Meerkat's Heap

Lyme Day Walk - how far?

2012-02-09T11:13:00.001-05:00

Goodness, this Lyme Awareness Day Walk is really taking off, and I'm so grateful for that, for the support and awareness circling out to others!

Right now we are hashing out the registration forms, so that people can register for the walk, order T-shirts if they want them, and get things firmed up. Hopefully registration forms will be on the LymeWalk website by this weekend, Feburary 12th.

But -- and this is the question from many --- how far is the walk? Is it a race? What are the prizes? What is the time limit?

No, it is not a race, as such. No time limit. No expectations, other than your presence and sharing the awareness with others. I'm hoping to offer a good prize to the person bringing in the most funds, though, through collecting donations from friends or family, but that's just a thought at this point and not a firm part of the planning.

The "formal" walk part will take around 20 - 30 minutes or so. See map here below or on Picasa (click the magnifying glass to enlarge on Picasa). Afterwards, there will be prize giving and draws, fun and time to talk to Lymies and families, sponsors, the artist who designed the T-shirt, play the Penny Sale, join the kids in a sack race or face painting, and just enjoy the day. I'm hoping someone from CanLyme will be there as well to share some information. Make sure you talk to the vet who will be there, about Lyme Disease in pets - they can be treated!

However, there are paved paths all around Chinguacousy Park. Those who want to walk more, or even jog a little after the Lyme walk, would be free and welcome to do so! It is a lovely park with lots to see. Remember to visit the greenhouse - it is free. Take the kids to the barn and the petting zoo. Walk around the ponds and enjoy sitting on the grass, looking at the ducks and other birds. You are welcome to bring a picnic and propane bbq if you wish. We are planning activities and fun for kids, and during the afternoon, after our event, the park will have a Midway, so families can really make an outing of it!

Ching Park map - click for larger view

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
Truth is, this Lyme Awareness Day is supposed to be a family outing, a time spent learning and sharing about Lyme Disease, of relaxing in the park with a picnic after the walk, and for Lymies and their loved ones to get the emotional support we so desperately need from each other. To know we are not alone, that others are suffering and struggling as well, can mean as much as a load of medication and supplements. And for those who are caregivers and friends, helplessly watching a family member in pain or struggling, this gathering is a way to feel they are doing something instead of just standing by.

Last year when Kim and I went to Ottawa in May 2011 to attend the Lyme Rally on Parliament Hill, it was an uplifting experience for both of us (and the others!) to suddenly see other green T-shirts, to talk and hear stories, and to say, "me too!" Together, we can face this battle. And teach others about it so that they might avoid the struggle we've gone through to get diagnosed, treated and well again.

THE DREAM
Any funds raised on May 19th will be donated to the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation. Their mission is to educate, to research and to teach about Lyme Disease. The dream is to one day have a testing facility in Canada where people with Lyme symptoms can go for testing, without having to face the battle of disbelief, scepticism and "it is all in your head".

Taking part in our Lyme Awareness Day, be it walking or as spectator, paying the registration fee or adding a few dollars as donation, bring us closer to this dream. Who knows, the next person you talk to, might have undiagnosed Lyme disease now or in the near future, and your information might help them on their journey.

Brampton Proclaims Lyme Awareness Month!

2012-02-07T10:35:00.003-05:00

Very excited! I've just had confirmation that May 2012 will be declared Lyme Awareness Month in Brampton, Ontario! This is very good news indeed. Means that companies or groups supporting our Lyme Awareness Day on May 19, can get in on the action, posters and more.

We are working on registration forms, but people are already visiting the LymeWalkBrampton website! We put the site up early so that everyone who wants to take part, can book the date of May 19 on their calendars, and be aware of the plans happening.

Support from all levels has been wonderful, and I'm so grateful to volunteers, friends, helpers, contacts, connections, city Councillors and others for their immediate and gracious help.

The Lyme awareness items arrived yesterday - necklaces, bangles, silicone armbands, key rings, even teddy bears wearing ribbons with the green insignia, messages of courage, hope and support abound. Pictures will be uploaded and friends and family can already purchase them if they like. If we sell all before May 19, we'll just order more of the most popular items. Prices range from between $1 for the silicone wristbands to $10 or so for the Tiffany-style bracelets. All extra funds will be donated to the Canadian Lyme Disease foundation at the end of our Awareness day.

Swedish Lyme patients have to go to Norway for treatment

2012-02-05T19:03:00.002-05:00

Picture from the Swedish radio page linked below

Pioneers Abroad Save Borrelia* Patients.
(Swedish Radio program - translated from this link. Also see the original post on this blog.)

Thousands of people suffer badly without receiving any help from Swedish health care.

After years of fruitless attempts to get treatment they turn abroad and get cured. But the patients have to pay the expensive treatments themselves since it's not recognized and approved by the Board of Health. They discard the treatment as dangerous and unscientific. Every year around 10 000 Swedes get Borrelia after being bitten by ticks. Almost all seek help and are cured by a brief round of antibiotics, if given immediately. But there are also several who do not seek help immediately, so the infection gets a grip on their bodies. A while later they get chronic Borrelia, an illness which, according to the Board of Health, doesn't exist. But in Norway & Germany patients are given antibiotics for up to a year, and get cured.

2008 was a tough year for Andrew, 45-year-old craftsman. His father passed away, he had stress at work, young children at home and his summer was ruined by a virus infection. During the autumn pain began in his arms and legs, and he sought treatment.

Antibiotics should never be longer than 30 days. That is the predominant route of many countries' health authorities. In Germany and at the Arena Clinic Borrelia Center in Oslo the patients are given aggressive antibiotics for a total of one or up to two years. Deadly, claims Welfare. - Not so, says Margaret Gabrielsson, who has just been declared healthy after two years of treatment.

Margaret and Andrew's stories are similar to that of many others. They are met by skepticism and neglect here in Sweden and so they go to the clinic in Oslo where they are met by listening, understanding health care professionals who take their concerns seriously. A whole new world opens for those Swedish patients.

Arena Clinic Borrelia Center in Oslo has helped thousands of people diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease to become healthy. But the costs mount up. Treatment is expensive. Blood sample analysis, dotors' visits, alternative treatments and not least, the aggressive antibiotic regimens were given either intravenously or in tablet form. A typical treatment takes about a total of two years and then the patient has been out of pocket somewhere between one hundred thousand and two hundred
thousand dollars.

In Norway the health authority pleased is pleased by dr. Rolf Luneng's work, but his clinic would never be here in Sweden. Anders Tegnell is Head of knowledge management at the National Board. It is he who gives out guidelines and guidance.

I wonder why Luneng's clinic is not allowed to be here in Sweden.

(*Borrelia: Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia.)

Scandinavian Lymies have the same battle!

2012-01-30T10:31:00.003-05:00

Why on earth can developed countries not treat and care for their own Lyme Disease Patients until they are well and functioning again? Nobody can understand that.

Friend Nyree from Sweden sent a message this morning, about Scandinavian patients having to go to Norway for treatment, with support from Germany! I'm posting her message with her permission here below:

Nyree wrote: Yesterday I was listening to the radio, and an “investigating” radio show, broadcasting on national level had a program labeled Pioneers abroad save Borrelia patients.
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=3375

Needless to say I began listening more thoroughly & also downloaded the show to listen from the start today.
The program spoke about how difficult it is for Lyme patients to be believed, and to receive the proper treatment since antib’s are only distributed during 30 days here in Sweden, and many are mistakenly diagnosed with MS while they truly suffer from Neurological Borreliosis…They mentioned both ILADS & IDSA in the program.
A Norwegian clinic, Arena Kliniken, http://arenaklinikken.no/ are treating lyme patients based on American findings via a clinic in Augsburg, Germany, and they receive many patients from Scandinavia…

(Translation of the article can be read here on this blog.)

The German Lyme Fighter, Armin Schwarzbach

Thanks for sharing, Nyree! And I'm pretty sure the Augsburg clinic might be by one of the doctors I met and chatted with in October at the ILADS Conference in Toronto - see his picture on the right.

A petition is online to lobby for removal of the outdated IDSA guidelines. The site explains the reasons. Please read for yourself, and sign, then share the link with others. Countries outside of the USA, skip the box for "State" and just choose your country. It will work that way.

* On another level, the website for the Lyme Walk in Brampton has been registered on the weekend and is being developed. For some reason the site is not live (yet) while I'm writing, so a mirror site is there. The petition is linked on the right side of that site. Please share! We hope to have a sea of green T-shirts there that day! Wear green if you have it, but we are designing and ordering shirts as well.

LymeWalkBrampton website or if that's offline, the mirror site LymeWalkBrampton

Jenni is working on a better graphic of the jailed tick and more pages, info and links will be added as the weeks go by.

Lyme is a Cryme

2012-01-29T10:54:00.003-05:00

Plans for the Lyme Awareness Day Walk / Run / Wheel / Stroll are going ahead!

This week we're planning to go to the park to look at the paths and layout. We're arranging a Penny Sale, which is always fun for everyone to play along. Kids of all ages enjoy posting their tickets for the chance of winning a prize.

Check out the website created to host the walk info, registration forms when they're ready, and other items. It was just registered yesterday and still working through all the servers, so the link might not be active today!

Two options: http://www.lymewalkbrampton.ca is the registered site. But while it is yeasting through the interwebs, try going to grab a sneak peak at what we're working on here: http://lyme.meerkatsweb.ca

The graphic above is one I quickly put together, but Jenni is working on the proper thing in her style!

*First post about the Lyme Walk in Brampton

Lyme Walk in Brampton: May 19, 2012

2012-01-05T14:28:00.001-05:00

Chingaucousy Park (pronounced Ching-go-kuzy park) in the middle of Brampton, Ontario, is a huge park, consisting of 100 acres filled with pathways, trees, picnic spots, restrooms, a petting zoo, greenhouse, tennis courts and more. It is close to the City centre, bus terminal and the airport.

Why is this important? Because with the support of Her Worship, Susan Fennel, the mayor of Brampton, a Lyme Disease Awareness Walk will be held in the park on May 19, 2012!

This is early yet, but I'm hoping to secure helpers, volunteers, supporters, sponsors for T-shirts and people to either walk for themselves or for someone who is too sick to walk. The Faces of Lyme disease need to be seen, to show through sheer numbers how important this issue is. We need doctors to be aware and to do early diagnosis, we need better and more secure testing, we need public awareness, and we need protection for doctors and patients alike. Most important: Patients need to be treated in Canada instead of having to spend hundreds of dollars and countless hours to travel to doctors in the USA!

More about Ching Park, with pictures, map and bus schedule is HERE.
Information will follow and perhaps a Facebook page created to have immediate feedback.

Again - this is very early, but I hope it means people can get this on their schedule!

T-shirt design by Jenni

Foggy, filtered light in the sky

2011-12-30T18:46:00.001-05:00

Fresh snow on the ground after yesterday's temperatures of -12 C (about 10.4 F), but it became a little warmer today. It was foggy all over today, near Toronto. Soft and gentle.

The picture above was just snapped with the Blackberry camera, and slightly brightened to bring out the red berries in the foreground and to show the wonderful tones in the quality of the light. When you just look without seeing, it all seems to be just black-and-white outside, but there are these gorgeous tones hidden in the background of the day.

When I was a child, growing up in the semi-desert area of the province in the middle of South Africa, we didn't see much fog or rain, other than wild thunderstorms which I loved. I remember the few times we drove through mountains and ran into fog, I always thought it was like being in a cloud. I had a little green plastic cup and would hold that out the window, trying to scoop up some of the softness to eat. What a disappointment to always just find some drops in the cup!

Now, when we have a foggy day as the temperatures change here in Southern Ontario, it often occurs to me that what we see, is never what really is. What an adventure it is to live and discover each day!

Skywatch Friday

Goodreads to the rescue

2011-12-29T12:04:00.000-05:00

I've always loved reading, since before starting school and am never without a book. Earlier this year I bought an Aluratek Libre e-reader to help with the eyes being affected by Lyme Disease, and to avoid having to hold heavy large-print books with the painful wrists. Falling apart and all that, you know!

It is becoming harder to keep track of books read, to be read, recommended, or read and enjoyed before.

For Christmas, the Hubby surprised me with a Lenovo Thinkpad tablet, which has a wonderful display for ebooks. I could download applications to add both Kindle and Kobo books, but am struggling with the Adobe Digital Editions installation. No matter, enough books bought and loaded through Amazon and Chapters!

