We were in stitches

 We weren't laughing last week although we were in stitches but this week we are not in stitches so it is all smiles. Hooray!  From now on we are hoping for a more routine approach to this business starting with a renewed dose in 10 days time.  We managed to get out of there before all the lunch venues closed and this time we snagged the last two chicken pies from the nearby US of A embassy.  They make a good pie in there although they most likely are Aussies working for the Yankees.  I got a few photos inside the new Alfred building. It is all architectural waves and curves designed to calm the mind before probing the body.

Sawyers's Arms

 I called into this pub once before as the door was wide open but they weren't serving for some reason. This was a few yar ago and I had forgotten that time, until I rolled up to the door again and we were back. This is an old pub with a modern upgrade.  The menu features more than standard pub grub, like the duck's leg that I had but you can still get a parma if you want.  There is also an asian restaurant upstairs and a steakhouse next door. More food than you can eat.  Also has its own carpark as a bonus.  We caught up with Ross and Fran for a birthday toast and will recommend this spot in future although there did not seem to be a grandies area.

Flowers more than hours

 I got some flowers last week to take into the Alfred.  I just got them on the go, a bunch of roses with tight blooms that were about to open.  So these are all setup in a vase in the short stay area and the next day they are a drooping, withering mess. Today I searched out the top notch florist shop for another go at buying roses.  One advantage over our home grown stuff is that these have no thorns but I will settle for them lasting at least a few days.  I still think our own grown are bigger and brighter.

Wee Jeannie

 We used to ride to the Yarraville area from Essendon all the time, especially with the Sun theatre connection.  I can't remember the last time I went into a picture theatre.  Hhooly Dhooly found a cafe for brunch today which is situated right next to Yarraville train station where the trains are replaced by buses at the moment.  There is a large outdoor eatery next door and Winter is no hindrance to this lot, breaking their fast. We were cosy enough with a traditional big breakfast.  The quirky shops are always worth a visit here.

service station now house

Sun never sets here

Kooringal 67th Lunch

This golf club was recommended as somewhere in the area to go for a luncheon.  The dining area was huge and there was plenty of space but no kiddie play area. They did have some books and pencils and paper.  It was the most I have seen the grandies eat for lunch being favourite fish and chips. Generally the meals went down well so I think we will try it again. Golf courses have some prime real estate and this one is no exception. Grandma & Grandpa hit the jackpot winnings in bingo so thanks for their shout. Back at Willie it was time for cake and once again Grandma & Grandpa came up with a huge gnash cake. That is the first of numerous birthday outings.

Hover Search

 Last month we had a helicopter crash near our old beach hangout on Collendina. There was a lot of action trying to secure survivors and wreckage against the incoming tide.  We had the police chopper out again this time buzzing the front of our place obviously on the hunt.  It was a low level cruise slow and steady and there were numerous passes during an hour or so of searching. Certainly got all residents interested. How are you supposed to do some quiet reading with one of those hanging around.

Nuthin But Blue

 After a few days of confinement the calm sunny day beckoned so I got the bike out for a short circuit ride.  Debbie is banned from physicality for the next four weeks except for the casual walk so any jarring bouncing activity is out. We were talking to one of our finance guys on Zoom this morning and he happens to have had many lymph nodes removed from the side of his neck. The similarity is amazing but the good thing is that you cannot notice it just looking at his face. 

Slow drive

We took nearly 3.5 hours to get here due to a faulty road surface. It has been a slow 🐌 day. We are well into the afternoon now and still have not seen the plastics people. I have finished my book and am typing a blog entry from my phone to fill the time. All the tests and  checks have been done and she has just been called. Hooray phone typing is a pain.   OK  I can type on a normal keyboard now. After a long day I can report that not much has happened. They took out one stitch and the whole thing was threatening to break open so after a nine hour day we have to do it all again next week. Hopefully the road will not be broken. Getting this thing addressed is a pain in the neck.  At least the second insurance claim has been approved. 

Afternoon walk

 We have to manage energy levels in this recovery period so there has not been too much exercise of late.  The rain has stopped for a while so we took the chance to walk the beach and see what the damage is.  The tide was up as high as I have seen it and the far groyne is mostly submerged.  There is a lot of grass around.  The beach has been awash with rainwater from the back and seawater from the front.  I spied a lot flotsam but did not stop for any pickups.  I did pull a few plants that had browned off with the sea water. Debbie has managed the walk ok so now for the next step.

In the Navy Update

There is a bit more action across the way at the Point Wilson pier.  It seems to be the same type of activity as previous whereby a ship with heavy duty cranes is unloading heavy duty loads.  So far it has been the work horses of the sea that have docked there since the pier was reopened. They stay for a week or so then head off.  

