for the Forbidden Journey, which actually turned out to be something of a disadvantage. They have designed the ride so that you walk through the castle, presumably slowly if you are in line. We kind of dashed through, not taking sufficient time to appreciate the detail, which included talking pictures and interesting magical instruments. We went through Dumbledore's office, which had a hologram of Dumbledore talking, and the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom, where Harry, Ron and Hermione were talking, and dashed onward. Later, Joseph and I went back and realized that these were setting up the premise to the ride. We were students, going to a History of Magic Lesson (boring, taught by a ghost), and Harry, Ron and Hermione were scheming to fly us out of the castle to escape the lesson (the Forbidden Journey). We arrived in the Griffindor Common Room and sat in chairs (the ride) and took off. The ride was a bit harrowing. If I hadn't been worried about Emily being traumatized, I would have enjoyed it a bit more, but really she was ok, an parts of it were fun...I liked the parts where we were flying on a broomstick, following Harry out over the castle and landscape. I wasn't as fond of the parts where we were approached by dementors, giant spiders, and a dragon...I think Emily had her eyes shut through much of it, but somehow she seems to remember more of it than I do, or at least with more certainty about what happened when...They took a picture of us during it, and Emily has her eyes shut and her hands over her ears, I am gazing upward as if praying or god knows what, and Joseph looks carefully composed. Come to think of it, I bought a download of the picture, and so will get it sometime and post it if I can. Emily claimed to be very embarrassed by it, but did take the hard copy we bought to school last week...

All the rides these days dump you out into a shop, where you can spend hundreds of dollars, if you wish. We accummulated many odds and ends, but resisted early in the day. After the ride, we went to the Three Broomsticks for breakfast, including the first taste of butterbeer, which was a very sweet version butterscotchy creme soda. Then we wandered around Hogsmead as it got more crowded, and by 9:30 had basically seen it all...there are two more rides in HPWW, but they are both roller coasters and neither of the kids were very interested in going on them. Emily and I went to Suess Landing, where we enjoyed the colorful kiddie rides and went on Cat in the Hat three times and the CaroSeussal twice. There were almost no people there because all the new people had dashed straight for HPWW. Later we walked around the park with Joseph, seeing Captain America and Dinosaurs and all, and had lunch at Mythos, which claims to be the best theme park restaurant in the world. That may be true (the competition is not all that stiff); it was kind of like a real restaurant.
After wandering the now-crowded shops of Hogsmead and buying more Harry Potter stuff (two new shirts for Joseph, Emily's first HP shirt, a quill, keychains, cards, a Gryffindor cap and luggage tag...), we dragged ourselves back to the hotel to rest. Joseph and I returned later in the afternoon for a second look. It had been a cloudy but warm (for winter) day. I think it would be miserable in summer. At 6:00, just as Joseph and I were leaving to go back to the hotel, it started pouring, complete with thunder and lightening so that the water taxi did not operate and we had to wander around trying to find the other shuttle back to the hotel, getting thoroughly soaked and returning to find Emily hiding under the covers. We got room service and holed up in our hotel room, looking at our loot.

The next day, we had a more leisurely morning, not rushing to get to Disney World. Joseph might disagree, since anything that involves getting up before 10 seems like rushing to him. We took a cab to Disney World, which is a city, if not a county, of its own, about 20 minutes from where Universal's domain is. There are four theme parks and two water parks and thousands (probaby tens of thousands, really) of hotel rooms and hundreds of shops in Disney World. We went to the Magic Kingdom, the traditional Disneyland-ish park. With Fairy tale castle, Small World, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, etc. No Matterhorn, though. It was pleasant enough...neither of the kids is really into wild rides, though; Joseph went on Space Mountain, and Emily and I wandered around and enjoyed a Buzz Lightyear ride that involved shooting things. I dragged both kids to Small World, where we found they do have a small New Zealand bit, and to the Haunted Mansion, which was a bit much for Emily. So she didn't go on Pirates of the Caribbean, which was probably a good choice. We had lunch that was no competition for Mythos, and enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic, which was a 3D movie zooming through various Disney shows. I couldn't convince the kids to see the Hall of Presidents...another spin at Buzz Lightyear, some real American ice cream on Main Street, and we were done. Enough theme park for a few years...

Home again, home again...

2011-02-03T10:18:00.002+13:00

We arrived back in New Zealand Tuesday morning, before dawn--an hour early, as I guess we had a nice tailwind. All our travels (on four different airlines) while in the US were fine, too, and we are grateful not to be trying to get around there this week...our sympathies to all who are snowed or iced in.

We spend Tuesday in a bit of a haze, but at least got all the suitcases unpacked, and the house looked great, thanks to our nice Italian housesitters. They seem to have had a mutually enjoyable time with Charlie, who is happy and furry and due for a trim. Sirius is also fine and enjoying the rain-enriched grass in the front yard.

Joseph started school on Wednesday, poor thing; he tried to shave off his beard (waited until that morning...) and ended up looking scruffy but clearly had made the effort so he didn't get in trouble at school...we will take him to the barber today to see if they can do it right. He is still working on straightening out his classes, but it looks like he will be able to take all he wants to, which would be Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, Programming, Classics, and English. I have a list of mysterious school supplies to buy now--such as: 2B8 ruled 7mm, 94 leaf stiff covered lecture book (he needs two of these) and A415Z8 5 tab indices. Actually, this all goes fairly well at the stationery store, we hope, but sometimes by this time they are out of the more exotic math supplies. We'll see.

Emily started school today, with great excitement and some trepidation. She is in Year 7, which means she has moved upstairs. Her teacher is...something that started with C, and an Irish accent. She seemed very nice, and her closest friend was in her class, saving a seat for her. She wore the somewhat voluminous blazer of a girl who moved away last year and gave us her uniform, kindly, before she went...good thing, because her old blazer and all her (grubby, but official) ties seem to have disappeared into someplace I put them cleverly before we left.

And I have two days before I start back at work (plus the weekend). I will leave soon to have tea with a friend whose husband used to be in the hospice art group with us, and who died of a similar kind of tumor as Manford, while we were gone. Then I will do some of the medical appointments I have not got around to for the last six months (bone density, fibroid scan) and peruse the school supplies before getting Emily.

Yes, I will write about our trip, and Wizarding World. It was good. I spent much of yesterday afternoon going through pictures (I seem to have taken 786 of them) on our pokey computer, and then it wouldn't open the blog. More later, I promise. If I can get the computer to work, or if I buy a new one.

Halfway there (more, really)

2011-01-14T14:25:00.002+13:00

We are in Sacramento, and halfway recovered from the flight, on which we did not get a lot of sleep this time, for some reason. We were in the middle of the plane, though we did get to sit together (it didn't look like we could when I booked it, but they shifted around easily). A friend drove us from San Francisco to Sacramento, and we all slept 10 or 12 hours last night. Today we accomplished the buying of shoes for everyone, as well as buying a lot of miscellaneous at Target...there is just nothing like Target in New Zealand.

Tomorrow we will be in Kansas, hoping to see snow everywhere but on the roads...

Friday

2011-01-07T18:44:00.003+13:00

Yes, it is Friday here already, and we had the memorial service here today. It was held at the university chapel, where Hamilton Friends meet, and was very nice, except for being very hot...I guess we are usually there in the morning, and not in the heat of summer. Anyway, there were about 80 people there, which is more than expected, especially given that half of New Zealand is at the beach right now (possibly more than half). We had a mix of Quakers from Hamilton, a few from Auckland, and two families who where hanging around after Summer Gathering--and also neighbors, the kids' friends, colleagues, students, members of the brain tumor support group. Kiwis are shy, though, and not many spoke in the Meeting; one played "Amazing Grace" on the flute, which was lovely. One Auckland Friend is from Kansas, and she brought sunflowers. The kids had good support from their friends (as did I) and the powerpoint slideshow worked fine, thanks to technical support from the psychology department. As well as my friend Kyle, who figured out how to make the music files work (I don't usually have background music in my lectures...).

I will attach a picture of the Rimu casket with Manford's ashes. Most of them; we have some to bring to Kansas, along with all the necessary legal documenation to make sure we are not smuggling cocaine...

We are looking forward to the Kansas memorial, with people who have known Manford so well and so long. It is confirmed for 2:00 on Sunday, January 16th at the Governor's Row House. We will be arriving in Kansas on Friday evening, and staying about ten days, and then off to Harry Potterland in Orlando. Almost all arrangements made...

Now we are replete with Kiwi comfort food, which is unfortunately not necessarily compatible with my stomach...sausage rolls, bacon and egg pies. lots of them. and then there are asparagus rolls, which are overcooked pieces of asparagus wrapped in a buttered slice of white bread...we have some nice apple cucumbers from our garden, though, and pineapple and various fruit that were cut in inedible ways by the caterers and so were left over...we also have some large flat kind of cake I have not identified, but might be good. But mainly, we have about 20 servings of bacon and egg pie, which only Emily really likes...maybe she will be a Kiwi after all. She also likes meat pies (mince and cheese). Not fish and chips, though.

Busy Days

2011-01-05T19:24:00.003+13:00

The last two days have been filled with friends helping, and more food than we can eat, and we are making progress. We will have a memorial service here in Hamilton on Friday, Jan 7 at 2:00 at the University Chapel (which is where our Meeting meets). Then next week the kids and I will fly to the US, and it looks like we will be having a memorial service at the Governor's Row House (ok, this is only 97% confirmed, but I will say if it is different) at 2:00 on Sunday, January 16th. Where we got married, for those who are old enough to remember.

We will hang around Kansas about a week, hoping for snow, and then fly to Florida to visit Diagon Alley and Hogwarts and whatever we can find, then back to Sacramento to grandma, before slipping back to New Zealand in time for the kids to start school at the beginning of February.

Right now I am wearing out our poor little netbook trying to make all these reservations and preparations and so on.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, again and again.
Carrie

2011-01-03T21:56:00.002+13:00

Manford died at 5:55 this evening, while we were gathered around him singing ("In the Garden"). Joseph and Emily were here and are doing well; Joseph has gone back up to the summer gathering to be with friends there and say good-bye (it ends tomorrow), but he is coming home tonight, and Emily and I are about to go to sleep, at last.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers; we know you have been with us.

2011-01-03T08:13:00.002+13:00

Manford is in a coma now and they think it is a matter of hours. Please hold us in the light.

Happy 1/1/11!

2011-01-02T06:33:00.003+13:00

It's actually 2/1/11 here, now, but I enjoyed yesterday not worrying about which way the month and day go. I still have to think about it, especially in the potentially ambiguous first part of each month...

The kids are still at Quaker Gathering, but will come down for a visit this morning, both to see Manford, who is fading a bit, and to try to solve the Sirius problem...I can't remember if I wrote about his escape from his frontyard pen on Wednesday. I don't know how he got out; I managed to tempt him with a particularly juicy piece of grass, but that was after 10 minutes of running around the yard...I hope they can observe him and see what he tries, because he has been missing some lovely days in solitary confinement in his indoor hutch.

Manford has been struggling with another urinary tract infection, and has been awake mainly only when it hurts the last 24 hours. They have increased his morphine, and he seemed to be sleeping comfortably most of the time, but he hasn't eaten anything or drunk much since Friday (2 days ago). I am learning many new skills I hope will never come in handy again...but have many friends, Friends, and professionals helping.

I had a nice talk with Sue and John Wine in Topeka yesterday, and heard it was almost as warm there as here a couple of days ago. The kids will be disappointed to hear that...they think it is always all snowy winter idyllic there now...it is summer idyllic here now, high of maybe 80, with a nice breeze.

Happy New Year!
Carrie

New Year's Eve

2010-12-31T07:13:00.002+13:00

I am hoping for a quiet New Year's Eve tonight, though that may be optimistic...on Christmas night, at 10:30, the neighbors started shooting off major fireworks, high in the sky booming and sending a rain of something (sparks? ash?) on our house so that I thought someone was spraying a hose at the window next to where Manford was sleeping. After listening for some time, I went over in my pajamas and asked them to be quieter (there was a party going on, also), and got a rude reply, but they did get quieter...so we will see.

The kids are at the Quaker Summer Gathering in Ngarauwahia, just north of Hamilton. I went up yesterday to take Joseph to lunch for his birthday, and it is a really nice camp with lots of activities, and they seem to be having fun.

Manford had a subcutaneous pump installed on Monday, after some advocacy, which is what we call begging and cajoling, right? on my part. I kept asking "what is the downside? are there clinical risks? why NOT do it?" because he was having to take 20-something pills a day, with increasing difficulty using a straw, and I was afraid he would choke. On Friday, when I first asked this, the big nurse in charge (in the sky, who I have never met) said no, because he could still swallow. No one could or would tell me why not do it if it could make him more comfortable, as I learned it had for our friend who is in similar straits. Then on Monday the nurses came and actually listened to me when I said I was afraid he would choke, and they may be in trouble with the big nursie at home, but it was a holiday and they didn't have to ask her. I have since gathered that the drawbacks are resourcewise, since they now have to come every day to load the pump. I didn't know this, and no one would say. Anyway, it has been helpful, as he quickly seemed much more comfortable and settled, though he slept much of the first couple of days. He was a bit more up and down yesterday, but still better than before.

Sarah left on Tuesday, and I hope is home by now...it was really good to have her.

Happy New Year's Eve Eve, for those on the other side of the dateline...
Carrie

Boxing Day

2010-12-26T16:55:00.002+13:00

I feel we really should be doing something with boxes, and we have plenty of leftovers, but don't think the deserving poor would really appreciate our scraps, and we don't have servants...It would not be a bad idea at all to box up the leftover toys in the family room, but no one has the energy for that...

Whereas Manford slept nearly all day yesterday, and all through the night, today he has been more wakeful and eating constantly all afternoon...strawberries (unfortunately dwindling in the garden), soup, jello, ice cream, bread, Christmas cake (fruitcake), mochi, more soup...It is helpful to have Sarah to do some of the feeding, both of him and of the hungry children...

It is cool, cloudy, lazy day. Emily has put together the train Santa brought to go around the Christmas tree, and it is in the hallway now...Joseph has gone to a friend's house to play video games.

I hope your Christmas was merry.
Carrie

Merry Christmas (eve)

2010-12-25T09:12:00.002+13:00

It's Christmas morning here, though, and we've made it through the excitement. Manford slept solidly from about 7 last night, through 6:30 stocking madness and Santa presents, Charlie playing happily with her new toy. He woke up briefly to eat a croissant and juice and take his myriad of morning pills, and went back to sleep through the present opening, so he still has a small pile of treats for when he wakes up. He hasn't slept this long in a long time, if ever, but he seems peaceful, so we are happy.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night...

Almost Christmas

2010-12-22T07:23:00.002+13:00

Defying expectations, Manford is still here, and looks like he will make it to Christmas. He is unable to get out of the bed at all, but this has made things simpler, in some ways--no more precarious transfers to the wheelchair or recliner. He is on oxycontin now, because of various increasing pains which may be directly or indirectly related to the cancer, and it is making him a bit fuzzy on reality...we have got a palliative care nursing agency coming every other night or so, and during the day for a few hours, and this is really helpful.

Two weeks ago the hospice nurse was trying to talk me into putting him into a nursing home, but I looked at what was available and couldn't send him to that hot concrete cell (the best face I could put it on was a monastic cell, but I am not sure that is the most accurate). But it spurred me to get more help, and that has been godsend. And my sister Sarah arrived last week for about 10 days, and she is also a great help, especially with the kids.

It is very hard to tell how much longer now; Manford is still wanting to eat, though not as much as a couple of weeks ago, when he was spurred to ravenousness by the steroids. He has trouble, intermittently, drinking from a straw, and with various motor tasks like turning in bed. He is ready to be done with it, and keeps saying goodbye, but his body is not finished. Our friend from the hospice art group, Glenn, who also has a brain tumor, and lives about five blocks from here, is in about the same condition; they also have children, six and fifteen, also trying to make it through Christmas.

what I forgot to say

2010-12-05T11:24:00.002+13:00

A couple of weeks ago, someone broke into our house and took our laptops--the computers themselves are no great loss, as they were getting quite decrepit, in fact were sitting out in the living room because I was going to back them up onto the new external hard drive we had just gotten because I was afraid either or both were going to expire, with all our pictures and music on them. But I didn't back them up. Let that be a lesson to you.

I have some pictures of Manford because I had started to make a powerpoint slide show with some of them, and saved it on a memory stick. But most of our pictures for the last four years are gone. If any of you have pictures from your visits here, or our visits there, and could send them to me (maybe on disks if there are more that a few), I would really appreciate it. And I will back them up.

December already

2010-12-05T11:00:00.002+13:00

We will decorate our tree today, though I can't believe Christmas will really come this year, and can't predict what it will be like. Just after Christmas is the annual weeklong Quaker Summer Gathering, which is to be held just a half hour north of here. Joseph and I have been on the organizing committee, though me just nominally the last six months. Joseph is representative of/to Young Friends; he can go on his own, supposedly, and bunks with the YF's this year for the first time. If I can't go, Emily will go with her local honorary grandmothers, Joy Rising and Mary Rose.

Joseph has started a volunteer job, three afternoons a week, helping sort, clean, and move things around at the Hospice Shops (second-hand stuff to support Hospice). He seemed happy with this after the first day, though it was hot, since he has chosen to work in the afternoons...they close down, like 3/4 of New Zealand, between December 21 and January 10.

Emily had her school "Panto" this week--this is apparently a British tradition--the Christmas Pantomime. As she has been rehearsing and talking about this over the last few months, I have been puzzling, becuase it clearly didn't seem to be what I would think of as a pantomime...she kept singing the songs, and talking about character's lines...it was finally clarified for me by a British friend at our Thanksgiving dinner. It is an audience participation kind of play, which traditionally includes lots of booing the villians and cheering the heroes, actors playing the opposite gender, songs, and apparently always one character who actually is a mime. Emily was a cat and a cheerleader in this one, which was a version of Dick Whittington, in which he comes to Southwell school...They did a good job. I tried to take a few pictures with my iphone but they did not come out well...Emily now just has 3 1/2 days left of school.

Manford has been struggling with a urinary tract infection, and more weakness; he is tired of it all and discouraged. He did get up and join us for Thanksgiving for a few minutes, and talked with his sister Joan on the phone well that day. He appreciates your thoughts and prayers.

November

2010-11-16T08:43:00.003+13:00

November, in New Zealand, at least this year, is beautiful spring weather. We have strawberries already, escaping from the raised bed and enough to share with the birds and slugs, though I may try to do something about that...

Joseph is in the midst of big exams; he will be done with all of them in a week, and done with his penultimate year of school. Almost time to really think about college. Almost.

