Mother's Day 2015

[Doolhof]

Hi everyone. Mother's Day can mean so many things to different people. I am wondering how you all think about Mother's Day?

Do you have a close relationship with your Mum, Nana, Grandma, Mother in law, Aunty or a lady in your life who is like a Mother to you?

If you are a Mum, how do you feel about that role in your life? If you have never been a Mum due to choice or circumstances, how does that make you feel?

For me, Mother's Day can be a sad and lonely time, and at the same time I can celebrate with my Mum and my Mother in law.

Am I a Mum? Yes and no. I have been pregnant 5 times but have no live children.

I have a Mum whom I try so hard to love and care for but who also has mental health issues so the relationship is often strained and hard to live with at times. It seems often that Mum is not aware of how much pain she causes people. But she is still my Mum.

So are you looking forward to Mother's Day or are you dreading it?

If it is the latter, then try to come up with things you can do now to ensure you do not feel too much sadness, regret, misery and pain on Mother's Day.

We will be catching up with my Mother in law this year and I will phone my Mum as she lives too far away for me to visit unless I stay over night. I will be thinking of my babies with lots of love and may mark the day with flowers for myself, or I may light some candles.

I will leave this for now and see what replies I receive.

Cheerio for now, from Mrs. Dools,   Lauren

[the_motorcycle_boy]

Hi Lauren,

Yes, I don't know how many times I've almost typed my name out at the end of a post too! It's easy to forget you're online at times. I had to smile as my mother's name is the same as yours. You don't hear it much these days.

My day at the beach was most enjoyable, something I'd like to do regularly but not enough to spoil it. It's hard to imagine you getting tired of the glorious scenery you spoke about especially the changing seasons. Hot and cold are the main differences here. lol.

It's good to lay back and relax sometimes and not achieve a lot. I like to be doing things most of the time and I sometimes forget to slow down and take it easy. Like watching the cricket is strenuous! Haha! I'm finding as I get better I can do more and do it more easily.

The harp is a beautiful instrument, I don't mind the saxaphone either and the violin. Both have been used with success in popular music. David Bowie in "Young Americans" and The Verve with "Bitter Sweet Symphony". There would be plenty of other examples too.

From an early age, whenever I purchased a car I would make sure it was equipped with front and back speakers and had an amplifier. Then I would drive around listening to all my favourite music, loud!. Not that safe perhaps but enjoyable! Ha!ha! Nowadays, I usually get stuck on one CD for a while and then the next etc. "Bat out of Hell" is a magic album!

I gave up identifying cars ages ago too. Now they all look similar which I guess is not true, lol. A hot pink panel van eh? raised rear and deafening! I was the same. My first car was a purple Holden with air shocks so one could pump the back up. I remember wanting to get it turbo charged but ended up not doing it. Oh to be young again...as you say there is still time. lol.

I hope your work is going well, I imagine you would hear a lot of stories from the past from your clients. I used to take this elderly lady shopping once a fortnight and we got on very well. She would shout me a coffee each time and as a final thank you, she gave me a cat! or a kitten to be precise. It was the son of a Red Point Siamese champion who I named Boris.

The cricket starts tonight, live from Edgbaston (I think) so I might stay up and watch a bit of that. I have quite a few books to read so will try to get into them soon, just a bit off reading lately. I have been recently tempted to buy some more books but I need to read the ones I have first!

Well, that's all for now

Take care of yourself

Cheers

TMB

[Doolhof]

Hi TMB,

Now you know what I mean by my name being from a pervious generation! There happen to be two ladies by the same name at the Church I attend and they are both a lot older than I am.

As I was driving around today, it was very windy and the blossom was blowing off some of the fruit trees along the ride side. I think they are almond trees...maybe. Either way, it reminded me of either snow or confetti. It looked so pretty. I also stopped to watch a few sheep having a tussle in a paddock. I had not seen that before. Maybe they were young rams!

One of my clients gave me her canary because she said she could no longer look after it and was going to let it go. He was supposed to be male so I called him Pavarotti, but when we got "him" a mate, he ended up being a she and last year they had baby canaries.

I called the other one Rod Stewart as it has funny feather that stick up on the top of his head like a punkie hair do.

My husband is watching the cricket now so I thought I would have some time on the computer. I am having a huge day tomorrow with a lot of travelling between clients and then an appointment with a psychologist late afternoon, home for dinner and then we are off to play indoor carpet bowls. Out team has made it into the finals. Not hard to do really with a competition of 4 teams. Ha.Ha.

