On the last day of March I ordered some booklets from Koorong hoping to get them by Easter. Well I was hopeful, they were coming from Perth! I followed the package on the Aust Post app and noticed it was dispatched the same day and received by Aust Post. Then on the 6 May I noticed it was in QLD! Not sure why, maybe it had been sent out by the Sydney store. Anyway, from QLD it took a quick trip south to Sydney arriving there on the 8 April. Seeing it had gotten stuck here I sent off an inquiry form on the 24 April which basically asked why my parcel had gone to QLD when I was in Perth? This prompted an update on the 25 April with a processed in Sydney facility noted on the tracking information and a reply to my inquiry stating: “Coronavirus impacts to delivery services. We’re experiencing delivery delays at the moment, due to limited flights, social distancing requirements and increased parcel volumes.” Understandably but why did it go to QLD? Then on the 1st May I receive an email from Aust Post saying: “…given the amount of time that’s past since the last update, we now have to declare your parcel lost in transit. The best next step at this point is to reach out to the sender and inform them of the outcome”. I forwarded this email to Koorong and received an immediate reply to say they would dispatch another package with the booklets. Then on the 6th May the postie arrived with a package. Hallelujah it had arrived! But when I looked at the tracking number I realised it was the first package! Too late to cancel the second it was also on its way and arrived two days later. I realised the first package had been sent from Perth and the second from Sydney! I wished it was me going on the round trip. I would have liked to have visited my sisters in QLD and friends in Sydney. Oh well maybe another time. In regards to the booklets I decided the Lord must have something in mind that I didn’t yet know about so called Koorong and paid for the second package. I’m now waiting for instruction from above.
In my last update I mentioned how I have on occasions, hopefully, made more people aware of the hidden danger of the asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus. I mentioned to my sister Jen that I had told people if they came too close that they didn’t know if I was asymptomatic or not and should try to keep to the social distancing requirements. Jen misinterpreted my saying and has had a huge reaction when she says to those coming close “I’ve got the virus so better stay your distance.”
I said “No! Jen I told people they should be careful as I MIGHT have the virus. You can’t say you DO have the virus!” I was misunderstood once and threatened to be reported to the police as having the virus. I replied I didn’t say I HAD the virus but I MIGHT have the virus as we don’t know who is asymptomatic! Oh dear, it seems I’ve started something similar to the Chinese Whispers! eeeekkkk! Oops, this saying might not be politically correct these days either!
In a previous update I mentioned I had safety valves put on the kitchen and bathroom flexi-pipes. Well at the beginning of May the hot tap in the kitchen turned itself off and after numerous attempts to turn it back on over four days I emailed the unit manager (yes, the argumentative one, thus the reason for an email not a phone call). After some to-ing and fro-ing and eventually a phone call, she sent over her partner, who also tried to turn it before replacing the safety tap. I was actually thinking of having the valves removed as I’m so fed up with them!
That evening we had high winds which thrashed my poor garden. My beautiful capsicum plants were so battered, I took the remaining fruit off. The new shoots on the peas also received a thrashing. Time to do a big prune of all the damaged foliage. One of my rose bushes was covered in red buds, most were blown off which was very disappointing. Thank God the jujube, being deciduous, had dropped all its leaves; now was the time to put it into the ground. Since that first storm, we had another storm, which was predicted to have winds up to 250km. I cleaned up and locked things away before it hit. That night I woke at 2am. I could hear the winds beginning to howl around us. I prayed. As I prayed I asked the Lord to cover the west coast under His protective wings. I envisioned Him spreading out large white wings over our coast, just like a mother hen protects her chicks from danger. I imagined the winds blowing over these outstretched wings directing them into the higher hemispheres, deflecting the storm’s force away from us. I asked that the rains would be constant without being destructive, that they would go inland to the farmers who were waiting in anticipation for rain needed for their crops. During this time the winds began to lessen their fury, but picked up again as I became drowsy and was about to fall asleep. I picked up on my prayers and once again the winds subsided. It was then that I fell asleep. Even so, on waking the next day, I was very surprised when I surveyed the garden that there was less damage than from the previous storm. Not so with the coast line, as many of the beaches were eroded from the fierce pounding of the waves.
