🙏 for LKK and family, and 🙏 for Huia and her family, especially for her oldest brother and for those easing his last days.
I'm fresh out of hospital, and a bout of Cholangitis. The docs wanted an MRI, an mrcp to be precise (magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, lovely term 😊) to confirm their happy thoughts that a blockage in my bile duct had cleared itself. But the MRI folk panicked about my cochlear implant from 2020, and even about cardiac stents from 2010. You'd think they would be clued up about the protocol for those. So I have to do my own digging around with my ENT surgeon's rooms, and with the interventional cardiologist from 26 years ago, and furnish the results to TUH before an outpatient appointment next week. Weird.
On the topic of weird, I guess many of you don't frequent Purg where a thread has been running on the Australian political opposition. Which brought this to mind 😉
Too cheeky, FD, so funny! My goodness what a result.
I do hope the various rooms are able to come up with the goods for you.
We had a moving forward of Cheery son's cardiology appointment, which has led to a need for a new referral and now we have to organise it next week. Bit of a pain in one way, but in another, he is getting seen earlier than he would have, so that's actually quite good.
Having a family weekend starting tomorrow. It will be intense, but hopefully good!
Lovely day's outing with Aged Aunt and sister, visit to the National Library and the Museum of Australian Democracy, both so interesting and enjoyable.
Tomorrow a visit to a bookshop and some touristy type shopping and lunch and cake! Hoping for some sunshine, today has been pleasant but a little grey. So some blue sky tomorrow would be lovely. Aged Aunt is in very good form and now she has her wheelie walker there seems to be no stopping her!!
Sending Prayers to Huia. Hubby and I have been in Tokyo for the last three days, tomorrow we join a ship and cruise to Hong Kong 14 days. Two days in HK then home. It is an amazing place
Brief stopover in HK with spouse late 2024. Agree amazing ( food especially) but would hate to live there under the iron boot of the People’s Republic.
When I got home from shopping yesterday F from over the road had left a bunch of flowers and a sympathy card on my front doorstep. She had also invited me to afternoon tea, but understood completely when I excused myself having had an exhausting time in town.
I know I am not thinking very clearly at the moment. I listened to the weather forecasts last night and heard various airports around the country were closed due to strong winds and instantly panicked that I wouldn't be able to fly to Wellington on Thursday due to the weather. I lay in my bed unable to sleep. When I woke up this morning I checked the forecasts for the actual days I will be travelling the picture was much better.
Also my brother K has said he will deliver me to the Ferry terminal in Wellington the following Thursday so I can travel home by the InterIslander and a long distance bus. I've found in the past that this gives me time to process the time with my family. Besides that last time I flew out of Wellington Airport I couldn't find the gate we were departing from. "Where is Gate 4?" I yelled loudly and an angel disguised as an ordinary man stopped dashing to where he was going, escorted me to gate 4, and continued on his way.
The Interislander leaves from its own unique wharf and you can tell when it's boarding because everyone moves in the same direction (so no panic about not hearing the announcement, or knowing where to go).
The bus terminates its journey at the Christchurch Bus Interchange where I catch my usual bus home.
The valley were I was brought up and where I will be staying from this Thursday to the next was the wettest place in the country yesterday with 94.4mm of rain. No wonder it was historically chosen as a source of water for Wellington (NZ's capital city).
I hope it will have rained itself out by Thursday.
So do I @Huia, so wet at present! Our two countries are not so far apart, but you have all the water and some places are soo dry here, we need a happy medium!!
I'm flying to Wellington today and won't be posting again until Thursday February 26. I will be united with Aroha my cat the next day.
I was very disappointed to discover that the cattery where I leave Aroha is closing soon after I pick her up. It's the only cattery I've ever taken one of my cats to where the cats have play time with the assistants. When I dropped A off a portly black and white cat was playing outside his cage. He was placed back inside and when A's cage door was opened she climbed up to look at the traffic outside the window, then burrowed into the bedding.
