A Learning Curve

Well, that was a hell of a learning curve!!

I've never made a video before. I had no idea how to share it on my devices (iPhone, iPad and Macbook Pro) therefore I had never uploaded my own video here, and therefore I had no idea about the google rules for the size of videos allowed and therefore I had no idea how to reduce the video in size so that it would be accepted here.

I've had to cut the video in half so that it wasn't too big to post here.

My brain hurts. I'm not quite celebrating because, as I write this, it hasn't finished uploading yet!

The day of Chicklet's birthday was wonderful. She loved all of her gifts and played with each and every one of them all day long. 

She received a dragon costume and a unicorn costume, a tent/sleeping bag and pillow with dinosaurs on them, Dorothy the dinosaur and Henry the octopus dolls, a bubble blower, a tea set with dinosaurs, a skipping rope, a book, some stickers, a box of flowers and an unrecognisable dragon cake.

We spent all day playing with her toys. Mama, Dadu, Adoring Husband and I, all playing tag team to share the excitement and playtime. I'm sure that Adoring Husband must have been exhausted, having driven for two hours to see Chicklet, then spent a couple of hours playing silly balloon games with her, then driving home again after midday.

We loved having him here and loved that he made such an effort, especially considering the huge three days he'd had with SES duties prior to yesterday.

At the end of the day, Chicklet had a blast wandering through the house with a button pin, bursting all of the balloons (111 of them), while Mama removed the dinosaur and dragon stickers off the wall. By 7pm, you would never have known that it had been somebody's birthday!

We took it quietly today. 

Vegan Chickie and I had coffee and breakfast snacks at Zabe coffee shop this morning while Dadu and Chicklet had time together. We did some grocery shopping before coming home and I made a baked chicken and veg lunch.

I spent most of the afternoon in bed with an unhappy tummy, while Chicklet came and in and out at various times to check on me.

Tomorrow is my big dental appointment. I can't even remember what I'm having done, but I do know that I should get a good night's sleep so that I can cope with whatever is in store!

Nite all.

The Birthday Girl

It's just too late to do a full blog post tonight. I have tried, to no avail, sharing the video that I took of Chicklet seeing her birthday decorations for the first time this morning. I will have another attempt tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

The day has been amazing and Chicklet says "It's the best birthday EVER!" so that's gotta be a bonus!

Adoring Husband even drove down for a few hours and got to sing happy birthday before he headed back home.

I will write more about it tomorrow and hopefully have a couple more pics to share.

Meanwhile, sleep time for me.

Nite all.

A Slight Slip Up

Yesterday's post was actually completed last night, but it must have been so late that my brain was half asleep and I forgot to hit 'send'!! So this means you will get a double post in one day today.

Today was Chicklet's last day of being a four year old, so we said goodbye to the fervid fours with a bang at Aussie World.

What a fantastic theme park! There are more than 30 rides there catering to all different age groups and the staff are fabulous. They all appear to love their jobs and want to make the experience as enjoyable as possible for not just the kids, but the adults too.

I guess we picked the best time to go, being outside school holidays, because even though there were still plenty of people about, there were no queues for the rides and plenty of tables and seats available when we wanted a break, or when The Bare-chested Chef was on ride duty with Chicklet.

It was a perfect day. The temperature was mild, with a bit of cloud in the sky, a few very light misty showers and a cooling breeze, so we were comfortable all day.

I haven't been on a show ride (aside from the dodgems way back in the late 80s) since I was 15 yrs old when I rode the Wild Mouse at the Brisbane Exhibition. That ride scared the pants off me and I was never tempted to go on another ride ever again!

Today I rode the dodgems and the bizzy buggies and then sat in the Voyager Simulator for the 'terror on ice' ride. Thank god it was a simulator - just that knowledge removed the fear - the real thing would have done me in!

We walked through Professor Boggleworth's Illusionarium which was amazing! So well done!

We played four holes of the 18 holes of mini golf. Four holes was the best that Chicklet could deal with - the attendant was kind enough to give her a 'hold in one' certificate when we left.

The sideshow alley was a success with Chicklet playing the laughing clowns and the ducks, winning a giant ball, an orange lobster, an orange monkey and a hand held game with water inside and buttons to push.

We ate upstairs in the pub restaurant. I ordered a spinach and roast pumpkin salad with feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes. I added atlantic salmon and the meal was so big that I asked for doggy bag to go.  I had some for dinner tonight and there was STILL some left over! It was very nice and even though it cost $27.90, I got two meals out of it, so it was actually a bargain.

After lunch, Chicklet and Vegan Chickie rode the carousel, which didn't do Vegan Chickie much good with a belly full of food. About five minutes after the ride, she was feeling very much the worse for wear and had to lie down on one of the bench seats while Dadu and Chicklet went into the water park.

The rest did her good, and by the time we were ready to leave, about an hour later, she was feeling much better.

We left Aussie World and headed to the fudge shop for some gelato ice cream before we drove home. I had a little cup of vanilla with raspberry and white chocolate. Luckily, vanilla is my favourite ice cream, because there wasn't much raspberry or white chocolate in it.

We left home at about 9.30 this morning and returned at 4pm. It was a big day! Thoroughly enjoyable and worth every penny spent.

As soon as Chicklet fell asleep tonight, we got to work blowing up balloons and decorating the walls with dragons and dinosaurs. There are dinosaur footprints on the floor and inflatable dinosaurs under the balloons. The gifts are on the coffee table and I can't wait to see her face in the morning!

On that note, I'd best get some sleep so that I can be bright and breezy in the morning!

Nite all.

Thank you Driver

Woman of Many Talents was kind enough to drive me to the Sunny Coast this morning, even though her original reason for coming down here was cancelled out at the last minute, she kindly honoured her commitment to me and drove for more than two hours to bring me to my destination.

I did not know this until we were already on our way, otherwise I would have organised to catch the later train today. I feel guilty that she had to make this trip for no reason. She decided to spend the day with her Mum and then drive back tomorrow morning in time to work at 10am. I need to buy her a thank you gift. I will think of something special.

It was a very pleasant drive down and at the same time a great two hours catching up on our news together.

She pulled into the Chicklet family driveway at about 9.15am.

After she drove away, I unpacked my suitcase and settled in with Chicklet, squeezing in some play time before we headed to the supermarket to do a decent sized shop. We bought some coffee before we drove home and Chicklet babysat me while Mama and Dadu went to the movies to see 'Zoolander'.

Vegan Chickie loved the movie. It's on my bucket list for this month, along with 'The Big Short'.

So Chicklet and I had a lovely afternoon playing together. She was the Vet, while I brought all of my pets to her for consultations. Surprisingly, she was very sneaky and did things to my pets that I didn't know about until I visited her in her vet's office.

My big dog, Choco, had a tiny dog carry case stuck inside his ear. Dr Chicklet was a miracle worker and fixed the problem immediately.

My pet dinosaur, Snap, had a marble stuck in the back of his mouth. Thank goodness Dr Chicklet was able to discover the problem quickly and Snap was feeling his old self in no time.

