Testing Testing

Hi Folks

Its been awhile between drinks do ya think and so to speak :).  It has been so long since I last wrote, I do not recognise the format for this posting anymore and I had to delve into my address book to remember what I changed my password to the last time I had a rush of blood to the head.  I thought I might just test who may still be out there reading this should it make it to the blogosphere, before I get too carried away with lots of writing and no one to read it - the old if a tree falls in a forest making a sound and no one hears it, did it fall (not sure if that is the correct saying but near enough I think - you know what I mean, lol).  I have over a year of catching up to do so here goes, will press the button and post - email to say you have received it or leave a comment :)

With restraint and on the road again :)

It has been a hectic few weeks as per usual.  I began last month with a four day course which involved learning how to do restraints in a crisis situation.  We learnt how to deflect someone coming at you to hit you - very easy when in practice when the person goes through their movements slowly thus allowing you to respond in kind, lol.  Then there were the two person restraints where you had a co worker who would assist in the restraint.  The upshot is that shortly, my ID card will reflect that I am licensed to do a standing two person restraint and a restraint on my own.  We had to pass a practical and written test for this. I am licensed to level two as I did not attempt a floor restraint - I would not have the strength or the ability to kneel while attempting this move but I am ok with where I got to.  The trainers were brilliant and kept me engaged for the whole four days and it was a nice break from actually being on the floor.  

Last week I had the extreme good luck to be able to get to Perth for four days, woohoo.  Gerard, the WMH, had several Macca's meetings that coincided with my days off so I tagged a ride down and back with him.  At the end of  three night shifts - two 12 hour ones and then a 10 hour one finishing at 0715, I was home and  ready to go by 8.00am.  Gerard had put a travelling selection of music on his ipod and away we went.  I thought I would get some shut eye on the way down, but between chatting and having the music at nose bleed levels we pretty much rocked our way to Perth before I knew it.  We had one stop on the way down for a toilet break and a quick grab of something to eat and drink and we were on the road again.  We reached Midland around 12.30 which is a major bus/train station north of Perth city, where I got out and then caught a train down to Warnbro just south of Freemantle and Rockingham  to catch up with friends Shelly and Maurice for the night.  

I have decided I love travelling by train over here and it is a shame you can not travel from Geraldton down by rail.  I had no idea what I was doing initially but most of the bigger stations have customer service people and in each instance that I needed help, they were brilliant.  I played the slightly bewildered tourist, and had someone get my ticket for me and all bar putting me on the train, at Midland, lol.  Shelly was there to meet me at the station in Warnbro and within 5 mins we were at hers and wow.  Shelly and Maurice moved over here three years ago and a year ago bought a house after selling theirs back in Hamilton, NZ.  When they first moved over here they lived the first few months with their 12 yr old son( at the time ) at a cousins.  For $390,000 they have got themselves a four bedroom brick home, with three lounge areas, two bathrooms, walk in linen closet, huge kitchen, office, and a swimming pool.  One of the bathrooms had a roman bath with a shower over it (completely tiled bath) and the other bathroom had a shower each side of the bath area - all this plus a walk in closet - be still my beating heart.  The kitchen, two lounge areas  and office have  tiled floors  with carpet in the one lounge and bedrooms. The house is 10 mins away from Joel's school, 15 mins away from Shelly's work and 5 mins away from the shops and is at the bottom of a cul-de-sac   There is also a large area out the back of the house with a covered patio area so indoor outdoor flow is brilliant.  I am thrilled to bits for them and they are still pinching themselves for doing so well.  It had been over a year since I stayed with them last, when they lived in Rockingham,  so we had plenty to catch up on hence it was midnight before I got to bed thus making it 30 hours without sleep.  Needless to say, I slept like a rock.

The following afternoon Shelly dropped me back at the station on her way to work and I caught the train back into Perth and then changed to the Armadale line getting off at Kelmscott where Donna lives.  The next station which is Challis is actually just around the corner from her house but I didn't get that bit of info until after the confusion of us being at two different stations when she came to pick me up.  All good though but she had to walk home from Challis to get the car to pick me up from Kelmscott, lol.  Donna too has just bought a house and is still unpacking so it was exciting to see where she now resides as well.  We decided to go on a mission into Perth and on to Harbour Town the following day.  I was on the hunt for bell pull ends for some embroidery I have completed so before we headed to Harbour town we tried several local embroidery shops first.  We ended up at a place called Pioneer town somewhere in Armadale I think, that used to be set up like a village shopping centre with people in period costume but it has since been sold off for housing and the odd shop still going.  Found a delightful embroidery shop there that I will visit again.  I had no luck with the bell pull ends but did get plenty of ideas for new projects, lol.  

Harbour Town is a huge two storied shopping centre that has mainly clothes shops that have lots of bargains where you can get labelled clothing etc very cheaply.  We walked round each floor shop by shop, mostly window shopping but did find some bargains - clothing for the grandchildren, and bits and pieces from a book shop, stationery shop and dribbled through the Royal Doultan shop resisting buying anything thinking I would be lucky to get it back in one piece but OMG there were some bargains in there.  The hit of the day for me was trying something new to eat. There was in the food hall area, a shop selling gozleme - this is Turkish I think, and if you think of something like roti filled with spinach and feta, folded over and cooked pressed flat like a quesadilla and served with a slice of lemon.  Wow is all I can say, it was delicious.  They also do chicken filled and meat filled gozleme but I think I had the best of it with the spinach and feta.  It was very filling and for around $10 - good value for money.  After we had nearly worn our feet to our knee caps we decided to finish off the day with an ice cream from the gelato bar - I had a scoop of pistachio icecream and a scoop of macadamia and white chocolate - tasted divine,  followed with a coffee to give me enough energy to make the trip back, lol. We had walked from the station to the shopping centre however to my astonishment we were able to catch a free bus back to the station.  Apparently there is a free bus service that goes through the city - so note to self for next time I am there.  We had got a day tripper ticket for the train for $11.50 which I thought was hugely reasonable and so much better than trying to find non-existant or very expensive parking if we had driven in.  

The trip back to Donna's was very entertaining as there was a KISS concert on in town that evening and many of the prospective attendees who were travelling in by train had their faces painted in black and white to get into theme for the night.  Still on the hunt for bell pull ends we thought that Spotlight might just have them so out we headed once we got back to Donna's to see if we could find some.  No luck there but OMG, it was twice the size as the one in Geraldton and it was like being in an Aladdin's cave..... needless to say, I did have to purchase a few things that I didn't know I needed before I got there, lol.  Donna scored some new curtains for her lounge on sale so she was a happy customer also.  We were slightly hungry again ( nearly 7.00pm by now) so we ended up at the Gosnalls Railway market in the foodhall area.  The market is a huge covered space,  like going into a large shed,  with an old locomotive sitting in the middle of the foodhall. The rest of the market which has stalls round the corner (we didn't go there) I think is open in the weekends.  I decided on Chinese getting a mixed plate of goodies and was extremely thankful to return back to Donnas for feet up and a coffee at the end of the evening.  

The following morning I packed and we headed back to Midland to meet up with Gerard again.  We decided to catch up at Midland Gate which is a large shopping centre opposite the train station,  and I am just glad we had so little time to go as there was a KMart, book shops, furniture, clothing, you name it,  plus a great food hall with other coffee shops sprinkled around.  I could have done some serious damage there but had to suffice with a small extra bag of goodies from a bookshop and a couple of selections from the old time candy shop to hold body and soul together on the trip back to Geraldton.  

This time we had company travelling on the way back as two others from Macca's had flown down for the day before's meeting.  After a quick bite to eat for them, we were on our way.  Gerard and I had travelled down the Brand highway to Perth and had decided we might try the coast road on the way back - a decision we had no other option of taking in the end as the Brand highway was then closed because of bushfire burning at Bullsbrook and Bindoon which had burned something like 12000 acres over the previous two days. We got directions from Donna but something must have got mixed up in the translation and it wasn't until we were nearly back at Midland we realised we had pretty much done a circle out of town and back again - this when we had a Sat-nav in the car!!!!!!! - What is it about guys asking for directions,lol.  With the sat-nav finally,  we set off again and this time got it right.  I have to say either way the road is fairly boring to travel with miles and miles and miles of scrub land followed by more of the same.  It was interesting at one stage to be on a piece of road that had about two metres on the side till the Indian Ocean - you cannot get much more to the edge of Australia than that!  We had a quick stop at Jurien Bay to grab something to eat for late lunch - I had hoped to score another meal of fish and chips there but as we didn't arrive until 3pm, they had closed for the afternoon, sigh.   It was on 5.30pm as we got back into Geraldton so not a quick trip back, nearly two hours longer than on the way down.  It was a total tonic to get away for a few days and great to catch up with friends as always.

