Saturday

One sign that our lives are sluggishly regaining recognizability is  Saturday’s little excursion to the park.  We managed to get out of the flat much as we have on Saturdays past, only this time with a baby!  Though the temp was a bit over 50F and the sun bright, the blustery wind brought quite a chill.  Still, it was lovely to be out, especially in the beauty of Holyrood Park.

We tried to teach Julian the difference btwn swans and ducks, but he merely sighed and went back to sleep.

On the bank of St Margaret’s Loch, in Holyrood Park…St Anthony’s chapel in the background

Funny shadows

In the park–Salisbury Craigs in background

Croft-an-Righ–a sidestreet leading to Holyrood Park

Bundled and nonchalant about the outing

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Rabbit Medicine

On a wholly different note, I learned a couple weeks ago that a new academic post at Edinburgh Uni has been established: Lecturer in Rabbit Medicine and Surgery.  For the exciting news click here. Apparently, with well over one million pet rabbits in the UK, there’s plenty of demand for vets specializing in leporidology, as the study of rabbits is called.  So, rabbit lovers, rejoice!  Your dear pets have an advocate in Edinburgh.

Some of you may recall that while we lived in St. Louis we had three rabbits.  For the record, these bunnies served a purely utilitarian purpose: they made fertilizer for our garden and flower beds, a job at which they were quite adept.  So, when the first died, we were sad. When his fluffy daughter followed suit, we mourned. When the final bunny croaked, we tore our cloaks and bathed in ashes.  Today I can only ask, “Why did it take so long for Europe to establish this first lectureship in rabbit medicine?”  Think of all the poor folk who could have been spared sorrow such as we experienced three times over!  Still, there is much reason to be grateful, for tomorrow’s rabbits (and their devoted owners) face a better future.  Truly, we live in a beautiful age.

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Two Weeks

Julian is two weeks old today.  One perk (some might say the only perk) of the nationalized healthcare system here is the attentiveness to newborns and new mums.  In the first ten days we had six visits from a midwife who examined Julian and ensured that Jackie was getting along ok.  Then, yesterday, we had our first interaction with a ‘community health visitor’–basically an itinerant nurse.  She (or her colleagues assigned to our district) will look after Julian at regular appointments until age five (if we’re here that long!). At yesterday’s appointment Julian performed marvelously.  His best event was the scales, where he weighed in at a whopping eight pounds; that’s 7.5 oz. more than birthweight.

Two weeks after a massive (happy) life-interruption, we’ve begun a steady pursuit of normalcy with a semblance of a schedule and a return to work.  If we didn’t know before, we’re now convinced that the happy life includes at least one afternoon nap!

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