Lady who lunches

I frequently go out to lunch with friends, mostly in reasonably priced restaurants, but recently I went to a very expensive French restaurant called Felix. And my goodness, it was worth every cent! To be honest, I didn't even look inside, and got a surprise when I found this photo just now, as we sat outside in the lane.

I had the best meal and wine I have ever had and would go back in a blink! The whole laneway is restaurants. In a blast from the past, my late ex-husband used to work in a French restaurant here in the 70s, when it was the only restaurant.

Talking of a blast from the past - here's another one! I was having a delightful lunch on Saturday, chez one of my friends. She had invited another one of her friends, who, in turn, had invited one of her friends (also called Diane). 

We were having a lively conversation when, right out of the blue, I said to Diane, 'Do you know Peter Arnold?' She gasped, and replied, 'He's my cousin!' She picked up her phone, rang him, and put me on, and we had a great catchup talk!!!!

What are the chances of this happening?

Now, this Peter Arnold had been my GP in the 70s and had seen me and Philip through some personal traumas, and had even inspired me to go back to uni. I had always admired him and read about him from time to time in the paper. He  gave up his practice after a heart bypass many years ago.

Australian Skeptics congratulates Dr Peter Arnold, who was awarded an OAM 
in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Another coincidence is that I, too, am a member of the Australian Skeptics. It was recommended to me by another GP earlier this year.

Ancestors and living relatives

No sooner have I tracked down one ancestor than I'm searching for details about another one. Yesterday I had great success with an old uncle we knew as Jim Armitage, only to find out from two cousins his name was Cyril Newton Armitage. And just a few minutes ago I made contact with his granddaughter!!!! That is amazing.

I plan to sit at the keyboard all day, interrupted only by a swim and a shower. As well as getting ancestry into some kind of order, I have other things to do. My Inbox stands at an embarrassing 3,426, so there's lots of replying and filing to do there. And yesterday I started to help Emma with her maths homework and came across a very interesting website about factors, so I'll look into that. (I no longer have regular maths tutoring, but can always email with questions if and when I need to.) I've printed the vocab from French conversations so will spend some time learning that.

Of course, I'll always find time for a couple (or more) jigsaw puzzles!

New glasses

I started wearing glasses when I was 18, and, since I turned 76 the other day and have had a new pair every year except last, this must be my 57th pair!!!! I have a big bag full of old ones to give to Lions or Rotary to hand on to 3rd world countries.

I chose this pair in two seconds flat and was a bit surprised when I got them from Specsavers just now at how big they are! I got sunglasses, too. I'll try them on next and take another pic for another day.

Must say the above pic is quite a surprise as from the inside I don't  imagine I look one bit like this. The big nose comes from both maternal and paternal sides - Mum had a big nose, too, yet both her parents had lovely small ones; my dad had a big nose, which I suppose came from his Jewish father (no photo of him).

I'm back into Ancestry again after quite a break. For years I'd been trying to track down George Allen, my paternal great-grandfather, and eventually found he was born in London and brought to Australia as a 1-yr-old. He married Pamela Shilling in Muswellbrook in 1881. One of his sons, Joseph William George Allen, was my grandfather, who fathered a baby girl, Doris, out of wedlock in 1905 and took her home from the hospital and brought her up.

I had always wondered how he managed to do this as a single parent. I'd never been able to find George on any census lists, but two days ago I found the answer - two of his sons, Arthur 1894-1917 (killed in France) and Victor 1891-1942, both stonemasons in Muswellbrook, enlisted in WWI. I have copies of the actual enlistment forms with their signatures, and they both gave their address as George St, Muswellbrook. This shows that George and his 10 children all lived in the very house I myself lived in with my family and grandparents when I was 5. It was number 17.

So, baby Doris's grandparents, George and Pamela, would have been there to bring her up. Pamela herself had a son in 1904. Tht means Doris's uncle was one year older than herself! Pamela died in 1915 and George in 1925.

