Quite a Month

In the month plus a couple of days since we returned from New Zealand I have endured considerable irritation firstly by 4 days of Thomas the Tank Engine events over two weekends, and four rounds of AFL football some of which I have enjoyed but has frustrated me greatly, twice by my teams inability to press home an advantage when they have worked hard to get into a winning position, and of course the umpiring, which seems to have deteriorated even further, not helped by two strange variations to the rules or interpretation to rucking contests and deliberate out of bounds, which at times seems farcical.

The Thomas Tank thing has caused me to attend three further meetings in the last month, to add to the five I attended since last September before our holiday, relating to Gembrook now being the 'Event Hub' of Puffing Billy. At all of these I have been outspoken in opposition, alas no fruit has come from my efforts, the latest situation being that the newly formed Gembrook Community Voice group is to conduct a survey as to whether residents want all these events, or what changes they would like to the program and management of traffic etc. I wait with bated breath the results of this survey in the hope there will be some data as a result that supports my opposition to this fiasco inflicted on us by the PBRailway Board and the Cardinia Shire Council, without any courtesy or consideration to residents in a disgraceful act of belligerance.

But putting all that aside, and the state of world affairs, which includes the real threat apparently of thermo nuclear war at any moment, cruise missile attacks in Syria following the use of chemical weapons and the mother of all non nuclear bombs dropped in Afghanistan, I have enjoyed some joyful moments.

Firstly, outside our bedroom window is a shallow bird bath on a metal stand under a tree fern. It was designed and made by a friend of mine some twenty years ago, Peter Van Ketchwick, affectionately known in Gembrook as Peter Potter before he moved away more than a decade ago. Peter sold pottery at the Gembrook market and worked from his home 'Sunset' where he was kind enough to let me pick cherry laurel and other foliage from his old garden which was seriously overgrown and weed infested. In return I slashed his grass with my heavycut mower now and again and did some weed removal.

One day Peter showed me one of his innovations, a bird bath stand made by three steel rods of about 5/8 inch twisted together to form a strong upright, and the ends of the rods bent out at the bottom to form a stand. The ends at the top were similarly splayed out to form a platform, with a rim welded to it, for a shallow pottery dish to sit in and serve as a bird bath, elevated from the ground by about 4 feet. I bought one as a Christmas present.for my mother in law Molly who lived in Wangaratta.

Molly loved it, and for many years she watched small birds in her front garden sustaining themselves in her bird bath, through her loungeroom window, or sitting on her front porch. When Molly died some five years ago the family tripped to Wangaratta to move all the stuff from her recently sold house and the birdbath that brought Molly so much pleasure found its way back to Gembrook.

I was taking Lib breakfast in bed a week or so ago and I noticed the thornbills, which we see often, flitting about outside the window and taking it in turns to have a plunge and splash. Others commonly seen are the grey fantail and eastern spinebill, the dish being probably too shallow for the larger birds.This day I noticed other birds, similar in size and colour to the thornbills, but with noticably red feathers about the face. There was a colony of them, maybe a dozen or more, and I can only conclude from reference to bird books, that they were red browed finches. Some years ago I was picking in the garden and a large number of them came by quite close to me and that time I concluded they were red browed finches so I'm thinking that was what these were the other day, although the red on their faces seemed to be more on their chins than their foreheads. Mind you I didn't have my glasses on.

Another joy was having my 65th birthday. It was always a target I hoped I'd reach. Not that I'm retiring, but throughout my life I always wondered if I'd make that milestone and it's nice that I have. My niece Annie had her 40th birthday the day before and her daughters Ella and Evie turned 12 and 10 shortly after.

The other thing that brings me joy every day is being surrounded by trees. I stand on our deck in the morning and look out at a vista of shades of green and autumn colour in all manner of subtle shapes. Trees are a tonic to my mind and spirit, and memories of their beauty on our recent holiday in New Zealand flood back to me in my quiet meditation, leaving me in an almost hypnotized trance of peace.

Easter Monday

The day started out well with a good sleep in. Friday, Sat and Sunday we were up at 6am as Lib worked. I was up briefly at 5am Monday. Pip came to our room and woke me as she does if she wants to go outside, and due to a muscle strain around my shoulder blade which troubled me all Sunday, I took 2 ibuprofen tablets and a cortisone with a cup of tea and a biscuit and peanut butter. You take these things with food and not on an empty stomach.

I went back to bed and slept till 9am then cooked Lib tomatoes on toast with fresh basil for breakfast. I picked a lot of tomatoes on Friday when I went out to Margeurita's to clear some room and turn ground over to plant broccoli seedlings she'd bought. The ones I cooked yesterday were cherry toms in a small frypan, done with as low heat as I could and left for some time so juice comes out and slowly thickens. They were delicious.

I was quietly busy right through Easter but at a leisurely pace. After a few hours at Margeurita's on Friday I picked some cherry laurel foliage around the town for an order of fifty bunches for Monday morning pick up. Saturday I finished the laurel picking and washed and graded all the tomatoes picked the previous day and generally tidied up round the house and rested. Sunday I picked bay foliage for an order for Tuesday (today) pick up and did an hour at Margeurita's pruning a photinia hedge before taking the laurel and the bay to the farm.

A florist who usually picks up on Fridays changed to late Monday because of Easter so Monday I set to pick her foliage as well as some variegated pitto for the bay lady. While I was doing the tomatoes for breakfast the phone rang and it was Meredith saying the herb and spice people wanted elderberry flowers which I pick in a creek bed in Emerald. It's difficult terrain getting down into the creek and I took gumboots as there's a lot of mud, but my foot sunk in the bank and I crashed to ground as I jumped the creek, missing the mud fortunately, but smashing the styrene box I was collecting the flowers in. I was carrying my pole and cutting head and a bottle of wine for the lady whose house adjoins the creek where I pick, and was unbalanced when my foot sank. I'm not trespassing but the people in the house have a vegie garden the other side of the creek and treat the creek as their own garden although it is council owned. The lady has talked to me on previous occasions, she doesn't mind me picking the flowers and I leave her a jar of honey on the path. Last time she said she had a good store of honey thanks so I suggested a bottle of red at which she was happy about although she said I needn't leave anything. The elderberry thing will be over soon till next summer but I'm more comfortable with a gesture of honey or wine than trudging through someone's space offering nothing in return. Goodwill goes a long way, possibly I'll be wanting the flowers next summer.

It was good to get home and watch Hawthorn get another flogging in the last quarter. Lib made meatballs for dinner which were great with Margeurita's sauce. She has a passion for making tomato sauce and she made me up a big batch of bottles which she gave me on Friday and will last us for many months.

My crook shoulder held up well and last night I gained relief from massaging myself with a hard spikey ball that Gord got from the physio. I have had a tight hip and discomfort for a couple of weeks as well. Rubbing the ball up and down my leg muscle and my arm and chest muscles seemed to really loosen me up, then I lay on my back and put the ball under hip first then the shoulder area, moving myself over the ball. It worked a treat, and may well save me seeking a masseur this week as was my intention.

