Spoke Too Soon

After bragging in last night's short post about beating my cold with my natural remedies, I woke up this morning with a cough and bit of congestion! Not happy Jan!

So today, I've pumped the chicken broth into me (3 cups of it) and made a chicken and vegetable soup (one bowl), two deliciously sweet crisp red apples and a rich savoury mince (grass fed mince) full of organic onion, garlic, carrot, celery, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms.

I haven't had any honey and lemon yet, but will make myself a big mug of it before I go to bed tonight. I've also been drinking lots of filtered water.

I made enough for twelve containers of chicken broth with this batch which I completed this morning after about 36 hours in the slow cooker.

I finally made up the dog food and got 15 feeds each out of today's concoction. I used 2 kgs chicken mince, 2 kgs of beef mince, 1 whole jap pumpkin (cooked), a large bunch of silverbeet, 3 sticks of celery, 1 large carrot, 4 eggs (shell and all), 4 Tablespoons of coconut oil, 2 Tablespoons of Cod Liver Oil and 4 teaspoons of spirulina.

My new hair curler is amazing! I curled my hair yesterday afternoon before going out to the club. I'm pretty pleased with my first effort and I'm sure, with practise, I will get better at it.

Number One Son called me today. It's always nice to hear from him and I can always count on him for regular phone calls to keep me posted on his happenings.

Adoring Husband has had a busy couple of days in the garden doing lots of maintenance work ... like spring cleaning outdoors ... and it's all looking very good.

Our peach and mulberry trees are bountiful right now, and the avocado trees are full of flowers, the citrus trees have new blossoms, there are delicious cherry tomatoes all ripening beautifully on the vine and the chooks are laying well. I haven't checked the grapes, pomegranate, mango or banana trees. The new sapota tree seems to have established itself well in the back corner.

I'd like to plant lots of green leafy vegetables like baby spinach, rocket, pak choy, silverbeet, kale and chard. I'd like some cucumbers, zucchini, snow peas, radishes and beetroot. That should do it I reckon. I think I have all of those seeds in my fridge waiting to be used.

Well, it might be time to go make my hot lemon and honey drink. Hopefully tomorrow, I will be feeling enthusiastic enough to get some cooking done. I've been collecting some delicious looking sweet recipes because I know how much AH likes the chocolate sweets after dinner.

May tomorrow find me bursting with energetic health!

Nite all.

Quickie

There is no blog tonight. I've had too much wine and I'm off to bed.

I just wanted to let you know that I beat the flu/cold that was trying to get me on my last day in Griffith.

I had fresh honey from the bees, fresh lemon from the trees, fresh garlic from the ground and fresh ginger from The Nikonian. That combination helped me fight the germs and I have recovered well. Three doses of honey, lemon, ginger and garlic was enough to fight the virus. I also had a tablespoon of fresh honey for breakfast, lunch, dinner and just before bed.

When your diet is pure, it only takes some added freshness like honey, lemon, garlic and honey to put up a good fight and win.

Thank you nature.

Nite all.

Weather Event

I woke at about 4am to the sound of rain on the roof.

So there was no trike ride to the fire station this morning .. maybe tomorrow morning.

Adoring Husband brought my coffee to my bedside so that I could spend a lazy couple of hours reading and easing my way into the morning.

I ordered a new hair straightener (because my old one sucks) and a hair curler online from Harvey Norman. Once they confirmed the order, we headed into The Bay at lunch time to pick them up. I really love the 'order and pay online and pick it up in store' idea!! I wish all shops did that!

Unfortunately, though storms were only predicted for Maryborough and further south, as we were heading home, a huge storm followed us. We were pelted with heavy rain that fluctuated between a smashing downpour and soft spray for about 20 minutes.

There were huge puddles across the road that made for some tricky driving and I even made AH pull into a shopping centre car park under some sails to wait for one heavy downpour to finish.

We made it home safe n sound and soon after that, after a couple more heavy showers, the sky cleared and the rain was gone.

Our rain gauge showed 28 mm, but AH hadn't emptied it since the rain last week while I was away, so I don't know how much rain fell today.

I won the flickr challenge this month with my Mallee Ringtail Parrot shot that I took in Griffith while I was there. Now I have to think of a theme for this month and I really have no idea!

Anyway, it was a slow day. I have some chicken bone broth in the slow cooker and tomorrow I need to make up a batch of dog food.

I'm also going to practise with my new hair curler! That should be interesting!

I've reached my midnight deadline, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Photo Shoot Out

I think it's funny .. maybe.

About 8 weeks ago, I was asked by a member of the volunteer fire brigade, if I would go to the station and take photos of their new vehicles and equipment.

