I warm day here in Melbourne, expected 32 degrees.

Attended the regular monthly meeting of the  Probus Club of Croydon, where a new member was inducted.

 Became a member of the Greypath community and explored the many opportunities provided by Greypath.

Introduced a new member to the Probus, Informal Probus Network. A network of Probian in many countries around the world, that enjoy internet fellowship. This network is open to any Probus member, from any country that has internet access. See www.probus.org for the link to the network, International Chat.

Our network has recently moved from MSN Groups to Multiply.com.

www.triple0card.com.au  A friend of mine just told me about this site, it looks like a good idea, so I thought I would share it here. Both her and her husband have just signed up for this.  Apparently when you register with them they record as many emergency contacts as you want, theyy also record any medical information that you want.  then if anything happens to you and you are taken to hospital unconscious or similar the hospital will call Triple 0 Card and they will pass on any medical information, and then they will call your next of kin and let them know where you are.  Unfortunately they don't do pensioner discounts but it only costs $25 a year.  We're going interstate a lot so this will be very helpful.

Does anyone know a way of searching family history in the USA that doesn't cost money?

Believe it or not, these shoes are a big sculpture exhibited last week by Australian artist Gregory Roy Cope as part of the Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin Beach on the southern Gold Coast, Queensland.

The festival runs over ten days and is a really wonderful community event.   I've put some more photographs of the entries on my blog 70 Plus and Still Kicking.Someone may like to have a look ...

Cheers

June Saville (Muffin)

Did you know that almost one in four people in Australia will suffer mental illness during their lifetime?

I have just posted on my blog 70 Plus and Still Kicking information about mental illness, and a very good YouTube video I found about stigma.  There are also links to very good Australian web sites on the subject, including information, fact sheets and pamphlets translated into many languages.

I have been working for many years as a volunteer facilitator/co-ordinator and advocate for families of people living with mental illness, and so I know how difficult and widespread the problem really is. 

I thought GreyPath members may be interested. 

Cheers

June (muffin)

I'm sitting here at the laptop and my weather widget has updated to 37.8 degrees at Batchelor.

Septembers sees the onslaught of the hot dry easterlies of the late Dry Season. My garden and my skin are taking a beating. The humidity is down to 9%. But still new life comes forth in this the monsoonal north's equivalent of Spring. Trees are coming into leaf and budding ready to flower. As the 'Build Up' season comes on through October and November the flowering and the new leaves will continue well before the first rains. If plants could hope you would say they were drawing on their inner resources in the hope of rain.

I'm sitting here at the keyboard and not in my car heading up to Darwin for a  Bodybalance class because I'm still nursing stitches from the incision on my shoulder to remove a carcinoma. The attractive and very attentive new young doctor at our community health clinic had to have a second go at me last Wednesday so I am being very cautious about over extending and tearing the stitches. 

How lucky I feel to live in this small town with a government owned clinic with GPs who bulk bill and the ability to see a nurse whenever for no cost. In many ways I feel closer to more accessible medical attention attention here in Batchelor than I ever would in Darwin.

So when the sun goes down and the sea breeze kicks in from the coast that is some 80 km from here I will go out and survey the garden and make sure the sprinklers are coming on, hand-watering the new trees and the lovely azalea that is flowering for all it is worth this year, in spite of the hot dry winds.

 And will I need a cardigan again tomorrow morning. The dryness of the air has dropped the morning temperatures down just below twenty degrees again. That can't last for much longer.

D