Tapas for Thanksgiving

I was in Madrid, Spain last week for a teacher's conference. It was great. The conference sessions were really informative, and I had a chance to go to the Prado and the Reina Sofia museum. I love Spanish art, so I think the Prado has been my favorite art museum so far. Plus I got to see Guernica at the other one. It was way bigger than I expected.

Speaking Spanish was wonderful too. It was such a relief to know the language, to communicate, and to understand!

One of the best things was going out to a tapas bar for dinner on Thanksgiving. We had great food, although my paella had what looked like a whole baby chicken in it. Plus, it's a fun memory to eat tapas for Thanksgiving dinner in Madrid.

In Honor of the Iron Bowl

Several colleagues went to Moscow for a conference. One brought this back to me. Doesn't it seem weird that a Matryoshka doll maker in Moscow looked up players on the Alabama football team?

The smaller ones are Gilberry and Castille.

Seiffen

On Saturday, a group of us drove to Seiffen. Seiffen is a village in the Erzgebirge Mountains south of Dresden. Seiffen is where all those famous German Christmas decorations are made. We have seen some snow in Dresden, but nothing has stuck yet in the city because the temps are still above freezing most of the time. Since Seiffen is in the mountains, it has colder temps and LOTS of snow. I'm still really unsure when walking in the snow. It's scary!

I did some shopping for Christmas. It was really nice to get away for the day. A student from school was sweet enough to come by and check on Zoe twice. I'm getting in the Christmas spirit!

Fabulous News!

Zoe took her first steps since surgery today at physical therapy. It was on the underwater treadmill. The water helps her to support her weight. At first, she was just dragging her back legs, but then she started to move them too!! I was so happy and thankful that all those prayers have been answered. The physical therapist even started to cry a little. How sweet is that?

More Paris pics

Here are a few more pictures from my trip to Paris. I haven't had a chance to post them in all the Zoe hullabaloo.

at the Louvre

the gardens at Versailles

an unflattering picture of me in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
Montmartre

a view of the gargoyles at Notre Dame.

Zoe Update

Zoe has now been home almost two weeks. We have been going to physical therapy three days a week. The progress is very slow, but there does seem to be progress. Although she can't walk yet, her reflexes and sensation seem to be returning. It's still hard though. I come home during the day to check on her, and the physical therapists is not easy to get to. I take two buses and then walk about three blocks or take three buses. Not fun at all. She got out her stitches on Monday and the wound seems to be healing fairly well.

The physical therapy is interesting. First, the therapist is Bulgarian and speaks German and Bulgarian, so I take my German dictionary, and he draws pictures. I can understand about 60% of what he says. He does things that teach Zoe how to walk again. He does exercises that practice the motion of walking. He also uses magnetic, laser, and electro-therapy. When Zoe gets a little better, he has a underwater treadmill that she can walk on that will support her weight. It's often painful for her, but that's actually very good. Here are some pictures that I took of her when I got her home.

She was sitting on a puppy pad because she has had a little problem with incontinence. That seems to be getting better, thank goodness!