Emily has almost four more weeks of school, which seem to consist mainly of sports and plays and fun things. She is happy at school right now, with two or three good friends who provide solace from the teasing of the boys...and she thinks maybe the teasing is better because they feel sorry for her now, and she is taking advantage of that. She is very open in talking about Manford's illness, and her friends are supportive. She and I went last night to a magic show, which we got tickets to via Rainbow Place, the programme within Hospice for children. The performers were Americans--one traditional magician and one more comic one; they were affiliated with the Lions somehow, doing a series of performances in New Zealand. We both enjoyed it muchly, though it was past our bedtime.

Manford is in hospice this week, enjoying their very kind and thoughtful staff who don't mind his calling in the middle of the night...He was there last week for a few days, then got very homesick and came home over the weekend, then wished he was back there, and his wish was granted. He will probably be there until Friday. He is frustrated with being so tired, but not in pain. He does appreciate the messages he has gotten from people, and knows people are thinking of him.

Last Friday night we had a movie night at Rainbow Place (which has really nice facilities, including a room with lots of beanbag chairs and a TV) for the families of the brain tumor support group; I will post a picture. I managed to convince Joseph to come (there were two other teenaged boys there; Emily took now persuading), and Manford came and sat through the whole movie (How to Train your Dragon).

Meanwhile, we are getting the yard all spruced up, and I am working on Christmas shopping, suddenly realizing that it is coming, though I can't really associate Christmas with summer and so it is still very confusing.

Merry Thanksgiving and stay warm, or cool, or whatever is appropriate.

another month

2010-10-23T17:04:00.002+13:00

Again, a month has slipped by. We have been busy. We did go to Auckland during the school holidays, and stayed in a really nice apartment on the waterfront for three days. We took a harbor tour, and went to the maritime museum next door, and on the way there (this may have been the highlight...well, one of them) we went to the American store, which we had only recently learned of, where we bought a hundred dollars' worth of comfort food...Planter's Peanuts, Pop Tarts, Life cereal, Kraft Mac & Cheese, graham crackers, Wheat Thins, and candy corn!

It went well enough that I thought Manford and I could attempt a trip to the South Island--he had said he would like to see whales, and there is a place there (Kaikoura) that is famous for whale-watching, so this last week, we went--got a locum grandparentis (a very good woman from the Friends Meeting here--from Maine, actually--who has house and dog and bunny-sat for us, so it was just another step...), and flew to Christchurch (which had a 5.0 aftershock from last month's earthquake an hour before we landed), and drove 2 1/2 hours to Kaikoura, where we stayed for three nights. It was beautiful--snowy mountains backing the bay--but the sea was too rough to go out whale watching, so we got massages instead, and had a very good, quiet time together.

Manford is not in pain or major discomfort, just more and more tired. They put him on Ritalin, actually, just before we went, for the fatigue; it seems to help a little bit. He can sit up for a meal, but can't really do restaurants because of the wait, so we had a place with room for eating, and I got lots of takeaways. In Auckland, Joseph pushed him around in his wheelchair, but in Kaikoura, we didn't really go anywhere that was a distance, and he can walk from the car to a building. We did find a nice gallery where he got Christmas presents for the kids. Don't tell them. I don't think they read the blog.

I have been on a listserv for caregivers of brain tumor patients, and have realized that we have much to be grateful for. He doesn't have major pain, or seizures, or any of the dramatic personality change or difficult behaviors that can come with frontal lobe tumors. He is himself, but much more tired and dependent on me for decisions of all sorts (when, where, and how to put his arm in his shirt, etc). He is still trying to think of others all the time, and trying not to be a bother...but he is eating like a horse, every couple of hours.

We had a good visit with the palliative care doctor last week--he is Canadian--he suggested trying the Ritalin, and is very available. He looked at the notes from the oncologist, and confirmed for me what I wasn't sure I remembered, or understood, clearly from the last meeting with him. He said to me (I think) that he though Manford had one or two months to live; he put in the notes that he thinks he is in his last three months of life. Things can change quickly, because the tumor can grow quickly. One woman in our support group had a recurrence diagnosed, and died two weeks later. So we are trying to enjoy everything we can, now, and I have stopped work for now, and my colleagues are very supportive (some are more help than others...but they all say they want to help).

I will go and try to post pictures.

MRI news

2010-09-25T10:28:00.002+12:00

Time slips by; I did not realize I had not written since before the arrival of Sirius Black Monster, Emily's new bunny, who is very friendly and working out well. The kids are both out of school now for their between-term holidays; Joseph has been having practice exams the last two weeks, so has hardly been in school, really.

Manford had an MRI this week, and we met with the oncologist next day for the results, which were not encouraging. He has growth in three areas that I guess were suspicious before, and now seem to be tumors. One is where the first tumor was taken out, in the middle of the right frontal lobe; one is anterior (frontmost) frontal, and one is temporal (all right side). This helps to explain why he couldn't get off steroids, and has been having a bit more trouble lately. There is really no active treatment that has any reasonable chance of helping, so we are seeing the palliative care team next week. I will be trying to decrease work further (from two days a week to maybe just essential meeting, and what is essential?).

We did get the hot tub finished about two weeks ago, and it has been great for the kids and me; Joseph has been in it every night and actually talks to me sometimes...Manford has had difficulty getting in and out; we got a rail put in this week, but it was still a bit stressful getting out, so we'll have to see. The OT may have some suggestions.

It is spring, with many pretty flowering trees, but also rain, rain, rain...

We are going to try to spend a few days in Auckland over the next two weeks; we were thinking of going to Australia, but I don't think that is realistic--but Auckland is close and there are many things we haven't seen, and if the weather clears, maybe a dolphin and whale tour.

We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

on solid ground

2010-09-04T18:23:00.002+12:00

You may have heard about the big (7.1) earthquake in Christchurch today--our thoughts are with them, but be assured we are far away from Christchurch, and Hamilton is one of the safest, most earthquake, volcano, tsunami-free zones in New Zealand.

We did have a lovely spring day today, with sun and a breeze, such that our patio finally dried out enough for the paving man to come and finish it! hurrah! He has been stymied for over a week by daily rain. We should have the hot tub within a few days.

We are thinking of the Wines, who must be in full wedding prep mode. We hope all goes wonderfully on Monday.

Manford has had an up and down week, good visit to the doctor on Tuesday, off steroids a week, then on Friday up at 4 am and unsettled, confused, difficulty walking and saying what he wanted to say, memory problems, and headaches, so back on steroids now, and better, but a bit frustrated. Chemotherapy postponed slightly to see how he does over the weekend.

And tomorrow Emily and I will go fetch the bunny, whose name may be Thunder, if it suits.

Home again, home again

2010-08-26T13:28:00.003+12:00

Manford was discharged this morning, and is happily napping in his own bed. Now the poor guy has to look forward to a bumbling needle-phobic trying to jab him in the stomach with his blood thinner every day...the hospice nurse will come and help teach me to do this. At least we have one registrar (resident) opinion that it is still ok for him to use the hot tub, which is due to be installed this week.

Ward 25

2010-08-25T09:02:00.002+12:00

Manford was hospitalized yesterday on the oncology ward at Waikato Hospital for a big (knee to groin) blood clot in his leg. Apparently brain tumor patients are at particularly high risk for this. He isn't in any pain--just a very puffy foot--and is on blood thinners. I hope to find out more from the doctor today. The risk is that it could travel to the lung/heart of other parts.

At least it seems like a relatively nice unit, for the public hospital--private room with a view and a poster of puppies on the wall. And even a TV!

I'll write more when I know more.
Carrie

We are all ok

2010-08-22T15:00:00.002+12:00

I'm sorry it's been so long--just the usual busy one thing after another. Manford just finished his fifth course of chemotherapy, and is in the process of tapering off of steroids, we hope. The combination of steroids and chemo has made his skin so thin that he has all kinds of bruises and blood blisters under his skin, and cuts himself at the drop of a hat. Friday I was trying to change a bandage and tore the skin just taking it off, so now we have elaborate procedures, and luckily the nice hospice nurse came today and changed it, as I was scared...but he is feeling better, walking better, with more energy and better short term memory. All that probably mostly the effects of radiation wearing off, and maybe also decreasing steroids. We are planning some travel over the next few months, when he is likely to feel his best. In October, we hope to go to Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef, and then in the summer (maybe December or January), we will go to the South Island; he'd like to see some whales, and there is a famous whale-watching area in the northeast part of the island, and then maybe see Milford and Doubtful Sound in the southwest.

The kids are fine; I will post a picture of Joseph all spiffed up for his school ball (prom) last night; it sounds like it was a good event, no pressure to bring a date, or even to dance...the theme was "Cluedo," which is the game we call "Clue" (Professor Mustard in the kitchen with a lead pipe...). Joseph did his first bit of useful driving since he got his restricted license; he went and picked up Charlie at the doggie day care, where she has been going to avoid the man digging up the back yard, which would deeply offend her sense of territory. Joseph is not allowed to drive anyone else who hasn't had a license more than two years, but we have interpreted that to mean humans...

The backyard is being dug up to put in a patio for a hot tub, which we are looking forward to. Emily and I went around "wet testing" various models and settled on one, only to discover that the deck in the back was not strong enough to hold a hot tub, and the one that had been there previously was set into the deck, anyway...so no more deck, extensive digging and leveling, and lots of gravel and complicated procedures, and maybe next week we will have a patio.

Emily is very excited at the imminent prospect of getting a baby bunny. We succumbed to a hutch on sale, so now we need to follow through and find a bunny, which looks like it will involve a trip to Auckland in two weeks, when some baby dwarf rabbits will be old enough to take home.

I finally got out in the garden a bit yesterday, and pulled up a bin's worth of weeds. It is early spring, and alternating rain with bright, cool sun, sometimes in five-minute intervals--but good for weeding. Daffodils are blooming, and it is time to start planting things. I still have to think carefully about what month it is; I'm not sure how many years it takes to get used to being upside down.

Yesterday in the hallway outside my office, which leads to a door marked all over with "emergency exit only" signs(which cowed me at first, but is used routinely by everyone all the time), a man was heading out and then stopped, saying "I guess I can't go this way." I assured him that he could, and everyone did, and he noticed my American accent, and asked where I was from. It turned out he was from Sacramento, and had gone to Rio Americano High School a few years before I did...so even on the other side of the world it is a small world. Come visit us!
Carrie

Happy Birthday Charlie!

2010-07-13T11:20:00.002+12:00

Charlie was four this Sunday. We did not have cake, but she got a new bed, a rawhide bone that made her very worried until she could take it outside and bury it, and some doggie snacks she enjoyed and devoured in seconds. It was very hard to get her to sit still for the picture.

MRI OK

2010-07-08T14:43:00.003+12:00

We met with the oncologist and got the results of Manford's MRI--no change from the previous one, which is good news--maybe not quite as good as the prior one, which showed shrinkage, but the doctor still thinks it means that he has the genetic whatchimicallit that makes the tumor vulnerable to this particular chemotherapy (which only about 1/3 of people have). So we continue with the chemo, starting this month's round a couple of days late because Manford has some kind of infection in his ankle--swollen and painful for the last couple of days--but otherwise he is feeling ok. We are missing Joseph, but looking forward to hearing all about his trip, if not from him, maybe from my network of informants...Manford's birthday is coming up on the 22nd, so we are trying to think of a suitable celebration. Joseph will be home so I guess we can have American junk food--Fritos and marshmallows?

The fourth of July

2010-07-04T16:21:00.002+12:00

Just another day here, and it isn't REALLY independence day yet because it isn't the Fourth there, yet...well, maybe on the East Coast, barely. So Happy Fourth of July, Marian, Suzy, and to the rest of you as it comes...

Another month has rolled by and I haven't written. A very busy month, at my work, as we had an accreditation site visit for the clinical programme, the first such process in New Zealand, so no one quite knew how nervous to get, but I, being American and having a tradition of horrors such as JCAHO accreditation, and APA accreditation, and such, had it in my genes to take it seriously, unlike my colleagues, who managed to get the first attempt postponed by both being out of town for the appointed days...anyway, it was a relatively painless process, a very collegial and clinical evaluation in which they asked very good questions but were also clearly identified with our side of the process, helped along by the fact that the chair of the site visiting team was the director of the next programme up to be visited...and then two days later I chaired the oral exams for our interns, a two day ordeal in which I sit with two external examiners in a room with extremely nervous students trying to show that they know what they are doing. They all passed (a couple by the skin of their teeth), so I had happy phone calls to make afterward. During all this Manford had peace and quiet at Hospice, and then had to get used to being at home again with the dog barking and Emily singing incessantly (which in my book is better than a lot of other things she could be doing, but took some adjustment after the calm at Hospice).

Then, last week, we put Joseph on a plane for California (and Chicago, and Kansas). We decided to all make the trek to Auckland, where Manford and Emily stayed in the motel room while I took Joseph to the airport and launched him into the unknown at the security line, hovered around for an hour making sure he wasn't extruded in some way, and then wandered, only slightly forlorn, back to the motel. We visited Butterfly Creek, an attraction we have driven past many times on the way to the airport; it's a rainforest-like dome with lots of butterflies and birds, and has added on various non-sequitors like crocodiles (which are BIG) and baby farm animals (for some reason mainly including guinea pigs and rabbits, but also a very engaging 18-day-old pig called Wilbur) and Emily entered in spite of the ubiquitous taxidermy (stoats, possums and weasels, the villains of New Zealand) and a good time was had by all.

Emily is on school holidays (a three-week break between terms two and three, of four), and has been hankering for snow, so we decided to make our first real expedition to the mountains since coming here. Last year when Sue Wine and her mother were here we got somewhat close, but it was sleeting and we didn't go far enough up to see snow. So this time we got a reservation at a grand old hotel (the Chateau Tongariro) and borrowed a child so Emily could have someone to pelt with snowballs, and we drove the three hours to Mt. Ruapehu (not mentioning to Emily that this is, actually, an active volcano that did erupt two years ago, but no one seems very worried about that, really). I will post some pictures. Manford stayed in the lovely hotel, while I drove the girls up the mountain for sledding and snow angels and snowman-building. Rachel, Emily's friend, had never seen the snow, and was thrilled. For some reason she was inspired to eat quite a lot of it. It is a different landscape than the Sierras or the Rockies--very rocky, a bit bleak if it weren't for the snow. Actually, the next mountain over (which you will see in the pictures, looking very classically volcanic) was Mt. Doom, for LOR fans. In two years, Emily will tramp the Tongariro Crossing, a famous all-day alpine trek that is described as "challenging" in the guide books...it is part of the Year 8 camp rite of passage at Southwell School. Parents are warned not to come unless they are "fit"...

Anyway, we made it down the mountain again and are home, have made phone contact with Joseph in Topeka, and getting ready for Manford's MRI tomorrow, starting another week of chemotherapy. He has been reducing his steroid dose gradually but successfully, so if the scan looks good he may be able to get off the steroids for the time being, which would be very good.

I will post some pictures, and try, again, to do better at keeping you posted...
Carrie

Keeping on...

2010-06-06T13:39:00.002+12:00

I apologize for the long silence. It has felt like there is not really any news--just more of the same. We have decreased Manford's dose of steroids, going successfully from 6 to 4 milligrams per day, which I think has been helping. The oncologist thought that many of Manford's symptoms (including poor sleep, dry skin, high blood sugar, and maybe some of the fatigue) were due to the steroid, and I do think he is a bit better over the last week or so. Both the oncologist and the neurosurgeon think he's doing well, looking at the MRI primarily, but also because he can still walk (he is practicing taking laps up and down our hallway), and they think that the fatigue and some of the memory problems may be still due to radiation effects, and may gradually improve. The more I talk with other caregivers, the more I realize that the radiation can really take a toll, and that is hopeful in that he might feel better.

Manford has been drawing, and we have been watching funny movies, and he now has a weekly visit with a volunteer who takes him out somewhere (to a cafe, or bookstore), and he seems to enjoy that a lot.

Joseph has just finished a week and a half of practice exams--I grumble as it seems like they spend an incredible amount of time on exams when they could actually be learning something...but he seems more challenged and involved in school. He is looking forward to his trip to the US, starting in 3 weeks. Hard for me to believe I'm sending him off, passport in hand, to travel up the west coast with Aunt Sarah, then fly from Seattle to Chicago to visit with the Freeds, then to Kansas for a week, then back to Sacramento and home via San Francisco (possibly with excursions to Santa Cruz and Stanford).

Emily has been enjoying being sole goalie for her soccer team. Too bad they didn't have a game yesterday, which was a beautiful sunny fall day, but it's Queen's Birthday weekend, and no sports because I guess we're supposed to be doing something--not sure what--it's not quite skiing weather, but not beach weather, either. Today it is rainy and gray, more typical soccer weather...

One nice thing we did last month was go to a weekend retreat sponsored by the brain tumor support group, at a camp in Raglan, just less than an hour from here. The camp was basic, but the view was amazing, and it was good to spend some time with three other families--two with children--who have a patient with a brain tumor. I'll post a picture or two. And I got a nice massage, and they had volunteers who cooked and cleaned up and we were pampered, generally.

Manford starts his third round of Temodol, which is an oral chemotherapy agent, this week. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to bother him much--a little nausea, but nothing major. The next MRI is not for two more months, when we see the neurosurgeon (actually, a neurosurgery resident, called registrar, here, who Manford calls the baby doctor, but who is probably 30, and very nice. Jason. I don't even know his last name. doctors are different here, that way--they are almost all on a first name basis).

And Charlie is getting awfully shaggy, having missed her beauty appointment and it not being on the top of my list right now...she continues to entertain herself gazing out the window and barking at selected passersby.

I will try to find those pictures, now...
Carrie

Where we are now

2010-05-06T08:59:00.003+12:00

It is May already, sunny and cold, in the afternoon maybe passing for spring, but genuinely Fall. We accomplished a happy birthday for Emily, complete with sleepover party, which Manford and I left to the happy ministrations of Laura, the 26-year-old ex-DJ housekeeper who has been saving my life weekly the last few months. It seems [that a good time was had by all (possible exception of Laura) and Manford and I had '[some sleep in Cambridge, the next nice little town down the road. Joseph also vacated the premises to a friend's house. Then we had Emily's real birthday on Monday, and Manford and I were able to go to the mall (thanks to the wheelchair) and he picked out a gold locket with a four leaf clover that she loved, as well as all the American treasures brought by Joan and Ross, Manford's sister and nephew who were here visiting for a week in April. I will post pictures from all of that--it was a good visit, especially when we all (all the grown-ups) went to Rotorua for a mineral soak and massage. It was very sad to see them go, though.

Manford has been struggling with all sorts of frustrating symptoms that make it difficult to be happy and believe in the good MRI results. He continues to have postural hypotension, though we have now discontinued lots of meds, including two of his Parkinson's meds. He is also really tired and weak much of the time, and wakes up in the middle of the night with nausea. He has terribly dry skin andThey did some blood work last week, and he had very high blood sugar (it is measured on some different scale here, so I won't bother to say how high), so we did a glucose tolerance test yesterday and are awaiting the results; he may have steroid-induced diabetes. If this can be treated, I suppose it might be good news because he might feel better. He is in the hospice inpatient centre right now, trying to figure out some of this and let me get some sleep. It is very nice there, much nicer than the hospital--a private room with TV and sliding door to a little garden. But I'd better go now, as he will be waiting for me. I will post pictures later.
Carrie

Good News!

