Wally's Waffling

March 2011

2011-03-21T20:31:00.001-07:00

Hello loyal readers
Are there any still here?
My get up and go - got up and went
I will try to get back in the groove
Hope you are all going well.
Linda

My childhood Christmas

2010-12-14T22:01:00.000-08:00

I have fond memories of growing up at Glenbrook on the NSW Blue Mountains between 1960 and 1972. Especially my Christmas memories. When we arrived at Glenbrook at the end of 1960, I had just turned 7 years of age. That first Christmas was memorable because being new in town, not knowing many people and not being flush with funds, the local Anglican church folk took it upon themselves to bring Mum and Dad a Christmas hamper that year. I remember it well as there were 2 ladies that knocked on the door and presented Mum with this large box full of food and good wishes. There was even a gift each for me and my brother. Mum was so happy that after the ladies left, she cried. Times were tough for a few years and Mum always managed to make ends meet while Dad caught the train to Sydney 5 days a week and toiled away in the office of an insurance company.

Christmas at Glenbrook was always hot. Trying to sleep in a stuffy room with no fans or air conditioning was the norm. Waking at 4am to find a santa sack full of goodies at the foot of our beds was marvellous. I was so excited that I couldn't wait until the sun came up to start unwrapping my gifts so I used to try to remove the paper as quietly as I could so as not to wake Mum and Dad. Brian would sneek into my room and we would both start peeling the paper away. Why "Santa" used to wrap things in the noisiest paper "he" could find (cellophane) was a mystery to us. Inevitably, Mum who was a light sleeper, would hear Brian and me trying unsuccessfully not to make a noise with the paper and would yell at us to go back to sleep. Of course that only lasted about 5 or 10 minutes then the excitement would overwhelm us again and we would have another go.

Christmas eve would normally see a group of singers on a flat bed truck appear on the street corner and sing carols. Dad would always buy a real pine Christmas tree a couple of weeks before Christmas and we would decorate it with home made paper chains and other decorations. I can still smell the pine now. Ahh, it was a real Christmas smell.

Christmas dinner in the 1960s was the traditional hot meal made in a sweltering kitchen by my poor mother. Later on when sanity prevailed, we got into cold meat and salad. A much more sensible choice for our climate. Brian and I were allowed to have a small beer as a treat and we loved that. It didn't do us any harm and we thought we were pretty cool.

We always had our neighbour, Mrs Malcom join us for Christmas as she had no family of her own and she was like an extra grandmother to us. That was a long time ago and today Christmas for me is completely different. It doesn't hurt to remember the old times.

Happy Christmas one and all.

The Countdown to Christmas

2010-12-05T13:06:00.001-08:00

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas one and all.

Here we are into the second week of December already. My how the time had flown in the last 12 months. This time last year we were getting ready to settle our sale of the Cowra house and go to Lismore. Now 12 months later we have been living in Ebor for just over 10 months in our own little cottage in one of the most beautiful parts of the New England ranges of NSW. Life is good.

This Christmas my Dad is coming to stay for a week and will arrive on 21st. I just know he will love it here with the lovely fresh air and the animals next door plus the walk out to the falls and a trip into Dorrigo for a Chinese lunch.

Another surprise is that Matt's sister Loretta (with whom we were intending to share her farm space in Lismore last year) is in the process of selling the farm and looking for another place to live. Co-incidentally, today she will arrive to inspect a property in Ebor. It looks great on the web site and if she buys it, she will have a sizeable chunk of cash left over from her sale. Noice. It will be nice to have her close again.

I am planning our Christmas menu and have already started buying supplies. Ham, turkey etc. Salads and yummy desserts. Must also stock up on the plonk as Dad likes a tipple or 3, just like me.

More soon

I went back to school

2010-11-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I taught a craft class at the Ebor School. It was a combined small schools day with kids from Chandler, Hernani, Dundurrabin and Ebor primary schools. About 46 kids altogether from kindy to year 6.

It was a great experience for me as it has been decades since I was able to see how the school system works. I have the utmost admiration for all teachers now. The energy level was palpable as was the noise level when the kids were released into the play ground. Amazing.

Anyway, I had 2 groups of budding artists to keep amused and it was great to see what they created. During the preceeding week, I made each child a zip bag with 2 Christmas Cards, 2 Gift Tags, some stickers, patterned papers and ribbon then they all set about creating cards and tags. I have come to realise that almost without exception, they all love to do craft.

The end results varied from spectacular to ordinary but they were all made with love. I am now the volunteer craft teacher at Ebor. How about that?

Hellooooo...... did ya miss me?

2010-11-22T15:11:00.001-08:00

As usual I have been slack at updating this blog of mine. I have a good excuse though. I went to stay with Dad for a week at the beginning of the month. I also had the opportunity of catching up with Sonja, Sue and Felicity from school. We had a nice coffee and chat at Emu Plains and it was good to see these ladies that I have known since 2nd class in 1960. I got new tyres on the car at Gordon Leven's Tyres and More at Emu Plains (free plug), another old school mate but unfortunately Gordon was away on the day I turned up so I missed out on saying hello.

I also met up with my online scrapbook friends Dawn, Sharon and Shaz at Penrith Panthers for lunch. So nice to see y'all again girls.

My week with Dad was pretty good. We took the train into Sydney one day and then the ferry over to Watson's Bay and had fish and chips on the wharf. Delicious tempura whiting fillets. Something Dad had been wanting to do for some time so I thought why not make a day of it while I was visiting. We then caught the ferry back and then a bus to Paddington for coffee. I was born there and Dad worked there in the 1940s and 50s. I also lived there between 1979 and 1990. The place has changed a lot. It was a great day and cheered Dad up immensely.

Happy days.........

Making greeting cards

2010-10-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

I have decided to make and sell my own greeting cards and here is a small sample. At present I am selling them through the local post office along with my bookmarks. I also had a craft stall at Fusspots Cafe over the long weekend and made a tidy $46.50. Not bad for my first go. I have been invited to return by the cafe owners any time so I plan to have a few more stalls between now and Christmas. I have started making Christmas cards as well and am hopeful that I can make a few bucks to fund my hobby.

I have also met the principal from the Ebor school who asked me to teach a craft class in November. I have decided to get the kids to make a couple of Christmas cards for their families along with a tree ornament made from an old CD. Here is one I made a couple of years ago. We sent one each to our parents.

So, with Matt's woodwork talents and my scrapbooking efforts, we just might be able to have an outlet for our products next year. I can just see it now.... Appletree Cottage Woodwork and Crafts with a stall out the front of our house. I will have to make a big colourful sign to attract the tourists.

Cheers

Matthew's woodwork creations

2010-10-13T14:22:00.001-07:00

Mornin' all

My very talented husband has taken up woodwork for a hobby since he retired. In fact he has taken up archery as well but at the moment woodwork is his passion. He has made a model stage coach with all working parts. He even made the wheels from scratch and it looks great. Here he has photographed himself, printed it out and put himself into the coach. I love it.

He has a model cabin cruiser under construction and his current project is an acoustic bass guitar. He has also made some cedar coasters and a wagon to hold them plus some pots with lids - I don't know how to describe them except that they look like they would have belonged in the Lord of the Rings as Gandalf's tobacco jars.

He is rather talented in my opinion and I am happy for him to spend most of every day in his shed.

At least it keeps him out of trouble.

Matthew, I love you.

xxxx

2010-10-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is the upper Ebor Falls on the Sunday of the long weekend. There was so much water flowing that the river broke its banks and we could hear the thunder of the falls from the house. The bonus is that our water tank is now full again. The downside is that I have had to run the clothes dryer and hang some things by the fire to dry. I am not anticipating a low electricity bill.

I still love living here though.

Waterfalls

2010-09-16T13:53:00.001-07:00

This is a photo of the top part of the upper Ebor Falls. There is a paved walking track that starts about 300 metres from our front gate and winds all the way out to the lower falls. Such a lovely walk and the scenery is definitely worth going for.

Spring has delivered some wonderful blossoms and in particular, the wattle is looking magnificent.

Can't wait until the warmer weather which will be a lot more bearable than in previous years as we are now 1300 metres above sea level.

Lovely.

The dreaded Lurgy

2010-07-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

For the last 5 nights I have been unable to sleep in my bed due to a bad dose of bronchitis; something that has not struck me down in years. Lying down makes me cough like a 3 pack a day smoker so in order to get what little shut-eye I can, I have spent the last 5 nights in my recliner chair wrapped in a blanket. Surprisingly I have managed to get 4 or 5 hours of snooze time in between bouts of coughing.

I was thinking this morning that compared to an economy class aeroplane seat on a flight to Europe (something I have done 3 times in my life), the lounge chair is not that bad. In fact it is way better as I can lean it back a lot further and there is no-one behind, in front or beside me to take into consideration. Plus when you get to the point where your eyes are hanging out of your head with exhaustion, you could probably sleep on a bed of nails between a major railway line and Freeway and still get some rest.

Most unusually for me I have stayed up till after midnight for the last 5 nights, discovering all sorts of programs on TV that I was unaware of and finally drifting off around the 2am mark.

I had a flu shot 3 weeks ago and the doc told me that it was not possible to catch the flu from the vaccination. She didn't say anything about bronchitis, asthma or any other respiratory problem. My chest is rattling like a closet full of coat hangers. So now I am patiently waiting to get better. In the meantime I have 2 puffers to ease the breathing and the coughing muscles have finally stopped hurting.

Oh bring on the day (or night) when I can finally get back into bed. Ah... bed, with those fresh, crisp, clean sheets; warm cuddly doona and a couple of dogs to keep my feet warm.

My horse friends next door

2010-07-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is my mate Major.

I haven’t had a lot to do with horses in my life; I have been horseriding in the Megalong Valley twice and I knew one friend at school who owned a horse, but I have always thought they were a little like very large dogs. Since I moved here I have had the pleasure of getting to know the two horses that share the paddock next door, I have become enthralled by their beauty and gentleness.

Their owner is a young lady that I have had the opportunity to chat with. Not knowing much about horses, I saw her one day and asked about my equine neighbours. Why, for instance, does the male horse wear a blanket now that winter is here but the female does not? She told me that the male who was named “Major”, was around 15 years old and had spent most of his life in a warmer climate so he needed a winter blanket whilst the female who was named “Hey You” was about 30 years of age and had spent most of her life here so was used to the colder weather and she also had a much thicker coat than Major. Well there you go, makes sense when you know that sort of thing. I asked her if she would mind if I gave them a carrot or an apple every now and then and she said that was fine with her.

I am pleased to say that since I began my relationship with these two lovely animals, I have gotten a great deal of pleasure from their attentions. Mind you I do realise that they only love me for my food. Major was not shy in coming over to the fence for something to eat but Hey You was a different matter. Apparently she had spent 10 years by herself in a paddock with only a little human interaction. She had not been given a name; the lady told me when she first took ownership of her she had to follow her all over the paddock calling out “Hey You” before she finally was able to catch her so the name "Hey You" stuck. She did not come to the fence to see me but hung around in the back ground so I used to throw her a couple of pieces of carrot.

It has now been about 3 months since my first attempt at making friends with these beautiful creatures and I am excited that they come to the fence and seek me out. Of course it is for the food but, what the heck, I love it. Hey You will now take food from my hand and let me stroke her muzzle and face. Major on the other hand has been letting me do this from the beginning and he lets me wipe the boogies from his eyes with a tissue. He is such a sweetie but is really tall when he stands up straight and towers over me. I was a little nervous at first because of his size but we have gotten to know each other now and I am a bit more brave.

Every now and then their owner moves them to another paddock for a few days. I always miss them when they are not there. When they came back after a week somewhere else and we were all glad to see each other. I fed them both some apple and carrot and Major was trying to shoo Hey You away and keep me all to himself. This used to work in the beginning when Hey You was still getting used to me but she has started to stand her ground.

I am so grateful to be living here with the ability to interact with the various animals that live here. I also believe Rocky and Lou Lou are loving it here though Rocky is very jealous of me paying attention to the horses. Can’t blame him really considering his previous life. He barks at Major but Major couldn’t care less and takes no notice. I have to put Rocky in the house when it is feeding time for my equine friends.

I have observed Major when there is another horse in the vicinity, for example, if a car and horse float pulls up near the paddock, he gallops around, snorting and kicking his back legs. Once when I was in the front yard and Major was carrying on, he kicked a large clod of dried horse poo that sailed through the air and landed quite near me. Rocky, who was with me at the time, jumped straight in and started to eat it.

When their owner takes Major for a ride, Hey You is constantly in motion all over the paddock and trots up and down the fence line waiting for him to return. She certainly gets plenty of exercise then.

Being winter, there is not a lot of feed left in the paddock and my two friends have been elsewhere for the last 2 weeks. I miss them but no doubt when they return I will hear Major whinnying to me as if to say, well I am back now, come and give me a carrot.

Love it!

My Artistic Endeavours

2010-07-19T23:09:00.001-07:00

This is a view of half my back yard and part of the paddock next door with my equine friends Major and Hey You not long after the sun rose to reveal the wonderous winter landscape that we are enjoying on an almost daily basis.

I am only fairly new to digital scrapbooking but am fast becoming enchanted with the whole process. The other picture above I took a couple of weeks ago when we had the minus 9.6 start to the day and everything was frosted with white icicles. Simply beautiful. This is the pub as viewed from my front yard. Not too far to stagger home when you have had a skinfull. Anyway, I have turned it into a picture with some of the elements I have in my digital scrapbooking stash. The advantage of digi scrapping is that you don't have miles of papers, embellishments and tools taking up space on my work desk but I confess that I still enjoy the "hands on" process too.

I am sure there are better places to live but as far as I am concerned, you can keep them. I love where I live and feel more at home here than anywhere else I have lived before.

Watch this space, there is more to come

Cheers

How long can you live on what food you have at home?

2010-07-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

If you had to live on what you have in your pantry, fridge and freezer starting right now, how long do you think you could last without having to go shopping? To clarify, "shopping" means heading off to Woolies, Coles, Aldi or your local IGA, grabbing a trolley and going from aisle to aisle and filling the bugger up to the top. My aim, now that I have stocked my pantry and freezer over the last couple of months is to see how long I can manage to feed two adults and 2 dogs with what I have right now plus $21.00 to take care of the essentials.

I belong to a fabulous group called Simple Savings www.simplesavings.com.au which is where I got the $21 challenge idea from. Go and have a look at it for yourself. You will be surprised.

