Best buds for ever.

Aren't they gorgeous ! I started out wanting to post several pictures of our local theatre, the owners and pics of a recent girls night out, but there is a glitch here somewhere. I wasn't able to post more than two pics on the one blog so I found this picture and decided to post it first.
Our local theatre is a converted warehouse that has been on the island for years and years....the most recent owners recently upgraded the seating to the kind of seating that you find in the big multiplexes....very comfortable. There are two theatres and the pictures they show are the usual releases that are shown everywhere. I love going there as there are no big crowds and I usually see a couple of people I recognise. Life on the island is very leisurely and that is the pace we love. We use our car to go everywhere, however we are thinking of buying an electric bicycle as the terrain is very flat and I think I would ride a lot if we had that type of bike. We have two ordinary mountain bikes that we have hanging from the carport roof and the grandchildren use them when they visit. Perry's knees hate riding and I don't enjoy riding mine anymore....electric sounds quite good. They go about 40kilometres before they need charging...the lithium batteries last over five years.....also only pennies to get from here to there.
I shall post the theatre pics later.

When it rains it POURS !!!!!

All day we have waited for a storm to roll in from down south. I spent a lot of the afternoon on our back deck looking out over the water of the Pumistone Passage and watching the weather slowly change from bright sunshine to light cloud....then darker and darker clouds. Around 8pm the rain, thunder and lightning started. Wow....do we ever get WEATHER here !!!!!
The lightning was scary, but fabulous to watch from our darkened living room. It looked like daylight at times it was so bright.

Perry has a firmish date for surgery. He will be having a total knee replacement on or close to November 6....yeayyyy. He has had relief from Restless Leg Syndrome of the severest type for almost a year now (due to the drug he has to take every six hours) and after what we hope will be successful surgery on his left knee...no more pain from arthritis and the Bakers cyst behind his knee. He will have his right knee replaced also in due course. The damage to his right knee is greater than the left, but the pain he suffers in the left knee means that he will have that one taken care of first. We don't have Private Health Insurance, so the government pays for all our medical needs including these major surgeries. When we lived in the U.S. we had medical insurance up until 5 months before we moved here....during that time neither of us had any doctors visits, but if we had....the cost was huge and we just took our chances with our health as minimum coverage was going to cost $600 a month due to the fact that Perry had a skin cancer removed.

Heard from Pam today...all well with them....Stu has enlisted the help of a personal trainer at the gym he goes to....Thank you God. His weight has ballooned over the past few years and it puzzles me as to why many religious people overeat. Gluttony is one of the 7 deadly sins. I know one thing for sure...temptation seems to be around them more than many people as there is constant socializing which entails large amounts of high fat and high calorie foods being present at all the get togethers they attend. Yummy food is tempting at any time and since the sixties contrary to what many believe....food in this country has become very cheap and plentiful...also the fast food industry hardly existed....now it seems to part of the staple diet of a large percentage of the population and the result is ....1 in 4 children are overweight or obese...adults it's higher. If this keeps going, the next generation will die younger than this generation. Type 2 diabetes has exploded, and we now have an industry called 'the weight loss' business. Children especially don't get anywhere near the exercise they need for weight control. Both Pam and Stu are very vigilant about the amount of T.V. watched and video games played in their home. The good health messages that are constantly projected at school are hopefully making a start on turning around what is now considered an epedemic.

Boy....that was a soap box blog !!!!

One of the many fun things that people send to me.

It's a quarter to four....and there's no one in the place (sounds like a song???)

Perry is bowling and I have to pick him up in a little while....checking out some of my old stuff in Picasa and as usual trying to cull some of the old stuff, but I love all of it. Trouble is I have THOUSANDS of pics and some video.

Went grocery shopping and did a little retail therapy at the same time....always find something I could easily live without, but what the heck!

Just checked niece Lindsey's blog...I would love to see her and her beautiful baby girl and handsome husband. However they are missionaries and live in Panama which is a VERY long way from here. Love the internet.....

