Time of year busy-ness!

Well, after last weekend I almost need a day off to recover! I think it must be a combination of the lead-up to the 'holiday season', plus I realise I haven't had much time off at all this past year. And it just seems like there's always heaps of things to do, Christmas parties to go to at this time of the year!

On Saturday I found myself getting up early to do shopping, go to the library, etc. Then driving half an hour west to go to our Book Club Christmas meeting/lunch. Which was really nice - we'd had The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - the first book of the wonderful Millennium trilogy, sadly published posthumously, by Stieg Larsson. I've got the 2nd book as an audiobook (thank you audible.co.uk!) and if I don't get the 3rd one for Christmas I'm going straight out to buy it!! Highly recommended - everyone loved it! (And I caught a bit of the ABC's 'First Tuesday Night Bookclub' program last night on TV. Everyone was recommending books for holiday reading and I noticed these books came up on quite a few lists!)

But anyway, then I had to drive over an hour and a quarter in the opposite direction to get to my yoga class. And it was really humid - and I've never sweated so much in a class!! Followed by my (normal) 45 minutes drive back home again. And I'm still trying to track down this wonderful instrumental version of arti that they were playing in class a couple of weeks back! Richard can't quite get the info right for me to find it on iTunes ... (Premie readers will know what I'm talking about!!)

Yesterday - Sunday - I was supposed to go to another Christmas party - and I really would have loved to but ... I was completely knackered and just couldn't! I did however manage to make it to my friend Helen's art exhibition opening at the Ipswich Art Gallery late in the afternoon. Could only stay for about 20 minutes before leaving to go home to collapse again! Lovely watercolours from her recent long South American holiday ...

Ah well - not long now!

The Good and the Bad!

Well, good and bad to report on! I'll start off with the bad! As part of the government's attempt to stimulate the Australian economy they have been offering 'free' roof insulation to all home-owners - up to a certain limit. Well, my house is notoriously badly insulated - hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I'd always been told that the cathedral ceilings that are throughout the whole house are very difficult/impossible to insulate but when I went and enquired again, I was thrilled to hear they had some new type of 'blow-in' insulation that could be used, and was covered by the government's insulation rebate.

So, yesterday was the big day. But ... when they arrived they took one look at my ceilings and said - no, we can't do that! After lots of to-ing and fro-ing yesterday and today, it turns out that there's more than one type of cathedral ceiling, and the type I have (with the beams exposed inside the house) can't be insulated that way - there's only about 38mm space between the ceiling lining and the corrugated iron roofing. Big sigh!!

Ah, but the good news ... !
Today I saw my specialist, having had extensive blood tests on Monday. And counts are looking really good!

White cell count   4.6   (normal range 4.0 - 11.0)
Neutrophils   2.7   (normal range 2.0 - 7.5)
Platelets   155   (normal range 150-450)

Platelets were in normal range for the first time, probably in 2-3 years!! And Dr B said nothing to worry about - everything is normal, and as it should be.

And so really, that totally outweighs any disappointment I might have had about the insulation. There are much more important things in life ...  :)

a post in search of a title!

I missed my normal Saturday yoga class, but luckily a friend and I had already arranged to do yoga at my place on the Sunday.

I put on the David Swenson DVD and we followed that. My friend has done a lot of yoga for years. Although she hasn't specifically done the ashtanga practice, she knew most of the poses in the first series. It was an incredibly hot day (39degC) outside and I put the air-conditioning on. I think we would have been in a sauna if I hadn't - my house is not well insulated at all! Anyway, we both really enjoyed it and are looking forward to out next 'yoga Sunday' - which won't be till mid-January unfortunately, what with the approaching Christmas/holiday busy-ness!

And the approach of Christmas means I have to get myself organised! Mum is coming up to stay for the Christmas week - I normally go south to her place, but as I'll be going down there in early January for my nephew Jo's wedding, she decided to save me one of those trips! We'll mostly be doing the usual family stuff - and I have managed to book lunch for a few of us up at the wonderful Spirit House Thai restaurant in Yandina ... Can't wait!

