This and that, the update.

Dear blogfriends, please forgive the subheadings, there's a lot to tell.

MIDWIFERY
I made arrangements for me to back up at some planned homebirths early this year. That period has now ended and the score is: Homebirths occurred 3, homebirths attended by me 1.5.

Yeah I know....bummer eh? I was ready, willing and waiting, sleeping with the phone by me and knew they were on. The first I managed to see all the way through as you saw in my previous post. It was stripped back and simple and lovely. The second went into labour overdue by a couple of weeks. The primary midwife attended and was in communication with me, I was ready to leave at a moment's notice, the house was 40 mins from my place. She laboured quietly apparently and was well attended by family. There was radio silence for a while, then an "uuummmm, she went from nothing to pushing and 2 pushes later....ta-da!" So great for her, a first-timer, to birth so well, I'm thrilled for them all, really. But......

The third was a second baby and the first had been really quick. Less than an hour quick! So I was poised to possibly be the first one there as I live closer to her. I am still doing my regular job as well, and we have been trusting to the universe that it will all work out. Phut! The universe clearly didn't get my memo about a late/early split shift last week followed by eight days off which were coinciding with the due date. So when the phone rang at 5.10am I thought it was the alarm gone off early.......Then slammed upright when I blurrily saw that it was the first midwife calling! OOoh, decisions, decisions - she was really quick with the first one, I've got time for her to pop it out and still get to work on time. I committed and dashed out. I got there at 5.27 and she was labouring, but still smiling. Things hotted up, then quietened down, as they do, but my start time was approaching.....I called in that I would be late, and mentally made up my mind that I would stay for now, but that if the birth wasn't imminent at 7.30 I would slip away and the other midwife would call a different midwife to back up. And so it went. Bummer. The baby was born at 9.13am. It would have been too much of a stretch to be that late for work.

So the experience I have gained is of providing antenatal and postnatal care in the community, and also intrapartum care in the woman's own home. I have witnessed one homebirth (my second). It was good. I can see the learning curve before me should I choose to continue to work in this field. I need to gather a lot more equipment. I could easily become used to doing less with women, as they take a lot more responsibility for their own issues than women I usually see through the hospital setting. There is less 'routine' assessment and more reliance on behavioural changes in labour. Spontaneous and physiological, just the way it should be. All the usual assessments are there, just less VEs and when they were done (by the primary MW) they were at points when I would have done them to clarify issues as well.

There is no shortage of work out there. With upcoming changes to maternity service provision by the federal government there are many opportunities for midwives to set up in group practices with Medicare provider numbers and limited prescribing rights, as long as they are deemed 'eligible' (a nebulous description, yet to be fully defined but being worked on furiously) and hold professional indemnity insurance, which will not cover them to birth anywhere but in a hospital. This has recently been released for a cost of $7500 per annum full time cover. Stay tuned! I do plan to become eligible - in fact if I was doing my PD instead of blogging it would happen sooner.

I have also been continuing to work with a group planning the commencement of a midwifery group practice in our hospital, hopefully by mid-year. It has to be signed off by roughly 47,000 people including doctors but I think we're up to 35, 766 signatures and the work is all downhill from here! This would be groundbreaking in this state, and I have seen my name on the sample rosters so it may come true! Can't wait.

HEALTH
Twice this year I have had my life flash before my eyes and prepared for my imminent death.

I wish I was kidding.

What I have learned from this is that my husband really needs a cell phone. So the kids CAN in theory contact him when he is in Sydney for a conference and Mum has died of a stroke. As it was I managed to get an appointment with the GP and get a presciption for antihypertensives just before it blew out any blood vessels in my brain, but I suspect it was close. It was extremely unpleasant. I then developed an attractive rash from the meds and changed them a week later. They remain effective.