This is one experiment I am going to start this week. The only concessions I will make to this venture is (1) to buy some bread and eggs from the post office. Yes, I know that sounds odd but in this little village where I live the post office has a tiny general store component to it and the post mistress has her own chooks. Fresh bread comes in on a Friday and is available frozen most of the time if you get caught short and (2) some fresh fruit and veg when I go to town on Wednesday to have my tax return done. Otherwise I have worked out that I can mix and match the contents of the fridge, freezer and pantry to create about 50 meals.

So, if I can avoid going "shopping" for the next 28 days, I will be able to save about $1,000.00. Impossible I hear you say but not so. You would be surprised what is lurking in the pantry and what you can do with it to create something delicious. I have a number of things that are getting close to their "best before" dates so they are on the top of the list to be used first.

Given my penchant for Chinese cuisine, for the first time in my life I am going to make sweet and sour pork at some stage this week. I have all the ingredients to make it from scratch including the sauce. It won't be that bright red colour though but it will taste great. Nothing like a little confidence in your own abilities eh?

The only difficulty I can forsee is possibly that the dogs will need something apart from a tin of meat and some dry food, once the 6 bones that are in the freezer have gone. However I am sure that I can use some of the $21 to overcome this.

So that is my plan. Starting now. In fact, I think it is time for another cup of coffee and to decide what, from the vast array of yummy items I have accumulated, I will make for our main meal today. Hmmmm.... I think it will have to be spinach and ricotta canelloni made with mountain bread. Delish!

The olden days

2010-07-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

It would appear that I am turning into my grandmother. You know what it was like when you were a kid. The older members of your family constantly reminiscing about what it was like when they were children and how good it was then. How cheap things were and us kids looking at them in wonder at how old fashioned it all sounded.

Well, I suddenly realised recently that the same thing is happening to me now. For example:

* in primary school my pocket money was 2 shillings which Dad gave me every Saturday morning. Oh boy you could buy a lot with that in those days. A lot of the time I would go to the Saturday matinee at the local theatre where tickets were 1 shilling and 3 pence and I would spend the other 9 pence on a huge bag of mixed lollies from the milk bar across the road. At Mrs Lemmon's general store you could buy 3 pence worth of broken biscuits and get a big bag full. Biscuits came in large tins then and you bought them by weight.

* Being from a family that was not actually flush with funds, my brother and I used to save Dad's daily newspapers until we had enough to roll into a big bundle then we would take them to Pat Roots butcher shop where Mr Roots would buy them from us for 6 pence a pound. He would use them to wrap his meat parcels, the first recycling I can remember. Often we would take the money in the form of sliced devon to eat on the way home.

*The Beatles were all the rage when I was in primary school and a couple of the boys at school had plastic Beatle wigs they would wear to school.

* I started high school they year Australia changed over from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents. I felt ripped off as 6 pence was the same as 5 cents but when you translated that into lollies, you got less. Not fair!

* My first ever brand new "off the showroom floor" car was a red Datsun 120Y. I bought it in 1974 when I was a student nurse and I have no idea how much I paid for it because I was only interested in the monthly payment figure and whether I would get a good trade-in for the crappy old Morris 1100 that I was driving at the time. The payments worked out to be $95 a month and on my student nurse salary, I could manage that.

This was not my first car, oh no, my first car was a 1963 blue Ford Falcon that my Dad bought for $80. It has a hole in the automatic transmission which he skillfully repaired using aluminium foil, araldite and some other secret substance which actually worked because I drove that baby around for 18 months with no problems.

Then I traded the Falcon in on a Morris 1100 which turned out to be a piece of crap. I didn't even complete the first trip I did from the place of purchase (Penrith) back to the hospital. It stalled in Maroubra and when the NRMA bloke arrived, he told me the alternator had failed. Then every time it even looked like it might rain the bloody thing would not start or if it was actually going, it would conk out after 3 drops of rain. The final straw was when I was on my way to visit my grandfather for my 4 day break, who lived on the central coast. I had just crossed the Hawkesbury River on the new F3 freeway and was chugging up the hill when it started to rain and (surprise, surprise - not) the car stopped. No way could I start it again and by now the rain was falling heavily.

We are talking about 1974 here folks and of course, no mobile phones so I had to try to flag someone down to help me. It was starting to get dark by then and it was only after at least 30 minutes of waving frantically at the traffic whilst getting soaked that some kind person finally stopped. They drove to the nearest phone and called the NRMA for me. In those days I discovered that the NRMA had no jurisdiction on the F3 freeway. The Freeway people had their own road service which eventually turned up and I could hardly believe what they told me. They would tow my car off the F3 and onto the pacific Highway which would then enable the NRMA to come to service the car. Why they couldn't look at the car themselves was beyond me.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, after a couple of hours wait, the NRMA managed to start the car again and I finally arrived at my Grandfathers place after 11pm. It was on the return trip 4 days later that I drove into the Datsun dealer in Maroubra and told the salesman "I want the red one in the front window".

Well, back to 2010 and the other day I was sitting patiently at a red light in Armidale when I saw a Datsun 120Y go past the other way and I thought "Boy, I bought one of those new" and that started me thinking. I wonder how much you can get one for today? A couple of hundred bucks probably. Funny how things turn out.

High School memories

2010-07-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

This is me not long after I left high school. All that lovely long hair that now a days I don't have. Far too much hard work to look after.

I loved my 6 years of high school between 1966 and 1971. Now that may sound quite mad to some of you but it is true. School was fun for me and I even enjoyed doing exams. I viewed them as a challenge to see how well I could do with the minimum of study. I am proud to say that I did pretty well in most of my exams even though I hardly studied much. I have a pretty good memory so I think that helped plus if you enjoy doing something you can usually do well. I can recall several school reports that the teachers had written “can do better” or something along those lines. The way I looked at it then was “sure I can do better but I would rather just do enough to get through”.

My maths teacher, Mr Wilson, whom I had for the entire 6 years, said I had an attitude problem. Oh well, from his point of view I probably did but if you look at maths from my perspective, I was trying to cram into my brain all that obscure mathematical information that I was never going to use once I had left school like X equals Y squared, sine, cosine, tangents, algebra, etc. see, I have forgotten it already. As soon as he started talking about these things in the class room my eyes would glaze over and I would start to daydream.

It all came to a head when I did my trial HSC and scored 8.5 out of 120. Mr Wilson reprimanded me for achieving such a low mark but do you know; I didn’t even get the lowest score in the class that time. No siree, there were two more fellow maths delinquents that scored even less than I did. I told Mr Wilson that as far as I could tell, when I left school, all I was ever going to use was adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing and the rest of it would be of no use to me so why waste my time trying to learn it all. Well, in hindsight that was probably not the best thing to say to a person whose whole teaching life was devoted to mathematics but it was the truth and, my friends, I have been proved about 98% correct over the years.

I took up playing the guitar in 1970 and that seriously affected my studies. I can’t remember just how the guitar came into my life but I do remember being so keen to learn to play that I did very little else for 18 months. I bought myself a Fender acoustic with nylon strings at a music shop in Penrith for $60. In 1970 that was a lot of money and of course being a Fender (I had no idea that it was a good brand at the time) it sounded great. I still have it and it is in pretty good condition as I hardly play it these days so it would have to be worth a bit I would think. Anyway, I digress…..

When the time finally arrived for me to do the HSC, it was evident after the whole thing was over that I had spent too much time playing guitar and not enough studying. My two favourite subjects were Industrial Arts and Indonesian and I romped in with a 2nd level pass for each. With maths I was extremely lucky and scraped in at the lowest pass level, along with science and English (3rd level) but when it came to Geography, and I have no idea at all why, but I only just failed it. In fact, I applied for a remark in the new year but still did not manage to scrape a pass. Now this was not good news as at the time my Aunt Jane (Dad’s sister) was a geography teacher so I felt like an idiot.

I must mention Industrial Arts now which was a combination of tech drawing, woodwork and metalwork. I had done tech drawing for the 3 years prior to getting into 5th form and adored it. I even managed to top the class in 2nd form which was no mean feat. There were only 4 girls at my school doing the subject and about 100 boys and to come top of the class and beat all the boys was a real feather in my cap. Once we got into 5th and 6th form tech drawing became Industrial Arts and I was the only girl in school studying that. What I didn’t realise until the class did an excursion to Ultimo Tech during 1971, was that not only was I the only girl in Nepean High, I was the only girl in the State studying Industrial Arts. A gathering of Industrial Arts students from various high schools in NSW turned up for this event at Ultimo and I was the only girl. Far from feeling the odd one out, I felt so proud to be one of a kind. At the time I had ambitions of studying Architecture but that, as they say, is another story.

On the last day of high school it is traditional for the senior class to play pranks and misbehave a little. These days some pupils take it to extremes and the police have to be called in but back in 1971 the most outrageous thing our class took part in was to swap uniforms. The girls uniform was a light blue shift dress and the boys wore grey trousers or shorts and a light blue shirt. About a dozen of us met up before school in one of the parks and swapped clothes. My God it was so funny. I have some B&W photos of a few of the boys in our little shift dresses and witches breeches peeking out from underneath.

Witches breeches, did you have some of these? I had 2 pair that I can recall. One was red with black lace and the other blue with white lace. For those who don’t have any idea what I am talking about, witches breeches were underwear, a type of shorts made from a satin type of fabric and the legs trimmed with several rows of lace. Think bicycle shorts but not as tight. Anyway they were high fashion in the early 70s amongst school girls and were worn over your pantyhose. Cool!

Ah, those memories. I had fun at high school but after my HSC results I had to revise my career choice because, as luck would have it, I didn’t get a big enough pass in Maths to do Architecture and in fact, I didn’t get enough marks to get into Uni. The moral of the story is; Mr Wilson just may have been right after all. Oh well.

Just what I did do after I left school is a whole other story. Until next time, take it easy.

Brushes with fame part 2

2010-07-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

This is the grand final contestant lineup from the Campbelltown Catholic Club Talent Quest circa 1992. You will notice me at the top right and a very young Human Nature at the bottom second from the right. I can't believe that it was 18 years ago now. My God how the time does fly by. Of all the contestants pictured here the only ones that have gone on to fame and fortune (naturally) are the boys from Human Nature. It was evident back then that they were a very talented bunch and it is great to see them where they are today. At least I can say I shared the stage with them once. Go Guys!! We all love you.

Harry Potter's Whomping Willow's Aussie Cousin

2010-07-02T01:07:00.001-07:00

This is it folks, I discovered it on Wednesday morning. The first cousin of the whomping willow from Hogwarts Castle, Harry Potter's school, lives in my front yard. It was a cold and misty morning ...............

Progress renovation pics

2010-06-28T15:51:00.001-07:00

Top left is a view of the loungeroom and top right is half the kitchen. Bottom left is the dining area of the kitchen and bottom right is the bedroom. As you can tell, I like strong colours. The house is looking great.

More soon.

Winter photos

2010-06-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

Mornin' all

Another crisp morning in the New England area of Ebor. Minus 6.1 today and once again the landscape is a crystal white blanket. I went out to give the horses their morning carrot and they both had frost on their ears and manes. Anyway, above is a little photographic tour of the frosty scenery. Simply beautiful. Fortunately the day progresses into a clear, bright sunny day with today's maximum of 9 deg. So endeth the weather report.

Ciao

Losing things

2010-06-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

Oh bugger! I hate it when I lose something. Not just anything but something that has sentimental value. A couple of weeks ago I lost a garnet from one of my rings. Now this particular ring has no real sentimental value as it was one I bought for myself. It was a 3 stone garnet ring that I was using to hold the other ring on my right ring finger.

Now this other ring was a gold and white gold band which was bought with a gift voucher from Kerry McKenzie Solicitors in Campbelltown where I worked for 6 years. When I left to go on our trip around Australia in 2001, Kerry and the rest of the staff did a whip around and presented me with a Prouds voucher as a farewell gift so off I went and chose this lovely ring. I got it big enough to fit on my right middle finger (the one you usually show to someone to indicate that you are not entirely pleased with what they did or said) however, after a few years of wearing it on that finger, I developed a rash underneath the ring so switched it to my ring finger. Of course it was a little too big for that finger hence the purchase of the garnet one to hold it in place.

Ok, now that I had lost one of the garnets I took the ring off and put it away for safe keeping in my jewellery box. Now somewhere in the back of my mind a little light went on and a message was being sent to my brain to tell me that it was now entirely possible that if I did not do something about securing this gold band to the aforementioned ring finger that it may fall off. Common sense you say? Of course, but did I do anything about it at the time? No.

All that following day I kept an occasional check on my finger to see if the ring was still there and right up until the time I stepped into the shower that night, it WAS there. Now you can see where this story is going can't you? Yes, I showered, shampooed and soaped up enjoying the feeling of hot water spashing on my weary body and whilst I was towelling down I realised that - yikes - MY RING WAS MISSING!!!

In the event that it may have fallen off between the back yard and getting undressed to shower, Matt and I searched high and low; nothing. I would bet money that the darn thing had gone down the plug hole whilst I was shampooing but as we have a septic system, there is no way I am going to go diving into the muck to try and find it. I felt so miserable all the next day and am still kicking myself for not doing something about it sooner. Oh well, lesson learned the hard way.

Matt told me that I should go and buy another ring to replace the garnet one so whilst I was visiting Dad last week, I did. I bought a lovely 4 sapphire and 10 diamond one in the half yearly sales. It looks great. It is also the right size for my ring finger so there is not much chance it will come off without a fair bit of effort.

I remember when...... primary school days

2010-06-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

Walking to primary school in the 1960s the 2 or so kilometres from home to the school. Sometimes in 5th and 6th class riding my black Malvern Star bicycle that Dad had purchased second hand and done up. On the way to school we passed through the grounds of McCall's Bakery. Keith McCall was in my class and more often than not we would grab one of the discarded bread rolls from a pile near the door to munch on the way to class. When it was Keith's birthday or another significant celebration, his father used to bake a large loaf of bread shaped like a crocodile for the whole class to enjoy. I always loved that.

And in the 60s no school would be complete without the daily delivery of those 1/3 pint bottles of milk that we were forced to consume at recess. They sat in the playground until around 11am, often in the sun where they rapidly started to go off. I was never a big fan of plain milk to start with but used to hold my nose and drink it all down in one go until one day I got a bottle that was really off and I almost threw up just by smelling it. That was it for me, from that day on I refused to drink the school milk much to the consternation of the teacher and my parents. This milk phobia has stayed with me ever since and even today I will not drink plain milk, however, add a couple of spoons of chocolate flavouring or coffee and - yum yum.

