Day 28 in a Year of my Life

After a very full day, we returned to the caravan park at about 4pm and there was a party well in progress at one of the cabins diagonally across the road behind us.

Much laughter and hilarity was floating across the park and settling all around us.

We left to go out for dinner at 5.30pm and returned at 7.30pm.

The party was still in progress.  Laughter and hilarity continued - one woman in particular with a very distinctive and loud laugh.

It is now 9.40pm and the party continues still.  The laughter is louder and the wind is not in our favour.  The language is now turning a lighter shade of blue.

I am curious as to how long this party continues, considering the number of signs posted at various parts of the park requesting that we all consider other patrons, by keeping the noise to a minimum and making sure social gatherings don't go too late.

However, aside from the language beginning to creep in to the conversations, tonight I am grateful for happy laughter.

The happy laughter that rings out loud indicating that everyone is having a good time.  The laughter that sounds like friendships are being cemented.  The socially happy laughter that makes you wish that you were invited to the party.

People having a good time and being together.  BE HAPPY ... that's what it's all about!

Nite all.

Day 27 in a Year of my Life

Sitting here with the last dregs of a glass of wine, watching Mama Mia on TV, after a disappointing sunset shoot on the beach with 'The Other One' and 'The Bird Whisperer' from our flickr group.

Still, we got to spend a very pleasant hour or more over coffee beforehand. where we caught up with all sorts of goings on and solved a few problems of the world.

Even though the sunset was a fizzer, it was nice on the beach in the fresh air and listening to the waves crashing and watching the dogs chasing each other and feeling the wind in my hair.

We all scattered over the beach trying to find a good spot in preparation for the sky changing colour, but alas, it never happened!

So we parted company on dark, all looking forward to catching up again in about a month for our Christmas break up.

Earlier in the day, Adoring Husband and I visited the Ginger Factory and Nutworks and the Chocolate Factory, where we stocked up on all things sugary and delicious.

Fudge, nougat and macadamia nuts for dinner tonight - dreadful, but we forgot to pick something up for dinner.

We had a cooked breakfast and then Saltnpepper Squid with salad for lunch at the Ginger Factory, so a little sweetness for dinner, instead of a cooked meal won't hurt for a day.

Here is another photos from last night's sunset shoot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rqqzy/8209091039/in/photostream/

Tonight, I am grateful for cool breezes on the coast.

It was quite warm today and threatened to be a muggy night, but the breeze has sprung up and is delicious and cooling as it sweeps through the open windows of the campervan.  I love the sound of the wind swishing through the palm leaves of the trees behind us.

It will be a very nice way to fall asleep tonight.

Nite all.

Day 26 in a Year of my Life

After I return from holidays, I will rethink my blogging options.

Google has decided that it will cost me $10 per month if I wish to continue posting photos.

If I'm going to pay money, then perhaps there are better options out there.

I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, we moved towns today.  Only twenty minutes away from Mapleton, which is where we stayed for the last five nights.

This is a lovely park.  Clean and spacious and we got a site right by the amenities, so that I don't have to run far to the loo in the morning!

Nice clean showers and a full sized mirror so now I can see how I look each day!  It's been most disconcerting walking out the door and not knowing whether I'm presentable or not!

This afternoon, the Nikonian picked me up and we got coffee, sat on the beach and chatted, then headed off to Moffat Beach to meet up with Mellylicious to try for a sunset.

It was a bit of a fizzer, but there was a moment when some colour came into the sky and the clouds looked a little interesting.

It didn't matter.  Great company of course and it was fabulous to catch up with the girls.

I've only posted one photo so far to flickr and MAY post one more later, but here is the link ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rqqzy/8207457849/in/photostream/

Trying for a reasonably early night tonight.

Today I am grateful for chocolate.  I don't have a photo of it, but it brings so much happiness to so many and as I sit here at (almost) 11pm typing out this post .. I am enjoying a row of Cadbury Hazelnut chocolate as it melts in my mouth.  Heavenly.

I would also quickly like to make special mention to Maleny Dairy again.

Adoring Husband and I tasted their full cream milk today.  People from our generation remember what milk tasted like when we were at school?  Oh the memories that came flooding back.  Absolutely delicious.

Tonight we had some of their cream on a big fruit salad of blueberries, raspberries, mango and banana.  It is just the way that cream should be - thick, creamy and almost the colour of butter.  It's enough to consider moving to the area!

