Busy, busy people. Well done for all your achievements.
Unlike me. I needed my car serviced and no TAFE (college) on Tuesdays for the rest of term. So I hopped on the train* to Muswellbrook, up in the Hunter Valley, enjoying the rural scenery, a vineyard, numerous waterbirds and several kangaroos, and I just passed this rather impressive home perched on a hill I googled to find out what in earth it was!
There are three mansions in close proximity @Climacus. Neotsfield, closer to the Hunter River and north of the railway and highway is the oldest. When I worked in Singleton a couple of decades or more ago, the house was owned by one of my colleagues and her husband, and we had the pleasure of visiting the house.
To the east of Baroona, you have Minimbah House. There is a fascinating history which links the pioneering Dangar family with the three houses and which highlights some of the petty jealousies engendered.
I have 3 medical appointments this week. The first is a GP visit tomorrow (Wednesday) - unlikely to be serious, just medication - fingers crossed,
The second Thursday) is a scan at a medical place I don't know, so I'm taking a taxi. Depending how it goes I may take a taxi home too, the last thing I need to face is a bus full of noisy people after having already used all my energy holding myself together.
The third (Friday) is a hospital clinic and while I have been there before, I'm more tense than usual because the results, combined with Thursday's scan may show scary stuff, but equally they may not.
Saturday I relax, (haha) Sunday is a day of meditation, then Monday the drainage blokes arrive to fix the earthquake damage and I'm getting out to a place that has a usable toilet.
As you can probably understand I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I would appreciate prayers and positive thoughts. I may be panicking unnecessarily, but it's a lot in a short time.
After all that's over all I have booked in the remaining weeks before Christmas is a massage and a Christmas party. YaY!
Today I caught 9 buses, Just as well I have a Gold card (over 65) so it cost me nothing.
We have a chain of shops (Briscoes) that has almost permanent sales so I went there first because todays specials included sheets and a friend had said he needed some. I asked if he wanted sheets or something more exciting for Christmas, and sheets it was. I found the last pair of Fieldcrest, a brand my mother recommended years ago - but could seldom afford. While I was wandering around I saw some other things I wanted that weren't on special, but was told they were likely to be tomorrow so I will return.
Apart from that I am exhausted so I'm having an early night.
🙏🏻 for positive bishop outcomes @Zappa - we could do with some news that the nasties don’t always succeed
Currently, as I've written in my pew sheet, the election outcome has to go the rounds of the bishops - probably complete by now, and then the General Synod membership. Caught between the already and the not yet (like Advent really) but it will be nice when the diocese can move on.
Not too bad @Climacus - yesterday the temperature here reached 30C here, so nothing short of a very long cold bath would have helped. I had a wonderful chocolate and ice cream confection on the way home and that helped.
I now have yet another visit to the hospital clinic, but that was the easiest and the nurses are brilliant, so I'm not as stressed as I was.
Glad to hear you survived the appointments @Huia and a treat is certainly the order of the day!
I used to find that a clinic report back was normally not as drastic as getting an unexpected phone call, but I suppose it's horses for courses. Hoping for good news for you!
Very glad of a cloudy day here and a spot of weeding. A few hot days similar to your own hot one @Huia and bler, whoever sent those can keep them!
I saw some parts of Sydney had some flooding, but some rain here will be welcome!
@Zappa when will you get the final word of the new leader? Before Christmas? Waiting is hard, especially when having to keep quiet about these things. I know it would just about drive me mad, but I bet you are better than me at these things!!
Jacaranda season here too, we get white jacarandas as well, very eye-catching. Less common than they used to be: jacarandas, along with flamboyants and bougainvillea, were planted by the British all over the colonies of the southern hemisphere but are now considered invasive water-guzzlers to be replaced by indigenous trees.
There are lots of jacarandas around here. A very different climate to that in Grafton but they grow and flower well. Almost all all are the mauve variety and they look great amongst the eucalypts and angophoras.
