Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Snakes Alive!

Yesterday afternoon I walked out the laundry door to get clothes off the line and as I reached the clothes line, I heard this rustling sound, a bit like the sound of scrunching cellophane wrap.  I looked down and saw the tail of a brown snake about a foot away from my feet!!  The rest of it's body was going behind a large potted plant that was nearby.

At the same time, my three little dogs all rushed to the pot to investigate, which, of course, frightened the snake which lifted it's head ready to attack.

It was about then, that my brain registered that we were all in danger and it was time to act!!  So I yelled at the dogs, who thankfully recognised the fear in my voice (the same fear that I have in my voice when they go too close to a toad!) and all stepped backwards looking at me.

The snake, thankfully, took that opportunity to escape through a small gap in the fence and disappeared in the direction of the empty block of land next door.

At this point I heard the loud flip flopping sound of Adoring Husband's footsteps coming through the house towards the laundry door and then the sound of his worried voice asking what was happening.

In my slightly pathetic and frightened shrill voice I said "It was a brown snake under the clothes line!" which caused him to yell "Get inside and take the dogs!"

The snake was already gone but Adoring Husband wasn't going to take any chances.  He climbed up on one of the outdoor chairs to look over the fence but couldn't see any sign of the snake, which was probably more frightened than all of us put together and had long since disappeared to a place of safety!!

We are all probably more paranoid than the normal person about snakes because my father died from a brown snake bite, which is a story for another day, so this little experience would have been quite entertaining from an outsider's point of view, had they seen it.

The clothes are STILL on the clothes line ... I think I will gather the courage and attempt to retrieve them again today.

Adoring Husband (who was once a first-aid trainer with Railcorp) has now put together a snake bite kit and placed it in an easy to access spot in the house, just in case.  He gave me a lesson this morning on how to apply a pressure bandage and the correct order in which to apply first aid for snake bites.

Now, and until the fresh fear subsides, we are paranoid about being in the back yard or entering  the shed or collecting the eggs from the chooks - although the chooks would be making a hell of a noise if the snake went anywhere near the chookhouse!!

Ya gotta love Australian wildlife!  It certainly has a way of keeping you on your toes!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Happy Birthday Little Gnome!

The man I spoke about in my 'Brief Note of Sadness' post a couple of weeks ago, is doing ok.

Seventy seven years of age on April Fool's day!

My little gnome (a name given to him by one of his lady friend's daughters) from the boat ramp is having a birthday today!

He hasn't been down to the boat ramp since he came out of hospital because he has a sore ankle and weakness in one arm which prevents him from driving or walking.  I have been to visit him three times but I pedalled straight past because he had numerous visitors already there.

He is a well liked, respected and popular man in town.

Many ladies in town have baked cakes, cookies, casseroles and soups and delivered to his doorstep.  His grandson bought a dozen containers of takeaway Chinese food to freeze.  A roster of ladies have been to his house to clean, cut his toe nails, wash and iron.  Mates have driven him to appointments and dropped in at various times of the day and evening to keep him company and check that he has everything that he needs.

This is what I absolutely love about this community.  When the people see somebody struggling, they all move as one to either fix it or at the very least, ease the pain.  They step in and provide whatever is needed and they wrap their combined arms around the family or person in need and give them a massive hug filled with warmth and love.

Another single parent family in town, over a year ago, almost lost their 14 yr old son and brother when his heart collapsed.  He was placed on top of the emergency donor list and was kept alive by machines until a donor heart was found.  This required months of hospitalisation in Melbourne (2000 kms away), which in turn, required the added costs of transport and accommodation for his mother.

She had three other children to care for, as well as pets, a house and a local job.

The community gathered together and raised funds to help towards the financial burden this family was carrying.  They formed a roster of people to fill the mother's job, so that she would continue to get her wage and so that her job would still be waiting for her upon her return.

People stepped in to care for their pets, mow their lawns and maintain the home.  They did this for a year while the boy recovered from this very serious condition.

How amazing is that!?  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

So, back to the birthday boy... I know that the ladies are all making cakes and slices and cookies and birthday comfort food for him today, so, to counteract all that processed sugar, I decided to put together a big box of fruit, nuts and plain popcorn for him to munch on over the next few days.

