Rangitoto Island Hauraki Gulf New Zealand 

The volcano on my doorstep….

When I first visited Auckland, some fifty years ago, I was absolutely blown away and astonished at the sight of a volcano rearing up out of the Hauraki Gulf. This is the site of the City of Auckland.  The volcano is called Rantitoto, which erupted out of the sea quite suddenly about 600 years ago.  Luckily for us Aucklanders, it is dormant, at the moment. It’s visible from anywhere around the harbour and from most high points of the city.  Much as I love Auckland, at the first sign of smoke coming from the volcano, I am off!!! Those high points, may or may not be, volcanoes as well!!! Some definitely are.  There are said to be quite a few volcanoes dotted around Auckland. However, they all appear to be quietly sleeping. Maybe this why New Zealand is such a quiet place. Shssss!! Don’t wake the giants.  Talk about living dangerously.  Also, I couldn’t believe that practically the whole of this magnificent waterfront was taken up with tatty container wharves and concrete silos, full of who knows what.

However, now Auckland is quite a different place. Gone are the small store front shops which once lined the main thoroughfare. Queen Street, where the only tall building in Auckland was the 20 storey Air New Zealand building, built in 1972. Here’s a comment I found from Auckland Libraries:

1 January 1972 The small whirlwinds which are occurring near the top of the Ferry Buildings are apparently being caused by the Air New Zealand building disturbing the air flow. How’s that?

My, my, what a difference now. High rise apartments, fancy hotels, rejuvenated waterfront , flash shops. And Auckland City has to be one of the cleanest cities in the world, green trees, pleasantly wide footpaths, and diligent sweeper uppers. Lucky me.

Am I becoming illuminated .…..

I subscribe to a programme called Lumosity. This is a series of brain games which I use to sharpen my brain, as the cutting edge dulls with age. I wish I could take it to the equivalent of  knife sharpener’s, but no such luck yet this early in the 21^st century. I not only use this brain training regime to keep my thinking clear and focussed, but I can always tell from my scores how my brain is performing at any one time. Sometimes, my scores drop alarmingly, and that just confirms what I am feeling, low.  But, equally, sometimes my scores even out or get a bit better, and I can see that my health is improving.  I don’t do much physical exercise, I consider just walking around the house is enough. But when it comes to brainpower, I say “Thank you Lumosity!”

Phoney funny phone calls

 Am I too old for pranking…..

Not when my targets are those pesky pirates of the telephone.  No, they don’t threaten my life, but they do threaten my money.  Once upon a time, back in the day, you could answer your telephone with confidence, not so today.  Okay, so I don’t get many phone calls these days, but when the phone rings there is generally somebody on board that I want to speak to or need to speak to. But not always the case!!  On many occasions, I am greeted with a phony enquiry into my health, and a try at prying my identify from me   However, it is said that laughter is the best  medicine, and so here are some pranks I play on these villains, when I use their calls as a major source of entertainment. 

Firstly, when they ask " Am I speaking with so and so?". I always rebound with "Who is calling?"  This seems to throw them a little bit off balance and they don't get to ask me how I am, as if they cared!!

 So, here are some of my ways of dealing with these jackals trying to consume any part of my virtual life that they can get their virtual fangs into.

When I am feeling bright, I go into my "Italian" mode.  I speak to them in my limited and, no doubt, broken Italian.  After they get sick of my heavily accented "Do you speak Italian?" routine and my chatting, they generally give up, and I don't get calls for a while from this centre.

 Then, there are the calls allegedly from Microsoft. "Can I speak to the owner of the computer? There is something wrong with it". At this, my answer is that the owner is dead. This generally elicits a moment of silence and expressions of sympathy. However, one cheeky chappie had the gall to ask me who had the computer now, so I told him I had buried it with my husband. End of story. No more calls at the moment

The easiest one is to just ask the person to hold the line, and then put the phone down for five minutes or so. This generally gives them the message.

So, don't be angry, get even and have a laugh on them.

