Australia Day, January 26th, is the day Australians commemorate the First Fleet's 1788 arrival in Sydney Cove. As the ships held many convicts and were coming to start a colony, it isn't exactly equivalent to our July 4th celebration, but close enough. Eric and I originally planned to spend Australia Day with friends, Ron and Pam, in Sydney but my health misadventures made that a bad idea. In the end we decided Eric should proceed with the original plan and I would spend the afternoon at a coworker's celebration.
Eric left before 6:30 AM and spent the entire day exploring some of the "real" Sydney using Ron's store of information from growing up there. Even though they opted not to stay for the fireworks show, they'll be getting back real late. I look forward to the next time we get to go to Sydney so Eric can show me all the cool places he now has in his hip pocket.
I spent the afternoon doing another version of the real Aussie experience. I got to eat handmade meat pies made by Aussies who clearly had some experience in this. I found out Aussies all go for a swim on Australia Day. There were Australian flags everywhere, it was hot, and there was plenty of alcohol. Percy the pelican was hanging around and got a little excited at one point because he thought he was going to get a bit of the good eats, too, but his day did not get made. There was, of course, a sausage sizzle - what else would Aussies eat on their day?
Eric's Dad's surgery went very well so thanks for your prayers. I'm slowly improving and have greatly improved mobility. I am now dealing with a lot of soreness and weakness, but I can move much better so I am counting my blessings.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
For Better or For Worse
I had a grand vision when we got back from Seattle of spoiling Eric until he was completely recovered and we could get back to the "for better" part of our arrangement. Little did I know that January 2011 was going to be quite different than I planned. I think I accomplished about a day and a half of treating him right and then the wheel fell off completely. Instead of being pampered he ended up doing the pampering as I suffered through three days of fever that plastered me to any available horizontal surface. I was still awfully weak for several days after that so aside from asking him often how his chest was feeling, he wasn't getting much of the "better" part of our arrangement (so sorry dear!). I'm happy to report that in spite of my lack of ministrations he managed to make his way back to very nearly normal and was even able to go shoot some hoops a few days ago without much aggravation and he shot really well to boot! Yay!
We were both feeling pretty decent by the weekend of the 15th so it became shopping day because we definitely needed some things and it was time to get a barbecue of our own. We were standing in a store waiting in the queue to check out and the lady in front of us starts acting a little odd. She's talking to seemingly no one in particular and a surreptitious check of her ears found no bluetooth apparatus. It soon became apparent that she is talking to her purse or little backpack thingy and saying soothing words to it. Well now that's interesting. Next thing I know she looks at us sheepishly and says she's not crazy, she has two dogs in there. We're both thinking to ourselves, "Lady, claiming there are two dogs in that little thing is not helping your case any." Then she opens up the thing and sure enough, there are two dogs in there. Okay, I guess recognizing crazy people isn't our gift or at least not if it involves two tiny dogs in a backpack in a store.
We next went barbecue shopping. We became the proud owners of the "Down Under" brand or at least the box that contained one. Eric spent a few hours assembling the thing and decided it should start with a different instruction #1 that says, "Go get a nice, big, cold beer because you're going to be here a good long while and you're going to need it." He was successful and had that beer a bit later even though the instructions didn't call for it.
I had a hectic week of the 17th at work. I knew things were going to heat up in 2011 and it sure didn't wait long. I'm trying to get a big upgrade going and as we keep finding more "uh ohs", I decided it was like peeling back the layers of an onion - it just makes you cry more. I guess the good news is the days will go fast because the deadline for completion is far too soon.
Now it's back to the worse part. Friday morning I woke up awfully stiff and sore, but didn't think too much of it because once I got going it was okay. Saturday I woke up in the middle of the night with pain and stiffness in nearly every joint I possess and they were starting to swell. What?! It was really, really hard to walk, I had no strength in my hands, and I couldn't begin to make a fist. Thankfully, the walking part improved somewhat after a shower.
