Day 140 in a Year of my Life

A lazy Saturday night watching an old Indiana Jones movie while keeping an eye on the football scores online.

Now that the footy season has started, we are missing our Foxtel.  We like to watch all the NRL matches over the weekend.

It's going to be at least 6 weeks before we get to spend our Saturdays eating home made pizzas while enjoying 'Super Saturday' on the sports channel, which has become our treasured tradition.

Today, I've played with a couple of photos ...

Another thing that I'm looking forward to, is having a usable work area so that I can learn how to use Photoshop and the graphics tablet together.

It's going to be a tough 6+ weeks while the work is happening on the house.  There will be noise and dust and stress and the dogs will be more psychotic than usual.  I think we will be stretched to our limits with so many visitors coming to spend some time amid the chaos.

I also think the Lions Park will be enjoying my company quite often - it will be my place of 'calm' when it all gets too much.

However, it will be over before we know it and our house will be as good as new.

Life will get back to normal and all will be right with our world.

We will be stronger and wiser, with one more major life experience behind us.

Nite all.

Day 139 in a Year of my Life

Tonight was 'shave for a cure' night at the pub.

Our neighbour (the one whose house landed on ours during the tornado) decided to participate and had his very long white/grey hair and beard shaved off.

We headed to the pub after our regular Friday night at the Bowls Club and this is what we witnessed ...

I'm not sure how much money was raised, but the cup was packed with notes and coins.  I'll find out tomorrow.

Today, I'm grateful for Community Spirit.  It's alive and well in our little town.

Nite all.

Day 138 in a Year of my Life

Adoring Husband has been interviewed by the local Channel 7 News, twice in the space of 4 weeks.

A split second of the footage from his story, is now a permanent fixture on the ad for our local news.  His fifteen minutes of fame has become epic!

Since the tornado, he has also joined the local SES, so he's had lots of paperwork to complete and is now doing something constructive and community based with some of his free time.

I feel proud of him for making that decision and taking the necessary steps to get to this point.  I think it's a good way for him to meet new people and to do something positive and fresh after such a horrible start to the year with his Parkinsons diagnosis and then the tornado.

Today, we awoke to a completely cloud free sky, for the first time since mid January.

It was a glorious day with blue sky and sunshine, a slight breeze (instead of the gale force winds we've experienced for the last 2 months) and the local wildlife were out in force.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quite on the ball and missed a fabulous opportunity this morning.

I was on the beach with my camera for about 20 minutes or more, trying to capture the sunlight dancing on the waves that were crashing on the shore (crashing waves is an unusual phenomenon for our area any time!), and when I was satisfied, I rode further along the path to the southern end.

I surveyed the area and looked back toward where I had just come from and saw, to my dismay, the huge White Breasted Sea Eagle, fighting with the Whistling Kite, above the water where a Shag was attempting to eat a shiny silvery fish.

All three birds wanted the fish and the Whistling Kite was bombing the White Breasted Eagle to keep him from getting it.

I jumped back on my trike and pedalled for all my worth back to other beach, but the White Eagle had left the area.

The Whistling Kite took a couple of unsuccessful swoops on the Shag while I was watching, but the photos aren't worth sharing.

Very disappointing.

I did find a Pale-headed Rosella in the park.

There were all types of ducks and birdlife on the lagoon early this morning, but I was too heavy footed and scared them all to the other end of the lagoon, so all I can offer, is a lily.

And that's the story of my day.

Today, I am grateful for blue skies and sunshine.  Everybody's spirits are lifted as we soak up the sun's rays and all that healthy vitamin D.

Nite all.    

 

Day 137 in a Year of my Life

If I can sit here for 90 minutes and not come up with anything of value to write, then I should probably give up and post a couple of photos.

So here goes.

Kookaburra relaxing

A Dollar Bird

Today I am grateful for the change of seasons and that time of year moving from Summer to Autumn, when the weather cools down so that you can actually sleep under a cover, soundly, and in comfort.

Have a lovely Thursday!

Nite all.

Day 136 in a Year of my Life

So, Adoring Husband has been very busy, and has been conscientiously emptying all of the cupboards that line the walls of the garage, and clearing the area in preparation for the repairs on the house.

You know what it's like when you go through cupboards and drawers that you haven't been near for a couple of years?  (I often question why we need to keep half of the things in the cupboard if we haven't used them for a couple of years!)

Well, Adoring Husband found these photos.  They were taken 9 years ago when we went on our first holiday together.  A road trip to Rockhampton to visit my mother for her birthday.  On the way home, we stopped at Australia Zoo and shouted ourselves a cuddle with some tiger cubs.

We've all changed so much in nine years!

Today, I am grateful for cupboards that haven't been opened in a couple of years.  The cupboards that hold treasures and that make you feel like it's Christmas when you find them.  The cupboards whose treasures bring back such fantastic memories and plant a smile on your dial.

We have quite a few of them!

Nite all.

Day 135 in a Year of my Life

I learnt how to play Gin Rummy tonight.

Adoring Husband and I were invited to dinner at a friend's home across town.

Adoring Husband helped them out with their computer last year and we were supposed to go to dinner back then as their gesture of thanks, but circumstances prevented it.

Then they went on holidays, then we went on holidays, then Christmas came and went and then the tornado hit and then they went on holidays again.

Which brings us to tonight!

Baked dinner and GF tofu cheesecake.

Gin Rummy.

I won twice!  My brain hurt!

Lovely couple.

Before I go ... photo opportunity ... a touch of photoshop in this one.

Today I am grateful for friends with electricity, who can cook delicious meals for us without using their barbecue :)  (Don't get me wrong!  I am grateful for Adoring Husbands wonderful barbecue cooking!) but ... I miss a good oven baked meal lol.

Nite all.

Day 134 in a Year of my Life

Tomorrow, Adoring Husband and I will begin packing everything and moving it into a crate that will be delivered here some time during the day.

It'll be just like spring cleaning and will be a perfect opportunity to de-clutter and downsize.

Are you listening Adoring Husband?

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to spring clean and also write a short blog post tonight.

:D

Nite all.

Day 133 in a Year of my Life

Trivia night at the local club tonight.

We had eight at our table and there were eight other teams.

We came second!  By one point!

I think we had a good team and everybody contributed really well - although some a little loud at times.  I'm sure we gave a couple of answers away.

The person who made up the questions, interestingly enough, asked the same question twice - not just on one round, but on two rounds! She blamed storm damage for her errors lol.

The cost of the night was supposed to include a light supper, but that fell through, and we ended up with a couple of small bowls of chips and a bowl of nuts.

Luckily I took my own GF nuts and also a light salad, which I left in my bag when the light supper didn't eventuate.

As the night wore on and the drunkenness took over, it became very loud and disorderly!  Our table was one of the more subdued and orderly tables.

This afternoon, as the time drew closer to get ready for this evening, I began to regret organising it and I really didn't feel very motivated or keen to go.  But I'm so glad that we did because I ended up having a really nice time.  We had some good laughs and combined, we made a good trivia team.

Yay for us!

Today, I am grateful for delicious, lazy, uninterrupted afternoon naps that have no time limit and can be enjoyed at leisure.  Especially enjoyable after a gourmet lunch made by Adoring Husband.

Nite all