Weariness of the Long Distance Blogger.

 

Well, another Christmas has been and gone. Gom and I have concluded we are feeling our age, and found it hard to get even mildly excited at the prospect.

Of course we did our best for our little SG, since he is still only 7 years old. I decided at the last minute, I would put up a tree, for his sake, & to make things a little more ‘festive’. We have not had one for the past 3 years, as we have gone to our daughter’s for Christmas Day. I am absolutely low key, (read, non participating) when it comes to Yuletide Decorating. However, this year, it was to be at our house, since SIL had to sleep in preparation for a Night Duty.

 

Big Mistake, about the tree. Gom grumpily stumped off downstairs to ‘find the damn thing’, after declaring he hoped I was joking, and “he didn’t want one put up!”. After much thumping & muttering & shuffling & rearranging of stored items, he was nowhere to be seen. Finally, I ventured down the stairs to see what the hell was going on.

Now, much has been written and said, here in Oz, about the importance of a man’s Shed. To be fully, shall we say, ‘well’ a man needs a shed. Even if he just sits in it, or endlessly rearranges the contents, it is vital to a man’s mental wellbeing. Gom does not have a shed, ~ which some could say, explains a lot!~ but he does have the double garage. We only have one car. So, he has got a ‘shed’, in the sense that he is totally in charge of it, and happily rearranges it just when I have located items I actually own, & still occasionally wish to use.

 

Since the Christmas Tree had been ‘stored’ since the last use, it has probably moved locale several times. It turned out, it could not be located at all! I was somewhat angered at this, but I was absolutely incensed at the suggestion “It must have got thrown away at some time”. The inference was clear- he was saying I must have thrown it away!The only person who has access to the bloody garage is Gom. He has claimed it as ‘his Shed’ so how could he dare to stand there and infer I must have somehow accidentally, or unconsciously thrown the tree away?? Very uncharitable and unChristmassy thoughts were hurled in his direction.

When I asked about the decorations he declared he had found those. Upon inspection, I don’t think they contain the family treasures we have kept since our children were small. I suspect the mysterious swine person who threw away the tree, must have also got rid of those family treasures. Ornaments I bought to celebrate our grandchildren’s births, first Christmases. Ornaments our own children had hand made, as well as some our granddaughter had made as she grew up. I think the shabby box he has kept are the rejects. I was too dispirited to examine them too closely, in case I killed him on the spot!  Sheesh! Is it any wonder I get depressed!

 

On a brighter note, our son had come from the City to stay a few days, and he brought his car, which he loves. He has recently had it re registered since it had been off the road for approximately 6 years. It is a 1962 Pushbutton Automatic Series S Valiant (for the ‘car’ people). In fact it is the third one he has owned, and is by far his favourite.

If you look carefully, just to the right of the front of his car, is the ‘dead’ brick ‘gateway’ block our car ‘killed’ when it rolled over the road. See This post.

As it happened it was persisting down with rain, as he left for home. We had a nice cool Yule, as it were, for once. It began to rain on Christmas Day, & remained wet until 28th, so, though it was damp, it was comfortable.

 

Look who came to live with me!! I had jokingly asked Secret Santa for a Golly. Wow! What a Golly I got!

As it happened my SIL drew me, & he told the story of almost being lynched in one shop when he asked if they sold ‘Golliwogs’? 

He was told,chillingly, “We don’t call them that, and we don’t stock politically offensive items!”

Well pooh to them. We loved them as kids & they are just cuddly toys, for goodness sake! Golly looks very happy on my bed, & I am sure he will love being surrounded by my TBR pile of books!

 

I was also gifted a wonderful Topsy Turvy Tomato, by friends, planted upside down in a bag, & the idea is they dont touch the ground, give wonderful fruit, and are easy to grow with great success.

Alas, I cannot show a picture, because tragedy struck on Boxing Day and the hook upon which we had hung the tomato bag, came plummeting to earth, as the hook  wrenched from the bricks. Of course the result of that was, that the poor plant was snapped off at the roots, and all that remained was a maimed stump! I badly wanted to cry!