Speaking of Gord, he went to lakes Entrance on Good Friday by himself and stayed till yesterday. He mowed the grass which hadn't been done for three months. Lib's sister Margaret who now lives in the Lakes house was away for Easter. It was very good of Gord to do that, he has a sense of responsibility to the slashing at Lakes and has his own mower down there and an old whipper snipper so we don't have to cart one up and back when we go. With our trip to New Zealand and general work and duties Lib and I have not been able to get down there and won't for a while. It was good to see Gord get back safe and sound after the Easter traffic. That's the first time he has done that by himself.

Another sleep in today, and for the first time since last week there is not the constant roar of motor bikes going up and down Launching Place Road. They all were out joyriding over Easter and it was like constant thunder. It says a lot about our society. I guess it's some form of escapism from the boredom and banality of city life, to dress up like a bikie and ride into the country and drink coffee at a village cafe instead of in the local mall or strip. It's the same just about every weekend except if the weather's wet, or very hot. Probably they head down the coast then.

Back To Christchurch

I have left it too long to post about our NZ holiday and already my memory of details is dimmed but I will have a go before moving on to recent topical things which  have been distracting enough to prevent me blogging lately. At this moment I can't lay my hands on the itinerary so I'll wing it.

We left Doonadin for two nights at Lake Tekapo, a decent drive of about 5 hours I think. We were booked into another Peppers resort which had excellent facilities including a good kitchen, and a good view of the lake. I went to find the guest laundry to wash our clothes and while there I talked to a lady from Sydney who had traveled from the Nth Island to Picton on the ferry, then drove to Kia Koura. She said the main Rd was closed due to the earthquake of last November and the detour through a big loop round mountains and with much roadworks took 7.5 hours and was a nightmare. This alarmed me as I knew we were scheduled to drive from Kia Koura to Picton in a few days time and were to spend one day in Picton before returning the next to Christchurch which would mean a 7.5 hour drive one way then returning the same route two days later. My mobile phone was not working there and for some reason the landline could not get through to our travel agent, so Lib had a conversation with Rob on We Chat and he on our behalf contacted Emerald Lake Travel to cancel the two nights in Picton and try to get two more in Kia Koura. This took 24 hours to expedite and unfortunately the Picton Motel said they would not give us refund so we did $550 cold, but saved $200 in petrol and avoided two days sitting in a car. Such is life.

Another disquiet at this point was an email (which I could access on the mobile phone) from Peppers at Christchurch saying we had used items from the minibar and they had billed the credit card $70. This riled me because we never use the mini bar.. never.. wherever we go. I disputed this with them and they said they would credit the card and it must have been a mistake, and the amount was credited. Strange business really, I can only assume a staff member knocked off some items (wine, chocolate bar and chips). When you stay in these places you have to give them your credit card details, just like when you hire a car, so they can bill you if they wish.

Our full day at Tekapo was spent driving to the alpine village of Aoraki near Mt Cook past the beautiful blue waters of Lake Pukaki and the snow covered mountains as backdrop. This certainly was jaw dropping spectacular. We picnicked lunch and walked to a viewing point of the Tasman glacier.

With the effects of global warming and other climatic processes taking their toll on New Zealand glaciers, their retreat is imminent. Now approximately 27km long and 600m deep, the Tasman Glacier is melting and calving at an exponentially increasing rate. In recent years the Tasman Glacier has changed from a 'melting' to a 'calving and melting' terminus, resulting in a terminal lake that is rapidly increasing in size. - See more at: http://www.hermitage.co.nz/en/activities/glacier-explorers#sthash.7TE3gmf3.dpuf


I lifted that from a website and somehow the black and white reversed. The lake had mini icebergs floating in it. Apparently NZ's glaciers are melting at an accelerating rate and will disappear in the not too distant future.

The other way down the glacial valley

As we left Tekapo on the morning of 11 March the weather closed in with drizzle and low cloud. If this had come a day early we would have seen nothing of the magnificent mountains and blue lake scenery we had enjoyed in the clear full sunshine of the previous day.

We arrived in Christchurch in the afternoon and took a full hour driving (and parking and walking) around the renovated city to locate our hotel which was built pre earthquake but was contemporary in design and apparently one of the safest or strongest buildings in the city. In the vicinity there were many vacant lots where damaged buildings had been removed and much construction. It was a bit scary. I spoke to a lady who said she fell down when the earth shook and had carpet burns from the ground moving so quickly underneath her. On a building site fence near our hotel there were flower wreaths, all dried out, with the names of people who must have perished there and the date of the eathquake. Presumably they were put there on the recent anniversary of the event. Christchurch is built on reclaimed swamp land, not ideal on a fault line.

Construction site opposite our hotel

We found a Japanese dumpling shop for dinner. It was a no alcohol zone but the guy gave us a couple of teacups and said we could drink the wine if no one saw us pouring it, which wasn't hard as there were few people and they were engrossed in their food.

It was then on to KiaKoura. What would have been a drive of a couple of hours was double that due to a detour caused by rain on roadworks repairing damage to the road by the earthquake that hit KiaKoura last November. We had three nights in Kiakoura and two full days to explore. We needed this rest. My right foot had flared up and become very painful because of the RA. I didn't take my weekly abatacept injection in NZ (it needs refrigeration) so I missed one, and by day 12 since the injection on the day we left, I was in a lot of pain walking with a serious limp. I had brought cortisone tablets with me as precaution and got into them and the pain eased but was with me for the remainder of the holiday and in fact right up till last week when my resumed injections and tumeric daily intake got on top of it and much to my relief I'm pain free again, a great feeling.

KiaKoura is fascinating place. The weather was cool and windy while we were there but we weren't concerned. It's a coastal town, a tourist venue for Christchurch residents and famous for its fish and chips, historically many families driving from Christchurch to enjoy on weekends. It's now well known as a whale watching base. Whaling was the early industry of the town and and also fur seals. We didn't see any whales but the seals were numerous on the point below the lookout in fact there was a number of them sleeping on the boardwalk or just off to the side each time we went there. They are known to often be on the road and apparently they have no road sense at all and you have to watch for them when driving.

Along the roadside in a couple of places there was silver beet growing in clumps, strong and healthy, which we picked for our dinner. I later learned when we visited the museum that Kiakoura is one of two locations in NZ where silver beet has naturalized and grows wild. The museum is in a new building, a part of the community centre and is packed with history and information. It has not been open long and the lady who was on duty said she was a paid part time employee funded by the admission price which was $12 a head or $30 for a family. The museum board received a grant of some $millions from the NZ lottery and the new display was about 5 years in the making and is a work in progress.

The town is built on the shore of a bay protected by a rock platform where the seal colony hangs out, to the south and east of which is open ocean across which cold winds can rip from the southern ocean or the antarctic. A mountain range runs along the west of the town which is snow peaked in winter. This range protects from the cold westerlies from the alps, but in the cemetery I saw the graves of two young men in their twenties who perished in a storm on 4 December 1904. I guess they were trying to save livestock and were caught out. In the museum there was a photo of a man who also perished in the mountains, found frozen with his brother's dog still by his side. It left me in no doubt that the climate of the South Island can be extremely harsh.

