Spoke Too Soon

After bragging in last night's short post about beating my cold with my natural remedies, I woke up this morning with a cough and bit of congestion! Not happy Jan!

So today, I've pumped the chicken broth into me (3 cups of it) and made a chicken and vegetable soup (one bowl), two deliciously sweet crisp red apples and a rich savoury mince (grass fed mince) full of organic onion, garlic, carrot, celery, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms.

I haven't had any honey and lemon yet, but will make myself a big mug of it before I go to bed tonight. I've also been drinking lots of filtered water.

I made enough for twelve containers of chicken broth with this batch which I completed this morning after about 36 hours in the slow cooker.

I finally made up the dog food and got 15 feeds each out of today's concoction. I used 2 kgs chicken mince, 2 kgs of beef mince, 1 whole jap pumpkin (cooked), a large bunch of silverbeet, 3 sticks of celery, 1 large carrot, 4 eggs (shell and all), 4 Tablespoons of coconut oil, 2 Tablespoons of Cod Liver Oil and 4 teaspoons of spirulina.

My new hair curler is amazing! I curled my hair yesterday afternoon before going out to the club. I'm pretty pleased with my first effort and I'm sure, with practise, I will get better at it.

Number One Son called me today. It's always nice to hear from him and I can always count on him for regular phone calls to keep me posted on his happenings.

Adoring Husband has had a busy couple of days in the garden doing lots of maintenance work ... like spring cleaning outdoors ... and it's all looking very good.

Our peach and mulberry trees are bountiful right now, and the avocado trees are full of flowers, the citrus trees have new blossoms, there are delicious cherry tomatoes all ripening beautifully on the vine and the chooks are laying well. I haven't checked the grapes, pomegranate, mango or banana trees. The new sapota tree seems to have established itself well in the back corner.

I'd like to plant lots of green leafy vegetables like baby spinach, rocket, pak choy, silverbeet, kale and chard. I'd like some cucumbers, zucchini, snow peas, radishes and beetroot. That should do it I reckon. I think I have all of those seeds in my fridge waiting to be used.

Well, it might be time to go make my hot lemon and honey drink. Hopefully tomorrow, I will be feeling enthusiastic enough to get some cooking done. I've been collecting some delicious looking sweet recipes because I know how much AH likes the chocolate sweets after dinner.

May tomorrow find me bursting with energetic health!

Nite all.

Quickie

There is no blog tonight. I've had too much wine and I'm off to bed.

I just wanted to let you know that I beat the flu/cold that was trying to get me on my last day in Griffith.

I had fresh honey from the bees, fresh lemon from the trees, fresh garlic from the ground and fresh ginger from The Nikonian. That combination helped me fight the germs and I have recovered well. Three doses of honey, lemon, ginger and garlic was enough to fight the virus. I also had a tablespoon of fresh honey for breakfast, lunch, dinner and just before bed.

When your diet is pure, it only takes some added freshness like honey, lemon, garlic and honey to put up a good fight and win.

Thank you nature.

Nite all.

Weather Event

I woke at about 4am to the sound of rain on the roof.

So there was no trike ride to the fire station this morning .. maybe tomorrow morning.

Adoring Husband brought my coffee to my bedside so that I could spend a lazy couple of hours reading and easing my way into the morning.

I ordered a new hair straightener (because my old one sucks) and a hair curler online from Harvey Norman. Once they confirmed the order, we headed into The Bay at lunch time to pick them up. I really love the 'order and pay online and pick it up in store' idea!! I wish all shops did that!

Unfortunately, though storms were only predicted for Maryborough and further south, as we were heading home, a huge storm followed us. We were pelted with heavy rain that fluctuated between a smashing downpour and soft spray for about 20 minutes.

There were huge puddles across the road that made for some tricky driving and I even made AH pull into a shopping centre car park under some sails to wait for one heavy downpour to finish.

We made it home safe n sound and soon after that, after a couple more heavy showers, the sky cleared and the rain was gone.

Our rain gauge showed 28 mm, but AH hadn't emptied it since the rain last week while I was away, so I don't know how much rain fell today.

I won the flickr challenge this month with my Mallee Ringtail Parrot shot that I took in Griffith while I was there. Now I have to think of a theme for this month and I really have no idea!

Anyway, it was a slow day. I have some chicken bone broth in the slow cooker and tomorrow I need to make up a batch of dog food.

I'm also going to practise with my new hair curler! That should be interesting!

I've reached my midnight deadline, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Photo Shoot Out

I think it's funny .. maybe.

