jmgoyder

wings and things

Feb 21

Twisted

by jmgoyder

One of the so-called professionals, who helped measure Son for this spinal jacket today (it’s like a brace/splint thing that he has to wear for three months), also told him the following:

  • that the muscles around his spinal fusion would stop working;
  • that he wouldn’t be able to go to the concert he has been hanging out for;
  • that he should stop riding his motorbike permanently;
  • that his spine was still twisted;
  • that we would have an appointment with the surgeon in a month’s time;
  • that he should stop doing anything strenuous;
  • that he should never play any contact sport, even for fun;
  • that his spine was still twisted;
  • that he would have trouble with his back as he got older;
  • that he would need physiotherapy forever;
  • that he should ask the surgeon any further questions at the appointment;
  • that his spine was still twisted

I arrived at the hospital just after this incident and, as soon as Son saw me, he began to cry. “I’m a freak,” he said and, lying on his back, the tears dripped into his pillow until I found a tissue, after which the pillow got soaked.

So, holding his hand, I decided to contradict every single thing that so-called professional said, and I told Son this:

  • that the muscles around his spinal fusion would keep working;
  • that he would be able to go to the concert he has been hanging out for;
  • that he should keep riding his motorbike permanently;
  • that his spine was untwisted;
  • that we would ring the surgeon before a month’s time;
  • that he should lift weights;
  • that he should have fun;
  • that his spine was untwisted;
  • that he would never have trouble with his back as he got older;
  • that he would need physiotherapy for a short time only;
  • that he should ask the surgeon all of his questions at the appointment;
  • that his spine was untwisted

When I find out who that twisted, so-called professional was (not easy in the whirlwind world of a hospital), I will politely ask her to shut up before she wreaks havoc on any other kids’ dreams.

Uncategorized

35 Comments »
Feb 21

Beautiful black swan

by jmgoyder

One of the reasons I’ve stayed in a rather lovely hotel on the river is because of all the beautiful bird life around here – ducks, swans, cockatoos and other various winged creatures. Early this morning I woke to a chorus of different bird songs but I drifted back to sleep. Later, when I got up, I went out to the balcony with my camera to take some photos and guess what? No birds.

I’ve been waiting over an hour now and still no birds!  I have to check out of the hotel soon and go and see Son, so I’ve decided to take some shots of the beautiful black swan in my room. He didn’t mind being photographed at all and remained very still for the close-ups.

Wings

17 Comments »
Feb 20

Nouns and verbs

by jmgoyder

Before the ‘bird thing’ happened to me, I was unaware of the noun, ‘birder’ and the verb ‘bird’ (as in, ‘to bird’ – you know, ‘birding’). I’d heard of bird watchers, of course, who were sometimes pictured on television, wearing strange safari-type hats, carrying binoculars and cameras, and whispering David Attenborough phrases.

I didn’t really notice these peculiar people with their bird-feeders and their bird baths; I didn’t notice the birds either until, like I said, the ‘bird thing’ happened to me. I think it was the peacocks that did it for me – I absolutely loved the sensation of being able to feed them by hand, and the rest, well the blog tells it all.

However, I am not really a birder yet, in the true sense of the word, because all of our many birds are domesticated. Real birders admire, and take brilliant photos of, the wild birds, and that is something I have a new respect for, thanks to these two incredible bloggers:

http://bobzeller.wordpress.com/http://

http://tootlepedal.wordpress.com/

If it hadn’t been for these guys I would never have noticed how many beautiful wild birds live on our farm, and I would never have bought a better camera!

Noun: Bob Zellar

Verb: Tootlepedal

King peacock: I’m a noun too, you know! If you want a verb, see Queenie….

I just love ‘the bird thing’! I’m going to get heaps of bird feeders tomorrow on my way back to the farm. This is NOT peculiar!

Wings

15 Comments »
Feb 20

Surreal

by jmgoyder

I’m back in Perth and Son has now been transferred to the hospital’s rehabilitation campus and today, for the first time, I saw him walk. Yes, indeed, we had an exhilarating stroll down to the toilets and back after which he was absolutely exhausted and had to lie down again. He had a craving for gravy and chips (yuck!) so I went and got him some from the cafeteria.

The grimace on his face is partly pain but mostly irritation at having his photo taken. This irritation with me is very encouraging as it means he is getting back to normal! On the phone the other day, he said, “Mum, do have to ring me all the time? You are really hard work. I just want to have a little nap.” Brat!

The surreal thing is this: walking down the corridor with him, I was disconcerted by his height-gain. He was already taller, but now he towers over me – really, really weird!

Uncategorized

16 Comments »
Feb 19

Beauty

by jmgoyder

Real beauty never recognizes itself

It averts its face

It would rather splash around than look for its reflection

It searches for grubs

It ponders

Real beauty doesn’t know it’s beautiful….

Wings

12 Comments »
Feb 19

Don’t come any closer!

by jmgoyder

Tina Turner (Araucana rooster): Don’t come any closer, Phoenix.

Phoenix (Golden pheasant): It’s okay, I’m leaving!

Phoenix: Hi guys!

Peacocks: Hi Phoenix, ‘bye Phoenix.

Phoenix: No problems – I get it; I’ll just dance away on my own.

Phoenix: Don’t come any closer, Julie.

Me: I know what you mean, Phoenix.

