Hi friends

How can we already be halfway through Autumn? I must say, after a cold start, the weather has been mild and lovely lately. I’m still in short sleeves although the early morning dog walk now requires a fleece for the first 10 minutes until you warm up

I was sorry to read about your ongoing foot problems Thin, I have been thinking about that and kept forgetting to ask. I’m glad you managed to get in to see the orthopaedic doctor

I only knew one grandparent, my paternal grandmother, and she lived next door to Mum and Dad all their married life (well until she passed away). She was not a very nice person and gave my poor Mum hell but she put up with it out of love for my Dad. When Mr Anzac and I got engaged, Nana was in a home and not doing well. My Mum said “your [bleeping] grandmother will die just before your wedding just to spite me” Guess what? She did. A year later and 8 days before the wedding we had a funeral to arrange that was 2 days before the wedding. It actually worked out well because the relatives coming from other parts of NSW were able to attend both without returning home. Anyway, I can’t remember much about what she cooked but as a fussy eater child I remember thinking ‘yuck, more stewy stuff’. Ha ha

Weight has crept up a bit this week, must be more mindful.

Cinque I hope your grogginess was fleeting? You asked about work, it is up and down but not too crazy thankfully. Yet. That part is coming

Take care all

Thin, it was a frantic, fraught time of course but both funeral and wedding went well (apart from my bridesmaidzilla…..for another story)

Have a safe trip, Intesha. It’s virtually an Aussie rite of passage to attend the Gallipoli dawn service. I can totally empathise about the storage locker and the absurd cost associated with it. Ours is now the cost of a small mortgage payment and we try not to think about it too much. At the time, it was the most practical solution (and a quarter of what we’re now paying) but, of course, we never thought it would stretch to close on five years. Thank goodness for all the junk that I managed to dispose of.

Now, with the cost of housing in Perth, we joke about moving in to the storage locker ourselves if/when we return. I wonder whether you’ve considered house/pet-sitting as a means of giving you a bit of time to look for suitable housing? If it’s something that might appeal to you, I can give you the name of the company I’ve been using for years. It’s also a good way of exploring a specific area while living like a local. The sits can be a matter of days or months.

Yes that was me Thin, I had one a few weeks ago. Great news – everything was fine and he was most impressed with my ability to manage the diverticulitis; only one hospital visit and two minor flare-ups in three years. I have pouches on both sides of the colon whereas most sufferers have them only on the left. So my never-wavering daily intake of fibre has done the trick.

Now why can’t I have that level of focus and will power on the rest of my diet? Therein ponders the big question. Sigh

I’m sorry to hear about your housing situation Intesha. I hope you find somewhere asap when you return from Turkey and I hope you have a wonderful holiday. I will be thinking of you on Anzac day

I’ll write properly tomorrow.
But Lindsay, just have to say how much I feel for you going through this with your daughter. I can imagine the distress. But I also know she will just have felt shock and distress and taken it out on you in extremis. I do hope the chasm closes easily and soon.

Good morning,

Anzac, good news on the colonoscopy. I meant to ask before, then forgot. Posts are less frequent these days which in some ways is easier to follow than the frenetic posting of previous years but I’m afraid I lose track of my own time, let alone that of others’ so I’m sorry I neglected to ask before.

Cinque, I hope you have a productive day in the garden. Or a pleasant one at least.

Lindsay, that’s sad about the rift. I can appreciate both sides of that situation. But your DD has entrusted you with her precious daughter’s care and, with that, comes acceptance of your judgement to carry out the task as you see fit. Hopefully, she’ll come to appreciate that you were only acting in the best interests of all concerned. And that she’s very fortunate to have you to depend upon for child-minding.

