Quiet Saturday

Have heard very few fireworks this year.  The silence is nice.

Picked up a book at the library and groceries at Safeway.  I was out of most things.  Use my cart for coming up the stairs.  I bought it at the PNE for only $20 so shouldn't complain that the wheels fall off when it is empty.

End to a busy week

Just couldn't get inspired to do much today.  Caught up on watching everything except movies on my PVR.

I really have to get groceries tomorrow.

Bone Scan

At VGH for an injection for a bone scan at 9:00.  Had breakfast at the Sunshine Diner and then did some shopping at Granville Island.  Sat there reading until it was time to head back.  The scan was at 11:50 and I was walking out at 12:25.  Everything went smoothly except the itch on my leg I couldn't scratch.

Came straight home and kept falling asleep this afternoon.  My leg hasn't been hurting so I think it was all the sitting on the weekend that bothered it.

Talked to my trial nurse and I will see Karen on Wednesday at 8 AM.  My first treatment will be on Thursday.  It will be an hour the first time to see if I react to the drug and I'll have to sit for another hour after it's finished.  Good thing I can amuse myself with music and books.

Placebo

Woke up with a headache so didn't even get dressed today.  Watched some of the many hours on my PVR after being away for several days.

Karen called when I was on the phone and left a message saying I was on the placebo.  My trial nurse will call to arrange moving me on to the real thing!

Puzzles

Had bloodwork this morning to help them decide about taking me off the clinical trial.  

Lori and I met at Pam's to do some rainy day caching.  We spent the day solving various puzzles that gave us the coordinates of caches.  A lot of puns, math, science, music....  Always easier doing these with 3 minds coming from different directions.

Did a bit of shopping on the way home but my left leg was too sore to do much.

Home

Good sleep last night.  Had free breakfast at the hotel before starting out.  Had lunch in Spences Bridge where there was a cache.  It didn't start raining until about Boston Bar.  Stopped at the Chilliwack Airport for dinner as I have to fast for 14 hours for tomorrow's blood test.  The rain was nasty so I got off the Freeway at Langley and Hwy 10 was much better to see on as there were a lot of streetlights.

Found 17 caches today.  Didn't think I'd done so many and had to count it twice.

The Cancer Agency found me in Cache Creek to tell me a bone scan is booked for Thursday - a waiting time of a week. 

 

Kamloops

Lazy morning. Halia made scones and Angie a fresh fruit salad. A perfect breakfast.

Only found 3 community named caches. Failed to find the final in Vernon. Have to go back next year.

Stopped in Kamloops at new Best Western. $109 and there is a couch! Ate at Red Robin.

Fall Council

The BCTLA Fall Council meeting started at 8:30 with breakfast - good treats! Impressed by with quality of young teacher-librarians struggling to keep a library program in their districts. I slipped out a couple of times to put my feet up in the lobby.

A few of us went to the Cactus Club for dinner. Angie then took Halia and me home for the night (and some wine).

Having some leg and groin pains.

Kelowna Fresh

Great conference today. Met others in hotel dining room for breakfast and then drove to Kelowna Secondary for BCTLA conference. Well organized and interesting speakers. Much isn't relevant any more but I didn't have to pay since an award is named the Val Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award. Love it that Sharon Scott won - one of my mentors in the 70's.

We had an Executive meeting from 4 to 6 and then a large group went to Moxie's. Had a great steak soaked in honey and garlic.

I finally said I was driving back. My legs were rebelling against all that sitting!

Drive to Kelowna

Left my Starbucks at 8:30 on the way to the BCTLA conference in Kelowna. Stopped in Hope for gas and a snack at Tim Horton's. Lunch at Billy's in Penticton. There was N Earthcache right behind it and a simple one at the museum. I am concentrating on finding 40 with the names of the community in the title. Climbed up into the mine ruins in Hedley and found the spot described but no cache. More success in Penticton. Could see one in Westbank but couldn't get to it in rush hour traffic.

Checked into the Capri and couldn't see anyone. Drove across the street to Kelsey's and there they were. We went to Kelowna Secondary for a social.

