Yesterday afternoon I walked out the laundry door to get clothes off the line and as I reached the clothes line, I heard this rustling sound, a bit like the sound of scrunching cellophane wrap. I looked down and saw the tail of a brown snake about a foot away from my feet!! The rest of it's body was going behind a large potted plant that was nearby.
At the same time, my three little dogs all rushed to the pot to investigate, which, of course, frightened the snake which lifted it's head ready to attack.
It was about then, that my brain registered that we were all in danger and it was time to act!! So I yelled at the dogs, who thankfully recognised the fear in my voice (the same fear that I have in my voice when they go too close to a toad!) and all stepped backwards looking at me.
The snake, thankfully, took that opportunity to escape through a small gap in the fence and disappeared in the direction of the empty block of land next door.
At this point I heard the loud flip flopping sound of Adoring Husband's footsteps coming through the house towards the laundry door and then the sound of his worried voice asking what was happening.
In my slightly pathetic and frightened shrill voice I said "It was a brown snake under the clothes line!" which caused him to yell "Get inside and take the dogs!"
The snake was already gone but Adoring Husband wasn't going to take any chances. He climbed up on one of the outdoor chairs to look over the fence but couldn't see any sign of the snake, which was probably more frightened than all of us put together and had long since disappeared to a place of safety!!
We are all probably more paranoid than the normal person about snakes because my father died from a brown snake bite, which is a story for another day, so this little experience would have been quite entertaining from an outsider's point of view, had they seen it.
The clothes are STILL on the clothes line ... I think I will gather the courage and attempt to retrieve them again today.
Adoring Husband (who was once a first-aid trainer with Railcorp) has now put together a snake bite kit and placed it in an easy to access spot in the house, just in case. He gave me a lesson this morning on how to apply a pressure bandage and the correct order in which to apply first aid for snake bites.
Now, and until the fresh fear subsides, we are paranoid about being in the back yard or entering the shed or collecting the eggs from the chooks - although the chooks would be making a hell of a noise if the snake went anywhere near the chookhouse!!
Ya gotta love Australian wildlife! It certainly has a way of keeping you on your toes!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Happy Birthday Little Gnome!
The man I spoke about in my 'Brief Note of Sadness' post a couple of weeks ago, is doing ok.
Seventy seven years of age on April Fool's day!
My little gnome (a name given to him by one of his lady friend's daughters) from the boat ramp is having a birthday today!
He hasn't been down to the boat ramp since he came out of hospital because he has a sore ankle and weakness in one arm which prevents him from driving or walking. I have been to visit him three times but I pedalled straight past because he had numerous visitors already there.
He is a well liked, respected and popular man in town.
Many ladies in town have baked cakes, cookies, casseroles and soups and delivered to his doorstep. His grandson bought a dozen containers of takeaway Chinese food to freeze. A roster of ladies have been to his house to clean, cut his toe nails, wash and iron. Mates have driven him to appointments and dropped in at various times of the day and evening to keep him company and check that he has everything that he needs.
This is what I absolutely love about this community. When the people see somebody struggling, they all move as one to either fix it or at the very least, ease the pain. They step in and provide whatever is needed and they wrap their combined arms around the family or person in need and give them a massive hug filled with warmth and love.
Another single parent family in town, over a year ago, almost lost their 14 yr old son and brother when his heart collapsed. He was placed on top of the emergency donor list and was kept alive by machines until a donor heart was found. This required months of hospitalisation in Melbourne (2000 kms away), which in turn, required the added costs of transport and accommodation for his mother.
She had three other children to care for, as well as pets, a house and a local job.
The community gathered together and raised funds to help towards the financial burden this family was carrying. They formed a roster of people to fill the mother's job, so that she would continue to get her wage and so that her job would still be waiting for her upon her return.
People stepped in to care for their pets, mow their lawns and maintain the home. They did this for a year while the boy recovered from this very serious condition.
How amazing is that!? It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
So, back to the birthday boy... I know that the ladies are all making cakes and slices and cookies and birthday comfort food for him today, so, to counteract all that processed sugar, I decided to put together a big box of fruit, nuts and plain popcorn for him to munch on over the next few days.
I found a shiny green box, lined it with yellow tissue paper, filled it with fresh fruit, bags of sultanas and nuts and packets of microwave popcorn. I wrapped it in shiny clear plastic, tied it with yellow ribbon and then tied two big green and gold 'Happy Birthday' balloons to it.
By the time I delivered it to his doorstep at nine o'clock this morning, he'd already had eight visitors and three phone calls. He was exhausted! While I was there, his x-wife and her partner arrived (they are all friends) with a birthday cake and gifts.
A group of us are taking him out for dinner tonight to the local Bowls Club and I'm wondering if he is going to have the energy left to attend his own birthday dinner!!
Anyway, he is doing ok. He looks tired. He needs to get out in the fresh air and he needs a good feed of fresh vegetables! I'll work on that.
Happy Birthday my Little Gnome :o)
Seventy seven years of age on April Fool's day!
My little gnome (a name given to him by one of his lady friend's daughters) from the boat ramp is having a birthday today!
He hasn't been down to the boat ramp since he came out of hospital because he has a sore ankle and weakness in one arm which prevents him from driving or walking. I have been to visit him three times but I pedalled straight past because he had numerous visitors already there.
He is a well liked, respected and popular man in town.
Many ladies in town have baked cakes, cookies, casseroles and soups and delivered to his doorstep. His grandson bought a dozen containers of takeaway Chinese food to freeze. A roster of ladies have been to his house to clean, cut his toe nails, wash and iron. Mates have driven him to appointments and dropped in at various times of the day and evening to keep him company and check that he has everything that he needs.
This is what I absolutely love about this community. When the people see somebody struggling, they all move as one to either fix it or at the very least, ease the pain. They step in and provide whatever is needed and they wrap their combined arms around the family or person in need and give them a massive hug filled with warmth and love.
Another single parent family in town, over a year ago, almost lost their 14 yr old son and brother when his heart collapsed. He was placed on top of the emergency donor list and was kept alive by machines until a donor heart was found. This required months of hospitalisation in Melbourne (2000 kms away), which in turn, required the added costs of transport and accommodation for his mother.
She had three other children to care for, as well as pets, a house and a local job.
The community gathered together and raised funds to help towards the financial burden this family was carrying. They formed a roster of people to fill the mother's job, so that she would continue to get her wage and so that her job would still be waiting for her upon her return.
People stepped in to care for their pets, mow their lawns and maintain the home. They did this for a year while the boy recovered from this very serious condition.
How amazing is that!? It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
So, back to the birthday boy... I know that the ladies are all making cakes and slices and cookies and birthday comfort food for him today, so, to counteract all that processed sugar, I decided to put together a big box of fruit, nuts and plain popcorn for him to munch on over the next few days.
I found a shiny green box, lined it with yellow tissue paper, filled it with fresh fruit, bags of sultanas and nuts and packets of microwave popcorn. I wrapped it in shiny clear plastic, tied it with yellow ribbon and then tied two big green and gold 'Happy Birthday' balloons to it.
By the time I delivered it to his doorstep at nine o'clock this morning, he'd already had eight visitors and three phone calls. He was exhausted! While I was there, his x-wife and her partner arrived (they are all friends) with a birthday cake and gifts.
A group of us are taking him out for dinner tonight to the local Bowls Club and I'm wondering if he is going to have the energy left to attend his own birthday dinner!!
Anyway, he is doing ok. He looks tired. He needs to get out in the fresh air and he needs a good feed of fresh vegetables! I'll work on that.
Happy Birthday my Little Gnome :o)
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Clever little house-husband!
Adoring Husband is currently on his hands and knees on the lounge room carpet with a wet rag and an iron!
We have moved the pool table (which only gets used at parties) out to the shed for the time being and the dining table has moved from the lounge room to the family/kitchen area, where the pool table was previously.
