Day for the Girlies

The boys at the Seat of Knowledge were very happy this morning when BGWLBH arrived with goodbye cakes - NOT because she was saying goodbye lol.

Five boys this morning 

It was her last morning at the Seat of Knowledge before she goes home on Sunday :(

We spent the day in The Bay.  A girlie day.  Shopping.  Taking photos.  Lunch with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet that lasted for over three hours.

Sweet and precious little grandchild of mine.  I love her.  Such a treasure.

It was a lovely day.

Tomorrow will be a big day at the Sunshine Coast, so it's time for bed for me.

Nite all.

To Market

Unfortunately, there were a couple of the boys missing from the Seat of Knowledge this morning for our group photo, but we'll try again tomorrow.

This is still a nice reminder for BGWLBH of how her holiday mornings all began.

We wanted to attend the Maryborough markets today, so we hurried home and Adoring Husband was happy to be our chauffeur.

We had to walk past this amazing building/church on the way there.

The markets were much bigger than I expected and we had a lovely time buying bright shiny sparkly things and healthy things and garden ornament things and, of course, a present for Chicklet.

One of the stall holders even talked me out of buying some of their food because she couldn't guarantee that some bread roll hadn't landed on the hotplate!  I appreciated her honesty :)

We got some delicious coffee and did some crafty shopping too, while Adoring Husband went looking at cars.

We were home for lunch and then spent the afternoon doing our favourite thing ... nothing!

BGWLBH and I went walking/triking this afternoon and took a few photos along the way.  The sunset kind of faded into nothingness, but for a brief moment, it was quite vibrant.

We arrived home in time for me to finish dinner, which was a casserole cooked in the slow cooker with lots of vegetables on the side.

Adoring Husband made a delicious batch of home made passionfruit ice cream.  Yum.

He is happy because his NSW Blues team won the State of Origin game last night.

Tomorrow will be a girlie day for BGWLBH and I - our last holiday day together.

We will go into The Bay so that she can say goodbye to Vegan Chickie and Chicklet and we have some other stuff to do as well.

It's all coming to an end way too soon ... which means September is creeping up very quickly too and that means I need to focus on getting my photographs together for the exhibit.

So much to do.  So little time!

Nite all.

QUEENSLANDER!!

Sorry :o)  State of Origin time again :o)

The game is just about to begin and I hope to finish this post before the game is over - though I must say that State of Origin games go so quickly, they are usually over before you know it!

It's all that build up and excitement and the game is played at a much faster pace than a regular weekly game.

Let me tell you about my morning ... yes, you guessed it ... it started at the Seat of Knowledge, though two of my boys were missing today.

One of them began chemotherapy today.

The Little Gnome didn't turn up, but at least somebody saw him driving his car, so we know he is safe and well!

It was very unfortunate, because BGWLBH wanted a photo with the boys this morning.  She only has two more mornings at the Seat of Knowledge before she goes home.

Anyway, after we left there, we went for a walk to the big lake behind the new housing estate.

What began as a leisurely stroll around the path that surrounds the lake, ended up being a two hour trek through, for me, unseen territory!

BGWLBH decided to take a different route.  She walked through some scrub, following the sound of birds singing, and discovered a sandy road.

There were lots of Honey Eaters about making the most noise, but I also spotted some Striated Pardalotes and was lucky enough to get a quick snap.

Striated Pardalote

It was impossible to ride the trike on this road so it meant that I had to pull it behind me, which was a bit tricky on my arm and my back.  BGWLBH took the trike for a while when I looked like my arm was about to drop off!

We started out on a sandy road track, but were eventually forced to turn back when we came to a flooded section that was just too deep to walk through OR wheel the trike through.

We watched a lady walking in the distance with two dogs and she took a side track, so we decided to follow that track to see where it led to and thought we might catch up to the woman.

The track started quite wide but the further we walked, the narrower it got and the terrain changed significantly too!  Suddenly we were walking through what looked like rain forest with lots of fern trees and vines.  It was much greener than the usual scrub around my town.

Path to Nowhere

We walked and we walked until we came across another wide path with a line of power poles that we could have followed, but not too far ahead, there was another flooded area that we couldn't get through.

In the other direction, the path kind of disappeared and became scrub.  If I hadn't had my trike, we might have attempted walking in that direction.

So we retraced our steps a short way to where there was a fork in the path.  BGWLBH followed it a short way, but it ended quite abruptly too, so we had no choice but to go right back to the original road.

