Sunday in God's World

 Another beautiful Sunday in God's World. Church Service today is at Glastonbury which we visited on one of our tours of England. I had heard of Glastonbury since I was a very young child as it was said that Joseph of Arimathea had taken the Holy Grail to Glastonbury after the death of Jesus and brought the love of Jesus Christ to England. That the Celtic Churches in England had become Christian long before Augustine was sent to England by the Roman Emperor has historical references such as the Council of Arles in 314 which was attended by three Christian Celtic bishops from England. With the withdrawal of the Roman legions and the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons parts of southern England was once again pagan in those areas where the Anglo-Saxons settled. But the Church of England itself traces its history back far into the past to the Christian Celtic Church and even further back to those early ancients who celebrated God from time immemorial according to my grandfather. But I was just a child of eight when he died and the glimpses he gave me into the deep past were from his own memories and he was the same age then  as I am now. Since I have a good memory I suspect he did as well and I believed everything he told me although did wonder about the little people and ghosts for sure. 

Today the wind is quiet; barely a movement of leaves. We will try today to put out a small amount of food for the birds that still fly by to check and see if there is food. It has been sad not to see them out the window in the yard but still they fly by on occasion and give us joy in their freedom and happiness. It is a busy time now as they teach their children to eat and to fly well and to protect themselves. The basics of life that every being has passed down to their offspring from their beginnings. 

Thank you God for another beautiful day in this world. Prayers for peace as always. Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis continue to put the Palestinians constantly in danger. They make it difficult for the food to be delivered to those in need but likely have lots of food themselves. Their hatred and threat against the Jewish people is unconscionable. Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis along with their supplier Iran both in hatred and war materials are evil. 

Worked yesterday for a while and my eyes stood up very well. I did check out some of the early manuscripts that I want to translate and it looks like they did a couple of years ago before my cataracts started to rob me of my clear sight. It is a creeping thing the loss of resolution of sight and one doesn't really notice it until one eye is operated on and you can see that the other eye has less ability to distinguish letters and the copy is quite yellow - amazing really. 

Breakfast next but first the warrior pose in Yoga and one of these days back to Jumping Jacks. I do miss them as the combination does wake up the brain for sure! Latin and then Church.

Rain today perhaps

We have done very well with rain this year. The lettuces are the best I have seen for a while and will keep us eating them well into July which in itself isn't unusual but it can be very dry in July here. Looks like rain again today and is just 18 degrees celsius - a cold Canada Day weekend. 

Still a slight feeling of swelling in my last operated eye; it diminishes every day and the sight is very good. If anyone had told me in my old age that I would be able to read the road signs, see "into" pictures I would have laughed perhaps but then I didn't know what I was missing with lack of depth of vision. It is intriguing in my old age to have this improved vision actually. Faces are the surprise as they are different - unexpected actually. But perhaps the most amazing is reading (not small print) without my glasses as I have worn bifocals since my early to mid 30s it escapes me at the moment just when I got those first bifocals but could probably sit and think about it and remember. Mostly I recall the ophthalmologist saying I might have to get used to them but my old lenses were just that old so I decided to put them on to drive home from the Optometrist that I had purchased them from and surprise I did not even notice the bifocal portion as I drove along. It was amazing to be able to once again read that tiny print and see the speedometer on my car easily! Yesterday I was working on a project for about half of an hour and it worked out very well - no headaches; no eye strain. 

Yesterday we did a lot of picking including raspberries. Cooked salmon for dinner with a blueberry glaze that was savory rather than sweet - quite delicious. Cooked it in the air fryer with sliced potatoes. New way of cooking salmon and it is so moist.  We made a raspberry glaze with our frozen raspberries that was equally delicious last week. 

Today more work on my project and perhaps a look at the newsletters. I may surprise myself by getting that done sooner rather than later. Tomorrow is the last day for drops in my first operated eye and I am down to just six drops a day in the second operated eye. The time has passed very quickly for sure. I still have a slight glimmering of light in the newly operated eye but my eyes are very light sensitive. It continues to decrease rapidly. 

Good news that the construction of our new warship fleet has begun - the river class destroyers. I like the names chosen HMCS Fraser, Saint-Laurent and Mackenzie for the first three ships. We do need to get our spending up to 2% of GDP and I am even in favour of that being 4%. We need to be able to take care of our three ocean coasts and all the inland water areas in this huge country of ours. That is really the most important expenditure in our budget. Helping people is always nice but the military must be the first interest of all Canadians.

On to breakfast and then Latin. The new lessons are on telling time/date types of information - very valuable for my Latin documents which I shall soon get to. I have not yet looked at any of the old documents with my new eyes. Maybe do that today out of curiosity.

Cleaned the sides of the laneway

Success, I finally achieved a complete project. I cleaned away the weeds from the bricks along the tarmac of the laneway. I am not sure (since I am last apparently) whether or not there will be a fresh coat of oil/fill on the laneway but I have cleared away the weeds and will do the rest of the bricks another day. I also swept the laneway. I was pleased with the result and it was pleasant to be out in the fresh air. The day before I cleared the overgrowth from our front garden along the laneway side of the neighbour to our right. I like to keep that down and also cleared away the plants that had extended too close to the gas meter and that is  now clear for reading if necessary. I like to keep everything thinned out especially close to the house. I do believe Edward was right about that as rodents do not like to be exposed in open areas because of the hawks. The hawks are ever vigilant! Lots of work to do and gradually I recover from my cataract surgeries. There is some recovery time needed for sure even if you are otherwise healthy when you are nearly 80. 

Downsizing is really the next item on the calendar and I will get 1-800 got junk come to get my list of seven items. We will end up with at least one empty room which is good since when we move we will likely be on one floor with less rooms. The basement will be so much emptier with all this downsizing. Just the racks that are full of items and I will keep reviewing them to see if I need them. It would be nice to paint the basement floor and will think about that. It was painted but that is wearing off now after 46 years. 

My mind wants to get back to my book writing and that will happen in the early fall but at the moment I will stick to my Latin on duolingo and soon I will continue with my French language although I do read it well but speak it poorly now so thought I would try to improve on that. Plus I will be looking at French records once again when I return to my son-in-law's families. Likely I should write that up just for the family. I do want to do my missed newsletter and work on the next Blake newsletter technically due on the 1st of July but since I am the editor and publisher that is at my own time. 

Interesting the article showing that Israel has been permitting sufficient food aid to come into Gaza. I did always think that likely as they have been kind and generous to the Palestinian population there even bringing them into their hospitals for care. Hamas is the problem; they decide to commit genocide against the Jewish people all over the world not just Israel - a very sick terrorist group for sure along with Hezbollah and the Houthis all funded by Iran. Russia continues to kill people in Ukraine and doesn't have the good sense to return to their own borders established by the United Nations in the 1990s. Disgusting that Russia forces their young men to die on foreign battle fields. 

On to the day, more downsizing and lots of walking for sure. Perhaps a little running today as it is now two weeks since my last surgery. Breakfast and then Latin. 

The Black Walnut Tree has ceased spreading across my yard

 Interesting that the Black Walnut Tree has now directed itself upwards and towards the west instead of east across my property. Certainly the sun is probably creating that lovely scenario as two years ago it looked like it would cover all of my yard. It is a lovely sample of the Black Walnut for sure. Mostly I have seen them as a set of Black Walnut Trees stretching high up into the sky with their branching being considerably higher than this one. But it is a singleton (and I make sure of that by pulling up any of its seedlings in my yard! It does destroy plants as many can not live under this tree's branches. Certainly half of my garden no longer produces other than lovely sunflower plants but that is alright I only use half of the produce anyway that was coming out of that garden! I do love trees although tend to be fonder of other varieties than this one. It attracts a huge number of squirrels but they are preferable to rats and mice for sure. 

My eyes continue on their recovery. Today two more bottles of eye drops are finished with the 6 am drops. The first operated eye is complete for eye drops on Sunday. On Saturday the second operated eye reduces steroid from 4 to 2 per day with still 4 anti-inflammatory drops per day. The sense of swelling is mostly gone in the lower left quadrant of that eye and the peripheral vision is becoming normalized. It has been an interesting experiment especially as I went into it quite calm having noted my father's eyes doing well with it fourty years ago. He was in his early 80s so a little older than I am now. Although he elected to no longer wear his glasses in the Nursing Home as he didn't want to be there but that was more a product of his being an only child perhaps and having preferred to stay at home which wasn't possible did deny himself the possibility of quietly reading those last years of his life. When I visited I spent the day with him and we did have conversations which became somewhat reminiscent of my childhood with his recalling events in his life before his parents brought him to Canada when he was just nine years of age. At those moments he seemed happy and content although unable to get up and walk about which he loved to do. I do feel lucky to have had those hours with him although they were not as frequent as I would have liked. We lived 700 kilometres away. 

