Tidying and Sorting

Since she moved into her room in Mount Clear, Stella has had lots of photos and knick knacks and things on the bench in her room. It was all a bit chaotic and you couldn't really see what was there.

After her little fridge arrived, we measured the remaining space and decided that the black bookcase, which was along the side wall of my dining room, would be perfect for the space, lying on its side.

So on Saturday Lindsey and I took it in, set it up and put the photos, things and pictures on it. It looks really good

Stella doesn't watch her TV so we didn't 
need to worry about covering it up

Much better. You can see what's there. I believe the Man with the Hammer is coming in today to put some picture hooks up so we can hang some of Stella's pictures. And we're going to bring in a glass cabinet and possibly a wooden cabinet from Mount Martha and maybe another bookcase. Make her room feel even more like home.

I've taken a small bookcase into Jim's room as well and taken in some of his cars and other bits and pieces to make his room look more like home. I'm going to see if we can get some picture hooks up in his room too so I can take in some of his photo frames. 

I went to Mount Martha on Sunday to pack up some more boxes for a local charity and some books and CD/DVDs for the Lions' book shop in Buninyong. The poor house is beginning to look distinctly neglected. There is still stuff everywhere. If you look very closely, you can see where I had been but there is still quite a lot to do. There is more to clear out in the kitchen than I had thought. The furniture is mostly gone, though. What is still there, apart from the glass and wooden cabinets which we will take to Stella's room, will need to be taken away by a house clearance company. None of us needs the beds or chairs or desks and stuff.

I ran out of small boxes so gave up on my clearing activities and went to Melbourne to take Afternoon Tea at Freyja and Simon's place, enjoying the sunshine in their courtyard. Then I came home.

Evening light from my front porch

Tuesday Evening Light @ Tani

By the front door there is a tall, thin window. Yesterday, late afternoon, I looked up from my couch and through that tall, thin window, I saw part of this:

So I went out to look further. When I went out onto the driveway, incidentally getting very wet in pursuit of my "art",  I saw this:

Isn't it beautiful?

Lindsey came out of Aldi today with two grey couch beds for Rupert and Hugo. When I finished work, early today because there wasn't much happening this afternoon, I went in and bought one for my Pretty Kitty Kats. Perhaps I also should have bought a grey one. I'm not sure pink really goes with ginger and cream!

Whiskey

And here's Brandy on an occasional table,
plotting mischief

I have a new broadband provider. I rang Foxtel to cancel the subscription to the sports channels. I had included them in my general subscription when I went to Foxtel because Jim enjoyed watching various different sports and I thought it would provide some interest and entertainment. He hasn't really watched them for some time now and nobody at all has watched them since he went into care. To my relief, they didn't argue with me but did ask if I wanted to include broadband in my subscription, with various little inducements to tempt me.

So I did.

The modem arrived a few days ago. They had arranged the cancellation of my previous provider. Everything went live today - and it took FOR EVER to make the modem connect to the internet! The steady red light flatly refused to change to a steady blue one :-( Eventually I went off piste, ignored the instructions and put the yellow cable in the red port. And lo - it works beautifully.

If you have previously connected to my home wifi, sorry but you'll have to do it again. And it's no wonder that I'm generally very reluctant to change any kind of service. It never goes as smoothly as you might hope!

Out for Sunday Lunch

When we brought Stella and Jim up to Rupert and Hugo's place for afternoon tea last Thursday we were totally unable to get both Stella's wheelchair and Jim's clunky walker into Lindsey's boot and had to leave the walker behind and just do our best up at Hill House.

Lindsey decided that this Would Not Do. We are likely to want to take them both out from time to time and need to be able to fit both into the car. So on Saturday morning, she and I went to the Independence Living place and Lindsey bought a lightweight three wheeled walker. 

Three wheeled walkers aren't as stable as four wheeled ones but we thought it would probably do for short distances. I took it up on Saturday afternoon.

