Thanks for the suggestions and the invitation, listener. But we have a rather ambitious tentative schedule as it is, and want to see the Thousand Islands area on our way by.
In twelve days on the ground back there, we intend to spend a day or two in Montreal, drive up the north side of the Ottawa River to Ottawa, stay over there for a day, then down along the Rideau Canal to Kingston and into Toronto. Several days in the Toronto area (sightseeing, visiting Miyoko's friends, see where my family originally settled in Markham Township, Markham Museum and Ontario Archives for me). Then out to the vicinity of London, Ontario (to see the old family farm and cemetery, take rubbings of gravestones, visit at local museum where the curator was so helpful) for a couple of days), back to Niagra for sightseeing and to Buffalo to visit a friend of Miyoko's, then (if it's OK with the car rental agency) Interstate 390 east and 81 north over the St. Lawrence River near Gananoque, the Thousand Islands Parkway etc. to Montreal, and on to Quebec City, probably along the river. Side trips as time allows and the spirit moves us. Then back to Montreal (probably not the way we came), stay overnight and fly home. EEEEK!
Don't know if I mentioned it here, but I located the passenger list for the ship that brought my great-great-great grandfather from Hamburg to Philadelphia in 1792. I found a(n) (error-riddled) transcript for free, and tomorrow will drop a request into the mail for a photocopy of the original from the Pennsylvania State Archive. Mind-boggling. Hmmmm...yes, I think I mentioned at least finding the transcript. At the local library. But the original--Wow! Nice guy that I am, I ordered a copy for the Markham Museum, which only has the transcript. I owe them for all their help; they have some unique resources.
You had mentioned NY and Finger Lakes, but it sounds like you mean the area north of that along the west coast of NY, not the Finger Lakes region in the middle of NY state. It is pretty up there.
Your trip is incredibly ambitious! It has sort of an "If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" flavour. Keep your sense of humour and full speed ahead! LOL!
Yes, we plan to go nearer Lake Ontario; with interstates we will probably drive to get where we are going. By going that way we need not backtrack as we would if we went from Buffalo through Toronto to Kingston. We will not make many reservations in advance, and can truncate the plans as needed. Rail travel is rather expensive, so a car it is, except for transit systems in much of Toronto and in Montreal--and Shank's mare in Quebec City (if we get that far). We could go down a freeway from Ottawa to the St. Lawrence rather than along the Rideau Canal, but that's early on in the trip. We plan to take a bus tour of Montreal when we first get there; if we wish we can spend another day there on our way through to Quebec. Planning will get more serious next weekend, when we make our airplane reservations.
My ancestors and their party originally planned to settle in New York, somewhere near the Geneesse (sp?) River, which we should be crossing; but the developers defrauded them and they left for Ontario. --Alan
Alan, I've read a few of those hand transcribed transcripts, and they can be hilarious (if frustrating)! Good on you for the gift to To Markham!
We got over an inch, so didn't have to cancel on account of it *might* be over the bridge before I get home -- it's already over, and will be higher before sundown. In fact: I didn't have to cancel at all -- doc's office called. SHE called in sick!! Good part, is that the rescheduling will take place more quickly than if I had cancelled.
Alan, your trip sounds ambitious, but highly enjoyable.
Just ordered a newish biography of Oliver Hazard Perry for Dad. His birthday isn't till July, but I knew if I waited to buy it, I'd forget.
Had a bad weekend. The weather was glorious, but I was in terrible shape. Hard to explain; sort of nervous collapse I suppose. Patty came over Sunday afternoon and I was together enough to go to Friendly's with her for supper, but it was sort of a strain. Yesterday was somewhat better. Last night Sis and I watched While You Were Sleeping, a favorite. Today is OK so far, knock on wood.
To tell you the truth, I try very hard to avoid going to the doctor. It's probably a legacy of my childhood when I underwent a long string of testing: upper GI, lower GI, this, that and the other, even testing for juvenile arthritis. Most of it was to determine the cause of my chronic and often debilitating headache and nausea. As I got older, the affliction grew less severe till, in my mid twenties or so, it went away.
Then again, my sister has been in and out of doctors' offices, ERs and hospitals for nearly fifteen years, and no one has been able to find what is wrong with her on the physical side, while on the mental side, try as he might, her shrink can't seem to find the right balance of medications. She'll have a handful of good days on some new combo, and then she'll slide right back into the abyss.