After some hot weather and rain here, as per Cherry Gardener, the mosquitoes have returned. And our backyard frog, a very noisy bugger even now (06:15), though usually at night, has now taken up residence in the hose reel near my window.
For any who know my area, St James' Morpeth is having an Advent Carol service Sunday afternoon. I last attended there in 2002, I think, as part of a parish retreat (yes, a session was delayed as Father and several others returned late from a winery ha ha). Be nice to go back.
@Zappa when will you get the final word of the new leader? Before Christmas? Waiting is hard, especially when having to keep quiet about these things. I know it would just about drive me mad, but I bet you are better than me at these things!!
Should know something public by the end of this coming week, so not quite that bad.
So far as I can tell nothing has leaked, which is unusual for Anglicans.
Howdy all.
Best wishes Huia and Zappa for results (Huia negative and Zappa positive).
We just harvested a fully grown vet.
They were 3 when I found this barge via St Pixels.
It is amazing the changes Snow and I have seen in that time!
Sigh, enough worcrastinating...Please note I read relatively often still - and enjoy hearing the ongoing stories of us mob.
Congratulations @Patdys. Hope they do well. It’s not always an easy job. Unless you have moved, we are currently visiting your fair city for a family wedding.
Went with friends to a shopping mall over the mountains yesterday and had a Scrooge mini-melt-down at the Black Friday crowds, hideous secular carol muzak (Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey's saccharine All I Want for Christmas is You on repeat) and tawdry over-priced bling. Came home with a few small gifts and a large bunch of kale. I must be the only person in the global West-influenced world not to have realised it was the sales frenzy of Black Friday.
Made myself a kale smoothie this morning and went for a bracing walk, smiled and chatted to people I met, came home and saw in the bathroom mirror that lurid green fibrous bits of kale were stuck between my teeth. One of the things about living alone is that nobody is there to tell you not to leave the house looking like Scrooge the Bunny.
@Patdys, congratulations on your vet. With all my assorted cats over the years I have come to appreciate the various vets who have helped with their advice and care.
Today I'm doing a day mindfulness retreat. The 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course has a full day meditation at week 6 and anyone who has already done a course can attend. It will be a bit strange joining the group for a day, but the timing is great for me as I want to get back to a regular meditation practice, having lapsed in the last year.
I may even meet some participants from previous courses.
Congratulations to your new vet @Patdys, that's a lovely achievement. I hope they will enjoy their career.
@Huia, I hope the retreat day goes well and that it's beneficial for you.
Hope others have had some refreshing rain. We had a decent drop yesterday (almost 40mm) and everything is looking fresh and beautiful this morning. As it was a much cooler day, I was out in my gumboots and showerproof jacket, deadheading things and getting rid of a heap of suckers in our driveway. Our Manchurian pears seem to produce them madly, however it looks so much better now it's done.
Today we are having morning tea with some friends we made 21 years ago when our kids were unwell, their son was about 8 weeks ahead of us in treatment, so we had a lot in common and were often staying at the hospital at the same time. It is always lovely to see them and spend time chewing the fat with them.
@Gee D the mix of the jacarandas and angophoras sounds just beautiful.
@MaryLouise the sales sounded very hectic and stressful. I have done a tiny bit of online shopping and do not miss going to the shops in person, at all!
@Patdys congratulations on the vet harvest. We are always inspired by the students at our university vet clinic and enjoy hearing their stories about their next steps when they reach their final year.
@Cheery Gardener we’re glad to hear about the rain, as we’re away for a few days, so our garden will not suffer for our absence. Hope your morning tea went well.
Thanks @WormInTheGrass! I am pretty sure your garden won't suffer any damage in your absence (fingers crossed) and you might need just to mow the lawn when you get home. We are having some hot and humid days.
Morning Tea was lovely and I think we got home about 2.30 and had some really funny conversations and some serious ones too about our kids and potential for depression and trauma rearing it's head in later life. The worst is over, but in many ways, it's never really over!
Am enjoying the sunshine this morning and the grass seems to be growing as I watch it!
