First Haircut after Chemo!

Today I got my hair cut and colored at a salon near the house. It felt so great to be in the salon and actually having something done with my hair. The guy was great - he was the owner and he said he had a lot of clients who had gone thru chemo in one form or another. We talked about the curliness after chemo, which I don't much like. He gave me sort of a wedge cut in back and left the top and sides long so they can grow out. He said that such hair is the most curly in the back after chemo, and that it takes 12 months to realy get back to normal. It seems a lot thicker now, and for the most part looks OK. I got some vitamins with silica in them for hair and nails - don't know if that is helping but the hair is certainly growing like a weed!




The first few photos are just to show how much it has grown from Feb (Hawaii), March (with my home dye job) and April, with dark blond professionally done in the last two, with it blow dried. The color came out darker than we'd thought it would so I'm going a couple of shades lighter for next time...

Flight Home via Singapore

Today was the marathon flight home, 14 hours from Amsterdam to Singapore, then 7 hours from Singapore to Brisbane. At Schiphol airport in Amsterdam I bought another Rosina Wachtmeister cat piece, this time a glass tea light holder. Shopping or just hanging out at either Schiphol and Changi airport (in Singapore) is such a pleasure - nice food outlets, great shopping and at Changi sleeping chairs and even a pool!

Day 2 of Dutch Nursing Homes

Today we saw two great nursing homes, one in the suburbs and one more in the urban part of Amsterdam. In both people were able to bring their own furniture and pets, and in the one in the suburbs they also had deer and goats. In the city nursing home, the apartments had sophisticated electronics controlled by a bracelet the residents wore. This bracelet was programmed with the mental capacity of the resident in mind. If he or she needed a lot of assistance, the bracelet would do things like open the blinds and lead the resident to a toilet at night by activating a series of overhead lights. If the resident stayed too long in the toilet, the nurse would be alerted. The bracelet also would let more cognitively intact residents go downstairs to shop or have their hair done in the salon, etc. It was a terrific set-up, allowing meximum independence according to the abilities of each resident.

Last Dinner in Amsterdam

After our tour of the last nursing home, we rode back on a tram into town and I ate my last meal in Amsterdam at a traditional Dutch restaurant called The Pantry (see menu here). This consisted of goat's cheese croquettes, an oven baked cauliflower, ground beef and cheese dish (which was terrific!) and cinnamon ice cream on waffles for dessert. Yum! I then caught the train to the airport and my flight to Singapore.

Day 1 of Dutch Nursing Homes

Today we went by train to visit two Dutch nursing homes - one, a small group housing arrangement, was in the seaside town of Haarlem. The second was a slightly larger facility in another part of town. Both were really terrific, small, personal, and LOTS of pets. The people had their own furnitute with them, and they are were a lot calmer than a lot of folks with advanced dementia that you see in nursing homes. The Dutch have a strong emphasis on small groups (usually no more than 6 people in any house or unit) and also making the facility as home-like as possible. People can usually take their pets with them - there were even chickens in this facility, and lots of bird-feeders... It was an informative trip. I include a picture of Tim's beloved "automats" in the train station, which dispense STROOP WAFFLES (which are way-yummy!).

Amsterdam's Museums

Today I had a fabulous time visiting Amsterdam's parks and museums. I started out at Vondelpark, right near my hotel. Then I went to the Van Gogh museum, which was a little disappointing because it was so crowded. After a breakfast of an omelette on a bagel 9with cute cat for company), I headed to the highlight of the day, Katenkabinet (or the Cat Museum), which was just terrific! It had paintings, posters, statues, and even a mummy of a cat. I bought several posters to frame. After a late lunch of yet more pancakes, I headed back to the hotel, where I noticed yet more cat-themed window sills...