If you're not familiar with Goodreads and like to read, check it out from the links here below! I'll try to add this widget or gadget or whatever it is called, to the right-hand side of this blog.

Anyone from South Africa reading here -- I've been trying for years to buy or order or find two books, both by Elsabe Steenberg: "Dat ek mag sien" and "Rooi Kanarie Hoepelbeen". Both have had a profound influence on me, and were never forgotten, even after decades. Years later I entered into a letter-writing with the author and we continued that until shortly before she died. So, if anyone finds any of those books in a second-hand bookstore or somewhere, let me know how I can pay for them, please! I did bring along another favourite, "Die Heuningwolk" by Maretha Maartens.

Let's see if this Goodreads widget works in the blog!

Meerkat's bookshelf: favourites

Sand and Foam

by Khalil Gibran

Confessions of a Shopaholic

by Sophie Kinsella

The Undomestic Goddess

by Sophie Kinsella

Mister God, This Is Anna

by Fynn

The Full Cupboard of Life

by Alexander McCall Smith

Christmas greetings - stories, pictures and news of the year

2011-12-14T10:34:00.003-05:00

Hello! So glad you stopped by! If you dropped in because you received our digital Christmas greeting, thank you for taking the trouble. If you want to keep tabs on when this blog is updated (very infrequently), you can either "follow" on the right, or just put your email address in the space on the right side. When a new post is added, you'll receive an email notification and can then stop by at your leisure.

Some updates about our year, 2011, with a few photo links are below if you want to browse!

Bigger version is HERE (this page will stay open)

About our news and updates --- I'll just pick a few items, but this is easier than sending lots of emails around.
Please scroll down the blog archives (links on the right) if you want to read more entries or posts, see the picture of my medication, look at pictures taken at the Lyme Disease conference in Toronto, and so on.

RECAP
In January I was told by a doctor that the whopping doses of antibiotics I injected daily directly to the bloodstream via a permanently implanted IV line (PICC), was "going to kill me" because my body had turned toxic or something. I had to stop the medicine. This was supposed to be the last push in the treatment for Lyme disease, which was started in April 2010 after being sick since August 2007 with some "unknown disease".

In February the Lyme specialist pulled out the PICC line, saying he would have to do some research to find out what sort of combination medications he can give me. I have been off the medication for a month by then, and symptoms were coming back fast and furious. Pain, confusion, balance problems, cognitive problems, neuralgia, anxiety, depression, all sorts of infections, lack of appetite, being cold all the time, extremely dry skin - to name just a few. Costochondritis (a painful condition because of infection in the joints of the rib cage) was also diagnosed then and is still not gone.

In March I went back to see the specialist and received a tremendous blow: He could no longer treat Lyme disease. Another doctor had lodged a complaint against him for "treating a disease which doesn't exist in Canada". I was set adrift, like hundreds of other Lyme disease patients. Doctors are being forced out of practice. In the USA, four states have now adopted legislation to protect doctors against prosecution if they are treating Lyme disease.

In the meantime, Arno developed a "blister" on his right eye. There is a leaking vein which deposits fluid on the lens, and makes it difficult to focus. It went away after a few months, but came back. In November he had cold laser treatment to try and seal off the leak. We have to wait several weeks to see if the fluid was re-absorbed. It is not painful, but just annoying when trying to focus on close subjects.

He is looking after me with care and concern, and I'm very appreciative. When I located a doctor in the USA who was willing to take me on as a Lyme patient and arranged to see me as quickly as possible, Arno took the time to drive me the 7 hours, through pouring rain, fog, hydroplaning car and unknown roads to visit. During that visit, I was also diagnosed with co-infections called Babesia and Bartonella. There should be more in this blog to read about that. I am now officially battling Chronic Lyme disease.

In May we took two weeks holidays for the first time in our lives! We flew down to Florida and spent four days in Orlando, visiting the Animal Kingdom and Seaworld, petting cownose rays and enjoying the creatures and the plants we love so much. Of course we took in a few roller coasters as well! A few pictures are here.

Arno at Animal Kingdom

We spent a few days in Daytona Beach which we found beautiful and would love to go back to! From there we drove to Miami, with a detour to Cocoa Beach, and flew out the next day to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.

While there, we stayed in a resort, but scheduled 6 SCUBA dives, spread over three days. We had to have a day in between, since after an excursion, I was sleeping 8 to 10 hours and had to have a day to recover! We loved it, the dives were great and we also managed some parasailing, something I've always wanted to do.


Someone took this pic of us

The new medication, as well as a severely restricted diet the doctor put me on in order to starve the Lyme disease bugs, made for interesting episodes, weakness, diabetic collapse and the like. Once again, Arno was a champion, looking after me, asking restaurants for special attention, and generally taking the responsibility of something I used to do for myself. I'm grateful to have him. Without that, I would have been a great mess!

Theo (our youngest) and Jenni are planning their wedding for August 2012. She is still studying - graphics design since she wants to be an illustrator for Children's books - and wants to finish her studies first. She just put up a site with some of her work. Click on the gallery link to see samples! Jenn's Illustrations

Jaco decided to take a break from his studies and joined us working at the computer office in Bolton. He is doing a great job and we are all glad to have him there! He is doing inside work, removing viruses, helping to set up computers, writing a program to help us track time and jobs. Then ---- he fell off a ladder while alone in the workshop and broke the heel on his right foot! He was on crutches for 6 weeks, but seems to be back in good health now.

In September we had the Brampton Fall Fair again. I've been the Photography Convenor for a number of years now and am enjoying it tremendously. It saps energy, but is well worth the effort. That is the one volunteer position I didn't give up because of this miserable disease!
Those who like to look at pictures, they were divided into four days. I'll give the links below if you want to play. Day 2 is the one where I got to hold the big Bald Eagle.

Fall Fair Day 1 - setting up and judging
Day 2 - some of the exhibits and the Bald Eagle
Day 3 - more entries and pictures of the Falcon show
Day 4 - the horses and a guy making fantastic balloon creatures

In September I also turned 50. With the Fall Fair right across that day, I didn't even think about it. But Arno and our friends concocted a surprise party --- and what a surprise it was! Thank you again, everyone, for your love and support!

As a sudden inspiration, long-time email friend Amanda and husband Paul came to visit. Of course we had to take them to Niagara Falls, have them taste icewine, see the lovely town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, visit quaint St. Jacobs with the fabulous craft of the Mennonites, and admire the landscape, farmlands and beauty of southern Ontario. More pictures are HERE if anyone wants to look.

Our summer visit at the cottage belonging to friends, is always a highly enjoyable part of our summer, and we are grateful for the privilege. Sitting on the dock, looking at loons, watching the sunset and the sunrise, sipping coffee in the fresh air, sharing cooking duties --- peaceful restoration, recharging of batteries. And of course having some tubing on the lake as well! Pictures.

In November I saw the Lyme specialist again. She changed my medication (more info in the blog, under November 21). Arno has to sort out all the pills and supplements, since I get completely confused. At the moment my brain is acting as in the early stages of Alzheimer's. We're doing all we can to reconnect pathways and to stimulate the brain to heal itself. But sorting out more than 45 pills per day is mind-boggling at the moment! Not to mention cooking --- our electric rice cooker is one of the best things we ever bought. We eat a lot of stews and soup, steamed veggies and brown rice with pan-seared chicken or pork, or meat on the bbq (braai). Arno is enjoying having Jaco at home again, since the two meat-eaters can indulge a little!

Theo is doing lots of cooking and baking. His shortbread cookies are divine and in high demand for Christmas. He has been baking beskuit, makes pizza, has a fabulous potato soup and other things he makes regularly. Wonderful to see the boys being young men, and enjoying each others company.

This is enough gabbling - sorry if it bored you, but hope you are caught up a little about our lives! Working two jobs (two days a week at the church and three days a week at the computer place), keeping doctor's appointments and trying to get enough energy together to do some housekeeping seem to take more time than it did before.

Blessings to you and yours for Christmas. And thank you for keeping in touch, even if I'm bad at following up these days. Hopefully that will pass in another two years or so after treatment.

Christmas wishes

Winter sky; hopeful light

2011-12-08T21:47:00.000-05:00

Winter always held a special magic for me, even before we were introduced to snow in 1997. There is just something about the crispness, the puffs of breath, the stomping of feet, and the appreciation of coming inside to warm up. Perhaps I'm older, but the winter light, the clouds, the sun traveling low on the horizon during the cold months and the light holding strange shadows really fascinate me here in Ontario. Today when I left the office, this was the wonderful sky that welcomed me outside:

Pink diffused light

I can't get enough of how the slightest bit of weak sunlight turns a mediocre scene into a delight. It takes my breath away with a dramatic sky, with interesting clouds being lit from the side and diffused light softly touching buildings and corners. The camera is usually nearby, not to take a prize-winning picture, but to capture a ray of hope when it is least expected, often while I'm pre-occupied with thoughts of traffic, chores, shopping or work. What a beautiful world we live in!

Skywatch Friday

Donkey Sanctuary

2011-12-04T20:02:00.001-05:00

It was raining most of today, but we wanted to go get our Christmas tree. We stopped at the Donkey Sanctuary and got some lovin' in for the animals there. Since it was so wet, we didn't get to be very close to the donkeys, but did get some ears to rub, faces to scratch, velvety noses to pet and pictures of different critters.

This quote with the two donkeys in the background touched me especially.
A few more pictures are HERE.

Afterwards we went to pick a Christmas tree from a nearby farm. Very weird with not a speck of snow around, though! We chose a very fat little spruce. Jaco, wearing only a T-shirt with a sweater over, was pulling the tree sled and was freezing cold as soon as we were among the growing trees to pick our own! We always try to get a fat tree, and this one was no different. It fills the corner in the house and the rabbit was sniffing the air. At least there's the smell of Christmas now, even without snow!

On the health front. The Lyme is being a pain again. Been having sore neck, various pains, headache, fever and all those familiar old friends again. But, if I allow those things to tie me down, I'll never get to go out, or spend time with the family, or make memories. So, pay a little for time out, rather than be tied to home and bed. Fair exchange, no?

Dr. Murakami on Lyme

2011-12-02T13:22:00.001-05:00

Dr. Ernie Murakami posted on my Facebook wall:

"I will be co-hosting the radio show every Sunday evening with Sue Vogan from North Carolina starting on Dec 4th, 2011 (07:00-09:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time)
I can dialogue with you then and any one interested in Lyme disease."

This is the information about the show:
Sue Vogan's Radio Show:
IN SHORT ORDER, every Sunday, 7-9 PM EST
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/in-short-order

He posted on his own wall:

"The Medical Profession remains divided despite the Federal Governments, Provincial governments and other Associations making statements that Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis and a major epidemic is now eminent.

"... But it is only a matter of time when Education becomes the major issue in converting the non believers to believers.

"The evidence is mounting rapidly with the N.S. recent studies releasing the information that the tick population with Lyme spirochetes is rising.
The Manitoba Health Department in 2009 reported 14% of the ticks taken from patients were infected with Borelia burgdorferi and 5% with Anaplasma phagocytophelia.
Minnesota Health department has reported an average of 1000 serologically positive cases annually for the past 6 years.

"Along with these findings there are proportionate increases in Ehrlichiosis and Babesiosis which the medical schools are not teaching and primary care physicians are not aware of any co-infections.

"Patients urgently need financial assistance to seek medical care in other counties now, why do families have to sell their homes, suffer in silence with a misdiagnosis, be ridiculed by physicians and eventually some commit suicide.(Two personal patients)

"I plead that our medical profession will soon sit at one table and discuss all the knowledge that is acquired by evidence based medicine."

The Invisible Disability of Lyme will be very public!

2011-11-27T15:29:00.000-05:00

Lyme Disease. Super Sized.

The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society is running a powerful public awareness campaign to create greater understanding of the dangers of Lyme Disease, thanks to a special donation of advertising time on the CBS Jumbo Tron in New York City.

Lyme disease has been an invisible disability ... The International Lyme and Associated Disease Society (ILADS) launched a public awareness campaign by making this invisible disability more visible in Time Square during the Holiday Season. Greater public awareness may help to reduce the catastrophic disease burden caused by Lyme and associated diseases.

ILADS is running a powerful public awareness campaign to create greater understanding of the dangers of Lyme Disease, thanks to a special donation of advertising time on the CBS Jumbo Tron.

