East Coast rolling

This is herself gamely plodding onward & upward towards the most easterly lighthouse in the world. Its a hell of a climb, with steps all the way, but she made it. If you enlarge the picture, you will see the lighthouse at the top. It used to be out on an island called, strangely enough, East Island, but it was too difficult to service it with the notoriously fickle East Cape weather, so they dismantled it, moved it to the top of this hill & automated the whole shebuggins







This is Herself standing by said lighthouse. I must at this point, apologise for the quality of the picture, as our poor old, well travelled, much used & abused very second hand digital camera chose this of all times to expire with a shuddering gasp & accompanying wheeze never to function again, so this photo was taken with my phone. Its quite an awesome feeling standing up there. The whole East Cape area has a very moody feel about it & apparently the locals guard the hunting & fishing rights quite jealously.

From there we made our way back along 20 km's of dirt road with an added hazard. In the evening, the cattle come down off the hills on to the flats & that includes the road. Its very picturesque. I'm sorry I have no pictures at the moment, but they are still in my trusty old 35mm SLR camera. If they are OK, I will share them with you at a later date. We had a lovely tea at the motor lodge, sharing it with the Fultom Hogan road crew who were there repairing the road damage from the winter storms. That should have told me something there & then.

The next day saw us head off bright & early for Gisborne. It was also my birthday, so we had reserved for the night at a very upmarket motor lodge called The Senator. All went well till just south of Ruatoria. We came around a corner & the back passenger wheel dropped into a particularly savage bit of washout in the road. before we could blink, both back wheels followed by the two front wheels were off the road & into a patch of greasy muddy grass heading ass backwards into a ditch.

We were very lucky. The only damage was that Herself bruised her calf muscle quite badly. Sherman survived intact. The only real damage was to my ego at having to be dragged out of the ditch by a very friendly power board worker who happened along in his ute. We proceeded on our way like a James Bond martini. Shaken not stirred. From there the road went inland only coming to the coast for brief periods at Tokomaru Bay & Tolaga Bay.



This is the view that we had from our unit at the Senator Motor Inn. The lady there was absolutely wonderful to us, giving us a unit on the ground floor to make life easier for Herself. Very kind of her. I must admit that it was very pleasant to sit out there in the sun drinking coffee & watching the world go by. Oh, we bought a new camera in Gisborne as well.




Later on we went for a walk along the Marina. This is the MV Takitimu, a lovely old wooden launch that thanks to the generosity of local businesses has been fully restored. She now spends her days doing two two hour harbor cruises a day at $15.00 a head.

I caught up with an old Fire Service buddy that I hadn't seen for years. Bernie told me about a reunion there in November. Herself says I should go , but I dunno. It could get messy. In the morning, I took this pic of a couple of outrigger canoes training in the river. I like it a lot.


From there we saddled up & headed for Flaxmere, for a couple of days with Muna & Tony, but that rates another post on its own.

OTHER NEWS

herself went through to Waikato Hospital yesterday. They changed the PEG tube for a MICKY button. This means that instead of having a tube hanging down, she now has this neat little plug like an airbed valve. It all went very well & we managed to catch up with Estelle Our support lady from the Motor Neuron society & had lunch with her. Its always a pleasure to spend time with her as she is incredibly helpful & supportive. Today, Jude's brother & his lovely lady came down for the afternoon. It was good. Trish has made Jude a badge to wear on her chest . It reads, "I am not deaf & I am not stupid. I just have a motor Neuron disorder." A very thoughtful thing to do. Anyway, will do some more later. Bye now

East Coast Cruising

Well, we've been there done that. We hit the road for the coast last week. Our first port of call was Tauranga, to see Morty. You see, Morty in a very weak moment agreed to upgrade my computer for me while we were away, so as I wouldn't be going through withdrawals & she wouldn't feel pressured to do a quick job of it Its always fun to stay the night at Morty's Menagerie. its such a vital & ever interesting place. She seems to have this knack of attracting the unusual. From the never ending, (Or so it seems) stream of teenagers to the eccentric animals that make the place their home. Thomas, the cat deigned to share his bed with us, which made us feel just so special.

We stopped at Opotiki to buy a few bits & pieces that we hadn't thought to pack, turned left & headed out. The Coast is like a whole different world that neither of us had ever experienced.

This is one of the old churches that are dotted along the coast. They all have a charm all of their own, & are that cared for that you could almost feel as though you have stepped back in time.



This is the Ruakokore River. Wide shingle & slow flowing streams as opposed to the narrow, fast flowing & rocky ones that we are used to up here.

It's almost as if the early settlers had an acute sense of the dramatic. This is the historic church at Ruakokore. Founded by the early settlers it is still in use & beautifully maintained with a small cemetery at the rear with some really interesting stories to tell on the headstones.

We stopped at Waihou Bay for lunch. Well, who wouldnt with a view like that to contemplate over your salami & tomato sandwiches. The point that you see in the background is Cape Runaway, the place where the Tainui & Arawa canoes first made landfall in New Zealand.

From there the road made its curvaceous way up & over the hills until we finally reached Hicks Bay round 2 PM & checked in at the Hicks Bay Motor Lodge. We decided from there that we should probably do a run out to the East Cape & make the pilgrimage to the lighthouse, "Only 15 minutes walk" according to our congenial host. From Te Araroa, its something like 20 kilometers to the parking area for the walk up to the lighthouse 20 k's of dirt road with cattle wandering free on a large percentage of it. Herself elected at the motel not to change from her boots to her walking shoes, which in retrospect was probably a bad idea. Its more like a half hour walk too the lighthouse, & all of it up hill & all of it steps.

It looks like I've used up my picture allowance So I'll do some more tomorrow. It's time I went to bed. We off to Waikato Hospital tomorrow to finally get Herself's feeding tube replaced with a Mikki button. She can't wait for it to happen... Later all..

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Me

I turned over the vege garden this afternoon. There is something very satisfying about turning over a garden when the soil is rich & friable. Its even more satisfying when you know that the soil id that way because of your own efforts. When we moved in, it wasn't a good garden at all. The soil was all puggy, heavy & a lot of clay. Over the years that we have been here, I have invested a lot of time & effort into that dirt. All the fish gut gets buried there for a start. I have lost track of how many trailor loads of mulch that I have brought back from the dump & dug into it. Also, I have put a lot of compost from our own bins into it as well.

It's paid off. We now have this garden that is nice light black soil. The layer of clay has broken down into a lovely sandy loam, that aerates the soil nicely. It is all absolutely swarming with worms as well. Herself came out & planted some cabbages & tomato plants. Not as many as she has in the past, though I have no doubt that more will follow. It was a nice afternoon to be doing it as well. Sunny, but not opressively hot.

So what part did Stevie Ray play in all this ? Well, him & Double Trouble provided the entertainment. Work like that always goes a lot better with some laid back music to listen to. Its almost as good as the cold beer afterwards...

The next exciting episode....

Sad, but true, there will be a slight hiatus in the continuing saga after this episode. Hawkeye's puter has packed a big sad & is currently in the computer hospital. I did try to tell him not to take the concept of punching information into it QUITE so literally, but...........

The saga continues.....

Actually, Hawkeye has now settled down & is being relatively truthful. Read on, gentle reader..........

I publish these with the rider that I make no veracity as to the authenticity or truthfulness of the narrative. If you click on the images, they will expand to a readable size. When you read them, please remember that they are writ by an ex fireman renowned for mendacity & the extension to near breaking point of the truth. In seriousness, its all a bit of fun. Enjoy...

Thus far have I come...

On our way back, we stopped in at Kaiwaka & found the cemetery where my great great grandmother, Ann Leslie, nee Bairnson is buried. A remarkable lady, who came here from the Shetland Islands in the mid 1800's & settled at Kaiwaka. This a picture of her headstone. We did see the grave some 20 years ago at a family reunion, but the new stone hadn't been installed then. We both found it a very poignant experience to be there on our own...

And Herself wonders where the stubborn streak comes from....

