Another day of storms .. but not here.
Bubbles has been without power for a few hours after three severe storms in less than 24 hours down in Sydney.
Vegan Chickie had to have sandbags delivered by the SES when the first severe storm brought so much heavy rain in such a short time, that her back yard flooded and the water was lapping at her back door. Her house was struck by lightning, a light globe exploded and her new modem was fried in the incident.
My sister, in Blackwater, had a massive storm approach from the west, which then split in two and skirted the town. This has happened two afternoons in a row now. The first afternoon, the storm split in two, skirted the town and then rejoined after it passed!
There is a storm passing over us as I type this, but it is not bad one. There is some severe looking weather moving towards us from the north at the moment, and it looks like Gladstone is getting hit.
With all the storms about, the weather is not cooling down at all. The rain just makes it steamier and more humid than ever. There are mushrooms growing in our back yard.
Adoring Husband has been on standby all day and was expecting to be called into The Bay to help with the clean up after the damaging storm there.
One man died and two people were struck by lightning in The Bay last night.
I triked down to the river late this morning. I didn't plan on going there, but as I got closer to the turn for the shops, I noticed something in the sky. It was a beautiful BIG white bellied sea eagle soaring low on the strong winds barely at tree height and right on the river bank.
Unfortunately, I have not been carrying my camera with me every day, as I once did, so I couldn't capture it's beauty. Instead I rode to the river path to sit and watch it in all it's glory. Sometimes, I would follow it along the river until it stopped to float in the sky again, when I would stop to observe for a while.
It was amazing and beautiful and perfect and I'm kind of happy that I didn't have my camera because it meant that I could really be in the moment.
After a visit to the butcher and supermarket, I came home to do very little. I cooked lunch and dinner, but otherwise a lazy day, which I enjoyed very much.
I'm watching the women's Australian Open tennis final right now and the German girl Kerber is currently beating Serena Williams, which is a big surprise .. however the game isn't over yet and Williams has a habit of coming back from behind!
It may be an early night for me tonight.
Nite all.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Stormy Weather
After 24 hours of warnings, the storms finally hit tonight.
They hit hard and they hit fast and they're still hitting four hours later.
There has been a fatality in Hervey Bay at the caravan park in Scarness. I understand that a man died after suffering head injuries when a tree branch fell on him.
A building on Main Street lost it's roof which led to damage inside the building.
There are power lines down on Denmans Camp Road outside the Girl Guide Hut and thousands of homes have lost power in Hervey Bay.
We had 4 hours of thunder and lightning and wind and rain and now it has suddenly gone very very quiet, but I don't think it's over for the night. There is more weather coming from the north.
Thankfully, there have been no call outs in our town for emergency services.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just our area that suffered. Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney and Brisbane all got ravaged by storms this afternoon and evening.
30,000 homes lost power in Sydney.
I've seen photos of the Esplanade at Scarness and there are trees down and the road is covered with debris.
I think it's safe for me to go to bed now.
Nite all.
They hit hard and they hit fast and they're still hitting four hours later.
There has been a fatality in Hervey Bay at the caravan park in Scarness. I understand that a man died after suffering head injuries when a tree branch fell on him.
A building on Main Street lost it's roof which led to damage inside the building.
There are power lines down on Denmans Camp Road outside the Girl Guide Hut and thousands of homes have lost power in Hervey Bay.
We had 4 hours of thunder and lightning and wind and rain and now it has suddenly gone very very quiet, but I don't think it's over for the night. There is more weather coming from the north.
Thankfully, there have been no call outs in our town for emergency services.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just our area that suffered. Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney and Brisbane all got ravaged by storms this afternoon and evening.
30,000 homes lost power in Sydney.
I've seen photos of the Esplanade at Scarness and there are trees down and the road is covered with debris.
I think it's safe for me to go to bed now.
Nite all.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Gross Grandpa
Do NOT waste your time going to see 'Dirty Grandpa' - unless you want to enjoy the glorious view of a very naked Zac Efron (which is indeed glorious).
Robert De Niro is my favourite actor, so this movie was VERY disappointing for me.
The profanities were mostly unnecessary, and very vulgar and offensive. There were graphic sex scenes and drug use and so much tasteless dialogue, ugly characters and all political correctness was tossed out of the window.
There were a few laughs, but not enough to make up for the homophobia, racism, sexism and crass jokes about cancer and pedophilia that make you squirm in your seat with discomfort.
Adoring Husband almost walked out before the halfway mark and I believe that if the two main characters were different actors, I probably would have walked out too.
There are no excuses and sadly, I have lost a bit of respect for both Zac and Robert after suffering through this poor excuse for a movie.
