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.

Our Guest Bedroom

We have three bedrooms in our house. Bedroom 1 is the master bedroom, bedroom 2 the study, and bedroom 3 the guest bedroom. We have had quite a few guests staying in that room over the years, usually single people, who came to visit us for longer periods and stayed in that room which used to have a single bed and lots of book-shelves in it as well as a built-in wardrobe. For instance, Peter’s sister Ilse, who lives in Berlin (Germany), came to visit us several times for extended periods. Also my ex-sister-in-law Klaudia, who also lives in Berlin, came to visit us once and loved her stay in Australia. Several times Hertha, a friend from Melbourne, stayed with us as well, and we had lovely holidays with her, showing her our beautiful area.

Next year my brother Peter Uwe and Astrid (his second wife) want to visit us here in Australia. So we are now in the process of renovating the guest bedroom! With all this our daughter Caroline and her partner Matthew turned out to be a great help. They have already painted the guest bedroom. On the 10th of February they are going to bring a double bed over from Sydney. That means, they can stay in that guest bedroom for the coming months. On weekends they intend to continue painting all the rooms in our house! At the same time they help us to get rid of unnecessary accumulated stuff!

Recently we found out that the big tree, which can partly be seen on the right of this picture, has to go: It is poisonous!

FINCH THERAPY, Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT)

I found the above adds after my consultation for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I had a Carpal Tunnel Release operation in November 2013. A few weeks later I made an appointment at the above clinic. I was given treatments every two weeks and had to do some of the MAT exercises at home. After several weeks of this my body was well aligned. This week I went there for a follow up examination. This turned out to be okay. I was advised to have another follow up examination in three months time.

Thankfully my carpal tunnel syndrome has improved a real lot. My right hand is close to normal again! Also I seem to have a much better balance in my body. I would say the FINCH THERAPY really made quite a difference in my well being. Peter underwent the same therapy and is quite happy with it. This therapy helps with muscle activation. However arthritic pain is a different matter. The therapy cannot help with this. Both Peter and I suffer more or less from arthritic pain. This can be very painful at times. We are told, keeping as mobile as possible, is what we should aim for. Both, Peter and I, try to move about as much as possible.

I told one of the therapists that we were being kept very busy over Easter since we did have a few visitors staying with us and going on a lot of outings with us. The therapist asked me then if we went out for coffee. I said we did not go out for coffee so much. I should have told him then about all our different outings. But there was no time for this.

So were did we go? Just to recollect: There was one outing to Port Kembla Pool and Beach early on Easter Saturday morning. The same day we went to the Nan Tien Temple for a delicious vegetarian lunch. And of course we had a good look at some of the temple interiors and surrounding beautiful grounds.

Easter Sunday, very early in the morning, we went for a walk in the Minnamurra Rainforest. Later on we had a Buffet Lunch at the Novotel in Wollongong. When I said we had 15 people at our place on Good Friday, the therapist asked me whether I had to cook for all of them. I said I cooked lunch only for seven of us. The others came later.

I could have mentioned that our son cooked a lovely meal for us on Saturday night after we got home from the temple. He cooked Ravioli and there was a sumptuous salad to go with it.

As far as my diary goes, I could mention that Peter went already twice this week to get new top dentures fitted. Yesterday he had to see his eye specialist in Figtree. We went to Figtree together on the bus. While Peter saw his doctor, I ‘amused’ myself in the nearby shopping centre. Shopping centres make me feel very tired. And I had been up since 5 am already. We arrived home for a quick lunch. Then Peter drove me to my heart move class at Dapto Ribbonwood Centre. Well, that was only yesterday. I remember I felt extremely tired during the class. I like to go to these classes when I feel more rested. These heart move exercises are actually great fun. There is always such invigorating Latin American music to go with it, as well as Vienna waltzes.

More Photos from 1999, 2000 and some from 2001

I can’t help myself, I just scanned a few more photos while Peter is doing some more research about the end of WW II on the other computer. I think I start with a couple of photos that were taken on Caroline’s birthday on the 9th of December 1999. That same week Caroline moved away to Sydney, where she had a job.

Caroline is 21. We had a bit of a celebration with family and some of Caroline's friends at the German Club. This family photo was taken later on at our home. — Caroline is 21. We had a bit of a celebration with family and some of Caroline’s friends at the German Club. This family photo was taken later on at our home.

I think our son Martin took the previous picture. Here he is resting on the lawn in front of our house.