We knocked the bugger off

Herself is healing very nicely post op with the gall bladder thing & we were getting somewhat bored sitting around home staring at each other. Its not that we are sick of the sight of each other or anything you understand, its just that we have been doing a fair to middling bit of it lately & felt like a change, so a change we had.

Tuesday, we loaded Sherman with our worldlies, ( well, as much of them as we needed for a week or so anyway,) & headed north. Well, as far as Waipu anyway. A very dear friend of ours has this amazing place that her & her husband have created on 10 acres of beautiful land. THIS is it. No point in me raving on about it. Just go look at the pictures. Grant & Annette spoilt us rotten & we had a lovely time catching up on whats been happening in our respective worlds & exploring the area. Herself added to her experiences by going for a paddle in a kayak. I couldnt get my fat ass into one, so elected to puddle along behind in the little plastic dinghy. We went across the estuary & went for a walk along a totally deserted stretch of beautiful ocean beach. Lovely. Herself & I also got to see our first native Kaka in the wild in some trees on another patch of land that Annette owns.

This is what they look like. One of our few native parrots, & they are beautiful in the wild. There are 4 of them there, & it would be reasonable to assume that they were blown over to the mainland from Little Barrier Island where there is a reasonably large colony of them. They are very inquisitive & will actually come down & talk to you.


From there, we headed yet further North. Kaikohe in fact, to spend a couple of nights there with my old Fire Brigade buddy, Hawkeye. He generously agreed to accompany us to Cape Reinga, the most northerly part of New Zealand accessible to the general public. It's a long drive up there & I really didn't want to put Sherman on the beach, so we went by road. For those that don't know, Te Reinga is where the Tasman & the Pacific oceans meet at the top of NZ & it can be very dramatic. It is also a very important place spiritually to the Maori, as this picture shows.

Their belief is that this is where their spirits come to so that they can start their journey to the underworld. Standing there, it is very easy to believe it. This is the point mentioned in the previous pic Its all very dark & broody.
This is Herself standing in front of the sign that shows how far it is to all sorts of places. Its sort of obligatory to take this pic.



This is what it looks like where two oceans meet. Its very hard to do it justice. It was a relatively calm day up there, but it still looked like a washing machine with about 8 or 9 foot swells running


Cape Maria Van Deiman, named after the wife of an early Dutch explorer is just around the corner on the Tasman side. Its a lovely spot, but the day we were there , the wind was blowing quite steadily into the bay. It would not be a good place to be in a sailing ship. There is no way to get out of it. The end would be quite inevitable.

Anyway, so ends the first part of our travels. As we have already been to New Plymouth & Wellington, that only leaves the East Cape to go & we have covered all 4 extremities of the North Island. All up, we covered just over 1000 km's & enjoyed every inch of them. More later...

Peace Love & Mud

Well rock on.. Today is the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. THE Woodstock. I didn't go to it. I would have liked to though. Don't know if I could have stood it or not. Half a million is a lot of groovy people. To quote Wikipedia...


Woodstock Music & Art Fair (informally, Woodstock or The Woodstock Festival) was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition", held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 km²; 240 ha, 0.94 mi²) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18, 1969. Bethel, in Sullivan County, is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, in adjoining Ulster County.

Thirty-two acts performed during the sometimes rainy weekend in front of nearly half a million concertgoers. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in popular music history and was listed on Rolling Stone's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.

So Sayeth Wikipedia. I'm gonna put this clip in (a) because I like the song, & (b) because the video with it typifies the whole Woodstock thing, (c) because I really dig Arlo Guthry, & (c) I dont remember, so rock on.........

RIP Michael Jackson

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know its a while ago now since he died, but I just found this on Youtube & I HAD to share it with you. Its probably about the funniest 4 minutes that I have watched in a while...


In other news, Herself's youngest son is coming down for the weekend & we are hopeful that her daughter will come as well & bring the grandchildren. Will keep ya posted. Meanwhile, enjoy...

Pilgrim's Progress

The last few days have been overwhelming. So many people contacting us with kind wishes. On behalf of Herself & I thank you all. She is improving nicely day to day. The hardest thing I guess, is that she has to further restrict an already restricted diet. We have to get used to a new low fat diet as well now. Still, I had a brainwave yesterday. The freezer cabinets at the supermarket have quite a range of prepackaged weight watcher meals, so we have stocked the freezer with them. I felt for her at lunchtime today though, when I was eating a salad, which she used to really enjoy & now can't. She burst into tears. Not good.

I'm actually trying to lose weight. I have put on quite a bit since I quit work. You dont need to know how much, but its too much. So I have to eat salad & stuff. I have finally realised that I dont need to eat as much as I used to. Putting this in to practise isnt easy though.

Reality is biting a bit for us both in the dietary department I guess. Anyway, she is improving nicely & hopefully it won't be too long before we can start tripping around the place. She has 4 small cuts on her tum that didn't even require stitches, so apart from being a bit tender, she is progressing well. Once again thank you everybody for your love & concern.

Let there be light

Indeed.. The good news is that Herself has come through her op with flying colours. She went up to surgery at Thames Hospital at 1.00 pm this afternoon, was down at the ward by 3.00, sitting up at 3.30, after a coffee by 4.00, eating a meal & changing into her own PJ's by 6.00.

I must admit to being greatly relieved that it's all over. She is still a bit uncomfortable, but the surgeons were able to do the op using keyhole surgery, so all she has is 4 small cuts about an inch long each, so hopefully she will bounce back quickly. I can't thank you all enough for your kind wishes & thoughts. Believe me it means a lot to us both. Hopefully, we will be on the road soon. Once again, thankyou

Coffee & Confessions

I went out for coffee with a very nice young lady last week. Just me & her. We talked for about 3 hours or so. She is the support lady for the Motor Neurone Society. I have never had a lot of time for so called "Support" people. It has been my experience in the past that they are mostly concerned with looking fashionable than helping. This particular lady is a treasure though. I must admit that I wondered to myself at the time about the value of going & talking to her, I thought that I had things fairly well sorted out in my head. Well,without seeming to poke or pry, she managed to get me to talk about all manner of deeply personal things that I haven't even thought about myself for a long time, let alone discussed with anybody.

Its taken me a while to come to terms with this & I don't think that I have sorted out quite yet where it all fits inside my head yet. I've deliberately kept myself busy since, only taking out little bits here & there to think about. Phil came down this weekend to see his mum. That was good for the both of them. I sort of tried to keep out of the way as much as I could to give them time together. They both need that at this point.

Herself goes into Thames Hospital for her gallbladder surgery tomorrow. She is looking forward to it & I don't blame her. It will be so good for her to be free of the nagging constant pain at last. As for me, I'm not sure , but I think for some reason at the moment that I have a mix of hopelessness & quiet desperation. There is so much I want to do for & with her, but every time we try, some obstacle rears its ugly head yet again. Heres hoping that this is the last of it & that there is only the quality time ahead that she so richly deserves.

Well, thats about it. I'll keep you all informed as to how things go. Have a good week OK ?

On Black Humour

I love it especially when its subtle. I was watching a British sitcom called "Not Going Out" with Herself tonight. This episode was centered around one of the actors, Tim, played by Tim Vine's Gran dying. The quip in question occurred at Gran's after funeral gathering. It was so subtle that Herself missed it completely. To appreciate it, you have to know that Tim's sidekick, Lee, has a joke for every occasion. In this particular bit, Tim had just been bought another in a long running gag bits, a glass of Creme de Menthe. About the 10th of his afternoon. Something was said about it & he replied, "No,no. I'm just here to toast Gran." He then turned very quickly to his friend & said,"And NO cremation jokes from YOU either."

I just about soiled myself laughing. Herself sat & looked at me with that look on her face that sort of said,"Hmmmm... Should I get the gun now or later.." When I had calmed down enough to explain it to her, she still didn't find it particularly funny. I guess that under the circumstances I can forgive her. I still think its a very clever , very funny throw away gag though...

Oh yeah !

