Forum Discussion
Doing what you LOVE to do - before, during & after BC! What's YOUR favourite?
Hi guys
I am really lucky in that I have 2 BIG passions that consume a lot of my time ..... and (no surprise to some of you ....)
Ukulele Playing - this was a library gig we did last year .... (I am 4th from left, front row.) Our ages range from the 50s - 80s. Every 4-6 weeks we play 'gigs' at 4 Nursing Homes - and we practise weekly at another nursing home ... so I guess you can call us 'volunteers'?? Some of our members are older than the people we are playing for! LOL
and
Kayak Fishing - I love nothing more than hitting the lake with a bunch of buddies.
Yesterday, I was getting cabin fever from lack of fishing (wet & windy here for the last week), so I grabbed a warm jacket
& walked the edge of the Boat Ramp .... I was busted off on the first fish :( (a good sized Flattie from the power of it's head shakes!) then dropped the next few that spat the hook .... then finally landed another nice one, that came home for dinner!!
So WHAT IS IT that puts that 'gleam in YOUR eye' - is it Golf (I play it badly), Playing Bridge (never tried it - I think you have to be 'serious' to play Bridge), Singing (that goes hand in hand with Uke Playing), Community Groups/Volunteering, Tapestry, Running (I couldn't run round the block to save my life!), ..... that gets you out of bed quicker in the morning if you know you are going to 'do it' ........
How has your surgery/treatment impacted on you doing 'YOUR TIME" stuff? Have you had to stop doing it or can't do it as often due to your treatment? Do you find you find you are still expected to do EVERYTHING ELSE at the expense of 'Your Time'?
Prior to my surgery, my uke group were amongst my greatest allies - I had to tell them straight away as we were gearing up for a big performance at the Blue Mountains Uke Festival - and I didn't know if I would be there for them!! After my surgery, I was back playing again 2 weeks later - but was very mindful of where my uke sat - as it was right across the affected boob!! The Blue Mountains gig was 3 weeks after my surgery - and luckily, I made it!! 4 of my Uke group have had BC & were able to offer info & support.
My Fishing Buddies were also an immense support to me as well (as indeed they were when Hubby was going thru his cancer in 2010) - I've caught up with a fair few of them since I was diagnosed & it has just been terrific. A bunch of my kayak fishing ladies had also had BC and were a wonderful source of info & advice!
Part of my philosophy to recovery is to try & keep 'busy' with 'stuff' so that your mind is kept active & is a 'happy thing' compared to what we are going thru daily just now (Hmmmm - tho I REALLY should be decluttering our home - but that doesn't excite me as much! LOL)
SO, let's get a list going of all your favourite pastimes ..... then, if anyone on the forum is living near you or passing thru - you may be able to share your passion with them to help them 'while away' the time!!
I am really lucky in that I have 2 BIG passions that consume a lot of my time ..... and (no surprise to some of you ....)
Ukulele Playing - this was a library gig we did last year .... (I am 4th from left, front row.) Our ages range from the 50s - 80s. Every 4-6 weeks we play 'gigs' at 4 Nursing Homes - and we practise weekly at another nursing home ... so I guess you can call us 'volunteers'?? Some of our members are older than the people we are playing for! LOL
and
Kayak Fishing - I love nothing more than hitting the lake with a bunch of buddies.
Yesterday, I was getting cabin fever from lack of fishing (wet & windy here for the last week), so I grabbed a warm jacket
& walked the edge of the Boat Ramp .... I was busted off on the first fish :( (a good sized Flattie from the power of it's head shakes!) then dropped the next few that spat the hook .... then finally landed another nice one, that came home for dinner!!
So WHAT IS IT that puts that 'gleam in YOUR eye' - is it Golf (I play it badly), Playing Bridge (never tried it - I think you have to be 'serious' to play Bridge), Singing (that goes hand in hand with Uke Playing), Community Groups/Volunteering, Tapestry, Running (I couldn't run round the block to save my life!), ..... that gets you out of bed quicker in the morning if you know you are going to 'do it' ........
How has your surgery/treatment impacted on you doing 'YOUR TIME" stuff? Have you had to stop doing it or can't do it as often due to your treatment? Do you find you find you are still expected to do EVERYTHING ELSE at the expense of 'Your Time'?
Prior to my surgery, my uke group were amongst my greatest allies - I had to tell them straight away as we were gearing up for a big performance at the Blue Mountains Uke Festival - and I didn't know if I would be there for them!! After my surgery, I was back playing again 2 weeks later - but was very mindful of where my uke sat - as it was right across the affected boob!! The Blue Mountains gig was 3 weeks after my surgery - and luckily, I made it!! 4 of my Uke group have had BC & were able to offer info & support.
My Fishing Buddies were also an immense support to me as well (as indeed they were when Hubby was going thru his cancer in 2010) - I've caught up with a fair few of them since I was diagnosed & it has just been terrific. A bunch of my kayak fishing ladies had also had BC and were a wonderful source of info & advice!
Part of my philosophy to recovery is to try & keep 'busy' with 'stuff' so that your mind is kept active & is a 'happy thing' compared to what we are going thru daily just now (Hmmmm - tho I REALLY should be decluttering our home - but that doesn't excite me as much! LOL)
SO, let's get a list going of all your favourite pastimes ..... then, if anyone on the forum is living near you or passing thru - you may be able to share your passion with them to help them 'while away' the time!!
