As you can see from the pictures below it has been very very dry here but finally today it rained properly. Ahhhh! The best thing about this for me is that my nearly healed pompholyx condition will hopefully not come back. It is definitely much better now that it isn’t so hot.
Pearl and Woodroffe searching futilely for insects in the dry grass:
Michael Jackson wishing the pond were fuller:
A forlorn parrot on a dead palm branch:
Freckle and MJ waiting for rain (or bread!)
One of our many crows in a dying wattle tree:
I did a whole lot of reading today (once again) about pompholyx, and was alarmed at various people’s stories. Some people had suffered repeated outbreaks for over 20 years! One man had tried to kill himself. Another had had to quit his job because it entailed the handling of chemicals. One woman was unable to change her baby’s nappies due to the pain. I read story after story after story and it became very clear to me that there is very little known about the disease, there is apparently no cure, despite many remedies, and I have now compiled a list of vitamins and creams and potions that I will buy tomorrow. My dermatology appointment isn’t for another week and a half so in the meantime I have taken bits of advice from all I have read and will endeavor to avoid all of the possible triggers: water, soap, coffee, cleaning products, dairy, wheat, dust, tea, heat, stress, alcohol, wool, and anxiety.
I feel very positive – and cool – and a bit dirty!
jmgoyder 
Sometimes my sense of humor seems unnecessarily warped. It just occurred to me — I hope my blog (The Task at Hand) doesn’t ever develop a case of pompholyx! Best wishes in getting that danged condition under control!
I love your sense of humour!
And for us northern hemisphere folks, finally a bit warmer and snow gone!
Glad for you!
I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be but an unpleasant memory eventually and nothing chronic will come of it. 🙂
Hope so!
It’s 11c here and a bit cool. Golfing tomorrow at 7.00am and it will be -2 so need to pack gloves.
The hot weather will soon be here!
I think I should move up there!
Its cold today. The clocks changed at 02.00 so it was still a slight bit dark when we teed off at 07.00. After that the next people teeing off were at 08.30.
Lost no golf balls but found 5 decent ones.
Don’t read too much…I have an autoimmune issue, and if I spend too much time reading about it, I can make myself crazier than I already am!
Oh! Okay. Thanks Mimi xxx
Julie, I suspect we have a lot in common, a couple years ago when I found out I had COPD, I spent hours and hours at the computer reading and searching, and 2nd guessing. I say this to say I completely get what and why your doing it. More power to you, the better informed the better off you will be. So keep it up, and if you weren’t so dang far away I would wash your back. Take care, Bill
Haha – yes, Google can be informative but scary too!
Glad your heatwave has abated and the pompholyx too.
We are waiting for the most recent snow to melt and for spring to remember it’s time!!!!
Good luck with the research. Good luck with the not washing — and no coffee! Oh my.
Hugs
Happy Spring!
It seems I’m reading more and more about medical conditions that are not curable… I sure hope that while yours is not… you’re able to keep it at bay…. ‘Glad you got the rain…now can we have some of your sun’ ?? Diane
Hah – we should do a house swap.
Glad your hands are improving with the cooler weather.
So am I.
It’s been a cool spring day here. My friend is coming home from Aus for the first time in six years. Looking forward to seeing her in the near future.
I have s stupid condition that no one seems to know how to treat. If I go near someone with perfume, aftershave, cigarette smoke, cleaning products etc, my vocal cords spasm open and I can’t speak. It doesn’t hurt but is very annoying and makes me unsocial in indoor activities. Very cross but it seems to be a rare thing. I’ve heard of others with sensitivities but not being affected on the same way.
That sounds awful! Have fun with your friend xx
While you obviously have MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity), as do I, it might help to be a wee bit antisocial for a while (days, months, or even years if necessary) and encourage family & friends to have outdoor social events so that the annoying culprits that affect you are diluted with a bit of fresh air. I stay away from crowds indoors & outdoors, but if I leave the city late and get caught on crowded public transport that has the very worst of odours, I’m forced to get off and wait for another bus/tram that is less crowded.
I try to avoid the cleaning and toiletry aisles of supermarkets & the perfume areas of department stores too.
Some people can eventually desensitise their bodies of MCS, but often it goes hand in hand with some other chronic health condition. If you resolve the other health condition, sometimes you can resolve the MCS.
You would be surprised how many people are becoming sensitive to artificial perfumes, chemicals, additives & food colourings, cigarette smoke & so on in the western world.
I say……………clean up this planet and get back to nature and restore the environment…..we don’t need all this artificial ‘junk’.
Thanks for giving it a name. I went to my quilt group today and all of the ladies commented that they had thought of me and not put anything perfumed on. One lady even went and changed her clothes after she had dressed.
I am having to turn down invitations because of the difficulty. I’m in good health but have had problems with food intolerances in the past and just avoid the triggers. The trouble is you get labelled as a nutter.
