Peter took this picture on the 21st December 2012, our Wedding Anniversary. The Corbett Gardens are in Bowral. This day in 2012 was the last time we went to see the Gardens. Over the years we did go a few times to have a look at the tulips there in spring time during the tulip festival. This year we missed out again on seeing the tulips there.
Two years ago in December we quite liked to walk through Corbett Gardens on a summer day. There were no tulips there, but the gardens looked lovely none the less.
On the way to the Gardens we had stopped at the Bradman Museum.
L.J. Hill is a part Australian Aboriginal (Kamilaroi mother), part Cherokee Indian and part Irish (father) singer-songwriter.
Music has been calling me my whole life, and I’ve come to learn and understand that we all have eternal voices, and your spirit will sing for you.— L J Hill [1]
These aren’t songs about trying to be famous – these are songs that are a lot closer to the best kind of conversations that you’ve ever had.— Perry Keyes, Australian singer
In the meantime there has been the 4th Sunday of Advent, also the anniversary of Peter’s and mine 65th wedding in 1956! It was a very small wedding, only the two witnesses as guests!
During the last few years there have been many weddings in our family here in Australia! I am very proud of our family. I am already blessed with six great-grandchildren! Also a seventh one born only some six months ago. This beautiful little great-grandson is daughter Caroline’s step grandson, that is Matthew, her husband, has a daughter, Alex, from his first marriage, who has a lovely baby boy son now! We have been to the wedding of Alex and Josh among many other weddings within our family. Two weddings took place only after the couple had lived together already for a number of years.
Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Mother and Wife of German Descent I’ve lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging because I wanted to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some photos too as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com View all posts by auntyuta
18 thoughts on “Uta’s December 2021 Diary continued”
doesitevenmatter3EditWhat wonderful memories! I hope they keep you smiling! (((HUGS))) PS…my hubby and I celebrated 45 years recently! We met as teenagers. We were together/dating 3 years before we got married. And we were good friends 1 year before we started dating. So we’ve been together 49 years! Reply
doesitevenmatter3EditThank you! Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! (((HUGS)))
freefall852EditI trust you are keeping well, Uta and ready to step-up to the new year..I hope it is agood one for you and yours..as you say above…all the best..Cogito ergo sum..Cogito ergo sum ; “I think, therefore I am”… Can this be the sum of parts, the total the making of a man? Cogito ergo sum..I think..therefore I am? But what is it we think OF, that best explains WHO I am? Better perhaps to say; Memoro ergo sum; “I remember, therefore I am”. For it is memories of a lived life that more maketh a man. What are we without the sentiment of reminders, That places rich colours on the canvas? Like a watch-maker’s fidget wheels, Turning, turning, turning..in sweeping tireless whorls. Layer upon layer of the mechanics of a lived life, Jewels and teeth and precious times..and yes..strife..always strife, I cannot..will not deny to myself one treasured jot, Take the worst with the best…I’ll take the bloody lot! The unstoppable march of time doth come, When the ferryman of The Styx calls to claim his alms, I will welcome him to my house with a chant of psalms. My command of such memories maketh me more of a man. So . . . Memoro ergo sum, I remember, therefore I am…Reply
auntyutaEditWishing you, dear Joe, and yours a very good new year! Love, UtaReply
doesitevenmatter3EditHey, Uta! I just wanted to check in on you. How are you doing? I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s! We did! (((HUGS))) Reply
gerard oostermanEditUta is in Hospital for a while and I spoke to her just once. Very hard to get though as Covid is overwhelming all hospitals and shortage of staff means the phones are busy. Visiting is not allowed. She has a broken wrist.Reply
doesitevenmatter3EditThank you, Gerard, for sharing this news of Uta. I’d been worrying about her. Let me know if you hear any more news as the days go by. I wish her smooth healing and safety. (((HUGS)))Reply
doesitevenmatter3EditOh, Uta! I’m so sorry to hear about your wrist and your hospitalization! I’ve been thinking about you, missing you around here, and worried about you. You have my best wishes, love, and prayers for healing. (((HUGS))) Reply
gerard oostermanEditUta is still in hospital and is not allowed any visitors, not even on compassionate grounds. There is only limited telephone contact. Uta does not use an iPhone. She hopes to go home soon.Reply
