"Yes, you can be a dreamer and a doer too, if you will remove one word from your vocabulary: impossible."
-H. Robert Schuller
"Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit."
-George Santayana
"You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth."
-H.L. Mencken
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10Dec17 Gaelyne with her new glasses

Updated 27 Jan 2020

My name is Gaelyne Gasson. Gaelyne is pronounced as “Gay-LINN”. I live in Reynella, South Australia with my three cats – Noble, Neurmal and Moonshine.  My beloved husband, Rod, passed away November 2018 after a 9 month hard-fought battle with lung cancer.  I will miss him forever.  I have three grown kids who live in the USA and a pair of appropriately adorable grandchildren that I finally met last August. 

I had a serious fall into rocks at Christies Beach a few years back that rocked my confidence. I broke a rib, but came close to hitting my head on the jagged rocks, which could have been fatal. I spent several months not really coping and was already dealing with depression, so it just compounded the situation.

My rheumatologist suggested I take part in a program to help older people avoid falls.  By my actual age, I didn’t qualify to be in the clinic, but my body age was certainly in that bracket and they let me in the course anyway. The program lasted for about 6 weeks, and completely changed my life. Much of what I learned in the Falls clinic was a combination of balance training and strength exercises. I’ve tried to continue on this path as it’s done me a world of good.

I use a Fitbit and try to walk as much as I can everyday.  I’ve been trying to exercise at least 3 days a week and include balance training at least once a week. I’m still prone to falling  – but I’m much better at being able to do it without injury and know my limitations. I have osteoarthritis, and despite walking a lot throughout the day, if I walk, sit, stand or lie down for too long, I’m very stiff for a few minutes until I’ve been able to move a bit. My hips and ankles have a habit of ‘giving out’ on me during these first few minutes so I keep walking sticks near my desk and other strategic places so I can have a bit of safety for those scary moments. I hate that I need to do this.

Other health issues include allergies, anaemia and diabetes (type 2).  I am better able to be out and about but still have limitations. It used to be I couldn’t handle a couple days of being away from home for various reasons. I can now do several days, but it takes me a few days to recover. It’s an improvement though, and I’ll take it.

About 18 years ago, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and convinced myself I was going to die in the next few years.  That didn’t happen. I’m still here.  Some of my health issues started around the same time, or have had a hand in causing some of the effects, but I’m still here!

I really enjoy cooking and have a little recipe area on this site for sharing some of my favourite dishes.  I have an appetite to match my love of cooking and my body size could definitely be smaller. I’m working on that, but it’s reached a bit of a plateau lately.

When I’m not walking or in my home gym, you can usually find me at my computer. I enjoy using WordPress and in particular a theme named Elementor.  I also really enjoy a couple of Facebook games – Bejeweled Blitz and Bingo.  

I’m also a geek. I wrote a book about how to use the Internet for Commodore users several years ago and was very much into the inner workings on how to get online back before it became so easy anyone can do it.  Rod and I met on FidoNet, which existed before the Internet. And we tell people that as a point of pride. When we shared private messages with each other, we knew it was private. We rang each other’s modems and uploaded our messages.

I’m firm supporter of gay rights. I grew up with my first name of ‘Gae’ in the 1970’s. I’ve probably heard every bigoted anti-gay remark and especially when I was younger, was lectured by well meaning ‘adult’ bigots about why being gay is bad. It all took a toll and I made up my own mind that these people are just trying to live their lives and don’t need the bullshit some people want to heap on them.

I believe people should be nicer to each other, and that the world would be SO much better is we just accepted differences and didn’t go out of our way to point out said differences. We are all human beings regardless of race, colour, religion or any combination. 

Every once in awhile I try to practice Random Acts of Kindness.  It’s fun and brings smiles. Give it a try sometime.

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