Truce...holding.

Exchanged a few civil words with the old bat yesterday - but I had an evening class and an arriving Couch Surfer...so I could avoid Family Dinner.
I came home mid-afternoon to take a break, and lay in wait for the postman to get to the bottom of the postbox/morning glory complaint. But..... he sailed right by on his motorscooter because we didn't have any mail! Bugger. I'll have to send myself a letter to make sure he comes when I am here?


No, not even I am going to go that far.
Maybe.


Yujiro's take on all of this - apart from obviously thinking it is a storm in a doorstep planter - is that Okaasan probably met the postman and apologised to him for the mail box being covered up, and then decided to help him and me by ripping up those troublesome plants that were stopping the flow of bank statements and catalogue advertising into our lives.


Ho hum. The morning glories won't grow tall enough again now, September is a-coming and the temperatures here will fall over the coming weeks...


Okaasan has nested back into her room with the heated table and a much reduced pile of stuff on the table in front of her. But I noticed she has already taken off all the clothes' drawers labels....and stuck them INSIDE the drawers....which of course is a big help to knowing what goes in what drawer...we tried and failed. 
But at least the carpet doesn't have fleas in it anymore and the table trash mountain is lower.

Dad's ash scattering place in his garden - guarded by the stone dog he made.

Yesterday was the day my dad died 2 years ago.
We think.
He probably died on the evening of August 24th after visiting his wife in hospital and coming home to cook sausages for his dinner. His pancreas exploded or something and he collapsed on the living room carpet and hit his head on the fireplace - that morning he'd actually felt sick enough to call out the doctor, who came for a short visit and told him to "take it easy"....
We guess/hope that dad died quickly with his dog Jenny by his side.
Two days later the postman found him.


Yesterday I just had a normal working day really. I put a picture of Dad by my bedside and thought about him a lot. How life has changed so much in 2 years. Recently the lawyer and the accountants are getting dad and step-mum's wills sorted out, so some money came through. It's nice to have some money, but I'd rather have Dad and Jane.


It gets easier, little by little, but I still get sudden sadness and start crying. Wrote an email to a friend who is managing bank stuff for me in England - and found myself sitting here at the computer crying for my Dad.


And so. Onwards.


Australian holiday is only 4 weeks ago today :-)) I will teach my Thursday morning class and head out to the airport for sunshine, blue water, Great Barrier Reef and good times with my mate Loretta in Melbourne.