Mitch04

The weather is still bloody freezing. Tried to use the hose to fill the chickens' water around 9 am this morning.....but water was still frozen in the pipes. Typical. I retire NOT to the wonderfully warm tropics.....but to the frozen winter climes of Victoria's Macedon ranges. That'll teach me!!!! The saga of our garage roller door continued today....not that you, the readers, will understand as I have not mentioned it before. But how long does it take to install a solar powered roller door when the installer tells me it will be, on average, 10 days but no more than 2-3 weeks. Nine weeks later we are still waiting. It is almost done, but the installer keeps offering the weakest and most dim witted excuses. Today he arrived, unpacked his gear, including the battery pack and solar panel....only to discover the solar panel and battery where designed for use on a gate and not a roller door. So he repacked everything, said he would return tomorrow, and disappeared down the road. Anyhow, the weather here continued to be so dreadful that after my morning walk and Jules' session at the gym that I made the fire and then we simply had lunch in front of TV where we stayed until 5.15 pm. The sitting prolly did nothing to help my spasticity, but it was too darn cold to venture outdoors. And I apologise for yet another dreary blog report, but this is the best I can do under the circumstances. Lordy, I want the hot weather to return.

I almost feel as though my last report on 48 hours of tedium could very well be repeated here, but perhaps not. The weather in Kyneton, not renown for its mild winters, has steadily been getting more and more freezing. Yesterday and today we experienced snow flurries on Mount Macedon, and tonight these are expected in Kyneton. At least that would be a change from the polar-like winds that the past two days have brought. And at least with snow you know you are getting value for money out of winter. Yesterday (Sunday) after a brisk walk and a yummy brunch of smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and toasted sour dough Jules and I decided to drive to the township of Clunes, about an hour and 15 minutes away. The drive was dreary, but Clunes was delightful. The town stages - arguably - the nation's largest book fair over a weekend each springtime and tens of thousands of people attend. But luckily our visit avoided that event. So, instead we wandered the main street of this historic town, which in 1851 was the scene of Australia's first gold rush. As the icy wind increased the windchill factor, we scurried from one shop to the next, looking in bookstores, antique dealers and gourmet food outlets. We spent a cheery hour in an excellent cafe drinking coffee and devouring warm orange cakes and cream. Yum! Then it was back to the car for the trip home.....arriving at around 5.30 pm. My stiffness was not a great worry, but I was starting to feel weary by tea time, which was delicious barbecued chicken wings that had been marinated in a thick and sticky sweet sauce. This morning we woke later than usual - 7.45 - and after showering (the morning shower has become part of my daily therapy, as I stand under the cascading water doing various stretching exercises....let me know who else does this!!!!) we went for our normal and briskish 30 minute walk. Got home, made coffee, and our friend and architect, Ian, dropped by to say "G'day". He is a fabulous bloke with dozens of funny stories and a string of friends many of whom are the royalty of Victorian restaurants and gardeners, and he yet again had Jules and I in fits of laughter. After he had gone I went to the shops to buy food - grabbed two great porterhouse steaks that had been reduced from $17 down to $7 - and returned home and had lunch. The weather had, by then, become too foul to do any work outside, so I gathered in wood for the fire and settled back to watch several TV shows I had recorded overnight. After tea of slow roasted lamb shanks with vegetables and couscous, we watched ABC TV - 7.30 Report, Australian Story, 4 Corners, Media Watch, and Q&A. But the several times that I got up from the sofa during the evening my stiffness had returned with a vengeance. And I wonder if it is because I am not exercising enough or if I am exercising too much? By bedtime most nights the legs are stiff, the waist, torso and chest are stiff. It's almost as if there are steel bands around my chest, and that they are slowly being tightened.....and there is nothing I can do to prevent it from happening. Oh....and I wrote a Men's Shed media release about our firewood raffle winner, and sent it and a photograph off to the local newspaper. In the US you may be wondering about Australian Men's Sheds. It is a peculiarly Australian movement, I believe. There are about 1,000 shed in towns and suburbs around Australia, and they provide places were men can gather to discuss men's issues or to undertake woodwork, metalwork, model building, or simply talk among themselves. The Sheds started, so I understand, because of a spike in male suicides and male depression back in the late 1990s. They spread like wildfire, and these days the average shed has excellent wood working equipment, some metal working gear, welding equipment, a lunch room and kitchen and meeting room. Some have an office. Most cost around $100K to establish, and most have a membership of about 20-40. They must been self sufficient financially....hence our fire wood raffle which, incidentally, raised almost $1,800!

