Mid-Winter in the Motueka region is not the icy crunchy chilly experience that Southerners have had to endure these last few days. Nevertheless we have had a series of very wet cold days and will be glad to see the sun shining again. We did have a series of lawn-whitening frosts earlier in the week, which bit off the last of the dahlias and tomatoes, not to mention the begonias! So we are not quite a sub-tropical paradise here.
Our lives have grown busy as we settled back into our routines of meetings and social engagements. I sat down with a pencil recently to assess how many organisations we were actively involved in. It ran to two figures. SeniorNet [technical, tutor, committee], Museum [Trust member, Management Committee, Newsletter editor], U3A [Shells Study, Geology Study groups, Chairman], Probus Club [Betty on committee as almoner], Parish Council, Liturgy Committee, Church Bulletin editor, Church Roster editor, Tasman Golf Club [Betty is Women’s Club captain], Short Term Accommodation Trust [Chairman], St Vincent de Paul Society [both on telephone roster, hospital visits]. Is that enough to fill in the weeks of possible boredom? There is of course not nearly enough recreational activity in this list – such as reading and computing for pleasure, and watching favourite TV programmes, gardening and gathering fruit in season, visiting the Highland cows with apples, and of course seeing the grandchildren and their interests.
We have heard from the South that Grandma [Mum, Bess] has been in Dunedin being fitted with an artificial leg in the last week. She made the trip by taxi from Southland Hospital and got back early on Friday to avoid any further snow showers. She is one amazing old lady of 91! She had her left leg cut off above the knee to remove the pains of a lack of circulation caused by diabetes. The wound has healed well. We all assumed that she would lie back and accept that she was going to be wheelchair bound and in cotton wool for the rest of her life but she has shown such spirit and determination that she would get back on her feet somehow. She grumbles that the new leg is rather heavy and stiff but has been using the exercise bars at the Orthotics Dept in Dunedin with help provided by Moira and others. She will return to Dunedin to get her final fitting later in July. We still all hope that she will be convinced to enter a safe Rest Home after that, even if she has use of her leg and can look after her basic needs. It was reported in Kew that she had entered a carpet bowls competition and had won it from her wheelchair! All her old skills being used to good effect.
My brother, Robert, in WesleyCare rest home in Christchurch is in a far less hopeful situation, after a stroke last August in which he lost use of his right side, arm and leg. Very little progress has been made in getting his leg back working and as far as we can tell no progress with his arm. He can however speak, which may or may not be a plus?! However, he is in excellent hands there and living in comfortable surroundings. He has use of a motorised wheelchair which he can manipulate with his left hand. This means he can scoot around the corridors and grounds. Maria, his wife, comes in and visits regularly and they can go outside whenever they wish. The government pay all his care costs there, as they have little income and few assets. When ever we are in Christchurch, which is not often as it is a long way from here, we pop in to check on him, and Philip comes in from Leeston occasionally too. George and Cynthia Gordon have been visiting too, from Rangiora.
