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