Do you read your emails?

At times I wonder about Tim and if he ever reads his emails, last night he noticed a charge on his visa card and got into a tiss over it, he didn’t know what it was and didn’t authorised it and rang the Newcastle Permanent Building Society to complain, they cancelled the card and will issue a new card and all that is going to cause problems with money transfers and such.

Now here is the thing, this morning when I got up I remembered him saying something about it last night but I was in bed asleep or more asleep then awake and didn’t really register with me what he was going on about. This morning it did so I went and checked his emails and yeah there was an email from the company that took the money it was for our contents insurance. So I told him that this morning and he said they shouldn’t just take the money they should have contacted me, I said they did contact you they emailed you to tell you that they would be taking the premium on such and such a date, he has been going on how it was wrong and they should have rang him, I said businesses doing ring you about such things they email and if you don’t want them to take a premium you have to ring them and talk to them. He is going on about wanting his money back but the more I have talked to him the more I think it is slowly sinking in, well I hope it is.

All this would have been avoided if he only read his emails.

In other news my mum is in hospital yesterday she wasn’t feeling well and was in bed till around midday as she wasn’t feeling good, she had fallen out of bed at 2am and was in pain but when my sister went to check on her she was confused and not with it so she rang the ambos who took her to hospital.

My sister Sandra and brother Dave stayed with her at the hospital for a long time, she had ct scans done as they thought she may have had a mini stroke, thankfully she didn’t the ct scan of the brain showed no bleed or anything nasty. While at the hospital she was unable to have anything to drink and what they ended up saying was that they thought she was a bit dry as in dehydrated and gave her a drip and after a while she started to improve.

They also gave her a ct scan of her hip as they thought she had possibly broken her hip but that was clear but did show a lot of arthritis in her hip the orthopaedic surgeon was shocked at how much arthritis there was.

We don’t know how long she will be in hospital for we are taking it one day at a time, I spoke to her this morning and she sounded ok but she was in a lot of pain. Mum said yesterday when Dave and Sandy woke her she was wondering why it was midday she kept thinking I went to bed at night why is it midday. Also when the doctors and hospital staff asked her what year it was she couldn’t remember and couldn’t count back from 20, she would get to 11 and go forward again but as I said when I spoke to her earlier she was sounding more with it.

This morning Tim and Michael have gone to install Jessica’s new air conditioning unit it is a large window unit and I told Tim I wanted it installed today as tomorrow it is suppose to be in the 40’s and it is not doing any good sitting in her boot.

Good morning all, as you may have noticed I wasn’t around much yesterday I read a few blogs in the morning but since I had a sleep in and didn’t get up till 6.30am I didn’t have time to do much before it was time for us to leave. Leave you say, well yesterday was Little Leo’s birthday he turned 9, yes my Little Leo is now 9 and to celebrate we as in me & papa along with Jessica & Leo went to Hunter Valley Gardens here is the link: http://www.huntervalleygardens.com.au/

We arrived around 9.20am and left at 1.20pm so was a nice day out, more photos will be added here on Wednesday but of course here are some taken yesterday.

We had a small family party for him here yesterday afternoon with BBQ chicken and hot chips for tea followed by ice cream cake. The only one who wasn’t here was Blain as he was with his father at his father’s mothers place and didn’t get dropped off in time.

You will notice in the photos I was using a walking stick and have to say it made a big difference, I managed to get around pretty ok but after lunch which was a bacon & egg roll with a side of chips I started to feel a bit unwell it was really hot by then temp around 37°c. Jessica, Leo and I went for a ride on the little train that took us around the gardens that was nice and Leo saw some things he wanted to show papa so after the ride Tim and Leo went off to see other stuff Jessica and I sat in the shade and waited for them.

All in all it was a good day and Leo said he had an awesome time and it showed.

Good afternoon world, how is everyone, I am ok it has been a somewhat warm to hot day I have not been able to think of what to bore you all with today and since I have not been able to come up with anything I am just going to do a check list of things I have done today.

