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Saturday, May 19, 2012

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

It's a lovely frosty morning here in Brisbane ( no, not literally frosty, we don't have that very often, probably somewhere around 11 or 12 degrees) - and I've been cuddled down under my lovely doona thinking.
You know how you just lie there and your mind wanders around in the fuzzy warmth, flitting from subject to subject in a meandering sort of way while you revel in just enjoying the morning with no pressure to leap up and DO things.
I've been contemplating how things can change.
One minute your life is just mooching along.
 Nothing much happening - housework, job, visiting friends, going out for meals, family dinners, gardening ...............
Then suddenly wham !

That's what it's been like here.
I guess with three parents over 90 it had to come  - and come it has!

First with Dad and his heart - happily that has all settled down for now . He's back to tootling along and enjoying his days at the Retirement Village with Mum and, for them, life is good.

But things have gone rapidly down hill with the other 91 year old and we've had a month of daily visits, doctors, multiple phone calls every day ( many of them at all hours of the day and night and very delusional ) all culminating in what will probably be a prolonged, unhappy stay in hospital while we wait for relocation to a Nursing Home ( head for the hills when THAT subject is broached !!).

The phone calls still come at all hours of the day and night  ( from the phone beside the bed !!!) and it is all very stressful to say the least.

So yesterday it was time for a break.
And the only way to do that was to leave town !
We flew to Sydney ( about 600 miles away) to visit (our son) Brett and Sarah for lunch.
We pretended they lived just on the other side of Brisbane and took ourselves off to have the day with them.
Lovely!
The weather was cool and sunny.
We grabbed breakfast at the airport


(the usual airport food !)

and arrived in Sydney at 10:30am to clear sunny weather and temperatures around 21 degrees C.
Lunch was late - too much chattering and playing with his dear little dogs ! - but delicious Thai which is our favourite.
It was a day for trying new things so we ordered soft shell crab for an entree. I'm not very good at eating whole animals. I prefer them cut up into pieces so that I am not reminded of the whole beast and I have never been able to eat things like a baby octopus, but today was the day.
It helped that the crab was covered in a very light batter which sort of blurred its shape ...
but I have to report it was  delish ! ( sorry no photos, we were too engrossed in the experience !)

After a lovely lunch we moved from the Thai restaurant to a place called Cheeky Chocolate across the way for coffee and dessert.


Are you loving the sound of this day?


Doesn't it sound like just the thing to do after a stressful month?


Now the place we went to - the Cheeky Chocolate - is a specialist dessert cafe run by a wonderful chef  (Adriano Zombo )  featured on Australian Masterchef two years ago.


This is heart attack territory folks.

 Sugar overload !! But what a way to go !

We tried another first  ....... macaroons! 


Yes there were 10 of them and 4 of us !
salted caramel, orange chocolate, raspberry chocolate, banana passionfruit
and just plain chocolate

salted caramel !!!!!

Oh lordy, lordy!



We had a lovely break.
The kids are great and life is going well for them.
It was delightful to spend a relaxing day with them and have a few laughs.

Back to the airport ( Sydney traffic is never ending ) , a few hot chips and a softdrink  ( thought we'd finish ourselves off with a dose of fat and salt !)  then back in Brisbane by 8:15pm.

A Lovely day !

The crazy phone calls started again at 8 o'clock this morning.
Hey -ho !

11 comments:

  1. Our parents are deceased, but I certainly know what you're talking about. S~t~r~e~s~s~ So glad you took some time for yourselves, and had such a great time!

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  2. Good on you.
    What a to-do getting tricky calls that you must answer, all all hours.
    Hang in there Helsie!

    The Cheeky Chocolate - I'm going to have to visit!

    Wonderful post!

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  3. What a lovely way to spend a day away from all the stress. Love the macaroons!!!

    We're just entering that phase of our lives ... my father-in-law died at Easter .... and now we have a very lonely mum .... and my parents, all touching 80. Thankfully they're all in good health, fingers crossed. But I do worry about what the future holds.

    Hope you manage to get some more 'away days' soon!
    xxx

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  4. What a great break from a very stressful situation! I love it that you just hopped a plane to have lunch with your son! It sounds like it was lovely day...and any post that included macaroons is good for me (I like to see how close the look of mine comes to a professionals'...and I held up pretty well to this sample, so I'm on the right track)!! They look delicious and I'd like to try the orange chocolate myself.

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  5. Sounds like just the break you needed. Those salted caramel macaroons look just delicious!

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  6. Sounds like a break was just what the doctor ordered, shame it couldn't have been for a few days!

    It's good to have a change of scenery now and again. Dave and I are desperate for one as it's hard living with my parents, but we don't have the fund for a weekend away sadly.

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  7. Oh dear, it does sound as though life is pretty stressful for you at the moment. Your spur of the moment trip sounded just FANTASTIC!!! Absolutely what the Dr ordered. Hope you have a better week Ros

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  8. glad you had a good break and a chance to unwind.

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  9. You did deserve a day off by the sounds of it. You look very relaxed.

    Im so glad you had a chance to do something out of the ordinary to take a break.

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  10. I hope you're taking care of yourselves in addition to your elders. You probably can't have a wonderful adventure like this one very often, but be sure to tend to your own needs ...!

    Love your descriptions and your photos. I'm hungry now!

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  11. YOU PIGS!

    No, I can fully understand. We are off to see my Alzheimery Dad this weekend and the bits I am most loking forward to are our B and B breakfasts and when we get back to the B and B at nights and have some wine too unwind. Oh, I know it sounds callous but it is hard and we were never that close me and my parents. It's a case of duty I am sorry to say. Good on you for giving yourselves treats.

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