SYDNEY 2000, these Olympic Games were a great experience for us. We felt really uplifted during the Olympics and the Paralympics. Peter was a volunteer during both events. He was one of the drivers, driving around important people from hotels to the different venues. The volunteers were treated very well by the organisers of the Games. It was a very interesting time for Peter.

There was some fund to be had during the Games for Roxy, Krystal, and Natasha. — There was some fun to be had during the Games for Roxy, Krystal, and Natasha.

This is Sydney Harbour during the time of the Games.

Peter took this pictures with me in the foreground.

At this function for the volunteers, Gaby wanted to be present too. She was very proud of her Dad!

This picture with Peter and Ilse was taken during her stay with us in 2001

In 2001 Ilse came again sometime in February. She had liked her stay in 1999 so much that she stayed in 2001 one month longer, namely well into May of 2001. We were very happy when it turned out that Margot and Richard were able to come and visit us while Ilse was with us as well. Margot is Peter’s and Ilse’s cousin. So Margot and her husband Richard stayed with us for one week. One day we went with them by train to Sydney. Gaby did come to Sydney as well for she wanted to meet Margot and Richard. We all had lunch at a restaurant at Circular Quay, Richard shouting the meal for all of us. Then we went for a stroll towards the Opera House.

This is a look from the site of the Opera House towards Circular Quay. Richard on the left in the picture. — This is a look from the site of the Opera House towards Circular Quay.
Richard on the left in the picture.

Here we are on the other side of the Harbour with the Opera House in the background.

On another day we went to Kiama, a beautiful little seaside town. The old Post Office there had been painted a lovely pinkish colour.

We are having fun at the entrance to the Post Office. Ilse has adorned herself with a lovely fresh Frangipani.

After one week’s stay with us, Margot and Richard did fly back to Perth. Ilse, Peter, Caroline and Gaby farewelled them at the airport. I think I had to stay home because there wasn’t room for me in the car. Our little car, that we still have now, was in 2001 less than a year old. We had bought it new in May 2000. Ilse used to call out car ‘Paulchen’. She liked it and always praised it. She did not want us to say anything bad about it! 🙂

Farewelling Richard and Margot at Sydney Airport

Caroline, Ilse, Gaby, and Peter at the Airport in Sydney to farewell Richard and Margot

Some Reflections about Meck/Pom

This photo brings back happy memories about spending time in Mecklenburg/Vorpommern with my brother and sister-in-law. This photo was taken on Monday, 12th November 2012.

Today is Ash-Wednesday, 13th February 2013.

I am thinking back to our stay in Meck/Pom. The eight days with my brother and sister-in-law were packed full. They showed us around nearly every day. A lot of historical sites were included as you can see from some of my recent posts. Since I did not post anything at all during our stay in beautiful Meck/Pom, I had planned on catching up with it at a later time. Well, now I finally did it.

At least I sorted out all the pictures from that time. These pictures were bound to trigger a lot of memories. I am happy I was able to post a lot of the pictures as well as what they mean to me. As far as the history of Mecklenburg is concerned I must say I find a lot of it very intriguing. I became especially interested in the personal history of some of the historical figures and the social conditions over the past centuries. But of course I only scratched the surface. There is an immense amount of material at your fingertips to study. A lot of caring people see to it that all this material is preserved for future generations. The castles and historical sites in the area attract every year many visitors. My brother and his wife knew all these places already from previous visits. Joyfully they took us to all these places. Apparently they love to go there again and again.

We saw as much as possible within the short time of our stay. During our other visit there in June 2010 we saw some different and also very interesting places in the area. I am sure there a lot more still to explore. I’d love to be able to go there again. However the main thing for hubby and me was really to spend time with Peter Uwe and Astrid. We had hoped they would come and visit us in Australia. Sadly it looks now as though they’ve given up on this idea.

A Family comes to visit

We soon found out that there was a great baker’s shop in the neighbourhood. Peter usually went down there early in the morning to get fresh bread rolls for breakfast plus a piece or maybe two pieces of cake! There was always a great selection of different cakes to choose from.

One Morning Peter bought this selection of different breads.

On Saturday (15th September 2012) Peter went down to get extra cakes for the guests we were expecting for afternoon coffee that day. When they pressed the bell Peter asked them to wait downstairs; he was to go down to guide them to the lift and show them the way to our apartment! I waited upstairs at the lift. Out came my nieces lovely family. There she was, my beautiful niece Corinna with Walter and son Carlos Emilio. Carlos had grown so much since I had seen him more than two years ago.

Even though I still suffered a bit from this nasty cold, we had a lovely afternoon together.