The Jumbo Tron is anything but invisible. The giant video screen is 26 feet tall and 20 feet across and is strategically positioned at 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City. The spot will run every 20 minutes for 3 months. It is estimated that 1.6 million people pass through Times Square each day. The spot will remain in place during the Thanksgiving Day Parade and New Year’s Eve celebration for bonus exposure.

The all-type animation focuses on the statistical fact that Lyme disease is growing faster than AIDS.

"Lyme disease is an invisible epidemic," said Barbara Buchman, Executive Director for the non-profit International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS). "Tick-borne illnesses spread quickly and the diagnosis, which is largely based on symptoms, can be elusive unless a physician is Lyme-literate."

(Information shared from Putting Lyme Behind You and ILADS Media Center)

Another lobby for Lyme!

2011-11-25T19:03:00.001-05:00

Been swapping emails with my friend and birthday buddy, Joe Gray today. As a farmer and as a friend, the drama around my struggle with Lyme disease has been something he has been talking about and informing others. Before sharing his news, here is a picture of Joe and I earlier this year, on our birthday - since we each celebrated a significant number this year!

Joe and I at the Fall Fair.

Joe wrote: "I attended the Ontario Federation of Agriculture's annual convention on Monday. There was a resolution brought forward asking the OFA to lobby the government to acknowledge Lyme disease in Canada. I explained the difficulties that you have gone through and still are. The resolution was accepted."

The exact wording of the OFA's resolution: "Therefore be it resolved that the OFA lobby that the Ontario government encourage the medical community to recognize this is a serious disease, adopt more advanced technologies to improve diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic Lyme disease as well as improving public and physician education about the disease, thereby eliminating doctor reprimands for actively treating Lyme disease."

Isn't that great news?
Thank you so much, Joe, and everyone else who gets a word in about Lyme, who lets others know about how to do the simple checks and to be aware, not paranoid!

OFA website

Winter is coming!

2011-11-23T09:52:00.016-05:00

What a glorious, shining world we looked out on early in the morning! Everything was covered with a fine layer of ice, and as the day warmed up, the sparkling and diamond drops were everywhere. This is a Blackberry shot of our bbq (braai in Afrikaans) - Jaco forgot to put the cover back on after they "tanned some steaks" on Saturday.

Yes, I know those who were out late last night did not appreciate finding their cars totally iced over and their ice scrapers still locked in the trunk, which couldn't be opened because of the ice ... but it is very pretty! Driving the work the street signs had long icicles hanging down, making the drive incredibly interesting. Mundane things decorated by ice.

Ok, Bat, I know you say snow is eeeeeevil .... but you'll have to come here to beat me up first!

First needle & elevated lead levels

2011-11-22T13:37:00.000-05:00


Well, this one was a success!

I asked Arno to watch me do the first injection, just to be sure not to mess it up. At least I didn't tattoo myself with the red stuff! This will have to be done three times a week for the next 6 months to a year, and hopefully will help recover some of the destroyed brain pathways. It burns to go in, though, but only for a second. No big deal.

We sorted out the pills for the next week. About 45 pills a day, without the liquid supplements and probiotics. Right now I'm also on Malarone, which is a malaria tablet; 4 a day for the next three days, then 2 a day for the next 3 or 6 months. A friend had severe hallucinations on malaria tabs and told me last night to watch it!

Anyway, the new diagnosis. Seems I have elevated lead levels. That was one of the tests the doctor wanted to do and the one I had to Fedex, as mentioned in the blog post under the pic of the new pills. Last night I received this email from the Lyme specialist:

"Your lead is elevated at 25. I am going to attach how I treat it, but you can also see a naturopath in Ontario for IV chelation.
It may not resolve rapidly, but need about 3 rounds of the detoxamin. The IV treatments also can take a while to clear it all as it is stored deep in tissue, in bone."

Then from her email, the cost per round (I won't copy and paste the whole thing only the bottom line):

$270.00 for 7.5 weeks plus $30.00 packaging and mailing =$ 300.00 US

Just picked up new meds

2011-11-21T17:16:00.001-05:00

I've just been to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions for the next month or so. It was literally a shopping bag full! Some of the prescriptions can no longer be found in Ontario, and we had to pay for two months' worth while we were in the States. The syringes are for injections I'll have to do myself, three times a week, for the next 6 to 12 months.

All the extra tests that were ordered, have now been done. The heavy metal testing has to be done in the States and the specimens were sent off by Fedex last Monday. This afternoon I took the requisition to the blood lab and had that work done.

Look at this lot! Maybe I can open my own store on the street corner! The last few years, since I became infected in 2007, was a learning curve of note. Lots of new knowledge gathered, although I could have done without that diploma.

Deep, sore bruises

2011-11-19T14:30:00.023-05:00

Bruises keep appearing on my legs. They hurt!
This is probably a funny picture, taken with the cell phone of my right thigh. There are more bruises on the back of both knees, on the inside and outside of both thighs. There has been no trauma; no wild parties, no dancing on tables or rolling down stairs! When the LLMD saw my heavily bruised legs on Nov. 7, she admitted to thinking they were caused by some force from outside (use your imagination!), but quickly changed her mind when she saw how and where they were placed.

She thinks there might be a Vit. K deficiency or something. I have a request for a specific blood test but am only seeing my family doctor on the 21st of Nov. He has to re-write the New York state prescriptions in order for me to fill them here in Ontario.

So, just another milepost on the weird path through Lymeville to Health!

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

2011-11-16T09:11:00.000-05:00

Trying out new things all the time to fit in with the restricted diet, is an ongoing adventure. Depending on my mood and energy, I sometimes make a few items to use during the week, or to freeze for later use when the energy is low.

Last night I roasted a butternut squash, a large red onion, a green apple, firm red peppers, and a few kale leaves with sea salt to crunch as chips. When cooled down, the squash was scooped out and mixed with onion and apple as well as low sodium (preferably home-made) stock to create a creamy soup. A splash of apple cider vinegar (with the mother) added some tang.

The peppers were left to cool a bit, then the skins removed, some more onion and garlic added as well as stock. Use a wand or immersion blender to smooth. Today, a few fresh kale leaves were added before heating up the soup - look at the pretty colours!

When the kale had wilted and the soup was warm, it needed some creaminess ... and I've found that milk doesn't always play nice with me any more. So a dollop of Greek yogurt did the trick!

I thought it looked VERY pretty and healthy, but the guys in the office had all sorts of things to say about a purely vegetable meal. They'd rather have bacon or bratwurst or hamburgers. No matter what they think, I thoroughly enjoyed this meal!

To the States for treatment again

2011-11-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

Last Monday, we had to take the 7 hour trek to the USA again, in order to be seen by a Lyme Literate doctor (LLMD). The doctor who was treating me in Ontario has been forced out of practice for treating "a disease which doesn't exist in Canada". (spit)

I'm so grateful that dr. Maureen McS accepted me as a patient! I first saw her in May 2011, when she also diagnosed me with the terrible twins, Babs and Bart (Babesia and Bartonella). For three months we attacked Bart, and then in August started targeting Babs.

Dr. McS with me at the Lyme Conference in Toronto.

The hotel where we stayed was quite nice, but food was an issue. Really hard for me to find much, especially breakfast. When you tell a restaurant you need a meal to be gluten free, sugar free, casein free (no cheese), not allowed salad dressings or mayonnaise, and no beverages other than water with lemon juice, they look at you rather funny!

Spent about 90 mins with the doctor. She is generally pleased with my progress, but doesn't like the ugly, deep hurting bruises on especially my legs. More tests to be done.

I would also have to start injecting myself with Vit B shots, to try and get the brain functions back to normal.

She's changing some of my meds, keeping me on some and adding more to the cocktail. This will be hard on me, she said, for the next three months. Now I have to wait to see my GP in Ontario to see which prescriptions he'll rewrite and which ones we must order ourselves.

Some of the pills our pharmacy can't find in Canada any more, so we bought and paid for one kind for two months while in the USA.

That's when I had another diabetic crash. Too long without food, and poor Arno had to drag me to a food court and got some steamed veg and wokked pork with a cup of black coffee. I didn't get as bad as the previous crash, because he got such a fright the previous time, poor guy, and reacted rather quickly this time.

The doctor said I have to eat every three hours to avoid these crashes, and always include protein, which is what I've been trying to do all along. If you see a woman carrying a little bright pink lunch bag everywhere, say hi! Chances are it might be me ...

Have to continue with the very restricted diet, but might be able to add cider vinegar with 'the mother culture' included. Oh and I can have goat's milk cheese and feta.

Must try to work in more walking, cut down working hours (currently around 30 - 40 per week), and look at another 18 months of treatment to beat the Lyme monster.

Meeting the Lyme warriors in Toronto

2011-10-31T11:26:00.001-04:00

What a rush this weekend was! Being able to see, hear, meet, talk to and just observe so many people who have become familiar to me through research about this disease we are fighting, either as patients or as health care givers or family members, gave me energy to fly! Of course, as always, then the crash happens and I woke up this morning with infection in both eyes. And fatigue dragging my feet. But it was so worth it!I'm busy uploading some of the pictures taken this weekend. Below is a collage of some of the pictures that meant so much. I can't pick one that meant more than another, but as a Lymie who have seen the suffering of Mandy Hughes on the film, "Under our Skin", it was particularly uplifting to see her at the conference, and to talk briefly with her and with her mother.

MORE PICTURES
Too many to name, but the pictures are being uploaded and captioned to Picasaweb. You can see them either from HERE .... OR if you have a Gmail account and wish to comment on some of the pictures, please go directly to the ALBUM. Hopefully the rest of the pictures will be uploaded today, October 31.

Thank you, to everyone who came and who give us, the patients, so much support, in many different ways!

A very special thanks to my friend Anne, who dragged me along to the conference. Part of the Lyme Brain is that I find it hard to make decisions or to plan ahead. Anne would have none of that. Thank you!!

Meeting dr. Murakami

2011-10-24T12:38:00.001-04:00

This weekend, Oct. 28 - 30, the ILADS Lyme Disease Conference will be held in Toronto. It is geared towards doctors, medical students, nurses, and health care practitioners. Several speakers will be talking, answering questions, and getting the desperately needed information out. Please pray with me that it will help push this scorned disease even more on the foreground? I'm not pretending that other diseases and conditions are less than Lyme, only that the fact of no available treatment in Canada, the lack of testing and the serious lack of support for doctors and patients must end or be changed.

ILADS Lyme Disease Conference

On Saturday night, a small group of us hope to meet with dr. Ernie Murakami - seen as a hero by many, yet pushed out of practice in BC.
Video link and more information about him can be found HERE, a CBC link from 2008.
Picture from the video is below.

BC doctor urged to retire because of zealous approach to Lyme disease

Normal isn't

2011-10-23T22:29:00.000-04:00

Things turned out rather difficult today. We were at work for too long after the servers were hacked again, without lunch, other than a banana and a few strawberries. By 4:00 pm, I told him I felt nauseous. Within minutes, my body temperature plummeted and I became totally disjointed, confused, weak and on the verge of collapse. Arno dragged me to Tim Hortons and made me eat some minestrone soup, which was the "safest" item they had within the severely restricted diet, and the quickest warm meal he could think of to get into me.

Later he said something to the effect of "a normal person's body wouldn't go into shock that fast" --- and that literally rocked my world. No longer normal, and I kid myself by pretending.

Dr. Eva Sapi - Bacterial Biofilms and Lyme Disease

2011-10-21T09:53:00.002-04:00

Dr Sapi will be at the ILADS conference in Toronto at the end of the month. I'm still trying to understand the biofilm idea. Brain not playing along!

Added after the Lyme Conference:
I had the chance to meet and talk to Dr. Sapi, and to personally thank her for the work she is doing! Also attended her lecture. She happily agreed to pose for a picture:

More pictures from the Lyme Conference in Toronto are
HERE.

Brain healing

2011-10-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning on the way to work, I stopped at a spot with a wetland, that always fascinates me with changing colours, sometimes reflections, sometimes gunk covering the water - always something different. Took the picture below, among the 40 or so others that were squeezed off. Even though the Fall colours are fading, the reflection in the perfectly smooth water was so pretty! A camera can just not capture every nuance of the play of light and dark that the eye can see.

