A good week

When I started at the job I am in, I shared the job and I was doing two days/ week. After a while my colleague went off on maternity leave and I hoped to work her days until she came back. It took a while for everything to shuffle into place but I did eventually pick up her days.

This week, I was told that my colleague has resigned and I was invited to apply for the position on a permanent basis.

This is very good.

The job is low paid and exhausting but it makes me feel alive and the low pay is more tolerable when there are more hours.

It has been a long time hope of mine to go to a Christmas in July dinner but for years now I have not booked anything early and as July progressed I have run out of time to squeeze in a Christmas in July event. 

This year, my daughter Briony organised and paid for me before I could miss out for another year.

Last night I went with Briony and Caitlin to "Yulefest" at the Hydromajestic, a lovely old hotel in the Blue Mountains. 

The hotel  is gorgeous, the service was sublime, the five courses were all wonderful, there were twinkling lights and Christmas music. It was just a lovely evening.

Having ticked that off my bucket list, I will be content if I don't do it again. That's not to say I wouldn't do it again, just that it was lovely but there are other restaurants, festivals and joys to experience.

I am so blessed by my kid's generosity to me and wish I had done these kinds of things with my own mum but the whole dynamic was different. 

Just a few years ago I tried to take mum and dad out for a delicious brunch but they ate beforehand and then didn't want more than coffee. In many ways mum and dad were quite modern but an "expensive" brunch was a bridge too far.

Today, my grown children, partners and grandson came "home" to celebrate the twins' birthday with cake. It was good. The young fella was particularly keen to hang out with "Keegy" as he calls his uncle and Keegy was happy to oblige. Many guavas were pulled from the tree and dandelions picked before a quick return to mum and then back out the door with upturned palm opening and closing "Keegy Come"  

Mural on Thursday

 

Well I am sure you all know by now that I took the trip to the funeral. 

When things seemed to keep going badly I thought I should have listened to the people here who advised against it but the problems didn't happen because I had been unwell so it was just one of those things.

I drove to Goulburn on Thursday night and as I got into town I had problems with my Google Maps and couldn't find my accommodation. I ended up phoning my daughter for directions and interrupting a night out.

Then I couldn't for the life of me find the cabin in the caravan park. Then there was no handrail on the steps into the cabin so I had to do a strange pull-yourself-up manouvre. What should have been a two hour drive was over three.

In the morning I had a 2.5 hour drive to do but there had been a fatal truck crash and there was a long diversion. I can't complain, I am alive.

The diversion and ongoing navigational difficulties made me forty minutes  late for the funeral. Embarassing but in the circumstances punctuality didn't matter.

Grenfell, a town of under 3000, had five funerals last week so there was no accommodation available in town and I stayed at my friend's family home. The first and only time I will see her in her childhood environment. I had always wanted to do that and now I have. I also met her brother, an interesting man.

When I did my silo art tour a couple of years back, I didn't make it to Grenfell so now I have seen the silos, painted by Heesco.

The photo is not mine, I saw the silos at night and forgot to get a daytime photo

The problems made the whole trip feel like I had to use every bit of patience and persistence I have ever developed. It was a test of stamina, for sure but I feel that I was true to my values and I am happy with that.

The Unlikely Doctor

The cold I was developing on Thursday became fully fledged on the weekend. My eyes and nose streamed and I cancelled all plans.

Yesterday I felt a wee bit better and went to work, mostly because there was an admission to do. The boss asked if I was sick and made an issue of me spreading germs. I said I only came in to do the admission "get it done and then go home"

Maybe I take things to personally but I didnt like being the bad guy. The fact that they told me to do the admission then go pretty much says everything.

It's an odd thing, one minute I can feel quite good and the next my energy tanks.

I am home today. I had a chiro treatment and went out for coffee and now Buffy is sleeping on my lap.

A dear friend lost her mum last week and I want to go to the funeral on Friday. It's a 4.5 hour drive and I would normally do it with one arm tied behind me but I am nervous about doing too much too soon. I didn't think I was exhausted before I got sick but it's here now and some moments feels almost insurmountable.

While I have been taking it easy I read "The Unlikely Doctor": Timote Timoke tells his remarkable story about a childhood of disadvatage and violence, leading to gang life and gaol. The memory of the aroha he received from his grandparents sustains him until he can become a paramedic and eventually a doctor.

To say the book is inspirational would be trite so I won't. I will say it's a great example of how genuine love is never wasted.