I had hoped to be heading back to NZ this month for the No 1 son's 40th birthday and the double 90th birthday's of my extended family (wave to Lorne and Noel,) over Easter but I have not been able to get the time off, even though I asked to have it off without pay ,grrrrrrr.  It seems that with being sick last year, and my two trips home, I have used up all my leave. Am not impressed needless to say.  The irony is that I have days off over both occasions but it is the bit in the middle that tripped me up and it is a long way to go for a weekend.   It has made me think that maybe my time in Geraldton is nearly over - will have to put some thought into it as my lease finishes in November and the house has a contract on it at the moment as of last week, so possibly time for a change all round.  Perth could be an option too so will just have to wait and see.  Which ever, I will need to find work which could be the deciding factor where.  Have typed this at work - am on the last of three nights in a row and now I get the weekend off and what is left of today that I do not need to sleep. I had hoped to post some photos but my computer does not have enough oooomph when I am not am home hooked into wireless or whatever makes it faster lol.  Will try for next time instead :):):)

Enter the Fairy tripping lightly, Happy Birthday to Me and Happy Valentines

It is near the witching hour so thought I would recount the day as I cycle through another year on life's clock.  Had set the alarm for 5.45am as I had work today and it was not a pretty sight that greeted me in the mirror 15 mins later as I dragged myself off the bed to get ready for the day.  I had not got to sleep much before 1.30am,  so the years fully showed in the bags under my eyes, lol.  It has been so hot at night, I now have a fan at the foot of my bed and the ceiling one going all night and I merely flop on top of the bed as it is too hot to even have a sheet over me. My air con has broken down and the repair man said yesterday that it is not worth fixing and will need to be replaced ,,,,,,, great except the house is under contract to be sold so cannot see the current owners racing in to spend money, so meanwhile, I gasp about the place like a fish out of water and feel like I lose my body weight in moisture each day.

I had received a parcel in the  post from home and kept it on the mantle piece during the week so once I was dressed I hastened to open it to find several packets, all containing jewellery from family and friends in NZ - all bits that I love and the beginnings of a new collection since nearly all my jewellery was stolen last year.  All came with notes to explain the different sets.  I did not make a fuss at work this year with the kids as it was a school day and one of our lads was having an off day, though a couple of staff wished me well  and then I received txts from several friends which was lovely.  

How does one know one is aging??? In my case today I had more than one reminder :).  I was just biting into a nectarine for breakfast when part of a upper left  hand side tooth parted company from my gum at the roots and I was lucky to spit it out without swallowing it.  Great I thought.  Fortunately no pain was involved so although a nuisance, I finished the nectarine and carried on with no one the wiser.  Not so my next act, lol.

I had to go back to the school to pick up one of the children for an appointment when as I came back to the van from the office, I negotiated the first drop in level from the footpath to the parking bay tucked in beside the footpath, and instead of looking where I was going, I was concentrating on said child getting in the van safely, missed the drop from the parking bay curb to the road, ricked my left ankle and dropped like a sack of potatoes into the road which lots of ouch, ouch, ouch at the pain in my ankle, a scrape down the front of the other leg, a bang on my left knee and then my  wrist where I had put my hand out to save myself plus  a general feeling of being shaken up.  I managed to get up off the road, and drive the van into town and back - thankfully,  it is an automatic and managed another trip into town and back only to jar my ankle as I got out of the van and tried to walk up a step.  I finally got to put my leg up and ice the ankle four hours after I injured it as it was beginning to hurt a lot and I was having difficulty weight bearing - the irony being I had to fill out an incident form and then do a report on the report in my role of OSH person at work. 

While I was typing up my report, I got a call from the WMH to see how my day was going, and to invite me to a birthday dinner he was cooking for me.  He wanted to know how I had fallen .........  I tell you, the jungle drums in Waiuku have nothing on the Geraldton ones.   My supervisor had been into Maccas after work and as her daughter works there she knows the WMH too so no secret too safe, lol.  I finished work and drove home which was an exercise in fine torture, - who knew there were so many gear changes required between work and home and for the first time in my life, an automatic car started to look good as a future option.  

I got home to find another parcel on the door mat and bless it was from the former Principal of the boarding school we both worked at back in NZ.  She sent me a tee shirt depicting a NZ scene and some NZ shortbread so wore the tee shirt to dinner tonight and will save the shortbread for later.  I managed to drive to Bron and Gerard's  ( down the road and around the corner ) and on arriving was settled on the couch, another ice pack on my ankle and laptop set up for skype and emails.  Bless all those who sent a quick email or put a mention on face book - it was all much appreciated indeed.  By luck I was able to chat to Mum on skype though I missed sister Kay.  

Dinner was brilliant - very crispy pork chops, lamb chops, roast veg and stuffed homegrown capscicums for main course and a grand marnier torte for dessert from the cheesecake shop that was enormous.  This was followed by coffee, a tim tam and a glass of Frangelica liquor.  Bliss in the food and drinks department - was back on the couch with more ice on my ankle while having dessert and coffee.

my birthday cake 

We were  relaxing on various couches watching American Idol,  when Gerard got a phone call from daughter No 1 to say she was just in an accident - another car had gone through a stop sign without stopping hitting her and spinning her car around before the other car also spun out and went through a fence.  I waited on at the house while Bron and Gerard went to pick her up and she is one lucky girl looking at the photos of her car which is completely written off.  She had some cuts on her feet from broken glass and some marks from her seat belt but as the air bags deployed on impact she was saved from any major damage.  The people in the other car - a 4WD with bull bars - ended up in hospital.  I waited until they all got back and then got driven home as my foot although feeling better was still too sore to drive and I didn't want to undo all the good works. 

Once home I hied myself off to bed and then started to check through emails and facebook again.  Am very humbled from all the good wishes from everyone - many facebook people I only  know through playing various games so blown away by so many good wishes - and then there were friends and family msgs from NZ, Oz, and England so felt very spoilt by the time I had finished reading them.

And now for a total winge - something has happened to my hotmail account and I cannot retrieve it in its usual form - I managed to get into it off my phone once and Gerard's tablet once and then pffffffffft, I cannot access it again for love nor money. I put my email address in and password and it takes me to windows somewhere else and then will not let me access anything.  Am just about ready to hurl the laptop to the wall in frustration.  I do NOT want the new, improved version with so many bells and whistles - I want my old version back, I do not like the outlook version, nor the live version  (I feel a burst of I do not like them Sam I am coming on here, lol) so am bewildered what to do next.  I may have to head to Telstra to see if they have any bright ideas or maybe a computer shop - much annoyance full stop.

Friday 15.

I started to fall asleep while typing so will give a quick update now.  I am about to head off to the Dr for a Dr's 1st certificate as I am not going into work this afternoon.  This makes it about workers compo instead of a sick day off apparently - I think workers comp is the equivalent of accident compensation at home .....  My ankle is much better but I have not tried driving yet as my car is still at B &  G's,  and I am not wanting to take the risk of carrying small people up and down steps at work.  I have the weekend off and not due back at work until Monday pm so all should be good then. 

Since writing the paragraph above, my face has swollen up with possible abscess on gum where tooth came away so on antibiotics from the Dr.  Ankle is much better, very little pain and swelling right down.  Gerard dropped me off at the Dr's and then I caught up with him at the shopping centre across the road after getting my prescription filled and found him checking up on the insurance for No 1 daughter's car.  We then went to where it had been towed to find it looked even worse in the daylight - and the car is a total write off.  Have done little for the rest of the day, dozed and read a book in between taking pain killers and the antibiotics.  Hopefully I will be restored by tomorrow as my concentration is not great at the moment.  As a friend of mine tells me frequently - aging is not for sissies, lol - I can tell you the outside of me might be clapping out but the inside does not feel changed at all :):):)  And by now, Belated Happy Valentine's to one and all  (have put the apostrophe in for Kay - the teacher, lol)

Life's a Coastline LOL

I was going to title this post," Life's a Beach" but on reflection, why be so stingy when in fact I live and work and sometimes play on a goodly chunk of the Western Australian coastline,  and why be small when you can be grand, lol.

I make comment on said coastline as last weekend I got to explore just a bit more of it.  Friend Jude and I as some of you know, have this bucket list of places to go, things to do in WA as she is determined I get to experience a goodly amount of the place while I reside here.  Jurien Bay which is about 2 hours down the coastline towards Perth was on the list and has now got the big tick/line through it as being completed.

