I Need a Free Day

Six days in a row of being social, shopping and reconnecting.

I am weary.

If my energy is low tomorrow (Sunday), I might just spend some extended rejuvenating time in my bedroom.

I took Harley out to play at 8.40am.

BGWLBH invited me into The Bay, but I declined her offer.

The Gypsy is currently house and dog sitting so I decided, this afternoon, to visit her.

I watched a movie with Adoring Husband beforehand. It was on Netflix and was called “The Late Bloomer”. Apparently, loosely based on a true story. It was a fairly easy watch, with many recognisable actors. It certainly didn’t require any brain work, but it killed 90 minutes until I left to visit The Gypsy.

At 1pm I hopped on my trike and rode the 350 metres to where she is staying. We sat on the front deck for 3 hours chatting about everything and anything while taking in the view of tall trees, green grass and the glistening blue waters of the river.

We drank tea while watching people get swooped by nesting magpies, which was quite entertaining.

At 4pm I returned home to catch the second half of the AFL grand final between Fremantle and Brisbane Lions. The score at half time was 43-43. The score seesawed throughout the game and with 4 minutes remaining, Brisbane Lions were losing by 17 points. They found a whole new gear in that final 4 minutes and ended up winning 96-89 for their third grand final win in a row.

My ‘fend for yourself’ dinner was chicken sausages in tomato and onion gravy with leftover mashed potato. It was delicious comfort food.

We usually watch 3 games of NRL football on a Saturday afternoon/evening, so we are feeling a bit lost tonight with no NRL at all.

We have to wait until 4pm Sunday for the preliminary final between Penrith Panthers and Newcastle Knights. I’ve tipped the Knights. Wishful thinking probably.

Now it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.

Rainy Start

Another day in The Bay.

Thanks to a visit to Office Works, my obsession continues …

… another journal, 3 notebooks and a sticker book full of Winnie the Pooh pics and quotes.

We had breakfast at Arkarra Tea Gardens and were accosted by magpies! I leant across the table and picked up some bacon fat off BGWLBH’s plate, but before I could put it in my mouth, a magpie flew between us and stole it from between my fingers!

THEN …

BGWLBH picked up some fat to toss to the magpie, but her hand was barely ten inches above the plate, when the magpie did the same thing to her! Impatient little bugger.

They were very brave.

It was raining quite heavily between Craignish and Hervey Bay and there were a lot of large puddles lying across the roads and in the car parks.

BGWLBH went to work at midday so I did a lot of walking, browsing, wandering, sitting, drinking tea and wasting time for four hours. In that time, I only purchased some bacon and sausages from the butcher and some juice and cake from Jam Jar Cafe. I couldn’t find anything else worth spending my money on.

Needless to say, I am feeling very weary this evening.

BGWLBH shouted us takeaway dinner from Mum’s Charcoal and Grill. Roasted chicken, cheesy cauliflower, potato bake and coleslaw. It was nice to not have to think about dinner.

I’m watching Roosters vs Dolphins in the first preliminary final for the weekend. Roosters are winning 22-10 with 32 minutes to go.

I feel that I will sleep well tonight.

Nite all.

Riverside

It was morning coffee with the art girls day.

A little breezy but still quite comfortable under the shelter at the park. The tide was quite high, the sky was blue, there were people fishing, walking their dogs, riding their scooters, bikes and trikes, cooking bacon and eggs on the public barbecues and reading under the trees.

For school holidays, it’s pretty quiet in town. The caravan parks are not even half full and our local baker has gone on holidays for two weeks!

We had two hours catching up with each others news and sharing the town gossip before we said our farewells and headed off in different directions

I rode my trike and stopped at the supermarket for some lunch to take home.

Spent the afternoon in bed with Harley leaning against me while I watched Jet Lag and my quiz shows.

I made a quick and easy creamy chicken, bacon and mushroom pasta for dinner and served it with a garden salad.

Even though I dozed during the afternoon, I’m feeling a bit weary now. It’s 10pm.

