another tree bites the dust

ok, i admit that it may have been a problem for the owners (neighbours) but i object to it's removal.  the tree removal people arrived at 7.30 am and they have just stopped. it's nearly 11.30 am.   the noise was ( i hope they're finished) incredible. kill me now.   the tree was one of my favourites.  a pink peppercorn. it hung over the corner of the car park and was beautiful. it provided much needed shade.  yes, it did make a bit of mess but not too much and it didn't leave a sticky residue on the car roof as some trees do.  the trunks of these trees are amazing.  i always want to draw them.  such gorgeous textures. we have three outside the library and if i look up i can see one of them through the skylight window when sitting at my desk.  i might go out today and hug a tree, although, the last time i did that, i got bitten by an ant.  :)

how gorgeous is that?

my brain

the good news is that they found one.  yay.  i had a cat scan recently.  nothing serious wrong with me.  everything normal except that i've got brain atrophy.  sounds serious.  oooooh.  i googled it,  it just means my brain has shrunk.

the pattern and rate of progression of cerebral atrophy depends on the disease involved. diseases that cause cerebral atrophy include: 

age  bingo***

stroke and traumatic brain injury

depression (mood)  my brain has shrunk, that's enough to depress anyone***

alzheimer's disease, pick’s disease, senile dementia, fronto-temporal dementia, and vascular dementia

cerebral palsy, in which lesions (damaged areas) may impair motor coordination

huntington's disease, and other genetic disorders that cause build-up of toxic levels of proteins in neurons

leukodystrophies, such as krabbe disease, which destroy the myelin sheath that protects axons

mitochondrial encephalomyopathies, such as kearns-sayre syndrome, which interfere with the basic functions of neurons

multiple sclerosis, which causes inflammation, myelin damage, and lesions in cerebral tissue

infectious diseases, such as encephalitis, neurosyphilis, and aids, in which an infectious agent or the inflammatory reaction to it destroys neurons and their axons

epilepsy, in which lesions cause abnormal electrochemical discharges that result in seizures

anorexia nervosa

i've never heard of some of these.  basically i'm a bit young to show signs of it.  it's usually in older people.  it could or could not be a precursor for alzheimer's among other things.  there's no way of telling.  there's no swelling or inflammation and everything else is normal.  i had no idea what is was and had to hold on to the chair.  fancy having the other thing and a brain tumour.  no brain tumour.  yay again.  now for the really scary part.  i've shrunk.  dr weighed and measured me.  i am 168 cm.  well, not anymore.  163 cm now.  i wish my feet would shrink.  my cholesterol level has gone down a bit.  6.8  the hard part is that i have to lose weight.  dr also said that my good cholesterol is high and that would put up my overall reading. bp is good.  well.  after all that i had a lovely lunch with my son and his fam.  he's hurt his back again and will see chiro tomorrow.  all that and a little shopping.  not too horrible.  it's been pouring with rain all day here.  garden will like it. 

i've had an urge. a strong urge :)

i've had a strong urge to paint lately.  that and take up calligraphy again.  Cindy's blog is very inspiring.  today i took my g/son to the shops and we had a good look around for stuff he likes (i'm pooped) and then i went and got a new watercolour pad and some drawing tools.  i've always wanted a roller ruler.  :)    don't ask

weird messages trying to log into blogger

something weird is going on with my computer.  i have been getting a page pop up when i log into blogger for the last few days.  it's a red screen with a white text box saying 'something's not right here' and a report about one of the blogs that i follow having malware.  i have reported it to blogger and have turned off the bit in preferences about warnings so am not getting it now.  it's only on the computer that i use chrome on.  if i go into ie9 or similar i don't get it.  i am just wondering if anyone else has been getting this page pop up.  i wonder if anyone else uses chrome.  probably not.  i am assuming it's a chrome issue and not blogger.  let me know if you've had it too.