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, July 17, 2015

Social Butterfly

I was awake before 6am this morning, and through the window, from my bed, I saw the most beautiful pink sky as the sun rose.

Did I take the opportunity to race down to the river or the beach with my camera to capture the beauty of this sunrise?

Nooooooooo!

It was dang cold this morning! I was not getting out from under that warm doona for any reason!

I didn't even get up early enough to meet my boys at the Seat of Knowledge. Instead, I enjoyed another long leisurely morning of delicious toastiness under my doona, reading.

I finally decided to rise some time after 8.30am and then took half an hour to find clothes warm enough to wear outside! I just don't possess warm clothes anymore!

Since we moved here, we've only had one Winter cold enough for me to wear a jacket, and that weather only lasted for about a week, so I discarded most of my Winter clothes. Today, I regretted that decision.

As I began my ride to the shops, 'Woman of Many Talents' drove toward me and stopped her car for a quick chat. We quickly arranged for her to drop in at my house for a catch up and a drink or two this afternoon, and then I rode on to the shops, bought my morning coffee and checked the post box for mail. I was returning home and noticed that 'The Motivator' had the sign up for selling sand crabs, so I stopped at her house with the intention of buying some crabs.

She invited me inside and there went two hours! It was almost 11.30am when I got home. I enjoy her company very much and she makes a lot of sense out of my .. what I like to call .. quirky personality traits.

So, two hours and five sand crabs later, I returned home fully intending to study. You know how my life is full of good intentions. Yes you do.

I stood at my sink and ate four of the five crabs.

I sat down on the couch and watched the movie 'Something New' starring Simon Baker.

I prepared some carrot sticks and guacamole for my drinking buddy and then spent 2.5 hours drinking and chatting and analysing and reminiscing and laughing with 'Woman of Many Talents'.

After she left, I had to mix up and package 6kgs of dog food.

Adoring Husband arrived home from Fraser Island at about 8pm and all he got for dinner at that hour was a mug of chicken broth.

I have a few photos from the road trip to share ...




... and of course, it is well after midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.


Wednesday, July 15, 2015

I Did It

I finally looked at the holiday pics and have a couple to share here. The first photo is of BGWLBH taking photos of 'The Drip'. I have more pics of The Drip to come, at a later date. The second photo, I can't even remember where it was on the road, but BGWLBH and I were in the middle of a conversation, when I yelled "STOP THE CAR!" We obviously disturbed the mob because I barely got a shot before they all hopped away in the opposite direction.



I studied hard today and learnt about the brain and memory and the eyes and ears.

The oven man didn't come and fix my oven, so now I have to wait another week before I can use my oven. UGH!!

And that's all from me tonight.

Nite all.


Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Improving

I'm happy to announce that Dad W's health has improved enough that he is delegating his chores. I tell you, he won't go down without a fight!!

... and WOOPS!! I still haven't looked at my photos from the trip.

I had a great morning tea with a bigger group of ladies than usual, this morning. There were eight of us, which is fantastic, but with so many of us away lately, it was difficult to catch up on everyone's news and holiday/weekend/caravanning/road trip stories.

So many interesting stories to listen to and so little time to do it.

Meanwhile, this was advertised by the FROG people that we order our organic fruit and veg from and it looks like something some of us might enjoy.

Retreat (<- click here for more info)


OR .. there is this one .. Heartland.


that Vegan Chickie experienced recently, and highly recommends, though I feel it is a little more 'rustic' than 'luxury', so it all depends on what you're looking for.

... and some quotes and pics from facebook that I liked today.


I'm happily enjoying the new season of Winners and Losers right now and tomorrow I plan on a solid day of study, which means that I need to sleep very soon.

Nite all.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Cooling Off

I woke early this morning, but decided it was too cosy in bed to be getting up and heading out into the very cool windy morning, so I stayed there until after 9am! How good is my life?

So I missed my boys at the Seat of Knowledge, but the parcel of 'stuff that wouldn't fit in my suitcase', that I sent myself from Sydney, arrived today! I was hoping that I accidentally packed my sunglasses in the box, but they weren't there. Three new handbags were though, so that soothed my disappointment :)

I stopped to chat with Sam at the caravan park. Sam and his wife, Mika, are from South Australia and have been coming to our town every Winter for about 13 years. They celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary a few days ago. He told me that most people respond to that information with "Oh poor Mika!"

Sam and I call out to each other every morning when I ride past his caravan with my coffee. He's a really nice old bloke and his wife is lovely too.

I've had the entire day to myself because Adoring Husband had SES duties all day and was out of town for various meetings.

I did absolutely nothing productive all day. Minimal study. Minimal housework. Minimal cooking.

I have just realised that I haven't looked at any of my photos from the road trip yet! Must have a quick look at them tomorrow and see if there are any worth sharing here. I really didn't take as many photos this trip. I usually see the entire trip through the lens, but I actually 'lived' most of the road trip this time round and didn't take the camera out of the bag very often at all. I think, also, that it was too bloody cold to think about photos!!

I'm looking forward to morning tea with my girls tomorrow and Maid Marian is home from her couple of months caravaning, so she should have some stories to tell.

Off to bed for me. I'm exhausted from doing nothing!

Nite all.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

The News

I haven't made this yet because my oven died just before I went on the road trip and it's not fixed yet, but I reckon it will be the first thing I make once it's fixed! In the meantime, feel free to try it yourself.



I had a good morning catching up with The Motivator today and spent about 2 hours with her talking about health, holidays, parents, men and friends, among other things. We had some good giggles, until finally I purchased some freshly cooked crabs from her and made my way home to start studying.

I have two weeks to study 8 weeks worth of Physiology and Anatomy before I sit another exam. I still haven't received the results from my last exam!