The second time was when I was woken by upper abdo pain and thought I was going to throw up. I decamped to the loo whereupon I had an 'episode' of tingling, profuse sweating, pins and needles in my face and arms and extreme lightheadedness and a sense of impending doom. Visions of Elvis abounded and I was convinced I was about to have a heart attack. This was in the very early hours of the morning after our daughter's 21st party, so waking a still inebriated husband was quite challenging, as I swooned on the toilet and resorted to banging the glass screen repeatedly while moaning. After a while I managed to croak out his name loud enough and he stumbled out to find me. An ambulance was called and I was whisked off. It turned out to be a vaso-vagal event (they think) as my heart was fine and my blood pressure was elevated but not catastrophic. Phew. I felt sheepish, but would have felt worse if I hadn't paid attention to it. I have seen someone have a fatal coronary and I felt how they looked....so I did the best I could to get help. It lasted about 10-15 minutes (I think) but it was really scary, and I'm grateful it was something benign.

I have discovered that I am not ready to die.

BIRTHDAYS
My son turned 24. He is a sweetie and good company. Please God, let him pass this last semester at uni. He has a girlfriend. There is much 'noise' coming from his bedroom. There is often another mouth to feed. It is OK.

My daughter turned 21. We had the party we planned except for the fact that the pizza oven was too wide to fit through the gate (or the gate was too narrow for the oven to pass). We were flexible about this and luckily had a wide driveway and a paved frontyard that could be rapidly put to use as the pizzeria. A Good Time was had by all, pizza was made, cooked and consumed with gusto if not in the same square metreage of yard. Tromping through the house was expected anyway. The back patio was gorgeous and people mixed and mingled at the tables we set up. We did two big photoboards for her which were fantastic to do. She received some lovely gifts. People continue to wish her well. This is good.

STORM DAMAGE
The skylight is fixed. A Man came from 50km away to do it. The SES had arrived a few days after the storm and covered and secured it with thick black plastic for which we were grateful. The car remains dented. This PITA is likely to continue to be so for a while as I am too busy to submit a claim.

TRAVELS
WE are taking a family holiday in June to Sydney and Uluru. It will be great! 3 nights in Sydney doing tyouristy things, then a 3 day camping safari around Uluru, The Olgas and King's Canyon. The family will then leave from Alice Springs while I stay there for a national conference. Its all good.

SILVER
Somehow it seems I will have been married for 25 years on May 5th. To the same man. Lucky, eh? Preparations abound for a celebratory dinner. Followed by our trip a few weeks later.

PHOTOS may follow for all the above, but right now I have to go to work. Which was evacuated a few nights ago due to a fire. I wasn't working, but it looked like a nightmare! I'll hear all about it today.

Its all go around here!

Deja-vu

In a re-run of the incredible hailstorm of July last year, today Perth experienced a phenomenal hailstorm with really large hailstones.

I heard solid plinking and plunking and thought someone was tampering with the roof. I went outside to find huge hailstones in the front yard, so I grabbed a camera and took some snaps.

Then it began to rain, and hail some more.....and then came the wind.

Good heavens. I've never seen anything like it!

The upshot of it is that our skylight was smashed and the ceiling panel took direct hits that punched through the plexiglass. There is power in the shaft for the light. Yikes. There were hailstones bouncing all over the kitchen floor and benchtops. When the second front passed the holey plexiglass fell out from the weight of rain falling directly into the kitchen. The rain is still falling. There are more storms predicted for tonight until tomorrow morning.

The shadecloth tore free from the mounting pole where it was triple stitched and has remained unmoved for 15 years, weighted down with at least 20kg of ice and tree debris. I couldn't lift it. I was worried the gutters and fascia boards would fall off under the weight. When Don got home, he lifted the bulky, sagging ice mass and we released one corner. It still hasn't fully melted.

Our car looks a little like a golf ball, with fine dents all over it, but luckily no windows smashed. Many people are a lot worse off, with serious flooding, and landslides, and no power to 150, 000 households. Poor devils. All the same I hope our house will be weatherproof again soon.