I came off four nights of night shift at 7am Friday having carefully managed sleep quotients during the week, zooming through my jobs at work and having a wee power nap around 4am,  I shot home for perishables having packed the car the night before and was on my way to Dongara to Jude's arriving not long after 8am.  Woohoo and new inventions,  - several staff have copped speeding tickets in the past week and being a lead foot occasionally  lol I thought I might just finally try the cruise control doohicky in my car.  It was with some trepidation that I had a go as I seem to recall dark stories of people using it and crashing as control was limited in case of emergencies..... I can safely report, not so in my car.  I got to the correct speed in the built up areas (70k heading out of town) then 90k a bit further out and finally 110k on the open road and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use, being quite confident should I pass any speed camera I could say ya boo hiss and suck, poking out tongue, lol,   to that,  and be quite safe from incurring a fine and/or demerit points.  With my car, once you get to the right speed you press the side of the cruise indicator and push it down and a mere touch of the breaks, accelerator or the side of the cruise control indicator and cruise control comes off and you have total control of the car again. With such excitement of trying something new and singing along to Leonard Cohen loudly, lol I got to Jude's still wide awake and raring to go.  After some fortification of toast and coffee, I changed to Jude's car and we were off.  She drives and I am the DJ on our trips so feeling very much like Thelma and Louise (no Brad Pitt lurking anywhere though), with a Readers Digest hits of the 60's fairly blaring, we were off.

Leeman is a small township on the coastline on the way down followed by (photos beneath the writing  of each place )

 Greenhead where the CD got changed to ABBA - still played loudly, lol. 

 Jurien Bay.  As you can see, the coastline is much of a muchness all the way down.  I thought I had taken more photos but seem to have either lost them or it may have been when the batteries were too flat which is a pity but oh well, another road trip will have to happen, lol.  All the towns between Geraldton and including Jurien are based on fishing and mainly crayfish is what is caught. It is the expanse of the coastline that is impressive and my photos do not do it justice. 

We reached Jurein late afternoon after the side trips to the other townships and went straight to the bakery to purchase some fresh rolls which we then took onto Jude's sisters holiday/ soon to be retirement home in the township.  Jurien Bay has a huge motor camp right in the middle of it and tourism plus fishing would be the main attractions. We had the house to ourselves as Jude's sister and brother in law had left for Perth the day before to farewell family back to Darwin.  The house was awesome - tall ceilings and open plan with an enclosed porch, garden, games shed where there is a pool table, big kitchen,  just perfect for entertainment.  After making ourselves lunch I went to bed to get some sleep before I fell over and Jude watched some of the Australian Open tennis before having a zzzzz herself. 

On waking we decided we would have fish and chips for dinner.  Jude took me for a drive along the foreshore and about the town before we went to order our meal.  OMG, we had the single best fish and chips from Jurien Seafoods, that  I have had since coming to Australia.  We ordered a fisherman's basket - 4 fish pieces (battered, small) 2 crabsticks, 2 crumbed prawns, 2 squid rings, 2 sea scallops, $2 chips, with tartare sauce and a piece of Red Spot Emperor (a fish I had not heard of before, which we shared) with a tub of coleslaw and had a veritable feast.  We had to wait nearly an hour for our order as the place does a roaring trade, but it was well worth the wait.  The fish - all of it - was FRESH, not thawed out under a tap or thawed out at all. It melted in your mouth as you ate each morsel, perfection with each bite.  I wax lyrical but this meal was worth it and I would be severely tempted to do a road trip some other time there and back in a day just for a repeat experience. 

Whilst in the fish and chip shop, as you do, Jude bumped into a woman she knew from when she lived on a station as their respective children were growing up.  It transpired that Cathy's son owns and runs the local (and only from there to Geraldton) crayfish pot making factory and she invited us to come for a look the following morning.  So after a leisurely breakfast of cumberland sausages (yummy), free range eggs on toast with orange and feijoa jelly on toast (my contribution from NZ, lol, and also delicious I might add) we set forth for the day.  As I had gone to charge up my camera batteries earlier that morning, there was a pfffffft sound and small bang and the light went out. The power point still worked  but the charger seemed to have died so first port of call was to buy a new one.  We stopped by the local Better Electrical which we found was closing down and yes they had a charger but it was $47 and only charged two batteries at a time even though it only took 15 mins so I thought I would try somewhere else first as it was not exactly what I wanted.  While Jude was chatting to the manageress (Jude would talk to a post when she is out, lol and strikes up conversations with just about anyone) I wandered round the store which also had some furniture on sale as well.  I happened to go past the shelf with two or three dvd recorders on sale and my eyes lit on a Sony HDD recorder at a huge reduction and I made the decision on the spot to get it.  So saving $47 I spent $315 which was $235 of the price before that and when I got to the till, the manageress said that it had started at $849 originally.  I couldn't get it in the car quick enough, lol,  (this was another tick off my bucket list of things I have wanted for ages).  We then wandered to the hardware shop next door and I was in luck there - a four battery re-charger for $36 so all good and on our way to the crayfish pot factory.

Cathy and her friend Murphy (they have been friends for 57 yrs and reminded me of sister Kay and friend Viv,- same amount of time) showed us around.  I had imagined that crayfish pots were knotted rope type things but no, today's pots are made of wooden slats onto a metal frame that have anodised thingies covering screws to delay rust and other metal bolts welded on to deter seals from helping themselves to the crays that are caught.  Cathy said that fishermen on the whole were extremely superstitious, some only using pine slats, some jarrah, some karri, some were ok with nail gun nails, others would only have a certain type of screw, etc etc.  Who knew.......  She showed us the furnace that they make the anodised thingies (think about 3" square sinker type things) that I wondered  would pass health and safety.  It was surrounded by corrugated tin, seemed pretty open and just in a corner of the shed. She said it gets to temps over 1000o which seemed pretty amazing to me.  

It was nigh on lunch time by now so we decided to go get some things for dinner from the local IGA and instead of driving further down the coastline to another attraction Jude thought I needed to see, we decided to call it a day and headed back for sustenance and an afternoon of tennis. It felt so nice to just relax and just what being at the beach should be like in my opinion.  We both wanted to watch Federer play the Australian Bernard Tomic, a relative new comer, and it was a good game with Federer going on to the next round.

Sunday, again after another of Jude's cooked breakfasts, we cleaned up, repacked the car and were on our way to visit Jude's son who works on a farm in the middle of nowhere half way inland between Jurien Bay and  the Brand highway.  Before we turned off Jude found another place she wanted to show me which was 7k's off the main road over the bumpiest gravel and dirt road I had been on since Tardun.  We got to the end of this road and it wasn't the place she thought so back again and on the way out we passed a place where they mine salt from this lake.  There was not much water left - the lakes fill when it rains and as it is a salt pan, the lakes are salty and as they dry out, the salt left behind is gathered. There were wetlands across the road from this and it was all part of a huge national park.  

 On arrival at the farm we found Jude's son drenching and inoculating 400 head of cattle. He had been up since 4.30 and it was on midday when we got there.  He did the cattle in bunches having purpose built the yards below with gates that slid across the race to block off groups of cattle, with a crusher in the oldest bit to hold each beast's head as he injected them in the neck.  The temperature was in the late 30's so it was hot work.  We stayed at watched for awhile and then had lunch with him when he took a break, before heading back home.  

 The cattle he was working with looked to be yearlings with some older beasts. The had been trucked down from a station at Marble Bar which is in the north west,  to fatten up for buyers such as Woolworth's for example.  I asked about water as the surrounding area was dry as dust and they had artesian wells on the property and plenty of water for stock.  There were feeders out in the paddocks as they are fed pellets to supplement any grazing that is about.  

We were not far from Eneabba when we got to the Brand highway, so stopped for a toilet break and an ice cream before the last leg to Jude's and then for me back to Geraldton.  I got back just after 6pm tired but really pleased to have achieved so much in such a short space of time.  We definitely plan on going back to Jurien Bay, and next time without side trips on the way down, we will try for Cervantes and the Pinnacles then (with my camera fully charged, lol).  The trip home was to Roy Orbison, Elvis and a CD called Summertime with all the songs having something to do with Summer so the time flew in the car.

Yesterday was the dreaded house inspection.  I was here this time and met with the property manager who is lovely.  She was thrilled with everything and said she wished she had more tenants like me.  (Yay).  I have been putting a lot of time into the gardens and back lawns and the place looked great, and inside sparkled, having done all the floors at 11pm the night before when I got home from work.  Hence, I have had nothing to do this morning so am writing this while the weekend is still fresh in my mind.  Have Thurs/Fri off  and working two 12 hour days on the weekend - am hoping the kids want to go to the pools at least one if not both days to keep cool.  Speaking of which, it is time to move for today's shift so will close now and say goodbye :)

When is a snake not a snake ........

Answer:  When it is a legless lizard or skink in WA.  Hello people and Happy 2013 :):).  I mention the aforementioned possible snake as I had one of those uniquely," I must be in Australia" moments on Sunday morning.  In my post Christmas spring (summer) cleaning /pre house inspection mode, I was putting the sliding screen door at the side entrance to the games room/kitchen area back on its runners, and then sweeping up accumulated leaves/flowers etc that had gathered where the screen door had been resting on its side, when, after the second scoop of said leaves onto the side garden ....... a small (4 inch, roundness of a number 12 knitting needle), possible snake,  shot out of the remaining leaves and wriggled snakelike  backwards and forwards on the footpath in front of me (me with bare feet at the time).  I am amazed that after over 50 years of my life without sight nor sign of a live snake as NZ (does not have them), my first thought on seeing the wriggling movement was not eel, but SNAKE.... followed by OMG if this is a baby one, where are the others (they lay multiple eggs don't they).... and where is Mama?  And yet, again it was so small, though I am reliably told that a small snake will kill you just as fast as a large one, hmmmmm.