Get out of bed at 5.30am checked

Blogs read               checked

Leo returned to his mum  checked

Massage had               checked

Laundry done & on the line checked

Dishwasher run & unpacked   checked

Floors vacuumed              checked

Bread bought                  checked

Garbage bins emptied          checked

Recycled bins emptied         checked

Birthday presents wrapped     checked

Washing off the line          checked 

Medications sorted for the week          checked

Pick Blain up                still to do

So as you can see my day has been so so, and I will be glad when the day is over and I can go to bed, I might add that last night at 3am I woke up to go to the toilet and found Leo in bed with us, not sure what time he got into my bed he hasn’t done that in a long time.

I asked him about it this morning he said he had a bad dream something about the neighbours fighting and gunshots being fired, so he came into my bed for a hug and that is why he was in bed with me and papa.

Good morning all here I am this somewhat wet morning thinking about what to write about and after some thought decided I would tell you a little bit about the history of this country and the Aboriginal people who have lived here since way back when.

Europeans arrived in and yes I know some would say invaded this country way back in 1788, back then the locals known as Aboriginals lived here for some say thousands of years, wandering around this great country and living off the land.

“… they were so ignorant they thought there was only one race on the earth and that was the white race. So when Captain Cook first came, when Lieutenant James Cook first set foot on Wangal land over at Kundul which is now called Kurnell, he said oh lets put a flag up somewhere, because these people are illiterate, they’ve got no fences. They didn’t understand that we didn’t need fences … that we stayed here for six to eight weeks, then moved somewhere else where there was plenty of tucker and bush medicine and we kept moving and then come back in twelve months’ time when the food was all refreshed …” the late Aunty Beryl Timbery Beller

I will not pretend to understand how the Aboriginal people feel about other Australians because I don’t know, what I do know is that the way they were treated was disgusting we can’t undo what was done we can only do better in the future.

What I do know that it must have been scary having all these strangers arrive in their country, strangers who brought with them new unknown diseases that the locals had no idea how to treat. These diseases would have caused so much suffering and death for the locals.

It is estimated that over 750,000 Aboriginal people inhabited the island in 1788. It should be noted that the colonists were led to believe that the island was “terra nullius” (no ones land) which is what James Cook declared the country to be in 1771 during his voyage around the coast of the country.

We found the natives tolerably numerous as we advanced up the river, and even at the harbour’s mouth we had reason to conclude the country more populous than Mr Cook thought it. For on the Supply’s arrival in the [Botany] bay on the 18th of the month they assembled on the beach of the south shore to the number of not less than forty persons, shouting and making many uncouth signs and gestures. This appearance whetted curiosity to its utmost, but as prudence forbade a few people to venture wantonly among so great a number, and a party of only six men was observed on the north shore, the governor immediately proceeded to land on that side in order to take possession of this new territory and bring about an intercourse between its new and old masters.
Watkin Tench, January 1788

It is now believed that the Island continent was in fact owned by over 400 different nations at the time of Cook’s claim that the island was no ones land. In fact Captain Philip was astounded with Cook’s theory saying “Sailing up into Sydney cove we could see natives on the shore shaking spears and yelling” so how could Cook say the land was no ones.

For thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans, northern Sydney was occupied by different Aboriginal clans, living mostly on the foreshores of the harbour were they fished and hunted in the area and harvested food from the bush. They were self-sufficient and mostly harmonious, they traded with other tribes. They would move throughout their country in accordance with the seasons, they would spend around 5 hours per day working to ensure their survival.

Because they had such large amounts of what we call leisure time they developed a rich and complex life with customs and laws the heart of which was the connection to the land.

The arrival of Lt James Cook in 1771 was the beginning of the end for this ancient way of life, his voyage of exploration had sailed under instructions to take possession of the Southern Continent if it was uninhabited, or with the consent of the natives if it was not uninhabited, either way it was to be taken. So really whether those who inhabited the land gave their consent or not didn’t matter.

Upon his arrival Lt Cook declared the land which he called New South Wales to be the property of Britain’s King George 111, and ignored the inconvenient fact that the land was already well populated. Of course his failure to even attempt to gain the consent of the Aboriginal people began the legal fiction that the country was waste and unoccupied.

