They don't put this on the front page... wonder why
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Not sure what to make of this - I hadn't heard of this before
http://joannenova.com.au/2012/02/toxoplasmosis-could-that-latent-infection-affect-peoples-behavior/#more-20264
Toxoplasmosis: could that latent infection affect people’s behavior? This is disturbing news. What if eating undercooked meat, gardening, or having a cat could give you an infection which stayed with you for life, nested in cysts in your brain? Worse, those cysts somehow affected your personality, possibly putting you at increased risk of suicide, schizophrenia, or car accident? And here’s the stop-you-in-your-tracks point: up to one third of humanity may harbor this protozoan. That is one very successful parasite. Infection rates are frighteningly high: as much as 10-20% of the population in the US, 30-40% of Czechs, and 55% in France. Sounds like a plot for a bad sci-fi but we know that Toxoplasma gondii makes small mammals take life threatening risks – an infected rat finds cat-urine “attractive” and runs about more, being fearless, but getting eaten: good for the parasite, not so good for the rat. Our brains may be larger but they are made with much the same building blocks and tools. Rabies is known to stir larger mammals into a rage, and there are “a truckload” of examples from the insect and fish world of parasitic mind control. Hmmm. Toxoplasmosis is thought to be a nasty parasite that affects pregnant women and immune-compromised people, but evidence of an insidious nature is accruing. Jaroslav Flegr, an evolutionary biologist from Prague, has a theory that this protozoan might be rewiring our brains. ‘There is strong psychological resistance to the possibility that human behavior can be influenced by some stupid parasite,” he says. “Nobody likes to feel like a puppet. Another more obvious reason for resistance, of course, is that Flegr’s notions sound an awful lot like fringe science, right up there with UFO sightings and claims of dolphins telepathically communicating with humans.’ Flegr has been ignored or years, but other researchers are now getting results that support his theory. Studies show that mental illness is 2-3 times as common in people who have the parasite compared to people in the same region who don’t. It could be that schizophrenia runs in families because of a genetic predisposition to a weaker immune response to parasites. According to psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, schizophrenia did not become common until around the same time as people started having cats for pets. Schizophrenia did not rise in prevalence until the latter half of the 18th century, when for the first time people in Paris and London started keeping cats as pets. The so-called cat craze began among “poets and left-wing avant-garde Greenwich Village types,” says Torrey, but the trend spread rapidly—and coinciding with that development, the incidence of schizophrenia soared.” Now that I ponder the unpleasant implications, it seems inevitable that evolution could toss up a parasite-host relationship which shifts human behavior. If Toxo isn’t doing it, sooner or later something else will. (Another reason we ought throw more money at medical research, rather than at bat-killing windmills.) Those who test positive for the latent infection have significantly delayed reaction times and here’s an especially weird effect, infected men are more likely to be introverted and suspicious and to disregard rules, but infected women are the opposite: more trusting, outgoing and obedient. ‘Compared with uninfected people of the same sex, infected men were more likely to wear rumpled old clothes; infected women tended to be more meticulously attired, many showing up for the study in expensive, designer-brand clothing. Infected men tended to have fewer friends, while infected women tended to have more. And when it came to downing the mystery fluid, reports Flegr, “the infected males were much more hesitant than uninfected men. They wanted to know why they had to do it. Would it harm them?” In contrast, the infected women were the most trusting of all subjects. “They just did what they were told,” he says.’ ‘Why men and women reacted so differently to the parasite still mystified him. After consulting the psychological literature, he started to suspect that heightened anxiety might be the common denominator underlying their responses. When under emotional strain, he read, women seek solace through social bonding and nurturing. In the lingo of psychologists, they’re inclined to “tend and befriend.” Anxious men, on the other hand, typically respond by withdrawing and becoming hostile or antisocial. Perhaps he was looking at flip sides of the same coin.’ Because reaction times were slowed he looked at car accident statistics and found that people who tested positive for Toxoplasmosis were 2.5 times more likely to have a car accident. Turkish studies showed similar results. To put this in perspective Flegr says he cannot say who is infected and who is not by doing a personality test. He needs at least 100 people to find a statistically meaningful disparity. (Only 100 thinks Jo?) “The vast majority of people will have no idea they’re infected.” It may be that the parasites most detrimental effects occur in a smaller genetically susceptible part of the population. One quarter of a group suffering from schizophrenia showed shrinkage of their cerebral cortex in MRI scans, and these were the same people who tested positive for Toxo. So most schizophrenia is caused by something else, but some cases appear to be caused by the parasite. Joanne Webster, a parasitologist at Imperial College London: ‘I don’t want to cause any panic,” she tells me. “In the vast majority of people, there will be no ill effects, and those who are affected will mostly demonstrate subtle shifts of behavior. But in a small number of cases, [Toxo infection] may be linked to schizophrenia and other disturbances associated with altered dopamine levels—for example, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and mood disorders. The rat may live two or three years, while humans can be infected for many decades, which is why we may be seeing these severe side effects in people. We should be cautious of dismissing such a prevalent parasite.’ Flegr has the infection himself, and this was part of what got him interested in studying the area. He noticed that he seemed unusually happy to take risks that others around him did not, getting honked at while crossing roads, being calm when gunfire broke out in the strife torn region. ‘He also made no effort to hide his scorn for the Communists who ruled Czechoslovakia for most of his early adulthood. “It was very risky to openly speak your mind at that time,” he says. “I was lucky I wasn’t imprisoned.’ So an odd side effect, a potential benefit in a weird way, is that a large slab of the population might be less afraid to speak up against tyranny. Common Toxo infections might make at least males in the population more likely to rebel. The bottom line For meat eaters: if you like it rare, better make sure that meat was frozen before you cook it; otherwise, learn to like it well done (freezing and cooking both kill the parasite). For gardeners: wear gloves. For cat owners, change that kitty litter daily, wash your hands. (Cats don’t post that great a threat. Indoor cats don’t have it, and outdoor cats are only infectious for the first three weeks after they catch it, not to mention that there are plenty of studies showing benefits from pet ownership.) Do read the full (much longer and well written article) in a The Atlantic. Gripping, provocative stuff — an example of a real problem we ought be dealing with instead of all the faked ones. There is no treatment for Toxo, no way to remove those cysts, not yet.
http://joannenova.com.au/2012/02/toxoplasmosis-could-that-latent-infection-affect-peoples-behavior/#more-20264
Toxoplasmosis: could that latent infection affect people’s behavior? This is disturbing news. What if eating undercooked meat, gardening, or having a cat could give you an infection which stayed with you for life, nested in cysts in your brain? Worse, those cysts somehow affected your personality, possibly putting you at increased risk of suicide, schizophrenia, or car accident? And here’s the stop-you-in-your-tracks point: up to one third of humanity may harbor this protozoan. That is one very successful parasite. Infection rates are frighteningly high: as much as 10-20% of the population in the US, 30-40% of Czechs, and 55% in France. Sounds like a plot for a bad sci-fi but we know that Toxoplasma gondii makes small mammals take life threatening risks – an infected rat finds cat-urine “attractive” and runs about more, being fearless, but getting eaten: good for the parasite, not so good for the rat. Our brains may be larger but they are made with much the same building blocks and tools. Rabies is known to stir larger mammals into a rage, and there are “a truckload” of examples from the insect and fish world of parasitic mind control. Hmmm. Toxoplasmosis is thought to be a nasty parasite that affects pregnant women and immune-compromised people, but evidence of an insidious nature is accruing. Jaroslav Flegr, an evolutionary biologist from Prague, has a theory that this protozoan might be rewiring our brains. ‘There is strong psychological resistance to the possibility that human behavior can be influenced by some stupid parasite,” he says. “Nobody likes to feel like a puppet. Another more obvious reason for resistance, of course, is that Flegr’s notions sound an awful lot like fringe science, right up there with UFO sightings and claims of dolphins telepathically communicating with humans.’ Flegr has been ignored or years, but other researchers are now getting results that support his theory. Studies show that mental illness is 2-3 times as common in people who have the parasite compared to people in the same region who don’t. It could be that schizophrenia runs in families because of a genetic predisposition to a weaker immune response to parasites. According to psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, schizophrenia did not become common until around the same time as people started having cats for pets. Schizophrenia did not rise in prevalence until the latter half of the 18th century, when for the first time people in Paris and London started keeping cats as pets. The so-called cat craze began among “poets and left-wing avant-garde Greenwich Village types,” says Torrey, but the trend spread rapidly—and coinciding with that development, the incidence of schizophrenia soared.” Now that I ponder the unpleasant implications, it seems inevitable that evolution could toss up a parasite-host relationship which shifts human behavior. If Toxo isn’t doing it, sooner or later something else will. (Another reason we ought throw more money at medical research, rather than at bat-killing windmills.) Those who test positive for the latent infection have significantly delayed reaction times and here’s an especially weird effect, infected men are more likely to be introverted and suspicious and to disregard rules, but infected women are the opposite: more trusting, outgoing and obedient. ‘Compared with uninfected people of the same sex, infected men were more likely to wear rumpled old clothes; infected women tended to be more meticulously attired, many showing up for the study in expensive, designer-brand clothing. Infected men tended to have fewer friends, while infected women tended to have more. And when it came to downing the mystery fluid, reports Flegr, “the infected males were much more hesitant than uninfected men. They wanted to know why they had to do it. Would it harm them?” In contrast, the infected women were the most trusting of all subjects. “They just did what they were told,” he says.’ ‘Why men and women reacted so differently to the parasite still mystified him. After consulting the psychological literature, he started to suspect that heightened anxiety might be the common denominator underlying their responses. When under emotional strain, he read, women seek solace through social bonding and nurturing. In the lingo of psychologists, they’re inclined to “tend and befriend.” Anxious men, on the other hand, typically respond by withdrawing and becoming hostile or antisocial. Perhaps he was looking at flip sides of the same coin.’ Because reaction times were slowed he looked at car accident statistics and found that people who tested positive for Toxoplasmosis were 2.5 times more likely to have a car accident. Turkish studies showed similar results. To put this in perspective Flegr says he cannot say who is infected and who is not by doing a personality test. He needs at least 100 people to find a statistically meaningful disparity. (Only 100 thinks Jo?) “The vast majority of people will have no idea they’re infected.” It may be that the parasites most detrimental effects occur in a smaller genetically susceptible part of the population. One quarter of a group suffering from schizophrenia showed shrinkage of their cerebral cortex in MRI scans, and these were the same people who tested positive for Toxo. So most schizophrenia is caused by something else, but some cases appear to be caused by the parasite. Joanne Webster, a parasitologist at Imperial College London: ‘I don’t want to cause any panic,” she tells me. “In the vast majority of people, there will be no ill effects, and those who are affected will mostly demonstrate subtle shifts of behavior. But in a small number of cases, [Toxo infection] may be linked to schizophrenia and other disturbances associated with altered dopamine levels—for example, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and mood disorders. The rat may live two or three years, while humans can be infected for many decades, which is why we may be seeing these severe side effects in people. We should be cautious of dismissing such a prevalent parasite.’ Flegr has the infection himself, and this was part of what got him interested in studying the area. He noticed that he seemed unusually happy to take risks that others around him did not, getting honked at while crossing roads, being calm when gunfire broke out in the strife torn region. ‘He also made no effort to hide his scorn for the Communists who ruled Czechoslovakia for most of his early adulthood. “It was very risky to openly speak your mind at that time,” he says. “I was lucky I wasn’t imprisoned.’ So an odd side effect, a potential benefit in a weird way, is that a large slab of the population might be less afraid to speak up against tyranny. Common Toxo infections might make at least males in the population more likely to rebel. The bottom line For meat eaters: if you like it rare, better make sure that meat was frozen before you cook it; otherwise, learn to like it well done (freezing and cooking both kill the parasite). For gardeners: wear gloves. For cat owners, change that kitty litter daily, wash your hands. (Cats don’t post that great a threat. Indoor cats don’t have it, and outdoor cats are only infectious for the first three weeks after they catch it, not to mention that there are plenty of studies showing benefits from pet ownership.) Do read the full (much longer and well written article) in a The Atlantic. Gripping, provocative stuff — an example of a real problem we ought be dealing with instead of all the faked ones. There is no treatment for Toxo, no way to remove those cysts, not yet.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Another year older!!! Was good fun
 |
| - exhausted after - getting awful close to the big 60! |
 |
| A cake made with much love |
 |
| Ali gave me a handbag I have had my eye on for a while |
 |
| A very special present from Melissa |
 |
| There is a family history with this one - if you can get to see the very old version of this book (was on ABC TV in the early 1990's and scared the bejesus out of us all honestly |
 |
| Am a very lucky mum |
Friday, February 10, 2012
Another Moving Day!!!
Don and the girls had a phrase for me "the woman who gets things done" a family joke - but today I was more "the woman with the van" for all the bits the removalist wasn't allowed to touch - quietly he would have been safer than me but I managed not to break their TV's and other electrical stuff - by good luck more than anything.
 |
Ali and Andrew are deciding will they be "good"
neighbours or "bad" ones - judging from all the musical equipment
they drag about it might be noisy - she sings and plays piano and he has a few
guitars and is excellent at whatever style - self taught the pair of them.
 |
 |
A good day but no one is moving much right now.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Alison and Andrew have discovered "Webber Cooking"
When they finally got it put together - we had a long wait till the food actually cooked - although he has it figured out by now. In their rented place there is no backyard shade so he donned the Big hat and we stayed mostly inside - the yard is sparse and comfertless. But finally Andrew produced the nicest roast I have had in years...he is now Master of the Webber. I am going to like being close to one of our girls - wish it could be possible to be near both of them...Its strange after all the years apart to see them regularly. : )
 |
| Ali and Andrew putting the monster together on a very hot day. |
 |
| SOOOOOO hungry |
 |
| Looks like fun in the almost 40 degrees hot summer sun!!!! |
A wonderful send off last year...
I just came across these lovely photos taken late November 2011. A group I belong to which fights for farmers (and everyone's property rights held a get together for me before I left Port Macquarie. It was the best day. It was at a place called Kindee which is 40kms west of where I used to live, and reminded me of the beautiful green hilly country around Byron Bay. We had a wonderful BBQ - a really long walk down to the head of the Hastings River and then people started pulling our guitars and singing. It was so unexpected. Also unexpected was a German lady I know who started singing Irish songs...the man playing in the photo sang Australian songs from the countryside and one was a love song - I lasted one verse and had to leave the room. Later he said to me "I always get one with that song"
It was a very beautiful day and one of those days I shall always remember. Its quite likely I shall not see all of those people again, but they made me so happy that day and although I had only known most of them for a year through the group, they were kinder to me than many - sometimes strangers well met can become friends even if for only a short time.
Yet was not enough for me to want to stay. I love it here, I know I don't have the beautiful views and all of that but for me it is the people I love who are most important. All else follows. The couple who lived at this place lived amongst the most amazing beauty I have ever seen and although they constantly chipped at each other you could see how much they loved each other...It was touchable.
