This morning I managed to publish some food pictures of the meals we had not so long ago. One morning I took the above pictures. It had been raining quite a bit these last few weeks. So, on that morning, surprise, surprise, these little mushrooms had appeared in our backyard. Of course, we did not dare to eat them for we had no idea whether they were poisonous or not. Peter said, there is great danger that people may die when eating unknown mushrooms. These mushrooms did not last for very long. The next day they had all disappeared.
This morning Peter had an 11,40 appointment with his eye specialist. The eye specialist is in Figtree. Peter went there by bus. It turned out, Peter’s eyes are just a little bit better than last time, meaning that no laser treatment was needed at this stage.
Peter had dropped me off near Dapto Shopping Centre, parked his car there, and went to catch his bus. We had agreed, that he should pick me up from the library once he returned from Figtree. I liked being able to spend some time at the library. I took out three large print books. Before that I had gone for a very much overdue haircut. To be able to at last fit this haircut in made me very happy! I also fitted in a cup of coffee at McDonalds, I mean I asked for a proper cup, not a take-away one!
A friendly girl was waiting to help customers to use one of the newly established ordering machines. She offered to do it for me. Alas, I had a 5 Dollar note to pay my coffee with. But paying with a 5 Dollar note somehow did not work. So the girl went to a service counter to get my order through there. Maybe the machine prefers credit cards. I think paying by credit card and using ordering machines is a bit too much of an innovation for me. At my age it is very difficult to get used to such new things!
More and more large print books are available at the Public Library. Residents can get a loan of these books for free. I reckon, this is a very good thing that the council still provides this free service apart from all the other things that are available at the Library. You can borrow all sorts of books and magazines and videos. You pay only for overdue items. If you return the borrowed items on time, there is no charge, none whatsoever.
By the time Peter and I were home to eat our home cooked lunch it was nearly two o’clock. Peter had some peppermint tea with his lunch, and I had some black tea with skim milk. We had been very hungry when we got home and quite tired as well!
Yesterday Peter had to see the cancer specialist in Figtree as a follow up to his operation from two weeks ago. Apparently his bladder is free of cancer at the moment, but there is a chance some more growth might come back. This is why some follow up treatment in Wollongong Hospital is recommended. I may write a bit more about some details after Peter has spoken to another doctor who is going to give him some more advice about the recommended treatment.
After having been at the the Urology Clinic yesterday, we drove to Figtree Shopping Centre and treated ourselves to some coffee and cake at the Gossips’ Coffee Lounge! It was a huge piece of cake with nuts, which we shared, and we were each given some ice-cream as well as fresh cream with it. Delicious! And the coffee out of proper cups was quite good too.
Peter discovers a rose in the park in front of the station.
The above pictures are from last Sunday when we took the train to Tempe to meet the family at the Concordia Club. We also took the train last Saturday going to Redfern for a W.A. Dowe Memorial Lecture. The speaker was our good friend Richard Lawrence Giles. The talk was about THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF LAND VALUE TAXATION and started at 2 pm. At a coffee shop near Redfern Station we had some coffee and cake.
Next time we are at this place I’d like to try some of the healthy things that are on offer for 6 Dollars: ‘Immunity Boost’, ‘Detox’, ‘Revitalise’, I think all this sounds good. We happen to know that a lot of university students and maybe teachers get off the train at Redfern to walk from there to Sydney University. Any coffee shops on the way would probably be patronised by some university students and teachers. In this particular coffee shop two very friendly young guys did look after the customers.
Today is Saturday again. We had been contemplating to go to Redfern today to watch a free movie. We did get an invitation to:
CINEMA ET SYMPOSIA. It is a seminar on film – based on Shirley-Ann Hardy’s book “Stolen Land, Stolen Lives and the Great Con Trick of Debt. It says a moderate discussion of the film follows. Free Admission. Refreshments Served. Time 2 pm – 4 pm.