We are slowly travelling north on the Oxford Canal, a section of stunning scenery that we’ve cruised four times before but always with a deadline to get somewhere else. After 45 minutes of cruising, we became so cold that we moored just short of a picturesque lock and went for a long walk. On return, my day took a significant upturn when, across the canal, I spotted two otters swimming, diving for shellfish and enjoying a meal out of them from within a watery den. Their teeth are huge! One then swam to the lock, climbed out, lumbered along the towpath, rolled in the grass, took a look at me and then disappeared into the hedgerow. Otters are notoriously shy and sightings are rare so I was very excited.

I put the camera trap out but we’ll be lucky to see them again as their territories extend 40 km and there’s a river adjacent to the canal. Of course, I’m keeping a keen lookout and telling no one.

Day after FD and I didn’t make the 59s which is annoying.

Morning all, sorry I haven’t posted for a while, but I’ve been really hectic.

We’ve been keeping an eye on property listings at the moment, because my wife is struggling with her health a bit and wants a house with a flatter smaller section. We aren’t seriously looking until our younger boy finishes school in 2 1/2 years, by which time our mortgage should be almost paid off. But if something perfect came up in the meantime we were going to pull the trigger. Something perfect did come up so I’ve been running around getting appraisals on our house, contacting the bank trying to organise finance, and starting to do some renovations so our house would be ready to go on the market if our offer was accepted. Well, our bank was ridiculous, even though out mortgage is only $40k and we were offering $450k on the house we wanted, they wouldn’t give bridging finance for a few weeks so we could get our house sold, that meant that we had to put in an offer conditional on selling our house. Unfortunately, that meant that our offer was turned down because there was a slightly lower cash offer on the table, and they went for that.

The whole situation has prompted me to get our house all in order, so if we do find something else, we can pull the trigger and get it on the market straight away. I’ll also go through a mortgage broker to see if we can find another bank to lend us the money. I didn’t do that this time, because we needed to get the offer in straight away, so I didn’t really have time to look at other banks. But we’ve started wallpapering the tired looking walls in the hall and two of the bedrooms, changing curtains, fixing up all the little things I’ve been putting off doing for ages.

That led to a bit of stress eating and I gained a kilo over the last two weeks. I’m hoping that now that the house stuff is no longer as urgent that I can settle back into my normal eating/exercise routine.

Hi everyone, long time no post again – my apologies!

Intesha, I watched the Dawn Service in Gallipoli and thought of you. It was so moving and I’m sure it was a most amazing experience for you

How absolutely frustrating and maddening Neil. I’m sorry you lost out on a chance to purchase the new home and I hope next time things go more smoothly. Stupid Bank

I’m so glad your small meals are working out well for you Cinque, I really have to watch my portion sizes as I live with a man-mountain who eats ENORMOUS portions so even if mine looks so much smaller than Mr A’s it can still be way too much

Sorry to hear about your laptop LJ, I also hate trying to use my phone. I am all thumbs when it comes to typing on the little screen. Such good news about no longer needing regular appointments with your dietician; that to me signals that you are ‘there’ 🙂

I’m really sorry about your stress levels Lindsay and the accident with you granddaughter. I hope you and your daughter have been able to ease the rift as I’m sure she was just reacting to the shock. How was your week at the beach?

How awesome to see two otters Thin, I would love that. Thanks for the nice words re the colonoscopy, what a relief it was especially given the PTSD about Mr A’s bowel cancer nightmare in 2022/2023

So I only lost 200g in nearly two weeks and decided enough was enough. I bought a gorgeous jacket years ago for the 2019 trip but it came from England and their sizes must be way out as it was too small and I had to go and buy another one even though I lost 15kg. It is still too small (clearly) so I have this week embarked on operation speedy weight loss as it is perfect for the next trip in November. Yesterday and today I got up even earlier than normal and went for a 3km walk around our hilly suburb. Small portion of Mr A’s home-made muesli for breakfast, warm meat salad for lunch and a normal dinner but significant watch on portion size. I lost 300g overnight so whilst I know that velocity can’t be maintained I think it is a step in the right direction

Must run, work hollers. Take care everyone