Then, driving home later, there was a talk on the radio about taking a short walk in a wooded area or park during the work day. Seems the part of the brain that is needed for sharp concentration, is healed while the other part of the brain that is nourished by nature, takes over for a few minutes. What a blessing to have something living and green somewhere, to look at, enjoy and to find healing at the same time!

I had the privilege to speak to a group of women last night about Lyme disease, the lack of treatment in Canada, the fact that testing is inadequate and that doctors are not equipped to diagnose the early stages. Those who try to help, are often pushed out by other doctors, for treating "a disease which doesn't exist in Canada". Mind-boggling.

We need more publicity about the early stages and the fact that Lyme disease is treatable if caught early; we need doctors to be aware of the early symptoms;more information must be posted everywhere, since knowledge is power;better and more accurate tests are desperately needed; and doctors and patients who are dealing with Lyme disease and the co-infections need to be protected from ignorant people who still deny it exists.

Let's hope and pray the ILADS* Conference in Toronto will be attended by many doctors, nurses, medical students and others in the position to constantly help get the word out, and to prevent more people getting sick and then being set adrift with no treatment!
(*International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society)

Silent Sunday

2011-10-16T19:16:00.004-04:00

{Originally from and idea on Jay Mountford's blog}

Through the window today

2011-10-13T14:35:00.003-04:00

This is not supposed to be a prize-winning picture, and just taken with the Blackberry, but the view of the tree through my window never fails to get some emotion going.
When the new apartments (background) were being built, I begged the contractors to leave my tree alone. Since it wasn't really in the way, they didn't touch it. Every season the tree wears a different attitude, it seems.
Right now, the fallen leaves around seem to be soft, like a quilt of warm memories.

And a quote comes to mind, since several people dropped by today to comment on the information session I did yesterday about Lyme Disease:
"Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God." Ram Dass (born April, 1931)

Linking up with this or that Thursday

Wordless Wednesday: Nature's Fall Salad

2011-10-12T09:46:00.005-04:00

Lyme disease is a thief.

It has stolen so much of life, of our family, of the essence that I thought of as ME.

Creativity used to come easy and as natural as breathing. Now it is a struggle, as if there are walls everywhere between brain, eyes, hands and inspiration. If it doesn't hit me in the head -- like an apple falling off a tree while others are being picked, and landing inside a large dandelion --- I have to go looking for inspiration. But here it is. The apple dropped into the soft green leaves, and it is like a hand is gently holding the apple aloft, showing off the deep colours, the gloss of Fall sunlight, the bounty of nature around us.

And I'm deeply thankful to be part of life, of finding joy in unexpected places, of getting on with this fight against this miserable disease which "doesn't exist in Canada". My job is to hold it aloft, to warn others, to make sure the voices are never silenced, and help others protect themselves and loved ones before it is too late.

Ask me about Lyme disease. Chances are I might know more than your doctor does. Because my life depends on it.
Enjoy this Wednesday!

Add your Wordless Wednesday - it is a joy to read them!

Wordless Wednesday: Fractured heel

2011-10-07T13:10:00.000-04:00

(Terrible cell phone picture ...) Not exactly wordless, but it DID happen on Wednesday! Son alone at work, waiting for his lift. Son, being male, not listening to good advice not to go on the ladder to move certain beams around. Son fell down. Lots of annoyed yelling at himself (I was told). Discovered no ice. More yelling. Came home, can't put weight on the foot and thigh in pain as well. Being male, wouldn't be taken to be seen by a doctor. Mom insists there's a fracture. Next morning, ER stop with Mom taking no nonsense. Two hours later, splint on, crutches in place, fracture confirmed. Could have been worse, though! Picture shows son with me at my second job, in wheelchair, crutches waiting, leg propped up, and working remotely from my laptop. Going to be an interesting Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend!

PICC line

2011-09-30T09:29:00.002-04:00

PICC line
Originally uploaded by MeerkatMarlene

The line was inserted on Nov. 30, 2010 to deliver 2000 mg of antibiotics (per day) directly to the bloodstream in the fight against Lyme Disease. After some weeks, my body rejected the meds, and the line was pulled on Feb. 2nd, 2011. Then I was off the antibiotics, the infections crept back, my body took a major whack and on March 17, I was officially abandoned, like thousands of other Lyme patients in Canada. We have to go to the States for treatment. If we're lucky.

Wordless Wednesday: Last Roses of Summer

2011-09-28T15:08:00.008-04:00

The roses by the back door this morning, dripping with golden Fall sunrise and nighttime rain. A single strand of a spider's journey touched the top of this group.

Goomba the grandbunny

2011-09-27T19:58:00.000-04:00

Goomba is a sweetheart. He really belongs to Theo and Jenni, but is living with us for a while where he has more room to run around. He especially likes to be on the enclosed porch, and would stay there for hours if we let him.

Food restrictions

2011-09-02T18:28:00.003-04:00

Such an age as this!

2011-08-24T15:13:00.001-04:00

Today

To BE alive in such an age!
With every year a lightning page
Turned in the world's great wonder book
Whereon the leaning nations look.
When men speak strong brotherhood,
For peace and universal good,
When miracles are everywhere,
And every inch of common air
Throbs a tremendous prophecy
Of greater marvels yet to be.
O thrilling age,
O willing age!
When steel and stone and rail and rod
Become the avenues of God-
A trump to shout His thunder through
To crown the work that man may do.

To be alive in such an age!
When man, impatient of his cage,
Thrills to the soul's immortal rage
For conquest-reaches goal on goal,
Travels the earth from pole to pole,
Garners the tempests and the tides
And on a Dream Triumphant rides.
When, hid within the lump of clay,
A light more terrible than day
Proclaims the presence of that Force
Which hurls the planets on their course.
O age with wings
O age with flings
A challenge to the very sky,
Where endless realms of conquest lie!
When, earth on tiptoe, strives to hear
The message of a sister sphere,
Yearning to reach the cosmic wires
That flash Infinity's desires.

To be alive in such an age!
That blunders forth its discontent
With futile creed and sacrament,
Yet craves to utter God's intent,
Seeing beneath the world's unrest
Creation's hugs, untiring quest,
And through Tradition's broken crust
The flame of Truth's triumphant thrust;
Below the seething thought of man
The push of a stupendous Plan.
O age of strife!
O age of life!
When Progress rides her chariots high,
And on the borders of the sky
The signals of the century
Proclaims the things that are to be-
The rise of woman to her place,
The coming of a nobler race.
To be alive in such ang age-
To live in it,
To give to it!
Rise, soul, from thy despairing knees.
What if thy lips have drunk the lees?
Fling forth thy sorrows to the wind
And link thy hope with humankind-
The passion of a larger claim
Will put thy puny grief to shame.
Breathe the world thought, do the world deed,
Think hugely of thy brother's need.
And what thy woe, and what thy weal?
Look to the work the times reveal!
Give thanks with all thy flaming heart-
Crave but to have in it a part.
Give thanks and clasp thy heritage-
To be alive in such an age!

--Angela Morgan

The Politics of Lyme Disease

2011-06-16T10:26:00.000-04:00

(download link is below)

A friend gave me pages from a magazine with a long, detailed article about Lyme Disease, an infected farmer and his struggles to get diagnosed and treated in Canada.
Lots of information, details, pictures, quotes, interviews with other people, stories from other patients and their (mis)treatment by the medical profession, etc.

I've scanned and made a PDF of the article, since the magazine does not make it available online. If you want to download and print to read, please go to the 4shared link. The folder contains also two of the recorded items a friend made for me (one from May 2010 and the other from May 2011).

Choose the file you want to download and a new screen opens. Click the green Download button and wait for the countdown to reach 0 before you can see the download link.

Link to the page to download: Click!

Article is from the magazine, "Better Farming", May 2011 edition.

Simple pleasure = a slice of bread

2011-06-11T15:05:00.002-04:00

Oh man, just had a total enjoyable moment! Since the doctor put me on the strict diet - absolutely no sugar in any form, no potatoes, no starch, no gluten - I've been trying to adapt and make do. Having brown rice instead of white was no problem, just had to tweak the rice cooker a bit in order to get it nice and soft. But -- missing a simple slice of bread, sometimes just with peanut butter (no peanuts allowed either) - that became a physical pain now and then. It was so easy to come home from work, and have a slice of whole-wheat toast sometimes since we would seldom have supper before 7:30 pm or later.

Now, the pure diet of proteins and greens missed something. Sure we found crackers, but they don't fill the hole! Nice for a snack now and then, but not a meal.

A while ago we visited the celiac store here in town, called Melissa's. With the owner's help we went through everything, trying to find a bread or a loaf mix without sugar, yeast or gluten. Not easy!

We found one, but have been putting off baking it. Today, I was desperate for something more solid to eat. Fruit and plain yogurt for breakfast, black rooibos tea -- by 10 am I needed something more. So, mixed up the bread, adding a packet of Stevia (sweetener), an egg and milk to the mixture.

The loaf baked up beautifully and sliced cleanly, without crumbling like some other of the gluten-free loaves we've seen before.

Last night, caring, dear friend Carolyn gave me a jar of almond butter since I'm not allowed peanut anything. So --- toasted up a slice of this loaf, slathered nut butter on top, and tasted carefully .... only to almost swoon with the joy of it!

Arno promised me toast, bacon and eggs for tomorrow morning so two slices in the fridge and the rest frozen to be used as needed.

Who knew that a simple slice of bread would make my day?

Sunnybrook not so sunny

2011-06-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

Since the severe reactions and my body rejecting the meds in December and January, I've had to set up drug allergy testing at Sunnybrook Hospital. For those not in the GTA, that's way across the city, driving along the super-highway named 401, the busiest in North America, and not something I fancy!

So, date made in early March for June 8th, at 7:30 am. Psyched myself up for the drive and managed it with not too much stress - other than the borrowed GPS sucky cup thingy dropping off in the middle of the drive and scaring me half to death!

Arrived at the Hospital at 7:00 am with nobody yet waiting, which was very pleasing, knowing that the 5 hour ordeal can start pretty soon! Until I tried to report to the office and was faced by an irate woman, who told me there were no tests scheduled for June 8th, that she has been there for three months and there never has been a test for that date.

When I pulled out the original sheet with the handwritten notes (by the clinic attendant, no less, very distinct handwriting), showing exactly that date, she became even more agitated, told me she was alone, had no nurse, and what did I want her to do?

My reply that I had sent a fax two days before the test, to list meds and supplements and to ask if any should be dropped for the allergy test on June 8, she tersely said she gets 40 faxes a day, has no time to look at them all, and is "a lone paper-hanger".

Yes, I've filed complaints with the hospital immediately, but still haven't heard back (3 days later). So wrote a letter and mailed that off today. I have to go back next Friday for the test to take place, even though the original nurse told me that drug allergy testing is only done on Wednesdays. Hopefully this one will be confirmed properly before the trek is attempted again!

Positive notes: I braved the 401 and survived it without making dents in the steering wheel and chewing lips and cheeks to pieces! So, it is a practice run for the next three times to go for three different allergy tests (Zithromax, Penicillin and Cephalosporins).

Trying to cope with the new regimen

2011-06-06T12:20:00.004-04:00

The last month has been a whirlwind!
In March, my treatment in Canada has been halted unexpectedly. Eye infections came fast and hard, 6 in less than 5 weeks, one landing me in ER. More dramas happened and I knew I was in trouble.

On May 3rd I managed to see a Lyme doctor in the States (7 hours away), who diagnosed me with two co-infections, Bartonella and Babesia. She gave a heap of prescriptions, which I had to try and fill in Canada or order and pay for myself.

The severly strict diet is not fun, and an ongoing process to try and prevent the shakes and light-headedness as my blood-sugar falls. These Lyme bugs thrive on sugar, so starving myself from even the smallest bit of sugar, helps to starve them too.

The meds and supplements take hours to sort out and put into containers to try and keep them straight. Here's a view of some of them to take every day (in the foreground), minus the 4 liquid supplements, the probiotics and another vitamin.

It is an adventure trying to keep them straight, since some must be taken first thing, some 20 minutes before a meal, some not with another, one with a full meal, the probiotics of course an hour apart from any antibiotic ... Fun!

I firmly believe that the Auum Omega3 Sublingual oil I started using in June 2009, helped more than just a little to protect my brain from the ravaging effects of the Lyme spirochetes, and helped my energy levels and thought processes. My testimonial is online, if you want to read that. And if you want to try Auum yourself (only available in Canada), please let me know.
CLICK: Auum Omega3 Oil Choose the "Adults" tab - currently the 2nd entry on the page. The video clip can be played if you like to hear more. Auum is also used successfully for ADD, ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, and others.