All the while we were making up stories about serial killers watching our every move and the woman with the dogs being part of their evil 'luring' plan!

We also spent some time wondering if my phone had enough charge left to call for help if we seriously got lost!

Eventually, BGWLBH's stomach made the decision for us, to find our way home.  She was starving!!

After a brief stop to feed the ducks the stale bread that we had saved for them (at least we would have had food if we'd got lost on our trek!)

One of the ugliest birds that nature has to offer - Ibis.

We arrived home at about 11am and I cooked up a big feed of bacon, eggs, tomato and toast to replace all of the energy that we had used up on our trek!

Tomorrow, we are thinking about driving to Maryborough for their markets.

Right now, the second half of the State of Origin match is about to start, so I am off to watch it.

GO QUEENSLAND!!

Nite all.

Fam fun and movies

It's been quite a full day today.

I actually set my alarm so that I could get up early enough to capture a possible pretty sunrise, but there was not a cloud in the sky, so after checking the sky through the bathroom window, I climbed back into my warm bed and enjoyed another forty five minutes snuggled between my flannelette sheets.

So it started in the usual way down at the Seat of Knowledge.  A beautiful sunny day.  A little windy and a little cool, but the sky was blue and so was the water as the tide was on it's way out.

From there, I met the girls for coffee after they returned from aqua-aerobics.

It was around this time, for some reason, I began to feel a bit sad.  I have no idea what triggered it and even though I tried, I couldn't pull myself out it.

I did some grocery shopping for lunch.  I bought all the ingredients for the 'S&@t, I forgot the pavlova' pavlova, which Vegan Chickie had requested the previous week, but the bakery was out of meringue back then, so I had to wait til today to fulfil her request.

BGWLBH did lots of preparation for lunch today.  She chopped and sliced and peeled and mashed and shredded til everything was prepared and sealed in containers ready to load onto the outdoor table.

AT the same time I was whipping and blending and crushing and roasting and baking.

The family surprised me and arrived a bit earlier than I expected!

We had a lovely time out in the garden and Chicklet found almost all of my garden ornament frogs.  Adoring Husband recruited the Bare-chested Chef's assistance to put wire netting up along the fence.  Then he planted the new passionfruit vine against it.

We were all afraid when Adoring Husband wheeled out the heavy machinery, but when the Bare-chested Chef loudly uttered the word "ouch", we decided that we couldn't stay outside a minute longer!

After the family said their goodbyes, BGWLBH, Adoring Husband and I freshened up and drove into The Bay to the movies.

BGWLBH saw 'Prometheus' and Adoring Husband and I saw the Tim Burton movie, 'Dark Shadows', which starred Johnny Depp.

BGWLBH was the only female in her cinema with ten solo men watching her movie, while Adoring Husband and I had our entire cinema to ourselves!

Ours was one of the worst movies that I have ever seen.  Very cheesy.  But I LOVED it anyway.  I adore Johnny Depp.  I could even see it becoming a cult movie in the years to come.  Great old 70s music and excellent costumes.

By the time we arrived home and began preparing dinner, I could feel my sadness dissipating ... finally.  It took such a long time to lift.  There were times during the day, when it almost engulfed me and times when I could push it to the side and pretend that everything was ok.

I wish that looming sadness would leave me alone on family lunch days.  I want to be free on those days to enjoy each moment.

Anyway, tomorrow morning I am going to wake up fresh as a daisy and happy as Larry!  Just watch me!

Nite all.  

A Trivial Day

We played Trivial Pursuit.  What else do you do on a cold, wet, windy public holiday Monday?

I'm sure Adoring Husband knows exactly how many games of Trivial Pursuit or Trivia related games that we have - I'm guessing about 8 to 10 boxes.

Today we played 3 of them - one of them, we continued to play even after we had a winner.

I think we won one game each so the score is tied - I'm pretty sure that in total over the past month, we have won two games each.

The good thing about playing this board game, is that BGWLBH and I can both knit while we play, so we are being creative at the same time as exercising our brain!!

At the end of it all, I passed on the job of cooking dinner to both BGWLBH and Adoring Husband.

Dinner was rump steak, sweet potato and potato chips all cooked on the barbecue and a delicious salad.

After the cleaning up was done by the two of them and not me, we each sat in front of a different television in different rooms to watch different shows lol.

I don't want you to think that our trivia games caused some kind of rift between us, because HONESTLY, we finished the game as friends!!

