Mum’s Health

Hello Monday, hello world, hello bloggers and hello family, how is life treating everyone on this lovely Monday morning the 16^th January 2017.

I am well, I have been up and dressed since 5.30am and what have I done, well I have read around 35 blogs and now I am writing a post for the day, I have also had breakfast but not much to do in way of housework today, just need to put the clean washing away and unpack the dishwasher I turned it on to wash at 6am.

Now to some news about my mum, yesterday she wasn’t good again like she was last week when Sandy rang the ambos but this time they didn’t bother with the ambos they just put her to bed and was keeping a close eye on her during the day.

Both mum and dad have a doctors appointment this morning at 8.30am with Andrew the doctor they have seen for many years and have to say he is a pretty damn good doctor, I think Sandra will be going with them to the doctors.

I felt like crying yesterday when I saw mum, I also felt useless as with my bad knees and bad back and shaking hands there is little I can do. I sent messages to all my girls as well as Kelli and Kirsty to let them know how their nanna was and I received this message from Kelli that made me feel a bit better.

“I’m sure if you were as young as Sandra is and not going through

your own pain and suffering you’d be there too. I know you would

want to be there for nan and do more, but your tremors and bad

knees won’t help. And Nana knows that loves you, you are not

useless, just cause someone else can do more doesn’t make you

chop liver”

I am praying for mum every day, along with praying for Natasha who is going through her own stuff now, stuff I cannot talk about because she doesn’t want me to, stuff I would love to be able to talk to mum about but have not been able to do so.

Mum hasn’t been right since Nanna died and all the family are worried about her, I know my sister will ring me later and tell me what Andrew had to say about mum. It was suggested when she was in hospital last week that she goes into Belmont hospital for 7 to 14 days for assessment and for a plan to be drawn up and put in place to help her recover but mum didn’t want that and I understand that but since less then a week after returning home she was not with it again shows it wasn’t a once of and she has to do something more. We are going on a cruise in May and mum needs her health to improve before then.

Also yesterday we were talking about how us siblings thing mum and dad need to have an Enduring Guardianship with Sandra and Dave appointed as their guardians. Want to know more about an Enduring Guardianship go here: http://www.tag.nsw.gov.au/enduring-guardian-faqs.html

So this is something we will have to talk to mum and dad about sometime soon, I also want to contact the Dept of Housing to find out how they go about getting the house altered to make it easier for mum to get in and out of the house as she can’t manage the stairs any more and needs hand rails in the toilet and bathroom as well.

I do wonder how Dawson is really coping with all this he is very much a nanny’s boy and he doesn’t say much but I am sure he is worried about his nanna and wouldn’t like to see her the way she is at the moment.

History of Australia Pt 2

Here we are doing another post on the history of Australian and Aboriginals, today I am going to talk about land ownership and the Aboriginals relationship with the land.

The first act of land ownership by Europeans came within four days of arrival when a group of men from the HMS Sirius went ashore to clear land to gain access to fresh water.

By 26 January, the First Fleet had found its way to Sydney Cove and landed there on the harbour. Those first Europeans had a dim view of the Aboriginal way of life, properly because it wasn’t a way of life they were used to but that is just my thought.

This excerpt is taken from the diary of Watkin Tench, an officer in the First Fleet:

It does not appear that these poor creatures have any fixed Habitation; sometimes sleeping in a Cavern of Rock, which they make as warm as a Oven by lighting a Fire in the middle of it, they will take up their abode here, for one Night perhaps, then in another the next Night. At other times (and we believe mostly in Summer) they take up their lodgings for a Day or two in a Miserable Wigwam, which they made from Bark of a Tree. There are dispersed about the woods near the water, 2, 3, 4 together; some Oyster, Cockle and Muscle (sic) Shells lie about the Entrance of them, but not in any Quantity to indicate they make these huts their constant Habitation. We met with some that seemed entirely deserted indeed it seems pretty evident that their Habitation, whether Caverns or Wigwams, are common to all, and Alternatively inhabited by different Tribes.

However, for the aboriginal people and those clans living on the northern shoes of Sydney nothing could have been further from the truth and what the colonists never understood and still many Australians now still have trouble getting is that the Aboriginal lifestyle was based on a total kinship with nature and the natural environment.

Of course wisdom and skills were obtained over time that enabled them to get the most out of their environment. For the aboriginal people killing animals for food and building shelter were steeped in ritual and spirituality and was carried out in perfect balance with their surroundings.

