Photo Wednesday

Hi all this is another photo that was taken on the cruise outside of the dining area must have been day one or two as I have my cane and after the second day I wasn't using the cane at all

Irish Sisters of Charity

In 1838 the first religious women came to Australia they were the Irish Sisters of Charity they volunteered to go to Sydney to work with convict women teaching them to read and the Sisters of Charity began in Ireland by Mary Aikenhead. In 1838 at the request of Bishop Polding, Mary came to Australia with 5 volunteers they left Ireland in August 1838 and after a four month journey they arrived in Sydney on the last day of 1838.

Starting in January 1839 the sisters lived at Parramatta and visited the Female Factory where

many women convicts lived and worked for the government. The Sisters' main concern was religious instruction and care of the sick and poor, the Sisters' walked everywhere going to government hospitals, orphanages, schools and gaols.

The religious profession of Sister Xavier Williams, on the 9^th April 1839 at Parramatta was a “first” and made a great sensation among Catholics and others with other young women asking to join the Sisters.

The Sisters distinctive dress made them conspicuous and they drew on them at times of hostility or bigotry, the good they did brought them a lot of support but of course life in those days was hard.

In 1847 the Sisters were asked to go to Tasmania, three of the Sisters went to Tasmania while the others stayed in Parramatta where they had the new responsibility of assisting women who wanted to live better lives.

Over time good friends helped raise money to buy a convent where the Sisters could establish a hospital and school, as well as a permanent home for themselves. General Catholic problems hampered further growth but the Sisters' hospital and school flourished, while they continued visiting the sick, poor and prisoners.

After some years, there were Sisters of Charity who had been born in Australia. When the government stopped paying teachers in our schools, the bishops encouraged vocations and brought new religious institutes to Australia to teach. Cardinal Moran encouraged our Sisters to begin more schools. New hospitals were opened.

The Sisters’ business dealings in the early days were often conducted by Father Angelo Ambrosoli, who helped choose places for their convents and designs for their chapels.

Two Sisters of Charity who helped them to flourish were M. Francis McGuigan and M. Gertrude Davis, both born in Australia. They went to Ireland to renew links with the Irish Sisters of Charity and joined the Sisters in Tasmania with those in Sydney.

Since World War II Australia has become more multicultural, with new needs arising as different ethnic groups arrive. Sisters of Charity have led the way in many fields, establishing ministries that others can now continue.

Once works are established, the Sisters have looked to respond to new needs. There are always people needing help, consolation, encouragement, and inspiration.

Australia has changed since our first Sisters arrived in 1838. The kind of poverty that our Sisters met when they arrived has changed. Australia is now a developed nation.

The Sisters of Charity response has been flexible enough to deal with new forms of poverty. Physical poverty will always endure but we must also deal with the poverty caused by narrow-mindedness, prejudice, mental illness, drug addiction and drunkenness, as well as the more familiar kinds of sickness and lack of money.

Did you know Monday

Hello everyone, here I am on this lovely, not too cold Monday morning had a somewhat late start, when my alarm went off at 4.30am I just didn't feel like getting up so it was 6am by the time I got up still managed to do 53 minutes of exercise. I packed it in when Leo got here as I had to pack his lunch and running him a shower now I am starting this before I have to leave to take him to school.

Friday saw me using a wheelchair while I went shopping and Jessica pushing me around and it was a big help I was in hardly any pain by the time I was finished and it only took 2hrs to get everything done instead of 4hrs it has taken me the previous weeks. So I will be doing that for the next couple of weeks and hopefully the ankle will really start to heal with no set backs.

Saturday saw me unwell and spending most of the day in bed sleeping, just had an upset tummy no vomiting or anything just felt upset in the tummy and not feeling great, yesterday though I was ok and today I am ok as well.

So since this is Monday that means it is did you know Monday, so today's did you know is this........

King Francis 1 paid Leonardo Da Vinci the equivalent of $50,000 US for his painting of the Mona Lisa and had it displayed in the Louvre. It has been there ever since except for two years that it was stolen (1911-1913). During the time it was missing, six different Americans paid $300,000 each for fakes they thought were the stolen painting.

Where is my Mojo

Jo-Anne has no mojo, she needs her mojo back, she thinks it is sleeping, tomorrow morning at 4.30am she will be waking it up and kicking it out of bed and putting it to work, just saying.........