If you have nothing better to do, go & vote for my entry in the Can has cheese burgers page. Its here. http://cheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=4884183 Your vote would be much appreciated. The pic actually is one of my cats, Tiggerpuss, chasing the cursor on the screen. Its her new thing & I couldn't resist the pic. Ta muchly

Thunderbirds are GO

Yep its all systems go for next Tuesday. After an appointment with the anaethistist, (Picture below) & much humming & hahhing & much consultations of notes & files & stuff &
expeditions up & down two flights of stars which left him as out of breath as Herself & a phone call to Waikato Hospital to consult with a colleague there accompanied by more humming & hahhing, he decided that it was a safe bet to go ahead & do Herself's colysistectomy at Thames. (Thats gallbladder taking out to you non latin types) He really didn't have much choice in the matter. Everyone from the surgeon on down to the toilet cleaner probably would have lynched him if he had decided otherwise. He is actually a very nice, caring sort of guy, as are all of the staff up there. The place is a lot less clinical & a lot more friendly than the big hospitals. Even so, its a bit discombobulating sitting there talking to a very hirsute individual clad in jeans tee shirt & steelcap slip on work boots. He looks like he would be more at home up the back paddock fixing a fence or two. But he obviously knows his job or he wouldn't be there. We trust him anyway.

I got the lawns mowed today..

Which is probably a good thing, because its now persisting down quite heavy with rain. The young chap building the house next door is doing me a big favour. He is giving me all his offcuts from building his house as firewood.Well, I thought they were firewood right up to the point where herself saw one particular lot & decided that they would make good garden edging. I suppose she is right really. They are after all tanalised timber to ground retention status, they are all the same length, they are all the same part round shape as the bits you see all wired & stapled together at the garden shop & I do own a hammer, staples & a roll of wire. The only bugger of it is that I will have to put it all together & make it look pretty. Oh! i will actually have to motivate myself to buy some builders mix & actually (gasp shudder) make concrete. If I don't, then because of the nicely scalloped shape of the edging, weeds will grow & you just KNOW who will end up doing the weeding.

We went to a funeral yesterday. It was one of my cousins on my Mum's side. She suffered the family curse in the form of Alzheimers for a number of years. It was a happy funeral. The family are all committed God Botherers, so there was plenty of "safe in the arms of Jesus" talk, which I guess is OK if you hold with it & it gives you comfort. I'm a great believer in whatever floats your boat, as long as you don't try to ram it down my neck. Anyway, it was good because it gave me a chance to catch up with my most favourite cousin of all. Shirley. She is in her 80's, doesn't look it, has a wonderful outlook on life & would be one of the few folk that I know of that can actually get away with wearing a red scarf to a funeral. She really is a wonderful tonic. On the way home, we stopped in & had a cuppa with Jude's big brother. Him & his lovely wife really looked after me when I stayed there when herself was in hospital & I always think its nice to call on people like that sometimes because you want to see them, not because you need a favour from them.

Herself is going to do some patchwork with her best mate tomorrow. I did idly entertain the though of going fishing, but the weather is starting to look like a sock full of cold porridge. will probably just mooch about the house & maybe collect a bit more wood from next door. Wednesday, we have a very important appointment at the hospital in Thames. We find out then if the anaethistist is prepared to accept the responsibility of supervising the removal of Herself's gall bladder on the 11th August. If not, then its more time at Waikato.

Thursday, I am going for coffee with the nice lady from the Motor Neuron disease support group. Just her & I in Paeroa. I must admit to feeling a touch strange about it, but it will give me a chance I guess to talk about things that I am a little reluctant to when Herself is round.

All in all, a busy week ahead. I might even find some time to wrestle with wires hammers & staples. Anything is possible I guess.

Nasdrovia

Or something like that. basically,"Gidday " in Russian. I have found a new way to waste time on the interweb thingy. Here it is... http://englishrussia.com/ go have a look. Its fascinating. The latest offering there is a tour of the Baikonur Cosmodrome when it was still run by the Soviets. Whoever took the pictures risked a lot, as the place was very much still top secret. If, like me, you are a fan of Tom Clancy et al, then there is also a photographic tour through a Typhoon class Russian pigboat there. Damn they're big, but very little room inside. There is also a set of photo's on the Kursk, the pigboat that sunk with all hands. What a mess. There are thousands of links in there. all sorts of subjects, all absolutely fascinating. Go have a look.

We are off to a funeral at Hamilton today. One of my cousins on my Mum's side. Its a blessed relief for her really. She had the dread curse that seems to go with that particular line. Alzheimers. She was 83. As Alzheimers & Dementia seem to run inthe family on both sides, I have , strange to say, been giving a certain amount of thought to the subtle nuances involved in both diseases. I mean, what happens to YOU when you reach the advanced stages. We all know that the body lives on like some form of surrealistic zombie, but what happens to your consciousness ? Do you drift on in some form of semi aware state, where you come briefly aware for short times that you are no longer responsible for your body ? Or do you go to some form of cosmic holding area & wait for your corporeal self to realise that the driver is no longer at the wheel & finally let go. I don't know. There are all sorts of wierd possibilities here. I just hope I never get the chance to find out.

The funeral is at 1 pm at the crematorium. Herself & I are going to leave home early so that we can have a leisurely lunch at Morrinsville on the way over. It will be good to catch up with the rest of the cuzzies anyway. We aren't that close a family, so a funeral is as good an excuse for a get together & a chat as anything. Even if it is somewhere as coldly impersonal as the crematorium chapel..

T'Be Sure T'Be Sure...

We had another appointment at the Hospital for Herself this morning. It was a very important one. It was basically the pre op consultation for her gall bladder removal. It wasn't with our usual White Rabbit, ooohhh my goodness no.. This was with a very genial little Leprechaun of a chap, complete with Irish accent, yes indeed begorrah & bejabers. We both like him, because he is very understanding & compassionate. He has scheduled Herself in for surgery on the 11th of August, before if he gets any cancellations. We are both very relieved to have an end in sight for this whole nightmare. The only disappointment is that the 11th. is when we have our tickets booked for Cirque du Soleil. Its somewhat of a blow, but we both agree that having Herself relatively pain free is far more important than any other considerations. Anyway, our next door neighbor has said that she will take them, so its not a total loss. Funny, the thought crossed my mind that I was tempting fate a bit when I booked them. To complete our surreal experience, we have an appointment with the White Rabbit the day before Herself is booked for surgery. Frankly, I don't know if I should bring the Lucky Rabbit's foot or crawl round in the swamp that laughingly passes as a back yard at the moment & try to find a 4 leaf clover. Maybe I should just hedge my bets & look for a 4 toed rabbits foot. One can never be too prepared you know.

I won

k for me too if the truth be known$32.00 & a free ticket in next weeks lotto to be exact. Not a lot, but its something I guess. meantime, life goes on much as it has been. Herself is still in a lot of pain, but at least we are getting to see the surgeon on Wednesday for what I hope is a pre op examination. If its not, sparks are going to fly. The gallstones are eroding her quality of life badly. The meds are affecting her appetite as well. She has lost 8 kg since May & can ill afford it.

Hopefully we will have some sort of resolution that excludes the 11th of May, which is when we are supposed to be going to Cirque du Soleil, but knowing our luck at the moment, anything is likely. I haven't posted much lately, because not a lot has been happening. Herself's youngest son came down for the weekend which was nice. I tried to give them as much time on their own as I could. made a nice break for me too if the truth be known.

I got an email from one of my cousins this morning to tell me that one of my other cousins has passed away at age 83. One of those blessed releases really, she had suffered from Alzheimers for years. Its a bit of a family thing on my Mum's side of the family apparently. Dad died of it too, so I guess the outlook is pretty bleak for me as well. I must admit to a certain morbid curiosity as to how much an alzheimers sufferer is actually aware of. Do you reach a certain point & everything just becomes a blank, or is everything locked away in a corrner of your brain while you slowly watch your body degenerate. All in all , I don't really want to find out first hand, but you have to agree the chances are fairly high....

Old friends, book ends

Herself & I went out for tea tonight. We went to the Workingman's Club in town. An old friend of mine, Peter, invited us. Him & his wife are off to Australia for 3 weeks holiday. It was Karaoke night as well. Its not a place that I normally go to, because I used to work there, but we enjoyed ourselves. It was good company with some that I knew & some that I didn't know at the table. What was nice was that a number of people that we have known for years came over to our table to say "Gidday" & pass the time of day.

