Before reading your posts @Cheery Gardener I had never realised that childhood cancer could leave ongoing effects such as your son is experiencing. It seems so unfair. I hope the news from the current round is all good.
I will be glad when this winter is over. It started mildly. so much so that a tree near the supermarket came into blossom early, but now the flowers have been burnt by frosts. Today's frost has been heavy and the part of the back lawn that isn't covered by a tree the neighbour felled testing a chainsaw, is totally white. I wanted the tree down, I just hoped the clean up would be more timely.
I had been wondering about the type of blossom burning that you mentioned @Huia. It makes me anxious if I ponder it for too long. The trees just off our main road are beginning to come into blossom and I remember they were in bloom around this time of year, when we first viewed our current house, so maybe it is now the unfortunate new normal.
Thanks for your kind words about the late effects of treatment. I think Cheery son is at the more extreme end as he falls into the "over treated" category. I remember the Oncologist telling us he would always be tied to the hospital, but at the time I could not absorb the full impact of what we were being told. I've never asked Cheery husband whether he completely grasped it at last relapse when there were hard decisions to be made.
Just for interest I did a quick search on the Children's Oncology Group Long Term Follow up guidelines, which many hospitals follow or refer to once kids are 5 years off treatment and labelled as survivors. The pdf of the 2023 guidelines is almost 400 pages long as it covers all the body systems and is for all cancers, so it's a comprehensive guide. I try not to look at it too often! Though saying that I have just looked at something that has been niggling me, so I am grateful that the internet gives us access to that information so quickly and easily. I can't imagine how the families of kids managed things before internet access was widely available.
Winter has struck! I thought it had snowed here overnight, but it was a heavy hail storm. The Port Hills are covered, whether with snow or hail I don't know and I'm not venturing up there to find out.
Unfortunately I had to pick up my medication, but I made the trip bearable by having lunch at my favourite cafe. It's run by the son of the Chemist at the adjoining pharmacy and is called Dispense.
That sounds really chilly @Huia! Like you, I would be staying inside and cozy!
I love the sound if Dispense cafe - what dd you decide to have for lunch?
Today I've managed a big clean up of snipped off leaves and a walk with Cheery son. It's been a bit chilly here, but convinced him that we needed to get out and blow some cobwebs away,
Very sadly, I've just seen in the news the death of a friend from schooldays. He played the organ at our wedding and was one of the kindest people I've known, Thinking so much of his daughter, still young to experience the loss of her Dad and an only child, Prayers for them both ....
It's so cold I'm done with winter, but apparently it's not done with me. Aroha, my cat was gone outside, but instead of sitting on the white frosty lawn, she jumped up on the black bin which had fallen bin which was laying on its side. in the sun. I touched and being black it was warm, When I looked out she was sleeping peacefully.
Dispense does a nice eggy dish. They don't serve a wide variety of food, but its my favourite place to eat when I'm in the area.
I hadn't really noticed the winter until today @Huia. I went out to have lunch with a friend and before she arrived it was just lovely. I sat in the sun, drank coffee and read my book as did a lady sitting not far from me. Just as my friend arrived, it began too get a little cloudy and shade from the building came my way along with a chilly breeze. Lunch was coolish but we managed and had a really lovely catch up.
When I walked out short hair cat before going out she wanted to lie on the dark grey pavers near Cheery husband's garden shed. I suspect the effect was much the same as the black bin you described. She got quite huffy when I urged her to get up and go back into the house.
I loved the sound of the eggy dish, I had a quiche and salad for lunch and my friend had samosas. We then ordered a brownie and a piece of lemon/lime cheesecake, which we shared. We really enjoyed them with a cup of coffee each, the brownie was particularly good!
I spent the rest of the afternoon under a throw watching cozy crime TV, then Cheery daughter called in for a visit. We spent a pleasant few hours together and I am looking forward to an early night!!
It's also been pretty cold in Adelaide - lots of rain yesterday with storm warnings.
We are here for a week visiting our week old grandson. Yesterday I started to come down with bad cold so we won't be visiting today. It's a good thing we are not staying with our son and daughter-in-law. I hope I'll be over it on Census day.
