It's been a while

Nearly a month since my last post.  Christmas has come and gone.  I haven't been home much but am about to enjoy a quiet day at home on my own. 

Unfortunately that jolly (very polite word) vertigo hasn't gone anywhere just yet.  Surely it will soon.  I had to miss a few of the pills (that I now know have been very effective) because of a mix up at the pharmacy, so I've been a bit wonky for the past day or so.   Despite that I had a lovely Christmas with most of my family.  All except my son, his partner and little girl who were due to arrive in time for the festivities but will now be here on 01 January due to a visa problem.  The New Year festivities will be a lot more special when they are here.

We had a big storm on Boxing Day.  We hadn't long finished our lunch, most of us were relaxing outside trying not to complain about the heat which was quite oppressive, terribly humid.  There was one flash of lightning, followed almost immediately but a huge rumble of thunder and within seconds the skies opened.  It reminded me of the tropics, rather dramatic for here.  The air cooled immediately and it was a lot more pleasant for us to gather inside.  And we can now vouch that my son's new home, which has been converted from an old cow shed (dairy), does not leak.

We had managed to get our family photo taken before the rain.  I'd hate to be the photographer who tries to take a formal photo of my crew.  With my family a camera set on a timer is always an invitation for silliness.

 

The kitchen in the new shed/house is spacious, there was no shortage of room for us all.

This is my favourite shot of the day.  My son and my grandson (daughter's son) having a heart to heart in the kitchen.

As I was drawing the curtains at home that evening, just on dark, I noticed what looked like storm clouds gathering.

I sat on the deck and waited.  As darkness drew in the clouds moved off to the west.

Another came in from the east and hung over my garage.

I love a good storm and was sure I was in for a beauty but the clouds blew away.  I'm sure someone not too far away received a good downpour before too long.

The journal

Last Christmas my 11 year old grandson gave me a journal in which I was asked to answer many questions about my life.  There's a question to be answered on every page.

 

It hasn't been easy, especially the writing part, you would never know from my handwriting now that I excelled at that when at school.  Maybe not, but the nuns approved.  I had worked hard at light upstrokes and heavier downstrokes, keeping the angle just so.  For years I always used a fountain pen to write letters, eschewing that modern evil, the ballpoint pen, known as the Biro (which the nuns said were common). I really bought into all that propaganda taught to us by the nuns.  

Now I can't even find my fountain pen, haven't been able to for a number of years although I still have the ink.  After all, it might turn up again.

I have to give myself a good kick every now and then and hit myself with the hard truth.  It's not the biros fault that my handwriting is crap, it's lack of care.  

So I've been taking care because I know my old-fashioned handwriting is hard for a modern child to read.  Here the young ones don't seem to do cursive writing anymore.  And I find I have to fight the tendency to miss out letters, my hand can't keep up with my thoughts.

And then there's the challenge of what to write that a child might find interesting. An example - the question "How did you feel when you were told you were going to be a grandparent?"  And there's a blank page sitting in front of me. Immediately I think of the first time that happened but the child doesn't really want to know about the announcement about a much older cousin.  And it should be the truth.  Right?  Not, "Thank the Lord, none of us could have put up with all that for much longer."  IVF treatments had not been easy for that hopeful mother-to-be.  

I think I'll have to write a poem, once upon a time that was something I did a lot, rarely do I feel moved to do so these days.

I still have a number of blank pages to complete before Christmas when I hope to return the book to Aiden.  

I've looked closely at the binding wondering if I ripped a couple of pages out would he notice.  I mean, does he really need to know about or be the slightest interested in the "most difficult" times of my life.

I think I will be honest to that one and write, "Right now."

Brave little cosmos

For days I've been watching a brave little cosmos battle with the elements in the garden.  It's my first flower of the season and I wasn't expecting to see any of its kind come into bloom for a few more weeks.  It's not fully grown, probably not even half grown but it's decided to do its own thing regardless.

Today it was once again being beaten badly by the wind and I just had to rescue it and bring it inside.  I think the Cabin Fever is getting at me, I've been talking to it every time I go to the kitchen and see it on the window sill.  You will have to take my word for it that it is smiling and telling me to be brave, I will be better soon. 

I read somewhere that about 40% of the population experience vertigo at some point in their lifetime so I can't pretend I'm Robinson Crusoe.  But it's a first for me and an experience I'm not enjoying.  I'm a bit of a homebody most of the time but now that I can't drive I think of lots of things I'd like to be doing that require a car trip, places I'd like to visit. 

On the bright side I've been overcome with kindness from strangers, I must get a "help me" look on my face when my world goes for a spin.  And I'm grateful that my family are so caring and helpful.  

And I'm lucky I have a brave little cosmos to inspire me.

On another topic, Blogger doesn't like me at the moment.  It's being choosy about on which blogs it will allow me to leave comments.  And sometimes it will let me comment but refuse to acknowledge who I am, insisting that I am Anonymous.