I'm a Dreamer

I have been having a recurring dream that I have just started University and I can't find my schedule or which room my class is supposed to be in. One night I was in my first physics class and the instructor was telling how the marks would be based. He said that 97% would be based on handwriting. I thought "Oh no I've had it" Then he corrected that 97% would be graphs and 7% handwriting. In my dream I never questioned that this did not add to 100%.

Most of my dreams are just nonsensical. But one night a while ago I was seriously prophesying in my dream. I remembered afterward what I had prophesied and told Elaine about it. She said "The Bible says that '... your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions ...' (Joel 2:28). I guess that shows what category you are in!"

Then last night in my dream I was riding a bicycle. Somebody was taking my car to fill it with gas and I was going to follow them. I seemed to be having trouble getting my legs going to pedal fast enough. Then I woke myself up and was actually pedalling my feet under the covers. Fortunately I did not kick Elaine in the process. When I told Elaine about it in the morning she asked if it had been a trick bike. Unfortunately it was not but maybe in my next dream.

Jesus in the Boat

Mark 4:35 ¶ And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

My Musical Instruments

Passy-Muir speaking valve and AeroTrach Chamber


I use a Passy-Muir speaking valve with my trach. It has a diaphragm which acts as a one-way valve. (The clear plastic clip is to attach an oxygen hose.) I breathe in through the trach and then the diaphragm closes when I breathe out so the air goes past my vocal chords and out my mouth and nose. If I am not careful to clean the valve every day it can give a "honking" sound like a duck call. That has happened sometimes at church or at meetings at work. (Awkward!) Sometimes there is a faint "buzz" from the valve diaphragm when I speak. Janny says "Dad your voice has a kazoo quality." But in general it gives me a good clear voice.

I have an AeroTrach chamber that I use to inhale medication through my trach. If I breathe too quickly it makes a sound like a flute. The one I had before had symbol on it of a musical note with a circle around it and a diagonal stroke. The signal means you are breathing too quickly. When Janny hears the flute sound while I take my medicine she yells "Dad it is not a musical instrument!" It makes different notes depending how I breathe so I call it my "trach flute."

So at present the duck call, the kazoo, and the trach flute are the extent of my musical repertoire.

Half Way to 110

I am celebrating my birthday today. I went out to a restaurant for my birthday last night with Elaine, Janice, Mike and Nicole.

At supper Mike said "Happy birthday Dad. You are half way to 110."

I have made it this far. But I guess I have quite a way to go.

Inspirational Doctor's Office

A few years ago when I was having a lot of back pain I was referred to one of the top neurosurgeons in the city for a consultation. I was told the pressure on my spinal cord could increase to the point I would be paralyzed from the waist down, and anything they could do would only make it worse.

In this doctor's waiting room around the walls there were framed photographs he had taken. Each picture had an inspirational verse on it, mostly scriptures. One of them really stood out to me. "All things are possible to him that believeth" Mark 9:23

I was prayed for at church and I improved until I have been completely free from the back pain I was having.

All's Quiet On The Home Front

Mary and Chris left for home on Tuesday with the convoy of movers and travellers to the left coast. It has been great having them here this summer. Last summer Mary was here but Chris was not able to come.

It seems that a lot of the visiting while Mary and Chris were here involved special meals. They both seem to like cooking. They made sushi for us one meal which I had not had before. And they made a stir fry with tofu and other items left from making the sushi. Actually the tofu was better than I expected. And then they made us a special supper with roast duck which was excellent. When they were looking for something to make with the left over duck I suggested Duck Smoothies. I told them "If it ever becomes popular remember you heard it here first!"

We had a good time with Mary and Chris and other visiting as well as the trips we were able to make this summer. Now the next event to look forward to is attending Matt and Christine's wedding in September.

Historic Cook Book

We have been amused looking at an old cook book that my mother had. It is the Blue Ribbon Cook Book 19th Edition. It is copyright by the Blue Ribbon Manufacturing Company, Winnipeg in 1905. It does not show the year this 19th edition would have been printed. Some advertisements in the back have 3 colours of ink (red, yellow, blue) which was not used until the 1930s.

There are chapters on various types of cooking and baking. A chapter on Gruels has a recipe for Cracker Gruel: "Use 1/4 cup plain or Graham cracker crumbs. Cook a few minutes in a cup of boiling water; add 1 cup hot milk, and a little salt"

In the chapter on Poultry and Game there is a section titled Restoring Tainted Game. "If game becomes slightly tainted, it should at once be picked clean and put into milk for a full day (24 hours), keeping it entirely covered. This will sweeten it, and it should be cooked at once." This was before the days of refrigeration or concern about salmonella.

We have been amused by a chapter titled Invalid Cookery. Toast and barley water seemed to be primary treatments for illness. Barley water is made by boiling 1 cup barley in 6 cups water. There is a recipe for Toast Water: "Cut 2 slices of bread thin, toast. Break in pieces, pour over them 1 cup boiling water, cool and strain. It may be flavoured with a little lemon juice."

Then it has something called Koumiss which was made by putting milk, sugar, and yeast in a bottle and letting it sit for 3 to 5 days to ferment. It says "tie the corks down securely." With some of these recipes for invalids I am not sure if it would cure them or kill them.

I am not sure if we would try anything from this cook book but it is interesting to look at.

Pictures of My Father

This summer when Darlene was here we were going through old pictures of our mother and father. Mary scanned some of the pictures and linked to them on her blog. I stitched together three of the pictures of my father as shown here.

These pictures would have been taken when my father was in his twenties. He came to Canada at age 30 and had already lost his hair by that time. In the right hand picture he was starting to look more how I knew him. One of my father's sayings was "I used to have wavy hair but it waved goodbye"