Is everyone looking down the barrel of a whole new year and
wondering how to make the most of it.
Terrific isn’t it?
3oo or so days to go and think of the things that could be packed in.
Here I am At Centennial Park
Big kisses and hugs to Lana as she gets through the recovery
of her operation. She is very brave and
bouncing back very well.
ROSLYN MOTTER
Already I have had a few emails from Roslyn, our resident in
situs, who is enjoying the magical qualities of the Ayurvedric clinic in India.
She told me she has to have a 2 hours massage every
day. I feel like booking immediately
don’t you!!!! If you paid for a two hour
massage every day for two weeks in Australia you could have probably
funded the whole holiday!
Click here for the latest contact from Roslyn .
When you get to the Blog, if you look at the right hand side of the blog page find the list of the blogs that have so far been published. Click on them if you have missed any updates.
HOUSE RENOVATIONS
Well, we are having a mini renovation at the moment as at
this very moment the electrian is carving holes in my walls. Arhhhh the sounds are coming straight from hell.
My house is odd! I would have to say that. In fact anyone would have to say that! It sits in a divine street in a fantastic
inner city suburb so that its drawcard.
It looks so awful though it was enough to nearly make me hold back on the
purchase. Due to my long groans about
its ‘face’ over the last 10 years, Mr G said it is time to make a change.It’s time for ‘a house makeover’.
It is a Mansard and I am almost ashamed to spit out the
words. I have always hated the hardy
plank top floor and the faux brick front of the lower half. The carport was something so awful that I
would close my eyes when I passed by.
Once you got passed the front door it is a comfy old
home. We have put in a new kitchen and
bathroom and laundry, polished the floor boards, painted etc but the front has
had to wait.
The top level had a huge balcony and that has been reduced to
a window box size and a new window installed.
Already it is looking great. Mr
G, known for his reasonable building skills, dismantled the carport and built a
new timber one.
The carport man (akka Mr G) and I had long heated arguments
about how it should be constructed. Mr G
has a short ‘nagging’ tolerance level and was annoyed at my seemingly brilliant
suggestions!!! The carport was erected
with numerous defects, but I am not complaining.
The old one is gone and I love the new one even though it did dint my
marriage for a week or two.
The next step is rendering the front of the house. The previous tenants were home electricians I
think. Their main objective was to get power
from the electricity box that sits on our front wall to it’s
destination in the easiest way. The great spaghetti of
wires and tubes had to be eventually dealt with. Hence the electrician. He is caving great cavities across the brick face
in order have them invisibly incased under the render.
Now we await the render man……what fun that is bound to be!!!
Not!
Write in and tell us about your renovation. We know that they can cause a shocker of a
time.
My Contact : gigi@wisewomensworld.com
MARRIAGE
My gorgeous daughter has announced her impending marriage to
Daniel and the ceremony is to be at AirlieBeach (North QLD)
in April, so we are compelled to have an unscheduled holiday…yippee.
It is one of these day wedding dos though where it is all
done by telephone with the least amount of pomp and ceremony.
I shall miss the wedding fun and preparation, the
searching for churches or venues, choosing flowers, hours spent pouring through
wedding magazines for ideas on wedding cakes and music, hours of delight
shopping for bridesmaids and weddings dresses.
But most of all, I will miss the intimacy shared with my daughter experiencing
the thrills and fun of the phone calls, the shopping and excitement of creating
a dream wedding day.
Mr G and I have booked a delightful three bedroom penthouse
that will house my sons, daughters-in-law and Miss C. We are staying for five days to enjoy this fabulous
part of the Queensland
coast, the marriage ceremony being the highlight of our holiday!
ALSO I have a dear young friend who is marrying in March and I
have been asked to participate in some of the proceedings which is very much an
honour.
This strikingly beautiful Doctor Taylor is marrying Anthony at St Paul’s Cathedral smack in the middle of Sydney, thankfully a
little easier to get to!
AUSTRALIA
DAY HEART ATTACK!
How do you know if you are having a heart attack?
Well, folks, I spent Australia Day in ConcordEmergencyHospital and I lived to
tell the story……
It all started back a week or so ago when I changed my blood
pressure pills from one to another as a trial.
I was feeling pretty awful during the week. Then I thought I strained my arm and neck at
gym. I had pain in the top of my chest and
a hot poker pain in my left shoulder blade that would not go away.
I decided to change my blood pressure pill back to the
original one on the Sunday morning. I
had pins and needles in my arm but I was not worried still thinking
strain.
I had had lots of stresses during the week and the new BP
tablet didn’t look like it had a coating on it so I thought maybe this back
pain was an ulcer (well you know what it is like, you think of everything) and
I stopped taking painkillers in case it bothered it.
The pain got worse and I slept with my arm over the top of a
pillow. Then I got shocking indigestion. Then on Aust Day, I felt shockingly nauseous
to top it off.
So I had pins and needles in my arm, chest pain at the top
left side of my chest, the hot poker in the left bade of my shoulder blade,
awful indigestion and hideous nausea and I knew I had played around with my BP
Pills which have quite a lot to do with your heart!!!!
So I went to the medical centre and explained my story. I said 'I just really want to know when you
actually make the decision to go the Hospital thinking you have aheart attack’,
and the Doctor said, “Well, the time is right about now. Here’s a letter so get you husband to take
you there without delay’.
