Nice water color

I think this is a nice water color depicting a game of bowls being played in what looks like a very leisurely fashion. That looks like me on the left !
Perry had the stitches removed from his arm this morning and the news is very good. There is no sign of anymore cancer. It was certainly on the move tho...he will have a scar about 6" long with a very large amount of skin removed both width and depth. If basal skin cancer is ignored it will eventually find it's way thru the skin layers and then it becomes very serious. The message here folks is, don't ignore any strange skin lesions.
Pam and the children arrive next Tuesday....can't wait to see them. It's been six months since we last saw them. Perry is going to make a sign and put it on one of the chairs on the deck...."Pam's Chair". We spend such a lot of time out there, it is like another small living room...even have a rug on the floor that didn't have a home in the house. Breakfast and lunch most days... looks very inviting....and IT IS !
The weather has been superb ... hope it continues as we might rent a "party boat" and go up the Pumistone Passage (the body of water at our place) for a six hour outing....take a load of food with us and swim suits just in case. The water is warm all year, but I like to find a spot with VERY clear water.
The only other outing we have planned is to Australia Zoo, which is about an hour from here....I could pass on it, but the kids are very keen. Steve Irwin's wife has huge plans for the place which has caused Steve's father to sell out his share to start up another rescue and rehabilitate ....which is what the zoo started out as. Bob Irwin is a rather quiet man....Steve was manic (in my opinion). Anyway at nearly 70 years of age it is all a bit much for him the way it is, and the direction it has taken.
We received a picture (snail mail) of Davis James today from Darcy....19 1/2" long and 6lb 15oz. That makes three children for them. Two boys and a girl. Seven grandchildren for Nancy. Also had an email from Susie...Margaret has been home almost two weeks now and altho she has a long way to go...she is putsing around....making meals....Susie said Jack is like a mother hen. We are so happy for them.
I called Glen Saturday....he sounded O.K.....weather very very hot in So Cal. He and Catherine had a nice weekend recently at Santa Barbara. A friend has his own helicopter and they flew low all the way up the coast. I have never been for a ride in a helicopter, but I certainly hope to do so before I am too much older......I feel my mortality quite keenly at times and am at times quite sad about the fact that there isn't enough money in our budget any more to visit Glen, Christopher and other family members overseas. Phone calls are fine, however my heart strings still get a regular work out...there is nothing like face to face.

Another beautiful day

Perry had the huge bandage removed from his arm this morning....a doctor took a quick peek at the surgery and declared .... all well, then a nurse covered the wound again with a lighter dressing as one spot was weeping a little. Tomorrow after we have bowled again Perry will remove it so as to let it air somewhat. Very neat job....stiches will be removed a week from today....al going well.
We both had another bowling lesson this morning. Now that we have a bit of experience under our belts it's great to have a lesson and realize that we are making good progress. Graham Hubbard who is the games director and a former club president gave us the lesson in place of the current president as he was and is always very busy. I prefer Graham, who by the way ....he and his wife Faye (lady president) are good friends of Judy and Merv from when they all lived in Tecoma years and years ago. Graham played golf for 35 years and decided to take up bowling because of a trick knee....loves it and wouldn't care if he didn't play golf again. It IS that addictive!
Lib is having a great time in Freo....as they call Fremantle. The T.V. show called "The Great Outdoors" featured Fremantle just last Saturday night. It looks like a really lovely place...lots of old buildings are heritage listed and quite beautiful. Lots of good restaurants....heaven for Lib!
I sent a text message to her....she will be back home next weekend. With Doug and James gone I think she will be lonely and I hope she has something figured out to occupy her time. This is a good age for her to get into one sport or another.
Haven't heard back from Glen after replying to his latest email....he thinks closer to Christmas would be a better time for him to work on my visiting him. The financial load everyone is carrying these days just seems to be getting heavier. We certainly have to watch every dollar....luckily I am good at budgeting and get satisfaction out of knowing that barring something catastrophic we are doing O.K. Live in a wonderful place and enjoy our lives. Miss the kids and grand kids, but everyone has to do their own thing. My mother used to say....whoever said "money can't buy you happiness" was a clod. It might not do all you hoped it would, but it sure "cushions the blows" I heartily agree.... The people we care about are all a long way away, but money means they are all just a few hours or a day away. Air travel is cheaper than driving now...how amazing is that!!!!!

Cute...

