Goodbye Muffy

Muffy drew her last breath yesterday, Monday 22 Jan 2018, aged 17. A kind and respectful vet and nurse euthanased her, and she died in my arms. Philip, Emma and Hugo were there, too, to say goodbye.

She is buried in our backyard and I've already begun to plant flowers and shrubs so it can be Muffy's Memorial Garden.

I've never cried so much in all my life. For all these years, except when I was away, she slept with me every night and kept me company every day.

This photo was taken on 5 Jan, just a few weeks ago. The vet had examined her and taken blood samples in Dec and said she'd be gone by mid-Jan, and he wasn't far out. For years she'd had kidney and heart disease and was on medication and a special diet. 

I loved her dearly. She had a happy and long life and I have wonderful memories of her, and thousands of photos.

Family get-together

Oh no, it appears I've done it again - forgot to press a button and have lost everything I'd written here. No, it's worse. I've apparently deleted the previous blog, headed Me and my new glasses. I give up.

Before I become completely frazzled, I'll tell you who's who in the pic. Standing: Sister Kay, Philip, me; Seated: Lisa (Kay's daughter-in-law from US), Jenni (Kay's daughter).

Where have I been???

I can hardly believe my last entry was in January. Each day is so filled with things to do, I never seemed to have time to make an entry. But Frank asked this morning if I had stopped doing the blog, so I decided to make an effort.

World events have been appalling, so best not to say anything about them. There's more than enough on the news.

The family is fine, as is Muffy. Amongst all the things I do, family history takes up a lot of time, and is very rewarding. I've been particularly interested in my paternal grandmother's siblings, and have managed to track down four lots of descendants, (including me and my sister) all 2nd cousins. We recently had a get-together here in Sydney, with the sisters in the pic coming from US, (as did the husband of one, standing at the back). That's me on the left, in case you've forgotten what I look like.

Three others live not far from me, and my sister came up from Canberra. I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable times of my entire life! Just fabulous. We talked for hours and hours.

On my grandmother's line there were 12 siblings, three of whom died as babies or toddlers. Half were born in London, the rest in Brisbane, after the family emigrated in 1887. This is where they lived.

The eldest, Florence, was born in 1870 (we met at her 90-year-old grandson's place); next came Minnie, born in 1876, (I went to her granddaughter's 90th birthday party on Sunday); then Annie Louise (my grandmother), born in 1880; and last of all the youngest, Jessie (grandmother of the women in the top photo), born in1893. She must have been very adventurous, as she sailed to US in her early 20s, married there, had a son, Jerry (aged 90, who spoke to us via Skype while his daughters were here) and never came back.

Mystery of Muffy solved

Years ago, after a cat fight, Muffy was left with a dangling toe, which the vet had to completely remove under anaesthesia. When she came home from the hospital, she sat upright like this all night. This recent sitting upright should have made me realise it was because she was in pain again.

It took more than a week for a narrow strip of fur to come off her leg, then in a few days this strip had grown to the size of a 20 cent piece, and I could see tiny holes like teeth marks in it. In another day or so the bare patch was purple and swollen, so I rushed her to the vet. It was an abscess, which he cut and drained.

Poor, poor darling. She must have been suffering intense pain for about three weeks before I had the sense to take her to the vet. It wasn't simply old age, but an acute problem. What a strange reaction for her to sit bolt upright for hours at a time, even in her litter tray!

When I told the vet I'd stopped her medication and was giving her normal food he sternly told me not to, or she'd die of kidney failure. So back on the unappetising special food she went.

Darling Muffy

I'm inordinately fond of Muffy (now 16) and am very worried as she seems to be going downhill quickly. Her weight has gone from 5.5kg to 3.2. Her habits have changed lately and she's becoming very slow. For some time now she's been on medication for heart and kidney problems, and hates having her morning pill and then waiting 30 minutes before she can eat. She dislikes the special diet she's supposed to be on, so I'm allowing her to eat normal things now, like people chicken and sardines. 

She's taken to sitting right in front of the TV. Of course, I don't have the heart to move her.

The Australian Open tennis is on at the moment, which means I'm spending a lot of time watching. This in turn means I'm behind with everything else, particularly answering emails. But this morning is catchup time. With the total standing at 3 967, it's more than a little daunting!