The past 48 hours have been dreary. In fact, I don't know why I'm even bothering to report anything. But I know if I don't blog, I will become lazy and eventually nothing will happen. So, in brief, this is what has occurred during the past 48 hours: ..I went to Gisborne to attend a cluster meeting of all the five Men's Shed that operate in the Macedon Ranges. Nothing much happened. ..returned home at 3 pm and discovered Jules was not here and guessed she had gone to Melbourne to help my daughter pack as she and her family are moving. ..Watched TV during the evening.....the Test match from England (cricket to you Americans), part 3 of a series about Bill Clinton, a cooking show and *sigh* The Bachelor (Jules' choice.....not mine). ..Drove to Mia's in-laws (15 minute drive out of town) and collected a boot load of wood which I unloaded when I got home. ..Went to the local supermarket where the manager drew the winning ticket for our Men's Shed firewood raffle (which raised more than $1,500 for us). ..Went to Castlemaine so Jules could select new frames for her next pair of glasses. I dare not go into this purchase for fear of sending you all to sleep. Suffice to say my wife is gorgeous, caring and wonderful....but she remains a slave to fashion. ..went to the local fish and chip shop and purchased dinner. ..Watched TV again....more of the Test match, plus Australian Rules Football. See? I said it was dreary. And I feel dreadful, and have felt awful all day. Might blog again tomorrow.....

Today was so-so. Took my pooch, Moochie for a 30-minute walk, then stopped off at a house down the road where the fence and picket gate had been pulled out....and took the gate! Jules will be able to use it in our garden....once I have managed to "age" it. Went to the Kyneton Men's Shed and had lunch....much better than the usual snags in bread. One of the bloke's wife had made sausage rolls, and he brought them along in a pie warmer. We chatted over lunch (there were about a dozen of us) and decided to call a general meeting at 10.30 am next Wednesday to bring everyone up to date with our latest developments. They include the progress of our $60k funding application to help build a new shed, discussions with local sporting bodies about the location for the shed and our contribution to the 3-phase electricity supply, minor funding we have received, and the increasing amount of community work we are being asked to undertake. The afternoon was taken up with chopping firewood (kindling) which ain't easy when one has only one decent hand, carting firewood and kindling indoors, checking out our new roller door (workmen fi I shed is talking it this morning and we can at last park our car off the street), helping Jules briefly in the garden, making us both coffee, and doing some computer work. I still worry about my increasing spasticity, but there seems to be little I can do about it. Tomorrow I have to drive to a local winery to get some firewood (the winery has a scrub block with a number of fallen dead trees on it and these have been chained saw lopped into firebox size). I am constantly surprised at the amount of wood I burn in our slow combustion heater each winter. Then it's off the a Men's Shed cluster meeting of all the Macedon Ranges shed. This is taking place in Gisborne, a half hour drive from Kyneton.

What a wonderful experience, Jayallen!

