August
This month: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! > Staying with Marnie and Hoo? >
Pa on the mend > Pa's in hossy!
Thursday 31 August - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!
It's John H.'s birthday today so lets all sing with unreserved joy and strains of sympathy for the poor old fart (that's German for father) with the broken ankle. Just incase you haven't heard, I'll give you the goss: dad was enjoying his second day at the snow (it's alright for some) when he decided to really go for it (some might say he 'gunned' it) down a certain slope/ski-run thingy, safely arriving at the bottom much to his pride and joy. Only he thought to himself that at his age (well, yes) he probably ought to take it a bit easier next time cos you never know when you might come a-cropper, so to speak. So back up he went. And back down he came, only infinitely more carefully and lets face it, more grandpa-like, when... in a you-wouldn't-read-about-it moment, he slowly, and no doubt gracefully, CAME A-CROPPER!!! Oh the irony... oh the PAIN!!! Poor daddy...!
I wonder if there's moral to that story? Never hesitate to 'gun' it? The faster you go, the more fun you'll have? Well, the said ankle had to be pinned in place and the said grandpa is recovering at home... but don't be too concerned because I've strongly encouraged him to milk it for all it's worth and he's strongly assured me 'oh I WILL'... Word has it that he's even secured for himself a disability parking ticket, and let me tell you as one with experience, this can quite liberate your car-parking career and is almost worth hurling yourself down a ski slope for (however slowly), especially with the parking situation as it is in manly.
Check out the latest on the corkboard...
Thursday 24 - Staying with Marnie and Hoo?
Hello! Suffering from the change-of-season sniffles and throat-thingy at the moment. Taking lots of echinacea which has so far prevented a full-blown cold from developing, but it's left me in that no-man's-land of: am-I-really-too-sick-to-fold-and-iron-that-massive-pile-of-washing-behind-me? sort of place.. not bed-ridden, but a decided 'under-the-weather' feel... So, I think I've decided that I AM too sick to attend to the washing, but well enough to attend to my blog. Oh happy day.
Last weekend I went up to Katoomba to attend an annual conference called ReachOut to learn more about the possibility of doing some voluntary work overseas in the distant future. Lots to think about!
I stayed with Marnie and Hoo (Hugh) which was very lovely cos we haven't seen each other in such a long time. Here's some pics that I took while I was there:
Marnie & Hoo on their balcony with blazing wattle tree in the background which unfortunately you can't see cos it's overexposed at the back but try to imagine it...
Marnie-the-elder & Marnie-the-younger (it's a bit confusing to use Big-Marnie & Little-Marnie anymore for obvious reasons...)
Marnie & Hoo have a wonderful garden which is just busting to bloom the minute spring starts. There's great buds on everything. Will be quite a picture in a few weeks.
Some of the daffodils are leading the way...
My friend Carmel came over to visit us this week to take some pics for a photography and graphic design project she's doing at college. Here are the 2 she liked the best:
There's lots of new pics and news on the corkboard too so click here to have a look.
Sunday 13 - Pa's on the mend
There's been lots of post-op sleep for Pa this week without too much interest in being 'out-and-about'. So I thought it was a pretty good sign when he asked me what was on the program for the day over breakfast this morning... Admittedly a bit of complacency had set in so in my lack-of-a-modis-operandi state I had to think on my feet and came up with the highly original: "what about a movie?". That got the nod of approval and I headed straight for the internet to see if there was possibly a movie showing in Sydney that we haven't seen yet. The other day I made a list of all the movies we've seen so far this year and there was 46 - not including all the dvd's we've gotten out... So going to see a movie can actually present some challenge, as you can imagine. Which is why we went to see 'Sophie Scholl' today which is another Nazi-Germany flick. Although Pa's review would be: "not very cheery" or possibly even "take a pillow and catch up on some zzz's", it was actually a compelling story about a German girl and her brother who courageouly stood up for their anti-Nazi beliefs and were subsequently tried and executed. Definitely worth a watch for another perspective on the Nazi-German experience.
This week I caught up with Vanessa, my old high-school bestie. She has 2 gorgeous children called Isabella and Liam. Here are some pics I took of them climbing a tree...
We also had fun drawing together and you can see the pictures the kids drew for me on the original artworks page here
Check out the new pics on the corkboard here
Thursday 3 - Pa in hossy!
Due to the tardiness this posting, you may not be aware that Poor-Dear-Pa (as he likes to refer to himself in times of trial) has been in hospital for the past 6 days. A nasty squamous skin cancer thingy on his left shin was removed along with half his leg and he had to have a skin graft and everything. Poor-Dear-Pa!! He's been very brave though and coped with the nurses giving him daily massages of the back (and other bits) and being fed "every ten minutes". But alas, no prawns... and lets face it, hospital food is designed to motivate healing by the mere fact that you're desperate to get home to have a decent meal.
Considering he wasn't allowed out of bed for the entire time (so the graft had the best chance of doing it's thing), he's making fine progress. We went for a wee walk up the road this afternoon and we'll work on getting that a bit longer tomorrow. He's in especially good spirits at the present moment as M*A*S*H has just this week replaced Wheel of Fortune in the Beer O'Clock time slot. A bit of ale can do wonders for the general outlook upon life... at least temporarily... Not to mention the fact that it will be home-made risotto for dinner tonight. Things are really looking up for our Poor-Dear-Pa.
I decided it wouldn't be all that appropriate to act like a Japanese tourist amongst the ill and ailing at the hospital, so you'll have to imagine for yourself one Pa in one hospital bed with one sore leg... And instead, here is photographic evidence of one sunset that I had the pleasure of capturing this week... along with a bit of lavender.
Oh, and click here to check out Phillipa being a hair super-model, a-la Nichole Kidman...
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