The Lord is pretty amazing about looking out for us in our troubles and when Eric called a medical center that was open on Saturday mornings they were able to take us right away (wow!). Even better - the doctor was awesome! He set up some tests to figure out what was going on and said the fever a couple weeks earlier was quite likely the trigger for this episode.
Soon after we got back from the doctors, the Skype phone rang. It was Eric's brother, Dave, calling to let us know Eric's Dad, Bill, is going to have major surgery on Tuesday. Poor Eric was completely torn with the feeling that he needed to be in two places at once. He really wanted to go back to Indiana for his Dad's surgery, but clearly I was needing him here. In the end, he decided to pray for his Dad from here (two hemisphere prayer coverage is good) and stay here and make sure I was okay.
After we tried to digest that news and since I was walking okay at this point, Eric and I decided to go to Newcastle with Ron and Pam to see the ministry they're involved with, YWAM. YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission and is a great organization with many similarities to Young Life in the states. I think the difference that stood out the most to me is that the schools here in Australia really embrace YWAM and actually invite them to come into their schools.
We next took off for Tahlee which is a huge site that YWAM has on the other side of the water from our house. We could get there in 20 minutes or so by boat, but by car it takes quite a bit longer. Sadly the long drive completely did my joints in and the best I could muster was the Tim Conway old man shuffle from the Carol Burnett show. Frustrating for sure, but I still think it was worth it because it was a fascinating place.
There were some wallabies peacefully eating grass by one of the driveways. At least they were until we went by. They hopped off to a safer distance and kept their eye on us. We stopped at the stand of bamboo they have and those bamboo are huge! We learned they have a 3-4 meter python (yes, like 10 feet+!) that lives in those bamboo and my less than bright husband decided to wander around the bamboo looking for it. I had to wonder if he was contemplating having to take care of me and thought being a python meal would mean he could get out of some of the "worse" part of the deal.
The good news (actually it's really bad news, but good for Eric since he was not in danger of being eaten) is we found out from Georgeena (sp?) who lives there that the python had gotten into the chicken coop the night before and eaten the three chickens! I guess some of the other residents carried the python off to the woods so he could sleep off the triple chicken combo meal for several days.
I was properly horrified by the outcome of the poor chickens and also that Australians pick up pythons and carry them places - ever! Right after that Georgeena told us that early that day a big goanna had gotten into another pen and killed a couple ducks. Georgeena had to go in and get the goanna out of there to save the other three! That seems equally crazy - just what is in that Vegemite anyway?! Georgeena said she hadn't yet mustered up the courage to go back in and clean up the mess in the pen. Well, of course not, she clearly had to use it all up on battling the goanna.
We saw more cool stuff and then dropped Ron and Pam off at their place and headed home. It was at this point that I realized I was in big trouble. I had to crawl up the stairs and, dang, it was painful. I got inside and dropped onto the bed feeling as though I had just run a marathon. Not good. Eric did a fabulous job of taking care of me although I couldn't tell if it was so much work he'd rather have been a python dinner or not.
Sunday was worse. The swelling was worse, the pain was worse, the stiffness was worse, and now my neck decided to join in on the stiffness action. I am so thankful for everyone's prayers as Monday morning held the first hope in this strange odyssey - the swelling was slightly less because my knuckles were showing signs of appearing again.
I was able to make it to the tests although I think Eric would have rolled me there if necessary. The body scan was interesting and based on Eric's research I think I'm still technically radioactive. The best part of the scan was I'm laying there with nothing but the ceiling and four fluorescent lights to contemplate and the next thing I know is I see the silhouette of a lizard on the other side of the light cover! I watched him until one of the panels of the machine obscured him from my vision. The lizard was gone by the time I could look again which was a bit disconcerting, but it was the last test so I just beat a hasty (actually, really slow) retreat.
