A 'Beamish Boy'!

(for those of you a little confused by recent vocabulary use, Carroll's 'Jaberwocky' may be of some aid. Just exactly why it has come to the fore in these times, however, is as much a mystery to me as it is to you...)





We do hereby welcome our new nephew, Brendan Asher Kettwig Jeffrey! (photo by his dad)
Gotta love the hat, eh?
Major congrats to his parents, Bruce & Amy...and especial kudos to Amy: a week early, he was nonetheless 10lbs, 12 oz!!

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Catch that 'eh' anyone? We're gearing up for our move back to Canada....
Crazy as it seems to us, that's less than two months away -- ahhh!

Life is, to put it mildly, a little hectic at the moment. All the more so for poor Greg, as I've been forbidden by the hand surgeon to do anything with my right hand, except for typing when absolutely necessary. We've finally met with the hand surgeon, and the news was kind of mixed.
Unfortunately he won't operate himself, as he requires follow-up with his patients throughout the following year. So we'll have to wait 'till Ottawa (if anyone knows of good hand-surgeons/rheumatologists there, do tell). That does give me a little more typing time for the days the hands work -- it's a funny mix, some hours seem ok, other times I have one (or even no) hand. We'll see what surgery does, as I'm still holding out against voice-recognition software....
But that's back to the mixed news: as known, the right wrist is totally shot. And I've been lectured to be 'vigilant' (he used the word about 20 times!) in not using it, as my tendons are in danger of snapping (explains the recent pain increase and almost complete loss of strength in the last few weeks -- we had previously understood that despite the pain, I couldn't actually do any further damage to the wrist...but that had not taken tendons into acct). The left wrist is about 2 yrs behind, on the exact same course (which may be speeded up in my current 'one-handedness' if I'm not careful). The good news is two-fold:
1) he thinks that there have actually been sufficient recent advances in wrist replacements that it might be worth my getting one after all,
rather than just fusing. All the more important if I'll eventually have another wrist in same state.
2) he was absolutely amazed at the perfect state of my finger joints -- their good condition is why I can still do any typing. It's apparently rather
unusual for a wrist to completely go, and not the fingers too. A Grace.

But all of the above means that I'm less help than I'd like to be in all the craziness mandated by an international move. And selling a house. And harvesting autumn fruit, cleaning the house, making the meals, etc. etc. And I don't have the energy to be social with guests or good neighbours. In some ways it's not too different from the balance we faced in Scotland when I was wheelchair-bound, and truly on the whole this is much better. But we will be glad when the moving and the selling is all over (the latter is looking hopeful, but we will wait until matters are concrete before breathing any sighs of relief). And joyful when the thesis is done -- if only I could type and think faster! (believe me, the grace of having a topic I have continued to love....)
Greg should be awarded another degree when we set foot in Ottawa.

Now here's a bit of humour, incurred by and dedicated to my goddaughter Erin. While you will have to wait a bit for any Pré Borel photos (too complicated for me to access at the moment -- although the autumn colours are gorgeous, and we've some fun ones of Mom & Dick helping with harvests), here is a random photo selected under very precise directions....





it was taken a few years back, when Greg & I went to Greece with a friend. I'll include with the photo which met the 'random requirements' its partner shot, as it gives a little context. The fine feathered friend was just hanging out in a village square, perhaps curious as to life a few blocks in from the sea...for some random reason....