About 8 weeks ago, I was asked by a member of the volunteer fire brigade, if I would go to the station and take photos of their new vehicles and equipment.

He said to me "You're AH's wife aren't you?" I replied "Yes"

He then asked "You're a photographer?" I replied "Yes"

His next question was "Would you come to the station and take some photos of our new equipment?"

My response was "Yes"

I was about to leave for BGWLBH and my road trip, but he was happy to wait for two weeks. We agreed that I would go to the station the first Wednesday after I returned from the holiday.

By the time I returned, I'd forgotten all about it so I missed going there on that first Wednesday.

I ran into him at the local shops and he asked me what had happened. I admitted to my poor memory and said that I would be there the following Wednesday, forgetting (there's that memory problem again) that I was already busy and wouldn't be available. I didn't have a contact phone number, so I couldn't tell him what was happening.

I eventually saw him again and HE was going away, so we arranged it for when he returned.

In the meantime, I had to head south for Dad W's funeral, hence missing the agreed date yet again.

He saw AH during my absence and mentioned that I still hadn't attended the shed, so AH filled him in on my situation and the man said not to worry and to just turn up on a Wednesday after I returned to town.

So today was that Wednesday.

I arrived on my trike with coffee and camera in hand.

He said to me "We've just been looking at the photos. Come through and I'll show you them on the computer in the back room."

I wondered what photos he was talking about, but didn't say anything, and followed him through to the office.

He sat down at a desk top, inserted a USB stick and there appeared a set of photos of the three vehicles he wanted me to photograph.

I commented on the photos and how they needed to be taken in better light at a different time of the day. He then told me that he would like me to get on the roof and take the photos from a higher level.

That was when I asked him who took the photos.

He looked at me and said "I thought you did".

I shook my head and said "No, this is my first visit here. I haven't taken any photos yet."

So he asked a couple of men who were talking to each other nearby. "Who took these photos?"

Their reply was "AH's wife."

I said "I am AH's wife and I didn't take these pics."

"OH? Well we don't know then."

We walked outside and asked two more men and their response was "AH's wife". I repeated my answer.

We walked to the shed and asked another two men. They had the same answer "AH's wife."

When I told them that I was AH's wife, they said "No it was AH McGovern's wife."

It seems that there is another AH whose wife is also a photographer!

So here is how I believe this whole situation occurred, from beginning to end...

All of those weeks ago, at a meeting, after they had taken receipt of the new vehicles, somebody suggested that they get some good photos to put in their newsletter.

One person probably suggested that AH's wife would do it, meaning AH McGovern's wife. Another person, the man who originally asked me, got his wires crossed and thought they meant 'my' AH and me. So I was asked by one person and AH McGovern's wife was asked by another person.

She got there to take the photos before I did!

Now none of this bothers me in the slightest, but that man still wants me to go and take photos from the roof of the shed and I said that I would go take a look at the light in the early morning to figure out where and how to get the shots.

I'm now having second thoughts because, one, I don't want to step on AH McGovern's wife's toes and two, because I don't believe that I was ever the intended photographer in the first place!

Talk about confusing! I think I will withdraw my services.

I did get to spend a little time searching for more Tawny Frogmouth nests, to no avail. There are no nests in the other locations from last year. One of the trees now has a magpie nest in it, so the maggies will scare off any other birds that try to nest there.

Another tree is missing the branch where they nested last year, so they've probably gone searching elsewhere.

I'm on a mission.

Nite all.

Thawed Out

The warm Queensland Winter sunshine has today thawed my bones.

I saw my boys at the Seat of Knowledge and sat in the sun with them for about half an hour before meeting the girls for coffee at our usual haunt. There were only four of us. Mardi, Maid Marian, Reality TV Queen and myself. We had plenty to talk about because we didn't leave our table until well after 10am.

Afterwards, I really wanted to pedal around town to search out the Tawny Frogmouth nests, but I'd bought some meat from the butcher, so I had to get home with that, plus Adoring Husband was only going to be home for a few hours, so we were having our main meal as a late lunch. Food preparation was the order of the morning.

I have to mention here that I am liking my new skin care products very much! I've used all of the products now and I really like the feel of it on my skin. I'm not sure how long it's supposed to take before I'm supposed to notice any difference. I've been on the website this evening and there are pages and pages to read about so many different aspects of skincare .. including diet and exercise, organics, naturopathy, ageing etc.

I think that I may have to dedicate some reading time to that site.

