August 19, 2025

On the mend

One of the women on the NT tour said it would be six weeks before I could ditch the splint for my fractured wrist and start using my hand more normally. She was right. It’s definitely improving though, and I’m cleared to drive again thank goodness, but there are still things I can only do with difficulty, or not at all. Thankfully partners do come in handy for such occasions! So it’s going to be a few more weeks before I feel confident about lifting heavy items, unscrewing the tops of jars, or doing some of the Pilates poses that involve strong(er) wrist movements than mine currently has. The first time back at senior’s gym tomorrow will be interesting. Definitely no lifting dumbbells for me yet.


At least keyboarding is easier. One-hand typing isn't to be recommended. I kept remembering the amazing pianist on the ABC TV's recent series The Piano which featured talented pianists from around Australia, some of whom were invited to Sydney's Concert Hall to perform. One of those selected was a very talented pianist who'd suffered a stroke in his '20s or '30s but had gone on relearn playing the piano with staggering skill - using just one hand. What an inspiration. And a reminder not to complain given my limitations were only temporary.


No physio is required though, just the hand/wrist exercises I’ve been doing anyway and that are getting easier. My wrist soon lets me know when it’s done too much and it’s time to stop. In what is hoped will be Tassie’s last gasp of freezing winter weather hasn’t helped though, as I noticed yesterday. The wrist ached pretty much all day so the arnica cream had a good workout again.


Comments on the scar have all been ones of surprise – especially when people are advised where the surgery was done. I can only repeat what I was told afterwards: the surgeon who operated on my wrist at Alice Springs Hospital is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the country for this procedure, and his team are also held in high esteem. I think I was therefore remarkably lucky in the care and attention I received there, as well as back here in Tasmania. The follow up at Launceston’s Orthopaedic Clinic has also been excellent.


And the plate and pins in my wrist won't set off airport security as they're plastic not metal. Plastics are sometimes good for something even if I do wince a bit while admitting it. 

 

 

 

 

 


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Magni

Fiona's gift

By Anne Layton-Bennett • June 14, 2026
It’s taken far too many months for this marvellous model to grace the dedicated desk space in my office. When Fiona comes to visit next she will be very surprised, and hopefully gratified, that her amazing creative talent is finally on display. We’ve known each other for a very long time, and during the insanely busy time when I was helping to run the flower farm, working part-time in a school library, doing a spot of journalism on the side, and fighting the proposed pulp mill that is the subject of the manuscript I’m hoping to get published, Fiona cleaned my house each week. There’s only so much a person can do after all, and it has to be said cleaning our house during those manic years was fairly low down on the list of my priorities. But Fiona is a woman of many talents and she certainly possesses one that I so don’t have: sewing and dressmaking. So over the years she’s also made a few garments based on the pattern of a favourite garment that I was particularly fond of, and she’s also done some clothing alterations for both of us. My skills with needles and thread are limited to sewing on buttons, and taking up hems on John’s too-long pairs of jeans. Anything else is beyond me. But this fabulous model is the pièce de résistance – along with the beautiful crocheted knee warmer she gave me last year. This was when winter was approaching and so determined was I to finish writing the book, I decided to get out of bed at the insane hour of 5am and get in a solid hour’s writing in before dog walking and the demands of the day took over. Fiona was also one of many Tasmanians who needed to be circumspect about her opinion of the pulp mill. It was a project that polarised people, including families and friendships. She was one of several who passed on snippets of useful information, but on the basis of anonymity so it couldn’t be sheeted home to her.  Needless to say Fiona will be one of those whose contribution will be acknowledged – when this book is finally accepted by a publisher.

Signs of spring - when winter's only just arrived

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