My two miniature pups needed yellow bandaids to fix their 'owies'.

My hairy crocodile, Crocky, needed to stay overnight to recover from his ordeal.

My dog, Crazy Ruby (my favourite) also had to stay overnight and I was terribly distressed about leaving her there, so Dr Chicklet drew me a picture of Crazy Ruby to bring home with me, so that I wouldn't miss her too much...

What a kind doctor she was!

We also played marbles, drew pictures, made sticker art, played the Minion game, watched Caspar the Friendly Ghost and some of a Care Bears show.

It's been a big day, and tomorrow is going to be even bigger, so I'd best get some sleep!

Nite all.

Procrastinators Unite!

I am the Queen of Procrastination! You all know that!

A month ago, Vegan Chickie sent me Chicklet's birthday wish list. The list had four items on it, with a vague possible fifth.

A Cheetah Toy
Sleeping Bag
A Skipping Rope
A Tea Set with Dinosaurs on it (not plastic because the last one cracked)
(At the moment, she is in love with Ninja Turtles, if that helps)

At the time, I was very excited to have the list so early and planned on either researching the items online or searching around The Bay.

Chicklet's birthday is this Saturday and I am heading down there tomorrow morning, so after procrastinating for almost a month, I dragged Adoring Husband into The Bay today, on a birthday gift reconnaissance.

I do my best work under pressure!

Our first stop was Toy World.

As we entered the building, there was a box of skipping ropes on sale, so I immediately grabbed one.

AH asked at the counter "Do you have any children's sleeping bags?" Their reply was "No."

I decided that I would have a look around anyway and see what they had in the way of dinosaurs and cheetahs.

We checked out the dinosaurs and the only one I really liked was a remote control dinosaur which cost $200, but it was suitable for a much older age group and cost more than we expected to spend, so we continued browsing.

I began searching the outer walls of the warehouse-sized shop. Junior lego tables, trikes, scooters, blackboards, teenage mutant ninja turtle sewer tents, pool toys ... then suddenly ... wait for it ... a combination tent, sleeping bag and pillow covered in a dinosaur pattern!!!! *happy dance*

AH removed it from the shelf and headed towards the check-out. "Wait!" I called out "I want to check their tea sets!"

I walked into the very next aisle and there in front of me, was a white ceramic tea set! I imagined a few dinosaur stickers strategically placed and decided it was perfect!

At the check out, there was a bonus when we learned that our purchases were on sale at 20% off! Yay!

Toy World didn't have any dinosaur stickers, so our next mission was to find some stickers small enough to fit comfortably on the very small tea set.

BIG W was our next stop, where AH immediately found the perfect dinosaur stickers required for the job at hand.

So, with time of the essence, we had the perfect gifts all in the space of thirty minutes!! Amazing!!

During our shopping, AH received a phone call from the SES for an emergency callout. He initially decided not to rush home for it, but as we drove past the SES shed, the group were still preparing the boat and other equipment, so he decided to join them after all.

He drove me and the goodies home, quickly dressed in uniform and rushed off to join the search for a young man who had fallen into the river at Maryborough after a possible seizure.

My first priority was to wrap the birthday gifts. I had some plain brown wrapping paper, so I wrapped both gifts in that and decorated them with my own handy work.

The first one I wrote her name in big puffy letters and drew peace signs, flowers, hearts and dinosaurs on it. For the second gift, I used the remaining dinosaur stickers to spell her name across the package.

Pretty happy with that!

Next on the agenda, was packing my suitcase - just a small one because I have clothes already down there, but I had brought some of them home last time, so they need to be returned. I have a new book to read, a few pieces of jewellery, my iPad, laptop and lastly, my toiletries.

Too easy.

I did a load of washing, removed the inedible food from the fridge and gave it a quick clean and lastly, cooked up half a dozen chicken thighs for AH to nibble on for the next couple of days.

So I reckon everything is pretty much under control.

See!? I told you I do my best work under pressure!

Nite all.

  

This Looks Good

We have to wait til June or July, but this one looks good. I bet it's going to be a real tear jerker!



More kitchen duties today. Beef stroganoff and beef casserole, then devilled avocado eggs to take to the park for the barbecue tonight.

I had boiled ten eggs last night and then didn't even think about them again until 40 minutes before we were due at the park! I had to shell the eggs, cut them in half and scoop out the yolks into a bowl. I added two avocados, some salt and pepper, the juice of half a lime, some onion powder and a teaspoon of chopped fresh coriander. Mashed it all together and spooned it back into the whites, then sprinkled some paprika over the top.

They were very popular (except for Adoring Husband, who wasn't fussed) and all twenty of them disappeared quickly .. half of them before we even ate dinner.

There were 13 of us there for our monthly barbecue, which is usually the first Tuesday of the month, but last week, we got stormed out, so we postponed until tonight. It was very gusty down there, but no storms or rain. At about 7pm, the wind dropped and the mosquitoes were out in full force.

Obviously Adoring Husband has the tastiest blood, because he was the first one bitten multiple times. He raced to the car to escape the nasty little insects, which meant that the rest of us copped it. This meant a mass exodus!

I have 24 hours til my trip to the Sunny Coast and I am not the slightest prepared!

Best get a good night of sleep so that I can power up for a big day tomorrow. So much to do, so little time!

Nite all.

Kitchen Time

It's been a while since I was inspired to spend time in the kitchen. In fact it's been a while since I was inspired to focus on my health .. probably since the beginning of the year .. the road trip sent me off course a bit and it's been a struggle to find my way back.

BUT .. I've decided that it's time to rein myself back into the cycle of good health.

This means no more early morning coffee. Drinking coffee on an empty stomach first thing in the morning doesn't make me feel vibrant and energised and ready to face the day. In fact it kind of drains my motivation to do anything!

So it's back to warm lemon water, followed by bone broth and a trike ride to start my day. Coffee will happen at around 9am.

I've also increased my coffee intake to three coffees per day and that's too much. The dairy leaves me feeling full and bloated, which means I eat less nutritional food.

Oil pulling in the morning and evening has also been very intermittent this month and I can feel the difference, so it's time to be more vigilant with my oral health.

I need to reduce my now over indulgence of carbs. Potatoes and rice have been very high on my list of meal and snack options lately and they make me feel bloated, inflamed and I feel like I'm retaining fluid.

That's how easy it is to gradually fall off the health wagon and allow the less nutritious foods to not just sneak into your diet, but start to take up a large portion of it. I can literally feel the difference in my body, both physically and emotionally. I've had less energy and less motivation to do anything.

My sleeping pattern has changed too. Later to bed, not sleeping soundly, later to wake and not wanting to get out of bed in the morning.

I've struggled to find motivation in the kitchen and creating meals has been a chore.

Today, I made the decision to change. I've been poring through my favourite paleo recipes and spent the afternoon in the kitchen, making the chocolate mini cakes and a berry sorbet.

I started to plan a week of meals, but remembered that I'll be on the Sunny Coast for five days from Thursday, so I've planned it all for my return.

Having made the decision, I'm feeling excited and inspired to find the happy, healthy, vibrant me again.