I just came across these lovely photos taken late November 2011. A group I belong to which fights for farmers (and everyone's property rights held a get together for me before I left Port Macquarie. It was the best day. It was at a place called Kindee which is 40kms west of where I used to live, and reminded me of the beautiful green hilly country around Byron Bay. We had a wonderful BBQ - a really long walk down to the head of the Hastings River and then people started pulling our guitars and singing. It was so unexpected. Also unexpected was a German lady I know who started singing Irish songs...the man playing in the photo sang Australian songs from the countryside and one was a love song - I lasted one verse and had to leave the room. Later he said to me "I always get one with that song"
It was a very beautiful day and one of those days I shall always remember. Its quite likely I shall not see all of those people again, but they made me so happy that day and although I had only known most of them for a year through the group, they were kinder to me than many - sometimes strangers well met can become friends even if for only a short time.
Yet was not enough for me to want to stay. I love it here, I know I don't have the beautiful views and all of that but for me it is the people I love who are most important. All else follows. The couple who lived at this place lived amongst the most amazing beauty I have ever seen and although they constantly chipped at each other you could see how much they loved each other...It was touchable.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Saturday Arvo
Saturday Arvo.
How long before I can listen to the music I have loved since I knew music existed? How many years will it take when the harmonies don't make me break down crying? Any statistics on that? I have trouble listening to anything even new music - its not the words of songs - its what the harmony does to my heart. It actually hurts.
After wars soldiers come back with shell shock or now called Post traumatic Stress disorder - What is it called when the loved ones are murdered out on the streets? No doubt years later the closest will still suffer in whatever way is unique to them. For me I have no doubt as to what I witnessed as Don was killed and no soldier on the front suffered more than he did I can attest to that - it is not possible to endure more than he did before you die. It was/ is that horrible. I read Weary Dunlop's life story (every Australian should read that!) and when he describes the torture in the Japanese POW camps - and the length of time people endured and then were killed - it resonates deeply with me.
But with us it was not enemy soldiers full of cruelty and brutality - it was his doctors and some nurses and a mongrel of a system which takes no responsibility. You can be brutalised, mocked, tortured, deprived of all your rights, kept filthy, ignored until you die in our so called health care system and no legal body in this country will stand up for you. People you know wish you would get over it soon and you can tell because its over (as was the war) and those untouched don't want to know.
So please anyone out there how long till the sweet harmonies I have always loved in music don't destroy my day? How long will it be that I can understand that Don no longer suffers and is free of all this shit? For me it is so hard to remember the thousands of good times we had because when i do laugh or joke about some memory, moments later I see his face and those beautiful loving eyes are filled with pleading for the killing to stop. He knew all the time what was going on and sometimes I wish I thought he didn't know.
Part of the reason I moved from my lovely home at Craggy Island was that he was everywhere and nowhere - but there he was happy - then my mind would travel unconsciously to the horrors that ravaged his frail body and killed him.
So here in my new home a long day's drive from my old one - I couldn't understand why I no longer "felt" anything. Then today I put some music on - I was gone - a mess on tears. Maybe the healing will come when I can bear to put it on every day - but that would mean crying till I can't see, can't breathe properly. I don't think I can deal with this, its just too much, to not be able to have music as a comfort and inspiration is to deny someone like me breath.
People untouched cannot understand and that's not their fault, I am pleased for them. Who would wish for the knowledge I carry of the pure evil the health system condones? I do have trouble with those who say or imply that it couldn't have been as bad as i witnessed and had to go public in the news locally to counter that. There were people who gossiped that I was in it for the money when I wrote my book - a process that saw me spend close on $50,000. Including that I have calculated I spent $100,000 fighting for justice for Don's medically caused killing. I feel so much older than I am now but only five years ago I felt I would live forever.
The cost has been so high, health wise - but to have music taken too... One day when I am very old I hope because I do want to live this life to its rich end - the music will make me feel as it used to do.
All I can say is Father forgive them because they do know what they do but they go ahead and do it anyway and imagine there will be no consequences. What bigger crime can there be on this beautiful planet Earth than for doctors and nurses to kill patients and then to cover it all up knowing they can rely on week arsed politicians to give it all the rubber stamp? Adolf Hitler would be proud.
