Mid December

Hi all,

During December we went to Portland to visit Jean, Ross's mum and also to attend Cynthia's 80th birthday Jean's sister-in-law).  Jean wasn't really eating, and they had to give her Sustagen (I think). She also needs oxygen from time to time as the oxygen levels in her blood are low. She's had several heart attacks recently, says she wants to "go" but keeps fighting on.  It's all in the genes Jean.

In addition to this she had even received a box of chocolates which she snubbed. This shows how sick she is (or could it be because they are American??)

We had a nice time down there and saw Des and Dawn Ross's brother and lady friend who live in Condah (off the beaten track). Des cooked up a storm with his braised beef which which had been marinated in an Asian concoction including some bi carb of soda to tenderise it.

Stayed at Rhonda and Dave's place (Ross's sister and man friend) as always and endured cool windy Portland weather.

We drove down and stayed in Apollo Bay for 2 nights on the way back. The Otway Ranges are lovely and we went for a scenic drive and a bit of a walk.

Ate breakfast at Lorne on the way back (very built up!!!!!)

Returned to Melbourne with a stop on the way to the butcher in Carlton for duck marylands, lamb for Friday dinner (Peter, Anna and Eddie) and 2.4 kilos of duck fat....to be rendered.

Then went for a jolly meeting to Bethlehem Hospital to discuss computerised aids for my failing speech. What a drag the whole thing is.

Then to Peter and Sharon's (my brother and sis in law) where we duly invited ourselves for dinner and Mary, my late mother's oldest friend and Andrew (brother) also joined us. Had a lovely night.

Moving right along, Helen, an old friend stayed with us over Christmas. We went to church Chris Eve but they forgot to sing Oh Come All 'ye Faithful and Away in a Manger...so it was a bit of a sham.

Ross partook in a rather silly play at Church. A bit of nonsense....something about Jesus I think....

We stayed here for Christmas with Helen, weeded, watered, raked, ate and drank. Very nice...GOOD WEATHER....and peaceful.

Tomorrow Ross's family along with another friend are descending on us so we're trying to cook something palatable....MORE ABOUT MY CONDITION in a subsequent blog.

The other day I made confit de canard, which, although a little on the salty side, was delicious. Tonight we're eating the other piece of duck, on good bread first fried in a knob of.............DUCK FAT!!!!!

Then topped with sundried tomatoes and either pickled cucumbers or preserved lemon. Ross LOVED it. We're looking forward to dinner 2-3 hours away. 

Ross is going to have to learn how to make it as my hands are getting very weak.  It's actually easy...it's really just a question of time....not something you can rush.

Hi we're back. Salut tout le monde, nous voilà de retour

Hi everyone,

It's quite some time since we wrote so time for an update...

We've been back from our trip for some time now. Life goes on....Melbourne weather is precarious as usual....a few days ago we were freezing, and then suddenly we're expiring! We don't really have any particular news relating to ourselves.

Quelque temps est passé depuis notre retour au pays....la vie continue....et la météo est toujours aussi imprévisible, le froid suivi d'une grosse chaleur et vice versa....que faire...c'est Melbourne.

Have bought some chairs for the living room as the old ones had had it!
We have to buy couches eventually, but everything is either very low, very deep, and just generally humongous. We also want furniture which is not so heavy that we can't move it around as our room calls for a degree of flexibility. It's quite a chore looking for comfortable seating (and very individual as well).

On a acheté quelques chaises pour le living car les anciennes étaient fichues. Nous voulons remplacer les sofas, mais tout est soit trop bas, trop profond, trop énorme ou trop lourd. Quelle corvée la recherche des meubles!

One of our old water tanks outside which was leaking and rusted out has been replaced by a new tin shed. A real lightweight jalopy and a fortune for what it is, but Ross has erected it and it will do to store workshop equipment or garden equipment...yet to be decided.

Une de nos anciennes citernes était rouillée. On l'a bougée et on va y mettre des bûches pour le feu.

Sur le site où se trouvait cette citerne, on a mis un abri neuf (en tôle ondulée) pour garder des équipements de mon ancien atelier ou des outils pour le jardin...on verra bien.

Vegetables are up and going. Some great successes and some rather miserable.
Harvested broccoli and our first cauliflowers ever (!!!!!!) which were lovely. Had a bit of a battle with the slugs....that's organic vegetables for you. Sometimes you just have to remove a few bad bits and accept veggies which are less pretty than Nigella Lawson.

On fait pousser quelques légumes. Quelques succès et quelques échecs. Des broccolis et des choux-fleurs supers accompagnés de quelques limaces bien nourries et fort grasses! C'est toujours la bataille lorsqu'on fait pousser des légumes selons les méthodes biologiques.