Nite all.

Day 25 in a Year of my Life

Today had a cow, a nikonian and a waterfall and 6 million steps.

Adoring Husband was hanging out to visit the Maleny Dairy and do the Factory Tour **yawn** this morning.

He and about 6 other children under the age of 4 all enjoyed playing with the animals, learning about the milking machines, inspecting the processing line and then tasting the yoghurt, flavoured milk and custard.

He even stepped forward to have warm cow's milk squirted from the udder into his hand so that he could taste fresh milk.

I remember doing that as a child and turning my nose up then, so I stayed at the back of the small crowd.  No thanks :)

I did, however, taste the strawberry yoghurt, strawberry milk and the custard.  It was all very tasty.  It's not that 'strawberry' is my favourite ... but it was gluten free and the chocolate was not.

Unfortunately, they don't distribute further north than Gympie, so we won't be able to access this deliciousness after we get home.

After the dairy, we met the Nikonian at Montville for lunch.  It was a most enjoyable afternoon.  Good food, good laughs, good company.  She makes me laugh.  Crazy lady.

On the way home, it was about 3.15pm, so we decided to do the Kondililla Falls walk.

Big mistake :/

It was a long walk with lots of steps ... I mean LOTS of steps.

We got to the lookout for the falls and looked down to where the rest of the track would take us ... which was a LONG way down and decided that if we went all the way down, we might not make it back up again!

So we turned around and climbed all those gozillion steps back up the hill, with many stops along the way.  I wasn't sure if it was my heart or my lungs that wanted to explode out of my chest!!

Narrow winding tracks, some uphill and some flat and some even sloping downward.  The tracks sloping uphill just seemed very steep and never ending.

After all of that, I sent a text to the Nikonian telling her what we did.  She thought it was hilarious and told us that if we had done the complete circuit, instead of going back up the steps, it wouldn't have been such a hard slog coming back.

Ugh!!

I bet she is still laughing!

I think it would have been easier if I wasn't carrying 10 kg of camera gear in my back pack.  Not to mention a certain number of extra kg that I am carrying around my mid section.

Some Underwater World photos from yesterday ... cl

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rqqzy/8204960237/in/photostream/  (click on the link to see them in flickr.  Google won't let me add any more photos.

So today, I am grateful for having lungs and a heart strong enough to withstand such self abuse!  I'm grateful that I was able to slowly, but surely make it back to the car without collapsing lol.  I am grateful to be feeling surprisingly good tonight - as if the walk/climb was somehow cleansing.

It was a beautiful walk.

Nite all.

Day 24 of a Year in my Life

Underwater World = AWESOME!

I am truly convinced that I was a marine animal/mammal in a previous life.

I feel most alive when I am near the water.

Today, walking through the underwater tunnel was one of the more emotional experiences in my life.  I struggled to hold back tears for much of it and I just didn't want to leave.

It made me feel so safe and secure, and brought such overwhelming joy, like it's where I was meant to be.

It's so weird that I am too afraid to swim in the ocean because of my fear of sharks, yet I felt so comfortable there today.

MAYBE!!!  Whatever I was in my previous life, got eaten by a shark!!  Ha!  lolol

I took heaps of photos today, but I'm saving them for another day, when I have time to go through all 350 of them properly.  I'll have so many photos to go through when I get home - you will be inundated!

Tomorrow we are off to the Maleny Dairy in the morning and then into Maloolaba for some window shopping and lunch.

Today, I am grateful for new educational experiences.  Even after 52 years of living on this earth, there is still so much to learn, to see and to do.

Adoring Husband and I learnt a LOT today.

Nite all.

Day 23 in a Year of my Life

Today, instead of "I am grateful for ...",

I am grateful THAT ... my legs held me up for the entire five hours that we were at Aussie Zoo today in 33C heat.

I haven't been through all the photos yet, so there will be more to come over the coming weeks.

Exhaustion has set in and I my bed beckons.

Nite all.

Day 22 in a Year of my Life

Well, if you read my post yesterday, I mentioned that the storms that were forecast, seemed to have disappeared.

I was wrong!

The news on tv showed 3 huge storm cells travelling across south east Queensland.

One of them caused major damage to areas of Brisbane and the winds were quite frightening to watch.

