In the swing of December

Trichinella spiralis - migrating larva through muscle tissue

Ascaris lumbricoides - cross section through larva in pig lung tissue

Blastocystis hominis - faecal sample (the round thing in the middle)

Mid-December! I “lost” two weeks to intense microscopy teaching. It was fun but I am destroyed. Not quite recovered yet… This year for the first time I chose not to help out with the labs that two colleagues lead, which reduced my on-my-feet time. I still do more than half but it made such a difference. I even checked my emails, and responded to most. I am calling this a win. I got quite a bit of marking done and a plagiarism referral sent off. One of the more frustrating aspects of my work. I wont’t bore you with the details. I attended graduation with three of my MSc students, always a joyful occasion although I usually zone out for the big speech about world changers and all that.

We dropped Annie off at Glasgow Central, for the first leg of her trip to New Zealand. I hope she gets there ok because the cheapest route is not the most direct route. But she is young, well organised and not on her own. Before she left, we squeezed in a family dinner with all four offspring. A miracle! Even James was here, which was nice, and unusual. He is not much of a family man at the moment, we rarely see him and when we do, his default interactions are unpleasant and he is rude. I suppose he’ll grow up some day and return to his old sweet ways. Here’s to hope.

Alistair turned16! He is becoming more independent, which is great. Having said that, he is pretty hopeless with bus travel… quite happy to walk 5 km into town and back just to avoid the bus, even in the freezing fog we’ve had lately. Change takes time.

Our kitchen extension is full of fairy lights. I spend a lot of time in the reading corner and I love the soft lighting. It is so very dark outside! I don’t mind the dark actually but any excuse to brighten the house up a little. 

Lupin the cat stopped eating and had to go and see the vet. She might be nauseous because of a build up of urea in her blood. A consequence of her chronic kidney disease. She has some medication to help with the nausea, and hopefully it works. 

I am quite excited about my new toy, a robot vacuum cleaner. It also mops. It was very easy to setup and it has created a map of our downstairs. Even labelled most rooms correctly. I have no idea how it knows. On the map, you can see where there are wooden floors and where there are carpets. So far, it hoovers rather well, better than the teens. I am trying to mop next. 

In other news, my endometrium biopsy came back as normal, which is a relief. I have been referred on for a hysteroscopy to check out a potential fibroid. The joys of a uterus owner! I am not looking forward to this procedure. I also visited the dental hygienist for my regular teeth maintenance. Absolutely worst medical procedure ever, in my humble view.

We received a Christmas card from someone who clearly knows us well and has had dinner with us on at least one occasion. The troubling thing is, neither Richard nor I have any recollection of this, or indeed the senders. We also asked the kids, none are any wiser, although two are mentioned in the lovely card. We must be suffering from collective amnesia. Troubling indeed.  

I am cruising for the rest of the week, no work meetings, just writing and recording lecture material for January. 

The photos above are all I took in December, apart from Graduation photos, which I can’t share. For anyone who wants to know more about the parasites show, you can find them on the CDC parasites A-Z website. 

Thanks for visiting 😊