Mumsey's Ramblings: 2023

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Mumsey’s Ramblings - Something About Nothing And Everything God Sends Me

For some time now I have been wanting to post a new blog post here but have struggled with what to post. I had wanted to get back to posting on a regular basis and with everything that has been happening to me over the last couple of weeks, couple of months and even a couple of years I haven’t known how or where to start.

Today was Sunday and as is usual for me I went to church. But that in itself is different for me now as well. We don’t have a minister at the moment but the man who preached today has been doing so on the last Sunday of the month for a few years and so we are very familiar with him.

He preached on the scripture from Psalm 137 which was made famous by Boney M.

Psalm 137:1-4

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,

3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?

He shared on how as Christians we should dare to be different in our world today as the world is different. “How can we sing a new song in the strangeness of today?"

Where everyone else is speaking out what they believe and so have a right to believe and speak about it, how do we as Christians, speak out of our faith and belief. Do we not even do so, for fear of being vulnerable, caught out, trapped and even abused for what we say or believe.

He went on to talk about how we have to be new in our thinking and ideas, with encouragement and examples, but the first part struck a chord with me.

Interestingly, after the service, a lady came and spoke to me about some things that had happened recently for me and in conversation said she had been talking to someone and had said, “The Fiona we knew before will never be the same after her accident”. I was a little surprised (inside myself) as I have struggled with this myself and here she was, speaking it out. I know my body is not the same and am finding it really hard to gain the full mobility. But I also know that my faith was cemented in my vision of almost entering heaven and being reassured there is life after death and God is building a room for me there.

John 14:2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

I had been through a time of despair over this belief before the accident and God had brought me through, knowing I needed to confront this crisis before I went through the accident.

But what of now?

As I mentioned at the beginning some major things have happened.

A few weeks ago, I was not voted in as an Elder after two terms of three years. This meant I can no longer take the 8.00am Liturgy service, as my Lay Minster license had also lapsed but being an Elder I could.

In January my father (at 93) passed away to be with Jesus and I know his beloved wife. Though I am at peace with that, there are all the emotions that go with it. And now my brothers and I are sorting through the house and the enormous amount of ‘stuff’ that my parents had accumulated over their lives.

And as I mentioned I am still recovering from my accident which at times makes me extremely tired and sore, along with waiting for my two knee replacement surgeries that have been put back because of that.

So this is a new post to start again and as my blog is called “Mumsey’s Ramblings - Something about nothing and everything God sends me” you will see all sorts of posts in the future, for my record and for you to see what I’ve been up to.

Friday, January 6, 2023

Life At Pohlen Hospital In Pictures

If you have stumbled across this page and so don't know what is going on here then I would suggest you read the following posts first.

This is more for me than anything. It is like a photo album of memories of my four months at Pohlen Hospital for my convalescent and rehabilitation care.

Care plan

My first day at Pohlen

My Pohlen teddy bear

Pamper

Christmas nails

Foot washing with friends

View from my window
in Room 6

One of many quilts
Changed with each linen change

My main room
Room 6

My bed in room 6 placed against the wall, when I had a fear
of rolling out onto the floor and not being able to stop myself

Breakfast
Every day

Fridays morning tea
- sausage rolls

Morning tea smoothie
Purple!

Mainly meat and carbs
with gravy

Lunch
Main meal and dessert

Sometimes wine
with lunch

Outside in the sun

Some grated carrot

Even some broccoli

Carryllines teatime
salad special

Tea - I opted
for sandwiches

Sometimes yummy

You might be wondering why I have such a fixation on the meals at Pohlen!

As you will see there was not an abundance of vegetables. It was usually just one vegetable at lunch. In fact the evening lighter meal was usually a pastry of some sort and sometimes just something from a tin. At first it was nice to not have to cook my own meals but it wasn't long before I longed for vegetables or a salad. In fact the meals at Waikato were yummy compared to what we had in here as you can see below.

When I sat on my bed I looked at this brick wall out of the window and I discovered a face/head. I don't know if you can see it but it is on the bottom half on the left edge of the middle brick looking out.

And then there was the hospital cat - Simba. She would often come and sleep on my bed and follow me outside into the garden.

Preparing for Christmas was hard as I was not home for Christmas but there was pleasure in being part of it here

These lovely banners were made by one of the residents, Janet, and a good friend and companion to me and as she is now a permanent resident she had them brought from her home to share with us all.

A wreath craft I made

The photo and a Christmas card from Shari

We had a Christmas party where our partners were allowed to come. The Matamata band played Christmas Carols. An ice cream truck came and we were allowed to choose our own flavours and we got photos taken as a remembrance.

As I was in hospital from September to mid January, (Pohlen from the 23rd of September) I watched the beautiful gardens at Pohlen blossom for spring and then flourish into early summer. Because of the choice of plantings there were beautiful colours and perfumes as well as attracting birdlife. It became a place I would escape to. The staff and residents became good friends but there were times when I wanted to feel 'normal' so to speak and this garden did that for me. I would take my Bible or book, a bottle of water and sit and pray or read or just take in all its beauty. I would often meet Harry and other visitors out there. And sometimes it was a place for treats.