The story goes that my grandfather really loved Amy, the mother of the baby, so why they never married is a great mystery. My grandmother, Florence Dodds, was apparently employed to live in and take care of the baby when Grandma Pamela died. She married my grandfather in 1916 and my mother, Ida Allen, was born the following year. All her life, my mother insisted she was an only child. She never acknowledged Doris, her half-sister. I wonder if she even knew who Doris was!

I had never even wondered about ancestors until I joined Ancestry.com a few years back. How I wish I'd talked to my mother about them before she died, as she kept track of everybody.

Jigsaw addiction

For a long time now, I've been addicted to online jigsaws. On the site https://thejigsawpuzzles.com there are thousands of pictures to choose from, as well as different shapes and number of pieces. Most days I do several, and houses are one of my favourites. I find it very relaxing...

This morning there was a touch of autumn in the air. Wonderful. Though I do love swimming every day and will be sorry when I have to stop because it is too cold.

Severe storm

Two nights ago, this large gum tree came down in the park over the road in a violent storm. What I find extraordinary is the shallowness of the root system - it's barely 1 foot (30 centimetres) across. It's more surprising that trees ever stand up when they're barely anchored in the ground!

Of course, this happens in every storm. Sometimes people are killed, or houses and cars damaged. It's a risk we all live with, all over the world.

Colonoscopy behind me...

Yesterday I had a colonoscopy in this beautiful hospital. For such an embarrassing procedure, I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed being there! The previous day was not a lot of fun, having to drink 3L water + various laxative concoctions, and my bottom was very sore, but the actual day was a pleasure.

The building is new and beautiful to look at, clean and hygienic, with every mod con. The office and nursing staff, anaesthetist and gastroenterologist were competent, respectful and friendly. No waiting. Philip dropped me off at 11:30am and picked me up about 2pm. Somebody from the hospital rang at 8am today to make sure I'm all right.

For a grumpy old woman like me, it's surprising that I have nothing but praise! I really do appreciate modern medical science and the fact that I was born in a 1st world county. Millions of others are not so fortunate.

Back again after a long break...

Oh dear, I must be the most disorganised person on the planet. Every morning when I wake up, I'm overwhelmed with what I have to do that day and consequently frequently end up doing nothing but lie on the sofa watching YouTube or Netflix.

For starters, I have 3,191 emails in my Inbox, all waiting to be read, filed or answered. Most of them are from DDOLL (Developmental Disorders of Language and Literacy), a reading network I belong to, with people from all over the world commenting on the sad state of reading in English-speaking countries, and sometimes one email contains up to 40 separate comments. I really am interested in what it written, but never have time to read them all, but don't want to delete them.

And the smartphone - oh my god, I still haven't got the hang of it and it takes me ages to figure out how to answer whatsapps, messages, etc, etc. From the moment Philip gave it to me (it's his old phone) I had trouble and seemed to have to recharge it every five minutes. He finally looked at it for me and discovered the actual battery was almost worn out, so now I have a new one.

Then there are the usual chores: breakfast, take pills, feed the cat or cats, empty the bins, tidy up a bit, deflea Floppy (this is his name now, after Storm and Mr Naughty), read the paper, do the crossword, put chlorine in the pool, wash and hang out the clothes, sweep up the leaves and skim them from the pool, maybe a bit of weeding, a swim, shower, hang out the wet swimmers and towel, dry my hair....and on it goes. Now that school has started, I give Emma her breakfast and we'll start doing 30 mins' maths revision again tomorrow. (This is really a case of the blind leading the blind, as I can barely add 2 and 2. I tried a tutor for her last year, but she couldn't get down to Emma's level.)

Since I discovered some time ago that somebody (Floppy or Jewel or both?) had done a wee on the sofa and a poo on my bed, they were both banished to outside. But gradually I've softened and occasionally let them in overnight. Floppy loves company, but Jewel is still afraid and I can't touch her.

The baby in the photo is James, brother of Daniel, the 8-yr-old who comes to me for French lessons.

We've been having a heatwave over past weeks. Thank goodness for our pool! I shouldn't complain, because there are dreadful floods in north Queensland (one year's rain in a couple of days) and bushfires in Tasmania. January was the hottest since records began in Australia.

