Tag Archives: Rona

Possible rerun…..

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It was this time last year that travellers were being encouraged to ‘return home’ before they became stranded overseas.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/coronavirus-australians-should-return-home-from-overseas/12065050.

Earlier the month before, two family members had ‘close shaves’ – one had been gone a few weeks seeing and doing what was on ‘the bucket list’ but getting more worried as days went by, finally managing to get a flight back from Glasgow (nowhere near where they were). They had booked with a travel agency which had worldwide outlets (High Street ‘shops’ all over the world) so appreciated the negotiations that took place between their ‘contact’ in Melbourne and someone in the uk to get them onto one of the fast filling aeroplanes coming back to Australia.

Another, plus her daughter, were booked to fly out; granddaughter had obtained a work visa with employment all lined up, daughter was going along to keep her company; they’d have a week or two sightseeing, granddaughter would start work, daughter would then go and visit family before coming home. So not hearing from the agency they continued to think everything would be ok – until g/daughter’s contacts in the uk said….”we recommend you don’t come”. . They spent days cancelling everything and watching the world shut down

Then the task began for both families to try and get refunds, in other words recover everything they’d outlaid already. Flights, accommodation, other transport plus entertainment and other bits and pieces. Trouble was…..just about every other traveller (worldwide) was trying to do the same…and it took a long long time. Both families were lucky in getting back all payments – there was a little argy bargy with some companies offering credit vouchers not cash but last I heard (at Christmas time) that was ‘all sorted’

So what this is leading up to is that after all this time of a closed international border (apart from instances of approved returning Australians who then go into a quarantine program) Australia and New Zealand have finally opened their borders to each other. The first flights took place the other day…..quarantine free but with a catch. The bubble will be burst if the virus raises its ugly head on either side of the Tasman….people could be ‘stranded’ away from home not knowing when they could make their return journey …..people will be looking for refunds….and if this article is anything to go by (see link below) – they will need to pick their airline carefully or there may be problems getting them!

12/4/21.
“Those undertaking travel on either side of the ditch will do so under the guidance of flyer beware. People will need to plan for the possibility of travel being disrupted if there is an outbreak,” Ardern said.
‘ While everyone is hoping it doesn’t become necessary, there is still a possibility that additional travel restrictions could be reimposed at any time. This could involve the trans-Tasman bubble being paused or suspended with little or no warning, in the event of a new COVID-19 outbreak somewhere in Australia or New Zealand. If this unfortunately happens, the government is unlikely to help and most current travel insurance policies specifically exclude cover for getting stuck somewhere due to COVID-19 border closures’
Link – Which airlines will refund cancelled trans – Tasman flights.
https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/refund-cancelled-trans-tasman-flights/

Today is My Day..

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Hopefully yours will come soon
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Yesterday was My Day
for remembering I’m the world’s worst for jotting things down
with no clue as to when & why & where they came from.

Do you remember this – I thought I was getting better
But guess what I discovered yesterday – another scrap of paper
In amongst some knitting patterns


“the sky that morning was so flat and new it looked ironed “.
I have a vague inkling where I read/heard it
but it’ll mean rereading a book to prove myself right😊

Yesterday was My Day to admire the most beautiful clear (almost flat) blue skies
that I just had to record – there should be sound – fingers crossed it works

I’m done….

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I’m sure the best of us (and maybe even the worst of us) have had thoughts of family during this year. Like them or loathe them, live on their doorstep or on the other side of the world, I’m sure they entered our minds at some time or another. And like those times when you ‘can’t have’ something you seem to ‘want it’even more, that longing for family might have been more pronounced for some than it had ever been.

My close family is spread all over the place, some in the UK, some in the Middle East and us down here in The Colonies …..as my mother used to describe Australia. This separation has never bothered us, we are another generation in a long line of generations raised in military style, used to packing up and moving on every few years, settling in but ready to move again when necessary. Keeping in touch, knowing we would ‘catch up’ with extended family when the time was right.

Next sister – Me – Little sister – Baby brother 1998

My little sister Patsy is sick…….really sick.
And for the first time in a long time I miss her.

We had already planned to visit her again this year in Cyprus where she lives.
Well, that didn’t happen did it.

Looking ahead and making new plans to visit late next year has been one of the things that’s kept me going over the past few months.
Well, they aren’t looking too good either.

Our international border (in and out) closed back in March this year and with the way things are going……with the worldwide escalation of new cases – not a slowing down, and now a mutation, a new strain, a variant of the virus evident in the UK (and possibly other countries) I really can’t see it opening in March 2021 as has been mooted.
Yes, vaccines have ‘arrived’ but they won’t be available to the general population for quite a while and my personal thoughts are that the virus isn’t going to disappear ‘just like that’

Trying to look on the bright side of things I know Patsy is being given the best care available but it’s so hard to be upbeat when someone you love is in pain and there’s nothing you can do about it.

