"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

Good Things Friday

I lost a few days this week to a migraine, and I’m still feeling the aftereffects, but there are always good things to share! The first is that I am semi-out of the boot. I have to wear it half the time this week. There was still a bit of pain at the fracture sight, but the physio said that is the case sometimes and just be careful doing anything that causes pain. I have some strength exercises to do each day, which will hopefully go some way to building back up the muscle in my wasted calf … I’m sure there are other places that need strengthening, but that is the area that is most notable.


I was a marshall

for this week’s APSOC cross-country race. Our club was hosting, and it was good to be able to participate in some way, even though I couldn’t run. There was one almost fall by a runner at my turn, but they righted themselves, so we were all good. The race was held in Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne’s largest bushland park. The Rainbow Lorikeets were going to town in the gum trees near me, so the morning was a good dose of nature, which I’d been missing since not being able to get out and about as much.

This is what the lorikeets were after. They were mainly up in the top of the trees though.

Lunch with Friends

Saturday afternoon, we went to a friend’s place for lunch. He was hosting a group of us who had helped him get his previous house ready to sell. He cooked a beautiful cacciucco, an Italian poor man’s fish stew. After we ate the seafood in our bowls, he cooked up some pasta to mop up the rest of the sauce. It was delicious and not something I would ordinarily have tried. The dessert was pavlova, with yoghurt instead of cream on the top and fresh fruit. We finished up there at about 5:30 pm and didn’t need any dinner. The whole afternoon was such a beautiful celebration of friendship; I feel gratitude to this friend for showing us the way with his display of gratitude.


King’s Birthday Public Holiday

Jars of yoghurt and the pizza dough in the steam oven doing their thing.

Monday was a public holiday for the King’s birthday. I took the opportunity to potter around in the morning, getting a few odd jobs done. I also started a batch of yoghurt. After lunch, we popped up to our neighbours who live upstairs in our building and had a lovely afternoon tea. When we came back down our daughter, S, was hanging out with Riley in the apartment. I made up some dough for the Lahmacun I had planned for dinner. (The recipe said premade bases, but I have a foolproof recipe for pizza dough that it very easy). After that S and I were at a bit of a loss with what to do because G was watching the footy. The puzzle was sitting on the table, almost finished, but we’d told H that we would wait for her to get back from Noosa to finish it, but we just couldn’t help ourselves. The puzzle is finished. We did text H to let her know we would be finishing it before we finished it.

Spot the four missing pieces.

It was the 2000-piece with the note to take a chance on me. I can report back that only four pieces were missing, but one of them was a corner.


Gifts from my past self

Last week, when I was writing out the menu plan, I saw that the veggies were going to run out over the weekend, so I gave myself a gift by ordering a box of veggies to arrive this Tuesday. I cleaned out the fridge and stowed them away and was very happy that I did not need to think about getting veggies this week. That also meant I could do my meal plan. I usually wait for the box and then write a plan to use up what arrives. I find this way, we tend to eat a bigger variety of veggies than we would otherwise.


Bonus Good Things

  • Late last Friday afternoon, I sent off some figures to the accountant so they could finish some paperwork before the EOFY. It had been sitting on my list for a few weeks now, and it felt so good to tick it off.
  • My new vertigo medication generally allows me to get out of bed at least and even function OK some of the time. I still avoid driving.
  • On a similar note, I’m so glad that my vestibular migraines were not this frequent when I was in the middle of caring for kids and driving them to all their activities. When it’s only once every three or four months, it is a lot less disruptive. I guess that’s the benefit of having kids early enough that they are grown before I reached perimenopause, with it’s crazy hormones.
  • Our eldest daughter is currently on holiday with my parents in Noosa, and she had a wonderful birthday celebration with them.
  • This was an interesting article in favour of a printed local newsletter as opposed to a digital version … “The invite Was Already in My Mailbox.”
  • On a related topic – “We should be worried about devaluing ourselves. We should be worried about machines doing the work of trying to get us to feel things. Because that’s our job as humans. ” – Brooke Mcalary “Human Intelligence”
  • I spent some time this week with our son, at his request, helping him sort out a new system to try to manage his finances. His ADHD gets in the way, so it’s not that straightforward. We had a few hiccups but I think one more trip to the bank next week and we should be sorted.
  • All those things I get worked up about … “Maybe it Doesn’t Matter” – Oliver Burkeman

We have special plans tonight, which I’ll share for next week’s good things. How was your week? Do you give gifts to your future self?


Comments

13 responses to “Good Things Friday”

  1. Your migraines sound absolutely devastating! I’m sorry they are a part of your life.
    My old dog, Barkley, used to sneakily eat puzzle pieces, which we wouldn’t discover until later. We still have a lot of puzzles that are missing a few pieces!

    1. Oh no—a puzzlke piece eating dog would not be good. Luckily our dog does not do that … I think. We did have one puzzle that we thought had a missing piece when we finished it but a week later I was cleaning out the fruit bowl and found the piece in the bottom of it. Since we get most of our puzzles from the op shop, they do sometimes have missing pieces.

  2. So sorry this was a migraine week for you. I feel you on all the lost time.
    That lunch looks good even though I don’t eat mussels.
    I had a really hard time spotting the four missing pieces.

    1. The lost time is frustrating, but I try to take it as a sign that I need to rest. I usually avoid octopus, but the texture was not what I expected and the taste was good.

  3. That lunch looks so good, and how impressive your friend cooked it himself. It looks like it was served at a restaurant 🙂

    I am sorry about the migraine. I feel for anyone who’s dealing with it, because it can be so debilitating. But I am glad to hear you’re semi-out of the boot! Moving in the right direction!

    1. Our friend loves to cook and always serves up a feast, with commentary when we go to his place.

  4. I am sorry to hear about the migraine. I have never had one and hope to never experience one. They sounds so debilitating! I am nervous for the hormonal changes that accompany perimenopause/menopause. At least I won’t have a toddler by then (I think, I don’t think I am on the cusp of that change yet).

    That meal with friends sounds delightful!!

  5. Sounds like you are able to see all the good things in life! This post could have been written a completely different way. You could have complained about the migraines, the foot fracture (I guarantee I would still be complaining about that) the vertigo, even the missing puzzle pieces! Instead, you present everything in a positive light. It’s a great attitude to have.

    1. Thanks Jenny, I do do my fair share of complaining but I’m generally a glass half full type of person.

  6. A 2000-piece puzzle is not something we’ve taken on yet. Maybe it should be a fun goal for me to tackle one this summer. How long did it take you to finish?

    1. THato ne took us two weeks. Three of us work on it but only when the girls are over at our place, which is 2-3 times a week.

  7. So very sorry about the migraines and the vertigo. It does sound that it’s getting better. Thank you for all the good things on Friday- that I read on a Tuesday 🙂 Keep them coming!

    1. Thanks Daria.

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