Meanwhile, I discovered this a couple of days ago and thought it was interesting enough to share. I've got a bit of thing for cushions ...



Time for bed. Early to bed, early to rise!

Nite all.

Choices Are Ours

If you want a good cry .. don't 'choose' to see this at the cinema .. wait til it comes out on dvd, buy it, and lock yourself in your lounge room with a box of tissues so that you can sob uncontrollably without worrying about anyone seeing or hearing you do it!



It took me a while to warm to the main characters .. especially the male lead, but it didn't take too long for him to become my favourite character.

Some people I know will love this movie, but some I know will screw up their nose.

Anyway, I liked the movie .. I can't say 'enjoyed' because it was too sad to enjoy, but what made the movie even better, was the company I was in. Thank you Lady Lynn and Mardi for inviting me and sharing your tears (and tissues) with me!

Here's one that I'm looking forward to for the end of March ... My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

I 'chose' to have our main meal for lunch today. More lamb back strap with sweet potato mash, roasted pumpkin, broccoli and a red wine jus. There was enough left over for Adoring Husband to have for dinner tonight.

How nice that Adoring Husband 'chose' to buy me a coffee this afternoon, even though I wasn't home yet! It just needed to be slightly reheated.

I believe that I will 'choose' to have an early night tonight. I want to wake up early for a trike ride - I haven't ridden my trike for two days now and need to sit by the river and soak up some fresh air and sunshine.

So, on that note...

Nite all.

Simple Saturday

I was in bed by 9pm last night, and I'm pretty sure that I fell asleep the instant that my head hit the pillow. I woke at 1am for about thirty minutes and again very briefly at 4.30am for about thirty seconds. It was 7.30pm when I finally woke for the day.

When I opened my eyes,  there was my morning coffee sitting on my bedside table (thank you Adoring Husband), so I chose to spend even more time in bed with my iPad and it was about 9am when I finally climbed out of bed to welcome the day.

I took the opportunity to cook up a big breakfast for AH. Bacon, eggs, tomato, mushrooms and avocado. It turned out to be a good move because he got a callout for a land search with the SES almost the second that he took his last mouthful.

That meant that I had a very quiet morning and early afternoon at home alone. I did some washing and watched a movie and ate half a kg of organic red grapes! Delicious!

When AH arrived home, I cooked up some lamb back strap for a late lunch.

We spent the afternoon watching the Auckland Nines. AH's team is one of only two that have won both their matches so far. Last year, they got into the finals but lost the big game. We're hoping that they can go one better this year. My team is not doing so well.

Today has been rainy and quite a bit cooler than the last couple of weeks, which has been pleasant. Instead of keeping the house closed up and the air conditioner running all day, we could open some windows and let some fresh air in.

During my facebook browsing today, I came across this fabulous video that I simply had to share here. I love it so much. It warmed my heart.



I also loved these quotes...

On that note, it's 11pm and I am going to get some sleep.

Nite all.

Short and Sweet

I believe that a solid night of sleep is calling to me. It has been months since I chose bed at 9pm so I am outta here.

I thought that Margaret Pomeranz choices for movies might appeal to you.

Movie choices

Let me know what you think! Your reviews will mean more to me that Margaret's.

Nite all.

Movie Improvement

So, five strangers, Adoring Husband and myself, all watched 'Sisters' today at the cinema in The Bay. It's the final week for the viewing of the movie, so it only cost $9 - that was a bonus! It was funny - a big improvement on last week's movie, that's for sure.

Afterwards, we went for a drive along the esplanade to see the damage from last week's storm, but they've cleared the debris so well, that it's difficult to tell where the damage was, along the foreshore. The caravan park at Scarness is closed, has obvious damage and there is still work going on, but otherwise, you can barely tell there was a storm. The clean up job by council and SES crews has been pretty amazing.

We bought a blood pressure monitor today.

I am 55 years old and almost everybody I know has blood pressure problems, mostly high, and they have been prescribed medication for it. Adoring Husband had high blood pressure a couple of years ago and was given a period of time to lose weight and reduce his blood pressure, which he did, so fortunately, he didn't have to take medication.

So I figured that we are at the age where we need to monitor it, and since I don't consult doctors, I can do it myself at home. As of today, I am happy to announce that both of us have perfect blood pressure and perfect resting heart beats! Yay for us!

The video that I am sharing with you today is one that I found on my 'on this day' memory page in facebook. It was shared on my page by The Nikonian way back in 2013, a week after the tornado, when our power and our internet coverage was intermittent. I didn't even know it was there until today!

She shared it because she knew I would love it. She was right! It's brilliant. A belated thankyou to my friend :)



It's pouring with rain tonight and by the look of the BOM, it's not going to stop any time soon. A nice night to fall asleep to the sound of rain on the tin roof. So...

Nite all.

Morning Laughs

The highlight of today was most definitely morning tea with the girls. There are two highlights to mention.

The first highlight was the delicious paleo apple and walnut muffins that The Blonde Bombshell baked this morning and brought, still warm, for us all to savour with our tea and coffee.

I believe there were nine of us this morning and the biggest highlight of the day, was when we were joined by our old friend Tweedle Dee! She moved down south about seven months ago and we've missed her crazy sense of humour and her hilarious stories.

She cracked us all up and we cackled like hens for a good two hours. My cheeks ached from smiling and laughing so hard and it was well after 11am by the time I got home.

One of her stories described the lifetime search, for a hat to suit her. A lady in a hat shop even told her that there was a hat style for everyone, but after she had tried on all of the styles in the shop, even the hat lady told her there was nothing!

So I asked her to try on my hat and ... wahlaa! It looked great!

Tonight there were dinner arrangements made for a big group of us to meet at the pub and I promised Tweedle Dee that I would bring one of my hats for her (I have 4 of the same style hat).

The routine of my life is so ingrained that I was halfway through cooking dinner when I remembered that I should have been at the pub ten minutes ago!! By the time I finished dinner, it was too late for me to have a shower (and I desperately needed to wash and blow dry my hair) and get ready, so I messaged my apologies to the group.

Then I remembered the hat! So I asked Adoring Husband to drive me to the pub, where I rushed into the restaurant, looking like a grubby old housewife, and presented Tweedle Dee with her hat. There were welcoming cheers all round and photos were quickly taken and I disappeared from the pub as quickly as I had appeared!

I'm so pleased that I did that because I got to give her a goodbye hug and show her that I wasn't fobbing her off for dinner. I hope that one day I get to visit her at her new home on Bribie Island. She's just so happy and full of love and laughter.

We miss her a lot.

Adoring Husband and I have a movie date tomorrow morning. Our plan is to see 'Sisters' - however - 'The Choice' starts tomorrow and I do want to see that too. Perhaps we can save 'The Choice' for next week!

I should probably go get some sleep, since we have an early start tomorrow.

Nite all.

Fixing the Mental and Emotional

Tonight, after a conversation about my fear of not just storms, but the possibility of approaching storms and also other strange quirks in my personality, including my refusal to get counselling for the PTSD that resulted from the tornado in 2013, Vegan Chickie described me as ...