I would have preferred to have thought about all of these eye things with an ophthalmologist but they are very busy and do not have the ability to have multiple appointments following surgery to help one along the road to recovery. Perhaps in the years to come it will happen once again that people in need of the skilled knowledge of ophthalmologists will be able to obtain that within the system although I do not have a problem with paying for extra care when it is above and beyond the normal care following cataract surgery. We just need to have care that is paid for in the system stipulated and what extra care would cost and that a physician/specialist would have the ability to charge for that extra care. I do see that this would still be public care but simply supplemented by extra care where needed but at your own expense since there is a standard protocol to follow after surgery and not everyone has a need for perhaps more questioning/examination given my unique set of eyes which were my only real medical problem. Sort of like dental care on my insurance plan; if I want something extra like a cleaning every 4.5 months then I pay for the extra cost since my plan covers a cleaning and a checkup every nine months (although apparently I am permitted a certain amount of scaling per year which is not completely used up at my regular tooth cleaning and so this was credited to me which was a surprise). I am simply ensuring that as I age my teeth get as much care as possible in order to keep them.  When one is old; one's needs diminish and personal care does become more of an issue simply because one is old!

Today I shall clear some of the weeds from the bricks along the side of my laneway as someone came by yesterday offering the service of refreshing the tarmac which may or may not happen as I will be last but I wanted to remove the weeds anyway and for some reason last night the final surfacing material did not arrive so they could complete the laneway across the road and I suspect they will be back early today but I am an early riser and so can do that after breakfast. 

Started lifting weights yesterday and will have to work my way back up to six sets of six exercises with ten repeats from the beginning which was two sets of fixed exercises with six repeats. It will probably take me two weeks to get back to where I was but I am not in a rush. My waking exercise routine is almost the same as it was now except I haven't started to touch my toes twenty times yet. Will consider when to begin that exercise. No running yet but perhaps tomorrow we will see. Biking for fifteen minutes is a good exercise. Other than that I keep up my 12,000+ steps per day. 

A lovely sunny day in God's world. Thirteen degrees celsius at 5:30 a.m. We are having a slightly cooler end of June but not unusual. July thus far on the weather channel looks to be wet which is good news and cooler. We will see as July last year was very hot and dry. Thank you God for this beautiful world and may mankind find their way to peace sooner rather than later. Hamas out of Gaza so those people can have a decent life. Russia out of Ukraine so that they too can enjoy the fruits of their labour and raise their children in peace. Peace for Israel; sleep for their children without fear of attack by Hamas, Hezbollah and the Youthis. Such ignorant people Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis continuing to attack Israel and seeking to annihilate it from the face of the earth. Iran supporting the terrorists Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis and Russia are both sick countries.

One day at a time

Doing one day at a time as I wait for the two months to pass. I could do gardening and I would be wearing my sunglasses. I will probably do that but not a favourite thing; more of a must thing. Probably I do not understand people's desire for thick foliage in one's yard when you can have a flat lawn but that is everyone's business so long as I am not being involved.

Answering my email probably better than usual but not accomplishing anything really; avoiding straining my eyes. There are tiny red lines in both eyes although more in the last operated eye. That generally tells me that I am doing too much work with my eyes and they need to rest. As I can do more exercise it will make the days easier for sure. I would go kayaking but there is always a danger of my falling in and I can not go swimming with my eyes for a while yet. But I can walk and today adding in more biking and perhaps a quick run not too long. So I am resorting to thinking a lot about the research to come and that is time well spent. I do have some thoughts on the flow. Plus I can work at my Latin in short intervals which I decided would probably be the prime use of my time until I can do more work. It is working well and I started into the new section with a new lesson. I have now learned 350 Latin words (and their declensions which brings me to 498). That is actually rather neat and I will do review today and a new lesson tomorrow. The days pass quickly as I am nearly at two weeks since the last surgery. I am contemplating going to the mall close to here to check in with the other optometrists there as I used to go to one of them before the last group that I went to and technically have an appointment with at the end of August. I would really like the beginning of August. One idea for tomorrow along with going to the drug store there to stock up on essentials like tooth paste. 

As of tomorrow after the 6:00 a.m. drops I am down to just two drops four times a day in my newly operated eye and one (once a day for three days) in the first operated eye. Then on Sunday I am only putting drops in the newly operated eye and down to two drops a day for one and four drops a day for the other. That will last for two weeks and then I will do a gradual decrease from two to one for three days and from four to two for three days and two to one for three days. I will then be finished eye drops which will be very nice. The feeling of swelling is still there a tiny bit in the newly operated eye but diminishing each day and actually gone by the end of the day returning in the morning but less each day. 

Enough computer time and on to the day. Breakfast already completed and I need to trim some bushes for fresh air first thing in the morning.

 

Time marches onward and waits for no man

 Lots of rain and the sunflowers have literally jumped out of the ground and are now above the fence. The squirrels will definitely enjoy the sunflowers. Since I have not seen the rats/mice running out from under the purple lilac bush next door I can only assume they are trapped or demised (or have left). We will late a little longer before putting out bird seed in the swinging feeder. Every day the birds come to check and see if there is food and have some fruit along the way as the fruit bushes are all in berry now. The squirrels check as well and finally saw a chipmunk so they have survived. Life continues but it was pretty boring without the host of birds every day for sure. The cardinal family still checks every day. Their young from last year is still with the adults and they have new young this year. 

Eyes continuing to improve but the light is still sensitive for me but that was always the case; my eyes are very sensitive to bright light and always have been. The slightly nagging headache is mostly gone although returns every now and again but the 81 mg ASA keeps it in check along with the eye drops. Today begins the decrease and it is rapid going from full (minus the antibiotic in the first operated eye) to just six eye drops per day by next Sunday. The first operated eye will be free of eye drops then and the second will have just six per day which will be for another two weeks and then complete. Exercise routines are starting to come back although I cleaned yesterday and that, other than my 12,000 steps per day, is all the exercise that I do. I wore my sunglasses to clean to keep any dust out of my eyes. They are all encompassing sunglasses as they go over my regular glasses which I no longer wear although there is likely a need as I have an arc around light in the weaker eye and I suspect my astigmatism is still there but with the strabismus gone is less noticed. I can actually read the street signs something I couldn't do before. So probably still wearing glasses all day but just astigmatism correction and then reading glasses for close work and my current ones work somewhat but I do feel eye strain with them but they are nearly four years old now and I normally replace the plastic lens and frame every two years. But I am keeping my eye use to a minimum still. 

The Bible Reading today from Lamentations 3:22-33 was a message on endurance in life. What we can learn from those who aim to destroy us or otherwise upend our lives. We sit at a precipice created by the evil of the world - Russia and Iran with the proxies of Iran being used (and Iran doesn't care how many of them die; nor do they care how many Palestinians die or anyone else except them) namely Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis attacking Israel and causing the tension in the world along with Russia attacking Ukraine. Both of these groups are evil. 

On to breakfast and another day of wonder in God's world as we try to bring light and happiness to the world clouded by wars created by Russia and Iran because they are greedy, jealous and evil. 

As I work my way towards research again

 A great deal of time for thinking and I am remembering the first colour television in our house (I think I was about twelve years of age). I had dreadful migraines watching the television so stopped and would just listen when I wanted to hear the news or something like that but basically I did not watch colour television for quite a long time. I was trying to remember clearly why the television bothered me and I do remember now it was the colours flashing about on the screen. So I am working on my microsoft solitaire games very slowly to get used to that aspect of seeing. In nature colours do not flash at you but rather it is just the soft glow of natural light in particular wave lengths entering into your eye and it is easy to look at. But one doesn't look at the sun for a reason; it will burn out the retina. So I must get my eyes used to the flashing light once again coming from the computer and I am taking that very gradually just a few minutes and I am up to fifteen minutes successfully now. Will continue to build on that. 

It wasn't really until our oldest was little that I sat and watched television - The Polka Dot Door was one of her favourites and I would sit with her while she watched that and gradually built up a larger tolerance for flashing colours. That will strengthen my eyes for my research I think. It will take all of the two months plus that I have allotted to that for sure. 

Church on YouTube was at St Thomas Hospital in London although I think it is primarily in Southwark just south of the Thames River near Waterloo Station as I recall. A huge complex in that also mega city. The service was interesting interviewing care givers and particularly comments about care during the COVID 19 Pandemic where Edward became much more housebound and having more and more difficulty getting around. I could not persuade him to walk around the house as I did doing 14,000 and more steps a day. One needed to stay very active even if one couldn't go out. He was bothered by a hernia not yet operated on; he decided to just wear a support although I tried to persuade him to have the operation so that he would be more mobile. However, he was perhaps just too worn down by his illnesses I guess in retrospect. But certainly care givers found COVID 19 to be very difficult to manage. The hymns were some of my favourites and greatly enjoyed. I am missing being in Church for sure and perhaps when we move there will be an Anglican Church nearby. We will see. 

Cleaning day today and it is the basement first. Soon the basement will be emptier still considering just a couple of years ago there were just a couple of aisles with racks in rows and all kinds of equipment now given away to family, to the Tool Library, the neighbours and put out at the street and carried away. I haven't missed one of the things that we gave away and the basement is considerably emptier although still too much to take to a smaller house I think as I do like open spaces. 

Breakfast first and then Latin.

I am left to wonder

 Was it just chance that this surgeon chose the weaker eye to do first giving me my introduction to depth of vision at 78 years of age? It was great luck for sure. One never knows what one is missing perhaps but on the other hand I developed an enormous memory for places and space intervals which broadened my thinking from early childhood so the gain in memory size is interesting for sure since I didn't have depth of vision anyway and did not know what I was missing. Amazing though being able to look out the window and clearly see everything - a gift in one's old age for sure.

Watched the rat/mouse eating the food that had spilled out of their feeders next door early this morning and after dusk last night. Haven't come into this yard again. Probably afraid of the grey squirrels. I am convinced that they are escaped/abandoned pets just by their behaviour. 