In fact, it's much better. The handles are slightly higher than on the old one so he doesn't have to stoop to use it. And it's much more manoeuvrable so it's easier for Jim to get around, plus it folds up nice and tightly. I've taken the old clunky one away and put it in my garage while we decide what to do with it.

If I keep putting things like that into the garage, soon there won't be room for the car!!!!! I must have a garage clear out soon.

On Sunday we collected Stella and Jim and drove out to Blampied to the Swiss Mountain hotel for lunch. When I rang to make the booking they offered me 12:00 or 13:45. I took the 12pm session. 13:45 seemed a bit late, given the care facility gives the residents their "evening" meal at 17:00. 

It's a lovely, half hour drive out to Blampied, which was one of the reasons we chose to go there. Nice drive in the country, followed by a lovely lunch in a country pub. What more could you ask for?

It was very, very quiet in the pub when we got there at 2 minutes to 12.

There was one couple at another table, and us. By 13:00 the pub was full. I'm glad we took the early session. By the time we left, half of the specials board had been wiped off

Just one thing wiped off so far.
More will go in the next hour or so

Not that we ate from the specials board. Jim had his usual fish and chips. Lindsey had a beef burger with lots of chips. Stella and I both had lamb backstrap with roasted vegetables and very delicious it was too. I might have helped Lindsey finish her chips. The lady on the table behind us had the pulled lamb shoulder from the specials board, which was more or less a deconstructed souvlaki and was enormous, accompanied by an enormous serve of chips. Then she had a chocolate sundae which was pretty much a heart attack in a sundae dish. I'm not sure the four of us could have managed it even if we had had one between us all. It was HUGE (and looked very tempting; fortunately for our blood sugar levels we were all full from our main courses!)

And now it's Monday. I am up at Rupert and Hugo's place. Lindsey and Ian are away overnight. The morning sunshine has been replaced by dark, dark rain clouds and the temperature has dropped. It's very tempting to put my pyjamas, slippers and dressing gown on, to settle in a comfy chair with the television on, glass of wine in hand and to declare the day finished. Alas - it's not even 14:30 and might be just a tad early for that.

I have, however, put my slippers on.

Afternoon Tea at Rupert and Hugo's Place

So I don't go to the flat in East Melbourne for two and a half years - and then I go twice inside a week!

I picked up an extra shift at work on Tuesday and stayed in the flat overnight with Lindsey. We ambled up Smith Street and back to Kinyoubi Izakaya for dinner. Edamame beans, crumbed prawns, Tonkatsu chicken and a really very nice soba noodle salad. Excellent!

It may be a while before I manage to get back again. The Plague victims are, I think, better and back at work.

We went out yesterday and bought a small bar fridge for Stella's room. It was small enough that we could put it in the car and take it away, thus saving on the delivery charge. We took it with us when we went to collect Stella and Jim to take them up to Lindsey's place for Tea and Cake. I had bought a lemon and blueberry cake in Wilson's which was very delicious.

Stella enjoyed getting out for afternoon tea. Jim seemed to enjoy it too. It was the first time we had taken him out since he moved in. He went in on a Thursday, and the facility was locked down on the Sunday. It probably worked out well. He has settled into the memory unit very well and didn't ask if he was going back home. In fact, as we went past the roundabout where you would turn off the main road to get to Tani, he asked "do you still have a place up there?". He didn't ask to go and look at it. He was very pleased to see Rupert and Hugo. They were pleased to see him.

Afternoon tea at Hill House:

Grandma Stella and Hugo

A woman and her dogs

A dog and his teddy

Look, Lindsey - there are visitors

Visitors, cake, cups of tea -
WHERE IS MINE???

Jim and Rupert, pleased to see each other

Stella's fridge was in her room and set up in the space we had cleared for it when we got back. Now if only I could persuade the bloke who is supposed to be putting up the picture hooks to come and ply his hammer. I've been asking since she moved in!

Stella's out of lockdown. And we have been clearing out her place at Mount Martha

I was at work on Thursday when I got a phone call from a very excited Stella to say that she had finally been let out of jail - I mean lockdown. No further active covid cases in the facility meant that the residents were allowed out of their rooms, allowed visitors, and allowed to leave the facility.

