20160314 – Monday – Memorial Meeting with the Thomas’s

A kid somehow got into the home yard and struggled to reunite with its family by squeezing through a gap between the gate and the fence

We drove to Tristan C’s place and left my car and trailer in front of his house and then we drove towards the Oliver’s farm which is called Kaleno. We drove along bitumen for some time and then along a dirt track.

I could understand now why Barrie and Pauline had insisted that I leave my car and trailer in the town because the soil is a soft red bull dust and would have got into my bed in the trailer.

The land is flat and covered with what Barrie calls woody weed and it is an invasive native shrub. Apparently goats love it. We came to a gate and Pauline climbed down from the four wheel drive to open it.

Soon we were at the homestead. We parked in an outbuilding and Barrie unloaded my things and carried them to my room.

The homestead is an old building with high ceilings and large rooms with a long veranda on one side. My room is one of four rooms that open out from the veranda.Inside there was a double bed and also a single bed upon which I could place my belongings.

After settling in I walked to the end of the veranda and into the house and along a passage to the kitchen.

Pauline showed me the lounge room where they have nine comfortable lazy boy chairs and I soon found myself ensconced in one of them with my feet up and a rug covering my legs in case the air conditioner was too cold. I felt very comforted and cosseted.

We had lasagne for dinner and then watched America’s got Talent, When the program was finished I took myself off to bed.

I tried to use the Oliver’s wi fi but it kept cutting out so I gave up trying in the end and began exploring other means of recording my thoughts.

I used a memo recording app and dictated my thoughts into that. It took no time for me to get to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning I had a shower and washed my hair and I was so glad to get cleaned up. It was wonderful showering in rain water and my hair felt soft and light on my head.

I went out and sat on the the veranda and watched the dawn come up. As I sat there, a family of goats passed by the back fence of the yard. They milled around for a while and then began to go back from where they had come.

A kid of the flock had somehow managed to get into the home yard and when it saw its family leaving without it, it began trying to reach them through the fence. There was a narrow gap between the fence and the gate into the yard and the kid thrust its leg through the gap and then its head. Bit by bit it pulled and pushed and wriggled its various parts through the small gap, finally  collapsing in a heap on the other side of the fence and then skittering off to join its siblings and parents.

It was still very early, so I went back to bed for a while. When I finally got up again I found that Barrie and Pauline had a visitor with them in the kitchen. He was a neighbor who farms sheep and goats at an adjoining property. He recently has had a motor bike accident and is struggling a bit with his recovery.

He was driving along a track on his property when a goat jumped out in front him and took him down from his motor bike. He was unconscious for some time and was taken to hospital. His brain was bruised.

He has been having trouble ever since then. Sometimes he forgets where he is and what he was doing and sometimes can’t walk straight. If he wants to walk down his passage he might veer into his fridge and cannot stop himself. Barrie and Pauline were concerned that he might have a further accident and wanted him to get another check up at the hospital.

After he had left, Pat and Peter Thomas arrived for the memorial meeting. We had lunch together and then went into the lounge for the meeting. It was extremely comfortable there in the lounge room and it was great being able to watch an exhort recorded at one of Riverwood’s memorial meetings. Micah Dodson was the speaker.

After the meeting I wondered who Micah’s parents might be of the Dodson clan, but Barrie was more interested in and  impressed with was Micah’s prolific black beard!

I am really enjoying being at Kaleno here with Barry and Pauline and Pat and Peter. It is so quiet and peaceful.

I am loving being a “grey nomad.” I have been so blessed on this trip in every way.  I am comfortable and peaceful, no stress, no worry.

On trips like this one I am always a bit short of funds to cover the cost of petrol trip and other costs. On this trip I have had so much help from my family and friends. Deb and Helen and Darren  helped me initially with an injection of funds and now Barrie and Pauline paid my petrol costs to and from Cobar. Pat and Peter on hearing that I had ruined my diabetes testing machine insisted on paying for a new one. This trip has taught me that I must be more generous with what I have. God has blessed me so much, I must bless Him and be more giving.

I feel so blessed to have my family so helpful to have such good friends.