Earthquake damage at cemetery

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The weather cleared on the day we left Kiakoura enabling us to get some good photos. We returned to Christchurch to a different hotel, Chateau on the Park, next to Hagley Park. We took a walk and found the old home Mona Vale, a mansion built in 1902 now serving as a restaurant surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens which abound in Christchurch. We had dinner in a Korean restaurant in walking distance from our hotel. The service and food were exceptional.

Next day after checkout we went to the amazing Botanic Gardens again. Lib didn't really see them on our first day as she was catching up on shut eye. Following a little souvenir gift shopping in the mall in the city we went to Mona Vale gardens and rested till it was time to head out to the airport, returning the hire car at the scheduled 5.30 pm and waiting for our flight out at 9.05pm, arriving Melbourne about 11pm EST. Rob picked us up and took us home. Home sweet home at about 1am 17 March, after a truly memorable holiday.

At Mona Vale- copper beech

Lib and Gord Christchurch Gardens

   

A Day in Dunedin

A day in Doonadin. That's how Gord pronounced Dunedin when he first learned the Sth African cricket team was to be in New Zealand at the same time we were to be. It still makes me smile, Dunedin will always be Doonadin to me. As it happened our itinerary had us in Dunedin on the 8th of March, leaving on the 9th for Lake Takitipu.

We flew out of Melbourne on 28 Feb at 12.10am after Rob kindly came to Gembrook to take us and luggage to the airport. Thanks to Rob it was all quite painless as we had checked in on line and had dinner at home relaxed and ready for our expedition.

The flight was easy and uneventful. I dozed for an hour or so, Lib didn't sleep at all, she has trouble sleeping on planes. Touchdown in Christchurch was 5.20am, we were at the Avis desk shortly after 6am to do the payment for our hire car. It was a RAV 4, nearly brand new. It was still dark as we loaded into the car and tried to figure out where to go from a tiny tourist map of Christchurch The RAV 4 didn't have a GPS.

Out onto the road we took a leftie to check out where our accommodation was that night, Peppers Clearwater resort, quite close, just a few k's from the airport. Dawn rose while we found our way. It seemed very quiet and remote at that hour but at least we knew where we had to come back to at some point after the 2pm check in. Back past the airport we went to work our way into Christchurch in the the now peak hour traffic, nothing like that of Melbourne but daunting enough for driver Carey who had little notion of where he was going, with navigator Libby, hopeless, and totally useless with no sleep.

I followed the flow of vehicles into the city and we did a couple of circuits of the city through all the roadworks and reconstruction post earthquake. Signage was poor and detours and witches hats and barriers were everywhere. We could find no where to eat but a Maccas where we had a most repulsive breakfast, forced on us by early morning hunger. Eventually we found a parking area adjacent the Botanic gardens. Lib crashed, sleeping in the car, I took a walk through the gardens before I lay myself down on the grass in front of the car and slept and dreamed for an hour so. I'm not sure where Gord was but no doubt he was also recuperating.

It was balmy warm. After waking I walked again in the gardens, this time with Gord. We admired the wonderful trees and toured the museum and walked round the earthquake damaged famous cathedral. Back at the car park it was packed and crowded with incoming cars constantly looking for non existent spaces. Lib remained asleep in back of the car. She woke eventually and we left and found a Subway shop for lunch. We checked in at the Clearwater resort, a fancy golf course development with apartments overlooking a man made lake, and found our unit to be flash and well appointed with cooking facilities. We drove to a shopping precinct to buy steak for dinner and supplies for picnics on the road in the ensuing days.

Next day was a long drive across the Sth Island to Greymouth then south to Franz Joseph. Originally we were scheduled to catch a train from Christchurch to Greymouth and pick up the hire car there but the train was out of action because of a fire shortly before our trip. The scenery of the Canterbury Plains was absorbing, lush farmland with a mountainous backdrop and hedge trees extensively planted and carefully maintained, necessary to provide stock with shelter from the strong cold winds which prevail for the colder months.

Our weather was clear and mild, perfect for travelling and viewing the scenery. This kept up for 10 days. We were lucky to have clear vision of mountains, lakes and glaciers in very pleasant temperature for most of our holiday. After Franz Joseph it was Queenstown for three days following another long drive, then on to Te Anau for two nights which included a day trip to Milford Sound, again fortunately with perfect weather to view the magnificent scenery. This whole week featured mind blowing scenery.

Fox glacier

Near Glenorchy out from Queenstown

The drive from Te Anau to Dunedin was only a few hours, we had a picnic lunch on the way and found our centrally located hotel after driving around the city a few times and asking directions. It was a small hotel room with a double bed and a single in the one room. We left soon after checking in to find the cricket venue at the university oval and arrived half an hour before the tea break. Sth Africa was batting, opener Elgar holding the innings together well supported by 4th drop Bavuma through the last session.

One wag held up a sign "My wife loves de Kock", Quentin de Kock being the Sth African wicketkeeper

After returning to our hotel, Gord and I took a walk while Lib had a rest. We sussed out the 'Octogan', a sort of eight sided city square surrounded by restaurants and night life. It was really buzzing, probably more than usual because the cricket was in town. Later we had dinner in a Japanese restaurant where the food was first class. On an adjacent table were two brothers from Invercargill who were there for the cricket with two nieces. One of them had imbibed fully and fell asleep on the grassed area that afternoon and was sunburned badly. He now lived at Arrowtown, close to Queenstown, where is an electrical contractor, and he and we agreed the best pies in the world are at Arrowtown. I had lamb and mint, Lib steak and mushroom,and we shared a vegetable pie, all sensational. He said he went to the Boxing Day test in Melbourne and it was 40C and he nearly died. We said we went there once to a one day match Australia v Sri Lanka and it was hot as hell and we drank our water and the stalls ran out and it was total mayhem. He said the day after the cricket he wanted to go to Rosebud and caught a train with his wife but it only went as far as Frankston so they had a walk around there and he said he had never seen so many tattoo parlours in his life, they were everywhere.

We liked Doonadin, even though we were there for only one night.

Dunedin Railway Station

 

Expect the Unexpected

I think that was a title of a TV show once upon a time. Or was it the title of a Roald Dahl short story or collection of stories, or maybe both?

An hour or so ago at about 5am I was in bed listening to the rain on the roof when the familiar sound of water overflowing the spouting and hitting the ground started outside our bedroom window. I lay listening to this for some minutes before deciding it was too much an irritation for me to bear.

So I got dressed and donned a raincoat and gumboots and with ladder and torch in hand walked along the path back of the house sloshing through water. Immediately I became aware that I needed a new pair of gumboots as water seeped into both boots and socks. I cleared the downpipe outside our bedroom of leaves, surprised at how cold the water was. This was not summer type warm rain. I went back along the house and did the downpipe at the other end near the front door, and the one on the car port.

