A visit with Nanna – 101 years young!

My grandmother on my Dad’s side is 101 years young. She is a Grand Lady.


Some would say she is old however apart from her body which is gradually slowing she is alert, bright, talkative and cheeky, always cheeky.

This Grand Lady was living in her own home until just recently. A home she proudly and consistently shares with people that she bought and paid herself for when she and her five children came to these shores from England.

However a fall ended her dream run and after some time in hospital Nanna was placed in an aged care facility to recuperate. Physically she slowly healed however not enough to go home again, so the tough decision was made by her loving children to keep her in the aged care facility, let’s call it House B.

There are procedures to follow when taking her out. I called House B to book Nanna’s time and check someone hadn’t gotten in before us.

She has plenty of visitors from her children, neighbours and the many friends she has made over the years.

We were in luck, she was free and the staff would have her ready for us to pick up after 10am.

For residents safety there is a code lock on the front door which both my sister and I didn’t know but we got in nonetheless and found Nanna napping in the chair by her bed. She had obviously been reading the newspaper when she nodded off because it had slid to the floor at her feet. In gently waking her we made fun of the way it had creatively splayed across the floor. My Nanna is an artist you see.

After kisses and cuddles and a reminder of who we were and why we were there I said “We need to take your Chariot with us Nanna,” motioning toward her rolling walker sitting directly in front of her. Looking me in the eye she replied “We don’t need to take that. I don’t need it.” Ha!!! I told you she was cheeky.

Sometimes I think she tries to take advantage of the fact that she is our elder and thus we should listen and do what she says. Remembering this was the lady that cooked us a roast dinner every Monday night, introduced us to peanut butter and jam sandwiches when we were young and took us to the zoo during the school holidays. So, I sympathised with her endeavour to exert her Nanna-authority in an attempt to be free of her walker. But we wouldn’t get 20metres without her stumbling or us collapsing from taking her weight. So, at my own risk I said “I’m under strict instructions that where you go your Chariot goes, ok?” She gave in without a fight, thankfully.

Next, two thirty-something year olds tried to put a jacket on the Grand Lady as she wobbled on her legs. It took us a couple of attempts and was a source of laughter and dribbling for Nanna who didn’t complain as we tried to twist her arms into the sleeves.

With one of us in front and another shadowing from behind we headed toward the lift. We were certainly a picture - Nanna’s Chariot, a rolling walker, a 101-year-old and two giggling sisters trying to navigate her in to the lift, out the door and carefully easing her in to the car.

And that was just getting her out the door.

My Love Tank Is Empty

Do you know your love language? Or that simple words, actions or time can ensure you feel appreciated and loved?

Dragging myself out of a warm bed this morning, getting ready for the daily school run routine I was struck by a feeling of loneliness and sadness, despite being surrounded by my three daughters.

What is missing is my Special Friend, husband, my partner in all things. He has only been away since Sunday afternoon and logically I know I am loved and supported however the feelings are so real.

As I tied my shoes I remembered reading a book titled ‘The 5 Love Languages’ by Gary Chapman. At the time it opened my eyes and explained why at certain times in my life I have felt so loved and other times so alone and helpless.

According to Gary Chapman’s books there are five love languages;

·        Words of Affirmation

·        Acts of Service

·        Receiving Gifts

·        Quality Time

·        Physical Touch

So, my love language is ‘Words of Affirmation’ and my Special Friend’s language is ‘Touch’. We know this about each other and we also know the love languages of our gorgeous girls.

Like a smack to the face this morning I realised that with my Special friend being away for the week my LOVE TANK IS EMPTY!!!

He has just started a new job and so is wrapped up and excited about where he is and what he is doing. I understand that but my need for love and obvious lack of it over the past four days has me feeling upset and angry. Knowing I’m not committed to that or taking my frustration out on the girls I resort to texting my Special Friend.

Kim: Take a moment...what is my love language? Thus what do I need from you while ur away? (bewildered looking emoticon attached)

Special Friend: Words of affirmation! I LOVE YOUR AND I APPRECIATE YOU AND ALL THAT YOU ARE DOING WHILE I AM NOT HOME. I WILL BE HOME SOON. I MISS YOU AND WILL TALK TO YOU LATER IN THE DAY. I LOVE YOU (lotsa emoticons blowing kisses plus love hearts attached) And yes I am shouting this loudly so you can hear me and the rest of the world will know too (smiley face emoticon attached)

The response was instant.  My eyes swelled with tears and my love tank filled up – not all the way but I’m sure when he gets home tomorrow afternoon my love tank will be filled to brimming.

Do you know your love language? Can you relate to what I’m talking about?  Find out and you will have a head start to feeling great.

Scuba Kim - Night Diving and the Monster Prawn

On 16 April, a night dive like any other, the Love of My Life and I were half way through our dive when I spotted a MONSTER under the water.

My Special Friend was about a metre to my right, hovering in the water as he so expertly does. Me, I’m more of a bottom dweller, still perfecting my buoyancy and thus prefer to be closer to the bottom because when I catch a prawn I get rather excited and tend to hold my breath. Not a good move underwater because it means I rise slightly in the water. So, being a bottom-dweller works in may favour when I catch prawns.