The temporary flooding in our yard has settled mostly. What with all the foliage stripped from the trees, it was like wading in very wide shallow heavily minted glass of icy punch. This is where we're having Steff's 21st party on the back patio on Saturday. We're renting a woodfired pizza oven and have 40+ people coming. The garden will be stripped and ice damaged, but . . . oh well. The forecast is fine and 27 degrees. We won't need a shadecloth at night, and I won't have time to repair it before then anyway.

Life's never dull!

Holiday activities

Spend four nights with favourite husband in a cosy and private beach-side getaway. Tick.

Spend a day of getaway baking beloved Christmas cakes. Best. Batch. Ever. Tick.

Play Bingo with hubby. Tick. I still don't win.

Tackle Xmas pressie shopping with a relaxed hubby by my side. Tick.

Get bathroom door and dining room wall painted 6 months after bathroom renovation. Tick.

Attend Xmas parties in blistering heat. Tick.

Host Xmas party in blistering heat, wondering why people say they are coming but don't. Tick.

Eat leftovers. Tick.

Read on FB that a young depressed work colleague has died tragically. At work, with colleagues finding her. Reel in shock. Make many phonecalls to distraught colleagues. Grieve the loss of a lovely young midwife. Sadly, tick.

Value life even more preciously and vows to love and support even more. You betcha.

Cold off the press

WOW!!!!WOW!!!! There has just been the most incredible hailstorm come through here!

The front yard, looking toward the veggie patch

The back yard adrift.

I'm glad I'm not showering outside here today!
This is the back lane , with runoff through the drifts.

I can hear the little guy next door whooping in delight as he discovers another pile.

This is the neighbour's verge. Ice rinse for the washing, anyone?

Let's see if I can upload the footage I took of it hailing from the back door.

WOW!!!!! It happened nearly an hour ago and its still in drifts.(edited to add it lasted 7 hours, it has only just melted, but Don and Steff both got to see it when they came home)

I have never seen such a heavy hailstorm, I'm grateful there was no damage, as the hailstones themselves were not too big, but I'm glad I took photos.

And there's a bowl of it in the freezer!!!

High and dry and still out in the cold!

I'm fuming.

I've been working every day since Tuesday. Its been a long and tricky week. I'll tell you about it when I calm down.

TODAY the door was finally installed. By pulling apart the frame that we had just painted with 4 coats of paint.

And putting crap all over the tiles that we have taken great pains to protect throughout painting.

And then the shower screen was installed unexpectedly, again with no-one home to supervise. Spreading more sealant and crap on the floor, in a shape I hadn't expected that means the shower head now seems to be pointing in the wrong direction. I can't even get any water onto the corner glass shelves to clean all the wood dust off them. I tried. Not knowing that I shouldn't be letting any water into the shower screen area due to silicon drying time until Saturday morning. Sigh.

No major damage except that there's a significant chip in one of the floor tiles right in the middle of the floor.

And there's still no glass in the door (raw green ), which still needs to be painted along with the frame - AGAIN!!!! When there is gloss enamel painting to be done or dried the bathroom cannot be used. Including the bath.

When I came home today the bathroom looked like a scummy shabby 10-year-old tiled disaster. with the door frame paint all ripped off and peeling - the carpenter has shifted the whole centre plate of the doorframe. I have told the bathroom contractor that he can stick the carpenter up his jaxie cos I'm not impressed with him at all. Tears were involved. I scrubbed and swept ( I can hear you laughing at the thought of me cleaning, stop it!) and rubbed at sealant crap and swore - a LOT.

I have few words to describe my fury at the waste of time, and the lack of sleep due to paint fumes, not to mention the fact that I am still showering outside in the cold wind (much to the cat's amusement this morning)

I am really over this.

Days whizzing by

Its that time of year where the days DO whizz by.

Last weekend (two weekends ago now) I repaired and enlarged a large shadecloth that we attach to the side of the house - This bit belowIts now 7 m long and 3.6m wide, and attaches to various treees and parts of the fascia boards. I got quotes for some fancy schmancy company to make us one, but it was going to be $4000 and ugly as sin, plus we would have had to take it down in a wind or with rain. No thanks. $60 worth of shadecloth, and two hours later- its great!!! Its less droopy now that it has been tightened up.

