Drama on Christmas Day

I went to my brother’s house for Xmas Day.  All of his family and partners were there and after a huge spread for lunch, bro did a Santa Claus and gave out the presents.  Mine from brother Graham and his partner Carole was a bottle of Chandon which I will look into tomorrow when my daughter Helen returns from their trip to Queensland.   Right at the end of pressie time bro Graham dropped to one knee and called his partner to centre stage.  I could see some drama unfolding there.  Bro told her that he hoped that she would accept this gift...sighs from a few people and Carole opened the new ear rings and put them on.

As it turned out, Carole knew what bro was going to do.  Laughs all round. 

Great Danes

Daughter Helen has been looking after friends' dogs.  They are Great Danes....gentle giants; almost big enough to ride.

The Ford/Simca Vedette sedan 1960 model

Sorting through piles of photos and negatives I found this pic of the rear of a house that we purchased in 1975 whilst on leave from teaching in Papua New Guinea.  The pic was taken circa 1960 and I wondered what make of car was in the photo.  It has an American look to it.      Just yesterday I saw a story on line about French cars and recognised the mystery car as a Simca Vedette.  

The American style is because the first models were made in the French Ford plant and sold as a Ford Vedette.  The  French company Simca took over the Ford plant and built more Vedettes, the last model being as pictured below.

Birthday pressies

For my recent birthday I received a few great pressies.  Another one was from a wonderful ex-student of mine, Krissy.

She hand-crafted me a wall hanging, suspending a vase with a plant.  I am not really a plant person so I am unsure of what kind of plant it is.  I am more familiar with edible plants.

Krissy’s mother is a skilled artist and she is interested in illustrating a short story my late wife Joan wrote some 40 years ago. The story is named ‘Another Way Home’ and I believe it is well worth publishing.  It is loosely based on Joan’s farming family in country Western Australia.  

Green Almonds

A couple of days ago I heard very loud screeching from around 15 native black cockatoos as they demolished my neighbour’s almond crop.  I took a short video and sprayed them with water to send them off and yesterday at the local market I saw green almonds for sale. I have never in my 78 years seen green almonds for sale.  Come to think of it, I have never seen almonds sold in shells before.

Turn up your sound.

And so, Mr Google gave me a few tips for eating green almonds.  After I lightly fried them with a seasoning of salt and pepper, I consumed them tasting nothing but the seasoning.

Probably get a better result from lightly fried block soap.

78

Today I turned 78 years of age. I have had a fortunate life and hope to have a few more years without losing much more of my mind.

Papua New Guinea expats gathering.

On Friday I attended a Xmas gathering of Papua New Guinea expats.  There were 20 of us who had worked and lived in PNG pre independence...teachers, public servants, Patrol Officers, commercial people and plantation people.

This is a pic of we oldies, minus me; as I took the snap.

Click to enlarge

The angry orchid

Getting a bit lazy...this is from my Facebook post

This lovely orchid in my garden gets angry when I get close.
crucifix orchard....Epidendrum ibaguense

Click to enlarge

Willetton SHS 20th year reunion Class of '97

This last Friday night I attended a reunion of the class of ’97 from Willetton SHS.  WSHS is the largest Government HS in Western Australia and rides high on its reputation.  Many families have bought houses in its catchment area to have their children attend the school.  I was privileged to have taught there for some 14 years.

I have been to five reunions from my time as a teacher there and each one has been wonderful seeing ex-students as successful adults.   This latest reunion had just two ex-teachers attending; that year’s Year Person and me.

A few Pics of attendees.

Click to enlarge

These 'kids' are 37 and I'm 78 next week

A wonderful night. Looking forward to the 30th.

Teaching in Papua New Guinea in the early '60s

Going on leave from the Papuan Gulf in a Catalina to Port Moresby, then by DC6B to Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, 1963.

The engine noise was so loud that a pilot wrote on a small blackboard with chalk to point out places along the coast. The blackboard was passed back to each passenger.

A wonderful aircraft I was fortunate to have three trips in.

Click to enlarge

Goodbye Ravens (Crows)

I had my Mazda 929 ignition switch replaced and received a bonus free $199. service voucher to be used within 6 months. I was at first very pleased, but then thought maybe the service centre would find all sorts of other old gear problems and actually make a lot of money from me. Maybe, but still happy with Mazda. I have had 6 Mazda cars over the years and always found them to be well built with no lemons.

I have been feeding some Ravens in my backyard for a couple of years. They refuse to be friendly and lately have been annoying me with damage to plants and this morning before feeding time, one of them decided to try and eat a squeeze mop drying on an outside table.
Sorry guys, the food supply has run out.

click to enlarge

Mazda recall

In a couple of days I get my old Mazda 929 ignition switch replaced by Mazda on a recall.   I was amazed that a 1993 model car still had such a recall and free  replacement of a component.  Even more amazing was when I returned home after booking in at the Mazda dealer I could not remove the ignition key from the switch and had to disconnect a battery lead to get the key out.   An amazing coincidence; to get a recall about faulty switches and on the same day, the fault shows itself.    Creepy!

