Welcome to Another Weekend Coffee Share!
Yesterday, was Father’s Day here in Australia. Unfortunately, my parents have colds so we couldn’t go round to see them. However, we were able to focus on Geoff and went to Church as a family for the first time in about 18 months (due to covid) and out for dinner to a fabulous local Indian restaurant. We couldn’t finish it off, and brought the leftovers home so the east will continue tonight albeit more of a nibble. Indeed, I’m about to head out to buy some more chicken to cook up with my leftover sauce.
Did you celebrate Father’s Day where you are? I also understand that it’s a day of reflection and grief for many so if that’s you, I send you a hug and my thoughts.
As you may recall, Geoff and I went to Bathurst what is like three weeks ago now, and I’m still in the very early stages of writing up about our trip here on the blog. I’m also wanting to write some freelance articles as well, but decided to write these posts for the blog first and use them as a launching pad.
However, my third post about a trio of marble sculptures in Machattie Park has become very complicated taking me down numerous deep and meandering research burrows without really feeling confident about the basic facts like who made the sculptures, and how they came to reside in a fernery in a park in Bathurst 200 km WNW of Sydney. My quest has taken me back to the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879 where a swag of nations set up camp and showed of their national achievements. In addition to the main exhibition hall in the Garden Palace a separate art gallery was built and two out of three of these sculptures were displayed there and bought by the Art Gallery of NSW who went on to loan them to the city of Bathurst to put in their you beaut park with the band rotunda and massive fountain. By the way, the sculptor was Giovanni Fontana who was a well-known Italian sculptor at the time, who was commissioned to produce a number of public sculptures in Sydney. So far, I’ve been able to trace back the providence of two out of three of the statues but the third one is eluding me and I’ve lost myself down so many rabbit burrows as I said just trying to put the basics together, that I’ve ended up terribly lost and confused to the point of losing what I actually know. Have you ever experienced that?
Meanwhile, the other big news around here, is that Miss sprained her ankle last Friday night at dance. When it happened, they all heard a loud snap and they were really concerned she’d broken it. I missed a call from an unknown number just as I was meeting up with friends, and that turned out to be her dance teacher. They rang Geoff instead who was at home and so he drew the short straw of taking her to Gosford Hospital for hours on end while we waited and prayed for a verdict and I was going through all her dance commitments in my head and wondering how bad this was going to be and the implications of it all. I was also rather concerned about how she was responding to all of this psychologically. For a mere mortal, a sprained ankle is a painful inconvenience but for a ballerina, it can so easily feel like the end of the world. However, fortunately the timing is fairly good and she doesn’t have anything big right away. Her dance teacher has also referred her to special physio, which is probably going hurt us more in terms of the bank account, but you do what you’ve got to do.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Beyond the Flow 
Rowena, Thank you for your weekend coffee share and beautiful pictures. In Canada, Father’s Day is in June when the weather is usually nice for outdoor BBQs. I hope your daughter is feeling better and her sprained ankle will fully recover. Have a great week!
Happy Father’s Day to Geoff and best wishes for a quick and complete recovery for your daughter.
Hello, my friend, it’s been a busy summer here in the hot southwest. well not as hot as the west coast, crazy weather. I hope your beautiful daughter is on the other side of her ankle injury, and up and about. Looks like you had a wonderful Father’s Day. We have been busy getting ready for my sister to come and stay for about 3 weeks and her best friend is flying down from Alaska for a week too. She wants to go see our brother in Yuma so all 3 of us will head that way for a few days. I have been on the outs with him and his wife since we moved here in 2018, so I am not looking forward to that little trip, but for my sister I will bite the bullet and go. We have had a porch put on the front of the house, there were 3 huge steps, half-moon cement steps that killed my knee going up and down, no handrails and extremely dangerous, as the half-moons got smaller as you got to the top. So, after a near mishap of falling backwards I put my put down, pun intended, LOL and hired someone to come change it!! My husband is very frugal and thought we should just use the back door. Nope I am not walking out of my way to get into my home. Otherwise just been doing little odd things around the house and getting the house cleaned up. Hope life is treating you well…XXXXkat
Hi Kat.
It’s so good to hear from you. Sorry to hear about your mobility issues. I know what it’s like and it’s great you’ve had the front entry to your house made more accessible. I agree with you about not having go round the back. You are worth the investment!
Things have been rather up and down around here. Miss competed in Nationals for Cheer with her school, and they came a very close second. That was up on the Gold Coast and they stayed in Surfers’ Paradise under the supervision of teachers. So, she was thrilled and they had a wonderful time. While they were there, Geoff and I went to Bathurst for four days and had a wonderful time. I must’ve been living on a prayer while we were out there. I had so much energy and have crashed out since we arrived home. A close friend died just before we left and had spent a week in his flat before they found him. The they as the Police and my friend went down to check on him and was liaising with me and I was helping to find next of kin etc. It was awful grief wise but also knowing he was there like that. He was a recluse so it was almost inevitable. I’ve finally got my head and heart around it now.
Meanwhile, Miss sprained her ankle at dance last week and we’re waiting on the results of the ultrasound but it sounds like a ligament has snapped in her ankle. She was supposed to be a big swan in Swan Lake in three weeks and will still be taking part but not filling that role which is such a pity.
Then,last Friday the Queen passed away. I’ve been feeling quite sad about it, although I’m a republican. She’s been around all my life and after watching the footage I’ve really come to appreciate so much more about her and her great wisdom and the incredible life she led. So, I’ve been feeling a bit down and haven’t had a lot of energy. Will try to get out for a beach walk tomorrow.
Had better head off.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Thanks very much, Dan. We had a great Father’s Day. Thank you for asking about my daughter’s ankle. It appears that she’s snapped one of the ligaments, although we’re waiting for the ultrasound results. She seems to be handling the situation quite well, which surprises me. She has exams this week and there never seems to be a dull moment.
How are things with you?
Hope they’re going well.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Ouch, that sounds horrible. I hope that is something that heals.
We are doing well. The heatwaves and drought seem to have passed.
We’re hopeful that the ankle will make a full recovery. Her feet re very strong from her dancing, especially from her pointe work but we could be in denial.
Heatwaves and drought are usually our thing, but we’ve had a lot of rain which is eased for awhile but is set to return. I am looking forward to Spring and the wattle is out in places which can be particularly spectacular with groves of yellow. The waratahs are apparently out locally and I’ll have to go and check them out. They’re absolutely spectacular. read some travel stories from the paper encourage me to write some travel articles and they were over in such exotic places like the Greek Isles which might as well be over the rainbow for me at this point in time. However, I can go and look at the waratahs and a flock of sulfur-creasted cockatoos landed in our front yard this morning and were eating the cones from our Norfolk Island Pine. It’s important to appreciate the little things around ou(jolt to self), especially after age of the Queen’s death and her life. Thank you for giving me a bit of a lift this morning. I find it quite encouraging to see my world through the eyes of my blogging mates like yourself who actually find my everyday exotic.
Best wishes,
Rowena
You live in a place I am not likely to ever see in person. I wish I could make the trip, but I doubt I will. But I love reading stories about real life there.