When you’re on the wrong side of 45 and rapidly approaching the big five 0 it’s nice to know you’re not alone…..even when you are.

I don’t know why I’m writing this blog. Is it my diary, a way of keeping track of myself as my memory starts to fail me? Is it a creative outlet? Is it because it’s a trendy thing to do or am I trying to prove something? Maybe it’s to give myself a purpose, or to have a routine and to teach myself to be disciplined (both of which seem to have evaded me all of my life!) Or is it just for fun? I don’t know. I do know that I enjoy writing and love taking photos so why not? Comments like “you can’t even keep your blog updated”, and text messages saying “your blog needs an update” are not conducive to what I want this blog to mean to me. I am enjoying making my weekly post, however the last thing I want is to feel guilty, pressured or judged by those who read it.

I heard a great line in a TV interview today. The person, who was the operator of an antique street organ in a country town fair said ” I am on the cutting edge of obsolescence”. How funny is that? Maybe that is why I am writing a blog. Because I feel in some way I might be becoming obsolete! You see, we need to continue to reinvent ourselves, try something new, keep learning, accept the challenge of change, because if we don’t we will probably become obsolete. If you don’t upgrade, update, up-everything, you fall behind in the game of life. So please be patient with me. I am still finding my feet.

To balance working part-time in Sydney, working in my business, the house project, parenting from afar (particularly difficult), finances, living alone, familiarising oneself with a new environment, worrying about a cat that disappears for hours on end at regular intervals, entertaining curious visitors, missing my daughter and my friends, and a weekly blog is not so easy. This week has been particularly challenging.

After the most balmy April imaginable the weather turned bitterly cold yesterday into freezing, windy conditions. It just so happened that I was doing photographs, all day, outdoors. Charming. It even hailed at one point! Thankfully, the photos do not reflect the actual pain that was felt by the children being photographed. (Not to mention the photographer and her assistant!). Even so I was glad to be doing the work.

Now back to the house project…

I still have an ongoing issue with the swimming pool under the house. The rain has been relentless. It seems the new pipes my brother and I put in have not fully solved the problem. I needed to investigate the downpipes on the other side of the house where the gutters were overflowing. If I solve one problem at a time then surely I will eventually fix the problem. I borrowed a bigger ladder from my brother in law to take a look in the gutters.

Oh Dear! SEVERE BLOCKAGE!

Not just the side where the Silky Oak hangs, but the entire rim of the house. Cleaning the gutters was my next challenge. My dad came to help but couldn’t because when the new roof was installed, they left only a one inch gap from the edge of the roof to the gutters. My dads hand was too big to fit between the gap. I had to do the lot. We invented a tool which did the trick. We made an L shape metal scraper that I could fit into the gutter to lift the silt, leaves and muddy build up away from the surface so I could remove it with two fingers. Hmmmm. This took an entire day. I also found an endless amount of screws and bolts left lying in the gutters after the removal of the old roof and installation of the new. How can trades people be so irresponsible? Anyway, dad was happy because he collected all the lead washers out of the gunk and said they would make good sinkers!!!

Once the gutters were cleaned out we hosed them and tested the water flow into the downpipes. Thank God. They worked! Now we have to wait until the next downpour….

The little things count.

My friend Lisa from netball  (I play netball in Sydney on a Saturday afternoon – another commitment to add to the list), was asking me how everything was going. She told me about her friend who is living alone, renting in Sydney, and wanting to own her own place. Something she can work on herself to make her own. She couldn’t afford to buy in the North West suburbs of Sydney where she currently lives and works, and was not keen on moving to the more affordable Western suburbs but had mentioned the Central Coast as a possible option. She had the usual concerns and reservations about commuting and moving away from Sydney etc etc. I told Lisa about my blog and she passed it on to her friend.

Yesterday Lisa told me that her friend was now really inspired.

This makes it all worthwhile. To have inspired another person makes me happy.

Thank you for reading…..

from the jetty