Yesterday worked on my Latin and new words have been introduced into the practice sessions so added them to my word list. Eventually they should turn up in the new lessons when I start into them once again. The review has been great actually and cemented more things into my brain. I am enjoying learning Latin for sure and would like to get back to French once again and perhaps I shall over the next couple of weeks as my periods of time at the computer increase. 

Again Salvation Army has received a pile of Queen sized bed sheets/pillow cases (barely used as my husband found microfibre sheets and preferred them) plus flannelette and a comforter. The linen closet is now usable without being stuffed full. Gradually we are downsizing so that we can move into a smaller space. The next thing is to get 1-800-gotjunk to come and collect the Queen Bed, wooden fireplace heater, a couple of lounge seats (large), a storage tent in a box (6x6x8 I think) and a few other items. Each time it shrinks all of that stuff that was accumulated over a 54.5 year marriage. I have basically bought nothing but I have to admit I am not a shopper and Edward bought all of these items and pretty much everything in the house. Once I went back to work outside the home I never really shopped until I retired. Rare occasions when I needed a new suit or something like that for work - shoes, presents for family saw me in the stores but otherwise I just stayed home and let my husband and children go off and spent his money and my money. It was most relaxing. I do feel lazy on occasion as I meandered through life but I was quite a while recovering from my breakdown and I just simply never wanted to repeat that process if avoidable. So I rested whenever I was tired and eight hours of work was and is tiring since I still put in those types of hours when I am writing. 

Sunday, God's day, and one would wish for peace all over the world. A world where children can grow up and attain everything that is promised for them by their very nature becoming efficient and productive members of society.  That would be God's choice I am sure. Today Anglican Church on YouTube once again for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (Ordinary time) and the theme "Carers go the extra mile" and I thank my daughter once again for all her care during my recovery from cataract surgery. After today the number of drops will diminish with just three a day in the first operated eye 6 am (2 different drops) and 6 pm (1 drop). It will be four weeks tomorrow since the first operation. The other eye the swelling is lasting just a little longer so will keep up the twelve drops a day for another day and then decrease to ten drops a day starting tomorrow for a couple of days and then down to nine drops a day for a couple of days until Friday when it will go to eight drops a day. Amazing really how time flies. 

Rain last night and it was very needed  and more heavy rain during the day today. It is raining now. The sunflowers are literally shooting up every day now and we enjoyed our first entire salad from the garden with the exception of the extras like Feta cheese and lemon sauce. God's tears for a world torn apart by war created by the terrorists Russia and Hamas, Hezbollah, Youthis and Iran as their supplier. How ignorant of them.

Breakfast, drops all completed for the first of the four sessions in the day, and then Latin.

With both eyes done I am in recovery mode

 With both eyes completed surgery wise I am in recovery mode. Probably time to end my recitation. Over the next few days the number of eye drops will diminish slowly to three per day in my first operated eye and eight per day in my second operated eye so eleven instead of eighteen in the combined eyes. I can tell that my last operated eye is still somewhat swollen as the peripheral vision is a bit distorted and you can sense the swelling as you move your eye about in the socket. The other eye was completely healed the surgeon said and I would say I do not feel any swelling in that eye and did not at the time of the last surgery which was seventeen days later. I am now at 26 days in the first operated eye and eight days in the second operated eye. Both of my eyes have clear vision and I do not need my glasses for distance although there may still be a need to correct for astigmatism and will discover that when I have my eye examination in August. The strabismus is gone; no double vision which is rather nice actually as when I was tired and took my glasses off I could see double! But the true gift is depth of vision especially working on the computer screen which is designed for the normal eye and has little quirks to help with seeing it would appear that I have missed all these years.

I have restricted myself to just a short time on the computer and must decide how to make good use of my daily diary. I am starting to think about the two books again but the research that I must do will be tiring on my eyes so will wait at least six weeks to do that and longer since my eye appointment with the Optometrist isn't until later in August!

However I can start getting back into my exercise routine which is great.  So today I will add in stationary bicycle for ten minutes along with my 12,000 steps per day. 

Yesterday we did a massive assessment of everything around us and will have a company come and do some downsizing of some things like the queen sized bed (mattress is the problem getting it down the stairs), the large wooden fireplace structure (electric heater) that we do not use along with a large storage tent in a box, some sitting couches that we do not use and still looking around. I do want to continue downsizing to minimize the workload of cleaning until we do move which looks like sooner rather than later. The yard here is enormous and I know that I can not maintain it readily and do my writing. 

Time for breakfast and then Latin. Looking forward to getting back to jumping jacks and I may do a few warrior poses to get that started again; it is primarily stretching but will go easy and slow with all of that. My desire to run is very strong but patience will be the code word of the day!

One week from the second cataract surgery and coming up on four weeks for the second

The difference perhaps is no longer am I seeing a yellowish world with the second eye being completed. Everything is white again. Shockingly white at first but gradually I am getting used to the brightness and the gift of depth of vision is most fascinating. Choosing to do the weak eye first was the surgeon's schedule and I just went along for the ride as I had no real opinion other than I did want the weaker eye to have the opportunity to work on its own for a while. I was tempted to go to one month when I couldn't have them done both at the same time but this has worked out well too. The number of eye drops is enormous in a day still but will start to decrease this week and by a week Monday will be considerably diminished. The eye drops done every six hours does appear to be part of the cure as they keep the eye moist for good periods of time and the rest you just ignore the eye feeling strange. I was never one to put anything in my eye and have always blinked from a young age rather than rubbing my eyes perhaps because the eye glasses were in the way since I was one year of age and I was quite terrified of breaking or losing them so didn't touch them from the time they went on my face until they came off at the end of the day. Reading the subtitles on the television has been quite fascinating. I look forward to the eye charts in the clinic when I finally get my eyes tested for new glasses. I will still need glasses to do fine work or close work. I am not sure if I will need them for distance but will cross that bridge when I come to it where it matters; namely the renewal of my driver's license next year since my license is restricted to wearing corrective lenses and in particular it was noted on my "pass" page that I did not have depth of vision. So would they retest me completely? No ideas on that; it is a wait and see. 

Continuing to downsize; the second large plastic bin for recycling yard waste is out at the curb today for pickup. The other bin which is large and wooden that my husband built will go one of these days probably although will wait and see on that. The lettuces and spinach are growing like mad in this hot humid weather. Already picking from the romaine bedding plants that we put in and the spinach looks ready to pick as well. Green onions are ready (red, yellow and white) and being picked. The sunflowers are already about 30 cm high and they all came up so there are dozens of them. They will be lovely to look at in the Fall. 

The problems in Gaza could be over today if Hamas packed up and left. They have served absolutely no useful purpose in Gaza; they have brought nothing but death and destruction to the Palestinians. But then, of course, that was their aim from the beginning to use the Palestinians as sympathy generators in order to kill Jewish people. There apparently aren't farms growing food; no industry and 500 trucks a day used to go in from the United Nations. What is needed is a financial planner (Jewish people are particularly good financial planners) to get Gaza on their feet and economically sound so that their children have a country that is worthy of them. The European Union mentioned that they could bring Palestinian children in to help take care of them during the rebuilding; they know what war is like even if it happened 80 years ago. Instead of hate the Palestinians could be sowing crops; instead of attacking their neighbour in the back (and cheering Hamas on is just like being the aggressor as well - guilty on all counts)  they could have efficient industries operating and the Palestinian people would have a decent lifestyle. Children would have a future to grow up to that was worthy of them. The 500 trucks from the UN are needed desperately elsewhere and the people much worthier as they are truly oppressed and genocide being committed against them. It is sad to see the deaths in Gaza but never in the history of the world has a country fared well that attacks other countries and barbarically murders their citizens until they changed their ways and lived the life that God meant them to live. 40,000 Germans died in one night of bombing just Hamburg during the Second World War.

On to the day. Breakfast is done. All the garbage out to the curb for pickup. A full green bin today. I generally put it out every couple of weeks as I just freeze the recycling until there is enough to have a full bin. Not everyone would be able to do that but my freezer tends to be half empty or less most of the time. Thus far I have not thrown out any actual food that I intended to consume but I do use the lined bags or milk cartons to throw out the food waste!

Latin continues to be my eye exercise for the day and I am still not taking new lessons but cementing the learned material well into my brain. An excellent opportunity to do so. 

One week less a day since second cataract surgery and 24 days post first cataract surgery

Coming up on the first week I was ready for the explosion of white light and being able to see better which made that easier than after the first surgery. It is tiring even though it is just a 15 minute surgery and one must rest but that is perhaps also my 78 nearly 79 years of age. We are having a heat spell so mostly indoors all the time and taking rests two times per day. Still keeping up with allowed exercises but particularly walking and did 13,000 steps yesterday and already up to 3500 steps today at 10 a.m. By lunch I will be at 6 to 7 thousand steps or more. 

The grass is growing nicely in the front lawn where we did the section from just past the close street section to the tree where it was most needed. Next year we can do the other section not yet done. Moving is upper most in my mind at the moment and will contemplate that through the next year to two years as this is too much for me to keep up and I do not need the extra room now which is handy. 