I checked the deck on the front side of the house, those downpipes were working OK. I have gutter guard in the spouting along here which prevents the passage of leaves to the down pipe to block it. This is because water overflowing here is more serious as there's a fridge and freezer on the deck against the house and could be damaged. But it makes it a bugger of a job when it has to be cleaned out quite regularly as all the gutter guard has to be removed to get the build up up gunk out, and the gap is narrow because the roof from the deck also runs water into that spout. And it's job you have to do on a cool day or you cook on the iron roof, and a dry day or you slip over. And I have to kneel to do it and usually end up with the skin worn off my kneecaps and a few days discomfort.

The rain has stopped now, my clothes got a little wet but not enough to change, except for the socks. I just checked the rain gauge, there was 55-60ml. It started raining yesterday, lightly and intermittent. I had thought we were going to miss out this time as the showers were forecast for Saturday but didn't come. I'd seen the black cockies Friday and Saturday and heard them earlier and on Saturday I said to myself maybe they'r wrong this time. Well they were right.

I also checked the thermometer on the deck. 9 degrees Celsius. No wonder I'm cold. I refuse to turn on a heater in February, although Lib and Gord had them on yesterday. But cold or no, I'll take the rain in preference to 40C plus we could be having, and the fear of bushfires.

Surely this kills the fire season for this summer. But a heatwave might be just around the corner and March can be scorching hot and bone dry, so I guess we have to expect anything..

I'm hungry, a good cooked breakfast is a good idea, and it'll warm me up.

Denny's Bees

I hadn't heard anything of Denny for a few years. I posted about Denny on April 1 2012, and for a year or so following that I had a fair bit of contact, helping him with his bees and talking to him on the phone and at my house where he visited to talk a few times. He was obsessed with his bees. I tried to tell him to relax about it and leave them alone, there was no need to be checking on on them all the time and worrying.

I told Denny I was going out of beekeeping. I was tired of the workload that came at inconvenient timing to me with my other commitments, and frankly the task of extracting honey when I was not geared for it was onerous and after so many years of it at weekends when I was tired and needed a rest, I had had enough.

A couple of weeks ago there was a message on my phone from a lady who sounded young asking me would I be interested in taking the honey from 3 triple beehives for a price, and what would that be? Of course I was curious and I rang back and talked to Marta who explained her father had suffered a heart attack and was in hospital waiting for bypass surgery and he was anxious about his bees. I asked how did she get on to me and it dawned that she was Denny's daughter and Denny had given her my number. I said I wanted no payment and would help gratis given the circumstances.

I arranged to go there and meet Marta and see what equipment was there in terms of replacement frames etc. I had no interest in doing the extracting, I'm well and truly over getting sticky and mucking about straining honey. Marta said she and her mother and her daughter could handle that but they couldn't get the honey from the bees, they did not know how to do it and besides that Marta was allergic to bee stings. So Saturday two weeks ago I went to Denny's place in Gembrook and met Marta and her mother Ivanna whom I remembered from my previous visits. Denny was supposed to have been operated on the day before but it was postponed and rescheduled for the next Monday.

Establishing from them that the next Saturday would be a good day for them to do the extract, I said I would come in the morning on that day and get the honey off. On the Friday night there was a phone message from Ivanna asking could we postpone it for a week, Denny was in recovery from the operation and was in a bad way and they were visiting him every day to try and lift his morale which had dived.

So we did it today instead. As I pulled in half an hour after I said I would be there a ghostly figure appeared. It was Denny. Pale and drawn and a lot thinner than I remembered him. He had the old ride on mower and trailer rigged up, loaded with boxes and frames and all sorts of unnecessary clobber and we headed to the first beehive with Marta and Ivanna following. The hive was strong and I took a box off the top quickly. Marta and I began walking to he next location and Ivanna was to drive the mower but she did not follow and we went back. The little machine would not go forward, the belt was slipping and smoke was coming out. I wen to get my van but Denny came down and told us how to get it moving- put it in reverse and go back a metre then go forward.

I drove it the couple of hundred metres past the big dam/lake to the site of the other two hives. Marta said she would sit in the shade and watch, she had lost fear of the bees watching me with the first hive noticing the bees were not aggressive and made no attempt to sting me. Just the same i was worried that an errant bee may fly into her hair and sting her, and with her allergy that was something frankly I had no desire for. Ivanna was walking around close trying to organise  putting the frames of honey into plastic storage boxes with lids, a system alien to me and a little distracting, but sensible when I think about it. She had a curly head of hair and I was expecting a bee to get stuck in it at any minute and create mayhem.

The beautiful dam

Marta went off to pick blackberries and I got the honey off without incident despite the mix of replacement combs and material. All's well that ends well. Marta picked for me some lovely blackberries to take home and we took the honey back to the house. On leaving Marta was thankful to me and as we talked briefly about work; I asked what her work was. She's doing a doctorate in forensic evidence/medicine? at the coroner's court she said. Her thesis is on preventable deaths in aged care. It is no wonder I had found her a most impressive lady!

The event was a joyful one for me. I like to help people, and the experience seeing Denny and Ivanna's place was most rewarding. They have several acres planted out with all manner of trees and huge dam. A little paradise close to the heart of Gembrook but tucked away where no one would know it was there unless you were lucky like me.

Lovely Marta

Rain

As I drove down the hill to Cockatoo on Saturday morning I saw two sets of black cockatoos along the way. These beautiful birds are harbingers of rain. They are not always around, but when they are usually there's rain to come in the next few days. I saw them on Friday too.

As I sit here now this Sunday night the rain is gentle but steady on the roof. Earlier while I was in the bath it was heavy, a right downpour, and most welcome. I had cleared the down pipes of leaves in the afternoon and I lay in the warm water loving the rain for the great benefit it brings to plants and reducing the danger of bushfire. This almost kills the fire season. Not quite dead yet, but nearly.

My black coffee is strong and bitter. The red wine is smooth and seductive. I'm filled with the joy of being alive. The roast lamb was superb. The thought of my dentist appt tomorrow at 8.30 am in Berwick does not in the least disturb me. Mathy is a brilliant man and dentist. I look forward to it.

Yesterday I checked the beehive that I have here. It had been a disaster, probably of my own fault, as had been the hive at my friend Leanne's. I meddled with them in November when I shouldn't have, with the plan of requeening by division and subsequent uniting. Conditions were bad.. it rained and drizzled and spring was a crock. The bees collapsed. My fault. If left alone they'd have been fine.

As it happened, I had a Ligurian queen coming in the post week before last. I had ordered a queen to come in November but the bad weather caused disruption to the breeder and he could not deliver. He said it would come December. It didn't. He emailed January, said his program was totally derailed by the bad weather, he could not provide me with a queen, did I want a Ligurian replacement from people on Kangaroo Island with whom he had an arrangement. Yes I emailed.

The hive here by this time was queenless for all sign, if there was a virgin or young mated queen not yet laying I could not find her. I introduced the Ligurian a week or so ago. Yesterday when I checked there was a queen laying beautifully with the young brood swimming in rich food, a great sight.

Leanne's hive is struggling still. Spotty brood pattern, lots of dead brood presumably European foulbrood. I feel I inflicted this on them by dividing them earlier and trying to requeen when conditions were bad. Stress.

