Rainy weather

It's been a cool, cloudy summer here in the Netherlands. I'm not sad for it really 'cause extreme heat just knocks me out. But it does tend to make things gloomier than they should be.

Well, Nico is on his holiday in France for two weeks. It's just me and the boy. Our routine hasn't changed much except there's not the daily anticipation of phone calls to meet up at the park and Hazel's eye wandering over the horizon looking for our my pal and his brother.

The balcony is still blossoming: the morning glory winds its way along a string and now blooms grace the balcony edge each morning. Bees still buzz around the mint and lavender. My strawberries produce between 2-3 fruits a day, enough to keep my cereal tasty for breakfast. And the tomatoes look promising though there is no sign of ripening yet (too many clouds in the way of the sun, I think).

Today, I want to go to the market. I hope my scootmobile will make it all the way there and back (fingers crossed).

I got my paintings back in my house now. They were on display for two months at the library. I'll be keeping an eye out for other opportunities to show them around.

Speaking of painting, my second painting for the Shinholster gang is going really well. I'm darned pleased with the current status. Cha-ching. And I'm tossing around the idea of attending a painting class on Friday afternoons at Blixembosch but my intuition is telling me to move on, perhaps even join a more advanced group of artists so I'm getting more peer to peer input versus just ooo's and aaahhh's. You know.

Therapy this week
This week, I brought home the electro stimulus package and have, only once, used it in the park while walking Hazel. My intuition tells me it is just pointless to invest any more time in this product - there's no therapeutic value (i.e. it is not purported to rejig the connection between muscle and brain), it just sends a quick electrical charge to my muscles to lift my foot and my brace does the same thing and insurance won't cover the 5000euro cost.

So, instead, I ordered a new plastic brace this week, one I can wear on the beach in September and for other sporty things in which I don't want to get my suede leather brace dirty (it takes so long to dry after cleaning).

Aqua jogging was good this week. Also biked, as usual and got through all the fitness equipment. Yah.

Monday morning, I met with a physiotherapist at a fitness gym near my old office. As employees of Philips, we get a deep discount at the gym plus costs of the therapy will be covered by my insurance. As grateful as I am to Titia for getting me this far, I am ready to move on. This new gal is energetic, engaged and I think will be good at pushing me to great improvements in the next year. Woohoo. I meet with her just before my trip to the U.S. to make a program that will begin upon return.

Still haven't heard from H.R. at work yet. I heard it might take a while before they got in touch with me. So still no word on when I start work. I'm this close to calling my old boss to have her light a fire, you know what I mean.

Thanks for sticking around. I know I've been uncommunicative. Just seems like, since vacation, it's no fun to post without photos and fun stories.