Hi there my friends, I've misssed you all. Ray and Trev and I have been to Queensland as planned. It was not too bad, a few awkward moments, because of Ray's dementia, because of my focus on Ray, because of the generation gap and different expectations, but on the whole not too bad. It all went pretty smoothly with Trev and I sharing the driving.

Although we went to two motels we had been to before the accommodation was NOT disabled friendly and that made it very awkward. But we managed. It was good tonight to shower Ray in his own special shower room and be able to shower him properly. It certainly makes you count your blessings when you have been "making do". Travel is fine but coming home tonight was good too.

BABSZ from Strokenet and her husband are on a cruise of New Zealand and three ports in Australia so we are due to meet on Friday when the ship docks in Sydney! She has sent me regular updates of what she and Eddie have been up to and seems to be having a great time. She and Eddie are walking a mile a day around the ship every morning. How is that for energetic! I am sure I will have some pics to post of us together so do stand by for that.

The trip to Queensland was for us to catch up with Ray's brother and his wife and to visit with some old friends which we did. Both of the men have had surgery for cancer and both thankfully are doing very well, much better than expected so it was reassuring to see both of them "in the pink" of good health. I guess I am a good long distance worrier. I like my brother-in-law Les who is the opposite of Ray, noisy where Ray is quiet, cheeky where Ray is courteous etc. The time we spent with him was great, all the old stories trotted out and some teasing. Ray can't remember a lot of the stories now but seemed to enjoy the visit.

The weather was brilliant while we were away, the days not too hot. After spending two days visiting I took Ray to one of our favourite spots, Bribie Island. Bribie is a long sand island attached to the mainland by a long causeway. I guess it has grown from once being just a sand dune in the middle of a large bay. It was first settled in the 1880's and is now partly covered by tourist resorts but still has a lot of open space up one end including lovely walks along the Pumistone Passage, the waterway between it and the mainland. As we arrived at lunchtime we enjoyed "fish and chips" sitting at a table near the water and watching yachts and small boats with fishermen and the antics of seagulls etc. A few hours sitting by the water is a real restorative for me.

On the way home, yesterday we visited some old friends from our Karuah days who now live on the north coast and today, our son-in-laws mother. I knew she would be having a sad time as next Wednesday is the first anniversary of her husband's death and she is of course still mourning him. It is so hard fter 50 plus years of married life to lose a much loved partner. I guess there is no "timeline" for recovery. She was very pleased to see us.

Trev said he enjoyed the trip, he had thought of it as taking his Dad to see his brother, maybe for the last time as Ray does not travel so well now. I don't know if this will be the last time but know that travelling with a person who has stroke deficits plus confusion caused by the dementia is hard. Ray was brilliant in the mornings, not too bad of an afternoon but obviously more tired than at home where he can have a three hour nap. And by night-time he was really struggling. He didn't really want to go out to eat or battle with a shower in a bathroom not set up properly and had some problems with simple things like light switches and arranging bedclothes.

I really missed my kitchen! It is wonderful how quickly I can do tasks like making up Ray's thickened fluids at home and found in a motel or someone else's house that the job takes twice as long. And living out of a suitcase is harder too as those elusive socks and hankies and underwear that fits always seems to hide in the dark corners eh? I did manage some laundry while we were away so that made the fact that Ray and I shared a suitcase manageable. I will still have a pile of dirty clothes to attack tomorrow so I am praying for a sunny day with a light wind so I can sun-dry.

Now to do a bit of a spring clean before Babs comes. I am really looking forward to that. Babs and Eddie and Sue and Ray, think of the chatting! How good is that?