We had a nice meal as well. Nothing flash, but it was cooked nicely & there was plenty of it & the company was good. It was nice to be able to relax & have a few beers as well. Herself isn't drinking at the moment, because she is on some fairly hefty pain medication that precludes alcohol. Still, she had a nice meal out & contact with some lovely folk that made a point of coming over for a hug from her. She was hurting a lot by the end of the evening though.

I'm not entirely happy about the way things are for her at the moment. Her level of pain control is much higher than I feel that it should be. I think I am going to take her back to the doctors next week. I know that if it gets any worse over the weekend I will have no hesitation in taking her to the hospital. It can be a very lonely place to be when you have the responsibility of someone you love's health in your hands. Some time its really hard to make decisions for someone else, but hey, I guess you do what you have to when you have to.

I will keep you all posted anyway. In the meantime, we had a lovely evening out. Herself is now safe & warm snuggled up in bed with 2 ginger cats as hot water bottles & a silly old dog on self appointed guard duty at her side. Its raining outside, but the fire is going & we are all warm & dry. Life does have its compensations I suppose. If you look for them that is..

We had a good night

Last night we went to the Northern region volunteer dinner for St Johns Ambulance. We had a lovely time. If you recall, Herself was Friend Of The Emergency Department for them for a number of years. And she did it very well to. So much so that when she got ill, they wouldnt let her resign, so we still get invites to all the social functions, which is wonderful. Last night, the regional head of the FED department made a point of coming & getting Herself & introducing her to Lady Blundell, who is the national patroness for St Johns in New Zealand. Not only that, He made a point of getting a photo of the two of them together. That was I think, a very proud moment for Herself. Me ? I got my ass roasted for not calling an ambulance when Herself got ill Saturday . I rather think that if I did, there would have been at least two of them at the gate fighting for the privelege of taking her.

Today I bought an album called Bruce Springsteen Live in Dublin, with the sessions band. It has this track on it. Watch, enjoy & weep unashamedly as Herself & I did....

Weekus Horriblus

So far, its been a right horror. Herself started vomiting about 10.00 pm Saturday night & just didn't let up. Not even when I took her to the emergency department at our local Hospital. At the moment, she is ensconced in Waikato Hospital on a nil per mouth regime. She has pancreatitis. They are of the opinion that one of her gallstones has dropped down. The pancreas & the gallbladder share a common outlet into the intestine & they think that the stone has dropped past the point where the pancreas drains in. It's not fair, its not funny & she is in a hell of a lot of pain. I have come home tonight to do a bit of washing & a few other chores & will be back over there tomorrow. She had an ultrasound scan today so I am hopeful that something constructive will happen tomorrow, but who knows. Anyway, I will keep you posted on developments. I should be back Friday anyway. Catch you all later..

Requiem for a fighter

There isn't really a lot I can add to this email & the attached poem. I received it from a brave lady in Wellington who is fighting Motor Neuron Disease as well. I didn't make it through the poem without a tear in my eye either. Here it is.


Hello friends,
This is Rob Muldoons daughter.
Her book is worth reading.
Merle


Hi All.

Sadly Barbara Died at home 27/04/09 at 8.15am in my arms.
She was working in the morning but suddenly went down hill on Easter Monday Afternoon
and within 4 days she could only move her eyelids. She refused to feed or drink and she
was given Madazalin & Morphine until her death.

Her Book: Losing my voice! Living with Motor Neurone Disease is selling slowly but constantly at 3 per week worldwide.

Barbara was remarkable. She had no voice and PEG fed herself but still, in her Medical Research job
Travelled to all major hospitals in Australia & New Zealand for 18 months.

By having an interface that showed and interactive keyboard on screen she worked as Research Manager
for a Drug Trials Company till 15 Days before she died. She laboriously selected on each letter with a click of her mouse.
Barbara wrote her story as to help others who suffered from MND/ALS and got great satisfaction out of being involved in OZ PALS.

Kind Regards to All
Kevin Williams

This is the poem.

The time of fairy thistledown has come
And I know, And I feel I have mastered the wind
that gently cradles their seed

The urge is so strong....
The fields are silent & green within my mind,
while the spiderweb dew no longer settles in my eye
except with the smell of the sweet manuka flower
I see, when you are holding the earth I was born on.

The time of fairy thistledown has come;
And i know and I feel you have mastered the wind
that will gently cradle your ashes.

The pain is so strong...
The fields are so silent & empty within my mind'
and the spiderweb dew has settled within my eye
as I try to smell the manuka flower again
when I walk the earth you were born on

By Kevin Williams
1st verse written 1971 at Wellington & appeared on our wedding invitation 03 June 1972
2nd verse written 04 May 2009 & read on that day at Babara's funeral

Sooty & Sweep, the Sequel

As the fire still wasn't working as of last night, the nice men from the plumbers came back this afternoon for round 2. Meanwhile , in an effort to resolve the problem, my chimney brush got stuck in the flue yet again. I managed to get it out on my own this time. After a lot of huffing & puffing & other manly pursuits such as the removal of the firebox, we found the problem. The flue & the outlet of the firebox don't line up. They don't do it by about 6 inches or so. This problem was rather cleverly solved by the manufacture of a rectangular stainless steel box with appropriate holes with bits of duct attached at the right places. This had sorta slumped backward , filled with soot & the flue had dropped a bit, all conspiring to reduce the flow of smoke. Anyway, its all fixed now & working again. Herself is happy again because she is warm again. Its a bit cool tonight & the forecast isn't good for the weekend. But we don't mind. Our fire is working again, so its all good.

Smoke gets in your eyes

And it certainly does when it doesn't go up the chimney. Let me explain. We spent a most pleasant overnight stay with my step daughter on Saturday, the occasion being our grandson's 9th birthday. Herself had put her heart & soul into his present. A beautifully executed duvet cover which he absolutely loves. She put his name on it & all. When we got home, we found the cover off our chimney in Herself's garden & the bit of pipe that sticks out the chimney had a decidedly skew wiff & jaunty air to it. Looking at the state of the cover, we decided that it was time for a replacement. While the plumber was up there I asked him what shape the chimney was in & was told not too bad. I told him I had a set of brushes & he volunteered to give it the old brush up. And down. naturally he had to do the down bit first, but you already knew that.

He fitted the new bits & cleared my blocked down pipe as well while he was up there. You wouldnt think that seeds as small as those that come off our Beech tree could clog spouting, but they do. I've still got to get up & clear the rest of the spouting before the rain really starts, but thats not what this is about.

I decided later to light the fire to keep herself warm when she woke up. I think I'm finally coming right energy wise. I no longer really feel the need to have a regular afternoon nap anymore, but thats not what this is about either. When I opened the door on the fireplace to toss a bit more wood in & smoke billowed forth, I sort of got the idea that all was not well in Pyromania. (Thats not a real country, I just made it up in a sad attempt at humour.) In fact there was quite a bit of smoke. Enough shall we say to give me every confidence that should the disastrous happen, we will get plenty of warning about it from the smoke alarms. it really doesnt take a lot to set them off you know. Anyway, I rang the plumber again & was told that the system was probably blocked with soot.

So I dismantled the fire putting the bits in the garden & getting Herself to wet it down carefully with the hose. I meanwhile started inserting various blunt objects up the hole in the firebox where the smoke goes out. It didnt do any good. neither did hitting it with a big hammer. It was then that I had my big brainwave. maybe if I inserted the chimney brush into the chimney again & made vigorous up, down & swirling motions, the blockage might be dislodged. It wasn't. The bloody rods & brush didn't come out either. The system is held together by little spring loaded buttons that very cleverly pop out into holes drilled just for that very purpose. This works fine when hole & button are properly lined up. Sadly, this wasn't the case with one joint. You know the one I mean. Thats right, the one that's tantalisingly 6 inches out of reach of a questing hand thrust as far down the chimney as possible.