Lindsey was not at work on Thursday and pretty much immediately went around to visit her.

The easing of the lockdown was good news because she had a GP appointment on Friday morning. She would have been allowed to go to her medical appointment but it might have been more awkward to take her out to lunch as well.  No worries, if the lockdown has been lifted. And that is what we did.

Her GP appointment was at 11:00 in Buninyong so we had ample time to consider where to go to lunch. In the event, we went to the cafe in Mount Clear opposite the IGA. I've eaten in there a couple of times, plus I've popped in for takeaway a few time. I don't know why we don't go there more often. It's convenient. It has a lovely atmosphere. The staff are delightful and the food is more than acceptable. And it's no distance at all from the Mount Clear Aged Care Facility.

Stella, properly rugged up against the cold.
Out of her Room At Last!

I took Stella home and then dropped in to see how Jim was getting along. He was very pleased to see me - for probably five minutes! He was in his room watching TV and wasn't going to be distracted from that 😂  He did stir himself to eat the jelly slice I had brought him. I didn't stay long. I'll go back today and see what he needs, plus I've got some extra clothes and some knickknacks to take in - once I've assessed how much room he has. He seems well enough, although his beard is beginning to look extremely unkempt. I'll have to take Lindsey and her hair shearing blades in with me for a nice trim.

Stella's social whirl continued on Sunday. Freyja and Simon picked her up at lunchtime and took her up to Rupert and Hugo's place where they were joined by Julia and her lot. Ian cooked them a magnificent Sunday lunch and, as far as I can tell, a good time was had by all.

Rupert enjoying a visit from Grandma Stella.
Photo courtesy Ian

In the meantime, Lindsey and I went to work on Saturday morning and then trundled down to Mount Martha where we made a sturdy start on clearing out the house ready for it to be put on the market. We need to get a wriggle on with this if only because Stella is paying all the fees at the aged care facility plus, of course, she is still paying all the fees and costs of having a house in a retirement village. This is financially unsustainable when you don't have double the income.

So Lindsey got lots of moving boxes and we have cleared out the main bathroom and Stella' bedroom, plus we packed up boxes of things to go to charity and started piling up more things for charity in the corner. There isn't a lot left to do in the lounge room and dining room, although we haven't properly touched the kitchen or the spare room.  Or, now I come to think about it, the garage although most of the stuff in there is probably headed for a skip.

And then there is the study. Strong and brave hearted people go into the study armed with courage and determination. Then they come over all peculiar and have to be revived with smelling salts and recuperate on the fainting couch for several hours. I think we have decided to leave it until last and have several people go in at the same time to tackle it. Or, we could simply put everything into big plastic boxes and move it to Hill House and hide it all in the shed - and hope that the mice, rats and possums will deal with the problem for us.

We are hoping to complete the clearing out of the house in the mid-September school holidays, ready for the retirement village to do all the things they will want to do before putting it on the market.  I understand there is high demand for places in that retirement village so fingers crossed it will sell quickly.

My place is nearly ready for me to die, become incapacitated or move out. Apart, that is, from the garage, which I hadn't really though about until yesterday. I must tackle that, as soon as Brother Matthew has been and taken whatever he wants from it.

Lindsey and I decided at midday that we had had enough of playing the Moving Out game and went to the Dava for lunch. 

Then we headed back home, calling in at Tully's as we went past. The Pretty Kitty Kats were very pleased to see me. Rupert and Hugo weren't quite as excited to see Lindsey. They had had lots of visitors during the day and had had a very good time. Hugo was quite pleased when Lindsey dropped a tub of Tully's lovely minestrone soup on the floor in the kitchen. Rupert wasn't quite as excited until someone scraped some of it into a bowl for him. Hugo has no such sensibilities. He's more than happy to clean up delicious soup straight from the floor.