Everyone else is in bed asleep and as usual, I am the last man standing so I need to share my only two photos for the day and finish up here, so that I can sleep and possibly rise early enough to catch a nice sunrise.

I have morning tea with the girls, lunch with the Chicklet family and then we three are going to see the movie Prometheus in the late afternoon.

I need a good night of sleep to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for my big day!

Nite all.

Sunday Drive

After a brief, but pleasant start to the day at the Seat of Knowledge, we made ourselves beautiful and climbed in the car for our Sunday drive.

The weather started out quite clear.  A few scattered clouds, but nothing dark and looming - until we were about 45 minutes out of town.

The dark clouds closed in and the wind sprung up and some scattered showers passed over us.

Nothing dramatic, but unpredictable enough that we couldn't plan anything too far from the shelter of the car or buildings for protection.

We drove to Woodgate and walked a short path to the beach.  Nothing spectacular there.  The weather guaranteed that the beaches would be deserted, so at least it was quiet and peaceful.

We found the one and only cafe on The Esplanade and got ourselves a coffee, which was the most expensive coffee that we've ever bought - $5 per standard take-away cup.

Adoring Husband tried to get a photo for our flickr challenge without success, so we went for another short drive to Walker's Point, which is almost directly across the river from our little town.

A 15 minute ride on a boat or 1 hour and 20 minutes by car!

By then, the weather was closing in, so I didn't even get a photo across the river, as I'd planned.  It was just too dark and miserable and I didn't want such a gloomy memory.

The problem is that I didn't take even one photo all day!  So now I have no memories of the day at all - except this blog post with a description!

Adoring Husband suggested that we stop in Childers for lunch at our favourite Childers cafe and when we arrived, we were pleased to discover that the little boutique next door was open too!

We ordered lunch, sat Adoring Husband down at the table with our bags and wandered off to fill in time until our meals arrived.

Talk about a little corner of heaven!  Clothes, shoes, bags, jewellery, scarves and all at very reasonable prices!

Unfortunately, I found nothing for myself **insert sad face here** but BGWLB had a fine time and by the time lunch was served, she was feeling very happy with her purchases.

Lunch was lovely.  We left.  The rain came.

We arrived home safe n sound but the day grew colder and wetter, so we all changed into our comfy slobber dog hangin' round the house clothes and spent the afternoon doing our own thing.

BGWLBH knitting while watching dvds in her bedroom.  Adoring Husband watching the football while researching everything to do with camping/caravaning online.  Me, watching football while editing old photos and updating the June Photo a Day challenge.

A lazy afternoon ended with home made Chicken and Vegetable soup for dinner.

A couple of horse-themed photos from our road trip.

Only one week left with BGWLBH, so we'd best make the most of it!

Nite all.

To Market To Market

It was raining as I lay my head upon my pillow last night, so I fell asleep expecting to NOT set up my stall at the markets this morning.

However, even though it was overcast and cold, the rain had stopped by this morning and BGWLBH convinced me to 'have a crack' at the markets.

We began setting up a bit later than usual and BGWLBH used one third of the table for her hand knitted scarves and I had the remaining space for my bracelets, earrings and necklaces.

The SES had set up their breakfast barbecue right beside us, so we expected to get some extra passing traffic and we hoped that would provide some sales.

The weather had obviously frightened some of the regular stall holders away because there were about ten less stalls than usual.  Inside the hall was still full, but outside, the stalls were scattered and sparse.

It was pretty quiet until about 9.30am when people began strolling through the grounds and browsing.

Some locals came by and stopped for a brief chat and a few holiday-makers stopped to look as well, but four hours later, neither of us had sold a thing.

The dark clouds were looming and three black cockatoos flew above us.

The old boys at the Seat of Knowledge had recently told BGWLBH that if you see black cockatoos, it means it's going to rain, so when she saw them flying above us, she gasped and pleaded her case of packing up before the now guaranteed rains came!

We quickly packed everything into the car and then drove via Aussie Hilda's place, where she was having a massive garage sale.  She had more for sale in her driveway and garage, than the whole of the markets at the Community Hall!!

She also had quite a few customers hanging around so we didn't stay long.  She was giving cheek and spinning yarns to her fresh new audience, so we bid our farewells and headed home.

After discussions about a short trip or two that we can make over the next few days, to show BGWLBH some more of our area before she heads home, I did some research online and as long as the weather holds up, we'll be driving to Woodgate and Walker's Point in the next couple of days.

