Sunday, November 27, 2016

This week, Monday to Friday, was pretty much the same as last week.  Dad finished up the theory portion of the course and all the students passed.  The next two weeks will be the hands-on part of the course which entails some visits to an airplane.  I continued on with my scripture study, knitting, French,  piano, aquafit, aerobics and tai chi.

On Friday, after Dad's work, we drove to Wagga for the weekend.  Auntie Norma, who is in a nursing home now, is not doing too well and so I wanted to go up there and spend some time with her.  We arrived in Wagga around 6pm on Friday - we first went to my cousin, Beth's house where we stayed during our time in Wagga.  Beth lives within a 3 minute walk from Auntie Norma's nursing home.  Beth has a second room with a single bed, but she decided to go and stay at Auntie Norma's house with Uncle Les (her dad).

After eating dinner, we went and visited with Auntie Norma - she has her own room at the nursing home.  When we first went into the nursing home, there was this horrid smell - fortunately, it dissipated the closer we got to Auntie Norma's room.  When we went into her room, she said to me 'oh, you brought my boyfriend with you' (meaning Dad) :-)   We had a really nice visit with her - her body is giving in, but her mind is sharp and so is her wit.  It was nice to have that time with her.  After our visit, we went over to Uncle Les' as my cousin, Cherylyn and her husband, Ross, had come down last Monday to spend some time with Uncle Les.  It was lovely to see them and Uncle Les again.

Yesterday, my cousin, Ian, came to visit Beth and so we got to visit with him as well.  After that visit, we headed over to see Auntie Norma again.  Cherylyn came in at lunch time to feed Auntie Norma (she can't do it herself as her hands shake too much) and we had some good chatting time and laughing time together.  After lunch, Dad stayed back at Beth's to do some work and I went and had another visit with Auntie Norma.  While I was there, I asked Auntie Norma what treat she would like me to buy for her from money which Nana had sent her.  She said she would like to have some lavender plants, so off I went with Beth and Cherylyn to buy her some.  Beth has set up a beautiful garden of various plants just outside of Auntie Norma's window at the nursing home, so she added the lavender plants to it.

 Auntie Norma with one of the lavender plants

Auntie Norma and me each holding a lavender plant

 Two views of the garden outside Auntie Norma's nursing home window

After that visit, Cherylyn, Ross, Beth, Dad, me and Ian and his wife, Loreen, went out for dinner to a local pub.  The food was pretty average, but it was nice to have more time to catch up with everyone.  Dad and I were going to go and visit with Auntie Norma again, but Ian and Loreen were going over, so we decided to let them have alone time with her.  So, Cherylyn, Ross, Beth, Dad and I went back to Beth's for hot chocolate and more chatting.

Beth, me, Cherylyn and Ross at Beth's house

This morning, I met up with my friend, Jenny, for about an hour - it would have been nice to have more time to catch up with her, but that's all the time I had today.  Jenny does catering and so, while we were chatting, she was busy making food for a client.  She cooks without a recipe at all - amazing!  It was really nice to be able to have some time with her if only a short bit.  Hopefully, next time I am in Wagga, we will be able to have more time to sit and chat.

Then, it was our last visit with Auntie Norma before we had to leave for home.  While we were visiting, my cousin, Kim came in to visit.  I hadn't seen her for about four years, so it was good to have a few minutes to catch up with her, as well.  So, it was like a little reunion with all my cousins this weekend.

 Driving out of Wagga towards Melbourne

'The Rock' - when I was a little girl, I climbed this 'rock' with my cousins - it ended up raining that day and we got soaked - I remember crying all the way home from being wet and cold :-)