I think I’m going into The Bay tomorrow so I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Cupboard is Full

BGWLBH had an appointment at the nail salon this morning so I decided to accompany her into The Bay.

After the appointment, we had plenty on our list so we were all over the place. Eleven different shops.

The nail appointment was for 9.30am and we were home before 2pm with a boot load of bags. Nothing exciting and mostly food or supermarket items like tissues, toilet paper, ziplock bags, freezer bags, paper towels etc.

In the shopping centre was a pop up kiosk set up to recruit and sign up people to provide regular donations for research into Diabetes and Heart Disease. Today they were focusing on Heart Disease.

The young man (I guess at age 22) was trying to attract my attention, but after I said “no” and tried to walk away, he waved a card and said “we are just trying to give away these cards” and waved it toward me. So I took it …

I hit him on his shoulder and called him a dick. 

But then I did actually listen for about ten minutes.

He rambled on about new medical breakthroughs and figures on heart disease deaths. Apparently, in Australia, one person dies of heart disease every 12 minutes.

He attempted to get my contact details and card details so that the organisation could contact me in the future regarding donations.

I declined.

He tried from another angle but I declined again and he very politely accepted my decision and as I walked away, he wished me a good day.

He was an interesting distraction in my day.

I cooked stuffed chicken breast rollups for dinner and served it with roast pumpkin and spinach salad and grilled tomatoes. Adoring Husband went for seconds.

It’s now almost 10.30pm and I have morning tea with the art girls tomorrow morning, so I’d best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Socially Packed

My day was socially packed.

A 77th birthday party with 6 of us in attendance.

Mrs Bucket had already celebrated with a dozen others on the weekend, but today was her actual birthday, so we decided to go to the pub restaurant to eat. Our first choice would have been the Bowls Club, but their bistro is temporarily/indefinitely closed on Mondays/Tuesdays.

I had not heard any good reports on the food at the pub. None. All reports were negative so I wasn’t looking forward to lunch.

I selected chicken and prawn salad = $22.

It included 3 grilled chicken tenderloins, 5 king prawns, chunks of mango, red capsicum, red onion, grated carrots, shaved Parmesan cheeses, mixed lettuce leaf, olives and dressing.

I’m pleased to report that it was delicious! The chicken was tender, the prawns perfectly cooked and the salad fresh. My only complaint would be that the mango was from a tin.

The girls shared 2 bottles of wine and I drank Tonic Water with lemon.

The conversation almost entirely consisted of theirs and others’ health issues. Falls causing broken bones - wrists, knees, hips, ribs and shoulders. Medications, Drs and Specialists names, complications arising and deaths.

This is an issue for me that stops me from socialising.

I’m 66yrs old and not on any medications. I’ve only just started supplementing with Vit B12 but I don’t take other supplements. All of these ladies are on multiple medications for multiple medical conditions and yet continue to be weak, frail and unwell.

So I don’t enjoy being present for these conversations and it’s the reason I almost always decline social invitations. It’s rare to find healthy individuals over 60yrs of age.

That birthday lunch took 2 hours of my time and it was nice to see the girls with whom I once spent a prolific amount of time.

From there, Adoring Husband dropped me off at The Motivator’s house where I spent another two hours.

Completely different vibe, being like minded, are our own healthcare advocates, avoid medications, have very similar belief systems and do everything possible to use natural means to correct or heal our bodies.

Over the years, in my experience, I have healed all, bar one, medical problem in my own body. I’ve had a particular health problem for 8 years, the severity of which, fluctuates between ‘barely noticeable’ to ‘I need to sit or lie down to alleviate the pain ten times in a day’.

I’m working on it.

Still.

Anyway I had a lovely catch up with The Motivator for two hours. We talked and talked and talked until AH arrived at 4pm to take me home.

GF pies with mash and steamed snow peas, green beans and carrots for dinner. I had mashed potatoes mixed with avocado, spring onions, tuna and cottage cheese.

I’m off to the Bay tomorrow so it’s time to sleep.

Nite all