I woke up early because the parrots were having breakfast in the tree near our bedroom window. It is nearing Spring and the blossom is fully out on the eucalypt trees and the little rosellas particularly just love the sweet nectar. From our camping experiences I know that after an hour or so they calm down but once I am awake I might as well have breakfast myself.
The Change One diet went the way of all other diets. All I have kept up is the breakfast, a piece of toast and a piece of frui
I had some spare time this afternoon so stopped and looked for some photos I want copied for my grand daughter. They were photos of her other Granma I took at her parents wedding. I want her to see how pretty her Granma Val was. I think it is important for all of us who knew her to keep her memory alive.
While I was looking at the albums I found photos taken the morning of Ray's 2nd stroke. He stroked after attending a breakfast in the park at the end of a convention we attended. The fir
Yet another close friend rang and told me her mother-in-law is dying. I know they ring because they know I can cope with the news and they want to tell someone.
I trained to be a hospital chaplain but due to a lot of circumstances never ever got to do that work. I did do a stint as a volunteer hospital visitor and I guess that really prepared me for some of the work I do as a caregiver. I am no stranger to hospitals as most of you know.
Sometimes I wish people would ring me with the
You are never too old to learn something new every day. I read that here as people come up with an improvement in their condition, find a new med, try a new treatment. People who try and fail have at least tried. The small number of people posting may just be because other members are still on that trial and error journey and maybe not ready to contribute yet.
We just had our grand daughter here for three days. Her parents went to the country, in the north east of our state, actually ne
"When it's night time in Italy, it's Wednesday over here" was part of a music hall song that my Dad used to sing when I was young ( he sang a lot of them as part of his spending if he had any spare money in his youth was a trip to one of the Music Halls). It had me puzzled when I was young as I thought there was only one time. Whatever it said on the clock in the kitchen was the only time I knew.
Then as I grew up I learned that the time in England, where my Mum and Dad had family, and th
Ray and I went to WAGS this morning. We hadn't been to this group which is the parent group for the Scallywags group he goes to on Fridays. There were about 40 people, survivors and caregivers and family members there , so quite a big group. It was mostly a business meeting so a lot of agenda items but also reports on past activities as well as planning of future activities.
In Australia there are non-profit groups that can apply for designated government funding in certain areas so the
Did you miss me?
I very rarely act on impulse but last Saturday I packed the car with enough gear for a week for Ray and I and drove it to Queensland. Six days and just over 1300 miles later we are back. And I don't regret it.
Ray's brother and an old friend live within 10 miles of each other in a small coastal town in Queensland about 80 miles north of Brisbane. Both have been sick and had pretty serious health problems and operations since Christmas and somehow I just had to get t
It was our wedding anniversary today, 39 years and I was not mindful of it until half way through dinner tonight, a bit late then to celebrate. Not that there is much to celebrate at the present time. We were out at a restaurant with friends from one of our old service clubs. I could have announced that it was our anniversary I suppose but the talk was general and I don't like to draw attention our way. It was a nice dinner but all the talk was by the returned travellers about where they had
I have just finished my first month of Caregivers Chat and I thought, particularly today, what a brave bunch we all are. Imagine anyone bringing a stranger home and doing all the things we do for our spouse, parents or children. Today there were people who did all that you could ever expect a caregiver to do, and more, and in some cases this wasn't the first person they had provided care for. No way would most of us do for a good wage what we do for our loved ones for free. Because we love th
We've had a fairly busy weekend, well, we have a fairly busy life. That means I use up every day doing whatever comes to hand. And running a household and looking after Ray and looking out for family and friends does constitute a busy life.
On Saturday morning I did some gardening and some other tidying up processes. I wanted Ray to have plenty of sleep so he would cope with going out for the evening. As he is not a night person having a good long afternoon nap helps set him up for an ev
For all of you in the northern hemisphere think of this as March, wet, drizzly, high winds, grey skies, people battling across car parks with the rain on their glasses, wet hair dripping down the back of their necks. Okay, that is picture of our day. Blahhhhh!
I got up slow today. There are days when I don't want to get out of bed and face the day. Then a friend rang and requested help. Her smoke alarm was going off. I held onto the phone while she turned every electrical appliance of
Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know all the angst I went through as the little church I used to go to was closed down. That was in March with the last service being on March 19th. The following week I went in the other direction to St Christophers which is in the next suburb to the one I live in. This is an easy access church, lots of parking, all on one level, with a ramp into the hall and good toilets etc so ideal in many ways. We go to a 9.30am service which is an h
As I had a false start last week on my "Change One" program so I have I decided to repeat Week I. So I am just doing the piece of fruit, piece of toast for breakfast and the twenty minute wlk every day for another week before I go on to tackling lunch. The idea of the "Change One" program is to change one thing a week that makes your life healthier until you are a healthier, happier person. For someone who is almost a grouch in winter like I am this should pass the time until Spring comes tip-
Funny how easy it is to tell someone you don't expect things to be perfect. "Of course" you say, smiling graciously, "I don't expect things to be perfect." What a dissembler I am. Of course I expect life to be perfect otherwise why am I even mentioning it?