Lyme Awareness Walk in Virginia Beach, May 21

2011-06-05T13:38:00.000-04:00

No postings on the blog during the last two weeks, while we were on vacation. However, while we were away, friend Amanda in Virginia Beach cajoled family and friends to join her on a Lyme Awareness Walk. She wanted T-shirts, so I ordered from trusty Vistaprint to be delivered at her address.

There were over 200 walkers, and the first effort brought in several thousand $ to be used for research, etc!

I'm so very grateful to the five of you for walking and spreading awareness. Thank you!

Another meal - eggplant

2011-05-12T15:54:00.000-04:00

Some friends wanted to know how the new restricted diet is going.
Well, inventing all new things as we go along!

Last night's meal was a concoction of fried onion and garlic, eggplant sliced in and nicely softened in cold pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). It looked a bit bland, so in went the trusty green standby, broccoli!

It was great, just enough for a meal, and followed by fresh berries (strawberries, blackberries and blueberries) with a little Stevia, really hit the spot.

Combination picture quickly made, not prettied up with any shadows.

When Arno came in much later from his seminar, he was sniffing the air and commenting on how good it smelled!

Starting the restricted Lyme diet (doctor's orders)

2011-05-09T08:47:00.001-04:00

With the added diagnoses of Babesia and Bartonella infections, the doctor was serious about me sticking to a very strict diet to starve the bugs and support the antibiotics: No yeast, sugar, white flour, cheese, mushrooms, overripe fruit, alcohol in any form, and a few other things. For the anaemia, eat red meat and have as much green veggies as possible.

So - we went shopping to see what we could find. It is not easy to find something that has all three the requirements of no yeast, no sugar and no white flour! But we managed and I baked some muffins last night. Should have added Stevia (sweetener) to the mix and not just the poppy seeds and lemon juice!

Picture of some of the items we bought. The blue box is the Stevia sweetener, for when needed. I've given up most sugar anyway, but it would be nice to add to home-made tomato sauce for pasta, and we've added it to home-made lemonade as well.

Breakfast was the usual IsaGenix shake with berries. Lunch (too late, though - was feeling very wobbly by then as the blood pressure plummeted) was brown rice, broccoli and red pepper and Arno put a steak on the bbq with just Montreal spice on it. Fried onions on top - bug-busting capabilities in onions and garlic!
Isn't it pretty?

Since it was Mother's Day, Theo wanted to cook a special meal. He did his best to stay within the restrictions, even though I told him I won't keel over just yet! He made it all mostly green --- in "honour" of Lyme Disease month. Made his own pesto sauce which I enjoyed on the salad, and the grilled chicken was delicious! Dessert was fresh strawberries, sprinkled with a little bit of Stevia.

All in all, not a bad day of sticking to the rules! I'll miss the potatoes yet, and the mushrooms, not to mention the cheese ... but at least eggs are allowed!

After the Lyme Rally

2011-05-07T07:43:00.002-04:00

YESSSS! We did it!! About 50 or 60 of us, several with canes, some in wheelchairs, others supported by family and friends, gathered at Parliament Hill, Ottawa on May 6. The weather was beautiful, and all of us could find hope, support, love and shared stories in the process. Trudy, you done good, girl!

Trudy, with the cane, arranged the rally. To the right is James Christie, who has suffered from Lyme for 21 years, but with the help of Steve (picture link at the end of this entry), is hopefully well enough, stubborn enough, and planning to cycle 2000 km around Ontario to bring Lyme Awareness.

We want a few basic rights: To have better tests, more awareness, support for the disease, and the right to be treated in Ontario / Canada instead of having to go to the USA. Read the signs --- and know, whenever you meet a Lymie, no matter how good they seem to be, there is always, always pain. We learn to hide it well!

Pictures: LYME RALLY IN OTTAWA

If you want one of the T-shirts, please read the next entry in this blog, just below this one, or click on the right of the page to go to the earlier entries.

Link to the radio interview with Goldhawk on "Goldhawk Fights Back" was recorded by a friend, will be cleaned up from ads and the download link added to the blog soon if anyone is interested.

T-shirt and buttons for the Ottawa Lyme Rally

2011-05-01T19:55:00.000-04:00

Struggled with yet another neglected Lyme-related eye infection in the left eye last week. Opthalmologists didn't know what to do. Hopefully help will be coming from a doctor in the USA, who went out of his/her way to arrange a cancelled appointment for me. (I'm keeping it ambiguous for protection. Don't think we're paranoid. We've been proven right and we're doing our best to protect our few LLMDs left (Lyme-Literate Medical Doctors).

We spent the weekend, among other things, making a few T-shirts for the Ottawa rally. As it happens, next Sunday will also be Crazy T-shirt day, and I can use the same shirt for that, as well as boost May as Lyme Awareness month!

There might be three extra T-shirts left, all size Large, if you would like one. Just to cover my costs, $12 should do it. Let me know if you want one, please?

BUTTONS
Also made about a dozen of these buttons below, three slightly different designs, all featuring the green ribbon and the legend "May is Lyme Awareness Month". Those should go for about $1.50 to cover costs. The paper inside is transfer paper, so can also be used to iron onto the pocket of a T-shirt or something later if you wish. Size is about 2.5 inch / 7 cm in diameter.

Let's make this May a very Lyme Aware month! Never know when the knowledge might help save someone else's life or sanity.

Awakening for Easter

2011-04-24T21:57:00.001-04:00

Easter Sunday -- such a most excellent day was today! Full of energy, good hope, and fewer symptoms. Just for today, a good day.

Saw a healer on Tuesday, got lots of supplements, and have been using them along with the Auum oil and Oreganol for the past few days. If they helped, then great, but I think the main improvement was the re-discovery of hope again, and the sloughing off of the feeling of sorrow and probably a sort of mourning since March 17.

The music in church was so great, and singing the beloved songs, to be with the Easter people - how very blessed I am to be fighting Lyme Disease with the help of those who care and support!

Thank you, my friends.

Lyme Disease Rally in Ottawa - May 6

2011-04-23T09:08:00.000-04:00

Things are coming together for our Lyme Awareness effort on Friday, May 6, 2011, in Ottawa!

(Click on the picture for a bigger one if you want to print or share.)

We need to ask for awareness for the public, for better and earlier tests to detect Lyme Disease, for research so that more is known about this fast-spreading infection, and for protection of patients and the doctors who treat them.

If you can join us, please do!!

Lyme walk in Virginia Beach, May 21, 2011

2011-04-13T15:00:00.007-04:00

May is Lyme Awareness month.
Great big thank you to my friend Amanda, her husband Paul and their son Edwill for getting together a group to take part in the Lyme Walk in Virginia Beach!
She asked for my picture to put on their T-shirts, but the closest I could get was to use an image of my familiar, so to speak, the meerkat.

I can load a bigger version of the image if anyone else wants to use it on a T-shirt or something --- and my thanks to all, for getting the message across.

The walk is officially called, Walk to Defeat Lyme Disease. More information can be found on the link here if you are interested.

PARLIAMENT HILL, OTTAWA
** In Canada, there will be lots of walks and rallies going on. Join us in Ottawa at Parliament Hill if you are anywhere near there on May 6, 2011!
More information and time for the rally can be found on the link here.

To see a bigger view of this poster on the right, please click HERE.
Thanks for reading and sharing!

Healing Prayer Meeting

2011-04-10T21:46:00.004-04:00

There is not much time to update the blog, but this graphic was quickly made, from a gift given today, and the greater gift of a group of friends taking time from their own busy lives to share in a healing prayer meeting for me. My appreciation can not be expressed, for all the care and concern so freely and warmly given.

Sweet jam of summer

2010-08-27T19:10:00.002-04:00

Three days this week - three different kinds of berry jam.
First we picked wild blackberries in the rain on Sunday, fighting off mosquitoes. The jam was cooked on Monday - my first try at blackberry jam.

Tomato jam is from the tomatoes from friend Valerie J's garden. With little slivers of ginger, it is comfort food for us, and something so many of our Canadian friends have never heard of, but are willing and eager to taste and to adopt.

Our raspberry bushes are literally covered in berries! So, today it was the turn of this wonderful fruit that we first tasted fresh here in 1997. As soon as we had our own house, we planted four --- but by now they have taken over the back yard, and we gladly share with squirrels, birds and sometimes friends!

Quilled frog pond

2010-08-15T17:45:00.005-04:00

Because of the Lyme disease, I've lost a lot of fine motor skills and strength in my hands. For moths I haven't touched any artistic projects, since it was just too disconcerting and upsetting to have my eyes all blurry and the hands not doing what they were supposed to do!

However, being on the antibiotics has created another set of problems, but I've regained much of the use of my hands, as well as other benefits.

A weekend ago, I tried my hand at quilling again. Nothing fancy, and just playing, using old CDs as the base. The finished project is not as "tidy" as I would have wished, because the application of Mod Podge at the end relaxed the paper more then planned, so the coils opened - but since the theme is water with ripples all over the place, I guess it doesn't matter.

The edge consists of a double layer of "rocks" made of different combinations of brown and cream strips. The water has different colours and I tried to make the rings even more irregular by folding the paper before rolling it, where the frog dives in. I'll add some more green leaves to the one big water lily.

The base has about 5 old CDs glued together. The top is covered with a layer of paper, to which I've applied Mod Podge before starting to glue down the quilling.
The frogs were all made separately, sealed with Mod Podge and allowed to dry before applying to the CDs.

Everything is paper, except the CDs and the googly eyes!

It was fun to make, and forcing the stubborn hands to do the same movement over and over again, while knowing that the rocks and circles didn't have to be completely uniform in this case.

Grab Life

2010-07-31T09:59:00.005-04:00

Wasp dipping in
Originally uploaded by MeerkatMarlene

The short night was made shorter because of two girl cats wanting attention early, and then arguing over it in the middle of the bed, between us. They made no sound, but their bouncing around is enough to wake up the sleepers!

So, upsa-daisy and the morning started with talking and laughter, with all three guys home to go do some special work at some or other company. They'll probably be gone all day. I cuddled the bunny, emptied the dishwasher, wiped up some rabbit pellets, got some rabbit hugs, toasted the Bulla for breakfast and fed the cheeky squirrels outside. Yes I know that's not how others eat Bulla, but we love it toasted, with butter, all crunchy and comforting! It is one of the new additions to our diet, discovered in the last few years.

With the menfolk gone, the house quieted down -- ironing calls, dusting and vacuuming and straightening up should be done.

Camera in hand, I found a busy wasp dipping his head completely into a raspberry blossom, holding onto the find with both paws, and not caring that hair was sticking up, bottom swaying from side to side - just embracing what is given!

SOOC -- Straight out of the Camera Saturday. Thanks, Melody, for your inspiration on "Slurping Life"!

Pet collection

2010-07-30T08:42:00.005-04:00

Our pets amuse and amaze us, give us love and companionship. We've always had pets, but when we came to Canada in 1997 and lived in an apartment, we had no animal friends. We could only take it for seven months before adopting Patches and a few hamsters for the boys!

Since then, we've always had pets. And Arno, who grew up with dogs, is now a confirmed cat lover!

After Patches went over the Rainbow Bridge, we adopted Chatter. He is almost 9 years old now. He is very big, and very tall as well! Usually almost impossible to take his picture because his features just disappear, this one was snapped last night thanks to some tweaks on the camera. Even his single white whisker on his left can be seen!

A year after Chatter, Essie followed. She was about 2 pounds when we got her (all our cats are from shelters) and she was scared stiff. Now she thinks she owns the house! Her eyes are always closed in pictures, but last night, thanks to camera tweaks, this one could be snapped while she was playing on the bed.

Dusty (Destiny) is a Ragdoll cat - never thought we'd ever have one of these placid darlings! She is a sweetheart, and incredibly mild-tempered. Her colouring is amazing.

Goomba is Jenni and Theo's lop-eared rabbit, but we have cuddling rights. He was resting quietly for a few minutes and this picture was possible.

Thought for the day: When a cat is purring and sleeping on your lap, you shall remain seated for as long as it takes!