… from time immemorial, we believe as Aboriginal people, Australia has been here from the first sunrise, our people have been here along with the continent, with the first sunrise. We know our land was given to us by Baiami, we have a sacred duty to protect that land, we have a sacred duty to protect all the animals that we have an affiliation with through our totem system …1
Jenny Munro, Wiradjuri nation

For the Aboriginal food was in abundant, as was fresh water and shelter, they found everything needed for a healthy life was readily available. However, with the arrival of Europeans that would not remain the case.

With the new arrivals came armed conflict and a huge lack of understanding and some narrow minded people who thought they knew best. This heralded the demised of the northern Sydney clans as well as other Aboriginals from the Sydney basin such as the Dharawal to the south and Dharug to the west.

It didn’t take long for food shortages to become a problem as the large white population depleted the fish by using nets to catch large amounts of fish. The also reduced the kangaroo population with unsustainable hunting, they cleared the land and polluted the water, this caused the Aboriginal people to be close to starvation.

That will do it for this post, more to come later.

New Beaut Products? Or Not

We all see these infommerscials were this new great product is being flogged to us products like the Paint Runner Pro, don’t know what it is then go here and see: http://buypaintrunner.com.au/ now if you are like me you wonder if these products we see on the telly really work. I am always sceptical of these new beaut products and unlike some I usually do some research before I buy the product but many don’t they see it they buy it then they complain it isn’t as good as it is shown to be on the telly.

Another product I have seen and thought might be good is Five Second-fix this product you can go here and see what it is: https://www.globalshop.com.au/products/5-second-fix, so say it is a waste of money so I was sceptical about buying it but Tim said when he saw the adds he wouldn’t mind trying it so when I saw it at the local shopping centre I bought it for him it was only $20 so if it doesn’t work it isn’t a big waste of money we will see what happens when he uses it.

Many years ago I bought a miracle-thaw go here to learn more http://www.kitchencookery.co.uk/miracle-thaw/4551586854, anyway it was one product I still use to this day, I love it, it works as it says it should so sometimes you do get lucky and the new beaut product works.

So here is my question to all of you have you ever bought any of these new beaut products or any product advertised on any infommerscials and if so did you find the product to work as it was advertised.

Five things Friday

Here it is Friday again, so here is this weeks five things

Falling out of bed

Hospital stay

Returning home

Not going shopping

Taking it easy

In the news today

In the news this morning is a story about a ride at Movieworld breaking down and people needing to be rescued, not good but no one was hurt which is the most important thing.

Of course Donald Trump was in the news yet again, after his first speech since winning the election and anyone hearing him people were saying he sounded like the idiot he is others were shocked that he didn’t say and sound more like a president should, what the hell if the man came out and said and acted like a president should people would be saying what happened to Trump who is the imposter so shut up he is who he is the American people voted him in. What type of president he will be is something we will see in time if he really sucks and does a horrible job he may be a one term president as I said only time will tell.

Ok it seems Kim Kardashian’s chauffeur is off the hook guess what I don’t care……………………..

ANZAC day celebrations in the Blue Mountains may need to be cancelled due to lack of money for anti-terror security measures. NSW police are meeting with the RSL and council to try to work it out, it would be terrible if ANZAC day was spoilt this is the type of thing that makes many of us thing the terrorists are winning when we have to cancel events.

Another toddler has died from drowning which is terrible, he drowned in a knee deep fish pond in his front yard just another reminded that drownings can happen anywhere in only a little amount of water.

I wouldn’t want to be one of the pass angers flying to Bali with Tigerair since the airline cannot fly into Indonesia, Virgin are bringing people stranded in Bali home to Australian and Tigerair say they are working to sort out the problem with Indonesia.

Also Jack Russell-cross had a close encounter with a snake, after it became stuck on her collar.

His owner had no idea how the snake became entangled in the dogs collar on the weekend.

It was stuck, it would not budge, so a trip to the vet was in order and the snake was eventually removed but not before Stella (the dog)was bitten but after a night in doggy hospital she made a full recovery.

Oh yeah scientist have discovered why women gain weight and unable to lose it, now this is shocking news, we………….eat too much of the wrong foods and we don’t exercise enough, would would have thought that too much food high in sugar and fat would lead to weight gain and sitting on ones bum most of the day would lead to a big bum, but scientists have discovered it to be true……..now you know.

Also on Sunrise this morning that more people are outsourcing tasks like buying school supplies and treating nits in their child’s hair why because they are too busy to do things for their child, damn that sounds like I am a meanie which I am not, I understand that some parents are super busy working and some like a daughter of mine just reckon they don’t know what to buy and such so I end up doing it for her.