Downsizing continues apace and the front room is gradually getting ready to become the main downsizing area as we work through all of Edward's material. Having given away 70% of it already one can only imagine the original size of his collection of material (70% was more than 100 boxes in total). One wonders where it all was but his workroom had become so full including the closet floor to ceiling that there was just a path in to his desk (and he had filled up a second room, the main closet in our room and my closet!). He did a lot of the work of scanning from the mid teens on which I was only briefly aware of as I was deeply immersed, until his care took up most of my time, in my own family studies as I decided on the route that I would take with all the information that I had and was collecting. In particular my DNA studies predominated although he was also very much into his autosomal studies and not overly interested in the mtDNA (I maintained that for him) or even the yDNA studies although that did perk up as the matches started to come in. 

I may try to get my Pincombe-Pinkham issue out this next couple of weeks before the Blake one is due! It is mostly written but still a bit to do. 

I have been watching some TV and did watch the new series Hitler and The Nazis. I did find that one difficult as I did as a child watching those scenes of terror against the Jewish people. It does bring back the memories to me of the Palestinians killing Jewish children in their school yards in Israel when I was a child in the 50s. The only protection for the State of Israel is to eliminate the wicked and evil plans of Hamas and Iran with regard to the genocide of the Jewish people worldwide. Hamas, Hezbollah, Youthis and Iran their supporter and gun/munitions supplier are just like Hitler and the Nazis. We must be ever vigilant of them. That Hamas continues to delay the cease fire is deadly to the Palestinians - Hamas are hiding like rats underground letting the Palestinians die. The Palestinians are getting wiser as they are in refuges on the sand along the Mediterranean (hard to build tunnels in sand) where food is more accessible that the Americans are bringing in except Hamas is trying to interfere in the movement of the food by likely Hamas agents who have infiltrated into the groups that distribute food in Gaza it does look like. Although I would like to have more sympathy for the Palestinians they must earn it because my mind still remembers their sneaking into Israel and murdering children when I was a child. Then the Rohingyas  are so much more worthy of all of our sympathy and aid that I do feel it is misplaced in that the Palestinians have been receiving aid through three generations and more; they destroyed the green houses and other buildings that the Israels left behind when the Israelis moved out of Gaza leaving them with all the land there and really are responsible for their own fate by not fighting back against Hamas when they enslaved them two decades ago. If you need to have fighters then it is Gaza where you need them to eliminate Hamas; Hamas are the problem as always. This particular series by Netflix really points that out; evil only begets evil it would appear; you are supporters and adherents even if you just cheer their barbaric attack on the Israeli people of the 7th October last. If Palestinians want to be seen differently they need to do something about it; till the soil; grow your own food and create industry. Help eliminate Hamas. The world works hard for its money and one tires of seeing Gaza use up so much money that belongs elsewhere. 

On to the day, breakfast completed - my simple breakfast of milk and oatmeal suits me very well (I do add wheat germ, wheat bran, cocoa, raisins, cranberries and blueberries). As a child I just ate it plain. My father used to cook a big pot of oatmeal (I think my grandfather did it when he was living with us) and I can remember coming downstairs just before he left for work and he would ladle out a big spoon of oatmeal into a bowl for me. I just ate it like that; it was delicious but in old age I do like the extras. 

Post Cataract surgery - Day 4 and Day 22

Interesting watching the two rats/mice running around the neighbours back yard. The grey squirrel certainly inhibited them but hasn't caused them to move on yet but probably because they are likely domesticated and escaped or were let loose. One of these days they will meet their end likely if they do not move on as the squirrels will be back in large numbers to collect the walnuts and will not be kind to them. But probably they will starve because there is no food in the feeders. There will not be in our two feeders. We carefully measure out a reasonable amount so that it is gone each day and does not attract lone rodents like rats. On the other hand they may get brave and come back again and sit on our feeder but as soon as this hot spell is done that feeder is going in the garbage and only swinging feeders that are harder for rodents to get into are hanging in this back yard. I think they are foreign actually probably one of the popular species that are in pet stores. I do not recognize them at all. My days of zoology are long ago now but included dissecting little rodents. If these are mice they are large sized and well fed. They do not behave like rats as there are two together that behave like cabin-mates lying down flat on our board feeder without a care in the world!

As for my eyes, they are amazing really. I did not expect to have depth of vision that was full (probably I had a little it just wasn't effective) although I must admit being able to actually see the labels readily on the screen with their raised look is truly a great idea. I can find anything now without peering at it with my reading glasses. I can no longer use my reading glasses they are too strong. Do I still have astigmatism? I am not sure actually as I can sit and watch television with subtitles and read it all without my glasses. That is truly amazing. When we go out in the car and I try to read the road signs I know that that will be something that I have never been able to do. The first eye still gets 6 drops per day and the new operated eye has 12 drops per day. It takes five minutes to do each drop so a big chunk of the day. Next week when I am four weeks from surgery on the first eye the drops are meant to discontinue and I am debating instead of going cold turkey doing 1 drop once (at two now) a day of the steroid and 2 drops a day of the anti-inflammatory for a week and then one drop a day of the anti-inflammatory for a further week and then the drops will be finished for the first operated eye. The antibiotic is only for one week but the first time on the 8th day I did 2 drops instead of 4 and on the 9th then on the 10th day I did one drop per day for two days and then stopped. It was completely healed when I went in for surgery on the second eye. Truly amazing I must say to now be seeing as well as I am but I believe my father experienced better vision and was no longer wearing his trifocals way back in the early 1980s after the surgery. I understand that now strabismus is operated on when children are around six years of age. It must be fascinating getting them to not rub their eyes as the eyes do feel strange. One wears an eye patch which works well to sleep. It will be good to be able to finish writing my books for sure.

On to breakfast. One of these days back to work but in the meantime I am watching some very interesting shows on NetFlix. I am thinking of cancelling the Cable TV because all I watch is the news and the weather and I am starting to find the news to be too slanted in favour of the latest disaster (all caused by terrorists in order to gain sympathy) and the news is not careful to remain neutral. United Nations seems to have a similar problem these days. They should not be involved with any terrorist group for any reason. The terrorists cause most of the sadness and deaths in this world simply to make more money and possess more territory; they have no interest in the people involved - they are simply there to be collateral damage to support their causes which are evil. 

 

Day three and day 21 following cataract surgeries

Still keeping mostly quiet to let the healing happen but still 13,000 steps just to keep active. We are in a heat wave once again for a few days so mostly inside. Keep having these amazing moments when I discover something else that I can see with my operated eyes. Like a small child gathering up all the amazing sights and enjoying them. Do want to get back to my books but I committed myself in my mind to an at least two month recovery period after the last surgery was done and will stick to that. Lots to do that doesn't require a lot of intensive eye work. 

My daughter asked if I would like a cat or dog but do not want any pets; they are a lot of work and I am busy with my books. Personally I have never owned a pet although grew up in a house with pets (my parents were fond of animals) and then our children had pets - fish, bird, rabbit and then dogs which do come to visit.

Still downsizing as we rework how we are going to downsize. Everything in one room that we need to manage is going to make the task easier. Plus keeps all the dust in one place. One more large piece of furniture to go - queen sized bed fairly new and our friend is helping with that. It is already to go just needs to be picked up/delivered so that will happen one of these days - no rush on that. Preparing the guest bedroom and that involves a bit of shifting out of our downsizing room and that too will happen slowly over the next month or so. 

The rats/mice still visited our now empty feeders yesterday and ran back to their den when they spotted us in the window. They must have been feeding at all the bird feeders that were up next door because we never saw them in our feeder until they took their feeders down. I was surprised though that a single grey squirrel could intimidate them yesterday and drive both of them off! No sign of them yet today; no food in the bird feeders except bits which the birds are eating.

It seems strange no squirrels and no chipmunks visible. The birds are still coming to check but no feed. Since I am just four days post surgery I am still inside most of the time especially as there is a heat spell. But next week I will go out and remove the vegetation that comes through the fence and keep that clear. I do wonder if the fence has weakened because of so much vegetation holding water as the fence on the other side is still really solid although there are two trees now growing beside that fence but considerably less vegetation. It seems strange to me to have trees so close to a house. 

We are thinking about moving though and perhaps one of these days. My daughter doesn't come back from the United States for another decade likely or more but the problem of the rat has given me pause for thought. One can not control the foliage around one's yard and the last incidence was quickly remedied by removing the thick foliage but will not likely happen this time. They had small children and definitely rats are a problem as rats carry disease. Eating outside is always a problem with food dropping and being a source of attraction as well. But I am too lazy to do that actually - it is a lot of work to eat outside!

A small bungalow is perhaps better for us as our downsizing continues. These houses sell quickly.

On to breakfast.