We looked at the radar on the Bureau of Meteorology website and watched as the nasty red and orange storm cells moved closer to where we were.

We were feeling very vulnerable in our little campervan but we made everything as secure as possible and as the storm got closer, we climbed into bed and waited it out.

It was LOUD and when we turned out the lights, the lightning show through the windows of the van was spectacular!  Then the rains came and it rained and rained and rained all night long for about 12 hours - which was also loud on the canvas that covered our beds.

Thank goodness, the winds never eventuated, so we were safe in our little camper, although this morning in the light of day, we discovered that our van leaks!

Adoring Husband informs me that the leak could affect the electrics of the van if we aren't careful ... so we will be careful!

Eventually, this morning, the rain stopped, so we decided to head off to explore some of the area.

We started at Montville where we had a delicious morning tea at The Edge Restaurant and then I did some clothes shopping in one of my favourite shops.

Lemon curd and macadamia butterfly cake - YUM!

We also visited The Master at his gallery, where he showed me some of his lightning photos from the night before.  Some people are brave enough to stand out in a storm to get the spectacular shot.  I admit that I am a bit scared of lightning, so I'm not sure if I will ever get THAT shot.

Then we had lunch at Poets Restaurant.

Crispy Duck Cake

Adoring Husband said he couldn't tell the difference between a salmon patty and this.  I think it looks and it smelled pretty darned good!

I did a little more clothes shopping and then the rains came (again) and even though Adoring Husband really wanted to go to the Maleny Cheese Factory, he drove me to two lookouts to try to get photos of lightning as the storms built over the mountains.

We didn't see any lightning.  We heard LOTS of thunder.  We watched the dark clouds building and moving quickly over the mountains.

Then we went to the Cheese Factory :D

This afternoon, we have experienced more rain, more storms with lightning and thunder.  Thankfully, no wind.

Today, I am grateful to Mother Nature for providing a spectacular couple of days worth of weather, and for withholding those nasty winds from our end of town.

We live to play another day.

We will attempt Australia Zoo tomorrow!  Let's hope the weather will be kind!

Nite all.

Did Ya Miss Me???

I've had no internet access for almost a day!  Who knew I would feel so lost without it?!  I really disliked missing out on updating my blog.

Cambroon Caravan and Camping Park.

http://www.cambrooncaravanpark.com.au/

The most deceptive website that I've experienced so far.

The only thing I saw that was true to this site, is the deer, which wander around aimlessly behind a two metre high, poorly constructed, very old chain wire fence that spoils the landscape with it's ugly haphazard meandering over the entire front section of the park.

I didn't see any cows or horses or owls or snakes.  I didn't see any signs directing me to these 'supposed' highlights of the park either.

There are six power poles (from memory), each with 3 power lines strung from them, which criss cross above the park like a noughts and crosses game.

The barbecues and picnic tables are so old and decrepit that I didn't even attempt to sit at them or use them.  They looked like they might collapse with one touch.

The amenities were 'supposedly' cleaned when when we arrived, I am doubtful.  Only one working shower and toilet in the old green besser block building.  The hot water was turned on after we arrived.

The shower cubicle had timber swinging bar room style doors into it, with a wide enough gap between the doors to give a nice show if anyone cared to look.  From there you stepped through a glass screen door to the actual shower.  I don't know how well the shower worked because I didn't go beyond the glass screen.

I didn't see any cabins that looked like the one on the website.

The ones I saw in the distance looked very old and not well maintained from where I stood - almost like broken shanties.

Street noise was very bad where we were parked - even though there was not a lot of traffic, when it did come, it was loud!  Especially the motor bikes - there were about 40 motor bikes parked outside the Kenilworth Pub when we went past and Kenilworth is only about 5 minutes from Cambroon, so they were coming and going during our 14 hour stay.

It appeared that the slopes near our camp area had been sprayed for weeds because there were lots of large dead areas amid the green grassy hills.

There was a dam enclosed with the sad old chain wire fence too, but it was covered in a reddish orange scum that moved with the wind across the top of the water.

No TV reception, no radio reception, no internet, no phone.  Take a CD player if you want to listen to music.

I guess if you want to have a weekend of roughing it, full of outdoor activities and no contact with the outside world, then this might be the place to visit.

The lawns are mowed nicely - it's tidy.

The potential is there to be everything that the website promises, but it needs a lot of work.

