Friday with a Flourish

The challenge has been set.

To try every coffee available in our area. 

That is Hervey Bay, Torbanlea, Howard, Burrum Heads, Craignish, Dundowran, Toogoom, Nikkenbah and Takura.

So far we’ve tried;

• Burrum Heads Foodworks
• Arkarra Tea Gardens
• SIP in Torbanlea
• Goodys in Toogoom
• Cody’s Coffee Shack in Hervey Bay
• Salt in Hervey Bay
• Jam Jar Cafe in Hervey Bay
• Coffee Club in Stocklands Hervey Bay
• OCD on the esplanade Hervey Bay
• Avenue Cafe Bar in Hervey Bay
• Spotted Goat Hervey Bay
• Aquavue Hervey Bay
• Boat Club Hervey Bay
• RSL Hervey Bay
• 50s Diner Hervey Bay

There are probably more, but my memory fails me right now. 

There are probably 100 more to try in the areas that I’ve mentioned. 

So that is our challenge.

Today we did Goodys in Toogoom, with a pretty good view to accompany the caffeine.

We wandered through the gift shop that’s attached to the restaurant and I almost purchased a ceramic pitcher with an octopus wrapped around it, but I wouldn’t have a use for it and it would just sit in the cupboard with my fancy teapots.

We also admired the medieval helmets and gauntlet gloves similar to these …

But, you know, what the hell would we do with them? We don’t ever have visitors to even show them off to!

After we left the gift shop, we decided to get lost in Toogoom - actually, it wasn’t a conscious decision, it just happened. Toogoom is deceptively large and well spread out and once you take one wrong turn, it’s difficult to find your way out!

We eventually found our way into the Bay where we did minimal shopping, purchased our usual favourite juices and waited for the rain to ease so that we could drive home.

Lots of short, sharp, heavy rain squalls today.

I played with Harley this afternoon and reheated some of my home made sausage rolls for dinner. Adoring Husband made himself some prawn Tom yum goong soup. BGWLBH made a platter of fresh vegetables to dip into a dip.

Footy was on tonight and the golf.

Bloody Broncos defeated the top of the ladder Panthers last night and broke their 8 game losing streak - just because I didn’t tip them! At least I correctly tipped the next two games.

Now, I shall fall asleep to the sound of golf clubs smashing balls.

Nite all.

Busy Days

Wednesday was a working day for BGWLBH, so I caught a lift with her and she dropped me off at Tinkerbells.

I purchased 2 Christmas gifts, 2 x rose quartz rings, a rose quartz bracelet, a turquoise and clear quartz pendant.

I also visited the nearby newsagent to update my lotto tickets and I found 3 beautiful bracelets there. A rose quartz and silver, a turquoise and a white howlite.

These shops are a mere 700 metres from The Gypsy’s unit, so after I visited one more crystal shop where I purchased a ‘golden healer’ crystal for a friend of mine, I walked to her place for a visit.

We had two hours to chat, drink licorice tea and eat a yummy home made pumpkin soup 🍜.

BGWLBH picked me up after work and we got our usual juices and drove home.

I then spent over an hour in the kitchen making sausage rolls for dinner.

It was an expensive, productive, delicious, enjoyable, long and tiring day so I slept very well that night!

Today was morning tea with the art girls and we all were invited to Klocka’s new house for a viewing.

She made teas and coffees and she had baked macarons for the occasion.

Her home is just lovely and with lots of construction going on around her in a brand new estate, she has created a lovely peaceful space.

After 3 hours, we decided to leave her in peace.

I had pedalled my trike, JJJ had driven Billie the MG, Stylish one had ridden her motor bike and the Happy Hippy drove her dark mysterious vehicle.

The weather was pretty gross with gale force winds that had a real chill to them and it was quite difficult, even with electric power, to ride into the wind.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to access my house because I’d left my keys behind! Thankfully, there was a door unlocked.

I started to make myself a late lunch and BGWLBH, who had driven into The Bay, arrived home with the fruit and vegetable shopping, so by the time I’d packed that away, my lunch was ready from the oven.

I sat down and watched the latest episode of Jet Lag The Game on YouTube while I ate. Straight after that I watched another Mayim Bialik interview which was incredibly interesting.

Dinner was reheated GF pies from the boutique bakery in the Bay. I made a wombok salad and a rocket salad to serve with the pies and I baked a potato for Adoring Husband who had been playing golf all afternoon.

Tonight, I’m alternating between golf and the football. I’m surprised at how close the football is because I expected the Panthers to annihilate the Broncos but with 18 minutes remaining, the score is 12-8 favouring Panthers.

Once again, I’m exhausted 🥱 and will sleep well tonight.

Nite all.

Just Out of Town

Air fresheners are a lie

On Monday, BGWLBH and I drove out to Torbanlea, where we savoured the coffee at the new SIP coffee shop and we wandered through the Op Shoppe that’s been open for about a month.

