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Sunday, 29 April 2012
Dear Friends, sorry this is late,
but I’ve spent the last three hours trying to fix my computer which has
suddenly decided not to let me access my email! So I have moved to the laptop
instead. The news on Viva is wonderful – she came home at lunchtime today,
after making a miraculous recovery. Last Sunday she was most unwell, but by
Thursday the pneumonia was gone and when we saw her yesterday she was strong
enough to feed herself and to walk a few steps using her Zimmer. I spoke with
her on Leanne’s mobile this morning while they were waiting for the ambulance
to arrive and she sounded very excited to be going home.
It’s been a busy morning – Barbara was
scratched by a rogue cat so she & Wes spent a couple of hours in emergency
before joining the rest of us at breakfast. Barbara has her arm in a sling, is
on antibiotics and has been resting for a few hours. She and Wes are off to
Williamstown Little Theatre this afternoon to see our friend, Ellis Ebell, in a
comedy. Judi & Michael, Gillie, Carol & Marjorie will also be there.
Ellis
Wes and Deane had a good time
together in Melbourne last Sunday through to Tuesday. Among other things they
had serious chats over breakfast, caught up with the film, ‘The Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel’, had dinner with Mike & Lorna, Tom & Deborah, and
enjoyed a pub crawl around Brunswick. They stayed at Vibe Motel in Royal
Parade, which meant they were close to everything without being right in town.
Deane
Wes met me at John Fawkner Hospital
on Monday to visit Viva, where we found her much better than we had expected, but
still very ill. We spent a couple of hours with her, then I drove back home and
Wes went back to Deane. I enjoyed walking the boys each morning while Wes was
away, but golf & Strong suffered, as it wasn’t possible to do everything!
Wes arrived home late on Tuesday,
updated me and then enjoyed a good sleep in his own bed, as you do. On
Wednesday we took the boys to the dawn service, where Wes and I thought very
much about Gallipoli during the moving service. The boys were good until 7am
arrived and then they started crying to remind us that they usually received
their bones about this time.
Me at Hell’s Spit
Michael collected me at 9.45am,
while Wes took Secundus to Eganstown for the lovely service there. We caught an
earlier train than usual into town and walked through light rain to Westlake,
where we enjoyed yum cha, before walking through showers to the MCG. The ANZAC
service included the best bugle solo I have ever heard, before we watched a
most exciting close game along with nearly 87,000 others in intermittent rain. Collingwood
deserved to win as they were in front for most of the game, but it was very
hard for the Essendon players & supporters after they got the lead with about
90 seconds to go and then lost it.
The teams running through a huge
shared banner – love it!
I spent Thursday in bed recovering
from getting drenched, and being updated from Leanne, as Peter had flown down
from Canberra to spend the day at the hospital with Viva. He was able to help
her with her lunch. On Friday Leanne was thrilled to report how well Viva was
doing although she was a little confused, which Dr Beshara attributed to an
oversupply of a particular tablet.
Wes and I visited yesterday, where
we found her mind as sharp as ever. After our visit, we had a late lunch at
Paragon Cafe in Carlton, where we had a most amusing experience when we order
the cheese platter. We asked the waiter who brought us the platter what our
cheeses were and he replied ‘a blue, a soft and something else’. He sent over
our waitress, who told us ‘a blue, a soft and a firm cheese’, so we asked where
the cheeses were from. After two minutes she returned to announce proudly ‘the
blue is Australian, the soft is from Italy and the gruyere is from Switzerland –
quite an International plate’. We tried to imagine what would happen at ‘Mercato’
our local Italian flavoured restaurant if a waitperson were to answer a
question like that, and failed!!!!
Kenan, our guide, and me in the
driving rain at Simpson’s grave
Thank you again to everyone who has
been in touch this week and sent their prayers and thoughts our way. Our dear
friend, Jan Pengilley, lost her mother, Olga, aged 95, during the week, and
even though she wanted her mother to be out of pain, she is feeling the loss
very strongly.
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