Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 27 August 2017

Fantastic photos as usual Clare. I am determined to get to Wales next year to see Monty and will try and get to South Stack too - I love Corvids too. Really missed my crow family that used to visit me every day in Surrey - each year they would bring their young for the monkey nuts I bought for them.

Annette – 1) The stone tank was half full of rubbish, obviously now the local dump. Some of rubbish had been burnt. It was yucky & I didn’t give it more than a quick glance. 2) The “Brick building without a roof” – do you mean the Dawson Hotel? It is local stone with brick quoins. Are you clicking on my pic to get the notes or just looking at thumbnail? 3) Tomorrow I shall post the other end of the Daw Park chapel. 4) clapboard church. Do you mean the Fryerstown Wesleyan? We call it weatherboard, and I expect that ex-church is either a home or a weekender (only an hour from Melbourne).

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More details of trip when I get time. Til then, Dawson (-32.803, 138.975) is a ghost town, now consisting of 2 closed churches, roofless hotel, a 1926 hall & former school (now house). Catholic church up on hill on 7th St. I have photos of both churches. You can get Google StreetView in High & Melrose Sts. Quite bizarre to see this bare country labelled with street names, but it was thriving town – briefly. From our tutor’s notes – town began 1881, school enrolment began to decline 1902, families leaving district 1907, hotel closed 1961, general store closed 1963, football club 1965, Methodist last service 1964, Catholics 1969. Hall committee purchased churches & hotel ruins 1981 to preserve them. It is doubtful if committee still exists.

Clare - Choughs are such stunning and fascinating birds!

Linda – enjoy the break – once you have cleaned up the fingerprints!

Annette – you sound so busy again – do take care!

Harelady – driving distances in North Wales are not a problem, as there are wonderful views around every corner!

AQ – sounds like a really good trip at the weekend.

Well, I ought to get “busy” – though not sure what I shall do on this lovely dry and sunny day.  OH is harvesting potatoes right now, having done some dead-heading and weeding again yesterday; I am hoping he can finish sorting the “woodland area” today – it is last to be done every year and really needs tidying up as it was disturbed for the new fence and never properly attended to.

Just popping in to reply to DIANE (Scroll down, others, if you have read enough about my problems!)

DIANE - what you have said is so insightful and like others, you have given me lots of food for thought regarding the garden.

I have scored myself for depression and am mildly depressed. Also getting symptoms of anxiety - physical and psychological. I'm doing my best to practise self help techniques since I really dislike the thought of anti depressants/anxiolytics. Problem solving seems to help enormously which is why I'm so grateful for all the very thoughtful and practical suggestions that you and others have offered.

It is true, that we all have to face the darker side of life at some point/s and the darned truth is that no matter how we may have managed to overcome travails in the past, it really isn't the case that one will always have the ability to cope well, or indeed, at all. I've always been perceived as being one of life's copers and it is quite a shock to find out that I'm hitting a brick wall with this life event. I think that my stepdaughter's sudden death five weeks ago has impacted on things. The guilt thing - did I really do enough to encourage her to change her destructive life style ? Etc etc.

I know you to be a very private person and just want to say how much I appreciate you disclosing events and worries in your own life in order to help me.

Good Morning, All.  A bit late today, as I overslept this morning after a busy couple of days.

Heather - You're bound to be at least a little down after what's happened, it's a natural process. But I really don't think that you should feel in any way guilty about what happened to your step daughter, who was an adult, and had had various interventions but had resisted them all. You must now think more about yourself, in a selfish sort of way, really. You owe it to yourself and to those who love you to be positive and to strive to make a new(er) life for yourself.

Lecture over - we're off out for a beach walk as it's dry here.

Today's pic:

"What do you mean, there's no fish on the menu today?"

What! Wednesday nearly over and I haven't posted this week's window. Yet another from former Keith church. A merino sheep, a shearer shearing, a windmill and a wagon of wool bales.

AQ: I'm clicking on your pix and seeing notes but wasn't sure they were referring to the photo above (of course I was tired at the time).  I love it that they've incorporated the culture/activities of the day into those stained glass windows.  I do hope there's a committee somewhere dedicated to preserving them.

Heather: Sad but true, stepdaughter was an adult with help at hand that she didn't/couldn't accept. You can lead a horse to water, etc.etc.. - not an entirely appropriate analogy in this case, but you know what I mean. It seems like we ought to be even better at coping with adversity at this point in our lives, but it does get old, doesn't it?

OG: I'm envisioning your husband out with a combine harvesting potatoes, but I know your garden isn't that big. The woodland area sounds like something out of Winnie the Pooh. :-)

Went for a walk this morning - the first for ages. Daren't get on the scale right now.

Was at the library this week and on the "new books" shelves saw "A Child's First Book of Trump" written in the style of Dr. Seuss.  :-))

Off to sort out my corner of the world (but not even sure I'm up for that!)  :-)

Heather – we all hope our recent comments are useful, and are sorry you are facing some difficult decisions.  If you decide you want to make changes, my advice is to make them as soon as you know it is what you want.  Much better to make your own choices than to need others to make them for you!

Linda – pleased to see you have some good weather today, and I hope you enjoyed the walk and the refreshing sea breezes.

AQ – another lovely window.

Annette – the current potato crop are those grown in bags beside where our car is parked – not quite such a heavy crop as in the veg patch, but worth doing each year – at least as long as these bags survive!  I just went out to inspect the woodland patch, and it is looking good; not quite finished, but beginning to look loved!  I had a surprise this morning when I looked out and saw flower buds on the Nerines – a sure sign that autumn is approaching – in fact there is also a very promising bunch of flowers coming on the Mahonia too!

Had an email from one of my cousins this morning telling me my auntie has died – in her hundredth year.   He had said a few weeks ago that it wouldn’t be long, but she had her 99^th birthday just two weeks ago.  She was my late Mother’s elder (and only) sister, and last in her generation, apart from a second cousin on each side of my family who are nearer my age than that of my parents. 

Heather-I hope I am remembering correctly, but didn't you lose your first husband also? You were younger and had young children so you had to "get on with life" quickly. Losing your second husband so suddenly makes it doubly hard to rebound. A long illness, which presents it's own problems still prepares you for the inevitable. You will slowly mend and then you will have time to make decisions about the garden. I went with flowering bushes that require no pruning and slow growing shrubs and trees. The annual flowers I now have are in elevated flower beds that can be emptied and stored away in the winter. Diane's posts were lovely and heartwarming.