2010-04-15T17:21:00.002+12:00

Manford had an MRI today--we were very worried, because we saw the oncologist yesterday and he was very concerned about the variety of symptoms Manford's been having over the last month (ie, difficulty walking, orthostatic hypotension, memory problems, word finding problems, weird numbness...), and decided to do a scan in spite of the fact that it might be ambiguous from the radiation, in order to try to decide whether and how to proceed with chemotherapy. We just had a very brief meeting with the doctor, who was running off to something, but was good enough to get it all done very quickly and tell us the results himself. He said it looked better than the previous scan, where there were several small tumors (he said two before, but apparently there were other smaller areas of concern); now some of them have disappeared, and the margin of the area (what does that mean...I think it is the area around the hole where the tumor was, where they worry about tumor cells still being there) is thinner (I don't know how they see this. we will have more time to talk about it next month), and generally he was very pleased and quite surprised. Manford is starting on the first of six monthly rounds of Temozolomide today, then; I think the hopeful thing is that the implication is that this tumor does respond to Temozolomide (which was given during radiation).

We are going out to dinner now to celebrate.
Carrie

Good Friday

2010-04-03T08:55:00.002+13:00

Yesterday was Good Friday here, an actual holiday; in contrast to non-events like Halloween and Valentine's Day, Easter is big here, and is always associated with at least a four-day weekend, from Good Friday through Easter Monday. Both Good Friday and Easter Sunday are enforced as holidays--most stores are not allowed to be open (or they pay a fine), so the grocery store and mall were closed yesterday, and we had a quiet day at home with no appointments, no school, no running around, and it was Good.

Especially good because Manford seems to be doing better, having added one medicine and subtracted two (we had a house call from a very nice Canadian doctor who actually believes in discontinuing meds, rather than just piling them on), so that his blood pressure is higher and he is able to walk around without getting lightheaded. He walked around the house freestyle (without walker or cane) and walked outside for the first time in two weeks without wheelchair, to inspect my rearrangement of the mailbox, which is now at a rakish angle...

Joseph flew off to Christchurch Thursday night; actually, his camp is on the Banks Penninsula, which is about an hour outside Christchurch and is supposed to be beautiful, with rare dolphins and penguins and nice hills and bush. Not sure Joseph will appreciate all that, but we hope he is enjoying being with other Young Friends, being perhaps the youngest of them...

I guess I was thinking of Joseph on Thursday night as I was reading to Emily (Harry Potter, of course) and I fell asleep while reading, and kept on talking, much to Emily's surprise and confusion, because it had something to do with Joseph's breakfast at camp and safety precautions and didn't make a whole lot of sense...I came around to her saying "what are you talking about?!"...

And today Emily and I have been making Easter eggs, of the blown kind, and hardboiled, and sugar eggs. None of which they do here--they do Easter big time, but mainly this means lots of chocolate--huge, rugby-ball sized chocolate eggs and larger-than-life-sized bunnies, but no jelly beans, no egg dying kits, and I haven't been able to find any white eggs, so ours are all rather rich, dark colours, based on brown.

Monday we leave for the beach--we settled on going to Mount Maunganui (known to the locals as just "the Mount"), just an hour and a bit East of here, more of a beach town than the rugged New Zealand shore, but handier for eating, and doing things that are not dependent on good weather (which it might or might not be)--they have hot pools, and shops, and we are renting a two-bedroom apartment with two balconies with views of the ocean where Manford can take his sun and salt air.

We will be back on Thursday to meet Joseph, who will probably need several days of sleep and long showers to recover from his week of camp, but both kids have another week off school after that, as it is the break between term 1 (of 4) and term 2. Last year, this time, we were in Topeka, and still thinking of all Topeka (wait, is it still Google?) friends and others around the country and world...

Sunday

2010-03-21T07:18:00.002+13:00

It's Sunday here, early morning, quite a bit cooler these days as it starts to feel like Fall will really come. Joseph has finally decided to respond to the nudging we've been administering for almost three years and get involved in a play at school--he used to do lights and sound at Topeka Collegiate, but I think you have to work your way up to that, so he is doing backstage crew for Spamalot (which sounds like fun) and then, next term, also for Merchant of Venice. But now it turns out that Spamalot is being performed at the lovely Performing Arts Centre at Emily's school, which is several kilometers away, and he has a schedule of rehearsals and performances we're supposed to get him to every day over the next two weeks...I should have let him take the driving test in January, but it was a bad time for that...even the kids his age who have licenses have restricted ones so that they cannot give their friends rides--which is probably good, but not convenient.

Emily tried out for her school's "opera" (musical), Bye Bye Birdie, but it won't be until next term (which starts mid-April), and I think it doesn't have performances until the next one after that. She is hoping her American accent will stand her in good stead.

Manford is struggling a bit more right now with low blood pressure and difficulty walking. We spend most of the day on Friday with the nice oncology people as they gave him IV fluids, thinking he might be dehydrated, but that doesn't seem to be it and he is still at 90/60 sitting down, and sometimes quite wobbly when he tries to stand up. At least, when they did his blood work, his immune system is looking very good, so maybe all our good eating is helping something.

I am going to take myself and Charlie for a walk.
Carrie

Done!

2010-03-17T17:17:00.002+13:00

Manford had his last radiation treatment yesterday, and we celebrated with carrot cake. We also had a very nice visit on Monday from Dr Hsu and his wife, old friends from Topeka who've been living in California the last seven years. They were looking exactly the same--not sure I can say the same for us, but Manford is doing well, just tired. His main job now is to rest and recover; we hear it may take a few weeks to get some energy back. In a month, he will have five days of chemotherapy, then do that every month for six months.

We appreciate all the messages, thoughts and prayers coming our way. I'll post a couple of pictures.

2010-03-13T14:23:00.002+13:00

I see it has been ten days since I wrote--I'm sorry. I guess no news is good news--we have been plodding along, really, going to daily radiation and various other appointments, and the days have disappeared. Manford is tolerating the radiation well--tired, but not as bad as I had expected, and he only has two days left, Monday and Tuesday next week. Then he has a month break, and starts five days of chemotherapy per month for six months--but that is still oral medication, and he hasn't seemed bothered at all by the dose he's been on during the radiation. That dose will be higher, but we are hopeful it won't be too hard on him. We have to wait three months to know the effects of the radiation and chemo, since the radiation can produce ambiguous findings on an MRI if the MRI is done too soon after treatment.

So, Emily had a good time at camp, and we survived her absence and enjoyed the week of not going back and forth to school. This week she had "swimming sports day," which seems to be a New Zealand tradition where the whole school (or part of it, years 5 and up) goes to a pool and swims races all day; they are divided into houses (yes, like Hogwarts, but the sorting hat is probably computerized), and they compete against each other. Emily is in York (they are all named after British cathedrals). Her house colour is black (inconveniently on hot sunny days, as they wear their house colour shirts for sport, which is PE). If I can find the cable to put my photos on the computer sometime soon, I'll put up a picture from the day.

Joseph and I had an American lapse; we got a phone call to say that a computer game he had ordered was available at EBgames, so I thought "oh, good, we'll just go after dinner and pick it up." We got to the mall and got a really good parking spot (this should have been a clue) and were into the mall before we encountered barriers and darkened mall...having forgotten that most shopping centres close at 6, except for the movie theatres. Somehow they don't have the need to shop all the time here, and we've generally gotten along without it...Oh well. He had to wait a day to fight Napoleon's battles for him (he is trying to convince me that this is educational).

Emily has the school rats (Rattie and Smoky) this weekend, and she is enthralled; fortunately, they are very patient rats and seem relatively unflappable and not interested in escape. I hope I have not spoken too soon. They are staying in the garage, where we have found a use for the ping-pong table, after all...Emily and her friend were making an obstacle course for them. She insists they will not jump off the table. Charlie is wondering what that intriguing smell is...

It is starting to feel like Fall, with cool nights and sunny days, actually hoping for a bit of rain. We are still picking strawberries from the plants that are trying to take over one of our raised beds, and I am battling a rhubarb plant that is dominating the other one. We got a juicer, and have been making nice healthy, tastier-than-they-sound drinks like carrot-celery-beet juice, and I am trying to find a use for rhubarb juice. It is a bit tart...

Manford is worrying that the girls are going to drive the rats to distraction, and I do hear screams, so maybe I'd better check this out...
Carrie

End of summer

2010-03-03T13:51:00.003+13:00

It seems like it's been years since Christmas, and then I can't believe it's already March. They measure seasons the simple way here--summer starts on December 1, and Autumn starts on March 1, so I guess this is autumn, though it is hard to tell. It was a bit cool and rainy this morning (maybe 65), but it is sunny this afternoon, and might reach what is considered awfully hot here, at 80 or so. Joseph gets off school early on Wednesdays (to study...) and so is having a bunch of people over to play Dungeons and Dragons, so we are bracing for the onslaught of 16-year-old boys right now...they are nice kids, though, and I think Joseph is reveling in being the only child, as Emily is off at camp.

Camp is a bit upside-down, too; kids don't go to summer camp in the summer. They go on holiday with their families. Then they go to camp with school. Emily's school all goes in the same week, about a month into school. Last year they went to Wellington (the capital) and had a very civilized camp going to museums and making their own news show. This year, they have a more traditional camp at Lake Taupo, about two hours from here, and will be doing kayaking and archery and high ropes (she is leery of this) and stuff like that. She left on Monday, and will be back on Friday.

Manford is doing well; we have been taking a short walk most nights with Charlie, and he has not been too tired from the radiation yet. We're almost halfway done, now, and I am pretty sure we'll be ready not to be going to the hospital every day. We had a good meeting yesterday with a woman who runs an organization to support cancer patients and provide information about complementary treatments. I am looking for the ideal beach spot to escape for a few days in April, while Joseph is gone (to Young Friends camp---ok, so there are some non-school camps) and Emily is off of school. I want somewhere we can see the ocean from the deck, take walks on the beach with Emily, and there is food nearby so I don't have to cook all the time. I will poll my New Zealand friends for suggestions.

Joseph is going to the Banks Penninsula, near Christchurch, for this Young Friends camp over Easter. He has previously been a Junior Young Friend, but now he has moved on to be YF, which is 16 to 40! this is a bit scary for Mom, but he is keen to go...He is also keen to go to the US in July, and we are working on figuring out that trip, in which he will probably visit Topeka, maybe Chicago, and wander around the West Coast with my sister looking at colleges. Ok, that is scary, too. But we are brave.

Carrie

Day Three

2010-02-25T06:25:00.002+13:00

We got to the radiation waiting room and were intercepted by the doctor, who sat with us and told us that Manford's CTscan from last Friday showed two new, small tumors near the old tumor site. The tumor is a very active kind, with 30% of cells growing, according to the pathology report; that is very high. The neurosurgeon thinks it would be more risky than not to do surgery at this point, particularly as it would delay the radiation/chemo further. They are replanning the radiation at a higher dose and slightly larger area, for three weeks instead of six. He will continue the temozolomide. According to the doctor, the aim of the radiation is to stop the tumors growing; the chemotherapy has a chance of shrinking them.

We are still processing this unwelcome news; Manford seems to be doing ok; they have increased his steroid dose a bit.

That's all I can say at this point. There is no poetry here at the moment, but I suppose it will come.
Carrie

One down

2010-02-23T09:15:00.002+13:00

Manford had his first radiation session yesterday, and it all went fine, though we were there a couple of hours longer than usual to do initial blood work and to try to talk to the doctor about the steriods...but we got the schedule of the next six weeks, and found our way to where we go, and are getting the routine down. His chemotherapy at this point is Temozolomide at a fairly low dose, which is intended to enhance the effect of radiation. It is just a pill (well, three pills, to make the correct dose) he takes an hour before treatment. He is also taking some antinausea medicine, but it may not be necessary in the long run--we'll see.

I made the mistake of sending e-mails to a couple of private college counselors over the weekend, trying to figure out the college selection and application process with Joseph, with no one here who really has any idea about how it works, and wondering how to explain the New Zealand system (which is very different) in college applications...last night one very pushy guy called and talked to me for a half hour straight without doing any discernable listening. I think he asked a couple of questions, but never stopped to hear an answer. If anyone knows a thoughtful college counselor who might listen and think about our specific situation, I would appreciate hearing their name...

Joseph is planning a trip to the US by himself in July--to visit friends and family and colleges, but mostly friends.

Carrie

Hot pools and sheep shows

2010-02-20T19:34:00.002+13:00

We did it--we escaped for nearly 24 hours to Rotorua, just over an hour away, where they are famous for healing hot pools (too bad they smell of sulphur, but there are some advantages to losing your sense of smell, as Manford has, partly--though even he could smell this...) and tourist activities for all tastes. We did not indulge in any bungee jumping or zorbing (rolling down a hill in a giant blow-up ball), but we did eat a nice dinner, soak in the pool overlooking the lake, go to bed very relaxed, and in the morning went to the famous agrodome, where they have a silly show for city people where they sheer a sheep and milk a cow and herd ducks and goof around a lot--we are enough city that we enjoyed it, and it was a beautiful, cool and sunny morning, and we had a good lunch and came home. The children fared well in our absence, Joseph enjoying being at home alone, and Emily with a friend.

Manford starts radiation and chemotherapy on Monday--we have about $10,000 worth of pills in the cupboard, the first month's supply, which cost us $6. Can't complain about that side of it. He has been tapering off steroids (which help to control swelling in the brain) the last few days, maybe a bit too fast, as he has been struggling a bit more today, but generally is doing very well.

Now I'm off to read Harry Potter to Emily.
Carrie

walking uphill

2010-02-16T19:04:00.003+13:00

Tuesday here, and yesterday we had an appointment with the oncologist again--he spent about an hour talking with us, explaining about the possible and probable effects of the radiation and chemotherapy. He is very clear and thoughtful, and careful to try to explain well. He said the recent CTscan showed that the surgeon did a really good job, and there is no visible tumor left, which is good. They have a complicated planning process for the radiation, and he showed us that the edge of the tumor is a bit close to the eye socket, and there is some chance that the radiation will damage Manford's tear ducts on one side, but that doesn't sound so bad. He will start on Monday, and have six weeks of weekday radiation and six solid weeks of chemotherapy, which is just a daily capsule, along with some antinausea medication. I have been reading about various other things that could be added on to enhance treatment, and getting myself all confused, but will talk with the doctor about the options; I think he will listen. We plan to go to Rotorua, an hour away, for a night away at a hot pool spa, either Friday or Saturday night, depending on when they can do the pre-treatment MRI.

The kids are holding up ok; Emily picks up on anyone's malaise, and was home from school today with a bug, but really likes her teacher and has been officially appointed rat monitor. Joseph has gotten into Cambridge English and Math, which are kind of like AP classes, with a special extra exam (great fun), and an actual text book for math (ok, it's called "maths" here) that is called "Pure Mathematics" because, Joseph says, there are no pictures. There are definitely no pictures and it looks like serious math. Very few classes use text books here--I think there isn't a bit enough market to write texts just for the New Zealand curriculum, which has just been revised, and they make do with a variety of resources. For Cambridge English he gets to read Jane Eyre and Twelfth Night and The Importance of Being Ernest, along with some poetry. Real high school stuff--he will not appreciate it, but he will have done it. None of this Scarlett Letter or the Crucible American stuff.

Manford and Emily and Charlie and I walked uphill (and over hill) up the street about four blocks each way today, which is a new record, and the next goal is the cheese shop which is just a bit farther. Manford is walking with just a cane now, very distinguished, but we need to get a nicer one, maybe with a flask in it...I'll look on e-bay. But now, Emily is edging toward bedtime and we will start the Prisoner of Azkaban, again.

Carrie

Rats

2010-02-12T07:45:00.002+13:00

I finally lost patience and called the clinical trials nurse around midday Thursday, and she said that she had been meaning to call...the powers that be in Geneva have apparently decided that gliosarcoma is not included in the clinical trial Manford had hoped to participate in. The doctor called later that day, and he sounded quite disappointed and frustrated, too, but will meet with us on Monday to plan standard treatment, which, as I understand it, will be six weeks of radiation and Temozolomide, then follow-up treatment with Temozolomide for six months. I guess the advantage is they can't complain if we try whatever else might seem to work (e.g., blueberries, visualization, lots of hot mineral spas like they have down every road here, we'll see).

The other rats are that Emily asked, very tentatively, for permission to be a rat monitor...I think this means she will help to take care of the pet rats at school, and occasionally bring them home for the weekend. She didn't think I would approve, but I said I'm a psychologist with a long history of rats...maybe this is a good compromise pet. She has been longing for her own pet for years (Charlie doesn't count), and the worm farm doesn't seem to be filling that role.

Waiting, healing, hoping...

2010-02-11T06:35:00.003+13:00

Again, a week has sped by and I have been waiting to write until we hear something about the clinical trial we found out about on Monday, but we are still waiting. Manford is gradually gaining strength each day; yesterday he walked to the bus stop with the OT, and he is more steady and confident around the house. His main problem at this point is low blood pressure--orthostatic hypotension; when he stands up, his blood pressure drops, and he gets a bit shaky, so I am still nervous to leave him alone in case he should fall. Other than that, he is doing well; he says he has a bit more trouble concentrating than usual, but that is going around...

Monday we went to the oncology clinic again and talked to a second oncologist. The first oncologist had spoken to him about Manford after our session, and called me back and said that he had been convinced by this second doctor (who is more specialized in neurooncology) that more aggressive treatment was appropriate, and there was a clinical trial we might be interested in. So Monday afternoon this new doctor (Tills) spent an hour and a half talking with us, and was more optimistic about Manford's chances of responding to chemotherapy than the other. I wonder if this is an age thing...the first doctor, who looked to be in his 30's, considered Manford to have a poorer prognosis (and unlikely to benefit from chemotherapy) because he was over 60...this second doctor, who looks to be in his 50's, put the line up a bit, at 70.

They are starting a clinical trial (based in Canada, but also governed from Geneva) of Avastin, which is a promising new medication that inhibits blood vessel generation. If he participates, Manford would either get the standard treatment, which is 6 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, or standard treatment plus Avastin, which goes along with the chemotherapy. It is a double blind, so we won't know which he is getting, but he would also get very careful follow-up...but since his tumor is a rare variant of the more typical glioblastoma, someone in Geneva has to decide whether he is even eligible to consider for the study, and we have been waiting to hear the verdict on this. If he isn't eligible, he will still get the standard treatment, and I suppose there will be less hassle with repeat visits (the Avastin requires IV administration every two weeks during radiation and every three weeks after, or something like that).