Of course Cook was soon followed by the arrival of the First Fleet in January 1788, under the command of Captain Arthur Philip who mission was to establish a penal colony and take control of Terra Australia for settlement. More about that in a later post.

Ok here we are at a new day, hope for me it is a bit better then yesterday for some strange reason at 10am yesterday my eyes started to sting like I had been awake too long and I found I was unable to concentrate on the letter I was trying to write. So I did the only thing I could think to do I went back to bed for a bit, after sleeping for an hour or so I got up and felt fine. I was fine for 3 hours when again my eyes started to sting so I went back to bed slept for an hour or so got up was fine but only till around 7.30pm when I went back to bed and slept all night. So far this morning I am doing ok, managed to do a load of washing and get it on the line, ok yesterday I managed to do two loads of Natasha’s washing and get it on the line so one load this morning is nothing. I have also gone to the shops this morning for bread and cold meat and a pizza for me for lunch or dinner.

This morning I saw on Sunrise (morning news show) that in New York there is this woman who is paid to cuddle people, what the hell is with that, that is weird she said it isn’t sexual, hate to tell you this lady but I bet it is for some of the people you cuddle.

Also they were going on still about Mariah Carey NYE performance, ok it wasn’t a shining moment but what the hell it wasn’t a first for her she has had other stuff ups during the last x amount of years, it was new yesterday, not today, move on people.

Ok Donald Trump is criticising everyone he can except the Russians over the hacking scandal business but come on this is Trump what else do people expect him to say and do, when he takes office will he be inviting back all those that were kicked out of the country because of it, we will see.

They also told us how Miss Lebanon Immigrant Australia was caught with ice in her car and not the ice that melts because that ice no one cares about and let’s be honest here it would melt and ruin the car, unless it was in an esky, just saying. Anyway she got caught with the other ice in her car, the stuff that doesn’t melt and good upstanding and honest people do not have in their car. Now I didn’t know there was such a title as Miss Immigrant Australia but seems there is anyway she was caught in Sydney in a drug bust she was also fined for not wearing a seat belt or displaying P plates, oh and she was stripped of her title just her title not her clothes although I am sure there were some who wouldn’t have minded seeing her stripped of her clothes but that would be oh so wrong, just saying. More wrong then the drugs in her car because cops can’t make you strip off your clothes.

A lot of people have drowned this summer mostly children and toddlers but also an old man he was in his 80’s and was once a judge who had his home bombed or something, really didn’t care that much so didn’t listen that much. Maybe if swimming lessons didn’t cost and arm and a leg more people would have their child taught to swim. When Sydney had swimming lessons it cost her mum around $200 for 10 lessons and it may not seem a lot but when you are expected to pay that amount up front it is a lot.

Have Kathy and the girls here while I am writing this, both the girls found back scratchers and used them as pointers which drove their mum nuts. She then gave both of them a peanut M & M and said don’t eat the chocolate and give it to nanna, and what did they do, they did just that.

Natasha dropped a lot of stuff she wanted us to advertise but she will be lucky to get between $10-15 for the lot so both me and Kathy thought we would just give her the money and re-gift the stuff now we both said to do that at the same time so that cracked us both up.

Speaking of Natasha yesterday I went to pay my Avon bill and found there was not enough money in the account someone had taken money out for fuel, not saying who but I bet you can guess.

Just had the girls ask for food, I said I had grapes red, black or green,or strawberries or cheese, Sydney-May took red grapes and Summer chose cheese.

Kathy has gone to get fuel in her car and then she is going over to my parents place to pick up boxes, Kathy and Michael are planning on moving to Queensland sometime in the next month or so, so she wants boxes to pack stuff in.

Ok I am going to post this now, I have already read something like 30 odd blog posts.

Here we are at a the start of a New Year, 2017.

I am hoping it is a great year with less upsets then the last year, I am getting better at letting my daughters live their own lives. Kathy-Lee is talking about moving to Queensland sometime in the next month or so, I am not happy about this but it is her life and she has to do what she thinks is right for herself and her family, I will miss her so much and yeah we can talk on the phone and Skype each other but still I will miss her.