However another gift they gave me is looking very well, so I will have to learn how to care for it.

Those who read here often will be aware I am very fond of owls, so it is perfect.

 

Not all is gloom, with the rain, we have had some perking up in the garden- though not of the vegetable variety. Here is the Ixora, which continues to flower most of the year. It has grown into the ground, through the bottom of it’s pot, so it is flourishing.

 

 

I had intended doing a post prior to Christmas to wish all my Blogosphere friends Seasons Greetings, & wish you all Joy for the Season. Now, I wish you all a wonderful New Year, with health & good fortune throughout 2010.

 

I know there are more modern versions of this song, by Michael Buble and Rod Stewart, but who can resist the velvet that was Nat King Cole’s voice. My wish for Everyone’s New Year.

Fate’s Fickle Fingers…

 

Yesterday I wrote a perfectly sane and amusing- well, I thought so- post. Glossing over the ugly bits, to make them appear funny, and light reading.

I must have just accidentally hit some key, only to have the whole thing vanish without trace!

 

We have been having a somewhat trying time of various things lately, & the vanished post seemed somehow, to be the Last Straw!

I searched in vain for the lost post- haha- then took myself off to bed in High Dudgeon.

As I am now using Windows Writer to do my posts, I don’t have the Autosave feature that Blogger has. Win some, lose some. Perhaps it was a lesson to teach me to periodically click on ‘Save Draft’.

 

I have taken myself off to have a dreaded blood test, which is no biggie, just routine, but I have ‘shy veins’. They hate being stuck with any sharp objects. The bloodsuckers I mean blood takers always assure me they can find a suitable vein with no ‘digging’. Invariably they lie, & I end up having the blood taken from the back of my hand, having had holes poked in all directions. I was most amazed when this morning’s blood taker had success at finding a vein- “As big as Texas” she said. Also, & most importantly, it was not painful!

 

Our ancient Airconditioner finally gave up the ghost, & comepletely died. Yes, on the hottest day this year- so far! At it was fully ducted system, it would cost the funding & feeding of a small nation to have replaced. We are settling for something within our modest means, & are promised that this Friday it  shall be installed. Thankfully the weather has been only moderately hot while we have suffered with no great means of cooling down. We have a large room downstairs, which remains about 8 degrees cooler on a really hot day. We have spent some time down there trying to read & amuse ourselves & keep the dogs from ripping out the screen door at every passer by.

 

Speaking of our canine kids, I bit the bullet on Sunday, & attempted the massive clipping, and bathing. I managed to get Honey quite balded, much to her disgust.

 

 

 

I could not get her to sit down for me, & so this is her begging pose, as much as to say “No more! Please!”

 

Leo just will not cooperate for a photo shoot, & I am ashamed to say, he beat me with his legs, & just refused to tolerate me clipping them, so I think he will have to go to the groomer.

 

Another little stab from fate, was the shatting breakdown of our TV. We had luckily taken out an extended Warranty, so we rang up to see what we needed to do. We were told they no longer stock our model, so we could have a refund, or Store Credit. We took the credit & hightailed it off to choose another, more modern, & very satisfactory Televisual appliance. Of course, it cost more & it is not exactly the time of year for having to purchase mammoth appliances. Mind you, only the price was mammoth, (well, mammoth-ish)we chose a very modest sized TV.

 

We were very proud of our SG as he won the Class Award this year. I was taking some photos to send to his other Grandparents, & he asked if I would put him on the Blog. He is rightly very proud of himself. 

 

We had SG to stay with us on Friday night, & on Saturday morning, we thought he might enjoy looked at some garage sales with us. We duly got ready & he stood beside me, outside the garage, whilst Gom was reversing the car out onto the drive.

I am paranoid about children & vehicles, & either get them seated & belted in the vehicle, or I hold onto them to ensure no accidents happen. We were standing together when we heard a loud cracking noise. Uh oh, I thought, Gom has hit something.

