Two Old Ladies In An Ice Cream Parlour…

Still not feeling on top of the world, but also not like I’ve been hit by a truck. Maybe a glancing blow… 😆
I went into town the other day – the first time in a while. Meant to get to my favourite cafe, but ran into my Mum before I got there. We went across to the new ice cream parlour/cafe in town for a catch up.
You never know who you’re going to meet in the “big” city! 😀
I hadn’t had my breakfast yet, so felt it was a bit early for ice cream, but I enjoyed my coffee!
These days I trundle around town with my old lady trolley. We both parked ours by the table while we talked.

It was a nice little interlude, in a nice little place.

A lovely retro vibe…

…and not just ice cream! (There’s burgers, too.)

I eventually got to the library, where I checked out some books, and the newest of the little plasticine figures one of the librarians makes.
There’s a cute little penguin family.

There’s also a (hopefully) friendly orca.

I think I overdid it a bit – it was so nice to be out and about. I’m taking it easy again… at least I have a good stack of books to keep me company!

Published in: on March 26, 2022 at 9:30 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Of Dried Roses And Dancing Waves

My birthday was weeks ago now. Seems like years, in some ways… I still have a lovely bouquet of roses that I was given. They dried beautifully – even kept a bit of their colour.

Today, I am still recovering from some surgical procedures from last week that didn’t quite go the way they were planned. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I had to be woken up, and still need to go back at some point to get things done again.

I feel almost like the roses.
Dry. Past their best. A bit more fragile than they were.
Still functioning to create beauty, though.

After I was woken up, they tried to explain some of what had happened. As far as I understand, any future anaesthetic could be dangerous for me, and I need to warn medical staff if it’s needed at a later date. Also – I still have the original issues that prompted the whole thing…
I think that all this isn’t likely to affect my daily life, but sometimes I still feel the fear of possibilities. I pray to, and trust, God to hold my life, and to do what’s best. There’s still those moments, though, when I am alone in the darkest hours, and the bottom drops out of hope and light.
Just for a second.

In the last week or so, this has been the song I’ve been listening to –

There’s always room for dancing, however high the waves.
And remembering Who I have to fall back on…


Published in: on March 21, 2022 at 8:54 pm  Comments (2)  
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Medals, Ukraine And Hidden Books

I am enjoying a bit of cool weather at the moment, while listening to a CD of lost songs of St Kilda (the island, not the suburb/team…). We’re apparently in line for storms later on, so I’ll enjoy having the windows open for as long as I can! The heat we’ve been having has knocked me around a bit – I’ve generally felt like a weary, expanding ball of inflammation. I have not been able to do too much, so I was pleased to receive some more medals from the virtual races I’ve been doing. These were for shorter routes, which I used for various exercise activity.

Here are the backs –

And the bits that come apart –

At the moment they’re doing a Ukraine challenge. This one has no medal, so that all proceeds can go to help NGOs that are already working there.
I’ve also just signed up to another GISH (mini)Hunt, with proceeds once again going to Ukraine. It’s also a “book bash” hunt, a scavenger hunt for readers and writers – yay! 😀

What about the hidden books, I hear you ask?
I’ve been doing a bit of tidying and rearranging, in fits and starts…
For some reason this place gets dusty pretty much as soon as you look at it. I’ve tacked up some curtains over my bookcases in the bedroom. Hopefully that will keep the dust off my books for a bit. They hide my books, but they’re pretty. 🙂

I’ve got some hospital procedures next week that I’m (not) looking forward to. There are various preparations involved, but one of those will be making sure I have a substantial stack of (non-dusty!) books within easy reach during recovery. I’ll have to get to the library soon, and there’s a whole lot of books I’ve acquired recently but not had the time to read.
What more could I want?
😀

Published in: on March 9, 2022 at 11:01 am  Leave a Comment  
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Roses, On The Road

It was a big week last week – at least the last few days. I celebrated my birthday on a few of the days 🙂 , and there were other appointments to get to.
Unfortunately, this week has started off slowly, with fatigue and pain… there are still more appointments to get to in the next few days, but for today, I am resting.

One of my birthday gifts was a bouquet of roses, from a beautiful lady from church. They smelled lovely too!

❤

I’ve been too tired to even do much reading today (although I’ll try again later!), so I’m listening to a Home Free playlist.
They sing more serious songs beautifully, but today I was more in the mood for Fun 😀 – whether simply musical enjoyment,

embracing technology in the midst of quarantine

…or just a bit of 80s nostalgia!

