Y'all Like Piano Music, Right?

The end of another semester. I'm never going to post anything that I ever did in my Basic Illustration class....even though my instructor was a dear and didn't ask me not to for fear of his job. I was happier with my other class....2D Design. We had to put together a presentation called "My Visual Journey" with samples of our classwork. So here is about 25% of what I did in that course.

Warning....it comes with sound.

My Visual Journey from Karen MacKay on Vimeo.

In a few minutes, I'm going out to tidy the kitchen, figure out where I left my Christmas beer, and when I get back I'm going to write my Basic Illustration exam. Then it's Christmastime!!!!

Time to pack in a few days. Leaving Denmark on Sunday morning and will be in Halifax that night. John is now in Kuala Lumpur but he'll be back before I leave. There is way too much stuff piled on the spare room bed to fit in my suitcase, so I guess I'll have to him bring those things when he comes. Please, please, please let him come back from Malaysia with a big bag of Batiks for moi!

Sunrise/Sunset

For the past couple of months, I've been chasing the sunrise I can see if I'm up early and lean really really far into my kitchen window. If I look way off to the right, down toward the end of the walking path, I can sometimes see what looks to be the most spectacular sunrise. Many Friday and Saturday nights I've told John that we were getting up early, in the dark, to drive the few kilometers to the coast so I could photograph the sun rising over the water of the Oresund. We, somehow, never managed to actually drag ourselves out of bed in time. It seemed pretty hopeless, since we weren't missing the sunrise by a few minutes....it was hours.

But, with the seasons our luck changed. Daylight is coming later every day, and now, we can get up at seven instead of six fifteen. A couple of Saturdays ago that's exactly what we did, crawling out of bed in the dark, throwing on whatever clothes were handy, tossing the dog in the back seat, and remembering to take the camera. (It would have been a good idea to remember to charge the camera battery, I suppose.)

We drove to a parking spot along the beach and waited. I sipped tea from my thermal cup, ready for the big show.....except just like the fireworks when I was a kid in Halifax. The sunrise over the Oresund was a fizzle. The sun came up with a slight tinge of pink over yonder in Sweden. It was the dawn of another overcast Danish fall day. Bummer.

On the up side we were up in time to make it to the dry cleaners before they closed at noon time. The following Tuesday I was up early and stole a peek out the kitchen window. There was the blazing sunrise down at the end of the walking path and John backing out of the driveway on his way to work. I had formulated a Plan B which was that we would make a quick run over there on a weekday since half of us was already up anyway. It looks like if I want this to happen I'm going to have to be in the front seat, waiting, when John gets in the car in the morning because I don't think he's going to volunteer to miss a meeting so I can snap a few pix.

I am still going to chase that sunrise and the pressure is on to get it done before the time changes next week and sunrise falls back another hour. In the meantime, though, I did get another thing on my list of things to do done, last weekend. That was to drive over to Jyllinge to catch the evening sunset over the Roskilde Fjord. We've been talking about that since before summer vacation. We had been out driving around with no particular place to go and were about to turn around and go home.


Instead of going home we turned in the opposite direction and drove to Jyllinge. Turns out it was worth it. The sun was starting to set as we got there, there was a great place to park above the marina, and I took lots of photos.

Look At What I Made In School!!

Last night John came home and told us the next move will be to Abu Dhabi. He doesn't have a date yet, but we're guessing after Christmas because that's kind of a convenient date to imagine. I don't think it has anything to do with what the company might want, though. However....I know how long these things can take and I'm taking late January in the pool....um...not that pool. I guess it's time to make my list of all the things I want to do in northern Europe over the next month and a half.

So, I've been sort of busy. An instructor at Dallas County Community College is attempting to teach me how to draw via the internet. I believe he has met his match! Now the trick to this whole enterprise is to get an A without actually showing any ability what so ever. Let me tell you.....it is taking a lot of time. My only hope is that my willingness to constantly redo, to accept criticism and revise will be enough. I think I've got that part down pat. To accompany the pen and pencil set, I'm also taking something called Visual Design for New Media which lets me use my good old computer. There is something wonderful to be said for "Edit>Undo" and it's cousin "Edit>Undo Delete."

Anyway, this was my first project in VD.... the goal was to portray the concept of transportation with some parameters thrown in, one of which was to generally keep the use of a vehicle to less than 60% of the original image just to make me think harder about how to do it.

