After 6 chemo treatments with Cisplatin, Dr. B has found that my lungs are a little worse than before we started it in August. So we're trying another type of chemo, Taxol, with treatments weekly. We'll have to see what side effects I experience, but she says it shouldn't be as hard on my digestive system.
My blood counts have been a bit low, so had a transfusion last week and won't start the new treatment until next week when they should be better.
I am hoping to continue working part time through this treatment, as I've been able to do with the others. Continuing to continue!
Wendy
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Book Club Anniversary
Our book club has been going for a year now and we are still having fun with it. We have taken a different approach; instead of reading the same book each month and discussing it, we establish a theme. At first, someone volunteered to find, read and review several books on that theme, but that quickly evolved to everyone coming with a brief review of a book they had discovered and read. Always followed by discussion about other things we’d read and recommended and an exchange of books we’d brought to pass along. (Particular favourites of these have been Blessed are the Cheesemakers and The Guernsey Literary Society.)
These have been our themes thus far:
Novels about place – Northern Ontario
Novels about place – Montreal (English and French in translation)
Novels about place - Newfoundland
Mystery by a Canadian author
Novel about rural Canada
Canadian novel featuring a body of water
Canadian cookbook or book about food
Biography of a Canadian
Historical novel by a Canadian
Topics for 2010 have yet to be determined but possibilities include:
Favourite book of 2009
Canadian humour
Book about health/wellness
Poetry
A Canadian road trip
Canadian novel pre-1960
A Canadian author looks at elsewhere in world
A novel of work/the workplace
Other suggestions welcome!
Wendy
These have been our themes thus far:
Novels about place – Northern Ontario
Novels about place – Montreal (English and French in translation)
Novels about place - Newfoundland
Mystery by a Canadian author
Novel about rural Canada
Canadian novel featuring a body of water
Canadian cookbook or book about food
Biography of a Canadian
Historical novel by a Canadian
Topics for 2010 have yet to be determined but possibilities include:
Favourite book of 2009
Canadian humour
Book about health/wellness
Poetry
A Canadian road trip
Canadian novel pre-1960
A Canadian author looks at elsewhere in world
A novel of work/the workplace
Other suggestions welcome!
Wendy
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Summer Jobs
A conversation at our New Years’ Day Open House got me thinking about my summer job experiences while in high school and university.
We were talking about the summer I spent assisting my father set up and open the first incarnation of his used bookstore. We cleared an outbuilding on the farm, he built and installed shelves, and decided which books he could bear to part with. I moved them from the house – from shelves, cardboard boxes under beds and precarious piles. Then organized by categories of our devising, shelved and priced them, and waited on the customers who found us, including neighbours, folks out for a drive in the country, and other booklovers.
Retail not for me, but retained enthusiasm for used bookstores and reading.
Other summer job experiences included:
Working as a live-in mother’s helper in a suburban Toronto household.
I recall commenting in a letter to a friend that I could see what was in it for him, but wasn’t sure what she was getting out of it.
Housewifing not for me (in case I didn’t already know that), introduced to bagels.
A summer working at a small factory contracted to making wiring harnesses for Ford, being a member of the UAW but without the high wages for which the auto industry is known. Only worked for one day on the line, then moved to a giant stapling machine, which with explosive bursts of noise stapled plastic clips to some sort of spline. Also worked in the office which overlooked the shop floor, making labels for parts for the new model year, and in quality control, where completed harnesses were fit onto a test board so the lights lit up in sequence.
Assembly lines not for me, but getting up early ok.
Writing a grant application for Opportunities for Youth, a federal job creation program where the potential employees could propose a project (this was the 70s), presumably with the agreement of the potential employer. I don’t think it was my main selling point, but I recall making the argument that white Anglo-Saxon farmers’ daughters, the potential employees, were a minority group. The project did receive funding, although I got another job and my sister worked on it.
Grant writing may be in my future.
Summer job recollections, anyone?