So I’ve decided I’m done with here for this year. I can’t concentrate anymore
I’ll be back in 2021.
Hopefully in a better frame of mind …..because I’ve been a real misery lately.
And hopefully having heard better news about my lovely little sister.

She (in yellow) and me Paphos 2014

Joining Corinne for this weeks  Monday Musings  – sharing thoughts with others. 
Joining Denyse for the latest edition of Life this Week

It’s all go go go

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So, we had months and months of ‘nothing’……go nowhere – see nobody. Time enough for some to realise they really needed people in their lives…..time for others to realise this was how they liked it. Peaceful quiet homebodies who would venture out occasionally and as long as their basic needs (food home health) were covered were content to work with how things were.

I suppose we are lucky here in Victoria ….and other parts of Australia…..in that (apart from returning from overseas Australians who must do a mandatory 14 days) our long months of quarantine/restrictions are nearly over and our lives are slowly moving towards what is being called a COVIDsafe Summer.

We are definitely not back to where we were,…..45 days of no community transmission does not mean ‘it’s been beaten’, ….memories of 20,000 Victorian cases (700 a day at one point) plus over 800 Victorian deaths are still strong……we’re still ‘ruled’ by a combination of numbers and space/distance – there are some circumstances where The Mask is still required – but on the whole we can smile at others with uncovered faces 😎….

All that has meant that pubs, cafes and restaurants are doing a roaring trade again…..well those who have managed to survive financially or who are willing to try and trade out of their financial woes.
Also subject to new guidelines, leisure centres (gym and pools) have reopened – so more and more ‘retired oldies’ are braving the new world, exercising and meeting up with friends…..and most are enjoying it.

I now realise that because of a ‘we must get together’ need others had, after 2 (large, 12 people) lunches, 1 (small 6 person) coffee gathering, 1 book club meet plus 2 gym sessions in the last two and a half weeks I’m ‘peopled out’….
I’ve seen and been seen, compared experiences, reassured other’s we’re ok…
Selfishly, now, after such a short time, I want my quiet back…..

There are new things to do – books to read – maybe, just maybe places to go.
I’m working on some small waistcoats……similar to these HERE
Adding a band of fair isle means (just as before) I need quiet uninterrupted time.
plus pen paper and charts 😊

March 2012
March 2012
March 2012

So what’s on my mind this Monday afternoon?
I know I had a couple of episodes during this time when everything just ‘got to me’.
It’s been hard to put my finger on the cause – I’m confident living a quiet life wasn’t it.
Rightly or wrongly I’m putting it down to the uncertainty of the way things were.

Maybe this ‘new normal’ life’ we’re being offered needs to be filled with a mix of fast/slow – quiet/‘noisy’ days ….just like it was before!

How about you……do you have any ideas on how you will approach your ‘new life’.
When you get the chance that is 😊


Joining Corinne for this weeks  Monday Musings  – sharing thoughts with others. 
Joining Denyse for the latest edition of Life this Week

Little boys and baby girls…..

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October seemed to come and go quite quickly. Not a huge amount of anything was done except wonder if and when things would take a turn for the better and life would become more free and easy (in other words we’d be free from restrictions). The garden started to come alive so there was a bit of pottering done and rainy days meant there was a fair bit of reading done

As far as knitting went I actually had something else in mind but decided it easier to fish out a WIP (work in progress) and finish something‘simple and straightforward’ rather than get crotchety trying to work out increases & decreases at the same time as keeping different colours under control so plain and simple with easy stripes it was. A simple boat neck ….no designated back or front …..which means an ‘independent 2 yr old’ is able to ‘dress themselves’. Who else remembers the “me do it” stage??

After a conversation with a very excited younger (going to be a grandma) friend last week I’ve begun something much smaller and a lot more subdued in colour. Her daughter (mother to be) wants her newborn baby girl’s clothing to be soft (and girly??) so at her insistence soft pale colours it will be and as she’s not a knitter herself I was asked to make several cardigans as well as something like an old fashioned matinee coat, not lacy like feather and fan but plainer…I met up with ‘Grandma’ in an allowed meeting in the park where she looked over a selection of patterns and this (bottom left corner) is what we’ve agreed on. ‘Grandma’ will look at cardigan patterns another day and (all being well) Babe’s not due till May so there’s no hurry 😊

Feather and Fan stitch is often referred to as Old Shale – poking around on the net I found this article that disputes that and shows the reason why. I’m sure many knitters will find it interesting. The comments on the post are interesting reading also. Feather and Fan versus Old Shale

I’m between books at the moment. Actually it’s more like I’m‘book’d out’. The last one I read was The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, a coming of age for the main character, a look at life in rural 1870’s Florida. Maybe it was the patter of speech used…..written and spelt as spoken, set in 1870’s Florida it wore me out trying to concentrate. I’ve read lots of books written in dialect but none so taxing as this one.