Some days are like diamonds......while others make me feel as though I am digging up fool's gold. And just occasionally I find it's both. Today was such a day. The morning was fine. While Jules went to the gym, I went for a 30-minute walk with Moochie. On my return I discovered workmen installing the garage roller door we had been waiting for for weeks. It's almost finished...just have to wait for the battery and solar panel to be installed tomorrow. The middle part of the day was miserable, with the normal old aches and pains taking hold of my body, although maybe I was at fault in terms of the hand and arm pain. I used my new mirror box a little too enthusiastically....but, hey, at least the arm was exercised. During the afternoon Jules and I loaded up the car with stuff we no longer use and drove it too the local op' shop where we unIoaded it. While there I discovered a book called "Felicia" - The Late Don Dunstan's autobiography - and upon checking the index at the back discovered three references to myself. The major one related to me discovering the body of one of Don's mates, Gerry Crease, in bed while arriving at his home early one morning to assist him in writing a speech for Don, who at that stage was the South Australian Leader of the Opposition. Anyhow, I purchased the book for $4 just for old time's sake. The late afternoon I prepared the night's meal....my peculiar version of shepherd's pie, which Jules and I both love. And it was one of the few times I have managed to chop the onion myself. Amazing how a bloody stroke can hamper one with cooking. But it was delicious, and I spiced it up a little with cumin, paprika, turmeric and a can of chopped tomatoes....not to mention the topping of mashed potatoes and grated cheese. But the hand and arm are still troubling me, and I don't really know why. I used to put it down to nerve pain caused by the nerves not knitting after my lung draining operation. But with the passage of time (5 1/2 years) I reckon it is really yet another byproduct of the three strokes. My latest MRI failed to show any significant change over the previous on undertaken in mid to late 2011. I just wish someone could tell me why, after the expiation of around 4 years and no apparent subsequent stroke, the stiffness and spasticity has started to haunt me. And it is much worse than the loss of movement I experienced several months after the stroke in early to mid 2010.

I have my fingers crossed for you!

Today has been a good day despite some bad news. The bad news is that my daughter's father-in-law, Will, is in hospital undergoing tests on his heart etc after suffering severe arm and shoulder pains while holidaying in Scotland. He went to a Glasgow hospital twice and staff there determined there was nothing wrong. Luckily, Will decided not to take their word for it, cut short his holiday and took the first available plane back to Melbourne, Australia. On arrival he again suffered severe pain and was taken to Melbourne's major hospital by ambulance where he is undergoing stress tests, angiograms and MRIs. There is a possibility he will need stents...or maybe even a bypass of sorts. The good news is that the weather has improved and I have been able to walk outdoors for the past two days without having to worry about rain, hail, sleet and snow flurries! It feels good walking with the sun on my back. I recall returning home from hospital in March, 2010, and after a couple of days rest, being able to sit in our sunny courtyard. It felt marvellous, and it never fails to amaze me how much I now enjoy the simple things in life......like the warm sun in my back in winter. Today we are Melbourne helping our daughter to pack up as she is moving house in the next few days. And I have just returned from walking to Chadstone (round trip of about 1km), where I had had a new battery put in my watch, and where I also popped into two of my favourite shops - Kathmandu and Mountain Designs - and checked out their sale items. Why, I don't know as I have enough warm weather gear and I am no longer able to use tents, sleeping bags and rucksacks etc. .... but I still like looking.

I must be the odd person out...I love humidity and heat.....provided it is no more than 30C. But if it is a dry heat, 38c+ is fine.

