swilkinson

So true, attitude is everything but when we are having a blue day it is easy to say but not so easy to put into practice. Thanks for posting it , it is a good reminder of the options we have.

Some outings we might not have photos of but they live on in our minds for a long time. Glad you have been able to have a couple of meals out and now this special day. Well done.

No, just a really intense low as far as we know. There were unusually high winds and it has hardly stopped raining since but not classified as a cyclone or tornado. I can't remember a weather pattern like it in recent decades, they are saying last one was in 1987. It is so sad to see older buildings damaged and fences down. But also haystacks gone mouldy and all the damage caused by the constant rain. This also means the cleaning up is delayed too.

(((hugs))) Katrina. I have been following your blog since you first started it so know what you have come through and what you have overcome. I know you feel weak now but with your past record you will feel stronger again soon.

The rains continues to fall on my part of the coast. There was a two hour let up this afternoon so I scraped together piles of leaves and small branches to dispose of later. There is always something to keep us busy isn't there? There was the sound of chainsaws and grinders as people are slowly clearing the fallen trees from their properties. It is a shame so many aged trees went, it creates a new landscape in a way as you see homes that before were hidden by a row of trees. There are fences down everywhere too but fortunately in our area no loss of life. Did you miss me? I had a few days up at Gloucester with life long friend Jean. I went on Monday and came home on Thursday. Because of the washed away train tracks about half way between her place and here I traveled for six hours by bus, bus and taxi to get there. I had booked the journey two weeks before thinking it would be the usual journey to and from Gloucester, normally three hours by one of the XPT trains. Of course it took longer as buses had to be used due to rail line damage from last week's big storms. In fact the piece of line that was washed away, high on one of the rows of culverts used to divert a creek was blown up, which must have been spectacular. It was a great adventure getting there but well worth it. Jean's place is a place of peace, she is an artist and she and her husband have created a home that soaks up their amazing view of the nearby range of hills called the Bucketts. The view is different each morning as the morning mist rises and falls and obscures one section and then another. I would never tire of watching that happen, it is like a ballet performed by Mother Nature. We had a serious time talking over family matters. We have known each other since we were seven so with Jean as you would be with some of your close friends there is a lot left unsaid because we know each other's stories. I think that makes talking about serious matter easier. She has had one son divorce and get little custody of his children so knows what I am going through helping Trevor to get access to Alice and how a Granma's heart can break over a breakup involving children. It is a part of or modern day life of course but that does not make it easier to bear. We also talked over a lot of other problems, she has not been widowed but I found I could talk about that to her. Like me she was a telephone counselor so is a good listener. We spent most of the three days I was there talking. We were on call to help her husband with some house repairs, we are both good at holding a ladder, and took her little rescue dog for early morning walks. That was a wonderful way to start the day and reminded me I could maybe later have a little dog of my own again. Driving back from Jean's place I saw how much tree foliage was piled high on the roadside and even huge trees had been just bulldozed and pushed to the side of the road to allow traffic through. Some properties still had a tree over the roof and many had fences down and outbuildings destroyed. Such high winds, the same as if it had been a category 2 cyclone, means that anything with wind resistance was likely to be damaged. So much loss and destruction, such a loss of income and so many homes deroofed, these are of course now damaged by continuing rain fall. I am so lucky it was all concentrated further up the coast so my damage here is minimal and can be tidied up without resorting to having to hire someone to do the job for me. ​So my few days away were a real learning experience and I am ashamed I often complain over such a little when so many people have lost so much. But I am only one small human being in a large universe and sometimes that makes me feel lonely and inadequate.

Wonderful news Kelli, hope you are very happy there. Living on your own will be strange at first but you will get used to it. Wish you were here so I could give you a house warming party.

Sarah - 12 pounds lighter already - congratulations. You always find a way through the trickier situations so I am sure you will manage your household balance and finding the time to exercise. You go girl!

George, glad you are finally back with us. Was beginning to wonder if life was so full you didn't have time to post a blog. (((hugs))) to Lesley too, hope she can still bake you that special bread she made in the Mountain country. Visitors from New Zealand? that is a bonus and you will find the house full of laughter. Have a quiet coffee for me.

I've been blogging a long time but never saw it as a business opportunity still for you it might be. Good luck with the business planning etc. Whatever you do you will do it with your own style Kelli, that is one of the beautiful things about you.

Thank you for all your prayers and good wishes. It was a beautiful blue sky day today, so I finally got some laundry out in the sun, so much nicer to have clothes sun dried and cheaper too. Had a funny day today, some of it very serious, some of it quite quirky. Guess that is just about average for me. The rain and wind are due back next week NOT something to look forward to.