Of course primary school in those days was vastly different to today. We did our maths with pounds shillings and pence and had ink wells with a dip-as-you-go pen to write with once you graduated from the lower grades where all you got was a pencil. Everyone used to get blue fingers from the ink. I remember it was someone's job to go around to all the desks in the mornings to fill the ink wells.

My 4th class teacher was very unusual for that time (1963). He was from Borneo and wore a turban and his name was Mr Gora Singh Mann. Mr Mann for short and he arranged all us pupils in a particular order in the class room and gave us numbers instead of calling us by our names. I suppose that was so that he could get used to who we were if we stayed in the same spot. I was number 13 - lol. A funny thing but I saw him again in the early 1980s when I was at a market at Kirribilli, still wearing the turban and not looking a lot older. I said hello and he remembered his time at Glenbrook Primary School but not me specifically. Oh well.

My 5th and 6th class teacher was a middle aged, jovial fellow called Mr Fitzsimmons. He played piano and as there was a piano in our class room, most mornings he would come in and play a tune and we would all sing along to Heart of my Hearts or something like that. I clearly remember one morning he walked into the darkened classroom and asked all of us to raise our hands. He then switched the light on and said "many hands make light work" - *groan* - but it was funny at the time.

The playground was quite large and had an enormous grassy area at the rear that butted onto the back yards of several homes. There were 2 large persimmon trees there and I used to eat the fruit when it was ripe enough. Someone would climb the tree and pass down the fruit. I have not eaten Persimmons since, funny that.

I always enjoyed the annual school fete and Mum would give me 2 shillings so that I could have some fun. My favourite game of chance was hoop-la and I won a few small prizes over the years. Mum would make toffees and coconut ice to sell at the cake stall. Toffees were 1 penny. There was also a stall that sold Indonesian food. It was run by Mrs Van Gent who I suspect, looking back, must have spent some time in Indonesia. She made this wonderful beef curry with toasted coconut on top. Sucn an exotic dish for the 1960s. It was served in small round containers like you used to buy icecream in. Delicious.

About 6 weeks before the end of term in 1963 I broke my right arm so I got an early school holiday break and went to stay with my grandparents at Narrabeen. Mum had her hands full with my 2 brothers and 1 sister so didn't need me hanging around to make extra trouble. I had a wonderful time at Nana and Pa's being thoroughly spoiled.

We did not get a TV until 1966 so on Sunday evening we used to go across to the neighbours house and ask if it was OK to watch Disneyland and McHale's Navy with their kids. That was a real treat for us. Oh there were so many things that I loved about growing up in the 1960s. Now that I have started I had better continue before the old brain goes mushy and I forget.

Until next time, take care and keep well.

My brushes with fame through the years

2010-06-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

When I was a student nurse between 1972 and 1975 I worked at Prince of Wales Hospital and I can clearly recall several times when Professor Fred Hollows would come in to see his eye patients. Often he would pop in on a weekend on his way to golf or something like that. Not dressed to the nines like most of the specialists but in quite casual clothes. He was a kind and generous man who always cared about his patients. Every time I see the ads on TV for his fund raising foundation it takes me back to those days when as a relatively young doctor he would visit the ward where I worked. He was also polite and friendly to every member of staff. The world lost a true gentleman and wonderful, caring person when he passed away.

In the early 1980s I joined an extras agency called Studio J and managed to get myself some work as an extra on some TV shows and the occasional movie. It was an exciting time for me. I played a nurse in the background of 6 episodes of “A Country Practice” and was there for Grant Dodwell’s last episode. I managed to get a photo of the whole cast including me which is proudly in my scrapbook album. I also did an ad for the Commonwealth Bank dressed as a nurse. I did one for Medibank Private playing a mum with 2 children and yet another ad for some house cladding. These things all paid very well but took absolutely ages to film. A whole day was not uncommon and the final result was about 2 seconds on TV. But by far the best thing I was in was …..

The Two Ronnies in Australia where Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker filmed a series of skits whilst over here. I got the call to show up at Channel Nine studios one day and along with a few other extras (some I had worked with on other projects) were herded into the wardrobe department and dressed up in evening wear. I wore the most gorgeous long mauve gown with a sequined diamond at the waist with glittery drop earrings. I was a lot slimmer then; weren't we all - lol. My job was to be a tipsy woman at a party standing in the background and holding a drink whilst the two Ronnies did their routine. I was so excited I could barely keep still. After filming was over I ran into Ronnie Barker in the corridor and asked if I could have my photo taken with him and he kindly obliged. I also have that photo proudly in my scrapbook album. Unbeknown to me, some of the other extras had been told not to ask for photo opportunities so obviously I made a faux pas that day and co-incidentally I never got any more work from Studio J. Oh well, at least I can say I did rub shoulders with some famous people and have the pictures to prove it.

My final claim to fame came in 1992 when, for a few years I had been doing the rounds of the various RSL and club talent quests singing mainly Jazz and Blues music with varying results and hoping to break into the big time. One of the most prestigious quests was run by the Campbelltown Catholic Club with first prize in the grand final of $10,000.00. Everyone got appearance money in all the quests which ranged from $10 but Campbelltown paid $25 which was pretty good at that time. I was lucky to win my heat which paid $100 then got a place in the semi final which put me into the grand final. I won the encouragement award of $500. The grand final was to be filmed onto video and all contestants would be given a copy. (I recently had my copy transferred to DVD so I will have it forever).

Well, at that time there was a group of 4 school boys in the grand final called “The Four Trax” and they were a tight and polished boy group very obviously destined for bigger things. They won the $10,000.00 first prize with a rendition of a medley of Michael Jackson songs very well choreographed , then followed it up with John Denver’s “Grandma’s Feather Bed” with all the appropriate barnyard noises. I was in the unfortunate position of having to follow these 4 guys in the order of contestants. They also won the audience award that night. A nicer bunch of fresh faced, talented and polite boys would have been hard to find.

These days you know them as “Human Nature” and of course they DID go on to bigger and much better things. I have the souvenir program and aforementioned video to remind me of that fun time.

As for me, I joined the First Fifteenth Royal NSW Lancer’s Band (Army reserves) based at Parramatta for a couple of years as guest vocalist and in 1993 did a 10 day tour of Fiji with the band. It was a 26 piece swing band and I really enjoyed myself. On that tour I learned to sing the Fijiian farewell song “Isa Lei” in Fijiian and performed it several times over there to great applause from the locals. I was taught the correct pronunciation by a member of the Fijiian army band and can still sing it today. The Lancers band also recorded a 5 track cassette in 1992 of which one of the tracks included me singing “Route 66”. I have that too but no cassette player to play it on. Old technology you see.

I also sang in a number of karaoke competitions around the pubs and won a few prizes and most recently I ran a couple of karaoke nights at the Cowra Bowling Club plus entertained there at a Christmas in July dinner.

Looking back on it all I feel very lucky to have done what I did and am now happy to sing in the shower and kitchen.

La la laaaaa - *coff*

Cheers

random thoughts for the day

2010-06-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have been a bit slack when it comes to writing my blog. Truth be known I just have not been inspired to write. I thought of a few topics but when it came down to the crunch, I just could not be bothered to put it down in black and white.

Over the last 6 months I have had a lot of other things on my mind and with the two moves I have had a lot to do as well. Moving house twice in 3 months is not something I would recommend to anyone, especially if you are doing it yourself. Fortunately it has all worked out in the end and I am possibly the happiest I have ever been now living in this small country village.

For example, who would not be happy owning a house outright? Yes, that is correct, no mortgage. And we have our very own spring water bore with which to top up the rainwater tank should it ever drop to a level where we would need it. The Council rates are less than $600 a year and that is before the pensioner discount is applied so all we really need to pay is food, petrol, electricity, telephone and insurances.

I have also learned to budget a lot better and plan meals. That way everything in the freezer gets used and very little is thrown away. I am cooking more things from scratch these days too. Certainly a cheaper way to eat and makes you think when you look in the pantry and wonder what sort of meal you can make with what is in there.

Yes, I can honestly say life in Ebor suits me down to the ground. There are 2 gorgeous horses next door who have trained me to give them a carrot or apple when they come to the fence and I get to give them a pat and scratch on the head. Lovely. The fresh, clean country air and being 1300 metres above sea level makes me feel alive.

There are lots worse places to be. So lucky I am here.

Ciao for now.

what happened?

2010-05-09T19:58:00.001-07:00

I posted a blog and it disappeared. Can't be bothered re-doing it now. More later.
Bugger!!!

It is May already

2010-05-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast the year is going. I know I say this all the time but it is true. Here it is - May. Before you know it it will be Christmas again. Crikey!

Anyway, we are settling in really well in beautiful down town Ebor. The trees are turning the most wonderful shades of red and gold and we have had several frosts. In fact just over a week ago it was minus 2.4 at 6am and the yard had a crispy white coating on everything. I took this photo of the horses next door in the frost. Lovely.

The painting is going well with the bedroom and loungeroom finished and the kitchen is about 95% complete. What a difference a couple of gallons of sugarsoap has made to the yukky tobacco stains on every surface and then some bright coloured paint. It looks like a totally different house.

The fire place is now going 24/7 and we have about 6 tonne of wood stacked in readiness for the winter which we have been told will be C O L D. Well, it must be darn cold as our neighbours Paul and Jan, who have lived here for 4 years, go north every June for 3 months in their caravan. Hmmmm..... I just wonder what we might be in for. Apparently about 2 years ago it dropped as low as minus 15 and the falls half froze. Oh well, better that sweating like a pig in the heat and humidity of Lismore.

I will try to write a little more often. Right now I need to get off my bum and do the dishes then I have some pumpkin soup to cook for lunch.

Ciao folks

Pictures from EBOR

2010-03-18T21:12:00.001-07:00

Part of our yard looking across the road to the Ebor Falls Hotel/Motel

This is the Ebor Falls, a noted tourist attraction about one kilometer from our new home. Well worth a visit.

Left: The horse paddock next door. This is the view from the bedroom window.

Right: The Guy Fawkes River.

Lovely ........

How life can change dramatically, for the better.

2010-03-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

It is truly amazing how life can change so completely within a matter of 3 months. Mine did. If you had told me 6 months ago that I would be living in the village of Ebor (population about 102) in the New England district of NSW, in a 2 bedroom weatherboard cottage we now own outright, on 1012 sqm grassy block with our own springwater bore in the middle of the yard and a large shed for my darling husband to tinker in, I would have laughed in your face. Oh come now, are you kidding me? Nooo.... way Jose ..... Well, it is true, I have lived in Ebor now for 4 weeks and I couldn't be happier. But 6 months ago ......

It was October 2009, our Cowra house had been on the market since May with not a lot of interest but we were hopeful of attracting a buyer soon so that we could move to Lismore by Christmas. This next part of my life has been covered in a couple of previous posts but suffice it to say that our plans were to live in a caravan on Loretta's land near Nimbin etc ...... you have to read previous posts for yourself unless you already have ..... ahhh, but things did not work out how I had imagined they would so something needed to be done.

We decided that we had to find somewere else to live. What would we do without a computer and the internet these days? Marvellous stuff. Within a period of 48 hours early in January, we had trawled the real estate sites on the net, found this house at Ebor, arranged an inspection, liked what we saw and made an offer which was accepted. It just felt like the right thing to do so we just did it. Probably a world record for the fastest real estate transaction. Just go with the flow if it feels right.

Anyway ..... here I now am in Ebor and I feel wonderful. This is the first house I have lived in that was not bought with the idea of resale value and it really feels like a home. Funny, Matt feels the same way too. I love the arrangement of the rooms and particularly the large kitchen. Sure it needs some work but that's OK. We love it.

I love waking up each morning to see the grassy paddock next door that has a wonderful old weather beaten wooden shed on it and the two horses that roam around lazily grazing on the grass that grows so prolifically in this area. God's country so we have been told because we are up in the clouds most mornings. Just down past the horse paddock is the Guy Fawkes river that flows by. The water is so clean and clear and you can fish for rainbow trout. All the streams and creeks in this area look so clear and clean and flow all the time. Such a change from living in Cowra where the local dam was down to 4% and the Lachlan River had lots of sand islands that all had a healthy growth of foliage on them.

I live in a small village and the only shops here are a petrol station with a small shop that does hamburgers and sandwiches and sells the local delicacy - smoked trout - plus a handful of groceries, milk etc. Then there is a small post office which doubles as a tiny general store. I mean tiny. I am talking about 4 shelves, one household fridge and one chest freezer. The lady who runs it (Lisa) is about 30 (who can tell these days anyway) and a font of local knowledge. We all need to collect our mail as there is no deliveries. I wondered why no-one had a letterbox when we first inspected the house. The mail comes in from Dorrigo once a day. On Fridays Lisa gets fresh bread in from Dorrigo which is handy. If you need a tradesman for a job around the house or you need a load of firewood or anything else, just ask at the post office.

There is also no garbage collection service here so we need to deal with our own rubbish. The tip is 2km north of town and if you go there when the council bloke is not there and use the side gate, you don't have to pay to dump your garbage. If however you have a large load that needs access through the locked double dates, you need to come Monday or Thursday before 2pm and pay the man. I have been using the side gate on off work days since we got here. Another tip from the lovely Lisa.

*sigh* Life is good my friends. Trust your instincts and don't be afraid to try something new if it feels right. By the same token, if something feels a bit iffy, don't do it. Happy days .............

Our new home

2010-02-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled to be in our new home in the village of Ebor, population 102 (we are the 2 - lol). This is our little place which actually has a name, it is called "Appletree Cottage". There is a lovely folk art sign attached to the front.

The purchase was settled on Friday at Coffs Harbour after much ranting, raving and tearing out of hair by me at the Bank's agents who had a major breakdown in communications and stuffed up big time. How hard is it to read a bloody letter for Gawd's sake?

Honestly, with less than 2 hours to go till settlement last Thursday, I received a phone call from the Bank's agent enquiring as to the whereabouts of Dorrigo, where I had booked settlement to take place, and whether it was within proximity of Newcastle. Given that I had advised the bank twice in writing and the agent's settlement department four times by telephone that Dorrigo was located one hours drive inland from Coffs Harbour and that the nearest branches of ANZ was Coffs or Armidale, upon hearing the question, I exploded.

Many years of legal secretarial training stood me in good stead for the following 2 hours of phone hockey which I engaged in with the bank, the vendor's solicitor and the real estate agent. There is very little I could do at that late stage to ensure settlement would take place at the time and place that I have previously booked and, mind you, had confirmed four (count them) four times!!! So the whole matter had to be postponed until the following day.

