Good things Mon 18 Jan 2010

GOOD THINGS: Horace's family
Even though it's a bitter sweet thing saying goodbye to Neil and wondering when we'll see him again it also brings home how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family ... and to be part of Horace's extended family.


It was really hard to get us all in focus ... but I like this one anyway.

They're all such great people ... and I'm so blessed.

Project 365 Mon 9 Nov 09

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HORACE
Wow, another year has passed and it's Horace's birthday again.

Time goes way too fast.

Wini posted a message on Facebook ... she remembered her old dad. Clarissa forgot and I had to remind her when she arrived home after work. (Tut tut tut ... accompanied with head shaking! LOL What can you do?)

What do you get a man who has everything ... and never seems to want a thing?

So since the way to every man's heart is through his stomach ... some of his favourite sesame snacks.


A photo of the boy who doesn't like his photo taken LOL ... with his sesame snaps.

Happy birthday baby boy.

We love you lots.

Day 24 Blogtoberfest 2009 Who's a lucky girl then?

I think I've posted before about hardly cooking ... and why.

Today I got a reminder of how very lucky I am in that department.

Horace and I were sitting chatting ... and me feeling hungry asked "What are we going to have to eat?"

It's the weekend, and my favourite meal is the brunches Clarissa and I often make on the weekends: hash browns, bacon, eggs, baked beans, toast ... sometimes grilled tomatoes and mushrooms.

I had that in the back of my mind ... but Horace responded by asking me if I wanted fish ... and then he shooed me out of the kitchen with his hand when I suggested I make brunch.


My beautiful curried fish lunch with homemade roti ... inelegant in its tacky bowl but oh so tasty.

Fish it is! LOL

Project 365 Wed 22 Jul 09

HORACE CHANGES CRICKET ALLEGIANCE!

Tonight Horace, Clarissa and I went to the formal Australian citizenship ceremony for Horace. I loved the smile on his face during the ceremony, and I was amazed when he gestured me into what he thought was the best spot to stand to take the best photos … and I was glad for that because he’s a far better photographer than me.


Horace after the ceremony with his certificate and tree.

It was also a great relief it all turned out well because I got the dates mixed up and we turned up for the ceremoney the previous evening. That was bad enough ... it being a cold and rainy winter's evening ... but I thought I’d messed up the interview time for Horace’s passport application, which would have been even worse.

I am so relieved that didn’t happen.

PS Just joking about changing cricket allegiance. As if ...

Project 365 Fri 20 Jun 09

PHONE ADDICTION GONE CRAZY
Horace has a reputation for being possessive about remote controls (one of our favourite jokes is the time he took a TV remote control out with him in his pocket), but this is ridicolous!


Wini's photo of her dad.

The story is I rang home today to chat to Horace as I do each day ... and was horrified to hear him slurring as he spoke. Luckily for me Wini was there so I rang back and asked her to check on her dad, which she did, and she told me he was asleep.

When I got home Wini called me to look at a photo she'd taken of her father during the day ... when I'd asked her to check up on him I guess.

What I'd forgotten was that Horace had stayed up almost all night (until 5am) watching the Twenty20 cricket final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and was so tired he could hardly speak let alone let go of the phone after he'd finished 'speaking' to me.

Poor Horace, he won't live this down either ...

Project 365 Sat 21 Mar 09

CORIANDER AND MINT
When I got home from work yesterday Horace sent me outside to look at the herbs Johnny had picked up for him: coriander and mint.


The coriander and mint Johnny bought for Horace.

But they didn't look anything like the coriander and mint I know; although this is what mint and coriander look like in Trinidad.

Instead of small, delicate leaves coriander in Trinidad the leaves are long and thin. And this version of mint has thick, fleshy leaves like a pelargonium.

Nature really is amazing.

Project 365 Day 40 (Mon 9 Feb 09)

HORACE'S PHARMACY
Horace now seems to be following the ineviteable path of all developing countries and is on a range of medication.

It seems as though the very act of living causes us to be sick; and who's in the slightest surprised given the rubbish pumped into the air and water ... and the amount of artificial preservatives etc in food. (But that's a whole other story really!)


The shoe box full of medication.

The full gamut of medication for Horace is:
1. blood pressure pills, including one which manages his migraines
2. an aspirin-based blood thinner
3. eczema creams

Horace is taking so much less medication now he's over his operation, and we really need to get rid of everything he no longer has to take.

I've always found Horace to be amazing, and his health is a testament to how well he's always eaten and the extraordinary amount of walking he used to do until his 50s (basically he'd walk at least 10 miles per day!).

It's my view that if he started serious walking again he'd outlive us all ...

Project 365 Day 37 (Fri 6 Feb 09)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Today is the anniversary of the day Horace and I met 26 years ago on 6 February 1983.

INSERT PHOTO OF OUR HANDS CLASPED TOGETHER.
Horace and I.

Everybody seems to think we met overseas when we met, here in Melbourne, at the wedding anniversary of John, a mutual friend.

I had a boyfriend at the time who was so engrossed with the cricket that he refused to go a party with me because the cricket was on the TV.

I was annoyed with him for more than that and didn't think we'd last much longer, so I went to the party.

I wasn't looking for anybody and when John asked me could I drop Horace home I did, only I dropped him off on Hoddle Street so I didn't know where he lived. I remember thinking that at the time.

We also both used to go to the Terminus Hotel on Saturday afternoons to hear reggae there, and Horace told me he looked for me for until I turned up a few Saturdays after we met. I rememeber I'd been to visit my mother and worked one weekend so I hadn't been able to come.

That afternoon Horace asked me if I wanted to come to dinner which I did the next Thursday ... and I've seen Horace every day since then (of course except when we're not the same city!).

And what happened to the guy I was going out with? By the time I met Horace those few weeks later he'd gone on manoeuvres (he was in the army) and when he came back I told him it was all over. I didn't think it was right to tell him over the phone.

Project 365 Day 22 (22/01/09)

BRUISE
Horace has the nastiest bruise on his upper arm.


Horace's arm

Apparently he was about to walk through the back door on his way outside and stumbled into the handle on the door ... it must have been some stumble because it broke the skin and the bruise is still there, very much obvious, a week later.

Project 365 Day 16 (16 Jan 09)

TOMATO LOVE
Horace loves to garden and this year his babies are three unruly tomato plants which have grown absolutely everywhere--including over each other.


A close up of tomatoes on the biggest plant, and the mandatory soft drink bottle to water them.

The best of the three (and the largest) is one growing baby tomatoes and they actually taste like tomatoes. All sweet and yummy, and somehow like a warm summer's day.

Project 365 Day 13 (13/010/09)

HORACE'S FEET
Before Christmas, Clarissa painted Horace's big toes with her favourite deep red nail polish and it's still there over two weeks later.


Horace showing off those toes in slip ons.

Horace is so laid back it doesn't bother him in the slightest. Nor does it bother us, but everytime any of us see his feet it never fails to make us smile.

Happy Father's Day to all

A big hug to all the fathers, including Horace.

I hope you all had a wonderful day.

A month has passed ...

A whole month has passed since Horace's operation, and I can't believe how far he's come and how well he's doing.

He's off all pain medication except four hourly paracetomol and Endep (an antidepressant) at night to relieve muscle pain. And it's muscle pain that's now bothering Horace the most, especially around his scarring. We've started massaging that spot three times a day for ten minutes at a time, and it's making a huge difference. His left side is now almost completely relaxed and will probably be cleared up in a few more days. But the other side is proving more difficult, and it will probably be a week or so before that's all cleared up. At least though it's not the hard knot it was when we started, and not as painful. Two good things.