LKK thanks for reminder re census; received how to paperwork in the post last week.
Cold but fine early yesterday in Sydney;caught train to Parramatta mid morning and noted temperature a good 5C cooler (25 km west). Rain started after 11 am Mass @ St-Pat’s-in-the -West and by 5 pm rain heavier and very chilly. Ended up on the north side of the Harbour Bridge and by 8 pm heavy rain and cold wind on Milson’s Point station ( immediately noth of the bridge) which is a good 40 metres above street level. Very glad to get home after 20 minute wait for bus home from Town Hall station. And all that jaunting around for the princely sum of $2.50 with seniors’ Opal card ( with ferry trip from Circular Quay across to Kirribilli thrown in).
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And congratulations on the arrival of new grandson. Sorry to hear about the URTI spoiling your fun with newborn. Very considerate of you to keep your distance; thousands wouldn’t!🙄
There’s always next time: he might do a John Gorton & cast the deciding vote against himself…
Was that deliberately or inadvertently?
It was deliberate: typical of Jolly John ( an old friend of my parents); my father described JGG’ s action as “quixotic”. The consequence was that when he stepped down as PM his successor was Billy McMahon who singlehandedly led the way to the Coalition’s crushing defeat in late 1972, after the election in 1969 when the Coalition just scraped in.
An increasingly unpopular Australian involvement in the unwinnable war in Vietnam did not help.
The anti Vietnam war was one of the first demos I remember going to in Wellington many years ago. My mum insisted on coming with me. She was definitely against the war, but her main purpose was to protect me.
When we climbed on the bus home she insisted on making a peace sign to the bus driver. The problem was that she got it around the wrong way. The bus driver looked bemused, and I was totally embarrassed. When I explained to her what she had done she wanted to go back and apologise, but I held her back because the bus was moving
When we reached our bus stop I got out the back door and she went down the aisle to apologise.
To add to the situation the bus route through our valley was staffed by local drivers, many of whom we got to know very well.
I hope you are on the mend @LatchKeyKid and Spouse as well. Congratulations on the new grandson, how lovely for your family!
Things have been quiet here, just home jobs and a bit of trying to keep the garden under control. At present Cheery son's medical things appear to be on an even keel and we had a lovely surprise after adding his financial stuff to the government portal, he was the beneficiary of many refunds which were backed up in the system. We only set this in motion when I was grumpy about not receiving the refund I knew was due and when I enquired of the service provider they could see that those essential details were missing and once rectified, Bingo!! The real sobering part was how much we must have spent to get the refund that he did.
Reading people's recollections of Vietnam protests, reminded me that I must have seen them on current affairs TV when I was a child. When Mum told me I'd have to come home from school with a neighbourhood Mum because she was going to a demonstration, I became really upset and I remember really bawling. Fortunately she was only going to a cooking demonstration and not a political one. But I was very, very worried at the time!!
There’s always next time: he might do a John Gorton & cast the deciding vote against himself…
Was that deliberately or inadvertently?
I'm not often on the Ship these days, but having a quick glance and came across this. I can't quote any reference, but from memory what Gorton did was in accordance with tradition.
It's just after 7 a.m. I looked out the window and the sunrise is amazing. I went out for a better look. The seabirds filled the sky, flying inland from the estuary, no doubt to steal food from the unwary. Some years ago I was eating a bread roll whilst walking down a streel in the city and one flew by stealing a bite a it flew past.
@Huia, that must have been both scary and amazing. @Gee D I’m not sure if it was traditional but I’m sure it was reported as quite deliberate at the time.
In the UK you eat fish and chips at your own risk in rather a few seaside towns. I remember the gulls of Whitby being particularly adept at nicking food from the unwary.
I'm feeling a bit shaken. A huge gust of wind blasted through the window the cat uses for access. The utility cover for access to the roof which is in 2 parts separated and fell to the floor narrowly missing me, and Aroha, who was in my arms dug her claws in, leaving me with a bleeding elbow.