 As I pondered my dilemma, I heard my as yet unmet neighbours moving and talking outside so after 5 minutes thinking am I going to feel dumb about this, I moved with the possible snake still in sight,  closer to their place (we share a drive) and yelled out,  would somebody mind coming and looking at something for me.  Paul (or call me Bones) immediately came over and I said as a   Kiwi I wasn't sure what I was looking at but was this a snake?  He did not immediately  fall on the ground helpless with laughter but a chuckle did ensue as he said it was not a snake but a skink or legless lizard - if I should see something about a foot long, yellowish with a stripe behind its head - that is a snake (right, I am getting close enough to spot a stripe so to speak,).  Panic over, the skink by now had moved near a crack in the wall and scuttled away, Paul (who hunts pigs and has them strung up under his back porch, slightly screened so not totally confronted by what looks like the killing fields for porcine creatures) went back to his, and I resumed my day, laughing at yet another Australian wild life interaction.

You may wonder why I was on high snake alert.  First of all the temperatures at the moment are prime snake lurking temps. Secondly,  two people in Geraldton  have been bitten by snakes in the last fortnight and last night a work colleague told me of his barking dog yesterday who had found a metre long snake in the back yard, so not wanting to have an up close and personal experience with a snake myself, I am wary about the great outdoors of my back yard, and  the garage, finding myself  looking for tell tale signs of wiggly lines in the sand as I go to the compost bin at the back of my garden  each and every time.

Summer has finally struck with temps in the 40's down to mid 30o Celsius over the last few weeks.  Further up the coast towns were on high alert over the past week for cyclones coming in , that resulted in a spectacular lightening show here the weekend before and finally thunder,lightening and rain on Sunday evening in Geraldton.  The upside to that is I did not have to water the lawn or garden that day, the downside was that immediately post rain, there was an outbreak of flying ants and grasshoppers/locusts (large) are appearing.

I note today that we are halfway through January already  as I check my diary.  I had a lovely Christmas with the WM and family.  We all went to midnight mass at the cathedral on Christmas Eve.  Gerard picked me up early as the choir were singing Christmas carols before the service which provided a lovely start to the festivities.  It was 3am before I finished my preparations as I had worked the few days before Christmas, having Christmas and Boxing Days off this time round.  I woke with a start at 7am, flying round loading gifts and food in the car to be round at the WM's place by 7.30am  where gift giving had just begun.  I loaded up all my parcels from NZ as the family have become accustomed to sharing my joy as I open each one.  They were not disappointed as I oohed and ahhed at the undoing of each parcel.

Bronwyn went to make pancakes for breakfast however as they had no golden syrup or maple syrup, Gerard did a Macca's run for hotcakes and hash browns instead so was an easy start to the day  (and what you can do when you run two Macca outlets,lol).   I shot home to skype family mid-morning here as they were sitting down to lunch at sister Kay's and to make some phone calls before returning for our Christmas lunch at 2pm.  We had roast pork, roast chicken and veg with baked ham (mine), crayfish and prawns with several salads to choose from as well and sat outside with trestle tables up under their back porch area.  It was a unanimous decision to save dessert which was in effect dinner later that night. New board games were played in the afternoon followed by watching the dvd "The Sapphires" in the evening. It was a lovely day with Bronwyn's sister's family in attendance (six extra adults) along with me and their six so lots of laughter, sharing of meal preparations etc which is what really makes the day.

Boxing day we collectively decided to go to the movies that evening. Half the group went to see " The Hobbit" and the rest of us went to see "Les Miserables".  What an experience that was!  It would seem I am lacking in the area of big shows as although I knew of " Les Mis, " being a huge show, I neither knew the story line or anything about it.  I went mainly because I wanted to see Hugh Jackman in the role and thought it was time I got a bit of culture at the same time, lol.  WOW, it was brilliant and totally riveting.  The WHOLE movie is SUNG - over two hours long. I found myself on the edge of my seat and totally entranced by the whole experience.  It is not a pretty movie, lots shot in grim surroundings, darkish, with the un-pretty poor.  Russell Crowe does a great job as does Ann Hathaway with some wonderful bit parts with the inn keeper and his wife who provide some comedic relief to the grim story of pre-revolutionary Paris.  I have found myself humming one of the main tunes since as it seems to have lodged into my head.  Gerard has downloaded the music from the film on his ipod so at some stage I will get him to put it on mine.

In between Christmas and New Years of course I have been working.  When not at work, I have had my little lad to stay several times for one or two nights at a time so have been kept fully occupied.  He helped me decorate the place before Christmas and then the week after came with much excitement to receive his gifts from under the tree as Donna had left things behind for both us on her last visit up.  At work I have been spending hours at the local swimming pool, usually tucked up with a book while the children from work and  have been at lessons or just playing for the fun of it.  It means we are out of the house, they are gainfully employed in healthy activity and I am chomping through my library books, lol.

Post Christmas, as I have taken decorations down and put the Christmas tree away, I have been back cleaning and sorting.  I have gone through drawers, cupboards, mopped floors, polished furniture, cleaned windows, weeded gardens and caught up on laundry so am feeling very virtuous with my start for the new year.  I have a you beaut diary that I compose lists of things to do for most days and am enjoying ticking things off as I proceed.  I have to pick my moments of business and tend to have a siesta the afternoons I am not working to cope with the heat - especially the humid heat post the rain.  I am down to sleeping at night just in night attire on top of the bed with the fan on in the ceiling non stop.  For all that I have only had the air con on about half a dozen times at its truely hottest when sitting in a darkened room has you perspiring like a tap.

This weekend I hope to go to Jurien Bay which is down the coast on the way to Perth.  Jude's sister and husband have a place there and though they will be in Perth, they have said Jude and I are welcome to go stay.  This is another place on my bucket list so am looking forwards to it.  I am doing four night shifts in a row this week, so sleeping throughout the day and will hopefully be awake enough to drive to Dongara at then end of shift Friday morning and then Jude and I will set off.

I hope all of you reading this had a great festive season.  My new years was spent watching the fireworks go off in Sydney on the telly before going to bed just after midnight as I had work for 12 hours the following day (which was spent at the pool) so win win for me, lol.  :)

Christmas and other things.

Christmas is both the best and the worst time of the year I think.  Best because it is an excuse/reason to reconnect with friends and family and to be able to share with them. Worst because Christmas always needs to be one more month away, lol.  With the best intent in January, I tell myself, this year I will be organised.... and yet.... work, visitors, and the" must dos"  in life seem to get in the way, lol.  I tend to buy things during the year for Christmas with the thought I will be ahead of the game, but constantly find a trillion things for one person and still struggle to find something that fits for the others.  As an exercise in speed organisation, I spent several harried days at Glenfield Mall in Auckland (while on my "holiday") sifting and sorting, managing to get the whole NZ contingent sorted and wrapped before I left - no mean feat indeed.

 Last Saturday we had the Tardun Christmas get together - not at my place this time but at the Brentwood Olive Grove about 15 mins south of Geraldton.  This place was on  Jude's and my  bucket list to visit and when she found out that this weekend is the last time they will be open to the public as a cafe, she fixed a date and amazingly it worked.  Due to the casualness of the invite and response she had only booked for 14 when 20 turned up and full marks to the staff who squeezed in an extra table and chairs.  We responded by liberating most of our water glasses for other guests and stuck to our drinks - in taller glasses and so the world goes round.  Need I say that the food was exquisite.  I ordered the Mediterranean platter and on reflection supposed it really was a shared thing, heh, heh, but as I had no breakfast and had not planned on much dinner, it was yee har instead. OMG it was divine.  Two small dishes of caramelised  onion dip and hummus, hazelnut stuffed green olives, a long green pepper stuffed with couscous, two vegetable samosa type things, marinated mushrooms, slices of warm turkish bread, preserved artichokes and capsicums in oil, and a couple of other interesting mixtures of I know not what,  but exceptionally tasty.  The serving was large and I managed every finger and lip licking bit of it. However, if that was not already enough, I soared into orbit with dessert  and felt at this point I had died and gone to heaven.  Way beyond OMG, lol.  I had an enormous home made meringue covered with lemon butter delivered on a bed of whipped cream.  The lemon butter was what I would have called lemon honey at home and pow, the zingyness of the lemon flavour with the sweet of the meringue was absolutely divine   Anyone with a spare pot of lemon honey/curd in the cupboard, go create this straight away, lol.