The plants love it.
Xmas shopping - at least half done, with ideas for the rest. I did some of last weekend with WIDGET!!!! She is in WA for a holiday visit and we caught up on Saturday. She likes our weather (it has been warm and gorgeous all weekend) and approves of my Power Shopping methods. Step 1- Get idea. Step 2 -Buy it, quickly, while praising the customer service skills of young people who appreciate a decisive customer. Step 3 -Walk out, job done. Works for me!(who is very lucky to now have sufficient income to achieve this method)

Plans for Xmas day - now complete.

Work - I commence nightshift again tonight for three nights, with a further two shifts next week on the 23rd and 24th - which means I finish work Xmas morning at 7.30am. Guess what I will be doing for most of Xmas day? Before we host my family for dinner. Go on, guess.

My sister is back from Melbourne! With her lovely daughter, and we hope they will be staying in Perth! yay, bouncing joy on this one! We hope our niece will get snapped up in an audition soon and get a job (hopefully in Perth) but my sis is likely to stay even if her daughter moves elsewhere for work.

Anyway, must dash - the shower is calling and I clock on in 52 minutes time!

Game queen and random clouds.

You may not remember this post. But I have just reached a new highest score of 44! Previous best - 8!

I started on Twiddletails (link on right) and clicked and clicked 'next blog'. I saw a dozen or more languages - warning - I passed through a pretty strange and graphic Indian adult site (although all featured normal looking women I must add), and finally met my match after a Czech site (how do you spell that?).

Anyway...I remain the queen of my weird little game. Feel free to clear your throat and wonder what planet I am on. I won't hear you.

You may have noticed that this is the third in a series of short, random little posts. Sorry... feeling observed and hassled when spending time on the computer lately...its a bit inhibiting. I toss and turn at night and think of work, blogging, stresses and strains, being in pain from getting old, my to-do list, cutting roses for the Mums I will see on Mother's Day (but sadly not mine!) ...many random things. Plus its been a bit hot at night. Maybe its menopause. Sigh.

Would you like to see some beautiful clouds I snapped a few weeks ago? Here...

Gorgeous huh? I have no idea if it will go bigger if you hover on it, but you can try.

The meaningful midwifery-related posts will return when I have my next day off. Its been an interesting week. I'm learning (and remembering) heaps.

Happy Mother's Day to all, especially those who are less remembered and spoilt than others, but who deserve to be just the same. You know who you are.

I'm baaaack

Home again at last!

What a trip, so much to tell you, I have thousands of posts swirling in my head, but most of all it is great to be home!

The (third) wedding was gorgeous. Our niece Shaku, along with her husband Martin, looked so elegant, and the location was fantastic again - in the Yarra Valley outside of Melbourne, on a vineyard overlooking the valley and peaks. Cocktails before, a fabulous dinner afterwards where, to save decision making, a platter of each choice on the menu was brought to the tables for sharing, great local food, beautifully cooked. Lovely wine. Lots of photos. Here's the red dress in all its glory! (I'm sure I felt much taller and thinner then I look here).

The best wedding speeches you have ever heard, funny, warm, inclusive, well balanced. Friends and family from all over the world. The bridal party was scattered among all the tables, and we happened to be at the table with the bride and groom. Just a beautiful night.

This is the ring-bearer (age 3) comparing his foot size with my son. Little Xavier's foot was as long as Patty's was wide. They both thought it was pretty funny! It was hard to get them in the same shot!

Shaku wore a simple white satin gown, no beading, just a shaped bodice and a fitted, curvaceous sheath with a mermaid-y tail. Drop-dead earrings. A large bunch of dazzling yellow roses and a diamante clip in her rolled up hair. Divine.