Before I retire I must tell you of a good story of today. Lib went to work at 6.30am, she's doing extra shifts to fund our upcoming trip to NZ. I saw her off after doing the usual tea and toast making and fruit etc, then made a lamb casserole for the crockpot, prepared the vegies for the roast, and did the laundry and cleared the kitchen. Then I thought I'd have a little lie down for half an hour, but I fell asleep and didn't wake till 11am.

Hungry, I went to cook ham and eggs, a favourite, then realized that the dozen eggs Leanne gave me the previous day I had put on the roof of Lib's car while I went off and did something and forgot them. I rang Lib at work and left a message with a young staff member suggesting Lib check the roof of her car as I had left a dozen eggs there. If by a miracle they were still there it would be good to put them inside the car rather than risk a return with them on the roof.

Lib rang back 10 minutes later to say the eggs were intact. She must be a good driver.

Coffee and Cake

Neighbours Celia and Cathy live opposite and two doors up. On Saturday afternoon late there was a knock on our door and it was Celia smiling broadly with a hat like an Akubra atop her athletic frame. It took me a couple of seconds to recall her name, which happens to me a bit when I encounter someone away from where I usually see them. It was unusual for Celia to be at our front door, normally when I see her she riding her bike, walking, or driving her ute which is often adorned with a kayak.

She said it was Cathy's mother Margaret's 80th birthday on Monday and the family was going to to Forest Edge restaurant down Launching Place Road for Sunday lunch to be followed by more people gathering at Celia and Cathy's house later for coffee and cake, say from about 3pm. She said they knew Margaret would like me to attend as she enjoys talking to me so I was invited to come if I could make it. I thanked her and said yes I'll be there as I also like talking to Margaret and would be delighted to be part of the birthday thing.

Margaret, who is a charming and delightful lady, owns a weekender in our street, also opposite us, but back the other way . She bought this as it was near her daughter Cathy and she loved the quiet rural feel, and comes up from Melbourne quite regularly, but less so these days than previously when she was married to her second husband, Graham, a Scotsman. For some years she and Graham spent six months in Scotland, then six in Melbourne, conveniently avoiding the winters. A keen gardener, she and I always had plenty to talk about, and we had numerous happy conversations over the years and I helped her a couple of times with the chainsaw to remove fallen tree debris, and I picked some geranium, daphne and pieris in her garden from time to time.

Graham's health deteriorated as did his driving ability; in the last year he was here there were a number of incidents with the car and near misses. When they next went to Scotland Graham would not return. Margaret did briefly to attend to some necessaries and went back to to Scotland to care for Graham who was by now seriously invalided. It was a difficult time for Margaret at her age to be skipping across the world, torn between her desire to stay in Australia and Graham's need that she stay in Scotland. Graham passed and Margaret moved home permanently.

For the last year or so I have seen little of Margaret as her house was used by a grandchild with young family who had work in the area. On Margaret's odd trips up to tend the garden I would always stop for a chat if I saw her. On one of these times she told me her daughter Libby was buying the house in the near future.

My Libby left for work Sunday morning at 6.30 - she doesn't work Sunday usually but was filling in for another nurse - and in the freshness of the morning I walked the garden picking flowers and foliage and bunched it up as neatly as I could to give to Margaret later when I went to the do. It turned out quite a hot day so I was glad I did this early. I blanched and froze quite a lot of beans I'd picked out at Marguerita's the day before and did the vegies for our Sunday roast. In the early arvo I pushed the mower round the house and when 3pm came my shirt and singlet were ringing wet with perspiration. I changed into a nice shirt and slacks and with plenty of deodorant and flowers in hand walked up the street to Celia and Cathy's feeling quite the dandy.

Margaret loved her bunch of flowers and I met other members of the family including daughter Fiona from Cairns and brother Geoffrey. There was no grog, just ginger beer, water, tea and coffee and lots of fruit platters and of course cake. Alec from Scotland dressed in kilt played the bagpipes and the kids swam in Cathy and Celia's new pool, it was a lovely family get together, and I had a good yarn with other neighbours Vicki and Mark. At about 5pm Margaret, Geoffrey, Alec, daughter Libby and I and some of the younger ones walked down the road to see the renovations to Margaret's house which to this point is a new roof and bathroom. Libby is going to build a new house up the back and the old one will be for Margaret to stay in when she visits.

This was a thoroughly good day with thoroughly good people. Afterwards I went up to Hanna's and sprayed some weeds and watered the pumpkins which are taking off now. Then a warm bath, a lovely roast chicken with a good bottle of red. Doesn't get much better.

Margaret

Alec playing the pipes

 

Positivity

Sarah Ariss is a cognitive hypnotherapist in England and somehow her posts come up on my Facebook homepage. I'm not sure why this is, but I think it's something to do with her attending some advanced classes in aspects of hypnotherapy where the leader was Dr Brian Roet whom I have known for a long time. Brian was centre half back in Melbourne's 1964 Premiership team as a young man, and I met him personally in 1975 when I was working at Redpath's Beeline Apiaries and he walked in to inquire about obtaining bees as he'd bought property at Upper Beaconsfield and thought bees might do well there.

Brian was at the time a gynecologist and to abbreviate a story I helped him with his bees, and we had contact over a few years. I was working in Wangaratta from 1976 but was often home on weekends and when sister Meredith was expecting her first child I suggested Brian to her and he worked with Meredith through her pregnancy and birthing. He had a life change after that and left Australia to live in England and become a hypnotherapist. I have probably told that story somewhere previously in more detail in my blog, it's difficult to remember all that you write and I'm sure I'm a little repetitive sometimes.

I contacted Brian a few years ago when I thought I had polymyalgia, this being thirty years after our last contact, to ask him if he knew of any tricks I might do to improve my situation. After a little jogging of his memory he recalled me well and sent me some meditation tools. During that process I must have "liked' something on Facebook that came up mentioning Dr Brian Roet and I now receive updates from Sarah Ariss, and I just love her thinking and writing. So I'm going to try to reproduce some here. I tried to copy and paste straight from her blog but warnings came up from Blogger which I don't quite understand so I'm going to try saving on word then copy and pasting.

About Me…

A Little More about Me…

I have always been interested in people. As a teenager I was painfully shy, but I have learnt that asking people about themselves is a great way to overcome that shyness. Its funny how a smile and an interest in another person can make you forget your own self consciousness! I love listening to people. Which is fortunate in my line of business!

I have always enjoyed drawing and painting and my latest interest is photography. All the photos on my website were taken by me. I photograph the countryside around where I live and particularly like macro shots of flowers!

At university I studied History of Art and then English Literature. Love of learning is something that plays a huge part in my life.

Why did I decide to become a Cognitive Hypnotherapist?

I have experienced, with a close family member, just how frustrating and upsetting it can be to have to fight for help where Mental Health is concerned. I decided that if I could ever help anyone in the same position in the future, I would. I want to treat people with care, respect and kindness.