Just before this last storm I had potted up a bag of bulbs, which I think might be freesias, which I dug out from Mum’s old pots. My challenge is to retain the freesias and discard the Oxalis, which although it has pretty pink flowers, is a pesky weed which is hard to eradicate. While searching the names of these plants, I read that the Oxalis is edible and very tasty. After trying it, I must say it’s not my kind of weed. Now there is something that grows like a weed in my garden which is tasty, it has also come from Mum’s garden and it is her wild lettuce. I say wild, as it self-seeds and comes up everywhere, which is great when I need some salad greens. I’ve also been planting my pineapple tops since 2016, some in pots (also from Mum’s) and others straight into my garden. I’m now running out of places to put them! I’m hoping that next year the first ones I planted at Mum’s will flower so that I can have fruit. Every year I’ve planted some, hoping to have a continual crop every year. If not, at least they are an easy plant to grow, with little maintenance required and an interesting form.
I also noticed my beautiful spider had vanished. I doubt it was the winds, more likely the crows or magpies that frequent my garden, I’m praying it wasn’t through human intervention. I haven’t seen her since. God-willing she laid some eggs which will produce offspring to repopulate my garden. I need bug-catchers to control the unwelcome pests in my garden. Winter grass is sprouting, as well as the dreaded onion grass, which has to be dug out removing the bulbs, otherwise they will come up yearly. This is a terrible task as the bulbs are often in clusters, with little ones hanging off the parent bulb so it’s virtually impossible to remove the whole clump.
Just down the road, new olive trees have been planted on the verge. I was delighted till I read the plant sign that said “Olea Swan Hill is a non-fruiting streetscape tree! Oh no! Who would plant an olive tree that doesn’t grow fruit? What a waste!
At last I finally motivated myself to start on my shed clean up. I took everything out that was blocking the entry, making room to reorganise what I had. I grouped together tools, garden gear and the like. Once the sheds were manageable, I cleaned a set of shelves where I’d displayed Mum’s pottery, rearranged and made another bench from left over wood from my kitchen bench and put the old shelves on top before restacking. All handyman tools went into drawers in the smaller shed. The gardening tools were split between the two sheds. Into the larger shed I rearranged the plastic storage boxes and other boxes. I usually keep some of the old cardboard boxes from things I still own, as they come in handy if I’m needing to pack them up or ship them somewhere.
I’m now working on cleaning up the garden area, returning bricks to the church which I haven’t needed. I was given a hanging walled garden which I thought I might attach to my retaining wall, although it does need extra light as it is in full shade during the winter months. I was thinking of putting aquaponics there but changed my mind when I saw how much work they are with the fish and all
Online sales continue. I finally sold the cello, which had ended up at my place when Kat left Perth. I said I’d try to sell it, along with some of her’s and Mum’s things we weren’t keeping. Now that it finally sold, I thought the money would be a nice birthday gift to give to Jen’s daughter in the UK, who is wanting to buy a viola. The sale came through with perfect timing. After a bit of discussion with Kat and Jen (Jen had originally purchased the cello for her son Matt and Kat had contributed and had been playing it once Matt no longer did), we all agreed Kate would get the money. Jen then contacted Matt to see if he also agreed. The WhatsApp chat went something like this:
Matts reply to Jen’s inquiry … “It wasn’t exactly my money spent on the cello to begin with :p Recycling whatever’s left after Sally’s sellers agent fees back into another musical instrument for the family sounds like a good plan.”
Jen’s reply … “Love you Matt. We will put a happy birthday note from all of us, especially you, with the cash to Kate. And a request to play it for us all in a mini concert. I think Sally’s fees are very cheap”.
My response: “Ok I’ll deposit funds and send email to say when sent. My fees are exorbitant, especially due to storage costs over 18 months. But all will be waived due to my lack of original outlay for instrument 🎻”
Doing a bit of shopping online, I bought an external light especially for growing plants. I’m not very good at buying things online as I prefer to handle what I’m buying to see if it’s the right size and to ask the sales person more about the product. I’d ordered it just after the first tracts were ordered and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived within a few days. When I opened the box I realised it was far too big for what I wanted. I turned it on and was nearly blinded by the light. After trying to arrange for it to be sent back, which was free of charge, I realised I would have to spend the refund on their site and after emails passing back and forth, I realised they didn’t have anything appropriate for my needs. I also noticed that all their prices had gone up about 20%! This actually worked in my favour when I decided to sell the light on Gumtree and Marketplace. I should have asked for the price I paid (including the postage) but decided to ask for $10 less. I had so many inquiries, which was very encouraging. It didn’t take long before someone picked it up.
I then decided I’d sell the wood chipper, which I had bought cheaply for $60 because it had been returned to the shop. It wasn’t really what I had hoped for and took so long to push the sticks and twigs through the narrow opening. I really wanted something to shred my banana and paw paw fronds and mulch up the leaves. That too didn’t take long to sell, even though I was asking $30 more than what I paid. I figured I could cover my loses for the light and give me a bit of room if someone wanted to barter.