Better luck next time eh ??

Yarn Along can be found at Ginny’s. Do pop over to small things to see what others have worked on this past month.
Unravelled Wednesday hosted by Kat is here at As Kat Knits. Lots of knitting and reading to see there.

The smiles are returning….

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Looking around I’m sure I’m seeing smiles behind masks…..I’m wondering where they’ve been hiding for the past, however many months.
And as well as perceived smiles I’ve noticed smiling eyes. They definitely have been missing. Smiling eyes haven’t been seen for a long time.
During a walk around the supermarket you’d be met with a downward glance, a furtive look at a list and a quick scurry away.
The other day someone actually nodded a greeting to me, acknowledged I was there. Laughed and smiled (unseen hidden by masks smiles ) when we both reached for something on the same shelf….then remembered it’s really not all over and stood back. We both shrugged shoulders, moved on wondering when our faces would be able to tell the tale and not have to rely on body gestures.

I smiled and heaved a sigh of relief last week at some good news.
An X-ray showed the worrying pains I’d been feeling in my upper back/shoulder area were nothing to do with my heart, my lungs were clear, there’d been no pneumonia, the coughing will be back under control again when I resume twice daily puffs of an asthma preventative. It showed more spinal degeneration (bummer, just what I need) higher in the thoracic spinal area.
Referred pain……Oh well, I’ll live, it just means another set of exercises to be done in conjunction with the lower lumbar region ones!

Coming back from the Chiropractor on Friday I passed a church notice board.
and saw these words in bold letters


Beneath it some wag had nailed on a bit of wood with the words.
Give them one of yours!

That certainly brought a smile to my face 😊

We missed World Smile Day back at the beginning of October….as much as we tried Victoria wasn’t quite ready to smile again. I think we are now and I’m doing my best to find something to smile at each day.

How about you- have your smiles gone into hibernation….gosh it’s been hard for us all worldwide so it’s no wonder they aren’t visible.
Have you discovered anything special to bring them back to life again.

Joining Corinne for Monday Musings
Senior Salon can be found HERE.
Microblog Monday is hosted by Mel at Stirrup Queens

Go an extra mile for a lot longer….

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Thanks to case numbers dropping substantially here in Victoria the overnight curfew was lifted last week but we were eager to hear what other changes were going to be made……what else from our stage 4 restrictions was to be eased.

We anticipated ‘going an extra mile for a lot longer’ was going to be one of them and last Sunday discovered we weren’t wrong!

One of the changes was that we (in metropolitan Melbourne) now have an extra 20km to move about in …..the previous 5km from home radius has been extended and is now out to 25km…an awful lot further than before
We’re are also allowed out for as long as we like…..no two hour limit for shopping or exercise.

Much to the annoyance of some members of the community mask wearing and social distancing guidelines have not changed.

Anyway amongst the list of changes these….selfishly….are our favourites:-

The Golfer is happy because….yes, he discovered golf is now off the restricted list.

My back and my feet are happy because my podiatrist and chiropractor (allied health providers) can resume ‘routine face to face’ care and not be restricted to treating on a ‘needs/pain’ basis.

And ‘oh happy day’ they have allowed hairdressers (and barbers) to reopen😊

Unfortunately we still can’t sit down inside a cafe to drink a cup of coffee…..but, hey, we can’t win ‘em all. More discoveries aka changes are coming on November 1st…..fingers crossed that one will turn up then

Add a little love….

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It was only February this year but seems a long long time since we stopped on our way home from Mildura to have a quick look at a recently painted silo in Nullawil.
Very different to others we’ve seen….yes a rural scene but not a native animal in sight.
https://www.australiansiloarttrail.com/nullawil
A man and his dog – Darren the farmer and Jimmie the kelpie.
by Smug (aka Sam Bates)

https://www.widewalls.ch/artists/smug.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-02/new-hobart-mural-by-world-renowned-graffiti-artist-smug/9610294

We were late getting on the road so The Golfer said it was to be a one photo stop 😢


I found this video online which means I can visit as many times as I like now 😊

Sami hosts Monday Murals – why don’t you pop over and be astounded by all the street art others have found

Just as an aside….In the next month or two after that visit when ‘you know what’ became more noticeable and people were either laid off work or had to work from home because of lockdowns, the animal shelters had a run of adoption requests. It was as if everybody needed a new canine friend to share their ‘new’ life with. They wanted something to take their mind off the uncertainty – to add a little love to their lives – also a running mate to help with their new found obesity😊.