Our monthly barbecue at the river was tonight, but AH had a meeting out of town, so I pedalled down to a very windy and uncomfortable evening with some very cold friends, each wearing about 3 layers of clothes. Of course, I told them to toughen up and that they had no idea what 'cold' really was!! Our barbecue lasted all of 75 minutes .. well actually, I pedalled off after 75 minutes, I guess the others may have stayed longer, but I doubt it!

I did, however, discover a new Tawny nest on the way to the barbecue *insert beaming smile here*. These Tawnies attempted to nest in the same tree for the last two years, but something caused them to toss the eggs out of the nest before they hatched. They usually do that when something happens to one of the parents .. the remaining parent knows that they can't care for the chicks on their own and so they toss the eggs.

I will be watching closely and hoping for the best this year, because the nest is quite low and I think I can get some great photos of the little chicks when they hatch. Fingers crossed!

I will do some more searching tomorrow.

My plan was to go to the movies tomorrow, but I think the movies can wait. I have other things that need to be done.

Can you believe that it's almost midnight .. again?

Nite all.

Perfect Flights

My two flights today were perfect

Both take-offs.

Both landings.

Smooth flying in perfect skies with a tail wind to bring us home early.

I peered out the window for the entire trip, both flights, and watched the ground as it changed from farmland with the long morning shadows of the trees, to mountains with misty fog undulating in the gullies, to cityscapes with sunlight glistening on the opera house and harbour bridge, the river full of ferries and thousands of small boats and yachts as it snaked toward the sea and then finally to the ocean which was the deepest cleanest blue that I've ever seen.

Heading north, on the way home from Sydney, we followed the coastline all the way. The long sandy beaches, the river mouths opening into the ocean. The small towns and the bigger cities changing the landscape. The huge cargo ships out to sea. The thick heavy cloud way out on the horizon. Then recognition as we passed over Fraser Island which was our cue to descend for landing.

The only time I looked away from the view, was when I accepted a glass of water from the flight attendant.

We landed in The Bay ten minutes earlier than expected and Adoring Husband was waiting with a big smile and open arms.

I was starving by the time we landed, so AH took us to 'Eat @ Dan & Steph's' for lunch, where we each thoroughly enjoyed a Cumin Spiced Chicken Salad and a coffee. It's the first time that we've eaten at this restaurant which is owned by the 2013 MKR winners.

The seating is not very comfortable, so we wouldn't go there for a long leisurely lunch, but the service was very friendly, the food was delicious, reasonably priced and it was served promptly.

After some grocery shopping, we came home to be greeted by three very happy and excited psychotic dogs. I think they were happy to see me :)

My head cold still hasn't set in ... I'm hoping that a miracle will occur tonight and I will wake in the morning with a completely clear head!

I've ordered our FROG box for this week.

Another exciting thing that happened today, was me being pounced upon (not literally) by a beautiful Arabic-Canadian man who was selling an organic skincare range at the airport.  He was an excellent salesman and I bought some of his product. It's an Australian made and owned company as well. I guess you'll have to watch this space to get my review in about a month.

I'm about to go use it for the first time right now before bed.

Griffith farewelled me with a chilly zero degree morning ... that's bloody cold.

It was extremely hard to say goodbye to BGWLBH this morning. It was our most difficult goodbye yet. Ugh.

So in the words of BGWLBH ...

Good Bloody Nite.    

Health Check

My health has obviously been compromised somewhere in the last two weeks.

It could have been when we got drenched at the funeral. It could be because I haven't had any bone broth or fermented veg or sunshine or exercise for the last two weeks. It could be because the temperature has ranged from 2C - 15C for almost the entire two weeks that I've been here.

Who knows?

I have that niggling raw feeling at the back of my throat, which started yesterday evening.  I've sneezed about a dozen times today and my nose has been just a touch runny.

Luckily BGWLBH had a large jar of fresh honey from the bees and bowl full of fresh lemons from her trees at hand for me to mix up a batch of hot honey and lemon. I've taken a teaspoon of honey every few hours.

I can feel my body fighting it, but I'm not sure I will win this one. Fingers crossed.

Uncle Polly Waffle arrived tonight for a few days with the family, so with everything in the fridge, we scraped together enough to prepare a feast to feed six people with leftovers for tomorrow night as well.

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go ... there is a song in that! My bag weighed 14 kgs on the way here, but I think it will weigh about 18 kgs on the way home! I did a little shopping while I was here, and yes that is unusual isn't it?????? Ha ha!