We have a few National Parks in the surrounding area, but unfortunately, the recent wet weather makes them impossible to access, so they have been crossed off the list.

Adoring Husband had a rare afternoon at the pub with his mates, so I took the opportunity to have some quiet time on the couch and play with some old photos, while watching the old movie "Paint Your Wagon".

I have a lot of photos of Kites and Eagles to share with you tonight.

They were all taken on the day that we went fishing.  There must have been a lot of food washed up on the beach, or tossed out by the fishermen from the boat ramp, because the beach was busy with birds of prey.

I didn't have to set up any shots.

Now that I have taken so many shots without setting anything up, I think it's more satisfying to get natural shots, and I can't imagine setting up any shots again in the future - but I never say 'never' lol.

A good Wedge Tailed Eagle shot would be a bit of a dream come true for me.

An American Bald Eagle - well they just take my breath away every time I see footage or a photo of them.  An amazingly beautiful bird.  I wonder if I will ever have the opportunity to get a natural shot of a Bald Eagle?

I am doing the June Photo a Day challenge and just to finish off the theme of birds in this post, here is my photo for yesterday ... themed "6 o'clock".

The markets may have been a financial disappointment, but we still had some fun - even though we had to listen to a young busker sing the same three songs over and over and over - one of them very badly.

Much to BGWLBH's disgust, at the end of the day, he made more money than us!!

Nite all :o)

Giggles for Lunch

The many faces of Chicklet.

She is the biggest slice of cute!!  I love her so much :o)

It was a lovely lunch that we had on the water front today.  Vegan Chickie, Chicklet, BGWLBH and I.

The weather not so pleasant, but inside was very comfortable.

Had a couple of drinks with friends at the Club tonight to welcome one of them home after a month away.

Most enjoyable.

BGWLBH and I plan on selling our wares at the markets tomorrow, but it is currently raining, so the odds are against us ... especially since the weather forecast is for rain all weekend!

Best get some sleep just in case our luck changes.  All those giggles over lunch have worn me out!

Nite all.

My Brain Hurts

The June challenge for our flickr group has been set.

The theme is 'A moving subject taken at 1/6th of a second'

My first thought was "Wow, that's a GOOD one!"

Having tried a few shots today at that shutter speed, I've decided that it SUCKS!!

So BGWLBH is on a mission to do as much research online as she can, to come up with a variety of ideas that we can try over the coming days.

We have a couple of ideas to try tomorrow, because today's attempts were terrible failures!

This is the good thing about The Master's challenges ... we learn a lot from them.  They can be as frustrating as hell, but in the end we learn and we improve.  That's what it's all about.

We spent a long time out and about this morning.  BGWLBH in her new walking shoes and me on the trike.

She got to explore some parts of the town that she hadn't seen before and she got LOTS of exercise.

There is almost always something going on at the Seat of Knowledge.  This Little Pied Cormorant has been hanging around for a couple of mornings now.

This one was Adoring Husband's favourite.

I've been sitting up tonight, hoping to watch Sam Stosur play in the French Open semi-finals, but there has been a rain delay, so I'm off to bed.

I'm hoping to have a Chicklet family afternoon tomorrow, so I don't want to be tired for that!

So I apologise for my short post this evening, but my brain hurts from trying to think of something outstanding for the flickr challenge!

Maybe tomorrow will see some success.

Nite all.

As Exhaustion Sets In

Went to bed at almost midnight last night.

Woke up at 4.22am.  Got out of bed at 5am.  On the road at 6am.

So many roadworks along the way!  It seemed never-ending!

It was a beautiful morning, a little crisp at 7C, but it quickly warmed up with blue sky and sunshine the whole way.

Arrived at Caboolture Train Station carpark at 9am-ish.  We had to park quite a distance from the station and walk there.  We JUST missed the train, so had to wait 30 mins for the next one.

Boarded the train to Fortitude Valley at 9.50am, after Adoring Husband found life saving coffee at a bakery across the road from the station.

Noticed, as the train pulled away from the station, that there were signs everywhere stating "No food or drink allowed on the trains".  So we gulped the coffee down quickly and hid the cups in our back packs!

It took an hour to get to Fortitude Valley, and about 5 minutes before we arrived there, the guards walked onto our carriage and asked for everybody to show proof of their ticket purchases.

