Superficial Joy

After my screening and diagnostic mammograms this summer, the radiologist recommended that I get a diagnostic mammogram every six months to watch a cluster of calcium deposits they found. Six months out would be early January, so I wanted to get it done in the US while I am here for the holidays.  Since my two states are Idaho and Texas, I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to get it done in either place, despite having full insurance coverage in the United States. The place I called in Dallas would not accept me since my home of record is Idaho; after an angry post on Facebook my dad emailed me the number for ARA Diagnostic Imaging in Austin. They seemed to have no problem at all with my being from Idaho.  I got all of my stuff in order, signed up for MyChart via the link they sent me and thought I was good to go. Of course, I didn't have everything I needed. I learned that a referral is not the same as an order. An order signed by a doctor clears you for the x-rays in the sca

 Here is a sample from news outlets tonight as we, the people of the world, mourn the loss of Her Majesty the Queen. (I have access to channels in a bunch of different languages). The new Prime Minster speaking on the death of Her Majesty God Save the King

The last segment of my whirlwind summer was FRANCE!  My friend Zena invited me to join her some of her hiking friends on a week-long trip to the Alps in the south of France. WOW! I have always wanted to do this! Zena!! I took the train from 3 nights' rest in Geneva, Switzerland, to Lyon where I met my 7 newest friends! Together we got to Veynes where we were met by our guides. The following 7 days were absolutely amazing! The women I was with are all retired and know each other primarily from a hiking group. We hiked from lodging to lodging and because of the drought several of them had no electricity (apparently the electricity is hydro-powered). It was fantastic to be unplugged for a week. With the exception of lunches in the high mountains, we didn't get a signal.  I turned off airplane mode long enough each day to keep my 200+ day streak on Duo-lingo alive! Here  is the trip we did and here are a few snapshots of the week--just know that the pictures don't do it justice

After my rest in Geneva via the not-so-shiny Stansted Airport, I flew to Thessaloniki to join a 13ish day tour of Greece. Back during the 2020-2021 school year, I took the first level of Hebrew at  Citizen Cafe Tel Aviv  (which I highly recommend). It was on Zoom and everyone except 2 of us was in America. One of these was a lovely woman in California named Debbie. She visited Israel later that year and we got together. As it turns out, she organizes tours of the Holy Land. This summer her tour was going to Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Greece and she invited to me join any combination of the four. I chose Greece because it fit into my summer and because I wanted to go to some of the Christian sites on the tour: Corinth (where Paul was), Ephesus (we took a cruise that visited the port there) and Patmos (where John wrote the book of revelation) among others. Debbie and Joy It was a wonderful trip! I made 18 new friends and got to experience full-on-tourist travel again!  I even got to pract

  Nothing more to say.

I'm headed now to Greece to meet up with an ongoing tour in Thessaloniki, the organizer of which I met in Hebrew class online during Covid! The group has been to Egypt, Jordan and Israel and I am joining them for only the Greece section. Michelle and I had no problem leaving on time and getting me to London Stansted Airport 3 hours early, as Ryan Air recommended. Even I can be on time for airports now! The first wrong move I made was getting into a line that I didn't realize was Customer Service rather than a Check-In line.  This was easily fixed when an employee walking around making announcements stopped near me and I clarified if I was in the correct line or not. I have learn that I must  listen to that little voice that tells me when it thinks something is wrong--it is always right. So I move to the line where the guy directs me and a few others, as he condescendingly says, "You have to read the signs."  Yeah, thanks--I hadn't thought of that yet. How about yo