Which is why I'm wearing a plaster on my elbow, a Christmas t shirt (it was the only short sleeved one I could find) and have just stopped shaking after finishing some comforting soup.
After the wind dies down I'm visiting my young next door neighbour to ask him to replace the bits where they belong. I am not safe on ladders and not tall enough to do so, even with the ladder.
Gosh @Huia, that does sound far too close for comfort. Not good at all. I'm glad you had some soup, that and a good sit down definitely just for the shock if nothing else.
I hope your elbow scratch will be ok, I hope you have some nice antiseptic ointment to put on that.
I was hoping to go for a coffee with a friend today, but we changed our plans and settled for a phone chat instead. It was very good to catch up with them. They had had a difficult week, so I am hoping next week will be better for them. Cheery husband and daughter had a day of shopping. Daughter still purchasing odds and ends for her flat and husband picking up necessary but boring bulk buys to put into storage as we had run low on some necessary stuff.
That is scary @Huia. I'd get that sorted and maybe a check to see if there is anything else that is likely to fall down in your house as well. Hope you are feeling OK today.
Thanks @Piglet and @Sojourner and @Cheery Gardener .
I think I'm just over the cold now. I'm not sure if it was an URTI. LKKspouse did a triple test and they were all negative.
We did only manage seeing grandson for three days of the week, and I got to hold him just the once.
@Huia . That was a rough time with the wind and your cat. I hope you have recovered.
I am now of the age where the advice is to not climb ladders, so I hope your neighbour managed to sort out what got blown down.
Good to know you are back on your feet @LatchKeyKid and LKK spouse also. One of my friends had pneumonia a few weeks ago, so there are a number of yucky things going around. I'm glad you got at least the one cuddle with little grandson, may there be many more ahead.
Lovely drop of rain overnight and today. Glad to have some follow up rain our garden will be happy for it. I was watching our jetty, which is my benchmark and didn't see it go underwater, so I'd like some rain tomorrow as well, to see if we can get just that little bit more. A friend told me today that they've been having a big rubbish clean up and burn off, cutting some dead wattles down, so they are not dry and crisping up prior to summer. Good to see they are getting their presummer planning done.
I'd like to get some weeding and gardening done before the end of the week while the ground is nice and soft. I'll see how we go with that!
The scratch is healing well with no infection and my neighbour over the road volunteered her husband to reassemble the cover. I think I'll ask him rather than the young bloke next door as he has more experience in such things, also I'm having trouble with a tap that he may have some ideas about.
Those over the road neighbours are moving in October and I will miss them. F, the mother use to organise various activities in the street and I will never forget the Nativity play with the angel, suspended from a tree, swooping down to announce "Glad tidings of great joy."
I'm stitching a farewell card for them - all going well,
I'm glad to know your arm is healing up OK, @Huia and that you've had help from your neighbours. Good ones are absolutely gold!
It's been a lovely quiet day here today, but busy at the same time. A bit of gardening, a bit of cleaning, a bit of washing, a bit of TV. Pretty soon it will be time to think about putting the dinner on! Where has the day gone?
The only problem with those particular neighbours is that they are moving to another part of town. I will miss them.
Yesterday I was cleaning my bedroom when I discovered that both my younger brothers had sent me the same birthday card, but in different years. This might not be noteworthy, but one bought in the U.S, the other in the valley where we grew up near Wellington. I'm going to photocopy it and send them both a copy. It remains one of my favourite cards I've ever received.
In the same box I discovered some blank cards left over from before the quakes when I made a lot of cards. That printer 's press was broken in an earthquake and he shut up shop after that.
Mixed in with the cards was a photo of Mum, looking young and beautiful with a baby. The writing on the back says "I think this baby is you".
Has anyone seen The Chaplain series that has started on SBS. I was interested as there is actually a chaplain at Melbourne airport who helped someone in SBS productions and this triggered the production. However, the first two episodes I saw is over dramatised, and while some things said we're ok, other "interventions" I found to be far from credible. But that's TV drama for you.