This should have been posted six weeks ago, but I have been overwhelmed by the organisation involved in getting our car sorted after we hit a kangaroo on the way to Adelaide at Christmas. We were OK but the car was undriveable. Anyway, we are now reunited with fixed car after a tedious number of conversations with insurance company about “car is 800 kms from where it lives, could you either pay our airfares or put it on a car transporter.”
Well after not trying very hard for the first few days, summer has certainly arrived with a bang. Although it is pleasantly cool tonight. Twenty sounds like a long life for an air conditioner, @Cheery Gardener. Both your and @Sojourner’s baking sounds like a mighty effort.
The convent at Wilcannia was completely magnificent @Sojourner, a two storey stone building but was sadly damaged in a fire about 15 years ago. Have a photo taken on our way to Broken Hill in 2024.
@Sojourner and any other Sydneysiders may be interested in this ABC story about the fire at St Pat’s in the West. Must say it doesn’t seem like 30 years ago. St Patrick fire
@Sojourner and any other Sydneysiders may be interested in this ABC story about the fire at St Pat’s in the West. Must say it doesn’t seem like 30 years ago. St Patrick fire
Thanks. Listened in to Thursday evening Mass. Director of Music is an old friend & I sang at St Pat’-in-the-West 2008-2014. Agree does not seem like 30 years ago. I recall attending Ash Wednesday Mass in a classroom at the now defunct Marist Brothers school in 1997. The new Cathedral is an amazing space ( hated by tradtionalists, no surprises there) and the old cathedral has been very sympathetically restored. It is mainly used for smaller celebrations and also on Holy Saturday for adult baptisms.
I attended the evening Mass on Ash Wednesday & despite the lateness of the hour (7-30 pm) the cathedral was packed, screaming kids and all.
We held a small graveside celebration of life for Glenn my brother who died of Parkinsons. It's difficult to be sad at the release of someone from that condition, but we mourned the loss of who he had been and a few old friends (and a baby) gathered then came back to the place where my middle brother, his wife and I were staying,
K. my youngest brother, who still lives in the area,has bourn the brunt of supporting Glenn, a job he has done remarkably well, also drove us around places from our childhood, the wild unswimmable beach where D made a teenage movie about Napoleon, the place I remembered from preschool picnics, now turned into a nature reserve and other places where the native bush is regenerating. K has a wide knowledge of native plants and was able to explain a heap of details I had wondered about but had never found out.
I felt a strong, totally unrealistic longing to move back to the area. Unrealistic because I don't drive, and Christchurch has a brilliant bus system, a wonderful library and is relatively compact. It just lacks accessible bush. Also the friend who used to take me to places out of town that had bush died about 3 months ago, so my grief is all tangled in that too.
We held a small graveside celebration of life for Glenn my brother who died of Parkinsons. It's difficult to be sad at the release of someone from that condition, but we mourned the loss of who he had been and a few old friends (and a baby) gathered then came back to the place where my middle brother, his wife and I were staying,
I've been largely absent from the Shio for sometime, now becoming an occasional visitor. Much sympathy for you and your family.
Comments
I'm fresh out of hospital, and a bout of Cholangitis. The docs wanted an MRI, an mrcp to be precise (magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, lovely term 😊) to confirm their happy thoughts that a blockage in my bile duct had cleared itself. But the MRI folk panicked about my cochlear implant from 2020, and even about cardiac stents from 2010. You'd think they would be clued up about the protocol for those. So I have to do my own digging around with my ENT surgeon's rooms, and with the interventional cardiologist from 26 years ago, and furnish the results to TUH before an outpatient appointment next week. Weird.
On the topic of weird, I guess many of you don't frequent Purg where a thread has been running on the Australian political opposition. Which brought this to mind 😉
I do hope the various rooms are able to come up with the goods for you.
We had a moving forward of Cheery son's cardiology appointment, which has led to a need for a new referral and now we have to organise it next week. Bit of a pain in one way, but in another, he is getting seen earlier than he would have, so that's actually quite good.
Having a family weekend starting tomorrow. It will be intense, but hopefully good!
Still having you in my thoughts @Huia.
Tomorrow a visit to a bookshop and some touristy type shopping and lunch and cake! Hoping for some sunshine, today has been pleasant but a little grey. So some blue sky tomorrow would be lovely. Aged Aunt is in very good form and now she has her wheelie walker there seems to be no stopping her!!