One day I will be able to listen to music, when the damage is lessened by the passing of time
I owe it to the couple we were and no doubt will be again in the big hereafter.
I owe it to these two who carry the best parts of Don and I.
Mostly, most days I am a happy enough little Vegemite - but sometimes you just have to "feel" something real again and the music I had to turn off sure hit me in the heart with a thump today.
How long before I can listen to the music I have loved since I knew music existed? How many years will it take when the harmonies don't make me break down crying? Any statistics on that? I have trouble listening to anything even new music - its not the words of songs - its what the harmony does to my heart. It actually hurts.
After wars soldiers come back with shell shock or now called Post traumatic Stress disorder - What is it called when the loved ones are murdered out on the streets? No doubt years later the closest will still suffer in whatever way is unique to them. For me I have no doubt as to what I witnessed as Don was killed and no soldier on the front suffered more than he did I can attest to that - it is not possible to endure more than he did before you die. It was/ is that horrible. I read Weary Dunlop's life story (every Australian should read that!) and when he describes the torture in the Japanese POW camps - and the length of time people endured and then were killed - it resonates deeply with me.
But with us it was not enemy soldiers full of cruelty and brutality - it was his doctors and some nurses and a mongrel of a system which takes no responsibility. You can be brutalised, mocked, tortured, deprived of all your rights, kept filthy, ignored until you die in our so called health care system and no legal body in this country will stand up for you. People you know wish you would get over it soon and you can tell because its over (as was the war) and those untouched don't want to know.
So please anyone out there how long till the sweet harmonies I have always loved in music don't destroy my day? How long will it be that I can understand that Don no longer suffers and is free of all this shit? For me it is so hard to remember the thousands of good times we had because when i do laugh or joke about some memory, moments later I see his face and those beautiful loving eyes are filled with pleading for the killing to stop. He knew all the time what was going on and sometimes I wish I thought he didn't know.
Part of the reason I moved from my lovely home at Craggy Island was that he was everywhere and nowhere - but there he was happy - then my mind would travel unconsciously to the horrors that ravaged his frail body and killed him.
So here in my new home a long day's drive from my old one - I couldn't understand why I no longer "felt" anything. Then today I put some music on - I was gone - a mess on tears. Maybe the healing will come when I can bear to put it on every day - but that would mean crying till I can't see, can't breathe properly. I don't think I can deal with this, its just too much, to not be able to have music as a comfort and inspiration is to deny someone like me breath.
People untouched cannot understand and that's not their fault, I am pleased for them. Who would wish for the knowledge I carry of the pure evil the health system condones? I do have trouble with those who say or imply that it couldn't have been as bad as i witnessed and had to go public in the news locally to counter that. There were people who gossiped that I was in it for the money when I wrote my book - a process that saw me spend close on $50,000. Including that I have calculated I spent $100,000 fighting for justice for Don's medically caused killing. I feel so much older than I am now but only five years ago I felt I would live forever.
The cost has been so high, health wise - but to have music taken too... One day when I am very old I hope because I do want to live this life to its rich end - the music will make me feel as it used to do.
All I can say is Father forgive them because they do know what they do but they go ahead and do it anyway and imagine there will be no consequences. What bigger crime can there be on this beautiful planet Earth than for doctors and nurses to kill patients and then to cover it all up knowing they can rely on week arsed politicians to give it all the rubber stamp? Adolf Hitler would be proud.
One day I will be able to listen to music, when the damage is lessened by the passing of time
Mostly, most days I am a happy enough little Vegemite - but sometimes you just have to "feel" something real again and the music I had to turn off sure hit me in the heart with a thump today.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Its all coming together -
but it'll be a cold day in hell before I do this again - and where did all this STUFF come from?
Finally have the computer set up properly and a keyboard i can see to hit the keys on - my youngest is moving in about two weeks so we are helping each other - she did all the tech stuff here and that was a real Godsend.
but it'll be a cold day in hell before I do this again - and where did all this STUFF come from?