"A riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma"

Many many years ago Winston Churchill described Russia this way, though I doubt that he uttered those words with love, the way (I hope) that Vegan Chickie did!

It is true. There is healing required. I've worked so hard on my physical health, but have neglected my mental and emotional health. Counselling is an option that I 'may' consider in the future .. maybe.

Meanwhile, there are lots of other things that I can try, like meditation and mindfulness!!

My brother told me about a series on the ABC about training your brain to do all sorts of things. I believe there were two seasons of this show and I found them on youtube tonight. I haven't watched an episode yet, but I have watched a few of the short segments and this is one on mindfulness ...



I would like to find the time to watch a few more of these shows. I might discover some new ways to nurture my mental and emotional state.

Again, it's heading towards 1am and I need to sleep.

Nite all.

Impulsivity

I made the impulsive decision to head into The Bay with The Reality TV Queen today, to share her belated birthday lunch at the RSL. She received a meal voucher from them for her birthday and she had to use it before the expiry date, which was actually yesterday, but even though she went in there to use it yesterday, she'd accidentally left the voucher at home in another handbag!

After explaining her situation to the lady at reception, she was lucky enough to have her voucher extended so that she could use it today! That was nice of them.

While I was in town, I bought myself a set of sketch pencils in a case from the art and craft store. I also bought an A4 size sketch pad.

It's been quite some time since I practised my art and, like anything, it takes a lot of practise to be proficient. I'll see how my motivation levels go.

I actually wanted to buy some oil paints and brushes to get back into painting, but a 37ml tube of reasonable quality oil paint costs more than $25. I would need at least six colours to start and I'm not sure if I can stay motivated enough to justify paying that much for the supplies.

If I focus on the sketching and the spark comes alive inside of me, than I will certainly outlay the money for some new supplies.

My other purchase today, was of something that will surprise you I'm sure ... shoes! Just some fancy green and blue bejewelled thongs.

While in the shoe shop, we were advised of the storm warnings that were current and the flood warning for the Burrum River, and as it began to rain, we rushed to the car hoping to beat the storms home.

Before we even got to the outskirts of The Bay, the rain stopped and even though there was plenty of water on the sides of the road, the skies cleared and the sun was shining by the time we arrived in my driveway.

It's still terribly hot and uncomfortably humid. Storms are forecast for the rest of the week, but the weather should cool down by the weekend. We can only hope!

I shared this video on facebook this morning. I think it runs for about 18 minutes and is a viewing 'must'!



It's well after midnight, so I'm outta here!

Nite all.

Loving the Shoes!!

Adoring Husband had two call outs today, with the SES. One in town and the other in The Bay, so he was gone for most of the day.

I spent part of the day cooking a roast lamb and veg meal, which was originally for lunch, but ended up being for dinner.

I spent part of the day watching a movie.

I spent part of the day trying to think of an interesting 'water' photo to take. This month's flickr challenge is themed 'water'. I couldn't think of anything, so I went outside after the rain and tried for some droplets shining in the trees, but unfortunately, my camera seems to have lost it's ability to focus properly, so I will need to get it serviced and/or repaired.

I spent part of the day looking through all of the photos that I've taken in January, with the hope of finding one with water in it, that I could work on, and submit for the challenge.

I spent part of the day watching a storm on the BOM that firstly hit Emerald and brought with it two quick inches of rain and 85kph winds and which I then warned my sister about. It seems that the storm, once again fizzled before it got to Blackwater.

I spent part of the day watching the tennis final between Djokovic and Murray. I'm glad that Djokovic won!

I spent part of the day browsing shoes ...

Gorgeous aren't they!?

I spent part of the day wishing that I could sit on my couch eating junk food, like chips and chocolate and ice cream and lollies. That doesn't happen very often! I didn't eat any of those things and I know that I'm feeling better for it tonight! Mentally AND physically!

So you see that my day was again, not very productive. It's too hot, humid, wet and/or stormy to get productive.

I can't believe that it's now after 11pm! I thought it was much earlier than that!

Nite all.

Again?

Another day of storms .. but not here.

Bubbles has been without power for a few hours after three severe storms in less than 24 hours down in Sydney.

Vegan Chickie had to have sandbags delivered by the SES when the first severe storm brought so much heavy rain in such a short time, that her back yard flooded and the water was lapping at her back door. Her house was struck by lightning, a light globe exploded and her new modem was fried in the incident.

My sister, in Blackwater, had a massive storm approach from the west, which then split in two and skirted the town. This has happened two afternoons in a row now. The first afternoon, the storm split in two, skirted the town and then rejoined after it passed!

There is a storm passing over us as I type this, but it is not bad one. There is some severe looking weather moving towards us from the north at the moment, and it looks like Gladstone is getting hit.

With all the storms about, the weather is not cooling down at all. The rain just makes it steamier and more humid than ever. There are mushrooms growing in our back yard.

Adoring Husband has been on standby all day and was expecting to be called into The Bay to help with the clean up after the damaging storm there.

One man died and two people were struck by lightning in The Bay last night.

I triked down to the river late this morning. I didn't plan on going there, but as I got closer to the turn for the shops, I noticed something in the sky. It was a beautiful BIG white bellied sea eagle soaring low on the strong winds barely at tree height and right on the river bank.

Unfortunately, I have not been carrying my camera with me every day, as I once did, so I couldn't capture it's beauty. Instead I rode to the river path to sit and watch it in all it's glory. Sometimes, I would follow it along the river until it stopped to float in the sky again, when I would stop to observe for a while.

It was amazing and beautiful and perfect and I'm kind of happy that I didn't have my camera because it meant that I could really be in the moment.

After a visit to the butcher and supermarket, I came home to do very little. I cooked lunch and dinner, but otherwise a lazy day, which I enjoyed very much.

I'm watching the women's Australian Open tennis final right now and the German girl Kerber is currently beating Serena Williams, which is a big surprise .. however the game isn't over yet and Williams has a habit of coming back from behind!

It may be an early night for me tonight.

Nite all.

Stormy Weather

After 24 hours of warnings, the storms finally hit tonight.

They hit hard and they hit fast and they're still hitting four hours later.

There has been a fatality in Hervey Bay at the caravan park in Scarness. I understand that a man died after suffering head injuries when a tree branch fell on him.

A building on Main Street lost it's roof which led to damage inside the building.

There are power lines down on Denmans Camp Road outside the Girl Guide Hut and thousands of homes have lost power in Hervey Bay.

We had 4 hours of thunder and lightning and wind and rain and now it has suddenly gone very very quiet, but I don't think it's over for the night. There is more weather coming from the north.

Thankfully, there have been no call outs in our town for emergency services.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just our area that suffered. Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney and Brisbane all got ravaged by storms this afternoon and evening.

30,000 homes lost power in Sydney.

I've seen photos of the Esplanade at Scarness and there are trees down and the road is covered with debris.

I think it's safe for me to go to bed now.

Nite all.

Gross Grandpa

Do NOT waste your time going to see 'Dirty Grandpa' - unless you want to enjoy the glorious view of a very naked Zac Efron (which is indeed glorious).

