Truth & Trust

Truth & Trust - 41 minutes of pandemic information from Phillip M Altman BPharm(Hons), MSc, PhD, Pharmacologist - Clinical Trial & Drug Regulatory Affairs Consultant.

Market fun today!

2 x Markets!

Could have been three if only we had the energy to continue!

Adoring Husband joined BGWLBH and I for a morning of fun starting at Salt Cafe for breakfast at 7am. Two of us had our usual poached eggs and bacon without bread and a pot of tea while AH selected eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and a mugacchino.

Urangan pier market was our first stop and we wandered through all the stalls for about an hour. I purchased things like soap, a travel mug for my Wednesday morning tea, 2 bottles of chilli sauce, a timber hanging heart for under the Bali hut, shells for future art projects, an air plant for the box hanger and a jade dragon.

The GF donut man was parked so I purchased four donuts (yum).

Even though I was already tired from all that spending and walking, we found our way back to the car and drove to Torquay where the other market stalls were displaying their wares.

This is where I found two jade bracelets, a huge serpentine stone in a rope hanger with feathers (serpentine corrects mental and emotional imbalances helping you feel more in control of your life), a copper wand with clear quartz, a copper cleanser for dirty electricity, two colourful hanging metal fish for under the Bali hut, a stained glass and driftwood wind chime for under the Bali hut, an Aust made and designed top, a tea towel and soap.

I ran out of cash and had to attack AH’s wallet at the end.

We stopped at Go Natural where I was able to buy 70% chocolate for cooking. Nana’s Pantry didn’t have any left when we stopped there during the week and didn’t know long it would be til their order was delivered.

Our favourite shop, Office Works, was next on our hit list. AH was a tired little puppy so he stayed in the car while we browsed and purchased pens, notebooks, a journal, a soy candle and 2 boxes of trivia cards.

The final destination before home was Harvey Normans where AH had to stock up on necessities for the coffee machine (not coffee) and I took the opportunity to buy lotto tickets at Eli Waters and BGWLBH did a small shop in the supermarket.

We were home well before midday and I, for one, was exhausted!

BGWLBH made a fruit and veg platter for hers and AH’s lunch. I drank some anti-inflammatea with my donut and lay on the couch reading movie trivia cards to BGWLBH while she ironed.

I could hear my bed calling to me and I’ve been resting for the last 90 minutes.

I’m not sure what I’ll prepare for dinner tonight. I don’t want to think about it just yet.

Right now I need a nana nap.

Afternoon all.

Separate Ways

It felt strange today for all of us to be doing something separate from each other.

Adoring Husband drove me to Bambooland where I met The Gypsy for our first face to face catch up in about 8 months. We’ve had a few zoom calls but to be in each other’s physical presence was a lovely change and reminded me how much I miss our weekly chats since the shop closed.

The weather was perfect for sitting outside under the giant bamboo with the sun filtering through the leaves and branches. The Gypsy shouted me a small coffee and we found a picnic table to sit at for two hours of chitchat.

Just like the old days, there was too much to talk about in such a short period of time and the two hours passed way too quickly. Before we knew it Adoring Husband was walking towards us to let me know he was there to pick me up.

Warm hugs and promises to not leave such long gaps between catch ups next time. Sometimes life gets in the way and sometimes it’s tricky to get the stars aligned, but our connection is strong so it doesn’t matter how long between meetings, it’s always easy picking up where we left off.

While I was with The Gypsy, AH was meeting his mate for their regular coffee date and BGWLBH took the opportunity to drive into the Bay for her own ‘me time’.

She returned in the early afternoon and we all took the opportunity to nap. AH and I napped on our recliners and BGWLBH napped in her bed. We had ALL run out of energy!

Dinner was our Friday night favourite of spicy chicken wings and we played some trivia before all heading to bed. 

It’s only 9.30pm but we’re all heading off early tomorrow morning to hit the pier markets and enjoy breakfast on the waterfront.

Nite all.

Worth Doing

I had a restless night and dragged myself out of bed at 10am.

I made breakfast and joined BGWLBH under the Bali hut.

The sky was a little overcast and the temperature quite cool so BGWLBH was wrapped in a light blanket. Even I felt a little on the cool side - which is very unusual for me!

After a little while we came inside to clean the fridge but first I made a juice of orange, apple, pineapple, passion fruit, mango and banana. Too many fruits. Leave out the banana next time. 