I tried carefully putting the other bit of rod down over it. I could get it on, but couldn't get it over the button. I tried using Herself's picky uppy thing that she uses to get stuff off the floor. It didn't work either. We wont mention the bad language. It may have been sufficient to raise the dead, but it certainly didn't budge the chimney brush. It did come out in the end. It involved the use of a torch, a length of wire with a hook in one end & the nice young man thats building his own home on the section next door. It really is lovely to watch. he is doing the work himself, living at present in rented accomodation just up the road. Every time something of importance happens on site, his wife walks down with their little girl in a push chair & they sit in the side door of his van & dream their dreams.

They have got their building permit at last, so its all starting to happen for them. The pilings went in this week. Our properties are on a river flat, so they have to go quite deep. Its a fascinating process to watch. A big digger comes on site, swaps the bucket for a purpose built clamp, picks up these 10" or so in diameter poles about 20 ft long & quite literally pushes them into the ground.

I also finished cleaning the alloy rims on Sherman. That has been a mission. They were painted silver, then lacquered. Even paint stripper wouldn't look at it. A rotary wire brush in the electric drill did the job though.

Next Tuesday I have to take Herself over to Waikato Hospital. She is finally getting her dangly bit of tube replaced with something called a Nikki Button. This will leave her with a more or less flush fitting that looks a lot like the air valve on an old Li Lo inflatable airbed. Notice that I am staying WAY WAY away from any other comparisons. This will make life a lot easier for her as its a lot more discrete.

What else ? Oh yeah ! last night I booked us tickets to go see la Cirque Du Soleil. Herself has wanted to go for some time now & mentioned it when she saw the ad on TV. It's a strange feeling to be able to book for something like that , with the only consideration being what night you can get the seats you want & what night of the week you want to go on. We have seats on a Tuesday night & will be six rows from the front. We are both looking forward to it

Country Roads

We had a good day today. I knew it was going to be a good day right from when I went out at 6.30 AM to get the paper. You see, as I walked up the drive, the frost was making that delicious crunchy squeaky noise underfoot that only fresh frost can make. Mind you , it has been doing that every morning this week. I love that sound. It reminds me of being a 5 year old playing in frozen puddles at the trout hatchery. This morning was special though. You see, Sherman was snuggled up nice & warm in the garage ready & raring to go after his rejuvenation.

So we went. First of all, down to the mall to buy a couple of things that we needed, then a nice leisurely drive up the coast. By the time we got as far as Coromandel, it was lunchtime, so we had lunch. We ate at the Peppertree restaurant. It wasn't especially cheap, but it was very nice. Herself had 2 lovely pieces of Gurnard with chips & I had the seafood chowder. They were both delicious. Mine came with the nicest garlic bread that I have tasted for a long time. Its nice to dine in pleasant surrounds, knowing that you don't have to rush because of work pressures. We also found something that Herself can not only drink, but actually enjoy as well without gagging, gasping or spluttering. Tomato juice. needless to say, we have added a supply to our pantry.

From there , we went up to Colville, past the Buddhist centre, with its beautiful roadside shrine as far as the Port Charles turnoff, where we hit the metal roads. There is something rather delightful & satisfying in driving a loose metal road in a 4wd that hugs a road like that as well as Sherman does. We went right to the end of the road. Through Port Charles, through Sandy Bay, where the council road maintanence ends, another 7 kilometers to Rocky Bay. The road was pretty grim, with a lot of washouts & washboarding, but we took our time. it was worth it. Just to sit there looking out across beautiful deep green sea with Great Barrier Island looking so close you could almost wade out to it. I dont think I have ever been to a place so quiet & tranquil. The only sounds that you could hear was the gentle wash of the waves on the beach & the call of the Tui from the bush behind us. It has to be as close to Paradise as it gets. Summer time would be vastly different though I think.

We returned to Coromandel via the other road. Down though Tuateawa & Kennedy's Bay. that road is loose metal all the way, but the scenery is absolutely worth it. There is an incredible view of the Mercury Islands from the top of the hill at Tuateawa. The coast road back along the Thames Coast was an easy task after this. Just cruising & admiring the sunset. Starting off at the top with the palest of pale blue sky that somehow transformed itself into the most delicate shade of pink that you can imagine. Then a thin dark line so straight it might have been drawn with a ruler, then the sea. The palest of butter yellows. God it was pretty. All this with no freight to deliver & no deadlines to keep. Best of all Herself got to forget about The hurt thats happening to her at the moment. That makes it al worth while. Yeah, we had a good day.

Dreams & Rainbows

I had a strange dream last night. It didn't even involve naked women & tropical paradises. Don't ask me how, but somehow I ended up in the presence of Bob Dylan. I told him I had to split, because I had to take some fruit to the hospital. He said,"I'm comin with you man, because I'm tired of all this crap." So we snuck out the side door & off we went. We got to the hospital & we had a really groovy time, sitting on one of the beds & talking to the nurses. Bob was enjoying himself particularly, because nobody recognised him & he was just sitting chilling like an ordinary person, talking & eating oranges. Finally someone recognised him & we fessed up as to who he was. Still nobody believed us, so Bob said "OK, I'll go & get my guitar & sing for you, then you'll believe who I am." So off he went. After quite a time, we wondered where he'd got to, so I went & asked at the desk. "Oh him!" the receptionist replied,"We had that weird little guy thrown out for stealing oranges from a patient." You go figure because its beyond me.

Anyway, yesterday, we went to see the new Star Trek movie. I'm glad we did. I think its nearly at the end of its run here . Herself & I comprised two thirds of the patronage. We are glad we went. What an awesome movie. The action started right from the word "Go" & didnt let up till the closing credits rolled. It's got to be the last ever Star Trek movie, because there is no way that it can be topped I don't think. We thoroughly enjoyed it. was a nice way to spend an afternoon & escape life for an hour or two.

Last night we had an old friend & his wife come to see us. We had lovely chats for a few hours, haven't seen them in a while you see. But if you want to feel nervous, try preparing them a stir fry for tea because one of them is vegetarian & cant eat the beef stroganoff thats in the oven. Even more so, try doing this with one of them in the kitchen talking to you while you do so. I'm not real good with an audience when I'm cooking at the best of times, but with someone that knows what they are doing, trust me, its 10 times worse. It must have been OK though, because they both ate it & Kathleen went back for seconds on the Stroganoff.

I get Sherman back today after three weeks. I'm rather looking forward to it. He should be running like a Swiss watch & looking very beautiful with all the new paint etc. now we can start our touring in earnest.

Dream unweaver

A few years ago, not actually very long, in fact just before Herself started to get ill, she was in the process of developing a very good career. She has this wonderful rapport with children, especially those with learning problems. She was well on the way to a very successful career in special needs education & was actually two thirds of the way through a degree in that field. Unfortunately, the MoNster has put paid to all that. You see you need to be able to talk to the pupils to do any good. She has had that ability taken away from her. She also used to really enjoy volunteer work for St Johns at our local hospital Emergency department, but once again communication is paramount.

A short while ago, I spoke to her about her patchwork. See, she loves that too & she is very good at it. So we have this bedroom full of material scraps & part finished projects. I sat her down & explained that bits & pieces arent going to be any good to me. I would far rather have a beautiful patchwork quilt to cuddle up to when I am on my own than boxes of bits & pieces. She has taken this to heart, bless her, & with the aid of two sets of bookshelves that we have been given, undertaken a massive cleanup & sort out of said stuff.

But she has gone further still. With out any prompting at all from me, she has been through all her study material. I haven't said a word to her about all the paperwork, because I know what it all meant to her & what the dream of stepping up on a stage & collecting a degree meant to her. So, I know what it has meant to her to drag it all out & get it ready for me to load on the trailor & take to our refuse transfer station.

She didn't come with me to do it. I'm very glad she didn't. It was hard enough for me to throw all her dreams away. I can't begin to imagine how she felt to see it all go. I'm very proud of her.

Yesterday, we went through to Ohinemuri House in Paeroa to attend my Mum's annual assessment. Apart from an amputated big toe & chronic dementia, she is doing fine for an 87 year old. Sometimes I think that it would be nice for a while not to have to think & make descisions for others. Then a sense of responsibility kicks in & I hunker down & carry on.