We had about an 8 minute wait for the free train to the Exhibition grounds - where the Caravan and Camping Show was being staged.

We handed over our 'complimentary passes' and walked in the direction that they sent us, which just happened to be directly to the 'Jayco' pavillion - and THAT just happened to be the pavillion we specifically came for!

So we checked out the 'Jayco Swift' camper van.  This is the camper trailer that we are going to buy for taking short weekend trips away for our photography.  It's small, practical, reasonably priced and is the correct weight for our car's towing capacity.

This is the point that we should've begun our return trip home.

Firstly, I needed sustenance.  Almost midday and my only intake was a coffee at 9.30am.

So after much searching, we found a hidden cafe upstairs and I had a gluten free steak and salad, which hit the spot and I was recharged and ready to handle anything that Adoring Husband came up with.

Of course he had to do the rounds of the showgrounds to make comparisons with all of the different brands of campervans and camper trailers.

Personally I liked the $99000 caravan - the brand name escapes me right now - and if we were going to travel around Australia for a couple of years, it would be ideal - but way too big and not the slightest bit practical for weekend jaunts!

After a while, it got the better of me and I simply had to get my camera out of the back pack and start snapping away, while Adoring Husband browsed.

Some Wandering Minstrels

Roma St Station

As you can see, I took the opportunity to take a couple of photos for my 104 challenge.

I hadn't been to the Exhibition Grounds since I was about 16 yrs of age, so there were quite a few flash backs and memories flooding in every so often.  I took some photos of the old grand stand and a couple of the buildings that had triggered some memories (which I will share with you when I am less tired!)

Finally, it was time to return home.

As we left the showgrounds, me with camera still in hand, the uniformed woman at the gate asked if we were members of the "Press".  When we replied "No" she proceeded to lecture us about the fact that -

It is illegal to take photos at the show grounds of any event that is occurring, due to copyright laws.

She let me off with a warning!  **Note to self**  Must get myself a fake Press ID!

That was our second illegal act for the day!  And the last .. thank goodness!

The trip home seemed so much longer than the trip there (doesn't it always?).

The traffic was quite heavy on the way home - especially the on-coming traffic.  So many trucks!

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to drop in to see the The Nikonian for coffee, because we were way behind schedule.  Next time for sure!

It has been a very long day and as exhaustion sets in, I can barely hold my eye lids open!

Nite all.

Chicklet for Lunch

Lunch is always a very casual affair on family day.

Between us, there are so many different dietary requirements, that it's just easier to provide something similar to a smorgasbord.

The table covered with lots of different salad fruits and vegetables, beans, cheese, meats, chutneys and relishes with various types of bread.

Every now and then, I'll make a special vegan dish or dessert.  Sometimes a dessert especially for Vegan Chickie.  Mostly, it's standard fare.

... except when BGWLBH gets involved!

"You be my assistant" she states confidently.

Translation: "You be mandrake the magician, have the ability to do 3 things at once while every 30 seconds I will tell you which kitchen utensils and ingredients I need and we will use every kitchen gadget known to mankind in the process."

A large platter of various dips (all home-made) with oven-crispy gluten free bread and gluten free crackers.

Moroccan Hummus
Carrot, Orange, Cumin, Poppy Seed and Sesame Seed dip
Chickpea, Ricotta and Mint dip
Beetroot and Yoghurt dip
Pineapple, Cream Cheese and Chilli dip

A fresh fruit punch with freshly juiced apples, oranges, mandarins, lemons, passionfruit and ginger beer.

A big bowl of roasted sweet potato, potato, cauliflower and walnuts.  A smaller bowl of roasted tomatoes and onions (these were things I had planned for myseld anyway)

On top of all that - mashed avocado, grated carrot, cucumber, tomato, pasta salad, mushrooms, cheese slices, capsicum strips, roast chicken (which we cooked first thing this morning) and ham.

All of this with bread rolls and a french stick fresh from the bakery.

I think we actually worked pretty well as a team.  BGWLBH had specific instructions and directions and orders.  We had everything prepared and all the cleaning up done with about twenty minutes to spare - so we sat back and relaxed until they arrived.

I would have made a "S%@t I forgot to make the pavlova" pavlova for Vegan Chickie, but I bought all the meringues from the bakery on Sunday and they haven't restocked the shelves yet!  Next time :D

I got a few nice shots of Chicklet today.

