Hello Again Wise Women,
What a busy, busy lives we women seem to be living these days. It's funny, the older you get, the busier you seem to become. We pack so much into our lives plus trying to keep healthy and fit; this of course is the the key to relishing it all.
It's Springtime in Australia
I hope you are run off your feet too.....well, it means you are embracing life, so get on and do it with passion and excitement.
I know I have been short on time lately, and in my unorganised blithering way (well, it's not that good to admit that, is it), I seem to get through everything.
AN OLDER BRAIN IS NOT NECESSARILY A DISEASED BRAIN
I work part time for the Australian Association of Gerontology NSW. We put on a seminar recently and had a brilliant speaker. Dr Creasey is an 'expert' on older brains and her presentation was about how we have been scared into overdrive about the prospect of getting Alzheimer's or dementia.
You see, masses of money is poured into this field of diseased older brains in the hope of providing 'pills' to cure us of this terrible thing!
Dr Creasey
Dr Creasey's research and talk was about the fact that the ageing brain can be simply an ageing brain - not a diseased one.
She showed a photo of the fabulous late artist Margaret Olley living and painting in her house filled to the top with a mess of stuff. No-one complained about her inability to cope, tried to tidy her up or insist she maintain her living conditions or else be shuffled off to a hostel. She was praised for being a famous and brilliant artist and revered by one and all for living in a fascinating house. As far as I know, no-one said she was demented.
So maybe it is an matter of attitude, our attitude. We, the onlookers, should be mindful of how far we go with our relatives by not smothering with 'perfectionist' care. No older person can ever maintain that. If they seem to cope mentally and want to, who are we to say they have no ability.
Of course Alzheimer's in young people is a totally different kettle of fish and money should be spent in this area...but for the rest of us, keep yourself fit, eat well, keep blood pressure down and keep your brain active and you should have a well functioning brain - but a bit slower and more forgetful. Just let your relatives know how independent you wish to be before you get there.
Dr Creasey says something like: older people have a lessor capacity for brain function but it is because they have so many memories and information in there that they have to sift through it to find the answers. Young people are 'empty headed' so their brains work much faster! Hurray for that!
This seminar was available for anyone who wanted to go along, so sorry you missed it. Keep your eyes peeled for things that are on that might be interesting and stimulating to attend.
PLASTIC SURGERY
Miss C - perfect in every way
Now, I know you want to know what I had done!!! You have all been waiting for the big reveal!!!! And if you thought - plastic surgery to my face - well - thanks a million!!! Do I look like I need it!!! Ha! Maybe I do but sorry to disappoint!!!
This surgery was on a hidden part of my body and was done to eliminate something that shouldn't have been there. You probably don't have the problem yourself (lucky lucky you) but if you do you will be really interested in my story!!! Maybe you will be interested anyway!
I sailed through the whole thing but I am still swollen and the three inch wounds are still very visible so I cannot show you the desired outcome just yet. However, I have cringingly bared all so tell you a story and I can only say I have more bravery that I knew I had.
Click here to read about my plastic surgery journey!!!!
A VERY SAD AUSTRALIAN TALE: Daniel Morcombe
If you live oversees you may never have heard of this13 year old boy. But here in Australia his story has been covered in the media for about 8 years.
An abridged version is: It was just before Christmas and he had earned some money to buy his family presents. He was on the main road waiting for the bus. Unfortunately the bus driver was running late and did not stop to pick him up, as there was another 10 minutes behind. In that 10 minutes this young boy vanished. In the past week, his shoes and three of his bones have been recovered from the bush. His suspected murderer - a known paedophile is under arrest.
You feel extraordinary pain for the parents, his twin and his older brother. For years they did not let up in their search for him. As they have said - they held the smallest hope that maybe, just maybe, he was alive.
Imagine that, years of desperate hope whirring in your brain, in your heart - wishing for reunion at the end of the tale. But alas no, his death has just been confirmed. At least they know. And now, do they really want to find out what really happened to him!!! You just couldn't bear to hear it, could you.
The Morecombe's have spent the last years visiting schools regarding stranger danger and keeping the case open. And with their effort, the case has now been solved thankfully.
But his mum looks so sad and the harm it has done to her is irreparable. How do you climb from a body locked in hope, and fearing your worst nightmare. I really, really hope now she can find some peace in her head. That she can now look forward and enjoy life now with her husband and two boys who have lived with this hanging over their heads their whole lives.