We stayed on a property outside of Healesville with a mountain view, where stunning parrots abounded, and so did the kangaroos! They were hopping all over the place at night.There was another two days of eating and drinking with family in 2 large well appointed houses, sitting around the fire, laughing like drains at all manner of inappropriate things and loving it! Stephanie had a birthday (19th) while we were there, so it was great for her to be with these cousins (the two young women front centre) for her birthday, as she hardly ever gets to see them as they live in Melbourne now. They were in on the iPod secret (her present) so gave her an iPod tunes voucher. She was pretty happy!

We also went to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary on the Saturday, which was really worthwhile. These are the dingoes (Australian Native dogs)They had a fantastic "Flight of the Parrots" show and a Raptor display with close-up views of beautiful and magnificent birds from the local areas, including a wedge-tail eagle as big as a dog - it looked much more impressive when flying! Plus a platypus breeding environment. Wow. There was also a working animal rescue hospital with well thought out displays and close-circuit TV of the examination table so you could see the action!

On Sunday, after a lavish breakfast for 16 (so. much. food) we drove into Melbourne and joined my sister Rynny for the afternoon. Patty had gone in to see his mate Dougal the day before, and we met him too. After an early dinner Don, Patty and Steff took off in the hire car for the airport, and left me in Melbourne for a week with my sister!!!

Girls on the town....look out!! Well, girls in their forties, with bad backs, and round tummies...but you get the picture! Aren't street silhouettes kind?

We shopped, and walked, and shopped, and went to see "Priscilla - Queen of the Desert" and ate, and shopped, and went to the movies, including Gold Class (The Other Boleyn Girl), ate and then we went up to see a midwife friend of mine, Jo, living in the country outside of Ballarat.

We set off as a big storm approached Melbourne and drove into it. It was pretty wild and we were going a very long way - over 200kms. It took us just under 3 hours, and then we were there! In a blackout with no power and no water (no power to run the pumps). Just a warm welcome from Jo and her three adorable kids (nr 6, nr 4 and 1). Lucky we'd stopped and brought a couple of cooked chooks with us! Wish we'd thought to buy candles!

Still, there was very little distraction from the joy of just hanging out with friends and their two new kittens, and seven new hatched chickens, and 363 sheep! We adjourned to our (adjacent spare) farmhouse for dinner on the gas stove before returning to Jo's house post-dinner in the dark with a few birthday candles and telling of tales. It was the first time Jo and Rynny had met and they got on really well. Rynny loved the whole family, and she is great with kids and kittens. She was always terrific with my kids when they were small. I think Jo liked the company too, she has a lot of family close by, but it was really special to see her. It will be a long time til we meet again I suspect.

Her youngest child Thomas was caught by me, and he is the most beautiful child, just such a rewarding baby to have. Nearly always smiling, engaging, active, walking! Such a privilege to be a midwife to a friend. An unexpected joy to share such a close bond between us. Jo and I worked together for around 4 months, and I was touched that she stated very early on with Thomas's pregnancy that she wanted me to deliver him. I was a student midwife, only half-way through, but catch number 16 was really special for me. You've seen them before here (at the end of the link).

I made Jo a bag (natch) which she was delighted with. See? The flower is her (just right) finishing touch. The internal pockets fitted her stuff in perfectly, including Thom Kitten's bottle!

After a night spent in a very dark farmhouse (the power came on at 2am) with a pesky mouse (that met its maker in the night) we woke to load sheep for a new owner - wow - how interesting to see a working farm and woolshed and sheepdog! The kids were great and all helped shoo the sheep from pen to pen, while Thom slept. We had a walk and maintained the fences as we went to close and open various gates for the next lot of sheep. It rained and the wind was pretty cold too, but there was the most AMAZING rainbow!

Anyway, I'd better get this photo'd up and posted, or you'll think I've run away and left you all. I've figured out a way to get my camera to take smaller photos (AFTER the wedding) - so it shouldn't take so long, but I think Blogger has just stopped uploading the first lot when i chose the second lot...oh, woe is me...

