413. Sunday 15th March 2015. Travel plans, markets and a sting…

Monday 9^th March

It was a sort of “nuthin” day although Donnis did have appointments at the skin specialist where he removed stitches from last week and declared that the skin cancer he removed last week was on the edge of being “nasty”. That said he removed another skin cancer and will send it away for another biopsy. She also had appointments at the Podiatrist where she came away feeling it was a wasted trip because they cannot offer any solutions to the pain in her feet , ankles, knees  and calves. Next was the Physiotherapist who offered some help with Osteo Arthriti s in her hand and nothing for her knees. Basically she has to find a way to live with the problem. (actually Donnis bought knee braces over the weekend) She needs to exercise more on walking, riding the bike and swimming.

Frank continued his severe no protein no fibre diet in preparation for a Colonoscopy tomorrow. For lunch I had a cup of beef broth with jelly and ice cream. Dinner was jelly, dessert was jelly and my nightcap was jelly.

I feel a political rant coming on. The last week or two there have been some people getting very sick, requiring hospitalisation. The reason is some brands of imported frozen berries were found to be the culprit.  The frozen berries it seems are washed with sewage contaminated water. The bug E-colli (from faeces)  is present in the berries in the frozen water. Those brands have been withdrawn from sale. State and Federal politicians have been scrambling to find a new wording for Australian products. Without going into a long explanation of how the wording allows loopholes I see no reason why we import foodstuffs at all. (other than from New Zealand who are honorary Ozzies anyway) . The simplest way of labelling foodstuffs should be something like this.

Grown in Australia.

Picked in Australia.

Canned or packaged in Australia

100% Product of Australia.

No imported foodstuffs whatsoever.

Nuff said.

Tuesday 10^th March.

Up early at 3.30 am to take the final “dose of salts” and nil by mouth after 5.30 am. I was scheduled for hospital at 8am and arrived on time. After arrival and finalising the account I was quickly whisked away and the weigh in, height, BP and ECG were completed and after an interview with the doctor and anaesthetist I was on the operating table and recall being told we will just give you some oxygen and woke in recovery. It was all over, I was hungry and it was just after 10.30. Wow!

The rest of the day was spent just resting.  Although I initially felt hungry my appetite was no greater than any other day however I did have some jelly and ice cream after lunch. Naughty, naughty.

Hmmm! I seem to be developing a craving for jelly as I had some more with dessert after dinner.

Oh goody. I still have some jelly for tomorrow.

Wednesday 11^th March

Donnis leaves here next Monday to fly to Sydney and then to Vancouver the next day. She arrives in Vancouver the same day she leaves here. Once in Vancouver she will board a seaplane at South Vancouver for a quick flight to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

This morning we established a debit card for her to use while in Canada. That way she can get Canadian dollars at a fixed exchange rate from ATM’s for a fee of only $3. Any purchases do not incur a fee.

Thursday 12^th March

Now the boring information for you dear reader. Frank is also going to Canada so we will have lots of travel tales and photos for these pages. Frank will not leave home until 26^th April the day after Anzac Day. Donnis will be in Canada for 6 weeks before I arrive.

Today I organised a Mastercard Debit Card pre-loaded with US dollars and Canadian dollars. For parts of our trip we will be in the USA including Alaska!!!

Will tell more when it is set in concrete.

Friday 13^th March (oooh the dreaded Friday the 13^th)

Tonight at our clubroom a local Rock and Roll Group of about 30 performers arrived and had a night of dancing and line dancing – the new type – such as Stray Cat Shuffle and Nutbush Walk. Apart from watching the amazing dancers and actually getting on the dance floor a couple stray cat and nutbush times and a few drinks and lots of light supper we had a great time. Even better we discovered two of the dancing couples have recently moved into the village.

Hmmm! Maybe we can get some dancing lessons.

Saturday 14^th March

Peter Regelyn and Chris responded to our invitation to dinner. They arrived shortly before dinnertime, not early enough for a picnic on the beach.

Although Peter fell asleep after dinner the family declined our offer to stay overnight in our newly furnished second bedroom.

Sunday 15^th March

Regular readers will know, Frank does not like markets. They pretty much bore him. He does not like the wandering around looking at stuff he does not want to buy or cringing past those stalls which sell cheap imported junk from third world countries. That is the introduction to this morning’s visit to Carrara Markets (   http://carraramarkets.com.au/   ) touted as being Queenslands Biggest and Best Permanent Markets. Mostly it is under cover with parking for 4,000 vehicles. As far as markets are concerned I found this one acceptable especially the art stalls. There were lots of coffee and food stalls but I found myself being (a) bored while waiting for Donnis to drag herself away from a stall or (b) being watched suspiciously by other stall operators as I waited for Donnis to drag herself away from a stall. It was fun in a sadistic Get Me Out of Here way. I must admit there were a few men’s stalls selling men’s stuff for men, items which are worthy of a second or in fact a first look. Today we were on a mission to find something Donnis wanted for her sister.

In the afternoon I put our rubbish bin and recycling bin out for collection. I grabbed the front and back when suddenly there was an incredible pain in the finger of one hand. I tilted the bin forward enough to view what was under the hand grip. WOT THE! A collection of Paper Wasps nests and a spider was nearby. I could have been stung by either of them.   http://australianmuseum.net.au/paper-wasps

Way back in January 2013 I suffered a bee sting when housesitting at Guyra. This sting was not so intense although the pain was enough to make me break into a sweat. We decided to put a soothing essential oil on the sting and wait an hour as we were still unsure if it was a wasp or a spider. Looking under magnification there was only one tiny puncture wound not two as you would expect from a spider. Several hours later the sting is still painful but when I put my hand in hot water the pain recommenced. In my research on paper wasp stings I found an interesting blog.   http://www.bobinoz.com/blog/3971/australian-wasps-big-bad-and-painful/

As I write this, Donnis has finally packed her bags. The main bag, a maximum of 23 Kg is allowed, is so full yet 7 Kg underweight. The other, a carry- on bag with a maximum limit of 7Kgseems quite empty but is .4Kg overweight. Some re-arranging will have to take place between now and breakfast in the morning.

Of course this is a bit of a worry for me as I will be following her in 6 weeks and will have to figure what to take and keep it within 23Kg and 7Kg.

Sigh!

Of course taking the laptop with me is out of the question.

Sigh!

More planning is required.

Tags: Bobinoz, Carrara Markets, Colonoscopy, Friday 13th, frozen imported berries, grown in Australia, Nanaimo, packed in Australia, Paper Wasps, Product of Australia, Vancouver, Vancouver Island