I hope she can live in this world again, with joy in her heart knowing she will meet her boy in the next world some day.
Prayers to all of the Morcombe's......
39 YEARS AND NOT OUT!
My man and me
Mr G and I have just had our 39 wedding anniversary and 'ha' we look so darn good because we married so darn young. But most of us married young in 'the good old days'. You got educated, learned to drive a car, got married, had kids, got stuck into your career and then enjoyed your overseas adventures and the grandkids.
Not theses days though. It's get educated, go overseas for a years sabbatical or more, get stuck into a career, learn to drive a car, have kids and then get married!!! Grandkids - well GenY will be lucky to even meet their grandchildren!
OK, OK, I jest, but the hard part of our journey was done and dusted by 25. Yea for that. For GenY - these things will be chugging on well into their sixties.
I must say I am glad I have done things my way round. In the early days of marriage when you are struggling with relationships issues, you are so busy dealing with kids. You don't have the energy to even notice that your marriage has problems. Plain survival is the key....Then your kids all grow up and leave home at the same time, and you are still young enough to enjoy being married. Then you can travel.....
The chef tardies up our dessert with Happy Anniversary - a nice touch!
I digress: getting back to the Anniversary, we decided on a night out and chose Bistro Ortolan a 2 hat restaurant in Leichhardt. Wow what a feast. Silver service, superb extras, stunning desserts. I would thoroughly recommend it.
Stunning Art Deco Chelsea Park B/B
Then not to sssssssSTOP enjoying ourselves, we treated ourselves to a weekend away and booked into the fabulous Art Deco bed and breakfast 'Chelsea Park' in Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands.
We arrived about 9pm on the Friday night and were welcomed by Div who gave us pasta and hot bread super before we retired to our glorious bedroom.
Now breakfast was a feast that had me chocker block all day.
Ummmmmm - the breakfast to beat all breakfasts
A wonderful spread and to be eaten in the charming conservatory.
Arhhhhh - sweet dreams in the breakfast room
Weatherwise the weekend was magical and we set off to Berrima visiting wineries along the way. Naturally bought some bottles (well, thankfully my full stomach did allow me to sip wines!!)
We came across the Ancient Arts Fellowship practising their jousting in the park.
Is this Robin Hood!
These people really take this hobby/sport seriously as they don their ancient clothing and brandish their swords and shields.
'On guard' or is it 'ready for attack!!!
It was quite fascinating - but what I found more interesting was observing the sorts of people who actually do this!!!!
Mr G was ready for coffee but I gave that a pass and headed for the Alpaca Shop.
Lovely soft toys for the kiddies!!!
Whilst the products were heavenly, the cost prevented me from buying the divine black cape coat with the fur collar. Oh how I loved that thing but alas, a $1000+ coat was beyond my means. We said hello to the real live alpacas in a little corral outside the shop.
We wandered around the township and decided to take a tour of the Courthouse:
'Designed by Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis and constructed between 1835 and 1838. Quarter sessions were held from 1838 and in 1841, the first Supreme Court Assizes. Berrima Court House played a significant role in Australia’s judicial history, the very first trial by jury in the colony was held here in April 1841. The fine interior joinery is especially noteworthy, with curved cedar hewn by hand with an adze, basically a curved axe.'
How they carved these amazing doors with that implement defies belief!
There is a show in the courtroom. A screen is positioned where the magistrate would have sat. On that screen, a very stern looking magistrate peers out. The jury and the juridical members are mannequins dressed in period costume and their voices belt out over the sound system.
The old courthouse 'stuffed dummy' show
The trial is almost over: a man has been murdered - his wife and her lover are in the dock.
The magistrate's booming voice decrees that the murderers are dripping in satan's blood, should be hanged and buried upright so they would never be at rest, and their heads severed and sent to Research. By that stage I was hysterical laughter (and so was Mr G who happens to be a lawyer).
Wow, have this magistrate presiding over the court case these days and your clients would be doomed - even after they were dead, the dooming went on and on!!! We left the room laughing and the woman at the desk was amazed. Well, she said most people come out of there horrified because of the harshness - ooooophs maybe we know too much about the legal system!!!
We visited the Harpers Mansion, a pretty two storey house surrounded by beautiful gardens.
