Hello everyone as you may have noticed I didn’t do a post yesterday, it was one of those days when things seemed to get away from me, after taking Leo to school I called in to pick up a form mum wanted me to hand into the RTA now called Service NSW, it went from being called the RTA to being the RMS and now is Service NSW and some of you are thinking ok Jo-Anne but what is this place, well it is the place well RTA stood for Roads Transport Authority so it is where you go for your licence and many other things. The form mum wanted me to hand in was her yearly medical form that has to be filled in because she is diabetic. When I handed the form in I was told mum’s licence had been suspended because she was late handing in the form but it is all sorted out now and the licence is no longer suspended. The woman at the RTA said it was all good as mum hadn’t been driving anyway, which she hasn’t but how did the woman at the RTA know that………….

Anyway when I got to mum’s my sister Sandra was outside she said she was thinking about calling the ambos again as mum wasn’t good but the nurse was due there by 9am and she thought we would see what the nurse thought but she was pretty sure a trip to hospital would be in order.

Well I go in and mum says “hi Jo” I asked if she knew why I was there, she said yes and then said her urine was on the cupboard and I had to take it to the office at Dawson’s school both me and Sandra started to laugh and I said I didn’t think the school wanted her pee. She then said she knew that and I was there for…………….I had to remind her why I was there.

So the nurse turns up and took her temp and blood pressure and asked some questions and tested her urine and said mum had a UTI and than she rang the doctor and it was decided that she needed to go to hospital. When told that mum said NO she wasn’t going she could be treated at home and the nurse touched mums arm and in a gentle voice that it wasn’t an option she had to go to hospital.

Sandra went with her to the hospital with mum and stayed there all day with her, mum isn’t happy but she knows she needs to be where she can get better faster at hospital she is getting very strong antibiotics via a drip can’t do that at home.

So once again Sandra has stepped up and been the one to care for mum and my brother Dave is doing a fair bit too, me and Jeannie and Sue not so much but Jeannie works and Sue is busy with her family and me well I am just useless. Well that is how I feel.

After I take Leo to school today I am going to go over and see mum last time she was in hospital I didn’t visit her as I didn’t have a car and it was school holidays and I had young children each day but I will go today.

Ok today I am going to tell you a little more about different Aboriginal sites and shelters, starting with Middens.

Middens are shell mounds built up over hundreds of years as a result of countless meals of shellfish. They are found along ocean coasts, estuaries, rivers and inland lakes, and primarily contain mature specimens of edible shellfish species. They may also contain pieces of clay, bird, fish and animal teeth and bones, camp-fire charcoal, stone flakes and the remains of tools. Less commonly found in middens are remains from human burials.

Middens differ immensely in shape and size, from a few shells scattered on the surface, to deposits that are metres thick and buried beneath vegetation. Middens are the most common and most visible Aboriginal site along the Australian coast.

Natural shell deposits can be differentiated from middens because they consist of mature and immature, edible and inedible shellfish and would contain no large amounts of charcoal or stone tools. Wave action would also have sifted the shells into layers, with the larger ones at the top and the smaller ones at the bottom.

There are shelters with art, these are clearly defined by either stencil art or charcoal. Stencils are produced by mixing ochre in the mouth into a wet paste, then spraying it over the object to be stencilled onto the wall of the shelter. This method was used throughout Australia, and if the shelter is protected from the elements, then the artwork will still be visible. Other forms of artwork include ochre paintings, as well as charcoal drawings and etchings, although stencil art was the most common method.

A single artefact depicts an isolated find. These can be verified by identifying the stone and sourcing its origin, or verifying the manufacturing scars on the artefact. The isolated find can be a flaked stone, core or any finished implement. Raw materials most commonly used are chert, silcrete, and mudstones, while larger axe heads are usually made from river rocks or iron stone materials. Although isolated finds are generally artefacts found on their own, they often imply other artefacts will be present in associated deposit nearby

Well I am home again, and last night I slept pretty good, in my own bed with the air conditioner going all night and the ceiling fan on as well. Although as I was going to bed last night I realised that I had left my Cpap machine in the caravan and Tim had to drive to my parents place to get it for me.