I found a shiny green box, lined it with yellow tissue paper, filled it with fresh fruit, bags of sultanas and nuts and packets of microwave popcorn.  I wrapped it in shiny clear plastic, tied it with yellow ribbon and then tied two big green and gold 'Happy Birthday' balloons to it.

By the time I delivered it to his doorstep at nine o'clock this morning, he'd already had eight visitors and three phone calls.  He was exhausted!  While I was there, his x-wife and her partner arrived (they are all friends) with a birthday cake and gifts.

A group of us are taking him out for dinner tonight to the local Bowls Club and I'm wondering if he is going to have the energy left to attend his own birthday dinner!!

Anyway, he is doing ok.  He looks tired.  He needs to get out in the fresh air and he needs a good feed of fresh vegetables!  I'll work on that.

Happy Birthday my Little Gnome :o)  

  

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Clever little house-husband!

Adoring Husband is currently on his hands and knees on the lounge room carpet with a wet rag and an iron!

We have moved the pool table (which only gets used at parties) out to the shed for the time being and the dining table has moved from the lounge room to the family/kitchen area, where the pool table was previously.

The carpet in the lounge room has marks indented into it from where the dining table has been positioned for almost 3 years.

So, sometime in his life, somebody has taught Adoring Husband this little trick that takes the indents out of the carpet!!

It's quite amazing!  I've never seen it done before, and you can't even tell that a table was ever there!

When Adoring Husband sets his mind to a new idea, it becomes an obsession.

A couple of examples ... when we lived in Sydney, he converted half of the double garage in the back yard to an art work studio for me.  He did it all himself and it took about six weeks from beginning to end.

He built a bedroom at the back of the studio as a guest room, a little kitchenette at one end of the studio room, laid carpet in the bedroom and tiles in the studio room, gyprocked the walls and painted them.  He installed floor to ceiling glass sliding doors at the front.  It was a beautiful area.

However, he was so obsessed, he would get up in the mornings at about 7am and go straight outside to start work. Not once would he even think about food, so he would go without breakfast and lunch unless I took it out to him or called him inside to eat.

He forgot that there was a world around him (or a wife or animals or friends)  He continually lost his keys, mobile phone, wallet and glasses and the only time he left the work area, was when he needed a tool or piece of equipment and had to drive to the hardware store (Bunnings actually!) to get it.

Don't get me wrong, he did an amazing job, but he was obsessed from start to finish!

Since we've moved to Queensland, he has had a few small obsessions like creating the six vegetable gardens in the back yard,  landscaping the side garden, lining the walls and building the shelving in the shed,  building the chook pen out the back, landscaping the front garden and more recently setting up his boat for safely fishing outside the river .

His new obsession has now become apparent.

Vegan Chickie, Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet are moving back to Australia and will be staying here for a period of time until they can get back on their feet and get their own place.

Adoring Husband is now obsessed about making the house and bedrooms as spacious and as comfortable as possible for us all for the duration.

Furniture is being moved and bedrooms rearranged.

He has that look in his eye that says "I'm a man on a mission, get out of my way!"

All I can think is "Be afraid.  Be very afraid"

Thank goodness, when he gets these obsessions, he doesn't involve me and does almost everything himself!

He really just wants everyone to be happy.  I'm lucky to have such a clever little house-husband!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Nonfiction/Reality v Fiction/Fantasy

Obviously, anything that I say here is anecdotal and based on my own personal experiences.  Your experiences, of course, may be very different!

I've talked previously about my enjoyment of Reality TV and how I like to observe real people reacting and responding to the unusual or unfamiliar situations in which they are placed.

I think I could have been a good observer for anecdotal research.  I'm not a 'facts' girl.  The information between the facts is much more interesting to me.  If my interest is piqued, I can be quite intuitive and sensitive to information that others miss.

A favourite pastime of mine is sitting quietly for hours in the corner at a party,  in a busy airport terminal,  or even at night in a club or pub and just observing the people.  Each individual is incredibly intriguing the way they interact with the different people they meet.

If you put ME in a new situation with a large group of people, I will be very quiet, hold myself back, observe everybody, figure out where I fit in with the group and then slowly slide into the spot where I think I fit.