The long and the short of it is, I have a fundamental distrust of doctors. If I give in and admit that some one of these problems is severe enough to merit going to the doctor, she'll order an endless string of tests which will eat up my time and the time of whichever parent has to cart me to them all, and wind up either resoundingly inconclusive, or showing that I have something that cannot be cured.
I know from one perspective, this attitude is irrational. I have a friend who's about my mum's and Puddle's age. Last year, she was diagnosed with uteran cancer. She spent the spring and summer in treatment, and she came through with flying colors. Now, when she went for her cataract surgery, they found age-related macular degeneration. She understands that it can't be reversed, but she's having treatment for that before the cataract surgery. And I'm sure she'll do just as well with that as she did with the other. I know there are medical successes. But I also know from a lifetime of experience, I tend not to be a medical success. And I don't want to put myself or my family through the incredible hassle that would ensue from a seemingly simple visit to the doctor.
It's cutting off my nose despite my face, of course. Perhaps some of these things could be fixed or alleviated, but my gut tells me probably not. And, if not, that would only be determined after weeks or months of major discomfort and inconvenience.
I'm actually not angry or depressed about all this, merely realistic. Life has indeed taught me something. *wry grin* Besides, neither of my parents has the stamina for another endless round of doctor visits for me. They both have medical concerns of their own to see to, as well as my sister. No one pays me much attention, which suits me just fine, after all the years of Mum insisting to dragging me from this doctor to that specialist to the other quack. The peace and quiet is nice, even if perhaps it does mean that the odd medical need of mine goes unmet. There are worse things. I'll try to remember not to complain and worry everybody.
On the upside, my stints on the elliptical are getting marginally longer; enough so for Sis to comment on encouragingly. They are still not long enough to do any real good, but improvement is improvement.
And here's another minor miracle: Sis has started using the elliptical. Exercising, eating granola bars... We may get her healthy yet!
Thinking about it, the depression, etc. goes in cycles, though I haven't worked out the pattern. And the light headedness probably does too. That has been an ongoing if intermittent concern for many years... fifteen or twenty? It's usually just enough to be annoying but no more.
If I were to tot up all the various aches and pains and difficulties and problems, large and small, I experience in the course of a week, the diagnosis any sensible person would probably come to is that I'm dead. *wry grin* However, one perseveres.
Cat ~~ I can understand your point of view. My medical experience has been pretty good. My broken elbow got fixed (for all practical purposes). My hernia operation was 100% successful. The brand-spanking-new treatment for neovascular macular degeneration was what let me keep as much vision in my right eye as I have. My blood pressure is very well and stably controlled, which I gather is unusual. And the medication for my benign prostatic hypertrophy seems to be reducing the number of times I havae to get up at night.
Of course, there was the doctor I went to about falling asleep in meetings. He ordered a whole bunch of tests before I ever saw the specialist. Who said, "I think you're easily bored." My conclusion was that the doctor who ordered all the tests was not a very good doctor.
Speaking of macular degeneration, I read today that the National Eye Institute has set retinal regeneration as it's #1 goal. Of course that will probebly be 10 or 15 years from now. In 15 years I will be 91. But it's encouraging to know that the goal has been set.
Firefox will now show today's ducky photo but not previous photos. And it still won't let me post, so I'm on IE. I vaguely recall that it was similar problems with IE that originally led me to switch to Firefox for HEP and PSB.
No, in some ways I'm very conservative. I've been using IE as long as I've had access to the Web. Absent some indisputable advantage, I'm not included to change.
Cat--I am not rigidly sectarian, but strongly tend to the Bauhaus philosophy in medicine as well as architecture: Less is More.
listener--one of my contacts in Ontario says he knows exactly where our ancestors first settled in western New York before relocating to Ontario when they discovered they had been lured to (and tricked into making a road from Philadelphia to) the first place with false promises. Details to follow in due course. If going through that area it must be something neat to see.
Howard Dean would have been a ducky President!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions and the invitation, listener. But we have a rather ambitious tentative schedule as it is, and want to see the Thousand Islands area on our way by.