The carpet in the lounge room has marks indented into it from where the dining table has been positioned for almost 3 years.
So, sometime in his life, somebody has taught Adoring Husband this little trick that takes the indents out of the carpet!!
It's quite amazing! I've never seen it done before, and you can't even tell that a table was ever there!
When Adoring Husband sets his mind to a new idea, it becomes an obsession.
A couple of examples ... when we lived in Sydney, he converted half of the double garage in the back yard to an art work studio for me. He did it all himself and it took about six weeks from beginning to end.
He built a bedroom at the back of the studio as a guest room, a little kitchenette at one end of the studio room, laid carpet in the bedroom and tiles in the studio room, gyprocked the walls and painted them. He installed floor to ceiling glass sliding doors at the front. It was a beautiful area.
However, he was so obsessed, he would get up in the mornings at about 7am and go straight outside to start work. Not once would he even think about food, so he would go without breakfast and lunch unless I took it out to him or called him inside to eat.
He forgot that there was a world around him (or a wife or animals or friends) He continually lost his keys, mobile phone, wallet and glasses and the only time he left the work area, was when he needed a tool or piece of equipment and had to drive to the hardware store (Bunnings actually!) to get it.
Don't get me wrong, he did an amazing job, but he was obsessed from start to finish!
Since we've moved to Queensland, he has had a few small obsessions like creating the six vegetable gardens in the back yard, landscaping the side garden, lining the walls and building the shelving in the shed, building the chook pen out the back, landscaping the front garden and more recently setting up his boat for safely fishing outside the river .
His new obsession has now become apparent.
Vegan Chickie, Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet are moving back to Australia and will be staying here for a period of time until they can get back on their feet and get their own place.
Adoring Husband is now obsessed about making the house and bedrooms as spacious and as comfortable as possible for us all for the duration.
Furniture is being moved and bedrooms rearranged.
He has that look in his eye that says "I'm a man on a mission, get out of my way!"
All I can think is "Be afraid. Be very afraid"
Thank goodness, when he gets these obsessions, he doesn't involve me and does almost everything himself!
He really just wants everyone to be happy. I'm lucky to have such a clever little house-husband!
We have moved the pool table (which only gets used at parties) out to the shed for the time being and the dining table has moved from the lounge room to the family/kitchen area, where the pool table was previously.
The carpet in the lounge room has marks indented into it from where the dining table has been positioned for almost 3 years.
So, sometime in his life, somebody has taught Adoring Husband this little trick that takes the indents out of the carpet!!
It's quite amazing! I've never seen it done before, and you can't even tell that a table was ever there!
When Adoring Husband sets his mind to a new idea, it becomes an obsession.
A couple of examples ... when we lived in Sydney, he converted half of the double garage in the back yard to an art work studio for me. He did it all himself and it took about six weeks from beginning to end.
He built a bedroom at the back of the studio as a guest room, a little kitchenette at one end of the studio room, laid carpet in the bedroom and tiles in the studio room, gyprocked the walls and painted them. He installed floor to ceiling glass sliding doors at the front. It was a beautiful area.
However, he was so obsessed, he would get up in the mornings at about 7am and go straight outside to start work. Not once would he even think about food, so he would go without breakfast and lunch unless I took it out to him or called him inside to eat.
He forgot that there was a world around him (or a wife or animals or friends) He continually lost his keys, mobile phone, wallet and glasses and the only time he left the work area, was when he needed a tool or piece of equipment and had to drive to the hardware store (Bunnings actually!) to get it.
Don't get me wrong, he did an amazing job, but he was obsessed from start to finish!
Since we've moved to Queensland, he has had a few small obsessions like creating the six vegetable gardens in the back yard, landscaping the side garden, lining the walls and building the shelving in the shed, building the chook pen out the back, landscaping the front garden and more recently setting up his boat for safely fishing outside the river .
His new obsession has now become apparent.
Vegan Chickie, Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet are moving back to Australia and will be staying here for a period of time until they can get back on their feet and get their own place.
Adoring Husband is now obsessed about making the house and bedrooms as spacious and as comfortable as possible for us all for the duration.
Furniture is being moved and bedrooms rearranged.
He has that look in his eye that says "I'm a man on a mission, get out of my way!"
All I can think is "Be afraid. Be very afraid"
Thank goodness, when he gets these obsessions, he doesn't involve me and does almost everything himself!
He really just wants everyone to be happy. I'm lucky to have such a clever little house-husband!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Nonfiction/Reality v Fiction/Fantasy
Obviously, anything that I say here is anecdotal and based on my own personal experiences. Your experiences, of course, may be very different!
I've talked previously about my enjoyment of Reality TV and how I like to observe real people reacting and responding to the unusual or unfamiliar situations in which they are placed.
I think I could have been a good observer for anecdotal research. I'm not a 'facts' girl. The information between the facts is much more interesting to me. If my interest is piqued, I can be quite intuitive and sensitive to information that others miss.
A favourite pastime of mine is sitting quietly for hours in the corner at a party, in a busy airport terminal, or even at night in a club or pub and just observing the people. Each individual is incredibly intriguing the way they interact with the different people they meet.
If you put ME in a new situation with a large group of people, I will be very quiet, hold myself back, observe everybody, figure out where I fit in with the group and then slowly slide into the spot where I think I fit.
Depending on the group, I could be a leader or a follower, a confidante or a clown, an analyser or a teacher - one of many different roles - but I can adapt to most roles (good adapting skills gained when changing schools seventeen times in my childhood - see post dated March 9th).
Most people I know, already have a 'role' imprinted in their 'being' and enter a group to fill that role. If the role is already filled by someone else, then they soon leave the group and subconsciously go looking for new groups until they fit somewhere.
But once again I digress .... I do that a lot don't I?!
So, you see, I am a people analyser and I yearn to understand humans and why they do the things that they do. They intrigue me and psychiatry would have been an interesting career for me if the study didn't involve so many facts!
Anyway, Adoring Husband, Number One Son, and most males that I know are very much into Fiction/Fantasy. They have no time for Reality TV and get very bored observing people at parties, airports or clubs.
In those situations, they either want to disappear into a Fiction/Fantasy book or get involved in the party by mingling, dancing, drinking, laughing and 'being'. Automatically filling their subconscious roles, not noticing other people's roles and not giving a rat's about roles.
Adoring Husband is almost obsessed with Star Trek, 'V', Dr Who, Star Wars etc. He watches them religiously and loves to get lost in the weird and wonderful fantasy world of the characters.
These shows bore me to tears (although I did quite enjoy the hilarious acting prowess of David Tennant in the last Dr Who series).
I just can't understand where the interest lies in a story line that is not possible and that could never happen in real life. I would, however, be interested to meet the person who wrote the story and analyse his/her mind!
So, there in itself, is another analytical dilemna for me to study and question. Why does he like Fantasy and why do I like Reality? At what point in our lives was that decision made in our brains? How can we be compatible, when we are drawn to such different genres?
I have my own theories of course. Adoring Husband is a very complex and unusual (and by 'unusual', I mean 'strange' lol) individual and I know he will provide years of analytical heaven for me ... but don't get me started!
While I've been writing this, I've discovered that Fantasy really does have a role in my life, because Adoring Husband has been deeply involved in an episode of 'V' that he recorded earlier, and has left me in peace to write! Hah!
I guess this proves that it doesn't have to be Reality v Fantasy and the two can be compatible after all!!
I've talked previously about my enjoyment of Reality TV and how I like to observe real people reacting and responding to the unusual or unfamiliar situations in which they are placed.
I think I could have been a good observer for anecdotal research. I'm not a 'facts' girl. The information between the facts is much more interesting to me. If my interest is piqued, I can be quite intuitive and sensitive to information that others miss.
A favourite pastime of mine is sitting quietly for hours in the corner at a party, in a busy airport terminal, or even at night in a club or pub and just observing the people. Each individual is incredibly intriguing the way they interact with the different people they meet.