OK, Steve Mallory! I have accepted your challenge! :-) 1. I was a choir boy at the age of 10-13. 2. I went to Adelaide's oldest private school, Pulteney Grammar School. 3. I was a Cub, a Scout, a Senior Scout and a Rover. 4. I was a Queen's Scout. 5. In my youth I was a bush walker (hiker to the Yanks) and knew the local hills like the back of my hand. 6. I have twice walked the west and southern coasts of Kangaroo Island on multi day walks. 7. I once represented, at the age of 15, South Australian children and youths in the wreath laying ceremony on ANZAC Day. 8. I worked for three Christmases as a shop assistant during school holidays. 9. My favourite Australian hoIiday venue as a youth was Victoria's Grampian mountain ranges. 10. I never went to university, instead preferring the school of hard knocks. 11. I was a copy boy on The Advertiser, South Australia's major daily newspaper. 12. I undertook a 4-year cadetship in journalism at The Advertiser....but completed it in 3 years. 13. I spent 12 months representing The Advertiser in the state's South East, and was based in Mount Gambier. 14. I was press secretary to the state of South Australia's premier, the Hon. Don Dunstan...a real statesman, and someone whose ilk is needed to lead Australia in today's troubled times. 15. I was a foreign correspondent in London for AAP-Reuter. 16. Jules, my wife, and I drove a battered old Bedford van from London to Istanbul and back via Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the then Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and France during 4 month holiday. 17. I was the only European journalist on a now defunct Hong Kong newspaper called The Star. 18. I was the South Australian government's senior journalist. 19. I worked as media liaison officer for more than a dozen royal visits to South Australia. 20. I have worked during their visits to South Australia for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Diana (she was truly a wonderful young woman), Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips (he was as thick as a brick) and numerous lesser royals. 21. I was a key person in bringing the World Formula One Grand Prix to Australia and particularly to Adelaide. 22. I was possibly the first person in Australia to speak to Formula One's infamous Bernie Ecclestone, and found him to be an absolute pig of a man with an exceedingly foul mouth. 23. I played a major role in masterminding and conducting South Australia's year-long 150th anniversary of European settlement throughout 1986. 24. I established John Mitchell Public Relations in 1987. 25. I worked as a consultant for two years to the Australian Bicentenary Authority. 26. I have undertaken a cruise up the Mekong River from the delta in Vietnam to the Cambodian city of Siem Reap. 27. I have explored Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hoi An. 28. My wife and I had to abandon ship on the first night of a cruise on the Irrawaddy River in Burma after we were struck by a freak cyclone. 29. Jules and I have cruised along India's Brahmaputra River. 30. Jules and I have walked from Assam into Bhutan. 31. Jules and I have seen the Taj Mahal. 32. In my youth I used to love rock climbing. 33. The Queen awarded me membership of her personal order, the Royal Victorian Order, so I am entitled to used the post nominals MVO after my name. 34. I was awarded an Australian honour in 1987 for my work in promoting South Australia, so I can also carry the post nominals OAM after my name. 35. I have camped in Yosemite National Park. 36. I have camped along California's Big Sur. 37. I have made breakfast on the steps of Melbourne's Flinders street railway station using a Primus hiking stove. 38. As a 12 year old I climbed the local church steeple to see what was inside ....and discovered it only contained some 120 years worth of pigeon pooh! 39. I played schoolboy football for four consecutive years and always in the back pocket position. 40. My first car was a red 1950 Vauxhall Wyvern convertible...and our cat jumped through the roof the first hour I had it home...which meant I had to have a new roof made for it. 41. My second car, a VW, was smashed beyond repair when a cab ran into the back of it while it was parked on the roadside. 42. My fourth car was an MG TF, and the axle broke while I was driving it home from the place where I had purchased it. Oh, and my third car was blue VW. 43. I have had three speeding fines in my life. 44. The first story I ever wrote as a young journalist was a report on a local beauty contest.....so I managed to avoid the cat show that most senior journalists said it would be. 45. I visited New Guinea in 1970. 46. My favourite holiday destination in Australia is anywhere in Far Northern Queensland. 47. My favourite authors are Gerald Seymour, Fredrick Forsyth, Michael Robotham, Nelson de Mille, and the Late Robert Ludlum and Craig Thomas. 48. I have never played game of golf, but covered the 1971 British Open Golf Championship for AAP-Reuter and all the Australian media. Ah...those were the days. 49. I covered the Hong Kong inquiry into the death of Chinese martial arts expert, Bruce Lee, who died "on the job". 50. I was a president of the South Australian division of the Public Relations Institute of Australia. 51. I have won South Australia's most prestigious public relations award, the Laurenti-Ellicott prize, and remain one of only three sole practitioners to win it (the other winners have all been large consultancies). 52. I have a morbid fear of spiders and sharks. 53. I am a good cook, even after my three strokes, although I need help with some aspects of preparation. 54. My favourite foods are Indian, Chinese and Moroccan. Although I also like Asian and Italian. 55. My favourite beverage is a double shot cafe latte, and my favourite beers are Grolsch and most Asian lagers. I don't like Australian beers. 56. My favourite wines are Shiraz, Reisling and Rose. 57. I prefer the company of women to men. 58. I have two brothers....both of whom are younger. 59. I have been married to Jules more than 45 years. 60. My favourite films are "As good as it gets" and "Ghandi". 61. My favourite books are "The White Spider" and "Conquistadors of the Useless"....both mountaineering books. 62. I have lived in 5 flats, one camper van, and 5 houses since I left home. 63. I believe I wrote the first speech about stroke to be given in the Australian Parliament - by Senator Don Farrell, who was also Minister for Sport at the time. It can be read in Hansard. 64. My first girlfriend I met when I was 13. 65. I "formally" found out about my stroke in 2013 after my Kyneton doctor got hold of my medical notes, and found, to my surprise, that I had suffered not one but three strokes! I'd love to sue the surgeon and cardiologist, but I know how doctors stick together, so I would have a snowball's chance in hell of winning. 66. I am the chairman of the Kyneton Men's Shed. 67. I use to have the most amazing balance. 68. I was a lousy reporter of politics and Parliament, but brilliant at human interest stories. 69. I love the Rolling Stones and Eric Burdon and the Animals. 70. I once danced with Princess Diana. 71. My favourite US president is Bill Clinton, who I met in Adelaide in 2000. 72. My favourite Australian prime minister is Paul Keating. 73. I have always voted Labor (Democrat). 74. I have written a brutal, sexy and sleazy novel of 110,000 words .... which has yet to be published. But if I knew how to convert Word into an iBook language I would self publish. 75. I have never run a marathon. 76. My favourite travel writer is not Bill Bryson but the late Richard Halliburton who died in the early 1930s. 77. My favourite number is 4. 78. My favourite colour is red. 79. While I like wines and lagers, my favourite drink is actually a lemon, lime and bitters. 80. In my younger days I was sometimes mistaken for Jack Nicholson. 81. My favourite current female actor is Sandra Bullock, and my favourite older ones are Audrey Hepburn, Maggie Smith, Dame Judy Dench and Helen Mirren. 82. I like fishing, despite being hopeless at it. 83. My two greatest travel wishes are to live in New York for six months, and Sicily for six months. Oh, and six months in Paris would be most acceptable also! And I would love to write a book about my experiences. 84. If I could have any car in the world it would be either a Porsche Cayenne or a Morgan V8. 85. I devised and held the first Australian Snapper Fishing Championship. 86. I once hitch hiked from Adelaide to Melbourne and Wangaratta and back. 87. I love all outdoor gear and clothing, and while I will never be able to use it, I still love looking at it...especially 4-season tents, sleeping bags and clothing. 88. I reckon my two grandchildren, Jack and Angus, are the world's greatest kids. 89. My favourite footy team is the Adelaide Crows. 90. I love watching cricket on TV. 91. I think the world's most booring sport is motor car racing, followed by boxing. 92. My best male friend and I have known each other for more than 60 years. 93. I can no longer drive a manual car......but I can still walk several kilometres! 94. I can still type, but it takes me forever. 95. I used to be able to write shorthand at 120 words per minute. 96. While I live in the country, I much prefer inner city living. 97. If I had not been a journalist, I'd have love to have been a photographer for National Geographic magazine. 98. I am a lousy sleeper, and generally only get about 3-5 hours sleep per night. 99. While I love travel, the funny things that have occurred to me are hilarious....and most relate to my own stupidity. 100. I did this list to take up Steve Mallory' challenge!!!!!

