Home and Well
OK my friends, it’s time I let you all know that my medicine is doing a great job of keeping me well and that the long process of moving into my home and organizing all my stuff is almost complete.
I am living in a lovely bayside suburb of Brisbane and can walk out of my house, stroll down to the end of my block and walk along the foreshore for kilometres, or as far as I want to go, looking at the sea. For those of you who don’t know the area, Brisbane sits on Moreton Bay, a large Bay whose outer boundary is formed by North and South Stradbroke Island and Moreton Island, islands largely made of sand in a very unusual natural phenomenon. Not far north is Fraser Island whose unique landscape is formed exclusively of sand. There are other smaller islands within Moreton Bay. This is part of the sea and sky scape I watch in wonder as I stroll along finding relaxation, peace and healing from the visually jarring urban landscape, unhealthy air and noise of Wuhan. My soul and body are finding healing here and it is not just the exercise and medicine that is doing it. Even though I am in a suburb of a city of over a million people it is a healthy place.
I also love the smell of incense (xiang) and often burn scented candles, use scented oils in an evaporator and burn fragrant incense. The best incense is made in India and I can buy it very cheaply in this area. I am sure the scent is also a healing and restful influence in my life lately.
My home is full of furniture and goods which almost miraculously appeared from relatives, friends and from shops at bargain prices I stumbled upon. There are still some gaps but even today I happened upon two bargains, one of which I visualised about two weeks ago as a thing I needed but didn’t think such things were made any more at a price I could afford, a chair that converts to a useful small portable staircase. As I intend to hang some of my lovely Chinese cloths on walls and put at least one more shelf up it is essential. I walked into a second-hand shop today and there was the chair stair I had visualised. Wow! Am I being looked after or what?
Remember my experiences at the Post Office as I sent six boxes to Australia. (Read my blog about it.) Well, it wasn’t three months but it was well nigh two and a half and not all the China was broken but the boxes were a terrible mess. I’ll post the story separately. It’s already written elsewhere as part of a writing exercise I have given myself to keep me focussed.
You might remember my medical problem is a damaged heart that is arrhythmic and promotes fluid build up in my lungs. This is complicated by diabetes that I allowed to get right out of control in China. Now my sugar levels are brilliant every day and I feel almost normal in my energy levels except I cannot lift anything heavy as I once could and I can’t walk as fast or walk all day without stress as I once could. The many pills I take every day are working very well and enable me to keep up a level of exercise that might restore strength and better functioning to my heart one day.
The only setback lately is that I also bought a motor scooter and enjoyed riding it so much I neglected to walk for a few days and today when I started again I became a little more out of breath than a week ago! Daily walks are on again. However, it is great to have some cheap transport. Now I am on a Disability Support Benefit (once called an Invalid Pension) and will learn to manage on that while hoping to pick up a little more income here and there. I don’t believe I could handle even a part time job in any field I have experience in so here’s hoping that one day my writing will change from a hobby to work. It would be ideal as I could set my own timetable and number of hours of work.
Now I have a small backpack again my camera will be going to work, partly for fun and partly as another hope for a small income. Expect photos from time to time so you can see something of this lovely city but for now I will leave you with the assurance that I am back on track health wise and settling in to Australia again very well.