I’ve been labelled with everything from Hypachondriac to Nutter to Obsessive to…….
Now, I just pace my day and look after my own Health & Wellbeing with the support of a kind, compassionate, wonderful caring GP. From time to time I do need a Specialist, but in general, being in tune with your body and educated in your health conditions, works. I’ve found no amount of being sociable, and a ‘good sport’ is worth the distress and days of recovery which results (when you expose yourself to these kind of MCS stressors). Some people can literally choke and pass out in the worst episodes.
Do you know, I don’t know anyone else and my GP and the specialists i was sent to have been any use. Its been a case of sorting it myself. If I cannot escape the smells then I do begin to feel nausea and headache. The speech therapist almost told me I was imagining it but not in those words. The funny thing is my husband and sons have begun to recognised which ones will affect me and warn people off. I was in the bank and a lady came in wearing a perfume and I felt sure by the time I got to the counter, I wouldn’t be able to speak. I was surprised when I could , so even I don’t always know what will affect me. Its a real support to know , its not just me. I wear masks that help but dont have a lot of effect in large crowds so I don’t go to events unless via have too. I must attend a training event this Sunday so will be masked all day and sit right at the front where others don’t want to be. It helps. I hope to grow out of it haha. I blame it as my menopause symptom because I didn’t have much else.
Lovely pictures Julie 🙂
Happy to know you feel better. I really hope your condition improves soon.
I hope Anthony and Ming are doing well.
Love x
Thanks Ritika!
Oh, those photos and captions made me smile. Good luck with the purchases for your hands. Got our fingers and paws crossed for you.
Ha – love the paws!
LOVE the pics, and happy you’re getting some relief!
Me too.
Yeah, I’m hoping the shoping list bears good fruit to completely heal your hands. can’t imagine suffering that for twenty years!
Some of the stories I read were hellish!
Love the photos and so glad that your hands are feeling better. Here’s hoping you don’t have to deal with it for 20 years!
Diana xo
Fingers crossed!
You have such a wonderful sense of humor and such an honest way of looking at life….good things will follow!
Thanks Tiny!
I’ve got plenty of cool weather over here if you want some.
Yes please.
Heather! Amazing to handle responding to a thing called””blog”. I am terrified but here goes.I absolutely love your sense of humour.Dan agrees with you completely and says the most important thing to avoid is being alive. Sorry about that but he is a bit quirky.I did it!!
Yay – you did it!
Much cooler here today as well only around 26°C
Yay!
Since I can now go blog camping again, it wasn’t hard to determine which camp I wanted to visit first. I’m hoping to see lots of our fine feathered friends and find out how Ming and Anthony are doing.
Yay!!!!
Cooler weather is always most welcome after the heat. I do hope that your skin condition can be alleviated with some of your concoctions. xx
I am glad the weather is cooler for you.
I have always found reading and become knowledgeable on a topic helps us understand what we are dealing with and then we can face it, no matter how difficult. So even though it seems scary when you first read, then you can apply the knowledge and feel more in control.
Good luck! My friend is wheat and dairy free–and I cook for her and her husband every other Friday. We take turns, so she cooks the Fridays that I don’t. She loves desserts, and those were a little tricky, so I bought a great cookbook that helps. It’s do-able once you start looking around.
So glad you have relief from the heat…and from your pompholyx: good luck avoiding everything. Hope you get some rainfall soon, that will help.
Thanks Lisa.
I don’t mind if you want to send us a little more heat.
I can assure you, you wouldn’t like too much of it!
It looks like you have a small shark in the pond … maybe that is why MJ aren’t too comfortable.
Personal I couldn’t live with hot seasons like your summer …planning to visit in November – hope it’s pleasant then. Nice galley. I hope you will get some rain soon.
Ha – I saw the shark lookalike too!
In my early to mid 20s there were several things that would make my hands break out in water blisters and peel. (I don’t know if it was what you have…) They were: digging in the garden without gloves, NCR paper when I worked at the bank, and apparently, my first husband, or perhaps it was his over controlling mother. (She used to come over first thing, unannounced, and inspect my housekeeping skills!) I had my most serious break out when we were living in Washington state, and near his parents farm. I left him back in 1975, and amazingly, I have never had the problem again. 😀
Julie, I’m so glad that you are getting the cooler weather you desire, and that you are getting some relief for your condition.
Yes, thank God for the cooler weather Julie. I think cool, less humidity and more comfortable weather helps lots of frustrating hard-to-fix health probs.
I hope your hands continue to improve, but I daresay at least you have the advantage of living in a clean, country environment and you have the choice of what artificial chemicals or cleaning products you use.
(I’m just out of nearly a week in hospital, so I will catch up with your blog posts over a period of time, I hope).
yikessssssss