From quiet moments at home, warm chats in between, and a Proustian moment at the bottom of a pint of alcohol-free Guinness.
It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog, so let me get you up to speed on how the past week went for me.
I faced an unexpected challenge coming back from the hospital last weekend. A wildfire in nearby Belgium had caused a massive smoke cloud to move across Luxembourg and particularly the eastern region where I live.
One of the chemo drugs I am receiving takes a toll on your lungs, so the smoke pollution affected my breathing for the first two-three days back home. Fortunately, my situation quickly improved once the smoke had cleared. Temperatures dropping and the long-awaited arrival of rain also did me a lot of good.
Aside from that, my experience has been fairly similar to Cycle 1. My appetite remains not only intact but heightened and I’ve so far been able to more or less maintain my weight, which is encouraging.
At home, I’ve mostly spent my time reading, writing, and focussing on either language or dharma study. I have greatly enjoyed the quiet time and actually felt little inclination to post online, hence the pause.
I’ve also had more of my wonderful friends visit me at home, one of whom even brought her cat along. Since I had to cancel my own summer holiday plans, it has been a true joy listening to my friends tell me about their own travels.
Speaking of, followers of my Instagram account may know that I tend to spend my summers in Cannes where I am a regular at a local Irish pub. While it would not be the wisest thing to drink alcohol right now, I recently was delighted when I found a way to get alcohol-free Guinness delivered to my home.
The cans arrived today and I did of course not wait to have a taste. Something that did not occur to me before is that I almost exclusively drink Guinness at this Irish pub in Cannes. As such, the taste is very firmly linked to that environment. When I tasted the alcohol-free Guinness this afternoon, images of the pub and – interestingly – the path I usually follow to get back home to my flat appeared in my mind. For a few seconds, I was truly transported there. How magical this world of ours is…
Thanks for reading everyone – I wish you health and happiness wherever you are. Till soon!
just thoughts 