Day Nineteen - Something Orange

Day Nineteen - Something Orange

Christmas Eve!

The caravan parks are filling up with caravans, camper vans, camper trailers and tents, which translates to 'overflowing with tourists'.

I'm not a big fan of tourists.

I wouldn't mind tourists if they treated my little community with the respect that it deserves, but in tourist season there is more crime, more graffiti, more litter, more damage, more noise and more traffic.

In saying that, I always smile and say 'Good Morning' as I pedal past the tourists.

I think I've got things pretty well under control for Christmas lunch tomorrow.

I've baked the vegan chocolate cup cakes and the vegan savoury pastries for the Bare-chested Chef.  I also have vegan dips, corn chips and biscuits.

I've made a pavlova for Vegan Chickie and Adoring Husband.

Tomorrow I will make chicken and pine nut cous cous for Vegan Chickie and wombok salad.

Of course there will be the usual turkey, ham and prawns, plus the assorted salads and bread rolls.

There will be roasted pumpkin and carrot for Chicklet and mango galore!  I may even have her favourite ... fresh lemon!

I am also proud to announce that my photo of the Bee Eater was voted as everyone's 'Favourite Photo of the Year' in our flickr group today!

Our tutor hasn't judged the 'Window' challenge yet.  I imagine it will take him a while to get that done, considering it is his busiest time of the year right now in his shop at Montville.

Right now I have to wrap one more present to place under the Christmas tree and then I'm off to bed.

Merry Christmas everybody.  May your day be filled with love and laughter.  Keep safe.

Nite all.

Day Eighteen - Your Shoes

Day Eighteen - Your Shoes

Of course, these are not ALL of my shoes.  I have a lot of shoes.  NOT as many shoes as some of my friends, but a LOT more shoes than I've ever had at one time in my life before.

Until I was in my forties, I never owned more than four pairs of shoes at one time.

One pair for work.  One pair for dressing up.  One pair of runners.  One pair for casual/relaxed.

Except for the runners, my shoes were always black.  Black goes with everything.

Back then, I would wear a handbag out before I bought a new one.  My handbag was always black too ... so that it matched my shoes!

In the last seven years, I have spent more money on shoes and handbags, than the rest of my forty four years put together.

It feels good :D

Christmas groceries done today.  We spent enough money and bought enough food to feed the whole town, including the five of us who will be here for Christmas day!

I gave my girlfriends small gifts tonight to thank them for putting up with my solemn attitude over the last couple of months and for being so caring.

I appreciated their thoughtfulness and their kind words when I was feeling down and it was nice to know that they would still be welcoming me with open arms when I decided to step back into the world of the living.

Small steps.

We have a lot to do tomorrow, so this will be another short and sweet post.  Need to build my strength up for Chicklet eskimo kisses!

Nite all.

Day Seventeen - Technology

Day Seventeen - Technology

My great day was going to end with a ride around town on my trike with Aussie H looking at Christmas lights.

The text that I sent to Aussie H was "Let's leave at 7pm.  If there is no rain, I'm definitely going"

I opened the door and stepped out at exactly 7pm and the heavens opened up!!

So, no lights tonight.

While Adoring Husband played golf this morning, I pedalled all over town looking for photographic opportunities.

I also ran into Toots and Dochs, who needed help with an email, so I met them at their house where they served me coffee and cookies and we spent a very pleasant hour discussing each other's Christmas plans.

My sister, Squirt, phoned tonight too and we chatted for about twenty minutes.

Tomorrow is a big grocery shop day, which we are going to do bright and early, before the Christmas rush.  That way we don't have to go into town on Christmas Eve!

Two more sleeps til Christmas :o)

I really must make a 'to do' list and be conscientious about marking it off and getting everything done.

Right now I am going to turn off this piece of technology and get some sleep.

Nite all.

Day Sixteen - Long Exposure

Day Sixteen - Long Exposure

Another great day today, although not quite as full as yesterday!

Went to another friend's house for Christmas drinks and nibblies this afternoon.  The nibblies were the equivalent of a six course meal!

So I took individual photos of all the women there and they asked me to photoshop them younger and show them a before and after shot.

They knew that I had done similar for Win, when I did the window challenge, so tonight after I got home, I began photoshopping faces.

I finished a couple of them, but still have quite a few more to go, which is why I am so late posting this tonight.

I don't think the ladies would appreciate me posting them here, so I will respect their privacy, unless they advise me otherwise.

All my boys from the Seat of Knowledge have gone away for Christmas.  There may be two left behind who I can sit with for little while in the mornings and drink my coffee.