Afterwards, some retail therapy went a small way towards improving my day! We drove to Tinkerbells on the Esplanade at Scarness and I bought some oracle cards and a new crystal to hang from my frangipani tree.
I bought a top on sale at Just Jeans and I ordered a book by Christiane Northrup from the ABC shop across the road. "Goddesses Never Age" and you can watch a short video of her daughter interviewing her about the book here. I love her ideas and the way she thinks.
After a very busy and social week, I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow at home catching up on some housework and a photography job that I should have done 2 months ago, but lost the man's email address - I ran into him today and he questioned me about my failure to fulfil his request. Best get onto that tomorrow!
Sleep time for me.
Nite all.
Robert De Niro is my favourite actor, so this movie was VERY disappointing for me.
The profanities were mostly unnecessary, and very vulgar and offensive. There were graphic sex scenes and drug use and so much tasteless dialogue, ugly characters and all political correctness was tossed out of the window.
There were a few laughs, but not enough to make up for the homophobia, racism, sexism and crass jokes about cancer and pedophilia that make you squirm in your seat with discomfort.
Adoring Husband almost walked out before the halfway mark and I believe that if the two main characters were different actors, I probably would have walked out too.
There are no excuses and sadly, I have lost a bit of respect for both Zac and Robert after suffering through this poor excuse for a movie.
Afterwards, some retail therapy went a small way towards improving my day! We drove to Tinkerbells on the Esplanade at Scarness and I bought some oracle cards and a new crystal to hang from my frangipani tree.
I bought a top on sale at Just Jeans and I ordered a book by Christiane Northrup from the ABC shop across the road. "Goddesses Never Age" and you can watch a short video of her daughter interviewing her about the book here. I love her ideas and the way she thinks.
After a very busy and social week, I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow at home catching up on some housework and a photography job that I should have done 2 months ago, but lost the man's email address - I ran into him today and he questioned me about my failure to fulfil his request. Best get onto that tomorrow!
Sleep time for me.
Nite all.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Lady's Lunch
Another successful lady's luncheon today. We did miss quite a few ladies (Lady Lynn, Mardi, Beauty, Long Legged Blond and a couple of others) who were absent, but still managed to gather 18 of us together at the marina.
There was lots of laughter and sometimes the restaurant sounded like a henhouse, there was so much cackling going on!
One serious complaint about the food (no .. NOT Reality TV Queen .. hers was the usual 'minor' complaint), so the majority of us were more than happy with the meals, and our server was warm and friendly, which added to the day.
Most of us walked to the Boat Club afterwards. I'd had a nice win on the pokies before lunch, so when I paid for my lunch, I secretly paid for everyone's drinks. Karma was kind and I won the drink money back after lunch!
It was nice to catch up with everyone.
I arrived home to the sound of loud talking and laughter coming from one of our neighbours' houses, so I placed my little ladder against the fence, climbed up high enough to see over the top and yelled at them to be quiet!
There was a short silence, until they realised it was me and they all yelled back, inviting me over to share the fun. So I poured myself a wine and got Adoring Husband to drop me off on his way to buy coffee.
It was another neighbour's birthday and Long Legged Blond had baked up a storm and invited the immediate neighbours over for afternoon tea. It was an impressive spread!
After about an hour, we all dispersed and headed back to our respective homes.
It's been a very pleasant day of socialising, as was yesterday, and tomorrow, Adoring Husband and I plan on spending the day together. We are going to see the movie 'Dirty Grandpa' with Robert De Niro and Zac Efron.
So it's good night from me!
Nite all.
There was lots of laughter and sometimes the restaurant sounded like a henhouse, there was so much cackling going on!
One serious complaint about the food (no .. NOT Reality TV Queen .. hers was the usual 'minor' complaint), so the majority of us were more than happy with the meals, and our server was warm and friendly, which added to the day.
Most of us walked to the Boat Club afterwards. I'd had a nice win on the pokies before lunch, so when I paid for my lunch, I secretly paid for everyone's drinks. Karma was kind and I won the drink money back after lunch!
It was nice to catch up with everyone.
I arrived home to the sound of loud talking and laughter coming from one of our neighbours' houses, so I placed my little ladder against the fence, climbed up high enough to see over the top and yelled at them to be quiet!
There was a short silence, until they realised it was me and they all yelled back, inviting me over to share the fun. So I poured myself a wine and got Adoring Husband to drop me off on his way to buy coffee.
It was another neighbour's birthday and Long Legged Blond had baked up a storm and invited the immediate neighbours over for afternoon tea. It was an impressive spread!
After about an hour, we all dispersed and headed back to our respective homes.