I’m sitting here with a very early cup of tea and wondering if everything turned out the way these new pet owners hoped. For their new ‘canine friends’ as well as themselves. Silly things like did the dogs settle into their new surroundings (hopefully well secured so they didn’t escape into strange territory) did they get fed up with being walked each day…..maybe even several times a day. Were they fed a healthy diet….not just table scraps as used to be the way.

But what I’m really wondering about is whether some of them….any of them….will be returned….handed back…..when restrictions are lifted…..businesses are reopened….people go back to work. Will the new owners still have the time……be willing and able…. to exercise the dogs. How will the dogs cope with being alone all day especially after being the centre of attention for weeks on end? I’ve been told lonely anxious dogs get up to all sorts of mischief.

I know it sounds daft for a cat lover to wonder about such things
what are your thoughts?

Linking to #MondayMusings hosted by Corrine (Everyday Gyaan)

A giggle a day…

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‘What do you miss’ I asked her.
‘Oh I’m like Piglet, she said. It’s the hugs I miss’. The touching, being close, feeling someone’s breath on your face.

My widowed friend…the one afraid of becoming ‘one of them’ lives a fair way from me so we keep in touch by phone. We never did get that coffee and chat before the latest lockdown and as she’s a bit techno challenged the phone is the way.

‘Giggling’ I said. That’s what’s missing. Like when we’re having coffee with the others, finding something silly in what one of them says, saucy even.

I mentioned that even though I’ve always spent lots of time on my own I missed having regular things to do, there seemed to be no structure to the days anymore. Knowing the bins went out to the nature strip Sunday night so they could be emptied Monday morning was the only constant at the moment.

So after that whinge I said I’ve gone back to ‘ a drawer and a chore ‘ a day ‘ to make sure I do something productive each day besides sit on my backside doing whatever takes my fancy.

Right this moment my energy levels are not the best so if I concentrate on one drawer…..just tidy it up a little bit …..and one chore……just do one thing……something round the house, out in the garden, shopping, errands, I’ll feel better.

‘Yesterday’s chore was the bed’ I said.
‘And that gave me a real giggle…..
‘Come on, she said. Changing sheets and giggling don’t normally go together…… unless The Golfer was giving you a hand’. 😊😊

Have you ever tried to describe what happens when you shake open a sheet and instead of it floating gracefully forward and covering the bed it flies back and covers your face making you fall forward onto the bed in a fit of giggles?
No Golfer needed for that….claphanded Catherine can manage it all by herself.
Mind you I could of sworn the bed was giggling back at me as I tried to get back up.

I finished Voss the other day. At one stage he stops for a while at Brendan Boyle’s property (Jildra station) to gather further supplies before setting off into the unknown. The house is quite small and this is what Voss heard during the night. He being Mr Boyle.

“…had returned to the room which he was pleased to refer to as the bedchamber, beyond the chimney piece and which was the only other room of the house.  He was blundering about a good deal, and making animal noises, and exploring the darkness for its distinctive grain.  His bed, it seemed, was full of giggles.”

It’s been a hard and testing year for all and I know we are missing the big things in life but…..
what are those special‘ little’ things you are missing
mine’s giggling with the girls – I wonder what yours are

 Linking to #MondayMusings hosted by Corrine (Everyday Gyaan)

Where did it come from

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My mother and her sister were twins. Fraternal not identical. Two eggs producing two sisters who were so very different. One blonde – one dark. One out going, talkative, loving life to the full, an extrovert – the other quiet and retiring very much the introvert. One definitely liking the drink – the other very much the teetotaller.

Children of the 1920s when money was a bit hard to come by. I love these photos of the two of them in their homemade shifts, with my grandma standing to one side, smiling at them getting to know the parrot in the big cage. Mum (the dizzy blonde with the curly hair and her drawers hanging down) is trying to open the cage, Aunty Madge (the dark haired quiet one) is obviously not that interested.

That’s the way they were all their lives.  Aunty Madge (below L) quietly and politely waiting  her  turn.   Alice (my mum) ‘quick’ impatient, impulsive, outspoken, always wanting to lead, never wanting to be left behind.  Sometimes known to bite her tongue when she saw things she didn’t like but decided that wasn’t the time to let people know.   Not quite sure what it was the photographer was doing she didn’t like but her tongue was obviously being bitten lol

They grew up ‘motherless’……my grandma died when they were just 7 so an aunt helped raise them as well as their two brothers.  All mum ever said was ‘it was was fun when her father was around, not so the aunt’.  
So come the time of WW2 what does a very high spirited young woman do when advised by her father (a career soldier mentioned in dispatches for bravery during WW1) that women do not go to war but take the overnight boat from Belfast to Heysham and enlist in the WAAFs.  Yes she ran away from home to join the Air Force.  

