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.

Friday, July 29, 2016

New car!

Today I drove my old car to Mantello Holden over at Fawkner, and Ken drove my new car home!
If he hadn't been able to do that, it wouldn't have mattered - I would have driven it myself, even though I'm a bit nervous about driving an automatic car after 20 years of driving manual cars.  It is still a Barina after all, with basically the same controls, although the new one has a lot more techo. stuff that I have to get used to!  Ken really enjoyed driving it; like most blokes he just loves driving something different for a change.  Tomorrow I will have to get to grips with it and take it for a spin, as the longer I leave it, the less I will feel like driving it!  I hate change, even if it is for the better :-(

On the way home, we stopped off at TyrePower in Eltham, whose mechanics have looked after our cars for years.  The guys had told me to bring it it to show them, so we did.  While we were there, I coaxed one of them to fit the seat covers on the seats for me.  I had someone take them off the old car over at Mantellos, but didn't like to ask them to put the covers on the new car, as they are fiddly and it takes a while to get them right.  So I have my leopard print covers on the seats, my blue crocheted rug over the back seat, and my bits and pieces in the glove box.  I used to have a little blue and yellow felt whale hanging from the rear vision mirror, which always annoyed Ken, and he said "you're not going to put that whale thing up in your new car are you?"  I didn't reply, but when I held it up to see how it would look, I decided not to hang it there, as the colour is all wrong for the new car.  So Ken got his way, lol!

Here I am with Dean, the salesman - who had just shown us how to work all the gadgets.


Thursday, July 28, 2016

What I am doing these days.

Mostly looking after Ken, but that doesn't mean he is bedridden!  But he doesn't go out and about as much as he used to, and hasn't ridden his bikes for a couple of years.  He still enjoys driving his orange ute, but most of the time I drive him to wherever he needs to go, mostly medical appointments.  I have taken over the job of looking after the chooks and the aviary birds, but that is not a chore for me, as I love them as much as Ken does, and am happy to feed and water them every day.

I lost two dear friends last month.  Helen and Denise died within a week of each other.  Helen's death was an awful shock for everybody - she had an abdominal anyerism, something I'd never heard of, but subsequently found out there are no warning signs, and people don't usually survive.
I got to know my other friend Denise through Helen, as we shared a love of embroidered linens.  Denise was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about 12 years ago, but refused chemo or radiation treatment.  She said all that does is destroy your immune system, and she needed her immune system healthy to see her through the next few years, which it did, much to the amazement of her doctors!
She carried on her usual life of shopping and meeting with friends up to about two years ago, when her health deteriorated to the point where she wasn't able to leave her home.  So while her death came as no surprise, it was still very sad for her family and friends.

On a lighter note, my 14 year old car has developed a few rattles and hiccups that the mechanic can't seem to fix, so before I found myself stranded on the side of a road somewhere, I decided to look for a new car.  I didn't actually want a brand new car, but the one I found is less than a year old, and was a demo model for a Holden dealer, so it has only done low mileage, and is in new condition.  It is another Barina (my third) and I chose it because I have had my previous Barinas for over ten years, and they never let me down, so why change?  I pick it up tomorrow.  Ken said tonight "are you excited?" and I said "no, more nervous than excited.  I am scared of driving it out of the car yard and getting a dent on it within five minutes, and have you yell at me!"

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