Kumusta! It’s Mister C And Me Here…

We say a big Kumusta (hello) today, this greeting comes from the unique Philippine language in the Philippines. Me and Mister C wanted to acknowledge the Philippines as our highest country viewing our blog and site this past month. A wonderful place in which Husband and I would truly love to visit one day. We say a big thank you to this unique country and everyone else for your continued visits to our website and for reading our blogs- it sure means a lot to us! According to APSR, ‘The Philippines is called Asia’s pearl of the orient for the richness of its culture and the beauty of its landscape. It is home to centuries old churches, turn of the century mansions, ancient forts and modern museums. The Philippines is an archipelago comprising 7,100 islands.’ https://www.apsresp.org/congress/apsr2010/philippines.html#:~:text=The%20Philippines%20is%20called%20Asia’s,an%20ar

Exciting news! Our seventh children’s book is almost ready for publication. As we promised, below is a sneak peak of the new cover of our new book- it is a little exciting! Me and Mister C also wanted to say a big thanks to our designer (hiya L.F.) for her continued work and diligence through this year, with helping to design our two ‘Me Poems’ poetry books and our seventh children’s book- ‘A Word From Mister C: A Little Book Of Stories Part Two’. It has been a busy year, with a lot of writing, book formatting and illustration work, where we sincerely appreciate our designer and editors’ help and continued support.

We are thrilled and honoured to have been asked to launch our new book through ACT Libraries (ACT Heritage Library), with our first launch and author session at Dickson Library on11th January 2024 and our second launch at Gungahlin Library on 19th January 2024. (it is not that far away!). Mister C will be joining Me for both events, and of course Husband will be driving us there and back on both days (thanks, our rock!). We will also be attending our usual bookstall through the fun Rotary Markets in Goulburn early-January (13th January 2024). So, there’s certainly lots to look forward to, including Santa and his reindeer flying across our skies with Christmas on the way very soon…

It has now been exactly six weeks since my spinal surgery (where has the time gone?). I am grateful for the care given to me by my Neurospecialist and kind GP, who I have been seeing each month since my car accident late last year. I am still experiencing a lot pain to my right hip, side and lower back when walking and doing any activities that involves bending, walking or standing for short periods of time. I am still using my trusty walking stick, which is giving me a little more confidence while walking around. I know that it will take months to start to recover further from all of my surgeries, I have endured over the past twelve months. I will admit, some days I feel utterly terrible, a burden to my family, forgotten by some friends and family, think life will never get any better, while the pain can be quite debilitating through many days. I had to stop taking the stronger pain medication at the end of last week (is not safe to stay on it for long periods), as per my agreed plan with my Neurospecialist. I was able to see my GP yesterday and he agreed to increase my other pain medication, until I see my Pain Specialist mid-January (I was relieved). As my dear nan often said to me, “Life wasn’t meant to be easy, Ingy!” I carry these thoughts with me most days, and I know life will always have its ups and downs, and it is who we travel through life with that matters the most.

As many know, we lost one of our sweet chook girls a few months back (so sad). I was chatting with Husband about arranging to purchase a few new chook girls towards the end of the year, when my mobility was also able to slowly improve with the use of my walking stick. We had put our name down to order three new chooks from our local produce place (thanks heaps), when I received a phone call last Monday from the produce manager, saying the chooks had finally arrived (yay!). Widy had the day off last Tuesday and agreed to drive me down to the produce place after my ophthalmologist review in town, to pick up our three new chooks, one black Leghorn, we named ‘Cindy’ and two small white Leghorns, we named ‘Piper’ and Blanca’ (super cute!). It is always a busy time caring for new animals, as well as our new chook girls. Flossy and Mister C helped me over the next few days, ensuring the girls all had enough food a fresh water, over the hot weather we were experiencing last week. I was struggling to walk down to the chook shed and yard area throughout the day, so it was super helpful having the kids and Husband to help (thanks heaps- love you guys!).

