1000 Fields of Roses

Frangipanis, Unicorns, And A Dollhouse For Books

We weathered the lockdown, and have continued to wear masks when we’re out…
We’ve also been rearranging the furniture!
Sweet Bean decided to go through his cupboards and give away all the stuff he’s grown out of, or just doesn’t want anymore. This amounted to quite a lot of stuff. After giving away what we could, we took the rest down to Lifeline, and got our space back again…
The recent rain over the last few weeks meant that our grass grew quite quickly. We couldn’t see the planting boxes, and I couldn’t get to the hose on hot days because there was a jungle in front of it. Neither my Babe nor I could do the mowing, so we asked some friends, who have started a new business, to come over to do it. They worked really hard, and did such a good job, that now I can see my garden again! 😀

Such an expanse of space, inside and out!

I’m still trying to get to the pool each morning, and gathering the fallen frangipanis when I go. I have a collection of tiny vases which I don’t normally use, but are just big enough to fit one flower.

…and I can sit on the patio again with my smoothie for breakfast, and my unicorn mug with dandelion coffee, enjoying my garden!

I’ve been trying to tidy the place for a while – certainly wanting to get it done before school goes back! I can’t do strenuous stuff much anymore, and try to do things in bursts as I can. It’s frustrating…
For a long time, I’ve thought there was no spare space in our house for another bookcase. If you’ve been to our place, you’d know why – there’s certainly nowhere downstairs for one! I realised that we could fit one at the top of the landing, if we could find one of a specific size. There’s also the possibility of another one in the bedroom, but it would have to be narrow and not too deep. I looked for ages for the landing one, on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace. Bookcases tend to go quickly!
Eventually we bought a half size bookcase that would fit in the area, and then someone posted about a dollhouse that had been sitting out for collection not far from us. We left it until the afternoon in case someone else wanted it, but when we went to have a look, it was still there. It’s large, but sturdy, and I thought I could use it as another bookcase. It fits really well on the other one 🙂
It was a bit water damaged, although the main structure is sound. I had to tear paper off and clean it down, and in some cases paste fresh paper over gaps and stains. It looks good, if a bit patchwork!

Now to fill it up! A bit at a time, as I have the energy…
Mostly my mystery collection – Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, P.D.James, Ngaio Marsh, Ruth Rendell, Colin Dexter, Kathy Reichs, and others.
Yay!

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Thinking....

Chaos Before The …Storm?

Today was our normal scheduled fortnightly shop. There’s usually no dramas – we go in, get what’s on the list, go home, have coffee. Today just happened to coincide with the hours before the three day lockdown for Brisbane and surrounds.
Notice that it’s for…three days.

Thankfully we tend to get there not too long after the shop opens, so that we still have the rest of the day to do stuff. It was a bit busier than usual, but we got a parking space, and there was still plenty milk and toilet paper. By the time we got to the checkouts there were lines stretching towards the back of the store. Trying to get out of the car park was another story… there were lines of cars circling, waiting for a space. Someone offered me money for my trolley as she waited in her car for us to vacate our space (I refused, as we use a token that I wanted to get back). I could see here point, though, when I got back to the trolley park – there were none left at all!
I really enjoyed that coffee once we got home…

This lockdown goes until Monday night. I presume it will be reassessed when there’s more information about the possible spread of the new strain of COVID, so perhaps it will stretch for longer than Monday. I’d be surprised if anyone is likely to starve within those three days, though. Especially if you can afford to fill trolleys full of …stuff.
Still, I can’t really talk. We have a full fridge.

The uncertainty of 2020 looks like it will pop up throughout this year as well. I hope we remember the lessons learnt last year, of giving to those in need and taking care of the vulnerable, of simplifying life and relishing the quiet spaces.

Here’s a bowl of frangipanis.
Because the trees are still flowering.
❤

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on January 8, 2021 at 6:07 pm Leave a Comment

Moving Along

After musing a bit gloomily yesterday, it’s time to brighten up the first week of the new year by crashing a Muppets Zoom call (Messenger chat?)