Margaret is home from hospital ! I haven't spoken to her yet and won't disturb her and Jack for awhile. Wonderful news for all.
Perry had surgery on his right forearm today.....long long day. He drove us to the local hospital and I could have left him there until after 4 pm....however I am was very covetous of the free parking space we had and also the day still would have dragged if I had roamed around the mall or driven home and back....thought I might as well just stay there for the day even if it was tedious and boring. I can cope with such things quite well. Read quite a lot....had lunch in the cafeteria....etc. He felt very well after a general anesthesia and his arm is bandaged in a huge bandage. I drove home as he wasn't allowed to and a cab wasn't an option either....don't know why and didn't bother enquiring. He can remove it in forty eight hours and leave it uncovered. Glad that part is over....stitches will be removed in about two weeks.
Called my brother Peter and sister in law Lorri last night....just for a catchup. They will be up here attending a wedding sometime during September and there is a good chance we will be able to get together with them for a day and evening. Pete semi retires at the end of this month. He will be 64 years old October 27 and has been looking forward to this stage of life for quite awhile. He is an accountant and like most accountants leads a very stressful life doing his best to keep the company he works for on track financially.
When I last saw him December/January this year I was surprised to notice that the older he is getting the more I see a fairly strong resemblance to our father!
Phone was quite busy...Libby called to let us know she and Doug were flying to Western Australia this morning to catch up with their son James and spend a few days with him. The course James is doing will lead to him one day following in his fathers footsteps. Doug is a master or captain of one of the ships that supply some of the oil rigs off the coast. Doug has the credentials to captain a ship around the world. He works shifts of up to six weeks on and then three or four weeks off and is paid very well for doing so ! James has spent the past four weeks getting started on one of the courses he is taking and living in a bed sit. Lib and Doug have found him a one bedroom apartment which will be more suitable....accomodation in W.A. and Queensland is at a premium as both states have booming economies due to mining. One hundred thousand people a year have been migrating to Queensland the past few years....attracted by the job market and lifestyle. That has the natural downside which is a shortage of good rental property and infrastructure that needs a very quick upgrade.
Uh oh....another phone call !

Another little chuckle..

Perry will have plastic surgery under full anasthesia at 1.30pm tomorrow. We feel confident that this time the basal cell carcinoma in the skin on his right forearm will have been removed completely after three previous attempts.

Skin cancer here is higher than anywhere else in the world....basically because most of us are for the most part fair skinned and felt that a suntan looked pretty cool when we were younger. I still like the look of suntanned skin, but am more carefull and use sunblock for a good portion of the time I am out in the sun....even so I am very tanned due to the fact that I am outdoors such a lot now that I am lawn bowling.

This morning Perry and I went to a two hour coaching session at another club and I got heaps and heaps out of it....so much so that the game I played in the afternoon resulted in our team won....34 points to 6! I felt soooooo confident it was FANTASTIC. To watch the bowl follow a predicted path was soooooooo GOOD !!!!

Spoke with Perry's brother Jack earlier this week and as we haven't heard from him or anyone else regarding Margaret's condition leads us to feel she is if nothing elso...holding her own. Jack sounded absolutely whipped. He has been spending most of the day with her at the Hospital for weeks. Love them to bits and pray that Margaret will become stronger every day.

My sister Barbara sent us a picture of her and Ray's new kitchen at the holiday house in Mt Martha via mobile (cell) phone. It looks lovely....makes Barbie want to spend more time there now. She and Ray have their main digs in town (Sth Yarra) as they both still feel they don't want to spend all their time at Mt Martha just yet. I couldn't live comfortably in their uptown address as I am a total holiday mode person now! Retirement is fantastic....don't know how I managed time to go to work!

I haven't figured out how to forward the kitchen picture to my email address yet.....will take a closer look at how to do it next week. Our phone has all the bells and whistles.....trouble is messing around with it gets tedius after awhile.

Phil sounded good on the phone earlier tonight. He has had his house appraised, but won't know the result until tomorrow. I think he will be pleasantly surprised at the increase in value after five years....actually almost six years. Don't know what he has in mind exactly, but suspect he wants to consolidate debt and now that Sherrene is working almost full time...making larger repayments. That's another thing I don't miss. MORTGAGE PAYMENTS.

I have tried to get into another book that I borrowed from the social club library.....a no go.

The Eleventh Commandment was really good. Have to look through some of my old books to find something to read while I wait for Perry's procedure tomorrow. I have to drive home, therefore must stay at the hopital for about 4 or 5 hours. I think I will re read one of Bill Bryson's books.