auntyutaEditAt the beginning of this month I demanded that they let me go home. The medical staff in the private hospital I was sent to for so called ‘rehab’ is totally overworked with an influx of very sick or even dying non-Covid patients. All the so called medical attention I was given was decided totally without my consultation. Never ever was I given an opportunity to talk to the doctor of my choice. Severe pain all over my body was caused by a severe outbreak of Edema that gradually spread all over my outside body parts. The Edama was caused by a prescibed medication for blood pressure. This was the only medical prescription I took at the time. My blood pressure seemed to have settled down beautifully for about two months. Then in the middle of December some slight pain started during mid December. On Christrmas Day, after a trip to my son’s place in Benalla, Victoria, in his car and also with his beautiful dog in the car, I started experiencing quite severe pain. My legs became extremely weak. Trying to get up from my bed the next morning, my legs could not support me. I fell immediately back onto the bed and I was trying to support myself with my right hand. Little did I know that this was the wrong thing to do. After an increase in pain near the wrist it was discovered some two weeks later in Wollongong Public Hospital, NSW, that I had actually a tiny fracture near my wrist. They then put a cast on my right arm right up onto my elbow. With still a lot of painful swelling in my arm from this Edema outbreak, the pain in my arm with this horrible cast on increased a real lot despite constant very heavy pain killers, so that often I broke out in tears at night time when this constant lack of sleep because of what went on around me, made me very, very depressed. I was allowed hardly any contact with the outside world. I did get on well with everyone in the hospital except for the people who could not afford to show much sympathy for me because they were under constant pressure themselves. A lot of the health care workers had to work long hours, without ever having a lot of time off to recover from the stress they were under. I was not allowed to speak to any doctor. Nobody in charge seemed to have time for me for a proper talk. I felt it was worth than jail, not that I have ever experienced any jail. I imagine jail can be pretty tough too for some people. During my stay in Shellharbour Private I also experienced a severe outbreak of carpel tunnel syndrome in both hands. Half the fingers are pretty useless now because of severe pain. This is why I have to type everything very slowly and carefully and very often corrections are necessary because I hit the wrong keys.Last night I woke up in distress after only a little bit of sleep. So I spent now most of the night trying to look up some stuff on the computer. But I feel now desparately tired again and the pain is getting very severe again. So I have to rest and relax but not without thanking my kind supporters. Including you, dear Carolyn, and especially thanking you, dear Gerard. Sorry, that I tried to keep some of the stuff from you for a while. Thanks also for your emails. These tend to cheer me up a lot. So, thank you for that. Love, UtaReply
ambrosequintEditHello, Uta…It is Joe Carli posting under a pseudonym of Ambrose Quint…a name I have used for a while for posting things…I see that you are in a lot of distress..I can only wish you better feelings for the near future as this situation must be quite dire and unsettling..I cannot say anything more than this..except I feel sorry for your distress…all the best Uta..Thank you, Joe, thank you very much!My son, Martin, recently had a horrible accident. He was unconcious on the road. It nearly killed him. His lovely dog protected him till help arrived.This shook me up immensely – My own distress is gone now. I am glad that Martin is home again and could write me an email – His GP is looking after him now. Thanks be to God!Reply
freefall852EditHello, Uta..you said on Gerard’s site that you would like some good conversation…here is the link to a new blog-site that I started soley to put up my book…perhaps THAT can give you some “good conversation”..regs..Joe . https://ambroseambles.blogspot.com/2022/01/caesars.html There you will see the “introduction”/cover pages and the first part..scroll or click to see the next and so on..Reply
auntyutaEditHere is a bit of a copy from that article:“People into old age, need an ear to listen. They need someone to spend some time with. They should be felt understood, supported and valued. The losses of aging, increased dependency, anticipation of further deterioration of health or death, other physical illnesses etc. bother them very much and they should get a psychological support to make them feel calm.They need someone by their side toRestore their self-confidence and self-esteem Help them re-establish the continuity with their positive view of themselves Help them dealing with the loss of their loved ones Help them coping with the loneliness Support and make them feel their worthIT SAYS “they should get a psychological support to make them feel calm.”HOW MANY OLD PEOPLE WOULD ACTUALLY BE IN A POSITION TO GET THIS KIND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT?
I often like to look up some old blogs that I have written. I copy here a little bit of what I wrote just a little while ago. For instance I quite often busy myself now getting my deck into a good shape. I like it very much when I can spend some time doing this. It relaxes me. And I like the looks of the deck when it is well looked after.
