Doing what you LOVE to do - before, during & after BC! What's YOUR favourite?
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@kmakm all help greatfully received fabric wise. And I HATE pink!
@Sister I am so glad that you travelled through the Kimberley pre children. It has not changed much. Just as lovely. And yes there are always boabs near water.
@Harvey1903 we are somewhat "close" to Katherine. Just a tad down the road (1400 kms). But hey, distance is relative.
You simply must play a round of golf on our course. Just to make the course interesting there's a great big boab tree on each tee - usually just where you are. My husband was involved in creating the depressions in the greens back in 1993. He used a D4 Dozer! You also have to dodge the Agile Wallabies! So cute.
@Artferret before retirement days my husband and I owned the best little newsagency in town - or so our customers told us - they were being kind. Inspirations magazine was my must read. That is, I read it and then put it back on the shelf, as all good newsagents do! Need to know the product! And you are right who cares about the cost. Life's short and mine is a little shorter now.
Now all - I had better come clean on exactly where I live. My home town is Derby Western Australia in the Kimberley region.
We are 221 kms northeast by road from Broome. Derbyites call Broome our seaside suburb. There's a "little" animosity between Broome and Derby.
We are a warts and all town. We are not pretty. Except for our main street. The centre islands of Loch Street are planted with boab trees. Many times I see tourists standing in the centre islands taking wide angled photographs of the avenue of boabs.
We are just us. A mixed town - 50/50 aboriginal and white but we all try to get along. Like other country towns we have our share of social problems.
Geographically we are at the bottom of the King Sound surrounded by mud flats. Hot and very humid. The wet season storms are electrifying and stunning. Great for photographers who live lightening shots.
We have the highest tropical tidal range in the southern hemisphere. High tide is 13 metres with low tide at 0 metres. It is awe inspiring to stand on our jetty which juts out into the sound 250 metres and watch the tide racing in and out.
Isolation is what you make of it. At times it can be overwhelming. However the sense of community, the care and concern and the help is always there.
Will we ever leave? With good fortune smiling on us we hope not. To leave would break our hearts.
When I am welcoming newcomers I tell them that Derby is a town that you absolutely love or absolutely hate. There's nothing in between.5 -
Such a great topic, because my Mantra had been to not let cancer rob me of anything ever. I have from time to time seen angry ranting posts and read about people crying all day and being in the depths of despair. Stress is the last thing we need. I feel for these people who are having a hard time and ultimately it won't make for an easy recovery. So on a lighter note it's wonderful to see what others love doing. I'm sure this makes for an easier recovery. Yes we suffer crappy side effects but it's nothing we weren't told about and we just have to adjust to it. Doing what we love takes us out of ourselves. I have single handedly run a busy boutique hairdressing salon for 33 years and been hairdressing for 53 years. I organised a friend to look after my salon one day a week until I could take up the reins after all of my treatment. 2 weeks after surgery I returned on a Friday and helped out until chemo. I had chemo on a Friday and went the following 2 Fridays for 4 cycles of chemo. I also fitted in a few days I did on my own. It did my heart and soul good. A few weeks before radiotherapy started I took back the reins. Luckily I had no fatigue. It was exhausting at first but now it's like nothing happened. Doing hair and sending clients out looking and feeling much better than when they came in is so rewarding. I sing with a barbershop Chorus on the Central Coast for the last 17 years. I took a leave of absence as I live in the Macarthur area. The proximity of singing with a compromised immune system and the distance to travel etc was out of the question. The Chorus girls kept in constant touch as we are all like sisters. I returned to singing this week in excellent health. I also sing a bit in my husbands band and I only missed a few gigs during chemo and a couple of times I didn't sing but did attend the gig.. The boys in the band were asked not to talk about the cancer as we went to gigs to have a good time and I felt better when not talking about it About 6 weeks after chemo my voice went all stringy and broken. Devastating as some songs I can't '. sing at the moment However I feel it is starting to get a bit better. Life is good. Keep doing what you love.
