A Hectic Week
“When you go to Sydney,” I told Miles, “I’m going to stay at your place and look after Nelson, and I’ll sleep in your bed…”
Miles looked a bit concerned. “I’ll be taking Morgan with me,” he warned me. Morgan is his teddy bear who shares his bed and accompanies him on any potentially stressful expeditions. “That’s alright,” I assured him. “I’ll bring my own bear.”
Joel and Frances and the kids (and Morgan) drove to Sydney last week to spend a week with my other son Ben and his wife Agnieszka. I went round each night to stay with their dog Nelson, and their cat Alex. I used to bring Nelson here when they were away, but he is getting old and has too many health problems to cope with his routine being disturbed.
The day after they left, my cousin Val came from Gympie to stay with Mum for the week. So I’ve been dividing my time between three houses, spending the night at Joel’s, coming home to my cats in the morning, then going to Mum’s to spend the day with her and Val.
We went out nearly every day. Since I only drive round our local area, we were a bit limited in the places we could take Val. Luckily, she loves walking, so she and I did a bit of exploring on foot. On the first weekend, Relle took us to see the Chinese Temple and the Italian Mausoleums at the Nudgee Cemetery. Quite a clash of cultures and beliefs! I felt like an intruder in both places.
One day we caught the bus and saw a movie. Don’t bother going to see “Cheaper by the Dozen 2.” It’s corny, over acted and nothing like the original “Cheaper by the Dozen” I had enjoyed as a child. At least it was a cool comfortable place to sit on a very hot day. We visited another cousin one day – she came and took us to her place for lunch.
We taught Val to play “Skipbo” and took her to a games morning at our church, where we introduced her to the game “Articulate.” Our table was the noisiest in the room.
Each time I went out last week, my car was a bit harder to start. But it kept going all week, from my place, to Joel’s place, to Mum’s place, and all around town. We saw Val off on the train at the end of the week, and I went back to Mum’s place. Joel and Frances and the kids were on their way back from Sydney.
“I’ll just go round and put milk and bread in the their fridge before they arrive.” I said. I gathered up my things and got in the car. The car gave an apologetic splutter and went silent. After a few futile attempts, I got a taxi to my place and fed the cats, then rang Joel.
They had just arrived home.
Joel picked me up and we went round to their place where Miles and Hayley were waiting to tell all about their trip.
“They wouldn’t get out of the car when we first got home,” Frances told me. “They said, ‘Meemar’s not here!’ and they were going to wait till you arrived.”
Joel put a new battery in my car first thing next morning. Just in time for me to drive to the funeral of a dear friend who had died last week. She had been very ill for many years. I’ll miss her, but I’m so glad she didn’t linger any longer after having a massive stroke a few days before. She would never have recovered.
Things are getting back to normal this week. I’ve been sorting stuff that has come in for our World Vision jumble sales. We start again this week. Miles goes back to school tomorrow. He’ll be in grade three this year.
We’ve survived all the January birthdays. First Hayley’s, (she’s four now) then Mum and Relle’s and Joel’s birthdays, and several of my cousin’s and friends. Funny how people are born in clusters! It’s a bit rough, straight after Christmas! No more in our family for a while, thank heavens!
