Recently I have...

Bought a new suitcase...

It looks bluish but it's actually mauve!

Taken Eduardo to the vet for a check up...

( The vet said that he is in good health but the scab on his nose that has been there for a month is, as I suspected, a form of skin cancer that light coloured cats can tend to develop. No sign of spreading or ulceration at the moment so 'we are just keeping an eye on it' for the time being)

Had a check up at the doctor myself and consequently have had an iron infusion to top up my depleted iron levels...

The little hospital where my haematologist works from

 Getting my iron...old way used to take 5-6 hours...now the newer method takes 15 minutes!

Went to the dentist to discuss the issues with that annoying tooth...which led to the difficult decision to have the tooth removed this afternoon....

Had some photos taken...
I wasn't allowed to smile...

Renewed my passport as it is due to expire in early May this year

Went to the pharmacy with a special '3 month supply' script from my GP...

And recently I have been working at using technology which is new to me. Earlier this year I had read about an accessory for an iPad called a 'card reader' in Janice's blog. It seemed to be the answer to my problem of how to upload photos from my camera to my iPad. I planned to buy one but my friend Helen gave me her card reader as it does not fit the port in her iPad 3. So I practised uploading/importing  photos taken with my camera using the card reader in my recent trip to Melbourne.

The card reader slips into the port where you recharge the iPad and then the SD card from the camera is inserted into the card reader...

 As if by magic...the photos appear on the iPad...

And then it was a simple matter to insert the images into a blog post written using the Blogger app...

I also have recently bought some new jeans and 3 long-sleeved tops...

DH has also organised with the credit union to get some foreign currency...

I have also gathered my potted plants together into one spot in the backyard and have a shelf in the laundry filled with cans of cat food.

So I have a new suitcase, have had health checks on myself and the cat. I have had passport photos taken and have renewed my passport and we have some British pounds, Euros and some HK dollars. Also I have got more than 1 month's supply of medications, I have bought some new warmer clothes, worked out, and then practised how I can use the iPad instead of a laptop of PC for blogging, Plants have been grouped to make watering them easier and I have a stockpile of cat food...

You've probably guessed...DH and I are off on another travel adventure. On Tuesday we are heading for London where we will stay for 4 nights before picking up a hire car and travelling around England, Scotland and Wales for approximately 4 weeks. On April 23 we head back to London and catch the EuroStar to Calais. From there we will travel to Amiens in time for ANZAC Day at Villers Bretonneux where we will join friends at the Aussie War memorial there. Then we will stay in Paris for a few nights before heading home via Hong Kong. 

DsD3 has always been our house sitter but with her in Canada, my neighbour Judy and DD1 will share the care of Eduardo and collection of the mail.  We will not be lugging our laptop this time...just the iPad...what a great gadget it's turned out to be!!

Another unexpected outing...

For a few years I've been whinging complaining querying my dentist about the occasional ache in my gum where I have a small crown. Each time, Tony dutifully probes with those hideous pointed tools, x- rays the offending area, and has always pronounced that there were no problems with the crown. And the pain would disappear on its own any way!

Well after I left hospital last week, this tooth has started playing up, making it difficult to eat even. This started last Saturday...but it was only every second day that I would have the soreness. On Wednesday this week, I decided I could stand it no more and rang the dental surgery and got an appointment for yesterday afternoon. Within the hour of making the appointment, I suddenly realised that I had a sore lump in the gum where the crowned tooth was...so I was glad that I'd made that appointment. Then later in the evening...the lump had gone!! And I could chew food on that side again.

Urban Dental at Kelvin Grove

So yesterday afternoon, I sat in the chair and told him the story...what a weird and convoluted tale it was! Tony got to work with those probing tools and then after that took a single x-ray... and found a large abscess. Needless to say he was very surprised, as there was little sign when he did the examination. He hadn't found any sore spots when he was probing around the crown and the gum. (remember I did say that the pain comes and goes???)

While I sat outside the dentists waiting for DH to bring the car around, I noticed the interesting pattern on the footpath...I have walked on it so many times before but have never noticed this!!

The 'dramas with this tooth started when I was in my late teens when I got an infection in a temporary filling put in by the family dentist. Problems have tended to flare up with this tooth about every 10-12 years, necessitating root canal work, part crowns, full crowns, with the last work done in 2004 when Tony saved it from extraction. This time however, he  has recommended that I get the tooth removed.  He offered to so that yesterday but as I just couldn't face it, I said 'I was too fragile', so I have a course of antibiotics to take now...big ones too!

Looking down the street from where I was sitting. The Kelvin Grove Urban Village was built on the site of the former  Gona Army Base there. This street, like most in the village did not exist 10 years ago. 

DH and I didn't go straight home from the dentist...

We stopped in Alderley so DH could send off a parcel for me. I took a photo of the Physiotherapy sign; the practice is owned by a former student of mine.

Then DH drove us out to Grovely (Keperra) to Yarn Over, the yarn shop there. We bought a voucher as our donation to K4BN's Christmas raffle.

So Thursday turned out to be a big day for me. And after starting my course of antibiotics, I'm a bit zonked out at the moment and having lots of naps...:-)