London, Paris, and Madrid in one day!

No kidding! The title to this post says it all. Judy's direct flight from DFW to Madrid last weekend took on a different dimension when her original flight out of Lubbock on Friday afternoon was canceled and she thus missed the Madrid flight. American rerouted her to London, but since all British Airways and Iberia flights from Heathrow to Madrid were completely sold out she was routed first to Paris for a short stop-over before traveling on. We reunited in Madrid early Saturday evening...

We had decided to see our English/Mexican friends Howard and Lidya in the Spanish capital a few weeks back after being informed that we wouldn't work one of our favorite (and longest-running) races in Ruston. Oh well. Howard's sister, Celia (with Judy in the photo above), was to come down from Twyford near London for our Big Chill-like reunion. I flew out on Thursday, right after my last class. Judy's plans to join me on that flight were stymied by work schedules at MHMR.

Regardless of how much time we actually spent with our friends, it was worth the effort. Quantity does not always equal quality, and that was certainly true of this weekend. We made our time count, even though Celia had to leave for the UK on Sunday afternoon while we didn't fly back until Monday noon, getting home by 11 p.m. on Monday. The time spent with our friends and Howard and Lidya's great kids--Sandra, Karen, and Simon--was priceless. We went out to eat, we had great tapas at home, we took a long walk in beautiful gardens, we went to Karen's horse-back riding stables, we had sangria and Spanish ham in the wee hours in a small downtown bar. What better way to spend a weekend, eh?

Today was a normal workday for both of us. Indeed, sleep and cancer are overrated. :)

Jürgen





The best olives in the world--and even Judy enjoyed a Mahou beer

Oktoberfest precedes the next chemo

On Saturday, Wes and Susan hosted a small Oktoberfest party, and the surprise guest was Emily, who had come up from Stephenville and was taking a break from her studies at Tarleton State. Jerred and Jennifer had come over, too, and Wes' mom rounded out the company. (And of course, there were the rug rats.)

We all had a fun evening, with lots of brats, potato salad, and, yes, beer. Judy had dug out the customary Oktoberfest decorations, and as a special treat all of us--young and old--played a wild game of "Topfschlagen" where the blind-folded player uses a wooden spoon to find and bang on an upside-down kitchen pot that hides some trinket. We all laughed so hard that our bellies hurt!

After a dreary Sunday (drizzle, fog, cold temps) we're back to the normal routine: Judy is having her lab work done this morning, I'm grading papers, and the outlook for tomorrow is another round of chemo.

Jürgen

Judy is back from Bryan

While I was frolicking in Chile on UCI business, Judy traveled to Bryan to officiate the BTU Power Pedal mountain bike race.

From what she told me in her e-mails (I am still en route coming back from Santiago while updating this blog), everything came off fine, despite rainy and muddy conditions.

As a special treat, Judy got to spend some time on Sunday after the race with Michelle, Ken, Ian, and Cal.

Next weekend we're actually going to be home together, so that's going to be another big treat for us. We should also learn fairly soon when the next chemo will come.

I'm sure looking forward to get home after six days in South America, and Judy is ready for a good snuggle, too.

Jürgen