I was going to question whether we really wore stuff like that, but then I remembered – not only did we, but somewhere out there, there is photographic proof 😆

I hope your day is pain free and full of energy.
But, if it’s not, I hope you can still hear some fun music in your heart…
❤

Published in: on February 8, 2022 at 3:33 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Picking Flowers

…or photos of them, anyway 😆

I’m back on the Centrelink treadmill, supposedly trying to find work. There’s lots of jobs for doctors. Or Uber drivers. Or maybe labouring of some sort…
I’m not much good anymore for 8 hour days, especially when you figure in travelling time as well. When I was younger I could work 16 hour days/6 days a week, hauling mail bags that were sometimes up to 25-30ish kilos. That was a long time ago.
When I told my job provider that I would find it difficult to do full time hours, they sent me back to Centrelink, who sent me off with medical forms for disability. Turns out I have a chance 😆 , although I’ve heard from others about how difficult it is to qualify.
I now have a (double) appointment for the doctor to go over the form with me. This is separate to the appointment I had already made with the doctor over something different, which meant I had to reschedule the appointment with Centrelink to discuss the form that would not have been filled in before the appointment that had been made initially. That rescheduling was surprisingly easy. Turns out Centrelink are more flexible than my doctor!
This morning I had another appointment added, this time for a hospital check up that’s been working its way up a referral list somewhere – I can’t even remember how many referral lists I’m on now.
I’m hoping to go out for my birthday next Friday, but we’ll see how much energy I have left!

Anyway – while I’m in a sort of holding pattern, I have time to share some photos of flowers that I’ve taken over the last few months 🙂

More flowers, but this time on the wall 🙂
(sometimes, this is how I feel…)

Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll start to see what’s growing…
❤

Published in: on January 28, 2022 at 5:10 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Proclaiming The Bling

I’ve got my first two medals from the virtual challenges I signed up for a few months ago. Basically, you sign up for a particular challenge, then log your walking/running/otherexercise on the app. You also plant a tree (or remove plastic from the ocean) every 20% of the distance along the way.
I have been using the challenges as motivation to move, in some way, each day – there are ways to convert things like shopping and housework into distance.
My first two challenges were the Trek To Petra, and the Flower Route through the Netherlands. Part of the fun is looking around the various places via Google maps, and you receive (virtual) postcards along the way.
Here are my beautiful new medals!

Here are the fronts – the bronze bit slides out of the Petra medal, and the windmill turns on the Flower medal.
Here are the backs.

I took advantage of the New Year sales to get some more.
There’s a 2022 “choose your own” challenge, which I’ll use to track my creative endeavours through the year. That’s adjustable, so I can add more “miles” as I go.
I chose two shorter routes for actual exercise – the Amalfi Coast, and the Berlin Wall. I’ll use various forms of movement and exercise to convert into miles.
My last choice is longer, and one I’ve wanted to do for a while. It’s a longer walk around Scotland. I held off on it because I didn’t know how I would manage the distance, but I’ve decided to use this one to track Bible reading (one chapter = one mile).
My first two were measured in kilometres, but I had to do this one in miles… the length of the challenge is 500 miles. And of course, each time I log distance for the day, this is what I’ll be singing in my head…

😀

Published in: on January 7, 2022 at 10:35 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Waking Up To Dance

Why does it already feel like it’s halfway through the year?

Started a proper exercise regime today, rather than the bits and pieces I’ve been doing so far. There’s still scope to improve, of course, but I got down to the pool this morning, for the first time this year. Cooled down on this hot, muggy day. Rescued some dragonflies. Brought home some frangipanis.
I’ve been doing my prescribed exercise, but it occurs to me that freeform dance can be a good fill-in, do-anywhere type of movement. In my head, there’s still time to learn to become as graceful as a ballerina. My body tends to disagree… still, dancing doesn’t have to look good – just be…done!
Last year was spent “doing” stuff – there were time limits and schedules. Very enjoyable, but I didn’t quite get to do all the things I wanted to do to feel ready for this year…
Time to concentrate on the important stuff – to ask God each morning what today is doing.
And then –
Dance! 😀

Published in: on January 6, 2022 at 8:44 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Challenge!

