Category: Diary

The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon 1890

https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/898/

On the way to see the Queen of Sheba we also saw this picture:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Wallaby_Track

On the wallaby track
Frederick McCubbin - On the wallaby track - Google Art Project.jpg
Artist Frederick McCubbin
Year 1896
Medium oil on canvas
Dimensions 122.0 cm × 223.5 cm (48.0 in × 88.0 in)
Location Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

On the wallaby track is a 1896 painting by the Australian artist Frederick McCubbin. The painting depicts an itinerant family; a woman with her child on her lap and a man boiling a billy for tea. The painting’s name comes from the colloquial Australian term “On the wallaby track” used to describe itinerant rural workers or “swagmen” moving from place to place for work.[1] The work has been described as “among the best known and most popularly admired of Australian paintings”.[1]

A print of it hangs above our bed. Since we have prints of both of these paintings we are very familar with them and are always overjoyed when we are able to see them again at the Gallery.

This year it was a very brief visit of us to the Art Gallery. But it was worth it. It was very good that our daughter could take us there.

Our Visit to the Art Gallery of NSW

Our daughter took us to the Art Gallery on the 4th of July this year. On the pictures, that Caroline took, you can see that I now ‘advanced’ to a walker! My walker is actually a ‘rollator’ and has wheels so it can be pushed. I can walk very well with it. Gives me some kind of balance. The good thing is that this rollator can be folded and fits into the back of the car.
In Google it says: “Do I Need a Walker or Rolling Walker? Walkers are needed for a myriad of reasons. If you experience shortness of breath, arthritic pain, or can’t walk and carry objects at the same time. If you are afraid of falling, being alone and becoming socially isolated, you may need a walker.”
I must say the reasons why a Walker is needed, do all apply to me, all of them! To buy such a thing was really an excellent decision for me. Now I can go out on daily walks without having to be scared of falling and also being able to take a rest whenever I feel getting out of breath.
Without Caroline’s help we probably would not have made it to the Gallery on that day. We stayed with Caroline and Matthew in Sydney from Friday night to Saturday on that weekend. It was great to spend some time with them. But we observed ‘social distancing’ with them as much as possible!
Caroline and Matthew live in Marrickville. Peter did drive there from Dapto and back the next day. It is good that for the time being he still has his license for because of the virus we would not like to go on public transport.
Caroline offered to drive us to the Gallery, this is why it was not a problem to get there. Also, we stayed there only for a very limited time. Caroline was able to park right in front of the Gallery, which was lucky.
The above mentioned pictures Caroline sent me in an email. But sorry, so far I was not able to transfer them from the email to this blog. Maybe I can do this another time.
I published here an update from the Gallery regarding Covid-19:

Our Daughter Gaby in three Pictures

Acceptance, Resilience and Strength!
Today we remember our daughter Gaby. On this day eight years ago we received the sad news of her passing from this life to Eternity. We are still sad that she is gone, but I don’t think we are grieving anymore. She mastered her life in a great way. A while ago I saw someone on TV saying that a disabled person needs three things to make a go of her or his life: acceptance, resilience and strength. Gaby had buckets of it. In the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, we are responsible for the climate around us. She lived her own life and created a climate around her in which so many people felt they are in the presence of a remarkable person. She had accepted the conditions of her life and had the resilience and strength to act accordingly.
Look at her face in the first picture it is very mischievous.
In the second photo, she is not even one year old but showing already signs of her outward-looking and inquiring mind.
The third picture was taken after a great night out with a friend of hers.
In all three pictures, there is nothing sad about it. We are so happy that we were able to share our life with her. We still love her so much. RIP Papa and Mama
Peter wrote the above today. Here are the three pictures:
PS: When the last picture was taken, Gaby was already close to her 55th birthday!
I think in the first picture she is 50 years . . . .

Diary of June 2020 with pictures

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Fried Herring Fillets in spicy Marinade. A real treat! With a few boiled potatoes it is a delicious meal! And I believe it is quite healthy too. We are always happy, when these herring fillets are available at ALDI’s. We did have a meal like this just recently.

So, what other pictures from this month can I add? I just had a look at some of the pictures that I took not so long ago. A lot of them did not turn out very well. But I try to find a few that are not too bad.

