Day 10- Traveling Still

How things change in such a short amount of time. 
We were in France, driving through the countryside, having a grand time, not a care in the world... I was enjoying the scenery, enjoying the road, enjoying life! 

We didn't go do the touristy things, but tried to do the kind of thing you would do on a Sunday afternoon if you lived in France. We visited the beach, we visited the cemetery, we visited church... I wanted to soak up as much of France as possible. We ate at local restaurants, we had continental breakfast, we at outside at the little table... we had French cooking, not American that is so abundant all over the world. We had sliced ham and cheese for breakfast. We ate Boudin Noir aux pommes. I mean, you can't get much more French than that. 
We were driving along, near Abbeyville, and I started having problems with my vision. I don't know what happened, if I was overly tired, or if I had been in the sun too long, or if maybe my allergies had started up worse... but I went from being able to see pretty darn well at a distance... to not much . It was of someone held a sheet of wax paper over my eyes... and I was scared. 
We turned around and drove back to Calais, where I had rented the car...I had to have someone else drive the car or leave... My friend, Kev, to the rescue. He was placed on the car rental and graciously drove us around France for the duration of the stay there. My vision never got any better. It seemed that every day it got a bit worse but I wanted to finish up the trip. And finish we did. We visited the WWII museum and walked the cemetery, We swam at Omaha beach, we saw the memorials and statues there, got to meet some of the Wounded Warriors (cycling the coast of Normandy)  that recognized our UT tshirts and knew we were from Texas!

 We went on to Caen right in time for their street festival, the streets were packed and the nights were warm and delicious.

The St Sauveur Church The Abbey aux Dames that was founded by Mathilde around 1060, the church of Trinity is a masterpiece of Norman Romanesque architecture. The sights and sound and smells of the city are amazing. Fresh bread and roasting chicken fill the streets, the perfume of the flowers, the smell of the city... ahhh, magnifique. 

You notice we didn't go to Paris on this trip?
Mais non, we didn't. I was not up to the city... and I couldn't encourage my friend to go either. We discussed it and decided that being in Paris was just a bit too much for me to handle. My son couldn't care if he went or not. He was blissfully happy visiting any museum that had anything remotely to do with weapons, war, guns... war... He is all boy.. through and through. And so the rest of the trip went. 
Churches, cemeteries, museums, cafes and the nicest people. 
I tried out my French, my son, who never speaks... ordered his food. 
We lounged on the beach.
I took picture after picture... sketched one after the other pages. 
We were blissfully aware that it would end too quickly, and that i will not be able to go again, at least not as it was at that point in time. 


The trip back to England was rough. I was exhausted and unable to see. I didn't leave the seating area. for this trip.  I felt queasy. I didn't know if it was the sadness of leaving or if I had sea sickness. The sea was up and the going slower it seemed. I think that is normal on any trip. You are so excited to be there and hesitant to leave. I just can't imagine not returning, yet I can no longer wish to return and not have the same memories of the hillsides and the beaches, and the beautiful architecture.  Is it wrong to want to preserve those memories just as the are?

My son is still practicing his French, waiting for our next visit. He thinks it will be fine if I can't see. He says that he will drive us this next time... he knows the traffic lanes already! lol...Me? I don't want to disappoint him,  so maybe in a couple of years....

The Abbey aux Dames was founded by Mathilde around 1060, the church of Trinity is a masterpiece of Norman Romanesque architecture. - See more at: http://en.infotourisme.net/monument/caen/5683/abbaye-aux-dames#sthash.2oJhESvN.dpuf

Day 9--Traveling

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Willkommen!  Today is the 9th day of the 31 Days of Vision Series, I'm glad you could join me today. We are going to Europe! Not literally, but I'm pulling out pictures from one of our trips to share with you our trials and trivial problems while traveling. Most of them trivial... 
My son is not so much a fan of traveling... he would, like most young boys, be playing outside or on video games.. So when we went overseas, I tried to do things he would enjoy. Castles, beaches, hills to climb... we had a variety interests to choose from, but no video games, thank God!
One of our trips we decided to take the ferry across from Dover to Calais. The sea was calm, thank goodness, and we boarded the ship with no problems. The ship we crossed on has some braille signs, but like most places, they are not everywhere. If you are visually impaired, the company requests that you check in with them and to travel with a sighted person... Well... That isn't very helpful, is it? They ask that you be seated and to stay in on section... I didn't have to,  I found that the signs were large enough that I didn't have a problem finding the way around, and the staff were everywhere just in case. We sat forward  so we could watch the ocean and the numerous seagulls that accompanied our ship.
We wandered around the ship, had refreshments and exchanged some money, I've never been good at figuring rates of money, I try to get it into my head that this amount is close to that amount in American currency... and figure everything around that number!

