Singular Scene

So Singular in Each Particular

Living in the Future

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I may have mentioned in these here parts before that I have a not insignificant number of niblings (yes, niblings, look it up).

As a dutiful auntie I do my best to anticipate their birthdays but usually I’m a bit rubbish at being organized enough to get gifts to them before the actual day, more often or not, they’re late.

So, as I was home in NZ in Sept it seemed smart to buy Healy’s* gift while I was there, and having observed his passion for all things Thomas the Tank Engine I inquired of my sis which engine was missing from his set. The reply was Diesel 10, an engine which was unheard if to me it’s been so long since I had little charges who were train mad.

Of course, Diesel 10 isn’t currently in production in the set that Healy owns (don’t get me started on the myriad of versions of TTTE tracks and how easy it is to get the wrong ones!) so some Internet surfing was employed to find one, which I duly did, in Hong Kong.

Had all gone according to the plan the train would have arrived on time, posted direct to his address and all would have been hunky dory! But these things rarely go according to the plan and the package never arrived. So while the vendor gave me a refund, the hunt for another was renewed.

I found one a week or two back, and of course, it wasn’t local, it was in the UK, but as I put in a decent bid which was maximised by the strong Aussie dollar, I sat back anxiously to find out if anyone was quite so desperate as me.

HURRAH! They weren’t, and so after a wee flurry of correspondence with the previous owner, the engine, complete with two troublesome trucks was despatched to NZ.

Here’s the best bit of the whole story… Lil’ Sis waited till I was available on Skype to have Healy open the present while I was ‘there’ so I could get the full impact of what we suspected would be a VERY welcome gift (Diesel 10 is Healy’s FAVOURITE – can’t think why, he [the engine] really is a nasty piece of work!!) … and I wasn’t disappointed… His little face was an absolute picture of delight!! So much so that I got a text message a bit later that read ‘that Diesel 10 is sooo berry cool’. (I melted…)

So here’s to living in the future – where buying almost anything you need is possible from anywhere in the world, and where seeing the joy such a thing can bring is possible from over 2,000 kilometeres away…

*Not his real name.

Body Double (or preferably, half…)

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The thing with being away from the blog so long is that whole bits of my life have gone unrecorded. This really isn’t a big deal. My life prior to ’04 is largely unrecorded and I feel no ill effects from that. But for my gentle readers there are things in my world that you don’t know. *gasps*. I know, right? My life isn’t a completely open book!

Unfortunately one of the biggest deals this year has been health related. I know, yah boo sux to ill health. And before you get worried. It’s not life threatening. It’s just an inconvenience they call Gastro Oesophogeal Reflux Disease. GORD for short (or GERD if you prefer the ‘merican spelling). It manifests itself as heartburn type symptoms, coupled  with sour/acid taste in my mouth, and occasional nausea.

Fun, right?

The issue is mechanical, the sphincter between my stomach and my oesophagus is malfunctioning and not keeping the acid in my stomach.  Blech.  I’ve had a scope down to see if there is any other untoward business going on and all is well, I just have to put up with it, and undertake some lifestyle changes to reduce the severity of outbreaks. The foods to avoid are basically below:

    • fatty or fried foods
    • peppermint and spearmint
    • whole milk
    • oils
    • chocolate
    • creamed foods or soups
    • most fast foods
    • Edited to addalcohol, thanks Linda
  • The following foods irritate an inflamed lower esophagus and may need to be limited or avoided:
    • citrus fruits and juices (grapefruit, orange, pineapple, tomato)
    • coffee (regular and decaffeinated)
    • caffeinated soft drinks
    • tea
    • other caffeinated beverages
  • Spicy or acidic foods may not be tolerated by some individuals.

Losing weight is apparently big factor, and so I’ve been increasing my exercise output – I figured changing one element of my lifestyle at a time is more achievable than changing everything at once… so for the last few months I’ve been hitting the gym 2-3 times a week, and trying to get out walking more often, which is of course easier now the weather is [kind of] on the improve… As a consequence I’ve lost about 5 kilos. Not bad considering I hadn’t made too many changes to my diet other than avoiding some of the more aggravating offenders (fried food – french fries? not lately…). I gave a dairy free diet a bit of a go for October, largely because a nutritionist took a hair sample and identified casein (milk protien) as a trigger for me. Being without it didn’t affect the GORD at all, unfortunately, but eating less cheese than I used to can’t be all bad…

So the next stop strategy to get the weight down further and a bit faster are some dietary changes and more of an effort to watch my caloric intake… I suspect that the trickiest part of that business will be how to do so without having everything taste like cardboard…

Wish me luck.

Life Lines.

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One of the things I’m most thankful for in my life is that while I live ‘overseas’ from my family it’s close enough to get home at a moment’s notice. We had one of those moments just last weekend when my Dad messaged me that his mum, my precious little 101year old Grandma was likely to be leaving us.

On Saturday August 28th she did just that, quietly in her sleep after only one day confined to her bed. She was ready, she had been for a while, and we all suspected that this year it would be our last with her. But even in the acknowledgement that her advanced, wonderful years she wasn’t going to last forever there was a little part of me that thought maybe she would… maybe she’d be one of these who got to 107… or more…

But sadly no, she’s gone and with her a generation of men and women who’ll be remembered by some, recorded by others but really only known by a few. I count it such a privilege to be one of the few.

There aren’t enough words to chronicle her life, in many respects it was unremarkable, born in 1908, married in 1936 after a very long engagement (slowed down by the war and her prospective husband’s desire not to pressure her family’s finances), bearing 3 children and raising them with all the advantages of comfortable middle class, moderated by a staunch Methodist faith tradition, Mabel Henrietta (Finlay) Teal was remembered, by all those who spoke about her in the funeral service, as a woman who was deeply interested in others far more than her own situation, devoted to her family and completely engaged by cultivation of orchids for which she won many awards in the Auckland area. She was quick to laugh, quick to serve and quick to love and if I think too hard about the gap she’s left in our family, the changes wrought by no longer dropping by her little home whenever I’m in Auckland, a tear catches in my throat and I shift my thoughts back to the happy place, the one where she’s with Grandpa, catching him up with stories of us.  Stories where we’re doing things with our lives that in some cases defied her understanding (websites? computers? coding??).  Stories of love.  Just as we’ll tell stories about her long into our future.

I’m forever grateful for the time we had – grateful it was so long, grateful for the memories of holidays with her and Grandpa, grateful for the letters I’ve kept where her wit and wisdom shine through the spidery cursive writing.  Grateful she was my Grandma. Grateful I knew her. Grateful she loved me and all the rest of us (3 children, 11 grandchildren, 19 greatgrandchildren (+ 2 on the way).  Grateful.

So, godspeed Grandma – See you on the other side.

xxx

Denise.