Every new year is a time for new resolutions, which we make with determination - and often break not long after.
My big one I make every year - to stop smoking lasts until the last cigarette in a packet, and justify by saying it's my 1 true vice, as I don't drink alcohol. Lame excuse isn't it?
Another resolution is to finally finish our renovations.
I also plan to experiment with my computer and learn some of it's tricks, then tackle the [to me ] cell phone mysteries.

One I will keep is to plant more fruit and veg to share with my neighbours.

My wishes are that the politicians would cease their endless personal bickering, and get down to thrashing out some policies, as they are paid to do.
My wish every year is for more peace in this world - never give up on that one.

Dear worldwatcher,

Amongst my wishes for this coming New Year is to
be more understanding, patient, and compassionate
with family and friends (including my mum who
suffers from dementia and with whom I've recently
had a bit of an upset).

I guess we all have the
tendency to moralise, to say endless things about
other people and how they should clean up their
acts. However I'm beginning to learn that what I need
do is work on myself.

Apart from that, my other resolution is to maintain a
healthy diet and exercise program and spend more time
with my family and grandchildren. Time flies so
quickly and they grow so fast.

Lexi,

Yes time goes so fast as you said.

Sorry to hear about your Mum, but try and resolve your upset with her, and be grateful you still have her a while longer.

Can't begin to express the sense of loss when a mother dies. In my Mum's mind I was still just a kid right to the end. So many things about which to ask her it's now too late.

My father had dementia, and could be very trying at times. That's when I had to think back, remember what a wonderful father he'd been, and realise the disease had changed him through no fault of his own.

As for the healthy diet and exercise programme, I suspect many of make this one. From what I see on the streets these days, not many follow through on it.

Yes time is going fast. That's why my revolution is to spend more time driving my car, before I get too damn old to do so.

Looking at my records I found I had only done 1100Km in my special old car all year. Well that is going to stop.

From now on I'm going to produce my share of CO2 plant fertilizer, & enjoy all the work that has gone into the old girl.

Might be down your way some time Lexi, I have decided to take a trip around some of the places I last saw over 50 years ago.

The kids can come & look after all the discarded animals they have left with me, for a little while.

Better finish now, & go start the dam pump. Have to put water in the tank that fills their old horses water troughs.

But most of all I'm going to continue to enjoy life, & hope you all do too.

Come to think of it, I might just settle for a resolution, rather than a revolution. Surprising how much difference one little typo can make.

Dear worldwatcher,

Thank You for the advice regarding dementia.
It is very difficult but as you point out -
I am lucky to still have her with us.

Dear Hasbeen,

I know that you'll enjoy your trip. You've got
such a zest for life. You're an inspiration!
All the Best to you and yours for the New Year.
Take care.

Lexi>> (including my mum who suffers from dementia and with whom I've recently had a bit of an upset).<<

Life is a joker card Lexi. My mum who is 87 was forced into a rest home because her physical condition requires 24/7 attention. The body has failed but her computer is 100%. She sits awaiting her fate with her mind operating as if she was 21.

I wish she had dementia, it would ease her psychological burdon of knowing there is no future other than death, and being painfully aware of every second of the present is no help.

Sonofgloin,

You're right on one thing - we have to play the cards we are dealt. I wouldn't wish dementia on anyone after seeing my father's brilliant mind overtaken by dementia.

My mother died with a heart attack, and her G.P. said it was the kindest death a person could have.

Your poor mother would probably agree that it is preferable to retain her mind although her body has failed.

After experiencing the deaths of both my parents I am left with the hope that mine will emulate my mothers' death, and a persistent fear that it will be the same as my father. In the increasingly rare moments of lucidity my father wept that this had happened to him.

Neither his nor your mother's last years have been kind to them. A poor reward for all the good things they both did in their lives isn't it?

Worlwatcher>> Neither his nor your mother's last years have been kind to them. A poor reward for all the good things they both did in their lives isn't it?<<

WW, my thoughts about my mum were generated by her wish that either death or dementia take away the constant emotion of helplessness that invades her day and night. How do you overcome anguish? With drugs you can mask the physical pain…dementia masks the anguish of the patient but sadly nurtures it in their loved ones.

One of evolutions peculiarities that keep me guessing regarding our time here on earth is the consciousness and emotional capacity we carry. All the other creatures that have shared the same evolutionary process as us do not have the knowledge that they have a use by date. They are creatures of the present, but our consciousness allows us to be creatures with a tomorrow.

I have considered that this consciousness is needed because of the complex society that humans have evolved. But all other social creatures, be they insects, mammals, or birds, have the hardwiring that allows them to cohabitate and work towards the good of the whole without the need for a consciousness.

That fact and the current big bang synopsis probably forms the basis for my belief that there is a lot more going on than we can see because consciousness is the enemy of evolution and of a species ongoing prospects.

Finally a beef against the creator, if she is listening….why give the Galapagos Tortoise a two hundred and fifty year life span….they are not going to the moon, they are not splitting the atom, ….give it to us.

Sonofgloin,

I understand where your Mum is coming from, as I too have a family member with a good mind and a fast failing body, accompanied by frustration and depression. All I can do is empathise, but am helpless to change that situation. Wish with all my heart that I could.