The blokes who were sorting out the drainage (earthquake damage) have finished, part from replacing concrete at the back of the house. I had my backpack all sorted and ready to go out when I realised I didn't have to and promptly burst into tears of relief. Today I can stay home and not talk to anyone except Aroha, my cat.
Yesterday I was very grateful to the friend whose house I invaded, and (to my shame) even more when he was called away and I had his house to myself. He kindly drove me home through rush hour traffic, saving me from catching 2 buses home. Then, before I had time to have even a cup of tea my neighbour came over to rewire the garage, kind and helpful, yes, but the timing was bad.
I know to some people it may sound selfish, but, in the words of the great Greta Garbo, "I want to be alone."
George, a lovely man I worked with many years ago had a sign he used to put at the end of his driveway saying, "Bugger Off World." I wish I dared.
Beware of outing in any responses, but my diocese has elected and announced a fine bishop. I can't master urls I'm afraid, so just take my word for it!
Aotearoa /NZ has come a long way since a university chaplain commented to me that the Anglican church chose it's Bishops on the strength of their war record. (the Bishop he was alluding to shall remain nameless).
I've just popped in to say that I'm melting here and am hoping we get some lower temps over the weekend.
Tomorrow will be quick trip to the Swedish shop to buy a suitably festive tin for Prof's Christmas cake and if it remains hot, that will probably be the only outing for the weekend.
Husband has just come home feeling hot and cross with work and I'm glad he decided to give the work Christmas party a miss. It was all inside and very crowded.
Am glad to report that new Covid jabs are booked for next week and I hope it's minimal after effects as I have a Christmas get together with friends planned.
I was curious do many us here go away for Christmas? I try to avoid it as I love being here when everyone else is away. I wondered how others spend their festive time
Our lawn has survived unexpectedly well, @Cheery Gardener probably helped a lot by the rain last weekend. At the rate that it’s raining now, it will probably be a forest in the morning.
I've just popped in to say that I'm melting here and am hoping we get some lower temps over the weekend.
Tomorrow will be quick trip to the Swedish shop to buy a suitably festive tin for Prof's Christmas cake and if it remains hot, that will probably be the only outing for the weekend.
Husband has just come home feeling hot and cross with work and I'm glad he decided to give the work Christmas party a miss. It was all inside and very crowded.
Am glad to report that new Covid jabs are booked for next week and I hope it's minimal after effects as I have a Christmas get together with friends planned.
I was curious do many us here go away for Christmas? I try to avoid it as I love being here when everyone else is away. I wondered how others spend their festive time
I will spend Xmas in Hobart with amiable spouse ( who is on call like it or no).
I'm getting the new Covid jab next week, despite my neighbour's attempt to persuade me otherwise. She has had none and had Covid once. I've had them regularly and haven't had Covid. I'm sticking with mainstream medical advice, but if this one kills me she has my full permission to say, "I told you so." I would annoy her though as she wants to buy my house when I no longer need it and she doesn't yet have enough money to do so.
I prefer to stay home at Christmas. Travel is always more expensive and crowded then and the cattery is booked out well in advance. A longstanding friend and I have Christmas lunch together, while Boxing day I go to another friends house.
Today I'm going to a Christmas lunch for community library volunteers.
I hope your lunch has gone well, @Huia, it's the beginning of the round of celebrations and catch-up before Dec 25.
I love the idea of having lunch with close friends, I've often wanted to do this and have some friends in mind, I'm waiting to hear about their plans.
I love the idea of your neighbour being annoyed because you departed before they were ready, that kind of tickles my naughty funny bone.
Today has been sticky and unpleasant and I've done nothing very much, just a couple of loads of laundry. Tomorrow will be a baking day as daughter would like some gingerbread men for her work colleagues. She doesn't have many shifts left at work this year, so tomorrow is definitely the day! I might have to rise early to make sure I beat the heat
I'm hoping you all realised (I think you did) that episcopal appointment that I mentioned is not this soon-to-retire reprobate, but someone I know quite well, and approve of! I'm retiring no later than June 30 next year, will take three months leave of absence to "drive the loop" in Oz, then return to the official (tee hee) post of episcopal chauffeur.
