I have a new hero. He is the dog whisperer, Cesar Millan and this is thanks to my good dog walking friends P and B. Probably also my naughty young dog Kali the whippet/ pointer cross who would be in the next suburb in 10 seconds were it not for the fence surrounding our leash free park. She's not really naughty; in fact at home she's a dream. Most of the time she's great...but on those occasions when she takes a dislike to a new dog for no apparent reason....and that time when she ran so fast that she torpedoed into a person and knocked her flying. Fortunately that has only happened once, and to someone with good bone density but that was enough. More. Perhaps there is a reason for all this. Perhaps I needed this dog to shake my life up a bit. Although I am one friend less (I don't think the person who Kali ran into will speak to me again - very grumpy and I don't blame her), I have discovered that some of the dog walkers are much better friends than I thought. Friends in a constructive way. P has lent me her dog whisperer book and B his dvd series with lots of episodes. I am now happily overdosing on both the book and the episodes and wondering what I can do to thank them. Chocolate cake for P? A slab for B? Or just a promise that they won't get torpedoed by a big black hund? In a way it has been a nice outcome. And I am practising being calm assertive.

Ahhhh. breathe a sigh of relief. Another busy week over and I have survived! On campus and online students started their new semesters together and I have been swamped. In fact i didn't think I'd be able to meet my commitments for the first time. Unless I've forgotten something (very likely) I think I've got there for this week at least.

I've spent the past few weeks feeling quite out of breath. Even stopping to hear a voice message has taken too much time (it takes a few seconds to work - too long).

It also seems busy on the home front. Eldest son recently moved from South Yarra to Brighton. We think he moves every two years or less and it always means lots of hard physical labour - mainly for dear old dada this time. We paid for cleaners to come in this time - that was his birthday present and have to say that although it cost a bit it was great not to be scrubbing and cleaning all day and night (yes he had to hand in the keys on a Friday so we didn't even have the weekend). I wonder how long the Brighton pad will last? It's a lovely place and you can see the sea.

Daughter has been in the Philippines for a school friend's wedding for the past couple of weeks. That hasn't really made work for us but proximity to Japan caused a bit of anxiety for a while. We also helped to look after her kitten for a night. Lovely, but keeping Coco separated from our three dogs was a bit of a challenge. The two small ones are OK (small mouths). Sort of, but Kali could eat her for a snack if she wanted and we're not quite sure if she wants to or not.

Have just spoken to aged p who does not want to see me after all this weekend, due to my developing sore throat. In a away that's a relief although I do want to spend as much time with her as I can - she's great fun - because who knows how much time she has left. The way she's going it should be ages. Hopefully. She's been wheezing a lot lately but swears it's just a cold, and gets very coy when I ask if she's seen her doctor (her doctor is one of her favourite people so curious why she hasn't been to visit).

Tomorrow we might go out for breakfast and enjoy our day. Sunday - busy morning and then in the afternoon I have a date at the Ringwood Sound Shell, where a swing band will be playing. My friend Kenneth wants to have a dance or two or three with me and I have to be there. He turns 80 on Monday and this will be like a birthday celebration. So - we'll lindy hop and triple six our way through some great music. After that I'll collapse and Kenneth will probably party on.

That's the plan but wonder if it will really happen that way?

It's official. I'm in a chemically induced remission from the scourge of rheumatoid arthritis. I still have to take aggressive amounts of methotrexate and mobic but the pain is pretty minimal and isn't spreading to more joints. Although I hate taking methotrexate, knowing that it will make me feel sick, it's certainly worth it because I can move freely. Relatively freely.

I am feeling very stiff and a bit sore today but that's only because I did a lot of dancing last night, before and after the class (Shim Sham and routine refresher). By the the time I finished I'd had more than enough, and could hardly move my feet. Such a shame because there was a surplus of very good leads who were keen to have a bit of a social dance. Also, I needed the exercise because of all the Christmas festivities which generally revolve around eating far too much. At lunchtime today TAFE is putting on a spit roast for the campus....tonight it's mother in law's nursing home Christmas party.

Our lovely 17 year old cat, Woody, died on Monday and it feels like the end of an era. He has been failing for the last little while but it was really over last weekend that we became alarmed about him. He was very uncomfortable and went off his food, apart from small pieces of fillet steak that he enjoyed right up to Sunday evening.

I was at the vets first thing Monday, after being escorted out of the house by the three dogs. They seemed very quiet, as if they knew something. Same with the vets two cats. Each of them approached Woody in his cat basket, put a paw through and touched him. Until then they had always ignored him. As the vet lifted him out of the basket he said, "Oh no, there's something terribly wrong with him, I'm afraid". That was it.

Made it! Through another weekend, that is.
I felt quite sick for most of it and hope it's worth it. Friday was a good day - I took leave to help set up for our fete and it was great to be so organised in good time. On friday night I tried my hand at the new recipe I was given for can't fail cupcakes and they worked! They were lovely and light.