The days are getting hotter – there have been a few when I’ve felt on the verge of spontaneous combustion…
so of course, what better time to sign up for a virtual marathon or two? 😆

I’ve been working on a couple of races from The Conqueror site. I’ve chosen some smallish ones – a Trek to Petra, and the Flower Route through the Netherlands.
The initial plan was to increase my walking, both in distance and frequency, but the heat hasn’t made that easy. I haven’t made it back to the pool yet this season. I did find out, however, that the daily walk to the mailbox and back is about 400m, so that helps. I’ve worked out distances for walks I do regularly, whether around town, or to and from bus stops. The real help, though, comes from the handy conversion chart that is on the site – both housework and grocery shopping can be around 500ish metres every 10 minutes!
So far I’m about 30% along each route. You get virtual postcards as you go, and a tree is planted every 20% of the route.
I see some pretty things in my actual walking…

…and I also find some interesting things in my virtual walking.

Petra doesn’t seem to have street view on the map, but I’ve looked at various parts of the Netherlands – my first “stop” was some sort of shop.

Pastries? Cheese? I can’t really tell…

Wandered into a little alleyway.

And of course, there are tulips! And other flowers – daffodils?

Also, strange half people…

I still have a long way to go.
But I’ll get there.
🙂

Published in: on October 30, 2021 at 10:12 pm  Leave a Comment  
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First To Be Second

So I’m the first in the family to have had both vaccinations…
The rest have had their first – since they’re all adults now (and how weird that is to say!) they all came to the decision on their own.
I went in yesterday morning, felt OK most of the day. Got chills and shivering last night, a bit feverish today, but I figure I’ll just take it easy for a couple of days.

Treated myself to an almond croissant – not sure if I would be up to cooking – and had a lovely big cuppa tea with it. Much as I love coffee, sometimes tea is the only thing that works 🙂
I still have lots of books to read, and DVDs to watch…

Proof! 😆
That’s a bit redder and hotter today…

I think it must be time for another cup of tea!

Published in: on October 23, 2021 at 5:51 pm  Leave a Comment  

The Princess And The Jab

Still figuring out Fridays – my Babe goes in to uni for a full day on Friday, and I’m planning to go fairly regularly to a group on the other side of town. We leave early – he goes to catch the train, I go for coffee at my favourite cafe, a bit of shopping, then the bus to the group meeting. So far I’ve done the whole journey once… there have been other appointments to get to!
This time I was booked for my first Pfizer vaccination. I got in to town about 7am, but my appointment wasn’t until 10ish. Managed to while away an hour over coffee and a muffin, then had a look in the charity shop.
Had a bit of a chat with the nice man who manages the shop a few times a week. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about the jab (I don’t like needles!), although I don’t believe I was in danger of being injected with microchips, or other similar theories. I did my research 🙂 While I’m sure there is a risk attached to the vaccine (which is explained by the administering doctor/nurse when you get it), there’s also a risk to taking ibuprofen or panadol, or any medication you might need otherwise. For me, it comes down to assessing the risk/benefit ratio… I believe it is the right thing for me to do.
Nevertheless, I was apprehensive.
We discussed the possibility of another lockdown (which didn’t happen in the end) and I said I was off for my jab. He told me about his experience, which basically boiled down to explaining to the doctor that he was needle-phobic and worried about it hurting and when would it be done, at which point the doctor said they’d already done it while he was talking 😆 I’ve heard from others that it was a bit of a non-event…still, there’s a bit of sheer terror cowering away in the back of the skull about some things.

I get a lot of my clothes from charity shops. I also pick up beautiful bits and pieces.
As we were talking, he was arranging some jewellery in the glass case under the counter. I noticed a lovely crown ring, and then a couple of tiaras.
Did I need them? Well, of course not! But I decided that I deserved to feel a bit princessy that morning.

I got to my appointment a little early, so I was finished early. Didn’t really feel it – just a bit of a sting as the needle went in – and then I sat out in the waiting room again for fifteen minutes in case of reactions. Then off to the bus and home.
I hadn’t scheduled anything for the rest of the day (except some lovely salted caramel ice-cream – in case of fever 🙂 ) but didn’t notice anything much. Have had a bit of pain today at the injection site, and felt a bit tired and achey. That’s possibly just a normal Saturday for me, though.

Visual proof 😉
It’s a bit hard to get a selfie of your upper arm.
I’m not planning anything strenuous for the next few days…thankfully I am well stocked with books!

Published in: on October 3, 2021 at 12:10 am  Leave a Comment  
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