Family, Memories and Holidays

Things don't always go the way you want. So make the most of what you can with what you want.

Early in November Mum was in hospital for a few days. Spent some time sitting with her on Sunday and Monday. Her dementia is getting worse I don't think she new who I was but when she saw Bill on Monday she said "your Bill have you come for the bill". We had a bit of a laugh that she could recognize two different types of meaning for Bill's name. Bill always wears his Rural Buying hat because he says Mum remembers his hat better than his face.

It was a worry leaving Mum on her own she tended to wander around and I was worried she would upset some of the other patients. She was in a four bed room and the other patients were men. The nurse said they keep an eye on everyone in the room. But I think Mum was left on her own a lot.

Books I was reading Early in November 2018

Botanist's Daughter by 

This was an Audio Read from R.B. Digital. I loved this book, the sort of book I like to read. It is mostly a historical fiction set in Australia and Cornwall. Anna inherits her grandmother's house in Sydney. The renovators find an old box and sketch books in the wall. Anna sets out to discover who owned the books.

The Biographer's Lover by Ruby J. Murray

Set mostly in Geelong and Melbourne. It is about a young woman writing a biography of Edna Crammer, an unknown artist.

Edna has secrets, her family has secrets and the biographer struggles to make sense of the available information to complete the biography. It is about artists, families and secrets.

Bill chopped down the mulberry tree in the back corner of our back yard. The mulberries were never any good, and the roots were interfering with underground water and sewerage pipes.

Bill was cutting up the stump in slabs one of the slabs looked like Australia, my granddaughter claimed the slab for herself and Bill helped her add Tasmania to the bottom. It is on our back fence for now.
My granddaughter wants her mother to move to a bigger house she wants a bigger bedroom. We had a lot of discussion sending each messages. I told her some history of what it was like trying to get a house loan in the 70's.

In mid November I had trouble with irregular pulse, fast pulse and sometimes really slow pulse and high blood pressure. Had a holter monitor and found nothing wrong.

We had  few days away staying at a resort it was a bit cold to swim in the resort pool but I still had a swim. Good to get away and have a bit of luxury.

I did a lot of reading in November the books I was reading included a few eBooks from NetGalley.

Forgot My Name by J.S. Monroe

A psychological thriller about a woman who can’t remember her name, she turns up at house in a small Wiltshire Village claiming she lives there. Her handbag, identity documents, keys and phone have been stolen. She remembers the house and the layout of the rooms but nothing recent.

This book grabbed my interest from the start, it was about identity, memory loss, families, friendship, murder, revenge and grief.

 Beautiful Strangers by Camile Di Maio

A ghost story set mostly in 1958. Kate Morgan travels from San Francisco to Southern California to get a job at Hotel del Coronado on the small Island of Coronado.

Kate’s grandfather has dementia and often starts telling Kate about his early days at Coronado but all he can remember is the beautiful stranger and that Kate should go to Hotel del Coronado and find the beautiful stranger. He is insistent about finding the beautiful stranger but can’t remember why.

At the hotel Kate meets famous people and discovers that the hotel has a ghost. This novel was a ghost story about families, romance and relationships. I loved the ending and the interaction between Kate and her family and the people she met.

Problems With Technology

Why is it when you are in a rush and need to get something done on your computer quickly, then things are likely to go not as you plan and leaves you muttering "Why Me"

You would not believe this run of misfortune.

One night I thought I would go online on my laptop just to quickly do something.

I had just turned on the laptop button when the phone rang - I went to answer it. It was a guy saying hello Mam, I am from Telstra. I told him "I do not believe you" he hung up. I went back to my laptop it was in the middle of doing something and there was a message "Do Not Turn Off" After it had finished I tried to log on with my usual password and I got a message saying something was wrong and I should reset my PIN. I tried to reset my PIN and I got a message saying something like "It would not be a good idea" So I cancelled but still could not log on.

I restarted the laptop and tried forgot my password - same result - reset the PIN. So I decided to reset.

It wanted the last 4 digits of my phone number so it could send me a code. I got my phone but the battery was flat and I could not find my charger. I eventually found the charger, I got the code and typed it in and up came a box to reset the PIN. I tried to type the same as I had before but the keyboard was locked and I could only type numbers.

I got a pen to write some notes but the pen was leaking black ink and I got it all over my hand and notebook and phone. Ink everywhere. Eventually I asked google for help and got lots of different answers. I picked one of the answers and was finally able to log on to my laptop many hours later. 

Things continued to go wrong. The next day we invited a few friend for dinner I was cooking roast lamb and baked vegetables. The power went off and we had to finish cooking dinner on the BBQ and put candles every where outside and inside. It made a fun dinner and reminded us of similar times when other the years when the power was off.

Needless to say I needed a bit of fun light reading. 

 

The Art of Running in High Heels by Rachel Gibson

This was a romantic comedy. Lexie was a star on a reality TV show- Gettin' Hitched. Just before she was to walk down the aisle she fled. A friend Jimmy was waiting with his float plane to take her to small town in Canada. Another passenger on the plane was Sean Knox, a Seattle Chinooks' biggest star.

Sparks fly between Lexie and Sean as the media try to locate Lexie. A good fun romance.

The Fragments by Toni Jordan

Set mostly in Brisbane in 1986 and New York in the 1930's. Caddie Walker is a Brisbane Book Seller she goes to see an exhibition of the Karlson Fragments. She has a conversation with two people while waiting in the cue to enter. One elderly woman makes a comment that drives Caddie to follow clues to learn more about Inga Karlson who died in a fire in New York in 1939.

Caddie is not the only person trying to find out more about Inga Karlson and the Fragments. I loved the descriptions of Brisbane in the 1980's.