If you put ME in a new situation with a large group of people, I will be very quiet, hold myself back, observe everybody, figure out where I fit in with the group and then slowly slide into the spot where I think I fit.
Depending on the group, I could be a leader or a follower, a confidante or a clown, an analyser or a teacher - one of many different roles - but I can adapt to most roles (good adapting skills gained when changing schools seventeen times in my childhood - see post dated March 9th).
Most people I know, already have a 'role' imprinted in their 'being' and enter a group to fill that role. If the role is already filled by someone else, then they soon leave the group and subconsciously go looking for new groups until they fit somewhere.
But once again I digress .... I do that a lot don't I?!
So, you see, I am a people analyser and I yearn to understand humans and why they do the things that they do. They intrigue me and psychiatry would have been an interesting career for me if the study didn't involve so many facts!
Anyway, Adoring Husband, Number One Son, and most males that I know are very much into Fiction/Fantasy. They have no time for Reality TV and get very bored observing people at parties, airports or clubs.
In those situations, they either want to disappear into a Fiction/Fantasy book or get involved in the party by mingling, dancing, drinking, laughing and 'being'. Automatically filling their subconscious roles, not noticing other people's roles and not giving a rat's about roles.
Adoring Husband is almost obsessed with Star Trek, 'V', Dr Who, Star Wars etc. He watches them religiously and loves to get lost in the weird and wonderful fantasy world of the characters.
These shows bore me to tears (although I did quite enjoy the hilarious acting prowess of David Tennant in the last Dr Who series).
I just can't understand where the interest lies in a story line that is not possible and that could never happen in real life. I would, however, be interested to meet the person who wrote the story and analyse his/her mind!
So, there in itself, is another analytical dilemna for me to study and question. Why does he like Fantasy and why do I like Reality? At what point in our lives was that decision made in our brains? How can we be compatible, when we are drawn to such different genres?
I have my own theories of course. Adoring Husband is a very complex and unusual (and by 'unusual', I mean 'strange' lol) individual and I know he will provide years of analytical heaven for me ... but don't get me started!
While I've been writing this, I've discovered that Fantasy really does have a role in my life, because Adoring Husband has been deeply involved in an episode of 'V' that he recorded earlier, and has left me in peace to write! Hah!
I guess this proves that it doesn't have to be Reality v Fantasy and the two can be compatible after all!!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Vegan or Not to Vegan ... THAT is the question!
Just as a matter of interest, I've been trolling the internet for information on veganism and I found this great little website.
It provides extensive information about vitamin and nutrient requirements, vegan meal plans, results of research that shows how a vegetarian and/or vegan diet has affected the health of people with medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, blood pressure etc.
It gives information about food allergies, vegan diets for children, teens and pregnant women. It also has book recommendations and much more.
So here is the link and I hope that you learn something new and interesting!
http://www.veganhealth.org/
I am considering taking my vegetarian diet a step further, but I'm not sure that I can go completely vegan. I do know how much better I feel, physically, since removing meat from my diet (I still have a little seafood two or three times a week), and I would like to take the next step.
Now I'm noticing how my body reacts to dairy and I'm not liking it very much, so I might just remove milk (except for my morning cappuccino), cheese and butter, to see if I feel the difference.
Small steps, I say!
I'll let you know the answer to my 'Vegan or Not to Vegan' question some time in the near future I guess!
It provides extensive information about vitamin and nutrient requirements, vegan meal plans, results of research that shows how a vegetarian and/or vegan diet has affected the health of people with medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, blood pressure etc.
It gives information about food allergies, vegan diets for children, teens and pregnant women. It also has book recommendations and much more.
So here is the link and I hope that you learn something new and interesting!
http://www.veganhealth.org/
I am considering taking my vegetarian diet a step further, but I'm not sure that I can go completely vegan. I do know how much better I feel, physically, since removing meat from my diet (I still have a little seafood two or three times a week), and I would like to take the next step.
Now I'm noticing how my body reacts to dairy and I'm not liking it very much, so I might just remove milk (except for my morning cappuccino), cheese and butter, to see if I feel the difference.
Small steps, I say!
I'll let you know the answer to my 'Vegan or Not to Vegan' question some time in the near future I guess!
Monday, March 28, 2011
If it's Gunna Happen ....
It's been an interesting day.
Adoring Husband gently woke me this morning just after 6am, with a big smile on his face and invited me to play golf.
My friend, 'Woman of Many Talents', who is my usual golfing buddy on Monday mornings, is away in Melbourne at the moment, so after our successful Friday golfing jaunt, Adoring Husband decided we should do it again.
He came home with the same number of golf balls that he arrived with, but that's only because he found two golf balls that belonged to other people, after he had lost two of his own!
That familiar cracking sound of ball against tree was ringing loudly again, as was the familiar sight of male searching for lost ball. Again, we had good shots and bad shots and Adoring Husband got a birdie on the 8th hole, for which he received a well deserved high five!
He struggled to finish nine holes with his dodgy back, but we made it intact.
On the way home, we stopped to buy some lotto tickets and while in the newsagents, Adoring Husband surprised me with a couple of photography magazines. Inside one of those was a competition! Suddenly I'm inspired to go online and find all the current photography competitions across the Universe!
In the meantime, Adoring Husband drove into The Bay to buy some straw and other such goodies for the Lovely Laying Chookies. Upon his return, and while tending to the chooks, he accidentally kicked his toe on the wheel barrow and lifted a toe nail. ***squirm***
Blood smearing all over his thong (once again, it's the thong on his foot, not on his butt) and the toe nail hanging by a thread and all MY nerves rising to the surface and me feeling nauseas, squeezing my eyes shut so that I don't have to look! Ugh!
So his golf day tomorrow is now cancelled because he can't walk properly!
Now it's time to prepare dinner. Sushi tonight. It's the first time we've attempted to make sushi. I prepared the rice earlier and together we sit either side of the kitchen bench with our sushi roasted seaweed sheets and our bamboo sushi mats and make our own sushi rolls to cut later.
Adoring Husband squeezes Wasabi paste onto his rice in a long thick line from end to end (if you've tasted wasabi, you know what's coming!) and then adds prawns, smoked salmon and avocado. I use crab meat, avocado, carrot, cucumber and shallots. Then I make another one replacing the crab with prawns.
Into the fridge they go for a couple of hours and we will cut them just before we eat them. Let's relax on the couch for a while! Down he sits and 'bang' he knocks his sore toe on the footrest. Phwoar! That takes his breath away! He wonders out loud if perhaps he has broken his toe!
Two hours later, with a bowl of sushi soy sauce and a bowl of pickled ginger, we cut our sushi and arrange them beautifully on the platter. Adoring Husband takes a bite of his first piece of sushi and immediately, his eyes and nose begin to water and he coughs and splutters and runs to the fridge for a bottle of water.
Woops! Too much wasabi on his sushi!
So, I generously offer half of my sushi, but he refuses stating "No! I made the mistake! I will eat my own!" Three bottles of water later, he had eaten over half of his sushi and finally conceded defeat, concerned that he would make himself sick.
I can't even imagine how hot that must have been... but this has been a typical day in Adoring Husband's life and ... if it's gunna happen, it's gunna happen to Adoring Husband!
Adoring Husband gently woke me this morning just after 6am, with a big smile on his face and invited me to play golf.
My friend, 'Woman of Many Talents', who is my usual golfing buddy on Monday mornings, is away in Melbourne at the moment, so after our successful Friday golfing jaunt, Adoring Husband decided we should do it again.
He came home with the same number of golf balls that he arrived with, but that's only because he found two golf balls that belonged to other people, after he had lost two of his own!
That familiar cracking sound of ball against tree was ringing loudly again, as was the familiar sight of male searching for lost ball. Again, we had good shots and bad shots and Adoring Husband got a birdie on the 8th hole, for which he received a well deserved high five!
