Chance of Rain

It has been exceptionally windy today in Tuan.

Thanks again to Jman and Earth Mother, our tummies have been filled with nutritious and delicious paleo fare all day.

We walked this morning and we're almost blown to Maryborough!

Other than that, it's been a lazy day chatting, laughing, peeling prawns and this evening, we finally got our photography experiment right.

We had no intention of doing anything this evening and were even contemplating going to bed at 8pm, when Mellylicious jumped up and suggested we try something. We grudgingly followed her lead ... two hours later, we returned to the house having had so much fun and with some crazy photos that none of us can edit until we get home.

We were climbing stumps and traipsing through water and running along the beach and striking poses and making crazy demands of each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and am well and truly ready for bed!

We will all be returning home early tomorrow morning, feeling rested, refreshed and all caught up with each other's news.

My only regret is that I wasn't at the Bowls Club on Friday night to claim my $500 badge draw money! After 9 yrs, my name was finally drawn out and I wasn't there to claim it! Ugh!

Ah well, better luck next time.

Nite all.

The Gang's All Here

Mellylicious arrived this afternoon and that makes a full complement!

The gang is all here!

We started our day with a delicious paleo breakfast of coconut yoghurt with Bircher muesli, berries, dragon fruit and banana and raw honey. Soooooooo good.

We walked along the waterfront with our cameras taking photos of nothing in particular and planning our next meal ... it seems that most of us are more obsessed with good food and good health, than good photography theses days!

The best part is that we are all pretty much on the same page and our chatter is non stop about all things that provide healing and wellbeing.

Actually, no, the best part is that Jman loves cooking even more than I do, and he has spent lots of therapeutic time in the kitchen preparing all of our meals. His amazing wife, Earth Mother, has also provided deliciousness to die for and I am in food heaven!

Lunch was liver pate, Vietnamese chicken wings, Aussie ham, tomato, cucumber, avocado, olives, a vegetable salsa, leftover butter chicken and paleo crackers that I MUST get the recipe for.

After The Nikonian and Jman returned from Maryborough where they picked up some more pantry supplies, we waited for Mellylicious to arrive and gathered our cameras and tripods for a shoot on the water.

We had a particular experiment in mind, but the light and our equipment didn't quite gel to provide the result that we were hoping for, so we returned to our deck and yet another dinner to die for.

Pulled pork, caramelised onion, cashew cheese, guacamole and marinated tofu and nuts in lettuce cups. Once again ... amazeballs!!

The mosquitoes and midgies are doing their darnedest to spoil our weekend and we are all covered in red itchy welts, but it would take a lot to dampen our spirits. It's such a beautiful, peaceful spot, the weather has been perfect, the food amazing and the company just fabulous.

It has been so relaxing and we all have so much catching up to do with each other.

I wish that I had a photo to share here, but they are on my camera and I didn't bring my laptop. I'll have to take a couple with my phone tomorrow.

I currently have the air conditioner running beside the bed to keep the mozzies and bugs at bay while I write this. It's working very well, so I think I'll leave it on all night!

Best get some sleep now.

Nite all.

Tuan, I am in you!

Here I am, sitting in the dark, the only light source is this iPad and it is attracting mosquitoes and giant bugs, so this will be short and sweet!

The weather is quite cool - almost cool enough for me to think about a jacket. That's saying something!

JMan and his amazing wife Earth Mother, cooked a delicious paleo meal for us tonight. Butter Chicken with roasted cashews, cauliflower and zucchini rice and a naan bread. OMG!! I am in heaven.

Now I really must turn this iPad off because I am surrounded by bugs and they are biting me!

I will write more tomorrow in the daylight hours.

Nite all.

Off Again

Another day gone and my website still at a standstill.

*sigh*

The day was still quite productive.

Adoring Husband and I sat down and discussed the big bash for his 60th birthday, which will be taking place in October this year.

He's been talking about it for a long time - at least the last 6 months - but so far, the only thing he's done is book the Bowls Club for the venue.