Day two post second surgery and day twenty post first cataract surgery

Although I was not there when my parents had their cataract surgery I did hear about it via letters and phone calls at the time. I really did not have any sort of opinion on what would happen although my eyes were always said to be very like my father. I had seen the results several months later as he was once again enjoying his cross word puzzles (he was in his 80s and I can not remember at what age within that range). It was always very busy when we visited (six siblings and their families can be a lot of people!) so I was not really able to note anything specific. When he went into a Nursing Home after a massive stroke that robbed him of his use of his legs I was again able to spend an entire day chatting with him whenever we visited. At that time he was unhappy to be in a Nursing Home as he had taken care of both his mother and father in their old age and I am not sure he ever really warmed up to the Nursing Home to be honest (his parents died at 65 (mother) and 79 (father) were still fairly mobile in their late years). He could be a difficult person as he was very precise where his needs were concerned - a six minute egg was just that nothing more nothing less! But he elected not to try very hard which was somewhat sad although he did enjoy television which was a plus. However, I had noted his ability to use his eyes effectively in the years before this time. So I was actually quite enthusiastic to have cataract surgery and it is definitely a good approach to having it. My recovery has been my normal type of recovery; fairly rapid although I do tend to overdo so had tired days along the way when I was not quite as "bouncing off the walls" as I can be normally. But on Day two post second surgery I am seeing quite well although it does take a little while first thing for the eyes to become comfortable with the very bright light. That has actually surprised me. Charming though to have depth of vision for sure. Everything though is so very white bright and I was surprised to see that it was yellowish after the first eye was done. It was lucky that this surgeon elected to do the weak eye first as it gave me the opportunity to see what I would be seeing with the second eye completed and yet still see what I had been seeing possibly for a few years - the yellowish colour instead of pure white.  I wonder how long does this last? Will my vision eventually become limited again? No ideas on that. My father was 94 + when he died and I know he recognized me as soon as I came into the room so looks like a plus on distance vision anyway. 

Another surprise was being able to easily read the file labels on the computer screen as they are slightly raised with a shadow beneath them. Apparently that was always the case I just couldn't see that before. 

The optometrist's office called to set up an appointment as I have not been now since I was referred January 2023. I preferred early August/late July but apparently I can not be set up until towards the end of August. I will investigate that. When they called I was just post surgery and did not want to get into semantics. If it is just the case that OHIP will not cover then I will just pay and claim it on my income tax and be earlier. The office has moved and I would really prefer to be closer to this location so will check that out in the next couple of weeks as I would like to have my new glasses in early August so that I can get back to work. 

Over 4000 steps by 10:30 and will try for 6000 steps by noon when I have the next set of eye drops (this time just three in the newly operated eye and one in the earlier operated eye). I gather a lot of people would now just have two eye drops in the earlier operated eye a day instead of six that I have but everything is working well; the cataracts were apparently large. Interesting all of these things in one's old age!

The Church Service on You-Tube was an interesting look at God in Creation and our need to be ever observant of what we need to do to preserve creation (including our own). Too bad everyone isn't watching that Sunday Service. We do need more to preserve the natural life even when it isn't convenient to us. My husband had always said that growing too much foliage close to the house can lead to unwelcomed visitors like mice and rats. So was not surprised a few years back (maybe ten now!) when the earlier neighbour acquired rats which I will admit he quickly eliminated by having the land all cleared behind his house (they had two small children so really a necessity) and they were definitely gone in an instant really. Sadly our bird feeders will have to go; the one Edward and our eldest daughter built years and years ago when she was young. I think they are mice on the feeder but the exterminator has said rats but I do not know if he/she saw them we didn't hire him. There are poison traps laid for the mice/rats but hopefully the squirrels and chipmunks survive.

There are two of them and this is the ancient feeder. We will take it down I think because the foliage will not be cleared. However, interestingly enough, one of the grey squirrels intimidated both of them just after this picture and they fled back to living under the purple lilac bush that we have now seen them come in and out of next door. But they were back later!

Fun while it lasted but life does move on. We will miss the birds for sure as the other feeder will also have to go because the mice/rats can climb into this swinging feeder as well on the other side of the yard. I think the saddest part is for my daughter as the chipmunks must be into their 20th generation now living in the yard of the house on the other side (we do not have foliage close up to the house so they pass us by to protect themselves from hawks). That and the birds that come back year after year especially the cardinal families. 

So today more of the same lots of walking and getting used to the bright light once again. My eyes are pretty tired by night with the brightness. But each day is better. 

Latin in a bit and actually it is easier this time. I am lucky that the surgeon did my poor eye first as the original surgeon was going to do the good eye first! I guess they have their own criteria for operating although I always thought all of this was "standard' Procedure depending on the case of each individual's eye condition. But I am not an expert just lucky that I asked to be referred due to time limitations for my care. Again one needs 100% care the first couple of days although I was able to do my eye drops myself in 24 hours after the second surgery but mostly because my daughter was exhausted looking after me the first day! She too is getting older and busy with her PhD/masters students,  meetings and research this time of year. 

On to the day.

 

Day one second surgery and day 19 first surgery

My eyes came into focus nicely first thing this morning and have remained that way all day (close up that is, distance is still limited). I just did my Latin on my own and although my eyes are a little tired I am not seeing double. No more strabismus it would appear. If I take my glasses off no more strabismus. This is really neat in my old age; amusing to see depth in pictures, leaves other images - somewhat startling still. I was looking at my mixture of wheat germ and wheat bran and discovered a mutli faceted pile looking back at me. Not sure if I still have astigmatism but likely as the glasses seem to do very well. My distant vision is still clearing though and we will have to wait on that but certainly up close is working really well  at the end of this first day. It took longer for the weaker eye to adjust but the depth of vision was really worth that for sure. An amusement for my old age!

It is pleasant not to see double; that was such a nuisance in my childhood. I am glad that strabismus is fixed now for young children. My lenses were so heavy that they shaped my nose bone to have a ledge for the glasses to sit on. I have permanent marks on my nose where the glasses have sat all these years. Another surprise though is how sharp my vision is without glasses although need them to really hone in on something. 

We had donated an old chest of drawers and it was picked up yesterday. I am glad not to be doing that again especially when I am unable to help with it post surgery one day. The other items we will wait a bit and then can transport them ourselves and save other people having to do it. 

I am still noticing the eyes trying to adjust first thing in the morning but the vision is clear. I had not expected it to be so early after surgery but this is my strong eye which has done probably 99% of the work my entire life. Today more of the same. Lots of rest periods. Five eye drops every six hours. Walking for more than 12,000 steps through the day in broken up periods. Latin a little later as the walking will come first. 

Today is Sunday and Church on You Tube from St Michael's Stockwell Parish in Southwark just south of London. My Buller/Beard/Hemsley families lived in Bermondsey and the Buller family was at Oswald and the Buller/Beard/Hemsley family at St Mary Magdalene Parish Church. The theme "Is there something deeper with God" and I shall be at the service a little later with the magic of YouTube. God is so much a part of the life of the world and every day as I grow older and older I continue to see how much our world benefits from God being the very cornerstone of our being and that of all flora and fauna on the planet. 

This surgery has revealed the colour of my eyes as a blue eye ring with a hazel centre once again and comparing with my eldest we appear to have the same eyes; her blue eye ring is larger. I always thought her eyes were like her Dad's bright blue with no trace of brown but they have gradually changed a little through the years although one describes her eyes as blue and mine tend to be described as brown. Funny really the variety in eyes. 

Breakfast and walking.

Perhaps the most difficult thing is five eye drops to give

 A tribute to my daughter as she painstaking gives me five eye drops now every six hours. The overlap of nine days will mean that mostly we do eye drops and the day will pass quickly. Up early this morning and both eyes are clear but the newly operated eye is sorer than the first eye (the cataract was large in the first eye so perhaps was larger still in the eye I actually used most of the time as the other did not do any work particularly. However, it continues to be that my distance glasses are more than adequate to read with now even this small print on blogger. Amazing really after 56 years of bifocals/reading glasses. I will do the noon shift so that she can have a break on my one eye but the newly operated eye needs special care now for the first 48 hours and then the usual good care. 

Not too much writing this morning. Breakfast is next.

Day 18 after first cataract surgery and second surgery completed

A long day but all done now for surgeries. Short posts for a few days as my eyes continue to recover. Again the care at the Riverside was absolutely perfect. Very organized and efficient. I do appreciate the great care that our medical profession brings to their work. 

My surgeon has my great thanks for being able to work around the times that I can have 100% help with my care. Surprisingly I could immediately see out of this newly operated eye but it is hazy so we begin the task of moving that one back into focus. The ability to purchase the eye drops so easily at the pharmacy at the Riverside is really an asset as well (that is true of all of the campuses actually). The drug stores are handy of course but I do not have any prescription drugs other than these eye drops for my care at the moment. I am very lucky to have such good health. 

I will be so happy to get back to running but continued patience as that will come in another month to six weeks. 

Tired tonight and off to bed early.

Day 17 after cataract surgery

 Yesterday I walked around the beach path in the early evening. No wind; it was quite lovely after such a long period of not being there. The children/young adults were playing volleyball as the nets are set up. The summer begins and the beach although small is a significant part of this area where I live. Many many people use it; people of every race and creed. It is wondrous really to talk a walk as it is like walking around the world to see so many different people together. No protests on that beach; God wanted us all to get along. 

I will hear about my surgery today sometime and then the second eye will be done and my surgeries will be done for my lifetime as far as I am concerned. Interesting to have lived this life of nearly 79 years with just two live births, two surgeries and two procedures and two weeks recovering from a nervous/physical/mental breakdown (all in the hospital). Two seems to be significant in my life where I have had six siblings, two parents, one uncle and aunt (his wife) and two grandparents known to me and two deceased. 

The day begins and the cleaning is all done. We did a lot of downsizing this week purely by accident. I cleaned the top two drawers of the large dresser and it just went on from there as we cleared out the dresser and offered it to someone who will come and get it on Saturday evening. Then we went through the DVDs and VHS tapes and gathered up most of them and took them to Salvation Army. They were pretty much in mint condition so they should profit from them. 

