~ Tom has a lovely new audiologist, who is fitting him with a new appareil auditif - a so much nicer term than 'hearing aid'. It is matt grey, which is also nicer than the old shiny beige 'flesh- toned' ones. (Whose flesh? I often wonder, remembering the infant teacher I sat in with in early training days, who put a pot of lurid pale pink mixed-up powder paint in front of a group of 5 year olds, including the only black child in the school, and said 'There, that's for doing people's faces.') As he is acquainted, or re-acquainted, with a new range of sounds, his face brightens: 'This is exciting!' he says. In a rapidly shuttled mixture of French and English, we try to describe sound impressions, and agree that, as for smell, there really aren't enough good words in either language.
~ So many delightful pictures from yesterday's walk I can't choose between them. So for now
~ a quick study of the aforementioned Japanese-looking stoneware bowls, melted butter for the use of, dipping asparagus, artichokes etc. Or, as tonight, tartare sauce. Or soy. Or whatever. (They are small, no more than 8cm diameter.)
6 comments:
Oh, I'm so pleased that Tom has gotten an 'appareil auditif' - the name sounds wonderful and so does the colour. Hope he will get used to it quickly and love it!
And I love your little bowls for I have a weakness for pottery. Are they locally made? And I envy you the swallows for we don't get them at this house. But I did see a red breasted hummingbird and got so excited I scared the poor thing off. We usually have the green breasted ones here. Sorry I don't have the proper names.
Gorgeous bowls.
Glad Tom is hearing better.
Is it true that the new device works? Since I have more than a passing interest in amplified speech (born into a family with profound deafness on both sides; now on the way to assuming that misunderstood and disregarded sense of isolation) I could see they were getting smaller but remained sceptical about their abilities. The key is improving the signal-to-noise ratio as I'm sure Tom would confirm, a much trickier proposition than merely increasing the sound level.
You are right about that disgusting pink colour. Who'd want flesh like that? However there can be unexpected advantages. My elasticateds (which the middle classes call support hose) attempt a hilarious variant on what my calves should look like. The result is closer to prosthetic limbs. But if I lift my trousers slightly in Hereford's pedestrian precinct I attract a sort of sympathetic approval: "He's not doing too badly on two peglegs."
Hurrah for Tom! My Mama recently got a pinkish ear thing as she calls it and hates it with a passion. And Lucy! Those bowls are lovely ... how do they feel in the hand? Is there a rim (or a ring) on the bottom? The swallows here are quite active. These little aerialists are hams, I've discovered.
Thanks.
The bowls came from an annual local pottery fair, at a village called La Poterie, which for centuries was the main place for potters making very functional earthenware vessels for country use, until the 19th C I think. Now they have the fair there to commemorate that, but the standard isn't great, that kind of craftwork isn't very developed here compared with the UK, US and Australia, I think. The potter was perhaps francophone Vietnamese; the bowls feel very rough on the outside and sleek inside, I don't use them too much as they seem over-fine and delicate for earthenware, especially the blue one. They have a rim on the bottom.
Re the appareil - Tom has long had one for that ear, but the original never functioned very well, and was out of balance with the one he got later for the other ear, which was better. Lately he's just been managing on the one, but this one provides stereo, as it were. No widget, as the audiologist confirmed, can really repair the loss to a damaged ear, but these latest seem to do a bit better to make up for some of it, and this audiologist seems good and conscientious. He's just got through an evening with friends quite well, but it's still early days. Cutlery on kitchen tiles, for example, is still a source of discomfort.
BB the Peg made us laugh.
Hwvr, and I think ML would confirm this, it's really better to start sooner rather than later; the isolation isn't totally inevitable. We're also finding that converstion between the two of us is already softer, less tiring and more considered than with more raise voices. It's not only the hard-of-hearing person who has to adjust.
Lovely bowls.
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