Val’s Comments (group member since Aug 28, 2019)

Val’s comments from the Beyond Zon group.

Woke to some blissful rain, but it was still 26 degrees. However the day did cool down and the overnight low is set to be 13 degrees - almost time to find my cardi.....

It was 37 degrees C here today and will drop to only 26 overnight. Horrible!

Well it's nearly 1.00am here so already Christmas Day. I'm about as organised as is possible but I know later today will be hectic. We'll be 8 adults and the 6 grandchildren and the forecast is for 30 degrees C. I wish you all every blessing for the Festive Season and the year ahead. Here's to a happy and healthy 2023! Merry Christmas everyone.

We got a bit done in the back garden today - spruced up ready for the gang coming over at Christmas. At least with all the rain we've had, everything's looking lush; but the rain and hail has held me up on planting out seedlings. Maybe this week.... the lovely calibrachoa I planted out in an urn last week has been attacked by something - birds? possums? - as a good quarter of it was found lying a few yards away. I've put a net over it tonight and we'll see how it is in the morning. Did quite a lot of pruning and cutting back (the dreaded fishbone fern which I fear we are stuck with as I don't fancy poisoning the whole bed) so hopefully sunlight will get to some of the plants which were being screened out.

After a bit of a mix-up (translated to the local Scouts got this new beaut ordering scheme but I didn't read the email properly and thought my bank deposit with name and address should do the trick) I arrived home on Saturday to find our tree had not been delivered. Happily the Scouts replied to my email query very promptly and delivered it first thing Monday morning. I ordered a 6 foot tree but this one is definitely 7 foot. The girls usually want to come over to decorate it but I don't know if they'll have time so we may do it ourselves; at least we've got it indoors and all set up. We still have to do the outside lights and all the other bits around the house. I'm with Aldi - (you can't overdo Christmas)

Excellent news P! I hope you're able to pencil in treatment sooner rather than later. I was at my hospital today for a 10.30am appointment with the haematologist. As expected, she said I wouldn't need to see her again as it would appear the enlarged lymphocytes were a hangover from an infection and not related to lymphoma. I then nicked down to the Imagery department for my 11.30 appointment to have the steroid injection in my right shoulder. Luckily they were running on time (I was in a 2 hour parking spot - I'm too tight to pay for the hospital's car park). The doctor said because the jab was a combined anaesthetic and cortisone, that once the former wore off I might experience more pain than previously but the cortisone would kick in and I would hopefully find some benefit even if it took up to a week to register. Well 12 hours on, I haven't felt worse and am cautiously optimistic that I feel quite a bit better already.

Remember I said I had the fan on last night? Woke up this morning to light rain and had to have the windscreen wipers on driving to the hospital. Tonight I'm back in my woolly jumper! That's Melbourne for you!

I shouldn't have complained about our cold, wet spring. Summer came to Melbourne this weekend. Today it reached 34 degrees and now, at 11.15pm, it's still 28. I'm sitting here with a fan playing on my feet. But ......colder weather awaits us this week - Wednesday forecast to be 10 - 16 degrees. Can't win!

Hacking almost seems like a way of life now. Our internet/landline/Pay TV provider was hacked a couple of months ago. We're told no financial details have been breached but the main worry is identity theft. The State Government mandated that all driving licences had to be replaced (at Optus's expense) and that was done really quickly. Then our private health insurer was hacked. That information has been listed "for free" on the dark web but I'm not sure what value it is.

I check my bank account daily and so far no suspicious activity. I did get a request on PayPal to send £1299.76 because apparently I had bought an i-phone 14. I didn't click on any of the links or phone the number in the email but apparently a lot of people did. The number has been searched 177 times since November 26th.

https://who-calls.me.uk/phone/0800058...

I immediately forwarded the email to spoof@paypal.com and received an acknowledgement. But when I logged in to my PayPal account I could see the request there. I rang PayPal and they were helpful - just said press CANCEL, which I did - and they said they would block to sender's email address and account. But if 177 people looked up the number, the phisher must have had at least 177 fake accounts and email addresses.

P wrote: "Goodnight folks, hope you all have a peaceful sleep and please remember, you can no longer ask anyone where they come from!"

It's a bit of a worry. I'm always interested in where people hail from. Is there any socially acceptable way of inquiring without being labelled a racist? I'm a migrant and always willing to tell my story.

Hail you from Staffordshire, good sir? Or is that going too far?

Please don't give our power companies here any ideas! I'm quite shocked that your providers are sitting on your credit balances and probably making extra profits by investing it in the overnight money market. I don't like DD and avoid it wherever I can. Our gas and electricity bills still arrive in the mail (my choice) and although we pay the cost of supply in advance, we pay the exact amount for power consumed in the last billing period.

