Lazy Day

I woke up this morning to find that it was raining and the temperature had dropped by ten degrees.

What a relief.

I opened the bedroom windows so that I could lay in bed and listen to it.  It had that lovely fresh rain smell.

When I finally ventured out of bed, I felt decidedly lethargic.

I cooked up a big breakfast of bacon, eggs and tomato, hoping to find some energy to cook in the kitchen, but alas it didn't happen, so I spent the day on the couch, watching dvds and dozing on and off.

I've just been playing with some old photos ...

Now I'm watching the end of an old movie made in 1932 - Grand Hotel.

Tomorrow I hope to have regained my energy, because I have big plans for the kitchen!

Nite all.

Kitchen Joy

I think I mentioned a while back, that I had bought Monica Topliss's Cookbook.

Well, I tried another of her recipes today.  The Four Cheese Spinach Tart ...

Absolutely delicious!  Gluten and sugar free.

I'm trying not to eat it all before Adoring Husband returns from The Bay!

Chilli Lime turkey mince with coriander, garden salad and the four cheese spinach tart for dinner.  Delicious!

Bed time for me!

Nite all.

A Step Closer

I am in the middle of watching some videos of lectures, made by the Institute that runs the nutrition course that I've been looking at.

Those videos are fast convincing me to follow through and enrol for the February intake.

In the two hours that I've watched so far, they seem to be teaching along the lines of my food and nutritional beliefs, while providing even more compelling facts and data to support those beliefs.

It's kind of building my enthusiasm and motivation and I can feel some excitement stirring within!

So tonight, because my attention has been elsewhere,  I am sharing some quotes that touched me during the week.

I hope to spend the day in the kitchen tomorrow and I'm looking forward to catching up with the girls tomorrow night at the club.

In the meantime .. I need sleep!

Nite all.

Pinteresting Addiction

Pinterest is like having your very own online scrap book .. or multiple scrap books .. one each for everything that you're interested in .. recipes, home decor, fashion, quotes, crafts, hairstyles, jewellery, movies, photos, party ideas, cake decorating etc.

The fun part is searching other people's Pinterest pages and finding new recipes and new ideas for all sorts of things.

I've had a Pinterest page for some time, but for the most part, I've avoided it, because it's very addictive and time just seems to fly by until half the day is wasted!

However, just lately, I've been trolling through hundreds of recipe ideas (and I'm willing to bet that there are tens of thousands of recipes) and saving them to my Pinterest recipe board.

Each food photo is a link to it's recipe.

I've already lost count of the number of hours that I've lost in Pinterest since last Saturday and I have so many recipes that I want to try, that I just don't know where to start!

On that note, I'm leaving you with a photo of my lovely little Chicklet, taken on her birthday, and I'm off to Pinterest again to search for more food ideas!

Nite all.

 

Back to a Routine.

I was so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed last night, but alas, sleep eluded me til the early hours of the morning.

We have builders next door (right beside our bedroom), who start work at 6.30am, so I woke to the sound of hammers banging loudly.  *sigh*

It was nice, though, to go for a ride on my trike to The Seat of Knowledge this morning and spend an hour with my boys.

I then went to meet the girls for morning tea, but they didn't turn up (you know who you are!), but that was ok because I've been away and hadn't made any real arrangements to meet them.

I got myself a coffee and sat for half an hour.

A few people stopped for a chat, so it was a pleasant way to spend the morning.

I followed that up with a ride to the lagoon where I met up with three of the locals ...

The rest of the day was pretty lazy.

I spent some time in the kitchen (of course) and some time in my workspace editing a couple of photos.

I had a phone call from AIAS about the Diploma in Medical Nutrition.  I'm strongly considering this study option.  It means a four year commitment to study and the end result will be a qualification as a Nutritionist.  I have ten days to make a decision.

This is the result of a sunset shoot with the Nikonian while I was at the Sunny Coast...

Time to attempt sleep again.

Nite all.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig!

Home sweet home.

Instead of rising early for a sunrise photo shoot, The Nikonian and I chose (with unspoken words), to have a lazy morning at home.

We kind of had a weekend debriefing session, a bit of brekky and a cuppa.

Her partner arrived home from his weekend at Tuan and not long after that, The Nikonian drove me to the train station.

It was a really hot day with a warm and uncomfortable wind blowing, so it wasn't pleasant on the station platform, but thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long until the lovely air conditioned tilt train arrived and I could escape the heat.

There weren't many on the train, so I had a double seat to myself and directly across the aisle was a lady from my town, so we chatted for the entire trip, which made it go a lot faster.

Adoring Husband was waiting at the station to pick me up and it was great to see his welcoming smiling face.

I unpacked, we grocery shopped, I spent some time in my kitchen concentrating on a good home-cooked hearty meal full of vegetables, a home made buttery gravy and lots of raw onion to help fight off any flu-ey germs that The Nikonian was trying to fight off all weekend.

Now I'm all relaxed, with my feet up, watching My Kitchen Rules and the new series 'Love Child'.

It's good to be home and already, my brain is working over what I'm going to cook in the kitchen this week!

Nite all.

Bellbird Cafe

The Nikonian and I went on a photo shoot with another photographer buddy, Karlbobsky, this morning.

We left at 6am, though we think an earlier start may have produced some successful morning light photos.

Our aim for the day was to spot a Wedge Tailed Eagle.

The first raptor that we spotted, thanks to The Nikonian, was a Spotted Harrier ...

I was farthest away from where the bird was perched on a fence post, so rather than try to get closer and disturb it, I left it to The Nikonian and Karlbobsky, who were much closer and getting some good shots.

I made my way down the road towards a bit of a bridge, where I thought there might be a nice stream, or something of interest.

As I got there, I suddenly heard a commotion behind me, and as I turned to figure out what was going on, in my peripheral sight, I noticed a large bird soaring above me!

It was the Spotted Harrier that the others had been photographing, and the commotion was them, trying to attract my attention, to tell me to 'LOOK UP!'

Just in the nick of time!  This was the only good shot I got.

It was quite a successful day, with a Kingfisher, Grey Heron, King Parrot, some honey eaters. a Bassian Thrush, a Peaceful Dove, a Spangled Drongo and way, way up in the sky was a Wedge Tailed Eagle .. too far away to photograph.

We stopped at the Bellbird Cafe near Kenilworth and had a delicious breakfast and coffee.  The service was very friendly and efficient.  The food was delicious.  The coffee, a bit weak - next time I'll ask for a double shot - and the location was lovely, with a big lily pond which attracted all sorts of different birds.

We spend quite a bit of time there, but the heat beat us in the end.  It kept most birds away and made birdwatching a little uncomfortable.

I'd definitely like to return there in the Spring, when the weather is nicer and the bird life more active.

We were home by lunch time and then enjoyed sharing our photos with each other on facebook.

The Nikonian and I watched a really bad movie this afternoon as we relaxed in the air conditioned comfort of the lounge room.  We don't recommend watching 'American Hustle'.

A nice glass of wine to finish the day off and now an early night.

I'm looking forward to a good night of sleep .. we both drank coffee in the afternoon yesterday, and consequently struggled to get any sound sleep last night, so the combination of lack of sleep and the heat of the day, was quite taxing.

I hope to share more photos from today, during the week.

Time to head home tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to getting back into my kitchen and sleeping in my bed, but most of all to seeing Adoring Husband.  Ten days is too long.

Nite all.