Depending on the group, I could be a leader or a follower, a confidante or a clown, an analyser or a teacher - one of many different roles - but I can adapt to most roles (good adapting skills gained when changing schools seventeen times in my childhood - see post dated March 9th).

Most people I know, already have a 'role' imprinted in their 'being' and enter a group to fill that role.  If the role is already filled by someone else, then they soon leave the group and subconsciously go looking for new groups until they fit somewhere.

But once again I digress .... I do that a lot don't I?!

So, you see, I am a people analyser and I yearn to understand humans and why they do the things that they do.  They intrigue me and psychiatry would have been an interesting career for me if the study didn't involve so many facts!

Anyway, Adoring Husband, Number One Son, and most males that I know are very much into Fiction/Fantasy.  They have no time for Reality TV and get very bored observing people at parties, airports or clubs.

In those situations, they either want to disappear into a Fiction/Fantasy book or get involved in the party by mingling, dancing, drinking, laughing and 'being'.  Automatically filling their subconscious roles, not noticing other people's roles and not giving a rat's about roles.

Adoring Husband is almost obsessed with Star Trek, 'V', Dr Who, Star Wars etc.  He watches them religiously and loves to get lost in the weird and wonderful fantasy world of the characters.

These shows bore me to tears (although I did quite enjoy the hilarious acting prowess of David Tennant in the last Dr Who series).

I just can't understand where the interest lies in a story line that is not possible and that could never happen in real life.  I would, however,  be interested to meet the person who wrote the story and analyse his/her mind!

So, there in itself, is another analytical dilemna for me to study and question.  Why does he like Fantasy and why do I like Reality?  At what point in our lives was that decision made in our brains?  How can we be compatible, when we are drawn to such different genres?

I have my own theories of course.  Adoring Husband is a very complex and unusual (and by 'unusual', I mean 'strange' lol) individual and I know he will provide years of analytical heaven for me ... but don't get me started!

While I've been writing this, I've discovered that Fantasy really does have a role in my life, because Adoring Husband has been deeply involved in an episode of 'V' that he recorded earlier, and has left me in peace to write!  Hah!

I guess this proves that it doesn't have to be Reality v Fantasy and the two can be compatible after all!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Vegan or Not to Vegan ... THAT is the question!

Just as a matter of interest, I've been trolling the internet for information on veganism and I found this great little website.

It provides extensive information about vitamin and nutrient requirements, vegan meal plans, results of  research that shows how a vegetarian and/or vegan diet has affected the health of people with medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, blood pressure etc.

It gives information about food allergies, vegan diets for children, teens and pregnant women.  It also has book recommendations and much more.

So here is the link and I hope that you learn something new and interesting!

http://www.veganhealth.org/

I am considering taking my vegetarian diet a step further, but I'm not sure that I can go completely vegan.  I do know how much better I feel, physically, since removing meat from my diet (I still have a little seafood two or three times a week),  and I would like to take the next step.

Now I'm noticing how my body reacts to dairy and I'm not liking it very much, so I might just remove milk (except for my morning cappuccino), cheese and butter, to see if I feel the difference.

Small steps, I say!

I'll let you know the answer to my 'Vegan or Not to Vegan' question some time in the near future I guess!

Monday, March 28, 2011

If it's Gunna Happen ....

It's been an interesting day.

Adoring Husband gently woke me this morning just after 6am,  with a big smile on his face and invited me to play golf.

My friend, 'Woman of Many Talents', who is my usual golfing buddy on Monday mornings, is away in Melbourne at the moment, so after our successful Friday golfing jaunt, Adoring Husband decided we should do it again.

He came home with the same number of golf balls that he arrived with, but that's only because he found two golf balls that belonged to other people, after he had lost two of his own!

That familiar cracking sound of ball against tree was ringing loudly again, as was the familiar sight of male searching for lost ball.  Again, we had good shots and bad shots and Adoring Husband got a birdie on the 8th hole, for which he received a well deserved high five!

He struggled to finish nine holes with his dodgy back, but we made it intact.

On the way home, we stopped to buy some lotto tickets and while in the newsagents, Adoring Husband surprised me with a couple of photography magazines.  Inside one of those was a competition!  Suddenly I'm inspired to go online and find all the current photography competitions across the Universe!

