Later, when the nurses were going through her meagre possessions, they
found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the  staff that
copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One nurse took her copy to Ireland. The old lady’s sole bequest to
posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine
of the North Ireland Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation
has also been made based on her simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this little old Scottish lady, with nothing left to give to the world,
is now the author of this ‘anonymous’ poem winging across the internet:

Crabby Old Woman

What do you see, nurses………………..What do you see?
What are you thinking……When you’re looking at me?
A crabby old woman…………………………..Not very wise,
Uncertain of habit,……………………..With faraway eyes?

Who dribbles her food ……………..And makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice…….’I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice ……….The things that you do,
And forever is losing …………………..A stocking or shoe?

Who, resisting or not, ………………Lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, ……………..The long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking?……… Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse,…..You’re not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am ……………………….As  I sit here so ill,
As I do at your bidding, ………………. As I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of ten…………..With a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters…………………..Who love one another.

A young girl of sixteen ………………..With wings on her feet
Dreaming that soon now ………………… A lover she’ll meet.
A bride soon at twenty, ………………. My heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows …………… That I promised to keep.

At twenty-five now,…………………I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide …………… And a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty,……………….. My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other…………………With ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons…………..Have grown and are gone,
But my man’s beside me…………………To see I don’t mourn
At fifty once more,……………….Babies play round my knee,
Again we know children,………………. My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me,…………………..My husband is dead,
I look at the future,………………………..I shudder  with dread.
For my young are all rearing ……………..Young of their own,
And I think of the years………. And the love that I’ve  known.

I’m now an old woman……………………. And nature is cruel;
Tis jest to make old age ………………………Look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles,………………… Grace and vigour depart,
There is now a stone………………..Where I once had  a heart.

But inside this old carcass……………. A young girl still dwells,
And now and again,…………………. My battered heart swells.
I remember the joys,…………………….. I remember the pain,
And I’m loving and living…………………………Life over again.

I think of  the years………………… All  too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact…………………That nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people,……………………….Open and see,
Not a crabby old woman;……….Look closer……see,…..ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who  you might
brush aside without looking at the young soul within…..we will all, one
day, be there, too!

There weren’t any details other than to say there was no foulplay, so I guess it is just a game of wait and see what unfolds as to the cause of death,  over the next few days. Although there is speculation that the death was drug related as there were pills found on the scene. 

Heath is due to be seen playing the part of the Joker in the upcoming Batman movie “The Dark Knight”.

He recently separated from his partner, Michelle Williams, and they have a two year old daughter, Matilda Rose.

Such a shame to see his life cut short at such a young age. 

 Well unless you think about using Outsource your Life! then there generally isn’t another option.

I can’t wait until the day they design a robot that can do all the mundane stuff.  But in the meantime why not get yourself a special edition,  genuine 7-foot tall, fully animatronic remote - controlled version of Robby.

Robby Who????    Robby the Robot from the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. 

This robot has been made from the blueprints, molds and templates that were used to create the original. Only the finest materials have been used and Robby is pre-programmed to deliver the lines he made famous in the original movie.

The remote control allows you to adjust the volume, track selection and stop and start functions.  He will also move, rotate his servo-controlled head and rotate his scanners while various lights flash. Robby has an integral audio system which produces cd - quality sound from a directional speaker system in his head. You can connect the sound system to a home theater system and you can even project your own voice through Robby’s sound system with the wireless microphone which is included.

The body is constructed of fiberglas so it will not warp over time and all the metals are machine-grade brass, titanium and aluminum for lasting durability and quality.

Robby the Robot is only available from Hammacher Schlemmer.

I so want one of these.

Ce’Nedra eats the fruit, and her mother assures me that it is okay to eat.  Varinia is an earth mother who has studied Wicca and the ways of the nature so she knows what she is talking about in regards to the fruits of the earth. And Cedie hasn’t gotten sick so it must be okay. Paula and I tried some of the fruit, not actually sure what it is, Cedie says they are plums but they are more like purple crab apples - very tart.

