Yesterday we went to see Lesley and another OT person to learn about Matt’s new powered chair. We found out how they are training him and what the process is for Matt to get his own chair. At present, he is using a spare one that they use for trials. We enjoyed finding out more and confirming our own positive experiences in seeing him operating the chair on his own.
We had coffee at the Dome in Maylands, then did our shopping.
In the evening, Mike took the WVC for the rehearsal. Raelene is in a difficult position with her mother, not sure if she will be staying there for a few weeks or not. Anyway, next week’s choir is cancelled.
I have found the correct folder for my photos and videos of the Nullabour trip. In the process I also found some photos of Mum’s house and garden on the day she was moving in. I had previously found photos of the interior, but she was interested to see what the garden looked like, expecting that the bushes and trees have grown quite a lot.
Yesterday we got up fairly early and went for a walk across the weir and around the bridge in the Canning River Park. It turned out to be about 3.5kms, not 5 as I thought, so a fairly modest walk. The day was cool and fresh and very good for walking. The featured photo shows some graffiti on the path interacting with shadows from a bare branch. Below are some more photos from the walk.
We had breakfast at home and Stephen went to WASO in the evening. I picked him up at 9.30 p.m. I didn’t go for a swim as I felt having the walk was enough exercise, and it was too cool to go to the open air pool and too far to the other one.
I had a call from DSC to ask when I would be returning to work. I was hoping to avoid having to say anything and just defer going back. But, when I was offered some shifts for next month it was hard to give it up. I booked 5 shifts and was relieved when one was cancelled today. I also put in my availability sheet for March and may be offered more work. I have heard a rumour that full time staff may be offered redundancies, which seems mad when they obviously need relief staff. Enough to telephone me when I hadn’t made contact.
This morning we got up a little later and went up to Mum’s. When I rang her to say we were leaving she was confused about the appointment we were going to and thought I was late. I clarified as best I could, but realised when we got there that the appointment for the podiatrist in the afternoon wasn’t on her calendar. She has an appointment at 9.30 a.m. next week and she had put that in on the correct day.
I noticed that her curtains were drawn in the lounge. Robyne said she has been calling her talking about a man coming onto the verandah and shining a light in her eyes. This is during the day.
Mum now has her ACROD sticker for the car and her personal alarm from Silver Chain had arrived. Even I found the instructions a bit unclear, but we set things up and were able to contact the monitoring service. She would be able to press her alarm and speak with the monitoring service if there was an intruder on her verandah. She could ask them to phone the police for her. Robyne will speak with her about this when she sees her or speaks with her on the phone.
Jamie and Tracey were there when we arrived, and I was able to bring them up to speed about the 9.30 a.m. appointment though I don’t know exactly what it is for. Jamie said he would not go away for a longer period prospecting until May when it is cooler.
Stephen took some books back to the library and found a nice cafe to have lunch. We picked him up on our way home.
A lovely cafe in MundaringMum and I sat down with Stephen for a little while to enjoy the garden setting
Mum and I had lunch at the cafe near Coles, using the ACROD sticker for parking, then went to the podiatrist. Mum seems confused about whether she is or is not still driving as far as Mundaring on her own, or whether she only goes as far as the local IGA for food. I didn’t check her fridge, just hoped for the best.
We left when we got back as I know she would want to rest and it was easier to keep going than to stop, rest, then drive home.
We met up with Eversley for the movie at the Writers Festival. We had gone to a talk called ‘Looking South’ where we hoped to hear from a botanist, but instead it was taken over by a certain person who is not respected in his own community. Everyone was polite, but we didn’t appreciate our session being hijacked by someone who was not on the program and had nothing of value to add. Eversley was able to give us some background on the person.
We went back to her place for supper and catchup, including with her dogs.
This morning was our swimming day and we went straight to the Riverton pool after our cup of tea. I swam eight laps. Stephen said he is getting more confidence back about being in the water (no seizure), but had forgotten his goggles so could not really swim. Afterwards we went to our favourite cafe – the Canning River Cafe at the Kent Street Weir. Stephen says he does feel that he could do the 5 km walk, but it depends on how he is feeling on the day. We have tentatively decided to do it tomorrow morning.
Stephen went to the library to do some more genealogy research. I did washing. Mum rang twice, the first time to say she has an appointment at St John of God in Midland for Friday 4th March at 9.30 a.m. This conflicts with the China course we are doing with MALA. I was a little confused, but after contacting Mundaring Medical Centre and SJOG Midland, confirmed that she has to go to the outpatient clinic to see a doctor. We think it is to do with the blood tests on Saturday, but it does seem rather quick. It seems odd to have an appointment without having a specific doctor to see.