It's been a very pleasant day of socialising, as was yesterday, and tomorrow, Adoring Husband and I plan on spending the day together. We are going to see the movie 'Dirty Grandpa' with Robert De Niro and Zac Efron.
So it's good night from me!
Nite all.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Aussie Aussie Aussie!
Oi Oi Oi
Happy Australia Day!
So, I found this little video on gut flora very interesting. It only goes for about 9 minutes and worth watching.
It's something that the Paleo way of eating focuses quite strongly on. Bone broths, fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, kimchi and some relishes and pickles, kombucha tea, coconut yoghurt and coconut kefir, as well as good quality probiotics.
All of that, combined with organic fruit and vegetables and grass fed proteins go a long way to healing your gut and keeping it's health strong, which in turn, means that your body's immune system is strong enough to fight diseases and illness.
It also builds a strong, energetic body that can maintain good muscle tone and strength and can repair itself rapidly after prolonged physical activity such as marathons, 2 hour football matches, 4 hour tennis matches etc. A good example of how effective this way of eating is, can be seen in this list of elite athletes who follow the paleo lifestyle:
As you read my post, we are remembering this day three years ago when our town was damaged by a tornado that whipped a path of destruction from one end to the other. You can read my post from 30th January 2013, which was the first date after the event that I had internet access long enough to post, HERE.
I spent THIS Australia Day at the Boat Club with Reality TV Queen and Suzy's Mum, whose name was drawn out to compete in a 'damper' making competition, which she did not win. There were crab races for which the winner won a carton of beer AND their mud crab (which was cooked for them after the race). There was also live music that had everybody (except me) up dancing on the dance floor.
We had lunch before all of that fun started and it was a good day.
The lady's luncheon is tomorrow, so I need to sleep now.
Nite all.
Happy Australia Day!
So, I found this little video on gut flora very interesting. It only goes for about 9 minutes and worth watching.
It's something that the Paleo way of eating focuses quite strongly on. Bone broths, fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, kimchi and some relishes and pickles, kombucha tea, coconut yoghurt and coconut kefir, as well as good quality probiotics.
All of that, combined with organic fruit and vegetables and grass fed proteins go a long way to healing your gut and keeping it's health strong, which in turn, means that your body's immune system is strong enough to fight diseases and illness.
It also builds a strong, energetic body that can maintain good muscle tone and strength and can repair itself rapidly after prolonged physical activity such as marathons, 2 hour football matches, 4 hour tennis matches etc. A good example of how effective this way of eating is, can be seen in this list of elite athletes who follow the paleo lifestyle:
- Novak Djokovic - world number one tennis player for 4 out of the last 5 years. He finally broke through to number one, the year that he changed to Paleo.
- Gary Ablett Jr - AFL player. Two Brownlow medals and two Premierships.
- Melbourne AFL football team.
- Wests Tigers and Roosters NRL football teams.
- James LeBron and Kobe Bryant - champion professional basketballers in the NBA.
- Kelly Slater - 2011 World Championship surfer.
- Eva Twardokens - Olympic Skier.
- Phil Mickelson - golfer with too many achievements to list here.
- Frank Mir - two time heavyweight boxing champion.
As you read my post, we are remembering this day three years ago when our town was damaged by a tornado that whipped a path of destruction from one end to the other. You can read my post from 30th January 2013, which was the first date after the event that I had internet access long enough to post, HERE.
I spent THIS Australia Day at the Boat Club with Reality TV Queen and Suzy's Mum, whose name was drawn out to compete in a 'damper' making competition, which she did not win. There were crab races for which the winner won a carton of beer AND their mud crab (which was cooked for them after the race). There was also live music that had everybody (except me) up dancing on the dance floor.
We had lunch before all of that fun started and it was a good day.
The lady's luncheon is tomorrow, so I need to sleep now.
Nite all.
What Day is it?
Sometimes the days run into each other and I have no idea what day it actually is. For example, yesterday (which was Sunday), I was sure it was Saturday. I even missed watching the Lleyton Hewitt doubles match because of it!
I also missed a friend's birthday. Ugh!
So I visited her this afternoon, enjoyed a beverage with her and The Speckled Hen and gave her the gift that I so carefully chose a month ago so that she might feel loved on her special day... instead, she felt loved 24 hours later!
It's been hot and steamy all day. Even the Seat of Knowledge was not pleasant this morning. We can usually rely on a nice sea breeze down there, but at 8am today, it was just as steamy down there as everywhere else.
Storms built up during the afternoon and there was thunder rolling in the sky, but unfortunately nothing eventuated and it is still hot and steamy at 11.30pm. There are scattered storms showing on the BOM, but they are all moving around us and obviously NOT cooling things down.