Handel's Messiah in the Cathedral

Last weekend was the annual performance of The Messiah in St John's Cathedral. I love singing The Messiah - I join another choir just for this performance. St John's is a 'new' gothic cathedral - I've put it in quotes as it's been in the building process for around 100 years! But it is now complete and was full of lovely patchwork-like decorations. A few photos follow ...

"... And all is coming"

Had one of those sweet yoga practices at class on the weekend. I was really looking forward to it as I drove the 40 minutes trip there, and it was no disappointment (as if!) Everything flowed. I seemed to have more strength than I've had for ages, and was even able to hold ubbhaya padangusthasana (sp?!) - really for the first time for over 2 years ... Not to mention getting both feet off the ground in bakasana, again unseen for a similar amount of time!

It does seem like I may finally have gotten over the 'bump' caused by the NHL in 2007 and subsequent lack of practice (and any strength) for 6-9 months. Who'd have thought it'd take so long to get back from that ... ?!  Of course I'm being very cautious in any pronouncements here - don't want to tempt fate !

And I'm older :) , and also my new working situation means I can't practice as much as I used to. (Not that I've ever been a 6-day a week person, except when in India.) But I do what I'm able to, without writing myself off. And right now, it seems like it's paying off, even if it's taken more time that I would like.

I know, I know. As a very wise person said - "do your practice and all is coming" ...

:)

What the cat brought in?!

My gorgeous pussycat Jedda - that's her waiting in the doona to pounce on me (!) - has been decimating the lizard population around the house ... sigh! She brings them in and plays with them until they're long dead! I have been consoling myself with the fact that at least she's not bringing in any birds, which my previous cat Mieke used to do, and which really upsets me!

However, yesterday I went out to do some shopping, and left her outside. When I came back she had obviously brought something in (through the cat-door), and was trying to get it back out from under the chest of drawers in the living room. To my utter horror, what she eventually pulled out from there was a snake!!! I nearly died! I do know there are many brown snakes around where I live, and they are extremely poisonous. This snake looked to be young and a greeny-brown colour - about 1 meter long. I have no idea what sort it was - but it did also seem to have been damaged to some extent as it was slow and wasn't really trying to attack her, more get away from her. I know I shouldn't be pleased about any damage to a wild animal, no matter what it is, but really, a snake inside your house?!! I got a towel and managed to drop it on the snake, take it outside and drop it down a bank some distance away!

And while I was looking at her trying to 'play' with the snake, I thought to myself - I don't know that I'm going to have you for long Jedda. If she thinks it's OK to play with snakes, she's going to get bitten. And there's nothing I can do. Well, I guess I could keep her in all the time, but I don't think that's going to happen. But I think I will continue with the regime of her only going out on the weekend ...

Of course another consideration is her bringing a snake into the house and losing it there!!! Wonderful thought! (not!) But having thought further about that scenario, I really think that if she has brought a snake in, then she'll be excitedly trying to find it, and hearing it moving around, so I guess I'll have to be (slightly) consoled by that ... !

Yoga under the hammock

Such a lovely morning today ... I had to help out at a training course being run at the Ipswich campus where I used to work (near where I live). I didn't have to be there till 9.30. I have a friend who used to work with me there before we all went through that big restructure/retrenchment thing at the beginning of the year. We used to do yoga together every Friday lunchtime in one of the teaching rooms there. She and her husband + stepdaughter have just come back from 7 months travelling in South America - lucky things! Mind you, I saw some video on their Facebook shot on a bus trip up the side of a mountain on what looked to be a one lane track cut into the side of a completely sheer cliff! No way I could have done that!!

Anyway ... she lives really near the campus and we arranged to do some yoga together at her place before I needed to go and get ready for the training. So we set up on the verandah and I had a gorgeous practice, managing to avoid the hammock! It was just a really nice environment - lovely garden greenery and smells, and her 2 dogs keeping an eye on us from the nearby sofa! I do miss those Friday lunchtime practices ... :) But we're going to find other times we can practice together - probably Sundays.