Sunday, 16 August, 2015

What a very busy week!  Since we were in Sydney this week, I spent a lot of time with my cousins and their families.

 Dad, on the other hand, had to get up at 5am everyday so that he could get to the airport for 6am - that's when the airplane was available each day.  Niles, the instructor, showed the group locations of important equipment on the airplane.  He also guided the class through how to run tests and troubleshoot faults on the airplane.  Niles showed the guys how to operate the various systems in the cockpit of the 777 airplane.  Harry, Dad's boss, flew down on Wednesday so that he could instruct the group on Thursday on the avionics (electronic) systems of the airplane.

On Monday, after Dad's work, we took the train downtown to meet up with a person who was leading a walking tour of the area focusing on the history of Australia/Sydney.  The tour guide, Justine, started up this company called "I'm Free Tours" with her partner about 6 years ago.  There is no set price for the tour - you pay what you think the tour was worth at the end of the tour.  The tour was 2 1/2 hours long and it was really well done.  We learned a lot of history of the area and also little tidbits about Sydney at the present time.  We decided that Justine did a great job and so we gave her $40. at the end of the tour.

Before we went on the walking tour, we went inside the Town Hall to hear part of an organ recital by a woman named Amy Johansen - she is a University of Sydney organist and carillonist - it was an enjoyable concert and the organ was impressive

Justine, our tour guide on the walking tour of Sydney

St. Andrew's Cathedral

Town Hall

statue of Queen Victoria

Town Hall

Queen Victoria Building

The Talking Dog -  a statue of Queen Victoria's favourite pet, a Skye Terrier named 'Islay'

St. Mary's Cathedral

Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park

Sydney Tower

St James Church - oldest church building in Sydney

Hyde Park Barracks

Il Porcellino - statue of a wild boar - people rub his nose, make a wish, and drop a coin in his basket.  This is supposed to bring you good luck - the money goes to the Sydney Hospital

Australian coat of arms (kangaroo and emu) on the Sydney General Post Office

Sydney Cenotaph - one of the oldest World War I monuments in central Sydney

Forgotten Songs commemorates the songs of fifty birds once heard in central Sydney, before they were gradually forced out by European settlement. The calls, which filter down from the canopy of birdcages suspended above Angel Place, change as day shifts to night; the daytime birds’ songs disappearing with the sun, and those of the nocturnal birds, which inhabited the area, sounding into the evening.

Cool building I saw along the way

Dad sitting with bronze statue by artist John Seward Johnson II - called 'Waiting' - he created a variety of statues which are actually castings of living people of all ages depicting people engaged in day-to-day activities.

Sirius anchor and Sirius cannon - the wrought iron anchor and bronze cannon belonged to the H.M.S. Sirius, flagship of the First Fleet which arrived at Port Jackson in 1788.

Bonds of Friendship sculpture - represents two links in a chain and there is a companion sculpture in Portsmouth, England, from where the First Fleet sailed to Australia and represents the bond between England and Australia

In the Customs House - the ground floor of the building houses a 4.2m x 9.5m scale model of Sydney's city centre viewed through a glass floor

Customs House

Cadman's Cottage is the oldest surviving residential building in Sydney - it is from the first 30 years of the colony of Australia

old buildings in 'The Rocks' area of Sydney - The Rocks became established shortly after the colony's formation in 1788. The original buildings were made mostly of local sandstone, from which the area derives its name. From the earliest history of the settlement, the area had a reputation as a slum, often frequented by visiting sailors and prostitutes

another view of old buildings in 'The Rocks'

Me with the Sydney Opera House in the distance

Dad with the Sydney Opera House in the distance

Dad with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance

Me with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

On Tuesday, I met up with Rosie, her daughter, Becky and Becky's son, Liam (4).  We had our usual stop at the coffee place (another iced chocolate for me) and then we walked around the downtown area for a bit and then stopped for lunch.  It was nice being able to get together with them and hang out with them for the day.

Becky and Liam

Me with my iced chocolate and Rosie with her cappuccino and passionfruit muffin

Me standing beside a sign which mentions Wagga Wagga

On Wednesday, Dad and I took the train downtown again - this time, it was to take a guided tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens.  We almost had a private tour, but at the last minute, a young German girl joined us.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and we really enjoyed walking around the gardens.

 interesting tree in the Botanic Gardens

 view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Gardens

 Me sitting on 'Mrs. Macquarie's Chair - it is a sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench overlooking the Sydney harbour.  It was hand carved by convicts in 1810 for Governor Macquarie's wife.