He struggled to finish nine holes with his dodgy back, but we made it intact.
On the way home, we stopped to buy some lotto tickets and while in the newsagents, Adoring Husband surprised me with a couple of photography magazines. Inside one of those was a competition! Suddenly I'm inspired to go online and find all the current photography competitions across the Universe!
In the meantime, Adoring Husband drove into The Bay to buy some straw and other such goodies for the Lovely Laying Chookies. Upon his return, and while tending to the chooks, he accidentally kicked his toe on the wheel barrow and lifted a toe nail. ***squirm***
Blood smearing all over his thong (once again, it's the thong on his foot, not on his butt) and the toe nail hanging by a thread and all MY nerves rising to the surface and me feeling nauseas, squeezing my eyes shut so that I don't have to look! Ugh!
So his golf day tomorrow is now cancelled because he can't walk properly!
Now it's time to prepare dinner. Sushi tonight. It's the first time we've attempted to make sushi. I prepared the rice earlier and together we sit either side of the kitchen bench with our sushi roasted seaweed sheets and our bamboo sushi mats and make our own sushi rolls to cut later.
Adoring Husband squeezes Wasabi paste onto his rice in a long thick line from end to end (if you've tasted wasabi, you know what's coming!) and then adds prawns, smoked salmon and avocado. I use crab meat, avocado, carrot, cucumber and shallots. Then I make another one replacing the crab with prawns.
Into the fridge they go for a couple of hours and we will cut them just before we eat them. Let's relax on the couch for a while! Down he sits and 'bang' he knocks his sore toe on the footrest. Phwoar! That takes his breath away! He wonders out loud if perhaps he has broken his toe!
Two hours later, with a bowl of sushi soy sauce and a bowl of pickled ginger, we cut our sushi and arrange them beautifully on the platter. Adoring Husband takes a bite of his first piece of sushi and immediately, his eyes and nose begin to water and he coughs and splutters and runs to the fridge for a bottle of water.
Woops! Too much wasabi on his sushi!
So, I generously offer half of my sushi, but he refuses stating "No! I made the mistake! I will eat my own!" Three bottles of water later, he had eaten over half of his sushi and finally conceded defeat, concerned that he would make himself sick.
I can't even imagine how hot that must have been... but this has been a typical day in Adoring Husband's life and ... if it's gunna happen, it's gunna happen to Adoring Husband!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
My Current Favourite Recipe
Having recently changed my diet to vegetarian, I've been trying lots of different recipes and also experimenting with old recipes. I've been using this one a lot lately and I've passed it on to many other people who are all raving about it.
It can be a great vegetarian meal. It's safe for Coeliacs. Men (and we know how fussy men are about vegetables!) really love it. If you are a meat lover, this is great to have as a side dish with any roast meat. The really great thing is that you don't have to stand over it or spend time tending to it. You can go off and do something else while it cooks (such as writing a new blog post!).
So for any of you interested, here is the recipe. I'm sorry that I don't have a photo to go with it, but I will add a photo at a later date ... after the fabulous new camera arrives!!
Honey Roasted Vegetables
2 large potatoes
1/2 butternut pumpkin
1/2 parsnip
1 turnip
1/2 sweet potato
1 carrot
2 onions
1 red capsicum
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
1 head of garlic
2 chillies
2 T honey
1/2 Lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of olive oil
It can be a great vegetarian meal. It's safe for Coeliacs. Men (and we know how fussy men are about vegetables!) really love it. If you are a meat lover, this is great to have as a side dish with any roast meat. The really great thing is that you don't have to stand over it or spend time tending to it. You can go off and do something else while it cooks (such as writing a new blog post!).
So for any of you interested, here is the recipe. I'm sorry that I don't have a photo to go with it, but I will add a photo at a later date ... after the fabulous new camera arrives!!
Honey Roasted Vegetables
2 large potatoes
1/2 butternut pumpkin
1/2 parsnip
1 turnip
1/2 sweet potato
1 carrot
2 onions
1 red capsicum
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
1 head of garlic
2 chillies
2 T honey
1/2 Lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of olive oil
- Peel the potatoes, pumpkin, parsnip, turnip, sweet potato, carrot and onions.
- Cut them into chunky bite sized pieces.
- Drizzle a little oil into the bottom of a large baking dish.
- Toss all of the chopped veggies into the pan.
- Separate the cloves of garlic and toss them in the pan (unpeeled), along with the cherry tomatoes.
- Cut the capsicum into chunks, finely chop the chillies and add them to the veggies.
- Season with salt and pepper and give them a stir.
- Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of honey over the veggies and give them another toss.
- Put the baking dish into the oven at 180 - 200 degrees for 40 minutes.
- Remove the baking dish from the oven. Stir the veggies and return to the oven for 30 mins.
- Squeeze the juice of about half a lemon over the veggies, stir and serve.
********
The three rules that apply to this fabulous recipe:
1 Very healthy.
2 Very delicious.
3 Very easy.
Bon Appetit!!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
UGH!! Toads make my skin crawl!!
Anti-social: unable or unwilling to associate in a normal or friendly way. That's what toads are.
I LOVE frogs (as you may already be aware), but I really, really, really, really, really HATE toads! They are the most disgusting creatures on the planet. They are ugly. They are poisonous. They only come out at night. They kill frogs (and any other creature that gets too close). They lay eggs in still water, so even the dog's water bowl is not safe. They can squeeze through the smallest opening to get to where they want to be and they smell!
I have three phobias. The first is sharks. Even though I adore living close to the water, I dislike swimming in it, because I am terrified of sharks. I was bumped by a shark while swimming in the ocean when I was 17 yrs old, so the fear is strong!
The second phobia is dying in a plane crash. This is residue from watching all the 'Airport' movies as a teenager. My biggest fear is surviving in a plane that crashes into the ocean and THEN I am eaten alive by a shark!! ***shudder***
My third phobia is toads. When I was little, about four or five years old, I had a puppy that was killed by a toad. The toad squirted it's poison into the mouth of my puppy and it died a painful death during the night.
The house that we lived in at the time, had a timber ramp that went from the back door down to the concrete path that led all the way down the back yard to the 'outhouse' (or 'toilet' for you young ones who have only experienced shiny white flushing indoor varieties).
Picture this: You're standing at the back door in the middle of the night looking out over the yard. There is a full moon, so it is quite light out. The dew on the grass is glistening in the moonlight. You see movement out of the corner of your eye and you look towards the movement. There, about six metres away is a big fat brown shiny toad, hopping towards the concrete path.
As he hops, he disturbs another toad about a metre away, which also takes a hop. This, in turn, creates almost a domino effect and suddenly there are thirty toads hopping all over the back yard, onto and over the concrete path. The concrete path that your little 5 yr old legs need to carry you along to reach the outhouse.
Those killer toads, one of which, killed your little puppy!
Nope! Not doin' it! Pull the jammy bottoms down, hang on to the railing of the ramp, swing myself over the side and pee into the garden!! Run inside and slam that back door before they getcha!
So, one night recently, we accidentally left the garage door open after dark. Our double garage is part of our house with a door that enters from it to our family room/kitchen. That door was also open. I closed the garage door at about 8pm. Adoring husband went to bed at 8.30pm. I went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea at 9pm and there to greet me were two large, ugly brown toads!
I gasped loudly and quickly stepped back into the lounge room. OMG! What do I do? What do I do?
Stop hyperventilating and get Adoring Husband!
I opened the bedroom door to the sound of Adoring Husband's loud snores. "Adoring Husband! Adoring Husband!" I shouted. He sat up with a fright. "What's the matter?" he gasped, probably thinking the house was on fire or something equally devastating!
"There are two toads in the house!" I shrilled.
"Well what the hell do you want me to do about it?" he asked through his sleepiness.
"Get them OUT!!!!" I demanded, wondering what the hell he thought the other options might be!!
He cursed me as he dragged himself out of bed and put some clothes on.