So onto my last holiday post.

Well here I am at the end of day three in Port Macquarie, our last day here and the temps have been around 38°c all day and I am sitting in my shorts and bra most of the afternoon due to how hot it has been.

Usually a 2lt bottle of soft drink will last me a whole day but by lunch time I had drank it all and this afternoon I said to Tim, do you remember where Aldi was he said there is no Aldi here and I would have to go to Coles. He said he would go with me so I would not get lost because I have no sense of direction and alone I would end up lost.

So we get in the car and just down the road from the park was Aldi, he said there’s Aldi and I said well I would have found my way there and back without any problem.

We bought some bottle water and a slab of Coke Zero and returned to the park we bought some other stuff as well because who goes to a shop a only buys what they go for and nothing else.

We went to the Pancake Place for breakfast and after breakfast we went for a drive and came across some markets and stopped and went for a wonder around the stalls and I found a bride doll that I bought for Summer for her birthday in a couple of weeks. I was lucky I had my walking stick with me as I wouldn’t have managed to walk very far if I had not had it. I was in a lot of pain as it was by the time I got back to the car with my back and feet.

I am so over this heat, mum was telling me at her house today it was 42°c outside and 31°c in the loungeroom with the air con going, dad wasn’t able to walk down the hallway from the loungeroom to the toilet without being out of breathe and suffering a lot from the heat.

Mum was unwell for while she couldn’t eat lunch and was feeling sick and shivering she was that cold and wanted dad to take her temperature for her but he wouldn’t don’t know why he just wouldn’t anyway she went to her bedroom and Dawson heard her crying and went to see what was wrong and after seeing her said do you want me to ring Aunty Sandy, mum said yes and so he did.

Sandy went straight up and rang Dave as well and as it turned out Dave was in the area and he went to mums as well. Sandy took her temperature and it was 39.8°c so not good should be between 36-36.5°c, Sandy but mum to bed turned the air con on in her room even though mum was cold Sandy said they needed to bring her fever down. After sleeping for a couple of hours mum was feeling better not great but better.

Well here I am at the end of day two of our holiday in Port Macquarie and can say it has been another stinking hot day, I am sitting here in front of a fan that is blowing warm air around and suffering due to the heat. I told Tim and the girls that I am not going to go away in the van again during the hot summer months until we get air conditioning in the van as I cannot handle this heat. Tim is going to look into getting air conditioning fitted in the next few months.

I have another stinking headache which is due to the heat, last night I suffered so much that I ended up sleeping in my knickers and bra and will be doing it again tonight as it is just so hot, Kathy told me to wet my hair before going to bed which I tried last night by my hair dried in no time.

This morning Tim’s old school friend Mark came for a visit he was here about an hour, he lives 30-40ks away, he is Tim’s oldest friend and Tim likes catching up with him in person they keep in tough via email most of the time.

We then went into town and bought a few things including a new Sim card for the WiFi device and after a lot of hassle managed to get it activated but when I tried to recharge it, I kept getting a message that the credit card details were wrong so I tired a different card and it timed out so I just gave up.

I had to pay the $6 to connect to the parks WiFi in order to activate the new Sim card so I told Tim tomorrow I will just pay the $6 again and get online and update things since Sunday we will be home again and I will have the house internet.

At least the fridge is working a bit better, not great in my opinion but better. The TV reception comes and goes but I am not bothered by that, this morning I wrote letters to my pen pals and still have one left to do which I will do tomorrow while Tim goes fishing.

At the moment Tim is sitting outside with his eyes closed so might be having a nap. The temp is still 33°c here down a bit was 41°c earlier today. It is 5.30pm by the way.

Hello everyone I am writing this from Port Macquarie where Tim and I am for three nights we will go home on Sunday. Have to tell you it is stinking bloody hot here and we still do not have air conditioning in the van we have a fan that is blowing hot air around.