I make no apologies for my verbal diarrhea. I simply like writing. So there. But as I have spent some 50 years involved in media as a journalist/ foreign correspondent/speech writer/publicist I suppose that pouring out my heart via a blog simply becomes second nature. Today is freezing....so what's new? It's always bloody freezing at Kyneton in winter, and I loathe it. I'm looking forward to later this year when Jules and I have purchased, via www.luxuryescapes.com.au, 7 nights in Far Northern Queensland. We're staying in Palm Cove which we last visited in 2000. It's small and compact and one doesn't need a car. Everything is within walking distance. And the weather will be warm and humid....just like I love. I adore the tropical downpours when the warm rain hits the bitumen and bounces back into the air. And we will be there in the wet season. But until then, I have to cope with freezing weather and cold rain. Today is typical. Went to the supermarket and Jules took her new glasses to the optician to get them adjusted. BTW, she dislikes these new spectacles. My wife is a slave to fashion in all things....but has a heart of gold and is generous to a fault. So I happily put up with her fashion foibles. ..."Johnno, I don't know why I even tried to buy spectacles from a country optician. The staff might be nice, but they gave no style!" ..."Johnno, I am taking these spectacles back. They make me look old!" And... ..."Johnno, have a haircut. You are starting to look like an old man with those wisps of hair over your ears!" But as I say. Jules is my strength and my best friend, so I easily forgive her the fashion stuff. After all, she gave up a great job with Country Road to live in country Victoria an hour's drive from Melbourne. And fashion in Kyneton is virtually non existent. So I have had my haircut and look 10 years younger, and tonight we are going to the next door neighbour's for an early dinner. I have been using my mirror box today as I try to get more movement and feeling into my right hand, and have been bringing more wood indoors to keep the fire going.