Summer Time & The Livin' Is Easy....

The pool is ready!! The water is blue, all the bits and piece are working and none of the floaty chairs have holes in them. Life is good and we realized last night just why it was so important to get that thing done and filled with water again. It looks lovely, and I won't have to go down into it with a can of spray paint to make a decorative yard mural. I've already stuck my feet in....it felt nice and warm.

Or that's what I told John who donned his trunks and actually went in a couple hours after my temp test. He thought it was a little chilly but "Hey!" this is Denmark after all...

Lars never did show up last Sunday to finish the driveway. He eventually turned up on Tuesday and before he got started pressure washing, he went out for the pool chemicals and showed me how to use them. No more Mojitos in the pool, the water is a nice bluish turquoise now. It's had a thorough vacuuming and we are all happy again. John really wanted to have a big party in its honor, but instead we had a few friends over last night for a barbecue. And man it was soooo hot!! It's sweltering here in the land of no-air-conditioning! What's up with that? It's supposed to get up to 32 degrees today.

Lars and his brother left for Thailand yesterday. On one of the many days he was here this week, he took a lot of photos of the backyard and the pool. Doubtless, he is hoping to meet a new girl and he wants to make a good impression by showing her pictures of his house in Denmark....considering his brother showed up one day wanting to show his girlfriend around. Sheesh!

I wish him well but I hope he doesn't give out the address while he's over there.

Here's a little after shot of the pool. What a difference a few weeks and some elbow grease can make.

Mojito Pool

Saturday was our anniversary but we were so tired from yard work that we just stayed home and barbecued some burgers for dinner. Lars came back and almost finished his pressure washing. He just has the driveway left but the pool deck and patio are done. John and I swept it up, got some mulch for the rose beds, finished planting, cleaned the garden furniture and last, but not least, we stuck a full running hose into one end of the pool at 19:20 hours. Woo Hoo!! (Will not think about how fast the water meter is turning as I type this.)

It's almost full. I would say that we'll be able to turn it off early in the morning before I take John to the airport. He's off to Abu Dhabi this week for some meetings. Those of us who guessed 60 hours to fill the pool will be taking home the big prize. I just have to find out where to get the chemicals for it...I think blue water would be much nicer than the green it is now. Does look like a cool refreshing beverage, though.

Dilemmatry

We are less than one day away from our 28th wedding anniversary...and more importantly...less than one day from turning the hose on in the pool. It's finally ready for water!! Well, not officially since the pool guy told Lars that we had to wait 2 weeks for the paint to cure, but Lars figures that since it's been so nice and sunny it should be fine. We're going with his version of the instruction manual.

Guesses as to how long it will take to fill? John's rough calculation of volume and flow rate from the hose (all done in his head) comes out to 31 hours. I think I'll check the flow rate more scientifically and apply a little calculus to the problem to come up with mine....or maybe I won't. I have better things to do.

The backyard is beginning to look spiffy again. We bought plants. Lots of plants for the pots and took advantage of the free compost. Because if there's something for free in Denmark you want to take advantage. I don't care if it is dirt. I want some.

Lars told me the other day that his Dad charged him 1,000 kroner to come with his pressure washer and clean off the patio stones. I guess you can't even get family help for a couple of beers and a barbecued hamburger around here.

A few weeks ago I asked Lars if he was interested in cleaning the grassy bits in between some of the stones. John had bought this special brush for digging it out and I thought maybe, since he wasn't working, Lars would want to do it for some extra cash. He pretty much balked at the idea, saying it was too much work. It was then that he mentioned that his Dad had a pressure washer that he could bring over. The pressure washer, he said would take care of everything (including the dark discoloration of the bricks) with a lot less effort. He did not mention, at that point, that he had ever paid his Dad to do this for him.

Lars never did show up with the pressure washer, so John sent him a text about when he was planning to come. He got a reply that the Dad's pressure washer is broken, so he can't do it.....unless we pay 600 kroner for a new pressure washer. Now, this begs a few questions. 1) Where can you get a pressure washer for 600 kroner? 2) Is this 600 kroner on top of what he wants to be paid for doing the job? 3) Can we take this 600 kroner out of the 1300 kroner he already owes us for the pool paint?