Day four of rain but the winds have gone. Power has been restored to our whole neighbourhood now. Schools are still closed until teams of volunteers clean up the grounds. There has been so much damage to roads, trees everywhere. The big storms certainly change the landscape. How do you fill up a six foot hole in your yard where a tree once stood? I am glad that is not my problem. I have been lucky this time.

We are having flooding all up and down the coastal area where I live. There has been loss of life further up in the Hunter Region but here is is all nuisance flooding. Natural disasters bring out the best in people and in our area many people are helping their neighbours and maybe meeting them for the first time. I am lucky, so far little damage apart from an overflowing gutter on the back section of the house that brought water into my back room where the computer is usually sitting. It was sitting on my bed at the time so no damage apart from the desk itself which is pineboard but seems okay so far. I am typing on my laptop on the old sewing machine cupboard that once belonged to my dear Mum. It is not quite the right angle but okay. We don't have water at the moment as we are on the side of a hill and I guess the pumping station is now also without power but I do have stored water so the neighbours are coming over with buckets to get water for "flushing" and simple tasks like washing hands. Funny how we just take the supply of power and water for granted. My tank water isn't drinking water so we are all living on fruit juice instead of coffee. So we will all be much calmer. Further north of us there is serious flooding so we are well off by comparison. All of this makes me think about the future again. I know a lot of our retirement villages are in low lying areas and that will be a problem if our rain continues but so far all is soggy but navigable. Tomorrow I am going to have a drive around the area if the rain eases off as is predicted and see where the roads can be cut off and where the flooding is, I like to know how areas cope with rainfall, don't want to be cut off if I choose to go with the retirement village option which I may do as it means all the maintenance is covered in the basic fee. Looking around here there are going to be a few handyman hours to pay for to get the yard back into shape. And also hiring a tree lopper as I can see some of the gum trees need a trim to make them safe.. I have so much leaf litter you can't actually see the grass but that will be easy to rake up when the fine dry weather comes back again, which inevitably it will. The big excitiement was the loss of two trees on the back of the house two doors over. For those of you who remember the fence debate here they were the last of the tall pines and having shallow roots they succumbed to the flow of water and fell sideways across the disputed fence and into the yard next to me. The next door neighbour called in a favour and soon had the tree loppers in his yard chopping and chipping so the trees were soon just piles of sawdust and mulch. There is now a gap in the fence on the other side so I am sure he will as efficiently see to that problem as soon as the rains are over. Will it continue to rain tomorrow? It seems the weather forecasters disagree on that. I hope the crisis is over and we can get back to normal again. But for some the devastation will be too much and there will be deaths, always is after a traumatic event like this.There ave been the sound of ambulances all day and one of our church ladies was rushed to hospital overnight due to a heart attack. I will visit her as soon as the roads are clear again. Apparently there have been a lot of trees across the roads in some of our tree lined roads so it is not easy to get around the area right now. So my friends, if you see reports on the news of our floods and the deaths just know that I and my family and friends are all safe so far. Just keep us in your prayers till this is all over.

Asha, you are a remarkable woman married to a wonderful man. The saying :"Handsome is as handsome does" comes to mind because it is not what a person looks like that makes them special, it is the kind deeds they do. Keep on growing together, yo complement each other so well. Now that you will soon be an empty nester you will thrive on his kindness and appreciate his companionship.

Yes, I agree, connections are important , I call it fore me "Gods' spider web". I meet someone in one place, we get to know each other in another, one day I realise I have a new friend. In Lions we say friendship is an end and not a means so I never look to take advantage of a friendship. I just like to find people to talk with and see where that goes.

Happy anniversary Gary and Sarah. My sympathies on just a celebration salad but yes, the diet has to start some time.

I agree with Asha an attitude of gratitude is what starts the day well. Good thoughts Jay.

Happy Spring Fred, you sound as if you have the whole thing under control so good for you. The years take their toll on us and as we get older yes it is harder to get up and go. But there are chores to be done and you have to do them so up you get anyway. The smell of BBQ in the air always makes me smile, but tear up too sometimes as I remember the great BBQs we used to have here in days gone by.

A white knight indeed. I am glad he has the right kind of attitude, you need pain killers, he subscribed pain killers. You can't live any kind of life with pain as your constant companion.

We have had the announcement of a new minister. It is a person I worked with in 1996 - 1999 as an unpaid Parish Assistant. So there goes my chance of resigning from everything, I can't see Bruce putting up with that. He knows me and knows where my talents lie so it will be interesting to see what his ministry priorities are now. He comes to us on 25th May so I will see what happens after that.

