Worker bees have six weeks...

Watching a doco recently on the two survivors from the Excalibur yachting tragedy: there's this syndrome they talked about, having survived the sea, their next couple of years was all about doing everything NOW.

I guess I'm feeling a bit of that six months down the track - do it NOW ... no NOW!!!!

... because we don't know how long we've got. Be it Pacific Ocean storm, a gob in the head, truck on a bend ... gone.

So, anyway, I'm a beekeeper now. I've talked about it for a couple of years, coming out of brain surgery with the NOW!! syndrome has made it a reality.

Jason's son Finn took some pics from a safe distance while we stirred up our 40,000 ladies the other day - if the Homer Simpson at his nuclear power station cartoon imagery isn't funny enough, two blokes in those suits trying to get under highly tensioned fence wire is even better.

EEG results abnormal as Neurologist suspected: he's now drawn a direct line between this thing in my scone and 19 years of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. That's good - perhaps - in that it maybe means it took 19 years to be 20mm in size. Perhaps. Maybe.

His POSSIBLE diagnosis is idiopathic hypertrophic pachymeningitis. Impressive sounding - feels like you're getting value for money when there's 15 syllables involved and a good measure of Latin.

I'm getting on with my beekeeping ... and the launch of my creative hub ... and managing my holiday house ... and bike riding ...swimming... planning lots and lots and lots of hiking... NOW!!!!!!

Recovery tunes

A spring in the step helped along by sunshine and tunes and orchid season.
A list of some stuff I've been listening to these past couple of months: You'll probably pick the 'recovery mode/getting stronger' thematics among some of the lyrics, and probably a hint of the coming to grips with mortality stuff ... I left out The Rocky Theme.

Astair Matt Costa
Red Sails Custom Kings
The Captain And The Hourglass Laura Marling
Rose Pickles Custom Kings
Middle of the Hill Josh Pyke
Spin My Thread Custom Kings
Forward Joe Neptune
Lullaby Jack Johnson
Behind The Moon Matt Costa
I Shall See My Love No More Joe Neptune
Wondering Where The Lions Are Donavon Frankenreiter
Forever Jesse Younan
Swimming in the Darkness Custom Kings
Yellow Taxi Matt Costa
Sew My Name Josh Pyke
Sweet Rose Matt Costa


You Don’t Scare Me Josh Pyke
Scattered Black And Whites Elbow
Light Inside Of You Andrew Kidman
Where Two Oceans Meet Josh Pyke
Johannah Mishka
Summer’s Not The Same Without You James Yorkston
It Isn’t Me Mat McHugh
Tap At My Window Laura Marling
Tortoise Regrets Hare James Yorkston
Beautiful Day Donavon Frankenreiter
Reasons Are All I Have Left Art Of Fighting
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright Donavon Frankenreiter
My Other Dream of You Joe Neptune
You’ll Change Machine Translations
Just Go Indigo Joe Neptune
Old Fashioned Morphine Jolie Holland

hunting spiders, donkeys and birds

Thanks to Gaye, Pat and Geraldine for letting me crash their orchid hunting party on Tuesday ... more wonder with Emma's camera in the small spaces.

Fire clearing and good spring rain at Wilsons Promontory have combined to bring the best show of native orchids in many years - millions of them. Tiny and stunning.

They were all there: spider orchids, donkey orchids, greenhoods, sun orchids, hyacinth orchids and red bird orchids. On top of this display - the xanthoreas were in flower after last year's fires - a close up on their constellation-like flower stems is here.

