Parkinson Walk - Monday 24th - A.H. Reed Park to Whangarei Falls

Another fine morning for our walk which culminated as usual with coffee and a chat.  More water over the falls now that the rains have started.

 If you magnify the following photo and look carefully there is a man in red at the bottom left of the waterfall.

Parkinson's Walk Monday 17th June

Once again the weather held for our walk - around the coast at Onerahi.  There was a fur seal enjoying itself in the water - very hard to get a photo as it kept diving but the top photo is head and flippers, the next just flippers and the last is the tail.

The Airport is at the top of the hill.  We adjourned there afterwards for a coffee.

How Time Flies

It is hard to believe that three weeks have gone by since my last post.  Unfortunately I have been a bit under the weather during this time.  Nothing major but enough to make me feel unwell.

Still, I have been on a couple of Parkinson Walks.  The first one which was on a back road started with a rainbow.

and finished as usual with a coffee

We always seem to be lucky with the weather.                          

Doug has been helping me in so many ways including taking Max out - we have taken him down to the Town Basin twice now.  It was a little chilly but sunny.  He was well rugged up and always likes to see the boats and have a muffin and coffee.

The next Parkinson Walk was at the Quarry Gardens where we had a very good turnout.

There are some fascinating plants and walks of various degrees of difficulty - ideal for our group.  We then went down to the Town Basin for a coffee and Doug and I went to the Drummond exhibition of photographs and paintings.

Of course it is the start of winter and getting cold.  Kath knows where the best places are depending on the time of day.

Sophie has been having trouble with her leg due to arthritis so we did not walk her for a few days.  Yesterday was soccer once again.

On top of this I had a minor repair done on my car which turned out to be fairly lengthy as the wrong part was sent TWICE - right box - wrong part!!!!

I took Max to the hospital to have dental work done.  He had one temporary filling and I have to take him back for three fillings and possibly an extraction.  It is good getting him into the Hospital Dental Clinic.  The Rest Home has a wheelchair vehicle so it is just a matter of accompanying him.

The following day I had a large filling.  I hope it is all right as I had no pain before the filling but have pain now.  I don't want to have to pay (or go through the procedure) again.

The next day I attended a full day Workshop on the Health of Older People arranged by the Northland District Health Board.  I was the only non medical person of the eighty or so people involved. I found it fascinating and look forward to the follow up workshops as the Hospital looks at ways to improve its service to older people.

Following on from that I later attended a seminar on "end of life services" provided by the hospital.

On Thursday I had a physiotherapist visit Max to help with his standing as, when we took him out, we had difficulty getting him into the car.  He is now having exercises to enable him to straighten his legs.

Apart from the Rest Home doing his exercises Doug has been visiting with me and doing them for him.    Unfortunately, he has not been good mentally in the last few days although his physical health seems good.

In between times I have been doing work in the garden and all the usual household jobs.  Unfortunately, I missed the last Parkinson walk up Mt. Parahaki as I had an Alzheimer's Carers' Meeting to attend but all the walkers reached the top.

They Start them Young

Now that autumn is here the soccer and rugby season is upon us.  When we take Sophie for her walk on Saturdays play is under way.  As with most (if not all) sports here the day starts with the youngest players and moves on up over the day.

The game in the first photo had two players on one side and three on the other - there was a girl in one of the teams

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After our walk we went back to Doug's for a coffee while Sophie waited for FOOD!!!

We then went shopping for some seedlings including Italian Precoce Brocolli, Leeks and Pak Choi.  Although it was fine for our walk we have had heavy showers this afternoon.  Once it is fine again I will be out planting.

Another delightful autumn day

The forecast has been for rain for days now but it has mostly been fine with the occasional shower.  On the way to walk Sophie the clouds were most picturesque.  Later in the day there were layers - in the bottom photo - clear blue sky with white cloud underneath and dark cloud on the bottom layer it looked much darker than the photo shows - it looked like rain but none fell.

This morning we did some planting in my garden where it had been cleared.