OUR #3 GREAT-GRANDAUGHTER ARRIVES

Our beautiful third great-granddaughter arrived on 26 April and she is really gorgeous and all the family adore her, especially her big sister which is wonderful.

My daughter, whose blog many of you read constantly, has already published the story of AJ's arrival with much better photos than I can publish with my little digital camera but I did my best and I really like this snap of AJ and her lovely mum.

The baby was 9 lbs 4 ozs and 56 cms long which is 22 inches long (a combination of old and new measurements there cos I'm an oldie) so she is very well proportioned.

MOH and I have popped over to the hospital a couple of times to share special time with the family and it felt good to have 4 generations all together there in the room.  Great-grandma, grandma, mother and baby (not forgetting AJ's sister of course).

We saw a lot of our #1 great-granddaughter from when she was a wee baby and a toddler and beyond but with #2 great-granddaughter who was born in Sydney we only saw her briefly when they were able to fly over to Perth for a visit although we have seen her more frequently now they live permanently in W.A.

We are hoping that we will be able to see much more of AJ while she is still tiny if her parents will allow us to pop in occasionally for a visit and I am sure they will be quite happy for us to do so.

AJ's mum has asked me to crochet a granny square cushion cover to go in the nursery so I am back to crocheting again and enjoying it.  I can only do a wee bit at a time because of my silly achy hands but I will soon have it done.  It's amazing how good one feel as one ages to be asked to do something such as this.  I only hope when it is finished that it will look as good as the one I was shown on the internet.

MOH and I welcome the latest member of our quite small family with open arms and much love.  To her wonderful parents....thank you.

UPDATE ON MY LEFT SHOULDER

It was toward the end of July 2011 that I dislocated my left shoulder involving a trip by ambulance to Fremantle Hospital and some wonderful treatment by the doctors, nurses and x-ray staff.  The shoulder was relocated (is that the correct expression?) and I was sent home later that evening with my arm in a sling.

Unfortunately I was not told to see my GP or have physiotherapy and when I returned to the hospital a few weeks later I was surprised that the MD I saw didn't even check out my arm movements.  In fact he didn't even ask me to remove the sling.  He just suggested (then) that I visit my private physiotherapist.

Immediately after this I went to me GP who sent me for an ultrasound which revealed a quite bad tear in the supraspinatus tendon and I also had bursitis on the front of the shoulder.  I went to my wonderful physio who worked for half an hour on various parts of my arm and shoulder which gave me some relief.

My doctor sent me to have an injection in the bursa and this gave me quite a lot of relief.  My shoulder was very painful and quite badly 'frozen' so my dear MOH took over the role of mother which included not only cooking meals and other household duties but also helping me wash my hair in the shower and drying my back after said shower plus many other tasks.

I have done various exercises and also had more physio over past months and although the shoulder is still partly frozen I am relieved at the number of things I can now do, but it is the odd things that are still impossible to do that are so frustrating:

1.  I still cannot reach up far enough to be able to hang items on the clothesline and ours in not a line
     that can be lowered so MOH still hangs out the laundry and brings it in.

2.  I simply cannot get my left arm behind my back so who does up my bra and undoes it for me?  Yes,
     you guessed right....MOH.

I still find the shoulder hurts enough at times to wake me at night and when I do things that I would normally take for granted it very quickly reminds me that "Hey there!!  I'm still not right you know".

I think my one huge regret is I feel afraid when I hold our beautiful new great-granddaughter as I can't trust my left arm to hold her properly and although I've enjoyed some wonderful cuddles I have felt apprehensive and somewhat awkward whilst doing so.  At least her mum has trusted me to have those cuddles for which I am just so grateful.  I am looking forward to plenty more over coming months too.

I realise this post is all about me and must sound terribly self-centred but I sometimes need to put down in writing what is happening to me and how I am feeling about it.  I am told this frozen shoulder business can last up to 24 months so perhaps I may still have a way to go to regain full function of my left arm.  It will be so wonderful to be able to hang out the washing again and do and undo my own bra and feel more confident when handling the baby.  Simple everyday movements that I had taken for granted for so many years which hopefully will return before too long.

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE HERE?

I came on here tonight to find it all changed and now I am completely lost.  I hope everyone else is happy with the changes but I still believe that if it ain't broke then no reason to fix it.  I was quite content with the old format and now don't know where I am.  This is happening constantly these days with everything....always has to be something different.  Wish thing could remain the same and simple.  I wonder if everyone else that blogs is happy with the new format and understand what to do.

THE DAYDREAMS I SOMETIMES HAVE

I may be 80 now but still I have daydreams.  They are of course never likely to come to fruition but nevertheless I like to use my imagination at times.  Now is the time to indulge an old lady as I explain what some of those daydreams are:

I often dream of having a nice new house or even enough money to completely renovate the house we live in as I enjoy living where we are.

I dream of one more wonderful holiday, preferably to New Zealand again, but apart from the fact that we can't afford it I know I wouldn't really enjoy and it would be hard for MOH as I just can't get around any more.