When we arrived, at first 'rustic' glance, I said to Adoring Husband "I like it!", but the longer we were there, the bad vibes really pushed their way under my skin and I really coudn't wait to leave.

We had booked for two nights, but we lasted 14 hours - began packing to leave at 5am.

That's how I saw Cambroon Caravan and Camping Park.

Looking forward to exploring Maleny, Montville, Glasshouse Mts, Beerwah and any other little hidy hole that we can find in this area over the next couple of days.

Had a delicious breakfast at Monica's Cafe in Maleny this morning and then lunch at the Mapleton Tavern today ... beautiful views, although a bit too hazy to get the best of it today.

The weather has been threatening all day, but we've had no rain and even the storms that were forecast, seem to have disappeared.

We've had a nice quiet day listening to the radio, catching up on my blog and fb.  Gathering our energy ready to start playing 'tourist' tomorrow.

Yesterday was disappointing.

A little stop along the way.

Today, all is right with my world again and we are looking forward to a great day tomorrow.

Day 19 of a Year in my Life

It's been a huge day for me today.

A few hours with my precious little Chicklet.

Another delicious lunch at Thomas Street Eatery.

Playing at the park with Chicklet.

Meeting up with my little brother and his non girlfriend for afternoon drinks.

A couple of hours rest and then off to dinner at Fratellinis ...

http://fratellini.com.au/

... where the Bare-chested Chef and Mike, our waiter for the evening, served us a three course meal 'to die for'!!  My favourite was dessert 'semifreddo'.

We had an antipasto entree which, among other delightful bites, had THE MOST DELICIOUS prosciutto I've ever tasted!

My Quail Risotto main meal was delicious and I know that the others loved their meals, by the moans and groans of delight that were floating all around the table.

Dessert had everyone feeling simply orgasmic and my brother had double espresso coffee afterwards that he said was the best coffee that he had tasted for a long time (and he is a coffee connoisseur!).

The service was excellent.  Mike was friendly and efficient and knowledgeable, offering very good descriptions of the meals and making some excellent recommendations.

The restaurant itself had a lovely bohemian atmosphere with drapes and cushions and candles and lamps, fairylights and potted trees, mismatched and colourful dining furniture.

It was quite busy there tonight with lots of friendly happy groups eating and drinking and enjoying the evening.

Another highly recommended eating place for you to discover at the Sunshine Coast!

We dined outside - terrible photo taken in the dark with my phone - but we were having fun!

So, tonight I am grateful for good food, good wine and good company - food is almost always the basis of wonderful memories of gatherings with family and friends.

Nite all.  

Day 18 of a Year in my Life

Had a wonderful day today catching up with the family and playing in the park with little Chicklet.  She's a crazy girl!

Did some shopping at Eumundi Markets ... always fun :)

Had a most delicious lunch at 'Thomas Corner Eatery'.  I hesitate to post their web address because I don't want it to get too busy there but how can I not share something that absolutely deserves to be shared.

http://www.thomascorner.com.au/food.html

The food is wonderful.  I highly recommend the Slow Roasted Duck on the lunch menu and then if you have room for dessert ... the dark chocolate mousse.

The staff are very friendly and efficient and the atmosphere is delightful ... so good that I even forgot that we were situated on a busy corner!

So today, I am grateful for good food, good company, beautiful holiday weather and a surprisingly comfortable bed in our campervan!!

I am grateful for a fabulous day two of our holiday, even though it has left me absolutely exhausted.  I should have worked on my fitness before we came away ... too much time on the couch at home!

Nite all  

Day 17 of a Year in my Life

We are here at the Sunshine Coast, all set up in our campervan, after quite a stressful drive today.

Lots of traffic on the road.  Especially trucks!  A couple of stops at roadworks, which slowed us down a little.

Learner drivers, wide loads, speeding cement mixers, slow caravans  ugh.  I'll be glad to get off the highway on our next leg and stick to the inland roads where there is less traffic.

I got to spend a few hours with Chicklet this afternoon, while Adoring Husband went for a drive looking for a caravan park to stay in.  He then set the van up and was able to set up the awning for the first time.  It was all looking lovely by the time I arrived :D

Chicklet was just adorable today and I enjoyed every second that I spent with her.  Not a single photo was taken because I was too busy enjoying her company.  Can't wait to see her again tomorrow.

Here is our camper all set up in the caravan park.