The MONSTER I spotted under the water during this dive was no typical fiend. We have been buzzed by cheeky dolphins while night-diving and seen seahorses, huge-mungus crabs, flatheads, mantis shrimp, sea-stars, flounder and mulloway – which grunt incessantly when they are mating. OMG it’s a sound and a half to hear underwater. 

But this was different and unexpected. It was a Tiger prawn and it was HUGE! 

Normally our catch is river prawns averaging five to eight centimetres. They are a brown-yellow prawn and are often passed over in favour of our preferred catch of King Prawns which are generally between 10 and 20 centimetres in length. They look great underwater and taste amazing especially in my Special Friend’s infamous garlic prawn nacho tower!

But this Tiger prawn was a MONSTER in comparison and when I saw it I definitely held my breath. In fact I froze and my only thought was “I’m not catching that!” I got my Special Friend’s attention in the only way I know to underwater by erratically flashing my light in his direction while squealing hysterically to myself.

Well, it worked and my Special Friend edged his way expertly closer to the MONSTER prawn and strategically lowered his net over the creature. The seconds seemed like minutes and I had to remind myself to breath so I would stay close enough to watch...OMG!!!

The moment the Tiger prawn sensed danger, like any prawn, it jumped, but for this thing it was like a frickin leap!!! It scared me how quickly it moved and with such power. But my Special Friend has been doing this for more than 30 years and was therefore ready for the tactics of mister-not-so-clever-Tiger-prawn – HA!

The prawn scooted up in the net and was trapped in the top with the other already placated King prawns. The squealing coming from my direction only subsided after the MONSTER prawn was safely captured in the top section of my Special Friend’s net – the place of no return. I was soooo excited; if I hadn’t already been in the water I’m sure I would have wet my pants!

We celebrated the capture by doing a dance with our lights on the riverbed and the smile on my face while gripping my regulator between my teeth let water into my mask, typical but so worth it.

We continued on our dive catching King prawns here and there but they just didn’t compare. 

As we swam along I kept looking at my Special Friend’s net to make sure the MONSTER had not escaped and the smile that appeared each time let water into my mask again, so funny!

When we surfaced the laughter and excitement continued, packing up and taking photos of our catch which was a combined effort I must say. I spotted it and the Love of My Life caught it – thank goodness!

The MONSTER measured a whopping 28centimetres. 

Do you like prawns? What is your favourite dish?

Scuba Kim - Night Diving

Communication while underwater is often a challenging task. There are the basics of course like...OK; pointing in the direction we plan to head; the signals for squid, shark, and stingray. However scuba diving in the Swan River at night poses a whole new set of challenges called...it’s dark!!!!!!

The Love of My Life and I are mad-keen divers and night diving when the conditions are right is an added bonus when prawns are on offer.

Our evening routine involves packing gear into the back of ‘Jack’ our appropriately named four-wheel drive and stopping off at HJ’s for a pre-dive feed before heading to our favourite night dive posi just as the sun is setting.

 

My preference is to start gearing up before the sun sets. Firstly, being able to see obviously makes a big difference and secondly, those annoying mozzies ALWAYS manage to find me. Being completely covered neck to toes by my wetsuit and booties is reassuring because it decreases the likelihood of itching strategically and often inappropriately located mozzie bites for the next week. It’s one of the things that always takes away from my enjoyment of night diving. Thus arriving at our destination before sunset is a priority for me.

My Special Friend has this night diving thang down pat. He has all the bits and gadgets that make diving easier and make gearing up and getting into the water as smooth a process as possible. 

His green tool box containing, all-things-that-might-be-needed-if-something-goes-wrong-prior-to-getting-into-the-water, sits reliably on the floor in the back of Jack, our Holden Jackaroo 4WD. 

Then there are lights that stick magnetically to Jack to help us see and the stretchy straps that hold our tanks in place when BC, regulator and dive light are attached. It’s amazing the difference the little details make.

Getting down to and then in to the water is always a relief. Carrying all the gear, 35kilos worth, always works up a sweat. An interesting fact...an hour scuba diving burns about 780 calories. Well, it justifies having HJ’s for dinner before the dive.

It is a relief to feel the water cool my skin. Mind you I’m not too keen on the cool crutch thang especially as the water gets cooler closer to winter.

WHY you may ask are my Special Friend and I donning wetsuits and scuba diving gear to dive in the Swan River at night? 

Well friends, for one thing its heaps of fun and another is catching King prawns by the litre.  YAY!!! 

Do you scuba dive? What do you love about it?

Check out SCUBA KIM – NIGHT DIVING & THE MONSTER PRAWN for more night diving adventures.

In Sickness and in Health

Being startled by a restless child at 10.30pm at night after she has watched an episode of ‘Charmed’ or because her father has convinced her she has worms is, to be very honest, annoying and an interruption.

There is nothing I can do about a dream about being chased by the demonic Cole Turner or the fact she cannot sleep for squirming and fretting about orifice crawling wrigglers.