Why did we not go? Simple answer: We needed to stay home to have a rest. Since Peter’s eye operation nearly two weeks ago our life has been a bit too hectic for our liking. After all we are not spring chickens any more! So what did we do apart from the two above mentioned train travels? Well, after the operation Peter went to see the eye specialist already three times for consultations! He also had to get a new referral from a GP (General Practitioner). On the day of the operation our daughter Caroline was able to stay with us. She did the driving to and from the hospital. It was great to have her around. In the evening Matthew joined us too and we had a good time together. Next morning C and M had to go back to their respective work. They keep themselves busy with working and studying.
The next day one of our neighbours inquired how Peter was going after the operation. We mentioned that the doctor in Figtree who had done the operation in Shellharbour Hospital , wanted to see Peter for post operative care. When the neighbour heard about this he was kind enough to offer us a lift to the bus stop. He even would have driven us to Figtree, but we said we would be all right catching the bus. On the way back we caught a bus which stopped a bit closer to home, so we did not have to walk very far. The operation had been on a Tuesday, the trip to Figtree on Wednesday, then on Thursday I found out that another neighbour, my friend Irene, was about to drive to Dapto Mall Shopping Centre. I asked her could I have a lift. When I told her I wanted to go for a haircut, she said to wait for her at the hairdresser’s. She would drive me back home then.
Irene parked in an area where it would be easy for her to drive out again. Apparently she is not all that confident yet with her parking. Her husband had been driving for all these years. When her husband recently died very unexpectedly it was up to Irene to get used to driving again. Irene gave me an idea. Maybe I was capable too driving to the Shopping Mall the way Irene did it? All of a sudden I felt I might be able to do it. I told Peter about it when it turned out Peter had to see his doctor in Figtree again on Friday. Surprise, surprise, I actually managed to drive the car to that beautiful parking spot on that Friday. From there it was not far to the bus stop. The following day, Saturday, I managed to park the car near Dapto Station. We left Dapto at 11,35 am and did not get back till nearly 7 pm. But fortunately it was still a little bit light and rained only a little bit. Something similar again the next day, on Sunday, when we caught the train to Tempe. We did get a lift back home in daughter Monika’s new car. Mark was the driver and dropped as off near Dapto Station where our car was parked.
Now to the second week after the operation. On Monday Peter had to go to the Medical Centre to get a new referral for the specialist. I drove him to the Dapto Mall Shopping Centre again. From there he could walk to the Medical Centre. On Wednesday, when Peter wanted to see his eye specialist once more for he still could not see very well with his right eye, well on Wednesday I parked the car in the Shopping Centre again. Just to make sure I asked Peter did he bring the referral from the GP. It soon was obvious that he had left it at home. So I drove back home with Peter. Peter found the referral at home. Then back to our parking spot in the shopping centre. We ran to the bus stop. Peter was sure the bus would have left without us by now. But he was wrong. Luckily the bus was running very late again. We were really lucky to catch it. Peter had thought it could not possibly be running that late. And it goes only once every hour!
We made it in time to the doctor’s appointment or 10 am. But we had to wait for quite a while. Several other patients were waiting for Michelle, the doctor. So Peter had to wait his turn. The bus going back to Dapto is also only once every hour. When we approached the bus stop to go back to Dapto it turned out the bus had left ten minutes ago. That gave us a lot of time till the next bus was due. We used the time to go for some lovely coffee and cake. 🙂
As I mentioned before we went to the Concordia Club in Tempe last Sunday. I found some more pictures from that day which I had not published yet. Here they are:
A picture inside Concordia Club
I took this picture because I thought it looked cute. I think I saw a Swiss flag inside the club. I am not sure where these traditional outfits are from. Maybe Switzerland or Bavaria or Austria? Anyway, I think these dolls look cute!
This sign is in the outside area of the club.