Robert De Niro is my favourite actor, so this movie was VERY disappointing for me.

The profanities were mostly unnecessary, and very vulgar and offensive. There were graphic sex scenes and drug use and so much tasteless dialogue, ugly characters and all political correctness was tossed out of the window.

There were a few laughs, but not enough to make up for the homophobia, racism, sexism and crass jokes about cancer and pedophilia that make you squirm in your seat with discomfort.

Adoring Husband almost walked out before the halfway mark and I believe that if the two main characters were different actors, I probably would have walked out too.

There are no excuses and sadly, I have lost a bit of respect for both Zac and Robert after suffering through this poor excuse for a movie.

Afterwards, some retail therapy went a small way towards improving my day! We drove to Tinkerbells on the Esplanade at Scarness and I bought some oracle cards and a new crystal to hang from my frangipani tree.

I bought a top on sale at Just Jeans and I ordered a book by Christiane Northrup from the ABC shop across the road. "Goddesses Never Age" and you can watch a short video of her daughter interviewing her about the book here. I love her ideas and the way she thinks.

After a very busy and social week, I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow at home catching up on some housework and a photography job that I should have done 2 months ago, but lost the man's email address - I ran into him today and he questioned me about my failure to fulfil his request. Best get onto that tomorrow!

Sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Lady's Lunch

Another successful lady's luncheon today. We did miss quite a few ladies (Lady Lynn, Mardi, Beauty, Long Legged Blond and a couple of others) who were absent, but still managed to gather 18 of us together at the marina.

There was lots of laughter and sometimes the restaurant sounded like a henhouse, there was so much cackling going on!

One serious complaint about the food (no .. NOT Reality TV Queen .. hers was the usual 'minor' complaint), so the majority of us were more than happy with the meals, and our server was warm and friendly, which added to the day.

Most of us walked to the Boat Club afterwards.  I'd had a nice win on the pokies before lunch, so when I paid for my lunch, I secretly paid for everyone's drinks. Karma was kind and I won the drink money back after lunch!

It was nice to catch up with everyone.

I arrived home to the sound of loud talking and laughter coming from one of our neighbours' houses, so I placed my little ladder against the fence, climbed up high enough to see over the top and yelled at them to be quiet!

There was a short silence, until they realised it was me and they all yelled back, inviting me over to share the fun. So I poured myself a wine and got Adoring Husband to drop me off on his way to buy coffee.

It was another neighbour's birthday and Long Legged Blond had baked up a storm and invited the immediate neighbours over for afternoon tea. It was an impressive spread!

After about an hour, we all dispersed and headed back to our respective homes.

It's been a very pleasant day of socialising, as was yesterday, and tomorrow, Adoring Husband and I plan on spending the day together. We are going to see the movie 'Dirty Grandpa' with Robert De Niro and Zac Efron.

So it's good night from me!

Nite all.  

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Oi Oi Oi

Happy Australia Day!

So, I found this little video on gut flora very interesting. It only goes for about 9 minutes and worth watching.



It's something that the Paleo way of eating focuses quite strongly on. Bone broths, fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, kimchi and some relishes and pickles, kombucha tea, coconut yoghurt and coconut kefir, as well as good quality probiotics.

All of that, combined with organic fruit and vegetables and grass fed proteins go a long way to healing your gut and keeping it's health strong, which in turn, means that your body's immune system is strong enough to fight diseases and illness.

It also builds a strong, energetic body that can maintain good muscle tone and strength and can repair itself rapidly after prolonged physical activity such as marathons, 2 hour football matches, 4 hour tennis matches etc. A good example of how effective this way of eating is, can be seen in this list of elite athletes who follow the paleo lifestyle:

• Novak Djokovic - world number one tennis player for 4 out of the last 5 years. He finally broke through to number one, the year that he changed to Paleo.
• Gary Ablett Jr - AFL player. Two Brownlow medals and two Premierships.
• Melbourne AFL football team.
• Wests Tigers and Roosters NRL football teams.
• James LeBron and Kobe Bryant - champion professional basketballers in the NBA. 
• Kelly Slater - 2011 World Championship surfer.
• Eva Twardokens - Olympic Skier.
• Phil Mickelson - golfer with too many achievements to list here.
• Frank Mir - two time heavyweight boxing champion.

It shows that it's a sustainable and healthy way of eating for all walks of life.

As you read my post, we are remembering this day three years ago when our town was damaged by a tornado that whipped a path of destruction from one end to the other. You can read my post from 30th January 2013, which was the first date after the event that I had internet access long enough to post, HERE.

I spent THIS Australia Day at the Boat Club with Reality TV Queen and Suzy's Mum, whose name was drawn out to compete in a 'damper' making competition, which she did not win. There were crab races for which the winner won a carton of beer AND their mud crab (which was cooked for them after the race). There was also live music that had everybody (except me) up dancing on the dance floor.

We had lunch before all of that fun started and it was a good day.

The lady's luncheon is tomorrow, so I need to sleep now.

Nite all.

What Day is it?

Sometimes the days run into each other and I have no idea what day it actually is. For example, yesterday (which was Sunday), I was sure it was Saturday. I even missed watching the Lleyton Hewitt doubles match because of it!

I also missed a friend's birthday. Ugh!

So I visited her this afternoon, enjoyed a beverage with her and The Speckled Hen and gave her the gift that I so carefully chose a month ago so that she might feel loved on her special day... instead, she felt loved 24 hours later!

It's been hot and steamy all day. Even the Seat of Knowledge was not pleasant this morning. We can usually rely on a nice sea breeze down there, but at 8am today, it was just as steamy down there as everywhere else.

Storms built up during the afternoon and there was thunder rolling in the sky, but unfortunately nothing eventuated and it is still hot and steamy at 11.30pm. There are scattered storms showing on the BOM, but they are all moving around us and obviously NOT cooling things down.

The edge of a storm skimmed Blackwater and blew down a tree in my sister's front yard. The picture on the BOM showed the storm with a big black centre. Those kinds of storms never end well! Thank goodness it skimmed the town and it wasn't a direct hit.

Sadly, all of the Aussies are out of the Australian Open Tennis Championships, so my interest has slightly waned.

It's way past midnight and before I sign off, I have one photo from our road trip to share. This was taken with my phone and is a little spot outside of Woodenbong.

Nite all.

A Better Day

I've had a much better day today.

I spent the first half of it in bed! I had a take-away coffee, bought yesterday, in the fridge, so I heated it up and climbed back into bed with my 'Create Your Shining Year in Life' workbook, my reading glasses, a couple of pens and started at the beginning (almost always the best place to start).

I got to page 112 of 160,  when Adoring Husband walked into the bedroom and congratulated me for reaching one minute past midday still in bed! That was a shock!

The workbook has a lot of activities and a lot of lists for me to formulate, including '100 Things to do in 2016'. It also asks what I want to stop doing to my body, what I want to continue doing to my body and what new things I want to do. It asks me to talk about all of my relationships.

It asks me about financial goals, travel plans, releasing negative rituals and building new positive ones. What I should celebrate about myself, self care and pampering, setting goals and steps I can take to reach them.