I agree, if the Galapagos tortoise can be given 250 years of life, why can't we have that too?
Maybe she realises by giving us a much shorter lifespan she limits the damage we can do, in the hope that following generations will become wiser?

Sorry fellers. Do be careful what you wish for, it may not be what you really want.

I would guess that to get that 250 years, you just might have to slow down to the tortoises pace. At that speed I doubt you'd get to the moon. In fact I doubt you'd make it to the rocket, in one even very long life.

Perhaps you could send your grand son on after you, if he can remember why you were walking that way, in the first place.

Hasbeen, I think you may have something in regard to metabolism and speed. There is a clam that lives just off the coast of Finland and he lasts 500 years, and I expect he does not move anywhere.

As I understand it each cell that we have when we are conceived has a tail with trillions of use by tokens, as the cell regenerates or splits the new cell has one less regeneration tag in its tail…eventually the tags run down and the cell reproduces at a much slower rate, or it just dies. That is why we age.

Dear SOG,

I guess neither is a good option - although I wouldn't
wish dementia on anyone. We've recently lost my mother-in-law,
she was on the tail-end of dementia and was placed in
palliative care where we kept a constant vigil.
She entered the hospital with a severe urinary
infection. She was conscious but wasn't aware of her
surroundings and could not make any conversation. She
seemed to be pleading with God to take her at long last.
She was given fluids and other vigorous support.
She recovered and left hospital and went back to her
nursing home. Her mind was substantially destroyed.
She did not know where she was or for how long she had
been there. She did not retain bladder and bowel continence,
could not dress herself or feed herself or transfer
from bed to chair to bathroom. She finally
passed away at the end of October. It was a long struggle -
and her deterioration was very marked. Now my mother's
going through the same sort of thing. I feel so helpless.
However, I'm there for her and do everything in my power to
let her know how much she's loved.

I guess I was lucky with my mother. Dad had a heart attack & died on the spot almost 30 years ago.

We got a fully self contained granny flat, installed adjacent to the house, where mum was totally independent for over 20 years.

Our town has a respite centre, with a bus, which picks the oldies up once or twice a week, for a day at the centre, or occasionally a day out. This gave her a group of friends, who would come visit when I had time to fetch them, for almost 20 years.

As these dropped out she did not make new friends, & stopped going out much, but was still in her unit until her 98Th birthday.

We did have help with her showering 4 days a week for the last 2 years, & I did her meals, there, or at the house, when she was up to it. At her 99Th birthday party she did not know which grand kids, or great grand kids, belonged to who, but did know almost all the adults.

It was only the last few months, when she could no longer stand at all that she had to go into care.

I did find her getting quite annoyed with a phone call towards the finish. The girl would not listen to her. When I took the phone I found the Suncorp computer on the other end, & that can annoy anyone. Apart from that she was always rational.

I really don't want to get quite that old thanks, & I'm sure she did not mind not getting that telegram from the queen, she might have had a problem figuring out who the woman was sending her telegrams.

Lexi>> Now my mother's going through the same sort of thing. I feel so helpless.<<

It is bigger than both of us Lexi my belle. Love compassion and dignity are the only currency that our old folks need, and I am sure you give your loved ones all three, in spades.

"There is a clam that lives just off the coast of Finland and he lasts 500 years"

Goodness, knowing the federal government's passion for seniors we can have confidence that The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Health and whatever, has immediately pledged a few dollars for research into that mollusc to better the health and vitality of aging Aussies.

Then again, maybe Tanya might not do that either...

Oh Hasbeen, now you've put a damper on our fun.

Just as I was contemplating all the things I could achieve in 250 years, you immediately slowed me right down to the pace of a tortoise.

Already it has taken me an inordinate amount of time just to type this.

Can I amend my wish?

Dear SOG,

Thanks for your kind words. You've got the knack
of cheering me up no matter what my problems are.
Your family's lucky!

Dear Hasbeen,

I don't think mum will live long enough to get
that famous letter from whoever's our Head of State.
And she too would probably not know who it's from
either. Still, were it to happen, I'm sure the
family would be thrilled with the honour being
bestowed. And we certainly would have it framed.

Dear worldwatcher,

I hope that you live to a grand old age - and
make many wonderful memories and magical moments along the way.

Worldwatcher there is a guaranteed cure for lazy horses. All you need is an old rusty nail, & a bottle of turps.

The idea is a quick scratch on the rump, with the nail, & a cup full of turps poured on the scratch.

It is supposed to ginger them right up for a period. Give it a try yourself, if you are becoming too tortoise like. I think the idea is to scratch the soft part of the rump, although I'm not sure if you would have to get down on hands & knees for it to work on you.

I can't quite work out the other reference to nails & horses. You hear gamblers sometimes referring to the horse they bet on as being a bit of an old nail, when they lost. Perhaps they forgot to add the turps, to the old nail.

Hasbeen,

Never heard that one before, but am definitely not tempted to try it.

Now you're suggesting I act like a horse, and scratch my a** with a rusty nail? Thanks for the suggestion. The very thought of it has immediately brought me back up to speed. :)