The body scan films would be sent by post later so we paid the bill ($800+), and took the x-rays with us to take to the doctor. He took one look at the knee one and said "that's awful". So, while he doesn't have all of the test results back yet, I think that and a couple of the blood tests convinced him that starting with a real good arthritis drug was in order because that was one cause for sure even if it might not be the current cause. I already took the first pill and I'm actually hopeful I'll get to sleep more than 20 minutes at a stretch tonight and if I'm really lucky, the pain alarm will not go off.
Sorry to be so blabby about the health stuff - you'd think I was getting old or something (please, no comments from the peanut gallery!). I am so thankful to have a wonderful husband who doesn't run from the "worse" part (except where maybe pythons are involved) and for all your prayers. Please keep Bill's surgery and recovery in your prayers. Love you all.
We were both feeling pretty decent by the weekend of the 15th so it became shopping day because we definitely needed some things and it was time to get a barbecue of our own. We were standing in a store waiting in the queue to check out and the lady in front of us starts acting a little odd. She's talking to seemingly no one in particular and a surreptitious check of her ears found no bluetooth apparatus. It soon became apparent that she is talking to her purse or little backpack thingy and saying soothing words to it. Well now that's interesting. Next thing I know she looks at us sheepishly and says she's not crazy, she has two dogs in there. We're both thinking to ourselves, "Lady, claiming there are two dogs in that little thing is not helping your case any." Then she opens up the thing and sure enough, there are two dogs in there. Okay, I guess recognizing crazy people isn't our gift or at least not if it involves two tiny dogs in a backpack in a store.
We next went barbecue shopping. We became the proud owners of the "Down Under" brand or at least the box that contained one. Eric spent a few hours assembling the thing and decided it should start with a different instruction #1 that says, "Go get a nice, big, cold beer because you're going to be here a good long while and you're going to need it." He was successful and had that beer a bit later even though the instructions didn't call for it.
I had a hectic week of the 17th at work. I knew things were going to heat up in 2011 and it sure didn't wait long. I'm trying to get a big upgrade going and as we keep finding more "uh ohs", I decided it was like peeling back the layers of an onion - it just makes you cry more. I guess the good news is the days will go fast because the deadline for completion is far too soon.
Now it's back to the worse part. Friday morning I woke up awfully stiff and sore, but didn't think too much of it because once I got going it was okay. Saturday I woke up in the middle of the night with pain and stiffness in nearly every joint I possess and they were starting to swell. What?! It was really, really hard to walk, I had no strength in my hands, and I couldn't begin to make a fist. Thankfully, the walking part improved somewhat after a shower.
The Lord is pretty amazing about looking out for us in our troubles and when Eric called a medical center that was open on Saturday mornings they were able to take us right away (wow!). Even better - the doctor was awesome! He set up some tests to figure out what was going on and said the fever a couple weeks earlier was quite likely the trigger for this episode.
Soon after we got back from the doctors, the Skype phone rang. It was Eric's brother, Dave, calling to let us know Eric's Dad, Bill, is going to have major surgery on Tuesday. Poor Eric was completely torn with the feeling that he needed to be in two places at once. He really wanted to go back to Indiana for his Dad's surgery, but clearly I was needing him here. In the end, he decided to pray for his Dad from here (two hemisphere prayer coverage is good) and stay here and make sure I was okay.
After we tried to digest that news and since I was walking okay at this point, Eric and I decided to go to Newcastle with Ron and Pam to see the ministry they're involved with, YWAM. YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission and is a great organization with many similarities to Young Life in the states. I think the difference that stood out the most to me is that the schools here in Australia really embrace YWAM and actually invite them to come into their schools.
We next took off for Tahlee which is a huge site that YWAM has on the other side of the water from our house. We could get there in 20 minutes or so by boat, but by car it takes quite a bit longer. Sadly the long drive completely did my joints in and the best I could muster was the Tim Conway old man shuffle from the Carol Burnett show. Frustrating for sure, but I still think it was worth it because it was a fascinating place.
