Sydney, Australia, August 2009~

Dear All~

Tottie Ruth Witherspoon-Brighton here.  Thought I would update you as to what has been going on with me.  I know it's been a while since I last wrote; hadn't had the energy to do much of anything, let alone write.  That darned swine flu I had several months back really knocked the stuffing out of me!

I am happy to report that I am over it, fully and completely.  I am meself again, thanks to God's grace!  :)  It is only by a miracle that I am still kickin'!  I very nearly died; I was that sick.  It was horrrible!!

Since gettin' over the flu, I haven't really done much of anything, except try to get me strength back.  Bobbo, me mate, has been the biggest help; I appreciate him so much!  Yeah, he's a good egg; I think I'll keep him! :)

The weather here in Aussieland is coolish; winter here, soon to be spring.  We had temps dip into the lower 30's last night, even had reports of frost in the outlying areas.  We didn't have much in the way of snow, but we did have a few days where flurries flitted about, especially in the mountains.  It was really pretty; took piccys of it!  Doesn't snow much here, but in the mountains, it does, sometimes. 

I haven't seen any funnels (spiders, not tornadic funnels!) lately; I am most relieved.  Ever since I got bitten by one last year, I've been terrified of them; I even see them on the telly, and I'm like, "Turn it off!  Turn it off!  Quick, change the damn channel on the telly; I dooon't want to see it!!"  I see one, and I absolutely go bonkers out of me skull!!

I pray I don't see one for a long time to come, or else I'm movin' to the States, where they don't have funnels (except tornadic ones, and those are bad enough)!

I'd much rather face down a tornado funnel than a funnelweb spider!!

That's how much I hate spiders; they're unbelievably NASty!!

Remember that koala bear that'd been burned in the fires of last year?  Well, the little nipper died; 'bout broke me heart when I heard the news.  We had some horrid fires last year, and I pray that this coming season isn't as bad!  I hate fires about as bad as I do spiders!!

Or tornadoes!!

Well, I heard from me friend in the States, Louie Sandusky.  Her big family keeps her busy; I still can't fathom how she can take care of a million kids without going crazy!!  I swear that family gets bigger and bigger every time I see them!!  It's madness, that's what it is:  pure madness!!

She's fine, just busy with her family and working at hospital all the time!

I will have to write to her when I can remember to.  Seems that the swine flu messed with me head; I forget things so easily nowadays!  Seems I have to write things down, or else I can't remember shit!!  I hope I'm not comin' down with dementia or perhaps, early-onset Alzheimer's!!  That'd be too much for me to handle!!  I already have more than enough on me plate; I certainly don't need to add  Alzheimer's to the mix!!

I saw me chum's mother last month; she has Alzheimer's.  Such a cruel malady, that:  me friend's mum is forgetting more and more all the time; it may be soon when they will have to put her in a home for Alzheimer's patients.  Such a sad situation; I feel so badly for Miley!  (I used to work with Miley before she left to have her baby; she had a little nipper, a boy she named Steve, in honour of the late Croc Hunter, Steve Irwin.  He's sooo cute; bald as a cueball and all eyes!)

Yeah, I stil miss ol' Stevo Irwin; the Australia Zoo ain't the same without him, but it is nice to see his mate, Terri, and nipper, Bindi, doing such a fine job, carrying on his legacy.  And there's little Robert, who is the spittin' image of his pop.

Well, I am going to go now; have to lie down.  Me stump is aching again; the pain is making me a bit queasy in the belly.  I'd better go before I do a technicoloured yawn all over the computer keyboards; that would NOT be good!  Until later, this is Tottie Ruth saying pip, pip cheerio!  So long for now!  I will write again soon; I promise!

~Love, your friend in Oz, Tottie Ruth Brighton.  :)