Sunday, 21 May, 2017

Another week pretty much the same as last week - from Monday to Friday, anyway.  Dad continued on with his course - another exam with all passing - and only having to prep a short time each night.  I continued on with my knitting group and exercise groups.

Yesterday, we went geocaching - it was so nice to be able to get out in nature and do some treasure hunting at the same time.  It was a bit of a windy day, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining, so it was a really good day to be out and about.  Dad had downloaded four geocache locations for us to find.  We didn't have any luck with the first two even though we spent quite a bit of time searching for them.  We found the third one which was a bit of an easy one and we also found the fourth one, although we think that the co-ordinates might have been off a bit.  The co-ordinates led us to a stone wall and I checked in every crevice with no luck.  Dad then read the clue and it said something about a hinge - there was a gate to the parking lot which was near the wall, so we checked out the hinge area on the gate, but couldn't find anything.  We then thought to look at the other end of the gate and we found the geocache inside a part at the end of the gate.  It was listed as a micro geocache and was it ever micro - it was magnetic and was about 1/2" x 1/4"!  Even though we didn't find all four, we had a great time being outside together!

 The orange stuff on the tree is sap - I have never seen sap like that

Me pointing to where we found the easy geocache

We went out to dinner last night with Niles.  We wanted to try some Middle Eastern food which had been listed on our eating plan and so we headed off to a Lebanese restaurant close to where we are staying here.  It turns out that we both really like Lebanese food - we had lamb and chicken shawarma (basically cooked and shaved meat in a sauce) served over rice, with tabouli (parsley, tomato, mint, bulgur and onion with an oil and lemon juice dressing), chicken and sausage shish kabobs, falafels (deep fried chick pea balls) and pitas.  All of the food was so yummy and we will definitely be heading back there again next time we are in Melbourne.

 Dad holding our iced chocolate which we shared - it was really really nice :-)

 Me with our dinner which we shared

The brown goodie on this plate is a falafel

Sunday, 14 May, 2016

Not much to report this week actually.  Dad's course continues to go well and he only has been spending a couple of hours each night preparing for the next day's class.  The guys had another exam this week and they all passed.

I went to my Aquafit, Body Balance, Tai Chi and Body Basics classes again this week.  The Body Basics one this week was interesting - our teacher had us doing Tae Bo which, according to Google, is an exercise system combining elements of aerobics and kick-boxing.  I can tell you that it is a really good aerobics workout - I was sweating a lot (dripping) by the time we were finished the class! :-)

We spent yesterday morning working (Dad on his course and me on the cleaning the house) and then we just just relaxed for the rest of the day.  We had thought about going geocaching, but we just never got ourselves in gear to get going.  We did get take-out for dinner - on the eating plan we are doing, it was suggested to have Tandoori chicken.  After checking with Niles (the other instructor staying here) if it was spicy or not (it's NOT), we decided to go and buy it at a local Indian take-away restaurant.  We had the chicken with rice, raita (yogurt with cucumber and carrot), dhal (lentils and kidney beans in a sauce) and naan bread - Dad also tried a mango lassi (like a smoothie) - all of the food was so delicious and we are definitely going to put it on our menu plan for the future.

Today is Mother's Day and all the women at church were given a lovely corsage when we came in to the chapel.  We were also given a homemade cookie which the Bishop actually made himself - it was very yummy. :-)

Me wearing the lovely corsage given to all the women at church today - Mother's Day

Sunday, 7 May, 2017

It's been a good week here in Melbourne - and Wagga Wagga....more about that last one later.

We are sharing the house with Niles, another one of QAC's instructors, who is teaching a different course at the same location as Dad.  We have shared with Niles before and we all get along really well.  Dad's course is going well so far - there are 14 guys on the course - and they all passed the first exam, although one guy made it right on the least amount he could get before he would have had to sit it again.  Dad has only had to do about an hour of work each night, so we have been able to go for a walk every day when he gets home from work.  It's nice for us to be able to walk together for health reasons, but it's also good for us to be able to chat and get caught up on each other's day.

I went to the Leisure Centre on Monday and signed up for the four weeks we are going to be here.  I started classes on Monday and have been able to go to a class every weekday: Aquafit twice a week, Body Balance, Tai Chi and a Back to Basics class which is a very easy aerobics class for over 50's.  I have enjoyed the classes so far - people who met me last time we were here welcomed me back which was really nice, too.

