Hello

Hi @Appleblossom @Chasingsunsets well done on your exercising. I've slackened off the last few days, feeling a bit wonky confirmed by my bp monitor saying irregular heartbeat. I'm reluctant to fuss as I've been told in the past my cvd is mild.

A couple of days ago in my feed was an article about lower urinary tract symptoms being associated with trauma and depression, dunno if that's of interest Apple. Algorithms are convoluted sometimes, you can get surprises.

Your bird is a mystery @Chasingsunsets - the beak could well be butcherbird. It looks a bit scruffy - but good length of tail, a very young one could be a bit deficient in that department lol.

I imagine working through the redress scheme brings up a lot of sad history and difficult feelings. I've been looking at old papers from early adulthood onward, very challenging and shedding some light on my experiences and family dysfunction. At one stage it seems some family members were pursuing their own legal and financial agendas and caused collateral damage. All quite messy and beyond me, then as now.

Are you yourself feeling supported by the new peer group you're running Apple? Hope so. With family and redress stuff you'd have a lot on your plate.

I have hollowed out grapefruit under my tree. I suspect rodents but have found slugs. When I had ringtail possums a few years I saw them in action once - but they ate the rind and left the innards.

@Dimity Its a delicate balance between attending to health issues and knowing when not to fuss. I get the sense you are pretty wise and informed, but have a lot going on.

Collatoral damage among family dynamics is hard, and makes sense as people who are close get effected, How do we really know the full consequences, of actions, and even personality styles. Damage can be done without real intent or malice, but the harm can be significant. Does it help you to join the dots and understand how things unfolded and what the causes were?

Doing rehab exercise was central to my life for a long time. Gastrointestinal or urinary stuff isn't my weakness generally. The algorythms seem fairly ad based. Its good that I have more of a life now. Busy even, doing different groups. Music and mental health are the 2 main themes. Some are faith based, some secular. Some are monthly, some are weekly and some are ad hoc. I am not running the faithbased peer group. Others have that responsibility, a pastor and mental health nurse. I hope I am contributing on balance. I need to be clear about duty of care, and my limits. I have a Mad Studies and Lived Experience lens, and other trainings not so mainstream. At least I am connecting with various values and people, which is good.

I am no longer an introverted, shy book worm. lol... Though in an AI course today I showed them 2 paper books from my handbag: "The Singing Neanderthals: the origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body" and Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet" Bloomin American spelling. lol ....I guess they describe my interests Trying to understand what makes us tick.

@Chasingsunsets Thanks for your thoughtful response. We are putting off Redress til at least October, as I have a bit going on with my son this month and my psychologist is away.

We no longer have the function to leave a reply as draft and have it load again. Yep I lost stuff. Derr. Try again. lol I shouldnt complain about lesser technical functions when I dont like AI.

Oooops thats inconsistent Apple.

Hehe @Dimity maybe I shall go back to the drawing board re mystery bird 🤣🤭

wish it was better lighting!

saw quite a few birds yesterday all after seeds.

here’s a honey eater for ya I managed to get a pic of one of the types ☺️

@Appleblossom 

I hear you @Appleblossom, glad you have a psychologist to support you with it all 💚. I also hope your son is okay 🙏

Thank you very much. @Chasingsunsets

I cant take much for granted, but am grateful for the support. irl and online

Good capture of the honeyeater @Chasingsunsets .

The books sound interesting @Appleblossom . I'm a little but dubious about how much can be pinned on neanderthals or any other hominid forebears but have been intrigued by what little I know of culture and mnemonics in songlines and astronomy.

I'm glad you have a wide network of supports around you, I guess some connections stronger than others. My experiences weren't in institutional contexts, but feel recognition and redress is vital for people.

I have a lot to process, and unfortunately not everyone is well intentioned, but even recognising that can feel like progress.

Hopefully I'll get back into the garden soon. The deciduous street trees are leafing and the season is turning.

@Dimity I bought the Singing Neanderthal book after I had put in 5 years at our local zoo. I had no friends, but was closer to the animals. So I have come a long way since then. Yet still appreciate all the species, I have had contact with. Now I use the book, to relax the expectations with people who are worried they are not musical enough. Both singing groups went well today. Then I came home and my son had cooked a terrific spag bol, for 5 meals, with 4 different legumes. He went to town. He can do healthy. Yay! So I guess it has been a good day.

Sorry @Appleblossom I meant no disrespect, and don't know the book. I've seen a photo of a bone flute and read of necklaces ascribed to Neanderthals. I'm just a little suss of popular science mags regularly trotting out stories attributing negative traits and illnesses to fragments of Neanderthal DNA - with little evidence and dogwhistles to eugenics re bloodlines, and feared the worst.

Glad your son is handy in the kitchen. And that your musicmaking continues.

@Dimity No offence taken. I am just glad for the intelligent conversation. I am so hungry for it. I am not mad about popular science magazines. I dont think I would like that either.

Haven't read Scientific American or National Geographic much for decades, except I kept my Physics of Music book, bought when I was young.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/375579.The_Singing_Neanderthals

Some of my jokes are about NOT being species-ist. In a recent conversation, a fellow was talking about the animalistic sides of humans. I tried to get him to pinpoint specific behaviours, instead.

In my years at the zoo, I got to witness hierarchies, aggression, trauma, depression, and creativity among the different animals I feel very fortunate, but even so its not wise to over-anthropomorphise animals. Who knows where to draw the line? lol But they are not as dumb as we might think.

I remember laying down on the floor of my grandparents house reading a huge atlas which had a lot of the species in a huge web of life. It was a great visual when I was 10, which I built on doing Biol as a teen, and later Paleontology, which fills in far too many blanks for the average person's stomach, and I cant really remember all the details, but I still get the gist of.... lol

Hope you are finding things to occupy yourself each day, even if you are staying home. Home can be great.

@Appleblossom the book looks interesting. The suss articles Google pushes to me are mostly from Popular Mechanics and obscure websites and if I open and read them I take them with a pinch of salt.

I got an HD in biol by absorbing the displays on fish paleontology, then enjoyed reading Scagel on evolutionary botany. Did other weird unrelated subjects from other faculties.

I have a lot of respect for Georgie Purcell of the Animal Justice Party - social justice for hoomans as well as rights for animiles.

Thanks for being kind about being home. I feel quite shut in. I ventured out today but felt I'd imposed on the people I saw. I'm not doing well but trying to persevere.

Enjoy your Sunday.