 Dad in the Royal Botanic Gardens

 Me in the Royal Botanic Gardens

 Me listening to our guide, Steve, as he told us about the trees and plants in the Gardens

 Interesting tree in the Gardens whose branches were entwined with a second tree

 The Wollemi Pine tree - one of the world's oldest and rarest trees - it was discovered only ten years ago by a bushwalker in a national park in Australia - very few people know the whereabouts of the find to help conserve this endangered species

another pretty tree in the Gardens

another pretty tree in the Gardens

Tree with the roots growing down toward the ground from above

That evening, we met up with Niles and a couple of his friends who he worked with at Cathay Pacific a number of years ago.  He treated Dad and me to dinner to say thanks for me cooking so many dinners for him in Melbourne.  We went to a restaurant called 'Hurricanes' where we had an amazing meal of pork ribs - yummmmm!  Niles' friends, Leoni and Sally, were super nice and so fun to hang out with.

Me and Dad with our yummy fruit mocktails

Dad and I shared a pork ribs meal - this was my half of the ribs - they were amazing!

Sally, me and Dad (in the back) and Leoni and Niles in the front

Dad and I shared a dessert - a caramel cheesecake that was so delicious!

On Thursday, I met up with Rosie at her place and we worked on our family history.  Rosie is really into it and is really good at finding information.  She has been imparting her knowledge to me and together we have found so much info about our ancestors.  I love it when we find a name or date or other information we have been looking for.  We also got some photos printed of some of our ancestors which Auntie Norma had at her place.  It's so neat to be able to put a face to the names we are researching.

my mandatory iced chocolate when I am out with Rosie and she needs her coffee :-)

On Friday, Dad and I took the train to Rosie's again and went out for dinner to a restaurant called 'The Brewery'.  Rosie's daughter, Lauren, joined us along with Cheryl and her daughter, Nicki.  We had a great time chatting for a couple of hours - it's always neat to get together with my cousins and their families - we get along so well.

Dad and I went out for lunch before meeting up with Rosie - the cafe is called 'Patchett's Pies' and was right across the road from our hotel - I got a beef pie with mashed potatoes and mushy peas (yum!) - naturally I added ketchup to it :-)

Dad and I shared a pavlova for dessert - this was not even half of it!

L to R: Lauren, Nicki, Cheryl, Rosie, me, Dad

Yesterday, we flew home from Sydney and, because it was the weekend, we got to fly direct to Hervey Bay.  It was so nice to be home - we enjoy travelling around Australia, but it really is nice to get home as well.

Today, we were welcomed back to our ward (from the pulpit even) and it was great to see everyone again.  I love how much they miss us when we get back from wherever we have been. :-)

Sunday, 9 August, 2015

It seems like I could just write 'see the past two weeks' for this week's blog from Monday to Friday.  Dad did the classroom component to the practical part of the course this week.  He likes this part of the course as it's more about discussing faults they might find with the airplane and how they would go about problem solving and repairing them.  Also, there are no exams for this part of the course, so he was able to give his brain a break. :)

I continued on with my piano lessons, Auslan lessons, scripture lessons and reading.  I am pleased with how I am doing with my piano lessons - I am now able to read the musical notes in the bass clef without having to transpose the notes from the treble clef.  I am also able to retain a lot of what I am learning in my sign language lessons.  I learned numbers and colours this week.

On Saturday, Dad and I went geocaching.  We went back to three of the ones which we couldn't get last week since they were all two-step geocaches and we didn't know how to enter a co-ordinate directly into the gps.  Dad figured out this week how to do that so we were able to successfully find these geocaches.  Dad and I are becoming better at figuring out exactly where the geocaches are once we have found the general area of the geocaches; for instance, this week, we found one under a rock, another under a rock which was under a bush and the third which was in a tree.  All three items were a natural part of their environment and it was cool being able to figure out where the geocaches were.

 view from the first geocache

 we found the first geocache under a rock in the middle of a clump of trees

 we found the second geocache under a rock which was under a large bush beside a creek

 the third geocache was found in a tree - the branch was not part of this tree, but had been placed to make it seem like it was from that tree

the person who made this geocache drilled a hole in the bottom of a branch which was just big enough to place a rolled up piece of paper in (every time you find a geocache, you write the date and your names in it to show when you found it)

Today, we flew to Sydney.  Dad's course was supposed to be totally in Melbourne, but they couldn't get access to a 777 airplane in Melbourne this week and they were able to get access to one in Sydney.  We are staying at a posh hotel near the airport where Dad will be completing the hands-on part of his course this coming week.

