I was going to write a post about medical miracles – my father had deep brain stimulation surgery to treat Parkinson’s last week, and it has had a miraculous effect, and after years of declining function, he has has renewed energy and abilities, and he is back, enjoying his retirement, and will be deep sea fishing soon. This article pretty much describes what Dad went through, and the effect it also had on him. He looks amazing, apart from some rather scary scars and shaved head. I’m pretty sure he’s happy for the world to know about the surgery, he did tell the local paper!
Unfortunately, major brain surgery on my father is only one of the significant medical events happening in my family. The family emergency which required the temporary closure of Yarn Workshop in September has become significantly worse, with the patient (who has entirely reasonably requested privacy), being diagnosed with a another life threatening condition that is going to require months of significant medical treatment. I’ll be doing more knitting in hospital corridors.
We only have a few certainties, Yarn Workshop will go into temporary hiatus from 13 November 2009 until it is unpacked in Sydney Australia; and we are in the fortunate position where the Fireman has a job in Sydney. Apart from that, we do not know when we move, where we will move to, whether we will put the kids into school for the dregs of the Australian school year. A few things to figure out.
I’ve recently come across A Commonplace Life via a-black-pepper, and decided to participate in her concept Moments. I edit what goes on in this blog fairly ruthlessly (so you can probably guess how discombobulated my life actually is), but in the photo below you see my dining room on Thursday.
For me, this actually isn’t that messy. There is only one package on the dining table awaiting shipping, one old Koolhaas being stretched into a new shape (effectively as it turns out), the sewing machine which has been in same position for the last three weeks, and stacks of books and papers. The skein of alpaca over the far dining chair has been there for at least 4 weeks. It is awaiting overdyeing. The books and papers situation does not improve around the house, and the guiltiest part of it all is that we actually have a live-in housekeeper who is maniacally tidy.
When we moved to Hong Kong, it became apparent that we had no reasonably priced child care options apart from a live in helper (and I mean none – there are no child care centres for working parents, and we have no family here). N started with us, and stayed when I returned to full time work, and is still with us now. I manage to turn her tidiness into mess.
When we return to Australia, she will not be able to come with us (because of Australia’s immigration laws), and it will be a big readjustment for our family. I’ve taken care of our kids without a helper, and am not so concerned about that aspect, but the girls have known her nearly all their lives, and for them it will be a real loss. Older daughter seems to have inherited a recessive tidy gene, so for her, the change will be really dramatic. What does it say when you actually have a housekeeper, and your house ends up looking like this?
In other news, I’ve updated my “About” page, and formalised my husband’s blog identity as “the Fireman”. He really was a professional firefighter when I met him (over 10 years in the NSW Fire Brigade), and he is still wonderfully calm in the face of a crisis.




