UNPACKING!!!!

With thanks to CG who keeps giving me titles to build a story around!

I arrived at my house in Cairns yesterday, and was so pleased to just close the door and try out my new beds! All the travelling had left me exhausted and I needed a good night's sleep. Thank goodness I have come at a cool time of year!! 

Now I start the task of unpacking the crates I sent over from the UK some time ago. The outsides aren't damaged and I hope all the packing materials kept breakages at bay. I think I'll start with the items to go in the kitchen - oh, good, no china breakages! Was worried a little about the crockery, especially as I think it will be used more often here. Luckily, I have a week before the shipping agent comes to collect the empty crates. May need most of the time to sort out the books, especially as I need to make bookshelves - my router will finally be used as I intended when I first bought it, and the assortment of bits may give interesting finishes to the woodwork. However, as long as I do not have books lying around everywhere, I shall be happy to build the basic shelves and add fancy touches later.

Yippee! No breakages of my ornaments and pictures!! Although I gave lots away to charity shops before they were packed, I think there will be a few to go to an op shop [charity shops in Oz!] soon. Part of the packing protection of these items was cat accessories. I didn't want to get rid of the triangular-ish catlit tray, and know the cat carrier will be very useful. Shall have to read all the notes Alicia kindly prepared on local shopping areas, especially those selling cat food, etc, and, as soon as the tabby kittens come here and have settled in, they will be registered with the best veterinary surgeon and a timeline worked out for shots and neutering. The carrier is large enough to transport both of them for several months, so it will be a while before I have to buy a second. Shall see how life is with two feline companions for a while before I decide whether or not I take on any more kittens. Would love a houseful, but have to talk to the immediate neighbours to see how they feel about several cats allowed outside during the day. It doesn't take long for cats to adjust to human hours, and I shall have to make sure they do not roam during the day, and are safely indoors overnight.

I took the time to empty the luggage brought with me, travelled light as I knew a lot of my clothes would be too warm for life in Cairns, while I had a welcome coffee and snack lunch. Am still missing Bracken a great deal, was looking for her to share my lunch, at least she had a long and good life and passed peacefully in her sleep. 

Day three - penultimate crate - bedlinen, curtains, etc. I left all the duvets and pillows behind, think duvets won't be needed here, although I brought all of my crocheted blankets. Need new pillows, like to have four on each double bed, two memory foam and two thinner foam pillows. Love the linen cupboard here, oodles of shelves and space! Shall store pictures and ornaments in here whilst deciding what goes where.

Day five - last crate - books. For the time being I have put some in the second bedroom and most of the rest in the linen cupboard. Books I want to hand are in the living room, on a small bookcase Alicia provided. If it wasn't for Alicia and her family, I would not have such a lovely home. They found all the basic items I required, including a dishwasher, and gave me several surprise items I hadn't thought about, including some small shrubs in planters, and arranged for a gardener to come regularly to mow the grass, etc, and he brings his own equipment!!

Thank you very much, Alicia and your lovely family for everything you have done for me!!!

Virginia Kop/Kop's Kattery

29 October 2013

I Have A Dream!

I often plan unattainable events - designing property to live in if I had £mega-millions. What charities to give chunks of that money to, etc, etc. I don't try to win that kind of money nowadays, too scary! Recently I started another dream - going to Oz, meeting most of my lovely Bloggers, then settling down near one of them. This dream is crazier than any others! For the simple reason that I cannot travel more than 2-3 miles!

Where to start? Having the money safely in a Bank Account (or three), the next step is to arrange for my very first passport at age 63. That means a journey to another county!! After discussing my plans with Australia House, I am given the appropriate visa. The next step is consulting a Blogger in the area where I'd like to have my 'forever home', and arranging to buy a property there with basic furniture, not taking what I have already - except for some crockery, cutlery and cookware. cushion covers, bedlinen, curtains, lots of books, electronics, dvds, cds, cassette tapes, videotapes, cat bits & pieces, photos, pictures and special ornaments. They will not travel with me, have a very busy time before emptying the boxes at my new home.