Of course, now there were extra expenses to be incurred by the vendor's solicitor to get the documents to an agent in Coffs by courier which I offered to pay as I foolishly expected the bank to come to Dorrigo. They said they would 4 times and you just have to take them at their word, don't you? *sigh*

The bank admitted that the booking error was theirs and that I could "possibly" be compensated for expenses following an internal investigation. Secretarial training once again came to the fore as I kept written notes of every conversation I had in those 2 hours and, how great is modern technology - the mobile phone log allowed me to transcribe every call, the time and duration and to whom I was speaking.

I have created a tax invoice and a 2 page letter to the bank's agents and I named names! They are not dealing with some silly old woman who knows nothing, no, they are dealing with "Litigation Linda" the toughest, fightingest, rootin-est, tootin-est hombre that ever was!!! I am not going to settle for such unprofessional and sloppy mismanagement of a very serious matter. MY matter that is. I expected a moderate amount of competence. Sheesh!

Anyway, the house is ours at last and we are both very happy. The dogs are loving it as they have a large grassy yard to run and laze in, Matt has his shed, I will have a craft room as soon as we get around to painting it and setting it up and we are once again just the two of us in our own space.

Coffee and tea with scones will be served to one and all who would like to drop in. The Ebor Falls Hotel/Motel is across the road should you feel the urge to stay a night or two to perhaps go trout fishing. This is a beautiful part of NSW and well worth a visit.

Love to all and, don't settle for second best in anything.

Linda

And now for the next big move

2010-02-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I am sorry to say that things did not work out as I thought they would living at Lismore for various reasons so we have bought a little cottage in the village of Ebor, population about 100. We have partially moved in even though settlement is still over a week away. The vendor (an elderly widow) let us in after exchange so that we could mow the lawn and get started on the cleaning and painting. The house has not been lived in since June 2009 and the previous occupants were a pair of geriatric smokers with two little stinky dogs.

Cleaning this house will be a full time job for months to come. The tobacco smell is at times overpowering and every single surface will need to be cleaned to remove the smoke residue from ceiling to floor. Being a reformed smoker from the time when a packet of 20 Winfield reds cost 47 cents at Franklins, I should be a bit sympathetic I suppose but I am NOT! The stink! A curse upon anyone who smokes indoors. You'd think with all that we know about the effects of smoking on the body that there would be less and less people taking the filthy habit up but, no. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Anyway, back to the house. Upon closer inspection, there are filthy marks on every doorway, light switch and the window glass is yellow. The stove is in a less than desirable state so I have unearthed the trusty Sumbeam electric frypan and am cooking our meals in that until the sdtove cleaning fairy pays me a call. Fortunately the carpets have been professionally cleaned as the real estate agent said when he first saw the house, the smell was dreadful and there was no way he could market the property until the carpets were done. In retrospect I should have hired a professional cleaning company to do the house top to toe before we moved in but that would have cost a bomb. I know if I was a professional cleaner I would charge like a wounded bull to do this place. Nevertheless, I can see the potential of this house, how wonderful it will look when it has been painted and the arrangement of the rooms is asthetically pleasing.

The dogs now have a large grassy yard to run around in any old time they want to and there are a couple of Kelpies next door they can get to know through the fence plus a bonus - the other side is a large paddock with an old wooden shed and a couple of horses. Lou Lou likes to bark at the horses. I have also seen a few rabbits there. I just love the view out the loungeroom and bedroom windows of the horse paddock. Matt has a large double shed down the back where he can tinker away as long as he likes. The Guy Fawkes river is 200 metres away and is full of trout.

There is no mail delivery or garbage service so we must rock up to the local post office which is a postage stamp size building (pun intended :-) to collect our daily mail and the tip is 2km out of town. *sigh* I am going to love being here full time. Still a little stuff to move from Lismore which we will do over the next couple of weeks.

I will definitely NOT miss the ants in everything, the humidity, trying to sleep on a hot night, the cane toads, mozzies, having to do the doggy shuffle to avoid Lou Lou and Peg fighting, not being able to cook 'cause I got no kitchen, having to go to the main house to shower and use the loo, and having to pee in a bucket at night.

Must finish off now as I need to light another incense stick which helps to override the tobacco smell. Crikey.

We're Here!

2010-01-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are here in lovely Coffee Camp near Nimbin and enjoying the rain and humidity. This photo shows our caravan parked at the rear of the shed and part of the view over the land next door. Lovely really. We are still settling in but I can easily get used to the relaxed lifestyle living on Nimbin time. It is so nice to not HAVE to do anything - just please ourselves. Retirement is great.

More soon.

Don't do it! You have been warned

2009-12-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

I have crawled up off the floor and clawed my way onto a chair to write the final chapter in this, the Cowra Prowse's DIY removal job from dry old Cowra to moist and green Lismore. At great personal effort and racked with a variety of aches, pains and stiffness I will attempt to describe the last fortnight now that the molecules of my body have finally caught up with my mind.

Firstly, let me say to those of you who are entertaining the idea of transporting your worldly goods 1000km away in a rented trailer to save a few bucks - DON'T! And, dear friends, I will tell you why. Mind you, it was not me that voiciferously and with great enthusiasm made the fateful decision to not bother and get quotes from a removalist or three. Ho hum....

So, 6 weeks to go until settlement and we had a look around the house to see how much stuff we had that we really wanted to take with us, how much could be donated to the salvos and, since there was just the two of us and two dogs (they don't really have a lot of stuff) we thought, yeah, a couple of trips in a large trailer with those cage sides should get it all there - two trips over the next 3 weeks - then we will have a couple of weeks to relax living in the caravan in the back yard and waiting patiently for settlement to occur on 9 December. I have now learned that hindsight has perfect vision and of course - as you do - we underestimated the volume of the contents of this 2 bedroom house with two middle aged retiree's collections of bits and bobs.

You will have by now read the previous post describing in gory detail the first hair raising trip with the heaviest load of precious possessions and no doubt were amazed at our good fortune to survive that nightmare drive in the dark and pouring rain down the Bruxner Highway (goat track).

Ok, so two weeks ago we rented the trailer again and no matter how hard we tried, we just could not cram everything in for that second, and initially final, run north. I should say at this stage that as we are driving 1000km each way, it takes roughly 13 to 15 hours depending on how many food, fuel and pee stops you take. Having a couple of dogs you have to factor in at least a few more pee stops. And of course, it is prudent to stay a few days at our destination before the long drive back to soak up the delightful atmosphere of the lush green countryside and to catch up with our gracious host and our niece and nephew.

The realisation dawned on us as we gazed around the living room at the rest of the stuff that was not already in the trailer was that yes, we would have to do a third trip and settlement time was fast approaching. We were discussing the idea of borrowing a trailer and saving the cost of 5 days rental, but the club's trailer was not large enough and by the look of the bulging tyres once it had been packed by he who is most optimistic, it was doubtful that the old thing would get us there and back (coff, wheeze) and the potential cost of a breakdown far outweighed the cost of renting the tried and true trailer for a third time. Quickly he looked at his watch and it was 10 to five so he jumped on the phone to the rental place and begged to rent the large trailer once again but he was told that it was not available until 2 days time. OMG, that left only 7 days until settlement. We'll take it, we said.

And so it came to pass that we did collect the trailer last Wednesday, packed the bejesus out of it, tying dining chairs in a most ingenious jigsaw fashion so that their legs did not poke holes in the covers, threw in all the bits and pieces we could find and wrapped the whole darn lot in three layers of blue tarp which were then tied decoratively with a multitude of coloured ropes (he he - did you like that???) It took the best part of 6 hours such was the difficulty of packing odd shaped items.

Wednesday night was spent at the in-laws house in Mudgee so we could get a 3 hour head start on the trip the next morning at 6am. A brilliant idea (he does have them sometimes) as we arrived in Lismore while it was still light. We spent Friday and Saturday relaxing and doing a little shopping in town then drove back to Cowra yesterday in record time of 13 hours. Thank goodness we were actually driving at the speed limit when we passed the two highway patrols. Phew!

So dear readers, we now have until 3pm the day after tomorrow until settlement takes place and in that time we need to clean the house, pack the caravan and do all things necessary to vacate the premises first thing Thursday morning. So much for my week of R&R.

I am so excited, our new life begins in 3 days. We will be debt free with a modest sum in the bank, a roof over our heads (on wheels that is) and a lovely place to park it for as long as we like (thanks Letty, we love you xx) and the possibility of doing anything that takes our fancy. I am looking forward to those organic veggies that my dear other half is planning to grow and anything else that life has to offer.

The moral of this story? Just get at least 3 quotes from reputable removalists to have the bloody job done once, and for all and just pay the bastards to do all the lifting and carrying. Oh, my aching back.........ooooooohhhhhh ........

The first removal trip

2009-11-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

Great horny toads, the time is counting down and we have so much to do. We have officially sold the house and settlement is due on 9 December. In order not to leave things to the last minute and get ourselves in a tizzy, we have already taken half our goods and chattels to Lismore. We also did not want to pay a removalist several thousand dollars to do a job that we could do given enough time. So, we hired a large trailer last week and with the help of another big strong bloke, Matt managed to load about 2 tonnes into it and secured the lot with a huge tarp and lots of rope. Next morning at crack of dawn we packed the dogs into the back of the wagon and hit the road for a 1000km trip to Lismore. This is how it went...

Not quite sunrise and 10 minutes after leaving Cowra a small kangaroo magically appeared at the side of the Canowindra road and jumped right out into the passenger side front bumper bar doing himself some fatal damage and breaking the plastic bumperbar. After surveying the damage to the car which was minor really, a few metres of gaffer tape made a temporary repair job and we were back on the road. We quickly discovered that pulling 2 tonnes uses more fuel than we realised and although we had planned to refuel at Coolah, we had to detour to Dunnedoo instead.

Several stops for dogs to pee and walk around (and us too) and we were coming into Tenterfield just as it was getting dark. I noticed patches of white stuff at the sides of the road and in the paddocks which turned out to be remnants of the large hail storm that had passed through just before us. Phew! Thank God we missed that I said to hubby. However unbeknowns to us another storm was on the way (the one that flooded Coffs Harbour again) and whilst we were driving down to Casino on the Bruxner Highway, it hit. I should say at this stage that "highway" was a way too generous term for the skinny little winding road we were travelling on. There were road works in parts as well and I noted the sign that said Casino was just over 100km away.

Driving down hill, in the dark pulling a 2 tonne loaded trailer, with the wipers on double speed in torrential rain was no picnic and at one stage we had to pull over for 15 minutes as we could not even see the front of the car. Were we scared? You bet your bloody boots we were. The dogs didn't seem to mind much. They were pretty tired by that stage anyway.

We limped into Casino about 8.30pm and headed for Maccas for a coffee and burger and did the usual phone calls to nervous parents assuring them we were fine and had survived the trip. We made it to Loretta's place about 9.30pm where it was still raining so after parking under a carefully rigged tarp, we extracted the queen bed mattress and dragged it into the spare room so we had something to sleep on. Amazingly, with the amount of rain we drove through, very little managed to penetrate the tarp Matt had covered the load with.

We unpacked the trailer the next day and after a couple more days rest and catching up, Sunday morning we headed back to Cowra. The return trip was a lot faster and much less fuel was required. We made it home in time to watch Australian Idol.

Now, we have booked the trailer again for 5 days on 23rd when we intend to take the rest of our stuff to Lismore and that, my friends will be a whole other story so stay tuned for the next episode.

This Monday however, we are taking delivery of our caravan so we can move into it. So, all things being equal, we will be able to spend the 9 days of December living in the back yard, resting and getting ready to leave Cowra for good once settlement has taken place. Life is good, the alternative sucks big time. Until next time dear readers, adios!

We have sold the house!!!

2009-10-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

It is slightly premature to say this but.... we have sold the house - yay!! I really should wait until contracts have been exchanged but Monday we met the purchasers and had a cuppa and a long chat with them. They are happy and are going ahead.

Given the current real estate climate which is not real good plus the bad publicity Cowra has received over the last 16 months thanks to John Walsh murdering his wife and grandchildren, and then the fact that at least 1/3 of Cowra is for sale, we accepted an offer of what we paid for the house 5.5 years ago.

This is a good thing for both vendor and purchaser. Us because we can move on to the next phase of our life living in a caravan on Loretta's land near Nimbin and be debt free while we build a granny flat on the end of her shed and we will be closer to all medical services. The purchasers because they will own their own home rather than keep renting. We are also selling them about 3/4 of our furniture as they are in a unit and don't have a lot of stuff. The bonus for us is that we don't have to pay a removalist several grand to transport it all to Loretta's and for it to be storred in the shed until we build our granny flat. So everyone is happy.

We will take a trip to see Loretta in early November and take a trailer load of stuff with us. We will be taking the dogs too as they need to see where they will be living plus they need to meet Loretta's animals which consist of 2 horses, 4 cats and Peg the red kelpie. That whole exercise should be interesting to say the least. No doubt the animals will all sort themselves out in the long run and I will do my best to stay calm and not let Rocky and Lou Lou sense stress or tension otherwise they will want to protect me.

I have already started packing up my craft things as from past experience, you need to start early to avoid a last minute rush and stress-out but I am waiting until official notification of exchange before I really get into packing everything else.

All things considered, we have done well and will have a tidy little sum left over after paying the bank back. Unfortunately, the bank does not give a pensioner discount on the fees they are charging to pay out the mortgage early but if you don't ask, you don't get.

So, we are both doing a little happy dance in anticipation of exchange sometime next week. More soon....

Mortality

2009-10-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

It had to happen some day but I was not really prepared for it to be so soon. Last week I attended a funeral for a girlfriend who was the same age as me - 56. This was the first funeral of my generation of friends that I had attended and the thing that makes me so sad is that it could possibly have been prevented. Breast cancer, which affects so many people had crept up and claimed her all because, like many others, she put off going to the doctor when she found the initial lump. Why do they do that with all the publicity these days? I know Dawn was not the sort who liked going to the doctor unless there was no other solution but I suspect it was probably sheer fear, fear of what the doctor will say, fear of what treatment will be required and fear of your own mortality.

My dear friend Dawn and I met in 1976 when we were in our early 20s and living in share accommodation in Paddington. She was going with Gary, they lived in number 51 and I was going with Tony, we lived in number 47 Elizabeth Street. We became firm friends and had great times going to the pub on the corner or to Angelos Pizza parlor, the Paddo markets. Then there were regular Sunday lunches at no. 47 where we had up to a dozen friends turn up for a feed. A whole lot of good, fun times.