Sherman is still in the fixit shops. He's running like a top apparently & the handbrake is finally fixed properly, having new cables fitted. Yesterday, he had the gas struts in the tailgate regassed. Now they wont fall down & whack us on the back of the head when we close them. That will be nice. I also had the air conditioning checked, but its beyond reasonable resurrection sadly. All thats really left to do now is finish off the paintwork. I have had flash new chrome baby West Coast mirrors fitted & damn they look good. Hopefully Thursday or Friday should see him home.

Herself has had her medication changed. She is now using patches, which provide relief for 3 days or so at a constant level, which is much better than the up & down cycle of liquid morphine & she is much happier about it. Other than that , life goes on. And on, and on, but it sure as hell beats the alternatives.

I see a little silhouetto of a man

But its not Scaramouche. My little heart leapt when someone by the name of Brian May added himself to my facebook list. But sadly its not him. Well not unless he has put on 20 or so kilo's & discovered a rejuvenation process & taken to cuddling rabbits... Sighhhhhh..

It's 7.30 AM on a wet Saturday

I did sort of have it in mind to go for a drive up the peninsula so that we can both see the last bit of it that neither of us have seen. I would sort of like to do this before we venture further afield. The only problem is that we haven't got Sherman back yet. He has moved from the service shop to the panel shop. Aside from a slight oil leak, which I would assume is from the new filter, he is AOK mechanically now. My pet mechanic will have been round & rectified that by now as he is a very conscientious young man who has been looking after our vehicles for a number of years now. I stopped in there the other day & the boys had already given Sherm's paintwork a going over with cutting compound & cut all the old faded & worn decals back. I am that impressed with the look I am going to leave it like that when they have finished. Hopefully, we will get him back Wednesday, as they still need a couple of days to do the neccessary paintwork & one or two other little jobs. All that will be left for me to do then is straighten one of the little half bumpers at the back & find a way to buff up the alloy rims.

Soon after we bought it, I had a full set of Dunlop Desert Dueler tyres fitted. They have really impressed me. They give a good ride with very little road noise & are still less than half worn, & they have covered some really hard k's. A good cleanout & cleanup of the interior will finish it off & give us a really nice vehicle for once.

They say that there are none so blind as those that cannot see & I think that applies to me. I have had a lot of people telling me that I look so much better now, that all the stress has gone out of my face & I guess thats so. It must be if they are all saying so. I thought I was doing OK. Working anywhere from 10 to 14 hours a day, the trying to care for my dearly beloved as well. Trouble is , I wasn't doing justice to either it would seem. Now that I can concentrate on doing the one thing that is the most important, I can see things a little different. My two days off were mainly spent resting, or feeling bad because I didn't have the energy to get things done that needed it. Work was spent getting angry & resentful every time they asked me to work late or do something different that took me away from Herself for an evening.

So I'm slowly getting things done. The office is nearly tidy & in the process I have found stuff that I haven't been able to find for months. The laundry actually looks like somebody loves it again & there is yet another trailor load of rubbish ready for the dump. Herself hasn't been idle either. At my encouragement, she has finally sorted her patchwork stuff into some semblance of order. She has also finished a duvet cover for our grandson. Yes you will get a pic of it on here at some stage. Its fantastic.

She is on some fairly heavy medication for her gallstones which makes her very tired & a little demanding. I am, I hope , coping relatively well with it, but do hope for both our sakes that something is done fairly soon as the extra pain is having a really bad effect on her morale. I think the biggest worry is that when they do keyhole surgery to remove the bladder, they have to inflate the stomach cavity with CO2, which pushes on the diaphragm & inhibits breathing. The one good thing is that they do the surgery at Thames Hospital now& it's only an overnight stay at worst, so hopefully it will be soon.

Meanwhile, today I think I might finish off the office & start rebluing the barrel of my trusty old .22 rifle that has been languishing for too long with rust on it. Watching the All Blacks play France tonight will be a must view. I hope they do better than last time they played them.

Nnnnyeahhhhh.......... Whats up Doc ?

Herself had another visit to the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole today. (Read doctor at the Hospital) You know the one I mean, the one that is short & tubby, wears oversize glasses & twitches his nose like a rabbit all the time.

As usual we had to update him on Herselfs condition. He didn't even know about Herselfs gall stones. To be fair, he did come up with some very constructive info with regards to gallstones & treatment of same & all in all it was a good visit. So why can I still hear the seductive sound of Jefferson Airplane with Grace Slick up front ?

!!!!!!!! WOW !!!!!!!!

This is a picture of Herself with Milton. He is young, moderately good looking & can see his feet without having to lean forward at all. You will notice that he is being moderately familiar with Herself.. But I don't mind..

You see, Milton flies the big yellow Harvard in the background. This is Herself in the back seat of said yellow Harvard, with Milton sorting out all that stuff that pilots sort out before they go flying..

Milton then proceeded to take Herself out over the sea & really put the Harvard through its pace with a full display of aerobaticsShe had a blast.


Pretty cool huh ? Thanks to Morty's son Adam, Herself got round 20 minutes of absolute joy & bliss in the air. Young Adz arranged all this on his own initiative & then came home & worried that he might have done the wrong thing. Not much chance of that my friend. You did a really great thing there. We are home now, but I don't think Herself's undercarriage has touched the ground yet.



This is what happens when you try & land a Yak in a sand trap at the municipal golf course. It doesn't work & the green fees are a bastard This all happened when Milton & Herself were on final approach. The engine stopped in the Yak & he had to set it down fairly hard. From the look of it, some very serious damage has been done, which is very sad. It occasioned a minute or two of worry, as the siren went & the crash tender went racing off down the field as Milton & Jude were landing.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend. Thank you Adam, Thank you Morty for your hospitality & especially thank you to Milton, who gave a lovely lady the experience of a life time, but I'm not jealous... Well, maybe just a little but... OK,, lots...........

There's gonna be a resolution...

Well, I did make one when I finished work. I decided that I was going to set myself tasks to do every day, to give me an incentive to get out of bed & get going every day. This I have consistently done. there is only one problem with this. More times than not, what i set myself, & what I actually DO very seldom seem to correspond. Today was a good case in point. I decided that today was a good day to finally strip the vege garden out, do a bit of weeding & a load or two of compost from the tip & maybe a few winter vege's in, then if there was time, a tidy up of the garden around the Beech tree & finally Herself's new roses planted as a border.

Instead, I cranked up the leaf blower & had a real groovy time chasing all the Autumn leaves out of the courtyard. it looks a lot better now. In the process, I checked one of my compost bins & found that it has rotted down nicely & as it's only a shovel swing away from the garden round the Beech tree, I have mentally earmarked it as a nice bonus for the roses, when i finally plant them. i also spoke to my mechanic. We decided between us that it would be as well to strip Sherman's injectors out to be tested as they have probably been there without any attention since Shermy left the factory. Just as well we did as they are a bit sad, so they are away being reconditioned. So thats about another week with no Sherman.

Then I tried to wash Jude's car. I say tried, because with all this cold weather, the hose finally called it quits. There was that much water leaking from it that all there was coming out the nozzle was a pathetic dribble. meantime, herself decided that she needed a shampoo & blow wave, so we organised that & went down town. While she was having that done, I went & had some old lotto tickets checked. Sorry, no winning ones. Then I went & swapped a casto that was wrong when we bought a new office chair & had a gossip with one of the girls there that I know. Then I went to the Red Shed, bought a new garden hose & had another gossip with another girl I know. Then I went to the florist, bought a nice little posy of flowers for Herself & had another little gossip. By that time herself was ready, so I collected her & we came home.

After I swapped all the fittings over to the new hose, swore at the bits that broke because I tightened them too much & hunted down replacements, I washed Herself's car. By that time, I had to fill the wood basket then come inside & start getting dinner ready. (Pork fried rice if you really must know) & that was my day.

