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.

Safe n Sound

**yawn**

Do you know that 'light' sleep that you have when you know that you have to get up early for something?

It's like you are keeping one eye on the clock while you sleep and you are aware of everything that goes on in your neighbourhood during the night.

I had that kind of sleep last night.

It was bitterly cold, so I stayed snuggled down under the blankets, but it was a light, restless sleep.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare and I was the third person to check-in for the flight.

Ran into an old friend/acquaintance, who I haven't seen for a good 15 yrs.  I almost forgot her name!  We had a quick catch-up.  She and a friend were flying to Sydney to see Lady Gaga in concert.

BGWLBH and I had an emotional, but quick farewell.  We don't like to linger with our farewells otherwise they just get out of hand!  This one was particularly difficult.  Probably because we have been together for almost 11 weeks and it's been a lot of fun and very therapeutic for both of us.

It will probably be another two years before we have a long break together.

Thankfully, I had an uneventful flight to Sydney.

When I arrived, I had to collect my luggage and check it in for the next flight, which took quite a bit of time because the check-in line was HUGE.  I wasn't able to check it all the way through from Griffith because I didn't take any verification with me, for my second flight.

Once that was done, it was time to go through the security check .. not a problem there .. which is unusual because I reckon I get stopped at least 50% of the time - today was obviously part of the OTHER 50%!

I got a coffee from a very jovial barista and found a seat where I could get some shots of planes taking off and landing at 1/6 shutter speed for my flickr photography challenge (sadly, planes don't look good taking off and landing in the day time at 1/6 shutter speed).  It was worth a try.

All was going well up until this point.

I found my way to Gate 32 at 9.30am because we were supposed to board at 9.40am.

We were asked at 9.40am to move to a different gate (Gate 33).

We then heard 3 different announcements apologising for the delay for the flight, but eventually we all loaded onto our plane.

Just as the last of us found our seat, they announced that the 'checkers' had found some technical problems with our plane and that they were locating another plane for us to fly to Hervey Bay, so could we leave this plane, return to Gate 32 and wait for our next plane to be ready for boarding.

**sigh**

Most of the passengers were fine with this turn of events ... I mean why would you complain about being taken to a 'safer' plane??  Some were a bit cranky and sarcastic, but I guess you have to expect a few sour pusses among a hundred or more people.

So we waited a bit longer and I got some shots of moving crowds in an airport terminal at 1/6 shutter speed (moving crowds don't look that good at 1/6 shutter speed either - although with a bit more planning, it could well have worked).

Finally, an hour late, we boarded our new airplane and left Sydney more than an hour later than scheduled.  We made up a little time during the flight because we landed in Hervey Bay exactly an hour late.

It was grey and wet and windy.  A miserable welcome home!

On a brighter note, I got to see my lovely Vegan Chickie and Chicklet for lunch.  Little Chicklet isn't feeling 100% and poor Vegan Chickie was very tired from a poor night of sleep, but it was nice to see them and I got Chicklet cuddles :o)

No photos to share tonight because I am just too tired ... let's try again tomorrow.

I am home safe n sound and now I am going to my safe n sound bed to catch up on some sleep.  I hope the weather clears a bit tomorrow.

Nite all  

Time to go home

I fly out tomorrow morning at 6.30am.

The Rock Star Road Trip is over.

Even though I am sad that it's over, I'm really happy to be taking some FABULOUS memories with me.  Lots of photos too.

Another road trip added to a (so far) short list of road trips, but what hopefully, will eventually be a long list of road trips.  I think this one is number five or six?  Maybe even seven?  Perhaps that list isn't so short after all lol.

We had a lovely day today.

I had my hair done by the Hair Master himself, then sorted out some business at the bank and the post office.

I went for a stroll down the main street and took some photos of the War Memorial Art Gallery, which is an old Art Deco building.

Met BGWLBH afterwards, and we went grocery shopping for dinner, and then had afternoon tea with the lovely Lisa with a 'z' at her home.

After that, we visited BGWLBH's Dad, Mr G, at the hospital for an hour.

Went for a quick run up to the school where BGWLBH had some business to attend to, and while we were there, organised to meet a few of the girls for coffee after work.

Did the coffee 'thing' and then we came home to cook dinner.

I have no photos to share tonight because they are still in my camera, so tomorrow I will catch up with photos.