Feeling just a tad replete and after much laughter, catching up, reminiscing and several hours later, we exchanged gifts with those we would not see again before Christmas and I hitched a ride back with the WMH to flop on the couch at home.  Donna had arrived the night before with her lad and I had picked up "my" lad for the weekend,  so as I recounted the day to everyone, the boys asked if they could have a candy cane of the tree - yes and pass one round to me and Donna too. You know there are just some days you should quit when you are ahead.  I was biting on my candy cane with the few teeth I have left when crunch and that sickest of sick feelings that something was not quite right.  I removed myself to the bathroom, and spat out into my hand candy cane and a massive piece of filling!!!!!!  I also think I have nearly broken the tooth from its moorings because if I touch it the wrong way it feels like it is going to come out of its socket.  So far, it is not hurting so am trying to work up enough courage to find a dentist and then to cope with what ever verdict will come - it will come with a four figure price tag as my teeth are in a parlous state and then there is the trauma I usually go through - am needing this like a hole in the head and at the end of my proposed visit I may well be looking at just that - no teeth at all, lol.

Speaking of teeth, again the few I have left are mainly the sharpened front ones and they certainly were working well  on Monday night!  I had a real estate person ring me on Wednesday  last week saying they had a prospective buyer to show through and would the next day be ok. No, I said, I will be sleeping (on night shift) and will be sleeping Friday as well, Monday afternoon will be ok as I will be at work.  All good.  On Monday I get back here at just after 11pm and went to walk through the front porch door only to find it locked!!!!!! You have to be joking I thought - the only key I had to get in was the front door  which was behind said locked door.  A quick check about the place and of course post burglery earlier in the year, the house is locked down tight as the proverbial fishes bum. Blood pressure was starting to do a slow burn and while thinking what to do I went to txt the WMH to see if he was still up  only to find a txt from Emily his daughter earlier saying that she had gone back home when she couldn't get in also,  so just drove round instead.  Luckily  Gerard was still up and thankfully while I was seething and fanging about useless, poxy real estate people, he found me a phone book and I rang the rental people and the real estate agent only to get answer phones!!!!! Arggggh  - of course all my emergency numbers were locked in back at mine.  While contemplating what to do - break a window to get in and sort it out, ring the police to see if they could break in, rip some soft toy to pieces, lol, the phone rang and it was the rental people.  I explained the situation and was told to meet the person at the office in 20 mins - they had to get dressed and travel in from out past where I work.  Phew, as Gerard had a total house full, with one couch to spare which I could have used, but after an exhausting weekend and 10 hours work, I just wanted my own bed.  So, at quarter past midnight, with two sets of keys in case one didn't have the right key (?) I was back into my own house.  I got in yet another sliding door into the sun room this time as the porch door had been snibbed from the inside from the prospective buyer thinking I had left the place unlocked - ya think!  As I relayed to a colleague yesterday - do people not know  farm rules over here - if a gate is shut you leave it shut, if it is open you leave it open, It is the same with flaming doors!!!

Once in bed I took some time to de-stress with a few games on the laptop and probably fell asleep around 1.30 2.00am to be woken by the phone at 8am by the real estate agent profusely apologising as he had just got my message.  I was ALMOST able to see the funny side of things by then, but 8am, come on, still the middle of the night for me, lol.  He totally redeemed himself however when I finally got organised and left for work, and yes out of the now open porch door, to find a parcel wrapped up in Christmas paper which was a basket of goodies and a card apologising for the day before.  A very professional and appropriate response and they will also get the bill for the call out so all is well with the world once more.

I got back last night from work at much the same time to find two new parcels at the kitchen door from NZ so yay - they have gone straight under the Christmas tree and will wait with anticipation to see what is within.
I have got a good amount of Christmas cards done and dusted.  Had a bah humbug moment with them too - went to print off my Christmas letter to enclose with most of the cards  and sod, sod, sod, the printer would not print.  Cleaned the nozzle - several times, changed inks and got everything going except the black. Shot up town to buy some more black ink and even that would not work so figure the nozzle must be clogged good and proper.  Was just going a pale shade of puce with frustration when I had a eureka moment - print it in a colour.  Tried a dummy run with blue and bingo it worked.  Another yay moment and then to double side a three page letter which is the smallest update I could manage, lol.  Several dummy runs as it had to print all the page ones, then be manually taken turned upside down or whatever to do the page 2's and lastly another run for page three.  Unfortunately, the printer hamsters were on the fritz too, so it took forever as I had to cancel and reload the job numerous times.  Flipping technology.

Speaking of technology or maybe it should be electronic/mechanical?  my fridge might be on its last legs.  It is an ex-Tarden model of unknown years and is temperamental in its closing doors habits.  I went to get something out of the icebox/freezer on Friday to find a mini thaw and refreeze had occurred that now prohibited the door being closed properly at all. Damn, I only cleaned it out the week before.  There was nothing for it but to do another quick defrost, de-ice and get it sorted before the weekend.  All done,with everything in neat and tidy, I finished, cooked dinner for Donna and the boys and retired from the kitchen for the night.  When Donna went to get water out of the fridge the next morning she noticed it wasn't very cold and then not long later checked to find I had not switched the sodding thing back on - another arrrrgh.  Luckily the freezer food was all ok but did not trust some of the fridge things so another clean out of food stuffs while I am thinking I may just throw money in the air - it will have the same effect as I had to throw out chicken I had cooked the night before - one thing I would not trust to keep.  Then one of the boys hung off the fridge door while I was cleaning it which I think was one too many things for it and now if you do not give the door a good slam, it will not seal properly.  Am keeping a bare minimum of things in there and eating mostly at work with the shifts I have this week, so will see how I go. Will not buy a new fridge regardless though may have to look at the prices of a second hand one.  The other fridge I had from Tardun I had given to the WM and family ages ago and that also died in the last few weeks so no replacement there.

I have tomorrow and Friday off so that will be my next flurry of last minute cards, gift wrapping and sorting out things like enough meds to get me through Christmas, maybe the tooth, and two lots of catching up with folk for Christmas coffees.  I missed the Christmas work dinner as I had to work night shift last week,  but was more than happy with that.  The Tardun Christmas and the actual day which I will spend with the WM, WMH and family will do me. I am having Christmas and Boxing day off this year and plan at this stage curling up with a good book on Boxing day, hopefully in the sunshine, on the couch in my sun porch with maybe a few carol CD's on in the back ground.

I have not watched the news on tv for weeks now, occasionally get a newspaper and listen to the news on radio to and from work and was floored by two tragedies over the past week.  The first was the woman who committed suicide after a prank call from a Melbourne radio station to the Duchess of York while in hospital.  The DJ's pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles and the woman who died put the call through and gave out some information I think.  I am so over "it is just a joke" mentality that is often the excuse to cover bullying and mean acts.  The two DJ's are devastated but too late when it has cost someone their life - hopefully the entertainment media that passes for news etc these days will take a good long look at themselves.  The two concerned thought it was ok because it had been cleared by the legal department!!!

The other tragedy that bought tears to my eyes was the shooting of the children at school in the States.  What utter, utter horror and too horrible to imagine for the families of those killed. I think I picked up at paper at Maccas when I went for a coffee and to faces of the children killed was what bought tears to my eyes - all so young, cheeky and full of life when they were taken.  I believe the outcry on gun control is in full swing - and some mention of mental health.  The frightening thing is many of us work with damaged children, young adults who could so easily do same and the lack of support for anything to do with mental health is huge.  Australia and New Zealand have had their own multiple tragedies - each one that occurs leaves an indelible mark - the pain for those left behind is incomprehensible especially with the randomness these events occur to ordinary  people going about their daily business expecting to return to their homes and families at the end of a day.  I briefly caught a clip of President Obama bought to tears by the school shootings and you would have to hope something will come out of this event to prevent it happening again.

It is time to get moving for another day at the salt mines.  School finished yesterday for our kids so I am thinking there will be lots of beach time in the next week.  We are having lovely fine days and warm weather but there is still a lot of wind blowing.  I thought my washing and the tent the boys put up to sleep in on Saturday night, would all end up in the neighbours as the wind was so strong over the weekend.  Gotta fly :)

Tis the Season to be Jolly already!

This has not been my most salubrious year for posting blogs and to the ever faithful out there I do apologise.  I have been in the midst of writing my Christmas letter reflecting on the year that has passed and it has gone by in a whirl.  I think the challenge for me this year is as I have said before, a good chunk of my life is taken up by work which because of confidentiality is difficult to write about meaningfully without breaching said confidentiality.  The job by its nature in working with traumatised children takes a lot of emotional energy and with working shifts - 12 hours on the weekends and mostly 9 or 10 hours, the single cells left at the end of each shift do not have much energy to replicate into fluent or cogent thinking.

That being said, I am pondering on how to do better as when I get cracking, I do enjoy writing it and the responses I receive.  As I checked in today I realise that I had begun a post while in NZ on holiday and never finished it so a quick recap.