There were some wallabies peacefully eating grass by one of the driveways. At least they were until we went by. They hopped off to a safer distance and kept their eye on us. We stopped at the stand of bamboo they have and those bamboo are huge! We learned they have a 3-4 meter python (yes, like 10 feet+!) that lives in those bamboo and my less than bright husband decided to wander around the bamboo looking for it. I had to wonder if he was contemplating having to take care of me and thought being a python meal would mean he could get out of some of the "worse" part of the deal.
The good news (actually it's really bad news, but good for Eric since he was not in danger of being eaten) is we found out from Georgeena (sp?) who lives there that the python had gotten into the chicken coop the night before and eaten the three chickens! I guess some of the other residents carried the python off to the woods so he could sleep off the triple chicken combo meal for several days.
I was properly horrified by the outcome of the poor chickens and also that Australians pick up pythons and carry them places - ever! Right after that Georgeena told us that early that day a big goanna had gotten into another pen and killed a couple ducks. Georgeena had to go in and get the goanna out of there to save the other three! That seems equally crazy - just what is in that Vegemite anyway?! Georgeena said she hadn't yet mustered up the courage to go back in and clean up the mess in the pen. Well, of course not, she clearly had to use it all up on battling the goanna.
We saw more cool stuff and then dropped Ron and Pam off at their place and headed home. It was at this point that I realized I was in big trouble. I had to crawl up the stairs and, dang, it was painful. I got inside and dropped onto the bed feeling as though I had just run a marathon. Not good. Eric did a fabulous job of taking care of me although I couldn't tell if it was so much work he'd rather have been a python dinner or not.
Sunday was worse. The swelling was worse, the pain was worse, the stiffness was worse, and now my neck decided to join in on the stiffness action. I am so thankful for everyone's prayers as Monday morning held the first hope in this strange odyssey - the swelling was slightly less because my knuckles were showing signs of appearing again.
I was able to make it to the tests although I think Eric would have rolled me there if necessary. The body scan was interesting and based on Eric's research I think I'm still technically radioactive. The best part of the scan was I'm laying there with nothing but the ceiling and four fluorescent lights to contemplate and the next thing I know is I see the silhouette of a lizard on the other side of the light cover! I watched him until one of the panels of the machine obscured him from my vision. The lizard was gone by the time I could look again which was a bit disconcerting, but it was the last test so I just beat a hasty (actually, really slow) retreat.
The body scan films would be sent by post later so we paid the bill ($800+), and took the x-rays with us to take to the doctor. He took one look at the knee one and said "that's awful". So, while he doesn't have all of the test results back yet, I think that and a couple of the blood tests convinced him that starting with a real good arthritis drug was in order because that was one cause for sure even if it might not be the current cause. I already took the first pill and I'm actually hopeful I'll get to sleep more than 20 minutes at a stretch tonight and if I'm really lucky, the pain alarm will not go off.
Sorry to be so blabby about the health stuff - you'd think I was getting old or something (please, no comments from the peanut gallery!). I am so thankful to have a wonderful husband who doesn't run from the "worse" part (except where maybe pythons are involved) and for all your prayers. Please keep Bill's surgery and recovery in your prayers. Love you all.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
One Day = Four Countries and Two Hemispheres
In less than 24 hours, we passed through the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Even though it was only through the airports for Canada and New Zealand, we were definitely hearing the different accents of each one, not to mention some French added in for good measure. I liked the Kiwi accent the best although maybe part of it was the very amusing Air New Zealand safety video. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a safety video that would have been X-rated but for some timely body part blurring.
Eric weathered the trip pretty well all things considered. He’s napping now (no surprise there!) and I’ll probably get him up later so he can go to bed. ;-) Thanks so much for all your prayers – Eric is improving in spite of all the travel, the problems we encountered on each leg of the trip were solved without upsetting the next leg of the trip, the flights were smooth, and the landings exceptionally ordinary (my favorite kind!).
