swilkinson

George I have intolerance to lactose, palm oil, which can be in anything marked vegetable oil, and seafood. I had my gallbladder out 33 years ago and have been on  restricted diet since then. Dairy free or lactose free foods have boomed recently and that has been wonderful for me. I do maintain a good healthy diet and try to keep it a nutritional one too. Sometimes I just envy others when I am eating out for being able to eat luscious desserts etc but I know I need to keep to what I can eat without pain or discomfort.

Great to see you blogging again George. You and Lesley have had a wonderful time travelling around Scandinavia and Europe by the sound of things. I envy you that in a way. But I am a homebody these days, happy with a small circle of friends and an occasional visit from my kids and grandkids.

My life has been involved with the church, my Lions Club and some socialising before Christmas and friends and family since. I have my younger son and youngest granddaughter here right now. I understand at our age we are still important for them to come home to.

Yes Asha, something new to do occasionally can give us a new interest in life. I am doing some surveys now, earning points toward one of my rewards cards and enjoying that. I find there is plenty to do this time of the year and keeping busy keeps me grounded.

Jean Riva was an inspiration to many of us. Because of her I began writing blogs and found that made my life make more sense to me, mine became an examined life. Thank you for writing your blogs, they too are an inspiration to me.

I took a couple of weeks to get over the virus, it was a nasty one. I missed seeing my grandchildren which was sad as the boys will be back for the next school holidays but not Tori as again the Uni holidays different to high school holidays. I am just glad to be out and about again

Asha, I understand. I increased my volunteering after Ray and Mum died. It is good to take care of family first. But take care of yourself too. Thank you for what you do here.

I am glad to see you are finding new things to do. It is not easy to reinvent yourself when the roles of wife and mother change to empty nesters. There are many new interests to take up and of course endless opportunities for volunteering. Including on here. Noone seems to be welcoming new members now.

As a widow and with my children and grandchildren so far away I have to fill my life with other things so reading, gardening, shopping, handcrafts dominate but morning teas and lunches with friends are also important. The church takes quite a bit of my time, Lions Club too. In fact sometimes I am a little too busy. Without all of this I would be a sad and lonely person I think.

Asha I have just had my grandson Christopher here for four days. He saved up his student money to fly up from Melbourne. I said something to him and he said: "Grandma I'm an adult now." Point taken, he is 23 and doing a Masters in Biomedical Technology. But he is still my grandson and I thought I was guiding him but it was inappropriate. So back off Grandma. 

So it is just little things you say to guide rather than giving them a full on lecture. And laugh and joke and talk about the past and remind yourself that you need to back off to remain friends. And trust they will remember that coming home is about enjoying family not lectures about behaviour.

How do you get there Janelle? If it is a bus or train ride that would be fine. As you know it's an extra flight from Perth to Kalgoorlie so I have to return to Perth to fly home. Anyway I will think about it.

I have several friends in Perth. One I met on  here although I met her on Dementia.net when that was active, one from my life locally. So next time I can stay in Perth for a couple of days in a hotel and catch up with them I hope It is a new adventure for me. It's good in a way to have somewhere new to go but I miss my family so much on days like Mother's Day and my birthday which comes up in a few weeks time.

Asha, it is very hot in summer there and is such a long way from the rest of my family. I do a lot of work in my church locally so it would be a big wrench to leave here. But it was great to be with them.

No amount of aloneness is long if your someone special comes home to you. A certain amount of aloneness is good for you. I'm glad you have come to that realisation now. Ray in part of his working life was away three days at a time, I didn't like that at first but realised that meant that the children and I could eat different food at different times, make a lot more noise and do other activities without him being there and that was okay. Having some time of quietness and your own choice of movies is also good. Congratulations on your perceptiveness.

So good that your Mom recovered so much and that her anger left, I hope she continues to improve. You have always been open to new ideas and that's benefitted you and all of us who have read your blogs. Congratulations to your son, I hope his residency goes well. 

Thanks for the update George, you and Lesley have made great use of your time. I'm glad Lesley got back to New Zealand. Sorry to hear about her son's breakup, very sad, but looks like it has led to new opportunities for him.  Keep on going , improving and keeping busy. Golf! Who would have thought that you'd be able to go back to golf back in those early days? Great job!

It's a great read George, you and Lesley have been very busy. Great to see you fulfilling some of your dreams.

 Hey George a blog from you would be great. Did Lesley get to New Zealand with her Mum's ashes?

As Blog Moderator looks like I've finally got my job back!

Sue.

ASHA, great to know that we have a way of communicating again. I have really missed the blogs. Good to hear your Mum is improving. It's been a tough few years.

Heather some people find soft music in the background helps. I like to be in a quiet place and sometimes Sunday afternoon when there is less traffic is a good time.

That is a very good presentation Asha. Thank you for sharing it.

Still raining on and off. Floods further south and west of Sydney now.  Hopefully by next Monday conditions will improve, we are all a little over this monsoonal rain. I went shopping today as we've been told fuel prices wil go up and the cost of groceries will follow. So much for 2022 being a better year.

Yes it's fortunate I am high and dry but a lot of people in the lower lying areas of the Central Coast now have water surrounding them. My sister in law in Queensland is still isolated on her small farm and my friend Cate can't get back home. More and more people are flooded in in Southern Queensland and on the north coast of New South Wales.

I still miss Ray after nine years as a widow. 44 years of marriage is never forgotten. I would have him back here beside me any day instead of the hole in my heart he left behind. But I knew that when he was here, that the days we spent together would be limited by his continuing strokes. Keep those good memories going for as long as you can. (((big hug)))

ASHA. I have always found my purpose in being there for others. I feel sometimes I am guided to a certain place at a certain time to meet someone else's need. I don't know how you know exactly which way to go, whether something is right or wrong but maybe as well as intention there is that twinge of conscience when something is NOT right. And going with the flow as you have taught me works well for me too.

I agree , I had that cruise on the Ruby Princess and if I hadn't  been on it because of my friends need I wouldn't have gone. But a couple of days on the Murray River would be fine. I am planning some travelling by train later in the year if that is feasible. At he moment Omicron is raging here so will have to wait and see.