Ok that is enough dribble for today but before I go one last thing mum is well enough to return home much to her happiness but she is going to have to make some changes she needs to use her walker more often as in all the bloody time mum and my brother and sister want her to get a Webster pack for her and dads medications but she doesn’t want to do that so instead she is thinking of doing what I do and make them up once a week herself.

That’s me done and dusted, not that I dust, I should but rarely do

Reading Emails, My Mum & Jessica’s Air Conditioner

Do you read your emails?

At times I wonder about Tim and if he ever reads his emails, last night he noticed a charge on his visa card and got into a tiss over it, he didn’t know what it was and didn’t authorised it and rang the Newcastle Permanent Building Society to complain, they cancelled the card and will issue a new card and all that is going to cause problems with money transfers and such.

Now here is the thing, this morning when I got up I remembered him saying something about it last night but I was in bed asleep or more asleep then awake and didn’t really register with me what he was going on about. This morning it did so I went and checked his emails and yeah there was an email from the company that took the money it was for our contents insurance. So I told him that this morning and he said they shouldn’t just take the money they should have contacted me, I said they did contact you they emailed you to tell you that they would be taking the premium on such and such a date, he has been going on how it was wrong and they should have rang him, I said businesses doing ring you about such things they email and if you don’t want them to take a premium you have to ring them and talk to them. He is going on about wanting his money back but the more I have talked to him the more I think it is slowly sinking in, well I hope it is.

All this would have been avoided if he only read his emails.

In other news my mum is in hospital yesterday she wasn’t feeling well and was in bed till around midday as she wasn’t feeling good, she had fallen out of bed at 2am and was in pain but when my sister went to check on her she was confused and not with it so she rang the ambos who took her to hospital.

My sister Sandra and brother Dave stayed with her at the hospital for a long time, she had ct scans done as they thought she may have had a mini stroke, thankfully she didn’t the ct scan of the brain showed no bleed or anything nasty. While at the hospital she was unable to have anything to drink and what they ended up saying was that they thought she was a bit dry as in dehydrated and gave her a drip and after a while she started to improve.

They also gave her a ct scan of her hip as they thought she had possibly broken her hip but that was clear but did show a lot of arthritis in her hip the orthopaedic surgeon was shocked at how much arthritis there was.

We don’t know how long she will be in hospital for we are taking it one day at a time, I spoke to her this morning and she sounded ok but she was in a lot of pain. Mum said yesterday when Dave and Sandy woke her she was wondering why it was midday she kept thinking I went to bed at night why is it midday. Also when the doctors and hospital staff asked her what year it was she couldn’t remember and couldn’t count back from 20, she would get to 11 and go forward again but as I said when I spoke to her earlier she was sounding more with it.

This morning Tim and Michael have gone to install Jessica’s new air conditioning unit it is a large window unit and I told Tim I wanted it installed today as tomorrow it is suppose to be in the 40’s and it is not doing any good sitting in her boot.

Leo is now 9

Good morning all, as you may have noticed I wasn’t around much yesterday I read a few blogs in the morning but since I had a sleep in and didn’t get up till 6.30am I didn’t have time to do much before it was time for us to leave. Leave you say, well yesterday was Little Leo’s birthday he turned 9, yes my Little Leo is now 9 and to celebrate we as in me & papa along with Jessica & Leo went to Hunter Valley Gardens here is the link: http://www.huntervalleygardens.com.au/

We arrived around 9.20am and left at 1.20pm so was a nice day out, more photos will be added here on Wednesday but of course here are some taken yesterday.

We had a small family party for him here yesterday afternoon with BBQ chicken and hot chips for tea followed by ice cream cake. The only one who wasn’t here was Blain as he was with his father at his father’s mothers place and didn’t get dropped off in time.

You will notice in the photos I was using a walking stick and have to say it made a big difference, I managed to get around pretty ok but after lunch which was a bacon & egg roll with a side of chips I started to feel a bit unwell it was really hot by then temp around 37°c. Jessica, Leo and I went for a ride on the little train that took us around the gardens that was nice and Leo saw some things he wanted to show papa so after the ride Tim and Leo went off to see other stuff Jessica and I sat in the shade and waited for them.

All in all it was a good day and Leo said he had an awesome time and it showed.

Saturday

Good afternoon world, how is everyone, I am ok it has been a somewhat warm to hot day I have not been able to think of what to bore you all with today and since I have not been able to come up with anything I am just going to do a check list of things I have done today.