It includes affirmations and dream boards and retreat planning and provides lists of books to read for whichever area of my life that I want to improve or change.

I have a wall chart which is a daily planner, so that I can create a schedule, plan my days, manage my time and get organised ... all of which I don't currently do, but want to ... not in a strict sense, but to help me get stuff done. I'm hoping it will knock that evil 'procrastination' on the head and help me NIKE (just do it).

Here's a question for you. You will either already know the answer, or you will WANT to know the answer!! I believe that most of you, who read my blog are one of these...

A LIBROCUBICULARIST (Lady Lynn, you are probably being one right now!)

You will find the definition at the end of this post.

Does anybody else in town have a problem with ants at the moment? We have ants everywhere! In the kitchen, in the bathrooms, in our bedroom and they don't seem to be heading anywhere in particular. They are not eating any food in the pantry, just creating long lines as they march across walls and bench tops and through drawers. They've been doing it for a couple of months now.

I sprayed peppermint water in their path and they didn't like that, but they only disappeared for a couple of days and then they returned.

I found this recipe which I'm going to try tomorrow ...

One empty water bottle, cut down to about 5cm tall
5 T Baking soda
5 T Powdered sugar (I assume that means icing sugar)
3 T Water

Mix it all together and place some in the bottom of the water bottles. Position them near the ant trails and the sugar will attract them. The mixture will eliminate them.

I'll let you know how successful it is.

I experienced some symptoms of PTSD when a very nasty storm skimmed past us this afternoon. We only took the edge of it, but for a brief time there was heavy rain, strong winds and LOTS of loud rolling thunder. It certainly raised my heart rate and I was shallow breathing when the power failed and the anxiety kicked in - although the look on Adoring Husband's face was equally anxious!

Thank goodness we didn't cop the full force of it. I was planning the dive into the wardrobe with all of my electronic devices!

Well, the tennis has now finished for the evening and again, it is rapidly approaching midnight. Time for bed.

Nite all.

 PS LUBROCUBICULARIST - A person who reads in bed!

Flat and Sad

I have been feeling a bit flat and sad today, and I don't know why.

I slept poorly last night and had a couple of dreams about floods. I looked up 'dreaming about floods' and found this ... "If the flood was gentle and the water clear, you will soon see an end to all the worries that have been plaguing you about a certain matter."

So I guess that's a good thing. If the flood waters had washed me away or was torrential and muddy, my dream would have meant something completely different.

Poor Adoring Husband doesn't know what to do with himself with the tennis on all day. He usually has full control of the TV remote, but twice a year, during the Australian Open and Wimbledon, (and sometimes the US Open) I am the boss of the TV! The US and French Open don't thrill me as much, unless there is an Aussie doing incredibly well.

Tonight, he headed to bed before 8pm and now I am sitting on the couch, with the dogs on the 'storm chair', because we had some threatening weather earlier, waiting for the match with two Aussies.

Bernard Tomic plays John Millman. I think the winner of this match has to play Andy Murray in the next round and I don't hold out much hope of an Aussie win there. Andy Murray has been playing too well lately.

I hope John Millman wins tonight.

Thought I might add a little reading matter about our health. I've always thought that I needed a lithe and supple body to be able to practise yoga, but yoga moves can be modified and adapted to suit everyone's capabilities. I found this interesting Yoga shown to boost brain power in older adults. I know that my brain power could use some boosting!

I found these videos on youtube. Nice gentle yoga for beginners and seniors (60+). I've watched both of them, but haven't tried them yet myself. They look pretty basic and not at all painful.

Third Age Yoga for Seniors - episode 1 of 2

Third Age Yoga for Seniors - episode 2 of 2

I always like how I feel after 20 minutes of yoga, but I've never been able to get into a regular habit with it. I might try and make that one of my goals this year. I'll add it to my 'life workbook' and my 'shining year calendar'.

Anyway, here I am still writing and the tennis match I've been waiting for, is half over! John Millman needs my support!

Nite all.

Ending The Week

I had a lovely morning catching up with The Motivator.

I had a lovely evening catching up with the Bowls Club poker machines and my wonderful friends at the Bowls Club.

I am enjoying the end of the day watching Nick Kyrgios play in the Australian Open. He lost the first two sets but is playing like a champion now, having won the third set and I feel like he is in control in the fourth set.

I am also feeling very weary and I don't think I can stay awake for the end of the match.

Daria Gavrilova, aka Dasher, won her match in three sets .. very happy with that outcome.

I can't stop yawning, so I'm off to bed to get a good night of sleep (it's 10pm).

Sorry, I have nothing to share to make this post more interesting. I may have pictures of pictures that Chicklet has been working on, tomorrow evening. Maybe.

Nite all.

Just a Bit

So I did 'just a bit' of housework today.

I cleaned out the fridge. I cleaned one toilet. I did three loads of washing. I cooked one meal.

I stopped when the tennis started on TV. Tennis will always win over housework. Come to think of it, just about everything will win over housework.

Vegan Chickie and Chicklet phoned me today and it was nice to catch up with their news. It seems that Chicklet's new favourite person is Aunty BGWLBH. Sideways swinging and funny words have become the foundation for a beautiful friendship! I think that's lovely :)

We farewelled Lleyton Hewitt from the tennis circuit tonight when he was soundly beaten in his second round match against David Ferrer. I will miss Lleyton. He was one of my favourites.

Another Aussie, John Millman, who has been playing professionally for ten years, but has been a very quiet achiever, won his match and for the first time is into the third round of a Grand Slam. He will probably have to play Bernard Tomic in the next round. Tomic has won his first two sets and is looking good to win his match.

BGWLBH arrived home safensound yesterday, only to find the house ransacked. She had been robbed. They even took her pillows and doona!

If that wasn't bad enough, today she had to say goodbye to her best friend, Indi, the dog. She was 16 years old, a beautiful gentle and loving companion to BGWLBH and she will be greatly missed.

So please focus for a moment on sending strength and positive energy down south in the direction of BGWLBH to help her get through this very challenging period of her life. The universe sure sends us some mean curve balls sometimes, but this past six months of hell seems just a bit excessive!

One day at a time.

I think I might be up for an early one tonight. It's almost 10pm and I'm feeling weary after last night's bed time of 1am.

Nite all.

Find a Rhythm

My life needs rhythm.

I need a plan and a routine and I need to NIKE (just do it)!!

I'm talking about housework of course. One thing in my life with which I have always struggled, so if anybody out there has any hot tips for making housework easier, faster, enjoyable or less of a chore, please feel free to share!! The only idea that I can come up with is hiring a cleaner!

I was running late for morning tea with the ladies today because I received a call from Mrs Bucket, a phone call that was very 'newsy' and took some time .. however most phone calls with Mrs Bucket take a bit of time :) It was good to hear from her, even though she had some upsetting family news.

When I eventually got there, I really enjoyed morning tea with the girls. Five of us were in attendance and we did miss Lady Lynn and Mardi and Reality TV Queen and Maid Marian who texted me to ask if coffee was on, but she strangely didn't turn up.