Aunty Madge bided her time and was ‘allowed’ to work in a munitions factory where she found a husband and lost the tip of a finger.  Mum spent her time dodging bombs on an airforce camp, packing parachutes and dancing.  She ‘reacquainted’ herself with Dad (who she had known in Belfast) and the rest is history.  

Alice and James 1985

During this time of lockdowns and restrictions I’ve been trying to do something different for a change – I gave up on ‘teach yourself crochet’ because I just couldn’t get a grip on manipulating the wool in my left hand – so dug out some cross stitch that’s been on the go for a fair while.    
A little something for The Golfer, ( a sampler of historic buildings in Colchester which is where he was born and bred) supposed to have been a surprise birthday gift a couple of years ago it never got finished in time and has been loitering  waiting patiently for me to rediscover it.  Yes I know I should have rolled it……..I’ll have to wash it so hopefully the crease will come out when it’s ironed/blocked before framing.

I know my love of song and family was passed down from my father, the thrill of dance came from both parents, my delight in knitting was given to me by my mother who ‘was a whizz with the needles’ but I’ve often struggled wondering where did my interest in needlework come from.  
https://cranethie.com/2017/06/23/putting-it-all-together/

I certainly didn’t inherit the sewing machine gene – that delight was passed on to my next sister and I don’t ever recall mum with an embroidery needle in her hand.

But see this lovely embroidery hoop and floor stand – it was given to me years and years ago – by Aunty Madge!  Unbeknown to me my quiet patient retiring aunt shared the same interest and thought I might like it.  It’s great for large pieces, I can adjust the height and angle of the hoop or remove the hoop and use it on my lap.  Perhaps as she had no children of her own she had silently (Invisibly) gifted me with her passion for threads of all sorts.


Linking to Monday Musings 

 

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And just like that…

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Someone I spoke to up at the shops yesterday was complaining she’d been robbed. That the virus had taken her life from her. She’d started this year with high hopes of all sorts of things and they just haven’t happened. It had aged her, she had nothing to look forward to!

I think we’ve all – at least here in Victoria- been knocked for six with the news that this Stage 4 hard lockdown won’t be finishing at the end of this week. Two more weeks were added…..but some restrictions have been eased. And after that there’s a sliding scale of easements…….depending on different factors. Lowering of new cases for one.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-06/victoria-coronavirus-easing-restrictions-roadmap-daniel-andrews/12634332

Not enough for my acquaintance- what use is two hours exercise when I can hardly breathe for one wearing a mask? And taking an hour off the curfew, giving us an extra hour of ‘allowed time’ is no use, I won’t be going anywhere at night. I want to go to the other side of the city and that’s not allowed either. That 5km ruling is still there……. I wish this was all over and done with so I can do all the things I want to do

Oh yes, for some it’s going to be a hard road back to where we came from. I’m not happy about the way things have panned out but it’s not going to finish ‘just like that’. Kylie (eclectica) mentioned people ‘wishing it was over’ in her post road tripping My mother’s words on wishing came to mind…

There’s no point in wishing your life away…..get out there and live it. Warts and all!

Another of life’s little pleasures…..

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I had an old friend who used to comment about feeling old because she had checked her calendar to see when her next visit to the podiatrist was. ‘Only old people do that’ she said.

She was the dear friend who died suddenly last year ….I laugh now when I recall it because often I have the same thing on my mind – not the getting old part – but the visiting the podiatrist bit.

A few years ago I wrote a post about life’s little pleasures ….– https://cranethie.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/one-of-lifes-little-pleasures/ – ……as well as having a bath , I must confess, strange as it may seem, visiting the podiatrist is also one of my favourite pleasures.

At the moment with it being winter I shuffle around indoors in socks and knitted slippers but during the summer I go barefoot most of the time (or wear thongs/flip flops) Of course this means I do untold damage to the soles of my feet.

I’ll be the first to admit I’ve never had ‘nice’ feet; a few years ago during my time of wearing ‘mandatory closed toe shoes’ I began to get corns between my toes….. I know, TMI….changing shoes didn’t seem to help so thats when my visits to the Podiatrist (or Chiropodist as they used to be called) began. Now I have regular appointments and actually look forward to them

We begin with a little chat and the initial examination of my feet, then out comes the cleaning swabs as well as all the tools of the trade and we are away and running…..well not literally – not far off a gentle stroll 😊

Toenails are trimmed because like lots of oldies I find it hard to reach down there; little toes don’t bend these days or come apart far enough for me to manouver the clippers and my toe nails are becoming so thick I can’t even clip the ones I can get to!

After a check on the corns ……which are now under control but do tend to regrow due the shape of a bone on the opposite side …….  it’s then time to attack the dead skin on the heels and balls of my feet.

