Sounds in the Night

The eve of February, there were strong winds which caused my neighbour’s back door (which was left open) to creak and bang all night.  Unfortunately he had gone away for a few days so I had to put up with it.  By 2am I was fully awake and fuming!  I had looked into playing the sounds of ocean waves to drown out any unwanted noise.  I had tried listening to Spotify but as I only had a free version with the advertisements, the 10 hours of wave sounds was interrupted with the ads.  Praise the Lord I hadn’t tried it during the night otherwise I would have been in for a terrible shock!  My neighbour Kathy gave me her old CD player which she no longer wanted.  I, by chance passed a second hand shop one afternoon and stopped off for a look.  There were bookshelves full of old CD’s!  I prayed, please Lord help me find one I’m looking for.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when the second CD I picked up was Ken Davis Ocean Harmonies sounds of the rolling surf. That turbulent night I tried out the CD, LOUD!  I could still hear the creaking and banging but only muffled now. I must have dozed off because I remember realising the waves had stopped roaring. The second time I turned it on I slept through to 6am!  Wow! I was impressed and have used it a few time since, sometimes with similar success and other times without success.  In the meantime I sent my new neighbour an SMS to let him know his door was banging and asking if one of his daughters could please come around and close the door.  Which she very kindly did, noting she heard it creaking as she entered the house.  As expected, the second night there wasn’t a breath of air!  Since then a friend from church also gave me some restful CD’s, one of which I sometimes play in the background during the day as it has beautiful bird songs.

My neighbour is not the only one who’s noises have been waking me during the night.  There have been other sounds in the night that have disturbed my sleep, including my security camera recording box. I have had my security cameras for nearly a year now.  They have been accessed by the police when there was a suspected break in to my neighbours unit while I was away.  Before the camera warranty expired I decided to get it checked as the heat extractor fan was making terrible squealing noises which had been waking me with its strange noises during the night.  It had done this previously and then ceased; this time it was really annoying.  The guy came around (by then the noise had once again subsided) and using a little blower blew through the fan vent on the side of the box.  That didn’t work so I suggested maybe WD40 would help.  I had a can which he sprayed straight into the vent.  This surprised me as I thought he would open up the box to concentrate the spray just onto the fan so that it didn’t make contact with the other workings. I must admit I wasn’t impressed especially as his last suggestion was to remove the fan totally.  This was during some of the hottest days when we had been experiencing 40 degrees heat!  I didn’t think that was such a good idea so left it as it was.  About a week later I decided to take the lid off the box and spray the fan again, this time where it was needed.  I helped a bit but soon returned to a squeal. I contacted a computer repair store and asked if they had a small fan that might replace mine.  After a few email correspondence he said no they didn’t stock that kind of fan and I should look online for one and if I had problems installing it they would for a cost fee, of course.

During the first week of February I wanted to start planning for my 2026 winter away.  I had some rough ideas of what I wanted and had laid them before the Lord for guidance.  This year I wanted to catch up with friends in the Eastern States, Sydney, Iluka northern NSW where Kat hopes to purchase her new home and Brisbane where I plan to fly out to Japan.  While in Sydney I plan to visit my dentist (they have no gap, unlike my dentist here where the health fund removed them from the no gap when they acquired their own dentists.)  I also booked myself in to see my optometrist (their glasses are covered by the health fund unlike here in Perth were I have to pay) and my physiotherapist (I haven’t been able to find a decent one here in Perth).  Once I confirmed with my friend Vi-Lay that she was around and open to my staying a week or two, I booked my flight and all my appointments.  Another exciting event which is still in the pipeline is the possibility of returning to Thailand for short-term ministry.  I have asked around with four organisations and will see where the Lord leads.  I now await their response.  I’d love to be able to stay in Thailand for two months every year doing volunteer work. Once these opportunities are confirmed I will be able to book the rest of my journey.

Over the past years I’ve found old discarded chairs on the roadside and put them in my garden beside the public path.  They all disappeared, people took them thinking I had thrown them out, even though they weren’t on the verge but in my garden. They often stayed a few months before disappearing, the last were two bright blue plastic chairs with wooden legs.  Not the best thing for out in the weather although I had drilled holes in the plastic seats for the rainwater to drain out, I even wrote ‘please don’t take’ on one of them.  This one disappeared!  The second one remained for many months till I decided to replace it with two other chairs; this time I would cement them in.  I left the lone blue chair on the verge and twice it ended up back in my garden!  When you want to get rid of them people don’t take them but when you want to keep them they disappear!  Very frustrating.  Eventually the blue chair was picked up by someone and on a cool day I cemented the two new chairs into my garden.  They are here for anyone who wants to take a rest.