Caressing Cloud

2010-07-29T09:37:00.003-04:00

Caressing Cloud
Originally uploaded by MeerkatMarlene

There was a storm with lightning - which I love -- but a man was struck by lightning and killed during the storm.
I kept thinking about it, while trying to take pictures of our friendly softball game, played with clouds and sunshine taking turns.
And then this gentle hand appeared,
smoothing out the dark, angry clouds,
softly saying, "I'm here, I am your comfort, and I'll dry all the tears."

The picture stayed with me all night, and was the first thing I thought about when waking up this morning, along with a prayer for the family in their loss.

Pledge for today: be gentle with the loved ones, every day.

(SOOC, no changes, just watermark added)

First SOOC shot - Green and red

2010-07-28T17:57:00.006-04:00

Frustrated with the lack of creativity, the battle with the exhaustion of Lyme disease and trying to function every day, I stumbled on a blog called "Slurping Life" - it immediately struck a cord, although it took a while to find out what SOOC means! (Straight Out of the Camera; in other words, undedited.) And I'm still not sure how to share any of the pictures taken with her blog, but I grabbed the camera, kept an eye on the building thunderclouds and started crawling around the back yard.

The picture here was untouched, other than adding my watermark. Upon opening it on the computer, I noticed the grub, adding another bit of texture to the combinations already caught in the frame!

Another boody test

2010-06-24T19:06:00.011-04:00

lAm so sick of doctors, tests and the like. I've been saying that for a long time, but it is becoming a real issue. Don't want to see another doctor, don't want to have more radiation, don't want to know what else is going on. Been putting off going for three months, I guess, but this arm is becoming a problem. I was so afraid it would get frozen shoulder, though, that I kept moving it gently, and stretching it somewhat. Seems it was the right thing to do.

Left arm / shoulder has been agony for about three months. Not constantly, but every now and again, a certain movement would leave me gasping for breath. Sometimes the movement would cause me to go blind with pain, drop to all fours no matter where I am, and stand panting like an animal to gain control again. Whole left arm would be left numb with pain any time as bad as labour pains. Fortunately they don't last that long! After a few minutes, the arm would start throbbing and then life would start to come back. Once the pain is gone, it is gone completely and the arm is fine - until I move it in that wrong way again. I've been careful, but it still happens.

I went for soft tissue ultrasound yesterday (been carrying the request form in my Lyme binder for six weeks, kept hoping it would improve or go away). Arno has been forcing me to go; he had seen the results of the pain a few times; there is no hiding it. They sent me for an X-ray immediately afterwards. Seems there's fluid in the shoulder. I didn't get the full results, but the lady was talking to me. When I said I had Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lyme disease, she said something about "having all the complications on top of it". I don't think it is serious enough for surgery. Will fight that. I'll have to wait for the doctor to give me final results, but know enough from X-rays and stuff to have recognized the pockets of fluid and to ask her directly.

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/rotatorcuff/a/shbursitis_2.htm

Your falling-to-pieces green friend.

Wild Spring Storm!

2007-06-08T16:57:00.000-04:00

It turned dark, TV and radio warned about thunderstorms,. high winds and hail approaching, and then the next moment it arrived!

I ran outside to get some pictures and a video clip, if you want to see.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The story of a Woggle

2007-06-08T16:27:00.000-04:00

Well, it is ages since I last posted on this blog - life seems to get in the way!
But there has been this discussion about a Woggle on a friend's blog - and I promised to upload the sketch of this elusive creature!

Here you go:
A Woggle!

This is what I wrote ten years ago about the Woggles:

This is a woggle!!!

See, here is a sketch of one, done by John. The kids couldn't see the woggles, and they were not quick enough whenever we did spot one.
Also, one time we were at a service station on the Motorway, and we saw a whole gaggle of them! They were running all over the place, but the boys couldn't see them ....

To help you identify one next time you see one, here is a sound file, taped in the Lake District. [Actually, you can hear it on John's Blog; link below]

Woggles are small and covered in purple fur. They live all over the place. But you can't see them if you try to look for them. You have to look out of the corner of your eye.

Do you think you'll spot them next time?

See, Sus Evy in Canada was told about the woggles, and then a whole "subculture" grew around these elusive creatures. In the Lake District, we tried to catch one to take a picture for Evy - and - well, you heard the outcome of that on the sound file! Sus Evy never did get to see a picture of one - only this sketch.

** John's Blog post about the Woggles, and the Ladies Over The Water. Read the comments to find the link to the sound file.

Cherry on Top Quickpage freebie

2007-03-04T09:46:00.000-05:00

Long time, no post!
February spun by in a whirl of activities.
However, just because there might be people who stop by this blog sometime, here is a Quickpage created from one of my layouts, celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary.
The layout can be seen here if you like, and if you are a member of the gallery, please feel free to leave some comments for me and others there!

To get the freebie, please download from 4Shared. A "terms of use" graphic is included; please open it and take note! Protect our digital images.
I would love to see what you do with the Quickpage - please post a link in the comments here below if you take it for yourself! THANK YOU!
Download here - remember to wait for the page to load, and look for the download link to appear after some seconds. Click!

Some Meerkat Kits

2007-02-04T09:26:00.001-05:00

Layout and Postcard Template

2007-01-14T21:34:00.000-05:00

Just made another template, only because I wanted to scrap some pictures with a postcard theme.

So, the link to download, in separate PNG files and a PSD file, can be found on 4shared if you would like to share. Terms of Use are included, in text and graphic format. Please leave a comment if you take the freebie? (Scroll down, read anycomments on this post and then click to add your own if you want.)

We love going to the lake in winter, as guests of our friends. Great to walk on the frozen lake, enjoy the snow, or sunshine, or whatever the weather brings!

But you don't want to know all that, you came here for the freebie, right? Remember to post a link to where you upload your layout if you use it, so I can leave a comment for you, please!

Download the zipped file, at 200 ppi, from here.

Sailing away

2007-01-13T20:09:00.001-05:00

Played a little while with a freebie Quickpage from Stacy Carlson and Kathryn Mhire; through the FridayFreebie newsletter. It was a page with title "Sailing away" and I just had the perfect pictures to use!

The Quickpage is great, with wonderful colours, and I played with some effects in the sails and adding some small pictures of the city skyline.

The bigger layout is here if you want to see more, or read /post comments.

Tree Trekking!

2007-01-12T17:20:00.000-05:00

Never heard of this? We've been talking about going tree trekking / tree hiking / walking in the clouds for some time now. Basically it consists of cables or suspension bridges or other combinations, linking trees together, and you walk metres above the ground, admiring different views, testing your limits and challenging yourself.

We went to Horseshoe Valley for a weekend, but with no snow, there was not much to do! The Sunday we booked ourselves on a Tree Trekking expedition, which takes 3 hours, including training. It was great! We walked on tightropes, balanced on round pieces of wood, stepped carefully on rungs that would flip over or down, flung ourselves down zip lines -- talk about exhilirating!

The layout was made with a template by Marlie from the CSE3 group, but I added some pics. A bigger view is in the 3Scrapateers gallery if you want to post feedback or have a closer look and more info.

Thanks for looking!

Shutterfly book

2007-01-04T18:01:00.000-05:00

Have you tried having some of your pictures (or layouts if you scrapbook) printed in a hardcover book? I've done one earlier in 2006 through one company, and about five since November 2006 through Shutterfly.

We are thoroughly impressed with Shutterfly's service, and the quality of the books! When one was faulty, it was replaced.

The latest book is hardcover, with some of my pictures (digital scrapbook pages) on the front and back covers, as part of the cover (not pasted on). Inside, full-bleed pages with wonderful colours have all our friends ooh-ing and aah-ing.

The Shutterfly website is quite helpful when you create your first book, but Sunni from SBE also created a step-by-step instruction page with pictures and especially hints about creating the front and back covers. Check it out if you like! The link to a text-only description is here, and a pdf document with pictures is is here.

Hubby looked at my albums, consisting of printed layouts on photo paper, and said -- these printed books will take up a lot less space, and you can read the title on the spine ... LOL So maybe that is the way of the future!

First post of 2007, and a template freebie

2007-01-02T10:13:00.000-05:00

Blessings to all for a good and happy (and productive) 2007!

Thank you to all the people who share digital layouts, templates, ideas, sketches, elements and more. I always try to keep up with sharing and such, but --- Real Life gets in the way, doesn't it?

However, I've tried my hand at creating a scrapbook layout template. If you haven't discovered templates yet, please look at some of the blogs linked on the right, or the SBB or SBE store. Templates make scrapbooking easy! (see notes below is this is an unfamiliar term) You fill the shapes with the papers or elements of your choice, add your pictures and journaling, and you are done.

I've tried to make a template of a favourite layout made some years ago. The template is 12x12 inch (square), at 300 ppi, but can be resized as you like. Please remember to leave a comment ("leave some love") if you download the template, and post your layout link when you use it so we can see and comment for you! We all love comments ...

Layout is here if you want to see a bigger view: Laughter

Template can be downloaded from here in psd format (this is my first try to save as psd; hope it works!) or in several png files from here.
Look on the page for the small "download file" link - you might have to wait a few seconds for it to appear.

To post comments, scroll down, and look for the small link that says "post comment" at the end of this blog entry.

Most templates are done in layered format, so that you can open and fill each shape individually. They could be in Photoshop (psd) or layered PNG formats, with transparency. If it still sounds like gibberish, just do a Google for tutorial scrapbooking templates or something. Julie Kelley has a great tutorial for using layered templates on her blog.

Santa Claus parade, pet peeve and such

2006-11-24T08:20:00.000-05:00

Hello, everyone!

I'm sure nobody stops by here regularly, because updates are few and far between ... We've been incredibly busy! Last weekend was the Santa Claus parade, and our youth members entered a float for the first time. It was a wonderful night out, with people lining the streets of the route 5 and 6 deep. Not too cold, dry streets - not even one snowflake - the smell of hot chocolate in the air, and excited children buzzing and giggling, all bundled up.

The pictures can be found online here if anyone wants to take a look.

Anyway, while looking for pictures to use on a 2007 calendar for family, I found an old picture I made some years ago. My pet peeve is when people leave the lid of a toilet up while flushing. The menfolk have been well-trained very early on in this household - all toilets are always closed, except when in use! So, the picture was made (4x6 inch) for the benefit of visitors or guests, printed and placed in all the bathrooms in the house.

Here is a small view of it - all items were created by me, and the picture is an old, free stock photo. Would anyone be interested in downloading a printable version, 100 ppi? Just post a comment with your email, and I'll send it off!

Have a great day!

Did a Reiki course!

2006-11-01T08:21:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone - don't think many people read here, but no matter.

What a week last week was! Hardly touched ground, didn't ge to reply to emails as I wanted to, didn't get to visit blogs and post comments --- so please forgive me if I didn't reciprocate something you posted or sent!

What took up a large chunk of time, was that I did a training course in Reiki this last weekend. It ran on the Friday evening until 10.30 pm, the whole of Saturday, and again Sunday afternoon after church, into the evening.

It was wonderful! To feel the energy flowing through your hands, to learn the gentle power, to be able to help others and yourself in the process - a wonderful gift.

I really want to create some digital items or layouts or quickpages or something to share, but this weekend is a craft sale I'm working for, so maybe not before next week! Please keep checking back if you want to see if there might be something you would like to pick up. You can also just enter your email address on the right, under my profile link, to be updated by email if there are changes in the blog.

Any Reiki people out there? Please post a comment and a link of where I can get in touch with you!

Freebie - Yellow 8x5 inch quickpage

2006-10-24T08:44:00.000-04:00

Just because I haven't posted in a while, and I've been downloading some items these last two days --- hopefully someone can use this page! It is a rectangular page, created from my "Denim and Yellow" page kit (or Denim and Chicks - whatever you want to call it!)

To the right is a pic of the full kit, if you click on it, you should see a bigger view.

The quickpage is on 200 ppi, and made to hold one photo. I've used it to scrap an old university picture, as well as a separate page or front page for a recipe book, as in the sample below. The sample is what the quickpage looks like. I haven't yet put it into an online gallery so you can see more, but hopefully can do so this afternoon (this is just a thumbnail).

If you can use the page, here is the download link - but please, if you take it, leave me some love here, would you? And if you use the page, please post the link so we can go see what you did!

The link will be live for seven (7) days from today, Oct. 24th, or for 100 downloads.

Download link

Layout using the quickpage: Student Fun - or if this link doesn't work, go to the 3Scrapateers link to the right, in the bar, and you should be taken to my gallery.