He said to me "You're AH's wife aren't you?" I replied "Yes"

He then asked "You're a photographer?" I replied "Yes"

His next question was "Would you come to the station and take some photos of our new equipment?"

My response was "Yes"

I was about to leave for BGWLBH and my road trip, but he was happy to wait for two weeks. We agreed that I would go to the station the first Wednesday after I returned from the holiday.

By the time I returned, I'd forgotten all about it so I missed going there on that first Wednesday.

I ran into him at the local shops and he asked me what had happened. I admitted to my poor memory and said that I would be there the following Wednesday, forgetting (there's that memory problem again) that I was already busy and wouldn't be available. I didn't have a contact phone number, so I couldn't tell him what was happening.

I eventually saw him again and HE was going away, so we arranged it for when he returned.

In the meantime, I had to head south for Dad W's funeral, hence missing the agreed date yet again.

He saw AH during my absence and mentioned that I still hadn't attended the shed, so AH filled him in on my situation and the man said not to worry and to just turn up on a Wednesday after I returned to town.

So today was that Wednesday.

I arrived on my trike with coffee and camera in hand.

He said to me "We've just been looking at the photos. Come through and I'll show you them on the computer in the back room."

I wondered what photos he was talking about, but didn't say anything, and followed him through to the office.

He sat down at a desk top, inserted a USB stick and there appeared a set of photos of the three vehicles he wanted me to photograph.

I commented on the photos and how they needed to be taken in better light at a different time of the day. He then told me that he would like me to get on the roof and take the photos from a higher level.

That was when I asked him who took the photos.

He looked at me and said "I thought you did".

I shook my head and said "No, this is my first visit here. I haven't taken any photos yet."

So he asked a couple of men who were talking to each other nearby. "Who took these photos?"

Their reply was "AH's wife."

I said "I am AH's wife and I didn't take these pics."

"OH? Well we don't know then."

We walked outside and asked two more men and their response was "AH's wife". I repeated my answer.

We walked to the shed and asked another two men. They had the same answer "AH's wife."

When I told them that I was AH's wife, they said "No it was AH McGovern's wife."

It seems that there is another AH whose wife is also a photographer!

So here is how I believe this whole situation occurred, from beginning to end...

All of those weeks ago, at a meeting, after they had taken receipt of the new vehicles, somebody suggested that they get some good photos to put in their newsletter.

One person probably suggested that AH's wife would do it, meaning AH McGovern's wife. Another person, the man who originally asked me, got his wires crossed and thought they meant 'my' AH and me. So I was asked by one person and AH McGovern's wife was asked by another person.

She got there to take the photos before I did!

Now none of this bothers me in the slightest, but that man still wants me to go and take photos from the roof of the shed and I said that I would go take a look at the light in the early morning to figure out where and how to get the shots.

I'm now having second thoughts because, one, I don't want to step on AH McGovern's wife's toes and two, because I don't believe that I was ever the intended photographer in the first place!

Talk about confusing! I think I will withdraw my services.

I did get to spend a little time searching for more Tawny Frogmouth nests, to no avail. There are no nests in the other locations from last year. One of the trees now has a magpie nest in it, so the maggies will scare off any other birds that try to nest there.

Another tree is missing the branch where they nested last year, so they've probably gone searching elsewhere.

I'm on a mission.

Nite all.

Thawed Out

The warm Queensland Winter sunshine has today thawed my bones.

I saw my boys at the Seat of Knowledge and sat in the sun with them for about half an hour before meeting the girls for coffee at our usual haunt. There were only four of us. Mardi, Maid Marian, Reality TV Queen and myself. We had plenty to talk about because we didn't leave our table until well after 10am.

Afterwards, I really wanted to pedal around town to search out the Tawny Frogmouth nests, but I'd bought some meat from the butcher, so I had to get home with that, plus Adoring Husband was only going to be home for a few hours, so we were having our main meal as a late lunch. Food preparation was the order of the morning.

I have to mention here that I am liking my new skin care products very much! I've used all of the products now and I really like the feel of it on my skin. I'm not sure how long it's supposed to take before I'm supposed to notice any difference. I've been on the website this evening and there are pages and pages to read about so many different aspects of skincare .. including diet and exercise, organics, naturopathy, ageing etc.

I think that I may have to dedicate some reading time to that site.

Our monthly barbecue at the river was tonight, but AH had a meeting out of town, so I pedalled down to a very windy and uncomfortable evening with some very cold friends, each wearing about 3 layers of clothes. Of course, I told them to toughen up and that they had no idea what 'cold' really was!! Our barbecue lasted all of 75 minutes .. well actually, I pedalled off after 75 minutes, I guess the others may have stayed longer, but I doubt it!

