start CPR! (or not)

early this morning we meet a man lying at the shop front. 

hello! are you ok?

he doesn't respond. start CPR? call 995?

fortunately there is a nice pulse going and he is breathing peacefully so we leave him to sleep off his booze. HOM asks if we should call the ambulance nevertheless but i think the resource will be better spent on someone else.

they need to update the training algorithms. right now every simulation starts with hello! hello! are you ok? and proceeds immutably to call ambulance! get AED! start CPR! and doesn't leave space for the poor bro who just needs to lay down his poor head.

she's home!

the geriatric volvo, i mean. from the gearbox overhaul.

HOM and i survive a sweltering week on public transport by limiting our excursions. we welcome back our independence with much heartfelt relief and many overdue errands. 

time was when we zipped around town on buses without missing a beat. 

sunday

time was when the weekly activities reached gasp-worthy levels over the weekend and we collapsed into bed on sunday nights in mindless relief tinged with a little gnawing fear of some nameless unfinished business.

HOM and i reflect today that we are grateful for almost complete shutdown once church is done. blinds drawn a/c on and bed covers down. interrupted only by the need to pee and poop E the dog.

grateful.

waiting for august to end

muggy swelteringness

and 

pervasive stickiness

'nuff said.

new favorite hangout

... the car mechanic's!

as of last count we must qualify for preferred customer status of the revolving door variety. the old volvo has a new engine mount new radiator belt new fan yada yada and will soon have an overhauled gear box. 

we've come a long way, this car and us. and it is practically a new car again too.

national bird

spotted at alexandra village. one of an entire tribe.

us chinese souls look at the free ranging birds and wonder why we cannot eat some of them.

tech help

today HOM and i are haunted by an old chinese melody that we both recognize and that we both cannot identify and that shazam gives up at as well. but the google app allows me to hum the melody and ta-dah! the song is 母亲你在何方. how we ever did things before the modern age i do not know. 

good evening

red sky at night, shepherd's delight

looks like the portents are for another hottt day tomorrow.

at least it's pretty.

woman in a hat

starting my most ambitious project yet and breaking new ground with silk thread on a ginormous piece of aida. for which pre-printed and pre-gridded are pretty much non-negotiables these days.

fare thee well

my aunt died peacefully. thank you for looking after her.

more than many others N saved me from chop chop self-righteous institutionalized efficiency. her trust was full her faith grounded and her acceptance complete. she expected my time and i learnt to give her my presence. she expected my prayers and i learnt to plead for her. thank you for telling me, i say. it was my privilege to know her.

gasp

slowly crawling out into the sunshine of life

after a long week of work

after vacation

that's payback for you

of bangles 'n stuff

you'll know a woman is spoken for by the jade bangle she wears on her left wrist, the guide says. she will only take it off after in separation. i look at mine and smile at HOM. some of us will not take it off because the hand has grown coarser than the bangle!

i've been waitin'

one icky sweaty muggy day and four cold showers later we finally sight the clouds.

actually, five cold showers later.

make that six.

my man the plumber

HOM changes the bathroom tap.

as in, tap leaks and mildew grows. (real) plumber quotes for new tap. HOM decides he can do better and besides it's not rocket science. HOM buys new tap and installs it. voilà!

one could start a second career soon.

unexpectedly pleasant encounter

lovely young man on the helpline trying to get me thru with my face verification function who says ah! in a most reassuringly knowing tone and then cheerfully walks me thru the steps to successfully set it up.

what i appreciate the most, i tell HOM, is that he is so clearly present with me in my agony and is so openly thinking aloud as we work through the steps that i gladly submit to his instructions and forget to don my usual crabby luddite persona for when i am flummoxed by tech. 

thank you sir!

a walk in the park

we join the older adults' fellowship group for their quarterly walk this morning, HOM and i. the heavens declare the glory of God, someone shares. the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

and it's true. in a way i mostly hardly notice and certainly do not pay enough attention to, there are lovely things to look at if only i bother to. 

in other news, those gorgeous heavy-laden almost-violet promising-rain clouds in the background never delivered.

big gah

when you remember to tell them to leave out the pickle but you let them put the onion in because you are thinking of the in-n-out grilled onions but then the carl's jr. burger comes with raw onions and now you cannot get the taste out of your mouth even after a rescue ice cream.

tonite's special

last nite's leftovers, is wot it is.

now let's not get all hoity-toity about serving leftovers. when you are tired of thinking and prepping there's an absolute magic to popping the containers into the oven and plating up the stuff when the time is ripe.

viva la food containers and their contents!

sláinte

we have old friends over. HOM is right. when the old goes back to schooldays-old there is a different kind of carefree that hearkens back to more innocent less demanding times.

we chat into the night, us elderly folk, segueing between present day hard-won sharp sophistication and young giddy breezy memories. we talk about work our other schoolmates our children and partners and finally, our parents' dementia, which is when i say we need to say goodnite or the day will become tomorrow.

tempus fugittttt

the month ends in five days and then we are in june and after that half the year is gone and we can start counting down to christmas and 2026 will no longer feel novel to write.

just thinkin' aloud.