I ventured into the garage to see what the problem was, & the leaf blower, had fallen off the shelf, & was now wedged between the front wheel & the bumper bar.  Gom decided he would push the car forward, so I could release the blower. Which would have been fine, except he released the handbrake, & as I released the blower, I noticed the car was gently moving!

Of course I shrieked out, & Gom tried to stop the car, with his body. By now it was gathering momentum, & approaching the doorway of the garage, which was lucky, as Gom had to leap aside. We had had no idea our garage floor had any slope. As our drive is quite steep, we could tell, it was inevitable the car was on it’s way across the road, heading towards two neighbour’s houses. Thank goodness Gom was inside the garage and also thank goodness SG was also inside, as instinct is not always wise, & I would hate to think one of them might have thought they could stop the car from rolling.

As it happened our neighbours had a smallish gate pillar about 3 feet high, made of solid bricks. Thank goodness the car came to an abrupt stop, knocking the gatepost out of the ground, but halting progress of the runaway car. SG was hysterical & Gom was so upset. I think I was just so relieved we were all ok, but it was still a shocking thing to have watched, & it left us quite shattered.

Our neighbours were out as it happened, & when the young husband came home, he had not even noticed his ‘dead’ gate pillar! Gom went over to apologise, & the young man was quite surprised, but not very alarmed- plus he had had his wisdom teeth removed, so had worse things to worry about!

We could hardly believe our luck, when Gom drove the car back up our drive, the only damage done was a little paint scraped off the bumper! As there is a very steep drop to either house opposite ours, things could have been very dire indeed, so we did get off very lightly. Needless to say, we went nowhere that day, but did thank fate for small mercies.

And I confess, every time I looked at the knocked down pillar, I had to laugh to myself.

 

In other happy news, look at this Gorgeous little Soul. She is the Granddaughter of a dear friend, & I think she has been this way before, with those wise eyes.

I am still trying to pretend that Christmas is not going to happen, & there have been times I have felt sure it won’t!

 

I wonder if anyone remembers this is the song they played to wake the Astronauts on the moon, in 1969.

Happy Birthday SIL.

We have had SG here for half our day. He arrived early, with his mother, all ready for his day, & his breakfast. He was greeting by an enthusiastic Leo, & a not quite so enthusiastic Honey.
He watched some of the new Santa movie, that his Grandfather got for him, & then decided to go out to help in the garden with Gom. Hm, least said the better about that little jaunt.

It is very hot & the sun was streaming relentlessly down, around the time they were in the garden. I dont understand why Gom chooses the hottest of days to 'do the garden'.

It is SG's father's birthday today. He is 39. He had to work, so he was away at 6am, & wont be home until after 6pm. I made him a Chocolate Souffle Roll, which he had hinted broadly & loudly that he would really like, for his birthday. SG supervised the making of the cake, then we went to the shop to get some cream to fill it, & so SG had to supervise that, then the making of the icing, & he was so excited, he felt it needed wrapping, but I managed to convince him that is not an option.

After the cake production there was some hanging out in the Cubby in the lounge, & quilts were draped everywhere. He has got very good about putting them all away when he has finished. Though Gom found his undies left in the toilet after he had gone home! He forgets to put them on again, sometimes!




We had visitors yesterday, & it was a nice afternoon, sitting out in the green garden, even if the green was from weeds! At least they give the illusion of cool! Most of them have been uprooted & now there is bare earth, & it will just dry out, & go hard, I suppose.

SG planted some seeds, & gave them some water, so I hope they grow.

This was the sky's little promise this morning, at 5.20am. It is amazing how quickly the colour changes.

Yesterday looked quite different, & had a mellow pink glow, & the small smudge higher up.

The mist was a forewarning of the humidity to come, though it cleared for a little & I think the wind changed. The mist lies across the valley.

****

I will be glad when Gom gets his new hearing aids. At present we have some loud Televisual experiences. Not to mention the slightly frustrated repeated remarks of conversation.