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This one is really from last month from Peter’s birthday. I probably had not published it yet. Despite Coronavirus restrictions we had two family groups over for a visit. Peter and I tried to keep ourselves separate!

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For lunch on Peter’s birthday we had Caroline and Matthew over. Well, all these are pictures are still from last month. Now I have to try to find some pictures from this month!

We were happy that this month we had our son Martin staying with us for a few days. He did a lot of terrific garden work for us. Luckily, he seems to love working in the garden!

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I think we had this for breakfast with Martin

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Martin planted some groundcover plants at the front of the house and he created a bit of a pathway to the electricity box. He also did quite a bit of work at the back of the house, but I regret to say, I have no good photos of it yet. I’ll look into it next month. The seeds of some of the vegies, that he did sow out, are already sprouting a little bit! So I should take some pictures of them soon.

During June we had also some repair work done to our house. A very nice young man was recommended to us. He did quite a bit of work for us around the house, and all this at a reasonable price! He also did a very good job outside where we needed a retaining wall to the neighbouring property. Then he introduced us to some people that can do some landscaping work for us. This is a work in progress!

Some time this month we drove to Kiama Harbour for a beautiful fish meal. We had to eat it standing up eating outside for there were still severe restrictions as far as people sitting in the same room too close together. But the perch tasted as good as ever. I had already my walker. I am very fond of this walking aid. I think it was a good buy. Helps to get me along a real lot!

Another Sunday Diary

Four weeks ago was Peter’s 85th birthday. I wrote about it here:

https://auntyuta.com/2020/05/24/sunday-diary/

In that post three weeks ago I was also contemplating about what it is like for Peter and me to stay in our home and managing to do everything by ourselves. I thought about it that staying at home there are still many things we can enjoy if only we can make the time for it: Sitting in the sun. reading, writing, playing games, watching TV,  going out for a meal or catch up with family! We also love just listening to music. So far, Peter is still able to drive a car. To go to places in our own car is a good thing because of the Coronavirus. Before the epidemy we always liked to use public transport when at all possible. We still try social distancing!

 

We also want to (or have to!) stay active as much as possible. But somehow we are always running out of time! I ask myself, why is this so? . . . .

These are the things we try to do: Looking after personal hygiene, walking in the open air, shopping for essentials, doing the most necessary housework and gardening. But it usually does not take long and we are so exhausted that we urgently need to rest for a while! This means each day we can do only a very limited amount of work. Each and every day we have to cut back on something that we would have liked to have done. If we decide to do something that we had been neglected to do for very long, something else that might be just as important, cannot be done by us on that day. We feel, that every day we have a bit less time. How is that possible? The question is, what is really most important to us that we still want to be able to do?

Another thing is medical appointments:

At times medical appointments do keep us very busy too!

I should have called this post RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

Diary: What should I drink?

https://www.rdhmag.com/patient-care/patient-education/article/14033922/hidden-fluoride-in-tea-and-other-foods-and-beverages

Effects of excessive fluoride

“. . . .  Now consider the effects of a heavy tea-drinking habit on fluoride accumulation in body tissues. We know that dental fluorosis caused by excess fluoride is a risk only in childhood, since fluorosis occurs during tooth formation. Children probably aren’t likely to drink tea in large amounts, so dental fluorosis from that source isn’t common. There have, however, been documented cases of skeletal fluorosis linked to tea. This type of fluorosis, caused by chronic consumption of fluoride, can be a crippling condition in which bones become weak and joints are stiff and painful. Deformities are seen in severe cases. There can also be neurological complications.9

A 2011 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism concluded that skeletal fluorosis “can result from chronic consumption of large volumes of brewed tea” and that “daily consumption of 1-2 gallons of instant tea can lead to skeletal fluorosis.”10

. . . .”

My Joints are “stiff and painful”, very much so!! And this seems to be getting worth. Is it possible that this is not just due to old age?

I never buy tootpaste with fluoride in it, but of course I use a lot of our fluoridated town water. I heard before that excessive black tea drinking can be bad, This article in an RDH magazine now tells me all about the dangers of drinking too much black tea!

Do I drink perhaps a bit too much black tea? Should I perhaps drink only green tea and herbal teas? I wonder. If I totally gave up drinking black tea, would I then have a chance to reduce the painfulness in my joints? I do think now it could probably help, and that I should give it some more thought!