I flew into Wellington this time to spend Labour Weekend which included No 1 grandson's 10th birthday.  First mission was to buy a phone which took two days of trips into the city and back before I was satisfied.  It seems Telstra in Australia locks their phones so you cannot buy a prepaid sim card and drop it into your phone though in NZ you can do that very thing.  After buying a $5 sim card the first day and it not working, I went back and bought an el cheapo Telecom phone as max it will only get used twice a year until I return home whereby they probably will have come out with a phone that can make you a cup of coffee as well as land man on the moon again.  I also invested in a prepaid telecom dohicky for the laptop so I would have coverage when not at family friendly uber gigs homes to tap into their networks.  Then of course, I became aware I didn't know any NZ mobile numbers as they were all in my stolen phone and not written down, arrrrrgh.  I put in No 1 son's ph number and luckily he had a few of the numbers I needed and so I slowly began to get in touch with immediate family. Tricky when you are trying to negotiate pickups from airports and such like, lol.

Wellington was both fine and freezing so completely typical. I missed an earthquake (minor) earlier in the week.  The 10th birthday took on epic proportions turning into a three day event as all bases were covered having his friends come round for cake and a trip to the movies on the Friday night, cousins, aunts and uncles round for a barbeque Saturday and the piece de resistance - the actual day.  I ended up by taking the three friends and no 1 grandson to the movies and dinner assuring no 1 son that four average kids was a walk in the park compared to some of the ones I have worked with and so it was.  Dinner at Maccas in the food court associated with the theatres preceded the movie and then it was ice cream afterwards with the boys being picked up by no 1 son to be delivered home while I caught the bus back to Karori as there were not enough seat belts for me as well.  All good until I got to Karori and went to txt to say I was there for my pick up and the sodding phone was already flat, this as it began to rain.....  Luckily its only a 10 min walk and I survived without getting too drenched.

The birthday was legendary - no 1 grandson was awake early with excitement and received a couple of small parcels to unwrap before we went downstairs for the main event.  He was given the garage door control to find behind door no 1, there was a brand spanking new bike.  Great joy and instant try out on the front lawn before finding out Mum and Dad also had bought new bikes so they could all go out together for rides in the weekend.  Very impressed we then left for breakfast out at a favourite cafe/restaurant in Wellington called Maranui.  It caught fire awhile back now and it was great to see it re- outfitted and still as popular as ever.  With breakfast/lunch behind us, we then set out to buy helmets to go with the new bike (needed to be there for the right sizing) and then to the local sportshop to buy cricket gear ( my birthday present) as this year no 1 grandson has graduated to using a hard ball.  Therefore pads, helmet, gloves,  a box and special underwear to fit later we were good to go to the next venue which was a go kart facility deep in an industrial area in a huge warehouse.  No 1 grandson started with trepidation but soon got more confident and you would have thought he was racing in a grand prix by the end of it, lol.  I think his Dad enjoyed it just as much. 

The previous day had involved a trip to the Wellington zoo and what a change that has had since I was last there about 8 yrs ago.  They have done a lot of development which means more natural enclosures for the animals that they have.  That was one of the glorious fine days in between the rain so we took full advantage of it before returning for the family barbeque.  No 1 grandson has moved on from Spiderman, Ben 10 and Dr Who with his main focus now being the Hobbit. He was devouring the book and I have since heard he was very disappointed to be away at school camp when they had the premiere of the movie in Wellington a couple of weeks ago.

My time there was over all too soon and I then winged my way to Auckland being met by sister Kay and two of her work colleagues as they swung by the airport on their way home from work.  I was struck by all the green once again, paddocks full of grass as Geraldton was almost in drought conditions when I left.  I spent the first night with Mum and Clive and then gypsy like stayed at Kay's and friend Viv's (waves) for two nights to catch up as they were at work teaching during the days, and I would then spend the days with Mum and Clive so could catch up with all.  One of the highlights was taking Mum and Clive to Pukekohe to see the movie "The Sapphires" - an Australian movie just released about four indigenous girls who form a band like the Supremes and travel to Viet Nam to entertain the troops at the time (set in the late 60's) and is based on a true story.  We had a bite of lunch before the movie so a great afternoon out.  I was able to indulge with plenty of fresh vegetables as Mum and Clive have their main meal middle of the day and it was great to be able to pick things straight from the garden squeaky fresh so to speak.  One lunch I was able to catch up with a friend who I have known since I was 10yrs old, and it made me realise how luckly I am with friends and neighbours who go so far back.  Leonie had moved back home post the Christchurch earthquakes and I got to hear first hand of her experiences that still are taking a toll.  She had been talking to a customer in the shop and delayed going to lunch by about 10 mins when the big quake hit and once she had closed the shop as best she could to get out of it she walked out to find the city in ruins - I think two people were killed outside the shop from falling masonry.  She talked of walking miles to a friends place past areas that were turning to liquification and sleeping under a table at her friends place, too scared to return home.  Then there was the costs and issues of getting out of the city and finally moving back to start afresh, leaving her job, her friends and her life behind.  The trauma was still very fresh for her. 

I got to catch up with my tennants and was very pleased to see how well the place was looking.  I had no car this time home as No 2 son is now using it to get to work and back so was very dependent on others for lifts and the loan of their cars when they were free.  Unfortunately it meant I did not do my usual fly around the country catching up with friend further afield but it did mean I got to spend a great time with family and longtime neighbours instead which was great.

The last leg of my NZ trip involved heading to the North Shore to stay with No 2 son and family and to meet Evie Lily, my first grand daughter (and likely to be the only one I have been told, lol).  She was just on three weeks when I arrived and just over a month when I left so packed in lots of cuddles in between lots of Nana time with the No 2 grandson, who now 3 3/4 yrs was just delightful.  Lots of "No Thank You Nanas" when asked if he wanted to do different things like go to the potty, have something to eat, nap etc in contrast to having fun playing lego, going to the park with his bike, jumping on the trampoline (a sight to behold I am telling you, lol), blowing bubbles, playing firemen with the hose, lots of stories and I was introduced to the movie "Cars" with McQueen and Mater which I saw nearly once a day, lol.  We had a lovely gathering on the last night I was there quite by chance when No 2's brother and sister (their Dad's second family) came with their respective partners and baby cousin for a barbeque.  Friend of the family, Peter who co-incidentally had been  a neighbour of the boys father in their teens, also visited so lots of stories told round the table with lots of laughs over dinner.

While home I had done most of my NZ Christmas shopping at at 4.30am the morning I left, I finally wrapped the last parcel, had repacked and gone to bed for the next three hours sleep before the household roused.  A quick breakfast, shower and last minute checks to see I had everything and we were on the way to the airport for my return to Oz.  We had decided to meet with Kay and Viv at Maccas outside the airport so the family could return home before the baby needed her next feed and after a luggage transfer to Kay's car it was off to check in and a last coffee before take off.  It is never long enough home to do everything that I want but the bank balance required me to return to work in Oz and I reflected that I had squeezed as much Nana time in that I could to get me through another few months.

I had a brief stop over in Sydney on the way back and friend Val once again met me at the airport, this time whisking me off to a French patisserie for coffee and a pastry on the way back to hers where we bunkered down with a cooked chook, salad and some wonderful coffee via her Nepresso machine (as good as cafe coffee if not better) and talked the night to a standstill.  Once again I was blighted by technology with my phone and laptop.  I put my pin in my Oz phone to open it and in a dyslexic moment did the wrong number , tried a different one, tried the first one again and the damn thing locked.  Then my Oz doohickey for the lap top would not work - said it needed to be reregistered so after attempting to get into hotmail (momentarily forgot my password for that too, arrrgh) I fired off emails to friend Donna who was meeting me at the airport for coffee and the WMH who was to pick me up and just prayed they would get the messages.  All good, had a lovely catch up with Donna before catching the flight back to Geraldton and then as I was waiting for my bags the WMH turned up with youngest son to retrieve me and take me to theirs for dinner.  I landed at 6.30pm and started work at 6.45am the next day and for the following two days after that.  I slept my first day off right through needless to say.  I am writing this as I try to get some sleep in before a night shift tonight so will close now and get back to the Christmas theme in the next post.  :)

Buses,cars and planes ......

It has been a roller coaster time as I organised myself to be away from Oz for just under a month, having travelled, and am now in the middle of my stay which is being spent in three NZ locations.  I almost have to take a pause each morning I wake up to get my bearings, lol.

Before I left, I had work of course, and then my 3 monthly purge of the house in preparation for the house inspection, which meant mowing lawns, weed spraying, edge trimming, gaining a cupboard for my laundry and totally resorting that room out putting all cleaning products etc in said cupboard and rearranging boxes etc that I have things stored in, getting all washing and ironing up to date, and of course, after all the tidying, a sweep throughout the house and a mopping of the floors.  Then packing and having a meltdown as I tried three different printers trying to print out my tickets - arrrgh. 