Glen

asked Catherine to move in with him and she said yes. I hope and pray that all will go well for them. Glen emailed to say he had asked her to move in with THEM. I wondered who THEM was as I didn't think Christopher lived with him full time and I knew that he had had a male room mate on and off for several years ....(also named Chris,) No...that Chris has moved in with his girlfriend! Grandson Chris spends about equal time with his mom and dad and will be pleased I'm sure as he has a great relationship with his dad (mom too I hope!) and it will make him happy to see him happy.
I would love to meet Catherine as she sounds like just the sort of girl he needs. I met his last serious girlfriend of four years after he had been seeing her for a few months and within a few hours I could feel she wouldn't be THE ONE. Dating for all that time and not actually moving in together... to me said it all. I think Glen would say he was glad he ...'dodged that bullet!'
As I said earlier....maybe they will get married and have their honeymoon here....or better still...get married here !

Snakes alive !

Friday was more interesting than usual. Started out pretty ordinary with culling my wardrobe as the weather is rapidly warming up and I find that the sweater collection I have includes some pretty ratty looking stuff. That turned into a nightmare....turned out drawers....found things I had forgotten I own....STUFF all over our bed and every time I felt I was getting on top of this onerous chore...for some reason I would turn away...look back and the pile was multiplying ! Two days later and I still haven't finished sorting, hanging, bagging either to go to the trash can or goodwill. Heaps needed washing again....now need pressing.
Anyway....I decided to take a break from that job and knew the driveway needed sweeping as we have had a couple of weeks of windy afternoons that mean some sand was not exactly piling up, but was very gritty underfoot. O.K. out with the broom....happily sweeping the drive...out to the roadway....sweep the gutter in front of our house....continue both sides and to the neighbors...feeling quite energized really. Turn around look back up the drive and YIKES....a SNAKE slithered under our house !!!!!! There are many non venomous snakes in this country, but the venomous outnumber them, and Queensland has way more than it's share. Five people gathered and offered differing opinions on how to deal with the knowledge that one of these guys was within very close proximity. Do nothing....O.K......now you should see how I descend the front and back steps with my eyes darting in every direction. I shall take extra care when watering our plants as my cousin told me she has had a couple of snake incidents over the years, including two in potted plants and one that slithered into the bedroom from the patio thru an open sliding door. Must stop here....quietly freaking myself out!

Grandson Christopher 9 27 08

Glen forwarded some pictures of the game that Christopher played in last Saturday. Among them was this happy shot.
He is looking more like his dad now, altho his mother's coloring is the strongest feature. I can see orthodontists bills will be piling up soon. Chris is eleven years old....I think banding is usually commenced around twelve or thirteen. My grandson James has had bands on his teeth for about eight months now and he will be fourteen late November.
Taking care of all the children's dental needs has always been very necessary, but super expensive.
Another beautiful day in paradise here. Played a game of lawn bowls this morning from 9 till 12.30 straight thru. A bit long without a break, but loved the game. We got creamed by three premier league players from another club, but it is the kind of game that has so many twists and turns that if you felt you yourself played well and the score isn't in your favour. I felt I played very well for about 70% of the time.....so being beaten didn't make me want to throw myself off a cliff. Quite a few people get a little overexcited and I really just feel like laughing ! There are no sheep stations as prizes.....it's being out there and doing your best as far as I am concerned.

I should have been more dilegent.....

about always remembering to wear sunscreen! I have fair skin that tans quite easily....not much evidence of sun damage for my age as altho I have seldom applied sunscreen lotion, I have pretty much kept out of the sun. (Very easy to do in Melbourne...ha..) I rarely stretched out on a beach towel and purposefully tried to get tanned. I got too hot too quickly and really disliked it...nearly all my friends that subjected themselves to the suns harmful effects have the skin blemishes to show for it. However.....my nose has had a sort of scab on the top of the tip that when I peeled it off.....kept coming back. My doctor has zapped it three times and after a while it still came back. Today I have had it permanently removed with some tortuous burning and scraping treatment that involved being prepped with an injection directly into the tip of my nose. I can tell you all.....you... DO NOT want to have an injection in your nose. I am not an injection coward, having had some rippers in my jaw in order to have teeth filled....NOTHING....compares to an INJECTION IN YOUR NOSE.
Heed the warnings....slip, slop, slap. Especially your NOSE....and if your ears are exposed...them also!