184 Replies
- My current sanity is my knitting....even with gnarled and stiff hands, (thanks scleroderma), as well as peripheral neuropathy in hands and feet, I still manage to knit. Have had to change my style but I manage. I find it very soothing to go through my pile of patterns then through my large stash of yarn for the perfect match. I then switch off my conscious brain and go into neutral with turning basically a ball of string into something of value. I alternate projects with fancy lacework and plain knitting, depending on my mood. A little summer dress with headband
- @Annie C Love your quilt - it is absolutely gorgeous and while I know that you have a lot of difficulties with being so remote, I can imagine why you rocked up for a few weeks and stayed for years - the Kimberley is a beautiful place.
@Zoffiel You ARE amazing - building a bathroom from what you can find is no mean feat. And if you're looking for another chainsaw to fix... :) - @arpie. Fishing and camping stores are a great favourite of my husband and me. They are so full of useful stuff.
Last December I had the catch of a lifetime. A 7 kg barramundi caught at the Diversion Dam in Kununurra just on sundown. Man that fish walked on his tail to throw the hook. Caught on a handline. Have the obligatory brag photo.
Now I may live in the Kimberley and have done so for 24 years
(arrived in town on 20 February 1994 for 12 weeks!), however I have only caught 2 barra in all those years. If I had to catch my tea I would starve. - @kmakm
Many thanks. I used to hand embroider too, many years ago. Now I cheat. Only because I lost the sight in my right eye and glaucoma has robbed all but central sight in my left eye.
I use an embroidery machine (2 actually -but that's a long story). I taught myself to digitise my own designs. Combines my love of all things sewing and playing on the computer ( usefully).
When I come to Melbourne in August for the conference and Field of Women I am going to have a long list of fabric shops. I will be posting the fabric home because there will be too too much for the suitcase!!! - @Zoffiel Love the sound of your building, fixing and tinkering. From what you say of yourself here, you are an incredible woman. I want life to deliver you a big fat slice of luck, pronto. K xox
- Wow! you are SO clever!! Are those critters Hand Stitched!? They are amazing!!
haha - Good that the store assistant was sympathetic to your plight! :) I am a bit like you in a store - but mine is a Fishing Store ;) Doesn't matter how much I already have - there is always SOMETHING I will find that I 'need'!! Only I don't have to get dressed up for it! ;) Good onya - you've got to have STANDARDS!! :) LOVE the Pearls for the 'classy touch'! That's a big 'round trip' for a day at the shops! But WELL WORTH IT, I reckon!
A good day of retail therapy can be the best therapy for body and soul - even if you don't buy anything! LOL
Wow! Only 30 degrees ...... I'd kill for that just now! Cold, wet & miserable here & it is adding to my aches & pains (arthritis Plus Letrozole!)
SO glad you had a great time & could forget Mr C!! That's why I love my uke & yak fishing - you have to concentrate so much - it pushes everything else out of your mind - even for a little while (or 6+hrs if I am yak fishing! ;) )
haha - you can keep our bats!! We had hundreds of thousands the other year - a real pain in the proverbial! They shit all over our back deck, stink to high heaven & wake you up at 4am with their chatter!
Glad you had such a terrific day! Dr's advice - do it regularly! ;) xx - @"Annie C" Oh my, your quilt is SUPERB! Just beautiful. I used to cross stich embroider like a fiend. Stopped about 18 years ago. Got too tired in the evenings to do it. I still have my embroidery kit though. Might get back to it one of these days. Good luck at the show!
- @arpie
I love it. I buy most of my fabric online and I have had some disartrous results with the piece of fabric looking nothing like the picture on line! But, somehow it fits 1 or more of the "10 Good Reasons To Buy Fabric". On my 6 monthly trips to Perth I always make the time to go to Spotlight to get my fabric fix. The last time, I wandered around Spotlight feeling and smelling (yes, smelling) the fabric. One of the assistants asked if I needed help (I think she meant psychiatric help), I told her that I lived 2,300 kms from a fabric store and this was my first visit in a number of years. She looked at me and then said "Go for it!" I think she understood!
Yesterday my husband and I drove 221 kms for a day out in Broome. For the first time in 11 months Mr Cancer did not figure in our travel plans to Broome. We did not have to get on a plane to Perth and go for a clinic visit.
We had a most glorious day. I got dressed up in my "go to town" clothes. Nice pair of jeans, nice top and a jacket
( bit cold - temperature got below 30 degrees). I wore my pearls (my mothers) and my "go to town" boots. Felt like a million dollars. After the highlight of our shopping
( Target, Best and Less and Bunnings!), we had a picnic lunch on Town Beach. The best bit - Mr Cancer did not figure at all!
I think we have your bats. They have come north for winter. They spend the day roosting in the trees on our neighbour's block and come 4pm they take off for the mangroves that fringe the marsh around Derby. Takes over half an hour for them to fly over. And you are right - smelly noisy things. - haha @Annie C .... that is Brilliant! I reckon it will WIN at the show!!
We have THOUSANDS of fruit bats just 2-300m from our place!! Sometimes they roost immediately behind our back deck! :( Noisy smelly things that they can be! (It's too cold for them just now - they've headed for warmer Climes ..... but they WILL return!)
I hope you have a special machine for doing that stitching!! I could see me sewing thru my fingers trying to do that pattern!! ;)
hehe - I found this for my sister about 20 years ago!! I think you'll enjoy it! - @arpie A few more photos.
Green Tree Frogs abound in our bathroom and laundry. Don't mind the frogs - hate the snakes!
This one is my favourite. Of course we have crocs under our boab trees!