A glow comes from a couple of hours behind a lens in these places: they're the very images that you need to hold to staring at the roof of a high dependency unit - a million reasons to stick around that bit longer.

back on the roads

It's not trekking the Argentinian altiplano - yet - but a four day bike ride across central Victoria with a great bunch of crew helped very much to feed the feeling of getting stronger, and getting back on the roads.
Tour de Heartland was good fun, but meant a lot more in terms of signposting recovery (though Digger and I agreed we both like the word 'reinvention' rather than oft abused 'recovery' or 'comeback'): I gave myself maybe one hour of riding each day, then the rest with feet up on the dashboard of the support vehicle. Instead I managed the whole first day from Mansfield to Benalla, the whole next day Benalla to Shepparton, rested up the third day Shepparton to Bendigo with complaining soleas, Achilles and hamstrings, then rolled all the last day with fresh legs through the old gold mining country - Bendigo to Castlemaine.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=161822436056

Spring has sprung well and truly now - irises, tulips, ranunculus - and cartwheeling among them perhaps more than any other year for having lived through that fucker of a winter's saga: of which the next instalment is another neurologist appointment in a couple of weeks to discuss EEG and his inflammation theory.

I'd have loved to have an EEG or MRI done during my cello lesson last Saturday - feels like every little back room, nodule, lobe, crest, corner, saddle and peninsula of this recently violated scone glows and sings with long bowing of the C Major scale.

Found a fantastic teacher and loving it - I doubt there's any better way to encourage new brain connections/elasticity than wearing Learner plates with a fretless instrument.

Saltwater

Again back to that quote ...
the one about the cure for anything being tears, saltwater or sweat.

Well, took a few days out at Saltwater Creek with the lads ... magic.

Spoke to a neurologist last week ... he's got some ideas with impressive sounding Latin names about inflammation and how that can sometimes just happen all by itself.

Getting bored of neurology - getting excited by the spring and seashores.

'Stable'!!!

It's still there, somewhere deep right temporal lobe, above and behind right eyeball - and we still don't know what the fucker is ...

BUT - apparently it's not getting any bigger.

"Stable" they called me (or it).

I've been milking that for all it's worth: a renowned neurosurgeon's calls me 'stable'!

I see a diagnostic neurologist in a couple of weeks who is interested in the case and has been a part of the background panel of people involved - though I've never met him. He may have some other ideas to chase up in regards finding out what it actually is (or was).

BUT - so far as the surgeon is concerned, I'm now in the "let's see you in six months and keep up observations" bracket: it appears the body's own defence cells have surrounded it, contained it and appear to be making sure the fucker gets no bigger all by themselves without any chemical treatment. He's happy with that - and it meant a lot to see him relaxed and unconcerned. Four months of stress dissipated on seeing his relaxed smile.

I swam 1.25 kms in the pool the other night with Sean, I'm getting up on the ladder to finally clean my gutters, am about to purchase a road bicycle .
Neurosurgeon looked totally relaxed about all that - it's been four months now without passing out and he says the risk of it happening again decreases with time. BUT, I'm probably still a good six months off lobbying the state government to be allowed once again behind a wheel. That may still be a two year wait for a license.

AND I just bought two bee hives along with the nuclear reactor worker suit, smoker and all the other stuff, as did Jason. We introduce the queens and the swarms when spring warms up a little. My hives will sit at the foot of the magic manna gum pictured in the last posting, feeding off her nectar.
Red Hill Honey is born - though I have a world to learn (and hopefully now a bit of time to learn it!)

(The Photoshop enhancement to MRI pic is courtesy of Dave - who has made his own diagnosis of the situation: the gopher from Caddy Shack has taken up residence in there and grooving away quit contentedly, as it does in the cup of the 18th in the movie's final scene. The bee is one of my own shots from a ways back: we have much to learn from bees, like never ever ever giving up.)

of growth, quiet time and food ...

Another MRI tomorrow to see if this thing is getting bigger, smaller or staying content.

Starting to suspect some blood sugar issues - hitting the wall a lot lately: quiet time and food seems the only fix.

Quiet time is never a bad thing though ...


A better shot of my favourite Manna Gum (featured back in May) in some sort of elegant pose which those who know more more about dance could put a name to, and a fungi of some sort just starting life near the creek after much welcomed rain.
Mountain ducks are about lately: with a cunning system at feed-out time for the horses. Duck groom stands guard while duck bride raids what's left of old Troubadour's feed bucket.