And the happy knowledge that this diocese that I have come to love is in Bloody Good Hands.
As you loop the East island, don't forget we have some beautiful aged reds, some of which are stored in a chimney about 10 metres away. Southern hospitality is not just a USA thing.
Rather warm and humid of late here too, Cheery Gardener.
Hurrah for good friends, Huia; I can understand wanting to be alone.
I stay around here for Christmas. There will be a quick trip up the coast afterwards to annoy the unsuspecting mission parish our priest serves at and a trip to the Snowy Mountains after "Old Calendar" Christmas (January 7) with friends (considering visiting the Antiochian monastery/parish I visited earlier this year on the way back).
Chastmastr posted on *another social medium*'s Ship page, and loadsa familiar folk piled in, so I thought "wonder if ye olde barque is still afloat"? And wotcha know, my log-in works, and among recent posters here is my own dear wife. So hi folkses.
I like the sound of your Christmas plans @Climacus, but not so much your humidity, similar to our own. Yesterday was another day of flaking and TV watching, but hurrah today is much cooler and more baking has been completed.
Gingerbread men and Christmas trees have been produced with the help of Cheery Daughter for her workmates. Cheery son thoughtfully provided us with the amusement playing his audiobook version of The Button House archives to enjoy and the morning flew past and even got the washing up done before lunch.
Before baking a run was done to the Swedish shop for a tin to post our cake in, and I'm glad I made it there at opening time, as a lot of their Christmas stuff was looking picked over, but the trip was successful and I think it will work out fine.
Cheery husband has put up the tree, I need to find our advent candles and yes, I know I'm running late, but better late than never. The wreath is on the front door and I have some boxes of decorations to unpack and put around.
In a fit of activity, husband has also put Christmas lights on our hedge and on the side closest to the house he's put out some lights which are Christmas trees. However, we are not sure whether they will work (or not0, so it's a bit of an experiment!
Comments
Unlike me. I needed my car serviced and no TAFE (college) on Tuesdays for the rest of term. So I hopped on the train* to Muswellbrook, up in the Hunter Valley, enjoying the rural scenery, a vineyard, numerous waterbirds and several kangaroos, and I just passed this rather impressive home perched on a hill I googled to find out what in earth it was!
* very nice to be in the a/c today!
To the east of Baroona, you have Minimbah House. There is a fascinating history which links the pioneering Dangar family with the three houses and which highlights some of the petty jealousies engendered.
The second Thursday) is a scan at a medical place I don't know, so I'm taking a taxi. Depending how it goes I may take a taxi home too, the last thing I need to face is a bus full of noisy people after having already used all my energy holding myself together.
The third (Friday) is a hospital clinic and while I have been there before, I'm more tense than usual because the results, combined with Thursday's scan may show scary stuff, but equally they may not.
Saturday I relax, (haha) Sunday is a day of meditation, then Monday the drainage blokes arrive to fix the earthquake damage and I'm getting out to a place that has a usable toilet.
As you can probably understand I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I would appreciate prayers and positive thoughts. I may be panicking unnecessarily, but it's a lot in a short time.
After all that's over all I have booked in the remaining weeks before Christmas is a massage and a Christmas party. YaY!
Of all the things Ive lost, I miss my mind the most.
We have a chain of shops (Briscoes) that has almost permanent sales so I went there first because todays specials included sheets and a friend had said he needed some. I asked if he wanted sheets or something more exciting for Christmas, and sheets it was. I found the last pair of Fieldcrest, a brand my mother recommended years ago - but could seldom afford. While I was wandering around I saw some other things I wanted that weren't on special, but was told they were likely to be tomorrow so I will return.
Apart from that I am exhausted so I'm having an early night.
Currently, as I've written in my pew sheet, the election outcome has to go the rounds of the bishops - probably complete by now, and then the General Synod membership. Caught between the already and the not yet (like Advent really) but it will be nice when the diocese can move on.
