Blue Hues

Blue is the colour that is a theme during the rest of my time between chemo rounds 4 and 5.

Blue Mountains

Tuesday, May 24, Barbara and I headed for the Blue Mountains to visit three sets of friends: two from my Springwood Baptist days and one from our early Petersham Baptist Church days.

Mid morning we visited with Rosemary at Buckland Retirement Village, http://www.buckland-rv.com.au/ to where she moved nine months ago.  Her husband was minister at Springwood Baptist in the 1970s.  We have not seen Rosemary since those days but my brother has kept in touch.  We had a wonderful time catching up on the years, learning about each other’s families and walking around some of the Buckland facilities.

Lunchtime we visited with John and Joy in Leura.  John was the minister at Petersham Baptist when we first attended from 1986.  John and Joy had a thirteen year ministry there that finished in 1989 but the friendships they developed with members of the congregation continues today.  We shared news of our lives, activities and our families.  Last year we were in France at the same time but our paths did not quite cross.  We shared experiences of our trips in Europe.

Late afternoon we visited with Ian and Robyn, friends from Springwood Baptist days, now living in retirement near Lithgow.  We learned of their new life in retirement, which includes being involved with scripture teaching and children’s club work.  We talked of our weekend in Mudgee and they talked about enjoying the local scenery, drives and towns throughout the Lithgow, Mudgee and Bathurst area.  When I mentioned my Blowes, which I pronounced ‘blows’, purchases Ian advised staff pronounce it as ‘blouse’, which maybe is appropriate as the do stock some women’s clothing.

In our socialising of recent times it has been very interesting discovering how people are living in retirement or semi-retirement.  There is a lot of variety, volunteering and various activities that people choose to do.

One of my requirements is to keep up the food intake to feed the higher metabolism caused by the chemotherapy.  This was readily achieved on Tuesday with breakfast at home, morning tea at Rosemary’s, lunch at John and Joy's, late afternoon tea at the Hills and dinner at home.

Meanwhile, on the way home from the Hills at Lithgow we dropped in to see Lesley and Stephen.  Why?  Because I had kept the three Blowe’s bags, thinking they were my purchases but found one was full of Steve’s washing!  So, we returned the washing, gave them the anniversary card that I forgot on Friday and a disc of the Mudgee Magic photos and enjoyed a cup of tea.  I promised Steve I would polish my RM William’s boots, which I did on Wednesday.  Steve loves the product and recommends you follow their instructions and look after their product properly.

Blue feelings

In talking with Rosemary we talked about her husband Doug, who died 19 years ago at the age of 64.  Doug suffered from severe asthma and, to gain relief, took cortisone daily.  Cortisone is a strong steroid product that relieves the asthma but likely reduces one’s life span due to the effect of the steroids on various body organs that lead to their not functioning as well.  This is what occurred for Doug.  As I was listening to Rosemary, I thought of my own prognosis of 2 to 5 years to live.  I was told this when I was 60 meaning I might live from 62 to 65 years but now I am 61 it means 63 to 66 years.  I realised my prognosis is in Doug’s lifespan.  I felt this seems too young.  So, having had the CT scan the next day, Wednesday, it will be interesting to learn the results on this coming Monday and its impact on my predicted life expectancy.

In recent times we’ve enjoyed people visiting us and we them, I have reflected on the ebb and flow of conversations.  Those that are most uplifting tend to be where there is a good sharing of the airtime; that is, each of those present spend a fair share of the time telling their stories and thoughts and asking questions.  Those that are less rewarding are where conversation tends to be dominated by one or two of the participants.  We miss out on hearing from others and often there is not much opportunity to ask questions.  Now, I can be one of those that talks too much, especially when I am excited about something.  So, my reflection reminds me that I want to monitor my conversation, listen well and ask questions to find out more.

Blue cheeses and other delights

Our social lives continued.  Thursday I walked into the city to have lunch with friends, Joan, Louise, Rosemary and Bill from the Securities Institute, which was a client from about 1984 (and continues as a client through becoming FinSIA and then selling the education arm to Kaplan Professional).  Enjoying our delicious lunches, we caught up on what each of us are doing.  Four of the five are semi-retired, continuing to work on part time bases and enjoying the freedom of more time to spend with family and friends and explore the suburbs in which we live.

Friday lunch I enjoyed lunch with our neighbour Graeme and Friday evening Barbara and I fellowshipped with the EFSNG group at Judith’s place.  A highlight was learning of Jocelyn’s work with patients suffering from cancer arising from materials such as asbestos.  Her team is involved in leading edge, radical surgery and Jocelyn’s role is to work with the patients, their carers and families, briefing them on their journey ahead, keeping in touch with them during their treatment and then following up afterwards.  Jocelyn’s love and commitment to her work and patients is inspiring.

The Little Blue House

Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed staying with Hugh and Barbie at their weekender, The Little Blue House in Hardys Bay on the Central Coast (1.5 hours north of Sydney).  It is a cute, old-fashioned, weekender cottage with one-bedroom and comfortable living area in the main part and the bathroom and a second bedroom area out the back.  It is right on the water and is available for rental through Raine and Horne http://www.raineandhorne.com.au/properties/8240 .

When we arrived for breakfast, the sun was shining on the new front veranda.  Though the clouds rolled in during the morning, the four of us had a wonderful time walking along the foreshore with Muffy, their dog, enjoying good coffee at one of the excellent local cafés, walking up to a local lookout which gave a superb view of the area, playing scrabble and doing the regular and cryptic crossword in the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald.  Sunday was inclement so we spent the time inside.  We talked of many and serious things.  Sadly they heard the news of the death of one of their friends, a neighbour in their where they live in Lapstone in the Blue Mountains, who died from cancer.  We played our third game of scrabble – Barbie was winner of all three games!  Hugh and Barbie are very word knowledgeable.

We have known Hugh since the late 1970s when he was a leader in the Glebe Christian Youth Club and also lived with us for several months during 1979.  We lost touch but found each other at the Sydney Town Hall a number of years ago when we were at a Stations of the Cross concert by the Sydney Song Company at Sydney Town Hall.  That is when we first met Barbie.  Spending the weekend together we came away closer friends because we all shared and learnt so much more about each other.