Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Friday, June 5, 2015

Fabulous Friday

I studied!!

I studied bones.

It was incredibly interesting and I will share some of the details in another post, but not tonight.

Our neighbour across the road, who goes fishing in his boat every single day that the weather is fine, delivered a bag of fresh fish yesterday.

I have no idea what kind of fish he provided .. just that it was white fish.

I have to to admit that I was a little concerned while I was eating it today, that it might be sea perch .. which I am allergic to .. but after 4 hours, I was feeling relieved that I was wrong.

It usually takes about 90 minutes for my allergy to sea perch to set in, but it was the same for sea scallops and the last time I ate sea scallops, it took 4 hours for the nastiness to set in. Just as I was feeling excited that my allergy had become non-existent, a wave of nausea flowed over me and I ended up spending hours and hours in the bathroom.

So this time, I waited for four hours before I felt safe.

I coated the fish in a mixture of tapioca flour, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper. I fried it in my cast iron frypan in a shallow layer of butter. Absolutely delicious.

There is a big lawn bowls tournament happening in town this weekend, (which is the Queen's birthday long weekend) and on Saturday night, there is a karaoke night at the bowl's club. I've organised with the girls to catch the bus to the club tomorrow night for the occasion and hopefully, we will have a chance to get up and sing.

I'm hoping for a Bohemian Rhapsody singalong .. or there are other options suggested! Let's wait and see!

The boys have decided not to attend. We girls should have some fun anyway.



Enough of this frivolity.

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Sweets for my Sweet

I stopped to visit The Motivator again this morning. She is a great time waster and before I left, I bought four nice big cooked sand crabs from her. I ate one of them as soon as I arrived home and cleaned the others to put in the fridge for later. Yum.

While Adoring Husband was in town this week, he stocked up on my nuts and other ingredients for our sweet nibbles, so this morning I spent some time making a mess in the kitchen and made a chocolate cheesecake and some energy balls.

Adoring Husband does enjoy the energy balls, though I have to keep an eye on him or he would eat a dozen or more every day! He doesn't have a 'stop' button or a 'full' button and has a habit of doing everything to excess!

I guess, these days, with our healthy way of eating, it's not really such a problem.

For lunch, I used the leftover mini meatballs from last night's dinner, and heated them up in a spicy, buttery, curry soup. It was quite delicious for a quick made up nosh up.

Dinner tonight was an easy crispy skinned salmon steak with salad.

So all of that was my way of procrastinating and avoiding my studies and I didn't even sit down at my desk all day. Tonight I feel quite guilty about that, so tomorrow, while AH has SES duties, I will take advantage of the quiet time and do some cramming.

The new Flickr photo challenge theme for this month is the 'Golden Hour' which is the first hour after the sun rises or the last hour before the sun sets. I love that time of day for photography, but I am rarely outdoors at that time, it is also the coldest part of each day, so it will definitely be a challenge for me this month!

Having just spent some time clearing my wardrobe, I appreciated this facebook quote today!


Nite all.


Wednesday, June 3, 2015

What day is it?

I woke up this morning wondering what the hell day it was!

At first I thought it was Thursday and my brain was sorting through all the facts that would provide me with a conclusion as to what day it actually was.

I had lazily opened my eyes a little earlier, to see Adoring Husband in his SES t-shirt, so I immediately thought to myself, AH goes to SES on Thursdays .. but then I realised that he goes on Thursday 'nights' NOT mornings.

So then my brain tried to remember the order that AH told me he had SES duties this week .. which did me no good whatsoever because he has SES stuff on every day except Tuesday this week!

I tried to remember what I did yesterday. Aha .. morning tea with the girls and the barbecue last night .. yesterday was Tuesday!! Which makes today Wednesday!!

Then I remembered that I had a date with The Motivator this morning, so I got myself motivated to start my day!

It was very chilly this morning and apparently it was 8C when AH was out in the car earlier. It was chilly enough that I needed to wear something more substantial than just a t-shirt because there was a cold sneaky breeze to add chill to the air.

Down by the river, it was warm enough basking in the sunshine, but when the clouds skimmed over to hide the sun, the chill returned to the air. It's definitely the beginning of Winter.

I had an interesting morning with The Motivator and learned all about some skin care and health care products that she has started using. She is positively glowing, and it's especially noticeable after she had quite invasive surgery that has taken a couple of months from which to recover.

I am seriously considering trying them myself and have been given some information to study.. I will investigate further and get back to you!