The change of seasons is just one of the things I love about Canberra.  When I am in Brisbane in Queensland, everything is green all year round and it is really only the blooming of the red Poinciana and  the gorgeous  purple Jacaranda trees, that show that summer has arrived.

When you are sitting at the computer all day at home it is very easy to reach out and pick at unhealthy snacks, not realising just what you are doing to your waistline and health.

With this in mind, Paula and I make sure that we get regular exercise at the local ladies only gym, Fernwood in Tuggeranong. We have been doing lots of stretch and yoga classes so yesterday I decided it was time to up the ante and did the pump class. Well today I am having difficulty walking up and down the stairs. Every step feels like I am being stabbed with a burning knife blade - at least thats how it appears to me.

Having done this many times before, you know what I mean- reach a high level of fitness and then stopping going to the gym for quite some months; I know that in the next day or so I will feel the benefits of this strenuous exercise but at the moment I just want to curl up in a ball with some hazelnut chocolate and make the bad pain go away.

Having said that, it is important to not let the computer take over your life completely. Factor in the breakations and fun times.

A timer is a good tool to have on your desk to remind you of when to take a break, go for a walk or have a healthy snack.

Now where’s that phone book I need to make an appointment for a massage

Nothing had been handed at the Centre Management or any of the stores that we had visited, so we made a phone call to Jurgon (son) at work and got him to arrange for a locksmith to come.  Now I have been mentioning that we may need a spare set of keys for sometime, but well hmmm.

So after quite a delay the locksmith arrived, but his machine couldn’t cut the type of key we needed for the Land Cruiser,  so he had to remove the lock and we arranged to meet again in the morning.

Another call to son who dutifully arrive with wife, to pick us up and take us home.

My bargains that I had negotiated savings on were no longer bargains as the new key and the call out fee for the locksmith cost $220.00. 

The Centre Management called this morning to say the keys had been handed in by a security guard, so now we have 3 sets of keys because the nice young locksmith had thoughtfully brought 2 keys for us so that we would have a spare.

Just a day in the life of a work at home woman.

I am finding it increasingly frustrating that casual internet rates are so high when you are travelling. Hotel charges seem to be very high and are in blocks of 12 or 24 hours.  If you are travelling around the last thing you feel like doing late at night is to sit and start blogging, well I prefer to go to bed.  And in the mornings we were up and out early so no time to blog. 

I also find that wifi isn’t readily available which is something I thought would be fairly widespread by now.  The hotspots in Auckland were few and far between and all required payment. 

In the end I decided simply to do the blogging when I got back to Australia. So if you are interested in Auckland NZ head on over to www.traveltripz.com  just be warned there is a lot of family stuff  interspersed with the travel stuff.

As we all know by now, working from home is the reason I can up and go whenever I want. No work timetables to adhere to, simply take the time as you want to. 

So one day Paula says she had read a book by Jan Somers called ‘More Wealth from Residental Property” and why don’t we give it a go.  So we started looking at houses to buy as an investment.  I ended up with 5 properties and Paula had 3. She has since sold one for reasons I will explain later. 

We brought at just the right time and as each of the properties went up in value I refinanced them and brought the next one.   This was extremely profitable as we set up the townhouses in Canberra, as short term rentals and rented them out to Government employees who were on temporary transfer from interstate.  

It meant that each unit had to be fully furnished and the only bugbear was that sometimes the units were rented out for only a few days and we were continually doing a thorough clean on a regular basis.  Still this was a small price to pay and often a unit would be rented out for 6-8 months at a time.

Then came the Government cutbacks on bringing people from interstate and although we knew it would pick up again in the future we decided to turn the units into long term rentals and put them in the hands of property managers.

And this leads onto our current and definitely best work from home schemes yet. And this is what we will be talking about in future posts.