I'm NOT looking forward to climbing out of bed at 5.30am when I know it will be an icy cold predicted 1 degree Celsius!

I AM looking forward to landing in 24C and sunshine at home!

Believe it or not, it is only 9.40pm and I am already sitting up in bed as I write this, feeling snug and warm. I will attempt to sleep early in preparation for my big day of travel tomorrow so ...

Nite all.

Two More Sleeps

The time has come to bid a fond farewell and I will be flying out early Monday morning.

It's kind of bittersweet.

I'm looking forward to seeing Adoring Husband and sleeping in my own bed and cooking in my own kitchen and triking in the warm Winter sunshine, but I feel really sad to be leaving BGWLBH. I know that she has some tough times ahead of her and I wish that I lived closer so that I could visit more often.

We don't even need to talk. It's just about 'being there'. It's difficult to 'be there' when you live 1500 kilometres away!

We had a good day today. We picked up my new car ... because I'M BATMAN!

BGWLBH drew out a winner's name from the barrel ...

I submitted my photo for the flickr challenge "Australian Wildlife". This is a male 'Mallee Ringneck Parrot'. Very prolific in this area, but highly sought after in my neck of the woods.

I think BGWLBH is planning on waking me early in the morning so that we can get photos of mist on the lake, so I'd best get some sleep .. it is, once again, almost midnight!

Nite all.  

Oh The Juicy Stuff

It was a beautiful day here today. It started off a little bit cold at 4C but warmed up to a sunny 15C. A sunny 15 is much nicer and easier to handle than a cloudy or wet 15, believe me!

So I had lunch with my old workmate today.

Oh the juicy gossip! There was something for everybody! Extra-marital affairs, marriage breakups, alcoholics, children whose paternity is questionable, forced out of town transfers, divorces, overseas drug use leading to psychosis, sexual assault charges, serious medical conditions, boss and supervisor troubles and the list goes on.

We barely took a breath for the entire lunch hour. I don't even know how we ate our lunch! A most thoroughly enjoyable hour where I spent a lot of time lifting my jaw off the ground. I simply was not expecting ANY of that and loved every second of it!

It's a shame we only had an hour.

Here is a photo of BGWLBH and I, taken by her brother, with my camera, at Dad W's wake...

She bought me a beautiful silver frame, so I will print this one out and put it in the frame.

I can't believe it's almost 11.30pm .. it was only 9pm what seemed like a minute ago! Best go climb into my cocoon.

Nite all.

X-work visit

Just want to express how much I appreciate that BGWLBH has gone out of her way to provide me with takeaway coffee every morning while I've been here. Not only does my body, brain and heart appreciate the early morning caffeine hit, but it starts my day with an explosion of happiness and love that is difficult to express!

Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!

BGWLBH had some business at my old place of work today, so I tagged along and bumped into a few X-workmates, one of whom I've booked a lunch date with tomorrow.

This works out well, because BGWLBH has an appointment nearby around the same time.

I spent the morning with Mum W, and ninety minutes of that time on the phone checking out what sort of aged care packages were available with the new changes that came into effect in July this year. I spoke to a young lady, who informed me that she was 6' 4" tall .. I only assume that she was young.

After that, we had some business in town and of course .. coffee!

I'm feeling very self conscious about my teeth and have made the decision to do something about them upon my return home. My front left incisor is very crooked, very deformed, very loose and makes it difficult for me to bite anything, because there is pain when I put pressure on it. It's definitely time to take action.

I've also been day dreaming of my inner hippy and the lifestyle in my imagination ...

It's getting late, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Newbie Maybe

I spent a lot of today browsing through a gozillion old photographs of Mum & Dad W's families, going WAY back. Great Great Grandparents and maybe even further back.

I love seeing the old photos and hearing stories about family members from the past. Almost everybody has at least one juicy story to tell about somebody from the family tree!

It makes me want to delve further into my own family tree. I know that there are some interesting mysteries out there about family on my Dad's side that nobody has solved and I'd really love to follow the few clues that I have and fill in the blanks.

One day maybe.

Tonight, BGWLBH and I went out to dinner with a bunch of her workmates. It was a great night. There are some crazy personalities in the group and a few good belly laughs were had by all as they told some funny work stories. I always enjoy myself when I get to spend coffee mornings or dinners with those girls (and sometimes a boy or two).

I gave these blog details to one of those girls tonight and maybe she'll log in one day .. or maybe she won't .. but here are some things you need to know if you have found your way here...