So, here is some of what I wrote about the deck in my post of 7th of February:
“My deck looks good at the moment for yesterday after the rain I busied myself with some good sweeping away all that water. I love doing this. It is so relaxing! Of course I do it very slowly.”
Another thing I mentioned in this post is that I liked to spend the previous day on my own. Come to think of it, Tuesday is actually the only day of the week where I can do pretty much whatever I feel like doing. On all the other weekdays I have to be ready at set hours of the day to go out somewhere! So here I wrote what I managed to do when I could stay home all day:
“I felt good staying on my own yesterday. Spending a lot of extra time in the kitchen as well as on the computer was good. So, so I managed to write several longer emails to keep in touch with some family members . . . .”
I have better bowel movements since I started taking MOVICOL I take it first thing every morning. My morning routine includes a cup of tea, a banana and some other fruit. After a wash or shower with nice warm water I get dressed and hopefully can go for a little walk. Later on I usually cook myself a nice breakfast. Often I have a second breakfast (Brunch) as well.
What do I do over one week? I copy here how a normal week goes:
Mondays I get three hours home help, that is the home help comes at 9,30 AM and leaves at 12,30 PM. Tuesdays I do in the morning whatever I feel like doing. Wednesdays I join a STABILITY EXERCISE class at CITOS Bowling Club, with coffee and talking after the class and sometimes lunch at the Club as well. Thursdays my daughter Monika usually picks me up to take me out for lunch with her grandkids. Fridays I go to the CITOS CLUB again early in the morning. Sometimes I have have a lunch special again at the Club. From 2PM on I play SCRABBLE and Rummy with some of my friends.
What happens on the weekend? Saturday/Sunday I usually have totally to myself unless a family outing has been planned.
To have to be ready at a certain time, I find demanding, since it takes me up to two hours to get ready! I do everything so very slowly and often keep running out of time. But I am very happy that I can stilll live on my own.
Tomorrow, Monday, the 12th of February, is the funeral of my neighbour Barbara, who passed away on the first of February.
My home help stays with me until 12,30PM. This is the time when I’ll be ready to be taken to the funeral which starts at 1,30PM in Kiama. Two of my very kind neighbours are going to take me to the funeral.
This note about the Exercise Class was hanging out at the CITOS Club across the road. Caroline saw it. She thought it might be a good class. So she wrote down the information for me and gave it to me. I did indeed join this class a few months ago. This class turned out to be very beneficial for me. I have met some very nice people there. There are two lovely women leading the class. When one is on holidays the other one takes over. The instructers are probably in their 40s.
We can always talk a lot to each other. All the people are very cheerful. I think the people’s ages are anything from the 60s to the 90s. I met a nice single guy there who is 86. We have become good friends keeping each other company in our old age. He still drives a car. So it is easy to visit each other for he does not live far away. He had been married for 63 years when his wife died. He still misses her a lot. And he is a guy who likes to tell me a lot about is life, and I tell him a lot about my life too. We often have some very good meals together. He loves food, and so do I. And we love to give each other real big hugs. This feels so good!
Today, Wednesday. I’ll walk over to the Club again for these good Stability Exercises. Then, tomorrow Thursday my daughter Monika is going to pick me up to take me to the Dapto Shopping Mall. On Friday I usually go to the Club again to meet the knitting group ladies in the morning. Friday afternoons my longtime friends and I meet to play Scrabble and Rummy Cub.
So, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are always very busy days for me. And when my home care lady comes on Monday, this is another busy day for me. Often I like a day that is not so very busy for me, when I can for instance spend time with a bit more reading, writing, and cooking at home.
For everything I need a lot of time due to all my age related problems. I I have to do most things very, very slowly! It is good that for evening meals I often have now the company of my new friend! And it is lovely that he can take me out in his car.
Hi Jan! I thank you for your encouraging comment. All of a sudden I cannot answer comments anymore the way I used to do it. What a bummer!
Thank you, dear Carolyn. Thank you very much. Les has lived in Dapto for more than 40 years, while I have lived here for 30 years. We met only recently at a Stability Exercise Class! Both of us had very long marriages. So, since we are both very old and widowed, we do enjoy visiting each other. It is good to have some one to cuddle and to talk to! 🙂
ambrosequint
AuntyUta 