bush weekend

- going away with the rehab centre admin lady, for a 3-day weekend in the bush. She is an honorary ranger at one of the medium-sized reserves, which basically means her job is to drive around and steer visitors in the right directions, keep them out of trouble and make sure they leave at closing time. Plus other fun bits like counting animals, monitoring them and anything exciting that happens. She is 69, and my greatest worry is that I won't be able to keep up with her! Her holiday last year was climbing volcano slopes in the Congo to see the gorillas. I'm really looking forward to it though, as she is great fun to be with, and it also means we go to all the closed areas of the reserve that the public is not alllowed in.

- the downside is that it means no dude for 3 days, and he has been sick this week as well, with flu. We met for coffee today, and I suggested to him that he take up some bad habits. I smoke, drink, don't eat properly, don't exercise enough, am fat - and am generally in amazingly good physical health. And he, who does all the right things has been sick numerous times in the last year - flu, colds, sinus, major gastric problems.... maybe there are merits to being a bad person! And, my friend Duckling is having a major psych meltdown at the moment, and is back in hospital on strict suicide watch, and feeling very unloved at the moment. I haven't helped much by being so chaotically busy this week that - although we have chatted lots on Facebook, I haven't been able to visit her in the 3 or 4 hours of the day that she is awake enough to register a visitor.

- great news though, is that my long-distance buddy Aqua, who I've been worrying about for the past month is OK, and is posting again. Her life is undergoing huge changes at the moment, so mention her in any prayers you might make, but I believe she is strong enough and smart enough to make good choices for herself. But it would be nice to be close enough to give her a big hug....