Robin you have found yourself a rockery. We are all different shapes and sizes, a little weather-beaten in some cases, but rocks none the less. Sue from Down Under

Robin and Pam I cannot say that I know how you feel, I don't as I was a caregiver and my feelings are from that. But I do know that trapped feeling you are both experiencing and the feeling that there is more to life. (((hugs)))

I am sure there will be plenty of people gradually getting their bodies used to the sun again so mingle in that crowd and really no-one will notice. Just enjoy the warmer weather.

Many years ago this site I posted a blog in which I compared talking to people who are friendly, interested and concerned but not quite on the same wavelength as being like people thinking about a pie,. Yum we say, but you are thinking blueberry and I am thinking peach. That is where I find myself right now. I had a few days down with my daughter and it was good, the grandkids and I did things together and I had a good talk with my daughter and another with my son in law. I realized they have no concept at all of my present life. They have a busy life, kids, the congregation they care for and each other. It is nothing like that for me. So they think blueberry and I think peach. The busy Easter season is over but already I have another funeral to go to and two new people in hospital to visit and other cares and woes seem to be creeping in as the oldies catch the first colds and flus of the season. Bah Humbug! So the caring role continues to take up my spare time and that feeling that hovers between feeling useful and feeling used up comes back. I keep saying this will change with the advent of our new minister but will it? Will he/she take up a position of authority, reshuffle the load and take up the slack? Yeah right! Do you get the impression I am feeling sorry for myself? You are right, I have the pre-winter blues. It rained every day I was down at my daughter's place. We did manage a trip to the local shopping centre and went to the movies where we saw "Home" a wonderful children's movie with some home truths for parents and some deeper meaning for us older and wiser heads. Just loved it. We then got a heap of rental movies and every day was a good day for a couple of movies so I think I am up to whatever the kids have been watching the past few months. Some good thought provoking movies there too. I must get out more! I came back a day early to catch up with my older son and his partner. He was up to sign the divorce papers so Pamela and he will get divorced and it looks like it is going to be Alison forever now (however long forever lasts these days) and so I have to think of her as his partner and maybe one day his wife. Big leap forward for me. But I can do it, I am accustomed to changes in my life so I guess this will be just another one. I know a lot of you have been there before me so I can plaster that smile on my face and look as happy as I can manage for them. He never asks how I am dong, basically is not interested in my life at all so no deep and meaningful talks ever happen with that one. My younger son and his little daughter talked to me on the phone while I was down at my daughter's place. He has his troubles but seems once more to be overcoming them. I guess he is the nearest to my personality and uses the same methods of coping. One day at a time, just keep busy, just keep moving forward when you can. He loves the access days with his daughter and that makes the hard work of his job (he is a commercial cleaner) seem worthwhile. He knows this can end at any time but is okay with that. I think he is more mature in a way than his older brother as life has slapped him around a bit as it has me and so he too has that "wisdom born of pain" and we probably both think "peach". And so life goes on, church, Lions, lunch with friends when that happens, housework, gardening, talking to the kids once a week on the phone...anything wrong with this picture? Yes, where is the purpose of it all? Where are the signposts saying "walk this way", "sunny corner", "Pathway to Happiness"? Okay I am speaking to the wrong people here, for all of you, like me, have had a pathway shadowed by stroke. We no longer believe there is a pathway to happiness, more like a pathway to h*ll so silly me, thinking that happiness is out there somewhere waiting for me to find it eh? But it is all around me, I know that, in the faces of friends, in the very air some days when the sun is shining and the birds are singing. It is only on the grey days I just don't see it. Yesterday I visited two old friends both in care facilities, one is very philosophical about life, has been in the nursing home for four years but still really struggles to find good in each day sometimes. I understand that when the news of the day is who died last night and nothing much, except visitors like me turns the day back to normal. The other is still in assisted living but in a place that is no longer full, people want more space and light than the place has to offer so activities are few, the bus has been sold off and she is mainly in her room except for meals. In her nineties she is something of a philosopher too so does think in terms of the good place she has, the help she gets, the occasional company she has when one of her family members comes in for a chat. I will be her one day I guess. So there is plenty of work to do in the garden while the good weather holds, bromeliads breeding like rabbits so slice and dice them and repot them to go into the garden at a future date or give away to friends, you know the drill, leaves to rake, areas to clear of weeds. But do wish I had a companion to work with or someone to simply come to the back door and say: "Is it time for a break, I could do with a cup of tea myself".. The widow life for me is a lonely life.

Jay, just sent some time on Skype with my grand daughter who lives 17 hours drive away from me, so I know how seeing the little ones can mean so much to us grand parents. Thanks for expressing it all so well. Sue from Down Under

Jay you are an inspiration to others too. Thank you for your blogs, they are read by a lot of people and I am sure help them in their journey with stroke too. Sue from Down Under