I hope to be meeting up with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet for lunch after my plane lands tomorrow - forgot to tell Adoring Husband about that!  (Darling :D  we are visiting the family after I land)

Gotta be up before the sun tomorrow, so I'd best try to sleep now.

Nite all.

The Long Road Home

Believe it or not, we actually drove away from the motel at 6am, just as we'd planned!

The car was covered with a 3ml coating of ice when we emerged from our room this morning.  The thermometer only showed 6C, but it felt a whole lot colder than that.  I even wore a tracksuit jacket!

It took a while to melt the ice from all of the car windows with jugs of tepid water before we could actually see out of the windscreen to drive.

We paused at a truck stop outside of Coonabarabran so that we could look behind and see how the sunrise was progressing ...

Not the best photo, but BGWLBH wanted to see the stars in the pic :)

There was not a cloud in the sky and no sign of mist, so there was no chance of anything special, apart from that pretty morning light.

A bit further down the road, as the sun got higher and was just about to peek over the horizon, we stopped again, just to see what we could muster from what little was available.

The sun peeps over the horizon

Sunrise through the grasses

Welcome to the final day of the Rock Star Road Trip.

Sadly, we had an eight hour drive ahead of us this morning, so we couldn't even take it slow and leisurely.

We saw lots of opportunities for great shots, but with so many roadworks and flooding and traffic, the chances to actually stop were very limited.

There was a lot of flooding on both sides of the road, that created this huge swampland and it was abundant with birdlife.

I saw, just from my passenger side window, White and Grey Heron, Ibis, Spoonbills, Cockatoos, Pelicans, 2 variations of duck, and the star of the show, that I almost threw myself out of the car for, and which at first, I thought was a Jabiru, but after some research this evening, have discovered that it was a Stork.

There was absolutely nowhere to stop.  It was a busy highway, with soft shoulders due to recent heavy rain and with roadworks for some distance.  Such a shame.  The area looked amazing for birdlife.

I am now falling asleep at the keyboard, so I will share one more photo with you before I say goodnight.

Oh to play cricket in the dish .. just like they did in the movie :D

We arrived home safe n sound but there was nobody but the dog here to greet us.  BGWLBH's Dad is in hospital ... I understand that he is on first name basis with all of the staff there haha ... I know you are reading this Mr G!  I hope you are feeling better by now.

There are still lots more photos, but they will have to wait for another day.

The long road home has absolutely worn me out and I have a date with hairdresser in the morning, so I'll seeya tomorrow night!

Nite all.

Cow's Butt kind of Mood

According to BGWLBH, I was in a Cow's Butt (insert inappropriate synonym here) kind of mood today.

My mood today.

I have to admit that I had a pretty negative attitude for most of the day, and I think it was a combination of knowing that our holiday is almost over and that it was the lovely Win's funeral back home today.


Tomorrow, I will start with a much more positive attitude so that I can make the most of our last day on the road!


It was danged cold in Tenterfield this morning -3C and very frosty!

A frosty field outside Tenterfield

I wore a sleeveless vest as I walked the main street getting shots of some of the Art Deco architecture, and only my fingers felt cold - I would have liked some gloves.


Our next stop was for an old abandoned church, but the tree beside the church really stole the show - especially the lovely shadows created by the low morning sunlight.

Abandoned church with a magic tree.

Unfortunately, both gates to the church were locked. If I was ten years younger (ok maybe 20), I would have jumped the fence, so instead I just made the most of the tree.


On the way up to Queensland, on the first leg of the Rock Star Road Trip, we stopped to get some shots of a cotton field, but I was very disappointed with the photos. I think we chose the wrong spot to stop that time.


This time, we stopped at the beginning of the field where I had a much better view.

A cotton field surrounded by an electric fence.

As I reached over the fence and touched the wire, I pulled back and thought to myself "Lucky it's not an electric fence, or I would be in trouble!"


I proceeded to take more photos, and then I reached my arms low between two of the fence wires to take some random shots, when I touched the wire again and got a shock! It was no more than a zap, just like touching another person after you've walked on synthetic carpet, but it sure gave me a fright!


During the trip today, and I can't remember exactly where (BGWLBH would probably remember) there was a sign that indicated there was a lookout if we followed the dirt track. We had stopped on the way up, but didn't follow the track.


Today, we decided to check it out.


The road was very rustic and as it wound up the hill, some of it had been washed away and there was some heavy erosion. We were wishing we had a 4WD, but there was nowhere to turn back and it was too treacherous to reverse back down the hill, so we had to persevere.


