2022 begins……….

 with a fervent hope that things would improve and Covid-19 was going to become a memory relegated to history.  As time has gone on this is not the case and as new strains emerge we see huge numbers being infected each day and more people dying.  Having said that life has returned more or less to normal as each state has opened borders, both national and international, and done away with the majority of restrictions.  It really is up to each individual to take care and keep up with the recommended vaccinations. 

For Bill and I we had a day of rest on the 1/1 then got straight back to work with a drive to Stanhope to see Deb at Many Makers Gallery.  It was time to do the rounds to pick up any unsold Christmas cards and calendars.  Not very many left at all which was good to see.

The next day was ‘Meet the Artist’ at Bill’s exhibition at the Kyabram Town Hall.  Still technically a Public Holiday we didn’t know if anyone would even come.  We were pleasantly surprised as quiet a few people dropped in to check it out and talk all things photography and birds with Bill.  It was lovely to see people appreciate his work.  We had a surprise visit from Ben and Jen who drove up from the city to see the exhibition and us.  It has been many years since we had caught up so lovely to see them both again.  We also caught up with Kathy and Russell who dropped in with some friends.  They invited us to come back to their place after we had finished and we ended up staying for dinner.  The delicious roast lamb and vegetables were a real treat. 

The next two days were busy as we drove first to Mansfield to catch up with Shelley, Darren and Kyan and then Bill did a day on his own out to Yackandandah, Beechworth, Chiltern, Rutherglen, Glenrowan and Benalla.  I spent a quiet day at home.

With just three more days to trade in Pop Up Arts Euroa for this season Bill and I opened up and had a fairly quiet day with just a few sales.  Carmel’s earrings were the popular items sold today.  The last two days were reasonable and on Saturday afternoon and Sunday we packed up the shop and saw most unsold items returned to their makers.  Once again it had proved to be a great success and we look forward to doing it again next year.  We finished the season as we did last year with a breakup barbie during the week.  Valerie, Carole, Ross, Ali, Melanie and Simon all came round and we enjoyed a fun night with a simple barbecue, good wine and great friends.  Going to bed at one o’clock that night made me ask the question how on earth did I do this every weekend for a number of years.  Old age must be setting in - surely not!

I joined Roma at Cafe 56 the next week with some friends and family to celebrate her birthday and we all had a lovely time over coffee and scones.  We had a few trips to Shepparton the next week as I had to have 3 different medical procedures all on different days.  I think the car could go there on its own!  The results were all good when they came in but I have been referred to a specialist in Shepparton to follow up on my surgery in Cairns last year.  Things don’t seem to have settled down as they should have but good to know all is well otherwise.

We returned to Kyabram to check out the exhibition and were pleasantly surprised to find that four pieces had sold.  With just two more weeks to run we decided not to replace them but just did some rearranging instead.  Bill returned to take it all down at the end of the month and was very happy with how things had gone.

We drove to Alexander and Yea one day.  Outside the Yea Wetlands Discovery Centre we found this new sculpture titled Gurrong dharrang, The Scarred Tree.  With the artwork by Taungurung artist Sammy Trist it is a Eucalyptus tree featuring Indigenous line art and the Taungurung totems, Bundjil the wedge tailed Eagle and Waang the Crow.

Leaving here we continued on to Seymour where Bill had booked us into Blue Tongue Berries for lunch.  This little blueberry farm has a lovely cafe on site where lunch is a set menu consisting of two servings of yummy dumplings followed by the most decadent blueberry tart, said to have a punnet of blueberries in each slice, served with a delicious blueberry and bush lemon ice-cream.  Totally scrumptious and as neither of us could eat all the dumplings we brought them home and ate them for a very late dinner that night. 

During January only Violet Town and Euroa markets are on and we attended both of these and were very lots of happy with the results.  It was good to back out there and the weather was nice both days.  We have had lots of catch-ups, coffee and lunches with friends in town.

We spent a lovely morning in Benalla one morning with Bill taking me to meet Marion and John who live on the Broken River just out of town.  While Bill spent some time taking photos of the birds along the river I had a nice walk with Marion around the property.  Afterwards we all had coffee and a long catch up inside.  A thoroughly enjoyable morning.

Now here is where my sad tale of woe begins.  That afternoon I started to feel unwell with a nasty sore throat developing and a very bad headache.  Together with more of a cough than usual I was more than a little worried.  We were due to leave for Mansfield the next day for the Australia Day Market on Saturday. That night I went to bed early but got worse through the night with fever and I suggested Bill stayed in the spare room as we didn’t know what was wrong with me.  Of course during January there were no RAT ‘s available so we could only guess what was wrong.  The next day as I was no better we decided that Bill had better go to Mansfield on his own and I would stay here and hopefully recover.  He did and though tiring had a very good market.  He stayed the extra night as planned and came home on Sunday.

He’d rung me before leaving and as I was still bad he called in to a testing site on the way home.  They would not test him as he had no symptoms but gave him two RAT,s to bring home.  I tested immediately and straight away it showed positive.  I had Covid!  Bill showed negative but had to isolate now for seven days.  I reported my results as directed and the next morning had a phone call from GV Health who did a thorough medical check over the phone and decided that my age and BP put me into a high risk group and as such I had to go to the hospital and get an anti viral infusion.  This was to prevent me getting pneumonia and having to go to hospital.  Bill drove me over and while I was there he managed to get a PCR test which came back negative as well.

As you can imagine our next week was very quiet.  We lived at different ends of the house and Bill stayed in the spare room.  While Bill worked on all sorts of new ideas for the market I watched lots of catch up TV and slept alot.  At the end of the seven days and still showing negative Bill was free to go out again so the first thing he did was go and get his third booster which had been due the day after I tested positive.  Because of the treatment I had been given I couldn’t have mine for 90 days.  Still feeling quite unwell I didn’t venture out for a few more days and then wore my mask wherever I went.

So hopefully from here on 2022 will be free of drama but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

until next time………