a few things

i haven't posted anything for a while so thought i'd do a small catch up.  i had two procedures last wednesday and they went smoothly.  minor problem found, nothing serious.  i'm back at work now and nothing much changes there.  bedlam.  new staff, new positions, we are not holding our breaths.  supervisor comes back from europe soon, she's been away for a month.  we've been a little bit 'relaxed' at work while she's been gone.  they've put up the date for the start of the new library system.  no big surprises there.
i had lunch today with the g/kids and my daughter.  i bought the kids a mobile phone each.  they were half price and they are really nice little touch phones.  i sat at lunch with the three of them on their phones. i may as well have had lunch alone.  not quite.  i exaggerate just a tad.  i just made some pumpkin soup which isn't too bad so having that and some toast for dinner.  working tomorrow and you know how much i enjoy that.  :)  it's been our coldest june for 25 or so years.  lots of rain too.  i should have gotten some washing done today but it was too wet.  tomorrow maybe

lotus in friend's garden pond

i like the late afternoon sun reflected on the building and in the trees and clouds

Cookie made cupcakes last weekend. they were yum 

i saw a program on the teev the other day about people picking up old thongs (flip flops) from the beach and recycling them into sellable items.  it's a great way to increase their meagre income and they have a website - http://www.theffrc.com/  it's a program about the indian ocean and it's really good.  i think it's on sbs1

it's been a while

hello.  it's been a little while since i blogged.  nothing too much has happened.  i'm having a bit of a thing with my daughter atm.  i won't go into it but it's been quite upsetting. not for the first time or last i guess.  my aunt died on Thursday (my birthday) and the funeral is on tuesday.  she was elderly and went into hospital a few days before she died.  my cousin is coming over from canberrra with her family and i haven't seen them for many years.  we are not a close family really.  i'm going to bali next monday and although not really packed i'm mostly done.  i'm looking forward to a break as it's been a yucky time since my last trip.  what with the cancer and other things ahhhh. i'm hoping a tsunami/earthquake/bomb doesn't go off while we are there. my sister's health is not good either, her blood is too thick. she's worried about it too and is booked in to see a specialist.  her son broke his collar bone at football the other day.  first game of the season.  he was booked to go to bali too and will probably  have to cancel.  it's a very bad break.  they are coming to the hospital Tuesday.  ahhh again.  on a much brighter note i had a lovely birthday.  before  it went pear shaped (daughter problems) we went to breakfast and had a nice day.  son and family gave me a dwarf meyer lemon tree in a specky pot. i will attach a photo.  we went out to lunch yesterday to celebrate.  ???   i guess it's something to celebrate still being around at my age and so far surviving the big c.  should that be C?  lol.  sorry for such a down blog.  i hope you are not about to slash your wrists coz i've depressed you.   shall i tell you a joke to brighten up the mood?  yes?  ok.  q. why did the koala fall out of the tree?  ... scroll down for answer ....













a.  it was dead.   i hope you are laughing and not thinking what a bad taste joke to tell.  i'm laughing.  

at work bird of paradise came out in flower recently.  lovely

the girls plus beetle

dil planting the lemon tree.  i hope it thrives

honey honey

i went shopping yesterday with my son and got veggies and stuff.  we had brekky.  salad and zuchinni fritters for brekky are the bomb.  so delish.  then, we went to the honey 'factory'.  this place is ancient.  it's a few  suburbs away and looks like a time warp.  the building is from the 40s i'd say.  he sells every kind of honey and honey products like pollen and beeswax etc.  i got some beeswax to make some solid perfume for gifts.  i hope it works.  i got some manuka honey which is supposed to be great.  usually i only like indonesian honey.  it's so mild and delicate in flavour.  apparently honey is one of the few food items that doesn't go off.  if it chrysalises just put it over hot water and stir until it gets back to normal.  i have it with green tea and a quarter teaspoon of organic cinnamon.  delish.  here is a pic of the honey factory -

you may have to click on it it enlarge it.  the bloke who runs it is a character.  he offered to pose in the yard working the pulley thingy.  he had a 'grumpy old man' tshirt on but wasn't really that grumpy.  pity that we didn't get a pic of him. 

we had a full on thunderstorm in adelaide yesterday.  lots of rain and amazing thunder and lightening.  bit scary really.  quite a bit of damage done around the city but we escaped any damage/power cuts so thats good.  enjoy your day wherever you are.  :)

my brain

the good news is that they found one.  yay.  i had a cat scan recently.  nothing serious wrong with me.  everything normal except that i've got brain atrophy.  sounds serious.  oooooh.  i googled it,  it just means my brain has shrunk.

the pattern and rate of progression of cerebral atrophy depends on the disease involved. diseases that cause cerebral atrophy include: 

age  bingo***

stroke and traumatic brain injury

depression (mood)  my brain has shrunk, that's enough to depress anyone***

alzheimer's disease, pick’s disease, senile dementia, fronto-temporal dementia, and vascular dementia

cerebral palsy, in which lesions (damaged areas) may impair motor coordination

huntington's disease, and other genetic disorders that cause build-up of toxic levels of proteins in neurons

leukodystrophies, such as krabbe disease, which destroy the myelin sheath that protects axons

mitochondrial encephalomyopathies, such as kearns-sayre syndrome, which interfere with the basic functions of neurons

multiple sclerosis, which causes inflammation, myelin damage, and lesions in cerebral tissue

infectious diseases, such as encephalitis, neurosyphilis, and aids, in which an infectious agent or the inflammatory reaction to it destroys neurons and their axons

epilepsy, in which lesions cause abnormal electrochemical discharges that result in seizures

anorexia nervosa

i've never heard of some of these.  basically i'm a bit young to show signs of it.  it's usually in older people.  it could or could not be a precursor for alzheimer's among other things.  there's no way of telling.  there's no swelling or inflammation and everything else is normal.  i had no idea what is was and had to hold on to the chair.  fancy having the other thing and a brain tumour.  no brain tumour.  yay again.  now for the really scary part.  i've shrunk.  dr weighed and measured me.  i am 168 cm.  well, not anymore.  163 cm now.  i wish my feet would shrink.  my cholesterol level has gone down a bit.  6.8  the hard part is that i have to lose weight.  dr also said that my good cholesterol is high and that would put up my overall reading. bp is good.  well.  after all that i had a lovely lunch with my son and his fam.  he's hurt his back again and will see chiro tomorrow.  all that and a little shopping.  not too horrible.  it's been pouring with rain all day here.  garden will like it.