Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Creatures from Hugo's party




Hugo had pneumonia on his actual birthday, so we had the postponed party last Sunday.
The weather was perfect and we had the park almost to ourselves.

Mana excelled as usual, with the watermelon feast, dragon pinata and dragon birthday cake.  Philip was wonderful too, running all the games - egg and spoon race, pin the eye on the parrot, pass the parcel and hit the pinata.  It's not easy with 4-yr-olds, as they all want to win every prize!


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Last night's storm



Strong winds, rain, thunder and lightning hit Sydney last night, and towns in the Blue Monuntains, a couple of hours' drive to the west, were snowed under where last year dozens of houses were ablaze.

And here was I thinking about swimming in our pool any day now.  It's only 17 degrees in my living room and I'm wearing winter clothes today.

Good to hear from you, Michael, with your impeccable English that would put many Australians to shame.


Sunday, October 12, 2014

Lazy Sunday




This is the same view as the other day, but with the camera raised a bit to show the gum trees that were hidden before.

I like that expression, Winifred, 'brain engaged'.  That's it exactly!  It definitely takes longer and longer these days for my brain to engage when I attempt to do anything. Whenever I leave this blog too long between entries I have great difficulty remembering how to do it.  Getting the photos here is always tricky.

Don't think I've mentioned it's been like a hospital upstairs over recent weeks.  First Hugo had pneumonia, then his mum got sick, then Emma got pneumonia, followed by her dad getting sick.  And downstairs Muffy has been losing weight and barely eating.  I felt it was because the special diet food she's been on for about five years for a urinary problem was just too awful, and I was afraid to give her anything else in case it killed her.  So I took her to the vet and, a few hundred dollars later, have learnt she's got mild kidney disease and probably cystitis, which required antibiotics that made her vomit.  I picked up a different type of antibiotics this morning - no refund on the first packet that cost me $45, even though she'd only taken two out of 40.  The vet has also given her - sold me - tablets to stimulate her appetite, after telling me I could buy her a barbecued chicken and some tins of tuna in spring water till she works out whether to put her on a special kidney diet. Naturally Muffy wolfed down the chicken and tuna - she's not stupid - before even having the appetite stimulus.

It seems she's just sick and tired of her boring dried food and is yearning for a decent diet.  But since the vet sells the special food, am I going to be told the truth?

In spite of all my activity at the pool I still get exhausted and am going to my GP on Tuesday to get results of my latest blood test to see if that shows why.  Was too tired to have a coffee with Lina this afternoon, which really annoys me.  I spend most of my life sleeping, like a cat.


Monday, October 6, 2014

Ever so pleased with myself...


When I was upstairs the other day I noticed a couple of threadbare silk cushion covers, so volunteered to make some new ones.  Under my bed is a huge plastic bag full of materials, and I knew there was some Thai silk there that Philip had brought back from Thailand for me years ago.

I dragged the big bag out and spread the small bags all over my bedroom floor till I found the one I wanted, and set about cutting out and sewing.  Oh dear, I get annoyed with my own incompetence! I could barely remember how to use the machine, and sat for ages puzzling over the most basic things.  Then, of course, the thread kept breaking and I was nearly in tears because my eyesight is deteriorating and I could barely see to thread the needle again.  However, I did manage to finish one cover and decided to leave the second one till this morning when the light would be better.

After swimming my 10 laps at the council pool and having breakfast here beside our own pool, I set to, and in between hanging out a couple of loads of washing and Skyping a friend, am now thrilled to have two brand new cushion covers for upstairs!!

Next job is to clean up dozens of threads all over the floor, put away the ironing board, sewing things and machine.  By then, the washing will be dry as it's a beautiful day, so I'll put the sweet-smelling sheets back on the bed.


Saturday, October 4, 2014

Garden haircut


At my instigation, Philip got three men in today to prune by half the trees round the deck. When we bought the place, the bushes were so thick you couldn't see through them, but recently I'd noticed that at night you could see the lights of the house at the back.  So we got advice and decided to prune back hard.  Thankfully, all that has been exposed is more trees further down the hillside. Soon new twigs and leaves will appear and thicken the screen.

I laughed at your encounter with the young man on the bus, Winifred.  I must say, in our local area, bus behaviour is exceptionally good.  Without exception, school kids offer adults a seat and every single person thanks the driver when they get off.  No feet on seats problems, as the seats are too close together!