Saturday has been cancelled

"We apologise for any inconvenience"

The 'Outdoor Living Expo' was cancelled because the grounds were flooded from the rain.

We decided to check out the new farmer's markets anyway, but when we got there, only three stalls were set up and apparently, the markets had been cancelled due to the sodden grounds.

So we watched Chicklet run around the grounds .. or should I say we watched the Bare-chested Chef 'almost' run around the grounds, as he followed Chicklet in her explorations.

She is a constant source of entertainment - or maybe that's just me.  I love to watch her.  She is learning new things, every second of every day and it's magical to watch.  All that wide-eyed innocence and the little sparkle in her eyes.

I'm having an early night tonight.  All that tennis during the week has worn me out and I need to catch up.

One photo from the road trip taken while we were at the Sunshine Coast.  I've been looking at some photoshop tutorials on Youtube and I will practise on this one if I ever get motivated enough to really concentrate. **Oh look!  Something shiny!**

One of the modules in our study, covers photoshop, so I have no choice but to 'have a go'.

Well, our Saturday morning plans were cancelled and now I am cancelling Saturday night.

Nite all.

Glorious Sunshine!

Oh ♪♫ what a beautiful morning ♪♫ Oh what a beautiful day ♪♫

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the birds were singing and the air was fresh and clear.  Absolutely glorious start to the day!

It was so good, that even Adoring Husband went for a walk ... and that NEVER happens!

When I arose this morning, he was nowhere to be found in the house, and I found his note telling me that he was walking.  I had to read it five times because I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me!

So I pedalled down to the bakery to get my coffee and headed toward the Seat of Knowledge, where I found Adoring Husband perched at the table chatting with my boys!

We were there til about 8.45 and then went our separate ways.  I was hanging out to spend a few hours with the camera around town, now that the sun was shining and the rain was gone!

I could feel my body soaking up the vitamin D and I didn't get home til almost 11am.  I didn't even get any spectacular shots, but I didn't care - it was just nice to be out.

Soaking up some sunshine

The kookaburras were certainly enjoying their spot in the sun. There were four smaller birds going crazy in the branches above them - I think the smaller birds had nests nearby and were attempting to frighten the kookas away. It wasn't working!

We should have good weather for at least a week now.

There is some kind of outdoor expo on in The Bay tomorrow, so Adoring Husband and I are going to have a look at that.  The ground where it will be set up, was VERY wet yesterday, so I think I'll take my wellington boots with me.   

The new farmer's market will be at the community hall too, so we hope to stock up on some fresh fruit and veggies.  Yum.

I hope we'll get to visit Vegan Chickie and Chicklet around lunch time.

Time for bed, so that I can rise and shine to more glorious sunshine tomorrow :o)

Nite all.

Chicklet Afternoon

Rainy, windy, cold, grey, miserable weather ... BE GONE!!

This is my fourth Winter in this town.  I love Winter in Queensland .. except this one!  It's how I imagine English weather to be.

This morning, the forecast for tomorrow was for a fine day with some cloud.  Now, it has changed to ... surprise surprise ... overcast and rain.  Ugh.

I got to spend a couple of hours with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet this afternoon.

We played peek-a-boo.

Peek-a-boo

Mama calls her 'cheeky monkey'

Mostly, she just wandered around the house amusing herself. She watched a little 'Playschool', sat in her pram for a while, then in her bike for a while, put things 'into' the bucket and talked a LOT. Little Miss Chatterbox ... just like her Mama :D

Bright as a button!

Such a cutie.

After we left there, it was STILL raining, but we stopped at the Ice-creamery and got a small cup of gluten-free macadamia nut ice-cream. I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch, so that was my snack to tide me over til I got home for some lunch.

I made myself 3 rice paper wraps with ham, grated carrot, tomato, capsicum, onion, cucumber and mushroom. They were delicious!

Adoring Husband made dinner tonight. Salmon steaks with salad. He always does a good job of that.

I think if it's still raining tomorrow, I will work on some of my holiday photos. I might even look at the third module of the Diploma that Adoring Husband and I really must finish!

Time to watch a little more tennis and then I'm off to bed. Hopefully I will wake up to some sunshine!

I had a lovely Chicklet afternoon - she always brings me such joy :D

Nite all.

Snow White

So much for my 'rest' day, riding around town with the camera and walking on the beach! Ha!
I has been pouring with rain all night and all day today.

No Seat of Knowledge.  No morning coffee.

Instead, Adoring Husband and I drove through the horrible rain into The Bay and went to the movies.

We saw Snow White and the Huntsman starring Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth (yum).

Great movie!  Strong female character.  Beautiful photography.  Great action.  Fantastic special effects.  Fabulous spin on an old fairy tale.  Good music.  Male actors who are very easy on the eye.  No crappy or unnecessary romantic rubbish.

I will definitely buy the dvd when it's released.

Surprisingly, the theatre only had about 25 people seated.  I expected there to be more because of school holidays and the rain, but the kids all must have stayed home where they could be dry and warm.

Today was the closing date for our flickr monthly challenge.

This was at dawn as we travelled along the highway, so the camera was handheld and our car was moving too.  Tricky, but I was pretty happy with this one ... until somebody else posted a lit vehicle driving on the road.

I really liked this one too and was very close to posting it when another member of our group posted something similar, taken at the University.

Very disappointing - perhaps a night shot with the lights from the plane would have worked better?