I did have a look at The Chaplain, episode 1 yesterday, @LatchKeyKid but Cheery son kept interrupting me, so I think I need a second look to get it all into my head properly. I thought the hectic nature of an airport and the need to liaise with all the different types of staff was well portrayed though I do suspect there will be some liberties taken for the sake of drama, but that's the name of the game really! I'm always looking for new and interesting things to watch as that's how I like to spend my afternoons after jobs in the morning.
Cheery son has had a visit to a new old dentist this morning. He attended the same practice, but saw a general dentist rather than the Paediatric one who has cared for him previously. I actually think the incorporation of a regular dentist into the practice is a genius one for transitioning older clients out of childhood care, and also reduces their stress as they are attending somewhere familiar. It also helps them to find a practitioner immediately without having to search around to find a provider who has the ability to take on their care and at the same time, communication between old and new practitioner should be seamless. Very, very happy with this option being made available.
I'm very glad to see that the sun has come out after a very grey and miserable looking morning.
@Huia, I do hope that whoever comes into your neighbourhood as your neighbours move away, will prove to be lovely and fit in with the existing community. Sending you a hug.
Thanks GeeD. One of the challenges of getting older that I didn't previously realise is the increased number of friends who are dying. I have told both my younger brothers that I will be next - no jumping the queue and dying before me, I don't think I could cope.
I had bought an Elmer the Elephant stuffed toy to give to my older brother before he died as he loved elephants and a co-worker whose husband was an artist had made him more aware of colours. Unfortunately he died before I could give it to him. I had mentioned it to my neighbour whose daughter had just given birth and she was happy to have it as a gift for the baby. Now I have found a picture book of Elmer to give to the baby as well. I am just glad I could pass it on.
That's a lovely thing to do with your elephant @Huia and having the book as well, makes it really special, we all know babies need books!
It's a perfect spring day here today, so a visit to the garden centre has been had. I came away with a nice deep trough bought with a gift card I received for my birthday a few weeks ago, as well as 2 mats for my worm farm, a Jeremy garden gnome, and a punnet of johnny jump ups, which I hope to get planted tomorrow.
Actually the baby's Grandmother who mentioned it. I was going to donate it to the Christmas Appeal because I wasn't sure how someone would feel knowing the intended recipient was dead, but I'm happy it has a good home.
I love getting gift cards for my birthday or Christmas. A friend gave me two book tokens from different shops for last Christmas and I bought the Elmer book with one of them.
First day of spring here and a heavy frost that is rapidly melting. The morning is forecast to be sunny, so I'm making the most of it and put my washing out just before 9 a.m
Comments
I will be glad when this winter is over. It started mildly. so much so that a tree near the supermarket came into blossom early, but now the flowers have been burnt by frosts. Today's frost has been heavy and the part of the back lawn that isn't covered by a tree the neighbour felled testing a chainsaw, is totally white. I wanted the tree down, I just hoped the clean up would be more timely.
Thanks for your kind words about the late effects of treatment. I think Cheery son is at the more extreme end as he falls into the "over treated" category. I remember the Oncologist telling us he would always be tied to the hospital, but at the time I could not absorb the full impact of what we were being told. I've never asked Cheery husband whether he completely grasped it at last relapse when there were hard decisions to be made.
Just for interest I did a quick search on the Children's Oncology Group Long Term Follow up guidelines, which many hospitals follow or refer to once kids are 5 years off treatment and labelled as survivors. The pdf of the 2023 guidelines is almost 400 pages long as it covers all the body systems and is for all cancers, so it's a comprehensive guide. I try not to look at it too often! Though saying that I have just looked at something that has been niggling me, so I am grateful that the internet gives us access to that information so quickly and easily. I can't imagine how the families of kids managed things before internet access was widely available.
Unfortunately I had to pick up my medication, but I made the trip bearable by having lunch at my favourite cafe. It's run by the son of the Chemist at the adjoining pharmacy and is called Dispense.
I love the sound if Dispense cafe - what dd you decide to have for lunch?
Today I've managed a big clean up of snipped off leaves and a walk with Cheery son. It's been a bit chilly here, but convinced him that we needed to get out and blow some cobwebs away,
Very sadly, I've just seen in the news the death of a friend from schooldays. He played the organ at our wedding and was one of the kindest people I've known, Thinking so much of his daughter, still young to experience the loss of her Dad and an only child, Prayers for them both ....
