geoviki | (no subject)

Happy birthday, JKR and HJP. But I always remember today as the anniversary of my son's diagnosis of diabetes. I talked about what that day was like in this entry last year. Here are the symptoms of diabetes onset; I thought I could recognize them but I found it was a lot like the signs in C. S. Lewis's The Silver Chair - they didn't look like what I expected in a kid who 1) wore (and still wears) baggy clothes that make Dudley's hand-me-downs look like Ralph Lauren 2) spent his days outdoors in 90+ degree summer heat.

Warnings signs of diabetes:

C onstant urination
A bnormal thirst
U nusual hunger
T he rapid loss of weight
I rritability
O bvious weakness and fatigue
N ausea and vomiting

On a lighter note, I'm taking a break from packing. Tomorrow my family and I are heading to Alaska (oh, blessed coolness!) and will explore Anchorage and the Kenai Penninsula, then board the Statendam for a week-long cruise to Vancouver. We'll be gone for the next two weeks.

Packing, as you all know, is a beotch, especially when the rooms in our house are far too hot. We have to play dress-up for dinner on the boat, and for a family of Denverites, that's like asking us to wear our formal wizarding robes. Formal means the flip-flops with sequins, right?

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Hope you have a great holiday!

Thanks! Hold down the internet for me while I'm gone, okay?

You are coming to my hometown via the Alaska cruise express! very cool. You will love it up there, it's beautiful. The folks are very friendly, as well. Have a great trip!
Cheers!

I've never been to Alaska, and only briefly to Vancouver, where my (now) husband and I stayed in a decrepit part of Chinatown where the rooms rented by the hour. This time will be much different!

Ooh, Alaska should be amazing! Have a great time.

Maybe while you're away I'll find some time to finish up that DST review I started a while back. I haven't forgotten about it, just been busy.

I'd love to see more detailed and thoughtful comments from you! The last ones were wonderful.

Hope you'll have fun on your holiday, love. :)

Enjoy the not-hot air for all of us!

I'm excited - well, at least I will be after the packing and traveling to get there, anyway.

Have a great holiday. Maybe pack sequined flip flops? Thst should cover all bases.

I don't experience with diabetes, but our youngest is severely nut- and egg-allergic. Not quite in the same league but probably similar issues of coming to terms with its limitations, and managing everyday life in minute detail.

And I'm sure your youngest doesn't like to be singled out and to be different. I understand, though, that peanut butter isn't the huge issue it would be for you if you lived in America.

I've always wanted to go on one of those Alaskan cruises. Have fun, and don't forget to select some good holiday reading!

I have this huge stack of books that I'm having a terrible time winnowing down. I'll need 2 months to finish them, and not the 2 weeks I have. But what to leave behind? *sigh*

Sequins and heels (honestly, they were a BIG thing here last year... urgh!).

Have a blast up north. Watch out for hungry looking polar bears, and satiated polar bears near empty igloos!

Enjoy your adventure!

And whatever you do, don't eat the liver of a polar bear. It contains enough Vitamin A to kill you.

Random, but true.

Well, that just gave away the big plot twist for Book 7 - Harry kills Voldemort by cooking him a dinner of Polar Bear liver...

*g*

...and a nice Chianti!

but no beans, gives old Voldie terrible wind...

Oh, I envy you! We took the same trip to Alaska with Holland America, although on the old Noordam, in 1995. It truly was the trip of a life time. You will love every minute of it.

I think we're about tired of rearranging our packing - I'm anxious to be going now! Only a few more hours.

Diabetes is something I worry about as it runs in my family. I hope the last year for you has been an optimistic one and that your son has learned all he can about it.

As for your trip, have a wonderful time :)

He's had it for four years now, and he's tired of it altogether, I think. But we just muddle through.

I'm champing at the bit to leave now.

Have a great visit. It's been raining pretty much non-stop for days, though, so I hope things clear up a bit before you get here.

We're packing for rain, but I can't say we're mentally prepared for it. It's been nothing but hot and dry all July here, so it will be a big change. We've never been to Alaska before, and I'm thrilled.

We've never been to Alaska before, and I'm thrilled

It's a beautiful place. I'm sure you already have your itinerary planned, but if you have any last minute questions, drop me a line at tealin @ gmail.com and I'll give you my number. I've been up here since '67, mostly in/around Anchorage, so I'm pretty familiar with the area. :)

Enjoy your hols. And sorry that your son has diabetes, but it does allow for a catchy mneumonic device, yeah? At any rate, just seeing you type beotch makes it all worthwile. ;)