Foolish Disappointment

April Fool's Day has been quite a disappointment for me!

I only heard two jokes all day.

The first was a newly discovered albino spider ...

... and the second was that Jarryd Hayne had quit NFL and had signed with the Roosters for the remainder of the 2016 season.

That's the best we can do????

I ate the last of my salted caramel coconut ice cream tonight. I feel sad about that .. however, it WAS delicious!

I spent a couple of hours with The Motivator this morning. She is off to Sydney tomorrow for a couple of weeks. Thinking that I could cull some clothes that are too big for me from my wardrobe, I took them to her place. She was very appreciative, and in turn, handed me some clothes from her wardrobe that don't fit her any more and now I've ended up with the same number of clothes PLUS one back in my wardrobe!

I had a lovely evening at the club tonight. Only one couple was missing from our group, so there were a lot of us and there was lots of loud conversations happening. There were not as many tourists at the club as I expected, which was a pleasant surprise.

I'm feeling very weary now, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Heaven in a Bucket

OH-EM-GEE! OMG! OH MY GOD!

By a happy accident, I found some coconut ice cream today.  I need to buy a pallet load and set aside one whole freezer specifically for this ice cream.

It is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, soy free, vegan and organic. The brand is 'Zebra Dream' and it's salted caramel flavoured. They use Himalayan salt which is a bonus! It's expensive, but when you find something that good, expense is no object!!

I wish I'd bought two tubs of it, because I've already eaten half a tub! The tubs are only half a litre.

I spent the day in The Bay with Adoring Husband. I bought a couple of t-shirts, a top, a necklace and a drink flask, lots of delicious organic fruit and veg, some grass fed beef, a dvd that I already have (it's difficult to keep track when you have more than 400 dvds!), and I had the clasp on my 13 year old watch repaired/tightened. I love my watch. I don't think it's going to last much longer.

No guitar practise today or tonight. I thought I would give my ever tender fingers a break for twenty four hours.

I've been watching movies all night. "Nights in Rodanthe" (sob sob) and "Suddenly 30"

It's one minute to midnight. I should try for some sleep.

Nite all.

A Bit of Blah

I had a really great day today.

It started with morning coffee with a few of the girls, followed by lunch with the ladies and ended with a couple of drinks at one of those lady's houses.

I made sure that I sat with different people for lunch. I usually sit with the same friends each month and I never meet any of the new people, or catch up with other friends, so I made a conscious effort to be sociable and have lots of chats with different friends. I caught up on lots of news.

This was a good idea and I really enjoyed myself.

After lunch (which was delicious), a few of us played the pokies for a while and then drove home to The Speckled Hen's house, where we all had a drink and I was the first to leave and walk home.

I made a nice dinner of lamb rack and vegetables.

But I've been sitting here since Adoring Husband went to bed, feeling very blah. I can't tell if I'm angry or stressed or sick or sad or what. Just plain miserable really.

So I'm off to bed hoping that I will wake up in a better frame of mind and feeling happy.

Have a happy Thursday everybody.

Nite all.

 

Play Rest Play

That's the advice that I've been offered. Play, rest, play.

I've been practising on the guitar and my fingertips are now very tender. This means that I can't practise as often as I want! I need to toughen up the tips of my fingers and apparently the best way to do that is to practise in short sharp bursts until callouses develop.

It's a pretty thought isn't it?

I've also been sharing guitar stories with an old work mate who now lives in Canberra. She has recently separated from her husband of twenty something years and is creating a new life for herself, which includes learning how to play the guitar.

She is a little more advanced than I, because she has both a teacher, and a mentor, so she learns something new and then visits her mentor, to practise with him .. while eating food and drinking wine .. that's gotta be an amazing combination!

She sent me this today ...

It's all gobbledy gook to me, but that's the challenge! I want to understand it by the end of the week and maybe even play it!

Adoring Husband was out for the morning, so I got to spend a lot of time with my guitar, hence the tender fingertips, but this music arrived late this afternoon, so I haven't had a chance to play yet.

Anyway, I LOVE my guitar! (in case you hadn't noticed)

I'm looking forward to my tomorrow, which is hump day for most people. Coffee in the morning with a couple of the girls - specifically Lady Lynn - and then the monthly lady's luncheon.

I made some more apple and walnut muffins today, adding some grated chocolate to the mix. I thought they were lovely, but Adoring Husband couldn't even taste the chocolate! His only comment was "they're not as appley".

Must get some sleep now.

Nite all.

Done and Dusted

The Easter weekend is done and dusted. Most of the Fishing competition crowd has headed home and the town is left with a few stragglers who will stay on for the school holidays. I'm happy that it's much quieter here now.

Adoring Husband and I both rode to the Seat of Knowledge this morning, then got ourselves a coffee before riding to the beach where we sat on a bench seat in the filtered sunlight, enjoying the view for about half an hour.

Some more Harry Potter was in store for AH who has spent the weekend watching all of the movies, and today was the final movie in the series.

Before the football started on TV this afternoon, I made a big batch of these ...

Honey Sesame Paleo Chicken

... I added a finely chopped onion to the mince mixture and heaps of chilli to the dipping sauce. It was delicious and there was enough left over for dinner tonight!

My footy tipping has gone very well this weekend. A perfect round in one competition and in the other competition, I am only two points off the lead! It's very early in the season, which gives me plenty of time to fall behind, but right now ... I would like to brag about it!!

No guitar today, although, it's early, so when I sign off here, I may spend 30 minutes practising what I learned last night.

I hope the girls enjoyed the movie (Lady in the Van) today!! I've been wondering all day!

Nothing else to report.

A quiet and happy Easter Monday.

Nite all.

Fingerpicking Good.

A quiet day at home avoiding the Easter crowds in town. So many people!

I had a lazy start to Sunday morning and took my time getting out of bed. I've become very good at that!

It's been a nothing kind of day. Nothing exciting. Nothing of interest. Nothing worth mentioning.

Until ... Adoring Husband had SES duties for a couple of hours this evening, so I spent an hour attempting to learn something that, apparently, should only take 12 minutes!! I practised some 'fingerpicking'.



I don't even know this guy's name, but so far, I really like the way he teaches and I'm going to follow his lessons for a while and see how I go.

It's going to take quite a bit for me to learn - music is not my forte and I don't have a natural gift for it, so I am going to have to practise all the simple things many times over. The lessons that state 'play this in 12 minutes' mean that it will take me about 3 hours and 12 minutes!! If I'm lucky.

It doesn't matter though, because I'm loving it. I love the feel of the guitar, although my short fingers might struggle with the chords. I adore the sound of the strings as I fingerpick, pluck and strum them.

One day, after lots of practise, I hope that the string positions will become very familiar to me and my movements will become second nature. That will be a day to celebrate! I may even make a youtube video of me playing!

I found a great site with lots of scientific information about turmeric. It has references to follow up and links to check. It's especially good for people who have trouble trusting 'non mainstream' information.

Proven Health Benefits of Turmeric

I'm off to watch the end of the first Harry Potter movie. I've only ever watched one of the movies - the one with Robert Pattinson in it - I don't even remember the name of it. I've never read the books. The Harry Potter movies are a new experience for Adoring Husband and I and there is a movie channel currently playing them all.

I hope everyone has had a happy Easter and enjoyed time spent with friends and family. If you're travelling, be safe and find your way home without incident.

Nite all.