Catch up day....sort of

After a day of bowling with opponents way out of our league, Perry and I decided to scratch our names off the starters for today. We played four days in a row and it was too much yesterday. Today I feel I would have crawled up and down the rink ! Didn't get up till after ten this morning....I woke at four...couldn't get back to sleep so I read some more of my latest book....The Eleventh Commandment" which I find riveting. Love suspense...CIA...politics...etc.
An hour of reading made me sleepy, so back to sleep at five am.
I had good intentions....need to vacuum, decided that can wait till tomorrow...only I know it need doing and I am patient !!! All this stuff waits for you. As long as the bathroom is spotless...kitchen in good shape...STUFF put away .... food in the fridge...that's it till I REALLY feel like doing it. Pam, Rachel and James will be here for nine days, July 2 till July 9 and that's when hardly anything gets done....however between now and then the house will look as tho no one lives here ! The weather is just too good to spend indoors, so we drove across to Morayfield and checked out our local hardware store....bought two highly perfumed and beautifully colored rose bushes (Double Delight)....another glue gun....a light fitting and some sort of spray bottle that Perry needed to mix weed killer...at least I think that is what he wants it for. Headed for the mall as we were now quite hungry and the cafeteria at Bunning's Hardware has closed.
I love Hungry Jacks ....a Whopper for me and a Bacon Cheeseburger for Perry....shared a Coke and fries. I have had to cool it with the calories, but today was an exception....unfortunately I love fast food. While Perry picked up a few things in the grocery store I cruised my favorite stores....found nothing....then.....whoa....yes !!!! It is supposed to be winter here so all the last of the last summer clothes are shrinking down to about two racks per store. Off to Katie's where guess what. Two skirts that can be worn for golf or bowling were marked down from $30 to $10....my wardrobe was happy to accommodate them. Bought some of that stuff that you line drawers with so things wont slide around and did one of the pots and pans drawers. Small things can make me sooo happy!!!! The other drawer has to be culled and then also lined. I think we have enough stuff to start a catering business....sometimes the old saying "less is more" applies to kitchen stuff. We certainly don't need three pans that are large enough to make spaghetti for fifty people! Tomorrow I am fairly certain I will attack the second drawer....then again....
Perry called Jack too early today and left a message for him. While we were out the mobile phone let us know that Jack had called back...he hadn't left a message, but will probably call tomorrow. I spoke to Susie several days ago and she told me Maggie's white blood cell count is up and she was able to get out of bed for a very short period of time. Seeing as we haven't heard anymore from anyone....hopefully, no news is good news.
Had an email from niece Kelly....baby Davis James Galluzo (I think that is how it is spelled) has arrived. Mother, father and baby doing great. Baby is off to a flying start having great parents.

Why is T.V. on Saturday nights so abysmal ? It's just after nine and unless you are an avid football fan....nothing !!!!!!! So....maybe some vanilla cappuccino and raisin toast then bed....yes that sounds like a really great idea....damn the calories....tomorrow is another day.

A very up and down week

When I was eleven years old I was a 'junior' bridesmaid to Barbara Smith. At six weeks of age, my mother and father moved from a 'bedsit' to a two room flat in Chapel Street St Kilda. The flat was part of an old mansion that was divided into several flats of varying size...(all minuscule).....Barbara was the nine year old daughter of Elsie and Bob Storer who had moved from Sydney and were living in the flat next door until they could find a suitable home which turned out to be a lovely old home in Mt Eliza. As a nine year old, Barbara thought of me as her 'live' doll and loved to dress me and take me for walks in a stroller. When I was eighteen months old my sister Barbara (named after Barbara Storer) was born and of course the little flat was now way too small for a family of four, so we moved to Linacre Rd Hampton....again to a flat, again an old mansion divided into three living spaces. We had what was a large games room divided into a bedroom, lounge room and hallway. Our kitchen had been converted from what was once the maids bedroom and we had a large unlined detached room that eventually became Barbara's and my bedroom.
Anyway.....(cut it short Shelley.)....Barbara Storer her wonderful mother and abominable father were a large part of our lives as my father by this time worked for Bob on and off till I was about seventeen years old. Wonderful Christmases and weekends were spent at "Harfield" in Mt Eliza. Barbara was somewhat of a role model for us and 'Aunty' Elsie ....we adored her. She oozed kindness, charm, elegance and followed all the beautiful old courtesies that we miss today. Always sent cards of thanks, wrote beautiful lengthy letters...always dressed beautifully. I could go on and on.
Barbara and I thought we were princesses when we took part in Barbara Storer's very upscale wedding to Lew Smith who at that time was an aspiring A grade tennis player and coach...fourteen years Barbara's senior. At age twenty Barbara became mother to the first of three sons. Elsie passed away when Barbara...now Barbara Smith was only 25 years old. My mother then became her surrogate mother. Bob died not long after and wasn't mourned by anyone. Lew died some fifteen years ago and after about two years, Barbara hooked up with Jack, her childhood sweetheart. Jack died February from cancer....after they had spent ten wonderful years together.
Barbara passed away last Friday aged 78 after a four and a half year battle with ovarian cancer. Her family and her second family (us) along with her hundreds of friends celebrated her life at The Briars where Barb had been a volunteer guide for several years. Unfortunately I couldn't make it, but my sister Barbara has just told me all about it. We have been on the phone for about 45 minutes .
Bye for now Barb. I miss you already. Almost 69 years . Love from one of 'your girls' and 'bridesmaid'.