They started the process of preparation and planning for radiation on Monday, making a plastic mask (out of kind of web, so not as claustrophobia-stimulating as it might be) to immobilize his head, and doing a CT scan, so we were there 3 1/2 hours in all. The clinic is very comfortable--not fancy, but the people are very nice and supportive and there are volunteers everywhere offering cups of tea.

Then Tuesday we had a visit from the nurse from the cancer society, who was also very warm and helpful, and spent two hours with us describing all the kinds of supports they can offer, including transportation to treatment, a brain tumor support group that is starting this month, counseling, information, meals, emergency funding if we needed it (we are lucky and don't, but it is good they have this), visits from the nurse, and maybe a volunteer "bloke" who will come and visit Manford so I can go to the grocery store...

The kids are settled in school; last night was "meet the teacher" night for parents at Emily's school, and I was again impressed by the headmaster, and really liked her teacher. This is good--last year she had a young man who was just too new, and seemed scared to death all the time. She liked him, but I'm glad she has someone with more experience now--Emily seems very happy and seems to be making new friends and not complaining of teasing from boys, which was the big problem last year. And Joseph seems happy to be back at school, in spite of himself, and is delving in to a very techy curriculum (Math, Programming, Chemistry, Physics, English, and PE). In English he is doing some project on how language is used to represent some topic, and has cleverly chosen the topic of video games, so he can say he's doing his homework as he is surrounded by his video game magazines...

So, we wait, and heal, and hope--
Carrie

Home!

2010-02-04T12:41:00.002+13:00

I'm sorry to have been so silent--I thought I would write when Manford got home, which was yesterday, but then it was one of those days that the Kiwis call "full on," which means one thing after the other and no time for anything.

Manford is home, and walking around quite steadily. I went and picked him up at midday yesterday, while a friend stayed with Emily (Joseph started school yesterday, Emily today). We got home about 1:00, and then were absorbed with various visits from PT, OT, and nurse in the afternoon. They are good about getting all sorts of supports in place. The nurse from the cancer society also called and she will come to the house next week, which I thought was going to be before the oncology appointment, but then the ward called us as we were walking in the door and said we had an appointment with oncology tomorrow (today) morning. This was a bit of a shock and I was feeling unprepared, but it turned out all right, as I'll write...

Anyway, last night about 5:30 my dad and stepmother arrived back from Wellington area, and we had our favorite Japanese take-out and welcome-home cake, decorated by Emily. Manford was pretty tired and we all collapsed by 8:30 (ok, Joseph was still awake and alert, and Dad and Diane went back to their hotel).

This morning we got Emily off to school (she got the teacher she wanted) and then the nurse and doctors (three of them--I presume the ones tagging along and watching were residents or students) came--the nurse will come every day (for two weeks or so), but I don't think the doctors will be back as often. Then we raced off to the oncology appointment.

The doctor was compassionate and thoughtful, and not hurried except by the fire alarm that came just as we were finishing the appointment...I can't say he was very optimistic, but he seemed flexible and respectful. He said that chemotherapy has not been shown to be effective for this tumor in people over 60--it may delay the progression somewhat, but is not well tolerated and may or may not be worth it. We will definitely do radiation, which is just three weeks of daily treatments. We may participate in a clinical trial of chemotherapy; we will talk about that on Monday. I have been reading and calling some people about clinical trials in the US, but I'm not sure what we will decide to do.

Manford seems to be taking it all very well, though he is easily tired, as you might expect. He has recovered remarkably well from the surgery. We appreciate the cards people have sent(a pile came yesterday, right on time for the homecoming), and all the thoughts and prayers.

Carrie

home visit

2010-01-30T19:14:00.002+13:00

Manford came home for about five hours today--we had lunch (the sausages he has been craving), and watched basketball, read and rested in a very quiet house, except for Charlie, who was quite overjoyed to see him. The kids are having a good time in Napier, and due back tomorrow. I will spend my second night alone in the house, realizing it has been years--possibly 16--since this has happened. I guess I'm not alone, really; Charlie sleeps under the bed. Manford got around the house very well, and is eager to stay home in a few days. For now, we look forward to another visit tomorrow.

Progress

2010-01-29T19:36:00.003+13:00

Manford is doing very well, and they've decided that he doesn't need rehab, after all; he's now able to walk with just a cane, and they plan to discharge him home next week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday (Monday is a holiday), with the home hospital for support. They are the ones that came before he was hospitalized, and have a nurse that comes every day, and PT and OT. He is able to come home for a visit tomorrow (and hopefully also Sunday and Monday, if it goes well), and is looking forward to some sausages and his own chair. My father and his wife arrived on Wednesday, and how have taken Emily and Joseph out of town for a couple of days, to Napier, on the East side of the North Island.

We don't have an appointment with oncology until February 11, but we will be looking into what the options are before then, both on our own and with the help of the Cancer Society. My work and colleagues have been very understanding and supportive, and I basically have all the leave I need. In the midst of this, we did manage to hire someone to help at home, and she has been wreaking some order in our havoc, and I am very grateful. And grateful, too, for all your thoughts and prayers.
Carrie

Keep praying

2010-01-27T14:21:00.002+13:00

We got the report from the biopsy, and Manford has gliosarcoma, which is a rare form of glioblastoma, grade IV. We will be talking to the oncology people in the next day or two, and starting radiation and chemotherapy sometime in the next two weeks. He is still waiting for a bed on the rehab unit, but is up and walking more. We met the rehab doctor, who is American, but she talks fast, so he still can't understand her...

Room with a view

2010-01-24T19:13:00.002+13:00

Today they moved Manford to a new bed--same room, but a prime location by the window. He has had several visitors and was a bit tired, but still doing well. They took off the bandage to give his staples a nice airing...now Emily is scared to see him, but we'll work on that.

Saturday

2010-01-23T16:27:00.002+13:00

It's Saturday here, and somewhat quieter at the hospital, at least in the corridors. Manford continues to do better--he is now on low risk of falls, and can get into and out of bed without help. I haven't gotten to talk directly to the doctors in several days--they manage to keep families away during rounds--and it is hard to tell who the doctors are, sometimes--everyone goes by first names, here, but I think the person I talked with today was probably the charge nurse, not the doctor. He said that the plan is for Manford to go to the rehab ward for a week or two after he leaves the neurosurgical ward, and that might be mid-to-late next week. We should find out the pathology results Tuesday or Wednesday, unless they are unsure and then they will send it to Auckland for a second opinion, and it might be a few more days.

The kids are doing ok; Joseph is avoiding mowing the lawn very adeptly, and neither is exactly rejoicing at the anticipation of school starting week after next. The summers aren't quite long enough here to get thoroughly bored, with Christmas and New Years taking up a good chunk at the beginning. Next week, my father and his wife arrive, and we are looking forward to that visit, though not exactly sure the shape it will take. But Manford really didn't want to go caving, anyway...

Surgery + 2 days

2010-01-22T19:28:00.002+13:00

Manford is doing better today, walking much more easily (they still put this kind of handle belt on him when he walks, but then just walk along beside) and talking and understanding much more clearly. This picture is from just the day after surgery, and he is looking better every day; I'll take another soon. I took a picture of one of the MRI pictures...I couldn't look at these before the surgery (they showed them to us the day before, but I put them away) because they were just too scary. This is the worst looking one, really; it looks like the tumor is taking over his whole frontal lobe. A lot of that is edema, though, and it seems to be responding to steroids and the surgery. keep up the good thoughts.

more better

2010-01-22T06:52:00.002+13:00

When I visited Manford last night, he was continuing to seem better and more like himself. He keeps getting the hiccups, which he insists on calling "diaphramatic spasms," which tickles the nurses. They took out the drain on his head, which is good because it kind of freaked out poor Emily; I will take the kids to see him again this afternoon.

update

2010-01-21T14:39:00.002+13:00

Manford is much better today than I expected, having heard that they would be wakening him every half hour all night last night...he was sitting up the whole time I was there, and talking more clearly and moving more easily. He still has considerable swelling and that is probably contributing to still being a bit confused at times, but they say that is to be expected. He appreciates all the messages and thoughts coming from all around the world.

Morning

2010-01-21T09:06:00.002+13:00

Last night Emily and I went and saw Manford briefly as he was brought back up to Ward 8 (Joseph was at a friend's on the other side of town). He will be on a close observation ward for a day or two, where there is a nurse there in a big room with five beds (though only three of them were full last night). We brought him flowers from our friend's garden (remember, it's summer) but he can't have flowers in that room, but will probably move in a day or two to a single room. I hope to talk to the doctor today, but we won't know anything about the next step until next week, when the pathology report comes back. I know he appreciates all of your thoughts and prayers. It's too bad they can't do video visiting, but they don't even have TV, so that is a bit much to ask...

success!

2010-01-20T19:33:00.001+13:00

We just got the call fromthe surgeon, and Manford is out of surgery and doing ok, can talk and move and he said it went well. It got started late, and took five hours, so we are a bit exhausted, but hopeful. More later...
Carrie

Today

2010-01-20T07:19:00.003+13:00

Today is Wednesday, our time, and at about noon, they are going to do the surgery. Manford had an MRI yesterday, and we saw pictures afterward of this quite daunting tumor taking over his right frontal lobe--it's about large egg-sized, and there is quite a bit of edema around it. The doctor, who is supposed to be very good, said that it won't be clear until after the surgery whether the symptoms he's having are because of the swelling, in which case they should resolve after surgery, or because of damage to the tissue. They will take as much of it out as they can, but can't be too aggressive because it is the kind of tumor that grows from the brain tissue, and it's hard to separate from healthy tissue. So after they figure out what kind of tumor it is, he'll probably have to have radiation and/or chemotherapy. But for now, we are concentrating on getting through the surgery, which should last 2-3 hours. At least it isn't the kind where he has to be awake. The surgery, then, will be at about 5-8 pm Kansas/Texas time (Tuesday), 3-6 Pacific time, and god knows what time it is in Arizona. I will be waiting with friends who live near the hospital; Joseph will be at his friend's house, and Emily will be at day camp and then with me and the friends near the hospital. He will probably go the the high dependency unit (sounds like a step below ICU) for a day or two, then back to the neurosurgery ward for a total of about 5-7 days, if things go well.

good news and bad news, but with hope

2010-01-19T08:10:00.002+13:00

The good news is, it isn't Lewy Body disease (which is progressive and untreatable) or the Parkinson's getting worse (he was doing really, really well), but it is a brain tumor. They did a CT scan yesterday and found it, quite big (4 x 6 cm) in or near the frontal lobe (I think right side, as he's been weak on the left). They have put him on steroids and are doing an MRI today to get a better idea of what's there, and then plan to do surgery in the next few days. So far I have only talked to the neurosurgeon briefly, but I hope to have a better idea of the plan later today. They are stricter about visiting hours on the neurosurgery ward (Ward 8), so I can't go to see him until 11 this morning, but last night the kids and I visited as they were transfering him up there and he seemed to be feeling ok and settling in there. It is scary because his mother died in surgery for a brain tumor, but they are much better at that sort of thing now. Please keep holding us in the light.
Carrie

Acopia

2010-01-16T12:47:00.003+13:00

This is Carrie, and I'm sorry it's been so long since I have blogged, or posted any pictures--I see it's been nearly a year, as Emily is about to start her second year at Southwell. Unfortunately, that isn't what I need to write about.

Manford has been struggling the last two months or so with more and more symptoms of Parkinson's, or something--we've been to numerous doctors. At the beginning of December, we went back to his neurologist, and he put him on Requip, which is a dopamine agonist, gradually increasing the dose over the last month. During that time, he went from being very tired all the time and having some difficulty with short term memory to having much more difficulty walking, hallucinations (which are supposed to be common with that medication), speech that is increasingly hard to understand, and finally, a couple of days ago, really unable to walk safely in the house, and falling in the bathroom. He was getting up several times a night, but couldn't get back in bed himself because his legs weren't working, and he kept thinking someone was outside the house. We were to go to the neurologist that day, and had to borrow a wheelchair because he couldn't walk to the office, and after I practically begged and cried in the office, he conceded to call the rehab unit and see if he could be admitted to get some help with things. No one seemed to be listening to me that this is an acute deterioration; they all just attribute it to the Parkinson's or the meds stopping working. The neurologist started to conclude that he had Lewy Body Disease, but I am not prepared to believe that yet; he put him on Seroquel, which I gave him as soon as I got it, but this may have been a mistake, because it probably sedated him and made his speech very slurred and make him really foggy.

However, at least this started a process, because that afternoon (as we were attempting to interview three candidates for a housekeeper, to try to help retain my sanity), we were descended on by a team from the "home hospital"--two PT's, an OT, a nurse and a doctor. Apparently they didn't have a bed until Monday (this was Thursday) at the rehab unit, so they were to support us at home until then. They evaluated Manford, and started to get equipment like a walker and shower stool, and called to get grab bars put in, and were very nice and helpful. However, by the end of the afternoon, the doctor concluded that he couldn't be safe at home because even she and I together couldn't help him to the bathroom, and she arranged an admission to a medical unit and sent for an ambulance to transport him.

Meanwhile, the two young women who showed up for the interviews were thrown in with Emily and Joseph (it is summer here, so they are both home), and both were adaptable and seemed good. Emily really liked one named Laura, so we hired her. She is a journalism student but won't start school for several weeks, so she's starting Monday.

The ambulance people were very nice, and in filling out their paperwork explained to me that they were writing that he was being admitted for "acopia", which is the technical term for not coping...at that point I was exhausted and feeling quite a bit acopic myself.

In spite of the admission being all arranged, we did spend six hours in the emergency room, and he got settled into his room about 1 am, fell asleep, and I went home (luckily, my good friend Kyle and her baby came and entertained Emily and Joseph).

I missed the doctors' rounds Friday morning, and rushed in this morning (Saturday) to try to catch them, but it turns out that there are no doctors on weekends, at least not routinely. That is not very heartening, but generally the people have been very good, and they have taken him off the Requip (but kept him on the Seroquel, which I will talk with them about on Monday), and he is much more clear, able to talk and joke and try to pull himself up a bit. On Thursday he couldn't even push himself up in bed. They are supposed to do an MRI, but it doesn't seem to be happening before next week.

He says he wants Dub George and Gary McNight to visit him, but I think he's kidding...maybe you could have an out of body experience and visit him in some other realm. I think it is very hard for him to have no one know him in his former roles; he has felt very undervalued by the fact that the New Zealand audiology board won't recognize his credentials, in spite of the fact that he really doesn't want to practice here.

So, please hold us in the light, or think of us, or pray, or cross your fingers or toes, or whatever you can do. He's in Waikato Hospital, Ward 5 at the moment, but I don't know for how long. I am doing better with a whole night of sleep, and the kids are doing ok, but miss their dad. Emily has been making things for him, and Joseph is attached to his computer by some kind of electronic umbilical cord, but is also being helpful when asked. Joseph got his exam results (from the big end of year exams) in the mail yesterday, but won't open the envelope.

but at least it isn't snowing, and the hospital isn't going to cost us a quadzillion dollars, and it's January, which means that half of New Zealand is on vacation and no one has even noticed that I didn't go to work the last two days. By the way, I'm now officially Director of Clinical Training. My research is going well and when Manford goes to the rehab unit, it is in the same building as the prenatal unit where I am collecting data, so I guess I can give the students a break and do some of the visits myself.

I'm going to go and try to figure out how to get Manford a radio and speaker for his MP3 player--he is lucky in that he has a private room, but it's really in the style of an old county hospital, and not wonderful ambiance (we did bring flowers from home in a vase Emily made this morning), and no TV or radio in the room. He was amusing himself yesterday by throwing his kleenex out the window. I suspect this would be discouraged by the powers that be, so we should get him some other entertainment.

Carrie

I finally went and did it

2009-11-11T09:55:00.003+13:00

Howdy. I stopped at the petrol station for a fill up, and that cost a little over $112.00, would be fine to break a hundred were I bowling, huh, but not so good paying for petrol (maybe it is more costly than gasoline?) what is the most you have ever had to pay for gasoline, petrol, whatever. Emily is playing softball at school and she only needed a glove, bat and ball. She seems to like it. Joseph is in the middle of preparing for big kahuna tests coming up in all areas at school, well in all subjects he is currently, supposedly taking,i am sure he is ok. I am less dumb, have less word finding problems these days. Weight about the same. Still not strong like bull, smell like ox, i think. I am discovering some kiwi traits (in kiwis) - they don't put up with my silliness very well - good on them. I think they find no humor in the old saw if a man goes deep into the woods where no one can hear him and softly whispers an opinion is he still wrong? Or, guy staggers into a bar, gets thrown out by bartender; this happens over and over, and on the fourth round he says to the bartender - say, how many of these bars do you own? weather - beautiful mornings, crisp and clear, with nary a cloud on the horizon. New strawberries yummy - a berry nice place nearby. just started selling them. great big, about a kilo (just kidding), did find a fresh turkey we could buy for Thanksgiving - are having some Americanos over, from Carrie's world. Just took my magnesium - recommended by a treater - whoooooeeee, bitter, wish (not really) I could see my face, but am struggling, gagging, straining to get some food in my mouth that will take away the taste. Just shot the (barking) dog with my invisible laser cannon, but apparently missed as no dead silence. Have just started six hundred page plus book, The Children's Book, author A S Byatt, very good writing, and a good story so far. Six hundred pages in the paperback available at my nearest branch library. Wonder if we could add Punday to the work week? There are lots of little birdies flitting around, lots of roses and rhododendrons (sp?) blooming. and we are finally out of the predominantly white time. We have red and pink and pale something. Carrie soilders on, having to put up with googles of bs at work some days - some interesting research ideas written up from some of her students - i believe one had kids followed up from infancy through twenty or forty nine? anyway, not bad, students, good tries, and can tell you have really been thinking about your proposed project. I myself think an applicable word for kiwis is stolid, possibly rule bound, but friendly and nice in large part. We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of the bay of islands, next month. their literature lays claim to that area being subtropical. thank you for taking the time to read/scan this. our best to you and yours. Manford

promise

2009-10-20T09:36:00.002+13:00

Hi. If anyone still takes a look at this blog from time to time, my apologies, and I PROMISE to try harder to write more often. Right now I will say: look for a new post during the last week of any month. I hope all our readers are well. I got an e-mail from a nice person who said, "Robinson Crusoe was the only man to get all his chores done by Friday." The rain here has eased off, and that large, bright object in the sky once more appeared. I am working as a volunteer at a local school for developmentally delayed children, it is called the McKenzie Centre, and the staff is just lovely - lots of smiles. Right now I am doing dumb work, like scanning in stuff to help reduce the amount of paper present. I had to get a new fuel pump for the BMW, as it was starting to just quietly die (at which time I would think, is my hearing getting worse, has the car suddenly become quieter, what is going on: then, energized by the opinion of the car(s) behind me, expressed mostly with honks, quickly put the gear shift into park and turned the key and lo and behold it was no longer quiet - especially with the cacophony of hoots behind me. Well, spring break is over, and it is back to school, where Emily sometimes struggles with social behavior issues (gee, I have no idea where she got that machine gun she brought to school, headmaster; or the other interestingly labeled stuff!). Joseph goes about his existence pretty quietly. I hack and snort. Carrie coughs. We walk, talk and breathe down here pretty much like when we were up there. Carrie has gone to Wellington twice, and Melbourne, Australia once. Her mom may come for a visit, and so, too, her dad. All are welcome here. Items of greatest scenic value stay largely in the South Island, but there are certainly opportunities for visual pleasingly sights here in the North too. What are some favorite spots you readers have visited. Would you like to go back. I would like to visit Berlin, and maybe Venice before it sinks, and Madrid. Take care, gentle reader. Manford