Repair Shop

 Next door to the felting expo was a sign that said Repair Shop.  Now this is not your TV land artisans arrayed on stylish workbenches. There were two guys with a couple of tool boxes and that was it. However they will look at just about anything and give you an opinion for $5.  On our move to this area some 6 yar ago, my record player, that I saved $200 for and purchased when I was 12, took a turn for the worse. In the end it was traded for a similar machine that also was not quite right.  The repairman said he would take a look. When James was here last we were fiddling with trying to get the machine level. There were wood blocks here and dodgy bits there. This time I swapped them out for thinner very stable tiles.  Now things seem to be playing out on an even keel.  I will investigate further before spending the $5.

Caught

 Another Coben whodunnit that I have now read after watching it on Netflix.  It's definetly better to read them first and watch them later but there are times where that does not work so well, when for some reason producers want to mess with the original storyline.  That doesn't happen here where both versions are mostly the same except for the backdrop. Having a good old USA setting for the book and then seeing it filmed with a setting in Argentina is a bit of a stretch.  And this is not the first time Netflix have repositioned a story in another setting.  They are still worth watching though.

I Felt That

 We have been driving to Willie every 6 weeks for a haircut from a neighbour who lives just down the street on the Bellarine.  It seems nonsensical to me but don't ever get inbetween a hairstylist and a woman's hair.  As it turns out the haircutting is one thing but the felting is another. Debbie was ready to try an outing, so for an hour or so she managed to walk around a felting exhibition where Karon the haircutter/felter also had her work on display.  The theme was Alice in Wonderland but it seems to me that the Mad Hatters hat would also look equally at home with that other Alice.  I even managed to purchase a secret birthday present for next week.  Don't anyone mention it is a felted scarf. Should come in handy for hiding that cutthroat work. 

Karon's work

Alice Cooper

The Beach has grass balls

 Haven't been down to checkout the beach of late.  A recent wind has driven water right up to the foliage but has since retreated leaving a lot of grass balls laying all over it.  There is also seagrass heaped at one end but overall there is plenty of sand to walk on. I picked up the usual bag of junk, including two cans, rope pieces, plastic lids and ciggie butts.  The next bay over has two large blue escapees from the fish farm. These barrels break free on a regular basis and I did not check how heavy they might be. Getting them out will be tough.

Beautiful Baboon

 We got some paintings in the mail from Estelle but in our hospital wanderings we must have misplaced them until now.  In any case I am repaying the art work with a drawing for her to colour in.  The correct colour scheme is below but somehow I thing a different set of colours might get used.  This came from the Book of Bs where every word in the story starts with a B, including Bam Boom and Bop.

WasGij 42

 I had plenty of time to work on this jigsaw last week but I was where the jigsaw wasn't.  Now that we're back I was able to give it the last hour it needed to finish off.  I don't recommend this style although there are plenty of practitioners out there like our cleaner Michelle and our beach friend Jill who love the no reference puzzling.  Michelle saw the half finished version and was raving about it.  I still need a box cover to refer to.  This one is going back today and I would have preferred the picture below before I started it.  So to those out there giving this one a try, be my guest, as here is a high definition photo of the finished scene.  To quote "The Rock Maui"  Your Welcome.

Nurses Schedule

Nurses have a lot to do.  Here we have a pain management schedule 4x per day and the medicine schedule also 4x per day. At least these two can be co-ordinated. Then there is the wound management schedule which gets out of step at 3x per day. This one is tricky where the wound must be kept moist but not wet.  And for some reason eye ointment is good for this. There are also eye drops which do go in the eyes but not on the wound.  Finally there is the sleep and the food schedules and the trickiest one, trying to wash hair without getting any water on the neck.  

VISA payout

 We have been wrangling with a health insurance report which has to be on the correct form and filled out by a doctor with a stamp identifying them in the registry.  That filled out form was in the mail to us over a week ago, as we were leaving to get the operation done and we have been caught up with that ever since.  However I got an email from the Allianz people saying the claim had been approved and funds would be paid into our bank account.  Hooray, and all the fuss about a particular medical report does not seem to be so important afterall, as we never got the chance to send it.  So moral here is don't forget that credit cards have automatic insurance cover. Now its onto our real insurance claim with RACV insurance. It never ends.

Cherry Lake

 This area brings back MMBW memories as I spent a lot of time mapping the Kororoit Creek and Cherry Lake area.  There is a bicycle circuit of the lake you can do with access from the Williamstown trail then it is a short ride down to Altona and back via the Bay trail. It was a bit breezy and being a Sunday most people going around the lake were families with scooters and prams. I was constantly on the bell ringer and such consternation when a bike was going passed. There is a Kororoit bike trail but it stops a few kms from joining this network. The council needs to look at that one.

Lake Inlet 

Sunny New Order

 We found a coffee place nearby to the Alfred. On a weekday there are a dozen coffee spots inside the complex but on the weekend it seems a bit ghost townish.  If the patients need some air then just on the other side of Punt Rd is the New Order. Sounds like a scifi book.  I also recommed the scrambled eggs. Mind you sitting around with a very large scar and a drainage line on display is not a good look, so there was some fashion engineering to be able to go for a walk.  James had the chilli eggs and they had some heat.