We have just watched American Gangster & for entertainment I rate it high. I dont care what opinions are about Russell Crowe, I think he is a really good actor, & of course, I am secretly in love with Denzel Washington.

We also watched Rescue Dawn, & though it had aspects which spoilt it, to our Kiwi eyes, I did find most of it engrossing.

Hairspray... what were they thinking?? We didnt bother to watch it all the way through.

Now we are having rolling thunder. Leo was very frightened earlier, & would not leave my side, but now he is keeping close to Gom. I dont think we are going to get any rain out of the black thunderheads, it is all roar & no rain.

Joe Cocker, Dear Landlord

The Little Man with the Hammer..

This is a pic of our 'Fuzzy Reality'. Last evening. The sun was setting, & cast a glare upon the photo. I usually crop them, so that no neighbours are visible.
To the right of the photo is our spare room window- which is where I sit to sew, & also compose my posts.
The window beyond that is our bedroom window, which looks out over the valley, & down to the village.

On the left is the palm tree, which grows at the front or our balcony. It is a Bangalow Palm, which are native to Australia, & I am very fond of it.


Across the road is our neighbour's drive way. He shares this with people who live on a block hehind his. He is a friend, & he lives alone. He is a tradesman, who is generous with his time & his skills, to his neighbours.

It is nice to feel we know our neighbours, & have acquaintanceship with them. They are all nice people, & I am sure, would be supportive should we need them. We are on call, should they need us, & it is nice to be called upon occasionally, & nice to know they can feel comfortable enough with us, to call when necessary.

I feel this is how neighbourhoods should be. We should all be here, to support one another, if the need arises.

We had very aged sisters, who were accross the road from us. We ran errands, & visited often. They both had to go into homes. Have both passed away. I have cried at their passing. Another couple, lovely neighbourly people died within 2 months of each other. Shockingly, unexpectedly. Nice, new folk bought the houses. We are here, should they need us.

I feel we were brought up with those ideals. Our Grandmother was a friend to the neighbourhood. She was called 'Danny', my childish nickname for her, by all our neighbours. They all came to consult with her at various times, & she was loved & respected by many who knew her. She kept her wise counsel, & never gossiped. She was a true lady, I feel.

To return to the little man with the hammer.
We had SG today, for some hours. He has a very heavy cold, with accompanying cough, a rather brochitic sounding one. Each day we have had him, I have tried to steer clear of the involuntary coughs errupting. I have got him to blow his poor litte nose, to rid of the green mucous. Placing the tissues into the toilet or the waste bin, hoping not to spread the bacteria. Washing his & my hands, hoping to prevent cross infection.

He was reminiscing about his babyhood this afternoon. Asking why he was absent from photos of his parents with is sister. I tried to explain, he was not even an egg whe the photos were taken. He couldn't seem to grasp it all.

He reminded me, that I used to cradle him in my arms when he was a baby. I used to hold him till he slept, & he said, "I used to sleep in your arms Nanna" I agreed, that was true. He snuggled into me, & went to sleep this afternoon.

We had a friend come to visit. He watched SG fall asleep, lying in the crook of my arm. He noticed I looked very tired. I was. The little man with the hammer was in the back of my head. At the base of my skull. Reminding me, I need some rest. I am tired.

But, who could resist the trust of a little boy, resting, so blissfully safe, uaware of life's harsh realities? So safe, in his Nanna's arms. Safe from the outside world, of expectations. Of life's unpleasantries. Just. Peacefully. Safe.

The little man with the hammer can call again another day. Perhaps I will give him time, attention. But today he can get in the queue, behind SG. Who needs my attention more.


Perry Como, (I think) Catch a Falling Star.

I love those lyrics.
"Catch a falling star,
And put it in your pocket.
Save it for a rain day.

And when that rainy day comes a calling,Some starless night
You'll have a pocket full of starlight...

Those lyrics could be incorrect, & I hope I havent breached copyright!!