Golden

Recently my parents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary.  What an achievement.  I haven't managed to get out of bed for 50 years yet, let along spend that amount of time with my spouse.  It was a bittersweet celebration, though, as my Dad has dementia and so lives in a hostel (soon to be nursing home).

Mum pressed on with the celebrations though, and organised a small afternoon tea with the bridal party.  Well, her bridal party. She accidentally sent my uncles invite (he was one of the best men) to the wrong address.  Senior moment? Freudian slip? We'll never know, but we were concerned when they didn't how up. During the afternoon I rang my cousin, who went to investigate, tracking my aunt & uncle down to the tennis club bar. Phew! At least they were OK.

The whole day was very emotional for me because I felt Mum shouldn't have had the celebration (based on my prejudice about their situation), and sad because of the state my Dad was in (he was very incoherent that day and had had a fall in the morning).  I spent most of the afternoon ensuring that Dad was OK and trying not to burst in to tears.)

After we took Dad back to the hostel I took my dogs for a walk along the river (I tried out a new bit of the river near Mum's and really liked it - nice & quiet!) and then caught up with Mum for a bit (and took the dogs for a second walk with Mum - lucky dogs!).  When I got home I found that my husband had cooked a fabulous pork roast (with crackling to die for).  Being cooked for is rare treat and was just the balm I needed. It was a delicious end to what had been a stressful day.

Spring

I love this time of the year.  

The temperature is just right in the morning, daytime, or the evening to walk my dogs.  

Lots of plants are flowering so there are lovely scents wafting through the air. 

There is minimal wind so you're not being blown off the face of earth.  

If I time my walk correctly I don't need to wear a hat.

It's all good!

Getting some exercise

My dogs speak enough human to get by.  They know and respond to 

• outside - which means go into the laundry because we're going out
• tea - as in would you like some dinner (tea)
• bedtime - only Indi responds positively to this one, Sam lies perfectly still wherever he is, trying to meld into the background
• park - as in "do you want to go to the park" They know this means off leash time

and of course

• walk - which means Sam goes and cowers by the front door waiting for me to put his harness on.  Poor thing. And Indi sits patiently on the mat inside the front door. Thank goodness one of them is normal!

When I'm getting ready (putting on my walking shoes) Indi often goes into paroxysms of excitement - prancing around with a toy in her mouth, tail madly wagging. Sam just looks anxious - no doubt waiting to see if we're going to the park (all good in his world), or for a walk (not so good in his mind).

Once we get out the door there can be quite a bit of hesitation (which could be interpreted as reluctance) on Sam's part depending which direction we head (I can choose from three different directions - lucky me!).  One direction leads to a nearby oval (which can mean a bit of off leash time) and the dogs will often strain oval-wards when we get to the corner where we would cross if we were going that way.  The other two are just normal walks.

I have a short walk, which is mainly on the flat and goes around approximately 4 blocks.  Then there is a medium walk, which usually means heading downhill (I live at the top of a hill) and walking along the valley and then back up the hill. And finally the long walk, which is a combination of the above with extensions further into the suburb I live in. I would love to be able to take longer walks but Sam has issues with traffic which preclude this, so we make do with what we have.

I'm not a big fan of exercise - unfortunately due to my physiology I don't have much stamina (never have) and so it's just not enjoyable. However since we've had Sam (and Indi, too) I've had a reason to get out and about and I can see and feel the results.  I now walk up the hill to my house without stopping and minimal puffing - which can only be a good thing!




 

Yesterday

Waking up this morning I was so happy that I didn't have to redo yesterday.

The chronology of yesterday was:

• Decide to take the dogs for a walk in the morning (now the morning aren't quite so arctic and the sun is getting up a bit earlier) only to have Indi roll in someone's spew down at the local oval. Yuck. So we walked home and she received a bath whilst I dry retched all over her. Gross doesn't begin to describe it. Fortunately she'd just got the vom on her rump so I was able to lift her into the laundry trough without getting it on myself. I just hope the person who left the up chuck had had a good time and their hangover wasn't too bad.  So, no going to the oval until we've had a bit of rain.
• Organised flights, car, accommodation and flowers to be sent all relating to death of my uncle.  The flower people rang me to say that they don't deliver wreaths to private homes. WTF???  Anyhow they have delivered something and my cousin will photograph so I get to see what we eventually got for our money but I was not a happy camper.
• Then in the evening, just as I was contemplating a second glass of red, the phone rings to let me know my dad has been taken to hospital after having another (actually one of quite a few by the sounds of it) fall at the hostel where he is now living.  Off to Freo Hospital I head with my brother collecting Mum on the way from his place.  Mum & I saw him about 10pm and I thought he looked like it was a recurrence of the flu, and mum said he'd been coughing that afternoon.  After that we headed home.

On the upside I cooked a cracking casserole in my pressure cooker.  With polenta and savoy cabbage (which I have only just started cooking with and love). 

 

As I said, I'm very happy to have that particular Monday out of the way.