Get out of bed at 5.30am checked

Blogs read               checked

Leo returned to his mum  checked

Massage had               checked

Laundry done & on the line checked

Dishwasher run & unpacked   checked

Floors vacuumed              checked

Bread bought                  checked

Garbage bins emptied          checked

Recycled bins emptied         checked

Birthday presents wrapped     checked

Washing off the line          checked 

Medications sorted for the week          checked

Pick Blain up                still to do

So as you can see my day has been so so, and I will be glad when the day is over and I can go to bed, I might add that last night at 3am I woke up to go to the toilet and found Leo in bed with us, not sure what time he got into my bed he hasn’t done that in a long time.

I asked him about it this morning he said he had a bad dream something about the neighbours fighting and gunshots being fired, so he came into my bed for a hug and that is why he was in bed with me and papa.

History of Australia and Aboriginal People

Good morning all here I am this somewhat wet morning thinking about what to write about and after some thought decided I would tell you a little bit about the history of this country and the Aboriginal people who have lived here since way back when.

Europeans arrived in and yes I know some would say invaded this country way back in 1788, back then the locals known as Aboriginals lived here for some say thousands of years, wandering around this great country and living off the land.

“… they were so ignorant they thought there was only one race on the earth and that was the white race. So when Captain Cook first came, when Lieutenant James Cook first set foot on Wangal land over at Kundul which is now called Kurnell, he said oh lets put a flag up somewhere, because these people are illiterate, they’ve got no fences. They didn’t understand that we didn’t need fences … that we stayed here for six to eight weeks, then moved somewhere else where there was plenty of tucker and bush medicine and we kept moving and then come back in twelve months’ time when the food was all refreshed …” the late Aunty Beryl Timbery Beller

I will not pretend to understand how the Aboriginal people feel about other Australians because I don’t know, what I do know is that the way they were treated was disgusting we can’t undo what was done we can only do better in the future.

What I do know that it must have been scary having all these strangers arrive in their country, strangers who brought with them new unknown diseases that the locals had no idea how to treat. These diseases would have caused so much suffering and death for the locals.

It is estimated that over 750,000 Aboriginal people inhabited the island in 1788. It should be noted that the colonists were led to believe that the island was “terra nullius” (no ones land) which is what James Cook declared the country to be in 1771 during his voyage around the coast of the country.

We found the natives tolerably numerous as we advanced up the river, and even at the harbour’s mouth we had reason to conclude the country more populous than Mr Cook thought it. For on the Supply’s arrival in the [Botany] bay on the 18th of the month they assembled on the beach of the south shore to the number of not less than forty persons, shouting and making many uncouth signs and gestures. This appearance whetted curiosity to its utmost, but as prudence forbade a few people to venture wantonly among so great a number, and a party of only six men was observed on the north shore, the governor immediately proceeded to land on that side in order to take possession of this new territory and bring about an intercourse between its new and old masters.
Watkin Tench, January 1788

It is now believed that the Island continent was in fact owned by over 400 different nations at the time of Cook’s claim that the island was no ones land. In fact Captain Philip was astounded with Cook’s theory saying “Sailing up into Sydney cove we could see natives on the shore shaking spears and yelling” so how could Cook say the land was no ones.

For thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans, northern Sydney was occupied by different Aboriginal clans, living mostly on the foreshores of the harbour were they fished and hunted in the area and harvested food from the bush. They were self-sufficient and mostly harmonious, they traded with other tribes. They would move throughout their country in accordance with the seasons, they would spend around 5 hours per day working to ensure their survival.

Because they had such large amounts of what we call leisure time they developed a rich and complex life with customs and laws the heart of which was the connection to the land.

The arrival of Lt James Cook in 1771 was the beginning of the end for this ancient way of life, his voyage of exploration had sailed under instructions to take possession of the Southern Continent if it was uninhabited, or with the consent of the natives if it was not uninhabited, either way it was to be taken. So really whether those who inhabited the land gave their consent or not didn’t matter.

Upon his arrival Lt Cook declared the land which he called New South Wales to be the property of Britain’s King George 111, and ignored the inconvenient fact that the land was already well populated. Of course his failure to even attempt to gain the consent of the Aboriginal people began the legal fiction that the country was waste and unoccupied.

Of course Cook was soon followed by the arrival of the First Fleet in January 1788, under the command of Captain Arthur Philip who mission was to establish a penal colony and take control of Terra Australia for settlement. More about that in a later post.