I recall Thursday was a very busy and hot day (over thirty-six degrees), along with school events and Husband having to go to ACT to attend his workplace for two full days. Our new fridge had also finally arrived in the morning (our old fridge was over fourteen years old and finally went kaput in the heat!); we had patiently waited three weeks for the fridge to be sent down from the main ‘Samsung’ warehouse and then to Sydney, for it to finally arrive in our local area ready for delivery to our place (thanks so much!). I had also rung my dear sister in Sydney (love you C.M), and we chatted over the phone for about an hour or so. After getting off the phone to my sister I heard a distant spine-chilling animal scream from out the main chook yard area. My heart skipped a beat and I hobbled outside onto the patio to see what was happening. It was at that moment I saw the awful and very big, brazen fox sitting on the side fence (main chook area) near the gate, it saw me, then jumped down the fence and sprinted off to the top part of our property and over the main perimeter fence in seconds. I couldn’t believe I had seen the horrid fox in broad daylight (approximately one o’clock in the afternoon!) and how huge this pesky animal was. I really wished I’d taken a photo of the horrid thing!

Sadly, we lost four of our older chook girls that afternoon. My heart hurt as I called Husband to tell him what had just happened-in broad daylight. Husband was in disbelief, there wasn’t much he could do, as he was driving back from the ACT at that time. I hobbled into the chook area and saw one of our brown girls lying motionless under the old trampoline and blue tarp (set up as a safe place for the girls to do their dirt baths). Three other girls had disappeared, where I noticed some feathers were strewn around the back of the fence area. Still in shock, I managed to go see the other remaining girls and our new little baby chooks, who were safe in the enclosed area (thankfully). After this awful fox attack, we had five terrified remaining chooks (how terrible). Husband arrived to take me to my Orthospecialist review and to attend the third injection to my right shoulder (is a painful procedure). I began to shed a tear in the rooms after one of the procedure nurses looked at me and said, “Gee, you look tired and sad!” We told my Orthospecialist and the four nurses in the room, we had just lost four of sweet chooks… RIP, ‘Raquelle’, ‘Raspberry’, ‘Blueberry’, and ‘Blackberry’… 😥

Not wanting to end our blog on a sad note (apologies), here is a Flossy Funny to share…

Waiting in line at the local ‘Post Office’ together (last year), Flossy looked at my bundle of letters and parcels I was holding to post and send to family and friends for Christmas. Flossy looked up and said, “Gee, Mum that’s a whole lot of letters to send out!” I smiled and nodded, replying, “Yes, it’s Christmas time, lots of cards and our new (sixth) children’s book to send out to everyone.” Flossy nodded and said, “Do you have one for our family in the US? I wonder how much that will cost to send?” We moved up to the front of the line and I replied, “Yes, I ‘ve got a nice card and new book to send to Dad’s wonderful great Uncle and Aunt in Texas. Flossy replied, “Oh, that’s good, Mum.” Flossy turned and then whispered to me, “Am I related to them too? Am I American as well?!” I giggled and replied, Yes, sweetheart, it’s Granny’s Uncle and Aunt in the US!”…

A Word From Mister C…

It was very late in the night (last year) and Mister C still hadn’t settled to sleep yet. I walked into Mister C’s bedroom and said, “Oh, my son, it’s nearly eleven o’clock. It’s very late, can’t you sleep?” Mister C looked up from his bed and pulled up his black night-mask. “Oh, yeah, I can’t sleep, Mummy. I keep thinking about my birthday coming up soon; it’s only sixteen days until I turn ten, don’t you know! Since I’m ten soon, I think I can stay up later- to ten o’clock?! Frowning, I replied, “Well, it’s way past ten o’clock now, my son. You may be able to stay up a bit later after your birthday, but it’s well and truly time for sleep.” Bending down to give Mister C one last hug, I said, “Roll over now and think about something calming, like the ocean rolling in. You have your peaceful music playing as well.” Mister C nodded and tucked back into his bed. “Okay, Mummy, I’ll dream about finding ten shells on the sandy beach. I will dream about ten things I can start doing when I turn ten! I love you Mummy, I love you ten more times than the Maker can ever love you!”…    🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚🐚

Stay tuned…

Me and Mister C look forward to publishing and promoting our new seventh children’s book and attending some exciting events coming up in January 2024. We also wanted to wish all of our blog readers and avid book fans a very merry Christmas and a bright and cheerful New Year in 2024. Thank you for all of your ongoing support- we sincerely appreciate you! I know we have all have work very hard this year (in whatever it is we all do) and deserve a relaxing and peaceful break over the upcoming school hols (on our side of the globe). Here’s looking forward to the upcoming New Year, while spending time with family and friends and what may be install for all of us… Stay safe and be kind to others. Hugs Me and Mister C… 💗