Tomorrow, we are going on a shopping foray to Auckland. You see, we are going down to Tauranga on Saturday, so we need to stock up on some delly goodies & raid our favourite shop for chicken carcasses. We can get them cheaper there than Morty can in Tauranga, & Nushie just LOVES chicken carcasses. We getting all excited about our trip to Tauranga & Herself's treat has been expanded to the point where it is close to being one of those impossible dreams that we all have on our bucket list, but I'm not telling you anything until after the event. Spoilsport aren't I ?

Well, thats about it. The roses still arent planted, the compost isn't moved, the vege garden still isn't done, but damn I've been busy. I'm starting to get back some of the energy that i have lost over the years of working such long hours & now instead of crashing for the day, am looking about for stuff to do. Herself is still suffering the effects of the gallstones & being who she is keeps saying she is OK, but the lines on her face & the little whimpering noises she makes when she is asleep say different. Between that & my snoring, its no wonder the Ginger Ninja's have taken to sleeping in the lounge.

And the lion shall lay down with the lamb

We've had a few cold nights recently. In fact, we actually had quite a respectable frost this morning. It was a beautiful morning, crystal clear & crisp & clean. We've had a productive day in a lot of respects. Herself stayed home & puddled about in the end bedroom, sorting out all her patchwork bits & pieces, having been given a couple of bookshelves to stack them on.

I went out & had a chat with our mechanic who is doing a heap of long overdue preventative maintenance. I really went down there to give him a clandestine cuddle in case he is missing us. He gets nervous if he's out of our sight too long you know. Not that i was feeling guilty about Herself sorting stuff out, but I actually got my workbench looking as though somebody loves it. That among a few other things.

Herself is feeling the cold quite badly this winter & her gallstones are giving her hell at the moment. The fire hasn't gone out for over a week now. As you might guess, competition for pole position in front of the fire is pretty fierce, with me having to rescue one cat because the other one was lying on top of it. We finally conceded defeat & paid good money for another basket, but neither of them condescended to actually use it until tonight. Herself had brought the old Noodle Pooch's bedroom mattress out in front of the fire to air. This is a pic of the three of them in their respective beds.

I think you can figure out who the lions are in this picture for yourself, can't you ?

Well, its official

Following a phone call yesterday, Herself had to present herself for a scan at the hospital, midday. I guess its a measure of the urgency that they regard her treatment with that they have done that. We also received in the mail today an appointment for Wednesday, which we were told to ignore, so we have. I went in with her, & the lovely young lass that was doing the scan was kind enough to give us a running commentary that included showing us the half dozen or so tiny wee bright sparks on the screen that represented gallstones. She also pointed out that the wall of the gallbladder & one duct were quite badly inflamed. The duct might mean the passing of one of these stones which would explain the pain Wednesday.

Like me, I bet you thought that gallstones could be nuked with ultra sound to dissolve them. Not so. Apparently, this only applies to kidney stones, so its keyhole surgery & out with the old gall bladder for her. I guess it also means that her already restricted diet is about to be restricted even further. The only consolation with this whole sorry mess is that at least this problem is treatable.

On the happy side, a young friend of ours has arranged a lovely treat for Herself next weekend. I shall leave it as a surprise for you, but suffice it to say, Herself is agog with anticipation, as I guess you are now as well, but you will just have to wait as she has to. The weather here has turned decidedly pear shaped & custard flavoured, but at least its good for the ski field. An inside weekend with forays to my Viking game on Facebook is predicted. Have fun....

Go ahead, you may as well, everyone else has...

We started out having a really good day. Our local Bendon Factory Shop is having a big sale at the moment, so I took Herself out.You see, she needed a wee boost to her feminity, so some new bra's & knickers fit the bill nicely. From there we came into town, cruised a few more shops met a few more people & generally had a nice time. We had to be home by about 11.30 though, as the nice lady from Talk Link was coming to see us. Herself & I decided to give her back the loan talk link machine so that someone else could get the benefit from it. She feels more at home at the moment using her magna doodle. What makes it even easier still is that her brother brought back from the States a handbag sized version. Much better for taking into shops etc. I actually managed to get the lawns mown in the meantime.

We had a nice lunch & snuggled up for a nap. I snoozed my usual 30 minutes or so & was online when a friend came round. The Noodle Poodle barking woke Herself up, so we sat & had a coffee & a chat together. Then things turned pear shaped & custard flavoured. Hersel asked our friend if she would check her new bra for her, as she had a sore stomach. We both pricked our ears up at this;the bra fitted fine. It turned out that herself was suffering from a sore stomach & biliousness since lunch time, but didn't see fit to tell anybody, ie, me. As it was getting progressively worse I managed to get an appointment at the Doctors. They are very good. They know we don't go to see them for frivolous reasons. From there it was to the Emergency Department at the Hospital. Many tests & much pain relief later, the general consensus was reached that she probably has a gallstone now to add to her ailments. They couldn't find it though, so she has to go for a scan now.

You have to sometimes wonder at the fairness of fate. How much more is she supposed to put up with in this life. I don't consider it to be particularly fair, but then again I'm biased. I love her.

Its all my fault

This early unseasonable cold weather i mean. All I want to do is mow the lawns. And its not like there's acres of them or any thing.It's just that I'm not all that fussed about using an electric mower in the rain. Even with an isolating transformer. Every time I even think about dragging the damn thing out, down it comes. Doesn't matter. I have plenty of time now. Its just that Herself likes the lawns neat & tidy & she wants them neat & tidy NOW.

Today is a redletter day for us. We sign the last bits of paper that guarantee our lifestyle. Then, I think, this whole thing of me not working & Herself's mortality will actually sink in. I would like to say that I am getting used to a relaxed life style, but so far it hasn't happened. As you know, I have been helping a friend shift house last week & , God help me, another of Herself's friends is shifting Wednesday, fortunately this time with a professional shifter. In spite of that, I have offered help with trailor loads of pot plants etc. Yeah, I know, a sucker for punishment.

We are heading for Herself's third acupuncture treatment on Tuesday. I am hoping that this one will bring a measure of relief from the arthritis that plagues her so. It has already slowed down the incidence of cramp in her neck, which is good. Other than that, we need to go to the library & sort out getting some work done on Sherman to get him absolutely tip top to come & see all you good people. I'm not even going to mention that he needs a bath......

Brass monkey time again.

There is a certain satisfaction gained from sitting out in the spa pool at this time of year. We just mostly sit in companionable silence, watching the steam coil & twist as it rises & admiring the crystal clear sky that shows the stars up with amazing clarity. The only sounds that disturb the tranquillity is the neighbor calling his dog in & the crunch of teeth on bone as our silly old pooch contentedly gnaws his bone at our side. He loves to save his bone till we are in the spa before he settles for a good old gnaw. Possibly it has a lot to do with the fact that he knows that bones are forbidden beyond the back porch. He is fairly protective & I suppose thats his idea of a compromise between his self imposed guard duties & enjoying being a dog. It could all hinge on the fact that Mum used to get quite agitated if he was more than 6 feet away from her. Anyway, we finished our spa & came inside to sit in front of the fire & he , as usual, stayed out to finish his gnaw. It must have been a touch too cold for him out there though, because after about 5 minutes, he came marching in carrying his bone rather like one of those old Meerschaum pipes that you see in Victorian photos.

I watched him in disbelief. He's never done anything like that before so I watched him to see what he would do. He marched on over to his basket, curled up in it & carried on gnawing. "Fair enough," I thought & left him to it. All was fine till he climbed out & headed to his favourite corner on the carpet. "Oi!" says I. "basket or outside." He shot me a very reproachful look & carefully marched off out. I have no doubt that I will find the bone on the hall mat later. Thats his canine concept of a compromise I think.

Its been quite a long week. A dear friend is shifting house & her kids show a marked reluctance to help her. Now that we have finished, I think I understand why. Damn, she has a lot of stuff & most of it is her kids. But we have finished now, so its time for us to sit & take stock of our new lifestyle.

I took Herself to an acupuncturist on Monday. I'm taking her again tomorrow for her arthritis. I must be honest & say that it doesn't appear to have given her the relief that I hoped it would, but we will wait & see tomorrow I think. Meanwhile , I have been trying to take some of the load. Our home help has been a spectacular failure, with the girl concerned only giving us half the time that she was supposed to. We have changed agencies & now have someone coming in that we know. We also know she is a bloody hard worker, who will give us & the agency bloody good value for money.