Hopefully we will be picking up some sheep on the weekend to sue as lawn mowers from a while in the back paddock. I have let the neighbours know in case the sheep escape. We have no idea how we will get the sheep back if they do get out!

Speaking of cars. I had a male friend who used to bring his car to our place to clean it. He would use the vacuum, the hose, the tyre black and what ever else he needed to polish it up. Not sure why he had none of this himself at his place!

He did have a car he added a turbo to and we used to go screaming around the Adelaide Hills with the radio blaring screaming out lyrics to all the songs. Back in the days other friends had those musical horns that were later banned.

Remember the old front bench seat! And no seat belts! Now I really am showing my age. My parents had an EH ute. We travelled in that for years. Mum, Dad and three kids all squeezed in the front with the baby sitting in the steering wheel sometimes. Amazing.

Hope you have a great day and look forward to the weekend.

Cheers from Lauren.

[the_motorcycle_boy]

Hi Lauren,

Just a quick note to say Hi! and to wish you well. I am going away for the weekend again so won't be able to post back till Monday, in case you're wondering what's happened to me. Am going to a friend's place in an outer-lying country town, about 30 km from where I live and looking forward to a road trip on Sunday.

Well, the sun is shining and it looks like a terrific day, hope it's fine where you are. Have a top weekend.

Cheers

TMB

[Doolhof]

Hi TMB,

Hope you have an excellent weekend, and the sun kept shining for you in all aspects of your life!

Last night it bucketed down with rain here which was excellent. We needed it badly. We might even get some water in the small dam at the bottom of the garden if this keeps up.

Another great thing about the rain is it makes being inside feel so cosy with the wood fire going. A great day for crafts and movies and long afternoon snoozes!

Catch you again soon, Cheers from Lauren

[the_motorcycle_boy]

Hi Lauren,

You are lucky to live close to the country where you can see nature at its best. I have to travel 30 km and beyond the city to see such marvels. On Sunday some friends and I drove for an hour up and back from where I was staying. It was sunny and a bit windy but a beautiful day! It felt good to be out in the open, speeding along.

I enjoyed your story about the canaries. What was Pavarotti's new name or didn't she get one. Yes Rod Stewart is a good name for a punkish bird. I suppose Sid would've done nicely too (as in Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols! It must be great having so many animals around. I wouldn't mind following suit but can't have pets where I am. May be moving soon so my situation may be different.

Congratulations on making it to the indoor carpet bowls final. A lot of hard work eh! haha! I hope your appointment with the psychologist went well. I saw a psychologist once for 6 weeks and it was an interesting experience. He told me I suffered from GAD rather than depression and wanted me to go off all medication. I refused. He also filmed me singing the national anthem, can't remember exactly why.

Well, I never got a musical horn for the car but I did drive around with music blaring. All great performers from the 70's like David Bowie, Boston, Pink Floyd, Joe Jackson and many others. A friend was in a car club and we would go to see him race in different events. They were also the days of the wonderful Drive-in! we'd smuggle people in, in the boot and sound our horns at appropriate times. All great fun!!

I do remember that old front bench seat with a "three on the tree" gearstick! And no seat belts! My Dad had an old Holden too, I think it was a '64  model. It is stretching the memory a fair bit.

I did have a pretty good weekend. Apart from our Sunday drive we ate out a bit you guessed it, watched the footy (and my team won again!!) had a barbeque and went for a few walks. We haven't had any rain here , it's been sunny and warm especially Sunday where it got to 27*C! Bit cooler today...

The black dog didn't bother me that much over the weekend, he kept himself pretty quiet except a few times when my mood did darken somewhat. Watched The Voice again last night and was impressed by the array of talent that performed. Also saw a good movie called "Unbroken" about an Olympic runner who is lost at sea and is captured and tortured by the Japanese in WW2.

Hope you had a good weekend

Have a nice day!

Cheers

TMB

[Doolhof]

Hi TMB,

Sounds like you had an okay kind of a weekend with the Black Dog mainly being chained up. That darn dog was barking at my heels for a little while on Saturday and I was a bit like the German Shepherd next door on Sunday, with my husband thinking he needed to defend himself and retreat to somewhere safe! Oh dear.

I did apologise profusely so hopefully that took some of the sting out of the encounter!

Later on in the day we became the adopted owners of 14 sheep! The farmer who owns them is going to pop over now and then to make sure we still have enough grass here on the 2 1/2 acres for the sheep to feed adequately. I went down to see them this morning and to do a head count to make sure they were all still here.

Pavarotti the canary did get another name, but I have forgotten what it was so she is now Mrs. Pavarotti! Ha. Ha.

