In English...

It's been a while. A lot has happened.

Germany was a lot of fun. I travelled around, went to art shows, museums, a big party, a concert on a river. I had a chance to spend time with almost all of my friends. I also met up with Kathleen from my Santa Cruz poetry group poetry in Munich, and we went to my parents house together. We all had a great time together. What has happened lately was less fun, but it's looking better again now.

Coming back to Santa Cruz was a nightmare. I felt a little out of it before I left Germany. I thought I was fighting a cold, but when the airplane came down my left ear started to hurt. When I saw my doctor a couple of days later he explained that I had an ear infection. The difference in air pressure had caused liquid to expand that had accumulated in my ear, which hemorrhaged my eardrum! It was wild. It took 2 rounds of antibiotics to get rid of the infection, and... welcome back, Tinnitus! My ear is still ringing.

The bigger news is that on top of that we had to say good-bye to our cat. While I was in Germany her kidneys failed. Paul tried everything, he even had her in an animal hospital for dialysis, but she wouldn't recover. She never really started eating again. She was in such bad shape by the time I came back from Germany that after another consultation with the vet we decided it was kinder not to let her suffer any longer. We had her put to sleep on Paul's birthday, no less, the worst birthday of his life. I still miss the cat every day, although it's been over a month already.

I've been trying to stay busy, which I know is good for me. The busier, the better. Yoga, poetry readings, Stammtisch... My poetry group might not meet until spring (we're still trying to figure it out), so I decided to pick up photography again. I just bought a digital camera, in time for my next trip. I'm going to New Mexico with Paul. I've never been to the Southwest, so I'm really looking forward to it. Paul's mom will be at a conference in Albuquerque for a week. She & her husband have rooms at Embassy Suites and they invited us to come stay with them. The plan is to also see Santa Fe and Taos, which would be neat. Paul was reluctant to go, but when his mom even offered Flyer Miles for the tickets he really had no excuse anymore. I'm really looking forward ot it.