Monday, April 12, 2010

A thing of the past

.
My life is over -- well, not quite, but the end is in sight. Only two weeks to go till my 60th birthday, and I am beginning to feel the years piling up.


For example, on Saturday my sister and I were invited to Michele's house for the 13th birthday of her son Aleks. We knew that he was interested in the history of rock & roll, so I went through the attic and found a 1971 book on Buddy Holly that I thought he might like.

The party was a large affair, but partitioned so that the adults and children didn't have to spend all their time together. The basement was taken up with a sound system blasting out AC-DC while the elderly in-laws ate a sit-down meal upstairs.

Julie and I wandered about, chatting to various people, partaking of the copious refreshments and watching Michele's dog try and bully one of the visiting dogs. It was all pleasant enough.


But when we arrived home after only two or three hours, I felt as though I'd been away for the weekend. I suppose I'm no longer used to noise or large numbers of people. Once I would have taken it in my stride, but that seems to be a thing of the past.
.




At least my cough has eased off enough that I can sleep at night again. A couple of weeks of waking every two hours to cough really made me feel seedy.


I hope to be rid of it before the winter weather sets in, although going on the weather forecast for today that isn't far away. Last night it was almost frightening to read a forecast that predicted strong winds, heavy rain and possible flash flooding.

Happily, none of these things seem to have happened.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

21st century (with waterfowl)

.
My health is improving a little, though I'm not sure you can say the same for my sister Julie, who (inevitably) seems to have picked up the same virus that I am battling. 

It seems hard to believe that this month I will be celebrating my 60th birthday.  I remember when I was at school I calculated that if I wanted to see the 21st century, I would have to live to be fifty.  That seemed so far off in the future... !  And today the year 2001 is nine years in the past. Sometimes I wonder where that half century has gone. 

We now have four geese in my backyard as well as the population of chickens that invaded colonised the property from Julie's house.  I've always had one goose, but three goslings were rescued from an uncertain future at Julie's place and have grown up strong and resolute in my yard (where the lawn used to be once upon a time).  The only difficulty is that the oldest goose tries to boss the chooks around, and honks at them loudly if they displease her.  Heaven knows what the neighbours make of it.