Cousins, Sisters, Friends

Oh well I went to see the specialist today and after lots of nose and throat prodding, some really unusual blood test and a script for nose spray that is so new it has to be ordered, I am now on a waiting game to see what the tests show. But on a happier note I am preparing for my weekend in Tasmania with my cousin Susan. The accommodation - car hire - dinner arrangements and "Quiet Cone" is all booked and just waiting for us to be there. We are both so looking forward to spending a weekend together doing just what we want to do. Being an only child I am really lucky to have grown up so close to Susan, she is the sister I never had. Our Mums - Joan was my Mum and Jean was Susans Mum -are sisters (both have left us now) and they were two of 13 children and extremely close. They were so different but also just like two peas in a pod. From what Mum had told me they shared so much of their lives that they were just intertwined together. I loved Auntie Jean - she was definitely my 2nd Mum.

Emotionally Charged

Yesterday Dad had a fall and at 2 weeks away from 91 a fall is not a good thing to happen. He is fine, just a bit of a sore knee and ankle. His poor old arms have quite a few bruises, but then he does bruise really easy. It really made me more aware of just how old and frail he is. I was home alone with him when it happened and it took me about 15mins to get him into a chair - I just couldn't physically pick him up. Today he is OK but he decided to have the day in bed to rest his old body. Caring for someone who is elderly is quite hard physically and emotionally - although it makes it easier when you love the person. Then to add to my emotionally charged 24 hours I once again woke up this morning with a swollen tongue - right side this time. As soon as I felt it I took the drugs that the hospital had given me. The only problem with that is they knock me out, so I have slept most of today. Thank goodness I am finally getting to see the specialist tomorrow morning - I have only waited 11 months. Hopefully I will get there and he will tell me all the silly stuff that is happening to me is all connected and he can fix it really easy. That is my positive thinking kicking in.

"Just Being Me"

Hello, here I am back in the land of the blogger. I had the best weekend away in Rawson for our scrapbooking weekend. There was lots of scrapbooking - amazingly I did about 10 pages, lots of talking, lots of eating - and I mean lots - and lots of laughing. Isn't it wonderful how laughter can make your insides feel so good. The weather was warm and sunny which is a bonus in Rawson, as it can get very very cold up there. It is so nice to spend time just being yourself - not someones Mum, Daughter, Partner - just being Davine.

"My Cairns Family"

This week I have had the absolute joy of having my son Shane down in Melbourne from Cairns. Then last night his partner Stacey arrived down hear for a couple of days. It is so nice having them in Melbourne and catching up on all the small stuff that happens in our lives. Shane works in the forestry industry, so he will always live in fairly remote areas and not very close to me. One advantage, I get to visit him in the beautiful Australian locations he lives in. His working career started off on Melville Island - off Darwin coast, then it was in Kunnanurra in Western Australia, then Mitchell, Queensland, which is the gateway to Australias outback. Shane, Susan (my cousin) and I did a road trip through all the outback towns up there to visit Shane & Stacey in 2007. It was one of the best trips I have ever been on, we saw so many different characters and beautiful towns. Now Shane and Stacey are based in Cairns although Shane also works in Tully and Cooktown and they have just bought a house up there. Yes, it does have enough room for me to visit. This photo is of Shane, Stacey and their beautiful dog Mitch outside their new house.

"My Mum Joan"

Today I woke feeling pretty down as it is the 2year anniversary of my Mum passing away - actually at 11.11pm tonight. So I took myself of for an early morning walk to clear my head and between Mum & I we worked on my brain. So if you don't mind tonight I am going to indulge myself and talk about my Mum. She was a pretty modern woman for the time she was born and thanks to her I am the strong independent woman I am today. When Mum passed away she was about two months of turning 92. She was really well, and still did all of her household stuff as cooking, cleaning and looking after Dad. Her body basically just gave out from age and after having three nights unconscious in hospital she passed away very peacefully. I had the privilege of being with her and the whole experience has made me very aware of things that I wasn't before and I just now know things that I didn't know before. Not to go into things to much, I know while she was unconscious she could hear me as she grunted when I said things that I knew she had a lot of feelings about. Also when she did pass, all of the wrinkles on her face just vanished right before my eyes. I also felt her hold my body with the most amazing love I have ever felt in my entire life. Being an only child I have not had anyone to share my loss of a parent grief with but my family have been wonderful. I know that Mum is with me a lot and it has been proven to me with a physical weird thing that all of a sudden has started happening to me that used to happen to her. I know some people will think I am a bit weird, or I am imagining things, or believe I feel her with me because I want her to be and that is OK. But as I have said earlier I just now know things that I didn't know before.

