Mamalade

Another quiet week - still feeling the effects of the flu. I always take a long time to recover from any virus. I’m so thankful I was OK while I was in Melbourne.

Today, Joel and Frances have taken little Miles to Alma Park Zoo. They invited me to go with them. I would have loved to, but I think a whole day out would be a bit too much at the moment. I’ve had a good day, though. I sorted some more stuff for our next Jumble Sale and potted some Daisies. It was lovely outside in the sunshine.

Cute Kid

Frances brought Miles round to see me a couple of times this week. Miles goes straight to the kitchen tidy bin, shaking his head and saying “Uh,uh! Uh,uh!” Then he points to the power point and the video, and does the same. (All the things he mustn’t touch.) Once he has established his boundaries, he settles down with the toys. He loves the cardboard picture books and keeps demanding to be “read” to. Looks like another bookworm in the family! When they left, he waved and blew me a kiss. Cute!

Hide and Seek

Ingrid has been sleeping on my bed. It’s so comforting to have a warm little purring body snuggling up against you. She usually stays right through the night, but yesterday she decided to get up and rattle the door at 4 a.m. When I groped my groggy way to the door to let her out, she sped away into the kitchen and sat expectantly in front of her food bowl. One rule in this household is, any cat that gets me up before daylight goes OUT. Ingrid doesn’t agree with this rule. We spent the next 5 minutes playing hide and seek in the dark - under the table and round and round the wall in the hallway.

I thought Buddy was already out, but when I finally herded Ingrid outside, there was another cat shape looming beside the front door. “Okay,” I said, “You had better go out, too.” I gave it a frustrated nudge with my foot. I’m glad it was a gentle nudge, because it wasn’t Buddy. It was my heavy brick cat doorstop!

Hairy and Scary

There has been an enormous hairy huntsman spider lurking around the house. They are pretty harmless, but I don’t like the idea of a spider running across my face while I am asleep, so I’ve been trying to catch it. The other day, I took my big soup mug down from the cupboard, and there was the spider, sitting in the bottom of the mug. Got him at last! I took the mug out to the front patio, and shook it over the railing. The spider disappeared. I came back in, then discovered the spider was running up my arm! They make soup mugs pretty tough. It didn’t break when I dropped it.

I measured tea leaves into the teapot, and opened a can of pumpkin soup while the water boiled. Then I emptied the contents of the can into the teapot! It’s a worry isn’t it? But it turned out alright. I just heated the soup and strained the tea leaves out of it. Not a bad flavour.

Good News! Little Matthew was well enough to go home on Thursday! He’s still very weak but he’s smiling and trying to play with his big brother.

It feels strange not visiting Aunty in the Nursing home. On Wednesday, Mum went to visit one of the other ladies there. I drove her down, but I stayed in the car, since I’m not over the flu yet. The lady wanted to know all about Aunty’s funeral. She said Aunt’s death was very peaceful - one minute she was talking - and the next minute she had gone. What a lovely way to go!

Quiet week

That was the only time I went out this week. After fighting against the after effects of the flu, I just had to give in and rest. While we were out, I bought meat for the cats…..Then forgot to retrieve it from Mum’s fridge when I came home. I usually put my car keys with the stuff in the fridge so I can’t leave without it, but this time I didn’t. So Buddy and Ingrid had to have a can of Snappy Tom.

Feeding frenzy

Isn’t it annoying when the ring-pull snaps off the can when you try to open it? Those cans are extremely difficult to open with a can opener, especially with a wailing “starving” cat wrapped around your leg.

Buddy is passionate about his food. He usually snatches at the dish before I can set it down properly - often scattering the contents all over the floor. Ingrid is a nervous finicky eater, delicately picking at little pieces while keeping one wary eye on Buddy. She prefers to dine “al fresco” on the other side of the screen door.

Miles

Joel and Frances came round last night with my adorable little grandson, Miles. Miles is a real joy. He is 14 months old now. When I went to Melbourne last month, he was just starting to take a few steps. I came back 10 days later to find him walking everywhere! He chatters a lot in his own baby language. If we don’t take any notice he raises the volume! I think he is trying to speak whole sentences. He often sounds as though as he is echoing what we have just said. He doesn’t say many recognizable words, but he understands a lot. Recently he went through a stage of offering his toys for the dog to chew. Joel said, “As long as he doesn’t give the dog his dummy to chew on.” Miles looked intently at Joel, then crawled over to his dummy and offered it to the dog!