She rang later to ask if I could bring some books with me on Wednesday. I looked around and we do have some, though not the ones I would prefer to give her. Cozy mysteries for example, which I only have in digital form.
The seating is under shelter, but basically in the open airThe Cafe
Friday, Saturday and today are mainly about going to the Writers’ Festival. Not that we are going to lots of talks, but Friday we went to two, yesterday two, and today we will go to one or two. Very interesting and could go on, but lack of time for writing now means it will have to happen later. The header photo was taken after going to the featured movie, the photo slightly tilted to emphasise the point of a full day of interesting events, now ended at about 8.00 p.m. There were still some people around, but most had left.
As well, I went for a swim Friday morning and completed 18 laps for the whole week in three swims. Stephen and I had a pointless argument around whether I should be the one to take Mum for the blood tests. Pointless because I had already committed to do it. I took Mum for her blood tests Saturday morning, which went well this time. We are going to see Matt before heading down to the festival for the late afternoon/evening.
After the first day of having my Sony A7R II with me, plus spare lenses in a camera bag, I am now going for the A600o with 16mm 2.8 lens. It’s a bit wide, but I wanted a pancake with slightly faster f stop to cover all eventualities. I have a 50mm 1.8 lens, but it’s a bit bigger.
So, a couple of photos from around the university.
Stephen outside the physics department where he studied so long ago.Eggs, outside of University House, UWA
Yesterday I went to see Mum. It went quite well and I tried not to challenge her memory or question things too much. She agreed to have the blood test this Saturday and I will phone her Friday evening as well as Saturday morning to try to ensure it happens. Mum has decided that she will smoke inside the house sometimes as she is feeling anxious about the man who came onto her verandah. She is still confused about things and speaks of it being ‘yesterday’.
We watched Bridget Jones’ Diary in the afternoon, which Mum really enjoyed. It was a long time since I have seen it and I forgot how much she smokes and drinks in the movie.
Today I posted 6 tins of milk formula to Della and saw my dentist for a clean and checkup. They have become a HBF preferred provider and what this means is that of a $223.00 invoice I paid $23.40 and HBF paid $199.00. Pretty amazing!
We have choir tonight and I am wondering how it will go with both the lead altos away tonight.
Stephen saw his GP who has no news, but gave him a script for the beta blockers he has been taking since seeing the heart specialist. I took photos of Stephen working in the garden this morning. The weather is milder at the moment and the morning was quite fresh and cool in the shade.
The name of a cabaret show with Ginger and Tonic, a group of four women singing about being desperate and dateless. Eversley had given us a free voucher for the Fringe Festival and we decided on this show, based on ease of access (car to Vic Park Station, then walk over the bridge to the Fringe Festival area near the Art Gallery), and price, $50 for two tickets. It was a full house and they were musically excellent and very funny. It was a Monday night, so a bit quieter than the weekend. The featured photo is of a small carousel in the square near the State Library.
Waiting for the show to beginA living statue, Perth Fringe Festival
In the morning yesterday we went for a swim at my favourite place, the Riverton Leisureplex, with a 50m indoor heated pool. I didn’t have quite as much energy as two weeks ago, but managed my starter set of 6 laps.
We are having a hot spell again, with today getting up to nearly 40. Yesterday was about 34 degrees, with a cool start to the day. I did some shopping and also did an online order that was delivered this morning. Despite that, Stephen and I did a little more shopping today for forgotten things. I also managed to get 6 tins of milk formula to send to Della, probably Thursday morning.
Stephen went to his autobiography group yesterday and to a family history group at the library today. He is going to WASO choir tonight. A little worrying that he may be doing too much, but we are both feeling frustrated that after coming home early from our trip we still don’t know precisely what is wrong. Stephen had tests done last week on Tuesday, but we don’t know the results. His neurologist said she might phone him regarding an earlier appointment and I wish she would as the waiting is very difficult.
I am thinking of having another swim, this time at the local pool in East Vic Park. As it will be after sunset when I get there I can use the outdoor 50m pool.