Beautiful day but rain is promised. Perhaps 10% of the sky is visible to me from my window with the rest being trees. It used to be 100% when we moved here but the trees have grown and developed in a loving way around me. God's world and may we have peace. The freed hostages have now been examined by doctors and they were starved, muscle mass all gone - criminal treatment for sure. What ignorant people Hamas are to treat innocent young people just going to a concert in this way. I am saddened by all the deaths in Gaza but Hamas has brought this down on the Palestinians and all because they want to own the world and rid it of everyone but Muslims. How sick. The International Court of Justice demanded that Hamas release all the hostages unconditionally and immediately five months ago; Hamas should all be in jail for the rest of their lives to feel that inability to be free for the more than 1200 killed and the 250 taken hostage.

Breakfast and Latin, the day begins.

The count up continues as it is now Day 16 after the first Cataract Surgery

 I continue not doing a lot of work with my eye but rather concentrating on looking around and noting what I have gained in the operated eye. Text is somewhat different in that eye; much blacker and slightly larger if I compare the two eyes now. Still I am not using my reading glasses as I am not doing a lot of reading. I want to mimic just natural process of looking about, using my eyes to measure in ways I did not do before and concentrate on the operated eye having the ability to manage for me sightwise for a couple of days so no strain on that eye but giving it lots of exercise without doing a lot of reading which would strain it I think because the lens does not seem to be quite right in my distance glasses for this eye now. It is alright for just looking about but not quite right for reading. Not being knowledgeable on ophthalmology I have no idea if that is the expected happening following such an operation which I think clears the strabismus as I do not appear to be cross-eyed in that eye as I was. It really did wander if I was the least bit tired. Seeing double was not unusual for me if I took my glasses off as a child. Mostly I always wear them as an adult from the time I arise until I go to sleep. 

Good work on downsizing. We have now eliminated all but one bookshelf of DVDs with two bags of them going to Salvation Army plus one box of VCR tapes. I have not watched even one of them in more than a decade. But did keep some favourites for a rainy day! Another bookcase out to the curb and it is gone this morning. Glad about that as I hate to just throw it out if someone else would like it. And someone did apparently as it is gone. 

The large somewhat old wooden dresser is going this weekend (my parents bought it for us as a house warming gift when we bought our house here; it was a bit of an antique then but Edward loved it) and perhaps the queen sized bed as I want to clear the master bedroom to use it as a sorting and downsizing room. The drive from Edward's computer I will put into my machine and downsize his computer setup and we will turn his computer desk into a scanning and printing centre with that table. He bought quite good computer tables years ago now. Really solid. Gradually I am getting things into place for that just in case one room concept in my mind. Buying two boxes to hold my CDS that I used for genealogical research as they are promised to the Anglican Archives once I finish off my books. The fiche is already stored in two file boxes for them once I have completed any work that I want to do. I just have one large box of genealogical material as most of what I have acquired I have scanned but did keep the original documents. I will try to give them to my younger sister as she has all the original pictures now that we took back to her more than a decade ago now. I do not want to keep any originals. I need to sort out the bedding for the queen sized bed in case that is wanted as well. It was fairly new I think in about 2017 now. Would have to check receipts for that for sure. I have forgotten. Most things I remember but that is a blur because it was not long after that Ed started to have a lot of medical problems unfortunately. The beginning was really the need to insert a pace maker in 2012 after a year and a bit of ill health.

A number of pieces of furniture are from the condo that our children had and they will also go decreasing my dusting time for sure and moving furniture about. I will actually be able to do my usual exercise on cleaning day as now cleaning day is a lot of exercise all by itself!

Did not complete the upper floor of this small house yesterday so that will be today's work and must begin. Breakfast completed and will do my Latin at break time.

Passing the half way point

 Perhaps the most exciting happening is passing the half way point in recovery from the first cataract surgery. At this time I am no longer using one eye drop, the second eye drop has decreased to just twice a day and the third eye drop continues four times a day to the end of the four weeks. Soon I will begin recovery eye drops on the second eye (once it is operated on). The overlap is just nine days for eye drops. The clearness of the vision in the operated eye continues to amaze me. I notice more and more things and now they do not stand out quite so abruptly when I am looking about. At first depth of vision was overwhelming but now I have adjusted to seeing everything like that. The human species is truly amazing but then so is all life both flora and fauna. We must not waste it nor cause it to go extinct by our foolishness. I believe in science and the products of science but we must use them wisely and always with a thought to the future. Those who live only to make money need to do it with an eye to climate change effects created by their businesses and respect the vast majority of people who just live and are not driven only by the need to constantly acquire more and more material possessions. One can think back in our history that the leaders/kings of countries were like that but they were benevolent (if they were wise) and their people had a good life. If they were not benevolent than they eventually did not survive (because they went to war for greater acquisition usually). Generational loss of wealth tends to be more common than otherwise. 

President Biden must be under a great deal of strain - he is a father after all and his son is on trial. Even though he will not use his presidential powers to pardon him, that doesn't mean his feelings for his son are any less but rather more because he knows a stroke of a pen could save him but like all good minded people he believes in the Rule of Law. Then there is all that is going on now in the Middle East and he is in the thick of it. Interesting that the UN can travel through all sorts of war zones where they do not belong I personally believe but helping to distribute food can not happen now that the Americans have the pier in operation again. Another attempt by those who appear to support Hamas in the UN (and one hopes they are very few) to create chaos in Gaza. Helping Hamas is helping the devil for sure. But Hamas is as always the problem. They attacked Israel; they brutally and barbarically raped, murdered, burned and otherwise destroyed the lives of more than 1200 people and their properties; they dragged 250 people into Gaza and continue to hold them hostage (dead and alive) even though the International Court of Justice demanded nearly five months ago that all hostages be released immediately and unconditionally at that time. Hamas, Hezbollah and Youthis are all terrorists and should be in prison for their crimes against humanity in order to protect the peoples of the world from their illegal and barbaric activities. 

Yesterday good accomplishment in downsizing so to speak. We rearranged a few things to reduce the cleaning that was needed. By the end of this summer there were be a large shift in items as we concentrate in one room all of the items that eventually we will downsize but it will make it easier to clean the rest of the house which is a bonus for me as I spend two days every week cleaning. I will still spend two days but the amount of extra dusting and shifting of furniture will be considerably diminished. 

After the eyes have recovered then I will see how well I do reading my fiche and if that is no longer something that I can readily do then I will donate all those fiche now to the Anglican Archives and the fiche reader if they want it. It is surprising how much space items can occupy as that would free up half of the filing cabinet that I use for that portion of my research. The records are online these days and scanned which I can enlarge on the computer but sometimes it is nice to browse through particular fiche over a period of time and see all the comments made by the priest but really I could do that on the computer too where the original fiche are scanned. 

The large cleaning day today. Breakfast is next and then my Latin and the day begins.

Two weeks since the first Cataract Surgery

 The two week mark seems to be a time when one can now really think about more exercise it would appear although will not overdo that like I generally do. I want to be well rested and fit for my next cataract surgery just days away. In all the improvement in my first eye is quite remarkable to me in that my depth of vision was, as I now see it, basically not there as the tester said when my eyes were tested for my driver's license 58 years ago so that is a bit amazing and rather distracting and interesting to be honest. Even faces can look somewhat different now. I have never been particularly good with faces; tend to notice other significant items about a person to whom I am introduced. However, I can now see all these facial features that have been talked about on "police" type shows on the television. Absolutely fascinating actually.

Today is the small cleaning day and up at 6:00 a.m. as usual with the vacuum already combing its way across the rug in the basement. I am definitely an early morning person and it does show by late afternoon when I am dwindling. Not significantly but avoid going out too much as my day winds down. Absolutely me all my life actually. My husband was more of a night person staying up until midnight but we fitted together well as it turned out. I managed those early mornings that he did not like including waking him up after I had already done my morning exercise routine with breakfast ready and everything lined up for the day in terms of leaving the house and going to work. In the evening, particularly after children, if they were too old to go to bed when I did about 8:30 or 9:00 then he had a lovely couple of hours with them and they loved that solitary attention. Going out in the evenings generally resulted in my falling asleep in the car on the way home and then quickly putting myself to bed because I was exhausted as I do tend to live life to the full in terms of my physical ability. 

The 6th of November was especially a "Peace in Our Time" moment as that was the desire of all those young men who stormed the beaches of Normandy to free Fortress Europe. The end of the war saw a concerted effort on the part of all of the Allied nations to have peace (except Russia as they were greedily swallowing up Eastern Europe and destroying the good name that they had acquired helping to defeat the Nazis). The allies were rebuilding Europe under the Marshall Plan and unfortunately to contain the Soviet Union which tried to take over all of Berlin by 1948 along with anything else they could grab. But the Great Airlift put an end to their stealing of all of Berlin and gradually the borders were rolled back (the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan and went bankrupt which resulted in freedom for Eastern Europe). Suddenly after COVID Russia attacked the sovereign State of Ukraine and there we are back at square one with a new Hitler named Putin and making up all sorts of stories to justify what he does just like his nemesis. Time for Putin to crawl back into the hole he belongs in for sure; he is disgusting. His treatment of the Ukrainian people is the continuing genocide directed against them since the days of Stalin and the Soviet Union. Putin's claim that the Ukrainian people have foreign arms and foreign technologists and that isn't fair is a laugh given the presence in Russia of Iranian drones and technicians since the early days of his attack on Ukraine. Too bad it has to turn into the playground bully tactics; people should really be adult and realize the world has much bigger problems like Climate Change and terrorists like Russia has become and Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and Iran itself are just destroying the world. The countries that will suffer the most are those in the polar regions during Climate Change. Perhaps that is why Putin is trying to steal land; Russia will slowly be swallowed up by the melting glaciers! 

