Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Garden Lunch

I cooked brekky and played with Harley before making myself presentable for lunch with Best Cousin in the World.

BGWLBH came with me and we sat with coffee for half an hour before she left for The Bay. I sat for twenty minutes by myself before BCITW arrived with her friend Big M.

After all that she has been through in the last six months, it was an emotional greeting because we hadn’t seen each other since she was first diagnosed in February.

There was lots to catch up on. Lots of laughing. Lots of venting. Lots of swearing. Lots of questioning. Lots of eye rolling. Lots of moaning and groaning. More laughter than anything else because we have to find the humour in even the worst of situations.

We had three good hours together.

The food was delicious and the service was friendly and warm. The location was outdoors and fresh. The company was perfect.

I phoned Adoring Husband and within 20 minutes, he was pulling into the carpark.

Warm hugs goodbye.

AH and I drove across the main road to pick up our FROG box.

We beat BGWLBH home by 5 minutes.

Harley was left alone for the first time. We were gone for about 45 minutes and there was no barking, howling, digging or destruction. This is a positive sign!

When we arrived home, he wagged his tail so strongly, he knocked two large jars off a low shelf and they shattered all over the kitchen and family room floor. 

We swept, vacuumed and mopped the entire area and STILL found a piece of broken glass a couple of hours later!

The smash scared the hell out of Harley!

I made zucchini slice, lamb rissoles and garden salad for dinner.

It’s now 11pm and I’m feeling very weary. It has been a fabulous, but emotionally draining day.







Nite all.

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Average Day

A day like any other day.

There is a chicken bone broth in the slow cooker currently moving into its 13th hour of gentle simmering.

I spent 90 minutes on the phone with Bubbles wishing her a belated happy birthday.

It was Taco Tuesday - nice and easy.

Harley has been strangely affectionate/clingy/loving today.

Adoring Husband drove into The Bay for a Drs appointment.

It’s already after 11pm and tomorrow I’m spending time with Best Cousin in the World over lunch so I should get some sleep.






Nite all.

Monday, July 24, 2023

Out for the Outage

The planned power outage started 20 minutes later than advised and finished 20 minutes later than advised.

BGWLBH and I left town ten minutes after is started and arrived home ten minutes after it ended.

We did the usual haunts but started at Super Cheap Auto where we purchased new windscreen wipers and had them installed by the gentleman from the shop. It seems that they have good sales for windscreen wipers on rainy days! We had to wait for two others before us!

It felt like the temperature dropped about 5°C while we were in the shop and the wind whipped up which provided a wind chill factor that had me wishing I’d worn warmer clothes. Luckily I wore boots - as long as my feet are warm, I can handle the cold.

It was cold, wet and windy all day.

We arrived home in time to unpack our shopping, make a cup of tea, sit down for half an hour and then prepare dinner - spaghetti bolognese with side salad.

We watched the John Farnham movie ‘Finding the Voice’ tonight. Very moving. I love John Farnham. Always have (since I was 12yrs old and saw him in concert) and always will.

It’s Bubbles’ birthday today. I didn’t get to chat with her but hopefully I will tomorrow. She hasn’t responded to my “when can I call you?” messages so hopefully that means she’s having a good time, and hopefully she received her birthday presents in the mail today!

It’s also The Motivator’s birthday! I left a singing birthday voicemail for her when she didn’t answer her phone.

Now it’s time for me to sleep.





Nite all.


Sunday, July 23, 2023

Funny Insults

These insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to  4-letter words. Insults then, had some class! 

1.  "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play.  Bring a  friend … if you have one."

     - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill.  

 "Cannot possibly attend first night, I will attend the second...If  there is one."  -  Winston Churchill, in response.   

2.   A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."

     "That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress." 

3. "He had delusions of adequacy."  -  Walter Kerr 

4. "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."  -  Clarence Darrow

5. "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."

     -  William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway). 

6. "Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."  -  Moses Hadas

7. "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."  -  Mark Twain

8. "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.." -  Oscar Wilde 

9. "I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here."  -  Stephen Bishop

10. "He is a self-made man and worships his creator."  -  John Bright

11. "I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."  -  Irvin S. Cobb 

12. "He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others."  -  Samuel Johnson 

13.  "He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."  -  Paul  Keating

14.  "In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."  -  Charles, Count Talleyrand

15.  "He loves nature in spite of what it did to him."  -  Forrest Tucker 

16.  "Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"  -  Mark Twain 

17. "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."  -  Mae West

18.  "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."  -  Oscar Wilde

19. "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination."  -  Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

20.  "He has Van Gogh's ear for music."  -  Billy Wilder

21. "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening.  But this wasn't  it."  -  Groucho  Marx.

