Day 94 Taking a break

We are of for a couple of days to the RUHR area in Germany

See you in a few days

Day 93 Satisfaction

Statistics show that most people are very satisfied with their replacement knee(s). The operation can of course go wrong, but the majority are a routine procedure for orthopedic surgeons.

The mortality rate in the UK is 0.5 %.
So it's probably safer than crossing the road :~)

By younger people, they mean the age group 50 to 65.

Replacements last an average of 15 years, but can last a lot longer if one is careful not to indulge in heavy sports etc.

Losing weight helps too.....................

...and while looking for illustrations, I came across this gem (and more)

"I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian."

Day 92 Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Since my knee is more bendy, I have been sleeping a lot better. No more tossing and turning and feeling wrung out in the mornings...

But now I sleep like a log or my favorite animal :~))

              

The only thing to wake me up now are these b......'s 

Day 91 A little something I prepared earlier...

As some of you may know, I collect Lions......

Remember 'The Lion and Albert" ???????

                       

Monologue text

Stanley Holloway reading the monologue 

The sequel : Albert's Return

day 90 Knee Kicker

Just to get back to the subject of knees...............

NO !  It's not at all what you were thinking....

It's actually a device for getting fitted carpets into tight corners :~)))

How to Use a Carpet Knee Kicker:

- Start in one corner of the room.
- Push the teeth of the knee kicker into the carpet
  approximately 1 inch from the wall.
                                           - Slam your knee swiftly into the cushioned end of
                                             the kicker to hook the carpet onto the tack strip.
                                           
                             AGGGGHHHHH _ not something for me then !!

WARNING!
Serious knee injuries frequently result when carpet layers kneel on hard surfaces and use a knee kicker to install carpet.

Day 89 Ooooooommmmmmmmmmmm

A mellow start to the week................

Meditation 2010 

 

Meditation -4000.000

                                                    Inner Calm

Still searching............

Day 88 Half full ??

Which is yours ??

It's actually just a matter of perspective !

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.

Mark Twain

The realist sees reality as concrete.
The optimist sees reality as clay.

Robert Brault

  Test yourself
  (I am 74% optimistic)

Day 87 Uncle Fred

Some of you will have heard me mention my 'Mad Uncle Fred'

Well he's over in the UK at the moment (he lives in Canada) and he will be over to see us for a few days from Saturday....

He likes a pint and a laugh, and seems to have a thing about borrowing other peoples hats !

Here is is on last years visit to NL

And in 2007 with me at Neeltje Jans

So Leo and I will be playing at tourist guide for a few days !!
Watch this space for a photo report..................

Day 86 Myth Buster

Not much pain at all now, just still a bit stiff and the odd twinge :~))

 

Pain is hard to measure....

In hospital I was saying that it was 4 or 5
My physio exercises it could go up to 7
But now I would say it's the occasional 2

But of course women know ALL about pain !

*******Myth Buster*******

Dat 85 Pavlov

We have all got our own Pavlov reaction to certain stimuli... what's yours?

Pavlov owned more than 30 dogs ......

Here is a link to their photo's (scroll down a bit)

PAVLOV'S DOG sing one of
my favorite tracks : "Julia"

Day 84 No More GYM !!

I have been going to the gym from the physio for the last few weeks to get my knee moving enough to cycle again. Now that the bike riding is going OK and I'm able to walk a fair distance too, I don't need to go anymore :~))

I still see it more as torture than fun..............

Spot the difference between these two pictures:

A sport school is definitely NOT my favorite thing, but it has served it's purpose :~)

There must be other ways of getting fit.....

Or I suppose I could always get one of these: The Not So Lazy-Boy Recliner

People always say, 'I'd exercise more if only I didn't have to drive to the gym', and Curtis James may have found the answer.

In December of 2005 he was awarded a patent for the "exercise apparatus" which is a glorified recliner, retrofitted with arm and leg exercising stations.

But perhaps this is the best idea of all:

Day 83 Joke of the Year - 2010

Two women were sitting quietly together,

minding their own business...

Day 82 On Yer Bike !!

Being able to cycle again reminded me of this.....

Go away! Clear off! The phrase dates from the 1960s but later gained the implication that one should go and look for work.

This sense was popularized by in a speech at the Conservative Party Conference in 1981 by Norman Tebbit, then Employment Secretary, when he said that his father had not rioted in the 1930s when unemployed but ‘got on his bike and looked for work.’

1983  ‘ON YER BIKE, Tebbit!’ became the slogan of right-to-work marchers, to the delight of Mr Tebbit's supporters"

Boris seems to have taken his advice to heart !

There is another theory that it originated in Wales in the 19th century. You see in the Welsh valleys there was a tendency for young men to marry local girls. After several generations, in really small communities, everybody was closely related to everyone else. The advent of the bicycle was a godsend and many a you man was told to 'get on your bike' when be came calling on his 1st cousin once removed. So it was a quick pedal over the hills and far away to find a fresh wife.

This new approach, policed by the church, resulted in a welcome breath of fresh air, so to speak, blowing through the Welsh valleys. And a good thing it was too as there's many a morose maudlin Welshman who could rightly blame his state of min on his too near relatives.  

 And all this somehow brings me to

"A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle "

Seems to be disproved here :~) 

Day 81 Yet another milestone passed

We went for a 2 hour walk on Saturday around the "Island van Brienenoord"

This is an island under the big Brienenoord Bridge that spans the River Maas

It's a natuur reserve with lots of wildlife and vegetation

My knee was fine, even on the rougher paths and even climbing the hillock went OK

It looks as if it's relly getting usable now :~))

more photo's here

The island is a short ride from us across the Brienenoord bridge

The island was created by sludge piling up since the beginning of the 19th century in the bend of the river the Maas. It’s about 17 hectares in size (sorry I don’t do acres !)

It was covered in forest until second world war, when the Germans used the trunks, by placing them upright in the ground, to keep planes from landing. What was left of the trees ended in the fires during the winter of starvation.

Nowadays it’s a natural green island again. There are some allotments/holiday gardens here, some ateliers, the remains of a old dock, a large pond which attracts many frogs in Spring and Highland Cattle graze here.

At the East side of the island the ground has been washed away. Instead of rebuilding it, there is a bridge to enable people to enjoy looking down onto the miniature swamp.

Info in Dutch