Tag Archives: ramblings

Melbourne, VIC

So it’s been a while

But I have a good reason. Honest.

I’m in hospital again. Planned but it’s still going to be a long stay. And we’re away from home, in Melbourne of all places.

So whilst I was looking back through photos, I came across the photos I took one night when the was an amazing moon halo. The halo was complete. I can’t remember now why I was out so late, it may have just been for a meal out, but I watched that halo for hours. It was simply amazing. The planet Jupiter was also out (I believe) and despite the full moon, it was very visible.

I don’t know how well the halo can be seen in this picture but it is just by the tree line. I’ll also see if the ones on the phone came out any better.

So, hospital. Yep. Lousy health again in afraid. Specifically my cervical spine. C5-C6 and C6-C7 have got issues, more accurately had issues. The discs had to be replaced but the joint also fused, both of them. And there was a slight complication with one of the 3 vertebra involved. It was partially removed and reconstructed, then put back in. Or some version of that order. And I have spinal stenosis as well, so the nerve root canals had to be widened or cleaned out. 4 of them were very bad. Bad enough to be affecting my arms both in sensation and strength. Hopefully one everything stoked down and heals there will be no lasting unwanted paralysis. I then went straight into ICU before being transferred to a ward for recovery and now find myself starting inpatient rehab.

The good news is that spinal stenosis does explain some of the issues I’d continued to experience that were not consistent with my lower back issues. The main one being related to my balance. Spinal stenosis at C5-C7 explains it. Sadly I have also acquired the spinal spondylosis, just another way of dying that my spine has age related degeneration 2 decades earlier than it should have. Yippee.

Stuart’s work have very thoughtfully sent me some lovely flowers which have brightened up my 4th room in a week no end. Thank you.

Australia, Collector, NSW

Postcard Home (18th June)

Well it’s been a cold few days to say the least. We’ve had a storm come through over the weekend and not only was it cold, wet and windy, very windy but we even had a few flurries of snow.

I’ve managed to get the chicken coop better wind protected. Chooks can withstand the cold but not the wind and the cold and in order to stay warm they need a draft free coop. Our coop was anything other than draft free. The problem lay at the roof where the corrugated tin met the woodwork. There was not only a gap of several inches at the front but even when that was filled the were gaps with every up and down of the corrugations. As ever water pipe insulation came to the rescue. 2 inch sections stuffed into each and every up along the entire front of the chook house, plus several long pieces cut in half lengthways to fill the gaps down the sides. All of this has to be removable come the Spring when life starts to get warm again.

Sunrise earlier this week. It was actually raining when I took this photo, but the light was amazing because of it.

So what else is there to report?

At the beginning of the week we hosted a cycle tourer. The first we’ve had in Australia. He’s cycling around Australia for the next year but sadly isn’t quite ready for the cost weather. He asked me when it would start to get warmer around here. My reply of September or October came as a surprise to him, as did the concept that it hasn’t actually finished getting colder here yet! He’s now the other side of the Snowy mountains but he’ll be getting rather cold around there. He’s bikepacking which is basically ultra lightweight touring where everything you carry fits into the frame of your bike in bags specially designed for the triangle hole in the frame, plus what you can fit into handlebar bags or saddlebags.

This weekend Liz and Alec came down from Sydney to see us. They stayed at their neighbour’s apartment in Canberra which turned out to be only a few doors up the street from Stuart’s work place! On Saturday they came over for lunch and stayed for some of the afternoon but it was a cold wet afternoon so they didn’t get to see much. Luckily they left before the cloud descended, that meant we were a touch late meeting them in Canberra for an evening meal, but we made it eventually. They also called in on their way home to Sydney on Sunday. Liz has given me one of her spinning wheels which means one I have repaired and service hers, I can have one set up for spinning single ply on, and the other set up for plying. That will make life a little easier. It was great to see them again and I hope they had a safe journey home.

We also managed to make Skype contact with Stuart’s brother, Jon, on Sunday night but not his parents because they are away we think. I even managed to finish his Dad’s socks on Fathers’ Day as well. I’ve just got the ends to sew in and then block them and they are done. Made to size. Handspun, hand dyed from eucalyptus bark and then handmade/knitted. I do so hope they fit (if they don’t, they fit Stuart perfectly 😀 ).

Finally Stuart cooked a delicious Leek, mushroom and bread pudding for evening meal last night!