Stopped with a group for a cocktail downstairs.

Rats

The day started out wrong.  I packed my pack for the day at the Cancer Agency last night.  Headed out today and had to come back for the forgotten wallet.  This made me 1/2 hour late for bloodwork.  Two nurses were quite upset and thought something had happened as I am never late.  Nice to be missed!

Saw Karen at 10 and the CT Scan on Monday showed that the node in the right groin is growing.  This is the one that was estrogen negative in the biopsy a few months ago.  The plan is to lift the blind on my clinical trial to see if I have been getting the real drug.  If not, I'll probably switch to it.  If yes, everything stops and we move on to Plan C.  First I need a bunch of bloodwork and a bone scan.

Met Mae for lunch at the Cactus Club and then back to the Agency for a couple of hours of reading.  Had the chemo at 2:15 and was on my way home by 3.  

Met Moira for dinner at Applause and to pick up a box for the conference.  Really tired so didn't stay out long.

My suitcase is already in the car and I am nearly ready for this weekend's BCTLA conference in Kelowna.

Another perfect Tuesday

Lori and Pam came by this morning and we went caching at Kits, Granville Island, the Olympic Village, Hastings, East Vancouver and South Vancouver.  I counted 13 new ones for a total of 1145.  We stopped at the Argo Cafe for lunch.  I'm really enjoying these caching Tuesdays.  We make a good team.  I do the driving and they get the caches in the difficut terrain for me.

Canada Line

Left at 2:15 for the Cancer Agency via Canada Line.  Had to drink a bottle of water at 2:25 and another at 3:15 to prepare for CT Scan.  The Scan went well and the nurse found a vein without much trouble.  My arm seems to be better since we started using the port for most blood draws and chemo.

Sat reading in the lobby (next to a bathroom) until it was time to join 3 friends at the Cactus Club for dinner.  We then walked back to the Agency for a support group.  Got a ride to the Canada Line and was home quickly.  A lot better than paying for parking.  Last week was $15 for half the time. 

My ankles and feet were sore today.  Getting old sucks.

Sunday again?

Had another lazy day since the next 7 will be so busy.  Watched a couple of shows I had taped on the mine rescue.

Canucks were entertaining tonight.

Recovery day

Slept in and just sat around watching all my shows on the PVR.  Easy to fall behind with both hockey and football games to watch.

Liberty

Had lunch at the Liberty Bakery with former Status of Women members.  Always good food and good company.

Picked up a couple of puzzle books at Chapters, stopped at COSTCO & returned library books.

The official final count for accounts logging a cache on 10-10-10 is 78,313.  Beat the previous big day of 56,654, set on April 18, 2010.

Car care

Took my car to Open Road Toyota for a regular service.  It was a big one and included new transmission fluid for the first time in 111,596 km.  Had the snow tires put on since I am going to BCTLA conference in Kelowna next week.  I arrived at 2 and waited until 6:40!  Good thing there was free WiFi for my iPad and I had a good book to read.

Decided not to shop and just picked up Chinese food on the way home.

Caching in White Rock

Lori was busy with family so Pam and met in Surrey at a cache we both have not been able to find.  She got it fairly quickly.  She also found one on Marine Drive that has been evading us for months.  We were on a roll this morning!  I found 16 for the day.  Pam already had a few of them but let me find them.  

Home by 5 and am too tired to watch the news tonight.  Did see the first miners come out of the mine in Chile.  Amazing coverage.

Happy Thanksgiving

Talked to Daphne, Janet & Marilyn in New Brunswick today.

Watched Lions give a game away to Winnipeg - must stop stupid penalties.

Picked up Jesse & Pru and we joined family at Chris's for tasty turkey dinner.  We watched U.S. football, baseball & Canucks all at the same time.  

Worked on puzzles for tomorrow's geocaching day in White Rock.  Must buy a book to help.

10:10 on 10/10/10

Met Pam at the 10:10:10 Anniversary Flashmob in Queensborough.  This is also important at it is the 10th anniversary of geocaching.  The goal is to set a record for the number of people finding a cache on a single day.