On my walks to the beach in the mornings I pass an unusually beautiful flower and decided I’ll collect some of the bean-like seed pods when they dried out.  I then experimented with the propagation methods soaking some in boiling water (they didn’t sprout) the others I scarified with sandpaper.  This treatment is used with hard coated seeds and allows water to penetrate the seed and speed up germination. This is a common method of propagation, especially for native plants.  I was very pleased to see many of the seeds had started to swell overnight, sending out a small root. I planted them separately into small propagating pots.  It wasn’t long before twelve had sprouted and within days sent forth their distinctive feather-like leaves. Asking around I found homes for several of them, including two for the church and two for our parking area which means I will be able to enjoy their beauty at both places.

An update on the VPN and ad blocker on my computer tablet.  I finally received an apologetic email from the company I have my malware and VPN with.  They gave me three suggestions, one I’d already tried, and two other solutions to try to turn off the ad blocker.  I followed the instructions for the second method and hey presto it worked!  I could now watch catch-up TV from the commercial TV stations.   I was thrilled.  I still haven’t worked out how to do it on my phone but maybe I’ll just leave it at two out of three wins.

Finally!  I found how to get off the leaderboard in the Duollingo language app.  I no longer have to be competitive and work my way to be the top player every week.  It’s been fun but exhausting as I realised I’m very competitive in this area.

Having tried out my new travel coffee maker and grinder and being disappointed as it was far too difficult for me to press, I was given another brand, from a friend, to try.  I realised then that I had ground the coffee far too finely, making it virtually impossible to press.  After adjusting the grinder and trying again they both worked well.  It took a few tries but finally I was able to calibrate the grinder to just the right setting for my new coffee maker.  It is now ready for my next overseas adventure.

The last Saturday of February, the Coastal Community Garden put on a sausage sizzle at Bunnings.  It was from 7:30am – 4:30pm in shifts of two hours.  Some of the committee stayed on all day. I arrived at 10:30am and didn’t leave till 4:45pm.  I was exhausted!  My back really didn’t like standing for so long so by 2pm I took a sit down break and ate my lunch.  It was busy all morning before slowing down after 3pm.  I had used an online roster system where people could sign up, which worked really well, although the committee had to fill in all the gaps. We had a great team of volunteers and those ordering where so polite and patient, especially during the rush as on one side of the BBQ it burnt the sausages so we were only using one side.  Then the gas ran out and a Bunnings employee had to change it for us (we weren’t sure why a spare bottle wasn’t left for us).  There were so many sausages, onions and buns left over.  I took all the trays of buns back to the church.  I’d prayed that someone would be at the church on my route home.  Praise the Lord for answered prayer.  As I was pulling into the parking lot one of the pastors was getting into his car.  I waved him down and asked if he could help me with the buns.  I thought the next day he’d let someone know the buns were from me and could be given out to whomsoever wanted them.  When I saw Narelle the receptionist on Sunday morning she had wondered where they had come from.  The youth group had taken some for an up and coming event so they were thankful of our donation.

Photos:  1. Paradise Poinciana – Erythrostemon gilliesii    2. My grapes, not quite as big as those the Israelites brought back from the Promised Land    3. Papaya is very productive    4. Verge side rest stop    5. Seedlings thriving    6. Duolingo obsession

Prayer & Praise Points:

Praise the Lord for His continuing leading and guidance in all things.  Please pray that doors will open in Thailand for me to volunteer and on a yearly basis.

Please pray my plans fall into place for this coming winter away.

Please continue to keep Gayle in your prayers for renewed strength, wisdom for the church and for good health.  Pray also for her son Joshua who is still waiting for Indonesian citizenship.

Please pray for my sister Kat, who has put in an offer for a house in Iluka, northern NSW.

Continue to pray for world peace and countries dealing with major disasters, wars and the unbelievable hardships they cause.  Pray for all those caught up in the suffering these events have caused.  Pray that God’s peace may be known by all people especially for those who live with despair, that they will find hope in Christ Jesus.

Please keep my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat, in your prayers.  Pray that they will come to know the love of Jesus.