Of course, by the time we got back out to the family room, the toads had disappeared! This meant moving all of the furniture until we found them ... or I should say until HE found them, because I was backed against a wall holding my breath and refusing to move in case the killer toads GOT ME!
It took him about 20 minutes to find them and he threw a tea towel over each one and threw the toads over the fence (this does not kill or injure a toad, so no toads were harmed in this story!) and the tea towels were then disposed of.
New rule: Garage door MUST be closed before the sun goes down.
Last night, somehow the laundry door was left open. This created a 'party effect' for all beetles, mosquitoes, crickets, bugs and TOADS! What a mess!
Luckily there was only one toad and it was very small. Small enough that I shuddered and gasped and grunted and squirmed but was still able to remove it without waking Adoring Husband.
New rule: Close all access points to the house before the sun goes down!
UGH!! Toads make my skin crawl!! They are the only bad thing about living in Queensland!
I LOVE frogs (as you may already be aware), but I really, really, really, really, really HATE toads! They are the most disgusting creatures on the planet. They are ugly. They are poisonous. They only come out at night. They kill frogs (and any other creature that gets too close). They lay eggs in still water, so even the dog's water bowl is not safe. They can squeeze through the smallest opening to get to where they want to be and they smell!
I have three phobias. The first is sharks. Even though I adore living close to the water, I dislike swimming in it, because I am terrified of sharks. I was bumped by a shark while swimming in the ocean when I was 17 yrs old, so the fear is strong!
The second phobia is dying in a plane crash. This is residue from watching all the 'Airport' movies as a teenager. My biggest fear is surviving in a plane that crashes into the ocean and THEN I am eaten alive by a shark!! ***shudder***
My third phobia is toads. When I was little, about four or five years old, I had a puppy that was killed by a toad. The toad squirted it's poison into the mouth of my puppy and it died a painful death during the night.
The house that we lived in at the time, had a timber ramp that went from the back door down to the concrete path that led all the way down the back yard to the 'outhouse' (or 'toilet' for you young ones who have only experienced shiny white flushing indoor varieties).
Picture this: You're standing at the back door in the middle of the night looking out over the yard. There is a full moon, so it is quite light out. The dew on the grass is glistening in the moonlight. You see movement out of the corner of your eye and you look towards the movement. There, about six metres away is a big fat brown shiny toad, hopping towards the concrete path.
As he hops, he disturbs another toad about a metre away, which also takes a hop. This, in turn, creates almost a domino effect and suddenly there are thirty toads hopping all over the back yard, onto and over the concrete path. The concrete path that your little 5 yr old legs need to carry you along to reach the outhouse.
Those killer toads, one of which, killed your little puppy!
Nope! Not doin' it! Pull the jammy bottoms down, hang on to the railing of the ramp, swing myself over the side and pee into the garden!! Run inside and slam that back door before they getcha!
So, one night recently, we accidentally left the garage door open after dark. Our double garage is part of our house with a door that enters from it to our family room/kitchen. That door was also open. I closed the garage door at about 8pm. Adoring husband went to bed at 8.30pm. I went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea at 9pm and there to greet me were two large, ugly brown toads!
I gasped loudly and quickly stepped back into the lounge room. OMG! What do I do? What do I do?
Stop hyperventilating and get Adoring Husband!
I opened the bedroom door to the sound of Adoring Husband's loud snores. "Adoring Husband! Adoring Husband!" I shouted. He sat up with a fright. "What's the matter?" he gasped, probably thinking the house was on fire or something equally devastating!
"There are two toads in the house!" I shrilled.
"Well what the hell do you want me to do about it?" he asked through his sleepiness.
"Get them OUT!!!!" I demanded, wondering what the hell he thought the other options might be!!
He cursed me as he dragged himself out of bed and put some clothes on.
Of course, by the time we got back out to the family room, the toads had disappeared! This meant moving all of the furniture until we found them ... or I should say until HE found them, because I was backed against a wall holding my breath and refusing to move in case the killer toads GOT ME!
It took him about 20 minutes to find them and he threw a tea towel over each one and threw the toads over the fence (this does not kill or injure a toad, so no toads were harmed in this story!) and the tea towels were then disposed of.
New rule: Garage door MUST be closed before the sun goes down.
Last night, somehow the laundry door was left open. This created a 'party effect' for all beetles, mosquitoes, crickets, bugs and TOADS! What a mess!
Luckily there was only one toad and it was very small. Small enough that I shuddered and gasped and grunted and squirmed but was still able to remove it without waking Adoring Husband.
New rule: Close all access points to the house before the sun goes down!
UGH!! Toads make my skin crawl!! They are the only bad thing about living in Queensland!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Carting Me Around the Golf Course
What a lovely afternoon I've had with Adoring Husband today, playing golf in The Bay!
Neither of us has ever played this course before. The Club has a deal where you can play after 2pm for $20, so we hired a cart and played eighteen holes together.
The course was very pretty with an abundance of wildlife and bird life. The recent bad weather has obviously played havoc with some of the fairways and the putting greens played fast compared to the greens that I usually play. I found quite a few sand bunkers, but I didn't lose any balls (Adoring Husband did!) and I didn't find the water once!
We both played some great shots and we both played some horrendous shots. Adoring Husband had a mini tantrum and almost broke a club when he smashed it into the ground after one of those horrendous shots!
His punishment for that was the promise that I would tell everyone in my blog post. ***chuckle***
It was quite busy and we played close on the tail of the team ahead of us and we had golfers close on our tails as well, which probably didn't help our game a lot.
This was the first time that I've ever used a cart to play golf and also the first time that I've played eighteen holes. I even got to drive the cart a couple of times, which was pretty cool (I have never learned to drive a car). At the eighteenth hole, I put my foot down on the accelerator and scooted off yelling to Adoring Husband "You can walk from here!"
We even found our way to the nineteenth hole and had a beer at the end of the game and had a little flutter on the pokies.
I've been playing golf for about eighteen months now, and if there is one thing that I've learned, it's this. Unless his name is Tiger Woods, a man will always try to hit the ball too hard and will always end up in the trees.
This does not just apply to Adoring Husband, but to all men who step foot onto a golf course! I have become very familiar with that cracking sound that a golf ball makes as it hits the trunk or the branch of any sized tree that lines the fairways.
I have also become familiar with the sight of small groups of men wandering aimlessly through the trees, backwards and forwards as they desperately search for yet another lost ball.
But enough about that. If I spend too much time bagging the male golf game, Adoring Husband might choose to take somebody other than me next time an afternoon of golf is on offer!!
I would much rather he be carting ME around the golf course!
Neither of us has ever played this course before. The Club has a deal where you can play after 2pm for $20, so we hired a cart and played eighteen holes together.
The course was very pretty with an abundance of wildlife and bird life. The recent bad weather has obviously played havoc with some of the fairways and the putting greens played fast compared to the greens that I usually play. I found quite a few sand bunkers, but I didn't lose any balls (Adoring Husband did!) and I didn't find the water once!
We both played some great shots and we both played some horrendous shots. Adoring Husband had a mini tantrum and almost broke a club when he smashed it into the ground after one of those horrendous shots!
His punishment for that was the promise that I would tell everyone in my blog post. ***chuckle***
It was quite busy and we played close on the tail of the team ahead of us and we had golfers close on our tails as well, which probably didn't help our game a lot.
This was the first time that I've ever used a cart to play golf and also the first time that I've played eighteen holes. I even got to drive the cart a couple of times, which was pretty cool (I have never learned to drive a car). At the eighteenth hole, I put my foot down on the accelerator and scooted off yelling to Adoring Husband "You can walk from here!"
We even found our way to the nineteenth hole and had a beer at the end of the game and had a little flutter on the pokies.
I've been playing golf for about eighteen months now, and if there is one thing that I've learned, it's this. Unless his name is Tiger Woods, a man will always try to hit the ball too hard and will always end up in the trees.