In the meantime, Adoring Husband drove into The Bay to buy some straw and other such goodies for the Lovely Laying Chookies.  Upon his return, and while tending to the chooks, he accidentally kicked his toe on the wheel barrow and lifted a toe nail.  ***squirm***

Blood smearing all over his thong (once again, it's the thong on his foot, not on his butt) and the toe nail hanging by a thread and all MY nerves rising to the surface and me feeling nauseas, squeezing my eyes shut so that I don't have to look!  Ugh!

So his golf day tomorrow is now cancelled because he can't walk properly!

Now it's time to prepare dinner.  Sushi tonight.  It's the first time we've attempted to make sushi.  I prepared the rice earlier and together we sit either side of the kitchen bench with our sushi roasted seaweed sheets and our bamboo sushi mats and make our own sushi rolls to cut later.

Adoring Husband squeezes Wasabi paste onto his rice in a long thick line from end to end (if you've tasted wasabi, you know what's coming!) and then adds prawns, smoked salmon and avocado.  I use crab meat, avocado, carrot, cucumber and shallots.  Then I make another one replacing the crab with prawns.

Into the fridge they go for a couple of hours and we will cut them just before we eat them.  Let's relax on the couch for a while!  Down he sits and 'bang' he knocks his sore toe on the footrest.  Phwoar!  That takes his breath away!  He wonders out loud if perhaps he has broken his toe!

Two hours later, with a bowl of sushi soy sauce and a bowl of pickled ginger, we cut our sushi and arrange them beautifully on the platter.  Adoring Husband takes a bite of his first piece of sushi and immediately, his eyes and nose begin to water and he coughs and splutters and runs to the fridge for a bottle of water.

Woops!  Too much wasabi on his sushi!

So, I generously offer half of my sushi, but he refuses stating "No!  I made the mistake!  I will eat my own!"  Three bottles of water later, he had eaten over half of his sushi and finally conceded defeat, concerned that he would make himself sick.

I can't even imagine how hot that must have been... but this has been a typical day in Adoring Husband's life and ... if it's gunna happen, it's gunna happen to Adoring Husband!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

My Current Favourite Recipe

Having recently changed my diet to vegetarian, I've been trying lots of different recipes and also experimenting with old recipes.  I've been using this one a lot lately and I've passed it on to many other people who are all raving about it.

It can be a great vegetarian meal.  It's safe for Coeliacs.  Men (and we know how fussy men are about vegetables!) really love it.  If you are a meat lover, this is great to have as a side dish with any roast meat.  The really great thing is that you don't have to stand over it or spend time tending to it.  You can go off and do something else while it cooks (such as writing a new blog post!).

So for any of you interested, here is the recipe.  I'm sorry that I don't have a photo to go with it, but I will add a photo at a later date ... after the fabulous new camera arrives!!

Honey Roasted Vegetables


2     large potatoes
1/2  butternut pumpkin
1/2  parsnip
1     turnip
1/2  sweet potato
1     carrot
2     onions
1     red capsicum
1     punnet of cherry tomatoes
1     head of garlic
2     chillies
2     T honey
1/2  Lemon
       Salt and pepper to taste
       Drizzle of olive oil

  1. Peel the potatoes, pumpkin, parsnip, turnip, sweet potato, carrot and onions.
  2. Cut them into chunky bite sized pieces.
  3. Drizzle a little oil into the bottom of a large baking dish.
  4. Toss all of the chopped veggies into the pan.
  5. Separate the cloves of garlic and toss them in the pan (unpeeled), along with the cherry tomatoes.
  6. Cut the capsicum into chunks, finely chop the chillies and add them to the veggies.
  7. Season with salt and pepper and give them a stir.
  8. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of honey over the veggies and give them another toss.
  9. Put the baking dish into the oven at 180 - 200 degrees for 40 minutes.
  10. Remove the baking dish from the oven.  Stir the veggies and return to the oven for 30 mins.
  11. Squeeze the juice of about half a lemon over the veggies, stir and serve.

 ********

The three rules that apply to this fabulous recipe:  

1   Very healthy.  
2   Very delicious.  
3   Very easy.

Bon Appetit!!