On to the day. Breakfast and Latin.

The 13th day after Cataract Surgery

Yesterday was a quiet day and I greatly enjoyed it. Sometimes life can become a bit hectic even when you do not really go anywhere or do anything. I am still quite captured by the news and do try to keep up on that as well. Such good news that four more hostages are home in Israel; sad that death was part of that but the International Court of Justice stated that the hostages were to be released unconditionally and immediately nearly five months ago now. Hamas is the problem as always; they created this entire situation and do nothing to try to solve it. 

One must say it is interesting that Russia complains about non-Ukrainian war tools and their training personnel  in Ukraine firing at Russia but what about Iranian drones and their technicians being used by Russia to fire at locations all around Ukraine from the beginning of this war almost? Russia like Hamas (both terrorists) are the problems in our world. 

The eyes continue to improve and the operated eye continues to exert dominancy over the unoperated eye. I wonder what will happen once the other eye is operated on. A fascinating experiment all on my own eyes! I do so love science and the look into the unknown.

I try not to be boastful and always correct myself if that happens. One should avoid being boastful as it not fair to people who are struggling. Somewhat like wasting food as a child whilst other children are starving; it is not a good human trait being boastful. Today has a bit of business to it and will try to get that done but first of all Church on YouTube. Sundays are glorious days as we remember all that God has given to us and has done for us.

A wonderful Mattins at St Giles in the Fieldcs was the location of the Sunday Service for today with the theme - Love, Peace and Unity. How perfect our world could be if we could have peace - love, peace and unity. If there is one country in the world that knows what it is like to stand alone even for just a year and a bit (and with the Commonwealth behind it) it is England. Bombed night and day, living in air raid shelters, their children sent to safety far and wide and it is a life that can never be forgotten because it is part of their history until the Nazi Monster Hitler and his accomplices turned on the United States and brought them into the war in late 1941. The Battle was still great but eventually with God in our hearts we fought back harder and harder, landed on those Normandy Beaches 80 years ago now and just kept pushing until the war was done. The cost in human lives was enormous and also never to be forgotten. Attacking other countries as Hitler did and in this time as Hamas and Russia are doing is a crime against humanity. Israel's right to defend itself until Hamas falls on its knees and swears before God not to attack Israel again, to release the hostages and to leave Gaza is what is necessary to end all of this. No one should have to live beside such hatred as expressed by Hamas against the Jewish people. The Americans have fixed the pier and food is flowing once again into Gaza. The Mediterranean Sea can be violent. 

Breakfast and I am hungry and then Latin a little later. 

Day 12 of my story of Cataract Surgery

Now at Day 12 since Cataract Surgery on my one eye. Just six days until my next day of cataract surgery and my surgeries are done for the rest of my life one is always hoping. That would be amazing to go through life with just two surgeries (I have had two procedures and two live births). Although I worked in a hospital for twelve years after I returned to work outside of the home way back in 1994, I never like to be a patient in one. I hate being in a place where the lights are on all night and there is a monotone of clatter in the background. Highly necessary for an efficient hospital but the quietness of home is appreciated. However the hospital is there for a reason and serves people very well in Canada.  We are lucky with our public Hospital System and the smallest hospitals do a great job dotted across the landscape of our small towns. The work they do is life saving and very important and when they need help they transport their patients quickly to main centres to receive that help. Referral is the backbone of the medical profession to solve any problems that can arise at any time so that care of the patient is the most important aspect. My daughter pointed out to me that my insistence on having my cataract surgery during limited time intervals was my problem and I agree with her 100%. It was totally unrealistic of me to think I could just have that in a selfish childish way but by being very flexible and asking for referrals when it could not happen in one place has basically given me what I needed. Surgery at a time when I could have 100% help which I absolutely needed in the 48 hours following my first cataract surgery and will need in the 48 hours following my second cataract surgery I am sure. Since I had never had cataract surgery or any actually I had no idea what I would need but I was going to do the best that I could to insure that I had that 100% care and not be a burden on the system. 

Today a beautiful day looking out the window. A bit cloudy and 15 degrees celsius and mostly cloudy by the weather forecast. A typical June day actually and it may start the grass growing in the front lawn which has now been re-earthed and seeded. The part along the road which suffers most during the winter is growing beautifully and finally we did get to doing the ten feet back up to the large tree with the garden all planted and the trees pruned in the front. The land always benefits from a fresh layer of earth for sure. Thank you God for all that you have given to us. Help us to learn to respect the earth and all that is in it. We need to concentrate on Climate Change to protect the earth and have the richness there for the generations to follow. We need to eliminate Hatred, Greed, Envy, Jealousy, Deceit from our world. When that is done then we can have peace. Not peace at any cost; no rendering of people into second class slaves controlled by Nazis with their greed for limitless land, material goods and power. Help us to eliminate such peoples from our world (they could live on an island somewhere) dear God, those who would maim the world and its people for their own greedy, deceitful, jealous, hateful, envious purposes. 

Breakfast and Latin. On to the day. 

Praise be to God - four hostages rescued by Israel. Still so many held in captivity. The International Court of Justice told Hamas to release the hostages immediately and unconditionally nearly five months ago. Hamas has not done so and indeed more have died in captivity since the court made this demand.

Surprisingly I haven't used my reading glasses since my surgery just my distance glasses

I am surprised not to use my reading glasses since the surgery. Occasionally the print is small but I just pull out my magnifying glass. I do like wearing glasses though; I never get things in my eyes which is the case my entire life as I practically never go without glasses and have worn them since I was one year of age. But I am not doing transcription or any extraction of material from databases. That is all sitting and waiting for me to return to it in about two months time. I hope to get my new glasses in early August. It will be almost four years since I bought new glasses. I did have a prescription for new glasses after my appointment in January 2023 but never filled it since I was supposed to have cataract surgery but it has been until now that I finally had the first cataract surgery. My glasses were already two years old in January 2023. I do really prefer to get new glasses every two years whether there are any changes or not as I do feel that the plastic lenses are affected by heavy usage (I wear them fifteen hours a day minimum) and washing (wash them twice a day). I am not sure that I will even need bifocals as these present distance glasses do not have a bifocal portion. I opted for the reading glasses this last time that I purchased as separate glasses. Time will tell. The printing is actually sharper in the operated eye and I could not actually read even the big letters on the chart the last time that they were checked. When I was young I could generally read the top two rows with one eye and pretty much the entire chart with the other minus the last two lines. 

Friday again and it has come very quickly. I thought that I might hear about any change in my date for surgery since it is now eleven days since the Surgeon mentioned that his secretary/assistant would call but I did send the email verifying that I could come one week earlier for the surgery since he had a cancellation as I did have someone to pick me up. The office kindly replied that they have passed it on to the Surgeon's assistant/receptionist. I could call the booking clerk and see if there are any changes in my booking schedule I guess but the hospital will call me to tell me the time to arrive and I am not going anywhere; my phone is with me 100% of the time. But on the other hand I need to stop taking my ASA four days before so must call (the ASA controls my ocular migraines and once the surgeries are over I will visit my Family doctor and review that and see if I can eliminate the need for ASA). I always hate to tie up lines but the surgery has been moved up so that is great and I have my answer. Plus one week earlier to get new glasses in a month to six weeks which is great news.

Biked ten minutes yesterday, walked 12,000 steps plus and jogged for ten minutes. Exercise coming back until surgery time and then wait again for ten days just walking every day. It will be nice to be finished and back to my regular day of exercise and work. But the respite has been a sort of holiday. Plus we were gardening a lot. 

There is a wind in the trees that tells me God is here watching and waiting for the world to be a better place for everyone. For all the Envy, Deceit, Jealousy, Greed, Hatred to disappear from the world. To follow the commandments loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbour as ourself. When we do that, we will have peace. 

Breakfast and then Latin

D-Day and memories

D-Day was one of those very important memory days of my childhood. The day that the Allies went against Fortress Europe to take Hitler down. It was gruesome. We visited Juno Beach on our French Tour and many many cemeteries. I walked out to the end of the pier (ran actually as time was not long there) and gazing back at that beach from the end of the pier I wanted to see that view I had seen so many times in my childhood of that beach where the Canadians landed 6th of June 1944. Today  Prime Minister Trudeau was there with Prince William, the Prime Minister of France and those living who survived from that day (the oldest 104) and the memory of the many who fell at that time and through the years after. Forever heroes. So many innocent lives were taken on that day and the days following. The French hid in their basements; in the woods to help to save them from the bombing that was needed to take the Nazis down (many of the French died in those opening days and the days that continued of the attack on Fortress Europe to take Hitler down). The Nazis had to be taken out. Their desire for world conquest and domination had to end and the beaches of Normandy were the beginning of that end. Now we can see that Russia was willing to help Hitler in 1940 as they had divided up Poland but we gave them the benefit of the doubt back then when Hitler finally turned on Russia (he considered them to be lesser than himself and Stalin claimed he was just stalling whilst he prepared his war machine to fight Hitler; we did believe Stalin it was necessary). Now Russia too has that sick mind that demands more and more land, wealth and has no care for the Ukrainians that they kill. Ukrainians die daily but no big fuss about that in the news (is it because we are Caucasian and no one cares!). Ukraine did not attack Russia; Russia attacked Ukraine. Like the sick dog Hitler, Russia struck their neighbour for no reason but greed for land and wealth and domination. 