I never name names. Everybody has a pseudonym. Sometimes you will figure out who I'm talking about and sometimes you will have no idea who I'm talking about. So be prepared to be confused.

Sometimes I get very motivated and share great recipes here with step by step photos taken in my kitchen .. they will always be healthy recipes, reasonably quick to prepare and generally fairly easy.

On other motivated days, I'll share health information.

Now that I'm no longer studying, I expect to get out more often with my camera again, so I'll share photos here.

On my lazy, unmotivated days, you will be bored out of your brain with what I write. A blow by blow explanation of my very boring day from what time I get out of bed, to what I eat for each meal of the day and what time I'm going to bed.

So don't get excited about what you might find here each day. It's very hit and miss!

I have a nice cosy little audience of about 25-30 readers (that I know of) each day. Dad W was one of those readers. He hated it when I put recipes here because they were too healthy for his liking.

He wanted me to share more photos and he especially liked it when BGWLBH and I had our road trips and he would follow the blog carefully to see where we were and what we were up to and loved to see those photos.

I always thought of him as I wrote the blog each night and I already miss his presence in my cyber life.

So, to the girl (she will love that I call her a 'girl') who may or may not be joining my readers, your pseudonym, in future, will be 'Little Pattie'. I can see the confused look on your face and that's the way I like it :)

It's well after midnight so ..

Nite all

Much Ado About Everything

So much to do, so little time.

It's cold. The maximum temperature did not go higher than 10C today. The air was still damp with the heavy rains that we experienced over the last few days and the humidity was over 90% all day. I can feel the cold in my bones .. the girl who doesn't feel the cold, is DEFINITELY feeling the cold!

At least the temperature is predicted to reach 16C tomorrow!

I saw my old hairdresser today .. I could tell that he was disappointed in my current hair situation and he advised me to put a special shampoo in my hair. I wish I could remember what he said. Maybe BGWLBH will remember .. maybe 'silver' shampoo??

Back in the day, 'Magic Silver White' or 'Magic Silver Rose' were popular after putting blond in your hair, so I wonder if that's what he is talking about? I should have asked more questions, but I felt embarrassed. Not necessarily because I've let my hair go 'a la natural', but because it got rained on yesterday and it's fuzzy from the humidity and I didn't straighten it the last time I washed it, so it's very messy and fly-away and kinky.

At least I got some washing done today. Some of it I dried in the clothes dryer and the rest is hanging up in my bedroom .. the weather certainly is not conducive for drying the washing on the line.

More beautiful flowers arrived today.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day, and then we have a date with some friends tomorrow night so I'm off to bed.

It's time to start thinking about returning home. I'll make my decision tomorrow.

Nite all.

The Sky Cried

We knew as soon as we opened our eyes this morning, that the weather was NOT going to be kind.

BGWLBH and a couple of family members left the house early for a 'viewing' before the funeral and being the saint that she is, she stopped on her way back home and bought me a large take away coffee! Just what I needed to help kickstart this emotional day.

The thunder rolled in the distance, the rain steadily increased during the morning, from a light mist to a heavy downpour, the clouds grew darker and as we drove toward the cemetery, the lightning flashed across the sky.

By the time we reached the cemetery, the heavy rain had created thick red clay mud, and it was difficult to find solid footing between the mud, the puddles and tiny clumps of grass as we walked the 50 metres from where the car was parked to where the service would be held.

I think that the worst part, was the fear of being struck while walking across the grounds with an umbrella as the light show continued above us.

There were two gazebos set up on the lawn. One with Dad W's coffin and a dozen folding chairs. The other right beside it with some matting on the ground and with enough room to shelter about fifteen people standing very close together.

Water poured through the gap between the two gazebos splashing onto the ground and creating a very moist atmosphere.

A couple of minutes before the service was due to start, about 60 people emerged from their parked cars, all opening their umbrellas as more lightning flashed across the sky and the sound of booming thunder followed immediately after.

There simply wasn't enough room under the gazebos, so everybody stood in the rain for the service, some sharing umbrellas, some very elderly, some in work uniforms and all looking very sombre.

The service was wonderful and the celebrant did a great job of reading the eulogy and the tributes. People laughed at some of the stories that were shared as they recognised Dad W's silly sense of humour within them.

There were moments for all of us where we struggled to hold it together, but 25 minutes later, it was all over and everybody was rushing to their car to find shelter from the weather. It did not let up for the entire service and in fact, I think it got heavier during that time. The only thing missing was wind!

