Just a quick photo at the Dr Surgery, it’s still 24/7 with little sleep but slowly Mr B is improving and getting back to a new normal. Life is so fragile and so tenacious. Now I just need to get me sorted out. That’s next … I hope.
A Dahlia
•January 12, 2020 • Leave a Comment•December 23, 2019 • Leave a Comment
Well the hurry up and wait became surgery and now long hours at the hospital have turned into 24/7 nursing care and sleep deprivation. It’s almost Christmas but I am postponing it till I wake up. So for all my friends and family who haven’t heard from me I will pop up again soon and I hope it’s because all is well and a medical miracle but it might not be.
I took this photo at the garden Center before this last hospital visit. I would love to grow water lilies, they have a magical contemplation quality about them, but I want the great big pond and seat to go with.
Life takes over
•November 10, 2019 • Leave a CommentIt’s been a bit of a tough time these last few weeks with lots of medical, ED visits and hurry up and wait. We are facing big choices that are choosing between a rock and and a hard place and all I really want is a third option. But sitting on rock hard plastic chairs for hours brings time to play with filters and so far this is the best I think I have ever managed
Perfect Peony
•October 31, 2019 • Leave a CommentI just love Peony’s, I must have taken 500 photos and that’s just with the one I grew myself. Which by the way was pretty amazing as I had bought the root in Christchurch and had it rescued and shipped up. There may be a few more photos over the next few days as I play with them, just a warning as there is a distinct possibility I may be addicted to photographing these amazing flowers – a secondary hobby to champagne collecting tho.
Rhodies
•October 27, 2019 • Leave a CommentI love the Azaleas and Rhodies bringing a blast of colour to spring. I remember the stunning gardens at Ilam and every time I came back to Christchurch in spring I would take my mum for a picnic. But I never struck a fragrant Rhodie like this one – huge blooms and such a distinctive delicious perfume -absolutely delightful.
Today is the first fine day we have had where the wind has dropped and there are no black clouds threatening. After last nights shock loss it feels like, in some indefinable way, everything has changed. I remember many years ago we would head up to Lochmara Bay at Labour weekend to get the Bach ready for summer and it would be a time to make new plans and look forward to new possibilities. I guess sometimes change and disappointment both feel the same but each offer the possibility to use them to create something better…. or wallow with very good wine ….my new hobby is collecting champagne…. and drinking it 😁😎
Sunshine
•September 15, 2019 • Leave a Comment
…just for a brief walk in the blossom watching the cheeky Tui’s duck and dive, such a delight.
Wet wet wet
•September 9, 2019 • Leave a CommentI love spring and I don’t mind the rain but sometimes too much is just too much. Time to dry out enough to plant the spuds and let Tuis play in the blossom and let me emerge from my cocoon.
Looking for the little spaces in the weather to escape out into the glorious colour that’s starting to show itself everywhere.
Dodged a bullet
•August 24, 2019 • Leave a CommentBarney is a WWII vet and was on the HMNZS Gambia in Tokyo harbour at the end of the war, they were alongside General McArthurs ship for the signing of the Peace treaty. At the time of the ceasefire the Gambia was attacked by a kamakazi and the ships company had scrambled, Barney was a gunner, they knew they had little chance against it when an American Corsair flew over and shot it down right in front of them. They were thought to be one of the last engagements of the war. Totally dodged a bullet. The men tracked down the pilot of that Corsair years later to bring him to NZ and thank him. Well he has totally dodged a bullet again, with no option to operate and half his colon hanging out they were preparing for the end, the surgeon was not optimistic but decided to give manually pushing it back in one last try. Like wrestling a reluctant jellyfish, then a miracle, it stayed in. Barney is back home now watching his favourite races and having a beer. Yes we know the time is not long but Barney is determined to relax and enjoy it to the end on his own terms and it sure looks like he will.
Barney
•August 22, 2019 • 1 Comment
Rain or shine Barney is out there at 97 cleaning up the rubbish on Old Taupo Road, he’s been doing it for years, it’s his way to give back and people toot and wave and stop and chat. One day he was cleaning up after a car crash and someone stopped and helped him put a car panel on his walker to get it off the road. He wobbled home with it and most of the rest of the car over the next few days, even going out with a broom to sweep up the glass. He hasn’t let his hip replacement or his colostomy slow him down and even now as he sits in his hospital bed and they are trying to prepare us for the inevitable he is telling the doctor to go home and get some sleep, he can wait. In the face of reality we have decided to both be stubbornly optimistic and unrealistic and expect the best. It’s so hard to have a loved one in hospital and face some of the things that brings up that you don’t want to think about. Nothing is simple and there are so many ways to view the same situation. I am trying to allow things to be what they are and not try to change them, just view them with unconditional love. We all have our own journey and as hard as it is to step back and allow others to have their own journey without wanting to change it or for it to be something different from what it is, I am slowly getting there. Not saying there are not lots of tears involved, this is after all a journey, one that takes a lifetime.