In the midst of this, I had a bit of a social twirl - the Workmates second daughter turned 17 so had a birthday dinner to attend a week before I came home.  I had called round earlier in the day to drop off gift and finalise dinner details when Gerard said it was a shame I wasn't dressed for painting as he was thinking of painting the lounge.  Siezing the moment, I suggested he drop me home with the aforementioned cupboard, and the weedeater I had lent him so I could get changed, and lo and behold, mid dayish, we started on the lounge. 

I took around a small steam cleaner so we did the walls with that as preparation and then bang, a coat of paint that most of the kids help apply, with Gerard doing the high bits.  I moved furniture, dusted, vacuumed as we moved around the room and then helped put things back, finished about 10 mins before Bronwyn walked in the door from a day at work.  Thankfully, she loved how we did things which included getting rid of an old book case that had seen better days. The following day Bronwyn's parents who were over from Victoria for a few weeks came with me to look at a quilting exhibition/craft fair being held at the local basket ball stadium.  There were some amazing quilts on display and I found a few small projects to do whilst trawling the stalls and bought some amazing relishes/chutneys that were being sold by a woman from Angloa - was able to have a taste of each before I bought and yum - a lemon grass and mango chutney, an egg plant chutney and a tomatoe based relish that was a little hotter than the others with an amount of chili in it.  The next evening I was invited to friends of Bronwyn's for a bonfire and barbeque.  What an experience that was - a huge pile of gum tree bits pushed into a pile in the middle of the paddock which went up like a rocket when lit.  The heat was phenomenal and the speed at which it burnt gave some tiny hint at what a bush fire might look like.  Mick had mown the paddock earlier in the day like a proverbial buzz cut and before my eyes, the fire spread out burning the grass left as wide out as the fire went high if that makes sense.  Heaven knows how far it would have gone if the grass had been longer.  Much to my level of comfort, Mick eventually got the hose out and dampened all around where the fire had burnt.

The following weekend, Bronwyn's parents and I set out on another sortie to North Hampton for the 16th annual Airing of The Quilts festival held in the town.  OMG, what an amazing experience that was.  We found a park around the back of the main street and walked to the top end of the main street to look at stalls and then walked the length of the town.  The festival follows the tradition I believe that started in America that represents the coming of spring, airing the quilts before they are put away.  Quilts were strung between shops, in shops, along the footpath areas, and in front of and off the verandahs of the old convent in the middle of the town.  There was a woman driving two ponies and a trap about the town, giving rides.  In the War Memorial Hall, there were spinners and weavers doing their thing among the quilts displayed - work done by various schools for the festival.  There should have been photos posted with this but in a fit of organisation I have put everything on my hard drive and therefore not exactly to hand at the moment.  Botheration!  Will update with NZ news next post. :)

For Unto Us a Child is Born :)

After peeling my eyelids open this morning and wandering to the lounge to check my mobile phone, there was a txt waiting to announce the arrival of Evie Lily at 2.05am this morning (28th September) weighing in at 8lb 11oz, mother and baby happy and healthy and she has dark hair.  So after two wonderful  grandsons  I now have a grand daughter which is awesome -  another great grand daughter for Mum with Evie being beaten to the punch by my brother's grand daughter Jazmin who is now a year old.  I will be getting to meet Evie in a months time so watch this space.

It has been a busy few days - I attended three days training with fellow work colleagues which focussed on a change management process and a way of working with traumatised children which has built on our previous training and will take our working with these children to a new level.  Part of the course involved learning trauma theory which is a huge and fascinating topic.  The impact of trauma on brain development can start in utero if the mother is in a violent or substance abuse life style so these children often operate in chaos with elevated behaviours, unable to learn as their bodies are perpetually geared in a state of  chemical response ready for flight or fight.  Children also often fail to thrive in these conditions so we also deal with children who have not met "normal" developmental stages physically, emotionally, with their ability to learn compromised  until they feel safe, so we have had toddles not yet crawling or walking for example. In one case we had a 9 month old who could not sit up or roll over even when we got her.  We have had 2 - 3 yr olds who have only be able to utter two or three words that are understandable as they have no other vocabulary and then there are the older children who struggle with writing, reading, numbers and social interactions with others.  We have learnt over the past three days several  new strategies as staff to manage our own behaviours and emotions when working with these children so that we can then keep calm and at base line so our behaviours do not escalate theirs.  Am working two twelve hour days over the weekend so will see how I go.  One of the good things about the course was  the affirmation of so much that we are already doing well so the coursewas  by way of fine tuning and going forward for most of us.

At the same time as I was doing the course and during my days off last weekend I have had a little visitor.  As of last Friday, I became an official respite carer for the department just in time to have the little lad I have been having now and then come and stay for a week with me this time.  His full time foster carer ended up in hospital with double pneumonia so I picked him up from after school care last Friday and he is now off to friend Donna and her lad in Perth for a few days while I work and his carer still recuperates.  It has been an interesting time - my kitchen/living space has been turned into an inside camping area with a couch turned alongside  facing several chairs with a double sheet over the top to make a cubby (hut for NZ crew, lol).  A sponge topper pad and the inner mattress out of my swag have been incorporated as flooring, with a small coffee table and other chairs with a small cardboard campfire make up the dining area.  Surrounding all this is various plastic farm animals, army bits and pieces and a construction crew.  I have now seen "Puss in Boots" with Anthony Banderas almost twice a day, lol as the lad was waking at 5.30am each morning ready for the day and so would watch it then,  and then would watch some again on return from his after school program.  I had one night with him waking at 11.30pm with a nightmare, and then he got up at 4.30am this  morning however thankfully he returned to bed after a toilet stop and then slept until 7am - so a veritable lie in, lol.  I have been to a school disco, spent several hours at the foreshore - me with a book lying in the sun while the lad played for hours at the playground and have  had to be organised to make breakfasts, lunches and cook again for dinner - no packets of chippies or choc biscuits at the end of a long day but meat and veg heh heh.  As this little lad is a creature of habit we still operate in most of the routines we had when he was in care which is a familiarity for him and gives some continuity when other changes occur. 

We scored last week when we called into Macca's after the disco - he wanted to leave early, it was a wet and miserable night and we had not had time for dinner beforehand - and when we got there Gerard was still at work.  Gerard shouted us our meal and came and said hello - the lad fascinated by the vampire toy in his happy meal with numerous questions about vampires for the rest of the evening. We then got rung the following night to share Chinese takeaways with the family and scored an immediate hit with the lad as they have Mindcraft - a computer game - on their computer.  No sooner than dinner was finished, he was off to play the game with help from one of the boys and has talked about it ever since.

We have had lots of rain this week with pockets of sunshine so I suppose pretty typical spring time weather.  The warm is getting nice and warm again and it was delicious lying on a rug at the park in part shade to read my book with the sun warming right through to my bones that day.  At least the rain has meant I have not had to water the garden this week.  I have eaten more spinach from the garden and the last lot of plants seem to be holding their own.  I will give them some liquid manure early next week on my next days off.

Today I visited my Italian workmates who over the past few days have emptied their flat prior to leaving Geraldton next Tuesday to return to Italy.  I had lent them some kitchen bits and pieces when they first set up their house so today they returned those bits and I have inherited all the things from their kitchen that they had not sold or been able to give away. With that they also cleaned out the rest of their pantry so have received a pile of ingredients that has restocked my pantry that I cleaned out last week.  I have scored some more exotic ingredients along the way - truffle oil, saffron, Italian pasta, and dry porcini mushrooms to mention a few.  I will be looking through the cookbooks over the weekend to extend my repertoire.  Once I have sorted through everything and decided what I can or cannot use, I will drop all the left over things down to the disaster relief people, the salvation army or St Vinnies - whichever has the easiest parking on the day, lol.

Have just got in the door from the ex workmates place after a game of canasta with Gerard and Hayden - which I won, heh heh.  Bronwyn's parents are over from NSW for a month so also had a catch up with them - will see more of them next week no doubt.  Am on the countdown to holidays home now about 18 sleeps to go - so will head off now and tick one more off the list - need to do a few more chores before work tomorrow so will go sort clothes and finish kitchen.  Will update news of grandchild as it comes to hand :).

"This is the end, beautiful friend, this is the end" In Memory of my friend Justine

I have been deeply saddened over the last week with the news that one of my best friends back home died suddenly while on holiday for a family celebration in Samoa. For those of you who have faithfully followed this blog, Justine was the J of J&J who sometimes left comments at the end of my posts. The sudden and unexpectedness of her death has hit hard - I would have been catching up with her next month on my return to NZ for a holiday and am still trying to get my head around the fact that we will not have our usual debrief catching up on all those things that do not fit into an email/blog etc. We shared a particular time in our lives when both working at the same school and found we had much in common which led us to becoming fast friends. I admired her consumate professionalism at work and regarded Justine as a friend and mentor, learning much from her. I shall miss the shopping expeditions, sharing foodie excursions to local haunts and the dinner parties of several courses and accompanying red wine through to liquors, sitting doing embroidery together, sharing books, and of course that chats solving the world's, the families' and our own issues over numerous coffees, nibbles, red wine, chocolate (in all its forms, lol) against the background of music and or favourite tv shows, comparing photos and news about our respective children and grandchildren - this list goes on.

