Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Old men, giant flamingos and retrenched Christmas fairies

Happy new year (albeit belated)! I absolutely did not mean for so much time to slip by between posts, not that I imagine many people were on the edge of their seats waiting for me to utter my next word. The universe was against me in everyway; unexpected disasters, Blogger issues, photo uploading problems, a misplaced camera cord, unreliable internet connections, and so on.
We had a busy end of year, as everyone does, and then my (soon to be) 82 year old father became incapacitated, then hospitalised. Hands up anyone who has experienced the joy of transitioning an elderly parent from their own home to a nursing home (although we're constantly battling to use other names for it).
For the past week he has been trialling a lovely 'ah hm' at Clayfield. It's beautiful, heritage listed, all meals are made from scratch on the premises, it has beautiful gardens, air conditioning, it's close to everything, it has lots of common areas and easy accessability of course.
But guess what! He hates it, it's full of old people! This ageing parent business isn't easy on anyone, least of all the baby of the family. Poor me. So now he's back off to his own house to battle along a bit longer, then I imagine we'll start the whole process again.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I finally managed to get my hands on some giant flamingos. My Era buddy has a pair which I've coveted and I now I have my very own. With the stuffed peacock and now the flamingos the living area has taken on a rather 'camp' tone, which I don't mind a bit.
I also got these two brass goblet-ty things at the Salvos, tarted them up with some white paint and popped in some succulents. Yes I know a monkey could have done it, but I was still chuffed with the result.
Here is some more of my handy work. I acquired these two cane chairs, also from the Salvos. Then I whipped out the Janome and made some new covers for them. It made for a highly productive Friday night, and as it turns out, they are the most comfortable chairs ever put on the face of the earth.

This is a bonsai Fig I found in my father's garden. He said it's about 30 or 40 years old. We love it. It also had a mate, but after Peaches jazzed it up with a swing and a slippery dip it strangely passed on to the big garden in the sky. Considering it had sat happily unattended in Dad's garden for a few years it was a rather insulting gesture to turn its toes up only weeks after coming to living with us. Good riddance I say.
The girls have taken to calling regular trees 'big bonsais', which I suppose technically they are.
While we're on the subject of show and tell, this was one of my Christmas presents. I squeezed myself into it and wore it on Christmas Day. It gave the effect of a giant Christmas fairy, who had somewhat let herself go.

The stonework out in the garden is now pretty much complete and is just waiting for its plants.

She's coming along the old girl, slowly but surely.

7 comments:

  1. Welcome back Madam Restora, with a great post. Lots of lovely goodies to look at: flamingos, great planters, beautiful garden stonework, and perfect Christmas dress. Holding hand up - times 2 - for 'management of transition of parent into care'. It is never fun, regardless of the excellent facility. We used care at home (CAPS packages) for a long time before finally having to push them into care. Takes a few months for them to settle in. Good luck with it all.

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  2. I haven't blogged since last May so don't feel bad :-) I love the old house at Clayfield ... so can you live there full time or is it somewhere just for respite/transitioning. Looks very swanky. I love your dad's comment about "full of old people" ... makes you understand the need for the organisation Young Care when it comes to incapacitated young people ...

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    1. Ýou can live there full time. It only has 39 units and the staff are very lovely. It's called The Residence. Everyone else living there seemed to love it.

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  3. Lovely stone work. Did you tackle it yourself? Or call in the professionals?

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    1. My husband did it. I'm not sure if he really enjoyed it? I think it was quite challenging.

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  4. Hello,

    I love the front door and new seats.

    I am very sorry to hear about your dad. My grandmother who is in her 90s recently transitioned to a nursing home and it has been challenging for everyone. It's not easy.

    Hope all is well with you x

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  5. Belated happy new year to you too. Some of us were on the edge of our seats and hoping all was well with you and yours. Aware of the health issues with your dad I was hopeful some "arrangement" would be reached allowing a little less distance between you and he, alas not. Hope you're all well.

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