I did, however, discover a new Tawny nest on the way to the barbecue *insert beaming smile here*. These Tawnies attempted to nest in the same tree for the last two years, but something caused them to toss the eggs out of the nest before they hatched. They usually do that when something happens to one of the parents .. the remaining parent knows that they can't care for the chicks on their own and so they toss the eggs.

I will be watching closely and hoping for the best this year, because the nest is quite low and I think I can get some great photos of the little chicks when they hatch. Fingers crossed!

I will do some more searching tomorrow.

My plan was to go to the movies tomorrow, but I think the movies can wait. I have other things that need to be done.

Can you believe that it's almost midnight .. again?

Nite all.

Perfect Flights

My two flights today were perfect

Both take-offs.

Both landings.

Smooth flying in perfect skies with a tail wind to bring us home early.

I peered out the window for the entire trip, both flights, and watched the ground as it changed from farmland with the long morning shadows of the trees, to mountains with misty fog undulating in the gullies, to cityscapes with sunlight glistening on the opera house and harbour bridge, the river full of ferries and thousands of small boats and yachts as it snaked toward the sea and then finally to the ocean which was the deepest cleanest blue that I've ever seen.

Heading north, on the way home from Sydney, we followed the coastline all the way. The long sandy beaches, the river mouths opening into the ocean. The small towns and the bigger cities changing the landscape. The huge cargo ships out to sea. The thick heavy cloud way out on the horizon. Then recognition as we passed over Fraser Island which was our cue to descend for landing.

The only time I looked away from the view, was when I accepted a glass of water from the flight attendant.

We landed in The Bay ten minutes earlier than expected and Adoring Husband was waiting with a big smile and open arms.

I was starving by the time we landed, so AH took us to 'Eat @ Dan & Steph's' for lunch, where we each thoroughly enjoyed a Cumin Spiced Chicken Salad and a coffee. It's the first time that we've eaten at this restaurant which is owned by the 2013 MKR winners.

The seating is not very comfortable, so we wouldn't go there for a long leisurely lunch, but the service was very friendly, the food was delicious, reasonably priced and it was served promptly.

After some grocery shopping, we came home to be greeted by three very happy and excited psychotic dogs. I think they were happy to see me :)

My head cold still hasn't set in ... I'm hoping that a miracle will occur tonight and I will wake in the morning with a completely clear head!

I've ordered our FROG box for this week.

Another exciting thing that happened today, was me being pounced upon (not literally) by a beautiful Arabic-Canadian man who was selling an organic skincare range at the airport.  He was an excellent salesman and I bought some of his product. It's an Australian made and owned company as well. I guess you'll have to watch this space to get my review in about a month.

I'm about to go use it for the first time right now before bed.

Griffith farewelled me with a chilly zero degree morning ... that's bloody cold.

It was extremely hard to say goodbye to BGWLBH this morning. It was our most difficult goodbye yet. Ugh.

So in the words of BGWLBH ...

Good Bloody Nite.    

Health Check

My health has obviously been compromised somewhere in the last two weeks.

It could have been when we got drenched at the funeral. It could be because I haven't had any bone broth or fermented veg or sunshine or exercise for the last two weeks. It could be because the temperature has ranged from 2C - 15C for almost the entire two weeks that I've been here.

Who knows?

I have that niggling raw feeling at the back of my throat, which started yesterday evening.  I've sneezed about a dozen times today and my nose has been just a touch runny.

Luckily BGWLBH had a large jar of fresh honey from the bees and bowl full of fresh lemons from her trees at hand for me to mix up a batch of hot honey and lemon. I've taken a teaspoon of honey every few hours.

I can feel my body fighting it, but I'm not sure I will win this one. Fingers crossed.

Uncle Polly Waffle arrived tonight for a few days with the family, so with everything in the fridge, we scraped together enough to prepare a feast to feed six people with leftovers for tomorrow night as well.

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go ... there is a song in that! My bag weighed 14 kgs on the way here, but I think it will weigh about 18 kgs on the way home! I did a little shopping while I was here, and yes that is unusual isn't it?????? Ha ha!

I'm NOT looking forward to climbing out of bed at 5.30am when I know it will be an icy cold predicted 1 degree Celsius!

I AM looking forward to landing in 24C and sunshine at home!

Believe it or not, it is only 9.40pm and I am already sitting up in bed as I write this, feeling snug and warm. I will attempt to sleep early in preparation for my big day of travel tomorrow so ...

Nite all.