I had my last treatment yesterday. Sadly, my health fund only pays 50%,for five treatments, and I have used it all. But I start with my Monash-Epworth research study on August 5, which will include physical exercise as well as mind games. And Jules has agreed to join with me in a local gym program called "Strength for Heart", which runs for 10 sessions over five weeks. So these two activities will take me through to perhaps late September. And in early November we have taken a punt on one of those internet things - Luxury Escapes (www.luxuryescapes.com.au) - for a week at Palm Cove in FNQ. By the time we return we will be heading into Xmas and before you know it it will be 2016 and I can get the five sessions with the neurophysio again! So there. :-) Things are good, and I constantly marvel at the way I am able to make things to sort themselves out! As my wife says: "Johnno, the Committee of Ways and Means will see us through!"

Tis, Jill.

Last night we had a Kyneton couple around for dinner, and the end result was terrific. Ian and Simon are gay, and have a house about 200 metres away from us. Ian, a New Zealander, is an architect and designed our renovations, while Simon is, arguably, Australia's best garden and food photographer - as well as having his own books published. We first met Ian in a local cafealmost 3 years ago, and he came down to our rundown cottage with its wild and overgrown garden and atarted giving us renovation ideas. We subsequently went to see his home and were stunned by its nagnificent garden. We wandered down the drive, turned to the left, and stood open-mouthed as we took in the amazing view. Those of you who mayhaps subscribe to the magazine "Country Style" should try and find the June 2012 issue, as Ian's and Simon's cottage and garden are featured in it, Simon has done the photography for Paul Bangay's books (Bangay recently flew him to the Hamptons, NYC, to photograph several gardens he had designed), and those of cooks/chefs Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer, Kylie Kwong and Shannon Bennett etc. He has also done his own books - "Sheds", "Shacks", and "Boats". But I digress. Jules' made the most delicious food, and the two boys and I provided excellent red and white wines, and everything went off brilliantly. It quite made me forget the aches and pains that constantly wrack my body. The gourmet sausages (pork) and lentils - cooked to a recipe in "Gourmet Traveller" magazine - were superb, and the pear and caramelised cake was to die for! And it wasn't a late night. The boys left at about 10 pm, and Jules and I hit the sack about 10.30. We woke this morning at around 8.30, slept in until 9.30, and it's now 10.45 and I am getting ready to depart for Gisborne (a 30 minute drive) for an appointment with my neurophysio.