We got to Calais without any problems. I rented a car at the port. I'm not even going to explain how difficult that was. I hadn't used French for many, many years... They don't really ask you anything about if you have a valid license . Heck, I don't even remember if I had to show her mine... I gave her my passport and my credit card... I found out when we returned back to the States that my license had expired months and months before... sigh... That's another story as well...
The car rented and luggage hauled  we set off, only to find that the car, which was standard transmission, was very touchy, I was not used to a standard, and the streets were laid out oddly. Those three things don't mix well, at least not with me. 
I had such a hard time trying to find signs. I had an even harder time reading them, translating to English what they said and trying to get my bearing enough to drive.. and that clutch... aw, it was horrible. 
Long story short... and I know I am leaving out really good parts... but we got stopped by the police... and escorted out of town. OK, so it isn't as bad as it seems... the nicest gendarm asked politely what I thought I was doing while I was turned the wrong way in the bus lane... don't ask... it is not going to be a short answer....
He told me to follow him and he would help me! 
Now, that sounds easy, right? but that darned clutch....
Anyway, we made it to Dunkerque with enough time to find a hotel and eat dinner.

Beach in Belgium

Now, you might wonder about me driving... well, this was the time in-between having the last cataract/lasik surgery and the first of the surgeries for the scar tissue, and the retina detaching... so at this point, I was seeing farsighted and could drive... but I couldn't see to read. Really, the time was short that I had, not long after we returned to the US did I have to give up driving... so, this was that golden opportunity to travel. Though tomorrow, I'll go into some of the not so trivial problems... and how our trip nearly ended way too soon.

WWI Cemetery at Etaples

St Eloi, Dunquerque

I wanted to visit as many places as I could in a short amount of time to be able to have fun and make memories.  I love old buildings, my son loves the beach... I love cemeteries, my son loves cars and ships and planes...So, we went to the beach in Belgium, we went to the St. Eloi in Dunkirk, We walked the waterfront and visited ships, we went to the beach in Normandy, we went to the WWI Cemetery in Étaples-sur-Mer, the WWII cemetery and museum in Normandy, we walked through the bunkers and craters and marveled at the large gun at Point du Hoc, and we went to market in Insigney sur mer. Everywhere we traveled we enjoyed the scenery, the museums, the cafes, the food, the smells and sounds... Caen was majestic, Pont de Normandie bridge and the Millau Viaduct were both  breath taking.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. All those memories... and my son's favorite is one of the little hotels that we stayed... for one night... and it is his favorite story... it was one of those kind that you stay only for one night!  We were tired and needed a place and didn't care that it was a tiny, tiny place. The bathroom was a tiny closet that you could use the toilet,  brush your teeth in the sink and wash your feet in the shower... all at the same time... like a motor home bathroom, maybe even tinier... but it worked for us!!!

'German Bunker at Point du Hoc

Day 8- Traveling in Foreign Lands

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How I could see with cataracts

Bon Jour! Ça va? Today is the 8th day in the series of 31 Days of Vision Blog challenge. Yesterday I reminisced about a few trips when I was young, for the next few days, I'll revisit some of the journeys from the past few years.   As I have grown older, the challenges of traveling have multiplied, but I enjoy it as much as I did when I was young. I still dream of distant lands and enjoy learning about history so much that I will take whatever  inconvenience comes just to be able to visit those far off dreams.
After my husband passed away, I had a rapid loss of vision. The doctor found that the tiny speck of a cataract  that was miniscule before...had suddenly grown, possibly from the stress both physical and mental that I was going through...
My vision is so dependent on the light that enters my eye...even a small obstruction was going to impair my vision more than a normal person. My vision in daytime was impaired some by the cataract, but the night vision had dropped to nothing.