Finally have the computer set up properly and a keyboard i can see to hit the keys on - my youngest is moving in about two weeks so we are helping each other - she did all the tech stuff here and that was a real Godsend.
Friday, January 13, 2012
I move in on Monday!
Its been a long haul...but I can't wait. Its been lovely spending time with the kids, but you need your own spot...and so do they. I am about to do the final inspection. No doubt by this time next week there will be heaps of photos and hopefully all will go well - that is the truck with my almost 80 photo albums won't crash!!!
Its been a long haul...but I can't wait. Its been lovely spending time with the kids, but you need your own spot...and so do they. I am about to do the final inspection. No doubt by this time next week there will be heaps of photos and hopefully all will go well - that is the truck with my almost 80 photo albums won't crash!!!
Sunday, January 01, 2012
A really lovely New Years Night
The first one spent with others since 2006/2007. Don and I were usually well asleep before but then seemed to wake up minutes before to take it in together and then phone calls from the girls would come from whichever venue in Sydney or wherever they were. I was happy like that anyway as when we were kids our parents and the whole town was asleep and New Years Night was no big deal at all.
Last night I was with my youngest and her husband and at about 9.30 we walked to few blocks to a spot at Saltwater Coast at Point Cook where you could see across Port Philip Bay to the fireworks...a long way away but still really good. It had been a hot day but the breeze was cool. Then again we went at midnight the same for the midnight ones...it was amazing, out of the darkness came small groups of people, most who were not here the year before as is a new housing area...was sort of good to be amongst such a small crowd (thirty or so) a few drunks, a few dogs , a few kids. What I like about the area I am moving to is that in summer the evenings are so long people are walking about well after tea time...whereas at home as lovely as it was it got dark and was really hard to go out and then come back to the empty place by myself. I was fine if I was there but coming back was getting harder and harder.
Sure I will miss the place and when I imagine it I am brought to tears...but were someone to say "you have to go back to live there" I think I would lose the plot as two of my "loving brothers in law" (ex as far as I am concerned...claimed I had after Don was killed. Funny how they knew seeing as I hadn't seen one for decades and the other had all the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop when Don was alive and when he was dying.
Today its really hot, tomorrow will be over 40...but its NOT HUMID!!! and that is excellent.
Have a happy new Year and hopefully this year will be the best you can hope for.
The first one spent with others since 2006/2007. Don and I were usually well asleep before but then seemed to wake up minutes before to take it in together and then phone calls from the girls would come from whichever venue in Sydney or wherever they were. I was happy like that anyway as when we were kids our parents and the whole town was asleep and New Years Night was no big deal at all.
Last night I was with my youngest and her husband and at about 9.30 we walked to few blocks to a spot at Saltwater Coast at Point Cook where you could see across Port Philip Bay to the fireworks...a long way away but still really good. It had been a hot day but the breeze was cool. Then again we went at midnight the same for the midnight ones...it was amazing, out of the darkness came small groups of people, most who were not here the year before as is a new housing area...was sort of good to be amongst such a small crowd (thirty or so) a few drunks, a few dogs , a few kids. What I like about the area I am moving to is that in summer the evenings are so long people are walking about well after tea time...whereas at home as lovely as it was it got dark and was really hard to go out and then come back to the empty place by myself. I was fine if I was there but coming back was getting harder and harder.
Sure I will miss the place and when I imagine it I am brought to tears...but were someone to say "you have to go back to live there" I think I would lose the plot as two of my "loving brothers in law" (ex as far as I am concerned...claimed I had after Don was killed. Funny how they knew seeing as I hadn't seen one for decades and the other had all the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop when Don was alive and when he was dying.
Today its really hot, tomorrow will be over 40...but its NOT HUMID!!! and that is excellent.
Have a happy new Year and hopefully this year will be the best you can hope for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
