Day 84 in a Year of my Life

Caught the sunrise this morning.  Might even try for another tomorrow morning!

I'm not enjoying Summer very much.  The heat and I don't see eye to eye.  Adoring Husband and I find ourselves closing up the house and surviving under the air conditioner.

Needless to say, a quiet day in front of the telly watching tennis and cricket.  No more Aussies left in the Men's or Lady's singles tennis, after Federer gave Tomic a thrashing this evening.

The cricket is still on right now, but I won't be seeing the end of it.  I've been up since before 4am so my body is pulling me towards a bedroom and a pillow as we speak.

Today, I am grateful to have healthy eyes.

Two of our friends have been diagnosed with Macular Degeneration and one of those friends may not be able to drive as of next week.  He has to give away his weekly golf and can no longer read the newspaper.  I can't imagine how difficult that must be.

Nite all.

Day 83 in a Year of my Life

Almost everyone in the world is now addicted to 'Pinterest'

For those of you who haven't heard of it or seen it yet, here is the link to my Pinterest page, which   is only in it's youth and is small compared to many others.

http://pinterest.com/rqqzy/

It's a lot of fun to play around in and you can find all sorts of interesting things like recipes, patterns, gardening tips and ideas, home decor, fashion, photography, nature, and the list is endless.

I only play in Pinterest about once a month, but when I'm in there, hours pass before I even realise it ... which is why I don't go there too often!

The sky was too clear this morning, to go in search of a sunrise shot, so I returned to bed after my initial investigation (looking out the window) this morning.

I'm led to believe that the weather is changing overnight, so hopefully, a sunrise will be on the cards, which means I need an early night.

The worse thing about Summer, is that the sun rises before 5am ... we all know how difficult it is to get out of bed before 4.30am to beat the sun!

One photo to share.

Today, I am grateful for our support network.  The people who care enough to lend their emotional support in our times of need.  (I will share further in a couple of days).

Nite all.

Day 82 in a Year of my Life

I woke up.

I rode to the bakery and boat ramp.

I rode home.

I watched the tennis.

I did a load of washing.

I watched some more tennis.

I spent quite a bit of time in facebook.

I watched a movie with Brad Pitt in it.

I ate dinner, which was cooked by Adoring Husband.

I watched some more tennis.

I am now going to bed before 10am.

I hope to wake early enough for a sunrise tomorrow morning.

I would like to share two things that I saw in facebook today.

I am finished for the day.

Nite all.

Day 81 in a Year of my Life

Begin rant:

We drove to Bundaberg this afternoon for an appointment.

The drive home was one of the more frightening experiences of my life, and probably Adoring Husband's life as well.

The first we noticed, was in the rear vision mirror and we witnessed a B-double truck, driving at well over the speed limit on the wrong side of the road, overtaking a number of cars.  Nowhere was there a gap where he could safely pull into the correct lane, if oncoming traffic appeared.

Eventually, the car that he was overtaking, had to brake and create a space for him to pull in behind us.  The nose of the truck would only have been 10 feet from the back of our car and I think I'm being generous in my estimation, because he felt a lot closer.

We were driving on the speed limit of 100 kmh.

Soon he felt the need to overtake both us, AND the semi trailer in front of us.  We estimate that he was driving on the wrong side of the road for at least a kilometre and the truck in front also had to brake to give him room to pull into the lane and avoid oncoming traffic.

My heart was pounding and Adoring Husband was feeling the heat too.

This is not the first time that we've had issues with truck drivers on this road.  They take unnecessary risks to overtake and they tailgate dangerously.  We always travel at the speed limit, so there is no need for them to overtake.

Essentially, it means that they are driving above the speed limit at all times because they quickly disappear from our sight after they've passed us.

I wish that I'd had my wits about me and used my mobile phone to video the experience.  I could have taken it to the police station, posted it on facebook or youtube, sent it to a television station, or somehow got the appropriate attention and action to stop this driver from putting our lives at risk in the future.

I don't think it's fair that I feel stressed every time I know we have to use the highway to go somewhere, because the road is full of dangerous, careless, inconsiderate truck drivers.