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The question was posed of what we did before, during and after. Well for some members here, you will know that back in the not so distant past, my passion was altitude. Plenty of altitude. Spent my weekends on the dropzone packing and cooking on Saturdays and jumping on Sundays. Skyvans, Twin Otters, Nomads, Cessnas, Bell Jet Ranger Helicopters, Hot Air Balloons, anything than could get me up and I was in it...then out of it. That part of my life is over and now I knit. Somewhat of a difference, one might say. Sometimes I also rage at what my physical life is now...sometimes I too feel like Eleanor Rigby...wearing the face that I keep in a jar by the door. Put on the happy face, put on the peaceful face, put on whichever face is needed for that day...perhaps the compliant, brave. cancer lady one today dear? And sometimes I just let it all out and I do it here. Here because it's a safe place to do it. I don't freak my family out and cause them further despair, I vent here where by brothers and sisters in arms get it. They get that sometimes that pressure cooker valve just has to let of steam, or else it is going to explode off that lid and fly through the ceiling and the contents of that pot are going to follow in a steaming, gushing blast, scalding all who are in that kitchen. So if sometimes I put down my Nanna needles and let my tongue loose for a bit of a trot, please allow that to happen freely.
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I am one of those people who has spent some days crying all day in the depths of despair. Mid-life, the last few years have been derailed by cancer diagnoses, cancer deaths, and tremendous disruption to my way of life as a result. My life has not panned out the way I thought it would. My cancer diagnosis did not interrupt a settled life filled with activities I enjoyed, a fulfilling career or successful business. So it's not been possible for me to defy cancer and be determined to not let it rob me. It has comprehensively changed my life and much of the time I have a stressful home as a result. It does impact on my recovery I'm sure, but there's nothing I can do about it. It is what it is and I just have to get on with it as best as I know how. I have big responsibilities as a result of cancer, and then the responsibility to myself to live as strong and as useful life as I can after my own diagnosis. And yes, there has been white hot rage and the black dog has arrived to lurk at my side. I have been taught that ignoring these emotions is not healthy. You have to go through it to come out the other side. Emotionally as well as physically, if you are lucky to have a good prognosis. I am doing my best.
And that is all any of us can do, our best. For some of us it will be doing our darndest to proceed with our lives as normally as possible. For others it will be accepting that the vicissitudes of treatment will throw us off track, and to attempt persevere, tears, anger and all. For some it's to keep doing what they've always done, for others it means giving up what they've loved and finding something new, and for me it's going to be finding new things to love as a way to find a way back to myself.
The pressure to be the 'good patient' is at times very intense. There is no right or wrong way to 'do cancer'. If tears and anger are part of your reaction, your treatment and recovery then you should be allowed to express that without shame or restriction. Like @AllyJay, here is where I let it all out. I'll never be able to convey how much it's helped.5 -
WOW! @Annie C What an amazing place you live in!! It will DEFINITELY be on my list when we do The Big Lap!! hahaha looks like my tide watch won't be any good up there for the tides!! My brother lived in Nhulunbuy/Gove for many years & had the same problem. He is also a yachtie & has sailed the Kimberley a few times. I'll have to give your golf course a shot too! LOL haha If I owned a new agency, I'd be reading ALL the fishing mags, all the Gold Fossicking mags .... half the books ...... there wouldn't be enough time to work!
Great pic, @Blondy Great to know there's another singer or two out there!! Yep, when I am playing uke & fishing (and most of the time) all my cares fall away. Losing your voice (or some of your range) would be devastating - just take it easy & don't strain it - it should come back. xx
We are having a fundraiser for a buddy just diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia & I am donating a set of 10 ukulele lessons & the use of a uke for the period of the lessons (worth $300-500) and hope someone puts in a bid for it!!
@AllyJay OMG! You'd NEVER get me up in ANY aircraft with the intention to jump out of it - tho my niece did!! She did hundreds of jumps out near Camden. hmmm, tho I 'could' almost see me in a hot air balloon .....