When prosperity comes, do not use all of it. Confucius

Having money troubles?  Read “The Richest Man in Babylon”. Save 10 percent from the top of your net income  and you will never be broke……

Some years ago, when I was into self-help books, mainly business, I came across this little gem of a book written by George Glason, who wrote it in the 1920’s.  This book has been in publication ever since the first printing.   It has been updated, and I haven’t read the new version, but I can most certainly recommend this as the most useful money management book I have ever read.  It seems simple and is written in parables, but, what dynamite suggestions!!

The secret to this 10 percent savings plan is that you squirrel money away for yourself, and don’t make any announcements about it. This is your money to do with what you want without having to discuss it or ask permission to spend it.  My late sister, who only had her pension, was talking to me one day and I made this suggestion to her. She immediately put it into place, and she told me she actually had some money of her own for the first time in her life, and had gone from zero to $2000 in a very short time.

So, give it a go, you have nothing to lose and a whole lot of money to gain.

"What can a book written in the 1920s tell modern investors about their finances? A whole lot if it's George Clason's delightful set of parables that explain the basics of money. This is a great gift for a graduate or anyone who seems baffled by the world of finance and a wonderful, refreshing read for even the most experienced investor." -Los Angeles Times

My eyes aren’t what they used to be, they used to be my ears….

Only kidding!  Today I am the proud possessor of two new pairs of glasses. They have had special lenses put in them to help me with the double vision I have been plagued with for many months.  This has not been the Year of the Tiger, but the Year of the Eye for me.  I would like you to know  that, if your vision is becoming impaired, then have it checked out. This may not be something you have to live with in your old age.   With the cataracts removed from both eyes, my sight improved mightily, but after a while a film grew over the implanted lenses and this was removed with the deft touch of a laser. And about six months ago, I was the recipient of a human corneal cell transplant in my right eye.  This is quite complicated surgery, as you might imagine, but now, as the eye slowly heals, I can see again. Ah, the wonders of modern science.

Thought for the day........

“Behind every smile there's teeth.”
― Confucius

Wrong path, right direction……

As I think about my past life, I have come to the conclusion that if I had not carried out each and every mistake, wrong doing, miscalculation, or just plain stupidity and lack of judgement, then I couldn’t have possibly arrived at my current destination. One step in a different direction would have thrown me into a new tributary of the river of life.  How do I feel about that?  Luckily for me, I am in a happy place.  I see my family every day, my health is reasonable at the moment, and I want for nothing.  So instead of looking backwards into the sludge of the errors of my way, I now live minute by minute and “I’m lovin’ it”!!!!! 

Time flows away like the water in the river. ”
― Confucius

Lighten Your Load

There comes a time in your life when you need to throw out the clutter you have been lovingly saving “just in case you need it”…..If, like me, you have gone through all the various stages of collecting “stuff”, books, gardening gear, electrical gadgets, clothes etc, then now could be a good time to dispose of as much as you can bear to part with. I find giving it away to someone who needs it, makes it easier to let go. When your family and friends become fed up with your generosity and can’t take any more, then it’s time to just junk it.  Of course, you could always put the good bits on Ebay or Trademe and make some money.  Sounds a bit rough, I hear you say, but it’s a truly amazing  feeling of relief as your cookbooks no longer peer accusingly at you, because you no longer cook. So what do you need kit like food processors and blenders for? A jug, yes, a toaster yes, maybe a slow cooker.

 If you can’t resist the urge to continue buying treasures, then make it a rule that, when you buy something new, you throw something away.

He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.”
― Confucius

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones…..

"And I try, and I try, and I try, and I try,” wails Mick.  And I don’t think he means sleep, either. However, that is what this post is about, to sleep or not to sleep, that is the vexing question.



Not being able to sleep is one of the Seven Curses of Old Age.  What are the other six curses? Wait and see.  But not being able to sleep is a major one.   Finally, after years of never being able to sleep long enough, kids, work, you name it, you find that now, in your old age, you can stay in bed for at least eight hours every night, and no decent sleep happens, or, if it does, it is, at best, broken. 