Wings

10 Comments »
Feb 19

Torn between two lovers

by jmgoyder

Remember this song? If you aren’t old enough to remember it (hehe!) it’s worth a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1F5BLLFAeM

Here is our male Indian Runner duck following his girlfriend. When these ducks run, they look exactly like Basil from Fawlty Towers! I have never named these two because originally we had several until we realised we had a fox problem, so I just call our remaining couple “Duckies”. The male is the one I rescued from the fox that awful morning after the massacre of several poultry. I ran outside, in response to terrible squawking, to find the fox with its jaws around this duck’s neck. Ever since then, he hasn’t been able to quack normally. On the upside, he is very good at sex and never leaves his girlfriend alone; not only that, he tries it on with all the geese and, just recently, with little Tapper.

And here is Zaruma who, as of yesterday, proved his manhood by getting it together with Tapper.

I didn’t even realise Tapper was a girl until I witnessed both the Indian runner and Zaruma eyeing her off (I reckon that this is a gentler way of describing what really happens – hell! Unlike chooks, ducks kind of take awhile.)

So Tapper is now in great demand and has become a terrible flirt! She can’t seem to decide between the Indian Runner and Zaruma.

The funniest thing is that, while I always look away tactfully, whenever ‘it’ happens, the geese go crazy-loud like some sort of cheering squad. I do not approve!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

In a different way, I feel torn between the two people I love most in the world, Husband and Son. With Husband 20 kms south of the farm in the nursing lodge and Son 200 kms north in the hospital, Son is taking priority at the moment and I’m heading back up to Perth to see him soon. Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Husband and he and Son had their first phone conversation since Son’s surgery. I had to enable this because, although Husband can answer his phone, he’s not so good at ringing, and Son is too incapacitated at the moment to answer his phone – argh. Anyway when I finally got them phone-connected, one of the things Son said to Husband was “Now I really know how you feel, Dad.”

Here is a picture of them shaking hands a few days before Son’s surgery. We were at my brother’s place just down the road from the nursing lodge. It seems like a hundred years ago now!

Animal Wings

10 Comments »
Feb 18

Stake-out

by jmgoyder

I now have a really good system happening when I let the emus out of their ‘safe-house’ yard. I park the car, or the ute, outside the gate to the house block and leave the engine running. Then I watch and wait in case the Emerys come sprinting down the driveway. The following picture is looking up the driveway into the farm.

So far, so good, but you never know with these marathon runners! The picture below is of the driveway that leads away from the farm and down to the road. It’s just a small country road but you never know when a truck is going to come through and that’s where the Emerys absconded to the other day. They know they are not allowed down there but, like all teenagers, they like to test the limits. Sometime I have to race them down this driveway in the car, beat them to the road, do a skiddy u-turn and herd them back up. It’s a bit hair-raising for them and for me.

It’s not that they want to get away. After all, they adore me – well, they adore cabbage – and are always perfectly happy to come back to their yard. The whole rigmarole takes a couple of hours!

Someone asked me if I would go back to lecturing at the local university soon but I think the skills I am developing in terms of the emus are equipping me far better for the police force!

Wings

19 Comments »
Feb 17

Pigeon ponderings

by jmgoyder

For some reason, I can’t stop thinking about that pigeon outside the hospital in Perth. I mentioned this pigeon in a previous post and put a photo in, but I took another photo that day because I was amazed by its happiness to peck around in the debris. I was also a bit curious about its colouring – brown.

I guess this preoccupation with that pigeon is a healthy distraction from anxiety about Son and about Husband … dunno!

On Sunday I will go back to Perth to see Son who is being transferred to the rehabilitation centre. I will take him his favourite chocolate – dark Cherry ripe – and I’ll bring a bit of bird seed for the pigeon.

When I told Husband about the pigeon, he was nonplussed but he understood.

Wings

13 Comments »
Feb 17

Tragi-comic

by jmgoyder

When something is funny but not funny, I think it falls into the category of slapstick, or black, comedy. Like this poor little pigeon outside the hospital, in amongst all the rubbish of urban, but having a ball!

Yesterday, when I left the hospital to come home to the farm, Son was still pretty ‘out of it’ and unable to move or eat. My mother took over staying with him and rang me later to say that he was like Lazarus in the afternoon and the physiotherapists and pain team were able to wind the bed up so he was nearly sitting up. He gobbled his lunch and didn’t vomit so all was going very well.

Late this morning, however, I found out that in the middle of the night he’d hallucinated. Here is a paraphrase of what Son told me on the phone:

“Oh Mum, I thought I was in a disco, so I got up and pulled all of my tubes out and went to the toilet, then I was doing this shaking dance move, then they rescued me but I didn’t get the pain button back for three hours so I wanted to die and what if I’ve ruined the operation?”

According to the nurses, all is well despite the incident but hell! I am now WAITING for the doctor who was called in to ring me – argh.

A friend rang yesterday afternoon, before Son’s midnight adventure, and I said, “I can’t believe I have a husband in a nursing home on my left and a son in hospital on my right, and they are both neurologically challenged and 200 kilometres apart!”

She said, “Are you okay?” and I said, “Yeah, I feel like I’m in one of those weird comedies!” and she said, “That’s a good way of looking at it.”

I mean crying gets really boring after awhile, so I’ve discovered bellylaughing; it’s much better for the soul – hehe!

Animal Uncategorized Wings

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