As usual on my mother's birthdate, I write some remarks about the past and coming years.
After almost two and a half years in Australia, we are so happy we made the move. Life here is wonderful and we are really enjoying ourselves. The things I do miss from our prior life in the US are the Philadelphia Orchestra, the friendliness of Chesapeake Isle and my other local friends, and oddly enough, scrapple. Of course, the bacon we buy more than makes up for the loss of scrapple.
As some of you know, I build tube / valve amplifiers and our house on Rolling Avenue was a wonderful listening environment, I had a wonderful room and I didn't have to worry about annoying the neighbours with the loud noise. I now have my speakers set up in a bedroom and they don't sound good at all, and our neighbours prefer quiet music. I now mostly listen through headphones. However, I'm back into building amps and designing printed circuit boards which is good mental exercise.
Unfortunately, I've had a rough couple of months with my disease. My CK level, which measures how much stuff in my blood attacks my muscles, rose dramatically late last year. It has come down again but only with the help of prednisone and mycophenolate. Those two drugs play havoc with my system, but I am hoping I can delete the prednisone soon. I still can do the usual things and I do 1000 prancing steps in the pool most days. The water is now beautifully warm.
I am still hoping to do a trip to Japan in a month's time, but at the moment, it is looking unlikely. More likely is a trip to Scotland in late May. I have to fit the trips between my four-weekly infusions.
My younger sister Clare and her ever-patient husband Ric are moving back to Melbourne from Athens GA in May. They have bought a lovely unit on the edge of Faulkner Park and we are very much looking forward to seeing them. They just want me to bring more fruit cake.
My next exciting cooking adventure will be a cassoulet based on this recipe. I hope it's good.