Tis, Scotty. I'll try it. :-)

I don't understand the photos on this website. Is it possible to include large photos within each blog or is it not? I had wanted to show some frosty cold pics of Kyneton this morning at 7.30 when the fog was thick and the ground crunched when one walked on it and the temp was minus 1.5. But try as I might, I couldn't figure it out. Do I have to have a photo on a webite and then get the pic to appear by using an URL? Maybe someone who has been here faaaaar longer than I can offer some helpful advice. Have just returned from a 30-minute walk with Moochie, our Schnoodle. Her real name is Miuccia Prada, because she is a dark sooty grey and Miuccia Prada is my wife's favorite fashion designer. It was my concession to Julie (Jules) when I got her as a tinsy puppy from a puppy farm. I had never been to a puppy farm before, and had visions of a cute little weatherboard cottage surrounded by a white picket fence and a dozen or so puppies gamboling around the place. It was hideous. large tins sheds filled with pens that had puppies galore in them...and all in the most appalling conditions. Moochie took an instant liking to me, and she was ugly ugly ugly. But I thought if I didn't take her, no-one would and she would prolly be destroyed. On the way home (the farm was a 450km round trip drive) Moochie vomited on my wife's lap. And Jules was not impressed. So - in an effort to appease her - I let her give the pooch a name of her liking. Moochie is the smartest dog we have ever owned. And she has by far the best nature. I reckon she is drop dead gorgeous. But Jules still reckons she is ugly as sin...mainly because she has long legs (if she was a human she would have rivalled Marlene Dietricht) and she moults fur! If I knew how to put a photo up, I could show her to you. But I don't. Anyhow, Moochie is one reason why I exercise...taking her for 30-minute walks is fun. And Moochie keeps me in at least some sort of modestly reasonable fit condition...... Oh.....and Moochie is an extremely fit eight year old with the fitness level of a two year old!

Tks, Jay :-)

I said I'm off to a slow start, but I never realised it would be so damn slow. The past 3-4 weeks seem to have flown and I don't appear to have done much at all. Now I'm having problems remembering what I have and have not done. But things have been happening: ..We drove back to Adelaide for several days (a round trip of about 2,000 km) to see Jules's 93 yo mum as she had been rushed to hospital......only to find that she was sitting up in bed looking fine. Makes me wonder how many more if these "mercy" dashes we will have to undertake before she passes on. Not that I would wish her evil....... ..We had the grandkids come and stay with us for a few days. . ..We went down to Melbourne for a few days and watched 8 yo Jack playing footy (he kicked one goal, was instrumental in his team getting another two, and took a couple of wonderful marks) and missed 5 yo Gus kicking four goals, including three in almost as many minutes. ..Gus had his photo on page 3 of Melbourne's major newspaper and featured on a national TV news service...but it was like water off a duck's back to him. He greeted his mother the day afterwards shouting joyously, "I'm famous!" and waving both arms in the air. ..I had my first session at Monash Epworth Research Foundation which is doing a study into exercise and people who have suffered brain injury and was interviewed for an hour about my sleep and exercise habits (my sleep is rotten and I only average around 3-4 hours a night....but that was the case pre stroke anyway). I go back again in August 7. ..I have had bronchitis - at least that is what my dr said when I saw him on Tuesday to get e results of tests that were done the previous week..... Chest x-Rays to check on lung damage/emphysema/lung cancer and breathing tests. Good news.....apart from minor damage done by some 40 years of smoking the lung capacity is only moderately down, and the lungs were clean apart from damage done by thoracic surgery in early 2010. ..and I had my iPad checked by Apple and it is OK......but I have lost a stack of stuff that was on it when they reset it, and now my passwords are all up *beep* bonzer creek and I'm having trouble accessing various things including internet banking. So that's my dreary and booring story. Finally, I apologise for any typos etc. it's almost midnight and my eyes feel like *beep* holes in the snow..... PS: I know the censor has a job to do, but I do find it a bit of a pain in the *beep* when what has been beeped out actually added to the story...but I guess I will get use to it.