BGWLBH requested that instead of receiving people in the wet, that they all go to the Leagues Club to pay their respects, so we were all able to get to dry ground as soon as possible. I think that was a suggestion appreciated by everyone.

When we arrived at the wake, there was one wall adorned with photos of Dad W, the staff with whom he had worked over 30+ years as Manager of the Griffith Leagues Club, as well as photos of the renovations and new buildings that he oversaw during his time. There were a number of gentlemen all looking at the photos and recognising old friends and telling a few tales about the history of the club.

The Leagues Club generously gave the family, the use of the auditorium and provided all of the food and drinks for the wake, as their token of respect for the man that Dad W was, and for two hours, his friends and family shared stories and we all felt the love.

One elderly man asked me to take a photo of him standing beside the oil painted portrait of Dad W and he told me stories of Dad W's generosity and friendship over the years. He was obviously sad to have lost his friend and if the weather had been better, he would have given his own tribute at the service. I have promised to send him a copy of the photo.

BGWLBH gave a thank you speech, which was a bit emotional and well received.

I met up with some people from my past and caught up on lots of news.

About two hours later, the crowd had dwindled to just a few family members, so they all took Mum W home and BGWLBH and I spent some quiet time together debriefing and going over our perceptions of the funeral and the people who attended.

We arrived home later to find the living room lined with chairs and family were all in little groups and filling the room with chatter. Tea and coffee had been served and the strong scent of the many bouquets of flowers filled the room.

By now, I was beginning to feel quite exhausted and as we all made our way next door to brother W's house for another barbecue to use up all the meat and salads that had accumulated over the weekend, I was grateful for the opportunity to sit quietly in a corner and eat my dinner, then sneak out and head back to the main house to have some alone time.

At 7.30pm I was struggling to keep my eyes open and BGWLBH decided to get an early night herself, so I washed all the tea and coffee cups and headed to my room.

It's been an exhausting, emotional and full day.

Now I need to close my eyes.

Nite all.

This is it!

It's time.

It's time to say our last goodbyes to this wonderful man who, I have learned, is loved my many. There are so many stories about his goodness, his strength, his loving and supportive nature and his generosity. The big man with the big heart, who quite obviously will be deeply missed.

Of course, it goes without saying that we are all dreading the final goodbye.

By the same token, it means that everybody can begin the difficult task of moving on and learning to live with that huge empty space that he once filled.

I wish that I could do more to ease the burden and lessen everybody's pain, but I know we all have to travel the grieving journey in our own way. It's difficult to watch.

Today, we received more flowers, more food and more family and friends.

It was a very full and very noisy house for a while.

Right now, it's very quiet and I am all alone in the living room, surrounded by flowers and cards and photos. It doesn't feel peaceful though .. I don't know if it's just me, but the tension feels quite heavy in the air.

It's time for me to attempt sleep. I will also 'attempt' to post here tomorrow night, but don't be concerned if it doesn't happen.

Nite all.

Weather Worries

The weather is looking awfully ominous for Monday.

It is currently raining and the rain radar on the BOM website is showing lots more rain to the West and heading in this direction. The forecast shows 80% chance of rain tomorrow and Monday. Fingers crossed for dry skies at 10am Monday!

We bought umbrellas in preparation.

More family arrived late last night and while they stayed with BGWLBH's brother last night, they were booked into a motel for the rest of the visit and left us late this afternoon to book in. We spent some time with them during the day, and tomorrow, the last brother and his family are due to arrive.

More flowers were delivered this morning, along with a giant fruit basket that included cookies, tomato relish and semi dried grapes.

An elderly neighbour made an emotional delivery of a very large container of home made pea and ham soup (which was Dad W's favourite) and some warm date scones wrapped in foil.

It was nice and easy to heat up soup for dinner. Minimal effort. Minimal cleaning up.

BGWLBH and I cracked open some of our wine that we purchased on our road trip and had a glass each with dinner. It was as good as we remembered.

I was informed that there is a resident Chlamydosaurus in the garden and one of the relatives actually got a very nice photo of it sunning itself on a fence post while I was out today. I wonder if my little Chicklet knows that a Chlamydosaurus is a frill-necked lizard??

Hopefully, I will get the opportunity to take some photos of this little gem before I have to return home.

I ran into an old work mate today. One of my favourite girls, 'Sharpy', and we are going to try for a lunch together next week some time. Fingers crossed our stars align and it happens.

I thought I would share a couple of photos that I took yesterday ...

