I bought a chest-of-drawers recently, from a local op shop (thrift shop/charity shop). The wood was in pretty good nick – sturdy and solid. But it had a sad, tired paint job – chipped, peeling, and the wrong colour scheme for our bedroom. The other day I got busy in the garage with the sandpaper,…
Tag: pain management
Self Care, Cat Style
On a day out to Palmerston North recently, we took an unexpected detour. Most detours are tedious interruptions involving traffic cones and tortoise-paced driving. Not this one. This one was a spontaneous decision triggered by the sight of the SPCA sign at the side of the road. Shall we go in? we said. The previous…
Distractions & Diversions
There’s a change in the air. The tropical, coconut lemony smell of summer has faded. The air is thinner, clearer. Last week, the air was thick enough to wrap around us like a blanket – now it’s more like a filmy sheer curtain, with a window behind it letting in an uncomfortable draught. Most days…
Sunhats and Selfhelp: pain management
On a hot, wind-still, summer evening, the park by the river is the perfect place to be. When you are only just two, this perfection poses a few dilemmas. Climbing and running and jumping, your very favourite things to do, make your shoes and sunhat fall off, and somehow turn the hat inside out. And…
Ten Minutes in the Monkey Forest
Beside a small gravel carpark next to State Highway 1 on the Kapiti Coast in New Zealand, huddled in a small v between the shoulders of two hills, is a remnant of ancient kohekohe forest and sub-tropical bush. It is crammed with palms, vines, and ferns. Most people in the area know it as Nikau…
How to Measure Pain
If only pain were as easy to measure as, say, volume. As height, or weight, or speed. Medical professionals try to quantify it. How bad is your pain on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being the worst pain you can imagine? Most health professionals I have come across also add ‘childbirth counts as…
Verve 