"Daily Chores"

I am sort of at a loss to what to write about tonight, probably because I haven't had a very stimulating day. Even though it has been a glorious 28c, I wasn't able to get out and enjoy it as I had a day of have to do's!!!! My day has consisted of vacuuming - cleaning the fish tank (again), which always takes me hours - doing a bit of supermarket shopping, washing, drying and folding sheets - ironing - making up my Dads tablets for the upcoming week - I guess the one highlight was checking out eBay and other websites for some jump rings and beads to replenish my stock.

"Rawson"

This coming weekend I am of to an annual scrapbooking weekend away to "Rawson", which is a tiny town in country Victoria. It is hosted by a few wonderful "Creative Memories" consultants, one being Rebecca who is almost like my niece. We have a great weekend featuring lots of scrapbooking, lots of food, alcohol and huge amounts of talking and laughing. Today I have been trying to get myself organised which meant looking for which photos I wanted to scrap. As usual I got side tracked while looking at my photos, reminiscing of when they were taken. It must be because I am hanging for a break away that the holiday snapshots held my attention today. One that bought back some great memories was when Shane and I took a road trip along the "Great Ocean Road" from "Melbourne" to "Port Fairy". We had such a good time although Shane got really sick in Port Fairy and we had to make a quick dash home. The Great Ocean Road runs along some of the most picturesque and rugged coastline you would see anywhere. The picture I have posted is of the "12 Apostles" although there are now only 8, as over time they tend to fall down. One of the highlights for Shane was to actually see a Koala in the wild. He had only ever seen then in zoos and wildlife parks. So when we came across 2 of them high up in the trees he was very very excited. They were so high I had to use my telephoto lens to get close enough to them. They are beautiful creatures even though they are asleep most of the time - or maybe just stoned from eating the eucalyptus leaves all day long. Actually I must admit I was pretty excited to see them as well. Even though they are a famous Australian native they are still pretty hard to locate in the wild. I do love them but as in a previous post, you may remember that my all time favorite Australian Native is the "Wombat".

"Knitting Needles"

OK, what do you do when you have a bunch of odd plastic knitting needles that you don't use anymore?? Well if you are Davine you obviously make bracelets. It was such good fun heating the needles up in the microwave for about 10 minutes, I was then able to bend then into any shape I wanted. Then me being me I was to impatient to wait for them to cool, of course I put them in the freezer. Then again me being Davine I had to add some jump rings and beads. What a fun way to spend a day, just playing and seeing what you end up with.

Zoe's new Teddy"

Our little Zoe has a new toy and this time she has a Tasmanian Devil. Her last teddy was a Koala and he was loved so

much he no longer had a face and his stuffing was almost non existent. She has never had a litter of pups so every time she gets a new toy it becomes her baby for a couple of weeks. After a few weeks she then just treats it as a toy.

She is such a lovable dog and very intelligent. Her downfall is that she barks at anything and I mean anything.

"Watching the World Go By"

With the comments from yesterdays post in mind, I am thinking there are lots of us out there that have a bit of a door thing happening in our lives. I guess we would all be people watchers as well. Isn't it great just sitting and watching the world go by. I remember when Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006, I was working in the city, so I was right in the thick of all the excitement all day long. Rather than watch that excitement pass our office window I decided to spend one night after work experiencing as much as I could. Part of my indulgence was to sit on a seat on the banks of the Yarra River and watch the world, people, animals and life pass me by for a couple of hours. What country were people from, what events did they see, are they happy, are they sad?? It was one of the best nights I have ever spent doing nothing really.

"Doors"

I have always had a fascination with doors. I love looking at them, photographing them, wondering about all the characters that have passed thru them and what goes on behind them. Last week I came across Luize's blog and she had some great shots of some doors and so I thought I might share some of mine. These shots were taken in the tiny historic town of Chiltern. I was on my way back to Melbourne from Albury and decided to stop of to get some breakfast. It was really early in the morning and the only shops open were the bakery and the newsagency, so I decided to wander the towns historic main street and get some door photos.

The photo of the "Little Red Door" is actually a tiny door on the main street post box. If you look closely the handle is a hand holding the rail. Is was so cute - imagine all the mail that has passed this little hand.

The "Blue Door" was the entrance to the local "Pub". Now if this door could talk imagine the stories it would tell. I bet there were a lot of people who remembered walking in but don't remember walking out or maybe even getting thrown out.