We have an abundance of fruit at our fingertips and this doesn’t include the berries and melon that are stored in the fridge …

It took the two of us almost an hour to empty the fridge, clean it, toss the bad food, empty old containers and jars and stack the dishwasher.

I’ve been a bit slack with the fridge lately, but it’s sparkling clean now.

My bedroom plantation shutters received a good clean after that. The windows need doing too so they are on my ‘to do’ list.

Here’s the pic of my bedroom with the tapestry above the bed …

I’ve been sorting through my diaries, journals and books in my bedroom - they are out of control and I need a book case in the room. You can see just a few of the books on both bedside tables. Maybe I should just fill the bed head with all the books!! That way they will always be at my fingertips!

Tonight’s dinner was chicken and all vegetables out of our garden - broccoli, snow peas and potato. The potato was so creamy and delicious.

We played a bit of trivia together.

Now I’m in bed with a very chilly breeze coming through the bedroom windows. Good snuggle under the covers weather.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with The Gypsy which I’m really looking forward to.

For now, it’s nite all.

Other Happy Outcomes

Not so psychotic dog, Colli, will be 17 yrs old at the end of this year.

She is 95% blind, 98% deaf, has arthritis in her hips and legs, a dodgy heart that requires daily medication, has very few teeth remaining in her mouth and absolutely detests anybody touching her face and mouth.

Because she’s blind, when she eats, she can’t judge how close her mouth is to the food and often ends up with food all over her face. When the hair on her face is long, the food dries and congeals, smells and looks bad BUT she refuses to let me trim her face.

A few days ago (I think it was Sunday) I wrapped her tight in a towel so she couldn’t move her legs or body, lay her on her back and attempted for an hour, to trim the hair around her mouth.

She tossed her head around, she shrieked and screamed like a banshee, moaned and groaned like she was giving birth and snapped at me with her gummy mouth.

I told her that I had all day so she should just give in and allow me to do it.

In actual fact I gave up after an hour with not even a modicum of success!! 

The neighbours were concerned, the neighbour’s dogs were whining in sympathy, Adoring Husband was stressing in the lounge room and BGWLBH came outside a number of times to check that everything was ok.

I conceded defeat.

Today, we took her to the vet for a checkup. 

We needed a new script for her heart meds and the vets needs to check her over every six months.

I pleaded my case to Dr Amanda and she very obligingly clipped Colli’s nails and then attempted to trim her face.

Note the word ‘attempted’.

In the end it took the vet, the vet nurse and the receptionist to hold Colli down and trim all of the hair from her eyes, down her snout and under her chin.

Colli struggled and screamed and shrieked and moaned and groaned and tossed and turned and fought like her life depended on it! Just for good measure, she peed all over the vet!

What a drama!!

Now she looks like a poodle with a Shih Tzu’s body.

Dr Amanda was very happy with Colli’s heart stating that it sounds strong with a good rhythm. She gave us some cream for one of her eyes which is a bit weepy and offered a solution for the arthritis if the powder that we just bought doesn’t work as expected.

We currently have her on green lip mussel, hemp oil and this new powder. We’ll know in another ten days whether the powder is effective.

Adoring Husband purchased a lovely jade pendant for me to celebrate 19 years since we met face to face (after spending 3 months chatting online and over the phone) for the first time - under the big clock at Central Station in Sydney.

I can picture that meeting as if it happened yesterday 😊

The other big drama was BGWLBH having a flat tyre at the Lions Park and being lucky enough to find the local constabulary nearby and willing to rescue this damsel in distress! They took a while, but eventually changed the tyre and gave her directions to the nearest tyre centre.

We were able to get into The Bay and replace the tyre easily enough.

Chicklet, my oldest grand daughter, is eleven years old and today she spent thirty minutes creating this …

I think she might have some talent there! It would take me longer to create something less impressive. I feel quite proud!

I’m now exhausted so …

Nite all.

Happy Outcome

Well I tried the new hairdresser today and am very impressed!

I had about 4” cut off the length and she softly layered it. For a shampoo, condition, wonderful head massage, hair cut, blow dry and straighten, it cost $60! 

The salon was lovely, the staff were super friendly and very skilled, tea/coffee/water/cookies/lollies were offered and I found the price very reasonable.

I shall definitely return.

BGWLBH had an appointment at the same time but her half head of foils took three hours while my work only took one hour. She has a very thick head of hair!