This afternoon while watching telling and in between writing letters I received a text for Jessica wanting to know if I would go to Coles (supermarket) before I got Leo from school and being me I said yeah I would. After all tomorrow she is coming shopping with me and going to push me around in a wheelchair so I don't have to walk.

Leo was glad to be home with his mum tonight he is going through a stage when he wants to be around his mum all the time, not that he is naughty or anything while here he just wants to be with his mum.

Yesterday Kathy-Lee came over and helped me sort through my clothes and toss out clothes that had holes or that I just didn't wear any more.

Anyway the afternoon news is over and the Chase Australia is about to start so that is all from me for now.

Photo Wednesday

A photo of mum and Tim taken on our cruise, mum and Tim have a really close relationship no one can say anything bad about Tim around mum she will tear strips off you if  you do, just like she did with his father and brother when they said something about him she didn't like.

A bit about wheelchairs and me

Good morning all, there was no post from me yesterday because I forgot, I got up at 4.30am and worked out then I went back to the bed for a bit after getting up an hour or so later I had breakfast then went out to do so things for mum.

I had to pay mum's laybys and go to the chemist and then to Woolies and the building society to bank some money then back to the car, by the time I got back to the car I felt like crying from the pain.

The same thing happened on Friday when I went shopping by the time I got home I was in tears and it took so long for me to get the shopping done and I didn't do much but going from one store to another took a bloody long time. So I have booked a wheelchair for this Friday and Jessica is coming with me to push me around, I couldn't get a scooter so the wheelchair will do and me not having to walk everywhere will help my ankle. The more I stay off the ankle the quicker it will heal and I will be able to get around ok again.

Today is the first day of another school term and after I took Leo to school I went out to the day care Kathy-Lee is working at to pick up Summer as I have her today while her mum is at work then we had to go back and drop of Leo's medication at his school and now we are home and Summer is eating a sandwich and watching Paw Patrol.

Did you know that the first record of a wheelchair was around the 5-6^th Century BC or BCE if you like in China but generally the first wheelchair came about back in 1595 when one was built for King Phillip 11. Although it was an elaborate chair having both armrests and leg rests, the design still had shortcomings since it did not feature an efficient propulsion mechanism and thus, requires assistance to propel it. This makes the design more of a modern day highchair or portable throne for the wealthy rather than a modern day wheelchair for the disabled.

In 1655 a fellow by the name of Stephan Farffler a 22 year old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world's first self-propelling chair on a three wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels.. However, the device had an appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.

The invalid carriage or Bath Chair brought the technology into more common use from around 1760.

In 1887, wheelchairs ("rolling chairs") were introduced to Atlantic City so invalid tourists could rent them to enjoy the boardwalk. Soon, many healthy tourists also rented the decorated "rolling chairs" and servants to push them as a show of decadence and treatment they could never experience at home.

In 1933 Harry Jennings and his disabled friend Herbert Everest, both mechanical engineers, invented the first lightweight, steel, collapsible wheelchair. Everest had previously broken his back in a mining accident, they saw the business potential of the invention and went on to become the first mass-market manufacturers of wheelchairs. Their "x-brace" design is still in common use, albeit with updated materials and other improvements.

So now you know.

Me and walking and no weight loss

Good morning, no Friday post this week as I just had no time in the morning and when I got home I was in so much pain from being on my feet all morning I just wanted to cry so I sat and did nothing but rested my leg.

While I was shopping I had a light bulb moment about my weight, more to the point why I am not losing weight as I thought I would. While on the cruise I said I wanted to loss up to 30 kilos by the end of the year but have not lost anything as yet although I have not gained any either. Anyway yesterday while I was struggling to put one foot in front of the other and often sliding my right foot as it was too painful to lift it, I thought this is the reason I can't lose weight, I cannot walk.

So I told Tim last night that was my thinking and he said nothing just looked at me with a look that said “so” and I said more and he said nothing but then this morning he said to me that he thinks the exercises I am doing each morning are doing nothing and that I should start walking up and down the driveway and I said I cannot walk and I wondered what part of not walking does he not understand. I don't want to walk up and down the driveway that would involve walking past the neighbours who would want me to stop and talk and I do not want that.

If I could walk I would go for a walk but I can't, I cannot walk from the lounge room to the toilet without a great deal of pain and sometimes not without my cane. I am doing the best I can but nothing I do is good enough........