I have already had a mishap I burnt my thumb and index finger on my left hand, how you wonder well Tim had his soldering iron plugged in and I didn’t know he had plugged it in and thus when I went to open the toaster oven to get my pizza out I touched the hot part and burnt my fingers. I quickly placed my fingers under running water and the people in the van behind us gave Tim some burn cream for me to use. It did help and after about half an hour my fingers stopped hurting.

I brought my Wi Fi device and you know what it isn’t working after trying and failing Jessica got onto Telstra who told her that because it hasn’t been used in about a year or more it may have been deactivated and to go get a new sim card for it and see if that works so I will do that tomorrow.

The caravan park has Wi Fi that you have to pay for it is $6 for and hour or 200mb whichever comes first, so if I can’t get the device to work tomorrow I will pay the $6 so I can connect with everyone.

This caravan park is a nice one it is the Aquatic park on Hastings River Drive just up from the place we stayed last time we were here but I like the look of this park better the showers are larger and look cleaner.

I have had a headache since around 10am which is why I slept for an hour an a half on the way here, when I mentioned to Tim that I am feeling drained and tired he said but you slept on the way here and I had to explain that I had a headache and still have a headache. I think being so hot is part of the reason I have a headache.

At least this afternoon we have had a tv reception we are using a small $2 aerial which works better then the dearer aerial we first bought.

Do you like swimming?

If your school had a swimming carnival would you go?

I ask because yesterday it was Leo’s swimming carnival and it was a stinking hot day so you would expect that Leo would like to go to his swimming carnival but no, he out right refused to go. Now when I took Leo to school, I realised to that I forgot to take his swimming gear so I rang Jessica and told her to get stuff and take it to him at the school. However, she said she didn’t have the clothes he needed and wanted me to take the clothes to him so I got pissed and threw stuff in a bag and went and got Jessica and we both went to the school but because there was no buses there Jessica said that the buses must have already left. So instead we went to the pool but he wasn’t there they hadn’t arrived so Jessica rang the school and the buses were just getting ready to leave.

When the buses arrived we couldn’t find Leo so she went and found his teacher who said that Leo wasn’t there he refused to go so we spent 45 minutes waiting at the pool for nothing.

Leo’s school also has swimming lessons for sport this term and when asked if he would like to do swimming for sport he said NO he doesn’t want to he doesn’t like swimming, so that was $80 that Jessica saved.

Oh yeah we had paid the $8 for the swimming carnival and are hoping to either get that money back or have it transferred over to something else.

When my girls were at school they also didn’t like going to the swimming carnival or the sport carnival just like their mum I also didn’t go to and of the carnivals during my school years.

Ok today I am going to tell you a little about Aboriginal art, I am sure most people have heard of Aboriginal rock paintings and engravings so here is just a little about them.

Aboriginal paintings are found on the ceilings and walls of rock shelters, which occur wherever suitable rock surfaces and outcrops exist. Figures include humans, kangaroos, emus, echidnas, grid patterns, animal tracks, boomerangs, axes, hand stencils and other motifs. Paintings are drawn with white, red, yellow and black pigments and charcoal drawings are also common

Around Sydney, there are probably more than 2000 engraving sites, only half of which have been accurately recorded. Rock engravings are usually located on highly elevated, smooth, flat surfaces, but in some instances can be found on large vertical rocks. They were made by drilling a series of holes in turn which were then connected to form a line. In the local area, designs include fish, animals, humans, wooden artefacts, and mythological beings.

The precise meanings behind the engravings are not known. Interpretations of what the engravings meant to their makers are sketchy, but the most accepted understanding is that they are products of sacred ceremonies, which were periodically re-engraved as part of ongoing rituals. Because there are no initiated descendants of the people who made the engravings, no one is able to re-engrave them in a culturally appropriate way. They are therefore eroding away from natural causes, human foot traffic, and the ever-increasing use of remnant bushland.

Engravings occur usually where there is a suitable exposure of fairly flat, soft rock or in rock overhangs. People, animal shapes and tracks are common as well as non-figurative designs such as circles.