Sunday, 2 August, 2015

Dad's course was very full-on this week.  His boss, Harry, taught the course this week as it was the avionics (electronics) part of the course.  Dad was super busy trying to take it all in - it was quite brain draining for him and he was very glad to be done on Friday and for the exam to be done (which he passed with 100%).  It was a good week for me to be away in Wagga.

I had a very nice week (Sunday to Friday) spending time with Auntie Norma and Uncle Les.  When I had called Auntie Norma about coming, I told her that I would do all the cooking and cleaning while I was staying with them so they would not be put out at all.  However, when I got there, it turned out not to be so simple.  Auntie Norma is a very independent (and stubborn :-) woman and it wasn't as easy as I thought to be able to take over.  Uncle Les likes his routine and so he preferred to do the dishes chore on his own after every meal - I was able to do the dishes once and make only one supper meal during the time I was there.  My cousin, Rosie, and I were able to take Auntie Norma out to lunch twice, but Uncle Les didn't join us as he doesn't like eating out.  He has his daily routine and doesn't like it changed.

Me with Auntie Norma and Uncle Les (Chalmers)

Me and my cousin, Beth Chalmers (Auntie Norma and Uncle Les' daughter)

It was interesting learning about Auntie Norma's growing up years in and around Wagga.  I also asked her some questions about Poppy when they were growing up - he really was a naughty boy! :-)  I also found out the last name of Poppy's best boyhood friend and so I am looking forward to being able to contact him to see if he will share some of his memories of his time with Poppy.  I am looking forward to talking with Nana when I get to Canada and to be able to write both her and Poppy's life histories.

Auntie Norma (Chalmers), Poppy, Auntie Jean (Duncan/Ronne) as children

My cousin, Rosie, and I spent a lot of time this week working on gathering information for our family history.  We were able to get some pictures and written information about our ancestors which we scanned and/or copied.  We were hoping to get some more certificates, etc. which Auntie Norma has, but that was in her garage which is, at the moment, chock full of stuff and Rosie and I were not able to get into it to search for what we were looking for.  Auntie Norma's daughter, Cherylyn, is coming down to their place in September to go through the garage and clear it out, so I am hopeful that the next time I go to Wagga, I will be able to get copies of some important documents relating to my ancestors.

My great grandparents, Harriet and Ernest Dunkley and their children (my grandpa, Ivan Dunkley, is on the right in the back row)

Rosie and I spent some time at the Wagga cemetery trying to find out where our ancestors were buried.  Some of them have been buried without headstones or markers and so we had to find out where they were buried based on where others' were who did have a headstone.  The people in the office at the cemetery were helpful in giving us a photocopy of where our relatives were buried in relation to others in the cemetery.  Rosie wants to get a plaque of some kind to mark where our Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Glennie are buried (they are my Grandma Dunkley's parents) and also where Poppy's brother, Ian, is buried (Ian only lived two days and died due to a heart problem).

area where my great grandparents, Peter and Sophia Glennie, are buried in the Wagga Monumental Cemetery

Poppy's plaque by the 'Serenity Pool' at the Wagga Lawn Cemetery

A wonderful story about finding where Ian was buried.  First, you know that I don't believe in co-incidences.........So, Rosie and I went to the cemetery to see if they had a record of where Ian was buried, which they didn't.  Rosie had a newspaper article stating that Ian had been buried in the Salvation Army area of the Wagga Monumental Cemetery and had been interred there by a funeral home in Wagga. So, next we went to the Salvation Army church to see if they had any record of Ian's funeral.  We talked with two people in the know there, but both told us that the book containing that information was missing.  We were given a book which had a lot of information about other relatives and their service in the church, their marriages and deaths.  So, although it wasn't productive regarding the information we were looking for re: Ian, it did give us some other information which was very useful.  Next, we went to the funeral home where we talked with a girl named Ebony.  We told her our story and she told us that she had 'just happened' to work at the cemetery before coming to work at the funeral home three months previously.  She told us that not all of the information has been inputted into the cemetery database and told us exactly where to tell the cemetery workers to look to get that information.  We felt so blessed to have been able to talk with Ebony as it led us to be able to find out where Ian was buried and we wouldn't have been able to find that out without meeting Ebony. A little story about our 'discussion' with the cemetery workers when we went back there to tell them what Ebony had said. When we told them what Ebony had said, they assured us that all the info had been inputted into the computer system (guaranteed, they said).  We kept telling them where Ebony had said the info would be found and they kept insisting that everything was on their computer.  We persisted and they finally took down the Salvation Army record book and, lo and behold, there was the information we needed. Rosie and I had a good venting with each other after we left the cemetery although we were as sweet as pie while we were talking with the workers. We took lots of photos of where our relatives were buried and felt good at what we were able to accomplish.