Meanwhile, during the time that Herself was out walking I raced round, made the bed, did the dishes & put the washing on. Shame I didnt see the washcloth in the tub though. Herself came home just in time to be greeted by water flowing through to the garage. We have a very clean laundry floor now. Such, I guess, are the vicissitudes of being a House Husband. I'm learning though....

And here she is....

Our lovely grand daughter with her equally lovely Mum. Aint they both gorgeous ?

Welcome to our world

Connaire Amara Fitzgerald-Leslie at 2.45 pm today weighing in at a healthy 6lb 4 oz. At home in Dunedin New Zealand to two of the most loving parents & two of the proudest & most loving grand parents that God could give you. A bonny bouncing healthy baby girl. raise a glass with me & drink her health . Welcome to the world little one. May you make a better job of caring for it than our generation has.... YAAAAHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Another grandchild to spoil rotten

The needle & the Damage done

Herself didn't walk this morning. Her back was too sore. The colder damper weather seems to be knocking her round badly this year. Worse than it ever has been in fact. There isn't much can be done for her MND, but we are doing something about the arthritis. I took her to an acupuncturist this morning. So far, there isn't a lot of change, but she needs to go again on Friday, so we will see how it goes.

My youngest son rang me at 6.30 or so this morning to tell me that his wife has finally had her waters break. By 10ish, she was 1 cm dilated. I think its going to be a long day for them both. Will keep you posted on that score. Meanwhile, we are still helping our friend shift. God, she's got a lot of stuff.

At this point , I'm wondering where I actually found time to work. God I'm tired.

Monday Monday

Monday is a very significant day for herself & I. For one thing, its our 18th wedding anniversary. According to the modern list, that's supposed to entitle us to all sorts of groovy presents made of porcelain, but I'm not holding my breath. Our relationship certainly hasn't been dull. Right from the day that she invited me home for tea, & I never left. We have actually been together for over 20 years now. It just took me a little while to amass the spare cash to get a divorce done. When the judge announced a decree absolute, I went straight down to the shop where she was working & got down on one knee & proposed. Right in front of a customer. She said 'Yes" of course & the rest is history. Very interesting history it is too. I may tell you about it one day.

The next significant thing about Monday is that my youngest son's wife is due to give birth to our 4th grand child. He is hoping she will hold on till the 21st of May, which is my Dad's birthday. Both my boys loved their "Poppy." One of my most fervent wishes is that I can fill his rather large boots for my grandchildren. We don't know yet what is on the way, & really I don't suppose it matters, so long as its fit & healthy. I know it will be happy, because its going to have the most loving parents imaginable. We intend to get down there sometime later in the year to see them all.

Monday is, I guess, really the start of my new life as a ,"Gentleman of H'independent means." For the first time in my adult life, I will not be gainfully employed, nor will i be seeking gainful employment. You all know why. I may tell you as well, that its not without a certain measure of trepidation that I approach the coming years. Although Herself's symptoms have been gradual in their onset, they are, unfortunately, inevitable & one of the hardest things that I find myself doing is continually telling people,"No, there is no treatment, no, there is no cure & no there is no remission."

The last thing is that Herself's brother & his Lady are coming down to visit on Monday. Visits from the two of them are always nice. They have both really come to the fore since Herself has been ill, showing all the compassion & support that it's possible to show.

So hopefully, the day will produce some great memories for us both. meanwhile, I look around & see so much to do. If the weather holds I may get out tomorrow & mow some grass. I spent today helping a friend to shift house. Damn, but that girls got a lot of stuff.

The Last Waltz

Well, its all over or it's just starting, depends on your outlook I guess. To quote the venerable Arkwright, it was a ,"fu fu fu fu funny old day." Bitter sweet I guess is a good description. The last two weeks have been good in the respect that I have been able to catch up with all the people that matter. has been the odd tear or two today. Also, a lot of very nice things said, promises to keep in touch etc.,

This has been the finale in my second major vocation in life, the first being the Fire Service. The third & most important phase of my life has aready started. That of caring for Herself. I think its going to be the most important thing that I will ever do with myself. I'm under no illusions that its going to be an easy call, but thats Ok, I have a great support system & I am confident that together we will see it through.

So anyway, after a few beers with the boys at work, Herself & I went out for tea. was a nice end to the day....

Speechless in Seattle. (Well, Thames anyway)

We are currently helping a dear friend to shift house. Quite aside from anything else, the analogy of a booze up in the brewery springs to mind, but thats not what I want to tell you about. While we were loading out interminable boxes of junk from her garage, she says,"Hey, look at this," & opens a grotty old suitcase. She started hauling some incredibly tatty & badly scratched old Elvis LP's. Thats cool, that didn't bother me. What rendered me speechless was at the bottom of the box. Would you believe one of the original Beatles White albums. The one with the embossed title & the serial number on the jacket. With trembling paw I drew forth the vinyl. They were in pristine condition apart from looking like it had been cleaned with 80 grit sandpaper. Well, it was a nice dream while it lasted I suppose. She couldnt understand why I swore profusely at her.......

On Mothers Day.

Firstly, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to anyone who has found their way here via the MND Newsletter & thank you Heather for listing it. Please come in , sit down , take the weight off, pour yourself a hot or a cold one & make yourself at home. Feel free to make your self known via the comments option.

I had planned to take herself to Albany today on a day trip so that she could celebrate Mothers Day & her eldest son's birthday all in one. Sadly, I had a recurrence of a rather nasty stress symptom that i thought I had seen the last of. It really left me with no option but to cancel out, because God I'm tired. Fortunately, Herself's daughter stepped up to the plate & offered to come down collect her & take her up for an overnighter. In retrospect, that was a very good idea.

I have had a totally selfish day. I curled up & had a snooze for an hour or two after they left. Then I watched the 1st DVD of 3 in The Ice Road Truckers set. Then I had a nap just for a change. There's nothing on TV till 7.00, so here I am on here & listening to the first of 3 discs in the Dylan Bootleg series. Good classic vintage stuff from his early years.

When I was granted 12 respite days a year, I didn't think for one minute that I would need them, but I must admit that a little time out where I'm not straining to understand what Herself is saying, or worrying about her choking is an absolute blessing. I will be very glad when the coming week is over & done with & I can concentrate on caring for her full time. I love her dearly & its very difficult to walk out the door every morning to go to work. She really is finding winter hard, more because of the arthritis than her MND. I have located an acupuncturist in Thames that has been trained in Beijing, so I am hoping that he can offer her some pain relief. Until then, its warm open fires, hot spas with plenty of epsom salts in & an excellent liniment that I found for her at our local health shop. Its that good that poor old Tiggerpuss can't tolerate being under the blankets after I have used it on Herself's back.

Well, thats about it. I will leave you with the lyrics to a Dylan song that I find especially meaningful at the moment. It's called, "Let Me Die in my Footsteps."



I will not go down under the ground
"Cause somebody tells me that death's comin' 'round
An' I will not carry myself down to die
When I go to my grave my head will be high,
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

There's been rumors of war and wars that have been
The meaning of the life has been lost in the wind
And some people thinkin' that the end is close by
"Stead of learnin' to live they are learning to die.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

I don't know if I'm smart but I think I can see
When someone is pullin' the wool over me
And if this war comes and death's all around
Let me die on this land 'fore I die underground.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

There's always been people that have to cause fear
They've been talking of the war now for many long years
I have read all their statements and I've not said a word
But now Lawd God, let my poor voice be heard.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

If I had rubies and riches and crowns
I'd buy the whole world and change things around
I'd throw all the guns and the tanks in the sea
For they are mistakes of a past history.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

Let me drink from the waters where the mountain streams flood
Let me smell of wildflowers flow free through my blood
Let me sleep in your meadows with the green grassy leaves
Let me walk down the highway with my brother in peace.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.

Go out in your country where the land meets the sun
See the craters and the canyons where the waterfalls run
Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho
Let every state in this union seep in your souls.
And you'll die in your footsteps
Before you go down under the ground.