Chasing Butterflies.

So...we have had our friend Toni visiting for the weekend. Will knows her from years ago from the Brisbane Folk Scene but she left Australia about 15 years ago and moved to Glasgow. She was there when Will lived in Glasgow but has since married and moved to Bremen in Germany.We had a lovely relaxing weekend with her and visited other friends, Robert and Glen at Bent Road and had a tour of their winery.

The End of an Era.

So......The Era of Dulcie is over.We have spent our last night at Celtis St and are once more returned to Frogknot. In the last few days we have cleared out the kitchen and packed what we want to keep and took some unwanted stuff to St Vinnie's charity shop.We finally sold the leather sofa and reclining chairs yesterday. A young family drove down from Inglewood, which is very close to Stanthorpe where we are now, to collect it. They have been looking for something for ages and were delighted with them. They have two young children and a third on the way and were sick and tried of hosing down their old suite and wanted something that they could wipe! Hmmmm, I think the poor leather suite is going to get hammered but Dulcie loved children so here's hoping she would approve.It was very sad to finally carry her favourite chair out of the house.We cut the grass yesterday and tidied up. A Willy Wagtail danced about me on the lawn as I pushed the mower backwards and forwards. Dulcie loved them and would often look out from the kitchen sink and say 'There's my Willy Wagtail.'...but for the last half year of her life we never saw one and she would often say 'I don't know where my Willy Wagtail has gone.'It was back yesterday and very daring to come so close to me and in some way I think it was Dulcie saying a last goodbye.We packed up Roxy to the gunnels this morning and had a quick clean of the house to leave it shipshape for prospective buyers.Adrian the Estate Agent arrived to take photos but we were not ready so he said he would come back tomorrow.We couldn't quite fit in all we wanted but will collect that at a later date.

We said our 'goodbyes' to Joanne and Bill next door...but we will be in touch with them and it is not as if we are disappearing off the face of the Earth like a number of celebrities recently.We closed up the house and left it behind.Will rode Jaxy up to Stanthorpe and I drove Roxy back. Our friend Toni who now lives in Germany is over visiting and she joined Roxy and I on the trip up.Will caught us up at Aratula at the foot of the Great Dividing Range and we had a sausage roll brunch before heading up to Cunningham's Gap. At the top I noticed Roxy was overheating so pulled in and switched the engine off. Will caught us up again.He reckoned it had just been the strain of the uphill climb and suggested we just carry on but I tried to start her and she wouldn't start....it was all very worrying but eventually Will got her started again and Toni and I carried on but without the air conditioning on.Roxy nearly over heated again on a hill climb up to the Granite Belt but after that we were fine and she went like a dream.Toni hasn't been back to this area for years and so we drove through Stanthorpe so she could see if it had changed. On our way out at the other end we were pulled over by the police who were doing random breath tests.'Oh, please don't ask me to switch the engine off!' I thought."We are doing breath tests' said the Occifer, "Have you had anything to drink with your lunch?""No," I said, and nearly added, 'just a sausage roll.' but didn't."Could you blow into this white tube please?" said the Occifer."Ooh, I have never done one of these before,"I said excitedly."What? Never?" said the Occifer incredulously. "How long have you been driving in Queensland?""About two years," I said."Well, you are very lucky or you just spend a lot of time watching TV."Was he calling me a couch potato? I huffed into the tube."Ok, that's fine. Off you go."Roxy made it up the drive to the house with a few squeals of the all-wheel drive.We finally have two weeks of uninterrupted Frogknot time to settle in before Josh and Helena arrive for their flying visit.The Era of Frogknot has begun. 

The Date with a Surgeon.