Because everyone likes to talk about their itty bitty travel problems, here we go:
Seattle to Vancouver – our three bag tags were printed out with final destinations of Vancouver, Auckland, and Auckland. Huh? Eventually we got it straightened out to be Sydney for all of them, but it sure makes you wonder what gremlin was running their system!
Vancouver to Auckland – somehow we ended up with four reservations in the system instead of two. Don’t ask me how, but this caused us to end up with no assigned seats at all (wouldn’t you think we could have chosen between the set of four?). Especially since we had “confirmed” two of the seats just two days earlier. The guy “got” us exit aisle row seats which sounded great until we found out that was where the queue for the four lavatories was just about ALL NIGHT LONG. When there wasn’t a queue for the lavatories, we had the great “privilege” of watching people decide to demonstrate all their stretching exercises right in our face. Eric had the aisle seat and lost count of the number of times people stepped on his feet. Ugh! All I know is a seat is a seat if it gets you where you need to go so we’ll stick with that.
Auckland to Sydney – we were waiting to deplane on arrival in Auckland when we hear an announcement that “Eric Easterbrook should check in with the ground staff”. Uh oh. It turned out that they couldn’t find Eric’s Visa in the system. Since he had already traveled three times using that Visa, we knew it was in there, so it was a bit of a puzzle. After a little investigation, the ground staff realized his passport had been incorrectly entered somewhere along the way. It did make us wonder why this wasn’t noticed until the very last flight of our entire trip – maybe it was the gremlins again.
Sydney to Salamander Bay – as luck would have it (or should it be wouldn’t have it?) our bags were essentially the last ones off the plane from Auckland, so we stood there waiting and waiting while woefully watching the line for customs start to snake from one end of the baggage area to the other. The baggage gods can be so mean, but at least the bags did show up! When we finally had our turn at the customs 20 questions food and prescriptions game, we passed with flying colors and then we were out the door into HEAT! Whoa, that warmth and sun were a jolt! Our friend Ron successfully picked us up and then drove us by his boyhood home not too far from the Sydney airport. It was interesting listening to what life was like growing up in Sydney and how things have changed – like fishing from the pier before there was an Opera House. After that we left Sydney for what should have been a 2½ hour drive home. We ran into some serious traffic outside Newcastle (what happened to our idyllic and quiet neck of the woods?). We finally got through that only to run into another backup on Nelson Bay Road which is the only way to get to the bay area and home. Even though we ended up getting back more than an hour later than we thought we were going to, we were counting our blessings because the traffic coming out of the bay area was completely nuts. The line going the other direction snaked down Nelson Bay Road for miles! Apparently most of Sydney’s residents were either leaving or coming to the bay area today.
Pam (Ron’s wife) had a great lunch waiting for us when we got back and then she and Ron took off for their next house-sitting stay. Pam was sharing that in the last 20 months they have moved something like 48 times! I can’t even imagine that especially since it involved the United States, India, and Australia. They will probably be moving back to the states near the end of March and their hope is they can stay put for a while! We will surely miss Ron and Pam, but know that this is the next step in the Lord’s plan for them.
The beach here is a little busier than before we left – maybe 20 people or so and a couple hopeful pelicans. It does seem really weird to go from the Pacific Northwest green, cold, and wet to this blue, warm, and dry place in such a short time. It’s also a little hard to decide where home is again. Did I go home for Christmas or did I just get back home today? If home is where the heart is, I’m thinking I must have left a chamber or two in Seattle because I’m feeling pretty confused.
I do know I’m already missing family, friends, and some of the comforts of home (the Seattle one). We sure could use some visitors, hint, hint, hint!