I love the second one with Mum W laughing. She's one of those people who can't stop talking while the camera is on them, so I demanded that she "shut up and smile!" She thought that was funny and I pressed the shutter button just at the right time.

On these occasions, the big smiley moments are few and far between, so it's magic to capture them when they happen.

I'm sorry to say that my footy team lost their match tonight and now have to share equal first place on the ladder. If they don't pick their game up, they will slip a place or two in the coming weeks before the finals begin. Maybe that's their plan!

It feels warmer tonight, with the rain, I may have to open a window and get some cool fresh air in the room!

It's heading fast towards midnight, so I'm off to get some sleep.

Nite all.  

All Set

We are all set and ready for the onslaught of friends and family over the weekend.

It took us half the day, with a lot of help from BGWLBH's friends and colleagues from school, to finish, print out and fold the booklets. 200 of them! We dropped them into the funeral director on the way home.

While BGWLBH attempted a much needed nap this afternoon, I typed up the eulogy, most of which had already been written for a family reunion document a couple of years ago, and then emailed it to the celebrant.

Some visiting family who couldn't stay for the funeral, due to circumstances beyond their control, left after lunch and more family will arrive at about 10 o'clock tonight. There will be many arrivals over the weekend but most are staying in motels and will visit the house at different times.

There has been a regular procession of flowers arriving throughout the day and there are seven beautiful bouquets adorning the living room as I speak.

Corned beef with white sauce and veg for dinner tonight, which, even if I do say so myself, was delicious!

Going by Indi the dog, there are storms coming. She is scared of storms and can give a couple of hours warning before the storms hit, just by her attachment behaviour with BGWLBH. Rain has been forecast for the whole weekend and for Monday. We are hoping the rain will hold off for the lawn service, which will be at 10am.

It's Friday night and I'm hoping that my name hasn't been drawn out for the Members Draw at home .. I would hate to miss out on over $1500. Surely Karma will be kind to me and wait until I return! I hope you girls are all missing me :)

I've been taking photos of the beautiful birds all converging on the clothes line to eat the seed provided for them every day. I hope the photos turn out well enough for me to enter one of them into the flickr challenge this month, which is themed 'Australian Wildlife'.

The football is about to begin on TV, so I am off to settle in for an evening of sport .. but will probably head to bed before it even finishes. I am feeling a little weary.

Nite all.

Griffith, I am in you!

I can't remember the last time I was here.

I believe it was before the tornado .. it seems that my entire life is now measured by 'before the tornado' and 'after the tornado'!

I've just remembered that it was 'after the tornado' in January 2014. We kidnapped Mickey Mouse Wizard and took him on our road trip that year.

So much has changed in town since then. A lot of shops have closed. A lot have moved location. A few new shops have opened.

There is still evidence of the mini tornado that ripped through one section of town, where trees were stripped bare, others ripped out completely, some just missing limbs and others purposely cut down due to age or damage. It brought back some fearful memories.

Today we shopped for clothes to wear to the funeral. I had an outfit planned, but my brain was in Queensland mode and my choice is just not going to be appropriate for the cold, wet weather predicted for Monday.

I bought some long black pants and some ankle boots. Both were on sale at ridiculously low prices, so the purchases were not at all painful.

Speaking of weather, there was a heavy frost this morning and it was freeeeeeeezing cold! I stayed in bed til after 8.30am snug and warm between the flannelette sheets and a few light blankets.

Today, we decided to create the Memory Booklets for the funeral service ourselves! *insert a 'what was I thinking?' look here*

I have a program on my computer, which I have never used before, to create an eight page booklet, and I have spent many hours today trying to figure out how to use it. I think I've got it worked out now, but I also have to figure out how to connect my laptop to the printer here and hope that it all works.

We bought some cheap paper to have some practise runs and we have til Monday to perfect the process, so hopefully that will be enough to create a successful masterpiece!

We have lots of photos to add to it, all provided by various members of the family.

I must say, that I've enjoyed listening to the family stories being shared around the living room and they can only get better as more and more family and friends arrive in the coming days.

The brothers have provided some wonderful tributes which I've elaborated on, edited and typed up to pass on to the celebrant.

We are yet to attempt the eulogy, but it's going to be so interesting because even BGWLBH is learning new stuff about her Dad from his early childhood through to his young adulthood that she never knew.

Dad W was the expert on all things family. He was always the 'go to' man whenever anybody needed a year or a name or some other details, but he's no longer here to ask! Hopefully, with some brain storming and some team work, the family can fill in some gaps together.