This evening, I'm thinking about making some energy balls .. or perhaps waiting til tomorrow morning .. physically, I'm feeling very lazy, but mentally, I have all these energetic ideas that I don't have the physical motivation to complete.

I guess procrastination will win out tonight and I'll find my mojo tomorrow before I sit down to study.


Nite all.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Last Tuesday

It's the last Tuesday of the month.

That means a barbecue at the park, on the river for a large group of us.

Unfortunately, a large number of our large group were not available tonight.

There are usually about 20 of us, but tonight, only 6.

Travelling holidays and other commitments reduced our numbers considerably.

Even though so many of us were not available, it was still a very pleasant evening and the weather was very mild, the sunset quite glorious and the company friendly and comfortable.

I took a photo of the sunset, with my phone, but it was not very good .. instead I am going to share Mardi's phone photo which she took before the rest of us arrived. The horizon is a little crooked, but it's still a lovely pic. I hope Mardi doesn't mind me sharing her pic ...


Adoring Husband bought himself a new laptop today.

I warned him that I didn't want to hear any swearing from him as he set it up, but (and I knew this would happen) he could not help himself. The clawing questions and random swearing came thick and fast. Study was out of the question and my frustration was almost overwhelming.

It's possible that I could move out for a couple of weeks until he has set himself up .. perhaps a trip down south to Chicklet's house is on the cards.

The only other alternative, is to drink copious amounts of alcohol from early hours of the day, to help me cope with the stress of it all.

After 4 days of cursing because of failed technology and then new technology, I am dreaming of an 'island of calm'. I am pleading with the gods of bliss to bring me to that island in a smooth and floaty manner.

Anyway, for the first time in a couple of years, I had to use the public facilities, and on the way back to our barbecue area I stopped to chat with a couple of older gentlemen who were fishing on the river bank.

They had grandchildren and great grandchildren and one of them thought that I was 35 yrs old and didn't believe that I had a grandchild. I hugged him and announced that he was my new best friend. Admittedly, it was very dark and he was very old, but I'm more than happy to tell the story of the man who believed that I was twenty years younger than my actual age!!

It has been a great day .. morning tea with the girls, shopping in The Bay with AH, a pleasant evening at the park and I think I might get another early night tonight. What is the world coming to??!

Nite all.

Monday, June 1, 2015

I'm a Monday Person

I do like Mondays.

Adoring Husband spends Monday mornings fulfilling SES duties, so while I plan on studying every Monday, I always spend a couple of hours tidying my desk, emptying my email inbox, figuring out what order to study my three subjects for the week and planning lunch!

I only spent one hour actually studying today.

I cooked up a fairly substantial lunch of roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and balsamic vinegar, sweet potato chips, steamed snow peas and smoked cod with a leek and white wine sauce. We had chocolate brownies with strawberries and cream for dessert.

Dinner tonight, for Adoring Husband, was a nosh up of cabbage, mushroom, onion and zucchini in a chilli, tomato and white wine sauce, served with crispy skinned chicken.

My dinner was a glass of Oyster Bay SB and three deliciously sweet passionfruit (kindly donated by our neighbours).

Here is the framed photo that I mentioned a couple of days ago.


I feel a bit of a chill in the air tonight .. good sleeping weather. There have also been some beautiful Winter sunrises, so I'm thinking of going to bed early and attempting to get out of bed before the sun tomorrow morning for some sunrise shots. I always have good intentions the night before, but the bed just feels so cozy and comfortable in the darkness of early morning and it's difficult for me to get myself moving!

Wait and see.

Perhaps a concerted effort to get more hours of study in tomorrow .. after morning tea with the girls.

So I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Sensational Sunday

I thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday with Lady Lynn and Mardi. We drove into town and watched this movie ...



We loved it! Great movie.

Afterwards we enjoyed a little retail therapy, which is always a nice way to end a good day.

I realised, 30 minutes ago, that I hadn't done my photo for this month's flickr challenge, so I grabbed this one that I took on Friday morning and submitted it 10 minutes before the cut-off time of midnight! Whew! The theme is 'Wheels'.


It won't win anything, but I like to submit 'something' each month, just to participate. Every so often I get a pearler, but it's been a while since I've done any good in these challenges.

I made delicious chocolate brownies for dessert this evening and served them with fresh strawberries and cream. Adoring Husband does enjoy a nice dessert after dinner.

True to form, it's after midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.