We hope to get up for sunrise tomorrow morning to witness the lunar eclipse as the sun rises over the ocean.  We'll see how motivated we are tomorrow!

After such a stressful drive and then a few hours with Chicklet, the energiser bunny, I am in for an early night.

So far this bed seems comfortable enough!  I'll report back tomorrow.

Today, I am grateful to have arrived at our destination safe n sound and also grateful that I get to spend some time with the family before we head off on Friday.

Nite all.

Day 16 in a Year of my Life

I signed up to NaNoWriMo.

National Novel Writing Month.  http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard

I signed up yesterday and have written 1500 words so far.  I don't expect to complete the task (50,000 words!!!) ... aside from me being the Queen Procrastinator, we will be travelling for the rest of this month, so I'm not sure how often I will be able to write along the way.

I'll have a good attempt though!

I haven't written mine on the site - because I didn't realise that I was supposed to!  I have mine written on my iPad, but I guess I can transfer it across later.

One more sleep and we're off on the big campervan trek!

I hope that somewhere along the way, during our trek to 'nowhere in particular', I get a vastly better photo of a natural waterfall, than this one.

Tonight I am grateful to have the kind of life that allows me to share little adventures like this one with Adoring Husband.

I am grateful to be able to create new memories that we can look back on, in years to come, and have the perfect images from our photographic journey to peruse and ponder.

Need to get some sleep in preparation for a happy travelling day tomorrow - first stop is to visit my little Chicklet!!  Yay!!

Nite all.

Day 15 of a Year in my LIfe

My river and it's beaches at high tide and low tide, at sunrise and sunset, with blue skies and clouds.

I am grateful to be living so close that I can get to my river in a matter of minutes.

I am grateful for the wonderful energy that I feel when I am near it.

I am grateful for the natural wonders that it provides with it's aquatic life and bird life.

I am grateful for the ever changing colours it can provide in just one single day.

Nite all.

Day 14 in a Year of my Life

Oops, I forgot to put the correct title to my last two posts!  Ah well ... catch-up time.

Another short one tonight.

I am oh so grateful to witness this for the second year in a row and hope to experience it for many years to come.  This, apparently, is the 7th year in a row that these Tawnies have nested in the same tree.

I am so in love with these gorgeous little creatures.

They are so curious and inquisitive, that as I walk around the tree to find different angles to photograph them, they shuffle across the nest and around Mum and lean over the nest to watch me.

Just as I go to photograph one of them, the other pops his/her head into the picture.

They had me giggling this morning as I tried to trick them and their cute little faces would appear from nowhere.

**swoon**

So this is what I am grateful for today and I will miss them so much when I go away for two weeks!

Nite all.

Holiday? What holiday?

Well, we have the car, but it's still not ready!

It still requires weather shields, a roof rack, a reversing camera and the correct tow bar - and probably other things that escape me right now.

Hopefully, we will be on our way by Tuesday or Wednesday next week!

Right now I'm tired and simply want to share one thing with you ...

Surely EVERYBODY knows and loves Rick!

Nite all.

To Quote 'Price is Right' ...

IT'S A NEWWWW CARRRRR!!!!!

... and here is my rant that I posted in facebook.  It doesn't even contain all of the facts or all of my complaints, but you get the idea.

WARNING - RANT BEGINS HERE

If you want to buy a new car, DON'T go through Fraser Coast Auto Centre in Hervey Bay.

The contract had 27th October as delivery date. Have been promised two different dates since then. Fourth promised date was yesterday. Caught the bus into town today and spent 7 hours waiting for them to finish adding everything. The guy guaranteed that it would be ready (because there is only one bus back home, so if we didn't take it, we would be stuck in town). Car wasn't ready and we took it anyway at 5pm.

They've put the wrong tow bar on it. Still no weather shields or roof rack or reversing camera, among other things.

I've lost count of the number of lies that the salesman has told. I've lost count of the number of phone calls that haven't been returned and the number of 'let me call you back in 5 minutes' calls that never eventuated.

The car still has to go back tomorrow to get everything else fitted (what do you reckon the chances are that we still don't get satisfaction?).

Our holiday was supposed to start today. pffft.

... BUT DON'T GET ME STARTED!!!

Thank you for listening :D



I've sent Suzuki a long detailed message via their facebook page, but I could only do it privately, not publicly.  Waiting for their response.

