A Funeral

Yesterday I and several friends attended the funeral of a young woman who died suddenly at age 46.  I do not know the details of her sudden death, but it would seem that she knew her life was in danger.  She had written instructions donating any and all body parts which would help others.   The word aneurysm was mentioned by a few people and it may have been that she had an existing condition.

There were around 250 attendees and eulogies were delivered by friends describing her as a most interesting character, friend to many and a much loved daughter to her parents.

I wished that I had known her.

After yesterday I thought that I will need to book  Rentacrowd when I go.

Violet Holmes turns 100

This last Saturday, my aunt Violet; ‘aunty Vi’ celebrated her 100th year with a large group of family and friends.  She looks like she is around my age, 76, and announced that she had no plans to leave us all yet.  I took a lot of photos with aunty Vi and different family groups and individuals.

Vi has entered dementia territory, but when a group of singers played and sang some of the songs she knew well, she was able to sing along with each song.  She received letters of congratulations from the state’s Premier, The Australian Prime Minister and QE2.

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Tomorrow I am attending a funeral of friends’ daughter.  I am not good with the sudden death of people younger than me.

Shirl is here for FESS surgery

My sister Shirley is staying with me for two weeks during which time she will have a procedure called Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery to remove polyps in her sinuses.   Yesterday we went to Hollywood Hospital for a consultation with the surgeon, and filling scripts for pre-operation medications.  She will be operated on next Thursday and staying overnight in hospital.   The possible side effects read like a horror story, but the man has told her that he has never had any bad side effects on the many similar operations he has performed.  The Frontal Sinus is to be accessed through the eyebrows. Ouch!

Travelling in France

Our daughter Helen and husband James have booked a European holiday  for the month of September.   Yesterday’s tragedy in the French city of Nice where 84 people were killed and another 202 people were injured by a madman who, was a Muslim, but was not a religious person.  

Helen and James have Paris, Nice and Avignon on the French part of their holiday and they and me of course, have some concern about their safety.  The perpetrators of such horrors aim to create as much terror as possible and so attack crowded venues.   

Bali, in Indonesia, suffered an attack in which 88 Australians were killed in a nightclub bombing.  The clubbing foreigners drinking alcohol were an easy target for religious extremists.  In the many times my wife Joan and I visited Bali, we never visited the clubs and stayed in quiet oldies' areas.

Helen and James will no doubt do the same when they visit France and Spain. 

Mitch is safely home

Mitch is home safe in Esperance.  Yesterday, daughter Helen and I collected Mitch from Fiona Stanley Hospital and drove him to Perth Airport in plenty of time.  I thought his baggage was overweight but it went through at no cost.  He will be back up to Perth in about a month for more knee surgery and the hospital will also check out how he is managing the ‘foot drop’ problem.    When he is able to drive again it will most certainly not be a motor scooter.

Last evening I watched ‘Family Feud’.     The thing I find most strange about this show is that the producers somehow manage to find the strangest mix of character in the two families competing.    I have not seen the U.S. version of this show, but the Australian version manages to have at least a few members wearing quite outrageous clothing when they proudly parade themselves for the Australian viewers. So I switched over to the 40th re-run of MASH.   In MASH, I notice there are no ugly nurses.

Some good news for Mitch Jones and Mum

Some very good news for Mitch who is in Fiona Stanley Hospital doing rehab after a major road crash.  It has been eight weeks since he was flown up to Royal Perth Hospital Trauma Unit for specialised surgery  to leg and arm breaks, internal injuries and knee reconstructions.  During the past week he was transported back to RPH Trauma Unit for assessment.  The specialist  team removed an arm plaster and determined that he is fit enough to return home to Esperance this coming Friday.  He has some more knee surgery in a couple of months and maybe some nerve grafting to repair the ‘foot drop’ in his right foot. The nerve damage may well fix itself.  At the moment Mitch’s toes are unable to turn up which may cause tripping on carpet etc.    He is philosophic about this problem as he realises that he is very fortunate to come out of this major crash with most functions working pretty well.

Mitch with Mum, Karen

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