My own life changing experience of hypnotherapy came when I sought help for a fear that was beginning to really restrict my life. In one session my life was transformed. The strange thing is that I remember asking the therapist “Did you actually hypnotise me?? ” It didn’t feel weird or life changing – I just felt calm and relaxed. I couldn’t really believe how quickly and powerfully the therapy worked. It was as if the fear had never been there…

I began to realise that training to be a hypnotherapist myself would mean being able to help people in a way that would be both extraordinary and incredibly rewarding. I knew that I would be able to help people who were possibly in the same position I had been in with my family member.

I wanted to make sure that I studied Cognitive Hypnotherapy with a school that was credible, supportive and that gave me an in depth knowledge of my subject.

I researched courses extensively and chose to study with the founder of Cognitive Hypnotherapy and Wordweaving™,  Trevor Silvester, at the Quest Institute in Regent’s University, London. It is a decision that has quite simply changed my life. The HPD Diploma course is an eleven month course with hands on practice as well as written examinations including case studies. It is intensive and thorough. The Quest Institute is considered one of the premier schools for hypnotherapy in the country.

Positivity.

Positivity is not something that everyone has. When faced with a challenge, or a dilemma, some people’s first reaction is “I can’t do that!” For example, when I wrote a post about Relaxation and how important is is for our mental health, a couple of friends told me that they just don’t have time to relax. I have another friend who is very ill, but I never see her without a massive smile on her face and a determination to make the most of every day. I wonder what makes the difference? Why does one person find quite small challenges impossible and yet another is willing to keep trying even when they know that the challenge they face is enormous?

A Change of Mindset

I had lunch with my mum the other day. She is 80 this year and never ceases to amaze me. Since my father died 16 years ago ( I can’t quite believe its that long…) she has grown and grown as a person, full of energy and vigour. Having smoked for 60 years she recently gave up and looks even brighter than ever. But she wasn’t always like this. I remember her being quite a negative person, but as time has gone on she has changed. Her cup is no longer half empty, but half full. Most days she would tell you her cup is full to overflowing. Even when she has difficult times, and she’s had a few lately, she lifts up her head and says, “I am not going to let this affect me. I am going to be good and kind and positive.”

So how has she changed? And how do clients I work with change from the negative loop they are in, to a loop of positivity?

The Two Wolves

There is a story I tell people…you may well have heard it before, but I find that it really resonates with the people I see. It is the story of the Two Wolves… There was once an old man, a Cherokee, who was sitting with his grandson….They were talking together about life and the way we live.

The old man told the boy that each of us has within us two wolves who constantly battle for superiority. There is a Bad Wolf full of Anger, Hatred, Self Pity, Arrogance, Envy, Lies and Negativity…. and there is a Good Wolf full of Love, Kindness, Empathy, Hope, Humility and Positivity.

The boy looked at his grandfather and thought for a while, then asked, “Grandfather, which of the two wolves is strongest? Which wolf will win?” The old man smiled at his grandson and said, “The one you feed…”

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

So is that the secret? Can you become more positive by seeking out the good things in life and choosing to feed your Good Wolf? My answer to that would be, Yes. Now, I know that not every day is brilliant. There are days when things are actually rather rubbish and there can be periods of our lives when it seems everything is dark and dismal. Yet, even in those days there will be moments where the sun shines through, moments where the dark clouds are not quite so dark.

By feeding our Good Wolf we lighten our days. If we can find one good thing from a terrible situation, or if we can react in a way that is kind and understanding, it changes the way our brain works. By feeding the good we start to notice more of the good around us and that way the sun starts to shine.

I am not saying that this is the easiest thing you will ever do, but wouldn’t all of us rather live in a world where the Good Wolves thrive? There is no script to our lives…. There are no rules that say you have to be a certain way… and that means that you can change. Tomorrow, or today, or now….you can choose to think a different way. I think that’s what my mum has done. I think that she has chosen to love the people and the world around her, no matter what, and by feeding her Good Wolf she has changed the way she thinks, the way she lives. She relishes life.

That is part of the work I do….helping my clients to think a different way. It is so wonderful to see people realise that, if they choose to, they can change their lives. If you are curious then why don’t you get in touch?

sarah@sarahariss.com               07894564287               sarahariss.com

Windscreen, Washing Machine, Fridge

There's a man outside in my carport right now fitting a new windscreen to my Kangoo. A week or so before Christmas I was driving in Gembrook when a stone flicked up from a tray tray truck coming the other way and there was the dreaded smacking sound of stone hitting glass. At the time, without stopping, I couldn't see where the stone hit and I thought to myself "Phew, that was lucky," thankful I was travelling at a slow speed.

I forgot all about it until a week later when Gord, as a passenger, pointed out a fracture at the top of the screen, a ding now bigger than the 10 cent piece, too big therefore I believed to be repaired by the repair glue technique. Just before Xmas I had occasion to speak with my vehicle insurance co. about another matter...adding roadside assistance to Lib's car...and I asked them had I added no excess windscreen cover when I renewed as I had vague recollection that I had. Yes they told me so, I told them about the ding and they said it would be fine if I made a claim after the Christmas break.

Into January the crack grew slowly from the ding to be about 6 inches long so I rang Real Insurance and made a claim on Monday. Within half an hour I had a phone call from National Windscreens and we organised to get the job done today, being the first chance I felt I had to not be using the car for a time. He's finished already, doing the job in less than half an hour and told me not to drive for an hour or so. I'll leave it for at least two as I'm enjoying a bit of quiet time.

I have had my vehicles insured with Real for a few years now, and so has Gord and Jod on my recommendation. In 2015 Gord made a claim on hi Skoda, in 2016 Lib hit the kangaroo and we claimed on the Hyundai, and now I have claimed for the windscreen. In every instance Real have been courteous and efficient and always pleasant to deal with. I put my roadside assist with them also as in was cheaper than RACV. I have not needed this service yet, nor have I needed to test them on house insurance claim. I switched this to them also because of their lower premium, which is why I switched the cars to them in the first place.

On new year's eve Gord and I went to Good Guys in Narre Warren where I bought a new washing machine. The old one had started up a terrible groaning noise as it pumped water out and my repair man had a recorded message saying he was on his Christmas break till 7 January. The old one was purchased in 2004 so I figured it would be best option to buy a new one for $700 than wait and pay perhaps $300 repairing the old. Gord had done some research on the internet and found an LG on special. So far so good it's working a treat and is quieter and more efficient.

While in Good Guys we looked at fridges and liked the look of an LG fridge freezer of similar size to the one at home which ex neighbours Steve and Anne gave us when they moved three years ago. When I got home I saw the old fridge rating was 987 kw per year while the LG was 299. So after getting agreement from Lib, she and I went down to Good Guys Pakenham and bought one on New Years Day after Gord's research showed they had one there. It's nice to have new stuff.

I had a good semi rest between Xmas and New Year. We have been busy since and I've made good progress on the grass, I've started gathering firewood for winter, and yesterday even started on the blackberry control.

I'm hoping for a pleasant 2017 in good health. To quote the sales pitch of LG, "Life's Good." I wish the same to all my friends and readers scattered about Australia and abroad.

