Full House

From midday Easter Saturday and Sunday, the Easter Fishing Classic run raffles for four hours.  Tickets are $2 each and the prizes are big fishing eskies, crab pots and other assorted fishing paraphernalia.

Also, when you register for the fishing competition, you are issued with a numbered tag, which you wear around your neck on a lanyard.  Those numbers are announced throughout the afternoon and other prizes are issued.

The Lions Park fills quickly and it becomes quite festive as portable gazebos are erected, picnic blankets are laid out, barbecues are fired up, eskies are iced up and filled with refreshments and folding chairs are arranged in social circles.

The announcer with the microphone entertains the crowd as if some big TV producer or Entertainment Manager is in the crowd ready to give him his big break!

The club members all scurry around in their official uniforms, selling tickets, issuing prizes, cooking hamburgers and making cups of tea and coffee.  Handing out free stubby holders, hats and t-shirts.  Weighing the fish as the contestants bring their catches in with hopeful anticipation.

So many people, so many kids, so much noise and activity.

I spent 2 hours in the midst of it all at lunch time today.  Not many of the local crowd turned up, so it was an intimate little group and Adoring Husband met us down there after he finished golf.

It was good to be out in the fresh air and sunshine.  It was also good to catch up with a couple of friends who we haven't seen since New Years Eve.

My cold seems to be trying to take a strong hold ... but I am fighting it with every ounce of my being!

I did manage to get another photo for my 104 list, which now leaves just 24 photos to complete the list.

Ice Cream Van - Photo 80 of 104

It's taken me 3 months instead of 404 days ... but it really is time to focus fully on the Art Deco project.

Two games of football tonight and Adoring Husband's team had a strong win.  It's shaping up to be a good year for the Cronulla Sharks, which in turn makes for a very happy husband.

Time for me to hit the hot lemon and honey and climb into bed.

If I thought it was busy today, it will definitely be a full house tomorrow when they announce the winners of the fishing comp categories and then draw the big raffle prizes, which include a boat!

I reckon I'll be avoiding that part of town and tending to my own health in a big way.

Nite all.  

A Pretty Good Friday

I woke before the sun this morning.  I also slept poorly because, in the back of my mind, I knew I needed to wake up early ... you know that feeling.

So Adoring Husband drove me out to Serenia Beach and then, because it was still dark, he walked me down to the beach.  There are a lot of strangers in town, so for safety reasons, he stayed with me until it got a bit lighter and I felt safer.

The sky was completely clear except for a small bank of cloud right on the horizon.

In case you don't know, there needs to be cloud or dust or fog or smog or smoke or 'something' for a sunrise/sunset to be colourful.

My sunrise was less than spectacular, but there was a moment when a tiny patch of colour appeared way off on the horizon.

I made the most of it, but even though the sunrise was disappointing, the morning was glorious and it was lovely to watch the light changing, the tide coming in and smelling the fresh clean air.

We drove home and before I rode off on my trike, I squeezed some lemon juice into a glass of water and drank it.  Adoring Husband asked me if I was ok and wondered if I had a sore throat (because that's usually the only time I drink lemon juice).  I told him that I was fine.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of photos for my 104 list this morning and I was surprised that the crowds weren't bigger at the park.

A Person in Uniform - Photo 78 of 104 (Ambulance Officer)

Kids at a Skate Park - Photo 79 of 104

Apparently there were record 'pre'- registrations for the fishing competition this year and there has even been talk of 10,000 visitors coming to town this weekend!!

Well, they hadn't arrived by 9am this morning.

I found my way home by 9am because I was beginning to feel unwell ... believe it or not, my throat was beginning to feel scratchy and my joints were aching somewhat!  Had I experienced some intuition about my body?

So I had some honey and went to bed for two hours.

Now I'm sneezing, have a leaky nose and my throat is still a bit funny ... so I won't be visiting my Chicklet tomorrow :(  Don't want to be passing nasty germs onto her ... although it's possible that by drinking the 'baby backwashed' bottle of water that she shared with me on Tuesday, SHE may have passed the germs on to ME!

It feels weird to be sick.  I was quite sick with a bad dose of the flu last year in July.  Let's hope I can ward this off before it sets in.  Especially because I am leaving for my holiday on Tuesday!

So Good Friday has been pretty good.  I didn't get to photograph the moon rising, but I can try for that tomorrow, if I'm feeling ok.

I think I can find my way to bed early tonight and sleep the bad germs away.

Nite all.