I don't generally like to use my blog as a soapbox.  This is usually my happy place!  But I announced that I would use all means at my fingertips to spread the word and that includes all social networking sites, blogs, emails etc etc etc.

End Rant

On a happier note, I met a lovely girl from Frankfurt today!

On an impulse, during my arduous wait for the car, I decided to have a pedicure.

In the seat beside mine, was a lovely girl who was visiting Australia, for the first time, from Frankfurt in Germany.

She has already been here for a month and has visited Sydney (disappointing for her) and Melbourne (a pleasant surprise for her) and she is heading to Cairns tonight on the bus and plans to go as far as Cape Tribulation.

I really enjoyed talking to her and she explained how 'quiet' Australia is with it's vast size and small population of 23 million people, compared to Germany, which is just a bit larger than Australia's state of Victoria, and has a population of 82 million!

That is a fact that's difficult to comprehend!

She talked about how lucky our country is.  The beautiful landscapes, the amazing food, the friendly, happy people, the wide open spaces, the healthy lifestyle, the great public transport system that takes us outside of metropolitan areas, our freedom and our work ethic.

So, today, I am grateful to be living in Australia, the lucky country.

Nite all.

Day 11 in a Year of my Life

This will be a short post tonight.

I start my day by the river every morning at the Seat of Knowledge with my boys.

They are always happy and smiling and ready for a laugh.  It's my favourite way to start the day, before I go riding off with my camera looking for photographic opportunities.

Today I am grateful for my happy smiling boys who help me start my day with a smile.

Nite all.

Day 10 in a Year in my Life

Food.  I'm not sure if I'm classed as a foodie, just because I love food.  There may be a more derogatory term for it lol.

My favourite food is seafood, in particular, prawns and crabs.  Unfortunately, I have developed an allergy to some fish and also to my absolute favourite, Tasmanian scallops, so I have to be careful when ordering seafood in restaurants.

I am also gluten intolerant, and now I miss some other favourite foods, such as freshly baked bread, apple pies, battered fish from the local cafe, Tim Tams among many more.

You'll notice that they are all fairly unhealthy foods, so it's probably a good thing that I can no longer eat them.

I love fresh tropical fruits like mangoes, peaches, pineapples and pawpaw.  Any fruit 'in season' is pretty delicious.

I love trying different restaurants and eating quality meals made with love by talented chefs who love what they do.  My son-in-law is one of those :D and you can feel the love in his delicious creations.

I love sharing a good meal with friends and family, whether it be a barbecue in the back yard, a picnic at the park, a dinner party at a friend's house, a gathering at a cafe/restaurant or a lady's day at a bistro.

I love to eat Adoring Husband's cooking, because not only is he a good cook, but his presentation skills are pretty darned fabulous too.

I love to share nibbly platters with visitors that overflow with cheeses and deli meats and fresh fruit and pates and dips and crackers.  Always nice with beer and wine.

I love delicious desserts.  Sweet, spongy, creamy, fruity, sugary, chocolaty, cold or hot yummy desserts.

I love morning teas with hot quality coffees, lattes or cappuccinos.  Even a nice pot of tea.  No more cakes, pastries or tarts for me, but there are some delicious gluten free accompaniments available now.

When Adoring Husband goes away for a few days, I like to lock myself in my house with bags of junk food.  Crisps, blocks of chocolate, lollies, ice creams etc.  I can go a whole day without eating one healthy morsel!

I love pavlova.  I make a mean pavlova.

I love Sunday roast.  Lamb is my favourite, but pork with a crunchy crackling will win me too.

I love mashed potato with raw onion chopped finely and added to it.  Gravy poured over the top is also delicious.

I love a good salsa made with avocado, tomato, cucumber, onion, capsicum and lemon juice.

When I'm sick, I love a home-made spicy creamy chicken and roasted vegetable soup.  I make a mean spicy creamy chicken and roasted vegetable soup.  I like to make it when my friends are sick too.

I love chicken and vegetable stir fries with noodles.

I love Adoring Husband's mixed salads with roasted pine nuts.

I love popcorn at the movies.

I love to make freshly squeezed fruit juice for breakfast.

So, today, I am grateful that I have all types of food available to me, ranging from fresh healthy organic goodness to the most disgusting junk food.  I am grateful that I can afford this extravagance.  I am grateful that the food I eat keeps me healthy and strong (most of the time).