This does not just apply to Adoring Husband, but to all men who step foot onto a golf course! I have become very familiar with that cracking sound that a golf ball makes as it hits the trunk or the branch of any sized tree that lines the fairways.
I have also become familiar with the sight of small groups of men wandering aimlessly through the trees, backwards and forwards as they desperately search for yet another lost ball.
But enough about that. If I spend too much time bagging the male golf game, Adoring Husband might choose to take somebody other than me next time an afternoon of golf is on offer!!
I would much rather he be carting ME around the golf course!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Spoilt Rotten - That's ME!
Adoring Husband did two things for me yesterday that have me very excited.
After returning from Sydney, he caught up on some reading, which included the last 5 updates on my blog. He read the post about me missing BGWLBH and almost immediately booked me a return flight for the July school holidays (BGWLBH is a Catholic School teacher) so that I could visit her!
That post wasn't meant to trigger such a fabulous response, but I'm so glad it did! I'm very much looking forward to seeing BGWLBH and some of my old friends again, although it will be the middle of Winter and it is bitterly cold down that way at that time of year!
I guess I will have to drag out the old Winter woollies - if I have any left that is.
The second thing that Adoring Husband did was take me on a treasure hunt. The 'treasure' being a new camera!
As you know, he did lots of research to find just the right camera for me, after I had told him that I would very much like to change from my old Sony (which has been a great camera and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to upgrade from a simple digital to DSLR) to a Canon.
After doing the photography course at USQ McGregor Summer School last year and also after talking to other amateur and professional photographers over the last year or so, it seemed that Canon was the camera of choice at both levels.
The range of cameras available were wide and varied but we knew that it was time to upgrade, not just choose something at the same level that I currently had.
I wanted to feel more confident about taking on job offers like weddings and birthday parties and we knew the grade of camera that would help instil that confidence. We chose a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
It is the DREAM camera for photographers at my level.
I'm so excited! I am almost beside myself! I have to wait about seven working days for it to be delivered and in the meantime my other one has gone to camera hospital to see if it can be saved. It had everybody bamboozled as to what the problem might be. We did all agree, however, that it might be possessed!
Adoring Husband is still researching and almost has more knowledge about this particular camera than the Canon rep who was, co-incidentally, at the store yesterday when we were there to ask questions.
He keeps passing on little snippets of new information and directing me to places online to watch short training videos. He gets excited about every new piece of information he finds. So far, all of the information is positive and that's gotta be a good thing!
So now I wait! Yes, I am spoilt rotten! But come on ... I deserve it!
After returning from Sydney, he caught up on some reading, which included the last 5 updates on my blog. He read the post about me missing BGWLBH and almost immediately booked me a return flight for the July school holidays (BGWLBH is a Catholic School teacher) so that I could visit her!
That post wasn't meant to trigger such a fabulous response, but I'm so glad it did! I'm very much looking forward to seeing BGWLBH and some of my old friends again, although it will be the middle of Winter and it is bitterly cold down that way at that time of year!
I guess I will have to drag out the old Winter woollies - if I have any left that is.
The second thing that Adoring Husband did was take me on a treasure hunt. The 'treasure' being a new camera!
As you know, he did lots of research to find just the right camera for me, after I had told him that I would very much like to change from my old Sony (which has been a great camera and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to upgrade from a simple digital to DSLR) to a Canon.
After doing the photography course at USQ McGregor Summer School last year and also after talking to other amateur and professional photographers over the last year or so, it seemed that Canon was the camera of choice at both levels.
The range of cameras available were wide and varied but we knew that it was time to upgrade, not just choose something at the same level that I currently had.
I wanted to feel more confident about taking on job offers like weddings and birthday parties and we knew the grade of camera that would help instil that confidence. We chose a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
It is the DREAM camera for photographers at my level.
I'm so excited! I am almost beside myself! I have to wait about seven working days for it to be delivered and in the meantime my other one has gone to camera hospital to see if it can be saved. It had everybody bamboozled as to what the problem might be. We did all agree, however, that it might be possessed!
Adoring Husband is still researching and almost has more knowledge about this particular camera than the Canon rep who was, co-incidentally, at the store yesterday when we were there to ask questions.
He keeps passing on little snippets of new information and directing me to places online to watch short training videos. He gets excited about every new piece of information he finds. So far, all of the information is positive and that's gotta be a good thing!
So now I wait! Yes, I am spoilt rotten! But come on ... I deserve it!
***HAPPY DANCE***
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Ten Things That I Love About Being Fifty
- When I see attractive young males at the beach wearing board shorts and nothing else, I can make animal noises, whistle or tell them straight to their faces how 'hot' they are and they always give me a big smile and laugh (as if to say "it's ok for us to give the poor old dear a thrill"). I would never have had the guts to do that when I was younger.
- I can play sport with little effort for five days a week and people consider me to be fit and conscientious.
- Where I used to fight so hard to find my identity among all of my titles of daughter, wife/partner, mother and grandmother, I now take pride in those titles.
- I can leave a party and go home to bed at 9pm and nobody questions it.
- As long as I don't look in the mirror, I can pretend that I look like Elle MacPherson, and almost believe it!
- Men in their seventies and eighties think that I am a hot young thing.
- I don't feel self conscious about doing things by myself, like drinking coffee in a cafe or going to a movie.
- I can look a man in the face and tell him if I don't like his attitude.
- My life has slowed down enough that I notice all the colours and the beauty in nature.
- I lie down for a nana nap in the afternoons and nobody thinks anything of it.
For Vegan Chickie
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Vegan Chickie
Happy birthday to you
Lots of love, hugs and kisses from your favourite mother in the universe.
xxx
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Vegan Chickie
Happy birthday to you
Lots of love, hugs and kisses from your favourite mother in the universe.
xxx
Some Wise Words
"There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the drama and the people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad and focus on the good. So love the people who treat you right and pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life. Getting back up is living."
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder!
Adoring Husband arrives home today, after five days and four nights in Sydney.
His lovely Mum turned 94 years young and he went down to spend her birthday with her and to make sure the Nursing Home was taking good care of her.
Unfortunately, Sydney had torrential rain for the whole time that he was there, so she wasn't able to leave the nursing home and he even missed out on watching his beloved Cronulla Sharks play football on Monday night. He did go to the ground but it was just too wet to watch comfortably so he jumped in a taxi and ended up watching the game in the comfort of his motel room.
I think five days and four nights is the perfect amount of time for couples to be apart two or three times a year.
Catch up on some reading. Listen to your favourite music. Spend time in the kitchen and cook your favourite food, and then eat it any time of the day or night that suits you. Watch your favourite TV shows. Have a nap on the couch with the fan directly on you. Go to bed and let the sound of rain on the roof lull you to sleep (instead of the sound of your husband snoring hehehe). Close up the house and sit enjoy the sounds of silence.
It's just long enough to enjoy some solitary time, and then look forward to your husband's return.
His plane landed about twenty minutes ago, so I am expecting him home some time in the next thirty minutes.
I have absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed my five days and four nights of complete freedom and I am very much looking forward to him returning today.
So welcome home my darling ... a short absence really does make the heart grow fonder :o)
His lovely Mum turned 94 years young and he went down to spend her birthday with her and to make sure the Nursing Home was taking good care of her.
Unfortunately, Sydney had torrential rain for the whole time that he was there, so she wasn't able to leave the nursing home and he even missed out on watching his beloved Cronulla Sharks play football on Monday night. He did go to the ground but it was just too wet to watch comfortably so he jumped in a taxi and ended up watching the game in the comfort of his motel room.
I think five days and four nights is the perfect amount of time for couples to be apart two or three times a year.
Catch up on some reading. Listen to your favourite music. Spend time in the kitchen and cook your favourite food, and then eat it any time of the day or night that suits you. Watch your favourite TV shows. Have a nap on the couch with the fan directly on you. Go to bed and let the sound of rain on the roof lull you to sleep (instead of the sound of your husband snoring hehehe). Close up the house and sit enjoy the sounds of silence.
