goodbye vietnam

We are not going to Vietnam now. Our friend was organising the trip said people who said they are coming have pulled out so it would cost a lot more. We are pleased really because our daughter has bought a house!! and we loaned her some money to get them over the line with the deposit and they will be moving in after Easter so we want to be there to help. It is really strange when your children do such grown up things. We will just do little local trips which is nice also other daughter having a little operation so we are glad to be home to look after her. I would rather help them than travel.
I want to go to the Royal Easter show and see the crafts and animals and cakes. If we go before school breaks up we will miss the crowds. I love the chooks and the pigs. I would really like a little farm. Today we used the high pressure water cleaner we bought it was so much fun we will be cleaning everything in the holidays. The paths which all looked black now look like newish cement.
Better go shower we are going out to dinner for my birthday.

culture culture on the 20th century

We have seen the Picasso exhibition in Sydney, the Renaissance exhibition, the nurses at war exhibition, children in orphanages, and an exhibition at the national library of letters by lots of high achievers Darwin, James Cook Mozart  and lots of others. Yesterday we went to see a musical in Sydney by a little theatre which is doing musicals rarely seen or never seen in Aus. It was amazing they had one rehearsal and had notebooks of the words which they read and sung but it was great. It was called "On the 20th Century" because the action takes place on a train called the 20th century. A guy called John Dierich I kept thinking I knew him and I did I remember him in a TV show when he was in his 20's. He won a Bafta so he and the rest of the cast were really good. Apart from watching it I kept wishing I could be a theatre angel and film them all they were so good. I'm sure it would be a big hit!
We stayed at our daughters and then did a foodie and nursery tour home. We went to a German butcher and a really nice cafe and a nursery.
Well guess what after a day of no rain it is back again, there are floods all over the state. There were waterfalls on the highway. Of course they have built a desalination plant to supply more water because we had the long drought now the dams are so full they are spilling over. Extremes. Gardens full of drought resistant plants are rotting, water tanks are over flowing and signs saying garden watered by tank look silly, big campaigns run to make people "water wise"look like a joke, somehow the driest continent on earth feels like the soggiest. must go to bed aquarobics in the morning and no golf again this week probably as it is supposed to rain everyday in March.

Wet wet wet

It is supposed to rain x21/29 days this month and it's well on the way to it. We seem to have a tropical climate, a sunny morning followed by thunder storms in the afternoon, but I'm grateful even for a mornings sunshine because sometimes it hasn't stopped all day. Last week I had to go get husband and daughter in the middle of flash flooding, very scarey.
It's a scarey Australian story about people camping in a dry riverbed In fine weather being washed away and drowned because of rain upstream. At least we were in a car through we kept hitting sheets of water on the road. Oh here it starts again thunder.
We were going shopping for luggage because we are going to Vietnam but then we thought we might research it a bit so we will just go have fish and chips for dinner and then watch the champions league show and our videos on paintings called "The Life of a masterpiece". I missed tennis today which I feel bad about but I slept in. I did night duty on the weekend. I hate nights now they make me feel really crummy and I was cranky because of the way they distributed the patient load I had 2 of the five new caesars the longest walk down the ward and 6 patients. One of the others had 3 patients one new Caesar and the shortest walk. Then I protested so they make you feel bad. These are my "friends" so much for nursing friends. But that's how it goes we all tired and old all trying to preserve ourselves by burning others.

Australia day

I don't know what I've done to the writing in this oh tech probs again it looks like weird old and tiny computer text oh we'll will see how it posts, if I can read it. I am lazing around in bed playing with the ipad, it's Australia day there are lots of events planned and fireworks but we will just stay home and one of us is going back to work after holidays, not me so someone will be a bit miserable today. I have been looking at a new app I done loaded called houzz it is really good if you are interested in interior design, who isn't. Well quite a few people really. I said to one of the golf lady's we were reno- ing a bit, she said we don't change anything and I thought that would be a relief but we do have to do the downstairs bathroom it is like a 70s pod bath but there are stress marks in the plastic I'm afraid we'll be sitting in the foundations. We went to ikea again and the Picasso exhibition. I don't know what I feel about Picasso you can feel the greatness and the inspiration the playfulness the great technique but to me he is a mystery of a man a kind of minatour in a laberynth. A bit frightening and dangerous that pulling apart of women's faces is really threatening. I had a dream that I was being chased by my killer and I was running away then I found a studio and shelter there someone said art is your answer you have always been an artist. Well I don't paint or do art really but I have always loved being in studios and around art. We are watching a collection of videos I bought called the life of a painting, they look at a painting such as the Primavera and the Nightwatch and tell you it's history. Ikea's was good again but we have to learn to pace ourselves we carried too much around and we got too fuddled and tired. We bought some lovely sheets and towels and more of their nice candles and had a good look at their bathrooms. Will have to measure up and pick the things. Gotta get up, hungry.

There is a crack in everything

thats how the light gets in, thank you Leonard (Cohen), it is playing while we are taking down the Christmas tree and I want to cry, my mothers decorations my sister's ones she gave us, the childrens ones made at school. Way too many. You cant live in memories and it all goes so fast. My favourite one is a santa ball made of beads because I bought it at the church shop and it would have taken so much work to do and was made by an person I dont know. I'm not religious but who in our age doesnt owe a debt to Jesus and his way of kindness and enlightenment.

Night Duty

I worked last night and then tonight, 10 hour nights are too long for me. One of the girls went home sick she looked terrible, problems with drink we think but no one really mentions it. Thats Australia no one does interventions. One of the other girls (well girls all over 50) says we have to nurse her along, get her son grown and educated. I think it goes in binges with her, good for a while then not. Drinking is seriously scarey in this country people call me a "light weight" because I cant drink much and I think thank goodness. Lucky have passed the trait on to my daughters they are not good at drinking big amounts and I'm glad.
I call this time of year the drinking season, it goes from school break up till Australia day on the 26th, but then its any excuse for lots of people, playing sport, watching sport, having a baby, getting married funerals etc. We went to my friends fathers funeral and every photo of him he had a drink in hand. If you say anything about drinking you are a wowser and you get called names. Its such a worry with your children. I have a good friend who gets so nasty when she is drinking, or when she is waiting to start I dont see her so much any more. I mean we do like having a glass or two of red and enjoy having beers of the world at Christmas. I guess in health jobs we are aware of the other side of the fun.
Anyway got to go to bed

ipad

The darling girls gave us an ipad each for christmas, motherhood pays off at last, I got a white one and he got the black one, well black bezel and silver back. It is completely obsessive and I should figure out how to write this blog on it but I like my computer too so I'll do that later, I've been downloading lots of stuff but its very slow at downloading movies so I'll have to do that on the computer. I had to upgrade this computer as it didn't know what an ipad was when we connected them up, funny.
I've miserable a lot as usual all kinds of bad thoughts. Like Buffy back from the dead and not entirely happy about it. Difficult to explain to anyone especially as no visible signs people still asking about it and me still saying I dont talk about it. 2 horrible years in February I think I shouldn't be here you wonder if you should be alive, like a butterfly beating its wings in the amazon causing a hurricane. The things you do and effect. Then you read people deciding they will do great charity stuff but I'm kind of Christopher Hitchens about the mother Teresas of the world. Everyone seems on to that stuff, charities spring up like weeds. For sure some are of good intent but a lot of founders seem to driving the charity cars and going on the charity flights. Not my thing in nursing you see the results of care can  be mixed.

I am reading a book about mind body healing that is a bit helpful, relaxation techniques like deep breathing, funny how you have to learn the same stuff over and over again. This is our tree it is a lovely shape, we have to take it down soon but I miss it.