The Therapist

The Sex Therapist lived in this town when Adoring Husband and I moved here.  She and I used to walk together one morning a week, ride one morning a week and then do water aerobics in her plunge pool two or three afternoons each week.

She got her nickname after a dinner party at Mrs Bucket's house.  We all had a lot of wine and beer and she began asking questions about our sexual experiences which all turned into an hilarious and somewhat embarrassing night of uncontrollable laughing and shrieking.

At the end of the night, Adoring Husband, who was probably the most embarrassed of everyone, named her The Sex Therapist.

She and her husband moved to Tasmania about two years ago, not long after our wedding.  We have kept in touch with emails, the occasional phone call and a skype call or two.

In the short time that we knew each other, I grew to value her friendship very much and when she left town, I missed her a lot.

This afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from The Sex Therapist and we chatted for about half an hour.

Her husband has a applied for work in this area, and they may be moving back!  If he is successful, they will be living in The Bay, so our exercise routine won't be recommencing, but we'll be able to do lunch and a movie every so often.  That'll be nice :D

Anyway, it was lovely chatting with her today and catching up on the news.

Tonight, we caught the courtesy bus to the Bowls Club for the first time in a long time.  We were only there for two hours, but it was an enjoyable two hours and the girls were all in fine form.  Lots of laughing and talking.

Things have been quiet on the photo front the last couple of days, but tomorrow morning, I hope to be up before the sun and catch the sunrise out at Serenia Beach while Adoring Husband works.

Which means that I should go climb into bed, or I'll be too tired to get up!  I'll also spend a couple of hours along the river because the crowds should be growing rapidly by morning for Easter Fishing Classic.

I hope there will be a few 'characters' about who will smile for the camera.

At the end of the day, the moon should be rising late afternoon over the river, so that's on my 'to do' list as well.

Nite all.

Early to Bed

Early to Bed
Early to Rise
Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.       Really????   Why????

Just another saying from my childhood that makes little sense to me.  I can understand the 'healthy' part because sleep allows your body to heal itself, and your mind too ... but wealthy and wise??  How?

Anyway, the reason I say this is because I plan on being in bed before 10.30pm.

We are going out tomorrow night and it's the beginning of a big Easter weekend in town.

The Easter Classic Fishing Competition is on and the crowds are already filling the caravan parks and the holiday rental homes.

I think I'll spend a bit more time out and about with my camera.  There should be lots of opportunities for some portrait shots and even action shots with kids catching fish and casting nets and lots of boats in the water.

The river bank is usually lined with people sitting in folding chairs and holding fishing rods and the park is full of happy energy with families having picnics and barbecues.

Kids on bikes and skateboards, dogs on leashes, lots of colourful floating devices with kids jumping and swimming and laughing, building sand castles, splashing each other, pumping for bait, chasing each other over the sand.

It's a happy novelty for the first day or two, but then I start to feel claustrophobic and like my town isn't my own any more.

I was going to list all the things that annoy me about the weekend, but that's a bit too negative, so I'll just say that by Easter Monday, when the tourists start to trickle out of town, I breathe a sigh of relief that things are getting back to normal.

Two shots from today.  The April challenge ...

4. Someone who makes me happy (two for one)

and some random kids I watched playing with their dog in the sand this morning.  Their Mum and sister were sitting nearby watching them play.

That's all for today.  Short and sweet.  I'm yawning as I type and keep looking at those three words ... "early to bed".  I can feel my eyelids closing and I've just remembered that there are fresh sheets on the bed tonight ... and we all know how wonderful it is to slide in between fresh clean crisp sheets :o)

Nite all.

Finally!!

I'm a winner!  Finally!

I won the flickr group monthly challenge with this photo ...

I can't seem to find anyone who wants to celebrate with me, so I hope somebody out there is as excited as I am :D

Woot!  Woot!

Today I enjoyed a one hour pedicure.  Vegan Chickie and fam gave me a voucher for the pedicure for Christmas and today I finally got to enjoy it.

It was bliss .. well, it was a little bit painful sometimes, like when she was sticking that wooden stick under my toenails to clean them and then when she massaged my calves ... you know those nasty little knots that you get in your muscles sometimes, that only require minuscule pressure to cause intense pain???  Hmm.

No.  Really, it was pretty darn good.  Why is it that when something feels that good, an hour passes in a flash, but when you're at the dentist, an hour feels like three hours??

Afterwards, I met Vegan Chickie and Chicklet outside the spa and then we all walked to the cafe where we met Adoring Husband for coffee.

I had Chicklet on my lap for a long time!  She usually gets restless and wants to be on the move, but she sat with me for about an hour.  It was so nice!