Had a couple of not so good days. A friend let me down. It may have been a misunderstanding I suppose, as even face-to-face communications isn't always straight forward. She had asked our son to go and help with a BBQ at her place to
Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax. I told Pam I would host Caregiver chats 8pm New York time Tuesday nights. She said we would keep it low key, no big announcements etc. I guess that probably wasn't the best approach. How will people know I am there if they aren't aware that caregiver chats are starting?
Anyhow I set my computer up and sat in chat, notebook at the ready, welcome sign on - and read my diary. I found an old one from 1994, the months leading up to going to college. L
I believe that some times in life you have to consciously make adjustments. It is like driving down a dead end street and realising that although your destination is visible to where you are there will have to be some backtracking before you get to where you want to go.
To some extent that is where I am now. I have decided that if I have to back track then I might as well take in some new scenery on the way rather than track back over old routes. So I am going to do a course out of a boo
I am not a great one for watching daytime television but today for some reason turned on "Dr Phil". Now I don't like that "here's your problem, here's you answer" type program. I know , like most of you do that a problem that has taken a long time to come to our notice will also take a long time to fix. And a lot of hard work too as the weight loss gurus will tell you. But you also can't fix a problem until you have had a good look at it or as Dr Phil said "asked a zillion questions about it
What a week that was. Last Friday when Pamela had her regular check-up it was not good news, blood pressure too high, bloodwork showing trouble with kidneys etc, usual late pregnancy thing. She was told to take it easy over the weekend and come back on Monday. Mondays results still not good news so eventually she was ordered into hospital. The family rallied around, Trevor moved over to their house to be standby carer for Tori, Steve got some leave and went back to hospital to be with Pamela
1. Being loved.
2. Laughing so hard my face hurts.
3. Looking into the eyes of my grandchildren and knowing they love me.
4. Looking at my grandchildren when they are sleeping and knowing how much I love them.
5. A special glance that says Ray understands.
6. Singing one of my favourite hymns.
7. Taking a vacation.
8. Hearing our favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Driving where the scenery is beautiful.
Just had a looong phone call with a friend who works full-time, is studying for a degree and acts as secondary caregiver for a disabled grandson. His life was falling apart because his hot water heater had sprung a leak and flooded his apartment. Boy! do I know that "this is the last straw" feeling he is experiencing right now. Those unexpected events that throw us into financial and emotional crisis just because we are already right at the end of our tether.
What can we do with this los
Just talking to Kristen (givincare) who is in a hotel room preparing to move tomorrow. She had thoughts that her son would not move with them some time back. I know what that feels like as I was seven when we moved from England to Australia. We were called "ten Pound Poms" as the Australian government subsidised the trip to encourage migrants and each adult paid just ten British Pounds.
We came to Australia on a ship called the "New Australia". She had first been commissioned in 1923 an
I'm envying the northern hemisphere folk. There you are revelling in summer and I am looking out the window to a grey sky and yes, it is raining again. Not the drought-breaking rain everyone wants, this is just a thin line of cloud clinging to the coastal fringe. The main water catchment for this area is about 30kms inland and the rain is just not happening there. Luckily today it is just the tiny drops on roof tops, not torrential rain and gale force winds, that is predicted again for Sunday
:chat: and :beer: and :happybday: and :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: were the order of the day yesterday. We had planned a BBQ at a local beauty spot but the winds blew at gale force, there was a light rain, freezing conditions and so we all finished up here. Not too bad, we are blessed with a family that doesn't mind being squashed in together and so Trev barbecued, seven littlies ran around the place and the rest of us found enough utensils so we didn't have to eat with our fingers. There was
I didn't realise that letting Ray go off into the unknown of "Scallywags" would feel so like waving the children off on the school bus for the first time. We got ready early then he sat on the verandah and waited in the sun. I went into chat for a while, then left Debbie(sorry) to go and make sure we were okay for the bus at 11.30am. Waited, waited, waited. A red car turned into our driveway at 11.55am. A volunteer had come on place of the bus which has gone in the other direction. AAAARGGG
I really have nothing worth blogging about, life has been very mundane since I came back from my break. It is funny how soon that "I've had a holiday" feeling works off and I am back to my usual cranky self.
I had another tummy bug. Happily not the projectile vomiting that Tori and then Trevor suffered from but one of those that feel as if someone has lit a fire in your middle and nothing puts it out. To my surprise Trev took to the idea of taking care of me, supervised Ray and cooked hi