Rain

2009-09-29T16:20:00.002+13:00

Hi,everybody. It has been a rainy seven days or so in our new hometown, Hamilton, with no let up in sight. An interesting characteristic is that it comes in spurts, and that it will be not raining, then suddenly raining, as though the clouds had finally gotten overloaded with moisture and said "Hey, that was alright up until now, but now you are too heavy to carry this high," and so they rolled over on their sides and dumped some of the water, and down it came, with an occasional clap of thunder which is worrying to Charlie (I think she just digs her burrow in the carpet deeper if inside, and who knows, outside, with trembling and shaking). She has a bump on her nose, or a growth of some type - will get her to the vet's tomorrow afternoon. The plus side of the rain is a very colorful Spring, with many blooming trees, lots of flowers, including one we did not plant, from a bulb, known in at least some quarters as Sprixia, purple with a yellow central part of each leaf, and no easily seen at least, stamen. Book of the week/month: La Vie en Rose, with a web site, www.extremelypalerose.com. Nice escapist reading - Wife and husband are off to France to sell Rose wine to the populace, setttle in, meet interesting people, write about it, make a little money, and then set up a blog. Memories of Provence were triggered for me. I will try and take some new pictures and see if I can figure out how to get them on facebook. Joseph Manford Barber resides there. I discovered a fairly close winery this weekend, taking kids to a Quaker youth camp in a park to our west and south, near Mount Pirongia, if anybody wants to look. Roast chicken for dinner - sometimes it is still a challenge to decide and cook and clean. Emily sends her regards. Carrie and I say hi to any readers. We hope you are well and that your lives are going good. Sincerely, Manford

Charlie and some other stuff

2009-09-07T20:11:00.002+12:00

Our dog, a bearded (stubborn) collie, is now somewhat over two years old and has moved gracefully and rapidly into adolescence. She likes to supplement her diet whenever the opportunity arises - at home by raiding rubbish cans or the garbage bag in the kitchen or food on the counters there (she seems to especially like chocolate, which (unfortunately from some points of view) is only fatal if ingested in fairly large amounts, amounts which so far (hmmmm, there's an idea) have not been that large (hmmmm). Oh well, its all part of the circus. Which i so far have been unsucseccesful in convincing her that running away to one would be a fun and gratifying thing to do. She has developed some new fears so that walking her, which used to be a straightforward thing to do now becomes one of those random walks statisticians like to talk about (about which statisticians like to talk). Carrie gets to hear some interesting lectures at work - a classicly trained psychologist who showed movie clips to highlight various types of disorder, for example, showing parts of Annie Hall for neurotic, and (I think this is the correct title) Grizzly Man for psychotic. Wonder what he thinks of the real Kiwi blokes who start running around in boots or gum boots, singlet and shorts any time the temperature is above about twenty degrees Farensheit? Or not. I became a semi- unlicensed one this weekend, wearing shorts, but cheating with three layers up top. And sun glasses. And a cap. My chest now being harier than my legs perhaps I should reverse that???
I recently purchased (to shift topics) a new string trimmer, much more macho than the el cheapo I bought a couple of years ago, and what a joy it is to use as it chops up weeds, grass, trees, Charlie (woops! not yet), the back porch, our new fence, etc. Only complaints - it is loud, and drinks fuel like Charlie drinks spilled juice, etc. But enough about Charlie (unless something terrible in the future happens to her, etc.). I trying to remember some of my passwords for various places in the internet universe, sometimes without success, so go through the forgot your password (or pissword?) stich, and then forget the new one. So I finally wrote them in code in a one book, which of course I have forgotten the location of and which code I was using. Oh, well, gives me something to do. I believe that Kiwis in general (human type) use periscopes in driving, as when one stops at a red traffic light, or (sometimes) sign, one is supposed to be able to see the back wheels of the car in front of one, and as best I can tell they do that, by mounting a periscope upside down in their vehicle and thus follow along with at least the spirit of the law. If you are reading this, as you go ALONG if you see a word in caps makes it looks like a shout, not? But not here, where to shout means to buy a meal for others. How about or ?? You got me. Well I must be off to shout (or is it shout out?) tweedle dum and tweedle dee. Sorry to be so negletful a writer, and here is a promise (if Charlie does not eat the computer, which she seems disinclined to do as long as Joseph keeps feeding her his partially done homework)to try and write more often. Love to hear from any of you readers, here or facebook or manfordb@gmail.com or manford_barber@hotmail.com. Etc.

Newspaper quote of the week and other stuff

2009-08-08T14:40:00.002+12:00

"We tried every other form of contraception and found that they all suck. Being a scientist, I was interested in what could be done," by a guy who invented a NZ1250 dollars ovulation detector - a tiny thermometer that is worn on either arm that alerts the wearer when her temperature rises half a degree Celcius as a result of ovulation - either do it then and get pregnant, or don't and don't, I guess. On the front page, a big pictures of kids getting new shoes, titled "Kids take a shine to new shoes". Well, we are having beautiful weather here, finally, not so awfully cold (remember what it was like in Auckland, Marge), clear skies, birds tweeting, flowers starting to bloom (see a few pics on Facebook for Joseph Manford Barber). Had a very nice visit with a lady doing research on meditators views for her doctoral dissertation. I will be making a collection of some Hamilton sights, sites, this month, hopefully, and will share them on facebook. Had Emily's school conference; left feeling school is concerned with developing her socially, that grades at this point are not important; some testing she did do, however, indicated that she is bright and she gets a special class during the day for bright kids. She invented a game where she sets up eight or so play mobil figures and then rolls a marble to see how many she can knock down, then it is my turn, then hers, etc. Have been reading a fairly new book from Elmore Leonard, and a couple of books that outline short trips one can take in NZ. Carrie is busy at work. Joseph seems to be doing more real school work in the evenings. I am feeling well, finally more right/left balanced, and feel my (mighty? I don't think so) muscles are better supporting my skeleton than before. Well, thanks for reading this. Sharon, hope things are ok. Sincerely, Manford

Potpourri

2009-07-24T08:43:00.002+12:00

Hello again, and warmest greetings from relatively cool down under, or next to down under, since Australia is what one usually thinks of when hearing or reading "down under" (reminds me of a saying I like - When you hear hoofs galloping you don't usually think of zebras" which leads to another I like - "When the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything as if it were a nail," and the last one for today, attributed to various authors, "I would have written you a shorter letter if I had more time" or some variation of that. I am going to recommend a book, because I think it catches the essence of some of New Zealand: Long Cloud Ride, by Josie Dew. I could not find it in any Kansas library, but you can get a paperback from Amazon for about eight bucks plus shipping and handling. It was written by a lady who cycled around NZ in 2004 or thereabouts - went in the summer, but rained much more than usual. Some good descriptions of places, characters and events. And dead right. Hope you can find it. Joseph is taking driving lessons, three so far, with some progress. He has already passed the written portion of the license. Emily stayed home yesterday with a modest sore throat, but because of the concerns about swine flu the schools are being more conservative re when you should not attend. I would also, today, like to recommend a video/dvd that I was late to come by, Conversations With My Gardner, a French movie, sweet and sad. And a more recent movie, The Grocer's Son, also French. Fun thing - my sis sent me a magnetic poetry set, and Carrie's created this poem/haiku?/whatever: "zen for monkey look impossible in world of silent grasshopper be now you" and Emily's: "know all when insect grin is at work". Pretty profound, huh. Or not. (Har, har, har). For my birthday I got several e-mail wishes for a happy birthday - thanks to all of you for that, a book on organic gardening, and another that is in the disc world series, and a word game sort of like scrabble called addictionery - starting with a three letter word each player in turn then modifies it by adding a new letter or changing existing ones - e.g. egg goes to beg goes to big, etc. Joseph and I went to the new Harry Potter movie on opening day and liked it. Even though it was not entirely faithful to the book, apparently. Wish I could look a hundred years into the future to see what has been happening to/in NZ and USA. Interesting to think about. We are trying to cook more different things, even though the kids don't always like what we make I think it is good for them to at least have a taste. Emily and I had a good week during her school break - she and I partnered up the first week and went here and there, one of her favorites being Smiggle, a sort of home/office supply of various pens, pencils, notebooks, desk top stuff, in vibrant colors, including pink and purple. Then she had YMCA camp daily the next two weeks. She seems to really like speech and drama class at her school. Joseph is involved with a school assignment for his computer class designing a program that Emily can use to learn to type. I am looking into doing Pilates, or some old geezer version of that. Carrie is very busy at work. We don't have specific plans for the next school break, but will try and go somewhere by the ocean. I plan to get out a little more, see local sights. Most days are book ended with taking Emily to school, then picking Emily up from school, but I can squeeze in some short trips, and on Tuesdays Carrie picks her up which will allow me to go further afield. Well, have to stop now and walk the dog. Arf, arf, arf. Sincerely, Manford. Oh, by the way, Liz we wish you great success and interesting times in Rwanda.

Fact.....or.....Fiction

2009-07-01T08:21:00.003+12:00

The average New Zealander walks 100 K/hour (fiction - it is 101.4 K/hour): The average consumption of beer at the 21st birthday celebration is 101 bottles (fiction - 101 cases): It takes at least twice as long to complete a road trip than the mapquest/google/etc. web sites say it will (fact), no matter where you are going (fact) : Emily won best player of the day ribbon at her latest soccer game (fact - though it may be the case that they like to spread that award around - she was goalie in the second half and even got recognition from the competition's coach for one save!): there are no earthquakes in New Zealand (fiction - recently mild earthquakes near Lake Taupo caused the evacuation of a small community because of fear of a landslike (these have occurred in the past)). And so on, and so on. Well greetings. It has been the coldest winter in 50 years, the locals say. We get frost on the car even the though the ambient temp is above freezing - I am sure the brighter readers can explain that. Emily is home this week - she gets a three week break from school - will go to day camp most days starting next week. My car is in the shop for its biannual (? - every six months) checkup. Finally had to buy some rear tires last week - Toyos or something like that. We are thinking about getting a wireless printer. Carrie has now had basic training in how to assess little, teeny babies using the Braselton scale. Joseph is off to Auckland at the end of July for a chess match. Manford is doing well, and is out more often, helping trim plants for propagation at the local Hamilton Gardens (they are a must see for visitors though none of our visitors so far have seen them), once a fortnight, and Thursday goes to a lecture about godwits, birds that fly from Russia (Siberia) to NZ. I still don't understand cricket, as well as some newspaper reporting of the goings on of rugby players during a game, but at least some of the local teams are doing pretty good in that sport. We are welcoming a new psychology staff person and his family today, so have to stop here and take a shower and wash my hair. I was pleased to read that Bill is making progress, and our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to him and his family. We also read that Liz is leaving for Rwanda in August: good luck and best wishes - what an exciting adventure. Sincerely, Manford

Boo, some nostalgia, and recent visits

2009-06-11T05:36:00.003+12:00

Hello from a rainy (most days some precip) and pretty cool NZ. Our thoughts and prayers are being sent out to Bill and his family in their recent struggles with a poor hand fate has dealt them. Lots of support from their friends should help them get through this hard time. We are fine. We had a lovely visit with Sue and her mom, here for a week. Toward the end of their stay a nice guy has been coming over and is building a replacement fence for the old, beat up, cracked and gnarly painted one that was there along the east side of our property, plus adding fencing at either end to provide yet another enclosed space in which Charlie the wonder dog might amble at her highnesses convenience. We did take her to a two day stay south of Taupo, and also took there our out-of-town guests, seeking snow but alas, alack none was found within driving range of our vehicles (though had we had chains or a four wheel drive vehicle we could have gone higher in elevation and found some, for Emily had plans to make a snow angel, throw a snow basll at Joseph, etc.). Previous to that jaunt I had a nice trip to Auckland riding a bus up and another back, on the Naked Bus line, though to my disappointment (sp?) there was no nudity anywhere (or perhaps to my shame for wrong thoughts?). The maratime museum was splendid, with many fine models. Also went to a natural history museum with a variety of exhibits, some creaky, some not. Walked a lot, too. Per recommendation of a podiatrist had bought some Asic gel running shoes, designed to reduce my tendency to pronate my arthritic feet, and they do make a (positive) difference. Stayed in Mt. Eden, with no sign of Adam or Eve, at a Quaker owned rest house, could take the train or a bus there from downtown, free for old geezers like me, after nine a.m. Ferry free, too. But it only goes in the water. Huh. Imagine that. The workshop there has inspired me to try and contact other mortals to see what I can do re possibly testing kids or adults for auditory processing disorder; the Listening Program sounded (har, har) pretty good for the right type of disorder. There are other rehab progrms for auditory processing difficulties. Google those three words in that order all on one line for more info re that topic. I'm sorry, did not mean google "those three words" - google (while you giggle?) auditory processing disorder, and you will learn more. Carrie and friends attended fielddays yesterday, a serious get together of almost everything related to mostly rural NZ life, hopefully she will blog that experience. I am trying to get pictures on Face Book. More later. Here is hoping all our readers are well and in good spirits. Manford

A lesson and fences

2009-05-17T20:47:00.002+12:00

Well, I learned today that if you put a small Revere sauce pan on a very hot electric burner the used to be flat bottom will distort and no longer sit flat on any burner. Re: fences, Hamilton is a city full of them. What is your neighborhood like? There are small ones, short ones, some only a brick high, tall ones, decorative ones, ugly ones, freshly painted ones, mixed brick or stone and wood ones, some token ones, like one that has a post about every fifteen feet and fairly strong wire strung between them at the top and in the middle one, keep out ones around a transformer facility, with barbed wire at the top, sagging ones, new ones, old ones, painted ones, unapinted ones, partial ones, long ones, short ones, pretty ones. Look around. Let me know. It has been very interesting to note that to date we have not heard from anyone in the USA since our April visit. Hmmmm. Wonder what that means. I am planning to go to Auckland toward the end of this month for a one day workshop on a listening program that seems popular here, though controversial elsewhere or at least some places. I have built in a little extra time to see the maratime museum that is there - looks pretty good on paper, and maybe another museum. Hope the weather isn't too bad, but even if it is I'll be inside, won't I. Well take care. Hope to hear from you. Manford

It ain't over 'til it's over and it ain't over yet

2009-05-12T09:10:00.002+12:00

It ain't over 'til it's over, and it ain't over. I apologize for not getting on the computer more often to let my faithful readers know what is up with the Barbers in NZ. We had a wonderful trip stateside in early April. We are finally settling down from that trip. A good friend from Kansas, and her mom, will be visiting in early June. Events of note - Emily's screaming girls late birthday party on May 9 that went off without mishap. She wants a living pet. Any suggestions? I thought snake, but those are not allowed into NX. Maybe a bird? No mice for me, thanks, and am allergic to cats, spiders don't seem friendly, possibly a gerbil/hamster if not a bird? Yesterday we had a brief hail storm, unlike our unfortunate neighbors to the East at Mt. Monganui, where I believe they reported 8 inches of hail and one shopping mall shut down because of flooding. Lows here are in the 40's, so we have lots of blankets on the beds. We had the carpet cleaned yesterday - thinking it would be prudent to wait until after the party to get it done. Joseph is working on a project related to NZ's part in the Vietnam conflict. Emily is designing a pocket plucker for science, a musical instrument of sorts so far composed to two 9 mm long old croquet mallet handle pieces with a rubber band or two or three tied to each, so when you hold one handle in each hand and stretch the band(s) you can pluck them with your teeth and make music. She is taking clarinet lessons at school and has to practice at home - sometimes when doing this she will hit a sour note and that sends Charlie the wonder dog skeedadling. She is pretty good. She also draws well. Does anyone in the reading group ever look at Wired on the web? Interesting article today about a guy who is trying to create a more powerful search engine than any available currently - ask it a question and it will tell you no lies. Cool. In NZ if the listener does not understand the speaker the NZ person will say "Pardon?" I also was asked to give two lectures on sound and its perception at the local uni - the first one was to me pretty bad, the second better - I do not know if I will ever be asked back or not. Will be interesting to see what happens. I learned a lot about the cochlea and organ of corti, anyway. I miss my old friends, and hope to be back for a visit in two years. We don't know when/where Joseph might go to college, and that may influence our travel plans. Well, it was so good to see old friends, and I wish all my readers well. Manford

Better late than . . .