Natasha has settled into her new house, she moved at the end of the year but she said she is going to try and get a swap because she doesn’t like the driveway she is one fussy and picky girl. I am expecting to have Blain a bit over the next couple of weeks as he is with his mum and she will need someone to watch him while she is at work, the only day I can’t watch him is Friday so that day he will need to go to Jessica’s or Kathy’s place instead.

New Year’s Eve saw me in bed at 8pm as I was unable to keep my eyes open and of course I was up at 5.30am yesterday as I was today. I haven’t stayed up to see the New Year in, in many years for me it is just another night. We did have Leo here but he was asleep by around 9ish although he got up a few times during the night and I found him asleep with his laptop on his bed playing something and I would close the lid and move it to the floor, only to find it on his bed again a couple of hours later. Easy to tell when he has been up he turns the hall light on and leaves it on, also he gets up and eats stuff, he ate a whole box of Drumstick type ice creams and 4 chocolate biscuits and also some strawberries and I am sure other stuff during the night.

I don’t do resolutions, I just try to be the best me I can be, I am a kind and caring woman and that should count for something. I do my best not to run people down, verbally or physically I don’t take my car and try to run people down, why well that’s just not the right thing to do, also running people down in the car is illegal, just saying. Although over the years there have been a number of people I would have liked to hit with my car.

Yesterday I kept thinking it was Monday not Sunday not sure why just did, today is a public holiday here it is the New Year’s Day holiday and it is raining been raining since I got up this morning and I was up at 5.30am again I was going to just lay in bed and listen to the rain but I had to go to the toilet and once I was out of bed I thought no point in going back to bed.

Ok here we are at part two, have you ever wondered why we start the new year off the way we do, I am not talking about the special traditions and such but why the start of a new year is important at all. Think about it New Year Celebrations are not just something held in some countries but held in most countries, the end of one year and the start of another is a big deal and has been pretty much for as long as we have had calendars telling us when one year ends and another starts.

I think it must have something to do with the fact that we have survived for another year, because way back when many people didn’t survive the year, especially children once a pond a time children didn’t necessary survive a year and many women died in childbirth. So we celebrate making it through another year and make resolutions to do things better in the new year may date back to when people believed that the gods controlled so many things and they needed to say and do things to make the various gods happy. Or maybe I am wrong but it makes as much sense as anything, and let’s be honest none of us are old enough to really know we make guesses about things in history based on writings we find and stories passed down through the generations.

Did you know that in some countries such as Canada, the Untied States, the Netherlands and parts of the United Kingdom oh and Australia it is quiet common for some people to organised cold-water plunges often called a Polar Bear Plunge or an Ice Plunge to raise money for charity of course in Australia it takes place in winter since the New Year is usually pretty damn hot if not bloody stinking hot. For thousands of years, New Year’s has been a festival of rebirth, reflection and survival allowing people all over the world to celebrate another year.

Want to know about the New Year’s Eve song, “Auld Lang Syne,” is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700’s, it was first published in 1796 after Burns’ death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scottish tune, “Auld Lang Syne” literally means “old long ago,” or simply, “the good old days.”

Of course for many of us nothing really changes when the calendar goes from one year to another the only thing that changes is the number of the year, that said it doesn’t stop most of us celebrating and wishing all a Happy New Year, so I am wishing all my blog friends a Happy and Safe New Year and hope 2017 is all they want it to be.

Well here we are at the end of 2016, it is New Year’s Eve here, anyone wondering what I will be doing to see in the New Year. I will be sleeping, my days of staying up to see in the New Year are long gone, now I just go to bed at my usual time and wake up to a New Year. Boring I know but what the hell I am pretty boring most of the time.

Now depending on what site you visit you will either be told that New Year’s Eve celebrations are a relative new thing or been around for yongs. As in for the last four millennia, others say it is has been around since 2000 BC which is four millennia isn’t it, I think it is.

Anyway the earliest recording of a new year celebrations is believed to have been in Mesopotamia around 2000BC and was celebrated around the time of the Vernal Equinox which is in mid March. There are a variety of other dates tied to the seasons which were also used by different ancient cultures, the Egyptians and Persians new year was with the fall equinox and the Greeks celebrated it with the winter solstice.