It was almost 10.30am by the time we said our farewells and headed home. (this is why my housework never gets done!)

Adoring husband had SES duties all morning, but came home for an early lunch and I had the afternoon to myself, during which I did NO housework, but instead, watched a movie called 'Elsa and Fred' with Shirley Maclaine and Christopher Plummer in it. I enjoyed it very much, because I like both of those actors.

Then I watched some tennis before doing a lamb roast for dinner. I cooked some 'parson's noses' in the oven first and used the fat left over from that, to cook the potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. The meat was a plain butterflied lamb leg which I browned in the skillet and then baked at high heat for fifteen minutes. I made a gravy with the lamb fat which was left in the skillet, some tapioca flour and some home made chicken broth and served it all with steamed fresh green beans.

It was delicious and AH said the pumpkin was the best he'd ever tasted. It was beautifully caramelised in the chicken fat.

I'm now NOT doing more housework while I watch more tennis. The Aussies are all doing well (except Sam Stosur, who never seems to do well at the Aussie Open) so far, which makes it a bit more interesting.

Found this on Magnesium today, which I found interesting, particularly because BGWLBH and I had discussions about it while she was here.

I have a couple more pics from our time on the Sunny Coast ...

  and these for a giggle ...

And it's good night from me.

Nite all.

Back to Normal

Tears all round as BGWLBH left this morning. I was very surprised to see her car still parked in the driveway when I woke this morning, so I actually got to see her drive away and I wasn't expecting that. It's much easier without 'goodbyes'.

We've had contact during the day and she is travelling well.

So the first half of my day was very quiet with both Adoring Husband and BGWLBH out of the house.

I took the opportunity to take a breath, and I watched one of my new dvds, "Last Cab to Darwin". It was not as sad as I expected, although it was quite dark in places, but funny with typical Aussie humour in other parts. I thought all the characters were well played except for Jackie Weaver. I usually like her, but I didn't like her in this role.

Just as I pressed 'play' on the second dvd, AH phoned to say that he was on his way home, so I paused the movie, made his lunch (duck breast with salad) and we sat down together to watch "Aloha".

It stars Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Emma Stone and Bill Murray. The first half of the movie was a bit confusing trying to figure out what was going on, but it eventually all came together and I enjoyed the movie a lot, with a few tears at the end.

AH is at a meeting tonight, so I get to watch the tennis in peace. At the moment Bernard Tomic is playing Denis Istomin from Uzbek. He is leading 2 sets to 1.  I'm looking forward to Lleyton Hewitt's match tonight against another Aussie, James Duckworth. I hope he does well in his final Australian Open appearance.

I have another photo to share from our holiday. I call it "HIGHER! HIGHER!" which, much to BGWLBH's dismay, is pretty much was Chicklet was yelling for the entire time that she was on the swing.

Time for me to settle into the tennis.

Nite all.

Final Holiday Day

Today was BGWLBH's last day here.

As you read this blog post, she is probably already on her way home.

So we spent the day together at the Boat Club in The Bay. It was a good day. The coffee was good, the poker machines were reasonably friendly .. and by that I mean that we spent four hours there for free and the atmosphere was happy (because most tourists have left town now).

It was a nice way to spend the last day of our holiday.

I have two photos to share from our road trip.

The first is of my Grandfather's name (Francis John Fordham) on the war memorial in Esk. It was revealed to me only last year, that his name was there. Apparently, in his teenage years, he worked on a farm in Esk and joined the Navy at the beginning of WWI. He survived the war and Esk claimed him as their own.

The second is of the river at Wiangaree. Very picturesque.

Well, it's midnight. I'm off to bed. Hopefully I will be awake when BGWLBH leaves tomorrow .. although we both hate goodbyes and I wouldn't be surprised if she left without saying goodbye. It's easier that way. Less painful for both of us. She will sneak out in the early hours.

Nite all.

Sunday Movies

Watched the new Star Wars movie with Adoring Husband. He loved it!

We decided to watch a second movie, but it meant that we had almost four hours to kill. We filled some time by visiting Stocklands and I got my reading glasses repaired. Adoring Husband had lunch while BGWLBH went book shopping and I got some groceries for dinner.

It was such a beautiful day, we drove along the Esplanade to check out the water and then decided to take our first look inside the Beach House Hotel since it was rebuilt and opened 18 months ago.

It's impressive! There was live music and a nice size crowd inside. We played the pokies for about 30 minutes before heading back to the cinemas.

We watched The Fifth Wave because AH said he was keen to see it, and the previews looked ok.

Absolute rubbish. I generously give it a 2/10. Acting was atrocious. Storyline was pathetic. It had absolutely nothing going for it and I recommend that you avoid it and don't waste 112 minutes of your life .. you'll never get that time back!

So we didn't get home til about 7pm, which meant a late dinner.

I made my version of Nachos. Sweet potato chips, avocado mash, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, rocket, chopped spring onions, grated carrot, goat's cheese, pork and chicken meatballs (which were already prepared and I'd taken them out of the freezer before we went out) with a sweet spicy sauce (coconut aminos, chilli powder, balsamic vinegar and tomato paste) poured over the top.

It was delicious.

Another round of trivia that BGWLBH won.

And now, once again, it is rapidly approaching 1am.

I need to sleep!!

The days have been full!!

Nite all.

Oopsy!

Today was intended to be movie day.

All three of us climbed into the car at 8.30am and headed into The Bay for our movie date. Halfway there, I realised that I'd left my glasses at home. Ugh!

Too blind to watch a movie without them, so we had to change our plans .. either go home to get the glasses, or postpone the viewing until the next day .. the second option was the best one.

So BGWLBH and I got our nails done .. a full set of gel nails.

We followed up with a bit of retail therapy.

Across town to savour the best coffee in town and also to visit Nana's Pantry and the Go Natural store.

A stop at JB HiFi so that Adoring Husband could spend his christmas voucher and of course some more retail therapy for we girls.

We arrived home at about 2pm and cooked up a quick beef stroganoff for a late lunch. While AH cleaned the kitchen, BGWLBH and I wandered down to the beach, me on the trike and BGWLBH walking.

I parked the trike and we kicked off our shoes to walk barefoot over the sand and wade ankle deep in the water at low tide. Even though it was overcast, the weather was quite mild and comfortable. We got caught in a couple of small showers, but nothing too dramatic.

On the way home, we grabbed a couple of coffees 'to go'.

We relaxed for about an hour before I made a fresh salad for BGWLBH and gave AH some leftovers from lunch and we followed that with a marathon trivia game.

After about 4 hours, we declared it a tie.

BGWLBH and I had all our pieces of pie and spent over an hour attempting to land in the middle and answer our final question to win the game, but try as we might, we couldn't get that last question right!!

We conceded well after 11pm. AH still had two pieces of pie to get and wouldn't let us declare a two way tie .. it had to be a three way tie! Cheeky! We were too tired to argue, so agreed that he could claim a win with us.