CPAP Machine

Another sleep apnoea test at a hospital in Perth last night.  I arrived at 8.45pm, filled out a few forms and was told to get into my pyjamas.   The fitting and testing of all the 20 electrodes took about 90 minutes.  I had a bad night’s sleep and left the hospital @ 7am.   Don’t want to do any more of those.

The test was a follow-up of a previous test which showed that I had breathing problems when sleeping on my back.  On my side, hardly any problems showed up.   So last night’s test was to determine if sleeping entirely on my side still shows minimum breathing problems.  If it does, I  won’t have to purchase and use the CPAP machine, which everyone I have talked to about them, finds them very uncomfortable.

Looks like a vacuum

Some good and bad news

Today I received a registered letter from the Mazda car company telling me that my 1993 Mazda 929 is in a recall to exchange the ignition switch.   What??   24 years old and they still  do free repairs?   I don’t think many brands would worry about a car over 10 years old.    Next week they will replace the key barrel.   Thanks Mazda.

Click to enlarge

love the four wheel steering in my 929

                     Over the weekend I lost my wallet near a service station.   I didn’t realise how much that would affect me mentally and economically.  Lost around $150 in cash and some 10 important cards such as my bank card, State Seniors Card, Royal Automobile Club, Australian Medicare card, HBF card, drivers licence etc etc.  The worry about getting replacement cards let me know that dementia aint gonna be an easy or pleasant time.   I immediately shut down access to my bank card as the touch and pay method commonly in use now would allow the finder to have a number of purchases each day. The rigmarole of getting new cards is going to take weeks.  

A write off?

Yesterday afternoon I had a call from my brother Graham.  He told me that his car had been badly damaged by another car and he needed a lift home.   Graham works at a shop in a reasonably large shopping centre where employees of the shops there cannot park in the centre’s parking area, so Graham parks his BMW in another nearby street.  

When he finished work, he found a rather tatty car with the engine still running and no driver to be seen.  Witnesses to the crash saw the driver flee from the scene and one of them called the police.  When I arrived on the scene, there were two motorcycle cops and a forensic officer attending along with three tow trucks.  The cops did a search on the vehicle registration and a known villain came up.  Damage to Graham’s car is probably enough for it be written off.  A rear wheel has been pushed forward in the wheel well and two doors and a door pillar damaged. 

 click images to enlarge

Wheel/axle pushed forward

Under the Lighthouse Dancing

Rottnest Island is around 22 kilometres from the Port of Fremantle in Western Australia. It is a popular holiday destination.  In 1997 a movie was filmed on Rottnest, named Under the Lighthouse Dancing.  A house was specially constructed for the filming and later transported to a spot on the Swan River at Bicton.

It is unknown how much the transporting and construction on the riverside block cost.  The block itself must have been worth a small fortune.  I reckon the neighbours must have been taken aback at the strange house in amongst the millionaires’ dwellings.  

click to enlarge

Film prop at Rottnest Island

Now overlooking the Swan River

Bicton Baths where I learned to swim

by myself some 70 years ago.

Can You Help

A friend acquired this mystery photo and I sent it in to our daily paper here in Western Australia to seek help identifying the place and the reason for the celebratory march over the bridge.  The West, as our paper is called, has a weekly page called Can You Help, where readers can ask for all sorts of help.  Very interesting page.

Click to enlarge

When it was published, I had a number of phone calls from country people and four callers felt that it was definitely the opening of the bridge at a small town named Williams in the W.A. wheat belt and then I had a call from Julie, who is a member of the Dongara Historical Society telling me that the bridge is the Dongara Bridge over the Irwin River and she has seen the same pic in a local history book.   I did a simple search and she is indeed correct.  The march was in 1887 and was to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.  A very British time back then.

Click to enlarge

Hospital visit

Visited a friend in hospital today.  Several months ago Rob had a second hip replacement.  He has had emergency treatment seven times due to an infection and now has a temporary hip replacement which will be replaced when he is stabilised.  He was to go home today, but the surgery is still causing problems with a brownish liquid leaking from the closure.

When I visited him at Fiona Stanley Hospital I took a snack of biscuits, selected cheese and my favourite, green olives stuffed with anchovies.  It turns out Rob doesn’t eat cheese or olives or anchovies.  He ate the bikkies whilst I got the goodies.

Click pic to enlarge

Computer recycling

Had a visit from a Mercy Care volunteer, Tania, with a young lady who came to collect an iMac to help with her studies.  Alicia is a bright young lady who very quickly grasped the basics of the Mac operating system.  She does not have a modem to connect to the internet and so will connect through her mobile phone.

click to enlarge

I also had a visit from a fav ex-student of mine; Krissy.  She is always welcome and we both enjoy a few coffees and great conversations.  Krissy knows my kitchen almost better than I do and knows how to operate my coffee machine.
Love her visits.

Of cars and flowers

I have been doing a little work on my new toy; my Mazda 1993, 929.  One of the windscreen washer jets was blocked and so I ventured out to a Mazda dealer to try and get a replacement.  The man asked for the Mazda VIN (vehicle identification number) which I neglected to write down before leaving home.   He came back telling me that there are a range of them available starting @ $80.  I decided to clean the muck out of the jets and it is working well again.  Silly me, figured it would have cost around $8.

Flower time....Bird of Paradise.