It's just long enough to enjoy some solitary time, and then look forward to your husband's return.
His plane landed about twenty minutes ago, so I am expecting him home some time in the next thirty minutes.
I have absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed my five days and four nights of complete freedom and I am very much looking forward to him returning today.
So welcome home my darling ... a short absence really does make the heart grow fonder :o)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Camera Heaven
***sob***
My camera died today. ***sad face***
It was showing signs of illness yesterday when I was trying to take a photo of a lovely little green frog in our en suite bathroom. It took an hour, but I finally got it to work.
I thought it might be the battery, but even after it was fully charged, as soon as I put the battery back in the camera, it caused a red light to flash, even when it was turned off! It's possessed!!
I already miss it.
This morning there were turtles swimming close to the bank of the river.
A tiny little green tree frog attached itself to a leaf on the frangipani tree.
New lilies have opened in the fish pond.
Our hibiscus has four beautiful flowers blossoming on it.
Ten inch tall mushrooms are growing on the front lawn of Grace's house.
The butcher has a new little bulldog puppy who is just adorable and crying out to be photographed!
A storm bird was lurking in the massive fig tree on the riverbank.
It is incredibly frustrating to not have a working camera when these photographic opportunities arise!
My camera is two and a half years old and I have used it every single day since I bought it, so, I think it has lived a full life and I have definitely got my money's worth.
When I first got it, Vegan Chickie also bought a new camera while overseas, and we decided to send each other 'pic of the day', which would be a photo of something that we had seen or done each day with a description of the circumstances that led to the photo being taken.
It was a great way to have daily contact and be connected with each other's lives. Our photography has improved over time and I think both of us have taken some pretty spectacular shots.
Quite strange that for the last two weeks, Adoring Husband has been researching new cameras. His intuition must have been tuned in ... he DOES have that strange electrical energy around him ... maybe he could sense that it was ready to die??!!
So he has already emailed some camera details to me and has some good ideas about what is available and what costs we are looking at. If money was no object... oh my goodness! The fun I could have!
I am feeling very sad that my camera has gone to camera heaven, but I am very excited about making friends with a new one!
My camera died today. ***sad face***
It was showing signs of illness yesterday when I was trying to take a photo of a lovely little green frog in our en suite bathroom. It took an hour, but I finally got it to work.
I thought it might be the battery, but even after it was fully charged, as soon as I put the battery back in the camera, it caused a red light to flash, even when it was turned off! It's possessed!!
I already miss it.
This morning there were turtles swimming close to the bank of the river.
A tiny little green tree frog attached itself to a leaf on the frangipani tree.
New lilies have opened in the fish pond.
Our hibiscus has four beautiful flowers blossoming on it.
Ten inch tall mushrooms are growing on the front lawn of Grace's house.
The butcher has a new little bulldog puppy who is just adorable and crying out to be photographed!
A storm bird was lurking in the massive fig tree on the riverbank.
It is incredibly frustrating to not have a working camera when these photographic opportunities arise!
My camera is two and a half years old and I have used it every single day since I bought it, so, I think it has lived a full life and I have definitely got my money's worth.
When I first got it, Vegan Chickie also bought a new camera while overseas, and we decided to send each other 'pic of the day', which would be a photo of something that we had seen or done each day with a description of the circumstances that led to the photo being taken.
It was a great way to have daily contact and be connected with each other's lives. Our photography has improved over time and I think both of us have taken some pretty spectacular shots.
Quite strange that for the last two weeks, Adoring Husband has been researching new cameras. His intuition must have been tuned in ... he DOES have that strange electrical energy around him ... maybe he could sense that it was ready to die??!!
So he has already emailed some camera details to me and has some good ideas about what is available and what costs we are looking at. If money was no object... oh my goodness! The fun I could have!
I am feeling very sad that my camera has gone to camera heaven, but I am very excited about making friends with a new one!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Educated Guesses
I have a friend who was told three weeks before her wedding that she should cancel it because she wouldn't live another two weeks. That was 8 years ago. She didn't cancel her wedding, she still has the same medical condition, however, her mantra is now 'Doctors only make educated guesses'.
When my father was taken by ambulance to Gladstone Hospital after being bitten by a brown snake, the doctors told my mother 'Don't worry, we have never lost a brown snake bite victim yet'. He died two weeks later due to their negligence. They paid a high price for it, but of course that didn't bring my father back.
Twenty years ago, I received a phone call at 10pm from my doctor telling me that I had stage four cervical cancer and that he had made an urgent appointment with a Specialist for the very next morning that I MUST attend. That following afternoon I was told that my tests were clear and I was perfectly healthy.
Last year Adoring Husband and I were told by her doctor, that his mother had bone cancer and all they could do was try to make her comfortable for the few weeks that she had left. The following day she was miraculously cured and her doctor was too busy to see us.
Another friend was told the dark irritation on his neck was caused by his collar rubbing there. Two years later, a specialist took one look at it and performed urgent surgery to remove a melanoma with a deep root system and it required 24 stitches which has left a major scar on his neck/throat.
A man I know was told he had RSI and required surgery on his wrist. Somebody suggested that he try a chiropractor and it turns out that he had a pinched nerve that was affecting his arm and wrist. Three appointments with a chiropractor and he was cured.
A female friend was treated on and off for 18 months for what she was told was recurring thrush, when finally it was discovered that she had cancer of the vulva. Luckily, it wasn't too late for her.
These are just seven examples that I can think of - off the top of my head, where doctors have been very wrong. I'm sure that if I thought about it for a bit longer, I could come up with many more examples.
When I first went to a doctor in Sydney to have my Hyperthyroidism diagnosed, I sat in the chair watching the doctor study a computer screen for ten minutes, before I suggested to her that I might have an over active thyroid. She looked it up on the computer and then sent me for the appropriate tests.
I don't trust doctors, not just for the reasons above and it would take too long to explain all of the other reasons. I believe that doctors write prescriptions too quickly to treat our conditions and don't take the time to explain the short term or long term side effects.
I believe that most people don't understand their own medical conditions and trust that the doctor will give them the best treatment available. In this day and age, with all the information available to us, we should all be experts in our own health.
We should be aware of all the different types of treatment available and not just blindly take any medication that's prescribed. We should be more interested in curing our illness, rather than taking something to mask the symptoms.
I believe that fresh healthy food, clean water, regular light exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and a happy life is the best prevention for a lot of medical conditions.
I also believe that, at the very least, we should combine our doctor's advice with alternate methods like Naturopathy, Chinese Medicine, Herbal remedies etc., and always ask lots of questions of your doctor.
I absolutely believe, like my friend at the beginning of this post, that doctors only make educated guesses and I would NEVER put blind faith in those guesses.
When my father was taken by ambulance to Gladstone Hospital after being bitten by a brown snake, the doctors told my mother 'Don't worry, we have never lost a brown snake bite victim yet'. He died two weeks later due to their negligence. They paid a high price for it, but of course that didn't bring my father back.
Twenty years ago, I received a phone call at 10pm from my doctor telling me that I had stage four cervical cancer and that he had made an urgent appointment with a Specialist for the very next morning that I MUST attend. That following afternoon I was told that my tests were clear and I was perfectly healthy.
Last year Adoring Husband and I were told by her doctor, that his mother had bone cancer and all they could do was try to make her comfortable for the few weeks that she had left. The following day she was miraculously cured and her doctor was too busy to see us.
Another friend was told the dark irritation on his neck was caused by his collar rubbing there. Two years later, a specialist took one look at it and performed urgent surgery to remove a melanoma with a deep root system and it required 24 stitches which has left a major scar on his neck/throat.