Early on Saturday morning I arose and made many scones because they really do need to be fresh. All went well even though it rained pretty well incessantly. Proceeds were down but the atmosphere was great. By the time we went home though, 2LF and I were exhausted. We really didn't feel much like putting on a roast and entertaining aged P that evening but we soldiered on. I didn't really do anything very productive on Sunday except bath one dog and brush the other two, take them for a run. Well. They ran. I walked.

Last night I sacrificed my much loved dancing class for a local Council meeting. The Council was voting on some altered recommendations of dog walking areas in our municipality. I have been an active part of a campaign to make our lovely park a leash free area (previously it had been decided in a report that it was to be on leash). We won. When we were writing our letters to the Council, the newspaper, having journalists and photographers meet us in the park with our doggies and getting petitions together, we had no idea that we might win. We just thought we'd go down trying.

The Council members, in fact, were very sympathetic when they heard our submissions. They hadn't realised what how many of their voters were part of dog walking communities around the Shire. From now on I will believe in community power. So happy. Molly and Pearl are ageing ladies and it doesn't matter so much to them (although Molly loves tearing about bossing all the big dogs around) but Kali is only two and built for lots of fast running. Once she's had her daily run she's happy to relax in a beanbag and be good as gold. Without it...she could tear the place apart.

Where did the time go. I had a look at this the other day and couldn't believe that my last post was in April. Since then I have been to and returned from New Zealand (very nice thanks and lovely to catch up with cousin S who is delightful and quite mad). We also travelled to Airlie Beach for a family wedding in September. Initially we grumbled at the cost of all this but in the end decided to make it worth our while and had five wonderful days and nights. We really enjoyed spending so much time with family, and adored Airlie Beach. B and C - great idea. The wedding was, of course, lovely, but so was the time we had reconnecting with each other. Also our day on a maxi yacht, Ragamuffin, when I took the opportunity to scuba dive.

It really must be our travel year, or even better, the start of a new way of life. We recently flew to Mildura and spent a few days with brother E who lives and works in the Riverland with his partner R. Very happy that we've done that and seen how they live - very well, and I think I'm in awe of all my siblings. How could they have an ordinary person like me as their sister?

Another thing I noticed is that the nasty horrible drugs i've been taking for RA must be working. Earlier this year the posts seemed to be one long grizzle about the pain that has become quite minimal. Thanks to my nice Rheumatologist I think I might have a chemically induced remission. I hope he's happy with me when I visit him next, in early December, and won't nag about the steroids. I really don't think I need them. Methotrexate certainly stuffs up my weekends and I hate it but maybe it's worth it. I won't think so on Saturday though, I know that.

We have a couple of new fur kids in the family. We have taken over the care of Pearl, mother in law's Japanese Spitz who is gorgeous in the extreme. Ma in law had to go into a nursing home, sadly. It is sad. Favourite daughter (of course since she's the only one) has just bought a rag doll kitten and called her Coco Mademoiselle. We took her to the vet yesterday for inoculations and check up and felt as proud as any parent or grandparent. It might be the closest I'll get to being a granny for quite some time if ever.

The year is closing down for some but not for me. I'm gearing up for another intake of online syudents and all the issues that go with it. Fete is on Saturday and it will rain because it always does. Christmas looms...and I want to visit sis before then. She is my special favourite sis because I only have her, although many sisters in law whom I adore. All different, all talented.

Had a couple of random days off work lately to catch up on friends and visit aged p. (mother). Friday I joined 6 school friends for lunch - lovely in terms of catching up and all very nice but certainly the most expensive lunch I've ever had. That was in town. I travelled home on the train with my friend Robyn, and arrived just in time to feed menagerie and get ready for dinner at M & Js. They live in Menzies Creek and have an amazing view right across the city and over to Geelong.
I also took yesterday off to visit my mother; of course I had to take the gels, who were very spoilt with two walks and some very special titbits. Just before lunch, we were sitting on the balcony (an equally amazing view as M & Js but looking over the bay) when mum suggested that I borrow her bathers and go down for a swim. So I did and it was heavenly. Another one to be stored in my memory banks. it was good too, to test my joints and muscles in the water. I've been worrying about losing muscle tone with that recent diagnosis of RA. Everything hurts so much and I have great problems getting down on the floor. Tummy crunches work really well in the water; must remember that.
I'll be taking off to NZ on Sunday to present that paper - on Monday. 2LF will be joining me late Wednesday night (or very early Thursday) and we'll have a few days together. We haven't gone away together for a long time and of course I worry that something will go wrong at home. I pray that all the kids will be Ok and that they will be able to look after our very spoilt pets. I hope the house stays up, that A gets paid, that the world keeps turning. Also that I'll be able to dress myself properly without the help of 2LF. Somedays it hurts more.

Enough whingeing. Sure it will all be fine. I do have a sense of adventure.