window in cottage

We ended up deciding the best course was to have cataract surgery. I  hoped that the doctor was right when he said he could take  a small incision further around my eye to relieve some of the nearsightedness. With this extra bit of surgery, he had hoped the vision would go to "Plano"  which is the level area of your vision where you have no correction needed...  The procedure is called  LASIK (stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis and is a procedure that permanently changes the shape of the cornea)
I didn't really expect that my eyes would be dramatically better, after all I had read about both types of surgery, I figured it would be a matter of still wearing glasses. I wasn't worried about it, I don't mind  glasses at this point of my life,  if they were less heavy, that would be magnificent!
After the surgery, I had so many problems with my eyes. both were changed so dramatically that I had problems with the muscles and with trying to focus. I went from being very, very nearsighted... to being nearly as much farsighted. What a mess!  It took me years to get it to even out to a place I could be comfortable with, without muscle spasms and a bit of pain... so I could have some normality. Not great vision, but not blind either.
My son and I had the opportunity to go to the Dallas to visit the King Tutankhamun exhibit. The exhibit traveled the country just as I was still recovering from the last eye surgery, I was able to see, but I was nervous about traveling, wondering if I could find my way around or have to be led everywhere... but I was so excited to my son to see it. I had been privileged to go with my Latin class twenty years before when Tut had been through the US. My daughter got to visit the King Ramses exhibit when she was around 10... so I figured that we would do it!

Corby Castle,Cumbria, England

My daughter and her son and my best friend came along. It is an opportunity you just can't pass up.I know it was wonderful as a learning experience for the kids. But  I couldn't even read the cards telling what the exhibit was, every item labeled had to be read to my son and to me. What I saw was fuzzy and blurred, and I am sure that I was nearly running to the finish line instead of really taking time to soak up each of the exhibits.
These are the times that I have cursed not having good vision. Visiting museums, Art exhibits, Historic Monuments, when my babies were born. and when I wanted to read to my kids. .

Museum Silloth, England

Yes, I have been able to read all my life, but it has always been very tiring. It takes all of my energy to focus and concentrate on the words. I tried several things when I was in school... I took the speed reading course.  I would read voraciously, sometimes several books at a time, always wanting more and more... Usually history and English Literature. I would bring home books from the library in tall stacks...  I have a library now, that is somewhat large. I  love books.  and to read to your child is something that is so sweet... and now, I can't do it at all.
The trip to King Tut was frustrating, but... I decided to make the best of it, my son loved it,  and it got me to thinking, what have we intended to do that we haven't? What would I like for my son to remember when he is older? Is there someplace special that I really want him to visit that would stay with him all his life... and could be a learning trip?

Lane near the cottage

We decided to go to the United Kingdom. I don't know.... It seemed like the thing to do.  We needed to be away. My husbands estate was in a mess, we were in the midst of struggle with his business... So we just up and went....
 I decided I wanted to stay, just live there forever more...

We didn't live there forever more, or you would be reading daily posts of how beautiful everything is or how extraordinary all the neighbors are... alas, 
We did have to eventually come back...

        

Bristol, England

When we got to the airport, it was not too bad, there were storms that delayed us, but we got a chance to get a bearing, find the right gate at a leisurely pace and to not panic. The whole series of flights took us about 11 hours, not including the layovers... The experience was different to say the least,  to take a taxi to the airport, buses, airplanes, is all so different to me. We don't ride buses at home, we don't take taxis, and I surely don't fly much anymore. The same old problems I had in High School were still there, reading schedules, finding terminals, finding bathrooms! ... but they were now compounded more from the recent eye problems, but I was able to get close enough to signs to be able to read at the airport and I started teaching my son how to read the boards...and we made all our connections. Never once did we miss a plane, though in Philadelphia once we nearly did, but that was due to weather and not me being blind!  Matter of fact, it nearly was because of me being blind... I am so stubborn that I hate to ask for help... We were struggling with luggage and trying to get across the vast maze to the correct terminal... I finally told someone that worked there that we needed help, they got us a shuttle and whizzed us to the gate, lickety split!!