I dream that I am able to go for really long walks as we once did and even play golf with MOH which was one of my 'hope to' things before he retired.  He is not playing himself these days and I dream that one day he will say he is going to play again.  It worries me that he's not playing any more.

I also dream that I may see my son and his family again one day before I drop off the mortal coil.  It is now more than 10 years since we saw them and even though we try to put these things behind us we still have lots of regrets at his decision not to see any of us.

I always dream that all my family will have wonderful long, happy lives and always be successful.

I guess there are also other dreams that pop up occasionally but these are the main ones.  The holiday ones I enjoy when I lie in bed and can't sleep.  I then go to all those placed I have loved so much on holidays and they seem very real at times.

Thank you for letting me indulge in these fantasies.  The quote I believe is "to sleep, perchance to dream" but sometimes my dreams happen when I am wide awake.

I AM NOT GOING TO DO A GLUCOSE TEST TODAY

I posted recently that I am now using an entirely different type of insulin to try and control my bad morning blood glucose readings.  The new injector is fabulous and causes no discomfort which is terrific but...........I began on 16 units before breakfast and 12 units before dinner at night.  I was told if the morning readings were still not good to gradually increase the night injection by 2 each time.  I only saw the professor two weeks ago and have already increased the evening injection from 12 to 16 and it has made little difference.  The morning readings have become quite erratic, good one morning and lousy the next and so on.

Today I got up and said to myself "Damn it, I am not doing a glucose test this morning nor for the rest of the day and perhaps not for a day or two."  I have done 42 tests over 14 days and my fingertips are nothing if not slightly tender.  I am too right handed to attempt to prick the fingers on my right hand using my left one so perhaps will have to ask MOH to do it for me.  Last night after dinner I tested and it hurt so much and I have a bruise on my finger.  I think I may have hit the bone and that is why it was so painful.  I've never done that before thank goodness.  Silly mistake.

I may be wrong in not testing for a couple of days but comes a time when you just feel enough is enough.  My readings have not been high enough to be dangerous in the short term so the poor old fingertips are having the rest I feel they well deserve as do I.....just for a couple of days.  We need the break.

MOH is off to UWA (University of WA) again today to join with other diabetics in talking to medical and dental students about diabetes and what it is like to be diabetic.  We both began doing this some years ago but I had to stop going because of the distances that need to be walked around campus at UWA.  MOH goes twice a year and thoroughly enjoys doing so and he feels, as I did when I could attend, that he is helping doctors etc., find some understanding of what it is like for diabetics.  It would seem diabetes is becoming quite an epidemic and it is good that the medical profession learns about it early in their career.  It  is only about 15-20 years ago that blood glucose was never included as part of a patient's annual check up but these days everyone is much more aware of the presence of this insidious disease.

I miss MOH when he is away for a full day but am so glad that, at 82, he is still so willing to take part in these regular annual events at UWA.

MEMORIES OF MY YOUTH PART 2(a)

We are now living at 518 Fitzgerald Street in North Perth where we moved to in May of 1947.  This is quite a different part of the suburb than where we were before in Auckland & Coronation Streets although would still be within walking distance if you were feeling energetic.

You may remember I had been attending City Commercial College where I sat for and obtained my Commercial Junior in 6 subjects.  Dad wouldn't let me leave before I was 15 and even then insisted I continue at the college for a while longer.  I was fortunate that in May 1947 the Principal of the College found me a very good position as a stenographer so dad agreed I could finally leave school and commence work.

This and our move from Swanbourne to North Perth all happened in the same week so I had to find out where to catch the bus to work and where to alight on the homeward trip. We were lucky that the bus stop to town was diagonally opposite the house and the one out of town was virtually opposite the house.  We could actually see the bus coming down Namur Street and be in time to run across to catch it.  Traffic back in 1947 was much lighter than it is these days when one would have to be extremely careful crossing Fitzgerald Street.

Dad had definitely decided he WAS retired and owing to a rapid rise in inflation in Australia at that time prices took a hike and mum told dad she could no longer manage on three pounds a week for groceries.  When I began work I was earning two pounds eight shilling a week ($4.80) and I paid a small amount of board to mum which I hoped her a wee bit.  I think she did suggest to dad that he perhaps find a job but no way was that man going to do that so mum decided she would try and find work.  This she did but I will not go into that here as what mum did in her life for the next 30+ years is a story in itself.

I worked with some really nice girls at the insurance assessor's office and with 3 of them I became very close friends.  (Two of those girls were my attendants at my first wedding but unfortunately they are no longer with us.)  In those days young people danced a lot and we were fortunate that many of the tennis clubs held weekly dances.  The main one we went to was the Mt Lawley tennis club but also the Alexander Park tennis club, the Kings Park tennis club and the refectory at UWA.

Wilma and June both lived in Nedlands and with public transport the only available means of getting around the suburbs, they would quite often stay over at our home when we were going to Mt Lawley or I would stay with them if we were going to dances near their homes.