A beautiful tribute to a dying man

https://www.inspiremore.com/richard-gill-composer/

This is one of the nicest things I have ever seen. A few days ago Richard Gill, a much-loved music educator and composer, lay dying in his home. His friends gathered outside to farewell him. Go to the link and scroll down for the video. Very touching...

A hard night's day

I'll start typing while I'm waiting for the photo to come through. Both cats stayed out all night and came in for breakfast looking very guilty. Mr Naughty must have had a hard night, as he hopped onto a chair and fell into an exhausted sleep the minute he'd eaten his breakfast! Just look at him, three hours later!

Yesterday Mrs Polly Wolly sat beside the pool and watched me swim for the whole 30 minutes! I was surprised the other day when Mr Naughty stared at me in amazement. Just goes to show animals experience things much like us. For them it was something entirely new, seeing a human in a pool of water, and they just couldn't take their eyes off me!

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to catch up on emails. Well, I didn't. Can't drag myself away from the  jigsaw puzzles.

I've realised that Emma has inherited my discalculia.

Dyscalculia /ˌdɪskælˈkjuːliə/ is difficulty in learning or comprehending arithmetic, such as difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, performing mathematical calculations and learning facts in mathematics. It is generally seen as the mathematical equivalent to dyslexia. It can occur in people from across the whole IQ range – often higher than average – along with difficulties with time, measurement, and spatial reasoning. Estimates of the prevalence of dyscalculia range between 3 and 6% of the population.

I started her with a tutor last week, but she really didn't understand Emma's difficulties, as she's used to tutoring top students aiming to get into selective high schools. I decided I'd do it myself, so every morning Emma comes downstairs at 7:30 and we do half an hour of maths together. Talk about difficult! I can barely do a single thing, so am very grateful everything is explained online. Last year I had a maths tutor myself, but have forgotten everything I learnt and am back to square one.

Hi Sandra! Good to read your comment.

First swim of the season

I don't know where time goes! I cannot believe it's so long since my last post. One reason is that I spend less time at the computer and more time watching Netflix. Last November when Manami moved out, she took the TV, so Philip got a new one, with a 55-inch screen, and that's fine for their very large, open space upstairs. But unfortunately it didn't work, so was replaced by a new one. Then the original one started to work again, so that left him with two big TVs. Recently he brought the second one down to me. My first reaction was how tasteless, a huge screen in a small room, but immediately it was turned on, I loved it!!!! I am glued to Netflix and have watched 'The Crown' twice, as well as absolute rubbish like the worst of the 'X Factor', etc.

The cat story is developing well. From two very scared, non-touchable cats in June, I now have a very cuddly Mr Naughty, who abandons himself to cuddles and caresses as often as possible, and Mrs Polly Wolly, who actually allowed me to stroke her back and tail for the first time this morning. She frequently comes close and even rubbed against my legs yesterday. They are both allowed out during the day and are quite happy to come in for dinner in the evening, and stay inside all night. So far as I know, they don't ever go out of the yard.

I kept my bedroom door closed for months, so there was no chance Mr Naughty could wee on my bed again, but forgot the other day, and caught him asleep on the bed, with no puddle. Since then he comes into my bedroom whenever he wants to and there have been no accidents. In fact, neither he nor Mrs Polly Wolly use the litter tray at all now - they both prefer the garden, which makes life a lot easier for me.

This morning I had my first swim of the season and Mr Naughty looked on in amazement when he saw me in the water! He couldn't quite believe his eyes. I love swimming and plan to hop into the pool every day from now to the end of April. As you can see in the photo, the surrounding trees have thickened up and look wonderful. I usually dread summer, but am determined from now on to convince myself I love it, and will spend uncomfortably hot days in the water, therefore having nothing to complain about.

I've got so far behind with emails that today I plan to sit at the keyboard all day to catch up. We'll see...another distraction for me is the online jigsaw puzzles, and sometimes I do several at a sitting. Try it yourself:  https://thejigsawpuzzles.com