The track seemed to go on forever and every time we came around a bend expecting to find the lookout, but it just kept going.


Finally, we stopped the car and BGWLBH walked across a paddock, to what we thought was a view, but as soon as she reached the fence, she turned on her heel and came marching back to say that she couldn't see anything from the fence.


So we climbed back in the car and headed back down the hill.


On the way down, the view was amazing, but of course there was nowhere to stop for photos because the road was so bad!


So I have no photo to show for that little adventure!


We plan on leaving Coonabarabran by 6am tomorrow morning, so I need to get some sleep. It's going to be a long day of driving.


I won't wake up in a Cow's Butt kind of mood tomorrow ... I hope.


Nite all.

Plan B

Okay, so we didn't get off to an early start at all!

It was bloody cold in Toowoomba this morning, so we stayed under the blankets and didn't actually leave the room until 9am!

Instead of finding the lovely morning light somewhere for photographs, we went for breakfast, and then we SHOPPED!

We didn't leave town until 11am.

We headed for Stanthorpe in search of the elusive passionfruit fudge.

BGWLBH bought some on the first road trip up and every other place that we found after that, had every flavour EXCEPT passionfruit. So the mission was to return to Stanthorpe to restock on passionfruit fudge.

It was our first stop in Stanthorpe. We found the Deli and burst through the door, heading straight to the rear of the shop where we had found it a month ago.

Nothing.

We asked the girl behind the counter. "Where is all the fudge?"

"Oh" she replied "The man was supposed to bring the new stock yesterday, but he didn't turn up. Would you like me to phone him and see if he is bringing it in today?"

Well, that was a stupid question really.

She phoned him, but he didn't answer. She left a message. We headed off to find some lunch and agreed to return later with the hope that he would have received the message and dropped off the fudge.

Nothing. **sad face**

So our trek was fruitless and once again we left yet another establishment 'passionfruit fudge-less'.

By now, it was 2.30pm and we needed to get to Bald Rock, where we wanted to get some sunset shots. We knew that it was a 7km round trip walk to Little Bald Rock, so that was pretty much out of the question now that we were arriving so late.

We arrived at the starting point at about 3.10pm and decided that we would walk to Bald Rock and do the 2.5 km round trip.

It was quite uninspiring and the light still wasn't quite what we'd hoped. The lower the sun got, the more shade from the forest covered the rock, so a sunset shot was not going to be impressive. Obviously, from the photos that we have seen, Little Bald Rock is the place to be for sunset shots.

So after some tender tree hugging, we returned to the car and headed off towards Tenterfield.

We made a couple of stops along the way.

It was the right time of day for wildlife to be out and about too.

We are spending the night in Tenterfield. Nice little motel. We unpacked the car and dumped everything in the room, and decided to go for a walk to find some take away instead of going out for dinner.

Of the four cafes/restaurants that we found on the main street, within walking distance of our motel, none of them had one 'gluten free' meal, so in desperation, we opted to go to the supermarket and buy some salad to make our own dinner.

After returning to the motel room, we discovered a sign on the bench for the motel's room service! Doh! What's worse ... 80% of the meals were classed as 'gluten-free'!!

So I dub today as 'Plan B' day and it's a perfect example of why we don't usually plan anything!

Nite all.

We're off with a bit of hysteria!

This is how the day began ...

It was our first stop for a photograph.  We had hoped for a misty morning to get some nice early morning shots, but this was as much mist as we would see all day.

I took over one thousand photos today because we had some ideas that required taking multiple shots at various times of the day and night.  


They were shots for the new flickr challenge.  None of them turned out as we imagined them in our heads though.


I don't consider them to be failures though, because I've learned a lot today.


We had a good day of travelling and had many bouts of hysterical laughing along the way.   Nobody else would find any of what we laughed at funny at all ... but you know what it's like when friends get together ... you laugh at the most ridiculous things!


Anyway, it's late and I am exhausted from all that laughter today!


Our only real plan for tomorrow is to, at some stage, stop at Stanthorpe so that BGWLBH can buy some more passionfruit fudge!


We do, however, hope to get a nice early start to the day, when the light is nice.


Nite all.

Rock Star Return Road Trip!

The boys at the Seat of Knowledge were surprised to see both BGWLBH and I arrive this morning!

Adoring Husband suggested to me on Thursday, that I might like to travel back to Griffith with BGWLBH and then fly home from there.