So.....the time had come again to head to the Princess Alexandra.We have been in Brisbane for a few days now. We did some work for Will's sister Wendi on Wednesday up at the University and have been clearing up the last few things from Dulcie's house but the real reason we were here was for my date with the Surgeon.I headed in just after lunch and followed my usual path, passing by the Blue lifts and up the Orange lifts to 2F.The girl on Reception was lovely but all went a bit pear shaped when she asked me if I was still living at Celtis St. I told her no and gave her the Glen Aplin address but then said but we have no postal address....so she put that we were still at Celtis St until we get a post box number sorted. It will be OK as we will get Joanne next door to keep an eye on the mail.The waiting room was reasonably empty, an elderly lady whose hair was growing back after chemo, a mother with a small child who seemed obsessed with grabbing at her grandma's breasts and crying 'Boobies, boobies!' A one legged man in a wheelchair wheeling about with his man bag hooked over the big toe of his remaining leg checking out which of the women's magazines he had already read, a teenage son and his middle aged mother who droned on and on listing a litany of hospital and doctors visits, x- rays and scan appointments as if she was being interviewed for a very boring programme called 'My Ponderous Medical History .'.....and me.The appointment was at 1.00 pm. I think I was called about 1.30 ish. It was Ian. He looked Japanese but had an Aussie accent. He wasn't a Surgeon....he was on the Clinical Team. I felt a bit short changed....I was expecting a Surgeon.Ian reviewed my Ponderous Medical History and showed me the images from my PET scan and I got the feeling he was suggesting that it had not yet been decided whether to remove my 'lump' or keep on monitoring it.'Excuse me!' I thought. I have psyched myself up for the knife....but not the 'Gamma' one....so we are not going to be monitoring it any more."Yes, Dr Fanning was wondering that but he felt that if we left it another 6 months and something went wrong we might be wondering why we didn't take it out in the first place. He felt that as it was so big that the best option was to get it taken out and I will go along with that." I said, trying to head him off at the pass."Yes, well, I think he is right but we will have to see what my Boss says," said Ian.He hooked me up to a machine to check my blood oxygen levels and blood pressure. He asked about my present condition."Any weight loss?""Unfortunately not." I said."Right, well I will just go and have a word with my Boss," and he left me in the tiny consulting room.Where was his Boss? I imagined he was lying in a jacuzzi being fed grapes by a busty Matron....well I had nothing else to do. It was just me and the blood pressure machine.It was a good looking machine. It had wheels and everything' It could have almost got a part in Star Wars. It had a label which said 'This machine will not link result to online records until after Nov 2015. Until that time all results should be imputed manually.'We waited........The computer went to sleep....we waited a bit longer but we didn't speak...then suddenly the blood pressure machine started beeping and an orange light was flashing on the top. 'There are 30 minutes or less battery power remaining' flashed the screen. Was it going to keep on beeping? It eventually stopped.We were silent again. I was thinking Ian had joined his Boss in the Jacuzzi and was thinking that I had now waited longer inside the consulting room than out of it. The machine beeped again....I wondered if I should switch it off but a sign said 'Do Not Switch Off'...so I didn't.I heard voices outside the door but couldn't make out what they were saying...then heard 'Right. Ok,'.....and the door opened and in walked another man with Ian following behind. The new man introduced himself but I didn't hear what he said because I was thinking 'Nice trunks!'.....no actually that did not happen, he wasn't actually wearing trunks but it would have been so much better if he was ....No. I did miss his name because I think I was thinking...'Oh, you look a bit Japanese too'.....but only a bit.This was 'The Surgeon'....well, one of three that work in the Thoracic Department. He had a very firm handshake....I liked that.So basically, because I don't want to bore you and well, why hang around for longer than necessary when there are no trunks involved, ......he said that the operation was a goer.Surgeons don't beat about the bush and he said that we needed to get 'lumpy' out and see what it is....it will be general anaesthetic, I will be on my side, it will be keyhole surgery  and they will make a 4 cm cut to get the 'thing' out and a few other cuts for the cameras. I will probably be in hospital for 3 days. They need to collapse my lung and will staple off a section, "We use titanium staples". They will then put in drain to help the lung reinflate and monitor for air and blood leakage. Blood leakage is not so bad but air leakage is a bit tricky. It it is 'Cancer'.....yes, he said the 'C' word, they will have to go back in and remove more lung and some glands......there is another option where they take a slice of the 'lump' and analyse it while you are on the table and then take the more drastic action if it appears cancerous.....except that method is not particularly accurate and some people have had more lung and glands removed as it appeared cancerous and then it was found to have been benign. I said. "No, take the whole thing and then we will go back in later if we have to."There is not a long waiting list and I should be seen within the month."Er,.....but," I stuttered, " my son is visiting from the 3rd to the 6th of February and I would really rather not be in hospital then if that is not too cheeky of me.?""He's coming for all that way for 3 days?!" he asked incredulously.I explained that he was really going to New Zealand for a wedding and was making a flying visit on his way back."That's fine. if you get a phone call and it doesn't suit just say "I can't' and we will reschedule.""Any other questions?"I did almost ask if while they were in there could they remove my cardiophrenic fat pad as well.....but chickened out."No," I said.He shook my hand firmly again and left Ian to fill in the forms.(Hmmm, that wasn't really the quick version after all....that is pretty much all of it.....sorry.)"Your machine beeped," I said to Ian.He switched it off ignoring the 'Do Not Switch Off' sign.I signed a form that basically said that I had been told that I might die.....( oh, I did cut that bit out of the Surgeon chat).Ian scribbled down some notes in doctors scrawl and then appeared to get stuck at one section.....he peered at it and I was peering at it upside down......He seemed uncertain what to do.......and then circled something.......it was the word 'obesity'.I think the question was asking are there any other factors to be taken into consideration before the operation......or something like that. 'Obesity?!'.......How very DARE he! I wished I not told him about his 'beeping' machine now."Right, see you in a few weeks," he said holding out his hand. He could never be a Surgeon. His handshake was too limp!I left and headed for the Orange lifts."Are you going down?" It was the elderly lady whose hair was growing back after chemo."Yes, " I said."Oh Good! I hate going in these things on my own."We travelled down together.Walking out I wondered if now that knives, and Surgeons were involved.....surely I will get to use the Blue lifts finally!