You are totally right about the Eleanor Rigby face .... you put on whichever one suits the occasion or how you are feeling at the time. Usually it is my 'happy face' .....so feel free to RANT AWAY here, where we all totally understand what is going on! xx 2 -
AllyJay. My stomach flips at the thought of heights. At least you can look back and know you did those things rather than wishing you had. Love the face thing. Sometimes putting on the happy face lifts us up. The meltdowns never stop but best to let it out and move on rather than bottle it up. Gave my hubby a voucher for one of those indoor skydive. Crikey it cost 129 which I didn't mind, however I felt pretty ripped off when all he got for it was two 50 second goes. We spent 3 hours travelling there and back home for it.1
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Yes kmakm. It is bloody hard work staying afloat. It shows how strong we are and we can pat ourselves on the back for each step up. Being positive when it's so hard to do so is my lifeline. I have to find a way out.. I really feel when people are down1
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Have been to Derby - we left there to go to the horizontal waterfalls. Tides are amazing and a lovely place. We sat through a mud football game which was terrific. Basically a footy oval filled with water, at the end there was a comp to see which four wheel drive could make it through the mud. Have been there a few times along the Gibb River Road. Lovely spot.3
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Always feel free to vent your rage here, ladies (and gents) - I certainly do.2
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My little piece of heaven is a month every year at Port Elliot in the van. I have travelled the world extensively but can honestly say there is no where else I’d rather be. I am a book addict - my husband used to say it was cheaper than wallpaper but now mutters a lot about floorboard strength.I like being out and about in my community be it volunteering at my local op shop , having a cuppa with my neighbors or shopping with a friend. Since bc I have discovered a twice weekly Stretch/Balance class I enjoy and have taken up walking which I also like. I guess I like being around people and being active. I wish I was creative be it gardening or artwork but I do looking at others efforts.Finally , I love my iPad which is my connection to the world and read newspapers world wide each morning - my tv viewing is much less because of it.3
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@kmakm We feel your pain
You have been handed a 'job lot', that is for sure! And it is not one that any of us would voluntarily choose - but you hold your head up high & continue to help all of us here with 'our' problems ..... you are AMAZING! With your 'add on' family & the circumstances leading up to that, as well as your own cancer experience - you have surely been dealt a rather grotty hand of cards. I just hope that slowly but surely, the mountains you are climbing become 'gentle hills' and that you spot something now & then that you think 'I could give that a go' and can go forward with it? Hopefully there is some 'YOU time' rather than 'US time' down the line too - I really hope you find something that can 'take you away' from your treatment into another world, even for a few hours now and then. xxxx
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@Romla You'll have to tell me where Port Elliot is ...when we eventually 'do the lap' - I'll add it to the list!! I LOVE reading!! Every night I read for at least 1/2hr no matter WHAT time I turn in. Do you have a kindle or prefer 'real books'? I like real books. I'm enjoying a few Di Morrisey ones just now. Gosh, I'd be lethal working in an 'op shop' ..... I love ferreting thru them as it is!! LOL Yep, my computer takes me all around the world from the comfort of my living room. I can keep in touch with buddies in UK, USA, NZ and Zimbabwe - at the press of a button!! SO GOOD!
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@arpie Pt Elliotis a little SA secret near Victor Harbor about 80km south of Adelaide. Development is very controlled so high rise nightmares won’t happen with miles of beaches to walk/ swim / cycle for all to enjoy.I’m a real book girl and have thousands - I like biographies of interesting people and vintage crime like Margery Allingham as the puzzle is great but violence minimal.However that said been downloading heaps of audiobooks from the State libraries because of my surgery and use ebooks for travel.Op shopping is great fun way of meeting people from all walks of life and am constantly amazed at what people donate from vintage tails and top hats to a battered old ww2 German binoculars that raised at auction $380 for the local country fire service.PS wWe have had ukeles too! This has been a great post @arpie !3
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I love Port Elliot, too @Romla, as do my kids. We've stayed down there but mostly it's just been day trips. Berlinners at the main street bakery are always a favourite indulgence (have to get there before the queue goes down the street, though). In fact, I'm hoping that we're heading there today to look for whales - my little treat for this long weekend. We often finish the day with fish and chips (from the Victor Harbor fish and chip shop) eaten on the foreshore at Victor.
Our other alternative for this weekend was to head to the shack down near the bottom of Yorke Peninisula. A REAL shack in a backwater fishing town, built right on the dunes. Now that the kids are older, there's nothing to do but read books, walk on the beach, eat, play games, get out the bows and arrows, and kayak. Just wasn't sure that I could face the drive and being sociable to the extended family down there on a long weekend. It's funny - I used to almost dread it when the kids were tiny because it was so much work and trying to fit into a small space with so many people of different ages and ideas and everyone having different needs. Now it's so easy for me most of the time - just not at the moment.2