2009-04-21T15:20:00.003+12:00

Hello gentle reader(s). We got into Auckland International Airport a little before 5 am on Sunday, and I still have some jet lag, having not slept any significant amount of time on the good ole big iron bird in the sky - but did watch most or all of four (possibly five) movies including one Japanese, one Chinese (with subtitles), Yes Man, and something else i may remember some day. How wonderful it was to see old friends, and it was not without a touch of sadness that we left. I think that was the happiest time I had had for a long time, for adjusting to NZ has not been all peaches and cream (though it is pretty tasty here at times). We had roast chicken to eat for dinner Sunday night. The house was so pristine thanks to the house sitter and her friend. The dog was retrieved sunday late afternoon from the kennel where we take her, and looked a little shaggier but was otherwise recognizable - there was a real bark symphony (maybe Beethoven wrote a symphony for assorted size and voice barkers - one seemed to have a hoarse voice from barking so much). There are tiny, medium and large dogs at the kennel - a pretty cool place - we like the people who own/run it. Back to the past - i really wasn't sure how it would feel to go back for a visit, but it felt right. Of course, I wish we would have had more time, but we feel we did ok with what we had. Contact with old friends certainly measured out in generous dosages the value of friendship and family. I did at times feel I was in a foreign country - possibly from the differences in appearance of USAers vs. Kiwis? And the stores have such a rich bounty of things compared to NZ, which seems rich to people from a lot of countries. There were so many cars in Los Angeles (do the angels cry about this?) that I almost couldn't count them. Same for some areas in San Francisco. Fortunately more were heading north when we were heading south from Sac to SF. I found I did miss walking, since I am not very good at working things in when there are such nice people to be with. There is new construction on a major road that is about two blocks from our house, started today, i believe, and will go on for a while. I will avoid it, taking long cuts if necessary since no short ones seem to be available. I did learn from this trip - one thing being that I need to get out more, be more in contact with others, socially and intellectually. And I needs to get me muscles stronger, a la Popye (sp?). Maybe I could take up an instrument - eg gong, bell, glass bottles, stems of grass, or humming? The options seem endless, and may end my existence if i annoy others too much. Hmmmmm. Better rethink that. I will go on reading, and will try and post a list at some point of ones I especially liked or found very interesting. Emily and mom, mostly, are getting ready for her birthday bash somewhere around May 3. She will be 40 (in 31 more years), and we hope she enjoys her youth before aging kicks in. I am reading a couple of interesting nonfiction books that talk about the brain, CNS and socialization aspects. I may get to tell some people about Fast ForWord, a remedial program i like. Well, my boots and tennis shoes are made for walking, so that's what I'm gonna do and one of these days they'll walk right back to you. Salud and love to all. Manford

An interesting week

2009-03-08T13:44:00.002+13:00

This has been an interesting week. Carrie left last Sunday for Sacramento - she flew Auckland to San Francisco then got a ride with a friend of her mother to Sacramento. We have lost a very lovely man, Vince, Carrie's step dad - he passed away a few days before she got there. She has been, I am sure, a great help to her mom (or mum as they say here). The kids have been real troopers, with little fussing or complaining. As often happens, things did not go as I had expected, primarily blood test results came back and Emily was diagnosed as having whooping cough. So, she had to go on a regimen of an antiboitic, and was told to not go to school or any other activities for five days, to give the medicine time to do its work. I negotiated this down to four days with her school nurse. We suspect she had pertussis for some weeks prior to the blood test results date, but the rules are once it is diagnosed there is an isolation period. So she won't reinfect already infected ones? So she has been pretty much mome bound since this past Wednesday, missing a school swimming meet, chapel at school (this is a mandatory requirement one time a term - hope we are not all doomed to Hell for not going), drama lesson, tennis on Saturday, a picnic on Friday (it was called off because of rain), and a birthday party (she will party on dude with the little girl who invited her at some unkown date). Joseph has an amazing (to me, anyway) new computer game - Empire Total War - that is not in the Quaker tradition you would think, but prior to any wars it is pacific - it lets him create towns and settle other territories, I believe, and of course as with most of the new software has remarkable (again, to me) graphics. Of course it has also caused him to want a more advanced graphics card! He has a little more homework. Emily has some Mon - Thurs, and is liking the clarinet (no way as squeaky as a violin can be, at least in her capable hands - with encouragement from her mom, whose clarinet it is, and who played clarinet for many year). Well to change the subject, we watch the news from MSN, NY Times, other papers and internet sites, and hope none of our readers have been deeply stung - I am hoping that if we are patient enough we will get back, if not all, at least some of our mutual funds and other investments. So far New Zealand does not seem to be hurting quite as much, though house valaues have gone down considerably and the NZ dollar is the weakest it has been in a long time. There are still flowers of one or another kind blooming prettily but leaves are starting to turn on the relatively few decidious trees, and there is a little touch of fall in the air. We are looking forward to our April visit. Hope all of you are well and getting along ok. Remember the phrase in fake latin - Illigitimus non carborundam (I think I almost spelled it right - look it up in Wikipedia for a number of different versions). Sincerely, Manford

I'm back in the saddle again

2009-02-17T11:32:00.003+13:00

Well, not really. But I am today feeling much more like the old me. It is a lovely day here, temp in the 60's this morning. I took Charlie for a walk, left her in the back yard, and walked some more to the local grocery store, and as a reward had a scoop of hokey pokey icecream. I have a few aches and pains, but my surgery went well and blessedly I don't have to go pee nearly as often. Let's see: I had laser surgery on my eye to close up a small retinal tear, then on my bladder to demolish a bladder stone (wonder how they did that ? I don't see any scars) so I guess next will be one or the other foot - maybe to wipe out a virulent foot fungus? Oh, well. Here is a family update: Charlie recently went to the vet for a sore on her nose - it seems to be clearing up, hooray. Emily has her first clarinet lesson at school today. She has lost/misplaced her uniform hat so we will probably need to buy another. Joseph has more homework by far than last year. Carrie is still not having to teach - classes start in March, but is very busy with research and with departmental matters. You have already heard enough about me. There are lots of peppers on our raised-bed pepper plants. We had some burly guys come and take out all the junk vegetation (privet hedges, grass, miscellaneous green things) so right now, today, our flower/plant beds look swell - I will really try to keep up with removing unwanted things from the beds from now on out. Rhubarb plants are very interesting - huge leaves, and you don't eat them, do you. Our strawberry plants have pretty much stopped making strawberries. Our tomato plants would, if we let them, take over the world, so it is snick, snick, snick to their unwanted branches. Marigolds have done well. Something is eating holes in the recently planted broccoli plants. Charlie is digging holes in the yard here and there. We will soon be putting down more bark in the beds. We are having pasta and homemade by Carrie tomato sauce and garlic bread tonight. Energy companies here are discouraging baths - one ad shows a bird on the edge of a plastic small pool, with the text "baths are for birds. Have a shower instead." Our nice big phillips lcd tv has been intermittently going blank though the sound remains on, so we have left it at a local repair shop for diagnosis and possible treatment. We had a sweet Valentines day, and hope you did, too. More later, hot potater.

When the examiner starts calling you "sir" you know

2009-02-09T19:12:00.002+13:00

Welcome to my story page. Every year I have to take a driving test, with a driving instructor and an occupational therapist giving me their attention as I ferry them around in my car under varous conditions (country driving vs. city) for which I pay them a couple of hundred bucks. Well we started off on not so good a footing - after a short time I was asked to pull over and was told I needed to look in the rear view mirror more often, keep more to the center of the street or road and scan upcoming cross streets for possible intruders (well, something like that). I did those things better and did fine at speed (up to an exciting 60 miles an hour, or 100 kilometers per hour), then I was so happy that the test was almost over that I forgot some of the things I was supposed to do (like signal a left turn when going through a traffic circle and continuing on straight) and did not watch my speed so went a little fast in traffic and the instructor said something that included the term "sir" which I realized was a sign of displeasure. Sure enough my lack of defensive driver got commented on, but they are still letting me drive. Whew. I need to keep drivig to get Emily to and from her new school. Enough of that. Except as I watch other drivers I think they would get zapped more than me - as they cruise into the bicycle lane, fail to signal when they should, etc. Ah, well. For some reason I became rather brain dead, or developed writer's block, after our South Island trip, and life has not been a barrel of laughs - I had a bladder stone and could not get it taken out for no charge at the local hospital for at least six months, more or less, because they don't have enough docs and suites to meet the general populaces needs - so paid for having it done privately, in secret, far away from the prying eyes of the hospital. Apparently I did not recover consciousness in the recovery room, but in the post recovery room. And I was out from a cocktail of various drugs that worked quickly. I am much improved in the bladder department so I guess I will stop wearing diapers (just kidding). But enough about me. We are thrilled to think we will be seeing old friends during our upcoming April visit to the states. I will have more to say tomorrow. I want to post this before I erase it. Manford

We're back--and it's 2009!

2009-01-11T14:15:00.002+13:00

I promised myself I would blog before I got lost in the heaps of e-mails I no doubt have waiting for me, after two weeks completely computer-free.

We just got home from our big trip to the South Island (known to the locals--not us--as the "mainland"). We spent the first week (Dec 28-Jan 4) at the Quaker Summer Gathering, at a boy scout camp outside of Christchurch. Not exactly luxury accommodations, but lots of interesting people around. About 110 people, lots of families, including the "Junior Young Friends" group of which Joseph is a member, who basically hang out and play cards and talk. We went to a park and beach one day, and into Christchurch on Joseph's birthday (15) to a museum and art gallery and food and ice cream. Before we left that day, Joseph got brave and went up the really tall climbing wall and abseiling down. Yes, I got pictures. He let me take a lot more pictures than usual of him this trip, so I will look at them and post some later...We were very lucky and had good weather almost all the time we were there--the only precipitation being a very dramatic and Kansas-like hailstorm.

We left the gathering early last Sunday morning to catch the TransAlpine express--a train across the mountains that are the center of the island. It was a nice ride--maybe not quite the spectacular mountains I was expecting, but I think I am spoiled by Colorado and the Sierra Nevada, and the biggest mountains are a bit farther south--Mount Cook--and were hidden by clouds most of the time we were there. We picked up a car when we got to the west coast, and spent the next week exploring the middle of the island, including perusing beach stones for jade (called greenstone here), going on an early morning boat ride to look for birds in the Okarito lagoon, a jetboat ride on a glacier-fed river (jetboats are a NZ invention and tourism boon, kind of the roller coaster of boating), a tour and detailed account of where and how they filmed the big battle scene at the end of Lord of the Rings (pictures to come), and, on the final day, a strong contender for favorite, seeing the penguins come home in Oamaru--both a few rare and solitary yellow-eyed penguins, and several rafts (that's what they're called, really) of gregarious little blue penguins, who clamoured up the rocks while their chicks wrestled and hopped about excitedly, awaiting their parents' return. Oh, yes, we did see little blue penguins also in captivity--injured ones, rescued and kept at the Antarctic Centre, where we also went in a room full of artificial snow to simulate an Antarctic storm. We had hoped to see Franz Josef Glacier, but it was very rainy that day, and we decided not to brave the walk over slippery stones. We thought we might see Fox Glacier the next day, but it was still rainy, and we opted to go on to Wanaka, which was inland, huge beautiful lakes. And that day, two Indian tourists were crushed by an ice fall at Fox Glacier. So maybe it's just as well we didn't go. We would probably not have disregarded the warning signs that are all over, especially in the rain, but according to the paper, 1/3 of tourists do ignore the signs and go try to touch the ice.

Now, home sweet home, still filled with Christmas debris. It seems like we've been gone forever. The garden looks like it, too. I picked a weird cucumber, gigantic squash, and possibly the ugliest carrot I've ever seen. Looks like the birds have found the strawberries, the rhubarb is trying to take over the world, and we will soon have a bushel of tomatoes. And one of dandelions.

Now I guess I'd better brave the e-mail and the laundry, before I go back to work tomorrow.

Happy 2009! Stay warm!
Carrie

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T07:25:00.002+13:00

Happy holidays, dear readers, and our best to you and yours. Current news - sung to the tune of "There's a hole in my bucket" - there's a stone in my bladder, my bladder, my bladder, there's a stone in my bladder that won't come out; and, there's a cyst in my left kidney, etc. that needs further study. Will have a CT scan this Wednesday for more in depth (har, har) analysis of the cyst, and will send an update when I have more info. We had a lovely time at Papamoa Beach this past week, and Carrie should have a picture or two to illustrate that visit. My nephew Ross and his wife Virginia and their son Andrew have been visiting since 15 December, and will share Christmas with us. We had planned to have Christmas dinner with a colleague of Carrie's but she had a horse riding accident where her horse fell and rolled over her, fracturing her pelvis, so she is out of action somewhat, though still getting up and around surprisingly well. We see on the web that it has been, and is being, a cold winter for many of you, so I will not dwell on our warm weather. Carrie, Joseph and Emily remain healthy and in good spirits; the kids are eagerly awaiting Christmas. If Santa lands on our metal roof it will cause a clatter, for sure, for sure. I had a good week of beach walking, shell gathering and book reading, and look forward to the new year, when I hope to become a volunteer somewhere in this town, and plan to go out of town more often to see the nearby sites, and hopefully improve my camera skills. We hope to come to the USA this next year. We wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New year (I just made that up - pretty good, huh). Keep those e-mails coming - I very much enjoy and appreciate them. Manford

If it's yellow

2008-12-02T09:01:00.003+13:00

Hello. Time just gets away and two weeks are gone in a flash. We were pretty busy cleaning/tidying up the house to get ready for a Thanksgiving dinner we held on the 30th of November here - invited a coworker of Carrie's, her husband and their child, our next door neighbors, a friend of Joseph's and his mother and we four. Had a lovely meal - really hard to find turkeys here - and then they are only about as big as a roasting hen in the USA so Carrie bought and cooked two - one in an oven bag, one with no bag, and stuffed with stuffing. I made an apple tart, Carrie a grasshoper pie and did most of the other cooking, and her coworker brought potatoes, white and orange, and we got two boxes of yummy chocolates, and a good time was had by all until the coworker's daughter somehow managed to bang her head pretty hard on a yard swinging chair - my what a yowl!!! But, fortunately she was not badly hurt, and did calm down somewhat. Next up is the annual tree trimming party, on December 14. My computer is getting a low battery warning, so more in a while. Well here I am a few days later, and perhaps you are wondering about the blog title. Well, one of the beach houses we rented in the past had a sign in the toilet room: If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown,flush it down. I would add: if it's red, you have bled. Which is what I did one day. Apparently that is a common finding when people are taking the local equivalent of Cumadin, but the doctor I consulted about it (my doctor was full up and could not see me) took me off the Cumadin, and I was to see a urologist before going back on it. Well, this consult took place on 27 November and after waiting and trying various approaches to getting an appointment at the local hospital my doctor has referred me to a private pay urologist, whom I will see on this Thursday, two days from today. I am feeling fine, so hopefully he will give me clearance to get back to figuring out the best doseage. I hope so, soonk, for I am off with my nephew and his wife and son to the beach for a few days before Carrie and Joseph and Emily show up - or maybe Joseph or Joseph and a friend will come up with me. It rained heavily last night and this am, good thing, the plants were getting a little parched. Our bathroom make over is almost done. It looks flash as they say here - or sweet - whatever. Emily has a new friend with whom she is spending lots of time. Joseph has a school project presentation this Wednesday evening, while I take Emily to a farewell bar-b-cue Carrie will go with Joseph. He is going to be in the advanced class next year. Hope you are not freezing, and wishing you all a happy, prosperous, healthy holiday season and new year I remain yours truly, Manford

Now you see it . . .

2008-11-18T20:12:00.002+13:00

now you don't. Four drops of a homeopathic brew based on some testing the homeopath did using a MORA machine that I cannot adequately explain but is supposed to identify toxic things in your body and the brew helps detoxify - clear drops, 4 taken 3 times a day - they disappear when placed in water, but that may be because the brew is clear???My racing heart has been calm since leaving the hospital - now I have to get sticks (with a needle) to draw blood, twice a week, to measure coagulation factor - used to determine dosage of the warfaran I am on - currently 3.5 mg. I feel pretty good - get tired a little more easily and have had to reduce weight lifting from 1,500 to 1,000 kilos ten times (just kidding). It may be that my eyes and mind are a little clearer, as I bribed someone to tell me - my face a little more flushed (could that be the booze?) - but in general I think I am a better motor functioning me than I was, say six months ago. I see by the old thermometer on the internet wall that at this moment, right around 2 am there, that the temperature in Topeka is 32 Farenheit. Yesterday I visited the local French goods grocery store - yummy sour dough bread and lovely frozen croissants that when thawed overenight grow to about double the original size and become even a little larger when baked. Some good, gooey, stinky cheese, too. And a spice mixture to coat steaks - we cook them on the barbie (barby??), bar-b (??) - a New Zealand tradition (the meat, with the spices, that is, not the spices alone). Some possibly interesting facts - our system of blood vessels - arteries, veins and capillaries - is over 60,000 miles long. The heart beats about 100,000 times a day, nearer 1,000,000 when mine was galloping. Well, probably not that many. In a 70 year lifetime the average human heart beats more than 2.5 million times - wonder what the outlier range is? Perhaps you know of other interesting heart facts. Our bathroom remodel proceeds - now have a tub and vanity in place, with no fixtures, a fine working shower, and a start on waterproofing which must preceed painting. I am having the joy of peeling wall paper in our separate toilet room - it has grown to ten times bigger than the original size and I should be finished by 2014, if I keep at it - slow and steady wins the race. Emily and Joseph have each been chosen by their respective schools to be one of their representatives in somewhat different activities - emily part of a problem solving event in nearby Cambridge, Joseph at his school where he and some of his mates will interact with like-aged youngsters from out of town, I think. Well, hope all of you good readers are in good health and that life is treating you well. More later. Manford

Manford learns about fibrillation

2008-11-10T15:28:00.003+13:00

So, doc, I was in the cold,cold ocean water off Waihi Beach for about 30 minutes,in my new wet suit, and there was a breeze and I started shivering and couldn't stop, and then we walked back to the camp Emily and other kids and I and other parents were staying and it seemed to take much more effort than getting there, and I lay down and checked my pulse and boy was it going - (sung to the tune of up on the rooftop click, click, click - up goes the heart rate, tick, tick, tick, let's bring it down, but not to quick) - zooming in at around 140 - 150 beats/minute. So I caged a ride home (about two hours) and went to hospital, where I was warmly greeted by caring (really), nice ER staff, they did an EKG, had to wait a while for a cardiology resident (learned later that as the evening went on there was a 6 hour wait in the ER for less pressing cases), then transferred to an observation unit until next day, then saw a big kahuna cardiologist around 10 am, then transferred to the cardiology unit annex, where I roomed with five other guys until my discharge yesterday, Sunday, after getting medication by mouth and from shots in the belly (subcutaneous, so not too painful), the old racing heart slowed down, while the old blood pressure went down to 80's over 60's, but they thought I was well enough to come home and be looked after by my doc whose office is nearby. The ward experience was interesting - felt a little like a prisoner, but had entertainment through books and mags brought by Carrie, and from listening to the kiwi guys who were there ahead of me and whom I left behind - with more serious heart concerns - one was a farmer, another a car salesman, another from India whose home was in Fiji and is a heavy equipment operator, and some unknown job guys, all good story tellers and many pithy comments re the current NZ elections and USA ones with apparently universal approval of Obama. Food was plentiful and tasteful. Staff very nice. Beds moderately comfortable. From time a hospital house cat wandered in from outside. Had a shower Saturday (last Wed am ) which may have made others glad - made me feel and smell better. Strangely enough I never had any discomfort or any other symptom - too brain damaged already, I guess - just a fast, and somewhat intermittent, heart rate. Well, I am happily at home now, observing the bathroom remodel we are getting done that should be finished by 2010 or thereabouts. All new fixtures,shower, vanity, stool, walls and ceilings, will be much nicer than our old moldy one. Take care of yourselves and try not to fibrillate very often - the cost of my stay is covered by socialized medicine here, but could be a big expense in the USA, I suspect. Med costs pretty much covered too. Wish you were here. Manford

Manford learns about wetsuits (a little)