Tomorrow, Adoring Husband and I are off to Brisbane to check out the Caravan and Camping Expo. Vegan Chickie very conveniently won two tickets so we have free entry!  Thank you my lovely daughter!

I'm hoping we will get to have a quick visit with The Nikonian on the way home too.

I had a lovely Chicklet family lunch today, but I gotta be up before the sparrows in the morning, so I'd best hit the hay.

Nite all.

New Lens

Well, we packed the car with our golf gear and set off, fingers crossed, for a clear drive to golf and with high hopes of a reasonably dry course.

One hundred metres out of town and part of the road was covered in water.  Another hundred metres and more road covered by water.

We looked at each other and said "If it's bad here, it's always much worse nearing Howard.  Let's turn around and give golf a miss this week."

Disappointing.

So after unloading the golf gear, I hopped on my trike and headed off to the bakery for my cuppa.  The baker comes from Howard.  The Baker's wife told me that the road was completely clear except for the two spots coming into town.  Ugh!

Ah well.  Doesn't matter.  The tide was high, the sun was shining, the river was a hive of activity with boaters off to chase Whiting, the birds were singing and the boys at the Seat of Knowledge were in fine form.

On our way home, I received a phone call from Adoring Husband to tell me that my new Canon lens had arrived, so I rushed home to take possession of my wonderful new toy!

My first photo taken with the new lens was of Psychotic Jack ...

Adoring Husband had some chores to do in The Bay, so BGWLBH and I took the opportunity to go fishing on the low tide out on the sand flats.

Of course, I took my camera with me to test out the new lens.

BGWLBH caught a LOT of whiting.  Only one of them was big enough to take home, and even though we strongly considered feeding him to the Eagle, we decided to set him free before we came home.

It was a full moon evening.  5pm the moon was going to rise, so we all headed down to the river.  BGWLBH walking and Adoring Husband and I driving.

The moon was certainly a spectacle to behold!

We have the Chicklet family coming for lunch tomorrow.  Right now, it's heading fast towards 1am, so I'd best get some sleep so that I can play with my baby without dark tired circles under my eyes!

I'll have to attempt some Chicklet shots with my new lens too!

Nite all.

A Little Birthday Joy

Boy!  Did it bucket down last night!  We had about 150ml of rain overnight.

It was still raining when I woke up this morning, so no trike ride and no coffee from the bakery ... I really don't like starting my Sundays without my morning coffee!

Knowing that we had to be at a birthday barbecue at 11.30am, we had a quiet morning at home - me in my usual place in front of the laptop playing with some photos taken yesterday.

Also, for my 104 group in facebook, I set a mini challenge over the weekend with the theme 'Eyes' and SO many photos had been posted, it took a while to go through them and comment.

The group had been a bit quiet and it seemed that motivation was quite low, so I thought we all needed  something different to photograph, that was not too difficult and was accessible to everybody.

I'm pleased to say that the group responded with enthusiasm and have been posting great photos all weekend!

At 11am, I looked at the invitation to this 60th birthday party and found the letters 'BYO'.  I asked Adoring Husband "Does this mean 'bring your own grog' or 'bring your own everything'?"

He decided to phone them to verify.

The verification was this "Just bring your own grog, but your Adoring Wife said she would make a pavlova for dessert".

AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!

On Wednesday night (State of Origin night) at the pub, the Kiwi Queen asked me if I would make one of my famous pavlovas for her party, and I, in a clean and sober state, with great enthusiasm, agreed to do so...

... and then promptly forgot.

As you know, a pavlova is not something that you can throw together in thirty minutes.

I was horrified.  I felt sick.  I walked around the house cursing myself.  Wracking my brain trying to think of something, ANYTHING, that I could quickly put together as a dessert to feed thirty people.

"Take me to Foodworks!" I demanded of Adoring Husband.  Foodworks is the only supermarket in a 20km radius that sells groceries.

"It's too late now" he replied "Just don't worry about it".

"Don't tell me not to worry about it!" I snapped "I HAVE to do something!"

So off we drove to our local shops.

I walked into Foodworks, hoping agains hope that they sold pre-made pavlovas .. but alas it was not to be.

Then I had a brain-wave!

Our local bakery sells big fat worm shaped meringues.  I rushed in there and bought six of them.  Then went back into Foodworks and bought grapes, kiwi fruit, banana, peaches and 600ml of cream.

Adoring Husband dropped me at home while he went to the drive-thru to get some beer for the party.