End rant.

Today, I am grateful and relieved that we arrived home safe and sound after such a harrowing experience.

To finish - What do you call a lazy baby kangaroo?  A pouch potato :D

Nite all.

Day 80 in a Year of my Life

Today, I got all my taxes up-to-date.  I was a bit behind ... like 8 years, but I only worked for two of those years, which makes it not so bad.  So now I start fresh!

I watched tennis all day - poor Adoring Husband is not pleased about this and the three psychotic dogs are enjoying his company in the family room, for the duration.

This afternoon we headed down to the park for a barbecue with friends.  I had such a nice time and while we were eating our dinner, a tawny frogmouth flew down and tried to steal something from one of the picnic baskets!!

I don't know if there was a bug in the basket or if he was trying to get something else, but it was amazing to see!  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera at the ready, because it was the last thing I was expecting to happen!

Unfortunately, by the time we got home, the only Aussie playing tennis tonight had just finished his match - on the plus side, he won, so at least I get to see him play again on Thursday.

No photos today because it was raining this morning, but I was going through some old photos and found this one from last year when the flickr group came up here for whale watching.

This is the son of one of the girls in the group.

Today, I am grateful for Summer afternoons spent with friends and doing the Aussie barby thing. A big thank you to Kaz's girl, The Absent Aussie,  for baking delicious gluten free red velvet cupcakes for our dessert :D

I'm about to turn into a pumpkin because it's well after midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Day 79 in a Year of my Life

The dreadful bushfires throughout New South Wales have wiped out all the bushland and national parks where BGWLBH and I enjoyed our road trip last year.

The bush walks are now burnt bare.  People have lost their homes.  The worst fires in ten years have destroyed 40000 hectares and are still burning.

According to the news tonight, the fires were so intense and fierce that they created their own weather pattern!

I can't begin to imagine experiencing something like that.

My second piece of bad news today is that the State of Queensland has already lost 14 people in  road accidents this year.  That's one person each day since the year began!

The third piece of bad news is that my son's ex father-in-law passed away yesterday.  Such a sad day for the family and under terrible circumstances.  May he rest in peace.

Now for the good news.

Woman of Many Talents became a first time Grandmother today to a little baby girl.  She sent me a text with a photo of the beautiful little addition to the family and she is divine!

I'm so excited for them all and I know that she is getting as many cuddles as she can while she's with the new family.  Congratulations to you all!

The second piece of good news is that The Artist and her husband attended their daughter's wedding in Melbourne this weekend.  Congratulations to the happy couple!

The third piece of good news is that Number One Son turns 31 years of age tomorrow!  Happy Birthday son :D  I hope you have a good day!  Pace yourself and make it last.

I found a bee on the sunflower this morning ...

It was another failed sunrise.  If at first you don't succeed ... try, try again!

Today, I am grateful that the tennis has commenced and I get to watch two weeks of my favourite sport, without having to stay awake all night, while the Australian Open Tennis Grand Slam is under way.

Samantha Stosur won her first round match today.  Lots of Aussies lost their matches, including Lleyton Hewitt sadly.

It's going to be a long two weeks if the Aussies fail me!

Nite all.

Day 78 in a Year of my Life

I have a mini obsession at the moment.

It's with that gloriously beautiful single sunflower that I have found in town.

Tomorrow, I am going to get up early before the sun and capture this wonderful flower in the early morning light - perhaps with some morning dew.

Here are my attempts so far...

I am now trying to convince Adoring Husband to plant out our back yard like a field of sunflowers AND then paint sunflowers all over the inside of the timber fence that surrounds our property.

Imagine waking up to that every morning!?  That would put a smile on your face for sure!

I know that's not really going to happen, but I would like to grow a few in on of the garden beds out the back.

Today, I am grateful for one of nature's happiest creations and one that is bringing me great photographic joy during it's short lifetime.

I remember in my youth, I dreamt of owning a kitchen that was decorated in sunflower yellow and white and I imagined the morning sun streaming through large windows and creating a perfect, happy morning glow while I ate my breakfast.

There is still time :D

Nite all.