It's hard to see, but Rosie and I took two twigs and placed them in front of the bench marking the place where Ian Dunkley (aged 2 days), Poppy's brother, is buried

The weather in Wagga was so cold and I don't remember it being that cold there when I was a kid.  Auntie Norma says it was cold then, but kids just don't seem to feel it like adults do.  I was very glad that Auntie Norma had a heating blanket on my bed - they go to bed very early and so I ended up doing the same each night and snuggling down under the covers and enjoying the heat of the blanket.  I have to say that I am very glad that Dad said that he didn't want to live in Wagga when we moved to Australia! :-)

3 Killara Avenue, Wagga Wagga - the house where I grew up in - although there was no brick on the house then, nor the fence

As nice as it was to catch up with my relatives in Wagga, it was nice to get back to Melbourne with Dad.  As usual, he had trouble sleeping while I was away (he always does) and so he was glad to have me back, too. :-)  We had hoped to go out geocaching yesterday, but the weather was not co-operating - rain, rain and more rain.  So, it was a bit of a stay-at-home day after we did some grocery shopping.

Today, after Sacrament, we went to have lunch with some friends who live southeast of Melbourne.  Wendy and Norm Keilar lived in Wagga for a few months back in the 60s and Wendy and Nana became friends first and then all four of them became friends.  Nana has kept in touch with Wendy all these years and Dad and I became friends with them as well.  They invited us for a lovely roast chicken dinner with pavlova for dessert - how could we resist? :-)  Wendy always puts on a great spread - besides the chicken and dressing, she also cooked up roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, beans, peas and a tomato/onion with bread crumbs dish.  The pavlova topping was very unusual and one I had never seen before.  Wendy made the meringue base, topped that with whipped cream and then topped that with a crushed chocolate bar called 'Peppermint Crisp' - it's a green mint chocolate bar - it was a nice pavlova (Wendy cut me TWO slices), but I still prefer my fruit topped pav. :-)  Wendy and Norm invited their daughter, Marjorie, and her husband, Peter, over as well and we enjoyed a lovely visit with all of them.  They have asked us to come back again next time we visit Melbourne and to stay overnight when we do - we will look forward to that.

 delicious pavlova made by Wendy

Back row: Peter, Marjorie, Me.....................Front row: Norm and Wendy Keilar

Sunday, 26 July, 2015

Another week of much the same as last week.

Dad's course continued to go well and he continued to ace the course exams.  He has one more week of theory before he begins the practical component of the course.  We are enjoying our two housemates here with us - they are both instructors with QAC - Niles is teaching this course and Garth is taking the course like Dad is.

Garth, Dad and Niles

I continued on with learning Auslan (Australian sign language), learning piano (played 'Oh When The Saints Go Marching In' this week), knitting (working on a doll's sweater), reading (another whodunit) and scripture reading (Sunday school lesson and Book of Mormon study).

Yesterday, Dad and I decided to spend the afternoon doing some geocaching.  We were able to find half of the ones we tried.  We are newbies in this adventure and that's likely why we had some trouble finding some of the caches.  There is usually a hint given if you can't find a cache, but sometimes the hints are obscure and really aren't helpful.

 house beside the path we walked along to get to our first geocache

 cricket game being played in the field beside the path we walked along to get to the geocache

 geocache find under the bridge

 view from the top of the hill where we found the geocache

 Dad holding the gps searching for our next geocache

 Me standing behind a wooden sculpture in the park near a geocache

 galahs on the field near a geocache

Geocache we found - it was 'in the open, but camouflaged' - someone had taken a piece of a small log and screwed the top of a container to the underside of the log and then dug a hole for the container to hide under the log - thus, out in the open as it looked like a piece of a tree, but camouflaged as it really wasn't part of the 'real' environment - an amazing creative idea

