Patra's Other Place

I started out with Patra's Place, primarily dedicated to my linen collection and stitching projects. But I kept getting side-tracked, so I decided to create Patra's Other Place for anything not related to embroidery topics. So you now have a choice. If you are interested in me, read this. If you only want to see my linen and stitching, visit Patra's (original) Place! (Please note that by clicking on any of the photos, they will be enlarged to fill your computer screen.)

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Location: Melbourne, Vic., Australia

I was married to Ken for 43 years, but he died in October 2022. So I am now alone with two cats, eight hens, and a few finches and parrots in one aviary.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

New Year update.

I have deleted the previous post.  Such a tantrum!  I had the early stage of a nasty virus when I wrote it, and by Christmas Day I was quite ill.  Ken caught it in due course and by New Years day when I was just starting to come good, he went down like a ton of bricks.  So it was a very quiet Christmas/new year period for us.  Didn't go anywhere, didn't have any visitors!

Not a good start to the year, and it has continued along the same way since.  One of  Ken's oldest friends died after a long battle with cancer.  Two of my friends are on borrowed time now, as their cancers have spread and nothing more can be done.  Getting old sucks.

Ken was booked in to have his defibrillator replaced on the 18th of this month, then the hospital changed it to the 8th of February, which didn't suit us, so it is now scheduled for 15th February.  It is only a half day procedure, but Ken is still nervous about it as the first time he was in shocking pain for days afterwards.

Our chooks are continuing to provide eggs for us and our neighbours.  I'm doing most of the work feeding the birds every day and cleaning out the aviaries and chookhouse when they need it, as Ken is no longer strong enough to do it.  He does spend time up there with me on a nice day though, and he organises the specialised feeding of certain finches and parrots which I am happy to leave to him.  We both love all our bird families and spend many hours sitting up there with a cuppa and something to nibble, and watching the birds antics.

I have started the year on a roll with my sewing, as I am spending most of my time at home caring for Ken now, so I have time to sit and stitch instead of going out nearly every day with friends like I used to!   You can see what I've been up to at my other blog.  I have been infected with the "colouring in" craze, and have bought and been given a dozen books in the past year!  At least I will be putting my precious Derwent pencils to good use now.   Since the life drawing course last year, I haven't done any sketching or painting, and colouring in has been my sole activity in the world of art lately.   It really is very relaxing.

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