Eric weathered the trip pretty well all things considered. He’s napping now (no surprise there!) and I’ll probably get him up later so he can go to bed. ;-) Thanks so much for all your prayers – Eric is improving in spite of all the travel, the problems we encountered on each leg of the trip were solved without upsetting the next leg of the trip, the flights were smooth, and the landings exceptionally ordinary (my favorite kind!).
Because everyone likes to talk about their itty bitty travel problems, here we go:
Seattle to Vancouver – our three bag tags were printed out with final destinations of Vancouver, Auckland, and Auckland. Huh? Eventually we got it straightened out to be Sydney for all of them, but it sure makes you wonder what gremlin was running their system!
Vancouver to Auckland – somehow we ended up with four reservations in the system instead of two. Don’t ask me how, but this caused us to end up with no assigned seats at all (wouldn’t you think we could have chosen between the set of four?). Especially since we had “confirmed” two of the seats just two days earlier. The guy “got” us exit aisle row seats which sounded great until we found out that was where the queue for the four lavatories was just about ALL NIGHT LONG. When there wasn’t a queue for the lavatories, we had the great “privilege” of watching people decide to demonstrate all their stretching exercises right in our face. Eric had the aisle seat and lost count of the number of times people stepped on his feet. Ugh! All I know is a seat is a seat if it gets you where you need to go so we’ll stick with that.
Auckland to Sydney – we were waiting to deplane on arrival in Auckland when we hear an announcement that “Eric Easterbrook should check in with the ground staff”. Uh oh. It turned out that they couldn’t find Eric’s Visa in the system. Since he had already traveled three times using that Visa, we knew it was in there, so it was a bit of a puzzle. After a little investigation, the ground staff realized his passport had been incorrectly entered somewhere along the way. It did make us wonder why this wasn’t noticed until the very last flight of our entire trip – maybe it was the gremlins again.
Sydney to Salamander Bay – as luck would have it (or should it be wouldn’t have it?) our bags were essentially the last ones off the plane from Auckland, so we stood there waiting and waiting while woefully watching the line for customs start to snake from one end of the baggage area to the other. The baggage gods can be so mean, but at least the bags did show up! When we finally had our turn at the customs 20 questions food and prescriptions game, we passed with flying colors and then we were out the door into HEAT! Whoa, that warmth and sun were a jolt! Our friend Ron successfully picked us up and then drove us by his boyhood home not too far from the Sydney airport. It was interesting listening to what life was like growing up in Sydney and how things have changed – like fishing from the pier before there was an Opera House. After that we left Sydney for what should have been a 2½ hour drive home. We ran into some serious traffic outside Newcastle (what happened to our idyllic and quiet neck of the woods?). We finally got through that only to run into another backup on Nelson Bay Road which is the only way to get to the bay area and home. Even though we ended up getting back more than an hour later than we thought we were going to, we were counting our blessings because the traffic coming out of the bay area was completely nuts. The line going the other direction snaked down Nelson Bay Road for miles! Apparently most of Sydney’s residents were either leaving or coming to the bay area today.
Pam (Ron’s wife) had a great lunch waiting for us when we got back and then she and Ron took off for their next house-sitting stay. Pam was sharing that in the last 20 months they have moved something like 48 times! I can’t even imagine that especially since it involved the United States, India, and Australia. They will probably be moving back to the states near the end of March and their hope is they can stay put for a while! We will surely miss Ron and Pam, but know that this is the next step in the Lord’s plan for them.
The beach here is a little busier than before we left – maybe 20 people or so and a couple hopeful pelicans. It does seem really weird to go from the Pacific Northwest green, cold, and wet to this blue, warm, and dry place in such a short time. It’s also a little hard to decide where home is again. Did I go home for Christmas or did I just get back home today? If home is where the heart is, I’m thinking I must have left a chamber or two in Seattle because I’m feeling pretty confused.
I do know I’m already missing family, friends, and some of the comforts of home (the Seattle one). We sure could use some visitors, hint, hint, hint!
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