Tonight, I cooked a nice healthy dinner for Mum W, BGWLBH and I, while the rest of the family ate take away Chinese .. I would have cooked for everybody, but we all got our wires crossed and didn't know what each other had planned. I'm not sure that they would have cared for my healthy meat and veg anyway.

So, needless to say, it's been a full and busy day, but I feel like I'm doing exactly what I should be doing and love that I can be so useful and helpful in this hour of need. I love that BGWLBH knows what she needs and isn't afraid to ask.

The burden of organising everything has been heavily place upon her shoulders while her family struggle to cope with the trauma of losing this great man, so anything I can do to slightly ease the burden makes me very happy.

On that note, it's time for me to go turn my bed into a cocoon and sleep the night away.  I need to rest this weary brain, so that it can figure out the really tricky stuff tomorrow!

Nite all.

Have a Little Faith

I've always had a fear of flying, although these days it's just a small niggle in the back of my mind. Years ago I would throw up as I walked across the Tarmac (before the days of electronic bridges that take you directly from the plane into the terminal), and then I would use up any number of sick bags ON the plane.

I apologise to all of those passengers who had to listen to that over the years!

My fear has mellowed with age and with experience.

I've been thinking today, about how much faith we need to have in our fellow humans, just to take one flight from point A to point B.

You hear stories about terrorist bombs in various random locations around the world, or just some 'nut job' who woke up feeling angry with the world, about planes disappearing in mid air, or being accidentally shot down.

You hear about people getting drunk and trying to open plane doors mid air, or pilots attempting suicide and taking everyone out with him/her.

With those few scenarios aside, you hope that the ground and maintenance crew are on the ball and doing their jobs diligently. You pray that the control tower staff are not hung over or suffering from insomnia or being distracted by some other stress in their lives.

You hope that none of the passengers are using 'ice' or have decided on this day to cease taking their medication for a mental illness.

People these days are so unpredictable and life can change in just a split second.

So I sit here at the airport, having completed the first leg of my journey, grateful for 'so far, so good'.

Watching the world go by. Watching so many people (including me), absorbed in their electronic devices. Watching. Waiting. Listening. Wondering.

It reminds me a little of when Dad died and after we left the hospital, while it felt like my world had come to a standstill, I watched the rest of the world continue on regardless.

It's kind of surreal that someone important in your life has suddenly gone and someone even more important is hurting, but the world just continues on.

It also reminds me of that ad on TV about depression, where the everything is happening in fast motion, while the person with depression stands there with a blank expression.

Anyway, today, I have complete faith in all of my fellow humans. I have faith that you will all be doing exactly what you should be doing, to keep my world, and everybody in it, as safe as humanly possible.

On a brighter note, I was pleasantly surprised to find the option of a delicious pumpkin and coconut soup with Thai spices for lunch, at the airport! I enjoyed it very much, followed by an equally delicious latte!

My flight will be boarding in about 35 minutes so I'm off to do some more people watching.

Nite all.

PS Don't be concerned by my melancholy xo

A Few Pics

Here are some of the pics from last week ...

Except for a much needed and enjoyable morning tea with the girls this morning, it's been a long day. Time goes so slowly when you want, and need, to be somewhere else.

I'm all packed. I've prepared a couple of weeks worth of dog food. The freezer is chock full of bone broth, curry sauces and other food for Adoring Husband. I'll make some chocolate energy balls in the morning and then I'll be set to go.

This time tomorrow night I'll be where I should be.

I may or may not post here tomorrow night.

Nite all.

Depths of Sadness

My heart is breaking as I think of my bff, BGWLBH, and her family, who are right now, dealing with the passing of Dad W.

He was a big man with a big heart and he loved his family with his whole being. He has put up such a strong fight for such a long time and I can't believe he's gone.

I felt like he was my 2nd Dad. He was one of the first on the phone after the tornado, to check that I was ok. He tried many times, to have Skype calls with me, but we had trouble with our monitor microphones. He called me for advice about camera lenses when he wanted to buy BGWLBH a camera lens for her birthday. He let us use his car for our road trips. He always seemed happy to see me when I visited and loved to show me his wounds and injuries and scars .. because I was always excited about how impressive they were!

His passing will leave a huge hole in our hearts and even though we didn't see each other often, I will miss him.

I'll be travelling south on Wednesday to hopefully be of some help and support for BGWLBH and her family. It's going to be tough holding back the tears and being the strong support that I know she wants me to be.

I will do my best.

RIP Dad W.

Nite all.