By the time we got ourselves organised and tidied up the dining room table, finished cleaning up the kitchen, filled all our water bottles, took the dogs out for their pre-bedtime pee, filled the slow cooker with chicken broth ingredients and turned it on and then sat down to write this blog, it was well after midnight!!

It's now rapidly approaching 1am and we have to be up reasonably early to see the boys at the Seat of Knowledge in the morning, so I'd best get some sleep.

I began to edit some photos to post tonight, but realised that it's just too late!

Sorry about that.

Nite all.

We Made it!

We enjoyed a pleasant breakfast in Noosaville with Chicklet and Vegan Chickie before we began the drive home, but then, impulsively, we took a short detour by turning left, instead of right,  making our way to Sunshine Plaza for a spot of shopping.

We didn't spend much money, but we spent a lot of time .. maybe 3 hours wandering around the plaza looking for something 'different', but we decided that Sunshine Plaza is like Miranda Fair or Westfield Geelong or Westfield North Lakes. Same shops, same clothes, same shoes, same bags etc etc etc.

Finally, just in time to cook dinner, we arrived home. It was a long day and we had stopped at Sexie Coffee at 5pm for a coffee, which was a mighty mistake for me because I was still awake at 2.45am unable to relax and sleep.

I did manage to wake up at 7.00am and got to pedal down to spend a brief amount of time with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and then buy some groceries and coffees to bring home.

I had to spend the entire morning editing the remaining town Christmas party photos to send through ready for the January town newsletter.

Next on the agenda was to cook a late roast chicken and veg lunch, which was quite yummy.

I went to the Bowls Club alone tonight, so it was a matter of scratching leftovers and nibbles together for dinner.

I had a chance to briefly look at our holiday photos this afternoon, but no chance to edit them .. I hope that I get to post some next week for your viewing pleasure.

Right now, after only 4 hours sleep last night, I am feeling decidedly tired and need desperately to sleep.

We are taking Adoring Husband into town (or he is taking us) to watch the new Star Wars movie tomorrow. BGWLBH and I also want to have our nails done, so it will be an early start.

For now ...

Nite all.

Hot and Sunny

We had fairly big plans for today, but the hot weather and an exhausted Chicklet reduced the plans somewhat.

Breakfast at a little cafe on the marina, overlooking the water was a nice start to the morning. Beautifully cooked bacon and eggs and delicious coffee with excellent service from the very friendly and efficient staff.

We walked up to the Tewantin shopping area and utilised the new, albeit disappointing, children's park. It has no cover for shade, all of the equipment for playing was too hot to use, there is no fence around it, which seems unsafe considering there is a road on one side and open water on the other.

The main problem being that the main slide is such a big construction that you can't see what your child is doing from one side to the other. As a parent, it's impossible to see where your child is at all times unless you follow closely behind and use the equipment with the child.

We left there and bought some new stickers for activity play and a mini cold bag to keep my coconut yoghurt cold.

Our plan was to go on a ferry ride on the river, but the weather was getting hotter and the walking had sapped the energy from some of us, so we convinced Chicklet that a better idea was to go home to the air conditioning and have fun with the stickers instead.

So we grabbed a couple of take away coffees and headed home.

There was sticker play, then some outside play with the new wind up bird toy, then some quiet time with Mama, then some Minion game play on the bed, then some play with Dadu when he came home for a break, then BGWLBH and I took Chicklet to the park across the road.

Another 'dud' park .. surely built for teenagers, because there was no way for a (not even) 5 yr old to climb onto the equipment and the only way for Chicklet to get to the top of the slide, was to walk up the slide itself (while we held her hands) and turn around to slide back down.

Not even we adults were able to get to the top of the equipment. The rope ladders had such big gaps between each rung that you needed to be a circus acrobat to reach them and there was no solid ladder or means to reach the top level. It was a very strange design.

Anyway, we had a bit of fun with Chicklet there and then returned home for a bath. Waited patiently for our take away Thai dinner to be delivered and then Chicklet headed off to bed early.

We had fun for a couple of hours playing trivia from various web sites and I actually beat BGWLBH for the first time in about 20 years!! Yay for me!!

Tomorrow, we are heading home. It's been fun catching up with the Chicklet family and Chicklet loves BGWLBH, so the visit has been a huge success.

Adoring Husband has been very patient and is looking forward to seeing us tomorrow.

It'll be fun going through all the photos from our trip and I should be able to post some of them in a few days.

Time for sleep now.

Nite all.

Terrific Toowoomba

We loved our room so much, we decided to stay a second night.

We do like Toowoomba. Great shopping. Great food. Great golf club. Great people.

We shopped til we dropped today, spent some time relaxing in our room, played the pokies at the club before enjoying a delicious Thai Chicken and Veg meal in the bistro. The courtesy bus wasn't running, so BGWLBH left earlier than me and walked back to the motel. I got a lift with the security guy on an electric golf buggy through the golf course in the dark .. saw a tawny frogmouth in the headlights too!

Tomorow, we head towards the Sunny Coast to spend a couple of nights with the Chicklet family!

We were saddened to hear the news of David Bowie's passing today ...

RIP David Bowie.

Nite all.

Bloody Ballina

Ridiculous prices for average rooms in bloody Ballina.

We've decided that we don't like Ballina and probably won't include it on our road trip lists in the future.

The only special thing about our accommodation, was the lovely Border Collie, Zac, that greeted me when I arrived ...

We decided to drive to Lismore for breakfast this morning and found a little gallery cafe in town that made delicious food and great coffee.

From there we found some more back roads, stopped in Wiangaree (between Kyogle and Woodenbong) just to take some pics of the river there .. they are on my camera, so you will have to wait for those.

What we noticed most about the properties all along the roads there, was that the lawns and gardens, especially on the acreage properties, were meticulously kept! Very impressive. It was all so lush and green and beautiful too.

We stopped at a little spot that we'd photographed on one of our previous road trips, where there was a running stream and lots of dragonflies. There was a man there this time and he recommended a place called Tooloom Falls and told us that between the falls and the water treatment plant, there were a LOT of platypus (platypi is the incorrect term), but we would need a canoe or kayak to get to them.

We were very excited about the prospect and decided to go in search of the falls and the platypus!

Surprisingly, we found it without too much difficulty and it's a beautiful spot, great for campers, if you like to do it rough. Very picturesque and a lovely swimming hole with good flowing falls. Alas, there were too many people there for platypus to show their faces, so we missed out the wildlife.

The road from there was very tricky. Very windy. Very narrow. Very beautiful. Very lush. Thick rainforest for a good section of it and I could hear so many birds as we drove along!! BGWLBH is a great driver and I felt completely safe - although it seemed the big 4WD vehicles didn't like to move over and we were close to the edge getting out of their way. Luckily, there were only a few to worry about.

It was a lovely drive and we ended up in Toowoomba.

We ate at the golf club, which is pretty special. Nice food. Music. We watched some couples dancing to the slow music for a while and checked out the view of the golf course from the massive glass windows at the rear of the building.

We checked in to a lovely motel and have a beautiful room with very comfortable beds and since it's heading towards 1am, I am going to sleep now!

Having a great time ... wish you were here!

Nite all.