My short fuse is blaringly obvious when disturbed from slumber and my darling daughter often cops the full brunt. Through tired eyes I explain in my short motherly tone that she just has to close her eyes and go to back sleep. There will be no more ‘Charmed’ before bed time and we will deal with the potential worm invasion in the morning.

The welcome and happy greeting that welled inside me more recently when I was woken by a knock on the bedroom door at 1am was almost uncontrollable. I managed to contain myself long enough to pull my weary body out of bed in time to usher my girl in to the bathroom as she exclaimed “I am going to be sick!” Well, that woke me up!

As I touched her skin I knew there was something array, she was boiling yet said she was cold.

What happened next was I think one of a parent’s greatest fears when it comes to their children. It’s the middle of the night, she had a temperature in the high thirties and all the worst case scenarios start swimming around in my head. Was it a virus? Where did she get it? Why didn’t I notice sooner? Was it contagious? Will she be ok?

A trip to the emergency ward was inevitable and the ‘I am a bad parent’ syndrome immediately took flight.

Emergency room triage nurses have an amazing talent for always asking the most obvious questions that if I had been thinking straight I would have known or have done before freaking out and bring her to a hospital emergency ward?

Moving from the pink emergency chairs to the purple meant we had been processed but the waiting game that follows can make you paranoid. Nobody seems to talk to each other in waiting rooms, why is that? Are we all suffering from the same ‘I am a bad parent’ syndrome and don’t want to be found out in front of other parents, are we all too busy checking out the other people in the room in order to pacify or justify our own state of affairs or does common courtesy get the boot in the middle of the night?

Then there is the scenario when you come across a parent you know in the emergency waiting room, OMG! Plus their child has the same symptoms as mine. Is there a hot child epidemic or something?

The brain does not function well when sleep deprived and worried about a sick child in the middle of the night.

Three nurses, two doctors and countless hours later they are still not sure about her diagnosis. Each time we would relax on the hospital bed, spooning for comfort and warmth, another caring professional would return to check her vitals and pain level. Finally they admitted her for observation and I was given a lounge chair to rest in next to her bed while my partner was relegated to sleep in the car – the one parent only policy seemed mighty unfair at that stage.

I fell asleep before my daughter only to be woken an hour later when the sun came up and the gorgeous little girl in the cubicle next to us awoke and began chatting and moving around the room.

My poor little girl’s symptoms had not changed by shift change so we were discharged at 9am to face the peak hour traffic ride home.

Thankfully we had a bucket in the car from the night before because as we neared home the fluids started to flow.

It is amazing how a parent can block out putrid smells when it comes to comforting a sick child. It was certainly a memory jogger back to dirty cloth nappies and bleach smelling soaking buckets for me.

I bathed my girl like a senior on a chair in our double recess shower, a cathartic and nurturing experience for both of us and then slumber beckoned like an old friend.

Even though we slept most of the day I felt disoriented and fuzzy for the remainder of the daylight hours while my girl slept yet looked like a tired slug on her bed.

What a day! Can you recall middle of the night parent duties?

Nasty beastie insect bite

Have you ever been stung by a little beastie? 

Sitting on my bed in fair Victoria Park and the love of my life is lying next to me (half an hour ago he was snoring like a horse!!!!!) We just finished off the leftover pizza for dinner and thee tumtum is nice and FULL!!!!

I am sitting in a rather awkward position like crouching-tiger-ready-to-spring-lotus with an ice bag on my left arm. 

Yes, there is a story. I am so glad you asked...

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.....

A fair couple sprung out of bed at midnight after almost forgetting to do the Easter bunny thang. A cave diving reel was gathered from the shed-o and arranged in a follow-the-cave-line-and-sticky-notes-around-the-house-and-garden in search of Easter eggs thang.

The small ones (our Darling Daughters) were thus pacified in to Easter Bunny slavery such that the big garden tidy up could be completed. Rocks were heaved, grass was pulled from flower beds, trees were trimmed and sweeping and racking was done merrily.

It was thus that a big person was trimming a tree when the big scissors happened upon a nasty, pasty, waspy nesty thang.
The BIG waspy thangs were rather bothered and thus lashed out at the big person... ME!!! 
Several oohs and aahs and much profanity later the nasty waspy thangs retreated and the big person was left with a rather sore welty red ‘scab-a-eous’ left forearm.  
Stingoes was applied liberally and rapidly in an attempt to soothe the big person beast and antihistamine was also administered. 
The itching began the next morn and after a trip to the physician, steroidal cream and painkillers still did not ease the pain. 
Frozen corn kernels on the affected site seemed to help but as they defrosted the heat and pain returned.  
Thus the big person sits here in an awkward position with a cold bag under said arm in an attempt to soothe the pain and stop me from itching!! 
It has been a rather interesting experience. I haven't felt this annoyed and helpless in years and with a recovering Love of My Life also feeling frustrated and stuck inside we are quite the happy couple as we slowly drive each other INSANE!!!

I find comfort in writing this piece of creative expression and again see the lighter side.

Thanks for reading and please have a vigorous left arm scratch on my behalf (RIGHT NOW!!!)