Adoring Husband picked me up at 10.20am so that we could visit our financial advisor for a one hour meeting. 

We like our FA because she’s very warm, approachable and honest. She tells it like it is, keeps us informed and is always available to take our questions.

Sadly she was caught in the floods down south near Ballina. Her home was built 5kms from the river and the ground was raised five metres before it was built, yet the floods were so bad that the water was about a foot deep through the house.

Not only that, her insurance ran out two weeks prior to the floods. The premiums were increasing from $1800 yr to $34,000 yr (yes, that’s thirty four thousand dollars) so she made the decision to drop the insurance. Two weeks. Ugh.

To top it all off, the house was on the market because she’s in the middle of a divorce and now the price of the house has reduced by $200,000 because it’s considered to be in a flood zone.

On the plus side, she was promoted at work AND she looks fabulous.

It’s been a rough year for her but she’s still smiling.

At the end of that meeting, AH dropped me back to where I was meeting BGWLBH.

I did some groceries, visited the fresh fruit kiosk and bought some bread. By the time I returned to the salon, BGWLBH was at the counter paying. Good timing!

We had a list so we spent the next three hours driving all over The Bay ticking off each errand as it was completed and we arrived home at 4.30pm which meant straight to the kitchen where I made a vegetable frittata and baked smokey barbecue chicken for dinner.

We even found the energy to play some trivia after dinner.

Tomorrow is a visit to the vet with not so psychotic dog Colli and picking up the FROG box on the way home.

Yes, busy week.

Nite all.

A Workout!

Cleaning my bedding is a workout and a half.

I have a king size bed with a very deep and heavy mattress, six pillows and two body pillows. Thank goodness I haven’t needed my super king doona this winter because that is a struggle all on its own!

It took me 17 minutes to remove the bedding and pillow cases and put them in the machine (admittedly, I did have to clear a lot of journals, paperwork, pens and books from one side of the bed).

Once the bedding was washed, a further 15 minutes to hang them on the line. My sheets are 100% linen, so quite a bit heavier than normal cotton sheets and my little old body wrestles with the size and weight to hang them on the line!

Getting them off is a bit easier but then it took me 34 minutes to make the bed and put 8 pillow cases back on the pillows. I thought I was going to bust my fufu valve!

I replaced my oceanic coverlet with the new navy one that I purchased about four months ago. It looks great with the combination of navy, crisp white and avocado green pillow cases. I’ll take a photo tomorrow.

I also found the tree tapestry that once hung on the wall in my shop and hung it behind my bed head. I think it looks pretty good.

Aside from that mammoth task, I ate breakfast by the pool, washed my hair, played trivia, made fresh juice and a lamb salad for lunch then stuffed sweet potato, garlic butter asparagus and the choice of chicken, lamb or pork sausages for dinner.

I posted a couple of parcels to my kids and did a small grocery shop - although even a small grocery shop is expensive these days! 

Tomorrow I’m having my hair cut at a new hairdressing salon and we have a meeting with the financial advisor. BGWLBH and I are going into The Bay early to have a nice breakfast somewhere first.

Now I’m off to snuggle down in my clean sheets.

Nite all.

Angry

Today I feel angry.

For many reasons which I won’t go into here. I listed them in my diary and I need to find a way to resolve and dissolve the anger before my health suffers.

I think I’ll do some ‘journey’ work because that often clears emotional turmoil. Some meditation would help - I meditated by the side of the pool this morning, which improved my mood for several hours.

Journaling is always helpful and I think I need to get out on my trike and perhaps ground myself on the beach.

I didn’t get out of bed until almost 10am and enjoyed my breakfast by the pool.

I decided to make an upside down apple cake (paleo) in the cast iron pan. It was ‘to die for’ especially when still warm. I created a ginger, apple and pear syrup to pour over it. Because it’s made with coconut flour, it tends to dry out after a day or so and the syrup gives it moisture.

I made a juice for lunch - pineapple, apple, orange, kiwi fruit and passionfruit with coconut water and iced water.

I watched ‘Crazy Rich Asians’.

We had an early dinner of lamb roast with orange sweet potato, white sweet potato, pumpkin, zucchini, roasted cherry tomatoes, broccoli and green beans with home made gravy.

We played trivia until our TV shows came on.

It’s now 11pm and I’m feeling weary.

Nite all.