April 2012 – AuntyUta

Last Thursday we saw Gaby in Merrylands. She waited for us near Merrylands Station. Honey, her dog, was with her. Honey had been bitten by a big dog a bit over a week ago. She had needed some stitches which cost Gaby a lot of money. On Thursday these stitches were due to come out. We didn’t have to go far from the station to the vet’s surgery. Honey had her stitches out in no time. She seems to be all right now.

The following Friday we were busy around the house. We were lucky for it was a sunny day again. We needed to air a big mattress. This mattress is seventeen years old. But it has been keeping well. We got it for our youngest daughter when she was nearly seventeen. The son of her partner is seventeen now. They want the mattress and the bed for their seventeen year old son. So apart from airing the mattress, Peter disassembled the bed. Taking pictures of everything I got into the mood of taken also some pictures through the different windows at the side and back of our house. I can’t get over it how much everything has grown outside. I thought taking photos of it would look quite impressive!

DIGITAL CAMERA — This is a view from one of the dining-room windows

Here now are some photos taken from the bedrrom (facing the back), also the laundry door and the kitchen window towards the back. There is another view from the dining-room facing to the right side of the house.
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Ages ago we had planted some Gerbera bulbs. From time to time one or the other new flower makes a surprise appearance.

One of our grandsons, who owns a van, offered to take bed and mattress to the daughter’s place. This morning he came as promised to collect the things. We have a bit more room now in the spare bedroom. It’s going to be our ‘quiet’ sitting-room, meaning there won’t be any electronical gadgets in this room, not even a TV set.

April is coming to an end. The month of May with a very full program is approaching!

I decided I try to add the window pictures again in a larger size to make them look more impressive.

Berlioz wrote a different blog with some of my pictures. You find it here.

Very cold morning. Quite a bit of wind too. However when I saw the beautiful sunshine, I thought: Got to go to the pool, got to go to the pool. The seven o’clock walk did not eventuate: Irene rang, letting me know that she had a sore back due to a fall. She said she felt it may be better to get a bit of a rest till her back got better. Of course I agreed and wished her a speedy recovery.

I delayed my walk to the pool for one hour. At eight o’clock (after having had some porridge) I strolled to the pool at a leisurely pace. I took the shortcut along Brooks Creek, past the Bowling Club. Arriving at the pool a sign told me the water temperature was 26 Degrees Celsius. No way would I be freezing in this kind of water temperature!

As I entered the dressing room, one elderly woman was getting dressed ready to go back home. She said the water had been so nice warm, she would have liked to stay in it a bit longer. Soon some more women came in ready to get dressed after their swim. One woman said it would be nice if the dressing room had some heating in it!

On a windy day like today there was indeed quite some breeze blowing through the shedlike area. It means you have to hurry up to get into your warm cloths. However, there is the luxury of hot showers; the shower water being solar heated of course, the same as the water in the pool.

I had had a bit of pain in my right knee for a few days. The exersises in the warm water of the pool turned out to be very beneficial. Walking home, I took some more pictures. And my sore knee felt very much better. Peter opened the door for me. It wasn’t long before we enjoyed some filtered coffee and toasted crumpets.

While I am downloading these pictures, I watch a live program on ABC TV: The ANZAC DAY MARCH in Sydney! Later on I am going to watch the Gallipoli Dawn Service and the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial Service. These are always very moving, reflective services.

Two weeks ago we were still in Melbourne for the Easter holidays. Last Sunday we were in Summer Hill (Sydney) for Siobhan’s Fundraising Concert. Siobhan Patrick is a friend of our daughter Caroline. She holds a Graduate Diploma of Music (Opera) from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. In December 2011 she made her oratorio debut as soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah at Wollongong Town Hall. Caroline, Matthew, Peter and I loved this performance. I mentioned it in one of my blogs in December. Concert Pictures

‘Next month Siobhan will travel to London and Berlin for operatic couching and professional development, thanks to a grant from the Australia Council. Following this, she will spend a month in Italy and a month and a half in Austria, attending two prestigious opera summer schools. At these programs, Siobhan will work extensively on her languages, rehearse with top European opera coaches and directors and meet with international opera agents.’

This is what it said in the program of the fundraising concert. The program included French, German and American songs. In the second half of the program Siobhan was supported by two excellent guest artists singing songs from La Traviata, Rusalka, Die Fledermaus and La Boheme.

Associate Artist Sharolyn Kimmorley was accompanying on the piano throughout the program. Siobhan has a beautiful voice and we wish her all the best for her stay in Europe!

When I wrote about all our activities over Easter in Melbourne I did not mention that I actually did not make it to church over Easter. Last Sunday the concert was in the afternoon. We travelled to Summer Hill by train. Because of this, again I did not make it to Sunday Mass.

Well, I made up for it yesterday. It was a warm, sunny Sunday again. I walked to church for the 9,30 Mass. Father Francis, the new priest, is young and enthusiastic. Yesterday he talked about it that if some-one says he loves God but does not love his neighbour, then he is lying: For you cannot love God if you do not love your neighbour! I like it that what he says is always accompanied by a bit of humour.