That’s when the little electric sanding tool appears – well that’s what it reminds me of – my foot man Bill starts it up after most of that skin has been shredded off with a teeny tiny scalpel and gently smoothes out all the rough edges. After creaming heels soles and toenails they all feel as smooth as a babies bum.

Then it’s massage time – ooh that feels good – and once he’s finished I leave with a smile on my face because there’s nothing like walking from his rooms with nicely creamed soft feet. Amost like walking on air.
Gosh, thinking about is putting a smile on my face – wonder when my next visit is?? 

Unfortunately not just yet – the clinic is closed. This dreaded virus has put paid to that outing for the time being. Thankfully I’m not going out that often to wear closed in shoes so the little horrors aren’t giving me grief…..as long as I remember to pop the little gel pad between the toes

Do you have any of life’s little pleasures you’re willing to share ?
I’d love to hear about them – please 🙂

Seen in Mooroolbark…..Sunday Selections

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Mooroolbark, Victoria.
Hookey Reserve Charles Street
January 2018

One of the nearby suburbs Mooroolbark has a community brochure called Living Today which highlights lots of interesting bits and pieces going on in the area. Way back in 2015 it had an article about an installation in Hookey Park….the open space/play area dedicated to a local identity John Hookey.
Large metal native/indigenous bird sculptures called The Flock were going to be placed in the park and after seeing this page and associated article I had it in mind to take a look see next time I was over there at the library……right next door 🙂
Of course you know what happens when you say that – yes it was over two years before I remembered to go (or should that be put my camera in the car when I went)

You will probably need to use the two finger pinch/spread method to enlarge the article

The birds and their lookalikes
Jonathan Leahey – Australian sculptor

It was a bright summer’s day when I finally saw them, some perched up high on poles keeping watch over the neighbourhood …

Others big and bold in amongst the greenery

Australian Magpie

Just the places you’d often see them….

Australian Raven often mistaken for a Crow

Close by….

Crested Pigeon

Once the library reopens I am planning to have another look at The Flock. I’d go sooner but it’s out of bounds at the moment because of ‘you know what’ 😊

Joining in with Sue at Elephant’s Chid for this weeks Sunday Selections


https://www.weekendnotes.com/hookey-park-in-mooroolbark/168376/

Thank goodness…

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Let’s just say it’s been an interesting time since Thursday afternoon…..

  • Thank goodness for scheduling of blog posts…..and that the last couple were pubished on the correct day and at the ‘correct’ time.

It was a lovely day on Thursday, fine dry and sunny. Yes, the ones I like. The wind was blowing so washing was out on the line early…..only it didn’t stop ‘just blowing’ but turned nasty late in the afternoon.

  • Thank goodness I got it all in early or I’d have had a hard job getting it off the line…or blown away doing so

An early dinner was made, lights started flickering, I could see stuff flying down the street, I’d just turned on the gas heater to warm up the lounge room and then there’s this huge bang. Lights out and the spot where the motor is sort of exploded.

  • Thank goodness we weren’t actually close to it. Thank goodness I knew where the candles and holder’s were and more importantly where the big torches were.
  • Thank goodness we have mains gas……meaning we could at least cook, boil water and if need be keep warm by lighting the oven
  • Thank goodness authorities keep in touch via SMS so we were sort of kept up to date regarding estimated ‘turn back on time’

Problem was power is above ground here in my area; a tree (well more than one) had dropped and felled our main line on the road I featured in Sunday’s post.
Nature has a way of showing us who’s the boss and we weren’t the only ones in this predicament. There are only so many linesmen so many SES crews and so many people affected.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/driver-killed-by-tree-child-fighting-for-life-as-wild-storm-batters-melbourne/news-story/52efedf6460589e5a804245ab3835b07
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/wild-weather-more-than-130-000-homes-without-power-child-hit-by-tree-20200827-p55q1f.html

  • Thank goodness I didn’t rehome those big jam pans, because they proved really handy for boiling larger quantities of water. I‘d been using a small milk pan for hot drinks plus a larger saucepan to cover the inconvenience of no hot water for dishes so having them when the ‘boil water advisory’ came through meaning all water had to be boiled before use I didn’t have to panic. I can’t imagine how much bottled was bought by people in all electric homes.
  • https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-28/yarra-valley-water-users-told-to-boil-water-after-storms/12605930

Had to negotiate road blocks to get to a son’s home….thankfully stage4 ‘stay away from other houses’ was lifted for those affected and their families. Keeping the freezer door closed meant everything was okay…except for The Golfer’s box of ice creams. There was no way he was going to forfeit a brand new supply of 24 Magnums so he deposited them into son’s freezer and left our mobiles and iPads there being recharged.

