Sunday, February 06, 2011

Feeling a bit sorry for myself!

Oh my goodness -  have just come in from the library where I fell up the steps!  What a silly old moo I am!  My watch took the  brunt of the fall and I've cracked the glass and belted it up a little - grazed knee, took a bit of skin off my hand and a sore forehead where I landed. Thank goodness I didn't damage my specs apart from a little scratch on the side!  A dear old lady came rushing over to me and helped me up - she was so kind - one of God's angels there for me.  I'll really have to watch my step (no pun intended) - must be my advancing age I think and not picking my feet up properly.  I guess I'll know tomorrow if bruises emerge where else I might have landed.

My mum's back in hospital. My brother phoned me from NZ to let me know she has been in a week. He was not supposed to let me know (orders from her) however he felt I should be told.  I've spoken to her a couple of times on the phone and she doesn't sound too good.  The problem is pain in her lower back, hip and knee but especially down her right thigh.  I feel strongly that she may have a pinched nerve in the lower spine as I've had similar pain in the past myself.  There is not much that seems to relieve it.   Anyway she is having all manner of tests carried out and I just hope that before long a diagnosis will be made.  It's not good being so far away at a time like this.

We've just had 7 days of heatwave!  A record has been broken for Sydney - 5 days was previously the longest over 30C (86F). For most of those 7 days, it reached 40/42C (107F) and has been most uncomfortable - especially sleeping at night.  For those of you northerners reading this, we 'downunder' as a general rule don't have air conditioning/heating built into our homes although having said that, more and more people building new homes these days are certainly doing just that.  We mostly have brick homes too and once those bricks heat up after a number of hot days, it takes a while for them to cool down, even with insulation etc.  Yesterday we got a predicted cool change mid afternoon which brought the temperature down by about 15 degrees in quite a short time.  What a blessed relief.

Australia has certainly had dramatic weather conditions in the past few weeks.  Floods in Queensland, Northern NSW and Victoria, Cyclone Yasi has devastated many towns on the northern Qld coast and a few hundred miles inland and in the last few days, Western Australia around Perth has been battling dreadful bush fires.  It's all happening here folks!  All we in Sydney have had to cope with has been the heat. We consider ourselves more fortunate than our neighbours in other parts of the country.

Recently I've been feeding the Rainbow Lorikeets sunflower seeds instead of grain bread.  I was really being a bit aggravated by the brown Indian Mynah birds which are so aggressive, even to their own. The seeds are working out much better as the 'brown bombers' are not seed eaters.  I am putting out 3 trays each afternoon with the seeds and the birds come down and really get 'stuck in' to it.  I took a couple of pics of them with their heads down, tails up feeding - they look so comical!

Youngest grandson L5 1/2 started school this morning.  I am anxious to know how it all went for him.  His daddy was planning to take pics of him and big brother E7 before they left.  I'll post them here if he manages to send them on to me.

Well that's about it for now.  Hope you are all doing OK and thanks for popping in.

Blessings!


sunrise during the heatwave


scrambling for best position
 
heads down, tails up!


and a drink afterwards!


5 comments:

Karen said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your fall, BeeJay. But glad it wasn't more serious. It is hard being so far from loved ones when they need us. Best wishes for your mom's return to health.

The photos of the lorikeets are just beautiful. Such lovely birds -- we don't have anything so colorful here.

Laurie said...

Oh dear ! I do hope the bruises will be minuscule and you get no after effects of your fall... sorry to hear of your Mum hope they find some diagnosis soon... it is so hard being so far away at a time like this.

I just love the birds I feed the birds here but the cat seems to think I need them inside the house he catches a few a day at present as they are young ones.

Hopefully this will stop soon when they will be more efficient at flying.

Hugs Laurie

Melanie said...

Oh my - what a time you're having! So glad you didn't hurt yourself badly with the fall. So sorry to hear that your Mom is in the hospital. I'm praying for a swift recovery and less pain.
The bird are gorgeous! I've only seen the likes in aviaries where there are tropical birds.
So glad that none of the really bad weather affected you. So strange to hear of heat waves while I'm shivering taking Mandy out for her potty time!
Take care, my friend. And be safe on those steps!

Aussie Stitcher said...

Sorry to hear about your fall and your Mum. I hope that a diagnosis is close for your your Mum. The birds ar e gorgeous. A friend of mine used to have an aviary of parrots and one day I remember saying to her how wonderful God was making things so colorful for us to admire.

Carol said...

Love these photos! the birds are so colourful.