The shallots are looking robust but the garlic somewhat diminutive.  Broad beans are going well, most vigorous. We have kale....my god what a tough vegetable! Tomatoe seedlings have only just gone in. First fennel seeds ever are up. Celeriac planted but who knows? Don't hold your breath. Last year we had leaves but no root..probably due to an excess of nitrogen.

Les échalotes ont bonne mine mais l'ail est plutôt chétif.  Les fèves sont bien réussies. On a planté du fenouil pour la première fois..attendons voir. Le céleri rave est planté mais c'est vâchement dur à faire pousser. L'an passé on a eu beaucoup de feuillage mais pas de racine...c'est sûrement dû à un excès de nitrogène...

First plums ever, apricot and nectarine trees quite well clad in fruit...but will they ripen???

On a nos premières prunes, des abricots des brugnons....mais est-ce qu'ils vont mûrir...ça c'est la question?

Okay, now for a summary of David's health:

Un sommaire de la santé de David:

Legs still good.

Breathing okay.

Arms and hands weaker...quite challenging to eat at times.
I've lost quite a lot of weight (muscle mass) which is not good. The reduced muscle (strength) makes me tired as even the most basic task requires a lot of energy.

Dressing...needs assistance..thank God for Ross, otherwise I'd be stuffed.

Toilet....still okay, but have to arrive in good time....otherwise....

Speech, significant deterioration, which is manifest right through the day now. 

Les jambes vont bien ainsi que la respiration.

Les bras et les mains continuent à s'affaiblir et manger devient de plus en plus difficile.

J'ai perdu pas mal de poids cette dernière année suite aux muscles qui s'atrophient. Cette perte de muscle me rend très fatigué car toute tâche si simple soit-elle demande beaucoup d'énergie.....chose qui me manque de plus en plus.

M'habiller est difficile et Ross doit m'aider--sinon je n'arriverais pas. Les boutons et les lacès sont impossibles.

Le W.C. Ça va, mais il faut y aller quand la nature appelle sans traîner les fesses!!

Parler est maintenant très difficile tout au long de la journée.

Ross takes most of the phone calls and I can sometimes speak, but we often speak with both of us using a handset independently so that if I cannot make myself understood, Ross can fill in the gaps (provided he can understand me which is NOT always the case).

Ross répond au téléphone maintenant et parfois je prends l'autre combiné pour participer à la conversation.

Communication issues are very disheartening for me and quite depressing.

Ces difficultés de communication sont très dures à supporter--la détérioration semble si rapide...

Last week we went to the MND clinic for a meeting to discuss computerised aids for communication.

Much as I hate the idea, I can see that I am going to have to embrace it sooner rather than later. It's going to a challenge.

La semaine passée on a assisté à un meeting (à la clinique pour la SLA).  On nous a montré des tablettes avec un logiciel qui permet de taper les phrases qui sont ensuite lues à haute voix par l'ordinateur. Ils m'ont prêté une tablette et je dois m'y mettre. C'est un bon outil mais certes ça va ralentir le parler....je n'ai pas le choix.

So there's no point beating around the bush...that's the reality. Lovely to grow the broadbeans but they're now hard to harvest and very very difficult to pod. Watering the garden, an activity which I used to really enjoy is now very challenging. Weeding, harvesting, dead-heading the shallots....all these tasks are now very onerous (weeding is virtually impossible as I have no clasp).

Le jardin est beau mais l'entretien est de plus en plus difficile pour moi.

To finish up on some better news....Ross's family are all well. Granddaughter. Audrey is robust and feisty. Grandson Eddy is cute and perhaps more retiring (so far). Likes to eat.....what a surprise!!!

Next Sunday Eddie's going to be sprinkled with Holy water. As long as there's food it should be okay.

My family are fine. Michael's finally lost his head and proposed to lovely Julie, who after considerable deliberation accepted his offer provided that she has a hyphenated name...Macmillan-Bloom...a bit of a mouthful!  They're talking about returning to Oz to live.

Pour finir avec quelques bonnes nouvelles. Les petits enfants vont bien. Audrey est robuste et pleine de caractère. Eddie est mignon et plutôt contemplatif.  Il aime manger...quelle surprise! Dimanche prochain Eddie se fait gicler de l'eau bénite. Tant qu'il y a à bouffer ça devrait aller...

Ma famille va bien. Michael (frère) a enfin proposé à la belle Julie, qui après de longues heures a accepté à condition de porter un nom avec trait d'union--Macmillam-Bloom...une véritable bouchée.

Ils parlent de rentrer au pays.

Okay that's it for today...see you later.

Bon ça suffit. A très bientôt.