In twelve days on the ground back there, we intend to spend a day or two in Montreal, drive up the north side of the Ottawa River to Ottawa, stay over there for a day, then down along the Rideau Canal to Kingston and into Toronto. Several days in the Toronto area (sightseeing, visiting Miyoko's friends, see where my family originally settled in Markham Township, Markham Museum and Ontario Archives for me). Then out to the vicinity of London, Ontario (to see the old family farm and cemetery, take rubbings of gravestones, visit at local museum where the curator was so helpful) for a couple of days), back to Niagra for sightseeing and to Buffalo to visit a friend of Miyoko's, then (if it's OK with the car rental agency) Interstate 390 east and 81 north over the St. Lawrence River near Gananoque, the Thousand Islands Parkway etc. to Montreal, and on to Quebec City, probably along the river. Side trips as time allows and the spirit moves us. Then back to Montreal (probably not the way we came), stay overnight and fly home. EEEEK!
Don't know if I mentioned it here, but I located the passenger list for the ship that brought my great-great-great grandfather from Hamburg to Philadelphia in 1792. I found a(n) (error-riddled) transcript for free, and tomorrow will drop a request into the mail for a photocopy of the original from the Pennsylvania State Archive. Mind-boggling. Hmmmm...yes, I think I mentioned at least finding the transcript. At the local library. But the original--Wow! Nice guy that I am, I ordered a copy for the Markham Museum, which only has the transcript. I owe them for all their help; they have some unique resources.
--Alan
Nicely done about the transcript!!!
DeleteYou had mentioned NY and Finger Lakes, but it sounds like you mean the area north of that along the west coast of NY, not the Finger Lakes region in the middle of NY state. It is pretty up there.
Your trip is incredibly ambitious! It has sort of an "If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" flavour. Keep your sense of humour and full speed ahead! LOL!
Yes, we plan to go nearer Lake Ontario; with interstates we will probably drive to get where we are going. By going that way we need not backtrack as we would if we went from Buffalo through Toronto to Kingston. We will not make many reservations in advance, and can truncate the plans as needed. Rail travel is rather expensive, so a car it is, except for transit systems in much of Toronto and in Montreal--and Shank's mare in Quebec City (if we get that far). We could go down a freeway from Ottawa to the St. Lawrence rather than along the Rideau Canal, but that's early on in the trip. We plan to take a bus tour of Montreal when we first get there; if we wish we can spend another day there on our way through to Quebec. Planning will get more serious next weekend, when we make our airplane reservations.
Delete--Alan
My ancestors and their party originally planned to settle in New York, somewhere near the Geneesse (sp?) River, which we should be crossing; but the developers defrauded them and they left for Ontario. --Alan
DeleteGenesee
DeleteCheck out Henri Nouwen's book The Genesee Diary, from his time there in a Trappist Monastery.
Alan, I've read a few of those hand transcribed transcripts, and they can be hilarious (if frustrating)! Good on you for the gift to To Markham!
ReplyDeleteWe got over an inch, so didn't have to cancel on account of it *might* be over the bridge before I get home -- it's already over, and will be higher before sundown. In fact: I didn't have to cancel at all -- doc's office called. SHE called in sick!! Good part, is that the rescheduling will take place more quickly than if I had cancelled.
Nice when concerns coincide and work out!
DeleteAlan, your trip sounds ambitious, but highly enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteJust ordered a newish biography of Oliver Hazard Perry for Dad. His birthday isn't till July, but I knew if I waited to buy it, I'd forget.
Had a bad weekend. The weather was glorious, but I was in terrible shape. Hard to explain; sort of nervous collapse I suppose. Patty came over Sunday afternoon and I was together enough to go to Friendly's with her for supper, but it was sort of a strain. Yesterday was somewhat better. Last night Sis and I watched While You Were Sleeping, a favorite. Today is OK so far, knock on wood.
I hope you have a better day today and a string of better days.
DeleteI'm a bit concerned about these apparently random, unexplained health issues. Have you talked to the doctor about this?
I second Bill's concern. Is this something that cycles around for you, or a new concern arising?
DeleteThanks, Bill.
DeleteTo tell you the truth, I try very hard to avoid going to the doctor. It's probably a legacy of my childhood when I underwent a long string of testing: upper GI, lower GI, this, that and the other, even testing for juvenile arthritis. Most of it was to determine the cause of my chronic and often debilitating headache and nausea. As I got older, the affliction grew less severe till, in my mid twenties or so, it went away.
Then again, my sister has been in and out of doctors' offices, ERs and hospitals for nearly fifteen years, and no one has been able to find what is wrong with her on the physical side, while on the mental side, try as he might, her shrink can't seem to find the right balance of medications. She'll have a handful of good days on some new combo, and then she'll slide right back into the abyss.