22."He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."  -  Winston Churchill

Some of those are fabulous and some, not so much 😋

I threw the ball for Harley 248 times this morning.

I calculated that he ran 5 kms.

He did a full run around the pool 108 times - it’s approximately 25 metres each run = 2.7 kms

He did 140 runs across or along the pool - it’s approximately 16 metres return either way = 2.24 kms

AND he swam 15 full laps of the pool = 120 metres.

He still wasn’t worn out because BGWLBH kicked his ball around the yard with him a couple of dozen times later in the morning.

This afternoon I spent another 20 minutes throwing his soccer ball around the yard.

He certainly gets plenty of exercise!

I received a call from Rebel Mardi this afternoon and we chatted for about 45 minutes. I miss her. It was lovely to catch up with all her news and to hear her friendly voice. I wish we lived closer for hugs and coffee.

Nothing else of interest. Footy. Cooking. 

Tomorrow will include a six hour power outage so BGWLBH and I will be heading into The Bay to avoid the discomfort while Adoring Husband stays home with Harley.

It’s now 11pm so sleep time for me.







Nite all.

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Feeling Peaceful

Friday was uneventful.

Harley play, a bit of art play, cooking breakfast and dinner, watching football.

Here is the pic of my seahorses as mentioned in Thursdays blog post. It has caused me a bit of grief but I’m getting there.

Today was meditation day at Dallarnil.

Heart of Gold picked me up early and we chatted nonstop all the way there.

We had 90 minutes of meditation and discussions about ‘not quitting’ and ‘giving up stuff’ followed by 90 minutes of tea and cookies and D & M discussions about life in general.

Another 80 minutes drive home with us chattering away still!

I arrived home just before 2pm so I spent 30 minutes playing with Harley outside and Adoring Husband made a cup of tea for me to take into the lounge room ready for the football.

It was a relaxing afternoon of footy and I made baked Dijon chicken thigh fillets for dinner with sweet potato chips, beans and broccoli.

Is almost 11.30pm so I think I’m ready to sleep.








Nite all.

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Not Much

After cooking breakfast, playing with Harley and bringing my clothes in from the line, I spent a couple of hours in the art room working on my seahorses. I forgot to take a pic so I’ll do it tomorrow and post it here.

I cooked chicken Maryland in a creamy wine bacon garlic and thyme sauce for dinner.

I’ve already lost the first game in the tipping comp for this weekend which is a bummer.

Now it’s almost 11.30pm so it’s sleep time for me.








Nite all.

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Stan & Def’s

With plans of going into The Bay with BGWLBH, I spent a solid 20 minutes throwing the ball for Harley around the pool before getting ready.

We decided on ‘EAT wth Dan & Steph’ for breakfast. It was the first time we’ve been there when Dan was on duty. Usually we see Steph. We took our time over a lazy breakfast of poached eggs for me and bacon and eggs for BGWLBH. I had a green juice and she had tea.

There was a cute little fluffy puppy sitting at the feet of a dreadlocked young woman who was very busy writing in some kind of journal in the corner of the restaurant.

On the other side of us was a family of six. Mum, Dad and four kids ranging in ages 2 weeks to ten years. They are travelling around Australia stopping for a few days in the towns that they like. They were pretty relaxed.

After breakfast, we drove all over town, as you do when you have errands to run in Hervey Bay. There is no centralised location where we can do everything. We did all our usual favourite haunts - Nana’s Pantry, Spotlight, Petbarn, Su Jus, Chemist, Newsagent, Coles, Butcher, Big W, Post Office, FROG box, Happy Hippy’s house, Foodworks and another Butcher.

Harley was happy to see us home and it took me almost 30 minutes to unpack and store everything away so that I could play with him and his new ball.

I cooked lamb rack with boiled potatoes and garlic buttered asparagus and beans for dinner.

It’s been a big day for this old bird and now I need to sleep.







Nite all.