Speed Bikes

 The recovery days continue with the docs extending the stay due to ongoing drainage issues.  That means everyone is being thorough. In the meantime grandies need attention so I called in for an afternoon of action.  It was a bit of a surprise visit. We started at the park with some playground tennis and finished in the backyard with trampoline basketball. In between was bicycle racing.  These grandies certainly blew off some steam. Bianca fixed me up with some chicken dinner which is good becuase I have run out of food here.

Ford No More

 I was reading the local paper here where there was an article about the ford up the road being replaced with a bridge.  There were a number of times when I would go that way and turn back because of the water levels. I did go thru one time with my feet raised as I had turned back the week before.  So I got the bike out to see for myself. A nice new bridge much higher off the water but I predict there will be a time where the water floods it again. I continued onto Altona. The tide was way out and the works at the pier area are still ongoing. They claim it will all be finished by this Summer.  Your rates at work.  Jezza would never put up with this delay. 

The circle is around the old Williamstown racecourse

Previously the council couldn't afford to pay

Alfred Update

 Just returned from a morning bedsit.  The area is called the short stay and if you've had some serious incision work then they want to keep you closer internal on the floor near the nurse station rather than on the outside where there are rooms with windows and is much quieter.  Like when the BP dropped suddenly and did not rise much thru the night so they pressed the alert button and within 30 seconds there were six people on the scene having urgent discussions. In the end two bags of saline got the BP back from 80 to 105 but it took all day with no food and no getting up.  The site is battered and bruised and so is the arm where they tried three different spots to get the drip in.  Let the healing begin.

Overcast Ride

 It was a cool breeze but I have to fill this time in so I got the road bike out which is back at Willie now. I was distracted and went out without the helmet. Only realised it after 10km.  There are still plenty of people frequenting the beach areas, mostly walking but a large crowd was down at the Jawbone area collecting samples of something.  The gate was open at the boat club yard so I went in for a photo. This spot looks old with all the walls made of piled rock.  I doubled back along the same route with the breeze behind for an easier return.

Waiting Waiting

 There are four sources of info at the Alfred when you are trying to get an update. The first one is the automated messaging and that did not start well as I received three or four messages in the first half hour declaring the start, finish and recovery phases all in 30 min.  A closer look showed them dated 2022. So I think it was a replay of the cheek procedure back then as when you get assigned a number the history stays and I think I was sent it again. The best info came with the inside contacts where I could get them to look at the procedure notes. Here was good info like 'procedure went to plan and no issues found'. Hooray.  Just then a recovery nurse rang thru to say there is a large wound but was able to sip water and nibble food. 

Now for the next bit

Lethal

A good day to finish off reading a book.  First wind now rain, so I guess we are ready to call it, Winter is here.  This is another book from the Willie collection.  It seems this author is more a romance writer but had a go at a whodunnit shootemup. Not a bad effort but I have read this scenario before.  There was a bit of a twist to work out who it was, so I will give her that.  There are meant to be at least 50 more of hers but if I see them on the Willie shelves I will just leave them there.

Stag Fern update

 I spent another hour finishing off the vegie beds weed clearance effort.  There is still a row of strawberries to be removed but they are helping to keep the birds off.  I checked out the stag ferns that have been leaning against the wall for the last few months. They are getting plenty of water now compared to the dry state they were in after being remounted on new backboards.  You can see new growth appearing but when compared to the others that have been in their spots for years there is a ways to go. Also the six orchid spikes in the middle courtyard are exploding this year, way ahead of their previous schedules.

recovering

staggering

spike

Tassie Boat

 I was unloading the video camera which I have not done for a month or so. There are some Tassie boat moments on there which I have below, comparing day and night.  I need to remember that these videos are here, for more comparisons when the improved new Tassie boats start up.  The project has been delayed because the Tassie Govt stuffed up. There was so much concentration on new bigger boats that new bigger docking facilities were overlooked. Now it is catchup time getting docks built.

SawJigs

 It was a cooler wetter day so it gave me a chance to do some puzzling.  I don't like this idea of jigsaws without a picture to refer to. It's like those cryptic crossword puzzles without the frame of reference to fill in your answers.  These guys call their version a wasgij but it is not really a backward puzzle is it.  Now that would be hard eg trying to assemble a puzzle face down.  Just like trying to do one that is all the same colour, which I did about 40 yar ago and never again. I am at least half way thru this one but it is hard going.

Slow Session

 Went back into the gym for a 30 min session.  I must have strained something when I was doing some weeding of late.  Must have pulled when I should have pushed.  I noticed for the first time that all the equipment here is designed to sit on except the treadmill.  Not sure if that is an age thing or are all gyms like that.  I took it slower for 20 min on the bike machine and 10 min on the rowing machine.  The bike profile consisted of two hills but I took my time travelling only 7km in the 20 min.

two hills

3km in 10 mins