I have more interesting things than windscreens, washing machines and fridges to write about in the near future, it's just a matter of quiet time to do it.

 May God be with you.

The House that Doug Built

I'm sitting in it. At least in one of the many houses that Doug built. It was good to see Doug Sharpe and his wife Norma today at the farm where he has parked his caravan in front of Jod's place for a few days.

A carpenter by trade all his working life Doug lived in Emerald from the 1960's for about twenty five years. In 1981 when Lib and I bought our block of land and a small kit house, Doug and Jod were good friends and Jod worked for Doug, as did Doug's eldest son Graham who was about 17 I think. Doug and Jod must have worked together for some years as I recall that I also worked with them for a couple of months one summer, it must have been before I went to Wangaratta in May 1976. ( I have thought more about this - as at Feb 7-  I think it may have been 1973 before I went to Qld.) We were building a block of flats in Ferntree Gully and it was hot hard work with me doing most of the labouring lumping timber for the frames and rooves.

They would stop at the Clematis pub on the way home and drink themselves silly then go to Doug's house and kick on. I couldn't handle it I confess and usually made my own way home after a few pots. Doug and Norma had five kids and frankly their existence was rough and ready and boozy, their house had no floor coverings nor paint inside and the young kids were wild and free. But they were loved. Doug was an excellent tradesman and a hard worker, and a genuine good bloke. I didn't hesitate engaging him when we needed a carpenter to build our house.

It's a good house that has served us well for 35 years. We extended it in 1985 when Gord was on the way and again Doug built the extension. Jod was still with him, but I think only when Doug was busy, otherwise Jod was working in sawmills or driving a tractor.

Doug told me today he was 73. He has given up drinking, and smoking, after suffering lung cancer for which he has been treated for some years. He was a very heavy smoker, always rolling a cigarette while contemplating a problem or plan in his work, or with a beer afterwards. After he left Emerald he moved to Queensland and worked for another twenty years, some of it as a suupervisor for a building firm, returning to Victoria to Macedon where he now lives in retirement.

Doug would have been 38 when he built our house. He and Norma married young after Norma fell pregnant. Doug had a hard start in life from a very humble background which Jod has told me about but I don't recall fully, I think his old man drank heavily and always on the move. Doug was the eldest of 6 kids who were separated in foster homes at one point. Norma was the 6th of 15 kids.

It was just nice to see Doug still alive after battling the cancer, and to see Jod and he still mates. They have kept in touch through all the years.

A Young Trollop

How nice it was to get through to end of last week and get home Friday evening with a weekend ahead with no picking. The customers bowled a bouncer or two but we managed.

During the week Gord had told me he may go to Fountain Gate shopping centre on Saturday and I toyed with the idea of going with him on the bus to do a bit of Christmas shopping. I bought two Myki tickets a few years ago and have never used them so when I was in the newsagents in Emerald on Friday to buy my weekly Tattslotto tickets I asked the delightful Mary to check the Myki cards. She said yes they were still valid until April and they had $20 on them.

So I went with Gord, we caught the 10.57am from Gembrook. Including us there were only four people on it. Another two got on at Cockatoo and then four young girls at Emerald. Two of these sat behind Gord and I and one of them spoke loudly and continuously all the way, every second sentence contained the word "like" and alternately, "fucking". She was about fifteen I guess. It was the only downer to an otherwise very pleasant trip as I was enjoying not having to drive and the scenery offered by the more elevated position from the bus as opposed to a car driver's seat.

When it comes to bad language I'm not usually offended as it is used often in everyday situations and in movies. It is I think an accepted part of today's society but it is usually used with some context to a situation or in emphasis to a point someone is making. This girl just used it constantly as part of her sentence formation. I could only think how terrible it would make me feel if a child of mine spoke like that in a public arena let alone in a more private setting. I can honestly say I have never heard my sons use that word and they are 30 and 29 years old.

I was so glad not to have driven, the car park was packed out and the traffic crawling around looking for spaces was heavy. As we went over the bridge over the freeway it was banked up as far as you could see and static or crawling. Motor City madness.

After Gord showed me where JB HIFI was and I bought two new charge connecting cables for the mobile phones (Lib's no longer worked and she needed to use mine to charge her phone and her Ipad as her cable for that was damaged too), we went our separate shopping ways with plans to be at bustop at 3.10pm to go home. I headed to Myers to look for perfume for Lib first then a bookshop and various stores for odds and sods including socks and underwear which I now have a good stock of new.

A Morrocan lamb burger at 'Grilled' before meeting Gord at the bustop and a relaxed trip got us home at 4pm. The young couple who got on at Cockatoo on the morning trip were also on the return trip. They were quiet and reserved and after they alighted I watched them walk across McBride St hand in hand and I thought of the juxtaposition with the foul mouthed trollop from Emerald. I'd say she'd have bright future in management....of a brothel.

I watched the last few races at Flemington and was happy to see My Survivor get up paying $61 the win $9 the place which gave me a nice profit for the day.  

A Friend in Need

It's raining enough to wash out my planned job this morning at my friends Pat and Mal's place. Pat has had some bad luck lately, the worst of it being a broken foot, two breaks in main bones and foot in plaster to seriously curtail her normal busy gardening.

The rain will clear but I have to move to foliage picking for three customers who come Friday afternoon and Saturday. I went to the post office and found in our mail a letter and Xmas card from my old friend Nicki Bridges at Moyhu. Our friendship goes back nearly forty years to when I lived at Moyhu renting a house on a neighbouring farm.Nick and John showed me considerable kindness often inviting me for a meal or to share a social gathering with them. Nick even had a couple of tries at matchmaking me with local ladies and all in all I have to say it was a very happy time for me the 18 months or so I lived out there.

I went to the post office to post a letter I'd written last night to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. This hand written letter followed a meeting in the Gembrook Community Hall last night between Gembrook residents concerned at the impact the Puffing Billy Masterplan will have on the community, and Puffing Billy CEO John Robinson.

I was home early enough to have a quick bath and put on clean clothes and be up there at 7pm. The meeting slowly progressed with most of the talk being a monologue by the CEO on the virtues of Puffing Billy and its enormous value and potential, and about his own personal history with the organisation. On and on he went, I had to ask the chairperson could he be interrupted so that we could ask a question. My turn came; his answer was that there would be no change to the number of PB events held in Gembrook in the completed Masterplan. This despite his earlier comments that everyone's submission had been considered - I made a submission in early October - no reply as yet - and that as a result of submissions there would be a flow on resulting from the strengthening of the document in the nearly completed final master plan.

At this point I said I was leaving the meeting, I could see no point in me sitting there listening to the CEO spruik about how wonderful he and Puffing Billy was, and that I wanted it recorded how I deeply resented the intrusion to our quiet little rural town, and that I had heard enough bullshit to last me a life time.

As I walked to my car I could hear loud laughter coming from the meeting room and I assume I had created some mirth in the gathering, which if was at my expense, did not make me feel any happier.