Dawn and I both married these blokes of ours between 1978 and 1979 and Dawn went on to have 2 beautiful daughters, Kylie (now 29) and Amanda (now 28). The four of us kept in touch over the years spending many Christmas's and long weekends at Gary and Dawn's house they built on the lake at the central coast until sometime in the early 1990s, we all separated and subsequently divorced. Such is life, you grow, you move on and life changes for everyone.

I had lost touch with Dawn over the past 10 years and had made a new life for myself meeting and marrying Matthew who turned out to be my true love. Having gotten into the internet a few years ago, I found Kylie and Amanda on facebook a year ago and it was then I learned of Dawn's cancer. She was not a computer person so I immediately phoned my old friend and began catching up on our last 10 years. Little did I realise during that first long conversation that 12 months later I would be attending her funeral. I phoned every few months and we had a lovely chat. I never got the impression from her that she was suffering though she had had both breasts removed and was undergoing chemo for bone cancer. She was always a positive and upbeat person yet quiet and dignified. Not one to complain about her lot in life. Dawn was a great sketch artist working mainly in charcoal and pencil and I admired her for her talent.

So, after many years, last week I caught up with Gary again, Kylie and Amanda, Kerry (Dawn's sister), Diane (Dawn's mother) and a few other folk from way back when. What a crying shame that it had to be at Dawn's funeral. It was a lovely service, some of Dawn's artwork was on display along with a digital display of photos of my friend from when the girls were little. I am not ashamed to say that I cried a lot for her. Still I can look back and say what a wonderful person she was, what a truly remarkable artist she was and what a wonderful mother to those two delightful daughters. I will miss her.

Finally, rest in peace Dawn and know that you were loved by many. Also, ladies, check those boobies regularly and if you do find something suspicious, get yourself to the doctor immediately. I don't want to attend any more funerals for friends my own age until we are all 80 something.

Spring is sprung the blossoms are out

2009-09-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

Ahhh..... Spring. Don't you just love spring. The weather is a little warmer, the days are longer, the blossoms are opening on the plum and cherry trees, the buds on the wisteria are growing and will soon flower, the sneezes start and the nose turns into a tap. Well, I have never suffered from hay fever until I moved to Cowra but the last 2 years have been quite uncomfortable. Sneezes and sniffles most mornings and they are gradually getting worse as more blossoms bloom. Of course these days I have to be very careful about how I sneeze because it was just over 12 months ago I fractured my T7 vertebra with a big sneeze. Not nice but thankfully I think it has calcified by now though I am left with some residual aches and pain if I over do it. Nothing that a 15 minute lie down won't cure.

I have had to Baygon the scrap/craft room today as a troop of ants had decided to take a shortcut across one of the walls. I found the odd ant on my work table over the last few weeks and thought little about it but today I noticed a trail of the little blighters across one wall when I moved something on the table. So now the room is out of bounds until the smell dissipates. A couple of days should do it. So here I am at the computer instead.

It is September already and I am wondering if we will be lucky enough to sell the house now that the weather has warmed up and the garden is starting to look good again. I had really hoped that we could be in Lismore for Christmas and at this point in time that is still possible if a buyer appears in the next few weeks. If not, no matter, someone will come along eventually. So dear readers, cross your fingers for us and perhaps, if you know anyone who wants to move to the country, tell them about our house for sale.

Ah..... Spring ............... aahhchoooooo.............

Oh Doctor, I'm in trouble

2009-08-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

There has been a shortage of doctors in country areas for years and Cowra is no exception. My chosen GP - let's call him Dr Dave - is so busy that it takes literally months to get an appointment to see him in the usual way. The usual way is:

* ring the surgery and ask for an appointment with Dr Dave. (12 months ago there was a 6 week waiting list.) - today it is 3 months wait.
* if the ailment is serious, ask to see another doctor.
* an appointment is made, usually that day, to see one of the junior or foreign doctors. (No racial slur intended), or
* get told to come in and get your name on the "express lane" which is a list of patients who just turn up and get seen by whichever doctor(s) are rostered to take care of this. You wait as long as necessary so bring a good book. Don't get me wrong, all the doctors are qualified and competent but I prefer to see the same doctor each time if possinle as they know about my various aimlents and problems without me having to explain it all or them having to read the voluminous material about me that is on their computer.

However, for those in the know like me, there is the sneaky way:
* Dr Dave only works 3 days a week and I know which 3 days, one being Mondays.
* My neighbour across the road works part time on the reception desk, bless her, and she has filled me in on the sneaky way.
*Call Monday at 8.30am and Dr Dave has 2 appointments during the day that are saved for the first 2 patients knowledgeable in the sneaky way of doing things, to see him. Only 2 so if you are caller number 3 - bad luck to you!

(I should mention at this stage that all the senior doctors including Dr Dave, are rostered on call at the hospital regularly so if they get called away for an emergency or to deliver a baby while you are waiting for your appointment you made weeks and even months ago, you have to wait until they get back or see another doctor)

Well, yesterday a minor miracle happened. I have been suffering from terrible back and leg pain for a few weeks now and my next "usual way" appointment with Dr Dave is 12 November. Yesterday being Monday, I was on the phone promptly at 8.30am and after several tries, I got through and asked for one of Dr Dave's 2 appointments. The receptionist told me Dr Dave was on call at the hospital so was not taking any appointments. Bummer! I was disappointed but I did ask her to email him and ask him to book me in for an epidural steriod injection as he had done this for me about 18 months ago during another episode of back pain and I felt that it had it really made a difference. I then moped about the house resigned to another day or 10 of achy leg and back.

However, an hour later the phone rang and the receptionist said "Dr Dave will see you at 10.15am" - yippee - I couldn't believe it. I rocked up at 10.10am to see him and only waited 15 minutes. Almost always when you have an appointment with Dr Dave, an hour's wait at least is the norm. I get in to see him and he says "I am on call at the hospital anyway, why don't you come up there at 2pm and I will do the injection then." A-bloody-mazing! It is usually a 2 to 3 week wait for this procedure. I couldn't believe my luck.

Needless to say, 2pm I was there with bells on and had my injection. I had to stay there 3 hours until the local anaesthetic had subsided. It makes both legs and your backside numb, something like having a needle at the dentist and they won't let you get out of bed until your legs start functioning again.

Today I woke after a good sleep and feel a lot better. Now the way my luck is running, I had better go out and buy a couple of lottery tickets as I may just win and when I do win the big one, I will sponsor a program to train more doctors with the proviso that they come and work in the country. Lord knows we need more doctors as the population increases - especially the aged population which I am rapidly becoming part of.

Happy days to you all............

Cheap Italian eats in the 1980s

2009-07-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day about the wonderful Italian food I used to have when I was living in Paddington between 1979 and 1991. A lifetime ago it seems as so much has happened since I came to my senses and divorced Mr Wrong in 1991 and left town. However the memories of Little Italy, sandwiched between William and Oxford Streets, Darlinghurst that I have will live on forever. It has been 18 years since I was last there but I believe there are a few of the old restaurants and cafes still there, still serving good, solid home style Italian food and delightfully strong and aromatic coffee with gelato in every flavour on the side. A little more pricey these days of course, but still worth a visit.

Bill & Toni's was a favourite open 7 days a week, with it's coffee and gelato on the ground floor and where you would queue up the stairs till you reached the dining area on the first floor for lunch or dinner. The place was packed every time I was there. There were at least a dozen tables seating 4 or 6 scattered around the floor all filled with diners. No seat ever got cold there for as soon as there was an empty seat available, it was filled by someone in the queue. You always had to share a table unless you came with a group of friends, but it was a nice way to meet people too. No mucking around, the service was fast and you ate fast because there was still that queue up the stairs full of hungry people waiting for your seat. It was generally a 2 course meal of pasta followed by a meat, chicken or fish dish, all served with a large bowl of crisp iceberg lettuce lightly dressed with a vinegary dressing. It was sooo good and I could never quite copy the same tasting salad dressing at home. Two pastas and 3 or 4 mains only to choose from. Made it simple for the chef I suppose but the food was always good. A fixed price of $8 per person ($9 if you had the schnitzel) was a bargain in those days when I was of an age where I was earning reasonably good money working full time as a legal secretary. The house specialty was schintzel and cheese, a very popular dish. Beef schnitzel crumbed and deep fried then topped with a little bolognaise sauce and cheese, grilled till the cheese was melted and bubbly. My God my mouth is watering as I type this. I must have eaten there dozens of times and I never had a crook feed. Now whilst Bill & Toni's was good there was another establishment that was even better and much cheaper, just down the road.

To all outward appearances, it was just another old two storey house in need of a coat of paint, on the corner of Stanley Street. No signs, no indication that it was a restaurant at all. In fact, calling it a restaurant would not be correct either. It was known by various names. To me it was called "Slys" (because it operated on the sly) but it was also know as "Nazore"(sp?) (Italian for "nose") because the cook had a big one, a real honker. But it was also know as "Hole in the Wall" to others. There lived a portly, middle aged Italian bloke who was the cook and his 3 kids who waited on the tables. Every night he opened the front room of his house and fed anyone who came in and had $5, whatever was on the menu that night. You had to enter via the gate in the side fence then cross the back yard, go up the path past the laundry and into the house, past the kitchen where "Nazore" was sweating over a hot stove and into the dining area. More often than not you would have to queue up that path and wait your turn but it was worth the wait every time.

For your $5 you would get pasta of the day, a main, bread, lettuce and wine, yes WINE was free with your meal. It was red or white in flagons plonked on the table by the kid waiters who really worked hard. It was pretty good wine to wash your meal down with. I liked the red best. The meals were large servings of good, Italian, peasant food and the place was full 7 nights a week. You could help yourself to a piece of fruit as you left from a large basket by the door. I ate there almost every week for a couple of years. The atmosphere was what I would imagine would be like in Italy at a big family gathering, lots of talk, laughter, a general buzz of good vibes and the miriad of delicious aromas wafting out of the kitchen.

I don't know how long "Slys" was in business for and whether or not the authorities caught up with "Nazore" but that is one place I will remember for the rest of my life. They don't (or can't) make 'em like that any more.

Ciao for now

The Real Estate Blues

2009-07-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

This is our beautiful hallway painted expertly by my dear husband with hand crafted quilts on the wall from my friend Marilyn in Ohio. Special quilt hangers that fit on the picture rail in animal shapes also hand carved and painted by my multi-talented husband. I didn't know he was artistic until this year.

So far 2 lookers for the house and no offers. Not really surprised as winter does seem to deter house hunting for some. Plus it seems that half of Cowra is on the market so prices are low and buyers are thin on the ground. We did drop the price a tad after a similar house in the next street sold at auction last weekend for $145k. Shocked! We are getting impatient to move north. Might have something to do with the weather - brrrrr.....

Nevertheless, our hopes are high for a timely sale and we have our lifestyle change to look forward to once the money is available. The house is a unique place with so many things going for it and that special person who will fall in love with the place on first glance has yet to materialise, but they will, dear reader, they will. Bwahahahah - *wrings hands with glee* - Oh well, you have to be positive or you may as well cut your throat.

Keep on Smiling........

For sale - one federation style house in Cowra

2009-06-03T19:01:00.001-07:00

We finally have the house on the market and have had our first inspection last weekend. I was so excited to see the house on the web (http://www.realestate.com.au/ and search Cowra then look for the house with the heading "easy walk to town"). The photos turned out really well and the old place looks great. The first inspection was by a young couple with 3 girls. Unfortunately for us they have their house for sale as well and naturally, must sell before they can buy. They seemed keen as the second bedroom and sleepouts would make a great girls bed and playrooms.

The sign is on the fence and we are willing a buyer with a fat wallet to materialise and take the house off our hands. The orange tree is laden with sweet, juicy fruit and thanks to the recent rain, the garden is looking wonderful.

So if you have been thinking about a "tree change" now is the time. Come to Cowra and for a measily $220,000.00 you can have this beauty on a 1011sqm block only 2 blocks from Woolworths.

Any takers???

The Foot Saga

2009-06-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

It continues....... after a visit to the surgeon a couple of weeks ago, I have decided NOT to go under the knife. He said 5% of them don't work, 5% chance of bone infection, by fusing one joint the surrounding joints get extra strain and will eventually break down. It is 8 weeks in plaster with no guarantee of success. The waiting list for surgery is 12 months minimum. So, I am going to have a couple more cortisone injections on 15 June and see how they go. It can only be an improvement on what I have now.

The pain is mentally and physically draining and I am fondly reminiscing about the days when I used to be able to walk around the park with the dogs. I am flat out doing a circuit of Woolworths these days before I start limping. My foot wear consists of slippers and one pair of sturdy laceup shoes from the Athlete's Foot. The rest are unwearable.

Well, no more complaining about the bloody foot. I am stuck with it and I will try my best to just live with it. "What can't be cured, must be endured".

Shit!

My $500 foot

2009-05-07T19:57:00.001-07:00

Regular readers of my blog will recall that I have a crook left foot. Well, it is worse now as I have osteoarthritis in the TMT joints. I can't walk very well and am limited to 2 pairs of shoes. All my fashion ones are gathering dust in the wardrobe. I am almost at the point where I need a stick to get around. Anyway, I have bitten the bullet and made another appointment with the orthopedic surgeon in 2 weeks time so my $500 foot will be increasing in value. *sigh* he said last time that unless the injection improved it, the only thing left was surgical fixation. If that is the case, it will be worth it if I can get rid of the pain and be able to walk properly again.

To be continued...........

Eagle Boys Pizzas

2009-05-07T19:30:00.001-07:00

I have been a big fan of Eagle Boys Belissimo pizza since I first tried one 5 years ago and to tell the truth, I have only ever tried one other sort so whenever we ordered pizza on "cheap Tuesday" (coz it is only $6.95 for a large pizza) it had to be the Belissimo. Lovely Italian flavours, plenty of veg, not too many meats, juicy kalamata olive slices and with a sprinkling of parmesan to finish off, quite delicious really.

Recently Eagle Boys have added new Premium pizzas to their menu and to my shock and horror, they have deleted the Belissimo pizza. I was told by one of the staff at our local outlet that the Tuscan (one of the new premium pizzas) had the same flavours as the Belissimo but, of course, Premium pizzas cost MORE than the regular ones and are not included in "cheap Tuesday's" menu. That night we ate Chinese instead.

Now get this - their TV ad that is introduced by comedian Dave Hughes, states that "we have added 11 new pizzas to all your old favourites..." which, my friends, is fundamentally incorrect as there is now no Belissimo on the "old favourites" menu. I am a stickler for truth in advertising so I emailed Eagle Boys and complained that there was no Belissimo on the menu any more which happened to be the only pizza I liked and then politely pointed out that their ad was incorrect and when were they going to fix it.