We would leave our place and walk a couple of miles to the Mt Lawley hall, dance for about 3 hours and then walk the 2 miles home again.  No wonder we were fit in those days.  We also swam quite a lot and played tennis occasionally.  I also used to walk home from work nearly every afternoon if the weather was fine and that would have been at least 2 or 3 miles, mainly uphill.  I always loved to walk and one of my sorrows these days is that the arthritis I have prevents me walking even around the block.

I loved my new job, dad enjoyed his retirement and took up playing lawn bowls and also playing bridge with a few of the men from the bowling club and mum began her part-time work with the Women's Service Guild where she met many amazing women and began what eventually led to a new direction in her life.

MEMORIES OF MY YOUTH..PART 1. SWANBOURNE

I finished with childhood memories part 8 but am not recalling days when I was a little older and consider them as part of my youth more than my childhood.

Last time I blogged about this I was still living in Coronation Street, North Perth with mum and dad and our cat Molly.  Dad was a very successful Rawleighs dealer but I feel that perhaps the business had been waning a little and one day he came home to tell us we were moving to Swanbourne and would be running a corner shop.  This would have been in about 1945.  Mum was just a tad surprised at this change in our lifestyle but went along with it as she really didn't have a choice.  Was she happy about this decision?  I have never been sure about that but somehow think perhaps she wasn't.

We moved to 2 Servetus Street, Swanbourne into what was a nice shop which sold general merchandise as well as some fruit and vegies.  It had quite good accommodation at the back of the shop and a very nice and quite large back garden.  Mum mainly ran the shop while dad would deliver grocery orders and early on Monday, Wednesday and Friday would drive in to the West Perth markets to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.  Dad grew vegies and also kept chooks (hens) from which we got eggs and the occasional roast dinner.

You must remember this was still during WW2 so rationing was in full force and one needed coupons to buy butter, tea and sugar as well, of course, petrol and clothing or material to make clothes.  By this time I was 13 and it was my job to collect all the coupons we had received from the customers and stick them on large sheets which we in turn had to send to the rationing people in order to buy new stocks of butter, tea and sugar.  Cigarettes were also in very short supply so they had to be carefully rationed out to the customers although no coupons were required.

Icecream was almost non-existent then so mum obtained a large icecream churn in which she made the most delicious icecream which our customers thought excellent.  She had to more or less ration it out as she could only make so much at a time and of course find room to keep it in the shop freezer, but it was very popular with everyone.

I was still attending Perth College way over in Mount Lawley so this necessitated me catching a train at the Swanbourne station (quite early too) and then in Perth catching an 18 tram up Beaufort Street to the school.  I had begun to have piano lessons while living in Auckland Street which was still quite close to Coronation Street but now it meant an awful lot of travelling.  Train and tram to school in the morning and on 2 afternoons each week I had to catch an 18 tram to Bulwer Street and then a 22 tram to the corner of Charles Street and Scarborough Beach Road and then walk a mile or so the the home of the music teacher (Miss McLennan who incidentally died in 2002 at the age of 92).  After my lesson I then had to catch a bus in London Street into Perth and then a train back to Swanbourne.  I must have got home after dark during winter but there was no problems with safety being out after dark in those days so no worries about it at all.

I forgot to mention that while living in Coronation Street I had begun to learn to play the violin from a teacher at Perth College.  I mentioned I used to ride my bike to and from school so dad suggested I stay at school and practise instead of trying to bring the violin home.  Mum always said it was more because dad didn't like the sound of me practising the violin.  I think I only learned for a short while and decided it just wasn't me.  I perhaps got to play Danny Boy on the violin but that's about all I remember.

It was while at Swanbourne that I managed to persuade my folks to let me leave Perth College and go to a commercial school instead.  They finally agreed and I was enrolled at City Commercial College at 713 Hay Street in the city.  I really enjoyed shorthand and typing although not so keen on bookkeeping and accounting and decided there and then I never wanted to be a clerk.

We thoroughly enjoyed living within a couple of miles of the coast with the sea breeze cooling us down more than it ever had in North Perth or other Perth suburbs.  I think mum worked a bit harder than dad did in many ways but that was how it often was back then.  Don't get me wrong, Dad was a terrific bloke but he was born during the Victorian era and household tasks were very much defined in regard to the sex of a particular person.  Dad would do his job but mum had to do her job in the shop and also look after use and the house.  We did have a dear old lady that did our washing and ironing but otherwise it was mostly up to mum and I must admit I may not have been much help.

I began going out with my first boyfriend while living in Swanbourne (mum's idea more than mine) and he lived way over in Mount Lawley and as we now had a telephone in the shop that was how he and I kept in touch and we just went to the pictures in town occasionally.  Back in the mid-1940s young people didn't have their own cars so public transport was the only way to get around.  Gary was an apprentice at his father's sheet metal factory so was on very low wages and although a couple of years my senior I doubt he earned much more than I did as a stenographer.

I had my 15th birthday while still in Swanbourne and then in May we left the shop and moved to a rented home back in a different part of North Perth.  I really have no idea why there was another change of lifestyle but perhaps mum had had enough of shopkeeping or dad felt it was time he retired; at that time he was 62 and mum was 50.  Whatever the reason, move we did to 518 Fitzerald Street.  That, as they say, is yet another story.