A glimpse yesteryear's grand living
This fine Georgian House was built in 1834 by James Harper, first licensee of the Surveyor General. One of the ladies selling the tickets told us a sad tale though. Apparently a young baby was placed in front of the fireplace to keep warm, caught alight and died. Imagine the horror of that!!! Out in the garden there is a terrific maze and whilst you could easily get lost, Mr G and I thankfully made it out of there without a search party being required!!!!
The gorgeous gardens of Centennial winery
More winery tasting ensued and then back to the B/B to decide where to go for dinner. It's always a problem when your in some place new, isn't it! We chose a Thai Restaurant and it took ages to be taken to our table. Then nobody served us for 30 minutes and Mr G summoned a waitress and said we would leave if they didn't get someone to take our order in 5 minutes. It was then a chap came over with a survey. The huge Restaurant had only opened the day before and they were monitoring how it was going so we would get 10% off the meal!!! We finally got our dinner which happened to be really delicious but they got a bad report on timing.
Breakfast next morning was three cheese egg soufflé and bacon rolls. Stuffed like a pigs again, we said a fond farewell to our hosts and made for garden shops.
A colour filled holiday
This time of the year is so lovely, daffodils, camellias, azaleas, blossom trees, magnolia, tulips - everywhere you looked in town, the country side and the garden shops, were a blaze with colour.
I felt like the whole weekend was a beautiful immersion in a visual wonderland. I loved every minute.
A host of golden daffodils
The southern Highlands is a great spot to visit - a little bit of England - and there is so much to do. Only an hour or two from Sydney it makes a perfect weekend getaway.
Try it for yourself!!! and I couldn't recommend Chelsea Park more highly.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY
To all the dad's out there, I hope you enjoyed a very Happy Father's Day. This was my first Father's Day without my dad so it was very sweet of Mr G to distract me by taking me on gorgeous weekend away.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - THE POT
Little Pot enjoying his dad's birthday!
Special 'happy birthday's' go to my second child who has just turned 34. Beautiful turned on a fabulous lunch for the family - exceptional food, brilliant company and lots of laughs with sing-star. Boy we love our singalongs and family get togethers!!!!!
ABFAB - looking absolutely fabulous
It's all about colour and a whole lot more...
Well, if you have been reading our blogs for a long, long time you will have heard all about the AbFab Girls - Sharron-Del and Michelle - the terrific stylist team that can sort your wardrobe.
They are putting on shows around town at the moment and I caught up with the Team and Lana last week. I had managed to co hearse a couple of Nurses I know to be the guinea pigs for the styling and I think they were pretty pleased at the outcome. In fact, they looked 'hot'!
But it was the first time I had seen the show and I personally learnt a lot that night. I worked out what colours suit me and that my clothing style is romantic - 'ain't that nice'.
Knowing that has made me realise WHY I don't like wearing some of the reasonably nice classical bits I have. You see, I think I should have classical clothing because I love it on other women, so I buy bits and pieces. I put them on and just don't feel right. So now I know 'just don't go there'. Learning about the other styles and knowing my own - I can now shop with a sense of purpose for my own look.
If you live in Sydney, you might be able to catch up with the AbFab team and learn some value dressing information.
We interviewed Sharron-Del and Michelle a few years ago
LET'S GET FIT
Hey, it's me on the Let's Get Fit campaign again. It has been difficult for me to do anything the past few weeks with the operation and all, but I made a commitment that after our weekend away I would pull out all stops to try and lose some weight. So back at the gym and eating well and already I have lost 2 pounds. Mr G has not been that pleased with his endless piles of cous cous and rice pilaffs but I am making a diligent effort in the food area. Of course the weekends I intend to break out, but if the week is held in holding pattern then the rewards will be there.
And I dragged Mr G to Zumba on Sunday morning and being the only male in the class he was feeling pretty sheepish when he realised. But he was fantastic - I am sure all the 'older' women were pretty impressed with his slick moves!!!!
So join me on the 'lose a few kilos' plan. Next time I write I will tell you how much I have lost and let's see if you are performing better than me.
The race is on girls....who will lose the most!!!
SEPTEMBER 11
Prayers to the whole world that terrorism is a thing of the past....
LANA'S WISEWEEK
I finally caught up with Lana girls, and she is busy helping the Abfab girls put on their shows at the moment. She has simply fantastic trip coming up and so hopefully you will hear from her then. She looks great, and is keeping busy.
QUOTATION OF THE WEEK
And a lovely quote for you all by M Proust:
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Get thee a gaggle of gardeners.....
Have a wonderful few weeks until we meet again.
Love