Oi!

So....two scorpions wander in tonight just as I am about to get into the bath on the rock. I cover them with glasses so that they don't wander off and hide and leave Will to evict them.It was a three shooting star bath and very relaxing.Will goes out for his bath and discovers this near his lettuce...

An errant turtle....whether it is from our dam our on route from next door who can say...but it was as bold as you please and not for pulling its head in.Then a large grasshopper hops in the kitchen but before I can trap it in my usual manner it hops off somewhere unknown.Thank goodness for the net. I am to the shelter of its fabric force field.

Accustomization.

So......yesterday we moved the rest of the furniture back that we moved to allow for the painting of the bedroom floor. We levelled and secured the bookcases and unpacked the 12 boxes of books that have been lying around for weeks.Will removed the post that was riddled with termites and we now have a hole in the floor which we need to fill.The garden is looking good though the zucchinis (courgettes) and beans are faltering as we have not been harvesting as we should....well, we haven't really been here. 'Audrey' (the yam) is thriving and the lettuce, sweetcorn, broad beans are all looking good.We did a dump run in the afternoon and got rid of the old mower and lots of cardboard. Luckily the local dump was open so we didn't have to make the trek out to the back of Stanthorpe to the main tip. We need to get a key for the local dump as it is suppose to be locked up again after you leave.We popped into Stanthorpe for some shopping but forgot that it was Sunday....the supermarkets are not open here as they are in Brisbane but Spano's IGA was open so it was not a waste of time and petrol.We ate like Kings last night, big steaks and chips, corn on the cob, mushrooms and homemade coleslaw.We watched some TV until the power suddenly went off....somehow we are going to have to be careful with our use of the power we have available. It is difficult to predict what is and isn't using too much.We are doing Ok though as the solar panels are 10 years old and only attached to 2 car batteries...It would be good to upgrade it but you need money for that.I made sure I put a heavy box over the hole in the floor before getting into bed.We slept with the window open last night....though it was only allowed as I have fashioned a makeshift 'bug-keeper-outerer' from an old mosquito net.We still sleep under a net too but last night there was suddenly a loud buzzing in my ear and something touched my shoulder and I leapt up and switched on the torch but could see nothing.I knew something was in there with us and wondered how I was ever going to get back to sleep. A spider, though not a very big one, was stalking up the wall a few inches away on the other side of the net. I resisted the urge to squash it.After 15 minutes of waiting and searching for the buzzy intruder in vain, I switched the light out and settled back down as best I could. Sure enough it buzzed past my ear again as loud as an Acacia Ridge helicopter and landed on my arm.I leapt up again expecting to find a huge flying creature and found a small Christmas beetle as big as one of my fingernails on the sheet. No matter, it was unwelcome and I picked it up and threw it out of the netting.Will was oblivious to the whole of this drama as he soundly slept.I did get to sleep eventually despite the frog chorus from the dam, the scraping of the branches from the overhanging tree on the corrugated iron roof, the hot water overflow dripping like a ticking clock, the distant sound of rifle fire and some creature skittering about on the old guitar and playing the low E string.It will take some time to get used to all this. We are off again tomorrow, back to Brisbane to do some work for Wendi and for my date with the Surgeon....we just can't wait to get some real Frogknot time without any interruptions.