Walker & TV

I headed off to Phillip Island, yesterday afternoon to see Mum & Dad again. It seems so long since I last saw them, when we were in McCrae together!

I took some snippings from the veggie patch with me - some lettuce, beetroot leaves, spring onions, radishes, a cucumber, some snow peas and my very first (almost) ripe tomato!  The picture makes it look more like a pumpkin than a tomato, but it is still pretty big - about four inches in diameter!  It's amazing to think that just a few weeks ago (click on these coloured words to go to that post), this lovely big piece of fruit was barely the size of my little finger nail!

I arrived late in the afternoon, so we spent a couple of hours just chatting and catching up on each other's news. They have bought Dad a brand new walker in the past few days and he was keen to show it off to me. It's a really good quality one, sturdy but lightweight and able to fold up to put in the car.


Dad seems to walk so much more confidently and even a little faster when he is using his walker.  I think it gives him the security of knowing that, should he start to lose his balance, the walker is there to steady him.  Also, whenever his legs get a little tired, he can lock the breaks, turn around and sit on it for a little while.

I think the walker is just brilliant!

We chopped up the veggies and made a salad, which we had with sardines and fresh bread & butter for tea. Afterwards we went for a walk and Dad was able to show me what a great help the walker is to him.  It was a beautiful evening and we stopped to chat with many of the other residents of the retirement village where Mum and Dad live.  Muffy doesn't ride in the walker, but trots along happily beside Dad.  He just popped her into it for the sake of the photo!

It was a lovely evening for a walk and when we returned home, we opened the jar of plums in honey syrup that I had also brought with me, and had them on ice cream for dessert. This is the first time I had tasted them and they were pretty good!  They are quite spicy and reminded us of Christmas puddings.

Mum & Dad said they were delicious!

The next morning, Dad's carer Trish turned up as usual on Monday at 10:30.  So, after he was settled with her, Mum and I headed off to Wonthaggi to buy a new TV.  The "powers-that-be" in the government have decided that all TV channels will be going to HD soon, and all retired people get a free set-top box so that they can receive the signal on their old TVs properly.  But, instead of this, Mum and I decided it would be better if they got a new TV which would be the right (more rectangular) shape.

When we got to Wonthaggi and after looking around a bit, we found a really good LCD 42" screen TV at one of the big department stores and the staff brought it out to the car for us.  However, it would not fit in my tiny little boot!  So, we put the roof down and drove it home like a back-seat passenger.  HA HA!!  We laughed at the funny looks we were getting from people as we drove past them!


Once we were at home, a really lovely couple who live near Mum & Dad called Beth & Lyle came over to set it up and tune it in for us.  It was so nice of them to do this, as we would most likely have really struggled with it.

Once it was up and going, we all sat down for an iced tea (as it was a very hot day - 32 degrees C - although it was lovely and cool in Mum & Dad's house as they have refrigerated a/c).  Beth and Lyle showed Mum & Dad that they now have a staggering 59 channels to choose from!  Mum said that they might just stick to the four channels they were used to for now and then venture out to try some of the other ones a little later on.

The TV looks great in the corner of the living room and the screen is nice and big with a really good resolution.  I think Mum & Dad are going to enjoy watching it!

After everything was settled, I packed up and headed back up to Melbourne, in time to go out to choir in the evening.