Here in Australia it is supposed to be autumn now. However since it was rather warm and sunny yesterday, it felt once more like a late summer day. Walking home from church and meeting Peter on the way ( he always loves to meet me after church half way to walk home with me) I suggested we could go to Bulli Beach: Enjoy the beach for a while and then have lunch at the Bulli Beach Cafe!

Unfortunately by the time we arrived at the beach, the skys had clouded over again. But we still had a lovely couple of hours at the beach. At first I took a few pictures. Then Peter started taking pictures also. After we had been in the water we did not feel like taking any more pictures. There should have been some photos of our fish of the day lunch (grilled salmon with chips and salad as well as fruit salad and a glass of water). On the way home we bought some cake for afternoon coffee. Sorry, no pictures of the cake either. We had a yummy piece of leamington cake each and added to this some delicious cherry jam and custard. Later on we played a few games of Rummikcub. We play this with tiles. It is a very relaxing game.

Another Sunday gone. This coming Wednesday is a public holiday in Australia, namely ANZAC DAY.

I think I’m going to publish the pictures we made yesterday in another blog, so that I can publish this writing straight away.

Peter just published a blog of his own about Easter Sunday. When you go to my published blog about Easter Sunday you are going to find at the end of it a link to Peter’s blog. (Berlioz1935)

For years I’ve been walking with my neighbour Irene, usually for about half an hour early in the morning. I am 77. Irene is only one year younger. However she seems to be a great deal fitter than I am. I struggle all the time to keep up with her pace of walking.

Before my operation on the tongue last year I had to visit a pre-operation clinic. I was seen by three different women doctors who were all extremely friendly. During the interview with one of the doctors I mentioned that I had often trouble walking fast. She asked me then whether I liked swimming. I said I liked it very much. Her advice was then to go more often swimming rather than walking. I very much welcomed this advice and have often thought about it. Indeed I frequently went swimming in winter time last year. This was soon after the operation. I loved it.

Yet strangely enough, during last summer I didn’t make it to the pool very often. I decided now I am going to change this. Just a few minutes ago I thought of a plan which I want to write down now.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Walking and swimming in the morning

Tuesday: Thai Yoga from about 9am to 11 am

Thursday: 12 to 1 pm Gentle Heartmove Exercises

Saturday: Walking to buy the newspaper

Sunday: Walking to church

It’s not a great change in my schedule. The only significant change is the inclusion of swimming on a regular basis. Because of this I am going to cut short the walk with Irene and go to the swimming pool instead. I feel good to have made this decision. Please, wish me all the best that I am going to stick to it!

Mum kept a big photo album with pictures of me. Growing up, I always liked to look at all these pictures. However, I remember distinctly that the following pictures annoyed me quite a bit. I felt awful that the pictures showed me being so very plump! When I was told I looked ‘cute’ I tended not to believe it. I was self conscious at an early age and mostly didn’t feel ‘cute’ at all. I still often don’t like my picture taken because I think I might look awful!

The adults in the pictures are my Mum, Aunty Elsa (Ilse) and Uncle Adi. The little dog belonged to Aunty and Uncle.

After we stopped at Sublime Point Lookout last Thursday we drove on to Merrylands, a Western suburb of Sydney. Gaby had been visiting David, who’s in Westmead Hospital again.

Gaby took a bus from Westmead and arrived in Merrylands at about the same time we arrived there. We had some lunch in the Stockland Shopping Centre. After lunch it was time for Gaby to withdraw some money so she could do some shopping. Peter helped her with the withdrawal. The pictures show Gaby in her wheelchair. Her dog ‘Honey’ is being attached to the wheelchair. Peter is busy sorting out what bills Gaby needs to pay. Gaby decides then how much money Peter ought to withdraw with her card from the ATM.

As soon as Gaby has been loaded with the required amount of money, she heads off to pay her bills. Then it is time to do her fortnightly shopping in one of the supermarkets where ‘Honey’ is not allowed in. So it is my task to take Honey out for a walk. Gaby usually takes one hour to do her shopping in the supermarket. She gets her stuff home delivered for six Dollars.

It was a beautiful sunny day last Thursday. I enjoyed taking Honey out for a walk. While walking around with Honey I occupied myself taking a few pictures. One picture is of Honey. The other pictures show the street around the shopping centre. This shopping centre has recently been extended. There are still some more extensions going on. You can see it by the huge crane which I tried to capture in the photo. I also took photos of one of my favourite outside cafes called ‘Heart to Heart’.

This area for the kids is inside the shopping centre. It had been provided for the kids during the Easter holidays for the entertainment of kids during certain hours of the day.

We just finished off the last bit of this Easter Cake. It had a lovely vanilla taste and was nice to eat with some unsalted butter and cherry confiture. It had a hard boiled red coloured chicken egg on top. We bought it last Thursday in a shop in Merrylands.