It’s Halloween

My first baby, had he lived, would have been 48 years old today.

He died at 17 weeks of age, approximately 36 hours after his vaccinations. They named his cause of death as SIDS.

This is the first time I haven’t received a message from Grannymus, remembering the day. She never forgot. She’s the only one. She passed last month. Her absence is especially noticeable for me today.

It’s been a quiet day. 

I finished my washing.

I played with Harley.

I caught up on Celebrity Traitor UK.

I came to bed at 2pm.

I played with Harley at 4.15pm.

I cooked my “fend for yourself” dinner at 5pm.

I watched the movie “The Sixth Sense” because I knew that Chicklet was watching it for the first time with her Mum and Dad tonight in Melbourne for Halloween.

They only just arrived home from holidays this afternoon so trick or treating wasn’t really on the cards.

It’s now 9pm and I’m feeling a little weary.

Nite all.

It’s Been a Week

It was a short, but oh so sweet 43 hours with my Melbourne family.

I caught the railway bus at Howard at midday on Tuesday. The trip took 3.5 hours because we stopped at Gunalda service centre for a whole hour for lunch - most annoying because there was nothing gluten free for me to eat!

I had pre booked an uber ride to take me to Mooloolaba from the station, so luckily, the bus arrived on time and the uber was 5 minutes late. Maria was my driver. She was a very friendly, open, talkative woman in her 50s, so it was a pleasant 25 minute ride that cost me just short of $59.

My family was waiting for me in their driveway and little 5 year old Hazey, who I last met when she was just 17 days old, was quivering with excitement, shifting quickly left and right on her feet and wearing a beaming smile on her face waiting to give me a big squishy hug.

I hugged Vegan Chickie first, then set down my bag and suitcase, dropped to my knees and squeezed little Hazey telling her how happy I was to meet her and how I had been looking forward to this hug all day. She said “I love you Bozzy Wozzy”. 

I lost count of how many times she uttered those words during the 43 hours and it filled my heart every single time.

My little Chicklet isn’t so little anymore! 

She wasn’t outside greeting me, but came into the lounge room after I’d been inside for about 3 minutes. I’m guessing that she was giving Hazey the first ten minutes of my time because she seemed genuinely happy to see me and gave me a big hug.

She is now about 3 inches taller than me! She was very chuffed about that!

After a catch up and gift giving, we ordered Thai for dinner which was delicious.

I think I was in bed by 9.30pm which is way past my bedtime.

I invited Hazey into my room at about 7.30am the next day and we chatted while she went through the thousands of photos and memes saved on my iPad.

We all made ourselves presentable and left for Eumundi markets at about 10.30am arriving at 11am.

We enjoyed exactly one hour of market time, rarely together, because we were all there looking for different things. I parted from them and made my way to the bottom part of the markets when the heavens opened …

For the next two hours I was by myself. I found good shelter from the rain and waited it out.

I found some art.

I also found myself a nice stash of turquoise jewellery. Six necklaces and a ring.

I purchased 2 gifts for BGWLBH. One to give her immediately and one to save for Christmas.

Adoring Husband received a new wallet because his current wallet was literally torn and falling apart.

When the rain stopped, I went in search of my family and found them pretty well drenched under a large umbrella behind a building.

We all bundled into the car and drove home tired but happy.

That evening, I looked after the kids while Vegan Chickie and Mr Perfect had a date night.

They made sure Hazey was asleep before they left.

Chicklet and I spent the night watching multiple episodes of her favourite show “Gravity Falls” while eating junk food. It was sooooo goood. I loved every minute of it.

Mum and Dad returned much earlier than expected and I think I was in bed by 10.30pm.

I struggled to fall asleep and it was 3am when I last looked at the time.

The first soft knock on the door came at 6.12am and then every 3 minutes until 6.27am when I called for Hazey to come in. We had fun and giggles until 8am when I had a shower, made myself presentable, packed my goods and prepared to leave.

Their plan for the day was Australia Zoo, so they drove me to Nambour, where we purchased our morning coffee and spent some time together before I left them for the station.

I was relieved to discover that the trip home was by train which meant the trip home was an hour shorter than the trip down.

Adoring Husband was waiting at the station for me and it was nice to arrive home to a very happy Harley who welcomed me with his wagging tail and loud hellos.

I caught up with both AH and BGWLBH. They made their own dinners.

AH and I watched Big Brother together and I came to bed exhausted. A solid 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep was my reward.

BGWLBH worked today and I played with Harley then went off for a ride on my trike, catching up with an old friend at the Bowls Club and home in time for a late lunch.

I sat with AH for the afternoon watching the quiz shows, played with Harley and came to bed for a rest, where I remained.

I’m currently watching the old movie Cocoon.

I’m definitely ready for sleep now.

Nite all.

Holiday Eve

I’ve made a list, and checked it twice, of what I need to pack tomorrow.

It’s not much because I’m only away for 51 hours and I’ll be travelling for about 7.5 of those hours.

There are huge storms heading in this direction which may hit during the night, but I hope won’t cause me problems for travel.

Adoring Husband had a follow up interview with the accountant this morning, so after Harley play, I hopped on my trike and rode to the shops for coffee.

The river water was looking angry and dirty …

Not something to sit and admire for very long.

I watched a movie with AH before retreating for rest time in my bedroom.

Rogan Josh mince and rice for dinner.

Big Brother and Love Island started tonight!

AH watches BB with me but not Love Island.

Now it’s time to sleep so that I can be fresh for tomorrow’s trip.

Nite all.

Sickly Sunday

My gut issues kept me in bed and/or lying down for most of today.

I hope this eases overnight so that I’m strong and healthy by Tuesday for travel.

The Lamington Bridge in Maryborough is closed due to flooding.

The bridge to Howard, over the Burrum River was closed at 8.30pm tonight.

There has been some flash flooding between here and the Sunshine Coast BUT the Bruce Highway is currently open all the way from here to Sunshine Coast!

Fingers crossed that it remains that way until I arrive down there on Tuesday afternoon!

I did nothing today, except heat up spaghetti bolognese sauce and cook spaghetti to go with.

My visit with The Gypsy was cancelled due to her illness.

I watched golf, journaled, scrolled on social media and drank lots of filtered water.

I played with Harley this morning but it was too wet this afternoon.

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Wonderfully Wet

As of this moment, our community has had the perfect amount of rain.

This afternoon, a water spout crossed land and caused some damage in the other part of town …

It did not impact us.

The weather seems to have moved inland but is still heading towards Gympie and the Sunshine Coast which could cause some mayhem around my catch up with the Vegan Chickie family. 

They have already received communication from the airline warning that their flights may be impacted by the inclement weather. 

Ugh. We cannot control the weather. Let’s hope for the best.

Our rain gauge shows 13mm for the day (it felt like more) and Hervey Bay, according to the BOM, had 30mm, but that’s at the airport - people have declared between 40-50mm in their gauges.

BGWLBH and I spent about two hours in the rainy Bay and the rain was pretty heavy during that time. It rained all the way home and there were big puddles on the side of the road.

There was a pause in the heavy rain late this afternoon so that Harley and I could play around the pool for 20 minutes and he could release some of that border collie energy.

I cooked myself two barramundi steaks and served them with a mango, avocado, cucumber, tomato, pine nut and goats cheese salad. Absolutely delicious for my “fend for yourself” dinner.

I was in my bedroom by about 6pm and am watching the golf, but I think it’s time to sleep.

Tomorrow will be a visit to The Gypsy who is house sitting around the corner again.

Nite all.