  • Thank goodness for having unaffected family close by, and not having to worry about being fined for breaking the restrictions. We played it the right way (he took them down/ I picked them up) no hugs or kisses, we kept our side of the bargain

Fast forward Saturday evening and the crews are gradually making their way down the street.
This is now going to be a very non technical description…….each house has a power line from the cable running along the street, each line has a ‘safety fuse box’ before the live electricity is actually delivered, each ‘fuse’ had blown (not little bits of wire they used years ago but little gadget type things) so they all had to be renewed. The linesman was connecting ours and the meter box sort of went bang, very loudly, with a big bright fizz, enough for the little fella to come out with a few choice words swear very loudly 😊.
After a long wait the main switchboard, main switch, surge diverter and circuit protection were replaced so it was well after 11pm before our electricity supply was connected and the lights are back on again!

Here it is Monday morning and it’s surprising how much better you feel after a long hot bath and a couple of good nights sleep free from worry. All we have to hope now is the weather holds……living in an old house means lots of unexplained cool breezes…..and having no living room heating means I’ll be feeing it ……hopefully when the heater serviceman arrives on Friday (yes we had to wait that long) he’ll have the correct part and we start a claim with Ausnet’s insurance company.

  • But then….Thank goodness we do have an electric heater which we can use in the back bedroom come ‘office’. It’s a small room, there’s a couch in there so I can read or watch the compact tv while The Golfer plays around on his computer……all cosy and warm!

Oh dear I really didn’t mean to write this much to basically tell you …..a huge storm went through…we had no electricity for a couple of days and more….and now it’s back on!
So did anything interesting happen to you last week? 😊

What’s on the table….

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The table beside your chair that is.  The one with the books on😊

Three newish releases picked in the frantic rush at the library the day before lockdown2…….plus one that’s been on a shelf here at home for quite a few years.


Two I’ve just finished:-
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier.
Rebecca was delightful, a real surprise. A love story with a mystery attached. Old fashioned writing when compared to modern day styles……maybe that’s why I enjoyed it. Wordy, so it had to be read slowly…..to be absorbed chapter by chapter.

Book blurb:- …….our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady’s maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives
~ ~ ~ ~

Transcription – Kate Atkinson
This was another surprise…..set during WW2, described as an espionage thriller I expected something a bit deep and maybe gruesome at times. It was light and easy to read yet if you are of a certain age filled with recognisable truths of how things were. It takes a young ‘naive’ girl, gives her a position as a typist eventually turning her a spy. Filled with humour (droll witty asides) almost farcical at times (I know the author didn’t intend it that way but I could see it set on the stage) follows the main character’s life through the ‘40s & ‘50s …..then to the twist that comes at the end. This I would definitely recommend.

Book blurb:- …….Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever.

————————————

There’s the one I’m reading at the moment:-
Good Girl Bad Girl – Michael Robotham
I’ve only just started this – so far so good. Easy to read, lots of dialogue, it does jump from ‘case to case’ but not annoyingly so. Which is to be expected because they are running side by side not now and in the distant past. Chapters devoted to one of the characters giving her side of the story are written in italics.

Book blurb:- ……forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if Evie is ready to go free. But she is unlike anyone he’s ever met—fascinating and dangerous in equal measure…….Cyrus is called in to investigate the shocking murder of a high school figure-skating champion, Jodie Sheehan, who dies on a lonely footpath close to her home……Cyrus is caught between the two cases—one girl who needs saving and another who needs justice. 

And the one I’ll follow up with:- Which I should just be able to finish by the end of the month.
Nine Elms – Robert Bryndza

Book blurb:- Kate Marshall was a promising young police detective when she caught the notorious Nine Elms serial killer. But her greatest victory suddenly turned into a nightmare. Traumatized, betrayed, and publicly vilified for the shocking circumstances surrounding the cannibal murder case, Kate could only watch as her career ended in scandal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So there we have my sum total of reading for August……down from the usual amount read any other August spent in the winter sunshine. Two I can tick off my yearly challenge…….one word titles – two were ‘grab & go’ picks off the shelf…..but fairly new releases, as luck would have it first books in new serIes.

What have you been reading during August
I’d be interested to hear if you’ve read any of these and what your thoughts were.

Monday morning….welcome to Sprinter…

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Because of a timing factor with medication I take on waking, breakfast comes at least an hour later so most of my days start with a cup of tea or maybe hot water with fresh lemon. However there have been some mornings recently when I’ve craved a cup of coffee, proper coffee, served in real cups just like at one of our (favoured) local coffee shops where it comes with one of their handmade chocolates.

They aren’t open at the moment (stage4 restrictions and all that) ……but if they were and we were having coffee together I’d just say….this says it all! My week in a nutshell!

Welcome to Sprinter….the time when it’s not quite Spring but still Winter.
Spring arrives officially in 8 days time (1 September) but…….