The coffee shop had a great atmosphere, was very busy and we sat in the corner in a pair of big old leather lounge chairs people watching for about an hour. It was very busy and I counted over 20 people at one point.

The shop’s decor is very dark, moody and quirky, but the large windows let in plenty of light. The artwork is modern and fun and I could have easily sat there for another hour.

There was nothing special about the coffee, but their gluten free macaron was delicious!

We drove into the Bay from there where BGWLBH ran some crafting errands and did some groceries. It was quite late when we arrived home and I cooked Weiner Schnitzels served with wombok salad, garden salad and buttered potatoes.

Today, I was going to accompany Adoring Husband into the Bay while he attended a dental appointment and run some errands, but I wasn’t feeling great this morning so I remained at home.

It was a restful day and after playing with Harley and toasting some crumpets for a late breakfast, I got comfy and watched a fluffy Netflix movie.

I was going to make up a batch of sausage rolls but time and motivation got away from me.

Tonight’s dinner was beef goulash with stir fried vegetables and buttered potatoes.

Now it’s after 11pm and I need to get up early in the morning to go visit The Gypsy. I plan on stopping in at Tinkerbells on the way.

Nite all.

Restfully Me

I gifted myself this little suitcase of motivation about 6 months ago.

Ha Ha

In theory, I am very motivated and in my mind, I know exactly what I want to do - the problem is “in practice” because I can’t seem to take that first practical step.

Today, I opened the case and read some of the cards - so that puts me a step closer to achieving “something”.

Number one card tells where in the house to go and number two card tells you what to do when you get there. There are so many possible card combinations so you can’t ever predict what it will tell you and you won’t get bored!

Watch this space.

Today was a ZERO motivation day.

Harley got to play and I spent 30 minutes soaking up vitamin D during that time.

I made myself a HUGE brunch of crumbed steak, 2 x fried eggs, boiled potatoes from the garden, pickled tomato and cucumber and a piece of toasted sourdough. 

Of course I couldn’t eat it all and Adoring Husband hoovered up my leftovers - the toast, half of the potato, half of the pickled stuff and 1/4 of the meat.

After that, I retreated to the bedroom for the day. I watched a Netflix movie and the football was on all afternoon. Sadly, my tipping has not improved.

Spaghetti Sunday is easy.

I am now in bed and will sleep until 1am which is when the Wimbledon men’s final starts.

Tomorrow, BGWLBH and I hope to drive out to Torbanlea to check out the new cafe and the new op shoppe. It depends on whether she is feeling well enough because was a bit ‘off’ tonight.

That’s it.

Nite all.

Pretty Relaxed

Friday was a rest and relaxation day for me.

My original plan was to do a third day in the Bay because both BGWLBH and I had some odd jobs to do around town, but I decided to stay at home and rest. There was nothing that I had to do urgently.

I didn’t even watch any tennis on Thursday night and was able to sleep soundly for about seven hours. I still didn’t get out of bed until 9.30am and played with Harley before taking a couple of fish and vegetable pasties out of the freezer and cooking them in the oven for Adoring Husband and I to have for brunch.

We both sat in front of the TV for the day and I can’t even remember what we watched. If I recall correctly, I had a short nap in my bed during the afternoon.

Friday, like Saturday, is basically ‘fend for yourself’ dinner, although I did reheat some vegetable soup for BGWLBH.

Friday night was a BIG tennis night and I stayed awake until after 4am watching the men’s semi-finals. 

Sadly, Novak Djokovic lost to Sinner in a quick match. His 5hr 15min quarter final on Wednesday took too much out of him and at age 39, it takes a bit more time to recover. If he was up against anyone but Sinner, he may have had a chance, but boy, was Sinner on point and with power!

The final on Sunday night will be between the top two seeds Sinner (1) vs Sverev (2) and should be a good match!

Unfortunately, I woke to the sound of AH’s very loud voice at 7am. I’d only had 3 hours sleep but I couldn’t slip back into slumber, so I remained in bed for a couple of hours before jumping under the shower and then taking Harley out to play.

I was very aware of how tired and cranky I felt and I did try to not take it out on AH but I feel that I was unsuccessful in my endeavours for the most part.

I went for a trike ride, caught some sunshine, ran into one of the meditation girls and had a chat, rode along the river path, bought AH some hot chips for lunch and rode home quickly before they got cold.

We watched a movie called “The Kitchen” starring Melissa McCarthy on Netflix. It was a good movie released in 2019.

The footy has been on all afternoon and I am ZERO from 3 tips so far! 

Ugh 😩 

One of the ladies from meditation passed away yesterday. She has been battling cancer treatment for a couple of years and even though she looked and sounded well when I saw her 8 weeks ago and her treatment had ceased, it seems she was not thriving at all.

RIP Linda.

The Motivator has rushed off to Sydney because her Mum is doing poorly. Sending her strength and love to support her through this time.

Now I need to sleep.

Nite all.