Hypochondria and Anachronisms

I suffer from my (at least once annual) poison ivy attack - a relatively light affliction this year, but the itch robs me of sleep.  So while lying awake trying to ignore the itch, weird things come to mind:

For my European readers (the two of you :), poison ivy is a scourge that grows everywhere in the US except Hawaii, a rather innocuous looking plant that can take on many forms.
One clipping grown in different conditions can result in a ground cover, a tall tree-climbing vine or a freestanding shrub with different leaf patterns.  The plant contains urushiol, which upon contact with sensitized individuals brings untold miseries.

For more see:    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_radicans

The devilish part is that urushiol a stable compound that can be carried to my skin via dog, cat, or even wind!

Nothing happens for about 3 days post exposure, which is the next fiendish property of the stuff.  It doesn't burn, sting or do anything but spread silently (if I know that I have been exposed, I can remove the urushiol with detergent, shampoo or soap and cool water - hot makes it penetrate - and alleviate most of the damage), only to result in an itchy (like a mosquito bite) little pimple.  In the course of a week this spot turns into a throbbing itching blister or weeping sore or a whole patch of them.  Gross as that looks, it is no longer 'infectious' at that stage.  A single spot can be survived, but there have been times when about 60% of me were of the weeping sore stage, lines and patches of blisters covering me and there is nothing much that helps then.  Doctors tend to prescribe a regimen of prednisone, which does exactly nothing, but keeps you popping pills for three weeks, which is about how long it takes to heal.

The itch is only part of the maddening discomfort.  The other part is the oozing.  The leaking serum crusts, then flows again, sticks to everything, and generally makes you miserable when you have managed to ignore the infernal itch.

A somewhat more useful thing is a scrub called Zanfel, which has worked for me (it doesn't help everyone), the downside being that an ounce (30 g) costs about $40.  So most of the time I use heat (very hot water) to control the itch, and air or if really bad, baking soda to dry out or sop up the serum.  It costs next to nothing, except nerves, because I do complain, and get grumpy, mostly from lack of sleep.

In the beginning, when I first saw these mysterious rashes, I had no idea that it was poison ivy, since the plant is not found in Europe, and one needs to have been exposed and become sensitized before anything happens.  I spent a lot of time walking through the woods, never realizing that I should avoid some little plant.  Therefore I suffered the condition with stoic courage, thinking it was yet another attack of leprosy - thus on to the hypochondria mentioned in the title.

When I was 12 or 13 I watched Marcus Welby, MD.  This was in Germany of course, and the episode concerned a young woman who had this white patch on her hand, that was insensitive to pain.  Dr. Welby diagnosed Hansen's disease, which is LEPROSY.
Now I have this spot on my foot that seems to have no nerve endings in it, and hands or feet are about the same when it comes to leprosy - sooner or later your fingers or toes will fall off.  I can't remember how long I suffered in courageous silence waiting for that to happen.  I still have all my digits, but the weird white spot is unchanged on my foot.  So far - so good.

If I do turn up a leper, I want to go to the leper colony in Molokai, because they don't have poison ivy in Hawaii, remember?

The anachronism part has to do with the Quebec secession movement, the French, and statues.

Weird how things start.  In this case it was Bob's fault.

No, not Robert Bunsen, a different Bob.

Our friend Bob came yesterday to trim the horses hooves.  For some reason we discussed the - to us - idiotic notion that French Canadians in Quebec have, to become their own country.

Admittedly, I am prejudiced here.  I have never liked French, the language.  It is a completely unnecessary evil, as far as I am concerned.  That is probably due to the fact that I suck at French.  I almost had to repeat a year because my French grades were so atrocious.  (Okay, my math grade was equally reprehensible, but nobody expects me to like math or to succeed in it).

So then we tried naming valuable French contributions, with the premise that we would come up empty.

Naturally that was untrue.

For one, I do like Briards and French cheeses.

For another, there is little doubt that without the support of France, the United States would have never become independent.

And then there is the Statue of Liberty.

And that reminded me of Germania - the statue that sits above Ruedesheim, see below.

The trip to Ruedesheim was one of the pre-wedding travels, and a very enjoyable one at that.  We took the train to the town, and a ship back to Wiesbaden.  We had excellent food in Ruedesheim, and fun entertainment (mostly because my mother knew all the words to the songs), although the place is a tourist mecca and full of kitschy stores selling cuckoo clocks and Steiff animals and worse.  Still, its setting right on the Rhine is very appealing and the weather was great.

Ruedesheim and the Rhine as seen from the vineyards.

Maserati - also in Ruedesheim

I didn't know much about Ruedesheim, and nothing at all about the Gondola ride up the hill,



and the nearby Niederwald monument.


Apparently - and my grasp on history is a flimsy one - the thing was built after the Franco Prussian war, which ended 1871.  It was the last war with France that actually Germany won, and it apparently united Germany as a country, before the last unification...
(What's that line about having to repeat history?)

So what do the victorious Germans do in celebration?

Build this statue pointed at France, to show them, that's what.

Germania holds up the German crown and rather casually keeps her sword in front.
Yes, that is not the least bit obnoxious.

Okay, I am sure they had some sort of noble motives and all, but there is a certain amount of braggadocio involved here - talk about being sore winners.  I don't think that is accidental or a misinterpretation; the Germans were rubbing it in.

The monument was completed in 1883, and Germania stands 10.5 m tall, but there is a big pedestal with other stuff supporting her making the total height 38 m.  They were doing some restorations during our visit, so it was scaffolded and covered.

Now this statue caused me to wonder about the Statue of Liberty.
After all, France gave that to US as a birthday present.  Construction on the Statue of Liberty started in 1875.  The big gal was dedicated in 1886.

Here are some of her specs:

Feature[67]	U.S.	Metric
Height of copper statue	151 ft 1 in	46 m
Foundation of pedestal (ground level) to tip of torch	305 ft 1 in	93 m
Heel to top of head	111 ft 1 in	34 m
Length of hand	16 ft 5 in	5 m
Index finger	8 ft 1 in	2.44 m
Circumference at second joint	3 ft 6 in	1.07 m
Head from chin to cranium	17 ft 3 in	5.26 m
Head thickness from ear to ear	10 ft 0 in	3.05 m
Distance across the eye	2 ft 6 in	0.76 m
Length of nose	4 ft 6 in	1.48 m
Right arm length	42 ft 0 in	12.8 m
Right arm greatest thickness	12 ft 0 in	3.66 m
Thickness of waist	35 ft 0 in	10.67 m
Width of mouth	3 ft 0 in	0.91 m
Tablet, length	23 ft 7 in	7.19 m
Tablet, width	13 ft 7 in	4.14 m
Tablet, thickness	2 ft 0 in	0.61 m
Height of pedestal	89 ft 0 in	27.13 m
Height of foundation	65 ft 0 in	19.81 m
Weight of copper used in statue	60,000 pounds	27.22 metric tonnes
Weight of steel used in statue	250,000 pounds	113.4 metric tonnes
Total weight of statue	450,000 pounds	204.1 metric tonnes
Thickness of copper sheeting	3/32 of an inch	2.4 mm

 Now that seems to me a fundamental difference in approach.
The French, having just lost this big war with Germany, along with Alsace-Lorraine, kept going with their plans of building this remarkable thing.
I don't think anyone would have been particularly surprised or upset if they had put it off or forgotten about it, because of war.
And while there was certainly a lot more than good-will and generosity involved, any way you look at it, Lady Liberty trumps Germania.