The Australian and the German Flag outside the Concordia Club
Michelle, the doctor, told Peter by the end of the week Peter can drive again. I think she meant by the end of this week. This kind of lets me of the hook. I have no vision in my left eye and Peter has at the moment hardly any vision in his right eye! Aren’t we a nice pair?! 🙂
By the way, we go to Martin Place when we see our dentist, and we go to Bondi Junction when we see daughter Caroline and Matthew. We are very happy that we have a good train connection from Dapto to Sydney. And a ticket for the whole day for public transport (that includes now buses) is for pensioners only 2,50 Australian Dollars! We really like this. 🙂
Yesterday, on Sunday, we made it to the Pie Shop. We made it actually twice to the shop. In the morning, on our way to the Fitzroy Falls, we stopped there for a meat pie and a cup of tea. On the way home in the afternoon we did buy an apricot pie with fresh cream to take home. This apricot pie was absolutely delicious. Sorry, I did not take a picture of it. But I took a picture of my curry meat pie which was lovely too.
On the way to the Fitzroy Falls we wanted to drive through BURRAWANG. We went along a beautiful scenic road. We stopped to take some pictures.
Peter takes a bit of a walk.I take a picture of a near by farm.I notice a warning sign.We drive on and soon reach BURRAWANG.This place looks great. I say “let’s have a cup of coffee here”. Peter agrees.Peter finds a beautiful display of cakes in side and decides to order some rhubarb cake together with the coffee.We took a table outside. The friendly young waitress carries our cake outside being watched by a customer’s dog.
We have been given two sets of cutlery to share this lovely cake.This is another old building in this pleasant little town.
We did make it to the Fitzroy Falls yesterday. But this is going to be another post.
Places like Sydney have developed over the years a great coffee culture. Not far from where Caroline and Matthew live there is this coffee shop, dine in and take away. Some time ago Matthew and Caroline took us there.
The bottle you see in this picture is not a beer bottle but they serve water in these bottles. As soon as you sit down at one of the tables, someone comes with glasses and a bottle of water. I think it is a law now in Sydney, that when you go to a shop for a cup of coffee, they have to provide free water for you with the coffee. In some places you have to serve yourself from the counter where you find some water in jugs as well as glasses. Other places prefer to serve you the water to your table.
One of the waiters noticed that I was taking picture. Very politely we were asked then would we like to have a picture taken of all four of us. Happily we agreed. Here is the picture:
Matthew and Caroline are lucky: Where they live in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney all the shops they need are within walking distance or easily to reach by public transport. There are still lots of small shops in their street. However property prices in Waverly are enormous. Naturally, the rent they have to pay for their two bedroom unit is a lot. However they like the area very much and don’t plan on moving to a cheaper area. Not needing a car they save quite a bit of money which can go towards the rent. In most cheaper places they would not be able to survive without a car.
I think it is as good as official that if you drink strong coffee or tea you ought to drink some water too. For these beverages, namely tea and coffee, are diuretic, meaning you lose water which you need to replace if you do not want to become dehydrated.
Isn’t it important to stay sufficiently hydrated, especially in hot weather? I believe that this is so. I always try to think of drinking sufficient water. There is another reason why I try to drink a lot of water, it has to do with my tendency to bruise easily. And this is one of the reasons I am used to taking a lot of vitamin C supplements. Some people warned me, if I take too many of these Vitamin C tablets, I can develop kidney stones. Well, I have not developed any yet. Amazingly, as long as I drink sufficient water, any surplus vitamin C gets flushed out! For instance, if I get lose stool, then I know I have taken more vitamin C than my body needs and I reduce the intake a little bit.
I have been taking Vitamin C supplements since my early twenties (I am 79 now). I believe what Linus Pauling, the nobel prize winner, found out about Vitamin C, is right. My observation is that some people do all right without any supplements. Others, like for instance aborigines, badly need them if they are deprived of their traditional food. Some berries, they used to have plenty of in the bush, are extremely high in vitamin C. These days our fruit is usually not consumed fresh from the tree but comes from long storage in cool-rooms and loses some Vitamin C very quickly. Some of the traditional food, that aborigines used to eat all the time, had excessive amounts of Vitamin C, much much more than for instance oranges fresh from the tree. So how can you keep up sufficient intake of this vitamin without supplements if you are not in a position to get your supply fresh from the tree?
AuntyUta 