2008-11-03T19:50:00.004+13:00

Emily and many of her classmates are going on a camping trip this week, and Manford is going along as one of several parents who are going to be supervising groups of five of these children. As part of this trip there will be beach time, and if the weather is good and the seas calm, children will be allowed to enter the water, and parents will form a curved line to keep the children from straying. Given that the water is still pretty cool, the school recommended that parents bring a wetsuit. So off I goes, looking for one. I settle on a short-sleeve, short leg model. Says I to the clerk, I guess I will need a Large - says he - no, a medium should be fine. So I try one on, and this, folks, is not an easy task. First you put your own legs, one at a time, in the correct whole for legs, after several futile attmepts with at least one foot tending to go into the arm holes. When finally you get the leg thing straightened out you then have to PULL, PULL, PULL the suit up the legs until it is well up the thighs, and make sure it is tight in the crotch, for if you do not pull it up really, really good you will not be able to get the suit over your shoulders. So I worked at it, uhhgh, uhhgh, uhhgh, and then the helpful store person asks how I am doing, and I stand there with it half on, and try and try to get it over my shoulders, with my arms sticking out, but I need help, for it is not going on so good, so he helps, and finally the arms and legs and shoulder portions are actually pretty good - I can't breathe and it is choking me but he says it needs to be tight to work, so I guess that is the way it will feel. Getting out of the suit is a hell of a lot easier than in - you just peel it down, kind of like a banana skin, pulling on a cord attached to the zipper to start things off, then undo the velcro tabs that hold the neck closed, keep peeling, and finally it is off. Ooops, what to wear under the wetsuit. Most web ites related to this question recommend some Speedo like thing - so tomorrow Manford goes out to buy a bikini bottom sort of thing - but I do not think I will pose for pictures in it, as I do not want to cause people of faint, pass out, run screaming away from me, etc. Carrie laughs about this - I do to. I am definitely thinner now - can wear a 36 inch waist pant (that is what the stores call them here - I guess two pant would make one pants?) and weight somewhere around 180. I was pleased today (this is a topic change) to be told by my doctor that I looked great, much better than a year ago - maybe there really is something to the notion of me having mercury poisioning and not having it now since all the amalgam in my mouth has been removed and I am on a detox with some homeopathic drops. Well, I will stop for now - I managed to disappear some stuff I had typed in, so will quit while I am ahead. Thanks for all your thoughts and time. Manford

Correction

2008-10-26T10:59:00.002+13:00

The correct spelling is: kassler. thanks

What I have been reading

2008-10-26T10:12:00.002+13:00

I have read, or am in the process of reading: Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami - a strange but generally fantastic story, including a man who talks with cats; Mutant Message From Forever, Marlo Morgan - very interesting portraits of some aboriginies in Australia; The Girl With The Drago Tattoo - writing that to me is so good I don't want to read it because then I will be finished and won't have more - kind of like eating a wonderful icecream, or thanks to Dr. Hsu's daughter Emmie, who recently visited one evening at the end of her tour of parts of Australia and New Zealand, Haigh's chocolates from Australia. Things we have eaten lately of note, from a shop that sells South African goods and local cuts of meat - baby back ribs and kasser, I think it is - a cured pork chop - will get back to you on the spelling; and from our own efforts, fresh spinach and a few strawberries from our garden; and from our own kitchen, waffles with a recently acquired waffle iron that makes heart shaped ones; and some good cheese from local cheese makers. When we can find one we plan to plant a Japanese maple in the front of the house bed. Many of the blooms I saw last week are gone, but new ones keep coming, including lots of roses in other yards and some in our front of the house bed. The lawn is not so good, weedy and patchy so I may call in some help. Emily is having a small party on Haloween. Joseph is visiting with friends and seeming to enjoy school and has a couple, well at least one, project(s) going. Mom is busy at work. I have finally had all the amalgam out of my mouth, and all my crowns are now procelain, with non-amalgam fillings under them. We are healthy, even if not wealthy and wise, and hope all of you who read this are all three. Sincerely, Manford

Here I sit . . .

2008-10-16T20:00:00.002+13:00

Hello, good readers. Here I sit, in the dining room, listening to a sudden, pounding (but intermittent) rain as it splatters against our metal roof (this is the most common roofing material in New Zealand, as far as I can tell). Well, all of a sudden, quiet. The afternoon was characterized by immense, powerful, largely white clouds in the West and South, and by even more coverage of the East and North by big grey swatches, so I am not surprised to have the rain - and we can use it. No wonder NZ is so green in most places. The big news of the week is that I have had my last amalgam filling replaced, and no longer have a mouth full of metal crowns, all replaced by porcelain. I struggle to keep still in the dentist chair, and am rewarded by his telling his nurse that I am his best patient - true or not is flattering, and he may have been obliquely referring to the payments I have made which might help him send his kids to the Uni! So far so good. Next week a visit with the doctor in Tauranga who started the whole thing, so I can learn a detox regimen that theoretically will remove mercury remaining in my body. Even if it is not the whole case, I do feel better, more alert and less tinnitus and word finding problems, and better more confident driving, and just happier in general. I have a question: what do the following words have in common? Grand, Hyatt, Sheraton, Oscar, George, Fat Hippo (Fat Hippo???) and Frank. If you guessed they are the name of tents shown in a recent advertisement by a sporting goods store here in Hamilton you win a prize. Many of the ads we see on tv here are funny or clever, and we enjoy that. Emily is back in drama class once a week where she is honing her already prodigous talents, preparing at eight for teenager hood, I suppose, with big ups and downs. Joseph seems to be getting invested more in some of his school projects. I do the odd VNG, and wish I had more because I always feel a little rusty, and doing several in a pretty close row at least shakes some of the cobwebs out! Carrie is working really hard. I am hardly working. Har, har, har - see. Some trees are still blooming, but many are now leafed out as we head toward summer. We will go to the South Island in late December, early January for a Quaker gathering, then have about a week to tour around before coming back. I am sure we will have lots of pictures and we are trying to figure out a way to get more of them into the blog - anybody used the Google Picasa program for this? I am still not very good with it, but then they don't seem to be able to spell, or they are sort of creative with their name? I am trying to take pictures of flowers and tree blossoms, and sometimes, using the autofocus program of the camera get really clear pictures of leaves below the blossom. Oh, well, har, har, har. I am very happy that we get the New Yorker - always something interesting in each issue. Anyone know about the painter Elizabeth Peyton? I weigh in around 180 these days, and at least to me seem to be walking better due to instructions I have received from a lady who is versed in the Alexander Technique. I don't think I have yet completely found my place in this small nation of around 4,000,000 (human) inhabitants (lots more sheep) but am gradually working my way out into the public and maybe for the next year will be more of a tourist, if gasoline prices don't get much higher. I am very sorry about the rough financial times so many seem to be going through recently, and look with some dismay at the latest news from the companies we have invested in, but am hopeful that in the long run things will get better. Last note - Joseph and I watched Breaking Bad, a new tv show for NZ - interesting and will be interesting to see what happens next. Thank you for reading this, and our best wishes to all who do. Manford

A Quiet Week

2008-10-05T09:58:00.002+13:00

It has been a quiet week for us - Joseph off to Quaker youth camp in a town pretty far away and Emily in a ymca camp 8:30 - 4:30 Mon - Thurs. Friday the three of us went to a home and garden exposition that had well over 100 booths and displays - I particularly enjoyed watching some of the artists working on stone and wood sculptures, and Emily found a fairy costume for Haloween. The weather has not been delightful, with frequent cloud overlay - big dark ones. Joseph came home yesterday evening. Earlier in the day Emily and I went to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua and enjoyed it. The theatre is in a mall, so she enjoyed a tub of chocolate gelato afterwards from one of the many options in the food court. A daughter of a friend of ours who was in Topeka and moved to California is visiting Australia and New Zealand and we hope to have a chance to meet her sometime this month. I have one more crown to go before all the amalgam is gone. Will bring a bottle of champagne to celebrate! Carrie has been grading papers all weekend. Our latest acquisitions - a waffle iron (somewhat hard to find) and a GPS - fun to listen to it recalculating as I take streets not in its original route! Pretty amazing technology, huh. The kids have one more week of schoobreak - Emily to continue camp, Joseph to continue downloading stuff - his favorite word - stuff. We can get 20 gigs of data a month without penalty - should be enough and more. Cleverest business name we have seen recently - Pasta la Vista - per their brochure - "Traditional Argentinian pasta made fresh . . . every day" and they now deliver in Auckland and are coming to Hamilton. Yesterday we went to a pond on Carrie's Uni campus and fed the ducks stale bread - at one point a mama and four babies came up on land very close to Emily's foot and I tried to get closer and away they went somewhat to the dismay of an oma who pulled out her (previously hidden) bread to feed them while I scared them back into the water not realizing until they were off land that she had bread - ooops. Oh, well. We are heading for warmer weather, with current temps in the 50's, while those in North America, where temperatures are in the 50's, are heading in the opposite direction. We had a time change last weekend so now North America west coast is six hours later, instead of seven. My head spins. Take care, and our best to all who read this.

A little miscellany . . .

2008-09-22T18:22:00.004+12:00

The rest of us are happy that Carrie is feeling much better. I have been having some really feeling swell, too. Partly the lovely, clear blue sky's fault perhaps, or who knows? Just enjoy it without too much intellectualizing. Emily is getting pretty good at igpay atinlay and seems to enjoy it. I was listening to some of the music I loaded on my MP3 player shortly before we left Topeka, and for some reason it brought to mind how much I like smiles - the big goofy kind you get from little babies involving their whole face when you smile or make goo goo at/to them. The loving smiles of family members. The pleasant smile of strangers responding to yours. And I was very fortunate at work that both Kay and Shawn, Shawn and Kay, had great smiles and lucky for me they were very tolerant of my sillinesses that popped out from time to time. We are currently blessed with lovely flowers and tree blossoms of many colors and configurations. It was only in the 70's today, but in the afternoon I got hot with my long pants so switched to gym shorts and whew felt better. My nephew, his wife and son may be visiting later this year, possibly in December - it is hard to make the change to it being Summer down here in that month. I did a VNG today and was pleased to remember how to do it, it having been quite a number of months since I did the last one before. And also did basic balance platform measurements. I am feeling more confident, less afraid, when I drive - and am trying hard to not get overconfident - looking twice, etc, trying to stay alert and focused. I believe my father at times was able to drive in a way that caused his passengers some alarm, but he was protected I believe, since he never had a serious wreck - though he did drive the riding mower into the pool one time. Well, keep smiling, and have a good week. Manford

I'm back!

2008-09-21T08:54:00.002+12:00

I'm sorry I've been so silent of late--my only excuse is supersitition, as it seemed like every time I told someone I was getting better, I got much worse, so I couldn't come here and write that I was getting better, and I didn't want to when I was getting worse...anyway, I am now officially much, much better, and our trip to Sydney was very therapeutic (we got to walk on, and near, the beach), and I had my check-up at the pnuemonia clinic just before we went, and the child doctor (he may have been a med student--or a resident, which they call "registrar" here) said "it's nice to do a physical on someone who is relatively healthy"--which made me feel very good. I guess they see a lot of very decrepit people. But I am feeling ecstatically healthy right now, able to climb whole staircases without a second thought.

And it is spring--we planted some tomatoes yesterday, and carrot seeds, and the strawberries we planted a few weeks ago are blooming very promisingly. Yesterday we went to Hamilton Gardens--very pretty park--and saw several batches of very cute ducklings, some swimming perilously close to some menacing-looking eels, but no tragedy transpired. Good thing, because Emily was very emotionally involved with those ducklings.

And now I had better get back to too many student papers...I was excited and inspired by the conference in Sydney (on perinatal mental health) and hope to get some more research started soon, and maybe go back next year to Melbourne, when the conference is jointly between perinatal mental health and infant mental health societies--not to mention Pittsburgh, in 2010. Could 2010 be nearly here?

Carrie

Things we did not . . .

2008-09-19T16:19:00.002+12:00

Hi, everybody. Here are some places I did not go, things I did not do, and things I did not buy: GO - Chinatown, Chinese Garden of Friendship, Sydney Fish Market, Star City Casino, harbour cruise, bush walk north of town, nude or partly nude beaches, Aboriginal Art venues (several of these), Justice and Peace Museum, Museum of Sydney, Ocean World (you can swim with sharks there), Sydney Aquarium. . .DO - attend any plays, operas, concerts, street fairs, kite days at Bondi beach, revisit King Street, hike on the beach at night, listen to the radio (we saw quite a bit of Australian Football on TV and watched part of the New Zealand All Blacks win a rugby game over their Australian counterparts), play any CDs (I bought one). . . BUY - clothes (I got one t-shirt with aboriginal art on it), (not very many) books, opals, diamonds, other jewelery, authentic Aboriginal art, shoes, boots, short pants, fancy backpack (got one for me for $30.00 Au), hiking or camping gear, a meal with kangaroo meat, fancy Swedish ice cream at $5.00 a pop (we did find a Baskins-Robins outlet and ate some of that, and I spotted a Krispy Cream franchise at the airport but alas, alack could not locate one in the departure area), silly or cute or funny postcards, table mats, table runners, exhibition catalogs (just one), hats (I got a new cap to replace my favorite, but somewhat bedraggled one), soap, toothpaste, (just a little chocolate to tide us over), etc... What kind of things have you not done, seen, bought in your travels. So far I have no regrets about what we did not. . . hope the same for you. Sincerely, Manford

It seemed so simple at the time

2008-09-17T19:30:00.003+12:00

In which Carrie and Manford have further adventures - the last shall be first . . .We had gotten to airport parking just fine, making some right turns then three in a row left but when we got back from Sydney (more in a moment) failure to turn left led us to unknown territory going, it turned out, away from Hamilton rather than toward it but with some exciting interchanges between husband and wife managed after not too much time to get turned around and on the right road. Whew! Our flight to Sydney was fine - we even got a movie and some not too bad chow on Air New Zealand. Customs went rapidly, and we were solicited by a guy in a cowboy hat to let him take us to the ferry terminal for only ten bucks a head - cheapest airport transportation by far - and since he had corraled others we felt no fear - at least until he started driving - then I think his insanity took control, or perhaps memories of his experiences when taking the New York City school of cab driving course kicked in, and I closed my eyes from time to time and Carrie uttered expressions of wonderment that we did not crash, run over anybody or become mated to vehicles in front or behind us as he smoothly zipped in and out of traffic lanes and got so close to those in front of him that were he any closer he would be in their back pocket. But we survived, and probably got our heart rate up for the day with no exercise. We were actually booked for Carrie's conference in Manly, a Sydney suburb - about 30 minutes away via a ferry - a lovely ride with great views of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge (Harbour?). We settled in for the night and for the next three days Manford explored while Carrie conventioned - learning a lot - each of us did (per Yoda talk). In my time I had a tour of the Opera House - it had the most beautiful and best sounding concert hall I had ever been in! I then went to the Australian museum and enjoyed a wonderful collection of Aboriginal art - and had a lunch of something soft with potatoes in it, and some cheese, I think. At some point I bravely took a train to Newtown, a really cool shopping area on King street - reminded me of Berkley California. I had purchased a 3 day Sydney pass that allowed me to ride on city busses, trains, monorail, ferries, and two different Explorer bus lines you can get off and on at any time and they cover a large part of the city. Went to Bondi (pronounced Bondeye) beach, a big beach with quite a few people flying kites (there was, nearby, a nude beach, I believe but I didn't scope it our or participate for I had no wish to depress people as would have happened when they gazed upon my beautiful body) and the beach right across the road from our hotel in Manly was much cooler anyway but like some other things in life I felt I should see it once, and now I have. Just a funny karma there - I guess it, like much else, was taken from the Aborigonal tribes at some point. Sunday Carrie and I visited the really nice maratime museum - they had a fascinating exhibit of several hundreds of French, mostly, toy boats (can you say toy boat four times in a row real fast?) that ranged in size from a few inches (centimeters) to five or six feet (nearly a couple of meters?) - well displayed. And we saw a sailboat made of beer cans - apparently there is a race in some town anually for boats made like that. And some other interesting displays related to sailing. We went to an area called The Rocks, and they had a large outdoor market where we purchased this and that - including something special for Carrie's mom and some other gifts. We agreed that Aussies like their coffee for there were approximately a bazillion coffe shops - and ditto for ice cream (around five bucks a pop) and gelato joints, plus a plethora of good restaurants - all kinds of neat names, such as Thai me up and eat me Sushi - some serving kangaroo which we did not eat. I found a couple of neat used book stores and a great tea store on my King street adventure. The weather was good while Carrie was conferencing and rain came a little on Sunday but we did not get caught in any of the several downpoors. There was a gent all painted up like an Aboriginy (spell) playing a digaderoo (I am sure that is spelled wrong) the tube thing that makes interesting sounds and I bought a CD from him for only ten bucks. Sydney must have really strict noise laws - we never heard a horn honk, and for some reason (my excellent driving skills could not be the cause) I often hear horns close by in Hamilton. Overall, a great trip, except for the little bump related to finding our way home at the end. Perhaps a GPS would obviate that difficulty in the future? We were glad to be home - the children were happy to get away from their slave labor camps and Charlie seemed happy to escape his prison. Well, take care and thanks. Manford

How quickly . . .

2008-09-06T19:30:00.002+12:00

How quickly time passes (at leas sometimes) perhaps due to relativity (an hour at work seems to be like a day, a day at the beach seems like an hour). I guess in part I haven't written is I haven't had any remarkable experiences recently. However I did get a call asking me to do a VNG test on a patient near the end of this month. change topic. We have a broadband plan for the internet that allows us broadband speed as long as downloads don't exceed 10 gigabytes - somehow we managed to hit that landmark around August 24 or so, and suffered from the company then switching us over to dial up speed - though they don't charge any more when we do exceed our limit. CHANGE TOPIC - The magnolias are on the cusp of their peaking, with many dropped petals and somewhat dessicated blossoms on the tress but are stll in their glory - with pinks, whites and possibly some other color my color blindness does not recognize. I do have a new porcelain crown on a back tooth, replacing the metal one that was covering up an amalgam filling, so had that out and replaced with white stuff. One to go. Beautiful weather this week (topic change) with clear skies at night. I wonder what the Kansas current governer will do when her term is up since she did not get picked for the Veep post? And am I right that Slattery is challenging Roberts? change - there were hundreds of kids and parents and officials camped in our local park - playing soccer in what has become an annual spring event, turning our two way street into a one lane alley with cars parked on either side, some on the grass between the street and sidewalk, some not. I had to take Emily to her Saturday science class so backed up part way down the drive then turned right and drove over the grass that is between my drive and the neighbor's and then right again so at least I was facing out before pulling out, rather than pulling my neck out of joing trying to see while backing up. Joseph wants to see Hellboy2 - has anybody seen it? I have been trying to photograph some of the flowers in our area and if the pictures come out pretty good I will try and post them on this blog. Take care, all of you, and let me hear your news. Thanks. Manford

Memories are made of this

2008-08-28T13:39:00.003+12:00

Some things are just more memorable than others - for me, the end of WW II signaled by a siren going off in the employee housing settlement near Bloomington, Texas; Schortie, my first puppy (a daschund); my sister falling out of a tree and hurting her back when I was pretty small, in Mississippi; my first sighting of the Monterey Peninsula after a hard winter's basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, thinking maybe I had died and gone to heaven; and the list goes on. What are some of your favorites? Topic change - we have had three glorious days of sunshine and largely blue skies - I think I got a little sunburn working in the yard a couple of hours today - wearing short pants and a short sleeved shirt and being plenty warm. More shifts - perhaps only a sentence or two on a topic - met two swell fellows this week, one an audiologist who owns his own practice and gave me some good advice about a possible alternative portal to get back to doing some hearing testing by becoming a member of the New Zealand Audiometrist Society; and a second gent, goes by the moniker of the Lawnmower Doctor (he picks up and delivers) who wasted no time in telling me I had not destroyed the innards of the drated machine, just tilted it too much so some oil got in the air filter and cylinder and he fixed that, and also put the top portion of the handle right side up - I had installed it upside down - very sweet guy. (shift) Carrie is finally really on the upswing - breathing more easily, having less pain where the evil pleurisy resides on her left side - that and the weather have really cheered me up, too. Has anyone seen the movie Teeth - it was playing here but I missed the two days it was shown. Read the reviews - sounds wierd but interesting at least to some of us twisted mind folk. (shift) I really enjoyed watching the Olympics - coverage in New Zealand was mostly on different sports, not necessairily with New Zealand participants though they had a lot of that - devoted up to ten or twelve hours a day sometimes. Thanks as always for your support and interest. Last thing today - I am still on the trail of learning what a squirrel hammer massage is - I called and was told it is like acupressure, but when I asked about its name was told to come in and they would show me - maybe I will go - hope if I do I come back!

