Deferred Delayed

 I could even throw in the word demoralised as every trip I have tried in the last five years has been mostly cancelled, although this one has only been delayed a week. It gives me extra time to get on top of this persistent ache in the left leg. There are no results as yet from the MRI of last week however there is an improvment to report. I did my first drive in two weeks, so got thru that ok and I have to drive to Avalon and back today as well, so that will test things out. The aching has been reduced to below the knee and is concentrated in my calf, foot and toes. It is the weirdest thing when the ever slow progress of normality spreads from the hip down the leg but somehow compresses the remaining aches into uncomfortable waves. The nights are the worst. 

Tin Can Mail

 I was unpacking a parcel of envelopes today and found one of the Tin Can mail letters from 1937.  The story goes that due to the inaccessibility of the steep sides of this volcanic island in Tonga, the locals would swim out to passing ships with mail in waterproofed tin cans. This became a tourist thing of which this letter is part of, during a voyage in 1937.  Issues with sharks, then volcanic eruptions saw the whole thing closed down by the 1960's with enforced evictions leaving the island deserted.  There were so many of these swimmed letters that this one might get $50.

Bay Scenes

 It is socked in here, after a few days of Sunshine we have to pay the weather man with a few days of wet.  It gives me a chance to unload the video camera which I have forgotten about although does not get as much use over Winter.  I have been pointing it straight out over the water lately, so boats are the theme. Now we have been told that next week there will be two new Tassie boats plying their trade, so here is a chance to see the old one in action but with a night time view. I'll believe it when I actually see a new Tassie boat. Also there were some shots of an incredibly calm bay and a tug doing a chug. 

red browed finch

Antigua Penny Puce

 I have been persuing my list of secondhand books with a philatelic theme. They are older, out of print and hard to find. This one reminds me of a Jane Austen saga, family feuds, love triangles, a set of twins and a lifetime brother and sister dispute about a stamp collection. A philafeud no less.  It all stems from the idea that older brothers have the better knack and know how of maintaining a stamp collection than younger sisters.  After auction room swindles, court cases and news media taunts, the who owns what seems settled only to start again with the next generation.  Graves wrote this in 1935 when stamps were king. He is more famous for historic writings like "I, Claudius" which made it onto TV and a book I already had on the shelf, "The Twelve Ceasars". 

True Retrievers

 It is a team effort when it comes to putting and getting. It's like what goes up must come down and what gets put must get got.  It was the perfect beach afternoon and MRI's were not the reason to hang back. If we were going across then I had to bring the shot, even if it was just to roll the arm over with a few upright puts and I did have some true retrievers with me.  I had to find our gear, proper solid umbrella with the four anchor bags, beach seats, floor mat with all four corner pegs, coolarised drinks backpack and heavy duty beach towels to name a short list. The afternoon lulled into evening with mid twenties all night. The water is very clear and refreshing however swimming has not been a focus but it's turn will come.

true retriever

true retriever

MRI Revisted

 The last one of these I had was for a prostate examination and that resulted in removing body parts. This time it is a version of sciatica. MRI's use magnets and radio waves to interrupt bodily functions. It is like lining up metal filings with a magnet then switching it off to allow them all to fall back in place. Except this time they are lining up protons and snapping a picture when they settle back.  They are wanting to examine the hole where the nerve pokes thru. Ah the science!  The venue is a new one here with a brand new machine. Is it just me or are these machines getting smaller? One question they do not ask is how are you with claustrophobia?  Either I am getting bigger or that tube is getting smaller.  They asked me what music to play and I said Magneto and Titanium Man but they didn't have it. 

the latest in MRI casual wear

Water Therapy

We went across to try the cold water soakademia method of dulling this persistent ache in my leg.  Beaching is a good way of taking your mind somewhere else anyway. Physical activity is also good but it has to be mild enough not to reawaken the problem. I had my trusty retriever here so I let fly with 12 or so attempts in a fully upright stance. Since I did not have to go fetch or bend down, this session worked out ok.  We finished off in the water but only in the shallows where it is not really that cold. 

retrievers are believers