Well, you can always take sleeping pills I suppose. This is the easy way out, but I don’t, as I find myself becoming  addicted very quickly and have  to increase the dose.   Instead, what I do is listen to an audio book or tune into the BBC World Service (there is an app for this radio station) .



 How much sleep is enough?  Is it four hours, five hours, six hours?  Who knows? Finally, if nothing lulls me back to the Land of Nod,  I surrender and go and make a cuppa.  I prop myself up on my pillows, tune into the BBC, and eventually nod off. 



 The best way to treat your inability to sleep, is not to worry about it.

Thought for the day....

Things that are done, it is needless to speak about…things that are past, it is needless to blame. Confucius

Don't let thoughts of shame , guilt or regret spoil your current existence.  Just turn the music up and drown them out.  It's not easy to mull over your mistakes when you are singing! 

The cost of mistakes is the price you pay for learning ……

And sometimes the price is very high!!! However, there is something to be salvaged out of many mistakes, and that is the insight and knowledge that allows you to take that memory and burn it into your mind so that you never repeat it again. Making mistakes is how you learn to succeed.

 Never make a mistake and you can bet you will never truly succeed. 

Thought for the day......

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. Confucius

On closed minds and new technology

 and the 80 year old international journalist still using his original  manual typewriter

I came quite late into the computer age.  I was over seventy, when my brother told me “to get real and get logged in” into the new technological era unfolding before our very eyes.  He kindly gave me his old computer and I started to come to grips with it.  However, I never really understood what it was all about, and, like so many of the older generation, I was not really convinced that I needed to do such a mind boggling exercise.  I shuffled along, doing my best, but forever terrified I was going to do something disastrous to it and wreck it. 

However, time marched on, and now I have discovered the joys of being an multi  i-device owner.  The shift into this brilliant form of communication has given me a whole new world of experiences, sharpened my brain, and is my constant companion. 

I think that many of the older generation, now about 2 generations back from the modern

 tech-savvy people, need to be taught how to use these devices, which can help in their independence.  It has certainly given me the ability to do so much more.

Regarding the 80 year old journalist, the moral of the story is:  If you are happy with the equipment you are using and it works, why change it? I don’t think any of today’s computers will still be operating in a hundred years from now.

Just because they are sparrows, it doesn’t mean they are not precious….

One of the happiest moments of my day occurs at around dusk.  As I look out of my window, I can see flights of these tiny brown birds, making a beeline for the huge stand of clumping bamboo at the bottom of my family’s garden.  I don’t know if you are familiar with this plant, clumping bamboo.  It is different from the bamboo you generally see around and about. It doesn’t spread and just grows straight up, at the moment it is as tall as a three storey building!!!!!  I think this is the type of bamboo used in Asia for scaffolding on big buildings, and known affectionately as “Asian Steel”. However, I digress. Every evening there begins a fluttering of wings around the bamboo leaves and flocks of the tiny birds start darting in and out of the foliage. I didn’t know they could fly so high. Once the best spots are occupied, there begins a battle as the latecomers try to take over. However, as darkness starts to close in, the birds all settle down in their bamboo home.   

The curse of the “Dead Dog Afternoon”

I don’t know about you, but, as I have gotten older,  I find that I really need a “nanna nap” every afternoon.  I am using the “time management” technique to help me to structure my day,  and  I divide my time into 3 hour time slots.  The “dead dog afternoon” syndrome kicks in  between 3 and 6pm. By now, I am somewhat rested but totally unmotivated . I can’t make myself get up and do something useful and find I can still be lying on my bed until 5.30pm.

I must say I am taking steps to try to correct  this  loafing attitude. I listen to the BBC World News programme for an hour and then turn to Pandora for a session of Boogie Piano music, which always brightens me up, but I have things I should be addressing. Writing this blog is one, doing some Ancestry research is another, I need to increase  my computer skills and, hell’s bells, maybe even cook myself a meal!!!  