Today we discussed a budget, the food, the theme, decorations, entertainment, invitations and possible accommodation for the guests who travel.

We typed up the guest list.

Adoring Husband designed, personalised and printed out the invitations, so they are all ready to both hand deliver and mail out.

So we've definitely moved in the right direction today.

I've packed my bag for the weekend.

I did some washing and some ironing.

I cooked a big batch of lamb shanks and vegetables so the AH has hearty meals for while I'm away.

I cooked a boneless lamb roast so that AH has some cold meat for lunches.

I made a marinade for some chicken wings so that I can take some Vietnamese chicken wings away with me, along with some alcohol, mix and lime.

Now as it approaches midnight, I must get some sleep so that I can be fresh for a fun photography weekend.

Nite all.

At a Loss

A fabulous morning tea with the girls today.

We had four in attendance and enjoyed each other's company until after 10.30am.

I shopped for groceries and meat, and came home to make myself a toasted GF sandwich for lunch, then made a couple of phone calls and watched some TV for a while. I cleared some emails, charged up my camera batteries in preparation for the afternoon photoshoot and the weekend shoot, then packed my camera bag.

At 3pm, Adoring Husband kindly drove me to Craignish for the photoshoot, which went very well and very quickly. By 5pm I had edited and sent the pics through to 'Teach' who needed them for her new website.

I prepared dinner and then had to go in search of some 70th birthday pics of Mum H. Her family had accidentally left the disc of pics behind when they drove home this morning, so I emailed a dozen pics through.

It took me a while to find them because they were stored on my old laptop.

I chatted in messenger with Mum H's daughter in law in Brisbane and her niece in England, before posting details of Mum H's funeral on FB. We are trying to reach as many people as possible.

Now, before I head to bed, I have to go package and freeze the chicken broth that I've been making in the slow cooker.

It's already 11pm.

Nite all.

Back in the Groove

I didn't even know where to begin!

Finally, I got back into my workspace, but it felt like I was starting from scratch and I had so many tasks to complete, my brain completely shut down.

So, the only option for me, was to return to the Leonie Dawson Academy and find some inspiration and motivation from the guru.

It worked a treat and now I'm feeling much better about the next steps that I need to take for the business.

I'm just not sure when that's going to happen!

I seem to have booked myself to the brim and I have four free days out of the next sixteen.

It's about time that I committed myself to this task. It's time that my website became my top priority and I want it launched before my birthday, so that I can have a birthday SALE!

Commitment and dedication to the task at hand. That will be my mantra after Easter.

This weekend I have a three day photography shoot with some fabulously wonderful human beings from the original Flickr crowd. It's been about two years since we all got together and I'm really looking forward to catching up with them.

It means that I need to dust off the old camera. It hasn't seen the light of day for some time and I also have a professional shoot tomorrow, so it seems I'll be back in the swing in no time!

This is where I'm up to with my pottery bust ...

and just before I go ...

Nite all.

Quite a Sunday

As I begin to write this, the clock is ticking over to 11.15pm.

It has been a long day and I'm feeling very weary.

This morning, I visited Mum H's son, The Peacemaker, at her unit. It was emotional and draining and enlightening and interesting and heartwarming. I was only there for an hour but it was quality time and I left there feeling very different to when I arrived. They really are a lovely family.

The Peacemaker gifted me something from Mum H's wall. They were photos of her and I taken at various parties and occasions that she'd had framed. I was surprised and touched, not just by the offer of the gift, but also for the realisation that I meant that much to her.

There is no confirmed date for her funeral, but it could possibly be the Thursday before Easter.

After my visit, I returned home to make a delicious brunch for Adoring Husband and myself. The Motivator kindly gave me a diamond scale mullet yesterday, so I lightly fried it in butter, salt and pepper and then squeezed some fresh lemon juice over it. I served it with a salad and I thoroughly enjoyed eating it while AH finished mowing the yard.