I’ve been sorting and cleaning some old ornaments and crockery someone brought for the next Jumble Sale that our World Vision club is planning. I spend a lot of time sorting out stuff and my clothesline is often filled with strange clothes or teddy bears hanging by their ears. I haven’t been able to keep up with it all lately.

Gardening

“What a man needs in gardening is a cast iron back, with a hinge on it.”
Charles Dudly Warner.

The sun has come out, after another rainy week. I’ve planted my Iris bulbs at last- the ones I brought back from Melbourne. It was lovely to potter in the backyard, clipping back the Brazilian Cherry, and potting a few plants. I pulled up a baby Silky Oak that had come up in the front garden. Last month it cost me over $700 to have its “mother” removed from the backyard because it was rotting at the base. I didn’t want to go through that again! It was such a nice little tree I pulled up, I decided to put it in a pot. I put it down and went searching for gardening gloves; a large pot, a fork and potting mix. By the time I had everything ready I couldn’t remember where I had put the plant. Lying on the green grass, it had become invisible!

Buddy is hurling himself against the front door. Time to feed them again!

Matthew is looking much better. He’s still on a drip

Little Matthew is in hospital with Pneumonia. At least he will get the proper treatment there. Lea is staying with him.

It really hasn’t been a good week to write about.You’ll need to read my joke page after this!

I’ve started to write an account of my trip to Melbourne last month. I’m doing it in installments. It probably seems very ordinary to seasoned travellers, to but to me it was a big adventure!

Well, here I am!

Have you ever spent months planning a special event, then suddenly it happens without warning, and you find you are not even properly dressed? That’s what has happened with my website.

I’ve been working on it for several months and didn’t intend to launch it until everything was ready. It might have taken ages, before I felt satisfied with it.

Well, it was catapulted onto the World Wide Web about a week ago, when my son Joel was updating his webpage, and I suddenly snapped to attention.
“How did you do that?” I asked.

So he set it up for me, and showed me how to upload files. Of course I had to try putting something up, and the only thing I had nearly ready was my joke page. I hope you enjoy them while you are waiting for the rest of my site to develop.

Cough, splutter, cough.

Not a good week to begin a cheerful newsletter, but I have to start SOMEWHERE. Nearly everyone in our family has had either the flu or Gastritis that’s goingaround. My sister Lea’s little 10 month old Matthew is very sick.

A grand old lady.

About two weeks ago my 99 year old Great Aunt went down with flu and it developed into Bronchitis. Last Sunday morning, Mother’s Day, she suddenly passed away -peacefully. They think it was a heart attack.
I didn’t really feel sad. She was almost blind, deaf and couldn’t walk. She wasn’t enjoying life anymore and was ready to go. As someone once said,
“Death is like blowing out a candle because the morning has come.”

We will miss her, though. Mum and I have been visiting her three times a week. We will probably still go to the Nursing Home sometimes to visit some of the other people we have come to know. There are so many there who don’t have many visitors.

Auntie’s funeral was held on Wednesday. It was a beautiful sunny morningin the middle of a rainy week. It was a lovely service. Her grandson Brendan had compiled stories about her life, which hadn’t been an easy one. Aunty had been a dressmaker and also sold sweets that she made at night. She was a founder of the Methodist Church in Atherton. She had taught Sunday School and catered for many weddings. During World War 2, her home had been a place of respite for soldiers on leave.

Until a year ago she still lived in her own home.This wouldn’t have been possible without the wonderful Home Help ladies, Blue Nurses, Meals on Wheels and most of all, people like my mother and her very special friends, Shirley and Peter who did such a lot for her.

40 Hour Famine

Don’t forget the World Vision 40 Hour Famine this weekend. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, it is a 40 hour fast from 8 p.m. Friday evening till noon on Sunday. Participants raise money for famine relief by getting people to sponsor them for each hour that they go without food.

Even if the weekend is over it’s never too late to send a donation to World Vision.
It’s desperately needed!