After the school bus went by early in the week we had a glorious day, the cherry plum started to blossom a couple of days later, it was warm enough for no heating during the daytime.

There was time spent outside enjoying the sunshine, warming sunshine, maybe a little cool at times but sunny and dry.

Then it was all change again- more cold air made its way up from Antartica bringing ‘polar blasts’, freezing rain, hail, you name it even snow in the hills. We’ve spent the weekend inside….no walks, no gardening, no reading knitting or even coffee on the back deck.

Remember the Dr’s appointment I had marked on the calendar, a necessary regular renewal one, also one for a little niggling problem that needed discussed. Timed for 10am I rang as they opened at 9 to make sure it was the same procedure as before……arrive at stated time (now with mandatory mask), sanitiser at the door, take a seat in well spaced waiting room, Dr will call you in.

You’d never guess what what I’d done, I’d only marked it on the wrong day. It was for the previous day……all those weeks with nothing else on the page and it was written on the wrong day. Luckily there was a spare one later that day……so I spent the morning reading……you really didn’t think I was going to do housework did you ??
Hopefully the prescribed medication will sort out the reflux, lump in throat feeling plus dry cough I’ve had because simple meals and Mylanta haven’t. If not it’s a gastroscopy for me to see what the problem is…… I suppose a camera down my throat is better than up you know what 😊

Visiting (and commenting) is still a problem – for a while even publishing was a pain. I need a quiet day to sort this problem out……or go back to my previous (very old and unupdateable) iPad which I’m loathe to do. Our desktop is The Golfers domain….I’ll just start to do something and it’s…..are you finished yet? So rather than make waves I’ll plod on as much as I can. Hopefully you’ll see me / hear from me during the week.

Contrary to how miserable I sound all is well in our house…..the day will begin soon……also the rain. Being Monday the big wheely bins get emptied today, lifted off the nature strip by a long extending arm protruding from a huge truck operated by one driver in the nice heated/cooled environment of his cab. Gone are the days of football players running along hauling bins up and emptying them into the back of the truck, training runs in all weathers.

I’m hanging out for my breakfast this morning but never mind that…..for some reason I could kill for a proper coffee, one made by someone else (not in The Golfers wizz bang machine) We do have some other coffee shops close by that were previously allowed to open for takeaway …….I wonder if The Golfer would pop down the street for me. I can always decant from the ghastly cardboard cup into a china mug at home……trouble is it just isn’t the same is it?

There’s always one…..

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I’m sure most of us who’ve had cats in our lives have had at least one who’s decided that ‘you are theirs’. They don’t just live with you and the family, they want to own you and you alone.

Kiera was one of those…..so much so she had the nickname of ‘my brown shadow….wherever I was she would be there…..as close as she could.

Meet Minnie ….she’s been providing my smiles recently
She reminds me so much of Kiera
(iizcat can be found at all the usual social media places)

Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
I think we all deserve a smile at the moment 😊

Parcel pickup with a difference

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It was called parcel pickup for years…..you selected something, usually large bulky items,  paid for it, went off and did more shopping, then when you were ready picked it up from a holding bay at the back of the store.  You could of course have it delivered for an exorbitant cost.   Supermarkets used to deliver, you’d shop – pay – then they’d turn up later with all your groceries……online grocery shopping evolved  from that
Click and collect works in a similar way – you choose (except it’s online) you pay and then pick up in person (in some cases they bring to your vehicle)

Have you ever wished someone had shopped and filled your fridge with fresh fruit & veg plus milk and a loaf of bread so you didn’t have to face that job when you arrived home from a trip away. I know I certainly have.    And then there have been times when we’ve landed at Tullamarine and I’ve thought how great it would if someone was waiting there in arrivals with my groceries.   The Golfer laughs and says , wishful thinking never gets you anywhere, just get on and do…..meaning we’ll have fish and chips the day we get home then nip up the shops the next day.

So imagine my surprise last November (2019) when there’s an article on a web site I subscribe to about click and collect at one of the arrival halls at the airport!  Sounds like someone’s been reading my mind. Link below

Pick Up Your Coles Shopping at Melbourne Airport

Of course seeing that, that gave me permission a reason to hunt about online (aka ask Mr Google a few questions) and see if other supermarkets do the same thing.  Well it seems rival Woolworths do  and they began it quite a while ago  This article is dated 2013 – Link below

Woolworths Launches Airport Grocery Collection Service at Tullamarine

Just those two press releases – no other information on how this service works or even if it is still running.  Mind you, at the moment the airport is basically at a standstill……..very little going out….and even less coming in.  I reckon it’ll be years  (one at least) before we fly anywhere ….so it looks like I’m not going to be making that online order for my shopping to be waiting for me on arrival anytime soon!