I promise to write more about midwifery next time...I've been thinking a lot, and had some interesting women in my care on the ward while on night shift, and today I was sent to labour ward as a fill-in midwife. I looked after a couple who had lost their daughter to a congenital malformation a few days earlier...it was a tough day in many respects, but they were in reasonable spirits when they left.... it was a nice surprise to be on LBS after a month or so away, one of the benefits of working as a rotational midwife. I start on the visiting midwife service next week. I'm looking forward to working in the community again. I've had an offer of more work today in the perinatal loss area...I'll give it some thought.

Thanks for visiting, I'll try and visit y'all too, if you let me know you dropped by! Til next time.

Holiday tales

OK so here's the goss on Japan - it was GREAT! I finished night shift Wed morning at 7.20am and slept for about 2-ish hours, then I got up and finished packing...I don't think I forgot anything except the phone charger - not important as it didn't work cos I'd been too busy to put it on international roaming. So the trip was even more special because we were so totally incommunicado.

I have now decided that we are not crossing the Pacific again without going business class. All the hassle of getting to airports hours early for international flights is negated by the convenience of the business class lounge. Food and drink laid on (esp. Singapore lounge - fantastic). Yay! The service on the flight was so attentive, I was fed literally all the way to Singapore. I practically had to beg them to stop bringing me food so I could get some sleep from Singapore to Fukuoka.

We arrived at breakfast time on Thursday and were met by a good friend Dr Takayuki Sueta who had spent two years in Perth. He took us to the university department adjacent to the hospital where he practises as an ENT surgeon. There we met various other staff members and had a tour of the hearing research facilities, and as a special treat for me a trip to the neonatal nursery attached to one of the maternity wards, where I saw some sweet little Japanese babies in their many layers of wrappings including tiny kimono style tops. It was very thoughtful to include my interests and to introduce me to the staff of the unit, I was most touched.

We then returned to the department where we were joined by Takayuki's wife and children and her parents, who we had met in Perth. It was a delirious reunion and we soon headed off together in a hire car to a mountain hot springs resort, the Kurakawa Onsen. Our room was third from the left top. We were accompanied by the wife of another ENT surgeon who has known us for many years, and who has also lived in Perth and the USA.

The resort was very like the area I lived in (also in Japan at Minakami onsen) as a young girl 27 years ago! The rooms were beautiful, two large single beds, and a tatami mat area, with a private deck overlooking the river and the mountainside, which included a private outdoor bath with piped hot spring water for round the clock bathing. Ahhhh ... when in Rome ... It was irresistible ... the sounds of the river bend below..the stark late winter trees beyond. Just gorgeous. We had an incredible and extravagant Japanese dinner in a special private dining room on tatami overlooking a small pond with enormous koi fish.

The little girls were relaxing in our presence. Rikako (6) was born in Perth and was with us there until she was nearly 2 years of age. Her mother Chihaya and I are very close. We hadn't met the new daughter Mami, who is 16 months. Both are delightful and full of fun. A lovely family. After dinner we all had trips to the outdoor baths. The men went first, then the women - me, Chihaya, Noriko and Rikako all trooped off wearing our hotel bathrobes and slippers through the hotel to the large public bath first where we rinsed off and had an initial soak. Then, clad in nothing but our small thin handtowels we ventured out into the cool spring night, and soaked in turn in various small rock hotpools, ending up eventually in the riverside pool, among the rocks above the rapids under the stars. It was a lovely way to spend an hour, naked with friends, exchanging news and relaxing in the hot water. We worked our way back through a cave pool and finally back into the big public indoor bath again where we soaped and scrubbed fully and had a last soak. A unique Japanese pleasure, which I came to understand more fully on this trip. We were so lucky to be there.

Presents for all the women were given and received with delight. I had made a handbag for ChihayaNoriko and another friend Fumiko, plus of course presents for the little girls including Easter chocolates.