Photo courtesy Ian

East Melbourne

The last time I can remember being in the City of Melbourne, apart from passing through it to get somewhere else, was in February 2020, just before Jim and I headed off to England. I still haven't got into the CBD, but I have made it as far as East Melbourne.

I like East Melbourne.

We are definitely short of receptionists at work at the moment. One is off on her Grand World tour. Two are off with covid. And one has a funeral to go to and asked if I could cover her today. So I came down to work yesterday and stayed over in Lindsey and Ian's flat. It was ridiculously exciting getting into the car after work and heading into town instead of to Ballarat.

They've made some changes in the flat since I was last here. New flooring. A new, fancy pants fold down bed, new chairs, that sort of thing. But the view from the balcony hasn't changed:

I wandered up Smith Street and met Freyja and Simon in the Kinyoubi Izakaya for dinner. A tapas-style Japanese feast. I asked for a bowl of karaage chicken, among the other treats. I won't do that again if I am the only omnivore present. The chicken was very delicious but I was the only one who could eat it, which meant I couldn't properly sample the other bowls. It was all very delicious and a lovely evening.

And now I had better get myself organised for the day. It's been rather nice not having to dash about to get ready to leave (by about now, when coming from Mount Helen) but it is all too easy to potter about and forget about the time all together!

And I must make the time to come to Melbourne City more often. Two and a half years between visits is ridiculous, even allowing for plague, pandemics and other impediments

Garden

I got out into the garden yesterday afternoon and carried on putting together the new fruit beds along the back fence

(I still have terrible trouble working out what to call the fences; they don't make logical sense, to me, for "front" "side" and "back" but nevertheless, that is what I am going to call them!)

I have almost run out of the wooden raised bed kits but have enough, I think, to finish the bed along the back and to make a start one the next one. I've also started tidying up in the vegetable area - not that you can tell, looking at it as it is now!

It's another lovely day today, so I might get chance to do a bit more.

Fruit bed has gooseberry and black currant bushes in,
with lemon trees at either end.
Rhubarb and blueberries still to go in.

This is the chaos which was once a functioning
vegetable garden.
It will function again. I hope!

I have also pruned the rosemary bush out the front, and some of the wattle which overhangs the fruit bed (I need to do a bit more of that, plus the eucalypts which overhang the side fence and some of the bushes out the front). This has garnered me some things to put in my vases:

Oh - and I've pushed the TV back on the diagonal in the corner of the lounge room. Having it flat against the wall unbalanced the room. And I could only see it from one seat. Where it is now I can see it from both couches and from the dining room. And it looks better!

 

Busy (Being Busy!)

I've actually been quite busy recently.

One of the receptionists at work has taken advantage of the increasingly restriction free re-opening of the international borders and has taken off on a Grand World Tour. Unfortunately, just as she did this, one of the other receptionists became quite unwell with covid. She had to go to hospital in an ambulance and was still not well a few days later. So in addition to working for an extra hour or two on Wednesday, I found myself tripping down memory lane - and heading into work with Lindsey on Friday.

Fortunately, it wasn't too busy on Friday because there weren't many doctors on and none of the allied health people were in. It was a long day, though.

And allow me to draw your attention to: When I tell you that there are no appointments available, it will avail you precisely nothing to tell me that "I've been coming there since 1965" or "I've been loyally coming  for 20 years". If I had an appointment to offer you, I would have offered it. The fact that you have been coming for umpty something years doesn't magically conjure one up! And if you tell me your name, I will call you if we get a cancellation. I can't do that if you just huff and hang up.

I'm working some extra hours this week too. One of the advantages of Jim being in the care home - I can offer to cover shifts if necessary, plus I can choose to go and work on site rather than from home if I feel like it. 

Stella is not a happy bunny. She was given the August calendar of activities for the facility and last week was marked off as Locked Down, with activities resuming on Sunday. She therefore assumed that if nothing else they would be allowed out of their rooms to mingle in the common areas and the dining room, despite us warning her that it would be entirely dependent on there being no active cases. Alas, there are still a small number of active cases and they remain confined to their rooms for now. And realistically, they were never going to open the doors to outside visitors on a Sunday. Can you imagine the rush of people wanting to get in, being dealt with by the single receptionist they have on a Sunday? I don't think it will be long, though. Case numbers do seem to be dropping quite nicely.