Nite all.

Day 9 in a Year of my Life

I love the ocean!  I love rivers.  I love lakes.  I love water.

Tidal waters are my favourite.

Being near water, fills me with energy and hope and motivation.

For 22 yrs, I lived 6 hours from the ocean.  I didn't like it.

Whenever I had holidays that brought me to the coast, I could feel the energy building in me, as I got closer to the water.

It was a physical feeling of happiness and light.

It wasn't just about being on holidays, because we all know that holidays bring you happiness and light!!  It was about being close to the ocean.  I need to be close to water.  Close enough to see it every day.

When I travel inland, I can physically feel the energy slowly seeping out of my body.

I love the smell of the fresh salt sea air as it blows in my hair and over my skin.

I love the contrasting blues of the sky and the deep oceanic waters on a clear sunny day.

I love the soft sound of rippling waves rushing over the sandy beach, as well as the sound of full pipeline waves crashing one after the other, hard on the shore.

I love the feel of soft sand between my toes and also the feel of my feet sinking into the sand as the waves wash around my ankles.

I love collecting shells as I stroll along the beach.

I love the sound of seagulls calling out as they fight for morsels that wash on shore.

I love the sight and sound of the long beach grasses blowing in the wind along the sand dunes.

I love the sound of dogs barking as they race along the beach in front of their owners chasing sticks or balls or birds.

I love climbing over the rocks and exploring rock pools at low tide.

I love watching the colonies of soldier crabs scamper over the flats and then tunnel silently into the sand when they sense danger.

I love to see young people sitting in groups on their beach towels, listening to music, drinking their sodas, laughing and soaking up the vitamin D.

I love to see families on the beach, flying kites, building sand castles, doing cartwheels, writing messages in the sand with sticks and being 'together'.

I love to see old couples sitting in their fold up chairs, with coffee flasks beside them, and wearing big hats as they sit with their fishing rods placed strategically in rod holders in front of them.

I love to see young couples waking up in their panel vans or combi vans on the beach front, climbing out and stretching as they lift their faces to the morning sunlight.

I love to see joggers and walkers leaving their footprints in the sand as the dawn light creeps over the horizon.

I love the sight of a storm building over the ocean as the dark clouds loom and the thunder rolls across the sea.

I love to sit on the bench seat overlooking the beach and watch the world go by.

The list goes on and on.

So today, I am grateful to be living in a beachside community, close enough to the water that I can reach the beach in a 5 minute trike ride and enjoy all that it has to offer.

Nite all.



  

Day 8 in a Year of my Life

If someone had told me, ten years ago, that I would be a keen bird watcher in my future, I would have laughed in their face!

My first pet was a budgie named Sooty (my dog and my cat were also named Sooty).

Later, when I was about 5 or 6, I had a pet galah that roamed freely around the house and was trained to do it's 'business' on the toilet seat.  I don't remember his name.

When my kids were little, we briefly had a pet Peach Face, but it didn't last very long.

It's not that I didn't like birds.  They just didn't interest me really.

Since I found photography, I've become a bit passionate about birds.  They are beautiful creatures and I love all types, from the tiny little Honey Eaters, to the colourful Bee Eaters and Fairy Wrens, to the bigger raptors such as Owls, Kites and Eagles.

Even plain old boring ducks pique my interest, and I love to photograph any bird that I can get close to.

The last twelve to eighteen months has been a real learning curve for me with birds and I love that I have a few people in my flickr group who are keen bird watchers and whom I can call upon to learn more about the birds that I sometimes find.

Last year I was told about the Tawny Frogmouths who had been nesting for 6 yrs in a row in the same tree in our town, so I went looking for them and found three chicks in the nest.

This is last years photo ...

... and this year, there appears to be just one chick ...

I didn't even realise it had hatched because it blends in with it's mother's/father's feathers until it opens it's eyes.  I've been watching and waiting for weeks and missed it altogether, because the nest is quite high in the tree, so it's difficult to see much.

This little fellow seems quite curious and he leans over the nest to watch me below.

I've named him 'Pookie'.

So today, I am grateful for all of the wonderful and beautiful birdlife that Mother Nature has to offer and for the education I've received in the past 18 months as I've discovered new birds in my photographic travels.

It just goes to show, it's never too late to learn.

Nite all.