He came inside and showered before I served his brunch.

Next on my agenda, was to groom psychotic dog, Colli.

Before ...

After ...

This took two hours! She is squirmy and cranky and jumpy and hates being groomed. This is a chore that I hate more than ironing!

At four o'clock, I had an appointment with The Motivator for a 'journey' and I didn't get home until after 6.30pm, at which time I had to cook a quick dinner.

It is now an hour later than when I began this post, so I'm off to bed. I think I might sleep in tomorrow morning.

Nite all.

We're Back!

Finally! Phone and internet coverage at last!

This is what I wrote on Thursday night, but couldn't post ...

********

Debbie is angry!

The warnings came out this morning and Adoring Husband was on SES duty at the shed very early.

Cyclone Debbie quickly made her way down the coast - over 1000kms - to reach us, the Sunny Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast today.

Hundreds of millimetres of rain. Winds gusting over 120kph. Incredible flash flooding, property damaged, schools closed, workers sent home before lunch, trees down, power outages, wild storms, sports events cancelled and no end in sight.

Our bad weather began around lunch time.

Right then, I decided to cook our chicken for dinner, just in case of possible power failure. That was a good decision.

We received 80mm of rain in two hours and our wind gusts were around 65kph - at a guess.

I was doing ok until the last hour, at around 2pm, when Higgins Storm Chasers put out a warning about possible tornados.

At the same time, we lost power, so there was no TV or music or anything to drown out the noise of the storm.

The sound of the wind whistling and thumping around the house was too much me me to cope with and I packed all of my fully charged devices into the walk-in robe, JUST IN CASE!

An hour later, the weather cleared, but 7 hours later, we are not only without power, but also without phone and internet service, which we lost at about 9pm!

This post will probably not even get to my blog until tomorrow. It feels weird to not have any contact with the outside world.

Luckily, we have a generator, so we get to watch TV,  have a fan, and the capability of charging the phone and iPad, although right now, that seems pointless.

It's getting late so we'll have to turn off the noisy generator soon.

The skies are clear and the stars are twinkling brightly, but the forecast is for gale force winds tomorrow. I hope they are wrong.

I feel for the people down south. The weather has now reached NSW and Lismore residents have been given an evacuation order. I understand the damaging rain will go as far south as Byron Bay. Scary.

Cyclone Debbie has been on a hell of a road trip!

Good luck to everybody in her path. Stay safe and remember ... IF IT'S FLOODED, FORGET IT!

I think it's time to concede defeat and go to bed.

Nite all

********

So, it seems that we got off lightly in comparison to many other towns and cities in Debbie's path of destruction. She has left a trail of disasters in her wake.

More sad news for our town was the passing of Mum H on Wednesday night.

I wrote on her Facebook page tonight ...

Dear Mum H,

I phoned your home number today, but no-one answered and it went to your voice message. I wasn't expecting to hear your voice and I wasn't prepared for the impact that it had on me.

Your involvement in our Burrum Heads community has been profound, your support for the town charity events has been significant and your tireless volunteer work for the Bowls Club has been remarkable.

You've been the life of many parties and almost always the last to leave. Your energetic and exuberant dancing had us shaking our heads in awe because none of us could keep up with you!

Your cheeky sense of humour and missing filter (as already mentioned by Kayla) should have got you into more trouble than it did.

You were a Jill of all trades, a fashionista, a sporting hero, a karaoke star, a dancing queen, a party animal, beer brewer extraordinaire, barrel girl, seamstress, dog and house sitter, crazy triker girl and I just don't know how much longer Home and Away will survive without your loyal following!

It will be a while before Burrum Heads recovers from the shock of your passing, because we expected that you would outlive us all.

Thankfully, I have an album bursting with nine years of fun memories and each of those memories brings a smile to my face (or an embarrassed grimace lol).

I will miss you, you crazy woman.

May you rest in peace

With Love ... Sweet Pea xo

Nite all.