A man I know was told he had RSI and required surgery on his wrist. Somebody suggested that he try a chiropractor and it turns out that he had a pinched nerve that was affecting his arm and wrist. Three appointments with a chiropractor and he was cured.
A female friend was treated on and off for 18 months for what she was told was recurring thrush, when finally it was discovered that she had cancer of the vulva. Luckily, it wasn't too late for her.
These are just seven examples that I can think of - off the top of my head, where doctors have been very wrong. I'm sure that if I thought about it for a bit longer, I could come up with many more examples.
When I first went to a doctor in Sydney to have my Hyperthyroidism diagnosed, I sat in the chair watching the doctor study a computer screen for ten minutes, before I suggested to her that I might have an over active thyroid. She looked it up on the computer and then sent me for the appropriate tests.
I don't trust doctors, not just for the reasons above and it would take too long to explain all of the other reasons. I believe that doctors write prescriptions too quickly to treat our conditions and don't take the time to explain the short term or long term side effects.
I believe that most people don't understand their own medical conditions and trust that the doctor will give them the best treatment available. In this day and age, with all the information available to us, we should all be experts in our own health.
We should be aware of all the different types of treatment available and not just blindly take any medication that's prescribed. We should be more interested in curing our illness, rather than taking something to mask the symptoms.
I believe that fresh healthy food, clean water, regular light exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and a happy life is the best prevention for a lot of medical conditions.
I also believe that, at the very least, we should combine our doctor's advice with alternate methods like Naturopathy, Chinese Medicine, Herbal remedies etc., and always ask lots of questions of your doctor.
I absolutely believe, like my friend at the beginning of this post, that doctors only make educated guesses and I would NEVER put blind faith in those guesses.
Rainbow Connection
I love frogs.
Vegan Chickie fell in love with them in her childhood after her Nan placed a green tree frog in her hand one day. Through buying ornamental frogs as gifts for her, I developed a deeper appreciation of them, and now collect them myself.
Everybody in the family either collected something or obsessively supported a football team, so they were very easy to buy gifts for at Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries etc.,
My sister collected giraffes. My niece collected dalmatians. My youngest daughter was a Penrith supporter. Number one son supported Balmain NRL club (who later became Wests Tigers), Adoring Husband was a Cronulla Sharks supporter and Nan supported the Broncos.
It was my turn to choose something to collect. I wanted something that would be difficult to find. Something that people would really have to search to find. So I chose geckos.
From that moment on, geckos were EVERYWHERE! You just don't see things until you start looking!
Even though I have an impressive and lovely collection of geckos and I DO love them. My love for frogs is much stronger.
I have no idea how many I have, but they are scattered throughout the house and the garden and from where I sit right now, I can see 26 different ornamental frogs. I'm not obsessed, although it probably wouldn't take much for me to become that way!
Here are just a few of my frogs:
I obsessively hunt around my garden for green frogs and take photos at every opportunity:
One of my favourite songs is Rainbow Connection by Kermit The Frog, but that's enough sharing for today!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
BFF
I miss my friend.
My first husband dragged me, kicking and screaming, to a town in the middle of country NSW in 1984.
There were many reasons for me hating the idea of taking my family to this town and I was worried for their safety, but within a very short time, I fell in love with the people and the town and couldn't even consider the thought of leaving.
I eventually spent 21 years there.
In my second year there I met BGWLBH (You remember her! Beautiful Girl With the Long Blonde Hair).
Happy, vibrant, beautiful, tall, slender, blonde, full of energy, the life of the party, with a fabulous circle of partying friends, an amazing career and the most contagious positive attitude.
She was loving, supportive, generous and loyal and our friendship developed slowly, but strengthened over time.
We went through a lot together. Good stuff and bad stuff. We laughed a lot. We cried a bit. We danced. We sang. We flirted and teased. We were the Trivia Queens and the Pictionary Champions. Our road trips were epic. We shopped til we dropped. We laughed some more.
I miss us.
It's been six years since I left the town. After I moved to Sydney, I still flew back there every three months to spend a week and catch up. BGWLBH took three months long service leave and spent it in Sydney with us.
Now that I have moved so far away, we are lucky if we get to see each other once a year. We hardly ever speak to each other. A phone call every 6 months. An email once every couple of months. Nothing regular.
I like to think that our friendship is strong enough that we don't need that regular contact. We are there for the important times, when we are in need or to celebrate something big. My kids consider her part of our family.
I haven't seen her for almost a year.
When my little Chicklet was born, BGWLBH was the first person I wanted to share that with and I felt sad that we were so far apart and couldn't hug and squeal and have tears together.
We GET each other. We know what each other is thinking. We are brutally honest with each other. We love each other and we hate each other and everything in between.
I think it's time for a visit.
My first husband dragged me, kicking and screaming, to a town in the middle of country NSW in 1984.
There were many reasons for me hating the idea of taking my family to this town and I was worried for their safety, but within a very short time, I fell in love with the people and the town and couldn't even consider the thought of leaving.
I eventually spent 21 years there.
In my second year there I met BGWLBH (You remember her! Beautiful Girl With the Long Blonde Hair).
Happy, vibrant, beautiful, tall, slender, blonde, full of energy, the life of the party, with a fabulous circle of partying friends, an amazing career and the most contagious positive attitude.
She was loving, supportive, generous and loyal and our friendship developed slowly, but strengthened over time.
We went through a lot together. Good stuff and bad stuff. We laughed a lot. We cried a bit. We danced. We sang. We flirted and teased. We were the Trivia Queens and the Pictionary Champions. Our road trips were epic. We shopped til we dropped. We laughed some more.
I miss us.
It's been six years since I left the town. After I moved to Sydney, I still flew back there every three months to spend a week and catch up. BGWLBH took three months long service leave and spent it in Sydney with us.
Now that I have moved so far away, we are lucky if we get to see each other once a year. We hardly ever speak to each other. A phone call every 6 months. An email once every couple of months. Nothing regular.
I like to think that our friendship is strong enough that we don't need that regular contact. We are there for the important times, when we are in need or to celebrate something big. My kids consider her part of our family.
I haven't seen her for almost a year.
When my little Chicklet was born, BGWLBH was the first person I wanted to share that with and I felt sad that we were so far apart and couldn't hug and squeal and have tears together.
We GET each other. We know what each other is thinking. We are brutally honest with each other. We love each other and we hate each other and everything in between.
I think it's time for a visit.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A brief note of sadness
I'm feeling a bit sad tonight so my post will be short.
One of my lovely boys from the boat ramp got some bad results from his medical tests on Monday and rather than end up being a burden on anyone in the near future, he attempted to take his own life.
Thank goodness he was unsuccessful and I'm hoping to see him at the hospital tomorrow.
Although he knows how much he means to me, and I remind him every so often, I hope to get the chance to tell him again, because I believe that his family may take him to live somewhere else and I won't get to see him every day, like I have for the last two and a half years.
My boys at the boat ramp bring me the greatest of joys, and I know that I am also going to feel the deepest of lows as the years roll on and I lose them one by one, but I don't want to lose any of them this way.
One of my lovely boys from the boat ramp got some bad results from his medical tests on Monday and rather than end up being a burden on anyone in the near future, he attempted to take his own life.
Thank goodness he was unsuccessful and I'm hoping to see him at the hospital tomorrow.
Although he knows how much he means to me, and I remind him every so often, I hope to get the chance to tell him again, because I believe that his family may take him to live somewhere else and I won't get to see him every day, like I have for the last two and a half years.
My boys at the boat ramp bring me the greatest of joys, and I know that I am also going to feel the deepest of lows as the years roll on and I lose them one by one, but I don't want to lose any of them this way.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Beauty in Nature
To remind you that Mother Nature isn't always so angry, these are my photos, all taken locally, of a few wonderful gifts that she has to offer.
Sometimes life gets in the way and can become a little overwhelming. We can easily forget the wonders that are 'out there', so I just wanted to share some of the beauty of nature with you.
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