Quick as a flash I received a response from the National Opperations Assistant to say that the new Tuscan premium pizza was different to the Belissimo whilst still retaining the same flavours and they would send me a voucher for a free one. Instead of sliced olives they now had olive halves and instead of diced tomato, they had sliced tomato and instead of grated parmesan, they had shaved parmesan thus pushing it into the premium range. They failed to address the matter of the misleading TV ad entirely.

Not to be deterred, I emailed back and asked when something was going to be done about the ad and was told that she had passed on my email to the marketing department and would get back to me ASAP. A few days rolled by and no response. So I contacted them again and received the following response:

I have just spoken with the Marketing department and they can confirm that as of Monday 11th May our TV ads will no longer mention the ‘old favourites’

So, victory for the little people. I can't help it if I am a bit pedantic but the ad was a blatant lie. If it had been another pizza that they had deleted instead of my good old Belissimo, I probably would not have bothered.

Oh well, I think I'll have Chinese tonight.......... what say you people???

Seachange

2009-05-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

*fanfare* We are going to do it! This year we are really going to do it. Lots of people talk about doing it but not many do at our age. Most of them do it when they are a lot older and some wait until they are too old to do it and end up doing the same old same old until they drop off the twig, poor bastards. What am I talking about?

Retirement!!!

I have been semi officially retired since fracturing my T7 vertebra last July (osteo) and Matt's PD is starting to interfere with his ability to do such a physical job so to save him from wearing out too soon, retirement is the only option. What were we going to do we wondered? We don't want to stay here doing the usual old things and wishing we were somewhere else.

No, so we are selling the house, buying a caravan and going to live on his sister Loretta's land at Lismore. She has 11 acres just 5km from Nimbin and offered us space to park the van indefinitely. Just one small catch (there is always a catch isn't there?) Matt will have to potter in the garden, grow some organic veggies, play bowls, and have a good time relaxing. So naturally, WE ARE TAKING IT.

We have had the agent around and signed the agreement, spoken with the solicitor who is getting the contract for sale ready and after a little cosmetic painting and cleaning, the house will be on the market in 2 weeks time.

To be continued, my favourite TV show just came on.............

Byeeee 4 now

Things to do - notes to self........

2009-05-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

update blog on: lifestyle change, healthy-ness, size -n-shape stuff, visit to Nimbin, ......... hmmm........what? Oh it's you.........I didn't realise you were reading this - he he he - just a few notes to remind me to get on with it, so...... keep watching this space........

no, not this one :-)

the next one .........

.................. :-D

Uncle Kev's stimulus package

2009-04-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

Oh how wonderful, we childless pair have now received $1800 of our own money back and like the good citizens that we are, have spent a goodly proportion of it at local businesses. I bought myself a nice new black handbag for $55 from the bag shop in town, a bit of a splurge as my other one was a Vinnie's special. It is leather and made in Italy. Ciao $$$.

Next we bought 4 new tyres for the Ford Falcon from my mate Gordon at Emu Plains Tyres & More. They are Yokohama brand. Sionara $$$.

I have also acquired new bifocals (frames and lenses) from Paris Miki in Penrith. A good price and worth the trip from Cowra as the local eye people have a limited stock and sky high prices. I am told by staff that Paris Miki is Japanese. Once again Sionara $$$.

We also went on a road trip to Lismore this past week and clocked up over 2500km thus requiring several tanks of fuel. $$$ to the arabs. (I don't know the arabic for good bye)

The remaining $$$ are resting safely in our bank account in readiness for the next visa statement to arrive in the mail.

Thank you Uncle Kev for returning some of our hard earned and reluctantly paid tax money to us as this is the first time EVER that we have qualified for any Government handouts. Such a pity that pampered house dogs do not qualify as children or we would be in line for another $1800.

Take it easy friends and remember, if you spend your Government handout at garage sales, on prostitutes or getting a new tattoo, the money will definitely stay in Australia.

where haz I been?

2009-03-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

I'm back. A gazillion things have been preventing me from blogging (she lied) truth be know I have just been uninspired to write due to a few pressing medical issues. Once you get over 50 the body seems to go into some sort of downturn and some of the various parts can give up working properly. Without going into too much detail dear reader, the exit system has been playing up requiring a couple of trips to Orange for various tests and scans, the last of which I had today. I never want to spend 3 days on liquid rations and a few dry crackers followed by a goodly dose of epsom salts cleverly disguised as pills. Ewww. I have to wait for the results which I am hoping will show nothing more than wear and tear and too much curry.

One thing I have decided to do is to grow out the blonde dye in my hair and I am pleased to say that the last of it was cut off 2 weeks ago. I am loving the copious silver streaks that have appeared and at this stage I will keep it like that and save myself some money on rubber gloves and hair dye. When I can coax my darling other half to take a photo of my new do, I will post it for all to see.

Till next time

Adois muchachos!

Elvis lives

2009-01-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo people! I went to the Parkes Elvis Festival on Saturday for the first time and what a great time I had. There were hundreds of Elvis's in all shapes, sizes, sexes, ages and nationalities. The festival is in its 17th year and just keeps getting bigger and better. There were over 8000 tourists in town and the place was rocking.

I have always been a big fan of Elvis and remember exactly where I was when he died. I was on hoiday in Portugal with my ex-husband (Mr Wrong) and we heard the announcement on Radio Luxemborg that evening. The DJ was in tears and we were shocked.

I never dreamed that the Elvis impersonator phenomenon would be as huge as it has become. There were some fantastic costumes and the amount of bling was dazzling. The street parade lasted over an hour. There were Elvis buskers, karaoke competitions, church services, bingo, weddings, cover bands and look-a-like competitions. Not to be forgotten, there was a Priscilla look-a-like comp as well. Hundreds of people walking around in bouffant black wigs and gold framed sunnies doing all the right moves.

I have decided that next year I will go and dress up too. I have already bought a wig and sunnies on ebay and all I need to do is make myself a costume - he he he. Shouldn't be too hard and I have the rest of the year to get it right.

Thankyouverymuch - I have now left the building *grin*

"Before Elvis there was nothing" - John Lennon

there goes another year

2009-01-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

Blink and you missed it. 2008 has just zoomed by and it is now 2009. Amazing! So I am starting off the new year with all good intentions of getting myself healthier. I have been feeling crook for quite a while and have had enough. It is up to me to help myself because no-one else is gonna do it right? I will plan meals, eat better and do more exercise. In fact, I have already started.

This is my "before" picture taken in November at Chris's wedding. So I am determined to change so watch this space for updates.

Happy New Year one and all.

a blast from the past

2008-11-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

Oh my wordy lordy, yes indeedy do, I is gettin' soooo old!!! I went to my high school reunion last weekend. 37 years since I did my HSC and 21 years since the last reunion. Crikey! It was great to see everyone and thank goodness someone had the good sense to supply us with name tags 'cause I would not have recognised several of the people.

Aahhh, memories came flooding back of the last day of school which was pretty tame by today's standards. Some of us girls swapped uniforms with some of the boys. What a hoot! I have photos of Ken Black, Darrell Houston and David Hamilton in short blue shift dresses with lacy witches breeches peeking out from the hem. And who could forget Susan Kinley's party where we got to play spin the bottle and I was lucky enough to score a kiss from a few of the boys that I was secretly keen on. I remember two in particular who were particularly gifted in the kissing department (you know who you are MU & DN). I remember the chess club, playing 500 on the old red rattler train to and from school, handball at recess and lunch time and having a fight in art class with Elizabeth Filewood. She won, I got a black eye and the nick name "slugger". How about the old high school song written by the music teacher Mr Klossing "Blaxland, Wentworth, Lawson, conquered mountain ridges, Lennox built the bridges, follow them ..... etc. " I have an enormous capacity for trivia - he he he.

It was a great reunion, well catered but the after dinner music was a tad too loud which made talking very difficult. I feel the DJ failed to realise the room was full of middle aged people. Full marks to Henry Lindemann for organising it and hopefully we can have another one in the near future.

My God how fast the years have gone. How gravity has taken hold of the old body and the hair has turned to grey or disappeared altogether in some of the guy's cases. I had a ball and have been feeling great ever since. Now I must remember to take care of myself so I can make it to the next reunion.

Over and out -

Linda

Showing Off

2008-11-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my scrapbook pages. I started this hobby in 2000 and have become addicted I fear. I have a large stash of products and a whole room in the house to keep them in. I figured that is OK because Matt has his shed, right? Anyway, this is something I derive a great deal of pleasure from and it is good therapy for whatever ails you. That's it. Say no more.

Linda

How to freeze a whole sheep

2008-11-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

How lucky are we? We have been given a whole sheep, already butchered and dressed by Matt's brother in law Bruce from Mudgee. Matt's parents arrived Friday with it all in bags and boxes. They are visiting us for 3 days and seeing the local sights.

My God I didn't realise how big a whole sheep was until you see it spread out on the bench top. Matt and I spent a couple of hours trimming off excess fat (2 shopping bags full), then bagging all 4 roasts (boned, stuffed and rolled), chops, mince and crummed cutlets up into portions for 2 and then we tackled the dog's bits. We got all the bones and offcuts too for our precious poochies. We bagged these into portions for 2 as well but there was no room in the freezer for them so Matt has taken them over to the club and put them in the big freezer he has in his work shed. I managed to cram our stuff into both of our fridge/freezers. You should have seen the faces of these 2 dogs of ours whilst we were bagging it all up. Priceless!

This is soooo good as the price of lamb these days is quite outrageous. I remember when I was a kid, Mum cooked lamb chops all the time because they were so cheap. We only had chicken on a Sunday as a treat. *sigh* How times change. It is great to have a sheep farmer in the family. I think we are going to be eating lamb for quite some time. Thanks heaps Bruce.

Where has the year gone???

2008-10-26T13:14:00.001-07:00

Ican't understand it. Where has the year gone? Not long ago it was Christmas and blow me down if it ain't almost Christmas again! What have I done in the intervening months? Time seems to pass so quickly now and it is almost my birthday yet again. Another year older - sheesh!

I had a visitor

2008-10-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled to have a visit from Kerry McKenzie, her husband Alan and son Banjamin last week. I used to work for Kerry between 1996 and 2001. She had a small legal practice in Campbelltown. I hadn't seen her for several years and it was wonderful to catch up again. I left work in 2001 when Matt and I decided to sell up and go on an around Australia holiday in a motorhome. Kerry has since closed the practice and is working elsewhere.

Here we both are, looking fabulous I might add. I have been lucky with several jobs I have had in that I got on so well with my employers we became friends. Her son Benjamin had a great time playing with Matt's train layout in the shed. It kept him amused for hours giving Kerry and me a chance to talk, talk, talk. We had Chinese takeaway for dinner as it was impossible to get the boys away from the trains for any length of time to go out to eat.

Now that I am "retired" I have all the time in the world so I will have to find something to do to keep the brain active.

Facebook and school friends

2008-10-09T16:30:00.001-07:00

How good is Facebook? I thought it was only for *ahem* young people but when a friend suggested I join up, I thought why not, you never know what you will find and having a lot of free time on my hands, I can spend hours on the computer.

I found some old school friends I had not seen since 1971 and was thrilled to connect with one fellow who is a doctor on the south coast of NSW. I have a school photo from 1961 with the both of us in it. Between us sending emails back and forth we managed to fill each other in on what we knew about some of our former class mates. I was sad to learn of the death of a couple of the boys. There was one I already knew about, my high school boyfriend Bob. He passed away in 1993 from cancer. Some had lost spouses to this foul disease, others divorced and still others marrying someone from our class and living happily every after. I wonder if any of my former class mates are in jail? No way to find out I guess but I hope not.

I will be catching up with some of them in November when I attend our high school reunion. 37 years is a bloody long time and I am sure I won't recognise some of them, especially the girls but I am excited and looking forward to it. Now, all I have to do between now and then is lose 10 kilos, buy a killer outfit and have my hair and nails done (like the 10kg is really going to happen bwahahaha) still, I will try for 2 or 3.

Happy days one and all

Linda

Time Flies

2008-10-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked one whole year since my Mother died. I think about her every day and know that she is so much better off as she had a terrible existence for the last 2 years of her life. Still sharp as a tack mentally until the end but the body had deteriorated to such a state that she was housebound, dependent on oxygen and being cared for 24/7 by a husband who adored her. I also believe she is still around somewhere, somehow and is happy and free from pain. I love you Mum.

On 6 October Dad told me that it was 59 years since he and Mum had their first date. He remembers where they went and what they did. How many men would remember that? He loved Mum so much and although he misses her a lot, he has started to make a life for himself without her. I love you too Dad.

Be kind to your family, tell them you love and care for them before it is too late.

Linda

Reminiscing about my working life

2008-09-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

I was just having a think about the jobs I have had since I turned 15 and was reflecting upon the fact that I have appeared to have officially retired due to ill health as they so delicately put it to me. Even though I am only within cooee of 55, I have retired. Dang! I'll miss the money mostly.

That got me thinking - when I was in high school I wanted to be an architect. I loved tech drawing (I came top of my class in 2nd form) and art and being an architect sounded right up my alley. What I forgot to consider was that maths was an important part of architecture and for my HSC I barely scraped into a pass level in maths. I got a top mark for Industrial Arts though. So I had no idea what to do until a neighbour suggested I become a nurse. So I filled in the forms, passed the medical (no maths required there), got accepted, got measured for my uniforms, packed up my bags and headed off to live in the nurses home at Prince Henry Hospital, Little Bay at the ripe old age of 18. Soooo exciting.

Anyway I have made a brief list of my jobs/professions/careers since I was legally old enough to get work, and here they are:

I worked as a shop assistant during school holidays and on Saturday mornings for pocket money from to time after I turned 15. I sold haberdashery and clothing. I got $2 for a Saturday morning which went a bloody long way back then.

After I finished my HSC I worked for 2 weeks in a fish, chip & hamburger shop. Making chips by hand mostly, no bags of pre cut chips then. I had to load the spuds into a machine that bashed the skins off, empty them into a bin full of water, cut out the eyes and other nasties then put each one through a hand operated chipper. All the while the aroma of hamburgers, chips and chico rolls cooking out front would waft over me. Boy, it was hard, wet and dirty work and I could not bear to even look at a hamburger or chips for months after I finished.