With temperatures in the high 30s, it's a good idea to stay inside, where it's quite reasonable.

What's not to like?

For some inexplicable reason, I woke up in 2017 with a glass half-full attitude to life. It is the first time in 73 years!!! I won't go into too much detail for fear of jinxing things, other than to say I actually look forward to each day, rather than feeling overwhelmed and finding it hard to get out of bed.

The frangipani flowers, the first of the season, are outside Emma's bedroom. You may remember her second name, Hinano, means frangipani.

Interesting what you write, Frank and Winifred, about your cold weather, while here I'm really enjoying summer, and swimming almost every day. The tennis is on, and I love that.

The book on procrastination is coming along as expected. This means not at all. I did spend a few hours one day on the new address book, but became so nostalgic thinking about my life in former days that I didn't make much progress. I've had to use the ironing board to iron clothes, so the old notebooks have simply been put on a shelf. This is a current pic from Facebook of where I lived in France in 1973/4.

The wonderful thing is I'm still in touch with the family - got a letter from Catherine just the other day. She has moved out of the big house with the white shutters to a smaller one to the right of the church. Her daughter, Virginie, now lives in the big one and runs the property.

New address book....

I'm going to start RIGHT NOW. These old notebooks have been set out on the ironing board beside my bed for a couple of days, waiting to have their entries updated and put into the new address book. This plan is probably two years old! I need somebody behind me with a whip to get me going.

Today's a good day to do it, as the forecast is 37. My place is always lovely and cool, so I'll stay inside. Outside it will be deadly. 

Christmas day

There was a storm on Christmas Eve and we were woken by Hugo at 7am, to find this beautiful mist all around. Then we had the opening of gifts and checked to make sure Santa had had his milk and cake and the reindeer had had their carrots. Manami excelled herself with a French-style lunch - we started with prawns and a cheese platter, followed by a scallop and pear terrine which was so light you barely knew it was there:

Next came a salmon and pilaf coulibiac:

And salade rouge:

We ended up with trifle, but I forgot to take a pic of that before it was all eaten.

It was a most delightful day. I slept all afternoon! No thought of any jobs I should have been doing, including chapter 1 of my book on procrastination. It is, after all, the Christmas holidays!

But today I'm forced into action as the scales on the Thermomix have stopped working!!!! Disaster. I tried ringing the company, but of course they are on holidays, too. Meantime I need to find the warranty, which means a huge search. While I'm at it, I'm going to do a bit more of my new address book, which involves going through about 200 old notebooks and bits and pieces so I can leave out/change addresses of people who have died/divorced/moved.

I'm going to write a book on procrastination...

Aha, you see what I mean! The minute I sit at the computer, I start doing jigsaw after jigsaw. I'm completely addicted. The plan for today was to catch up on emails and do some ancestry. More than likely, that will end up being done tomorrow. But who cares?

Into the modern world at last...

Philip bought me this OPPO smartphone last week, so I now have to learn how to use it. It's surprisingly big and heavy. I don't know where to put it when I go swimming, to pilates and the gym. I'm assuming it was expensive and an easy target for thieves if left around.

I seem to have got right out of the habit of blogging every day, as I find life is becoming more and more of a hassle and I am always busy. Today I plan to catch up on paper work, which I hate more than anything. The car is due for registration and that means having it checked at a garage and filling in a form for third party insurance. I paid the normal insurance a while ago and don't understand why it becomes about $100 more expensive each year when the car deteriorates in value and I've never made a claim. What a ripoff.

I also have to send overseas Christmas cards, wrap presents, attend to mail (mostly requests for money from charities), fill in my new address book as people move, divorce, die or drop out of view. I'll shortly skype my Sri Lankan friend in Newcastle. She recently moved to Australia with her husband, who is doing his PhD in engineering. She is a doctor, but must pass the IELTS exam before being able to practise.

Then I'm off to pilates and have the rest of the day free, as Philip is coming home early to go to a Christmas afternoon tea for the school band. He is on the committee and Emma plays the trombone. I usually pick her up. I might see if there's a movie I like anywhere close. And I need to do some maths as I've had to cancel the last two lessons to go to Christmas parties.

Now I can't see this published blog as it has been updated and, of course, I can't work anything out.

I'm not surprised you all liked that beautiful old house in my last blog. Life seemed so serene in those days, didn't it!