How precious is this??  

We eventually had to make a move, although I could easily have enjoyed Chicklet for another hour, but Psychotic dogs needed to be fed and we had dinner cooking in the slow cooker.  **sigh**

April Photo a Day challenge ...

3. Mail
My Canon lens travel coffee mug!  Got it on ebay.

I've already used it twice and it holds the coffee well ... I'm very fussy with my coffee cups ... mostly I prefer a take-away coffee.  I will almost always ask for a take-away cup when I go to a cafe for coffee.

In some cups, coffee doesn't taste good.  It tastes good in this cup.

Well, after finally winning a challenge, wahoo, I am off to watch some more Greys before bed.

Nite all.

Addicted to Greys

I have just watched two episodes of Grey's Anatomy and I HAVE to watch the next episode.  I will never be able to sleep tonight if I don't see what happens next!!

As a token gesture, I am posting the first two photos of the April Photo a Day challenge and another photo that I took this morning on my ride.

1. My Reflection
(I look evil enough that I expect horns to poke through my hair!)

2. Colour

I found these on one of the picnic tables at the park this morning.  They were highlighted so beautifully by the morning sun, I couldn't resist taking the photo.  One of my photographer friends from the course that I did in Toowoomba in 2010 has a fetish for taking photos of random shoes - so I thought of her when I took this :D

Now if you will excuse me ... my Grey's addiction needs to be satisfied!!

Nite all

Blog Spot - The Little Gnome

I asked the birthday boy some questions, telling him that he would be the star of my blog post tonight.

I think he was a bit chuffed, until we got part way through the questions and he realised that he had to put his thinking cap on and it wasn't going to be as easy as he thought!

So The Little Gnome turned 78 years of age today.

Here are the answers to his questions:

Q.  Where were you born?
A.  Cecil Plains QLD (45 kms south of Dalby) in 1934

Q. What was your main occupation?
A.  Rodent Control Operator (Rat Catcher)

Q.  When did you move to Burrum Heads?
A.  2006

Q.  Favourite food?
A.  Roast Pork - especially the crackling.

Q.  Favourite music?
A.  Country and Western.

Q.  Favourite movie?
A.  Australia

Q.  What was the last book that you read?
A.  I don't read books.  I read the newspaper every day.

Q.  What are you most afraid of?
A.  snakes, frogs and toads.

Q.  What are you really good at?
A.  Wheeling and dealing.  I buy used machinery like lawn mowers, fix them up and sell them.

Q.  What do you do for fun?
A.  Come down to the Seat of Knowledge every morning.

Q.  Not counting your children, what is your greatest achievement?
A.  My charity work.   (The Little Gnome has received two awards for charity work)

Q.  If you were going to get a tattoo, what would you get and where would you get it?
A.  I already have wolves all over my body.  I guess I'd get another wolf on one of my butt cheeks  because that's the only spot left!

Q.  What country would you most like to visit?
A.  New Zealand.

Q.  What famous person, dead or alive, would you most like to meet?
A.  Drew Barrymore.

Q.  You're having a dinner party for ten.  Five family or friends and five famous people.  Who would you invite?
A.  Friends - Roz, Hilda, Robyn, Ray and Merv.  Famous - Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Alfie Langer and Wally Lewis.

Q.  If you had the power, what one thing would you do to try to save the planet?
A.  Stop destroying rainforests.

Q.  Who do you most admire and why?
A.  My Grandson, for his achievements.  Rising above his background, getting a good education and working his way up through the ranks.

Q.  Scrunch or Fold?
A.  Fold

The Little Gnome struggles with his literacy skills, so I wrote his answers out for him and I gave him no warning about my little questionnaire, so sitting in front of all of his friends and having to answer twenty questions off the top of his head, was a big stretch for him.

I've warned my other boys that they are next, so they'd best get their thinking caps on!

Today, Adoring Husband was working in the yard and cleaning up behind the shed.

He found some eggs and all but one of them was broken ...

I posted it onto the flickr group and one of the girls thought it was a gecko egg.  It's very cute :D

I did go for a ride this morning and it really was a glorious day.  The sun was shining, the sky was a vivid blue, there was a nice cool breeze and there were lots of bird sounds everywhere.

The tide was out, so I walked out along the sand flats and spent about 40 minutes exploring the rock pools, following the oyster catchers and chasing soldier crabs.

I took quite a few photos, but none of them were really worth sharing.  The light just was too bright!

Still, it was a most pleasurable morning and sunshiny days have been rare so far this year, so I soaked it up.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.