The early Roman calendar had March as the first month of the year and the calendar had just ten months. In order to realign the Roman calendar with the sun, Julius Caesar had to add 90 extra days to the year 46BC, when he introduced his new Julian calendar. The Julian calendar closely resembles the Gregorian calendar that most countries now use.

It was also Caesar that created 1^st January as the first day of the year, partly to honour the month’s namesake, Janus, the Roman God of beginnings whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward to the future.

The Romans would celebrate by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with each other and decorating their homes w ith laurel branches and attending wild parties.

In medieval Europe, Christian leaders replaced the 1^st January as the start of the new year with more religious days such as the 25^th December and the 25^th March which is the feast of the Annunciation but Pope Gregory X111 re-established the 1^st January as New Year’s Day in 1582.

Today of course most New Year celebrations begin on 31^st December which is the last day of the Gregorian calendar and continue through to the wee hours of the 1^st January (New Years Day). Celebrations include having parties, making resolutions which no one keep and watching fireworks and some people eat special food.

Speaking of enjoying special food and food thought to bestow good luck in the coming year I will now tell you a little about such foods because you really want to know, don’t you.

In Spain and some other Spanish-speaking counties people will down a dozen grapes, symbolising their hopes for the months ahead-right before midnight.

In other countries dishes containing legumes which are thought to resemble coins which will bring financial success are eaten such as lentils in Italy and black-eyed peas in the southern states of America. Then there are pigs, yes pigs in some cultures pigs represent progress and prosperity so pork is eaten in countries such as Cuba, Austria, Hungary and Portugal.

Ring-shaped cakes and pastries are a sign the year has come full circle these are found in the Netherlands, Mexico and Greece as well as other countries. Sweden and Norway enjoy rice pudding with an almond hidden inside and it is said that whoever finds the but can expect 12 months of good fortune.

Many countries and customs around the world include watching fireworks and singing “Auld Lang Syne” well in English-speaking countries we sing “Auld Lang Syne”.

Of course many make resolutions, things they want to change or do differently in the New Yea and some even follow through on those resolutions but most don’t. The practice of making resolutions for the new year is thought to date back to the Babylonians, who made promises in order to earn favour with the gods and start the year on the right foot.

Most of you will know that in the United States the most iconic New Year’s tradition is the dropping of a giant ball in New York City’s Times Square at the stroke of midnight. This even is watched by millions around the world and has taken place since 1907. Over time the ball itself has became bigger it was at first a 700 pound iron-and-wood ball it is now a 12,000 pound ball. Many other towns and cities across the States have developed their own versions of the Times Square ritual but not always dropping balls but things like pickles and possums at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Now I am sure many of you are thinking but what happens in Australia Jo-Anne, you’re and Aussie tell us about your countries New Year’s Eve celebrations. Ok so I will.

Here in Australia many people will camp out from early on the 30^th to get a good spot to see the fireworks in Sydney although this year I saw on the news that some of the spots were cornered off till this morning because of terrorist. We don’t want the crazy people with bombs getting the good camping spots.

Of course in Sydney the fireworks are a big thing and many people will choose to stay home and watch them on telly instead.

Also many towns have 9 or 9.30pm fireworks so the little ones get to see them before they fall asleep, many years ago the town I lived in did fireworks at 9 and midnight and I could watch them from my back yard but not any more the cheapskates decided it cost too much and stopped them, bastards.

While researching this I read that we have a week of celebrations from the 1^st to the 6^th, well I can tell you that is news to me, I know no one who has a week of celebrations, just saying.

We don’t eat special foods, we do drink a lot of grog and eat a lot of chips and dips or pizza many like pizza on New Year’s Eve but hot chips are common.

I am sorry this has turned into a long ass post, I get caught up with the history and such and it ends up being long as. I have decided to split it in two and will do a bit more tomorrow, not much more but a bit more.

Well been a while but here I am doing five things Friday the last one for the year, can you guess what this weeks theme is.

Turkey

Pork

Plum Pudding

Mince Pies

Champagne