 

Why would a married woman with children want to have a full-time outside job if it did not pay enough for some home help?

Referring to some Observations in the recent Uta Diaries

In my diary post one week ago I wrote the following:

“I always had this opinion when in a family with several children both father and mother have outside well paying jobs, the wife’s salary should in the first place be used to employ some home help. Why else would a woman want to have an outside job if it did not pay enough for some home help? Now, I would very much like my readers’ thoughts on this. Please, do not hesitate to make a comment, when you do not agree with my opinion on this.”

Now, is there anyone, please, who would like to comment on it?

Really, what are your ideas about women’s work?

I would love to hear from you!

 

Sunday Diary

I reckon our age care system here in Australia in a lot of cases seems to be quite good. So when we desperately need more  constant care subsidised, we can probably get it. At the moment I am just happy that Peter and I can both stay at home, even though we are not entitled yet to ’emergency’ home help.

Staying at home there are so many things that we can still enjoy: Music, reading, writing, playing games, watching TV! Also, we try to stay active as much as possible. Looking after personal hygiene, walking in the open air, shopping for essentials, doing the most necessary housework and gardening. But it usually does not take long and we are so exhausted that we need a rest. This means each day we can do only a very limited amount of work. That means, every day we have to cut back on something that we would have liked to have done. If we decide to do something, something else that might be just as important, cannot be done that day. Every day we seem to have a bit less time. How is that possible? The question is, what is really most important to us to be able to do?

Last weekend we had quite a few visitors because it was Peter’s birthday. The visitors came in stages: First two visitors for lunch. Later on when the first visitors had left, five adults and two children arrived for evening celebrations when it was already dark, and we had to stay inside. (Otherwise we could have spent time in our backyard where there is a bit more room and fresh air!)

Off and on Peter experienced some bad pain and had to lie down for a while until he could join the visitors again. Peter feels his pain is manageable when he can have a rest as soon as there is some pain coming. Most visitors came on Saturday, the 16th. The following day, on Sunday, we had two more visitors in the afternoon just for coffee/tea and cake. All our visitors were family members. Some of them we had not seen for quite a while. Because of the Coronavirus restrictions we took care not to hug anyone, and we also tried to keep some distance at all times. This is definitely rather difficult. I am sure, everyone in this kind of situation would have the same feelings how difficult it is.

I cannot believe one week has gone already after this rather hectic weekend of Peter’s birthday. In the meantime we found out our very old car is leaking some oil. We have to decide now whether it is worth it to get a major repair done to this 16 year old car! We can only hope that the car does not need a major repair. Last Thursday Peter booked the car in for its regular service. The booking is for Monday. So probably tomorrow we’ll  find out what can be done to the oil leak.

Diary for Thursday and Friday

Corona crisis: How are pandemics, environmental degradation and climate change related?

This subject how environmental degradation and climate change can have something to do with pandemics interests me very much. I looked up two apparently very knowledgeable people on this subject. While referring to these people in my previous post, I am looking forward trying to check out what they may have to say in future on this subject!

Yesterday, on Friday, the 22nd of May, Peter was contacted by the doctors at the hospital. They wanted to know, whether he was still alright. It was just a phone consultation, but Dr. Nasser asked Peter whether he could come to the hospital for a consultation in three months time, and Peter said yes. So an appointment was made for a Friday in August.

A couple of days ago, on Thursday, we had an outing to Warrawong. After not having been there for a few months, I was quite thrilled to see a shopping centre full of people. But I was absolutely careful not to come too close to anyone. There were ten seatings available at the Emporium Cafe. We were lucky that two seats became available when we arrived at the cafe for a bit of lunch. We were offered the two vacant seats at two tables that were pushed together. Peter sat at one end, I did sit at the other end well away from Peter! We had flat white coffees (oh, what a treat after not having coffees like this for so many months!) I could only eat half of my delicious vegetarian pizza, but I was allowed to take the rest home.

Peter made an appointment to take our car to Warrawong for a service this coming Monday. The car is losing some oil. So first of all the car gets the regular service on Monday, and then Peter expects to be told what can be done about the oil leak! Peter is kind of expecting he may have to take the car to Warrawong very soon again then for a hopefully not too major a repair. The oil leak is really a bit worrying at the moment, even though it looks like we are losing only a little bit of oil. But of course it has to be checked.