Wendy
We were talking about the summer I spent assisting my father set up and open the first incarnation of his used bookstore. We cleared an outbuilding on the farm, he built and installed shelves, and decided which books he could bear to part with. I moved them from the house – from shelves, cardboard boxes under beds and precarious piles. Then organized by categories of our devising, shelved and priced them, and waited on the customers who found us, including neighbours, folks out for a drive in the country, and other booklovers.
Retail not for me, but retained enthusiasm for used bookstores and reading.
Other summer job experiences included:
Working as a live-in mother’s helper in a suburban Toronto household.
I recall commenting in a letter to a friend that I could see what was in it for him, but wasn’t sure what she was getting out of it.
Housewifing not for me (in case I didn’t already know that), introduced to bagels.
A summer working at a small factory contracted to making wiring harnesses for Ford, being a member of the UAW but without the high wages for which the auto industry is known. Only worked for one day on the line, then moved to a giant stapling machine, which with explosive bursts of noise stapled plastic clips to some sort of spline. Also worked in the office which overlooked the shop floor, making labels for parts for the new model year, and in quality control, where completed harnesses were fit onto a test board so the lights lit up in sequence.
Assembly lines not for me, but getting up early ok.
Writing a grant application for Opportunities for Youth, a federal job creation program where the potential employees could propose a project (this was the 70s), presumably with the agreement of the potential employer. I don’t think it was my main selling point, but I recall making the argument that white Anglo-Saxon farmers’ daughters, the potential employees, were a minority group. The project did receive funding, although I got another job and my sister worked on it.
Grant writing may be in my future.
Summer job recollections, anyone?
Wendy
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Read and Recommended
10 books I’ve read and recommended in the past year:
The Outlander, Gil Adamson
This first novel by a Canadian author has not received the attention its quality warrants.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A story told through letters. Thanks to Anna for passing along her copy.
How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built, Stewart Brand
How buildings evolve and what/how we might learn in order to build better.
Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones
A story with a memorable setting about the power of reading.
The Mummy Congress, Heather Pringle
A journalist becomes fascinated by the researchers and academics who are fascinated by mummies.
The Bishop’s Man, Linden MacIntyre
Improved by having heard the author read and answer questions as part of the Lorenzo series.
Banishing Verona, Margot Livesey
Another unexpected find that has been widely circulated.
Champlain’s Dream, David Hackett Fischer
An excellent new biography about one of the most influential figures in Canadian history.
Undertow, Thomas Rendell Curran
One of a series featuring a police inspector working in St. John’s after WWII.
Gilead, Marilyn Robinson
An aging father in failing health wants his young son to know him through his recollections.
Wendy
The Outlander, Gil Adamson
This first novel by a Canadian author has not received the attention its quality warrants.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A story told through letters. Thanks to Anna for passing along her copy.
How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built, Stewart Brand
How buildings evolve and what/how we might learn in order to build better.
Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones
A story with a memorable setting about the power of reading.
The Mummy Congress, Heather Pringle
A journalist becomes fascinated by the researchers and academics who are fascinated by mummies.
The Bishop’s Man, Linden MacIntyre
Improved by having heard the author read and answer questions as part of the Lorenzo series.
Banishing Verona, Margot Livesey
Another unexpected find that has been widely circulated.
Champlain’s Dream, David Hackett Fischer
An excellent new biography about one of the most influential figures in Canadian history.
Undertow, Thomas Rendell Curran
One of a series featuring a police inspector working in St. John’s after WWII.
Gilead, Marilyn Robinson
An aging father in failing health wants his young son to know him through his recollections.
Wendy
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Additional Experience
Jane correctly pointed out that a new experience missing from my list was becoming a blonde. (See June 1, 2009 post.)
I've discovered that blondes wear shorter skirts, trendier glasses and have little tolerance for clothes that are now two sizes too large.
Wendy
I've discovered that blondes wear shorter skirts, trendier glasses and have little tolerance for clothes that are now two sizes too large.
Wendy
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