For the 6 months prior to me starting my nursing training, I worked as a packer in a plastic factory where my Mum worked. Ever wondered now they get those 2 pieces of paper in the cosmetic bags to plump them out and the cardboard rings in the fancy shower caps? Well, that was my job. I would do hundereds a day, my brain was going numb. I couldn't stand it in the end and used to take a day off as often as I dared though that was hard to do as Mum drove me to work every day. *sigh* If boring jobs were an olympic sport, mine would have won the gold!

Then I became a Student Nurse for 3 years when nursing was like an apprenticeship, a real hands-on job. Six weeks in school learning the basics of bed making, giving needles and patient care, then thrown onto the wards looking after real patients and emptying bed pans. It was 1972 to 1975 mini skirts were still hot, I discovered alcohol and hangovers and having to go to work regardless of how horrendously dreadful you felt waking up after 1 hours sleep, and I loved the whole experience. I loved living in the nurses home, staying up as late as I wanted and going out with the other girls. Oh yes, the job was good for the most part but there are a few parts I would rather forget altogether, some wards and sisters - LOL. Dinner at the canteen (3 courses) when I started training was $0.40. I kid you not!

I did 18 months as a registered nursing sister in a few nursing homes and 3 months at the Hospice for the dying at St Vincents (enough said) in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Horrible job, I hated it so much that I almost went nuts. So I changed careers.

I became a Legal Secretary from 1979 onwards starting off as a self taught typist with no formal secretarial training. More ass than class I suppose but I talked my way into a job in a legal office and they gave me a chance. I liked the work and it kept the brain active. My one mistake during the whole 29 years was to work for a Barrister, who shall remain nameless for fear of a law suit, as he was very hard work, major stress value. I spent most of my time working for small legal firms and doing a large variety of work. I have only just recently retired owing to my fragile and delicate health *coff* :-P

So there it is. Did I really do all that? I sound like my grandad talking about the olden days - oh God save me .....

Till next time dear readers............. ciao

Linda

Parents

2008-09-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

Well it is the start of another week - ho hum - almost the end of September and in 2 weeks time it will have been a year since Mum died. I miss her every day and at last I have started a memorial scrapbook album for her which I will give to Dad when I visit him next (end November). I have photos of Mum from age 12 right up until the very last day. Dad, being a keen amateur photographer all his life, took a couple of photos of Mum a few hours before she passed on.

I had found it difficult to get started on this album but for some unknown reason inspiration hit me on Saturday and I ended up doing about 10 pages including a double layout of her and Dad's wedding. The one above is one I had completed a few months ago and not part of the memorial album but it shows 2 young people in love.

Time flies by so fast and it goes even faster the older you get. Just imagine how fast it is going for those folks over 80. Well, off to the scrap room to work on the album.

Linda

Health Insurance

2008-09-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Isn't it madness that when you take out private health insurance, you not only have to pay the sky high premium but you get slugged with the doctor's gap payment just as soon as you use it. What the hell are we insured for if it doesn't cover everything? Imagine if you crashed your car and the insurer told you that they would repair the left hand side of the car but you had to pay for the right yourself. No one would put up with that!

In 2003 whilst we were both "between jobs", my darling hubby required plastic surgery and a skin graft to his handsome face for removal of a large skin cancer near his nose that had flourished under a huge beard and moustache for 12 months and was only discovered once he shaved. As we still had a couple of months paid up on our private health insurance, we smugly decided to have it done "privately". In honour of what we went went through I wrote the following poem from his point of view. It just wrote itself really.... here 'tis.....

THE HEALTH INSURANCE LAMENT
By Linda Prowse
Mudgee 2003

I went to the Doc the other day and this is what he had to say
“That spot on your face will have to go or the big C will get you, don’t you know
Day surgery will do the trick. Oh yes, and I’ll have to skin graft that bit.
A cut down there and a snip over here then a bloody great big cut behind your ear
A patch of skin and a stitch or two then in 12 months time, you’ll be good as new.”

“I’m unemployed” I said as I thought of the cost “But I’ve got Private Health Insurance so all’s not lost.
It’s 100%, no excess, no gap”. He smiled and said “my fees exceed that.
My insurance costs are enormously high and I have to make a living, that’s why.”
I have no choice, I have to pay. The credit card will save the day.

I rang my Health Care Fund to see if the Fund would cover me.
“Yes, hospital bed and theatre fee are covered 100%, entirely,
In any private hospital, but - the Doctor’s bills, well, they are not.
We only pay the Medicare Gap and doctors charge much more than that.
Any balance owing is yours to pay, thank you for calling, now have a nice day.”

As the public waiting list is so long who knows when I would eventually get done?
How much bigger would the cancer grow? All these things I need to know.
As I ponder the idea of becoming poor the wife spoke up and said “Wait, there’s more.”

“Our ancient dog is looking ill. He needs some more arthritis pills.”
As there is no Medicare for our pets I had no choice but to pay the Vet.
She said “My back ache’s getting worse. Constant pain is such a curse.
I need some scans the doctor said.” T’was then I collapsed upon the bed
My mind was in a real turmoil. How am I going to pay for it all?
My only income is the dole, I feel like I have fallen into a very deep hole.

Now country medical services ain’t great. Neither’s the Medicare rebate, Mate!
We travel hundreds of Ks each time we see specialists who treat the wife and me.
They charge hundreds of bucks and don’t bulk bill at all ‘cause the Medicare scheduled fee is so small.
It looks like on credit we will have to rely but if I looked at what’s owing, I’d probably die.

Unemployment is high and work prospects are low yet our population continues to grow.
More funding for health and more hospital beds. Can you pollies get that through your thick heads?
Fix the Health System now; it’s a disgrace to the nation.
I’m not the only poor bastard in this situation!

Linda

PS - the dog died, hubby lost a chunk of his moustache, we had to move 3 hours away to get work and my back is still crook....... that's life!

Things that make you go........hmmmm

2008-09-13T01:41:00.000-07:00

You know what I hate? I hate it when you would like nothing more than to have a nice hot shower, to wash the grime of the day away and there is no hot water. One of the simple pleasures in life really. You would think that in the 21st century we could take this for granted, but no. Things are meant to break down otherwise the plumbers and electricians of this world (and many other professions I suspect) would be very quickly out of work.

Yesterday the hot water system spat the dummy. Not a big, gushing, exploding dummy spit, just a gradual cooling of the water that came out of the hot tap. We have a visitor for 3 weeks, Matt's niece Bianca who is a student teacher doing some prac teaching locally and she had first shower (hot) followed closely by me (warm) then in the afternoon when he returned from work grubby and sweaty, Matt got a cold one. Brrrr. Ok, so we assumed it was the element that carked it and early this morning after running the hot tap for a while and getting no result, Matt removed said element and hot footed it to the local Mitre 10 and got a new one which he fitted without incident. I have a very handy hubby who can mend almost everything but we are at the mercy of Country Energy's off peak hot water program and we now have to wait anxiously overnight to see whether we have managed to solve the problem.

In the meantime, I had had a haircut yesterday arvo and you know what it is like to have little bits of hair itching the back of your neck plus it was a warm day and I was somewhat sweaty by days end. With the assistance of my darling hubby I stood in the shower stall whilst he poured a couple of buckets of warm water, courtesy of the kettle mixed with cold water, over me. Our bathroom was renovated a few years before we bought the house and the bath was dispensed with. Standing in the shower stall with Matt assisting me reminded me of the year we spent travelling around Oz in a motor home when we pulled up in a remote spot, heated some water and poured it into a "bush shower" and with a bit of assistance from each other, had a quick wash down. Talk about 19th century technology.

Anyway, I am hoping like hell that the element was the problem and that come tomorrow morning, I can turn the hot tap on and be rewarded by some steaming hot H2O being delivered. *sigh* Bianca has decided to visit her sister Cassandra who is presently working in Forbes for the night and she said she would shower over there. Wise move I say.

At least now I feel refreshed and sparkling clean. I was planning to colour my hair this morning as I have more greys than a 90 year old but was not prepared to do it the primitive way. Such is life. Tonight I am praying to the God of hot water to deliver us from this inconvenience and I promise to be a good girl for the rest of the year.

da dum de dum..... hot water here I come.........

Back - finally

2008-08-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

It has been months since I posted anything. What a year it has been so far. Talk about "annus horribilis" (sp?). It is hard to think positively when there have been so many rotten things happen. Medically speaking, my body is falling apart. At present I have a fractured T7 vertebra for which I have no real explanation except that I sneezed one evening at the end of July and the pain was blinding. A subsequent CT scan showed the fracture. A previous scan for osteoporosis was normal - go figure. I have been having physio weeky and he has been taping my back in a giant X for support but I have now developed a rash from the tape so I am being careful how I move.

Prior to that however, I had been dragged around the park by my 47kg rotti/kelpie when he decided to go and say hello to another dog without asking me first. Result was strained muscles in my back, ribs and stomach as I tried to persuade him to stay with me. Ouch! That was at the beginning of June and I haven't been able to wear a bra since then.

I had to have a few weeks off work as the strained muscles were the ones I use for work. Now with the fracture, which is at exactly the spot where the unwearable bra does up, I have had to give up work altogether. Sheesh! I am so missing that money right now.

And of course, my darling husband who has been walking the dogs, doing the housework and taking me shopping in addition to working full time is suffering from overload. Oh yes, I mentioned briefly in an earlier post that he has Parkinson's Disease, so his future is somewhat uncertain. I was planning on being the one to look after him when the disease got to a stage where he was not able to work but now, I am not too sure what will happen. Anyway, these things are sent to try us someone once said. He is being so wonderful that I don't know how I will ever repay him. Especially since the bedroom olympics have been postponed indefinitely.

Looking on the bright side (yes there is one if you look hard enough) I am looking at losing my job as an opportunity for something better to come into my life. One door closes and another slams shut in your face - lol. There is a small light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it is not a train heading my way.

I now have plenty of time to do my scrapbooking provided I do it in shifts and don't strain the already strained muscles and fracture. I don't have to "save myself" for work any more.

I miss sleeping on my sides as I have to lie on my back all night so I have been somewhat sleep deprived for the last 3 months. Oh I forgot something else, I have an abnormal blood test for one of my immune system tests. The doc is investigating what we need to do about that and of course, in a previous post I mentioned I have a Morton's Neuroma in my left foot which makes walking any distance painful. I had that injected with cortisone in April but it is beginning to wear off.

Ok, that's my winge over and done with. Now it is out of my head and into my blog I can get on with my life. I know there are folks out there a lot worse off than I am so I will keep reminding myself of that fact.

Onward and upward.

Linda

Sing Australia Choir

2008-04-26T02:03:00.000-07:00

I have joined the Grenfell branch of the Sing Australia Choir. Sing Australia is for anyone who loves to sing whether they are good or not. We get together on a Sunday afternoon to practice and then do little "gigs" around and about. We sang for the folks in the local nursing home a couple of weeks ago at an afternoon tea. It is a marvellous idea as I believe everyone can sing, just some do it better than others. We sang 2 hymns at the Anzac Day celebrations at Grenfell on Friday. It was great. They had a big turn out too. Sing Australia is based in Canberra and there are branches of the choir in a lot of towns. If you love to sing and have been wondering where to start, have a look see whether there is a branch in your town or the town near by and go for it or you can google Sing Australia and log on. It is a lot of fun and makes you feel good.

Tra la la la ................ :-D

Linda

Happy Easter

2008-03-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since I wrote anything here. You know how life gets in the way of things and here it is, Easter already. I am not terribly enthusiastic at the moment. I have been sick with a cold for over 4 weeks now and am so sick of being sick. I still have a cough but the worst thing is the thrush in the mouth from the antibiotics that I took 3 weeks ago. I can't get rid of it and I have tried the over the counter liquid and 2 doses of prescription lozenges. I finished the last of the lozenges 2 days ago and bugger me if I didn't wake up this morning with a sore throat and the rotten fungus back on my tongue. I am at my wits end as to what to do. Of course it is a public holiday today and there are no doctors working or chemists open. The joys of living in a country town.

Well enough winging for now. I'll write again when I have something interesting to say. Happy Easter everyone, no chocolate for me though. *grumble*

Flappy New Ears one and all

2008-01-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, another year has begun. 2008 already and January is almost over. Time sure scoots by as you get older. I don't have much to write about but lets see what I can do off the top of my head.

Today marks 16 weeks since Mum died and Dad is going through the grief process with a little help from a counsellor. He is lonely though and I wish I lived a little closer to Glenbrook so I could see him regularly. It is 3 hours each way from Cowra but at least one of my brothers lives at Penrith and he drops in often. I call him every few days to check up on him. You have to expect this to happen - they had been married for 55 years. Anyway, we have invited him to come and stay with us for a week or two and as soon as he can find a cat sitter, he said he will come and stay.

I have been going to the local pool for the physio's aqua exercise classes 2 days a week and I love it. I manage to do a few laps before the class starts and I feel fabulous afterwards. Nothing like a dip in the chlorine to make your skin feel brand new.

Tomorrow I am off to Orange with a friend (Caroline) who needs to buy a dress for a formal function and wants a second opinion as to what looks good on her. She is a lovely size 8 to 10 so in my humble opinion, anything would look good, but I am pleased to help. We will have lunch at the Orange Thai Restaurant which is the best Thai restaurant I have found in the west. It is run by real Thai people and the food is authentic. Every time I need to go to Orange, which is over one hour away by car, I have lunch there. Penang beef curry is my favourite and my mouth is watering already just thinking about it.

Oh well, thats enough for today, must get back to work. He he he he - my boss is in Sydney till Thursday and I finished the pile of work she left for me. Unless anything interesting turns up in the mail, I will just have to amuse myself surfing the net till 5pm arrives.

Cheers

Not your average Christmas

2007-12-26T16:43:00.000-08:00

Funny how a little red spot can cause you to throw your Christmas plans right out the window. Readers beware, this post contains medical and sensitive information, read on if you dare ......

The red spot which was noticed on Friday evening had mutated overnight into a fully fledged red, angry boil. Oh no, not me, no (phew!), it was poor Matt. My darling husband who was designated driver for the 5 hour return trip to Canberra on Christmas Day and where was this boil? You guessed it ..... right in the crease of his backside! *I have paused here so that you, dear reader, can pick yourself up off the floor, wipe your eyes and stop laughing*

So it came to pass that Saturday, Sunday and Christmas Eve saw no improvement in the situation and the boil grew in size and the pain level increased. The poultice from the chemist was doing its job and I was suddenly designated "nurse" twice a day doing dressings.