I enjoyed watching The Voice as well and was a little surprised at some of the song choices the female coaches made for their singers. There certainly is some amazing talent amongst them all.

Yes, we are very lucky to be living where we are right now. I would love to be closer to the beach, but can drive there in just over an hour so can't complain too much. By travelling for an hour in the opposite direction we reach the River Murray.

There are plenty of areas to go walking close to us as well, so I am hoping to do more of that as the weather improves. Not that I am complaining about the rain at all!

I suppose you heard on the news that Cilla Black died. Recently we watched a movie about her life which was very interesting. I don't recall the title of the movie though. Recollection is not one of my best traits!

Saturday I was having a very restful kind of a day and watched an old John Wayne movie, one where he was a soldier in the American Civil War . My Dad loves John Wayne movies, but more the cowboy type. He also used to enjoy reading Biggles books and leant me his collection a few years back for me to read them.

The first appointment with the psychologist went well enough. They just pick your brains for memories during the first session. Funny how they don't ask you to remember the fun things in life! I guess if that was all we had to think about then we wouldn't be depressed and they would be out of a job. Ha. Ha.

Hope your week goes well.

Cheers for now from Lauren

[the_motorcycle_boy]

Hi Lauren,

You are certainly having some unique experiences with the black dog! haha! I'm glad you said sorry to your husband after the "assault" (for want of a better word!) My black dog experience has consisted of irritability, some anger and a little depression! but it is not unusual or unremitting so I'm not overly concerned.

Congratulations on your latest acquisition, the 14 sheep. That would be exciting for you, looking after them, I mean. You'll have to keep the black dog well away from them, lol. Maybe a regular head check to make sure they're alright?

Poor Pavarotti must be confused changing his/her gender like that! Haha! He/she may need counseling!

Well, the air-conditioning man was here this morning making a helluva racket on the roof so I shot off for a long walk near where I live. I popped into my favourite bookstore and got a great book on Oliver Stone and his movies, specifically "Talk Radio". It is one of my all time favourites, made in 1988.

I have been reading another book, a film text which gives a great foundation for a screenplay.

Still watching The Voice too. Looks like the finals will be very exciting.

Sounds like you are well situated where you live, I can't complain either though the suburb I'm in is pretty rough. From my flat I regularly hear arguments and yelling out. Mind you I am situated near a pub and the main street. Have only really been bothered 2 or 3 times re: people just outside the door. Hey, I know Kung Fu! lol!

Walking is good exercise, I enjoy it too and make sure I go once a day. Stops me from getting soft and lazy, lol.

A fairly quiet day today so far. Did some washing and on the computer. Tonight I'll probably watch a movie, a good Western with Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank called "Homesman" It should be good.

Yes, I heard Cilla Black died, I saw an item on the news about it. She appeared very talented. My recollection skills are a bit hazy too. Quite often a word or name evades me where before I could instantly grab it, depression? or getting older? I don't know.

So, I'm interested to hear if you enjoyed the Biggles books or not. I haven't read any of them. I don't mind John Wayne movies either. He had a real presence about him. He actually looks like my father!

Am glad your appointment with the psychologist went well. Imagine thinking fun things all the time, one would be exhausted pretty quickly! What a way to go! lol.

Hope you and the new recruits (all 14 of them!) have a great week.

Cheers for now

TMB

[Doolhof]

Hi TMB,

Yesterday morning I found Mrs. Pavarotti on the bottom of the bird cage looking miserable! I brought the poor dear inside and placed her on a warmed up wheat bag for a while. Meanwhile Rod Stewart was chirping away, singing out for his mate.

I was in tears over my canaries! I ended up putting Mrs. Pavarotti back in the cage and set up a lamp to help keep her warm. It seems that love has conquered all as this morning she seems her usual self again.

I've been checking on the sheep twice a day. It is a good thing that stay in a flock, otherwise I would be wandering around the olive trees looking for them. Ha. Ha. One of them seems to be the boss and if she takes off, they all do. Hopefully they will become friendlier over time.

We watched a movie on the weekend and with my short term memory difficulties, I have forgotten the title of it already! Ha. Ha. It had Kevin Costner in it as the manager of a grid iron team (I think) in the US. It was about their selection day and how this manager managed to pull together a team for the next season despite all kinds of things going on in his personal life.

The Biggles books I read years ago, so I don't have a great recollection of them either. I did enjoy them at the time. For the age and the era in which they were written, they were okay. I would like to find more time for reading...like so many other things...time is the essence.