This is the shot that I finally went with.  I like the movement and the colour. 

To remind you of the theme "A moving subject at 1/6th of a second"

As usual, I strained my brain trying to think of something unique, but somebody posted the same kind of shots for the first two that I was considering, so then I had to strain it even more!

It's only 10.30pm and I'm trying to stay awake for Sam Stozur's Wimbledon match - however, I am struggling to keep my eyes open as I type this, so I might have to call it a night and hope that I can stay awake for her next match (if she wins this one of course!)

So, so tired and I hope to be having a girlie day with Chicklet and Vegan Chickie tomorrow, so I am definitely going to sleep now.

Nite all.

Social Butterfly

What a good day.

I woke up a little bit late this morning, after my 1.30am bed time and now I am attempting to stay awake for Lleyton Hewitt's Round One Wimbledon match.

Due to my late start, I didn't have much time with my boys at the Seat of Knowledge, before morning tea with the girls.

It was the first time I'd seen Kaz since her lovely Mum passed away, so it was a bit emotional and it took all of my inner strength to hold it together.  I felt bad that I triggered tears for her, but really, tears are healthy when you are grieving aren't they?

I don't think that I've ever grieved in a healthy way, although, who's to say what the 'right' and 'wrong' ways are to grieve?  We all do it in our own way and in our own time.

After morning tea, I got to have a short pedal around town and discovered that the Pacific Basa birds are back.  All I have to do now is discover where they are nesting.  I don't think they are in the same tree as last year, because they are flying in different territory and were very close to the Seat of Knowledge today.

I couldn't get close enough for a good shot, but at one point, he flew from a tree, straight at me and only veered off when he got within about 6 feet of my head!  My camera was in it's bag at the time.

I will have to do some detective work there!

I noticed a lot of raptors about this morning, and all of them flying around in pairs, so I'm thinking they've all built their nests and it won't be long til there are lots of baby raptors learning to fly. Spring is just around the corner!

From my bird watching, I came home, quickly checked my photos and then made myself presentable for Mrs Bucket's retirement luncheon.

There was a good group of about 16 or 17 women who shared her retirement celebration. A couple of short speeches were made, lots of wine was consumed, some healthy (and some not so healthy) lunches were ordered.

I met a couple of new ladies, who were a lot of fun and I got to chat with some ladies who I haven't been able to catch up with for a while. I made a couple of dates for next week to spend some quality time with friends who I've missed while away on holidays.

So it's been a good day for touching base and getting back into the swing of things.

By the time the rest of us were making our way home, Mrs Bucket was just getting warmed up, and was doing the rounds of the general bar and being the centre of attention.

I have a funny feeling that she won't be feeling so funny tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be a rest day for me and I really hope that the weather is reasonable so that I can get some time on my trike and clear the cobwebs (from the trike AND my head).

It will be low tide in the morning, so I think I'll take a walk along the beach and see what treasures I can find.  With any luck, the White Breasted Eagle will come say hello!

For today, being a social butterfly was fun .. and the reason it was fun is because it doesn't happen too often.

Back to normal tomorrow!

Nite all.

That Rainy Day Feeling

I can hear the rain on the roof as I write this and it's quite warm, at 17C, for midnight!

A short break in the rain at least gave me the opportunity to hop on my trike and visit the boys at the Seat of Knowledge this morning.

A miserable grey day, but the rain stopped momentarily.

The Brahminy Kites were out and feeding in the river this morning too, but they were not being very co-operative with me. The best I could get was a seagull diving for food.

You can see the fish lying on the river bed, underwater.

I was really looking forward to coming home and falling back into my routine, but this miserable weather is preventing me from getting out and about in the mornings (except for a brief period today) and I'm feeling miserable because 1. I can't get into my usual routine and 2. that gives me time to miss road tripping and BGWLBH.

I was motivated enough to make a delicious Chicken and Roasted Vegetable soup. We had it for lunch and there was enough left over to fill 7 containers for the freezer. I also made a Beef and Vegetable Casserole in the slow cooker which we ate, with rice, for dinner tonight.

On a super happy note ... Wimbledon started today! I love Wimbledon!

I won't stay up too late tonight though because my favourite, Lleyton Hewitt, plays tomorrow night and I'd really like to stay up to watch him. I don't think he will win against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but I would like to see the match.

As I mentioned last year, at this age, I don't have the stamina to stay up all night watching every game live, the way I did ten years ago.
I have a big day tomorrow, which includes attending a Retirement Celebration Luncheon that will also be a photo shoot (of sorts) for Mrs Bucket.

I think I'm going to get that rainy day feeling again tomorrow, and again the following day.  Hopefully, it will clear by the end of the week ... because I have plenty of holiday washing to get done!

Nite all.

Beautiful one day .. pass the beer nuts

Queensland advertising campaign - "Beautiful one day .. Perfect the next"

It's not true!

It hasn't stopped raining since my plane landed yesterday!

Because of the misty rain, there was no visit to the Seat of Knowledge this morning.  Adoring Husband drove me to the bakery to at least get a coffee to start the day.

The rest of the day has been lazy ... watching the footy and playing with some holiday pics, so I have less words and more pics tonight.

Good ol' Aussie sunrise through the farm fence.

A closer look through the grasses

One of many abandoned farmhouses that we passed

A shed hidden behind the grasses and Autumn trees

The sheep and birds were doing their own dance across the field

That is all.
Nite all.