Because there’s not a lot that can’t be made better with Kermit and a banjo…

Edited to add –
I wrote this last night, and set it to post this morning. With what’s been going on in the US today I wasn’t sure if it might seem a bit flippant. Ultimately, I decided it was still a good time to be looking at moving right along…

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Music

on January 7, 2021 at 10:38 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Muppets

Musings From A WOMI

I’ve been reading.
Mostly cosy mystery type books – they’re easy, quick, and helpful for those days when you just can’t muster up the energy for too much…
Which brings me to the book I’m reading at the moment.

It’s an interesting read.
The author is writing from the perspective of a WOMI (Woman with a Mysterious Illness) and her long fight to find out what’s going on and what to do about it. I haven’t finished reading it, so I don’t know yet how that turns out… She comes from a family of doctors, and has great respect for doctors as a whole, but there’s the acknowledgement that mainstream medicine has no protocol for the myriad of “mysterious illnesses” that are suffered mostly by women, and therefore tends to dismiss any mysterious symptoms as psychological or just “women’s stuff”.
I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia, although I’m not sure what that actually means in my case – I’ve been dismissed from the hospital clinic that gave the diagnosis as they can’t do anything for me. Whether the medical establishment mean it or not (and in my experience over the years, some definitely do mean it, and verbalise it freely) these types of symptoms/diagnoses come with a mental eye roll and a sense that you’re just whining and need to sort yourself out.
In the bit I was reading today there was a list of common symptoms found in WOMIs, some of which I hadn’t realised could be linked to the others.

I can check off 50 from that list.
Thankfully they generally don’t appear together, and not necessarily severely – some more than others. There never seems to be a time when I’m not experiencing some combination. Some days are really bad, some are bearable – and I think over the last year or so I’ve learnt how to ignore some things enough to function. I’m certainly not in as dire a state as some people I know, and I am grateful for how well I can function.
But sometimes, I get tired…
And it’s very discouraging, when you’ve had stacks of tests and you still feel generally horrible, to be told that – good news! – there’s nothing wrong with you!
Yay? 😥

The book discusses nutrition and alternative medicine, and sees it as a positive thing. I know that watching what I eat and keeping up with vitamins/herbs etc helps me quite a lot. These can be restricted by cost and sometimes the difficulty in using them (if something requires preparation and it’s a bad day, it’s not going to happen). I would recommend finding a good practitioner. But also realising that there’s no magic pill/herb/concoction. Sometimes, it’s just a balancing act.

I’ll have to finish reading to find out how it ends…

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on January 6, 2021 at 10:24 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Sarah Ramey

Facing Forward

Happy New Year!
May it bring unexpected blessings, whatever the circumstances…

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on January 1, 2021 at 6:05 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Jess Ray

The Languid Pause

Once more it’s that small space between the years, where the bustle of Christmas festivities has ended, and the dawn of a new year is still to come.
We nestle in for the week, not really committing to much – each day has its own shape, which can be stretched to whatever lengths is needed… the Boxing Day sales have been braved (and they were pretty quiet round our way) and the chocolates are in the process of being steadily consumed.
It’s nearly time to start again.
Wonder what’s coming next?

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Thinking....

on December 30, 2020 at 5:58 pm Leave a Comment

My Song

Christmas Day, and we’re in the “eat and chill” part of the schedule…
Opened the stocking presents before breakfast, watched “Mr Bean’s Christmas” while eating breakfast, then opened the tree presents.

Both boys got each other things they knew were going to be special presents for the other, and have been excitedly waiting for the big reveal… Biggest Boy was especially on tenterhooks, and even put his presents aside until his little brother had opened his ❤ I was loving the gleeful anticipation and evidence of love – the reception of the gifts was all that had been hoped for as well.
My gifts were a combination of books, coffee, and Doctor Who – I am fairly easy to buy for!

From my boys – 13 and TARDIS (she has a tiny detachable sonic screwdriver!), and a Dalek pendant.
My Babe got me the books and coffee things, but also wrote me a song… on one of those days I thought he was racing to uni to finish an assessment, he was actually recording the song with a couple of mates from the course! ❤ (I have tried repeatedly to download the song in a format I can use here, but haven’t been able to – I’ll add it as soon as I work something out!)

For now, it’s back to doing nothing much…
Hope your day is going well, and don’t forget to take time to rest – have a nice Christmas biscuit, and take care of your elf! 😆