I had arranged with Mum that I would pick her up early on Saturday morning and take her down to Mundaring for a blood test. When I rang her at about 6.55 a.m. she did not answer the phone. I continued to try to call her until about 7.20 a.m., then decided just to drive up there. When I arrived she had had a cigarette or two as well as her first coffee of the day, so no blood test possible. She said that she heard the phone, but was ‘confused’. She did seem a little out of it.
She got dressed and we sat around for awhile, then watched the movie ‘Saving Face’. I hadn’t realised there would be a gay relationship between two young women depicted. Not really her cup of tea. The film was about overcoming Chinese prejudices and conservatism, but in a way, it was a testament to Chinese values. Set in NY, but the characters mostly spoke Cantonese I think, though I could understand some words, so it could have been Mandarin, but a dialect.
We had lunch and I left at about 12.00 feeling somewhat frustrated. Mum was talking about being frightened about the incident of the man coming onto her verandah. She said it happened ‘yesterday’, but she had already told Jamie and I about it on Wednesday. Very worrying from our point of view too, as he must realise that she lives alone.
In the evening after tea we went into town for the opening concert for PIAF. Not as spectacular as the previous year with the visiting Giants, but quite good for a homegrown entertainment event on the theme of Home. Tim Minchin disappointed me by singing his terrific song ‘Imperfect’ in standard American rather than in his Australian accent. I looked at a version from 5 years ago on Youtube and he didn’t sing it in American that time. Major fail, especially as the theme of the evening was Australia as home to many different ethnic groups.
Today we spent most of the day at home, then went over to see Matt in the evening. We went outside with him to try out his wheelchair and managed to get him stuck. After using some cardboard and lots of muscle we managed to get him out of it, but he had had enough. I fed him his tea and Stephen played the piano for a little while. The Murrays arrived and talked about Andrew learning to use his powered chair, and the fact that it had taken some time for him, but also helped them in taking him out. Ian suggested getting in touch with Matt’s OT to have some training for Stephen and I, and perhaps his staff, as any training happens outside. Stephen felt that Matt needed structured sessions on learning how to use the controls. Ian also said that the turning circle up the street from Villa 3 was a good place to practice. Very useful. It was lovely to see them.
Afterwards Stephen and I went down to Brighton Beach for the sunset. We had hamburgers, chips and Pepsi Max for tea. Afterwards we wandered down to Scarborough and found a beautiful salsa session on the steps near the beach. Apparently it happens every Sunday afternoon, with free lessons from 4 – 5, then goes from 5.00 to 9.00 p.m. for $5 per go. A great ending to our evening out.
We began the day by going to the Cinema Paradiso to see an opera film. The libretto is so silly that the producers of this version said that they got around it by changing the story to a girl hallucinating that she is Joan of Arc. Our heroine spent a lot of her time in plain white nightgowns.
Then we went home via the newly named Elizabeth Quay Busport – a Blue Cat from Northbridge and one of our usual buses home. We were able to see some of the Elizabeth Quay area from outside of the bus station on the second level. There is a little park there with quite large trees, I was quite taken with the fact that this was a park with mature largish trees on the upper level of a building.
In the even we went over to the Hawkers’ Market for a meal and to enjoy the atmosphere. It is quite noisy so if you were meeting friends it would be best to bring your own table and chairs so that you could sit well away from the DJ and children playing.
Today I have reworked some of my Kew Gardens photos using PhotoTraces presets to see whether I like the enhancements. I want to go through all of my photos from 2015 as an exercise to see if I feel like including a couple in the Workshop Camera Club photo book. And also because I want to choose a subset of favourites from our travels for Stephen and I to enjoy.
Yesterday I saw Mum and we went to see Dr Illich. She had a phone call from the Silver Chain to say that her personal alarm should get to her soon. Jamie knows and should be able to install it for her. Dr Illich filled in his section of the form for an ACROD sticker and also gave Mum a letter of referral to the local ACAT team. Mission accomplished and I have forwarded both forms scanned into emails this morning, and have had them acknowledged as received.
We watched ‘Elizabeth, the Golden Age’ – quite stunningly beautiful on her 50″ TV. We had a rest before watching it, but were both a bit tired when we parted. I rang her this morning just to check that she was OK. Jamie had been to see her. It is very hot up there apparently, but only 32 degrees here, fortunately.
So, on to looking at the photos. The featured photo is of grasses at Kew Gardens.
A sort of wind tunnel glass house at Kew GardensSome autumn leaves with dark reflections. This definitely looks for interesting than the original.And this, one of my favourites, a slightly different view from the other one I have posted, showing more of the tree trunk.