Thanks for wanting my stuff - hope you can use it!

Another LO - using a template

2006-10-23T08:38:00.000-04:00

HI again, everyone

This weekend was very busy, with lots of stuff happening. We also worked on items for the upcoming Craft Show in November at church. Carolyn had bought some handmade items which we used as samples to create about 100 small gifts, decorated with mulberry paper, quotes, ribbon and stickers to sell at the craft sale. It was a great day on Saturday!

Afterwards, I felt like doing some scrapping - haven't done any since going to Windsor for a scrapbooking weekend in September (and those pictures are not even uploaded in a gallery yet. Sigh. Anyone have spare time to trade?)

--links are below or in the right-hand bar; please keep reading! ---

I downloaded a template from Alma Townsend for her October Template Challenge at SBE, and used the kit by Vickey Morrissey (in the July 2006 free SBE Newsletter) to create the layout. The pictures used, are not very good, but I wanted to scrap them, because of the memories, and everything happening around a sick friend. The pictures were taken on Oct. 2004, and she passed away a year later (just a year ago now).

Templates are great fun! The idea is that all the layers are in different colours of grey, and you use your stash of papers, etc. to fill the different layers to create your own layout. It is different from a sketch, in the sense that the shapes and sizes can be selected and filled. Hard to explain - try it yourself!

Links: SBE (Scrapbook-Elements) Monthly newsletter is free, you just have to sign up for it to download the gifts and learn more about challenges, digital scrapbooking, and so on.

Alma Townsend is the author and owner of The ScrapHabit, and she also had a monthly Newsletter.
Her template is available from the SBE Gallery, for the month of October, 2006, so grab it quick! Just read the info under the template to download.

1. Alma's ScrapHabit link
2. Vickey Morrissey's blog
3. Scrapbook-Elements

Ystervarkies - QP layout

2006-10-22T18:20:00.000-04:00

Haven't posted anything in a while - it has been going nuts lately!
Meetings, this and that, pets and whatnot - I don't know why we keep so many balls in the air, but I suppose we'll collapse without that, right?

Anyway, I've just managed to scrap an old picture, taken in 2004, of the boys helping to make Ystervarkies (a sweet, chocolatey South African treat). Thumbnail is to the left, and should take you to the gallery on 3Scrapateers where the bigger layout is.
(More info under the bigger layout.)

The quickpage is from J. Burkhart's blog. Thanks so much for sharing!
(or http://burkhartscrapzone.blogspot.com/ )

Tobermory5 meet at Wonderland!

2006-08-23T08:21:00.000-04:00

In July, we went camping with some other friends at Tobermory, the lovely town at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. Five of the kids bonded, and had great fun together during the weekend. Four of them managed to get together - the adults went to great pains to have them spend some time before summer's end. We took them to Canada's Wonderland for the day. Pics are linked below, and our Skyflyer adventure (with a link to the video clip) can be seen in the album too.

2006-Tobermory5-Wonderland

Aug 12, 2006 - 39 Photos

Next meeting for the Tobermory 5 is at the end of September, during Croptober.

I'm a Siamese cat - and you?

2006-08-17T13:00:00.000-04:00

Just a bit of fun! Someone sent a website about people's ideas regarding pets, and you can vote on some of the clever, whacky, nutty, funny ideas people have, after free registration. I was just playing around a few minutes, and found a "Cat Quiz" to do while waiting for something to print.

Below is the info and the link if anyone wants to play too.

You Are A Siamese Cat

What Cat Breed Are You? at Idea Fetch

Have a glorious day, whatever you are doing!

Thanks for the thank you cards!

2006-08-01T19:52:00.000-04:00

Thank you, to several people who took on the challenge to create a thank you card I could use for our friends who celebrated Citizenship with us (see next post). I think I'm going to use all of them, and there are still templates and cards coming in from others who were playing with the graphics!

I hope you enjoy the graphics you downloaded, and that you will have fun with them. If you create layouts, please send me a link of where you upload so I can post a comment for you!

The combined cards received so far, are in the image in this post. Amazing how different people can use the same graphics to create totally different views!

Again, thank you to all who celebrated with us, and for those who created and sent cards from the Country Styles Gingham kit.

Finally citizens!

2006-07-30T17:04:00.000-04:00

On July 27th, 2006, a very great day happened for our family: we finally became Canadian citizens!

We came from South Africa to Ontario, Canada, on June 1997 and have settled in to live here, to make friends, to create a support network and to learn to love our adoptive country. Before we stepped off the plane that day in June, we could sing the Canadian anthem, knew the provinces and capital cities, knew the names of the prime ministers, premiers and other officials. We were determined to work as hard as needed to fit in, to embrace everything, from the snow we had never seen at that point, to the lakes which we were unfamiliar with.

Now, after nine years, we can finally call ourselves Canadian. We are grateful to everyone who helped in whatever manner to make us feel at home, to accept us, to love our recipes and food we brought with us, to share in picking up some words from our language, Afrikaans, to embrace us and to create a family for us.

We could not love Canada more if we were born here. That doesn't mean we have sworn off South Africa, because we are what we are, and we are a part of all we have met and everywhere we have been.

If any digital scrapbookers are reading here, would you like to receive a link to a few elements I've created (from the Country Styles Gingham kit) to help make a thank you card by tomorrow, July 31st? I can't seem to think how to put the items together to just drop in a picture on a 6x4 inch size card!
Email me, if you have questions.

If you want to download the items to create a template for a thank you card, please go to the link below. It will be live for two days only, until July 30th (EST). All I ask, is that you post a comment, preferably with your blog link if you have one, when you snag the freebie! When you have created a template, please email it to me.

Preview of what you download is here if you want to take a look first.
Download link (16 Mb) after you have posted a comment is here.
Thanks!

Preview of the Trillium Quickpage

2006-07-20T07:49:00.000-04:00

Sorry all - guess something got eaten somewhere! To the right is the sample of the freebie regarding the Trillium post (see below).
There are two pages in the zipped file - one with title "Trillium" and poem, and one without.
Hope it would be useful to someone! (There are links to download from either Rapidshare or Yousendit)

Link to the "Save Ontario's Trillium" post on the blog:
Meerkat's Heap: Save Ontario's Trillium!

If you use a page, would you let me know where to see it, please?

Thanks!

Save Ontario's Trillium!

2006-07-15T11:33:00.000-04:00

There are plans to change Ontario's Trillium logo, at a cost of over $200 thousand!

(Scrapbookers - see the last paragraph and thanks for sharing the news! )

Please don't just trust what I write, but follow the links to the websites below. This is NOT about political parties or politics, it is about leaving well enough alone and to rather change what is needed in the province instead of bothering with a logo.

If you know of friends or have family and friends in Ontario, Canada, please send them to this Blog address, or send the information on to them so that people can be aware of this!! (** See below for more)

Link below from where this was copied (dots left where I left out parts and my bold and italics. Read original on the link below:

>>
The Trillium is a symbol for ALL ONTARIANS .... Ontario's trillium has long been the symbol of hope and opportunity for all. The classic T-shaped logo was first used by the Ontario government more than 40 years ago. It's been used no matter which political party was in power. That is, until now. .... And he's using taxpayer's dollars and a Liberal friendly ad agency to do it. The cost - $219,000 taxpayer dollars to design a new logo.

>>To read more, please go here: http://www.savethetrillium.ca/
Click on "take action" at the top, or on Share to send it on.

**If you are a scrapbooker (digital or paper) I'll gladly send you a Quickpage in return for reading here, to use for your own pictures, which you can print and keep in an album or frame or give as a gift. Just slip your own pictures in - of a family friend, or of your own trilliums, perhaps.
To get the quickpage: Download from
Yousendit until July 28th here ;
or from
Rapidshare here - and I'll appreciate it if you leave a comment on the blog when you grab the freebie! Always nice to read who liked it enough to snag! **
The quickpage is described here in the Blog, with a link to a bigger view in a gallery. **

Stained Glass kit

2006-07-13T08:16:00.000-04:00

Someone searched and found me, to get hold of the Stained Glass kit - glad to help, and glad you like the kit and the quickpages, Susan! Hope you enjoy the elements.

To the right is one of the pages made from the kit, but it includes 7 glass alphabets, and some coloured backgrounds, multi-coloured frames, etc. Should really get scrapping again ...

Oh yes, below is a pic of what the Stained Glass kit looks like with the other items included:

Clicking on the pic to the left should take you to a bigger view.

Clicking on the blue thumbnail above, should take you to the gallery where a bigger view is uploaded.

Have fun whatever you are doing!

Three annoyed cats

2006-07-10T09:46:00.000-04:00

Picture of the three cats, taken Sunday afternoon after we got home from gallivanting the whole weekend. They look thoroughly fed-up with us leaving them alone, don't they?

Oscar on the left, Essie with closed eyes and Chatter just giving us his masked wonder look.

We attended the Carabram (Brampton's annual multi-cultural festival), we visited the Lucas Holtom annual fair, we sold cookbooks at the weekly Farmer's Market - it was a full weekend! Pics should be uploaded to the Picasa Web gallery soon, if anyone wants to see more.

The Ukranian pavillion was utterly wonderful when the international group visited on Sunday. The Polish pavillion was something I would have gone back to and spent many more hours at, looking at the rich costumes, enjoying the dances and the music. It reminded us a lot of the South African dances called Volkspele (folk dances), in a way, but more formal.

Link to the web albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/meerkatster/

Raining cats and dogs here --- very happy for the rasberries in the back yard!

Had a caricature done!

2006-07-07T08:42:00.000-04:00

Well, haven't updated this blog in ages --- life is too busy! Trying to do an update via email now.

Caught a bus to Wonderland this afternoon and met Arno there. Theo was working, and we would have had to go pick him up later anyway. We spent about 4 hours in the park and had several rides without long line-ups. Also a very leisurely meal next to the waterfall, consisting of Teriyaki chicken with rice and veggies.

I've been watching the caricature artists for a while now, and finally we did it tonight. Told the girl to have fun and do whatever she wants. Mentioned our fat cats ... and here is the result of what she did with us. The people who were watching her sketch, had a lot of fun commenting on the picture developing. We had no idea what she did until she was done, of course. Took her only about 10 minutes to do the whole thing, colouring and all.

Re the girl doing it - she must be about 19. They are all very young; last night there were about 6 of them on duty and we watched them all for a while. They are excellent, and not a one of them older than 23! Payment is per person sitting for the sketch. And you can tell them what you want your body to be.

We couldn't make up our minds. I wanted something with computers and cameras and stuff, but also mentioned our fat cats. Then told the girl to just go ahead and have fun - and she did! She's a pretty blonde, and Arno was beaming while she was sketching him, because I told him to enjoy it. Not many men can be facing a pretty blonde with a spouse next to them. LOL It drew a whole crowd, watching her. She kept telling the people behind, "Don't tell them, they don't know!"

This weekend we'll be selling the cookbooks at the Brampton Farmer's Market, and want to attend the Carabram as well.

Have a good weekend, all!

Sigh - freebies links again!

2006-05-25T08:47:00.000-04:00

Thanks for contacting me, Granny, to say the links are once again gone! (see comments under the next Blog entry below this one) I would have sent you the new links directly, but you signed in as anonymous and not with an email or Blog name to contact you. So hopefully you'll stop by again! To new visitors - If you read on, especially the post about Taste of Tangerine linked in the entry below, you'll be able to see some of the layouts and snag some freebies. There is an extra freebie in tags as well, to be added to the Quickpages. (Been very busy - we got a trampoline in the back yard and I have a half-finished layout of that; we have had meetings and events and happenings galore, we got a new Nikon D50 digital camera --- should post about all those soon!) Seems that the links for the freebies I fixed, were either not linked up correctly or the server dropped them. Sorry about that! Am busy uploading as I type, and I'll put the links in here now. If this still doesn't work, I'll have to make another plan somehow to share the links for downloading them!

Links
When you download, please be sure to read the included text file. These links should be available until June 1st (7 days).
So - here are the Taste of Tangerine quickpages for square layouts (12x12 inches): Click!

And here is the link for the rectangular pages (8.5x11 inches): Click!

Please post or let me know when and where you upload layouts using these freebies? I'd love to leave a comment for you!

(Been very busy - we got a trampoline in the back yard and I have a half-finished layout of that; we have had meetings and events and happenings galore, we got a new Nikon D50 digital camera --- should post about all those soon!)