Clifton Observatory and camera obscura

The bus depot was harder... Victoria Station in London is vast and busy, and you have to be able to understand English... with any number of accents to be able to find your way around. The schedules are not too complicated, but finding the right areas is... I broke down and asked several times... and I did not seem to have more problems there but the terminal in Bristol was odd, and if you weren't watching closely, you could end up in France instead of Scotland. The buses weren't really well marked, and if you don't know the right markings for your bus... well... just saying, if you don't ask you might get on the wrong bus. Seems the drivers aren't watching that close to catch the wrong tickets... sigh...
All in all, that part of the trip was wonderful. My son got a good lesson in bus schedules, in figuring tips and in general, how to be polite but not be pushed around. His eyes were wide with wonder, or shut with exhaustion every day!
The United Kingdom is so beautiful and so steeped in tradition and romance, and just... well, so exciting and mysterious! To walk the same roads as people like Shakespeare or  Mary, Queen of Scots, Robert the Bruce.... well, there is something so deeply moving about that... I just can't put it into words.

Coos near the cottage

My son was enthralled by the jaunts we took that he didn't mind being away from everything that he knew. The time we spent in the cottage were filled with riding a borrowed bicycle, building blocks and Legos, reading books traipsing around with the coos and horses... and CBBC with it's Horrible Histories and the boy actually learned something!!! We spent time giggling at the silly calves that were mixed with wonder at us and fear... at the sheep that seemed to eat everything in their path when they were being moved... at the bunnies that hopped around behind the cottage... at the endless beauty all around us.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

Me? I tried to read on the off days of traveling around, it was still too hard for me to read much more than a few pages at a time... I baked fresh bread, made jelly out of currents that we purchased at the car boot sale, and of brambles we scavenged.
 I rummaged in the charity shop in town... bought furniture and linens and made the cottage a little more homey. bought flowers for the garden, and we had tea on the patio when it was sunny. Sketching kept me busy a lot, and my son played 'fort' with limbs and old wood and used our friend's bb gun for target practice.
 Town was an adventure, the local bookshop was filled to the brim with ancient (to me) books, some older than the United States herself.  I bought books, I bought a sewing machine, I bought material for curtains, pillows, and kept myself busy. We walked. We walked and walked and walked. We walked to shops, we walked to festivals, we walked around the Piping Festival, we walked on beaches and on Hadrian's Wall, we walked through countless cemeteries... We walked to visit monuments and farms,  to just wander,  we traipsed all around the countryside, peering into badger holes, peering into old barns, seashells, and hedgerows. We found beautiful rocks, shells, tree roots, and flowers and a multitude of snails, butterflies and leaves. Berries were plentiful as were people th

Caerlaverock Castle, Scotland

at were actually interested where we were from.
When we were traveling,  I tried to soak up every part of the adventure as I could.  The castles were amazing, the seaside was amazing,ruins, walls, monoliths, Priory, Abbey, Cathedral, Coffee Shops, Pubs, Museums, Historical places all were extremely awe inspiring... but to get around to them all... is hard. The roads are narrow, and winding, and

Moat at Caerlaverock Castle

people drive on the wrong side of the street! It rains abundantly, and the sun either goes down early and up late... or the other season... it comes up early, and never sets... OK, it sets, but not really ever gets dark.  We would travel at night, thinking it was just dusk, and it ended up being midnight...
I felt really nervous the first real castle we went to. Caerlaverock in Southern Scotland, on the Solway Firth. It had winding stairs and seemed to be so narrow, as do all the castles it seems...
My son seemed to never tire of running up and down the sloped of the embankments around the castle... or anywhere we ended up, he loved running to the top, rolling down... and doing it all over again!

Over the next few days I'll show you more places we traveled and some of the ways we got around,

If you would like to read blogs in the
31 day  writing challenge, please visit the page and choose from the categories listed.
There are many to choose from,
all of them are great blogs!

Day 7- Finding the beauty in what you can't see

My big sister and I

I have always loved bright lights, rounded shapes, and  bright colors make me happy.
I guess I should say that what I saw without my glasses as a child,  was just of light and dark, fuzzy colors and fuzzy blobs, no real defined shapes...  With my glasses on, there were more defined shapes, but things were always fuzzy, never crisp or clear.

We went to New Mexico and the giant rock formations looked like castles, and the giant cavern at Carlsbad could have been ballrooms or giant libraries or maybe a large dining hall...The beautiful and mysterious...full of hidden rooms and dim lights and echoes. I was enamored, all of  America is gorgeous, but to me, New Mexico holds a place in my heart.