I hope and pray the three appointments went well, Huia. Enjoy the relaxation and meditation weekend!
I now have yet another visit to the hospital clinic, but that was the easiest and the nurses are brilliant, so I'm not as stressed as I was.
I used to find that a clinic report back was normally not as drastic as getting an unexpected phone call, but I suppose it's horses for courses. Hoping for good news for you!
Very glad of a cloudy day here and a spot of weeding. A few hot days similar to your own hot one @Huia and bler, whoever sent those can keep them!
I saw some parts of Sydney had some flooding, but some rain here will be welcome!
@Zappa when will you get the final word of the new leader? Before Christmas? Waiting is hard, especially when having to keep quiet about these things. I know it would just about drive me mad, but I bet you are better than me at these things!!
There are lots of jacarandas around here. A very different climate to that in Grafton but they grow and flower well. Almost all all are the mauve variety and they look great amongst the eucalypts and angophoras.
After some hot weather and rain here, as per Cherry Gardener, the mosquitoes have returned. And our backyard frog, a very noisy bugger even now (06:15), though usually at night, has now taken up residence in the hose reel near my window.
For any who know my area, St James' Morpeth is having an Advent Carol service Sunday afternoon. I last attended there in 2002, I think, as part of a parish retreat (yes, a session was delayed as Father and several others returned late from a winery ha ha). Be nice to go back.
Should know something public by the end of this coming week, so not quite that bad.
So far as I can tell nothing has leaked, which is unusual for Anglicans.
Best wishes Huia and Zappa for results (Huia negative and Zappa positive).
We just harvested a fully grown vet.
They were 3 when I found this barge via St Pixels.
It is amazing the changes Snow and I have seen in that time!
Sigh, enough worcrastinating...Please note I read relatively often still - and enjoy hearing the ongoing stories of us mob.
Great to see and hear from you here Patdys too.
Sending good-luck vibes to both @Huia and @Zappa
Went with friends to a shopping mall over the mountains yesterday and had a Scrooge mini-melt-down at the Black Friday crowds, hideous secular carol muzak (Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey's saccharine All I Want for Christmas is You on repeat) and tawdry over-priced bling. Came home with a few small gifts and a large bunch of kale. I must be the only person in the global West-influenced world not to have realised it was the sales frenzy of Black Friday.
Made myself a kale smoothie this morning and went for a bracing walk, smiled and chatted to people I met, came home and saw in the bathroom mirror that lurid green fibrous bits of kale were stuck between my teeth. One of the things about living alone is that nobody is there to tell you not to leave the house looking like Scrooge the Bunny.
Today I'm doing a day mindfulness retreat. The 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course has a full day meditation at week 6 and anyone who has already done a course can attend. It will be a bit strange joining the group for a day, but the timing is great for me as I want to get back to a regular meditation practice, having lapsed in the last year.
I may even meet some participants from previous courses.
@Huia, I hope the retreat day goes well and that it's beneficial for you.
Hope others have had some refreshing rain. We had a decent drop yesterday (almost 40mm) and everything is looking fresh and beautiful this morning. As it was a much cooler day, I was out in my gumboots and showerproof jacket, deadheading things and getting rid of a heap of suckers in our driveway. Our Manchurian pears seem to produce them madly, however it looks so much better now it's done.
Today we are having morning tea with some friends we made 21 years ago when our kids were unwell, their son was about 8 weeks ahead of us in treatment, so we had a lot in common and were often staying at the hospital at the same time. It is always lovely to see them and spend time chewing the fat with them.
@Gee D the mix of the jacarandas and angophoras sounds just beautiful.
@MaryLouise the sales sounded very hectic and stressful. I have done a tiny bit of online shopping and do not miss going to the shops in person, at all!
Morning Tea was lovely and I think we got home about 2.30 and had some really funny conversations and some serious ones too about our kids and potential for depression and trauma rearing it's head in later life. The worst is over, but in many ways, it's never really over!