I arrived at the Hospital with BP of 169/84. My logical brain said it couldn’t be a heart
attack, but the symptoms were tallying up, so what do you, ignore them!!!
Once I had handed the doctor’s letter to the Reception I was
raced through the doors and into emergency before you could blink.
Into the bed, the nurses asking me questions,
and ECG machine was being stuck to my chest at breakneck speed. Without saying anything about the ECG, staff
suddenly came from all directions and I thought, ‘Holy cow, there must be
something wrong’. I have blood being
taken on one side and blood pressure taken on the other and then they disappeared. Mr G and I just looked at each other stunned. Boy this was not a great predicament to be
in.
The nurses came and checked the ECG and blood pressure and I
was afraid to ask if it was OK. “You are
off to have a chest x-ray now’ and I was wheeled down corridors to have it
done.
Back in the emergency the Registrar came with all the
results. “The bloods and heart x-ray are
pristine and your ECG is fine’ he said.
I am sure my BP went down a thousand fold hearing that. ‘You are not experiencing a life threatening
situation so you may go home”. Twenty-five
years drained from my face.
We stopped to have a milkshake. Mr G said “Do you think you
have the strength to go in and see Gavin Lockley in concert in the Domain tonight.”
Remember it is Australia Day, a day for fun for all
Australians, and our good friend Gavin was performing in his concert in the central
Sydney park at
5.30pm and we promised we would go.
“I’ll give it a go” I said.
AUSTRALIA
DAY
We Aussies love our Australia Day. With lots of good luck it is sunny and hot
and we can make the most of our day off to celebrate the fact we live in a
pretty good place.The city is throbbing
with people as they make their way into the events that are on. There are shows, games, displays, tastings,
and so much more. The night finishes off
with a bang with a display of fantastic fireworks.
Happy Australia everyone…”and what a better way to celebrate
what it means to be Australian on Australia Day than with entertaining family
concert of Australian music and song?’"
Or maybe the beach
Mr G and I had to absolutely go to the concert, me still
wearing the clothes I had worn all day in the hospital bed and makeup
practically non existent (not a good look). We found a spot at the side close to the front
and put down our blanket and spent the next two hours is awe listening to this
young man’s work.
The concert was hosted by William McInnes a well regarded
actor. Yvonne Kenney sang a couple of the pieces from the Ballards. ( She is Australia’s most famed and glorious
opera singer – who incidentally, happens to be my cousin’s sister-in-law). And
the superstar was also there (well in my day anyway) Jon English. A full
orchestra and large choir made for a brilliant evening.
We all joined in on the finale and honestly I still have the
music ringing around my head.
My Country Australia
I love a sunburst country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me.
See Gavin singing My Country Australia from his Symphony of
Australia
on the video at this site
It was splendid and afterwards we went around to buy a CD
and say Hello to Gavin. He gladly signed
our CD and I am sure he was looking at me thinking “What in the hell has
happened to Gigi”.
Well, Gavin……..I had
spent the day in hospital thinking I was having a heart attack!!!
It is now a week or so since Aust Day and I still possess
shoulder pain. I have heat packed and
massaged it until it is permanently red, I roll a tennis ball around the area
at regular intervals and I am popping painkillers. You can see by all of the above that I really do not like having ailments!
So there you are…….. I have now experienced an admission into
Emergency Section of a huge Sydney
hospital. Thankfully it all turned out OK for me this time.
BIRTHDAYS
It is birthday time and my daughter had her 31st. We organised the do at the Lebanese Rest in
the inner west Zenobia it was called. We had the pillow section and were in the
perfect location for the belly dancing. There
were two shows during the night and Miss C was a classic as she got right into
the music. The food was exceptional and
a great night was had by all.
My sister in law Marjanna turned 50. On the hottest day of the year we sat under a
tin roof in the back yard of my mother-in-law’s backyard celebrating this
event. Hot doesn’t describe the
conditions, but we kept drinking and watched as the liquid oozed immediately
out of our skin.
We also attended our friend Reeva’s 60 birthday. Held at the Randwick Rugby Club in Clovelly
we enjoyed a sumptuous three course meal and some great catch ups with
everyone.
Happy Birthday to Mari as well.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE AND HAVE A FANTASTIC YEAR AHEAD.
MENOPAUSE
Just grit your teeth ladies!
Well, apparently the talk of the town at the
moment iis Menopause….Oh yes, I can sit smugly looking on at this one. I am through it and I made it, so can you.....
But when
you are on the entrance side…..it is pretty scary. At that point you don't really know what
to expect, or how bad your symptoms will be.
It is true that some women do have a very bad time of it and I can only
hope that person is not you.
But on the
whole, we can manage all of the strange symptoms in our stride. After all, we are meant to tread this path
and the joy of periods ceasing outweighs any menopausal symptom if you ask
me!!!
Hang in there girls, because
before you know it you will be on the other side. Hurrah
Click on here
for a light hearted look at Menopause.
LANA'S WISE WEEK
It is time to visit Lana now over at her Wise Week. She is recovering so well from her operaton, which she has bravely described in her Wise Week. Up to all sorts of activites, there will be no stopping her as her blood returns to normal....
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
I bought a beautiful little book while I was in the USA
called Ride the Sky (The Trail of Painted Ponies) which is full of Beauty (the
painting of horses are exquisite) Wisdom and Inspiration.
This week’s quote comes from there and is a
Native American Saying:
“You cannot change the past, but you can ruin the present by
worrying about the future”
