On February 12th I had cataract surgery on my left eye and it went very well. I was surprised at how much brighter everything appeared. It's not at all a painful operation, however I will say it's a weird experience, for those of you who haven't had it. I was awake throughout, though I had an I.V. with something to keep me slightly sedated but still fully aware and functional. What I saw was an amazing psychadelic light show throughout the 15-20 minute surgery. My doctor talked me through the entire process and excitedly told me at one point that the lens was an American one made by a company in Texas ... Alcon. Then he corrected himself and said that it was actually made in Alcon's facility in Ireland, where EU countries obtain them. A week later, on February 19th, I had my right eye done. Because I have myopia in that eye (elongated eyeball), and astigmatism, there were a few more steps involved. Again, my doctor was pleased to tell me that this lens was made in California, by J&J. "Wait, I don't have matching lenses, I asked?" "No, no you have the best lenses for your needs in each eye." After each surgery, as a nurse wheeled me back to the post op room, he walked along with me singing "California dreaming" because he knows I'm a Californian. He's such a dear little man (no bigger than me and he probably weighs less 😕) ... I'm just so happy to have him as my ophthalmologist and I'm so pleased to know that I won't have to wear glasses or contacts again! After 64 years of wearing glasses/contacts, it's ingrained in me to reach for my glasses before getting out of bed every morning, and every evening I have to remind myself not to reach into my eye to remove my contacts. Eventually I will get used to this change, but old habits die hard.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, we had a lot of rain and wind during the couple of weeks of my surgery and beyond, which meant I couldn't get out easily to walk, due to the windy conditions. Finally, toward the end of February, we started to get some lovely weather and we were able to venture out to the Camellia festival at Parque de São Roque, a place we were not familiar with previously. This is a large public park (approximately 15 acres) on the grounds of a gorgeous manor originally built in 1759. There are over 200 camellia trees on the grounds, as well as a very cool hedge maze, a small lake, and a playground area for kids. We had a great time exploring the grounds and look forward to returning for a guided tour of the interior of the manor.
Thanks to trump criticizing just about every European leader and Musk taking wildly unpopular actions, I'm quite pleased that many Europeans are now checking labels when shopping for pretty much everything to see if it's made in America and, if it is, they are putting it back on the shelf and looking to find something made outside of the U.S. I still had my Amazon account (why?) but cancelled it a few weeks ago. As I'm sure you've heard, European leaders are irate with the Cheeto dusted scrotum. Portugal stands with Ukraine; all of the EU stands with Ukraine, as does the UK. But the U.S. ... they now stand with Russia and North Korea. WTH? We spent our childhoods going through drills at school, to evade the Russians and now the U.S. has aligned with Putin, North Korea and whatever other numb-nut dictators and against America's strongest allies for the past 80 years? Is that really what people voted for? I feel like I'm in an alternate reality. It's hard to believe that people in the U.S. aren't breaking down the doors of Congress, but then again, Democrats don't destroy things like MAGA. And of course, he wants to build a resort in Gaza so he just has to figure out how to get 2 million people on buses so he can clear the area. Who said he could have Gaza? He continues to insult Canada/Canadian leaders, Mexico and the heads of European countries daily. He's made enemies with the country's closest allies and for what? His cabinet is filled with a bigly assortment of quacks from Fox News. But sure, let's make a former weekend show host on Fox News the Secretary of Defense. The whole government is nothing more than a reality show now.
Speaking of governments, the Prime Minister of Portugal lost a confidence vote two days ago, which means we'll have new elections in May. The last election was held in March, 2024. This will be the third election in three years. We hope that the right-wing party, Chega, does not win more seats, nor the leader of Chega, a trump wannabe, win the election. He doesn't appear to be as stupid as trump but, that still remains to be seen. He's almost as cocky. The one thing I appreciate about this form of government is that when the Parliament has reservations about the PM, and in this case it has to do with investments he failed to disclose ... i.e. companies making monthly payments to "his wife" (with whom he lives, I might add) and which is against the law ... i.e. paying for "favors" from the PM, ... well it caught up with him and yesterday he lost a confidence vote so now new elections have to be called. Yet trump sells meme coins while he is the POTUS, enabling big buyers to gain favors. At least we're not stuck with a moron for four years here.
Lastly, I will say that my investment portfolio has taken a huge hit thanks to the brilliant businessman running the country into a recession (or depression, who knows). The back and forth on tariffs is astonishing. I hope trump voters are feeling the pain financially as well. Who thought voting for a moron who went bankrupt 6 times was a great idea? He's coming for your SS, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. He's coming for Veteran's disability payments. Make America Great Again my ass.
I apologize to most of you for sharing my strong thoughts on what is going on over there but, it's my monthly email and I will not stay silent. You certainly don't have to read it and you are welcome to ask me to remove you from my distribution list. My feelings won't be hurt.
Stay safe. Until next time.
Adeus, abraços e beijos,
MaryLou