Found a cache in New Westminster with the help of 2 others and then did some shopping at London Drugs, Price Smart, Kim's and Cobb's - do like the strip mall at Byrne and Marine Drive.

Finished reading the Pickton book tonight.

Pickton

A rainy day so I cocooned with my latest library book, On the Farm by Stevie Cameron.  I forgot about it for a bit so have to finish by Wednesday.  Really well written and fascinating to see everything put into a cohesive timeline.  Like the way she puts a face to each victim.

Lazy

Slept in and didn't do much today.  Feel pretty good, just tired.

Early day

Bloodwork was 8:00 today so had to set a couple of alarms to make sure I got up.  Saw nurse at 8:30 and then sat in the lounge reading until my 11:00 treatment.  Had a good nurse and it went quickly.

Drove to the Waffle House for some liver and onions and found a couple of easy caches nearby. Someone had written in the online log that one was missing.  I found it in about 2 minutes - love it when that happens!

Too tired to do much else so headed home.  Fell asleep in front of the TV.

Recovered

Had a good long sleep to recover from yesterday's walking.  Feel pretty good today but stayed in to rest up for tomorrow's chemo.

Do enjoy reading several newspapers every day on my iPad.  No recycling!

Another Geocaching Tuesday

Picked up Lori and Pam this morning for our weekly foray.  Took quite a while to get through the tunnel so I was a bit late.

We started with a cache hidden near the ferry but couldn't see it.  No one has found it in a year so it might be washed away.  We then crossed the border to Point Roberts.  The first was right by the old Breakers.  Several were in the woods and we walked a few kilometers down the trails.  I found 10 altogether for a total of 1101.  Lori & Pam did some of the clambering for me.  My 1100th was actually hidden in the Public Library - perfect!

Went home the long way via the Alec Fraser Bridge and avoided all traffic jams.   

Very tired and my legs don't want me to do much at all for a bit.

Wash day

Did a load of laundry this morning and stayed in reading for the rest of the day.

My neck is feeling better but isn't back to normal yet.

Ioco Ghost Town Days

Stopped at Pru's first thing to pick up her book 2 and my book 3 of "those books" to lend to Andrea.

Motorcycle parade got in my way to Matt's again this year.  Don't know why they can block all cars turning left for miles.  Had coffee and pumpkin scone and then headed out for the Ioco Ghost Town Day.  A perfect size for little kids.  They rode ponies (even Sadie) and decorated cookies and pumpkins.  We all took a ride around the townsite in a 1920's Ford.

Sadie is really moving around well.  She can scoot down stairs and across the floor at home and uses a walker when out.  It is the kind that is behind her with 2 wheels on the front.  That way it won't roll back.  She can sit on the bars when tired.  Physio is going to be 2 evenings a week at a pool.  She doesn't seem to be in any pain, just weak.

Picked up Curiosity, the Vancouver Sun's book club pick for October and did some shopping at Thrifty's before heading home.

Stiff neck

My neck is still stiff and sore but I got a good sleep.

Out for a brief visit to the library and Safeway and then in for the rest of day.

At least the Lions provided good entertainment tonight.

Apple day

Met Jane at the Oakridge Apple store at 11:30.  It is right next door to the store that was held up with gunfire last night.

The plan was to buy an iPad but her Mac is too old to connect to one.  We had a good clerk who printed out everything we needed and we went to the White Spot to have lunch and talk it over.

Jane decided to go for it so we went back and got the iPad.  She'll have to bring in her Mac so they can move everything to the new computer.  We stayed on to load new apps.  

Finally home at 4 and was really tired.  My neck is still sore and stiff.

Best geocaching month

The sun was still shining so I headed to West Vancouver to find some caches.  Started at Cypress Bowl and then Horseshoe Bay.  Then worked my way back to North Vancouver.  Found 7 and didn't find a few more.

I now have a total of 1,091.  My best month was July 2010 with 83 finds.  This month I now have 178!  Won't beat that for a long time.

I have a really sore neck tonight.  I've been using heat and I'll take some Tylenol before going to bed.