Safe travels home to yot both, DTheM
I know I am not thinking very clearly at the moment. I listened to the weather forecasts last night and heard various airports around the country were closed due to strong winds and instantly panicked that I wouldn't be able to fly to Wellington on Thursday due to the weather. I lay in my bed unable to sleep. When I woke up this morning I checked the forecasts for the actual days I will be travelling the picture was much better.
Also my brother K has said he will deliver me to the Ferry terminal in Wellington the following Thursday so I can travel home by the InterIslander and a long distance bus. I've found in the past that this gives me time to process the time with my family. Besides that last time I flew out of Wellington Airport I couldn't find the gate we were departing from. "Where is Gate 4?" I yelled loudly and an angel disguised as an ordinary man stopped dashing to where he was going, escorted me to gate 4, and continued on his way.
The Interislander leaves from its own unique wharf and you can tell when it's boarding because everyone moves in the same direction (so no panic about not hearing the announcement, or knowing where to go).
The bus terminates its journey at the Christchurch Bus Interchange where I catch my usual bus home.
Whew!
@Rexory we had such big lunches (all day breakfasts) that there was no room for cake! There will be another opportunity next week, fortunately!
I hope it will have rained itself out by Thursday.
We didn't co-ordinate it, it just happened.
So instead of doing the bus-train-bus thing to our accommodation I now hop in their hired car and am driven in style like a lady.
I am so relieved!
I was very disappointed to discover that the cattery where I leave Aroha is closing soon after I pick her up. It's the only cattery I've ever taken one of my cats to where the cats have play time with the assistants. When I dropped A off a portly black and white cat was playing outside his cage. He was placed back inside and when A's cage door was opened she climbed up to look at the traffic outside the window, then burrowed into the bedding.
Well after not trying very hard for the first few days, summer has certainly arrived with a bang. Although it is pleasantly cool tonight. Twenty sounds like a long life for an air conditioner, @Cheery Gardener. Both your and @Sojourner’s baking sounds like a mighty effort.
The convent at Wilcannia was completely magnificent @Sojourner, a two storey stone building but was sadly damaged in a fire about 15 years ago. Have a photo taken on our way to Broken Hill in 2024.
Thanks. Listened in to Thursday evening Mass. Director of Music is an old friend & I sang at St Pat’-in-the-West 2008-2014. Agree does not seem like 30 years ago. I recall attending Ash Wednesday Mass in a classroom at the now defunct Marist Brothers school in 1997. The new Cathedral is an amazing space ( hated by tradtionalists, no surprises there) and the old cathedral has been very sympathetically restored. It is mainly used for smaller celebrations and also on Holy Saturday for adult baptisms.
I attended the evening Mass on Ash Wednesday & despite the lateness of the hour (7-30 pm) the cathedral was packed, screaming kids and all.
We held a small graveside celebration of life for Glenn my brother who died of Parkinsons. It's difficult to be sad at the release of someone from that condition, but we mourned the loss of who he had been and a few old friends (and a baby) gathered then came back to the place where my middle brother, his wife and I were staying,
K. my youngest brother, who still lives in the area,has bourn the brunt of supporting Glenn, a job he has done remarkably well, also drove us around places from our childhood, the wild unswimmable beach where D made a teenage movie about Napoleon, the place I remembered from preschool picnics, now turned into a nature reserve and other places where the native bush is regenerating. K has a wide knowledge of native plants and was able to explain a heap of details I had wondered about but had never found out.
I felt a strong, totally unrealistic longing to move back to the area. Unrealistic because I don't drive, and Christchurch has a brilliant bus system, a wonderful library and is relatively compact. It just lacks accessible bush. Also the friend who used to take me to places out of town that had bush died about 3 months ago, so my grief is all tangled in that too.
Glad to hear it went as well as it could.
I've been largely absent from the Shio for sometime, now becoming an occasional visitor. Much sympathy for you and your family.
Gee D, I noticed you were posting less frequently.
While I miss you, I notice that I am too.