Come Christmas Day and it was obvious that sitting in the car was going to be impossible so I went to Canberra alone and Matt had Christmas lunch with Rocky and Lou Lou (woof woof). At least he was able to play with his trains as the layout in the shed has been built on a table which is chest height.

I had a lovely time with my family and even enjoyed the drive because I could play my favourite CDs as loud as I wanted all the way. On the return trip, the local cops were conducting RBTs and pulled me over. I was fine - no booze at Ians. The cops were all wearing Santa hats which looked so cute.

Christmas Day was not over yet and as luck would have it, the boil burst late that night and I found myself playing nurse again at 1am. Crikey, the bloody thing looked sooooo painful and I felt so sorry for my darling.

Today it is a lot better but we are going to see the doc this arvo anyway. He still can't sit in the car or on the lounge chairs but the dining chairs have the back out of them.

So, if someone asks him "What did you get for Christmas?" He can honestly say .... A boil on the BUM!

Till next year, have a wonderful time one and all

Ho Ho Ho - nearly here

2007-12-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas is just around the proverbial corner and what have I done? Another year almost over and a new one almost begun (apologies to John Lennon). It has been an eventful year and for a change instead of spending Christmas Day at home with the dogs, getting drunk and full of good food, we are going to spend Christmas Day with my brother and his 3 little girls (8, 4, and 3) in Canberra. Dad is there already having arranged a cat sitter for his beloved ginger cat Monty, and he will spend several days with his granddaughters. This is the first Christmas without Mum so there were no cards sent as she always took care of that sort of thing.

As usual, I was told to go and buy my own gift. God bless Matthew, he always wants me to have something nice but at this time of the year he is working such long hours that he can't get to the shops. So, as I have a naked ring finger on my right hand thanks to a slight re-arranging of my current collectionof finger jewellery, I went to the local jewellery shop and bought myself a lovely garnet and diamond ring. Funny how all the ones I tried on were my exact right size. I have small fingers. So I chose one and said "wrap the little bugger up"! Now it is under the tree with the other gifts waiting to be released and on my hot little hand Christmas Day. Fortunately there are 6 other gifts under the tree that I don't know what they are (from Marilyn in the USA and my in-laws) which will be a nice surprise when we open them.

I bought Matt his favourite Darrell Lea chocs and a pack of Christmas candies for me. I love them. I wanted to buy him a "Casey Jones" train driver's hat (he has started playing with toy trains and creating a huge layout in the shed) but couldn't find one online large enough for a man's head. Oh well, might have to look overseas.

We have had some rain which has been marvellous although our dam is still only 14%. That is a lot better than 3.2% which is what it got down to early this year. The grass has come back and the garden looks a lot better.

This will be my last post for 2007. I can't believe that this year is almost over. They certainly fly by when you are over 50 so be warned!!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone whether you read my blog or not. Peace, health and happiness to all. Enjoy the chocolate and we diet in the new year bwahahahahaha - :-D

Linda

I'm having one of those days/months

2007-11-23T00:49:00.000-08:00

It all happens at once. My back has been acting up lately. Had to have a day off work for that. Been feeling a bit off and then Monday I went to the doc about the pain in my left foot that I have had for 2 months. I was feeling every step when I was walking the dogs and I had had enough. He referred me for a scan and then he kindly gave me a cortisone injection which I was allergic to (found out the hard way) and spent 2 days drugged to the eyeballs on pain killers and limping from room to room on a walking stick because my foot had swollen up and the pain was agony. My 3 middle toes were sticking out like little fat sausages. Thursday I managed to get a shoe on and could leave the house. Today I returned to work on panadols but it is still a bit sore. The perils of being over 50 I suppose.

*sigh* Looking on the bright side, if it all happens at once, then I can look forward to about 12 months of good health - he he he

Cheers

Happy Birthday and the rest

2007-11-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is a month since I wrote and 5 weeks since Mum died. I'm doing well and so is my Dad. We had been expecting Mum to go for such a long time that she and Dad planned what he would do when she was no longer here. He is keeping busy and going to things he couldn't go to for the last 3 years like his High School reunion at Waverley College last week. The 4 of us kids are coping well. Sure we have sad days but basically we are all getting on with it.

One lovely thing is that Samantha, my brother Ian's youngest daughter, has told him that "Pink Grandma" comes to visit her at night and talks to her and cuddles her. By the time Sammy was born, Mum was too sick to be able to hold her so she never got to cuddle her. Also, Mum was wearing pink when she died and Sammy is 3 in a few weeks time so I think she is too young to be making it up. We all think it is great and I hope she gets visits from pink grandma for a long time.

Now birthdays...... There must be a time when you can say "OK, I won't have any more birthdays because I am OLD ENOUGH NOW"!
LOL LOL LOL Well I was old enough a few years ago but for everyone else who likes to remind me .............. tomorrow I am 54. Eeeekkk! I don't feel 54 but there is a woman in the mirror that I see every day who looks it!

One of the advantages of being over 50 is that EVERY bloke starts to look good. Even the blokes from the bowling club - LOL.

But ..... My Nana (mum's side) died at 54...... My grandpop (dad's side) died at 52. My other two grandparents died at 84 and 80 so I think I have all bases covered.

I wonder what I will get for my birthday? I can bet on some chocolate and wine knowing my darling hubby.

Enough, I am off to open the wine...........

Cheers Big Ears :-)

Death of a Loved One

2007-10-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

My mother died on Tuesday night after a very long illness. We were all expecting it but when it happens it is still a shock in some ways.

I was fortunate enough to spend Mum's last day with her and with Dad. She was slipping in and out of consciousness during the day but did manage to say a few things here and there. Dad and I were both sitting with her holding her hands when she passed. She had been very sick with Pulmonary Fibrosis for over 3 years, on oxygen 24/7 for 2 years and Dad has been her full time carer for just over 2 years. I will never know how he did such a wonderful and difficult job which took up all of his time in the last 12 months, he is amazing considering he is 77 years old. Mum wanted to die at home and had the community nurses in daily and she was under the care of the most remarkable Vietnamese doctor, a lady who went out of her way to look after her.

Mum had not been able to leave the house for over 12 months but she sat in her chair every day beside the picture window and was able to watch the world go by. She was a keen knitter making clothes with donatee wool for the local fire brigade to raffle off. It was only in the last week of her life that she was unable to even do that. The last little jumper she was making was almost finished. All she had left to do was knit the neck band and sew the sleeves in so, although I have not done any knitting for 15 years, I sat in her chair after she died and finished it for her.

For most of Tuesday, Mum required morphine injections every 3 hours which I was authorised by her doctor to give (I am a trained nurse though been out of the profession for 30 years) and she finally passed just before 11pm Tuesday night. It is the most difficult thing I have ever done but I am so glad that I was able to be there with her. It was a blessing really for her to go as she had suffered so much.

I spent the last 4 nights at home with Dad who is at somewhat of a loss as to what to do now but he was active in the volunteer community before Mum got really bad and he said he will go back to all his volunteer work in time. He has a strong network of friends and supporters so I know he will be alright. Mum and Dad had been best friends and married for 55 years. Mum did get to see all 4 of us children in the last few days and we promised her we would look after Dad.

I know that she is somewhere peaceful and happy and she is free of all pain now. Towards the end she said that she could see her cat Kiko. Kiko died 2 years ago and if there are cats in heaven, then that is where Mum is now.

I am continually amazed at the kindness and thoughtfullness of people at times like this. I hope anyone who reads this is happy and well and you should tell those people that you care about that you love them right now.

Goodbye Mum, I love you.

They're on the way home

2007-09-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

The past 10 days have flown by and we did so much but still didn't manage to do everything. Marilyn & Keith arrived on Monday 17 after being delayed because of fog so instead of us collecting them at 10.30am at Canberra, it was 4.45pm. A very long flight for them. So after a couple of days rest and some local sight seeing, we took them on a 3 day road trip.

Marilyn wanted to buy some opals so we thought, where best to go? Lightning Ridge of course. Only 550km away so Thursday we put the dogs into the kennel for 4 nights and headed off. The trip there was great going through the changing country side, the drought has made its mark on parts. We arrived at the Ridge around 4.30pm so checked into the hotel and headed off to the bowling club for some liquid refreshment and later, dinner.

Next morning it was shop till you drop for opals. I just love watching someone else spend money and Marilyn certainly helped the Aussie economy purchasing a set of milky opals (2 rings, pendant, bracelet, earrings) in silver settings and a set of the blue/green opals (same stuff) set in gold. My darling Matthew bought me some earrings for my up coming birthday. We took a tour of the walk in mine which was great and saw the local attractions.

Next off to Mudgee for 2 nights staying with relatives, shopping and exploring the vineyards. Fair dinkum, Marilyn almost had to buy another suitcase to take back all the stuff she bought. I had fun helping her spend.

We arrived back in Cowra Sunday night and collected the dogs, who were thrilled to see us, Monday morning. They always smell when they come back from the kennel so it was bath time for both of them and hubby too. Anyone who has bathed a dog knows that they almost always get a bath too.

Marilyn and I headed off to Orange for yet another shop-a-thon and left the boys to their own devices. Marally Craft has a great range of Australian print quilting fabrics so once again, Marilyn contributed to the economy and bought up big. On the way home we stopped at the sheepskin barn and 2 pairs of ugg boots were given a new American home. Next door we visited what must be Australia's most expensive antique shop. The owner had stuff priced beyond belief! In the words of Darryl Kerrigan (The Castle) the bloke must be dreaming! Imagine an Arnotts biscuit tin for $29! and it wasn't even that old. I wonder who actually buys stuff from him anyway, it was fun to look around.

Tuesday it was a visit to Cowra's Japanese Garden and then we went to Canberra yesterday as they had to fly out early today and checked them into a motel. We did a little sight seeing and did a lap around Parliament House and the Lodge. Canberra sure ain't the easiest place to drive around unless you are a local. The Canberra Centre has to be the largest shopping complex I have ever seen and, as my sister works there, it was not so hard to navigate. We all had lunch joined by my brother and his 2 little girls and all in all it was a fun day.

I feel very special as Marilyn, my friend since 1983, bought me "a gift a day" whilst she was here. She must have bought a whole suitcase of things with her for me. I was so thrilled to receive 3 of her hand made quilts and lots of other things. We have a special connection and will remain friends until the day we die. Fortunately both our husbands get on really well and spent a bit of time together whilst we were off doing girly things and shopping.

Now it feels strange after having guests for 10 days to not have them. The dogs were wandering around the house last night looking for them. This was one of the best times I have had and I will miss them so much. Thank goodness for emails so we can keep in touch. It will be our turn next to go visit them. I don't know when that will be but it must happen before our husbands' medical conditions get any worse. You see, Keith has Lymphatic Leukemia and Matthew has Parkinson's Disease. Both of them are in the early stages of the diseases but, as there is no cure for either, we never know what will happen and how fast the diseases will progress. That's life!

Wally

The bra buying blues

2007-09-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

Bras are such a bugger to buy. I hate going bra shopping. I usually go to Target or K Mart or something like that and try on 27 different ones in about 7 different sizes hoping to find one that is moderately comfortable, contains the boobies without too much spillage and is not too tight, at a reasonable price. So when I do, I buy 6 of them and that lasts me for a couple of years. Every brand has a different size for me. Why is it that sizes are not consistent? It pisses me off.

Well, for a change I went to a proper Bra shop recently and got myself "fitted" by a professional bra fitter. Wonder what sort of training you need to go through - bet there aren't many blokes qualified to fit bras - ROFL. Anyway, crikey, I can't believe what a big difference it makes to your - ahem! "cleavage" to have a bra personally fitted . I had no idea I was an 18C which sounds HUGE but the bra I bought fits really really well and feels OK to have it on all day. I usually can't wait to get home so I can rip my bra off and let it all hang out - LOL.

BUT, there are only 2 down sides to the whole thing IMHO and they are - one - the Bra is what I would term "industrial strength" and - two - it cost $69.95!!! Just one bra! You may as well say it cost $70. It is a Berlei and made in China so what am I missing here? I bought 2 of them so I can have one on and one in the wash.

I have fond memories of those days in my 20s when I had a couple of "mini muffins" requiring no more than a little cotton and elastic covering to look good under a T-shirt. Getting older sucks insome ways but is absolutely terrific in other ways. More soon ......

Crikey, they are almost here

2007-09-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time flies. Marilyn and Keith will be here in less than 48 hours. I am so glad that I am not doint the 24 hours in a plane thingie. I remember 20 years ago when I went to Europe - the flight is sooooooooo darn long!

The house is spick and span and I even scrubbed the venetial blinds - not a job I recommend at all - yuk! But all is in readiness for my visitors.

On Thursday we are going for a 3 day road trip to Lightning Ridge then Mudgee, Glenbrook and home to Cowra. We will get all the visiting out of the way in one go and explore some of this wonderful country that even I have not seen before (Lightning Ridge that is).

Excitement level 10+++

Linda

Getting ready for OS visitors

2007-09-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

I am so excited. My penfriend whom I have been writing to for 24 years is coming to visit in a weeks time and will stay for 10 days. Marilyn is from Ohio and has visited me once before in 1996. Hubby Keith is coming too. I am so lucky that Keith and Matthew (my hubby) get on really well. It is funny that after writing to a person for so many years, you come to know them well. We knew from the first few letters way back in 1983 that we were going to be great friends.

The first visit was so exciting for all of us as Marilyn & Keith had not been to Australia before and in 1996 Matt and I had only been married for a year. We were living in Hornsby which is only a short train trip to the heart of Sydney. I scheduled so many things to see and do that we were all exhausted at the end of 10 days. This time it is different as we now live in the country and everything is at least 1 hours drive away.

They will have a huge flying time as they have to fly from Detroit to LA then LA to Brisbane then Brisbane to Canberra. Canberra is way closer to collect them than Sydney (2 hours as against over 4 hours). So this time we will just head straight home from the airport so that they can recover from the flight.

I have started cleaning the house which is a marathon job. It usually takes something like a visit from friends to spur you on to do a "spring clean" - LOL. Plus with 2 dogs that spend a fair bit of time inside, there is a lot to do.

So.... better get of the 'puta and get into the cleaning. I can't wait to see my wonderful American friends.

Welcome

2007-09-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

G'Day everyone, Welcome to my blog. This is something new for me as I venture into the world of blogs.

I live in Cowra western NSW with my DH and 2 dogs. I am a mad keen scrapbooker and work 2 days a week for one of the local solicitors. We have an office opposite the Court house so I am begining to know who the local crooks are.

That will do for a start. Best not to overload the senses. More soon.