Monahans, Texas

As a kid, my family traveled a lot. I didn't realize how much until I had kids of my own. I didn't know just how hard it is to travel. Having kids and traveling is tough on its own, but  having a kid with  low vision is tougher. I can't imagine how my parents did it, dragging around a kid that was 'lost' most of the time. I did actually get lost a couple of times. Technically, left behind a couple of times...
I probably do need therapy.

So we traveled all over, visiting family, going to reunions, visiting landmarks, camping, amusement parks, all those fun things you do when you are kids. My father was an angel, he put up with a car full of women all alone after my brothers were old enough to leave home. 

Mom and my sister in New Mexico,  I think this was Holy Ghost, NM

When I was young, I didn't know I was different, I was adventuresome, loved to climb rocks, play in the water, run like the wind, and be a kid. Every chance I got, I did all those things. I was only limited as to how far away I could get without my mother finding me or how far my sister would let me tag along.  I was never really frightened about getting lost,even after being left behind.
Some of our vacations stand out for me. I loved the mountains of New Mexico, when we camped there, it was so fun.  Even more I loved  the lava beds of Malpais National Monument. I've hunted and hunted for pictures of that part of the vacation, but have never found them,  I loved camping there, the fog in the morning was so amazing. Maybe the fog holds something in it that is familiar for me. I love to walk in it, safely enveloped in the thick blanket. It is how I see when I have no glasses on and it makes me kind of fuzzy inside.

this is nice, snake free water!

 My oldest brother married, and he and his wife bought a boat, the whole family went camping together on a large lake, don't remember where it was,  but remember it felt huge. One evening, the "adults' went out on the boat, I guess they were fishing or maybe skiing. Anyway, they left my older sister in charge. We went out in the lake... and as older sisters do sometimes, she scared me. The bottom of the lake was very even for several yards out... with little ripples in the sand and  smallish rocks here and there. I didn't know they were rocks. I could just see dark spots on the bottom. My sister wanted to swim, or just to get away from me... so she told me the dark spots on the bottom were snake holes and If I didn't stay back in the shallow water I'd get bitten by one.

This is iffy water, could be snakes... or rocks

OK, so I wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. I believed her. I had been warned to watch where I walked, stay on trails, to not get near snakes. Right, like I would intentionally get near a snake...
So, her telling me this seemed like a big sisterly-loving thing to do. I was terrified. I must have annoyed her even more with my panicked paddling trying to get to her, I am sure I cried.
On and on this sort of thing went. She didn't mean to torture me, just to be a big sister that was tired of dragging her little sister around. She was seven years older than me and I am sure I was a pain in the butt. Me being gullible, believed everything she told me.

As a teen, I tried to join as many organizations as I could, I was elected to the state board for the Junior Classical league. For a few of the statewide meetings, I had to fly... alone.... I had never done that and was terrified. One meeting was in  Houston and a connecting flight to Clear Lake City  and then a car trip on to Uvalde. (Texas is a large state).
 Now, Houston Continental is a crazy airport anyway, but I got turned around and ended up missing my connecting flight. I sat by myself until they had another flight, the last of the night. It was dark and I was a bit worried, but it all went well...
It was a great learning experience.

The Hotel Victoria, Chihuahua City

In High School, I also  traveled to Mexico with the Spanish Club. Four times in two years. ¡Ay, caramba! No one ever said it would be easy, but each one of those trips was frightening and fantastic!  I got lost in Chihuahua City, and I loved every minute of it. We had free time and were told to do something like take a bus, a taxi, do something hard... I did... I rode the bus, had no idea where I was, and relied on the kindness of the good citizens of Chihuahua to help me out, which was the object of the exercise I suppose...
Street vendors were kind enough to point and give detailed directions, Strangers on the sidewalks,  shop owners... waiters in
restaurants, they were all great!. I spent a whole day wandering the city streets with no communication with the rest of the group...
 I would be terrified to allow my kids to go, Today, they would not  be allowed that freedom to just wander alone in a huge city.

One of Pancho Villa's widows

 The day to day of being in Mexico was difficult. By this time of my life, my vision had worsened to the point that I wore contacts and if I didn't have them, I would only see blobs of color and very little at night. I used bottled water to clean them and prayed I wouldn't lose one.  having contacts meant the difference of being able to actually find my way around or sitting in my hotel room, alone.



Picture of Houston Intercontinental Airport by airway news . com