Freebie links fixed

2006-05-13T09:56:00.000-04:00

Without my knowledge, the links to the freebies under this blog's Tangerine post (April 2006) were disabled. The file host service where I put them, had a server crash and the links were no longer available. I've now re-uploaded them, and they are ready for download if you couldn't do so before. These are Quickpages, in either square or rectangular sizes.

I apologise if you had trouble! Once you have downloaded those, and want more, you could get these add-on tags for free as well (thumbnail to the right). Please read on below for more while you download the tags (sample right) from here.

Now that I'm a month away from SBE, my items can be shared. So - does anyone want the individual items? Please post a comment - and remember to either include your email address or blog link so I can send you a link of where to download that file for free!

Please post comments on the blog, adding a link to your blog and/or your email so I could contact you! Then continue to the freebies ...

Rectangular freebie Quickpage (read below to see preview) Download
&
Square freebie Quickpages (read below to see preview) Download

First softball game of the season!

2006-05-11T07:56:00.000-04:00

Our church joined in a friendly league of playing softball against other churches in the area. (I understand cricket a tad better than this game with the round bat, so bear with me, please! LOL) Very low-key, no pressure, no keeping score. Teams pitch to their own team; three balls to each batter, whether they swing at it or not. Bases may not be "loaded" - one player per base only. If a team has three players out, they are out. There has to be three female players on the team at any time. Age limit is 14.

Last night (May 10th) was our first game. We are still waiting for our baseball shirts (in purple and gold) to arrive, so people played in anything. It really was a lot of fun, both to watch and for the players!

The layout is very busy, because I tried to picture each player (and the pictures of Jim are all blurry - sorry, Jim! I'll get you next time!) and just hope I didn't leave someone out. Thought there were pics taken of all.

Anyway, the bigger layout is on 3Scrapateers if you want to take a closer look. Each player's name was added to his/her picture, and the kit used, is my Bowling kit.

Of Fairies and Friendship

2006-05-02T22:38:00.000-04:00

Played with a few different challenges from different sites to create a layout of the tamarisk and the nootka trees Arno planted this weekend. A tamarisk is my favourite tree in the world, and when Janet saw one, she said it looks like the fairies are dancing somewhere inside.

The colour challenge on Scrapbook-Bytes (SBB) included pinks and greens, which seemed perfect for the fairy style of my beloved Tamarisk tree, and the enchanted forest look of the Nootka!
Also used the challenge from DoItDigi (DID) to make a layout using quite a bit of journaling.
(The thumbnail is not linked to the layouts)

Here are the links to read the journaling and see the layout bigger:
On SBB or on DID.

Anyone want the paper created for this layout? Drop me an email and I'll gladly share!

Photo book created

2006-04-29T19:01:00.000-04:00

Playing with creating a photo book as a test - made one for Jaco, thinking about having it printed for next month for him.

Anyway, here's the link:

Snapshots of Jaco's life

Swapping pictures

2006-04-29T18:54:00.000-04:00

Interesting chat at SBB on Wednesday night! I just stopped by to see who was in, but it turned out the chatters were swapping pictures for others to scrap. I sent some snowboarding pictures to Tiffany, and she sent me one of her lovely baby girl, Alison.

I just love what Tiff did with the snowboarding pictures, adding arrows and funky colours! This will be a great page to share with the boys, of their day out with friends.
Go Snowboarding!

My layout of Alison wanted to be girlish, soft and pink, and her eyes fascinated me. So - the layout had to reflect the eyes.

There are really two layouts, basically the same, but one has an added glass rectangle in the title. Not sure which one I like. Here are the two links if you want to take a look:
First layout and the second one, with the glass rectangle.

Of hackers and stuff (Do It Digi)

2006-04-27T07:35:00.000-04:00

On the post titled "Older layouts and sorting out stuff" on this blog, I mentioned going to a chatroom and having fun with people there. This was on the Do It Digi scrapbook gallery / forum / chat / challenge site (see below for links). Tried to go back a few times without luck. It took a few days to find out that they were hacked and had lost everything!

It makes me so angry! Why would people do that? Why create drama, upset, a sense of loss and all kinds of other emotions for people? But I guess that can be asked about all crimes. Yes, I see hacking for fun as a crime, just like breaking and entering or assault or something. You feel battered, bruised, your privacy was invaded, and worse.

The Do It Digi team is trying to bring things back online, but it is going slow. For now, I'll link my gallery to them to their main page, because the gallery is gone anyway. (Do It Digi )

Wendy and co - thinking of you and sending all kinds of coping vibes! Just wish there was a way of doing more.

A whole day scrapbooking!

2006-04-22T23:18:00.000-04:00

What a great day - starting with scrapbooking as usual once a month with friends. We chat, we laugh, we share, we borrow, we eat, we swap recipes - it is just a wonderful time to be away from chores for a few hours. Especially on a day like today, when it rained softly all day. Everything is green and soft and lovely!

Sweet Dreams layout
I used the time to make another quickpage or scraplet (one where you just drop pictures in) for a digital swap on 3Scrapateers. This page features a basinette made out of the papers of the kit. The layout is here on 3Scrapateers if anyone wants to take a look. Yes, no pictures, because each swapper will add their own pictures to the layouts swapped and traded.

Photo Shoot Layout
Another layout made tonight, looks very different! It is called "Photo shoot" and was taken in the snow in March 2006. The camera wouldn't play with the self timer, we fell over in the knee-deep snow, etc. It was great fun, and we finally had a picture where everyone was smiling! That layout is in two galleries: one on Scrapmommies and the other on 3Scrapateers.

Oh yes, and Arno bought a new tree - my beloved tamarisk - for the back yard!

Older layouts and sorting out things

2006-04-21T21:12:00.000-04:00

Been an interesting day ... I've had surgery on April 10th and was supposed to take it very easy for a while yet. No exercise for a month, for instance.
Anyway, went back to work on Tuesday and tried to be gentle, but today I must have done something somehow. I could feel it pull and being "not right" but nothing dramatic. Came home, tried to phone the doctor's office, but they take calls until 2pm on Friday - and it was 2pm on the dot. Refused to go to ER and sit there for 5 hours just to be told to "take bed rest" - just did it myself. I'm sure it is fine, though.

Spent the afternoon cruising some chatrooms and had a delightful hour with a group of crazy nutcases in the DoItDigi room - thanks for the fun, girls! There was "Bob" from Elora who made me think of this layout, so here it is linked now to the blog. Click on the pic to see the bigger layout, or go to the galleries on either RAKScraps or 3Scrapateers if you want a bigger view.

Tubing was wonderful, even though I ended up with a blue backside the first time, after an altercation with a rock! (yes, there is a picture somewhere ...)

Koeksisters and Rugby - South African traditions

2006-04-19T22:51:00.000-04:00

Interesting day we had today! Theo's rugby match was fun. They lost, but they had a good game. I've managed to get some pictures of him tackling guys twice his size and hope to scrap them soon.

Tonight there was a heritage scrap over at The Daily Scrap - the challenge was to scrap some tradition or habit to remember. I thought koeksisters (a sweet sugar dumpling, for want of a better translation) would be a good subject!

The bigger layout can be seen here if you want to read more about this treat.

About the rugby - here is one small cutout of Theo tackling a guy very close to the posts - the blue in the background is the foot of one of the posts under which a try could be scored.

Oh - and not to look as if one son gets more attention than the other (LOL heaven forbid!) - Jaco was invited to get a Principal's award on Friday, for staying on the honours roll. Hope to get a picture there - they are usually very good and keep these awards ceremonies small enough for people to circulate and chat and get good bragbook pictures for the grandparents.

Thanks for reading!

Testing email update

2006-04-19T22:49:00.000-04:00

Testing to see if email updates to the Blog works.

I'd like to post about Theo's rugby match, Jaco's invite for another
principal's award, and a new scrapbook page made, featuring koeksisters. But
for now, this is just a test and I might delete this post in a few minutes.

Of rugby, swimming and summer jobs

2006-04-19T07:52:00.000-04:00

Right, so let's see if an updated post can be placed, about daily life or news!

Rugby
Theo is playing a rugby match today (position - Nr 2, like his grandfather). He started playing rugby in high school last year and made the team, even though he was only a freshman and didn't have his growth spurt yet. Today, he said he might have to play the whole match, as the other guy had some tattoo on his back and might not be put in. Will see how it goes!

Layout is here, made last year during the rugby season and pictures taken at Theo's first match. Of course rugby is bigger in South Africa than it is here in Canada, so it was interesting that Theo chose that as his sport of choice!

Lifeguarding & Swim instruction
Jaco started volunteering at the rec centre as soon as he was old enough, became assistant swim instructor and then full instructor and life guard after training and age 16. He enjoys working with the kids, and seems to have a knack to teach people things.

This layout, also made with the Muted Masculine kit as above, can be seen in bigger view here if you want to comment or take a closer look.

Info about the fonts, etc. can be seen on the galleries. (Personal info was smudged for privacy.)

Summer jobs

Jaco was offered a summer job at Professor's Lake here in town. He would have to do more training, but it is an excellent way of gaining especially waterfront experience.

Theo's summer job will be at the big theme park, Paramount Canada's Wonderland. He is really looking forward to that!

Both boys are growing up too fast ...

Trilliums - scraplift challenge

2006-04-18T22:19:00.000-04:00

Trilliums, the provincial flower of Ontario, are really magnificent! They have three strong leaves, and you see flashes of white in the forest in spring. Sometimes there are hints of darker red in between, but that is not as common.

These pictures, taken during spring 2005 in a patch of forest near our house, seemed to be perfect for a scraplift challenge on Gotta Pixel! If you want to see the layout in bigger size, read the credits or leave comments, please go to the Gotta Pixel gallery here (also here in the 3Scrapateers gallery).

(Elements by me, from my Think Pink kit. Hat is from a photograph of a hat with quilling I made for a teddy bear wearing an Easter hat.)

Taste of Tangerine - plus freebies

2006-04-18T21:58:00.000-04:00

Everyone loves freebies, right?
The pages and frames in this layout were donated as a freebie gift in the April 2006 edition of the SBE newsletter, and can only be given if you were/are a subscriber to that free newsletter. (I left SBE as designer during Easter 2006, because of pressures in Real Life.)

A layout made with some of the "Taste of Tangerine" papers and elements can be seen here and here if you want to take a look or leave comments, or ask questions.

However, some quickpages* were created using some of those elements, and can be downloaded for free if you want them. Click on the links below - the link should stay live for a while yet. You're welcome to send others to this blog to pick up the link as well! A text file included with the quickpages give more information about sharing.

There might be more links to add freebies to the quickpages in the next few days, depending on time!

(*Quickpages = already assembled pages for you to just drop your pictures on, add journaling and/or text, and you're done!)

Please be sure to read the included text file once you have unzipped!

To download two quickpages in 12x12 inch (30 cm x 30cm; square), click here (or right-click and "save target as" on a PC).

To download two quickpages in 8.5 x 11 inch (letter size; rectangular), please click here (or right-click and "save target as" on a PC).

If you use the freebie pages in a layout and upload to a gallery, please post a comment here with the link so we can take a look! It is great to see what different people do. (And if you post a comment with a link to your layout, I'll send you another link to another freebie that goes with the pages if you want it.)

Enjoy!

Oscar is Dynamite! (Colour challenge)

2006-04-18T21:21:00.000-04:00

Layout of our feisty ginger cat, Oscar (because he's so golden, see?) trying to take on one of the cheeky backyard squirrels.

If you want to take a closer look, you can see the layout here in the SBB gallery (also here on 3Scrapateers).

This one was made for a colour challenge on SBB. Papers from the "A Child's Circus" kit and recoloured bottlecaps - they were originally brown, called Marlene's Bottlecaps Uppercase. Rest of credits on the layout.

Cherry On Top - Sketch Challenge

2006-04-18T20:48:00.000-04:00

In December 2005, Arno and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. It seemed to be the perfect picture to use for this single-picture sketch challenge on Scrapmommies! The layout is here if you want to take a look or leave a comment.

Credits: All elements by me, from the "Cherries for Gabby" kit.
Sketch by Traci from Scrapmommies. Fonts and other info on the layout.

Testing as a first post

2006-04-18T20:16:00.000-04:00

Trying to create this blog, but it must be a steep learning curve!