After an elaborate full Japanese breakfast in the hotel (and another quick tub on the deck), and a quick walk we headed off to a nearby mountain Mt Asa. This is a volcanic area, with five peaks, but unfortunately it was very misty and the view was impaired, so we went down into the ancient caldera and went to a soba dojo where we made buckwheat noodles from soba beans ground into flour. This was great fun, and Don was the star! The instructor was very impressed that a man in his fifties took so readily to mixing, kneading and rolling the noodles (such a skill is not very common in Japanese culture apparently). They then cooked the noodles for us for lunch in a yummy broth. Then off to Kumomoto to visit the castle and towers- very picturesque, lovely grounds, and enormous winding stone walls to protect the towers. interesting historical displays from the edo period. There were plum trees in blossom but sadly it was a bit too early for the cherry blossoms.

We returned to Fukuoka and were deposited in a very nice hotel for an hour or so, before being picked up for a special dinner in a fine French restaurant on a hill overlooking the city. Oh. My. God. I have never had such an elaborate French meal. 8 courses including French wines and sobets and hand-made truffles. We were a party of 11 and included the retiring Professor Dr Kato, the current head of the department Professor Nakagawa and his wife, Dr Morizono and his wife Noriko, Dr Takayuki and his wife Chihaya, Dr Yamano and his wife Fumiko (also Perth visitor friends) and ourselves. It was a very special night.

How did we communicate? Mostly in English, but I was seated between Professor Kato who understood some English but was not confident speaking it, and on my left was Professor Nakagawa whose English was excellent. I understand a tiny bit of Japanese and blundered on when I could with small talk, but Noriko was my translator for the majority of the night. What a honey, she is really practical, and has such a sense of humour. Kato and I found we had things in common, including singing and wine appreciation (although I don't drink now), and that his wife (who would be present the next day) would be able to communicate with us in French as she was involved in the France - Japan society.

I was also able to see Fumiko and Takafumi. Noriko and Chihaya had told me the day before that they had lost a baby at term in August last year. Such sad, shocking news, Fumiko was so brave as she told me a little more about it as I crouched next to her at the other end of the table. His name was Kuroke, and his Mum is sure she will meet him again when he returns to her as their next baby. I told her about a similar story I had read here, which moved me so much. (I have since printed out a translation for her and will send it to her this week, along with a gift in memory of him). We were both a bit misty-eyed and had to retire to the loo, but I was so glad to see them both, and give them my hugs and sympathies in person. Birth truly is as safe as life gets. There is no known reason for his death, they had waited and tried for 5 years to have a baby. It is never fair.

Next day we were picked up and taken by train to the Kyushu National Museum, a fascinating building with beautiful displays of the history of the Asian region and its people. The most beautiful artifacts, things I had never seen before such as flame pots, and the use of earthenware clay for coffins/burial pots. Incredible. We then went to the Daizafu Shrine, where people go to pray for exam success. We prayed (someone, somewhere must need it). We then had lunch in a local restaurant before a lightning bit of 'Power Shopping' for some souvenirs and textiles before returning to the city by mid-afternoon.

The big function that night was the symposium and retirement banquet. This necessitated 3 speeches by Don including a half-hour scientific speech, comments for the retirement and presentation of a plaque to Professor Kato. It was a pretty big deal, and as the invited overseas guest(s) we were treated to the nicest tables and waited on, while most people milled around and served themselves. Professor Kato's wife was delighted to have some francophones to converse with (Don is very fluent, and I can get by OK), and I got thoroughly confused for a while about which language to answer in to anyone! It is funny that I have used French each time I have visited Japan, as a lingua franca of second choice, with either Japanese or European visitors I have met. All those years in high school were not wasted! The food once again was great. It was a great honour to be invited. Some of the staff were wearing traditional dress, and we managed a quick photo with them. They were a doctor and two departmental secretaries, who were looking after us so kindly. Hardly any other wives were invited. There was a bit of drinking in a hotel bar after the banquet, then off to bed, very relieved that the technical aspects of the talks had gone well and they were well received.