So your Dad and John Wayne have similar looks! Could your Dad ride a horse? One of my clients looks like the guy who plays "Doc Martin" from the t.v. series of the same name. I find it difficult chatting to that guy and feel a little uncomfortable while he is around. Just me. He has certainly never purposely done anything to make me feel that way.

Did you enjoy "Homesman" ? What are some of your all time favourite movies? As I like Kevin Costner, I really enjoyed "Bodyguard". I liked Paul Hogan in "Charlie and Boots" and found "The Full Monty" to be hilarious in parts. I don't recall many recent movies I have enjoyed. I did like "The best Marigold Hotel" movie. Some of that was very funny.

Anyway, hope you have a good day and the rest of the week is great. Hope you have some nice plans for the weekend.

We are going to an AFL footy match Friday night, out to friends Saturday and Sunday I wilol catch up with some girl friends in the city.

Cheers for now, from Lauren

[the_motorcycle_boy]

Hi Lauren,

Well, I am glad that after all your efforts, and Rod Stewart's singing, Mrs Pavarotti came good! You can get pretty emotional over your pets, I find. I remember, years ago, feeling quite bad when I found my cat, Boris was sick!

Don't know much about sheep's behaviour but I guess with time they would get use to you and would be more approachable. Maybe you could make friends with the boss first! Haha!

I think the movie you were referring to with Kevin Costner was called "Draft Day". (One of pro football's most important days in American grid-iron). I like Kevin Costner too and thought he was terrific in a western named "Open Range" I thought he was good in "Waterworld" too. I've only seen bits and pieces of "The Bodyguard" but would like to see it all. I like Paul Hogan too.

Yes, it is a pity we can't have time on a leash! lol. I have quite a lot of things I'd like to do that get postponed through lack of time. What other reading would you like to do? Me, I have about six or more books on films that I'd like to get through. One day eh? lol.

My Dad looked like John Wayne and George Reeves (the tv superman of the fifties). He had rugged good looks, however I look more like my mother. I don't know if Dad could ride a horse or not lol! but he certainly was a sportsman. He played footy, cricket, he was a lifesaver and a sprinter. It's true, some people you meet, through no fault of their own, can rub you the wrong way.

"Homesman" was ok but I nodded off through some of it, lol. I have that problem nearly every night! Some of my all time favourite movies would be "Rumble Fish", "Whiplash" (out just this year), "Warrior", and "Talk Radio" (an Oliver Stone film from 1988). There are a stack more that I like. What are your favourites? Since I have been sort of studying films, my appreciation of them has grown.

The Biggles books sound like a good read. I used to read a lot when I was young, I wanted to read at least one book from all the great authors and I ended up reading quite a few! lol. Nowadays, I mainly read text books about movies. Maybe one day I'll venture forth into fiction again. I do like biographies.

Your weekend sounds nice and full! I hope you enjoy it.

I have a friend coming down to stay, will probably eat out a few times, grocery shopping Saturday, footy Fri and Sun on the telly, what else I'm not sure! Haha! Looks like the cricket will be over soon! How disappointing.

Cheers for now

TMB

[Doolhof]

Hi TMB,

Sounds like you have a few nice things planned for the weekend. We enjoyed the footy last night. The Crows won so that is good! Certainly fired up the crowd. I'm not a real footy fan, but if it makes my husband happy for me to go with him I am happy to go. Sometimes it is a bit of an adrenalin/energy rush when the game is tight! Ha. Ha.

Thanks with help for the name of the Kevin Costner movie! I'm hoping once my stress levels reduce a little I will remember things better! Stress, depression, changing hormones...what hope do I have! Ha. Ha. Like I keep saying, as long as I remember where home is that is the main thing!

My weekend is getting even busier as my sister has sent a message through saying she would like to visit with my niece today, so that will be lovely.

The sheep seem to slowly be getting used to me, they don't run away now, just walk quickly! I am sure in time we will be better acquainted. Apparently they like carrots, so I might get them some of those and see what happens.

The guy who owns the sheep also said some of the younger ones might enjoy some milk. I don't think walking down the garden with a carton of milk will quite do the trick though! Ha. Ha.

Mrs. Pavarotti is well and truly back from the dead, so yes the TLC has done her a world of good. Funny how that works well with people as well! I remind my husband of that and tell him that neglect does not make anything flourish.

Books: I like to read other people's travel stories and true life experiences. Biographies are interesting. When in the mood I will read most things except for books full of violence.

I'd like to make more time for books, movies, craft and so much more! I will have to work on that.

I hope you have a great weekend with your friend. All the best to you.

Cheers for now, from Lauren