I don't mind paying him to clean the patio bricks but I'm not into buying a lot of equipment I can't use in North America. Since he was only asking for 600 kroner ($100) for a new washer, John was convinced that it wasn't really a new one...maybe a rental...or maybe his Dad's for a fee....suddenly and miraculously repaired. I dunno.

Last night John and I discussed this whole who's paying for what, and when, thing. It came up because he started getting texts from Lars during dinner about buying the pressure washer and how he used to pay his Dad 1,000 kroner to do this. Didn't we think 600 kroner was a good deal. Well....yeah it is....if that's what it's costing including the labor. It's a very good deal. It's just weird.

Trying to pin John down on the details of his agreements can be difficult sometimes. He always figures everything will work out in the end, so he doesn't sweat stuff as it goes along. I wanted to know if I was supposed to pay Lars in cash for cleaning the house this month (he showed up a few times) or was he supposed to be working off the paint money. I never really got a good answer on that one. John said he figured he'd be working off the debt, but I guess what I really wanted to know is what "Lars" thought. Because if he was expecting cash when he got her today, maybe I should have some in the house. John couldn't really tell me what Lars thought.

In the end it was determined that Lars was coming to the house at 3 PM today to collect our share of the pressure washer money. John had a serious of texts with him this morning that determined (in John's mind) that he was coming for 600 kroner. Following John's series of texts, I had my own with Lars and it was determined (in my mind) that he was coming to collect 1500 kroner since the pressure washer cost 1300 kroner.....I guess math isn't his strong suit. This little thumb and finger conversation prompted a phone call to John who was steadfast in his impression that we were paying him 600 kroner. OY!! Confused yet?

Well, Lars shows up a little past three with a brand new pressure washer in 2 boxes. I guess he was able to pay for it up front after all. I have 1000 kroner sitting on the bookcase for him because I've decided to pay him for June's housecleaning and let our share of the pressure washer, which John swears is 600 kroner, come out of the money owed for the paint. (I hope you're keeping track of all this in Excel.) He takes it out back and starts to fiddle with the parts. Before too long, he knocks on the back door and asks me to come out and show him how to connect the hose to it. I take the spray nozzle off the end of the hose, hand it to him and point to the spot on the pressure washer where it attaches. He takes the hose connector off the end of the hose and tries to jam the rubber of the hose onto the nozzle where the pressure washer connects. I start to worry and take over....telling him he has to put the connector back on, showing him how it works.

The hose connector works but the pressure washer doesn't. Lars tries a few things and decides to go back to the store for help. He's gone an hour. When he comes back. it still doesn't work, so he goes back to the store for more help. Eventually, he gets the motor running and he starts on the patio. It isn't very long before he's stopped again. The brushes on the bottom of the patio cleaner aren't rotating, he informs me he'll go back to the (now closed) store in the morning to see what's wrong this time. Before he escapes, John gets home from work, and changes a few parts around so that the brushes turn. Poor Lars has to spend the better part of Friday night working on the patio.

He's coming back tomorrow to finish the job. We're waiting for the mud to dry so we can sweep all that crap up, and Lars didn't take any money...yet. But he sure did a lot a grumbling about how much time he's got invested in this project so far.

Come back tomorrow to see how it all comes out in the wash.....

Visit To The Doctor

It had to happen eventually. I would run out of blood pressure pills while I was overseas and I'd have to see a local doctor. I was really careful not to let that happen in Baku, but I got a little slack with it since I am here in a nice modern country with good social medicine.

There is a cool website in Denmark where you can look up everything medical and health-wise...right down to the set prices of prescription and over the counter medicines. It lists all of the approved and available medications; and you can look up dental fees, too. It even breaks down wait times by hospital and clinic for specific surgeries or treatments, so you can decide where you might want to go. It's all very very efficient...but you can waste spend hours in there just browsing.

Anyway, I made an appointment, via email, a couple of weeks back and Friday was the big day. I think it's been a while since my blood pressure was last checked and typical for me, since I knew it would be checked at the end of the week, I ate a bunch of chicken nuggets at McDonald's , we barbecued hot dogs and sausages twice, and I made pork chops with the canned mushroom soup gravy the night before. Which just goes to show you that it is possible to live dangerously while not breaking the speed limit, or a sweat. Have some salt, already!