The edge of a storm skimmed Blackwater and blew down a tree in my sister's front yard. The picture on the BOM showed the storm with a big black centre. Those kinds of storms never end well! Thank goodness it skimmed the town and it wasn't a direct hit.
Sadly, all of the Aussies are out of the Australian Open Tennis Championships, so my interest has slightly waned.
It's way past midnight and before I sign off, I have one photo from our road trip to share. This was taken with my phone and is a little spot outside of Woodenbong.
Nite all.
I also missed a friend's birthday. Ugh!
So I visited her this afternoon, enjoyed a beverage with her and The Speckled Hen and gave her the gift that I so carefully chose a month ago so that she might feel loved on her special day... instead, she felt loved 24 hours later!
It's been hot and steamy all day. Even the Seat of Knowledge was not pleasant this morning. We can usually rely on a nice sea breeze down there, but at 8am today, it was just as steamy down there as everywhere else.
Storms built up during the afternoon and there was thunder rolling in the sky, but unfortunately nothing eventuated and it is still hot and steamy at 11.30pm. There are scattered storms showing on the BOM, but they are all moving around us and obviously NOT cooling things down.
The edge of a storm skimmed Blackwater and blew down a tree in my sister's front yard. The picture on the BOM showed the storm with a big black centre. Those kinds of storms never end well! Thank goodness it skimmed the town and it wasn't a direct hit.
Sadly, all of the Aussies are out of the Australian Open Tennis Championships, so my interest has slightly waned.
It's way past midnight and before I sign off, I have one photo from our road trip to share. This was taken with my phone and is a little spot outside of Woodenbong.
Nite all.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
A Better Day
I've had a much better day today.
I spent the first half of it in bed! I had a take-away coffee, bought yesterday, in the fridge, so I heated it up and climbed back into bed with my 'Create Your Shining Year in Life' workbook, my reading glasses, a couple of pens and started at the beginning (almost always the best place to start).
I got to page 112 of 160, when Adoring Husband walked into the bedroom and congratulated me for reaching one minute past midday still in bed! That was a shock!
The workbook has a lot of activities and a lot of lists for me to formulate, including '100 Things to do in 2016'. It also asks what I want to stop doing to my body, what I want to continue doing to my body and what new things I want to do. It asks me to talk about all of my relationships.
It asks me about financial goals, travel plans, releasing negative rituals and building new positive ones. What I should celebrate about myself, self care and pampering, setting goals and steps I can take to reach them.
It includes affirmations and dream boards and retreat planning and provides lists of books to read for whichever area of my life that I want to improve or change.
I have a wall chart which is a daily planner, so that I can create a schedule, plan my days, manage my time and get organised ... all of which I don't currently do, but want to ... not in a strict sense, but to help me get stuff done. I'm hoping it will knock that evil 'procrastination' on the head and help me NIKE (just do it).
Here's a question for you. You will either already know the answer, or you will WANT to know the answer!! I believe that most of you, who read my blog are one of these...
A LIBROCUBICULARIST (Lady Lynn, you are probably being one right now!)
You will find the definition at the end of this post.
Does anybody else in town have a problem with ants at the moment? We have ants everywhere! In the kitchen, in the bathrooms, in our bedroom and they don't seem to be heading anywhere in particular. They are not eating any food in the pantry, just creating long lines as they march across walls and bench tops and through drawers. They've been doing it for a couple of months now.
I sprayed peppermint water in their path and they didn't like that, but they only disappeared for a couple of days and then they returned.
I found this recipe which I'm going to try tomorrow ...
One empty water bottle, cut down to about 5cm tall
5 T Baking soda
5 T Powdered sugar (I assume that means icing sugar)
3 T Water
Mix it all together and place some in the bottom of the water bottles. Position them near the ant trails and the sugar will attract them. The mixture will eliminate them.
I'll let you know how successful it is.
I experienced some symptoms of PTSD when a very nasty storm skimmed past us this afternoon. We only took the edge of it, but for a brief time there was heavy rain, strong winds and LOTS of loud rolling thunder. It certainly raised my heart rate and I was shallow breathing when the power failed and the anxiety kicked in - although the look on Adoring Husband's face was equally anxious!
Thank goodness we didn't cop the full force of it. I was planning the dive into the wardrobe with all of my electronic devices!
Well, the tennis has now finished for the evening and again, it is rapidly approaching midnight. Time for bed.
Nite all.
PS LUBROCUBICULARIST - A person who reads in bed!