I went home and resisted the desire to open a bottle of serious red and slashed down a few Edenvale no alcohol glasses with my chicken schnitzel. Later I went to Facebook and saw a post about how the Victorian Government was to be the first in Australia to initiate legislation to allow assisted dying.

Now I don't think Daniel Andrews is very popular at the moment, especially with the Herald Sun newspaper and radio 3AW, but above that I have to say I admire the man for his courage, and that was the basis of my letter to him, one of congratulations on being a politician with a bit of spine, a commodity in short supply in Australia. Of course I also vented a little of my frustration with the Puffing Billy bullies and PB's entrenchment with councils and governments.

My opinion, which I will repeat loudly at every opportunity, is that PB is a symbol of the industrial revolution. It manipulates authorities with emphasis on Thomas the Tank Engine and Santa Claus and happy children. A smokescreen, literally and figuratively. If we sit back and rely on Chinese tourists coming we will end up like Greece and Italy on the precipice of bankruptcy. We are in a new age of technology and environment restoration and sustainability. Tourism needs to fit this new criteria. Australia is unique for its flora and fauna and magnificent landscape, not for Thomas the Tank Engine or a bloody steam train hooting its way around the hills spewing coal smoke and cinders. We need new industry, new crops, new forests, new ideas, real work opportunities; not 900 volunteers mucking around with a steam train. Imagine what good use 900 people could do in volunteer work for something useful. You wouldn't have a weed or bit of litter in the district. As it is now the feds are throwing $millions to PB and $millions to dubious weed eradication projects somehow mysteriously (to me) linked to bush fire protection. It's all to catch votes, never mind how effective any of it is.

Anyway, Nicki said in her letter she reads my blog and savours it. That made me feel a lot better, even if she said she feels some dissent with my comments sometimes. This post is for you Nick. Thanks for your friendship over the decades.

It has stopped raining, I'd better get cracking.

Good Progress

My friend Vilma rang on Saturday and asked me if I could cut the long grass at the back of her property which was four feet high and thick. My friend Josef has been doing the grass at Vilma's for the last year or so, since he sold his house two doors down and moved in to the separate flat vacated by Vilma's son when he became too ill for Vilma to look after.

She asked if I could also do her lawns as they were long too and she was concerned it was a bit too much for Josef as he has had some health issues of his own lately. Gord came with me and did the lawns while I took to the long rough stuff at the back with the whipper. It was a warm day but Gord and I enjoyed the work and it was nice to see Vilma looking so well and in good spirit. Josef came home while we were finishing and it was good to see him. He and Vilma look after each other and seem to be getting on well. Josef's wife died of leukemia not long before he returned to Gembrook.

While talking to Vilma I looked across to a big green beech tree in the garden of Josef's old house. I had picked foliage from it for a number of years while Josef owned the house, and while he had a tenant renting it while he and his wife managed a motel on Phillip Island. I didn't pick there last season, I didn't want to annoy the new owner by intruding to ask if I could. Vilma told me a young couple with a baby were renting it and she suggested I ask them if I could have some beech foliage.

So on Sunday before going out to Marguerita's to tidy up the broadies I called in and met the young couple who told me yes to come and pick some when I needed it. At Maguerita's I pulled the stakes out that I had put in to tie up the rows and rolled up all the twine onto a reel so I can use it again. That was slow and fiddly but I hated the thought of it going to waste. Marguerita was home and she and I planted spuds in a section of the garden where brocolli had been and finished.

As it happened the phone rang Monday morning and one of my customers wanted 30 bunches of green beech so it was sort of good karma that I could go down the road to Josef's old house and pick the most beautiful lush green beech quickly and easily as the tree was not picked last year so it had plenty on it. They wanted copper beech too and I picked that quickly from another tree I do in Gembrook each year. It was fortunate in that I had a specialist's appointment in Dandenong at 3.30pm so I dropped off my bunches at the farm on the way, after a delay and detour near Emerald with disruption to traffic by what looked like a bad accident. As the road was blocked off at the Monbulk Road corner there was a traffic jam there also and I ended up ten minutes late for the appointment which didn't matter because I still had to wait 20 minutes to see doctor as he was running behind time.

The good news is he was happy with my blood test results, I'm making good progress and was pleased to tell him I have reduced the prednisolone to a quarter of a tablet a day and I'm not relapsing as a result. He said I can drop the pred all together and see how I go, but wants me to stay on the same other medications (methotrexate 2X10mg tabs once a week and weekly Abatacept injection, and he doesn't want to see me till next June but I will have blood test in March and the results will go to him.

Other interest for the weekend was a call from Dave Dickson at Emerald in Qld. He and his wife Jodie are cutting Gumby Gumby foliage as a sideline and drying it and milling it to powder and putting it in capsules and selling it by word of mouth and on the internet. Apparently it's an aboriginal medicine good for many ailments. Sunday morning Lib and I went to Akoona Park market at Berwick as I needed a locksmith to get a key cut for my car as one of mine was worn and wouldn't go in the ignition. We found him and it cost me $90. The market was huge and I was most impressed, I had not been there before although Lib goes now and again. It's on every Sunday I think..

Busy Gembrook

Yesterday was 'Thomas the Tank Engine' day in Gembrook. When I say it was 'Thomas the Tank Engine' day, let me elaborate and say it was the Thomas day organised by the Rotary Club of Emerald in conjunction with Puffing Billy Railway. This was changed from a date in October because that date was washed out. There were also four other Thomas days in total organised by Puffing Billy, two in October, and two earlier this month. I'm well and truly Thomased out, not that I attend the event but it is impossible not to be aware of the crowds and congestion and traffic if I venture into the town.

I suppose the large attendance at these events means they are a success, but I query who is the beneficiary. Obviously Puffing Billy and probably the hotel, but it's a great pity, for those of us who appreciate Gembrook's quiet natural beauty for what it is without all the noise and fuss and crowds, that this extravaganza of events has been imposed on our town. Now that we have Thomas out of the way, we are now going to have 4 Santa events in December, two days each on consecutive weekends. We'll have a little break during January and February then there are six more events in March. I'm not sure but I think Thomas is returning for these. Maybe it is Thomas meeting Santa in December as well.

It was also market day being the last Sunday of the month. The market has moved to the Community Centre, I think there was some conflict between the market committee and Puffing Billy. The market has traditionally been held at the the station but this was no longer acceptable for some reason, the specifics of which I know not. The crowd and traffic were horrendous in the town when I was looking for friends who were visiting and wanted to see the market. They said they found the market disappointing. They have recently moved back after 8 years in West Australia and in their travels have seen many local markets.

Today I was working in a garden close to the Puffing Billy line, perhaps 60 or 70 metres away, when the train left Gembrook on it's way back to Cockatoo. The hooting of the whistle split the calm and after the train passed, the hooting continuing further down, the acrid smell of smoke and or cinders enveloped me. I can only hope there were not too many particles deposited in my lungs as I had to continue breathing. I'm glad I gave up smoking 26 years ago. The medication I take for my RA has a side effect of increased risk of lung cancer, so the prescribing specialist suggested I give up smoking (if I smoked).

I was mindful of this today as I breathed in the Puffing Billy smoke/cinders.