Deigh, in which town do you live?

I’m making a slow start. But, hey, at least I’m making it! My previous blog ran for more than 3½ years and was some 275,000 words spread over more than 1,250 pages. And now it’s disappeared from sight as Australia's National Stroke Foundation moves forwards (I reckon its backwards) with its new “enableme” website and ditches its previous “StrokeConnect” website. I’m hoping this place is much more user-friendly, and allows easy uploading of jpegs. The NSF site was hopeless when one wanted to include photographs. Today I had a special meeting of the local Men’s Shed (Men’s Shed are, I understand, a peculiarly Australian thing….a place where men can meet and discuss men’s issues and do men type work such as woodwork, carpentry, metalwork, repair household items and just chat about male type things such as footy, cricket, fishing, or issues such as health. And there are now more than 1,000 such sheds around Australia with our’s – the Kyneton Men’s Shed - being one of the first 3 to be established anywhere). Anyhow, I’m the chairman of our Shed, mainly because I am a semi retired writer/journalist/photographer and can prepare funding submissions, write media releases, and use the internet to great effect. Which means I am hopeless at using my hands and making anything other than building words! The job suits me, as I have lost the effective use of my right hand, and am far more at home using my brain as opposed to my hands. This is not to say that I don't want to use my hands! I would have loved to able to make things and undertake DIY projects, but sadly pre stroke and post stroke I have been shown to be hopeless at any type of handiwork. Our shed is currently moving location, and we are awaiting the outcome of a submission for $60K that we can add to our current $30K. Once we get the $60K we can move to a more central locale. Anyhow, the special meeting was to bring members up to date with where we currently stand - which our executive reckons is in a very healthy position.

I am sorry for being a bit tardy, but have been looking after grandkids during the school holidays. Will start blogging next week..... So please bear with me.

My name is John Mitchell, and I am a stroke survivor. I used to be journalist, foreign correrspondent, public servant, publicist, photojournalist and speechwriter. I had a heart attack Christmas day, 2009, went to hospital, and two days later had a triple bypass. The operation was messy and involved a lot of bleeding, resulting in the surgeon having to undertake a "redo". During the first or second operations I suffered three strokes, and rather spending 7-8 days in one hospital before being discharged, I spent some four months in four different hospitals. My business collapsed (the problem with being a sole practitioner) and my wife, Julie, and I retired from Adelaide to the Victorian country town of Kyneton. But on November 11, 2011, I started a blog on the National Stroke Foundation of Australia's website . This was at the request of the NSF StrokeConnect co-ordinator, Emma Gee. She believed that as a journalist, I might have the ability to encourage others to start blogs on the website. Initially I did, and some 6-8 others started writing. But then Emma left, and the NSF neglected the StrokeConnect component of its website and everything ground to a halt....apart from my blog. Between November, 2011 and May 2015 I wrote almost a daily blog that over that time attracted some 150,000 page views. Around May 2015 StrokeConnect stopped and a new website called "enableme" started......and the NSF - for some reason - simply wiped me off with hardly a word of thanks for the effort I had put in to keeping StrokeConnect alive. This had included writing a major speech about stroke for a colleague, Senator Don Farrell (ALP), which he gave in the Australian Parliament in 2011. If I sound disenchanted with the NSF, then I am. An old friend and stroke survivor, ElizabethC, recommended this website to me as one where I could perhaps continue to maintain my blog. So here I am. :-)