There are also scarred trees they are evidence of bark and wood being removed for shields, shelters, coolamons (whatever coolamons are) and canoes. These are rare in the Sydney area. The trees can be divided into three groups:

• Bark removal for use eg. Coolamons

• Wood removal for use eg. boomerangs

• Evidence of climbing footholds eg. hunting possum

The tree was not killed by these methods and therefore scarring is evident.

Then there are Carved trees, these trees have complex patterns cut into the tree, where a piece of bark is removed and the underlying wood is carved. When a carved tree is found next to a grave, it is usually a sign of family ties or the totem of the deceased person.

The designs are often intricate spirals, diamonds and circles, and were carved using a stone hatchet or, more recently, a steel axe. Carved trees are important because of the ceremonial meaning to Aboriginal people.

They are probably the most naturally threatened site because of bush fires, environmental deterioration, and tree regrowth. They are also at risk from clearing. There are no carved trees surviving in the Sydney area.

It is Saturday night and I am writing this on my tablet while I wait for Tim to get out of the shower so we can watch something on telly.

What a day after taking Leo home Tim and I went and bought new summer sheets for the bed in the van. We then went and changed the sheets before heading over to Kathy’s place to pick up whipper snipper but Kathy hadn’t used it so after a short visit we left. We stopped at Bunning’s and Tim got mouse traps and then we went to the Eastern Tiger for lunch.

Now it is raining and we had a bit of a storm.

I was able to have a nap which was good, don’t have time for a nap Monday to Friday.

It is now Sunday and I am back to finish this up, Tim has gone to work for so I am home alone for a while, Natasha rang and asked me if  I would watch Blain for an hour or so,  I said I would but only for an hour or so as I don’t want to have a child here all day.

It is another hot day here, yesterday was hot as well and of course yesterday I had long pants on as before we left I went in and changed out of my shorts, not sure why I changed out of my shorts I would normal just wear the shorts as it turned out it was a good thing I did change as Tim wanted to stop and have lunch and I wouldn’t want to do that if I had been wearing shorts.

This morning I spent 50 minutes exercising using my Wii Fit so I am happy that I doing a longer workout, yesterday it was 45 minutes I have made sure to tell Tim how long I am working out so he can stop thinking I am doing nothing at all.

On Sunrise this morning there was a lot of talk about the Melbourne police trying to move on some homeless people if you just saw the story you would think, talk about heavy handed and no compassion for the homeless because some of the news reports only showed the pictures and didn’t explain that first most of the protesters are not homeless but are people who turn up to protest anything and everything. Also not mentioned on some reports is that all the homeless have been offered accommodation and those being forced to move on refused the accommodation and then we also need to remember the police officers assaulted during the operation.

I get annoyed when some reporters only report part of the facts and make things out to be worse then they are, I don’t watch much in the way of news reports as you can see the same story on three different channels and get three different set of facts and you have to figure out what is the truth.

Seems there is a new skin patch that tells you if you are getting sunburnt it is still in the early stages and not widely available but it sounds like a great idea, if it helps prevent sunburn.

There is a new drug available for those like myself that have type 2 diabetes as it lowers sugar levels and helps if you have heart problems, sounds like it is a good thing, but I forgot to jot down the name of the drug.

Another non news story was about Beyonce is having twins, so interesting for some but not for me, I really don’t care.

Yesterday there was the story of the man who threw his 7 month old baby out of a window because of a fire, this happened in Blacktown the baby girl was thrown from the window her parents were woken by thick smoke filling their second-floor unit and made a desperate decision to throw baby Nevaeh Rose out the window to waiting neighbours who caught the baby with a blanket. Nevaeh is Heaven spelt backwards.

One of her rescuers, Tony Finn, has insisted he is not a hero and said “it’s just something anyone would do in that time of crisis”.

“We used the blanket to catch her when they chucked her down for us,” he said.

“[We] caught her like a football – pretty much just arms out and pulled her back in.”