Birthdays, Friends and genealogy - what more can you want? Freedom from pain and frustration for one thing

We had a lovely time celebrating a birthday for one of the members of this group of people from l-r Nancy, Steve and Roberta. Leanne and I were both there of course , with me being somewhat worse for wear. The sunshine was very pleasant and by the time the clouds rolled in and the wind turned less than nice the afternoon was over and with it went the joys of the day

The food prepared by our gourmet chef consisted of slow cooked Moroccan veal with cous cous and vegetables, to be followed up with a spectacular desert of home made Tiramisu.

This was so nice in fact, that I actually tried to eat some of the desert and to my surprise I actually succeeded in getting a small portion down my throat. It's nice to know that Marmaduke has competition, albeit in a very small and insignificant way.

Pain is still the major event in my day and at present it requires what is known as breakthrough medication every four to six hours. It appears that the oedema in the right hand and the legs is not getting any better and the pain that accompanies this is excruciating.

I am also troubled by sleep during the night having fears about all sorts of things and being kept awake by all of these. I keep hoping that things will get better, but I suspect that this is not going to be the case.

So now, it's off to my makeshift day lounge where I can elevate those legs and try and reduce the swelling. I then look forward to being reconnected to Marmaduke and with a little luck, get some sleep after all this while the Saturday night movies drone on around me.

Yesterday I was fortunate to have a visit from a former work colleague called Salim who is also doing family research and unfortunately experiencing far more problems than I am. So if anyone knows how to get information from Turkish authorities about the populations of the countries that were part of their empire prior to the first world war, please let me know so that I can pass this on to him. Frankly I am out of my depth for both the periods and the locations of the research. Apart from the Mormons who may have been allowed into the areas that were ruled by the Turks prior to the first world war and who of course may have an office here in town.