Every day . . .

2008-08-24T08:13:00.002+12:00

Every day, walking Emily to school, with or without Charlie the wonder dog, or Charlie with or without Emily, I pass by beauty. No matter the season, there is always something in bloom. As we near Spring here there is more - pinks, yellow daffodils, white blossoms on some camelias, pinks and purples too, pansies just peeking out, an occasional limpid, delicate iris, pink blossoms on some trees, small ones, big ones, fallen ones whose delicate flowers Emily enjoys picking up and looking at with the mindful way she sometimes has. Well, I am sleeping better than I had in a long time, and have started what I hope I will continue to do, working out (albeit it lightly at this point) at the Rec center at Carrie's Uni - stationary bike for fifteen minutes (that is my goal - ten about did me in on day one, but did get pulse rate up to about the right place - I think 180), then pumping the old iron for another fifteen minutes, all this post a consult with a lady gym staff who came here from Canada and loves country music. Saw a crazy Japanese movie last night, one included in the New Zealand film festival - sort of a Yojimbo/fist full of dollars cross with two warring sides in a village fighting until all that were left were the mysterious neutral hero who came riding into town earlier, a little boy, and a wise mountain man - plenty of gore, and Japanese actors who spoke exxagerated English! Carrie and I will go to one about Pete Seeger later this week, and I hope to see a few more. I was hurting from my temporary crown but got it smoothed off and is ok now. Carrie is gradually getting better. It is raining buckets outside as I write this. Yesterday Carrie, Emily and I went to a garden center and bought strawberry plants, some seeds, some vegetable plants (lettuce, beets, chives, etc) and if it stops raining will try and initiate our lovely raised beds with them. Thanks for reading this, and all our best to you and yours.

lt ain't over 'til it's over

2008-08-19T15:59:00.002+12:00

Darn, shoot, heck, son of a gun, aarrrgggghhh - I thought all the amalgam was gone, but yesterday the dentist found some more under a metal crown we are replacing with a procelain one. And there is one more to go, which will be looked at in about three weeks after I get my new crown. Ah, well. Good news is the sun is shining. The car people callled and will be here soon - was having coolant system trouble but they say they fixed it. Manford

Momma called the doctor...

2008-08-16T19:30:00.002+12:00

Momma called the doctor and the doctor said - "Come on in" and so she did and he then said "Go to the hospital" which she did with me driving and after about a three and a half hour wait in the ER at a stuffed, full, no available bed hospital, we saw a doctor who said probably pleurisy, take this iv antibiotic after I do a little needle biopsy to see what we can see, the next day a different doctor says go home, you will get better, and take these pills and they will help too. So it goes. Carrie is not very comfortable and it hurts when she moves a certain way or breathes too hard, but we are optomistic that things will be better day by day. At least there was no charge for anything that went on after we entered the hospital, since it is part of the public health program. I am still reeling a little from an e-mail from the New Zealand auditory society that said I do not qualify for their membership because I have no Master's degree in Audiology - but at least I got an official opinion from their president - so I will do other stuff. I have signed up for a six month trial at the University Rec Center - strong like bull, smell like ox? The weather - will the rain never cease? Then, hark, what is that bright light in the sky - that intermittently peeks out? Have discovered a great cheese factory from a nearby town, whose products are sold in our local grocery store. Had some moisture behind the lens covering the right headlight on our bmw - apparently a common occurrence recently what with so much rain. We are looking forward to spring - already some trees are showing lovely pink buds and some flowers are poking their heads up to see what they can see. Emily is getting better with the violin. Joseph seems pretty content with school. We are grateful for friends and relatives who read this, and wish you well.

Out damned amalgam

2008-08-12T07:39:00.002+12:00

The deed is done. The dentist in Cambridge (NZ, not England) removed all the old amalgam fillings this past Friday - the theory being that they were possibly causing me to have mercury poisoning which has caused some of my symptoms - I know this is controversial but I feel I have little to lose and possibly some to gain by doing this. The weather has been - no rain, so we get frost, which killed the plant Emily had grown from seed that we transplanted to the raised bed about two weeks ago - she took it very well. She is getting better on the violin. Joseph was in a chess tournament and got two byes and a forefit and two draws so got some prize money for his games total. Carrie and I are off to Sydney next month. Had to get the coolant changed in the BMW - cost about 96 dollars. I thought the opening ceremony of the Olympics was incredible - how do you put that in perspective of the repressive government of China? We are getting a lot of tv coverage of the Olympics here and NZ is proud of its excellent rowers. The USA is doing pretty well, too. The tax man has begun to take bites out of our income - for our house and for the local government - they charge for rubbish pickup but not yet for water useage. We pay the electric bill separately. We hope all is well with all our readers, and appreciate past comments.

I was doing fine, until...

2008-08-07T12:24:00.002+12:00

Well the plate that holds the keyholel of the front door was loose so I decided to fix it. That involved removing the inside portion of the lock and tightening some screws that held the plate in place. I did that. Then I attmepted to reassembee the lock, with the outcome that I dropped the lock, a spring spronged out and pieces were all ajumble, so that the locksmith I called when he came could not reassemble the lock and so we now have a different lock with different keys and are financially poorer for it. So life goes. Saw a car today with the model name "carisma." When I take Charlie out on her leash it goes something like: walk, stop, pee, walk, stop, sniff, yank the collar a little, walk, walk, walk, stop, sniff, yank, walk, walk, walkm stop and sniff with a funny bear like gait, poop, walk, walk, walk, stop, sniff, yank, sniff while walking, stop, sniff all the way around the tree, yank, walk, walk, walk...Carrie is getting better every day. Joseph brought plenty of muddy clothes back from his recent school trip - went swimming in a really cold river, went on a night course without a torch where he had to follow a string, and other equally exciting activities. An reading a book by a not very nice, I suspect, Brit who came to New Zealnd, called "Going as far as I can." I have tried to find an under counter tray for a keyboard, we need to hook one up to one of our laptops, since the N key no longer works and the V key has lost its cover, but can't find one in New Zealand for less than about $ 300.00. That is right, I did not misplace a decimal. Any ideas on how I can get a cheaper one? Where? We have had sun the past few days - somehow when I say I could not figure out what that bright light in the sky was Kiwis find that to be funny. Laughter, the best medicine (sometimes). Tomorrow start the process of replacing amalgam fillings, which may contain mercury, with nonmetallic ones, and before that get my hearing tested and hearing aids (possibly) reprogrammed. Hearing aids are expensive here - the locksmith said he was quoted a price of $ 10,000.00 for a pair - shoot, I could go the states and buy two here are pay my plane tickets and stay awhile for less than that. I will explore further why they are so expensive. Take care. Thanks for reading this. Manford

Miscellany

2008-07-31T15:31:00.003+12:00

Here is my experience today at the opthalmologist who gave me a laser treatment for a small retinal tear: Dr. - you will experience bright flashes and possibly some pain; Me - ok,ok,ok,ok,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ok,ok,ok,ok,ow,ow,ow,ok,ok,ow,ow - he stops - I think "whew, that wasn't so bad" he says "half way through"; Me - ok,ok,ok,ow,ow,ow,ow,ok,ok...So it went - some flashes brighter, hurtier than others - but he praised me for not jerking or otherwise moving so we got through pretty quickly. He did see the tear, which the referring optometrist hypothesized was there - good on her. To change the topic, the most annoying (to me) overused recent expression begins "At the end of the day..." Maybe you have other candidates? At least for a while, finally, today, the rain has stopped and even a little blue sky was showing! Yahoo! Carrie is feeling a little better, too - well enough to go back to work for a full afternoon, including teaching one class. Emily had a bad day yesterday, much better today. Joseph won both chess games he played against a competing high school, yesterday. He is scheduled for an outdoor outing later in the year and wow what a list of necessaries, mostly clothes, he has to get -hello Salvation Army store! If you buy from the retail sport shops clothes are way high, with many items at or above $250.00. So long for now. Manford

Barbers saw the doctors and the doctors said

2008-07-30T10:04:00.002+12:00

Well as the Chinese reportedly said, may you live in interesting times. We have had an interesting two weeks. It has rained and rained and rained - the ground is pretty much saturated now. Enough is enough, we hope for a break in the weather soon. It rains day and night sometimes, with occasional gusts from the East mostly. Carrie has been seeking help with her discomfort which may be a pulled or strained muscle or something else - the doctor said take these new pain pills and finally we have something that works, even if it does make her a little zonky. I may have a slight retinal tear in my right eye and am getting some laser treatment for that. Otherwise I have pretty much recuperated from sore elbow, shoulder and back. The Alexander Technique is helping some - makes me sit up straighter and walk and sit nicely if I remember to do it. It also involves laying down with my knees in the air, feet on the ground, and relaxing for about twenty minutes - very restful. A little meditation time, actually as well as a physical relaxing. I had to cancel an appointment a while back with a local audiology group and since that was the second time I had done that they refused to reschedule me - their loss, my gain. What are some of your favorite sayings: one I like is "For every loss some gain; for every gain some loss." Favourite singers or music groups: Harry Belafonte, Edit Piaf, Kingston Trio, Smothers Brothers, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Modern Jazz Quartet, Johnny Cash, Gary McKnight (in Valley Falls, folks), others later. Favorite news of the weird in NZ - a family thought they were farewelling their deceased mother in a closed coffin with cremation - turns out the hospital or funeral home had mistakenly placed a man's body in the coffin - he was a stranger to the family! Things will get better. We hope all who read this are well and happy and healthy. Manford

Finally

2008-07-23T10:03:00.002+12:00

I'm sorry I've been incommunicado. Carrie here. Yes, I've been kind of floored by flu and pnuemonia the last two weeks, but I am recovering now, and basically can do little but sit in the recliner, so I have no excuse but to blog a bit. Except that this laptop, which is the one I use for pictures (I put some new ones! lots!) is about to run out of juice. So this one may be short, but I will write more later, I promise.

Today is Manford's REAL birthday, we could argue, since he was born in the US, where it is still the 22nd. But we're both in rest and recuperation mode, maybe just nibbling a bit of cake and happy the kids are both at school. It keeps alternating promising sunshine and downpours--there must be some rainbows out there--there often are, here. Charlie is looking out the window, waiting for pedestrians to growl at. She's doing better, shifting from barking wildly to just growling to herself, while wagging, of course...

My semester started last week, pretty much without me. Actually, I was there on Monday, thinking I was fine and just a little cough, recovering from the bug, but then Tuesday I got really sick, and Wednesday I could hardly breathe so went off to the doctor's. Thankful for antibiotics--here, amoxicillin is still the drug of choice that seems to work for most things (Joseph is also now on it for a sinus infection)--apparently they haven't gotten the resistenced here to plain vanilla antibiotics. It cost $3. And I am better now, and will start my class, a week late, tomorrow. I did do a bit of lecturing (to the graduate students) yesterday and the day before, and it went ok, but that was sit-down discussion-leading, really. I'm resting up today for the bigger performance (a two-hour lecture in which I try to catch up from missing the first class session) tomorrow.

I'm going to check on that last picture--Manford and his birthday cake--more later.

Carrie

Happy Birthday, Manford, and some other stuff

2008-07-22T12:40:00.002+12:00

Hi. Greetings from down under, smaller country version. I have had a lovely birthday so far. We buy frozen croissants from a store here that sells French food; you set them out overnight to thaw and get bigger, cook them 18 minutes at 180 degrees C, and eat this wonderful concoction of flaky pastry and butter - yum! Emily made a little doll for me, Joseph gave me a DVD of the first year of The Office, British version, and Carrie got me a wonderful rain jacket - courtesy of Land's End and brought with them when the family from Kansas visited - many thanks to them, and a neat book about a New Zealander who spent three years in Japan as an English teacher, and the gang gave me a new Kaleidoscope (sp?) to add to the collection my dad started years ago. It has abalone shells in it - a real kiwi product. I found a chocolate cake with caramel icing - my favorite since childhood -at a local Cheesecake Factory. That fit in with my thinking earlier today of what some of my favourite things are, so here is a little list: favourite painters, Rembrandt, VanGogh, most other impressionists, Georgia O'keeffe, Vermeer, Winslow Homer, Renoir. Favourite museums, no ranking, The Louvre, what used to be called the Orangarie but now has another name with a large collection of Impressionist paintings, in Paris, The Kemper in Kansas City, The Prado, the entire Smithsonian collection, the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City, The Phillips Collection in DC, the Met and MOMA in New York, the big and small museums in Wellington, NZ, the Art Institute in Chicago, the main one in Berlin (it has Rembrandt's Man with a Golden Helmet and a lovely bust of Nefertiti), the maratime museum in Barcelona (many wonderful ship models, with some in cross section). So, enough for now - would be interested in others' favourites or favorites. Ta, ta for now. Manford

small addition

2008-07-21T20:41:00.002+12:00

There are places I have visited that I don't think I mentioned when talking about them - Moscow, and Monterrey Mexico. I think I have touched some ground in all the continental US states, and did visit Hawaii but not Alaska or Canada. Forgive me if I double up and repeat France, Spain, a tiny bit of Sweden, Milan, Venice, Florence, Dubrovnik, Munich, Frankfort, Berlin West (the wall was there when I was there). I would love to hear about others' travels. I finally gave in and got an alternative e-mail since hotmail does seem to sometimes kick back messages addressed to me there - manfordb@gmail.com. Try that if you will. Lots of rain yesterday and though the sun was shining this am on the children's first day of the third term of the school year, it still managed to rain and dumb me with no umbrella got pretty well soaked. I drove to Tauranga today, about 105 kilometers from here and did well so and yesterday drove back from Auckland, about the same distance but with fewer curves in the highway, on Sunday after delivering our visitors to a motel near the airport (we left Saturday afternoon and the lady of the group drove, because I thought I could not handle driving in heavier traffic and also because I do not see as well at night as I used to, so I, too, spent the night in the same motel as the family group did - they are stopping in Tahiti for three days before returning to the States - hope they had a great time!! Sincerely, Manford.

What a laggard

2008-07-21T06:48:00.003+12:00

What a laggard I have been with (not) posting news from Lake Hamilton (sort of like Lake Wobegone). Well, here is some. Carrie has been battling with pneumonia (located mostly in her left lung) for a week now. It really put her on the fritz, making her sore, weak, tired, listless for a few days, but encouragningly is now on the upswing, except for a persisting cough and that is even a little better. I had a back twinge and a sore knee but they are clearing up, too. Tomorrow here will be July 22, my 67th birthday on this planet. The kids start school for the third term this week, in fact today. Joseph and Emily really enjoyed visiting with their friends from Kansas - as did Carrie and me. The stay for a few days at the beach was fun, and Charlie came back from the kennel dirty but happy - either to see us and/or because she got to socialize with some other dogs while we were gone. I regret that I have yet to find a way to take here out for a run, for at this point I don't feel comfortable letting her off leash, but a trainer whose advertising name is the dog guru will come and teach us how to teach her, I hope, on the 31st of the month. I am so grateful for the kindnesses of friends over the years, and think often about many of you. I will try and post more often, like doing a weekly column, beginning this month, or in August at the latest. There are interesting things going on or being said here and I would like to share at least some of them. Carrie and I are planning a short trip to Sydney in September, and there are lots of other things to write about. Gasoline is now up to 2.19 a litre for premium, and prices for food and clothes are inching up while property values are inching down, a worldwide problem, I gather. We installed a heat pump for the bedroom side of the house a few days before our guests arrived and it was nice to have that section toasty in the morning, instead of shivering so much as we had been. That will probably bump up the electric bill but will be worth it and should only be needed a few more weeks. We are looking forward to a warmer, possibly less wet Spring (boy it has really been raining a lot lately - the drought is really broken), with some highway flooding. Feast or famine, I guess. It was great to have our guests, and we miss them. We miss all of you, and hope you are having a good year. More later. Manford

Suddenly the entry hall was full of people

2008-07-09T08:13:00.002+12:00

The pizza man came from Hell('s Pizza, actually) and in response to the cry "pizza is here" there suddenly appeared, besides me, two other adults, three teen-age boys, an 8 year old girl, and two 20 year females and a dog. We currently are housing all but one of these (a school chum of Joseph's), and are bursting at the seams, mom and dad in their bed, Emily in hers, Joseph downstairs with a friend who came with his family to visit, from Kansas, and also with one of his friend's sister, and the other mom and sister in what is usually Joseph's bed. The shower walls are papered with towels, the hot water heater and heat pumps working overtime (below 32 this am), but we are having a grand visit, and the "foreigners" from Kansas seem to have adapted well to New Zealand time. We are off for a few days at the beach later this week. They brought food gifts (e.g. doritos and marshmallows) that we cannot get here and some clothes Carrie had ordered and had sent to them, some books, too, and a wealth of smiles and good nature - we are happy to have there here and will be sad when they go in about a week and a half. (They get a couple or three nights in Tahiti on the way home!). This morning the two moms are going grocery shopping. Yesterday, Carrie suffering the effects of a bad head cold, Manford took the foreign mom out to see some sights and the best was a quick tour (it was cold and the sun was going down) of some really wonderful gardens at Hamilton Gardens - Indian and Chinese and Japanese and a few others - but the strange one was called contemporary American - with Adirondac chairs by a pool with a sculpture in it and a montage of Marilyn Monroe on one wall and a small deck with chairs and a mostly glass enclosure with tables and plants we could not readily identify. All in all, or as they say here"at the end of the day" it was an interesting time. Well I need to go to eat some toast. More later, from Carrie, I hope, telling about the games the Kansans brought. Manford