Day Ten after Cataract Surgery and I continue to move forward. I am becoming very comfortable with my actual visual depth of vision after a lifetime of logic, knowledge and repetition of the view of the world in which I live. Is it easier? No idea how you would compare it. A child is capable of overcoming many obstacles - they just need the opportunity and the assistance. My luck was being born fourth in a large family which was very talkative and in particular my brother next older to me seemed to sense my inability to see as well as he did and would often repeat what he was seeing so that I could see it too as he was. I never really realized that until we were in our 70s and met up once again after our busy lives with a mutual interest in our family history from a DNA viewpoint (he would still repeat things to me as if I had not heard it; funny really in retrospect). Edward used to repeat what he saw out of amazement as he had never really gone anywhere as a child.  I think also because he often thought I hadn't heard him so would repeat it several times and then I could also see all that he was seeing. Funny in retrospect because now I see all of that. The birds are very active at the feeders and now I do not miss any of it. Interesting really in my old age. The operated eye is dominant now for the moment as the vision is less clear in the un-operated eye. The ceiling is yellowish I suppose one might say through the un-operated eye but bright white looking through the operated eye - the popcorn ceiling clearly visible in the operated eye. Looking with both eyes now the ceiling is clearly popcorn and white and so the eye that was dominant is taking a back seat for a bit. We will see what life is like after surgery on that eye in a week or two (still not sure of which date is my operation but it doesn't matter as I am ready for either day). 

Latin again today; I am holding my own thus far but still I have not taken any new lessons just review. My brain is just a little tired with my lazy eye finally taking on a work level after all these years. Both eyes had strabismus but more marked in the operated eye perhaps; I do not know. 

Eye drops and breakfast. The day commences.

 

Nine Days past Cataract Surgery

Yesterday was the larger cleaning day so I donned my face mask and googles and vacuumed. Took my time but managed to get the vacuuming done in fairly good time. Noticed some new items that had not yet shown up with my new depth of vision. Interesting really and a bit of a fascination in my old age. Having lived through my life sensing depth by logic, or touch or just knowledge of size of items actually seeing it is tantalizing. It is good that for the most part strabismus is corrected in children at a young age now. Doing surgery as I had does seem extreme on a small child but we do help young children with heart surgeries and others these days. 

It is interesting that I probably know when my depth of vision "shut off" so to speak. My mother used to say when I was just very young (like a few months only) I used to cry whenever my father wore this housecoat that was striped with bright colours (I do not remember it). When the depth of vision was starting to return the light around everything was very very strong almost blinding but it resolved after a night's sleep and I could suddenly see things I had never been able to see before in terms of depth of vision. Amazing really. 

Today the basement cleaning day but the robot will do the work there for the most part and the floor is wet mopped so less danger of creating dust in the air. Not sure how long one is cautious but it doesn't take that much time to be careful. 

I do not yet know if the surgeon (office) has changed my date from the later one so my next surgery is either a little over one week away or a little over two weeks away. I found myself thinking yesterday though as much fun as all this depth of vision is having the two eyes done at the same time is still a rather appealing thought as it is just all over in a month then for recovery but the system was designed to be optimal and fair and so I have two surgeries. 

Still not doing any work just a little computer time mostly my latin classes although I am not doing any new classes just review which has proven to be a real bonus as I am really acquiring a large vocabulary and maintaining it. A lot of that vocabulary will not appear in wills but the tenses, the declensions are becoming more and more familiar to me. Plus I have a lot of old documents in Latin that are not wills but rather different types of documents.

India has had their election and will return the same Prime Minister although he will have to obtain alliances to keep his majority in the house. A huge nation India with the largest population in the world and their economy equally large. 

Breakfast is next and I am definitely hungry. Then Latin. 

God's world is beautiful today; the birds already at the feeder enjoying their morning breakfast as well. Would that peace could come to our world but it will take the concerted effort of everyone to bring that about. Jealousy, Greed, Envy, Deceit, Hatred have emerged again to destroy the tentative peace created by the United Nations after the Second World War. The United Nations must remain neutral itself as an organization; they can do great damage when they are not neutral. There always needs to be a place of discussion. Thank you God for the beauty of the day, the song of the birds and the life that flows and ebbs on this planet. We are but one species and facing Climate Change; will we be smart about it or disappear like Homo neanderthalensis? Although our gene pool holds some Neanderthal gene as a people they are gone forever. Homo sapiens survived then but they must have worked together in the Ice Refuges and then went out into the world once again and here we are faced once again by Climate Change which we created. 

And moving into the second week with Day Eight

 Dropping the first eye drop with just two every six hours; saves five minutes! Perhaps tomorrow a light jog still contemplating that but it does start to seem like it would be very nice. No pain in the eye, eye looks very bright. Actually doing work after 78 years although I have no idea when it stopped working to any extent but the depth of vision is still quite fascinating as I notice more and more items that now have far more substance than they used to. A great distraction at this time when my exercise routine went out the window although retaining the parts that are permitted. Anything that is a stretch that doesn't involve your head in forward motion downwards seems to be acceptable. No lifting so that excludes my weight lifting time but I have retained all the walking, more than 12,000 steps per day every day which is good. The loss of the calisthenics and yoga for the most part is sad but retaining the stretch parts. The loss of running is a sad affair but perhaps soon remedied a little by light jogging. 

Four more hostages have lost their lives; how sad for Israel. How irresponsible of Hamas to take hostages and not protect them. The terrorists are an ugly part of this century although they first erupted in the last century and always it would appear there are terrorists in our world but their impact has only really been felt in the last thirty years. Iran is a satanist country supporting so much terrorism. Iran murders young women for not wearing a hijab to suit the government; sick really. It should be a choice item for a Muslim not a method of punishment. The children of Israel deserve a rest too from horror and fear. Sympathy for Palestinians will come when they accept that the land they occupy is their land and stop coveting the land of Israel. It will come when they take on responsibility for their upkeep and care after three generations of nurturing care by the United Nations. Other peoples need help and in my sight are far more worthy like the Rohyingas who are not attacking their neighbour. The Rohyingan people would like to grow their own food and have a country.

This irresponsible attack on Israel is unacceptable and must be condemned by all. Who can live beside someone who threatens them; bombs them? Time for an end to it all. Hamas needs to get out of Gaza since they have done nothing to help Palestinians to found a country; create farms, build industry and be good neighbours. 

Still no work on my books but they are in my mind and getting back to them will happen probably by August. 

The depth of vision continues to fascinate me. My kitchen wall has a texture to it I was surprised to see. God blesses us with many gifts and some it would appear we acquire late in life!

Cataract Surgery Day Seven

 Day seven, an entire week has passed nearly since I was off to the hospital for my first cataract surgery; indeed my first surgery in my life. The eyes are very fundamental to our lives and yet many live without sight. Interesting really how the mind compensates just as mine did for my lack of depth of vision. Having it now is amazing for sure and each day more delights awake my eyes just in this one little area of the world. There are so many tiny things that I notice now that I never saw before and it is enchanting actually as the days of my life roll by. Thank you God for all that you do in our world. We ask for a great deal but we must work for it always; work is what makes us human; the product of our hands is what makes us human and our compassion for everyone is what makes us human. The President of the United States, Joe Biden, is a particularly humane person in his position as President. He brings to it his Roman Catholic faith which has upheld him through his 80 years of life. I know that he can feel the pain of Israel living beside the barbaric monsters Hamas; the fear that they put into the children there is unconscionable and they had no right to do that. Not bringing the children from Gaza here to North America where there is lots of room, lots of money to care for them is also unconscionable. I do not believe I can ever forgive those who complain about the danger to the children for not doing everything they could to help them. Israel has the right to defend itself and take out the barbaric elements that attack them so that their children can also have peace. What comes from God goes to God; God is the Judge of all mankind. The innocents He welcomes into His loving arms immediately.

Garden all planted; rows already coming up and rain promised for most of this week. That should help with the forest fires and so far none are substantial enough to be mentioned in Ontario and Quebec. For the moment we are blessed. Last of the bedding plants are in and fences neatly arranged. The two local rabbits were sitting outside the fenced area looking at the growing Romaine plants. Finally clapped them away and they settled for the clover that we have left growing for their consumption in the yard. Their turn will come to enjoy as well. But first the small plants must grow! Beans are up as well and the carrots just breaking through the ground. They were the last to come along with the dill. Three rows of sunflowers should be lovely and they seem to be able to grow beneath the Black Walnut. 

Breakfast first and then Latin. I find it a luxury to have Duolingo online. That is my preferred way of learning these days. No chatter around me when I work, no abstract comments and I can just learn. It is great really. My grandparents would have loved this ability and soon I will get back to the books and the Newsletters but first the eyes need a little assist and one eye is recovering from surgery; the next is to come one of these days. But online learning must be carefully chosen and it should be at our control not fed to us like food to fatten up a chicken. We must have truth and we must, as children, learn to separate truth from desire and fiction. 

On to the day.