Dispense does a nice eggy dish. They don't serve a wide variety of food, but its my favourite place to eat when I'm in the area.
When I walked out short hair cat before going out she wanted to lie on the dark grey pavers near Cheery husband's garden shed. I suspect the effect was much the same as the black bin you described. She got quite huffy when I urged her to get up and go back into the house.
I loved the sound of the eggy dish, I had a quiche and salad for lunch and my friend had samosas. We then ordered a brownie and a piece of lemon/lime cheesecake, which we shared. We really enjoyed them with a cup of coffee each, the brownie was particularly good!
I spent the rest of the afternoon under a throw watching cozy crime TV, then Cheery daughter called in for a visit. We spent a pleasant few hours together and I am looking forward to an early night!!
We are here for a week visiting our week old grandson. Yesterday I started to come down with bad cold so we won't be visiting today. It's a good thing we are not staying with our son and daughter-in-law. I hope I'll be over it on Census day.
Cold but fine early yesterday in Sydney;caught train to Parramatta mid morning and noted temperature a good 5C cooler (25 km west). Rain started after 11 am Mass @ St-Pat’s-in-the -West and by 5 pm rain heavier and very chilly. Ended up on the north side of the Harbour Bridge and by 8 pm heavy rain and cold wind on Milson’s Point station ( immediately noth of the bridge) which is a good 40 metres above street level. Very glad to get home after 20 minute wait for bus home from Town Hall station. And all that jaunting around for the princely sum of $2.50 with seniors’ Opal card ( with ferry trip from Circular Quay across to Kirribilli thrown in).
.
Was that deliberately or inadvertently?
It was deliberate: typical of Jolly John ( an old friend of my parents); my father described JGG’ s action as “quixotic”. The consequence was that when he stepped down as PM his successor was Billy McMahon who singlehandedly led the way to the Coalition’s crushing defeat in late 1972, after the election in 1969 when the Coalition just scraped in.
An increasingly unpopular Australian involvement in the unwinnable war in Vietnam did not help.
When we climbed on the bus home she insisted on making a peace sign to the bus driver. The problem was that she got it around the wrong way. The bus driver looked bemused, and I was totally embarrassed. When I explained to her what she had done she wanted to go back and apologise, but I held her back because the bus was moving
When we reached our bus stop I got out the back door and she went down the aisle to apologise.
To add to the situation the bus route through our valley was staffed by local drivers, many of whom we got to know very well.
It took some time for me to realise that the peace sign was not the same as the “rude” one
I'm starting to feel on the mend, but LKKspouse came down with it a few days ago.
Lots of health compromised people where I am communing, so I am not going today as I don't want to spread the infection.
I didn't get to hold my grandson again, just saw him from across their verandah.
Things have been quiet here, just home jobs and a bit of trying to keep the garden under control. At present Cheery son's medical things appear to be on an even keel and we had a lovely surprise after adding his financial stuff to the government portal, he was the beneficiary of many refunds which were backed up in the system. We only set this in motion when I was grumpy about not receiving the refund I knew was due and when I enquired of the service provider they could see that those essential details were missing and once rectified, Bingo!! The real sobering part was how much we must have spent to get the refund that he did.
Reading people's recollections of Vietnam protests, reminded me that I must have seen them on current affairs TV when I was a child. When Mum told me I'd have to come home from school with a neighbourhood Mum because she was going to a demonstration, I became really upset and I remember really bawling. Fortunately she was only going to a cooking demonstration and not a political one. But I was very, very worried at the time!!
I'm not often on the Ship these days, but having a quick glance and came across this. I can't quote any reference, but from memory what Gorton did was in accordance with tradition.
@Gee D I’m not sure if it was traditional but I’m sure it was reported as quite deliberate at the time.
Which is why I'm wearing a plaster on my elbow, a Christmas t shirt (it was the only short sleeved one I could find) and have just stopped shaking after finishing some comforting soup.