I thought about it long and hard and even though I had a lot of reasons to 'not' go, I decided that the extra photographic opportunities and the chance to get a few more 'Art Deco' shots were too good to miss.

So last night, at approximately 7pm, I committed myself to the journey 100%.

This meant that BGWLBH would have to wait an extra 24 hours while I got myself organised.  ie Did some washing and ironing and packing and contacting people to cancel some dates that I'd made.

I am now 3/4 packed and tomorrow morning at around 6am, we will be heading off on the return Rock Star Road Trip!

Unfortunately, Wilbur Herbert won't be able to tag along this time, because, on my return flight home,  I have no room for him in my suitcase.

He's feeling sad.

I won't dilly dally tonight because I need a good night's sleep ready for an early start to travelling.

Further to my post last night, the lovely Win passed away peacefully this morning.

May she rest in peace.

Nite all

The Beautiful People

No Seat of Knowledge this morning.

We were in the car and driving out of the driveway before the sun had even peeked over the horizon.

It was such a beautiful morning.  A few scattered clouds made the sunrise pretty special and there was a soft mist floating in the valleys.  In some spots we could just see the tree tops poking over the top of the mist.

There were so many opportunities for photos, but nowhere to stop on the Highway.  Such a shame.

We thought we'd make a quick stop at Gympie Maccas drive-through so that BGWLBH could get her bacon and egg mcmuffin fix with coffee, but after Adoring Husband made the order and then paid for it, it turned out to be a fifteen minute stint in the car park waiting for our order to be made and brought out to us!

We made it to Eumundi Markets and found a parking space.  After making a plan to meet under the sign in two hours, BGWLBH went off on her own and Adoring Husband and I took a different direction.

I had a lovely chat with the lady who sells Emu Oil and I spent much more money there than I expected, however, I don't think I'll be disappointed and I can't wait to try my Vital Greens Superfood mix tomorrow morning!

We got some organic decaf coffee beans for Adoring Husband and some organic fruit and veg from another stall.

I had some Mexican soft tacos for breakfast with chicken and the hottest chilli sauce that I've ever tasted in my life!

I'm a big fan of chilli and I eat it almost every day, but this one was so hot, I could only eat two of the three mini tacos and then Adoring Husband had to get me some iced fresh fruit to cool my mouth.

It took a good hour for the burning to stop!

Soon it was time to make our way to Cotton Tree for lunch with the photography group, or as I like to call them, The Beautiful People.

We arrived much earlier than expected and the first person we ran into was The Nikonian (she's my favourite - and I'm not just saying that because I know she reads this lol).

Eventually there were eight of us seated around the table for lunch.

We didn't remember to take a photo until one person from the group had already left.  For photographers, it's amazing how often that happens!

The Beautiful People (photo taken by BGWLBH)

We were there for a couple of hours.  Lots of laughs and lots of catching up.  Unfortunately, we couldn't stay to join them for their sunset shoot.  One day, we'll be able to do that.

Such a great bunch of people - I always leave them with a smile on my dial.

On the way home we stopped at Gympie so that Adoring Husband could take a photo of a fountain in the lake and while we were there, we accidentally stumbled upon a couple of swans with their little babies - who were being well hidden and protected by their mother.

From there, we came straight home because our Psychotic Dogs were waiting to be fed.

We received some sad news tonight about a very special lady, whose 89th birthday celebrations I shared with you a couple of months ago.

She is very ill in hospital and is not expected to make it.  She only has a couple of days and her family are gathering from all over to say their goodbyes.

So beautiful and so elegant and so classy.  Such a good sport, always in for a laugh and joining in with all our special occasions - birthdays and barbecues and weddings and dinners and parties.

It's always been like a tag team event as we each take turns sitting beside her and listening to her yarns.  She loves to tell stories about her life, her kids and grandkids and proudly bragging about her new great grandchild.

We all love you Winnie.  We will celebrate all 89 of your wonderful years on this earth and remember you with so much warmth in our hearts.

We all love you too, Kaz and Lucy's Dad.  Warmest hugs and love to you as you go through this terrible time.  Just love each other and be there for each other.

We'll be here for you when you need us and we'll try to help ease your pain.

On a happier note, The Rev has been sent back to his hometown hospital after some very major surgery in Sydney and by all accounts, is recovering nicely.

It must be good to be home hey Grannymus?  Thinking of you both with love too.

Nite all.