Last night, my wonderful husband took me to see the incomparable John Cleese and Eric Idle, live in concert. When I was a teenager, I was the only girl I knew of that liked Monty Python. They were controversial to say the least. Their rebellious comedy had me hooked, and the accents, those wonderfully educated british accents, saying the silliest things I’d heard. Then,three years. ago, I met a British man with the same humour, and I snapped him up. 

These two funny men had me laughing harder than I have since before my stroke. They put on a thoroughly entertaining retrospective of their life’s work with terrific antidotes along the way. The songs were a lot of fun,  especially the last one which is my new favorite Christmas carol. ( who do I have to vivisect for a copy? ) Their irreverence towards life and especially death was just what I needed to hear. Along with an audience laughing, gasping and groaning appropriately. 

The third funny British man, of course is my husband, pictured below cleaning my glasses, with his sexy smile. A man who understands the importance of python in my life. 

I’m currently in the middle of my second cold in 3 weeks. Being sick really puts me in a foul mood. So, I’ve been trying to find something positive to fill my days.  That positive thing has been where I’d want to travel, when finally out of my wheelchair.  Because of my stroke last August, the trip I’d been thinking about taking to Russia last October was scrapped. Honesty, the thought of traveling with my wheelchair seems far too difficult. So I’ve been daydreaming of my next trip, that will likely happen years from now. I’m a lover of history, architecture, art and food. This trip will feed the need for all those things. Also it should be mentioned that I hate hot weather and beaches, which is why this will be a fall/winter trip.

Beginning in October of the year ? ? my husband and I will fly to St.Petersburg, Russia, where I can finally get to see architecture like this in person. 

See the Kirov ballet perform in their home theatre, the Mariinsky. 

Eat real borscht and caviar. 

And finally get to see the treasures housed inside the Hermitage museum without having to be online at googleartproject.com

Next, we’ll be off to Berlin, Germany the one city in Germany, I want to see, mostly because of the fallen wall and the older part of the city. 

But also for the comfort food of my childhood made by experts. 

Berlin is home to plenty of museums, but the one at the top of my list is their natural history museum, the museum fur Naturkunde. 

The last stop on this historic European dream vacation will be a commune  that dates back to 2000 BC!  We’ll be off to the Cote d’azure in southeastern France to the gorgeous commune of Eze, lcoated between Nice and Monaco . Eze is known for its art scene and it’s gastronomic delights.  There are no vehicles allowed in Eze and there are steps everywhere, so it’s imperative that I be able to walk, by the time we go. 

I already know which hotel we’ll be staying in, the Chateau Eza, pricey, but we’ve got years to save up.

Then, there’s the food. Being on the Mediterranean, seafood is a specialty. Being in France, you can besure it’ll be great. 

Then it will be back home, though not historic, is still a pretty nice place to live. 

Can’t wait to turn the dream into reality, 

This year, as my abilities have changed, I started looking into creative costuming for people, like myself,  in wheelchairs .I was pleasantly surprised to see a ton of great ideas for kids, so I thought I’d share them here, starting with some nerdy favourites

Then some very creative and not so nerdy entries.

That’s it for the kids costuming. 

While I was searching, I stumbled upon this amputee Para – athletewhose Halloween ideas are the stuff of creative genius. I can’t wait to see this year’s costume! 

Some of these are clever, some are cute, some inappropriate and some should get the parents arrested. I’ll let you be the judge. 

Have you ever wondered why we say certain things? As a word nerd, I think about it often. For instance, the phrase bless you, said following someone sneezing began as god bless you and was shortened. But why say this after an ordinary human action? The answer is as ridiculous as you’d expect. In 590 AD, the time of the plague, yes the plague,  it became a custom as one of the first signs of the disease was a sneeze, to ward off the evil spirits that were thought to be the cause of the plague. Even though we now know that the cause of the plague is bacteria carried by rodents, specifically rats, we’re still stupidly clinging to an entirely outdated superstition as a way of being polite. If we say nothing, we’re impolite asshats, but what if you don’t believe in superstitious nonsense? 

 Over the past 2 weeks, I have been conducting a little experiment of sorts. My husband has sneezing issues in the mornings and I’ve been trying to find something to say to acknowledge his discomfort that doesn’t stick in my throat, but that’s unoffensive to the public at large. I do believe I found it. 

The phrase is PLESS YOU.  Because it rhymes, it took my husband until I told him what I was saying to hear it. People will hear what they’re used to hearing, so they won’t be offended,or even notice  and you don’t have to feel like a hypocrite . Pless has 2 meanings currently. It’s in the urban dictionary as a “lazy “way of saying please and it’s a medical term meaning a clinical trial in urology. Either way, not offensive and in the case of the medical meaning, just as nonsensical as the original. 

Although I’d prefer to say,  “what? You just sneezed “,  or “you are so good looking ” which is a lie cause NOBODY is good looking while sneezing ,my Canadian nature forces me to at least pretend  to be ‘polite ‘

Anyone have anything better? 

 

For the past few days, I’ve been sick, headachy, fever, stuffy nose.  The usual, right?  Not so after a stroke. I had one symptom that terrified me to my  core and made me lash out by saying things that I, not only didn’t mean, but truly can’t believe I said to my husband ,who doesn’t deserve that kind of vitriol in the slightest.  What is this horrific symptom, I hear you ask My body and my brain  kind of disconnected. To the point where I couldn’t get to the toilet  by myself, something I was able to do for almost a month before leaving hospital care. The fear gripped me that I was now getting worse and wouldn’t get better again. I’m not remotely ready to give up what little independence I’ve been able to earn back.over the past year. I wish someone had prepared me for this, or mentioned it at all. I’d been thinking that I had finally gotten a handle on my emotions because I hadn’t cried uncontrollaby in a while then along comes frustration, anger and fear all wrapped up together and taking over. I had no defense as I heard the things  coming out of my mouth, that horrified me and put my husband into, what can only be called an angry silence .

And so, my journey continues, hopefully still happily married.