I didn't want to fly to Oz, know there will be lots of flying once there, so planned to take a liner. Easy, no! No current direct liners from the UK, could go to America, transit that country then board another liner to Oz! Don't really want to go by freight carrier, but am not a cruise person so that may be the only option. As long as I can get to Perth! There eventually and after grillings by Customs and Immigration, my first port of call is an hotel, where I regain my land-legs for several days before contacting a special Blogger - Peggy of cake crumbs & beach sand. After a few meetings over several days as and when convenient - marvellous coffee and cakes, cute lunches - we take our leave of each other, and I 'jump on a plane' and visit with another Blogger. Then, back to Perth, for the last time. Goodbye Perth!

Off to Sydney, thank goodness the wildfires are over, it is terrible to see the damage they have made as the plane approaches Sydney airport. Still have the palaver of getting through Customs and Immigration, especially because I am not carrying lots of clothing, etc! No quick meetings with Bloggers here, flying is still a new form of travel for me - and I shall be very happy when I alight from the final plane in a few weeks' time! I contact some family whom I've never met before, but 'know' from Facebook. Making the most of the shops in Sydney, meet up with with a special Blogger - Sonia of Life, Love and Hiccups! We are both nervous, so it takes a while to get past the initial pleasantries and 'warm up' to each other. There is another Blogger, who is a very busy woman, to meet, but I decide to go to Melbourne first where more lovely Bloggers await my call from the Hotel once I've recovered. Am shown some lovely parts of the city, and I'm so happy I decided to spend more than a week here! Back to Sydney - gosh I've put a lot of flying behind me, and pleased I only have one more flight! Decide I must take the opportunity to visit Bondi Beach! Have seen it so often on tv it is all very familiar. I'm not swimming, surfing or paddling - just enjoying the vibes from this iconic place. Also visit that other icon - Sydney Opera House, nothing on the programme I'd like to see though. 

I'm taking my time in Sydney, need to get furniture and other items for my new home, and love shopping with Sonia, an avid home-maker, who shows me lots of  lovely shops. Once we've finished shopping, and I have met up with the busy Blogger - another special person, as they all are! -  it is time to say goodbye to Sydney and head off, by plane, to Brisbane. Last airport, thank goodness! A bit too old to get used to all of this, glad I decided to hire car and chauffeur for the last part of my journey!  The penultimate Blogger is just as lovely as the rest, and I'm so very happy I've taken the opportunity to meet so many! Final shopping, including food for the drive to Cairns, and for my new home. Yes, I could have flown instead of taking two days - no more planes, too fast for me really. Want to savour the countryside at a decent speed!

At Cairns I receive a very big, warm greeting from Alicia, of 365 Moments of Gratitude Project and her lovely family. We have been in regular contact for some time now, she even assisted me in finding a suitable property nearby, acting as my Agent, and arranged some basic furniture, plus every item I need in the kitchen - good, a dishwasher! which I am delighted to see - although not as nice as finally meeting this remarkable woman and her family. There is even the opportunity to foster-to-adopt a kitten in the near future. Luckily I kept some of the items I had in England, and had them shipped here. Once all the purchases in Sydney have been delivered and unpacked and I'm feeling very much at home I shall go to see the kitten - the perfect way to meet the new feline in my life! No doubt there will be others - I'll be the Pommie Crazy Cat Lady in Cairns! It has been an incredible journey and I am so very happy I was given the opportunity to enjoy the rest of my life in this beautiful country.


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Virginia Kop/Kop's Kattery

26 October 2013
My Mother's Birthday 1925

MOON

The Blogfast Club

MOON

Silvie woke with a start, not knowing how or why. Her room was much darker than normal as the window was boarded up to stop her looking at the Moon - much closer than normal and brightly blue - the Harvest Moon!

The Elders and villagers had warned all the girls who were between 11 and 16 years of age to keep to their darkened rooms for the week the Moon visited every 13 years. Whilst crops flourished under this Moon, any maiden looking at it was instantly transfixed and became shells of their former selves. These poor souls were taken to a special part of the forest to live their lives out with no recollection of how they had been before looking at the Moon. They could not speak, sing, dance, or do anything except eat one meal a day which was provided for them.

