A fruitful expedition

Jenny and I usually go for some sort of outing on Friday mornings.  This time we did a tour of some OpShops at Capalaba.  We did rather well.  I bought 3 things that were a bit unusual, including the  fanciest bottle opener you have ever seen. 

The set of coasters appeared to be silver (EPNS no doubt) but I think the fancy cake-lifter is some sort of shiny alloy.  There were certainly no hallmarks on it.

I am the vaccinated man.

See below.  

I got zero side effects from the first dose so I am hoping for the same from the second.  I got the second only hours ago, however so it is too early to tell.  My very good immune system is reason for optimism, however.

UPDATE of 14 Oct 21:

It is now over 2 weeks since I had my second shot and still not the slightest sign of any side-effect. I gather that it is unusual to have NO side-effects but I have always had a very good immune system

A memorable day

My day started out with an 8am appointment at the radiation oncology Dept. at the PA hospital.  The PA is a short drive from where I live.  It is a huge public hospital but the radiation oncology Dept. there is very well equipped and staffed.  I saw Prof. Foote, the head of the Dept. It was a genial meeting as he knew me from a previous bout of therapy there.

I am getting him to irradiate an unsightly neoplastic rash on my forehead.  It has been lasered, frozen and ointmented but nothing kills it for long.  The radiotherapy will wipe it out for good however.  I will get a total of 20 exposures to the deadly beams to make sure of that

We agreed on a start to the treatment in about a month's time

Then I had lunch with a lady I contacted through a dating site. I was amazed when I met her. I am betting that she is the most good-looking 71 year-old in Brisbane.  You'd think she was in her 30s.  She was a pleasure to look at.

She was quite bright, we had a lot in common and the conversation went well.  But my decrepit looks mean that I am nowhere in her league so there are unlikely to be further developments between us.  It was a real pleasure to meet her however

And yesterday's iron infusion was already showing good effects.  I was actually walking faster today.  The extra iron would have enabled more haemoglobin which in turn boosted my leg muscles. I am walking pretty normally now.  I have had three attacks of internal cancer but my recovery of function from them has been pretty good.

So it was a rather good day and I had a candle-lit dinner with Jenny to top it off. I have two candelabra with six candles so that gave a good light to dine by.

An unusual night

Over the years, Jenny and I have always liked a glass or two of wine with our dinner.  Recently, however, we have not been able to do that.  Jenny has to drive home after dinner and in her usual cautious way refuses to drive with alcohol in her system. I would be quite happy to drive her but she refuses to travel with me driving.  Those who know my driving will understand.

So last night Jenny slept over in my guest room so we could revert to custom.  Jenny celebrated the occasion by making one of my favourite dishes -- Wiener Schnitzel.  Schnitzel is a seemingly simple dish but cooking a good one is in fact quite complex.  The major "secret" is that you must fry it in ghee.  Ghee gives it that wonderful buttery taste.

For booze we opened a bottle of good old Seaview "champagne"

Jenny upheld her Australian honour by drinking half the bottle but I felt like only one glass so the dinner was no riot.

But there was an unexpected sequel:  At about midnight I chucked the whole of my dinner up.  I think I know what caused it so will not buy that product again.  Jenny  fortunately remained well.  I felt fine the morning after so the problem was clearly nothing serious.

Overnight stays imply breakfast the next morning so for brek we went to a place at Stones Corner that Jenny knew: "Clove & Honey".  It was "innovative" so I was a bit wary and just ordered a cheeseburger. Even the burger turned out to be innovative, however, -- containing calamari!  I am quite keen on calamari so that was no problem.  Jenny talked them into doing a gluten-free eggs-Benedict, something she really likes.  We went to the nearby op-shops afterward, where I did make a small purchase

My most recent presents to Anne

I saw two rather attractive pieces yesterday so bought them:  A blue bangle and a very fancy necklace.  

I have been buying Anne costume jewellery almost weekly for years now so she must by now have just about the biggest collection in Brisbane.  The only pity is that she has neither a daughter nor a grand-daughter to leave it to.  But she wears it with enthusiasm now so that is the main thing. She particularly likes strong colours so the bangle should be a hit

But my reward is great too.  As the apostle Paul said:  "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35)