On Friday night, Dad and I drove to Wagga so that we could spend some time over the weekend visiting with Auntie Norma - she is still in the nursing home and will be for good.  She isn't happy being in the there, or rather she isn't happy with her body which has let her down and the cause of her having to be in there.  She has been such an independent woman all her life and it's hard to go from being like that to having to depend on someone for everything.  She can move her arms a little, but not even enough to change the channels on the tv or take a drink - it's sad to see actually.

The beautiful sunset nearing Wagga Wagga

It turned out that my cousin, Rosie, and her daughter, Lauren, came in from Sydney earlier on Friday as they both had time off work and wanted to come and see Auntie Norma again.  Dad and I got to Wagga around 6:30pm (a five hour drive with one stop) on Friday so, after grabbing some dinner, we went and got in a 90 minute visit with Auntie Norma.  She had already seen Rosie and Lauren twice that day and then a visit from us in the evening, so that really made her day.  Auntie Norma is very quick witted and there is definitely nothing wrong with her mind. 😊  It was sometimes hard to understand what she was saying - I am not sure if she just isn't able to open her mouth bigger or if something else is causing her to not speak clearly all the time.  So, sometimes, I asked her to repeat what she said and sometimes I just nodded or laughed if she was laughing - I just didn't want to keep asking her to repeat everything and have her get frustrated.

We stayed at my cousin, Beth's  place - she is Auntie Norma's daughter and lives down the street from the nursing home.  I really didn't know Beth when we were growing up in Wagga as she is four years younger than me, so it's nice to be able to get to know her better now that we have both grown up and we get to spend time together when we go to Wagga.  Beth is really nice and we have some things in common, so it was really easy to talk with her.

Me and my cousin, Beth

Yesterday morning, we went and spent another 90 minutes visiting with Auntie Norma - she was much more animated this morning - I guess having a good night's sleep made her feel more alert.  When the nurse brought Auntie Norma her lunch (the nurse has to feed it to her), Dad and I drove downtown and met up with Rosie and Lauren for lunch.  Rosie suggested a Thai restaurant - I remember Terri-Ann saying that she liked Pad Thai and so we decided to give it a go.  I loved my Pad Thai - it came with noodles - not sure if that is 'normal', but it was delicious!!!  Dad had a different meal and he enjoyed his as well.  We had a great time chatting with Rosie and Lauren while we ate - they are both easy going people and very easy to talk with.  After our meal, they wanted to go for a coffee, so we joined them and had an iced chocolate.

 Lauren, me and Rosie eating Thai

Dad with his iced chocolate

On the way back from lunch, Dad and I stopped at the Wagga Showground where the Rotary Club was having a book fair - you know I can't resist books, especially those at great prices.  We stayed for about 45 minutes - I would have loved to have stayed longer, but that's about as long as we could stay since I wanted to get in another visit with Auntie Norma.  I only bought 8 books - pretty good, eh?  😊  I would have bought more if we had been in Hervey Bay, but there is only so much room in our suitcases to take books back. 😊 Dad went to the 'Health' section at the book fair and actually found a book we have been looking for - it's a Low GI Diet book - our chiropractor suggested we look into going on that I had found one in a bookstore, but it was $25.  I have been humming and hahing about buying it after looking at a copy from the library and finding it very useful.  Dad's find meant we only had to pay $2.50 for it - pretty good find, eh?

Dad needed to get some work done during the weekend, so I suggested he drop me off at the nursing home after lunch and then go back to Beth's to work.  Rosie and Lauren were there when I got there, so we all four visited for about 90 minutes before they had to meet a friend for dinner.  I stayed on for another hour and chatted with Auntie Norma - I think she enjoyed all this attention she was getting.  She does get visitors occasionally during the week, but never this many people or for such long visits, either.

 Me, Auntie Norma, Rosie, Lauren at the nursing home

Close-up of the four of us

Dad and Beth picked me up at dinner time and we went out for dinner - we wanted to take Beth out to thank her for letting us stay at her place.  We went to a local club which has a bistro with yummy comfort food.  I got a chicken parmagiana meal and Beth got Bangers and Mash and then Dad shared with both of us. 😊  The food was as good as we remembered it from the last time we went there and we had another nice time chatting with Beth and getting to know her better.

Today, we got in another hour long visit with Auntie Norma before we had to leave to get back to Melbourne.  It was so nice being able to spend the time in Wagga with my rellies (Aussie slang for 'relatives' 😊) and especially to spend time with Auntie Norma.