Journal

I've got to pack those bags again and head back to Perth for a week to help my mum and dad, do some business and celebrate my nephews engagement - what better excuse for a party!

One of the things my brother and I have to do is stand before a magistrate and give reason why my 86yr old dad who is now in care due to his deteriorating dementia, whould have us take over his affairs. We are applying for guardianship/administration so that my brother can manage dad's financial affairs and I will oversee the medical and care desicions that need to be made.

Dad is coming with us to the tribunal. I hope somewhere is his lucid moments, that he knows we are doing it to protect him. Before he was hospitalised he twice lost money after withdrawing it from the bank and he lost the ability to identify denominations of money.  He must have lost his bankbook dozens of times and he could not distinguish between one plastic card and another. Very sad, he was always fastidious with managing his money.

Look forward to catching up with everyone when I get back. Take care.

You know when you have one of those dreams and you wake up realising the "good times" are over, and it happens to really be Monday morning? That's where I describe myself to be right now. The RA is biting back after no doubt over-doing it last week. Ahh the price we pay!

My sacro-iliac joints are flaring and I just wish my pelvis would snap in two and just get it over and done with - grrrrrr. The hands and wrists don't want to work and that awful feeling of unwellness/fatigue/nausea descended on me like a cloud. Ughh - not necessarily the best of signs! The morning stiffness is pushing the limits also. I'm squeezing every last drop out of the Humira that I can right now - it's helped but I'm like gambling addict. I WANT MORE !!!!!!! If any one knows of a way to triple the effectiveness of Humira, I'd be sure glad to hear from you, lol.

I can't open jars or bottles again. Why do they do them up so hard - darn it! My only light-hearted note for the day was the chance to sew some more vegetable seedlings and watching a mum/dad crow show her/his three new young crow-lets just how to have a bath in the birdbath. There was no water left in it of course, by the time they had finished.

Life goes on......

I am still getting the sand and Bougainvillia leaves out of the car, but we've just got back from a few days recouperation at Kalbarri, a couple of hours north of us. We had a brilliant time!

This year has been somewhat arduous (huh that's an understatement for sure) and we were long overdue for just a few days "getting away from it all". So we packed the car along with the dogs and hit the road.

Kalbarri is one of the most scenic places on earth, but what really drew me especially there, is the fact that there are a record number of whales (mainly Humpback's) migrating along the coast right now. I was blown away. From various cliff-top locations you had a prime view of these HUGE, majestic creatures and their young feeding, cruising and frolicking in the water. I loved it when they did mega-leaps into the air and then crashed down on the water surface, doing our version of a "bombie" and sending waves of water into the air. If anybody ever gets the chance to see this wonder of nature, I heartedly recomment it!!!!! You have to admire them. I am still on cloud-9 after seeing such wonderful sights.

We did a long drive and short trek (thank goodness) into Kalbarri National Park Gorges. Another breathe-taking place. The wildflowers are still out and they painted the landscape with beautiful colours. The gorges are like the Grand Canyon, a river millions of years old cutting its way through the land.

We fished, but ate meat (say no more!) and sat around playing cards of an evening. The weather was perfect, I dosed myself up with Tramadol the whole trip, but hey - I was not about to let a little RA get in the way of this trip. I can feel my neck and hands flaring now but I'll live with that and spend the next few weeks looking back to those snapshots of the whales playing in the ocean.

It was so therapeutic!