We had state elections last weekend and Labor was returned to office for its third term. One of its promises was to reinstate the old State Electricity Commission which was privatised back in the early 90s. It remains to be seen how long that will take and whether it can compete with the private companies (most of which are foreign owned - our provider is French!). One good thing is that it promises to take on apprentices and train them up. Now if they could just bring back the state-owned gas and water companies.......

We haven't had the heating on tonight or yesterday but certainly had it on on Monday. Today was sunny off and on with a cool breeze. However the Bureau is now forecasting 29 degrees on Saturday and 32 on Sunday. We're not India but .....

Summer comes
in a blaze of heat
with sunny smiles
and dusty feet

I've had a busy few days. Daughter, s-i-l, 2 boys and dog stayed over Saturday night. On Sunday it was 4 y/o grand-daughter's birthday party which turned out to be quite a throng with all the family, neighbours and a couple of kinder friends. Yesterday I had a Christmas lunch with three good friends - always held at the home of one of them who has a home and garden that would be the envy of any glossy magazine. We all contributed food and drink and managed to gab away for nearly 7 hours!!! Today I made my way to the hospital for the core biopsy - 4 hours from leaving home to getting back again - but the good news was I didn't have to have it! The doctor got the ultrasound going but he couldn't find any enlarged lymph nodes. They were all normal and too small to insert the implement, so that was 4 hours I was quite happy to give up for a happy ending. Tomorrow I'm baby-sitting 3 y/o grand-daughter to give mum a break with the new baby. I think we'll do some baking.

Glad to hear Raffe is doing better and hope that your grand-daughter is soon on the mend too.

Thanks P. I'm not really up on new products but I know that there are a few margarine brands available that feature plant sterols.

P wrote: "Yes Val, quite pleased to be honest, especially with the Cholesterol figure coming down by 20% (if you can measure it that way!)..."

What are the yoghurt-like drinks? Is it kefir?

Nice to get some positive health news P. I'm sure you're glad it went well. I had 5 vials of blood taken today for various tests. Required before I have the biopsy on Tuesday. As if I don't have better things to do!

I don't know if you see any of the TV shows featuring Australian vet Dr Chris Brown.

This clip shows you never know exactly what the day will bring .....

https://www.facebook.com/reel/6623932...

That sounds yum Isabella. I too have been baking cakes recently. I made a cherry and almond cake for a friend who is coeliac (I've made it previously with tinned plums). For us I made a blueberry (fresh) and lemon crumble cake which I loved (it almost had the consistency of a cheese cake) although I will ease off the cinnamon in the topping next time I make it. Today I'm going to make a cider cake which has a pound of sultanas in it. They've been soaking in the cider overnight so I'm hoping for a good flavour.

It's still quite cold here tonight - heating on again. I did manage to get out in the garden a bit today. Yesterday we went to Bunnings (the biggest home hardware chain downunder) - Mr H needed to stock up on concrete nails, silicone gap filler, some plumbing supplies and other bits and pieces. I bought potting mix, coconut basket liners, and some plants - basil, coriander, and a good size calibrachoa. We also dropped off a lot of toiletries and cosmetics for a charity collection. Annoyingly, I had cashed in some loyalty points (from the main supermarket I use) and the £25 card for Bunnings had arrived in Monday's mail. When I went to use it, it came up as "not recorded as sold" so that resulted in holding on the phone for an inordinate amount of time (once we were back home) and no resolution. "A team leader will contact you in the next 3 to 5 working days"! Today though I did manage to replace the basket liners (damn birds keep pecking away at them for nest-building materials). I don't know how the ivy geraniums were hanging in there because the old liners were almost non existent. I got the calibrachoa into a terracotta urn and the basil and coriander into hanging baskets. I had exhumed about 20 of last season's miniature daffodil bulbs and got those cleaned up and packed away ready for next year. And I planted out a small black-eyed susan I had raised from seed (the only one of four to survive) into an old watering can that Mr H had drilled some drainage holes in. So I feel I've been as productive as the cool weather here is allowing. I'm hoping to chuck some mixed flower seeds down tomorrow in hopes that some of them may come up, assuming we don't get any more hail.

P - it must be a worry when Raffe's problems keep recurring. At least you know what it is and what to look out for. I hope he feels better soon and that Mrs P gets a good night's sleep wherever that might be.

Duke - I'm so glad you feel more positive about coping with the tinnitus and side-effects - and that you've got a brand new pair of hearing aids. I hope the next appointment sorts some more things out for you.