I rushed inside and took my big glass rectangular baking dish out.  Crushed and crumbled the meringue into the bottom.  Whipped the cream and poured it over the top.  BGWLBH helped me quickly chop up the fruit and added passionfruit and mandarin pieces that we already had at home.

This was the result ...

I called it my "S&@t I forgot to make the pavlova" pavlova.

When I left the party, there was only one small corner of it left in the dish!  I swear to God, I do my best work under pressure!

It was a really lovely party.  A couple of the guys brought their guitars and we had sing-alongs plus Madam Butterfly, who is a professional singer, brought her gear too and set up in the corner.  She sang her usual sweet melodies for the first half of the party.

The food was good (especially the pav lol) and everyone was in a happy frame of mind.  There was lots of catching up to do and I really enjoyed myself.  Even took a few happy snaps.

The Birthday Girl

The sparkling Woman of Many Talents

We were home by 5pm and I whipped up a chicken stir-fry for dinner.

Woman of Many Talents and I are hoping to play golf in the morning, but after 150ml of rain, we might have to turn around and come home!  We can but try!

So after a little birthday joy, I think I can hear my pillow calling my name.

Nite all.

Lucky, lucky me!

We got away a little late for fishing this morning.

Our original plan was to fish the one hour before and the hour after high tide, but by the time we got bait and then bought our take-away coffee from the bakery, we were more than hour late.

Within 5 minutes, I had caught a Whiting, which I placed in the bucket so that I could offer it to the eagle or kite later.  BGWLBH caught a toad fish, which seems to be her special talent.

A light shower scuttled over us, but I had brought rain ponchos, so I slipped one on and I covered my camera bag with it's rain cover and Adoring Husband put the golf umbrella up over the trike basket to keep everything as dry as possible.

Further up the beach was a couple sitting on folding chairs on the water's edge and fishing.  Above them, I noticed a White Breasted Eagle and a Brahminy Kite, but the couple were oblivious.

I grabbed my camera and BGWLBH grabbed the whiting that I had set aside for this perfect opportunity.  She told me where she was going to place it, so that I could set my camera focus on the spot and wait for one of the big birds to swoop.

As soon as she put the fish on the sand, a seagull ran forward, picked up the whiting and swallowed it whole in one gulp!

BGWLBH threw her head back and burst out laughing, while I cursed at my lost opportunity!

So I began walking up the beach with my camera, watching the birds so that I would be ready if they did anything interesting.

I noticed that the White Breasted Eagle was coming down lower and looking at something on the beach, so I raised my camera, checked through the view finder and found focus.  As he got lower to the sand, I pressed for multi-shots and took about six shots in a row.

The couple in the chairs were totally unaware of what was happening right in front of them!

My heart was pounding very fast knowing that I had taken a good series of shots, but unsure if the timing was good enough to capture 'that' moment.

This is the moment I was hoping for ...

It's still not perfect.  I think the exposure is a little off, but I'm happy because it's my best so far!  This is my new favourite bird ... he is spectacular!

As you can imagine, I didn't get much fishing done!

As excited as I was about the hundreds of shots that I took this morning, I wasn't able to go home and look at them on my monitor until much later, because Adoring Husband suggested that we go to Howard for the monthly markets.

The Howard markets are usually HUGE, but some short showers this morning scared more than half of the usual stall holders away and it wasn't half as impressive.

I got a nifty little folding stool that is so light, I can carry it on my camera back pack, for when I want to go sit in the middle of the bush to photograph birds.  It was second hand and only cost $5.  Bargain!

After the markets, we drove around Howard to show BGWLBH the town.  I asked Adoring Husband to find the cemetery because I'd heard stories about it and I was interested in seeing some of the old headstones.

We found it hidden on the outskirts of town down a dirt track through some bushland.

As we were leaving, we spotted some little Red Backed Fairy Wrens, so Adoring Husband stopped the car in the middle of the dirt track and I spent about 30 minutes trying to get some photos, while Adoring Husband watched Dr Who on his iphone and BGWLBH read magazines in the back seat!

I was pretty happy with this because I've been trying, for about a year, to get a decent shot of the red backed fairy wren.

So it's been quite a successful day with the camera.  I captured two of the birds that I've been stalking for about a year and we've spent a rainy afternoon inside all snug and comfortable, watching the football and now the French Open Tennis.

Home made chicken and vegetable soup for dinner - perfect rainy day food!

I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds ... because today has been a lucky day for lucky me!

Nite all