Our little town is beginning to fill with tourists.  It's not my favourite time of year, that's for sure.

These little guys are a little more difficult to find now that Spring is over.

Scaly Breasted Lorikeets

That bottom one looks a bit nasty!

Time for me to sleep now.

Nite all.

Day Fifteen - Silhouette

Day Fifteen - Silhouette

Taken early in the morning.  Four men about to board the tinny to go fishing.

What a great day I've had today!

It all started with my morning kiss from Adoring Husband :)

Over the last few weeks I have spotted this bird, which I thought might be some kind of Kestrel, and I followed it a couple of times hoping to get a shot, but it always eluded me.

A couple of times I chased it for a good thirty minutes, but to my disappointment, it always disappeared.

This morning as I rode along the lane way towards the river, there, in a branch about ten feet above me, was that bird!

I hit the brakes immediately and slowly reached behind me for my camera, all the while keeping my eyes on the bird.

Just as I lifted the camera to my eye and peeked through the view finder, some lunatic on a bicycle came hurtling along the pathway yelling "Good Morning!"

AAARRRRGH!!

Off the bird flew!

I began pedalling when I heard that familiar bird call and as I came around the corner, there he was in the next tree looking down at me!

I grabbed the camera and began snapping away madly.

He hung around for a good ten minutes and much to my delight, I got a few different shots in before he flew away.

After I arrived home today, I posted these photos onto my flickr photostream and discovered that this bird is a Pacific Baza, and not the Kestrel that I first thought.

I was very happy with my find!

So I went on to the Seat of Knowledge and sat with my boys for an hour, before heading back to the shops to meet the girls for morning tea.

After a very pleasant ninety minutes with them, Aussie H and I pedalled back to the river and sat on a bench seat under a giant fig tree, waiting for an eagle to appear.

During morning tea, I had watched the eagle flying above the two big trees that grow beside the council caravan park, so I hoped that I might catch another glimpse of him.

Sadly, he did not re-appear, and after a nice thirty minutes chatting with Aussie H and a couple of other locals who stopped during their morning walk or ride, I headed off to visit my Princess of Wales.

What started off as a ONE hour visit, turned into almost four hours, when The Travelling Wilberry arrived from Gladstone and we began drinking some Christmas cheer!

We all carried on like long lost friends until eventually I had to beg my leave.

Poor Adoring Husband had been waiting at home for me to return for lunch and had cooked a delicious meal, which was now stone cold, but luckily, still very delicious!!

Only an hour later, we had to leave home again, to visit our neighbours for Christmas drinks, before they depart for Christmas with family down south.

It was about 7.30pm when we finally came home for the last time and plonked ourselves on the couch, happy but exhausted!  I should probably speak for myself only - I am exhausted!

To finish the day off perfectly, Vegan Chickie emailed some wonderful shots of my little Sweetie Possum, who has discovered the joys of playground swings!!

Isn't she lovely?

Nite all.

Day Fourteen - Eyes

Day Fourteen - Eyes

Christmas drinks this afternoon was a very pleasant affair.  There were quite a few people there and it was nice to catch up with some we hadn't seen for a while.

I took lots of photos, so I might post a couple of them tomorrow.

I had my hair done today.  It's a little darker than usual, but it won't take long lighten.

We finalised the last of the Christmas gifts today too.  It's a relief to have that done.

Other than that, I'm too tired to think of anything else to tell you.  I will put more effort into tomorrow's post... I promise :D

Nite all.

Day Thirteen - Me, with 13 things.

Day Thirteen - Me, with 13 things.

Not what you expected?  Many thanks to the Lovely Laying Chooks for my props :o)

My walk along the beach this morning only produced one shot - a Pied Oystercatcher.

I've seen these guys around here before, but not often.  He spent the whole time running away from me, so it was tricky business trying to get a clear shot.

The Bee Eaters were next on my hit list.

This looks to be a young one because he has a shorter tail and beak and the colours in the feathers aren't as dark as the adult's.

Finally, in a last ditch effort, I visited Cheelii Lagoon, but nature wasn't forthcoming there either.  Some beautiful lilies in full bloom, but I really liked the simplicity of this shot.

If only there had been a single gold fish swimming between the stems.

We have a busy day tomorrow.

Adoring Husband has an early Drs appointment, to which I will accompany him.

Then I have a hair appointment, to which he won't accompany me.

We have Christmas drinks with friends in the late afternoon.

So I'd best get some sleep before I turn into a pumpkin again.

Nite all.