Any news?

A lot! Half of it I already don't remember ;) We spent part of last week in Poland. I had my hair cut (a success) and tried to figure out how to change my diet (less so). I’ve been having some stomach issues which is a bit worrying, especially as coeliac disease runs in my Dad’s side of the family. At first, I thought soft cheese might be the culprit, so I cut down on lactose. That hasn’t been easy, as I love cheesecake, flat white, and yoghurt. Well, it had to be done, and it helped a bit, but now, when I’m paying more attention, I can see things haven’t improved as much as I’d hoped. I’ve booked a GP appointment, we'll see if they can shed some light on it.

After getting back from Poland, and sleeping through most of St Patrick's Day, we had Fred’s appointment at the oncology clinic. The news here is good: whatever the shadow in his lungs is, it's not growing, and it may be something as simple as scar tissue from dust. I’m very happy to accept that kind of diagnosis.

A few weeks ago I wanted to buy some woollen yarn in Poland, but the yarn I chose for my jumper isn’t available at the moment. Patience is a virtue, I mumble to myself.

Before my short holiday I decided to change my iPhone 13 to a Samsung S25. It was a good swap, I wasn’t interested in fixing an issue with the old phone, and I also wanted to change my internet provider (that turned out well too, Eir is much more reliable than Tesco Mobile). And ... a while ago iPhones stopped being cool anyway.

In the meantime, the Orange idiot has managed to stir things up again, this time involving Iran. Petrol prices are soaring, because apparently we can’t have just one problem at a time.

Below, some random photos from the time I wasn’t posting: the last day of February, first hours in Poland and Warsaw block of flats in the middle of the night, Mruczysław the Cat, empty grave in a forgotten evangelical cemetery, Jelenia Góra, and blooming Rip van Winkles.

[early morning]

My urge to write in English seems to have faded for a while. Very strange, as I use it a good deal when I'm out and about. My Brain appears to have switched back to my mother tongue; most of my inner dialogue is now in that language. Perhaps it has something to do with the tension I feel around work. Again, not that it's especially difficult, but other people’s troubles weigh on me more than they should, to the point of insomnia. It's difficult to keep toxicity at bay. 

4:55 a.m. Time to go to sleep again.

Bronek died on Thursday.

Cats, humans, bullies

Bronek, my parents' cat, is still among the living. He gets a lot of medication, and I suppose he is not entirely aware that his life hangs by a hair. One of his sisters, Frania, has also tested positive :I Our girls, on the other hand, are in the best of health, length and width. We and our neighbours adore them. 

Have already finished reading five books this year, including The Gathering by Anne Enright. An enjoyable read, though it covers some really tough subjects. Currently, I'm in the middle of Ditlevsen's The Copenhagen Trilogy (have finished Youth). 

Can't believe it's already the second half of January; I go to work, spend time with my husband, deal with first-world problems, while occasionally hearing about what's happening on the "western front". The Orange Man's actions in his own country and abroad are heinous, but hey, who knows, they might bring some good for Europe. Just as Ukrainians have started using their own language after the Russian bear attacked them, so I've started looking for European products to support our own economy instead of feeding the bullies with my own money. It's my private politics, not very strict, just something I ponder about while shopping.

Cat's life

The first full week after the holiday season at work exhausted me completely (again?). The weekend seemed too short, I woke up today around half two am worrying about stuff I have no control over. Of course, in daylight everything looked brighter and less messy. It's interesting that in the early morning the rational part of the human brain seems to be asleep. I've read somewhere that it's the cortisol awakening response combined with psychological patterns. Well, people have bigger challenges than that. 

Yesterday evening I called my parents and unfortunately they have serious problems with one of the young cats they adopted last summer. When I say serious, I mean life and death. When I was at my family home a while ago, everything seemed to be ok, but since then Bronek's health has rapidly deteriorated. His blood test results are very bad, he has anaemia, and worse still, his feline leukemia virus antigen test came back positive. He and his sisters are indoor cats, and all the older cats were vaccinated so there is almost no other explanation than a virus brought by their mother. My parents were very distraught by the whole situation, Mum tried to get in touch with better vet clinics to ask for help, and she finally succeeded, but the reality is we don't know whether anyone can really change Bronek's fate, not to mention that a cat's life comes at its high price in zloty. Actually, around 3500 zl ≈ € 830. For now.

Bronek is in a good place, they are giving him blood transfusion (that's how we know his blood type is A), and are doing all the necessary tests to see if there's any hope for him. I'm so sorry for the little fella.

No resolutions

Several days ago I thought it would be a nice thing to write down some New Year's resolutions, but in the end I decided against it. Part of it would feel more like self-presentation than a real plan, so why bother? I don't want to impress anyone here, I just want to distract my mind, train it to use a different language, and look at things from a different perspective. 

