Beginning week 3 in Perth

Irene picked us up on Monday morning and we went down to Cottesloe Beach for a lovely walk and then a swim in the Indian Ocean. It wasn't really hot (about 24C) but after a walk I felt like a cool off. It was divine. The water is so cool and refreshing and you can feel it doing you good. If only I could swim every day (well, I'm not actually swimming, I'm doing little exercises and just enjoying being in the water with the waves washing over me). What a shame Roger doesn't enjoy swimming and water in general.

I had been carrying on about swimming to Irene so much she decided she would annoy me and swim on Sunday just to say she had started before me. What sort of a sister is that!! Oh, we are really going to enjoy each other company. It is going to be great.

After our swim we had a coffee and special raisin toast at Beaches Cafe then headed back to Irene and George's for a curry and just a few games of Chinese Checkers. Irene and I are CC's buddies with just a little competition thrown in. She is currently winning 4/1! Bit sad isn't it? But I will improve my game. We just love playing this game and each time we get together out comes the board.

We checked out another Church on Sunday morning. We loved the singing and the message, which was 'You must not stea' was pretty good as well. But why oh why don't Churches get their act together and learn how to make new people feel welcome and comfortable! Roger will get his choice of where to go this Sunday.

Roger washed Brenda's car yesterday after her visit to the farm this past weekend. It was very 'buggy'!!!! I planted some petunias in the front garden and I can see them growing already.

Roger is off to the GP again this afternoon. I am finding it hard having to do all the driving. I was always very happy to leave it to Roger in the past and only drive when I had to.

So, this is a little update for you and to let you know things are going okay.

A new beginning

Roger and I arrived safely in Perth at 15.00 on Tuesday 13 September. We had a good flight though did not sleep. We caught up on a few movies instead!! It sure is good having your own personal screen.

My sister Irene picked us up from the Airport and drove us to my younger sister Brenda's home in Brentwood. A lamb roast was in the oven cooking away. How yummy for us. We had a good first nights sleep and a little sleep in, so didn't really experience jetlag.

Irene drove us to Roger's first GP appointment Wednesday afternoon. We were both upset, but the Doctor was wonderful and very understanding. We have made a good choice (made the appt from Germany!). Irene took us for a nice coffee and to have a wee peek at the unit we will be staying in for 3 months from beginning of November.

In the evening of drove Brenda's Honda CRV for the first time. Brenda had a knee replacement about 7 weeks ago so is unable to drive at the moment. It was good to have her sitting beside me and she gave me a lot of confidence. It wasn't really a problem driving.

Thursday Irene picked us up and we visited the Neurologist. He has a few ALS patients and it was good to chat with him about things. It also helped to have Irene with us. He will start the ball rolling for Roger to have ongoing help, but this will take a while to get into the system.

The first few days we were feeling very lonely and missing our wonderful friends in Schopfheim and Basel. It is such an empty feeling to go having so many friends and finding it hard to catch up with them all, to no friends. If only we could have brought them all with us! We had a bad day last Monday but have kept things in balance since then.

The good news is that Roger has bought a City Bike (European name - he is going to start a new trend!!!) and is now enjoying the freedom this brings him. He has had a nice big wire basket installed on the back so that he can be useful and go shopping for us all!! He will have to leave his bicycle helmet on though as he finds it hard to put it on and take it off. His new bike is a soft light blue and helmet to match! We are not sure how long Roger will be able to ride the bike for, but I personally am very pleased we have bought the bike straight away so that Roger gets maximum use of it whilst he can. When he can't ride it any more, then it will be my turn (ho hum!!). Sorry I can't show you a picture of the lovely bike. You will have to wait until November when we can access the internet more readily and download our piccies. So, be patient.

We went to Church this morning and Roger wanted to drive. And now we both know he can't drive anymore and this makes us feel very sad. It is sad to see Roger losing so many things. It is actually breaking my heart. It means I am having to pick up a lot more things that Roger was always willing and able to do. So many adjustments are having to be made all the time and this will continue into the future.

At the moment we are both in good spirits and really we do have so much to be thankful for. Staying with Brenda is a real treat. She has such a lovely home that she moved into on 16 August. We are very comfortable here and she is spoiling us. The weather in Perth has been amazing. Rather cold in the morning and evening and beautiful and sunny during the day with temperatures between 22 - 28C. I would love to go for a swim, but my swimming pal (Irene) said it is still too cold for her. But maybe I can convince her soon.

I will try and blog regularly to keep you all up to date with our happenings. It's not going to be as exciting as being in Europe though, but I'll see what I can do!!

Goodbye Schopfheim and Basel

What a few weeks it has been for us both as we have met with wonderful friends to say our goodbyes from this beautiful place.

This picture was taken by Brigitta who did a great job taking photos at our farewell afternoon tea yesterday in Basel. We are standing in the window of our friends apartment. What a view!!

We had such a special afternoon with about 60 of our friends. It was perfect as far as we were concerned, though quite a few tears shed. We are exceedingly blessed to have so many great friends who have loved, encouraged and helped us along our way whilst we have been here. Each one is so special to us and adds something to our lives. We are certainly going to miss them.

We have had some lovely emails from people and we do feel encouraged and loved so much. But I think the email that has touched me and caused me to really think about what lies ahead and how to go ahead was this "all the best to you both in these times of letting go". Good advice don't you think?

So, a new chapter in our lives is about to begin. At present we are both very tired but indeed happy. It will be good to see family again (though have to wait patiently until October to see Tim and Amy and then our other children at Christmas). But who knows?!!

We are helping each other to get through these last days. Rog might only have one arm/hand that is good, but boy can he do things! He has helped and encouraged me so much in these days when I feel emotional under charged! We have laughed a lot about many things and done our fair share of crying (as you can imagine).

We leave Schopfheim and our beautiful home and friends here and will be taken into Basel by dear friend Dave who will pick us up Thursday afternoon 9 September. We will stay with friends for 3 nights then get the train from Basel to Frankfurt where we will stay overnight. So, it will be quite a trip, but I feel this is the best way of doing a long trip.

Stay tuned to read how we are getting on and setting in to beautiful Perth.

Our visit to the Basel Zoo

Roger and I were pretty happy that all the animals in the Zoo were active and not sleeping after a yummy lunch!!!

We were most impressed with the way the Basel Zoo was set out in lovely grounds. The monkeys have been relocated whilst their home is being upgraded. I think this is going to take a while.

Although the weather wasn't warm and it looked like it was going to rain, we were able to enjoy a good walk around and were glad we had made the effort to go. We've been here 4 1/2 years and we haven't been to the Zoo. Not good!