Whilst Silvie loved life too much to want to be one of those people, she knew she had to see the Moon very soon, before it went away again. If caught trying to remove any part of the boarding, she would be locked in a windowless room for the rest of the Moon's visit. That she didn't want either, as her only human contact would come from her Mother pushing food and drink though a small hole in the door until it was safe for her to be released. "I wonder why I feel that I MUST see the Moon?", she mused quietly to herself. During the time before the Moon's arrival, she had experimented with as many tools as she could find and had selected a pointed file as being the quietest and quickest one to make a hole in the boards. She was aware that two of the floorboards had been adapted to make a noise if she trod on them, but she had discovered that her chair could straddle them safely if carefully positioned.

Checking the time on her clock, she decided that there was sufficient time to make the hole before the household started to wake. Carefully moving the chair, Silvie started using the pointed file to make a start on a portion of the board which seemed to be the best place to start. It was a really slow business, seemed to take hours just to get the hole started, but when she looked at the clock she was relieved to see that mere minutes had passed. "Keep going, Silvie, there is ample time", she said, listening in case there was any noise in the house at all. As the file bit through the wood, she could see a little blue colour behind it - "nearly there, So close, so very, very close to the Moon. Surely it cannot be much longer now until I know why I must see it?" 

As the hole grew larger, and the blue streamed into her room, Silvie was transfixed, but then she saw the spirit of the Moon, holding out his hand, saying "Silvie, you were promised to me many years ago. Come, take my hand and we shall leave a message for your family so they do not wonder where you have gone. I have waited for you for aeons and now we are together there will be no more maidens lost each time the Harvest Moon appears. From now on, the maidens are safe and we shall come every year to enhance the crops." Hand in hand, the pair walked to the Blue Moon and disappeared into it.

After several years passed, the villagers were so thankful for the safety of their maidens and the regularly fruitful crops that they held a festival on the first day of the Harvest Moon and were sure they could see Silvie with the spirit of the Moon dancing amongst them, along with several smaller shapes signifying their offspring.

Virginia Kop/Kop's Kattery
12 October 2013

The new challenge is a story - about whatever you like! Enjoy!

    

Bracken - Full Steam Ahead!

Bracken has fully adjusted to being an 'only' cat with arthritis to slow her down at times, which seems to be under control with her daily dose of medicine. The manufacturers did extremely well to get the taste suited to particular palates - on the sweet side - and it mixes well with the Ocean Fish Pate she gets every morning. We changed up from evenings so she could be more lithe during the day and I think that has worked well. 

She gets annoyed when I breathe at times while she lies beside me. And, boy, she hates me texting then as well. At times she wants my hand touching her, two minutes later she has changed her mind! Then I get the love times - her head on my hand, then one leg lies over my arm [albeit an occasional claw is misplaced and jabs straight into my arm!]!!! Bliss, but arthritis in MY fingers/hand often make this a much shorter time than she is willing to give - the left hand would be better, but she won't lie there, has to be on my right side. So, I let her lie as long as I can manage before disturbing her with apologies as the hand HAS to move away before I want to scream with the pain. Of course I tell her why I am moving my hand away, does she understand? I do know she understands a lot of what I tell her - can stop her chasing birds, give her a time limit for last time outside of an evening [she often comes in early and feels resigned to being locked up for the night at a time when she would dearly love to frolic in the moonlight], still need to work on getting her to stay still when I want to move past/over - 'don't move' is currently the best command. Cats are notorious in moving the wrong way - a wheelchair-bound friend said that no matter how often they nearly ended up under the wheels her cats just didn't realise what was the right way to move. I even hired a wheelchair for a week while I was in London to test this out for myself - it is true, unfortunately, all four cats decided the wheels were interesting!!

Cats are a bit like humans - people stop to speak on the narrowest part of pavement, not worried about how others cannot get past or they'll block a shop's doorway - Bracken often lies in doorways or thereabouts, then when she decides to move, which way? - yes, straight into my feet!