The long and the short of it is, I have a fundamental distrust of doctors. If I give in and admit that some one of these problems is severe enough to merit going to the doctor, she'll order an endless string of tests which will eat up my time and the time of whichever parent has to cart me to them all, and wind up either resoundingly inconclusive, or showing that I have something that cannot be cured.
I know from one perspective, this attitude is irrational. I have a friend who's about my mum's and Puddle's age. Last year, she was diagnosed with uteran cancer. She spent the spring and summer in treatment, and she came through with flying colors. Now, when she went for her cataract
surgery, they found age-related macular degeneration. She understands that it can't be reversed, but she's having treatment for that before the cataract surgery. And I'm sure she'll do just as well with that as she did with the other. I know there are medical successes. But I also know from a lifetime of experience, I tend not to be a medical success. And I don't want to put myself or my family through the incredible hassle that would ensue from a seemingly simple visit to the doctor.
It's cutting off my nose despite my face, of course. Perhaps some of these things could be fixed or alleviated, but my gut tells me probably not. And, if not, that would only be determined after weeks or months of major discomfort and inconvenience.
I'm actually not angry or depressed about all this, merely realistic. Life has indeed taught me something. *wry grin* Besides, neither of my parents has the stamina for another endless round of doctor visits for me. They both have medical concerns of their own to see to, as well as my sister. No one pays me much attention, which suits me just fine, after all the years of Mum insisting to dragging me from this doctor to that specialist to the other quack. The peace and quiet is nice, even if perhaps it does mean that the odd medical need of mine goes unmet. There are worse things. I'll try to remember not to complain and worry everybody.
DeleteOn the upside, my stints on the elliptical are getting marginally longer; enough so for Sis to comment on encouragingly. They are still not long enough to do any real good, but improvement is improvement.
DeleteAnd here's another minor miracle: Sis has started using the elliptical. Exercising, eating granola bars... We may get her healthy yet!
Thanks, listener.
DeleteThinking about it, the depression, etc. goes in cycles, though I haven't worked out the pattern. And the light headedness probably does too. That has been an ongoing if intermittent concern for many years... fifteen or twenty? It's usually just enough to be annoying but no more.
If I were to tot up all the various aches and pains and difficulties and problems, large and small, I experience in the course of a week, the diagnosis any sensible person would probably come to is that I'm dead. *wry grin* However, one perseveres.
Cat ~~ I can understand your point of view. My medical experience has been pretty good. My broken elbow got fixed (for all practical purposes). My hernia operation was 100% successful. The brand-spanking-new treatment for neovascular macular degeneration was what let me keep as much vision in my right eye as I have. My blood pressure is very well and stably controlled, which I gather is unusual. And the medication for my benign prostatic hypertrophy seems to be reducing the number of times I havae to get up at night.
DeleteOf course, there was the doctor I went to about falling asleep in meetings. He ordered a whole bunch of tests before I ever saw the specialist. Who said, "I think you're easily bored." My conclusion was that the doctor who ordered all the tests was not a very good doctor.
Speaking of macular degeneration, I read today that the National Eye Institute has set retinal regeneration as it's #1 goal. Of course that will probebly be 10 or 15 years from now. In 15 years I will be 91. But it's encouraging to know that the goal has been set.
DeleteFirefox will now show today's ducky photo but not previous photos. And it still won't let me post, so I'm on IE. I vaguely recall that it was similar problems with IE that originally led me to switch to Firefox for HEP and PSB.
ReplyDeleteThanks for persevering, Bill!
DeleteApparently, HEP is an equal opportunity browser hater.
DeleteBill, have you tried Google Chrome? Sis likes it.
No, in some ways I'm very conservative. I've been using IE as long as I've had access to the Web. Absent some indisputable advantage, I'm not included to change.
Deleteincluded = inclined
DeleteBrilliant thought for the day:
ReplyDeleteIf you want indisputable proof of the existence of God, listen to Ella Fitzgerald. Only a loving, omniscient being could have created that voice!
Cat--I am not rigidly sectarian, but strongly tend to the Bauhaus philosophy in medicine as well as architecture: Less is More.
ReplyDeletelistener--one of my contacts in Ontario says he knows exactly where our ancestors first settled in western New York before relocating to Ontario when they discovered they had been lured to (and tricked into making a road from Philadelphia to) the first place with false promises. Details to follow in due course. If going through that area it must be something neat to see.
Alan