Like any new experience, you gotta learn the drill. Learning the drill in a foreign language has interesting moments and the trick is to learn it without appearing to be stupid. First rule of thumb when waiting your turn always direct your attention at the object upon which you are waiting. Daydreaming and gazing at the pictures on the wall will get you a "She's talking to you" from a stranger. I think it was told to me in Danish first but I was too busy with the art work to catch it.

The doctor's office is in a clinic of 3 doctors that occupies a ground floor apartment of a 4 story building. Instead of the waiting and reception area being at the front of the office it's at the back, so you have to wander a bit through some hallways in order to find it. There was a room with some chairs, and across the hall from that there was an office that looked like it was reception. I told the girl in there that I had an appointment (after I figured out she was talking to me) and she took me into the waiting room and showed me how to swipe my health card through this card reader gizmo that was mounted on the wall.

Lesson One....find the right entrance to building, enter, swipe card and take a seat.

I didn't get to take a seat this time because I no sooner had the card back in my wallet, than the doctor came looking for me. What? No clip board? No medical history in Danish? Where was my privacy statement to sign? Never mind that I wouldn't be able to fill out a Danish form anyway and there really isn't any privacy here. I know this because the government sent me a summons to come in for my mammogram. Come to think of it my first communication from the Danish government was the summons I got to come in for a pap test a month after I got here. That really creeped me out! I was so sure I had gotten this summons because I was living in a house registered to the sex trade.

So, the doctor turns out to be a petite gray haired lady wearing a turtleneck and no bra. She was very sweet. She took a smattering of information from me and entered it directly into her computer. I guess they are beyond the file folder here. It's also apparent that what happened to you before you came to Denmark isn't all that important because she pretty much only asked me the reason for my visit, and did I smoke. She asked me where I was from, about the kids, and what had brought me to Denmark. She then takes my blood pressure and it's 160/110!! WOW! That was the highest it had ever been.....ever! I saw my last chicken nugget flash before my eyes. Crap!

The doctor had me lie down on the exam table, told me to relax, and said she'd be back in a minute. I tried but was sure she had gone off to call the government to let them know I needed a saline monitor attached to my ankle. A few minutes later she's back and proceeds to take my blood pressure again. This time it's 130/80. Where it usually is...I'm not dying after all. I'm just chicken. Scared of little grey haired braless doctors in foreign countries! I can haz nuggetz! Okay, every now and again...

Prior to my appointment someone had told me that the doctor would send the prescription directly to the Apotek (pharmacy). But that didn't happen in my case. She printed a slip from her computer and I got to take it to the Apotek of my choice.

I chose the one at the Horsholm Mid-Punkt (central place), took my number as I entered and though I was 7 numbers back in the queue, I don't think I had to wait more than 10 minutes. Kind of a sweet set up. They sell some skin care products and first aid gear, so there was something to browse through while waiting. But the main focus is definitely pharmacy. There were 4 counters set up along the wall, each one manned by a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician (not sure which). Behind them was a big room full of people and drugs.....shelves and shelves of drugs...and lots of people, too.

When my turn came I handed the pharmacist my prescription and my health card. She swiped me again, told me to wait for a moment, then she disappeared into the shelves. A minute later she's back with my meds. They came pre-bottled, so she didn't have to count them out, 100 pills a container. One of them was in an old fashioned glass bottle. Her computer had printed out the little personal labels for the bottles, she stuck them on and handed them to me in a bag. That was quick and I didn't have to go back to pick them up. The best part was the price, though, I paid the equivalent of $60 for 2 kinds of BP medication that will last me more 3 months. That works out to ten bucks a month each! That's incredibly cheap. And no worries about the pills being made in some Chinese backwater factory. If they're not making Legos or blue cheese, the Danes are making pills and colostomy bags. Ladies your HRT is made less than 10 miles from my house. Medical manufacturing is a huge industry here....right up there with Carlsberg beer!

I suppose I should add a qualifier to all this excitement over reasonably priced drugs. This morning we dropped off our first ever load to the dry cleaners. Many of John's work pants were in dire need of a good pressing. My humble iron can only do so much once they've been washed at home enough times. We expected some sticker shock and were not disappointed. Twelve bucks a pair for a grand total of $72 for 6 pair of pants!