This morning, Dad dropped me off at the train station and I took the train to Wagga.  It took four hours and was really relaxing.  The seats were comfortable and there was a buffet car where I was able to buy lunch.  When I got to Wagga, I decided to walk to Auntie Norma and Uncle Les' house since I had been sitting for four hours.  The weather was cool in Wagga and the walk took just over an hour, but it was a good walk.  It was nice to see Auntie Norma and Uncle Les again.  Auntie Norma is 84 and Uncle Les is 88 and their age is starting to show.  They are still in their own home, though, and still doing their own cooking and cleaning.  My cousin, Rosie, came in from Sydney today and came over this afternoon for a catch-up before heading to her hotel.  We are both excited about doing some family history this week and I am looking forward to learning more about Auntie Norma's life growing up in Wagga which will help me when I start writing Poppy's life story.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Dad's course is going really well - he found it easier this week as the subjects he was learning about were familiar to him since he has experience on both the 747 and 767 airplanes.  He only had one exam this past week and he passed it with flying colours.

I spent my days this week knitting, studying my scriptures, playing the piano and reading on my e-reader.  I have set myself up a schedule and it's going really well.  I was finding it too easy to just waste the day away and so, putting myself on a schedule, helps me to get a lot of things accomplished.  I am doing pretty well on the piano and am starting to play with two hands.  The latest song I have learned is 'Oh When The Saints Come Marching In'.

On Wednesday, I started my Auslan (Australian sign language) course online and I am enjoying it so far.  I learned how to do fingerspelling and also learned how to say hello, goodbye, how are you, I'm well and I'm not well.  I had my first quiz and I got 100% - although, I do have to admit, that I had to look at the people fingerspelling out their names a few times before I could figure out what they were spelling.  It is nice that we can take the test until we get 100%.

On Friday, I went to the doctor's to get my stitches out.  When the doctor took a look at how the stitches were doing, she told me that there was a little inflammation and asked me to go on antibiotics for three days.  She will check the stitches out again tomorrow.  My back is still quite tender, so I am looking forward to it healing.

Yesterday, Dad and I went geocaching so that we could drop off a geocaching travel bug which Terri-Ann had found in Orangeville.  A travel bug is a trackable tag that you attach to an item and then place into a geocache.  Dad looked online and found a geocache not far from the unit here in a place called Gellibrand Hill in Woodlands Historic Park.  The geocache was pretty easy to find - it was in a tupperware container under some rocks which were under a bush on the hill.  Dad wrote his ID name in the logbook in the container and put the travel bug into the container.  It was a little bit of good exercise for us and we have decided that we would like to do some more geocaching.  Dad is now looking at some different gps receivers in stores here and online.

 road we walked on to get to Gellibrand Hill

 bird we saw on the side of the road on the way to Gellibrand Hill

rabbit hole which a rabbit disappeared into on the way up Gellibrand Hill

 kangaroos on Gellibrand Hill

 interesting looking tree on Gellibrand Hill

 view of the city of Melbourne from Gellibrand Hill

 view of the Melbourne airport from Gellibrand Hill

 me holding the tupperware container from the geocache

 Dad writing in the log book from the geocache

 Dad holding the travel bug

 Dad placing the travel bug into the tupperware container

 another view from Gellibrand Hill

more kangaroos on the way down from Gellibrand Hill

After checking out a new local market (which turned out to be not much to write home about), we went to Big W (like Walmart) to buy a bike for me to use when we are here in Melbourne.  We chose a very basic bike - an 18 speed one - and a helmet - both are pretty red ones.  :-)  Dad will have to put the bike together with a few tools, but he won't worry about that for a little bit yet,  until my back is feeling better and has healed.

Sunday, 12 July, 2015

Dad's course is going well, although he is finding it a hard slog with having to study (as a student) and also to prepare (as a teacher - for when he teaches this course in the future).  He had two exams this week and he got 100% on both. :-)  There is a different instructor teaching Dad's course for the next three weeks and he is staying here at the unit as well.  Niles is originally from Jamaica, but has lived in different places around the world.  Niles knows some guys from Canadian Airlines and Air Canada who Dad has worked with in the past - it's a small world!  Niles taught a course for Air Canada in Toronto last year and many of the guys on the course remembered Dad from when he worked there.  Dad is hoping to be able to teach one of the courses in Toronto at some point so that he can catch up with these past workmates.

