In addition to Sheba the fox terrier, we also have two goldfish, Martin the mainly silver one and Aung the more multi-coloured one. The petshop was delighted when we took the silver one because for some reason customers didn't want him. They want colour I imagine. I was only too happy to take him because the two fish seemed to be friends and I think ghostly grey is a striking colour.
It was raining in Canberra today so it was a good opportunity to change the water and clean the beautiful Chinese vase or pot that they live in. I caught a lot of rainwater from a leaking roof gutter. Enough to fill their vase and an old aquarium which I put them in while cleaning was in progress.
Meanwhile their Chinese vase got a good clean, with Sheba taking a close interest in proceedings.
She one of her little doggy coats on today because it was cold. I imagine she may blog about it.
I went out to buy new belts today. Since leaving work I have lost weight. My waistline has shrunk. I'm eating less junk food, less generally. I'm exercising more. My appetite has returned recently but I'm eating healthier.
I'm better able to cope with my troubled son, who is with us at the moment. He helped in the garden again today. The weather wasn't as nice, overcast and raining now and then. It was good to see him active. He even started getting a bit bossy about the work and how it should be done. But by the afternoon he had slipped back into his stupor, drawn back into the imaginary world of the computer.
It will take time, now I have it. This week we will do more cleaning up and gardening.
Sheba our little fox terrier has helped keep Dom and I moving. I use her to get him up in the morning. She jumps on his bed and licks his face. She is so exuberant and full of life.
Today we cleared the trees and shrubs that were getting up under the gutters of the house. It was a warm day for the Canberra winter. There was a lot of biomass to remove. Mrs Horse and Dominic helped.
We have a lot of fruit trees. The garden was planted out by the Italian who built the house or someone in his family. I have often wondered who it was. Grape vines run through the trees. The vines had used one of the trees to get into the roof gutters at one point, about forty feet up, an extraordinary effort.
Mr Horse concentrated on the fruit trees while Dom and I worked on the trees fouling the gutters. We soon had about a truckload of cuttings, which we will make more manageable this week before removal. It was good to get out in the garden. There is peace in the garden.
Dom the troubled foal is with us at the moment. He is better than he was the last time he was here. There are glimmers of his old self. But he still spends most of his time on his computer, locked in his own world. What he is doing there is anyone's guess. He claims he is applying for jobs. But most of the time he seems to be playing online games or watching movies and TV shows.
Sheba is helpful in engaging him. She helped me wake him up this morning. He complained about her being on his bed but I think he liked it. He got up soon after, a lot earlier than he normally does.
In the afternoon we worked in the garden. He did not demure when I asked him to help me. He did a good job. So much potential in that boy. He is such a sweet child. Perhaps this is the way forward. The weather was sunny and warm. The garden is slowly coming back to life after the coldest part of the winter.
I went to see the dermatologist in Sydney. I feared he would give me the dreaded creme. But it turned out I didn't need it. I realised for the first time that I'm on my own now when it comes to medical care. But this only puts me in the company of 99% of the human race.
Sydney is so much warmer than Canberra. I could wear summer clothes up there.
An up and down day. I really enjoyed writing the first installment of the Sheba blog. That filled the morning and some of the afternoon. I also managed to do the washing.
I had to go and see the doctor in the afternoon to get a referral letter for the dermatologist. I was nervous about that appointment, but the doctor said I had done absolutely the right thing by going to the hospital when I experienced possible heart attack symptoms a couple of weeks ago. That was reassuring.
She also said my blood work was enviable - she would be happy to have my blood - but to make sure I saw the specialist after the CT scan. I will. I was particularly happy she did not give me any medicines. A perhaps illogical fear - you retire and immediately they put you on pills.
In the evening I saw Andrew the shrink. He said with everything that was going on I was doing pretty well. He suggested I start setting goals - short like daily, medium like weekly and long-term like monthly. I said "to do" lists worked for me. I'll try and implement what he suggests in my own way.
Tomorrow we go to Sydney.
I'll bet they didn't have health insurance or shrinks, and they didn't give a damn either - too busy living.
One of the things I have done since deciding to leave my career job is get in touch with old school friends. There was a reunion page that put me in touch with many of them. It also meant I had to get a Facebook page for the first time. This was interesting in itself because I have always stayed away from Facebook, and was rather proud of my prior invisibility.
So anyway, this morning I caught up with, going round the table from left, Gerard, Stephen, moi and Colin on the end.
They have all led interesting lives.
Gerard was a chef originally but later became a policeman and now teaches weapons and tactics at the police academy. He lives off the grid near Bungendore, with Tracy, another old school friend. I have known Gerard since first class. In our early teens we spent a lot of time together after school having Huck Finn adventures around the Georges River at Como. We had the place pretty much to ourselves, along with Matt Somerville, who sadly passed away very young but is not forgotten.
Stephen worked at Channel 7 and then joined the Federal police. Because of his knowledge of video - it was in the eighties - he became a police crime scene photographer and later a senior police administrator. In his late forties he suddenly chucked it all in and set up his own company providing training to government departments. He is now pursuing acting jobs. I have known him since fifth class at high school.
Col grew up in housing commission houses at Jannali. He briefly worked at a clerical job in Sydney before moving to the south coast with his parents and becoming a mechanic. He still has the workshop but spends his quality time acting and composing songs. He has appeared in several television commercials, the latest being this one for Aldi:
Varied lives, Col's acting career perhaps the biggest surprise. He plays knockabout Australian characters, which he is.