I spent ten days in my family home, and had a great time. A great time of doing nothing in particular, which is very important for my mental health, as I'm a slow pacer by nature.

Below are a few of the dozens of pictures I took while staying with my parents: a visit to my favourite local coffee shop, my Christmas wafer with pieces from my parents' wafers, dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Wojtuś the cat showing off his big belly, and a forest road I know so well.

Samhain and goodbye

Another week gone by, another month. We had a storm on Thursday, not as big as expected, just a regular Irish thing. It's much colder now. Samhain was rather loud – lots of fireworks in the surrounding neighbourhoods, it feels like it's worse every year. We had one trick-or-treater, it was our neighbours' grandchild, who decided to start his evening adventure with us. We weren't prepared, as we live in an area with mostly older people, but my husband acted quickly and found some German gingerbread cookies (thank you, Germans).

Last Sunday, my parents lost another member of their pet pack, their oldest cat, Maciej (Matthew). He was old, but his death was rather unexpected, he suddenly became weaker.  A very sad Sunday. I realised that I started blogging around the time we found Maciej at a cemetery, which is why I took so many photographs of him. It was sixteen years ago. Only sixteen years, but his whole life.

3-11 October

I came back home on Saturday evening, and I still don’t feel like I’ve settled down. In the meantime, two lovely artists passed away – Patricia Routledge on the day I flew to Poland, and Diane Keaton on the day I was coming back.

Below, random pictures without captions ;)

Peaks and politics

The past week and a half has been rather busy and full of all sorts of emotions. Fred and I paid a visit to my parents, who live down in Lower Silesia. We also stopped in to see Fred’s aunt and her husband in the Opole Voivodeship, and caught up with a good friend of ours who's only recently moved to Waldenburg (we spent some valuable time with her and her three rats).

In the middle of it all, we had hoped to get a bit of hiking in – and we did! Last Tuesday, we managed to wander through the highest peak of the Table Mountains, Szczeliniec Wielki. It’s a marvellous spot, and we were lucky to catch a few hours of fairly decent weather.

The next day, we took a stroll through Waldenburg’s King John III Sobieski Park, and of course we climbed the observation tower, which is known for its panoramic views of the town. After saying goodbye to our Waldenburg friends, on the way back to my family home, we visited The Holy Trinity Church of Peace in Świdnica, the biggest wooden Baroque church in Europe.

By Saturday, we were heading back home to Dublin, keen to cast our votes in the presidential election (the flight itself was a bit rough).

Then Monday came, and brought bad news with it: the nationalists had won. It’s disheartening how many controversial politicians win on the back of aggressive, conservative rhetoric alone. Nawrocki, the new Polish president, seems cut from the same cloth as the Orange Man over in the States – a shady character, voted in mostly because religious talk still holds sway over people living in fear. Have nothing to be ashamed of anyway, I didn't vote for him, but still ...

Below, the first morning in my family home and my late grandma's flat window seen from the garden; a cat idling outside our favourite coffee shop; one of my parents' cats, blind Niunia; walks with my Mum and husband; me hiking through Szczeliniec; one of the Waldenburg's mosaics; the Waldenburg boys; friend's recommendation; the Holy Trinity Church of Peace in Świdnica; my pork pie, my folks.

Family home

From Monday afternoon to Friday morning with my parents in a family home surrounded by the forests of Lower Silesia. I had the whole bed to myself (though the cats might argue otherwise, especially Wojtuś), took a peek at old series, like Kojak (episodes from the best year 1975), visited cemetry twice and bonded with Rozalka, who loved me more every day.

During my stay discovered that I was invited for the second interview (actually, the invitation was sent on Friday, but I hadn't checked that email account until last Wednesday, hope it won’t affect the whole process), and an hour later Fred got feedback about his CT scan: clear, no changes. Great news! The same day I took my parents for lunch in an Italian restaurant. I had better culinary experience, but Ma & Pa were happy.

On Thursday we went to Magnolia Park, the largest shopping centre in Lower Silesia; first we had lunch in Lepione, than a solid cup of coffee & a crusty croissant with carmel dip in Karmello Chocolatier. Pure satisfaction. The only thing that got me concerned was how quick Mum wore out, we hadn't even walked that much. 

Overall, I had a great time, and felt the stay was much too short. That said, I wouldn't want to live there for good. More than ever I need my own space, my own pace, my own ways of doing things.

Below: Wrocław Główny railway station, always the best first coffee in my grandma's glass cup, Gosia (Little Raspberry's sister), a good girl greeting me cheerfully, Rozalka, Wojtuś sitting with Maksio (the dog) and Rózia in the backgroud (minding her own business), coffee and croissants in Karmello with Mum & Dad.