After the wind dies down I'm visiting my young next door neighbour to ask him to replace the bits where they belong. I am not safe on ladders and not tall enough to do so, even with the ladder.
Meanwhile back to tidying the house,
I hope your elbow scratch will be ok, I hope you have some nice antiseptic ointment to put on that.
I was hoping to go for a coffee with a friend today, but we changed our plans and settled for a phone chat instead. It was very good to catch up with them. They had had a difficult week, so I am hoping next week will be better for them. Cheery husband and daughter had a day of shopping. Daughter still purchasing odds and ends for her flat and husband picking up necessary but boring bulk buys to put into storage as we had run low on some necessary stuff.
Will you need a tetanus jab for where she scratched you?
I think I'm just over the cold now. I'm not sure if it was an URTI. LKKspouse did a triple test and they were all negative.
We did only manage seeing grandson for three days of the week, and I got to hold him just the once.
@Huia . That was a rough time with the wind and your cat. I hope you have recovered.
I am now of the age where the advice is to not climb ladders, so I hope your neighbour managed to sort out what got blown down.
Lovely drop of rain overnight and today. Glad to have some follow up rain our garden will be happy for it. I was watching our jetty, which is my benchmark and didn't see it go underwater, so I'd like some rain tomorrow as well, to see if we can get just that little bit more. A friend told me today that they've been having a big rubbish clean up and burn off, cutting some dead wattles down, so they are not dry and crisping up prior to summer. Good to see they are getting their presummer planning done.
I'd like to get some weeding and gardening done before the end of the week while the ground is nice and soft. I'll see how we go with that!
Those over the road neighbours are moving in October and I will miss them. F, the mother use to organise various activities in the street and I will never forget the Nativity play with the angel, suspended from a tree, swooping down to announce "Glad tidings of great joy."
I'm stitching a farewell card for them - all going well,
It's been a lovely quiet day here today, but busy at the same time. A bit of gardening, a bit of cleaning, a bit of washing, a bit of TV. Pretty soon it will be time to think about putting the dinner on! Where has the day gone?
Yesterday I was cleaning my bedroom when I discovered that both my younger brothers had sent me the same birthday card, but in different years. This might not be noteworthy, but one bought in the U.S, the other in the valley where we grew up near Wellington. I'm going to photocopy it and send them both a copy. It remains one of my favourite cards I've ever received.
In the same box I discovered some blank cards left over from before the quakes when I made a lot of cards. That printer 's press was broken in an earthquake and he shut up shop after that.
Mixed in with the cards was a photo of Mum, looking young and beautiful with a baby. The writing on the back says "I think this baby is you".
Cheery son has had a visit to a new old dentist this morning. He attended the same practice, but saw a general dentist rather than the Paediatric one who has cared for him previously. I actually think the incorporation of a regular dentist into the practice is a genius one for transitioning older clients out of childhood care, and also reduces their stress as they are attending somewhere familiar. It also helps them to find a practitioner immediately without having to search around to find a provider who has the ability to take on their care and at the same time, communication between old and new practitioner should be seamless. Very, very happy with this option being made available.
I'm very glad to see that the sun has come out after a very grey and miserable looking morning.
@Huia, I do hope that whoever comes into your neighbourhood as your neighbours move away, will prove to be lovely and fit in with the existing community. Sending you a hug.
I had bought an Elmer the Elephant stuffed toy to give to my older brother before he died as he loved elephants and a co-worker whose husband was an artist had made him more aware of colours. Unfortunately he died before I could give it to him. I had mentioned it to my neighbour whose daughter had just given birth and she was happy to have it as a gift for the baby. Now I have found a picture book of Elmer to give to the baby as well. I am just glad I could pass it on.
It's a perfect spring day here today, so a visit to the garden centre has been had. I came away with a nice deep trough bought with a gift card I received for my birthday a few weeks ago, as well as 2 mats for my worm farm, a Jeremy garden gnome, and a punnet of johnny jump ups, which I hope to get planted tomorrow.
I love getting gift cards for my birthday or Christmas. A friend gave me two book tokens from different shops for last Christmas and I bought the Elmer book with one of them.