I have called at the aged care facility, to drop things off for Stella and a few things for Jim. A member of staff comes to the door and collects them. I speak to Stella every day, and to Jim once or twice a week. Both of them have recovered from their covid bouts, although Stella is still a bit snuffly and sneezy. I will be pleased when I can get back in again. I have lots of things to take in, including book shelves and other larger things. Plus, Stella has an appointment with her GP on Friday. It will be useful if I can get her out of the facility by then.

Apart from all that, things are trundling nicely along. I am carrying on with the Death Cleaning and also with general decluttering. Lindsey and I went to the Bridge Mall market and the mushroom farm on Saturday. I am slowly learning not to peel too many potatoes. I am building a pattern of daily life, although I need to remember that I will need to include regular visits to Stella and Jim when they open up again.

Spring is approaching. The wattles are beginning to flower. I see spring bulbs appearing in people's gardens. The days are slowly, slowly starting to get longer - which means I really need to get a wriggle on with sorting out the new fruit beds in the back garden. The soil is still quite cold but it won't be long before it starts to warm up. And I have been sorting out my vegetable seeds. Lindsey and Ian gave me a seed heat mat at Christmas and I am pondering making an experimental early start on the summer seeds, just to see what happens. I need to take some of my metal beds up to Lindsey's place. We are planning a new vegetable area up there too.

Busy doing Not Very Much

It's funny, you know. Most days there is absolutely nothing stopping me doing whatever I want to do. I can hop in the car, hop on a bus, hop on a train and go anywhere I choose. Nobody is likely to query it. I still can't go to the care home but other than that ...

In fact, I consider the possibility of going somewhere - and decide to stay at home. It's not even as though I'm being particularly busy at home. My poor gardens are looking very sorry for themselves, though that shouldn't take long to fix.

It is true that I need to be a bit careful with money at the moment. I now have Jim's care home fees to pay, plus the last (I hope!) lot of the home care fees and the exit fee. I *knew* that I should have held off with the home care package. I had a strong suspicion that Jim wouldn't be at home for much longer but hoped that the care package might mean he could stay at home for a few more weeks or months.  I should have listened to my intuition! It will all settle down in the next month or two but in the meantime I need to pay attention to the outgoings.

This would not, really, stop me going out!

And I did go out. I went to Mount Martha on Sunday, taking Lindsey's car which is much larger than mine. I am very aware that Stella's unit is going to take a lot of clearing out before she can put it on the market. Plus, there are some precious things that Stella would like to have in her room, but which she worries will get broken if they are kept there. So, she decided, they could come to my place and she can look at them when the facility comes out of lockdown and she can come to visit. I felt that if someone went every week or so and put in a couple of hours of clearing out, when we come to do the big clear up it might not be quite as daunting.

So I have cleared out and turned off the fridge freezer in the kitchen. I have made a substantial start on clearing out the pantry. I have brought some, but not quite all, of the precious things to my place. I have also brought the in-date contents of the fridge, freezer and pantry to my place. And a couple of occasional tables.

This meant that I had to turn back on my freezer in the garage, which I had only just cleared out. And I have had to rearrange the furniture in my lounge room to accommodate the precious things. While I was about it, I did a proper deep clean. Dusting, cleaning the window sills and skirting boards, vacuuming the floor edges. And, of course, the carpet.

This is how the lounge room looked yesterday evening:

The TV is no longer the focal point of the lounge room. In fact, you can only watch it from "Jim's" couch. This is no bad thing. I don't usually have it on when there are visitors and it means that I now have a "reading" couch and a "TV" couch. And the cats have all the couches :D

This was my view from my bed yesterday morning. I was, unusually for me, enjoying an early morning cup of tea in my bed:

They won't sit on me when I am sitting on a chair or couch. No such inhibition when I am sitting or lying in the bed!