Next time you are standing in front of a door, imagine all of the exciting stuff that door could tell you.

"Weird Tongue"

I have certainly had a unexpected Sunday today. My plans were to attend a "Mother Earth Dreaming" workshop with "Angel Michelle" and also take along my jewellery to sell. BUT as we know sometimes plans don't work. I woke up at 5.00am and one side of my tongue was swollen to over double its normal size. Not only did I look a bit weird but I talked even weirder - actually I couldn't really speak at all. I was going to take a photo of it but I was a bit preoccupied that it may block my breathing. We phoned the Drs. (Shane did all the talking ) and he advised me to go to emergency at the "Austin Hospital" because even though my breathing was OK at the moment, we didn't know if it would change. Thank goodness my daughter Rachel lives close by, cause I needed her to come get breakfast and keep an eye on my Dad (who I care for). To cut a long story short after hours at the hospital, a few drugs, and 5 hours sleep my tongue is now almost back to normal. Now the question is WHY did my tongue swell. I am not allergic to anything so did I develop an allergy all of a sudden or did something bite me?? So my plan is for a while I will write down everything I eat and check if it happens again - keeping the box of drugs close by at all times.

"Craft Expo"

There's nothing better to beat the blues than with kind words from friends - thank you all - and indulging in something that gives you joy and inspiration. Today I went to "CraftExpo" at the "Royal Exhibition Buildings" in Carlton. I spent way to much money on things I love and I am totally happy about that. I also sat in on a couple of classes and soaked up everything I could. It is amazing how anything creative gets my senses and mood into a very high vibration level. The Royal Exhibition Buildings are such an amazing place to visit. The buildings were built in 1880 and then on 9 May 1901, the Royal Exhibition Building hosted the opening of the first Australian Federal Parliament. The decorative painting and artwork on the walls and ceiling of the main hall are absolutely amazing.

"More Seniors"

Yesterday I had a great day in Traralgon at another "Seniors Week" event. This one was organised by my Best Friend & Cousin - Susan. I had two hats on, one being for "Groups Tasmania" and the other being for "DavineRaeDesign" my new jewellery venture. Both hats turned out to have quite a successful day. It was also nice to spend time with my extended family up there. Being an only child they are all a very important part of my life. I am having an early to bed night tonight - don't feel to good with a very sore throat and feeling a bit down. Not sure why I have been feeling down the past week, maybe I am getting a cold or maybe it is because it is coming up to the 2nd anniversary of my Mum passing away. Oh well I am sure I will survive and this time next month I will have my happy aura back again. OK on that note I will say goodnight to all my blog friends out there. I'd love it if you could all leave me a comment with a happy thought or funny comment - or just to say hi.

"Green Thumbs!!"

Today was a lovely spring day so I decided to do a LITTLE bit of gardening. Neither of my thumbs are very green at all, so I mainly concentrate on pulling out weeds. But today I have ventured out of my comfort zone and planted some beetroot and some coriander. I gave them some food and surrounded them with snail bait so they at least last until tomorrow. Isn't it amazing how quickly those pesky little snails can devour the little baby plants we lovingly plant. Mmmmm will they grow. Hopefully they do cause I really like to eat both of them.

"Tassie Pressos"

Hi all, yes I am back. I cannot believe I haven't looked at my emails, blog etc. since Wednesday. I thought I would have withdrawals, but I coped just fine. I am very pleased to say that both of my sailings on the ship were very smooth and enjoyable. The weather was pretty good, but it could have also had something to do with the lovely little pills I got from the chemist. On my sailing from Devonport back to Melbourne I was lucky enough to get a cabin upgrade to a Deluxe cabin. So I went from the cheapest cabin to the best!!. It was situated right at the front of the ship and as we sailed into Port Melbourne at 5.30am this morning the view was amazing. Only problem was, I had left my camera in the car and had to make do with my phone camera. Over the two days we gave presentations to almost 200 "Seniors". The majority were really really nice people, but why do some people just have to be pains. I would hate to live my life where I enjoyed looking for faults or anything to complain about. Hang on I am now do exactly that - look what they have done to me. OK, I take that back - I will just say it takes all kinds to make our world turn. I so enjoy getting down to Tasmania, it is such a beautiful state. For such a small place it is jammed pack with fabulous scenery, wonderful food such as Tasmanian Oysters, Dark Chocolate covered Raspberries - Yummo - Pepper Berry Cheese -all of which I ate way way to much. I am really honoured that I am a descendant of Tasmanians, I am proud to say I am a Victorian born Tasmanian.