Sadly, I received a phone call from BGWLBH about her Dad (Dad W) who is very very ill. I know that he is one of my regular readers of this blog and I think of him often when I write my updates.  I feel really low and distracted by this news, so I put my study on hold for the day.

He is a very strong man who has faced and survived many serious health problems over the years - the last 15 years in particular and I so want to believe that he will be strong enough to make that happen this time too.

It's a rough time for the family and I wish I could be there now to help somehow, but if the worst happens, I'll be there as quick as I can make it.

My thoughts and prayers and love go across the miles.

My apologies to BGWLBH who wanted to hear the voice of reason and sanity and strength .. I just had to put this out there.

Nite all.

The Holiday is Over

My plane landed in The Bay around midday yesterday and after stopping by their SES shed so that Adoring Husband could conduct a quick (but unsuccessful) search for his reading glasses, I was home and unpacking by about 1.30pm.

It was a long day.

At the motel in Sydney, because I had to be up and packed and ready to leave at 7am, I set my alarm for 6am. My brain, however, decided that 3am would be a good time to wake up .. and stay awake. I looked at my watch every half an hour, hoping that perhaps I'd fallen asleep for a couple of hours, but alas .. not.

At 5.30am, I finally gave up and got out of bed, heading for the shower.

I attempted to pack, but of course, despite the fact that I had already sent two big boxes of stuff in the mail (one to myself and one to Chicklet) I still had too much stuff and I had to fill a plastic bag to give to Bubbles to send in the mail for me on Monday! Good grief!

Also .. I couldn't find my sunglasses. They are prescription sunglasses and I couldn't find them anywhere. They MAY be in one of the boxes that I sent in the mail, but that's a long shot. I can't remember the last time I had them, but I know I had them in Sydney. So it seems that I need to order myself a new pair of prescription sunglasses. *sigh* I ALMOST got through the entire holiday without permanently losing anything!

Knight in Shining Armour WAS my Knight in Shining Armour and arrived fifteen minutes early to take me to the airport.

This was a big deal for me for two reasons. The first being that he has a medical condition that sometimes knocks him flat and he needs more sleep than the rest of us. The second is that we would be driving in peak hour traffic and it could possibly take 90 minutes or more to travel what would normally be a 40 minute trip just one way. He would then have to return through the same traffic.

BGWLBH and I said our goodbyes - they are always fast and furious goodbyes because we don't like to get emotional. Long lingering sad goodbyes are just not us and we avoid them like the plague .. doesn't matter how sad we feel, we will deny it and remain brave and strong!

The drive to the airport was a smooth run. I think we encountered two red lights and they were the only times we had to stop. We kept looking at each other in astonishment and shaking our heads in disbelief and it only took 35 minutes to reach our destination!

He had a reasonable run home too, so it was our lucky day on Sydney roads!

I checked my luggage in and collected my boarding pass and attempted to get through the security gates, but the lady scanning the hand luggage decided that the keys in my camera bag, and my camera with two lenses was suspicious looking, so a very polite gentleman donned some scary looking gloves and took me and my hand luggage aside to investigate further.

He inspected my keys carefully, suitably admired my camera and then politely dismissed me.

I found a nice little 'cafeteria come bar', sat in a quiet corner, ordered bacon, eggs and coffee for breakfast, then took a leisurely hour to eat and drink while catching up with emails and facebook on my iPad.

It was a very enjoyable way to waste some airport time.

We boarded our flight at 9.50am and immediately the captain told us that the weather in The Bay was not very pleasant and although he expected we would arrive on time, we may not be able to land immediately. Being the nervous flyer that I am (though not as nervous as Adoring Husband), this news made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, as I'm sure you can imagine!

The flight was uneventful, in fact, it was very smooth and very comfortable .. I slept for the entirety of it .. but as we flew over The Sunshine Coast, the captain announced "We are about to begin our decent into The Bay, but the weather has not improved and there is a strong wind and heavy rain, so please don't be concerned if we have to make more than one attempt to land".

Immediately I felt concerned!

I took some deep breaths, placed my hands firmly on the arm rests and closed my eyes. In my mind, the voices repeated "Everything will be fine".

We descended through very heavy low cloud and it got a little bit bumpy, but then I could see land clearly and the pilot landed the plane very easily and very smoothly. I checked out the wind socks on the poles and they were limp. There were a few puddles on the tarmac, but it wasn't raining and looked like it had been a while since it had rained. I questioned my pilot's sanity and wondered if he was just playing with us. I think my pilot had a sick sense of humour. I wish I could have met my pilot face to face so that I could pour water over his head!

Adoring Husband's smiling face was there to greet me and it was great to feel his arms wrap around me to welcome me home.

It was Friday yesterday, so I got to dress up and go to the club and catch up with friends and drink wine. It seems a lot of us are, or have been, away recently so our numbers are somewhat diminished for the moment.

This morning I pedalled down to the Seat of Knowledge and caught up with a couple of my boys, then on to have my morning coffee, which I threw in the rubbish bin because one of the young girls made it and it was weak and uninspiring.

My next stop was the markets where I made a few purchases to support our local crafty ladies and also our local growers.

One more stop before heading home, was to buy a gift for BGWLBH to commemorate our holiday. I was going to buy it before our trip, but something happened to distract me (it doesn't take much these days) but I think that happened for a reason, because there were comments made during the road trip that makes the gift just a bit more appropriate. I think she will love and appreciate the gift very much.

Finally, Adoring Husband and I went on a lunch date today at Wild Lotus, which was just lovely, as always. A little bit of shopping, some new shoes, some jewellery and some food and the date was complete!

We came home and watched some footy (my team won!)

All is right with my world and once again, it is after midnight!

Nite all.