What makes a bird sing in the dark?

This morning I woke up at 4am and as I meandered around the place, having coffee and listening to the BBC, I heard a bird song coming from the big tree in my next door neighbour’s yard.  The bird is a Tui, I think, one of the truly beautiful native birds of New Zealand. But as it was still dark, rainy and gloomy, so was the bird heralding an unseen dawn?  I wonder.  I couldn’t even see a glimmer of light on the horizon.  The bird must have been hungry after a night bedded down in the tree, so was she singing a prayer for a good day, or just waking herself up in a good mood. Perhaps we could all take a leaf out of the bird’s book, and wake up singing. I am going to try it. 

Thought for the day……..

Instead of slapping yourself in the face, pat yourself on the back

Sometimes I find myself going over all the mistakes I have made during my life, and the feedback I get from this pointless exercise is that I am a failure.  However, when I look on the brighter side, I realise that I have done a lot of things right, too.  You cant change your past, so only count the good bits and dump the bad. 

Being old is just my disguise………

How old am I?  My old body is eighty something, but my mind can best be described as being timeless!!  As I am starting in on my eighth decade, I find that my voice has become the best indicator of who I am and how I am feeling.  When I am talking to someone I don’t know on the phone, quite often a government department, my voice doesn’t give me away.  The person generally has no idea that she is talking to a person of advanced years, and so doesn’t have any opportunity to shout in case I can’t hear or enunciate each word clearly in case I don’t get it.  I must say that my memory leaves much to be desired these days, so I always make notes when dealing with officialdom (or anyone else). Use one page at a time, put the date, time and who you were speaking to.  Then outline the question, or problem, and roughly the gist of the conversation. Then when you have to contact them again, as you invariably do, you can quickly refresh your memory and theirs too.  Sometimes, when tough measures are called for, I slip into my “helpless little old lady” role, and this can work wonders!!!!

Thought for the Day

People who bury their heads in the sand are taking the risk that , when they take their heads out of the sand , their heads have been eaten by termites

Thought for the Day......Confucius Says

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.

Make like a Boy Scout and be prepared…….

Pack your bag for that unexpected trip to the hospital.

One thing that my emergency trips to the hospital has taught me, is to be prepared. It’s too late when you are being gathered up and shuffled off in an ambulance.  Invariably you arrive at the accident and emergency room in your night clothes, and shoeless.  If you are a regular visitor, like I have been, then it is worth your while to take some steps in advance, to make your stay more comfortable. 

And so I keep a small bag packed with the essentials. A set of clothes, to leave the hospital in, is first on my list. I have found that it’s quite a strain to put on your family, when they have to look through your wardrobe and find something for you to wear home, and then bring it up to the hospital.  I also include a dressing gown, slippers and essential toiletries, such as soap toothpaste, brush, comb, little mirror, moisturiser and a few dollars.  If you have your own medical file, as I do, then take it with you to hospital, as well as a list of the medicines you are taking, and a list of contact phone numbers. Make sure you repack the bag when you get home, so that it is always ready for you. 

I know this sounds a bit like overkill, but you will find that it makes your life just so more comfortable when you find yourself catapulted into the hospital.  

Thursday 13 August 2015
Thought of the day
Confucius says....

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.

Wednesday 12 August 2015

Thought for today:             As a destination, over the hill is just too far!!!!

Are your hands turning into crooked claws?  Are you trying to type on the itty bitty keyboard on your i-Phone?  Try using a stylus.  This is a bit slow but cuts down the misspelling.  I also use the stylus for the i-Pad and i-Pod.  Try doing a few typing exercises every day. If you can’t already type, get one of the free programmes that are available on the internet and you will certainly get two benefits. One is that you can add typing training as one of your activities, and the other, of course, is that you will be more inclined to get that writing project started.   