On Tuesday, I went back to the doctor's to have the nurse look at my incision.  She was really pleased with how it's healing and told me that I should have a doctor in Melbourne take out the stitches this coming Friday.  My back is still quite tender and I still find it hard to sit back against it - I tend to lean to one side or the other when I am sitting in a chair.

On Wednesday, I flew to Melbourne.  On the flight from Brisbane to Melbourne, I sat next to a woman who I got to talking with.  I so often find out how small our world really is.  This woman was a retired teacher and had spent two years teaching at Helen Wilson P.S. (where you girls went to nursery school) in Brampton.  We did a lot of reminiscing about living in Brampton/Bramalea and talked a lot about teaching.  She had also travelled a lot and so we talked about the various places we have been to in the world, as well.

Dad and I had a lovely, enjoyable day together yesterday.  After walking around the mall (we decided to walk there as it was just too cold to go for a walk outside) and picking up a few things, we checked out the bikes at Big W (like Walmart).  I have decided that I want to buy a bike here since we are in Melbourne quite a bit.  It will be so nice to be able to get out and bike ride around the neighbourhood as well as to use it to ride to the gym where they have yoga classes a couple of times a week.  We didn't get the bike there as we wanted to also check out K-Mart (which we did later that day) to see what kind of bikes they had.

When we got home, I went online to check out if anyone had a good deal on a used electronic keyboard and I found one which came with a stand and a piano book.  The girl who was selling it said that the price was negotiable and so I sent her an email offering her a price and she accepted it.  We drove right there and picked it up and it's now sitting in the loungeroom here at the unit.  I am really looking forward to continuing my piano learning.

my new electronic piano

I also registered yesterday for a sign language course - it's called 'Auslan' (Australian sign language) - it will take me 7 weeks to do and it's all online.  I am really looking forward to it as I have wanted to learn how to do sign language since I was a teenager.  I debated whether I would take ASL (American Sign Language) or Auslan since they are different from each other, but I figured that I would be (hopefully) be using it in Australia so it made sense to learn Auslan.

It was nice to see our Canadian friends, Debbie and Trevor, at church again today.  They just arrived back here from a three week visit with their family in Alberta.  We plan on having them over for dinner again before we head back home.

Sunday, 5 July, 2015

Well, this blog will be quite boring - not much happened this week and no pictures to add, either.

Dad's course is going really well in Melbourne.  He has been able to understand everything taught to him so far and he did extremely well on his first test this week.  Harry (Dad's boss) and Harry's wife, Dawn, took Dad and Garth (another instructor on the same course as Dad) out to dinner this week to a really nice Italian restaurant.  Harry often does that when he is teaching which is really nice.  Garth left on Friday and Harry and Dawn left yesterday and so Dad has been on his own all weekend - quite boring for him, although he did go to church today which was good.  Niles, the instructor for the next three weeks, will be coming in to Melbourne tonight and Dad will pick him up from the airport.

I rested on Monday and Tuesday as my back was still tender from the incision last week.  Then, on Wednesday, my friend, Denise, drove me to the doctor's to get the second procedure done.  I had to get more needles done this time (and they hurt!) to freeze the area which the doctor had to work on.  Dr. Schnetler is such a great doctor - he is very gentle, understanding, patient and thorough.  It took him a lot longer to perform the procedure than I thought it would, but that was fine with me - I am good with him making sure that he got everything he needed to get out.  He prescribed some painkillers for me (Panadeine - like Tylenol with codeine) and also suggested I get some Nurofen (like Advil).  He told me that this incision would hurt more than the previous one as he had had to go deeper on this incision - he was right!  I took the painkillers for three days and then found that I didn't need them after Saturday morning - I was glad about that, especially since I hate taking medication.

On Friday, I drove to the doctor's office again so that the nurse, Nat, could look at my incision to see how it was looking.  She said it looked good and changed the bandage, too.  I told her that I couldn't see it and she asked me if I would like to, to which I answered 'yes'.  She held up a mirror, but I couldn't see it since the incision is in the middle of my back.  She asked if I had a phone and said she could take a pic with it - I told her that my phone didn't take pics (it's a 'dinosaur' phone :-)

I, like Dad, have been bored all on my own - I have been mostly just watching tv, reading and piddling on the computer.  Dad and I can't wait until Wednesday when we will be together again. :-)