During this online interaction, I noticed one of the inquiries was from a Thai lady. We got chatting through messenger and became friends. She told me she was also interested in gardens and I told her I was looking for somewhere to buy good Thai food. She recommended Eat Café at Duncraig; I was to ask her friend, Ui to cook the authentic Thai way. I’ll be off to try it out in early June, I can’t wait.
Last year I ordered a coffee seal for my coffee machine (also online) and since cleaning the machine and replacing the old with the new seal, something just wasn’t right. On the next clean, I noticed I may have put the seal on upside down, so tried removing it. It was securely stuck! Oops! I left it, as I found I could get around the problem by using the larger basket. Then recently I decided to try again; this time using a blunt butter knife to loosen it. Praise God it worked and I was able to gently prise it off and replace it the right way up on the filter. It is now working beautifully.
My first electricity bill since solar was installed gave me a $150.00 credit! Praise the Lord. Its great not having to pay for electricity and instead being paid for making it. I was 17 days into this quarter’s cycle when the solar was installed but have used an extra 97 kWh. I’m not as cautious of my use nowadays, but have started to wait for the sun’s energy before doing my washing and other things. It is nice to be able to run my reverse cycle air-conditioner when I need it, which has been a blessing since the weather has become cooler.
Following on from the last update with the morning alarms; one dawn while getting dressed in the bathroom I could hear a cricket chirping, which sounded like it was coming from the extractor fan. I have been seeing several crickets around the garden while moving pots so presumed some had gotten into the ceiling! Oh dear I’m sure they will annoy me at night when it’s so quiet. While thinking on this gloomy prospect as I exited the bathroom, the chirping grew louder. I laughed. It was my alarm which I had set to wake me in case I over-slept. Being Tuesday I needed to be at the church by 8:55am. It was coffee day for the primary school teachers. I really don’t like being woken up with a blast so I had chosen the crickets, as it was the quietest alarm I could find on my phone.
I’d been sleeping quite well since taking the herbal tablets to break the poor sleep-cycle. Well for the first three weeks I was able to get back to sleep quickly when I woke during the night. Now I have intermittent days of good and bad sleep. I think sometimes it’s what I eat before bed and have to remind myself of the consequences of indulging after 5:30pm. Last night was an example of this, when at 6pm I couldn’t resist Lindt Lindor extra dark chocolate, which I had brought on special. I felt quite awake when I went to bed at my normal time and although I felt drowsy, I didn’t actually fall asleep till after 2pm! Waking at 7am I not surprisingly felt all rung out.
Knitting has been great. I’ve so many different colour combinations, but I must admit I much prefer the knitting to sewing them together, so I started putting them aside with the idea of asking my friend Dorothy if she would like to help with the sewing. She was delighted to be part of the project. Dorothy has in the past been part of our coffee team on Tuesday but since being unwell, we have missed her presence. One Thursday I took my beanies to her place for afternoon tea and a chat. Dorothy is very artistic and does lots of crafts, including sewing, painting and knitting. She was happy to help me out. To date, I’ve knitted 22 beanies, with two more on the go. Yes, two because I started one and got bored, as it is only using one ball of wool. I like to work out what colours go well together. The next one I want to do will depict the red earth and blue skies of the Pilbara.
I’ve enjoyed my days of isolation, but it has also been lovely catching up with friends, either in person, over the phone or on social media. It’s also lovely coming back to make coffees for the teachers, starting our study group and seeing other groups using the church. It won’t be long before we can gather in larger groups as one again, including our usual Sunday church.
Photos: 1. First Jonquil in my garden 2. Banksia on a bushwalk 3. Rose buds after storm 4 & 5. Storm approaching 6. Waves at North Beach Jetty (unknown photographer) 7. Baby Bobtails sunning themselves 8. Me feeling the cold 9. Bundle of beanies
Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for His blessing, especially in helping to reopen our country and get the economy back on track. Please continue to pray for our heads of state and politicians; that they may put their differences aside and work together for the good of the country and her people
Please continue to pray with me for all our health care workers throughout the world, the scientists working on a vaccine and for those working on fighting this plague.
Pray also for the unrest that has enveloped our world. For those without hope, to come to know the peace and love that only Christ can bring.
Praise the Lord for businesses reopening and once again offering employment so our economy can begin to pick up.
Pray that those who don’t yet know the Lord Jesus will have their eyes opened to His love, peace and saving grace.
I praise God for all our supportive friends and prayer partners as we help each other through these difficult times. We all need each another in different ways and it’s reassuring and encouraging to know friends are not too far away, thanks to technology and prayer.