On our last day we went by train with all our friends to a town to the south called Yanagawa, a city of water with canals, where there was a festival for girls (March 3) and dolls (March 13). The whole town is decorated with little dolls and brightly coloured mobiles celebrating girls and dolls. We arrived a bit late for the water parade, but there were heaps of people in town, and visiting the ohana, sort of a town hall/museum place. We found some early cherry blossoms!Sakura at last! We ate a lunch of eel, a local delicacy, steamed with rice and despatched to dining parties with efficiency in lovely laquered boxes. Once again we were in a tatami dining hall on the floor, a bit of a challenge for some, including one of our hosts. But the company was great. Don made a toast to our friends, to thank them for being so hospitable and thoughtful during our stay, and for showing us so much culture and kindness. This left half of us in tears (the women), as we realised we would be separated again the next day, just when we were so enjoying being together again. That night we had another dinner together at a tempura restaurant in our hotel, as a party of 8 in a private dining room, another beautifully presented 11 course meal with a Spring theme, including cherry blossoms in the soup, and seasonal produce, and many local varieties of sake rice wine - each style served in a different sake flask and glasses. Just gorgeous.

And the next morning we were seen off by the Morizonos and the Suetas at the airport for the full day journey back home. We had been so thoughtfully taken care of during the trip - a whirlwind 4 days on the ground. Our friends were so attentive, even though their lives were so busy. Takayuki's mother was in hospital, about to have surgery for supected lung cancer and he was driving us around! We felt guilty for taking up so much of their time, but had a few hours to wander the streets ourselves and (not quite) get lost. I found a place with scapbooking supplies to make a card for her in my hotel room, as I couldn't find a card shop in our area!

Japan was much as I had remembered it, bustling, beautiful, civilised, polite, fascinating, friendly and very foreign and alienating to someone as text based as I am. It is quite odd to not understand ANY of the text that surrounds you. Speaking of which...

This is a Japanese western style toilet. Our hotel toilet to be precise, but similar ones could be found everywhere. We didn't sit on a cold toilet seat anywhere, because they are all heated to a cosy-bottom temperature! I kid you not! It was astounding. In addition, all the other contraptions are for, ahem, washing purposes. One can dial up a front wash, a backside wash, a single jet, a tidal wave full bowl fountain spray, or oscillating, just dial-up the pressure required. Is that too much information? And yes, I did try it out. Having a jet of warm water aimed with extreme accuracy is quite an experience I can assure you! I don't want to know how it aims, no, really I don't! Can you imagine the power consumption that goes into that bit of engineering? Keeping bottoms warm all over Japan!

The food was incredible. Don was in heaven, I tried most things, but I will never be a fan of everything on offer in Japan (even Don found some things startling). Why did I find it difficult to accept that 'tea' was usually salty, yet if they called it soup I would usually cope? We were fed raw horse, raw egg, miso soup, 12 different green teas, pickled plums, eel, Hokkaido Snow crab, Kagoshima beef, tiny whole baby cuttlefish, fugu (blowfish), tempura, river fish, sea perch, caviar, prawns, fungi, seaweed, agar, red-bean paste cakes, and every kind of seafood and sashimi known to man. Here is Don's lunch on Day 1 (minus the first bit)And of course rice, rice and more rice and more nori. Not to mention the French menu we were treated to, the banquets and more. It was truly amazing. Its all such an art form.

And the people in general. So polite. So kind. The service. Incredible. And our friends - I just wanted to fit them all in my suitcase and take them home. But the point was that I was seeing them in their home town, and they seemed so delighted to host us. I would go back again!

So...its a long story with heaps of photos. Somehow I didn't take many group pics, but I hope our friends did and send us some!

What a marathon post. Its late at night here and I've just come off 3 nights of night shift, so I'm still up at 3.30am. Many stories to tell from work too for another day.

Ah well... I'm on proper holidays now for 2 weeks.

Talk again soon!