We introduced family and friends to each other - not only did Justine become friends with Mum, sister Kay, and friend Viv during their many visits when I was Head of Boarding, she also taught niece Laura and had followed her budding career as author of her own blog and now soon to be published cookbook. As a teacher she touched the lives of countless students and was always happy to see where they went in their adult lives. Mum made the trip down to Hamilton for her funeral to represent the family and by all accounts it was a wonderful tribute to Justine. As much as I find her death incomprehensible, Justine was  a woman of faith - something else we shared ( though neither of us had any patience with the man made parts of religion), so am digging deep at the moment to accept this loss.

 The title of this Post comes via the Doors - and it came to me while I was thinking about Justine yesterday, so have run with it even though she was not a huge Doors fan.  Music was very much a theme to Justine's life so much so that many of the towns and cities on their Route 66 tour of the States were to be found in song titles and I remember looking at the map before they went laughing at how many places had been sung about.

As I have been reminded several times over the last week, it has been awhile since I last posted - and the last time I was unwell. I am happy to report that I have returned to health, and hopefully will get to the end of the year without further issues although when working with children, not necessarily guaranteed! We have had children with boils, ring worm and last week the chicken pox (have had chicken pox when I was 12,  so all good there) and of course nits - have dodged a bullet with all of them so far - touch wood. My back that I put out - I gave up going to the chiropractor and toughed it out in the end - not lifting babies heaps has helped with that. Since I last posted it has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster at work too as we had one of our sibling groups move out two brothers at a time, and the other sibling group also move on after having them for over a year. I had become very attached the younger ones of each family group so it was quite a wrench to say goodbye,especially as the transition was not easy for some of them. Luckily I have been able to see one family of  boys a couple of times since and it now seems they are more settled in their new home which is what we hoped would happen. In the meantime we have had another sibling group come and go, and we have several new kids to replace them. There is no shortage of neglected or traumatised children  so the time between kids leaving and new ones arriving is brief indeed.

 Also connected with work, I have been going through the process of becoming a respite foster carer with the department of child protection. I have been having visits from one of the lads I used to look after at work - I am regarded as a person of significance in his life and have managed to stay in touch with him since he moved out. Becoming a respite carer officially means he can stay more than one night at a time so that when his carer needs a break he can come to me instead of maybe having to go to someone who he doesn't know. He is lucky that another work colleague that he knows is already a respite carer so he will then have two of us who can look after him. My first interview was a couple of hours and then the main interview took four hours, with three other referees having 45 mins interviews by phone so it is a lengthy process and I am already on the books at the department through being a staff member!

At the end of last month we had our annual work conference and this year was a huge improvement on last year. In the main there were great speakers and along with the networking, there was quite an opportunity to hear how the district is doing and some specifics from those working on special projects within the department. During one of the sessions we did one of those life balance cycle exercises and I guess it was no surprise to find that work, family and friends were the only things that rated above 7 on the scale of 1 - 10, in level of importance in my life and most other areas were either flat lined or just slightly above. Hmmmmm food for thought indeed.  So,  I am now looking at what I can do to fill some of the flat line areas up somewhat. To that end, I have begun yet another sort through things I have piled up to do when I have time to do them ..... almost an exercise like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, lol.

 I realised I had not taken any photos since my cameras were stolen and that maybe getting another camera might be a step in the right direction. This was by way of getting my hard drive sorted out....... When I went to look for the cords to connect my hard drive to my laptop, I could not find the power pack so headed off to the local appliance shop to purchase a new one only to be told, - we only sell them, we do not have parts!! Snarl, spit, what is the point in that, snarl, spit again so the hapless person delivering the above news gave me two choices of places to go to MAYBE get what I wanted. I hied myself off the one with the easiest parking and there was blindsided by the news - yes we have a power pack but without knowing the amps or some such thing, it is difficult to know which one will work, if too high you may lose all your info and if too low, not to good either - hair now spiking with frazzledness and feeling fangs sharpening to fillet said person behind counter - ok then,  am now exceedingly over this, how do I get the info on the hard drive out of the tetra hard drive thingie so I can get access to all that I have stored on it -- ok, that is easy, I can get the inner hard drive thing out and we have a new case you can put it in for $48. Be still my bleeding heart!  No sooner said than done and why did it take nearly a nervous breakdown on the spot to get that piece of news! Within the space of 10 mins the bloke behind the counter had undone screws placed innards into new casing and given it a road test and all was good - yay - not only a new case with own power pack but also a usb connection and a stand for the hard drive to sit in. Now this place just happened to be two doors away from a Harvey Norman shop so thought why not check out the cameras while I was there - hence I am now the proud possessor of a new Fuji camera that has 30 zoom lens and will take 11 shots a second (when I learn how to do it, lol), it will also do panoramic shots and whoohoo, have had a go at that and it is amazing.


I have also been spending some time in my garden - revived from near death during the summer autumn  months, I have cut back bushes, pulled out lantana bushes that were becoming small trees (also poisonous plants and noxious weeds over here),  have eaten my first lettuces and spinach and hoping that the capsicums, courgettes, tomatoes and basil now take off.  I planted runner beans again but they are very lack lustre in their growth - it is probably cheaper to buy all the above mentioned vegetables by the time water consumption, plants, manure etc is taken into consideration but it is grounding I think to grow things.  I cut lavender stems the other week and stuffed them into a jug to make a nice display inside on the hearth and felt very hunter gatherish when harvesting my lettuces and spinach.  The citrus manuring from last season seems to have paid off and the small mandarin tree that had one  offering last year is smothered in blossom this year - will keep fingers crossed.

Have been visiting the ex workmates a fair bit lately - it is the season for reality talent shows again - The Voice, Australia's got Talent and now X Factor so at least once a week I get round depending on my shifts to try and watch the shows.  Have got into playing cards again - mainly Canasta at the moment and young Hayden has become very adept at playing,  so much concentration is involved with each highly contested game.  He has got very cheeky at his ability to beat his father and me every now and then, lol.  Brianna, the eldest daughter turned 18 earlier in the month and bought a brand new car for herself which is an awesome effort for someone her age.  She is getting it over four years and likely to have it paid off before that - both her mother and I shaking our heads as neither of us has ever owned a brand new car! She works full time now at Macca's and has already made management trainee so doing very well for herself indeed.

Good news over the past few weeks is that sister Kay came through an op after discovering a lump on her neck (that wasn't her head, lol), which turned out to be a tumour on her saliva gland (has some very fancy name which escapes me as I type).  The short version is that the tumour was benign (great release of held breath at that news), the surgeon removed 3cm of saliva gland and got all the tumour leaving Kay looking like she had been in a machete attack by pirates.  As people are wont to do after surgery, she did try to show me  the wound site several times - with me seeing plaster before I could close my eyes (which was bad enough) and I did remark she needed to have health warning mentioned before trying to display her wounds on skype. It seems you are not allowed to "excite" your taste buds for some weeks after this type of surgery as to produce huge amounts of saliva not only hurts but could put the surgery at risk, so befell a fate almost worse than death for a Naysmith - no salt, spice or interesting foods, no tomatoes or acidic fruit, no hot drinks to begin with - just bland, butterless, saltless, most basic of foods - no chocolate of any sort either .....With great strength of purpose, she followed the Dr's instructions and is now slowly reintroducing some taste back into her life, getting a twinge when she has gone too far but in the main, doing ok.  Once again skype came into its own and most days was able to catch up for a quick hello once she was home from surgery . 

Have finally booked my tickets home for next month and that was a marathon effort over two nights - I had requested leave at work which was defined by two lots of training, only to be told I could change the dates when one of the training times was put back from the end of October to December.  As I am trying to work around the impending arrival of the newest grandchild the change gave me a better option if the birth does not happen on the due date so had to rejig dates off work and by then all the flights I thought  I could get  changed as by then it made more sense to go to No 1 son's first in Wellington than to fly to Auckland then Wellington and back to Auckland effectively cutting out one extra flight. 

This has been written in several goes and so will not post before making a sandwich for lunch and heading to the foreshore for a ramble.  It is now the weekend and I have had the young lad I mentioned before since Friday night for emergency respite care while his carer is in hospital with pneumonia - luckily I had the weekend off and have training during the week so can manage drop offs and pickups around pre and after school care.  After three grey, windy and rainy days it is blue sunshine with a stiff breeze so washing is drying on the line and it is warm in sheltered spots.  Need to go as am being told he is starving, lol.  :)