Am enjoying the sunshine this morning and the grass seems to be growing as I watch it!
yay and congratulations (we produced a fully fledged physio last year, so we're keeping apace)
Yesterday I was very grateful to the friend whose house I invaded, and (to my shame) even more when he was called away and I had his house to myself. He kindly drove me home through rush hour traffic, saving me from catching 2 buses home. Then, before I had time to have even a cup of tea my neighbour came over to rewire the garage, kind and helpful, yes, but the timing was bad.
I know to some people it may sound selfish, but, in the words of the great Greta Garbo, "I want to be alone."
George, a lovely man I worked with many years ago had a sign he used to put at the end of his driveway saying, "Bugger Off World." I wish I dared.
Aotearoa /NZ has come a long way since a university chaplain commented to me that the Anglican church chose it's Bishops on the strength of their war record. (the Bishop he was alluding to shall remain nameless).
Tomorrow will be quick trip to the Swedish shop to buy a suitably festive tin for Prof's Christmas cake and if it remains hot, that will probably be the only outing for the weekend.
Husband has just come home feeling hot and cross with work and I'm glad he decided to give the work Christmas party a miss. It was all inside and very crowded.
Am glad to report that new Covid jabs are booked for next week and I hope it's minimal after effects as I have a Christmas get together with friends planned.
How is your lawn looking after being away @WormInTheGrass?
I was curious do many us here go away for Christmas? I try to avoid it as I love being here when everyone else is away. I wondered how others spend their festive time
I will spend Xmas in Hobart with amiable spouse ( who is on call like it or no).
I prefer to stay home at Christmas. Travel is always more expensive and crowded then and the cattery is booked out well in advance. A longstanding friend and I have Christmas lunch together, while Boxing day I go to another friends house.
Today I'm going to a Christmas lunch for community library volunteers.
I love the idea of having lunch with close friends, I've often wanted to do this and have some friends in mind, I'm waiting to hear about their plans.
I love the idea of your neighbour being annoyed because you departed before they were ready, that kind of tickles my naughty funny bone.
Today has been sticky and unpleasant and I've done nothing very much, just a couple of loads of laundry. Tomorrow will be a baking day as daughter would like some gingerbread men for her work colleagues. She doesn't have many shifts left at work this year, so tomorrow is definitely the day! I might have to rise early to make sure I beat the heat
And the happy knowledge that this diocese that I have come to love is in Bloody Good Hands.
As you loop the East island, don't forget we have some beautiful aged reds, some of which are stored in a chimney about 10 metres away. Southern hospitality is not just a USA thing.
Rather warm and humid of late here too, Cheery Gardener.
Hurrah for good friends, Huia; I can understand wanting to be alone.
I stay around here for Christmas. There will be a quick trip up the coast afterwards to annoy the unsuspecting mission parish our priest serves at and a trip to the Snowy Mountains after "Old Calendar" Christmas (January 7) with friends (considering visiting the Antiochian monastery/parish I visited earlier this year on the way back).
I like the sound of your Christmas plans @Climacus, but not so much your humidity, similar to our own. Yesterday was another day of flaking and TV watching, but hurrah today is much cooler and more baking has been completed.
Gingerbread men and Christmas trees have been produced with the help of Cheery Daughter for her workmates. Cheery son thoughtfully provided us with the amusement playing his audiobook version of The Button House archives to enjoy and the morning flew past and even got the washing up done before lunch.
Before baking a run was done to the Swedish shop for a tin to post our cake in, and I'm glad I made it there at opening time, as a lot of their Christmas stuff was looking picked over, but the trip was successful and I think it will work out fine.
Cheery husband has put up the tree, I need to find our advent candles and yes, I know I'm running late, but better late than never. The wreath is on the front door and I have some boxes of decorations to unpack and put around.
In a fit of activity, husband has also put Christmas lights on our hedge and on the side closest to the house he's put out some lights which are Christmas trees. However, we are not sure whether they will work (or not0, so it's a bit of an experiment!