Thought for the day, 10 August 2015

Thought for the day, 10 August 2015 Everything will be alright in the end, and if it's not, then it's not the end (Marigold Hotel )a great movie)

Dredging the River of Memories……

My best advice for this dangerous pursuit is to watch out for the crocodiles on the river bank! Don’t let them snap you up! Sometimes, in dredging, you bring up the mud of your life, and sometimes you come unexpectedly upon some lost treasure of a memory. The secret is to dump that sludge and enjoy the treasure. Why crocodiles on the river bank? Well, my last great adventure was the trip to North Queensland, and the first far northern city I called in at was Cairns. I did some of the usual tourist things, and, as I had a few hours to fill in before flying on to Gove, I went on a “river” tour in a smallish ferry. To call this a river was a flight of imagination ….. it had been dredged out of a muddy mangrove swamp and was now home to a lot of Australian Naval vessels. On this particular morning, as we drove past the shores, there were lots of crocodiles there, sunning themselves on the banks. There weren’t many passengers on board, and I was sitting close to the skipper, who had a friend with him on this trip. A chance to catch up on the local gossip. The friend was telling the skipper of an “ hilarious” incident that had happened the week before to a group of Japanese tourists. The tour operator had landed them on a beach somewhere, and they all came running back, screaming that the beach was full of crocodiles! He, of course, thought they were exaggerating, but, when he went to check, found it was true. The entire contents of the crocodile farm nearby had escaped. Luckily, none of the tourists was eaten. I don’t think they would have thought it was very funny. Not to be outdone, the skipper then told his friend about another tour operator who had recently taken a small band of tourists up into Cape York, a very wild place. He said he had let the tourists sleep in their tent on the ground while he slept on the roof of the Land Rover. Was he scared of the roaming buffaloes and crocodiles, not to mention the snakes and spiders? No, of course not. Once again, the tourists all made it back safely to civilisation.

The joys of empty time

 

I have never really experienced much “empty time” in my life, hurtling along like a blazing comet, slowly ,slowly, fizzling out,  and now I am at  the sputtering stage of my life.  However, I have no intention of going out like a damp squib.  Finding my time stretching off endlessly to the horizon, I have re-employed my time management techniques.

You might be forgiven for thinking that time management is exclusively the domain of  the young upwardly-mobile characters. But the reality is that, in the latter part of one’s life, finding a reason to get out of bed can be daunting!  People talk to me about hobbies, joining social clubs and so on, but I have just about run through, tangled with or contemplated , everything from woodwork to witchcraft…no, that’s not for me.  Socialising?  Once you have become a house-bound hermit, just getting yourself from anywhere to somewhere to find those social contacts is a mind blowing mission. So, I have decided that I will become a “mind traveller”, and search my memory bank to find the hidden treasures of my past. I need to be careful, however, that I don’t let myself stumble upon the “black swamp” of things I should forget.   I don’t need a passport, I don’t need to pack and I don’t need any money.   I have an overload of great memories of people met, places visited, life’s great thrills, and , unless I can capture them , they will slip through the tearing net of my memory, to be lost and gone forever.  

STAY CURRENT OR GET WASHED AWAY

 

This is the first post of my new blog and, as I haven’t been blogging for a couple of years now, I am finding it hard to get to grips with the topics I would like to share with you. The need for staying current and, as far up-to-date as I can, has become very apparent in recent times. Finally, I am now the proud owner of a new i-Phone and, while I am a little techno-savvy, I was blown away by the possibilities of this new piece of kit.  For someone who lived at a time when the only media  communication available to me was a very small and tinny radio, fully equipped with a tuning knob, and  about four stations to listen to, I have finally come of age!!!  Better late than never, I suppose.  As I meander on through my life, with a foot in both centuries, my head is full of thoughts and ideas, some original, some historical, which I need to grasp hold of, as they fleetingly transverse the hemispheres of my brain.  I am totally amazed at just how fragmented my thoughts have become. And so, I am going to write on any subject that offers me an opportunity of recapturing times past, living in times present, and not worrying about times future.