History

I'm a lover of history. Lib bought a book at an op shop a while back. 'Vietnam - an epic history of a tragic war', by Max Hastings. It sat unread for a few months while I read other  books ahead of it in the queue; perhaps these others seemed less serious and more entertaining so moved ahead of it. I finished 'The Pursuit of Happiness' by Douglas Kennedy and had that feeling of loss when you read a long book that fully engages. It seems to me Douglas Kennedy is a pseudonym - the book is written in the first person, told by two women unrelated by blood but very much by circumstance. How could a man have such insight into female emotions? But a google search indicates I'm wrong. There was an historical element in the book, following people's lives through post WW11 in the US through a few decades.

 

I started 'Vietnam' yesterday. I've only read the introduction and 9 more pages. I have found it eye opening and have learned so much already that I didn't know, starting with history through the centuries of occupation on and off by China, then French occupation and exploitation over many decades, then WW11 when Japan usurped the French for a time. It seems everyone wanted the rich natural resources there for the taking. Add to that drought, famine and floods in the WW11 time frame with millions of people dying of starvation and it's no surprise I already feel enlightened and there's over 600 pages to go as it moves on to the more modern Vietnam/American/Australian war. It might get ugly. It will get ugly.

 

We had our FHRE Xmas break up lunch yesterday at the house up the road of one of our  members. A happy turn out, good people. I haven't been doing so much down the river this past few weeks. After a busy winter and first half of spring when I put in a lot of hours solo work due to logic of timing with weed flowering, I've eased right off. I'm suffering from soreness/stiffness in my upper front legs, at the top where legs meet torso. It slows me down and is uncomfortable more than severe, but I'm resting up a bit. I'm hopeful it has nothing to with the mesh inserted in my lower abdomen/groin in a double hernia operation about ten years ago, or isn't relapse of the Rheumatoid Arthritis I endured some years ago. More likely it's an issue with my lower back causing tightness and restriction through the hips to the top of the front of legs. I had a back massage a week ago which was great but the soreness remains. Next step is a back realignment in a remedial massage. Last resort doctor. Bad scenario hip degeneration, but I don't think so. 

 

I've been doing my best to avoid politics, the media has been unrelenting on the US election and are still at it, not to mention our domestic political intrigue which will escalate to frenzy in the coming months. I have a good tactic to keep my sanity. I get up each morning and put the radio on, tuned into Classic FM. As they say, "Life's better with music." Late at night I turn the TV to the Relaxation Music channel 844 and enjoy peaceful bliss with my cinnamon tea, preparation for beautiful sleep and dreams. Getting up a couple of times during the night to relieve the bladder from old man syndrome is no hardship, in fact I love the quiet and peace of the dark and usually stillness as I take in the night sky.

 

But not the night before last, when huge thunder cracked above waking me up to go look for old Pip, who was wandering around in pouring rain like a zombie, not in complete panic as she did prior to old age but totally disorientated. It was some storm, as loud thunder as I've ever heard. Good thing though, we had about 15ml of much needed rain.