People

Annette - I am so sorry that I didn't see your mail to me before I left to go on holiday. We left at 5.30 am on 6th November and I see that you mailed me on the 5th. I had already closed down the computer. i have now deleted. I haven't had a chance to read through all the chat, only home this evening. Hope all was OK.

Hey, Annette: So sorry I didn't respond to your last note. I meant to, and then things got crazy here. You didn't depress me. I found your lovely note very consoling. It made me feel less alone. I can't even express how much I appreciate your kind support. I am sorry that you had to endure that struggle for so long. I moved back here in 2005, to care for my parents when they both became critically ill (Mom had lung damage from a bout with cancer, and Dad had contracted tuberculosis), so I know exactly what you mean about the demands of long-term caregiving. 

I have been checking the chat thread periodically. I haven't been posting because I am bone tired and stressed, so I'm not thinking very clearly. I'm always afraid that I will inadvertently say something insulting, or slight someone, or be too depressing, or otherwise globally stick my foot in my mouth! :-)

My Dad developed the secondary infection/pneumonia after the flu. So the situation here has been pretty all-consuming. He is beginning to show some initial signs of improvement, so I'm hoping that he can kick it without hospitalization, but I've had to provide 24/7 care. And, of course, I have the assorted family members and friends who don't want to help, but do want to blame me and second guess my decisions. Grrr. And, of course, don't EVEN get me started on the American health care system!!! GRRR.

Anyway, don't worry, you have been very kind. I'm so glad that your remodel is complete. I know you will enjoy it. I had to laugh at your post about Lightening rolling about in the dirt. Pets always seem driven to dirty up a new carpet, clean floor, new couch, etc. LOL Take good care of yourself. You're one of the nicest people I know!

Annette: Thought this link might help you. I've ordered through Amazon and never had trouble. Take care!   http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=all-region+dvd+player&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=3503345535&ref=pd_sl_97qyw43mfs_e  Also, questons may be answered here:   http://www.dvdbuyingguide.com/

Annette, I checked recent purchases & my library borrowing receipts, which keep for a while so I can find a book again when I want it. My fault for patronising several libraries across the suburbs! Too bad these libraries have a habit of culling books - then I bother them with inter-library loans from country libraries which are not so quick to discard. And if they buy any more books about the Titanic or Captain Cook, I shall . . . erm, do nothing, just fume. There are plenty of other ship disasters or explorers to learn about.

"A Lost Glitter. Letters between South Australia and the Western Australian Goldfields 1895-1897" – Michael R BEST (ed) 1986 [2 brothers in WA; parents & fiance in SA]

"John Devoy’s Catalpa Expedition" – Philip FENNELL & Marie KING (eds) c2006 [Story of rescue of Irish Fenian convicts from WA by American whaler, unbelievable drama]

"Strangers in a foreign land: the journal of Niel Black and other voices from the Western District – Maggie MacKELLAR 2008 [Early pioneers in Victoria c1839]

"Letters from Laura: a bush schoolmaster in Cape Yorke Peninsula 1892-1896" – Frances MacKEITH (ed) 1987 [Laura is a small outback town in Queensland]

"Blue Stocking in Patagonia – Anne WHITEHEAD 2003 [Story of Dame Mary Gilmore who left Australia 1895 to join a ‘New Australia’ colony in Paraguay. Mostly about her time in South America]

"Linden Girl: a story of outlawed lives" – Pamela RAJKOWSKI 1995 [Story of an ‘Afghan’ camelman (actually an Indian Muslim from the Punjab) who married an aboriginal woman, illegal in WA at that time 1920s, and their troubles with authorities]

"Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic" – Jennifer NIVEN 2003 [4 men & 1 Inuit woman on Wrangell Island 1921]

"The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk" – Jennifer NIVEN 2000 [Arctic expedition]

"The Sea Captain’s Wife: A True Story of Love, Race & War in the Nineteenth Century" – Martha HODES 2007 [born white & poor in New England, husband & brothers died in Civil War, married black sea captain from West Indies]

Hmm, not too much about SA. I’ll have to think about that. List rather reflects my current interests, ie interstate research and out-of-the-way places I shall never visit. Grass is greener on other side of the fence? J

Hey, Annette. Yup, my Dad is a character. I assume, from your comment, that you know you can get the Owners Manuals for your new appliances on the Internet. I just wanted to make sure that's what you meant. I'm compulsively organized, and stuff like that drives me up the wall, too. I can live with an inch of dust on the furniture, but by god I want to be able to find my 1975 tax forms in an instant. LOL My house is coming around slowly. I didn't meet my schedule today. My Dad had a bad night and day, so I'm tired. And we have had thunderstorms that keep threatening to put the lights out. Right now, the satellite for the TV is out, and it's beginning to boom outside agan. So I'm going to say screw it, have a lovely vanilla latte, and go to bed.

Funny you should mention San Francisco. We just watched the "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival" from there on PBS. Lots of good people, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch. The crowd looked like it was 1969 instead of 2009. LOL I love San Francisco. About a 100 years ago, I was offered an internship at Mother Jones. I didn't think I could afford to live there and didn't go. Sometimes I wish that I had. Good luck with the remodel completion!