I spent the first half of it in bed! I had a take-away coffee, bought yesterday, in the fridge, so I heated it up and climbed back into bed with my 'Create Your Shining Year in Life' workbook, my reading glasses, a couple of pens and started at the beginning (almost always the best place to start).
I got to page 112 of 160, when Adoring Husband walked into the bedroom and congratulated me for reaching one minute past midday still in bed! That was a shock!
The workbook has a lot of activities and a lot of lists for me to formulate, including '100 Things to do in 2016'. It also asks what I want to stop doing to my body, what I want to continue doing to my body and what new things I want to do. It asks me to talk about all of my relationships.
It asks me about financial goals, travel plans, releasing negative rituals and building new positive ones. What I should celebrate about myself, self care and pampering, setting goals and steps I can take to reach them.
It includes affirmations and dream boards and retreat planning and provides lists of books to read for whichever area of my life that I want to improve or change.
I have a wall chart which is a daily planner, so that I can create a schedule, plan my days, manage my time and get organised ... all of which I don't currently do, but want to ... not in a strict sense, but to help me get stuff done. I'm hoping it will knock that evil 'procrastination' on the head and help me NIKE (just do it).
Here's a question for you. You will either already know the answer, or you will WANT to know the answer!! I believe that most of you, who read my blog are one of these...
A LIBROCUBICULARIST (Lady Lynn, you are probably being one right now!)
You will find the definition at the end of this post.
Does anybody else in town have a problem with ants at the moment? We have ants everywhere! In the kitchen, in the bathrooms, in our bedroom and they don't seem to be heading anywhere in particular. They are not eating any food in the pantry, just creating long lines as they march across walls and bench tops and through drawers. They've been doing it for a couple of months now.
I sprayed peppermint water in their path and they didn't like that, but they only disappeared for a couple of days and then they returned.
I found this recipe which I'm going to try tomorrow ...
One empty water bottle, cut down to about 5cm tall
5 T Baking soda
5 T Powdered sugar (I assume that means icing sugar)
3 T Water
Mix it all together and place some in the bottom of the water bottles. Position them near the ant trails and the sugar will attract them. The mixture will eliminate them.
I'll let you know how successful it is.
I experienced some symptoms of PTSD when a very nasty storm skimmed past us this afternoon. We only took the edge of it, but for a brief time there was heavy rain, strong winds and LOTS of loud rolling thunder. It certainly raised my heart rate and I was shallow breathing when the power failed and the anxiety kicked in - although the look on Adoring Husband's face was equally anxious!
Thank goodness we didn't cop the full force of it. I was planning the dive into the wardrobe with all of my electronic devices!
Well, the tennis has now finished for the evening and again, it is rapidly approaching midnight. Time for bed.
Nite all.
PS LUBROCUBICULARIST - A person who reads in bed!
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Flat and Sad
I have been feeling a bit flat and sad today, and I don't know why.
I slept poorly last night and had a couple of dreams about floods. I looked up 'dreaming about floods' and found this ... "If the flood was gentle and the water clear, you will soon see an end to all the worries that have been plaguing you about a certain matter."
So I guess that's a good thing. If the flood waters had washed me away or was torrential and muddy, my dream would have meant something completely different.
Poor Adoring Husband doesn't know what to do with himself with the tennis on all day. He usually has full control of the TV remote, but twice a year, during the Australian Open and Wimbledon, (and sometimes the US Open) I am the boss of the TV! The US and French Open don't thrill me as much, unless there is an Aussie doing incredibly well.
Tonight, he headed to bed before 8pm and now I am sitting on the couch, with the dogs on the 'storm chair', because we had some threatening weather earlier, waiting for the match with two Aussies.
Bernard Tomic plays John Millman. I think the winner of this match has to play Andy Murray in the next round and I don't hold out much hope of an Aussie win there. Andy Murray has been playing too well lately.
I hope John Millman wins tonight.
Thought I might add a little reading matter about our health. I've always thought that I needed a lithe and supple body to be able to practise yoga, but yoga moves can be modified and adapted to suit everyone's capabilities. I found this interesting Yoga shown to boost brain power in older adults. I know that my brain power could use some boosting!
I found these videos on youtube. Nice gentle yoga for beginners and seniors (60+). I've watched both of them, but haven't tried them yet myself. They look pretty basic and not at all painful.
Third Age Yoga for Seniors - episode 1 of 2
Third Age Yoga for Seniors - episode 2 of 2
I always like how I feel after 20 minutes of yoga, but I've never been able to get into a regular habit with it. I might try and make that one of my goals this year. I'll add it to my 'life workbook' and my 'shining year calendar'.
Anyway, here I am still writing and the tennis match I've been waiting for, is half over! John Millman needs my support!
Nite all.
I slept poorly last night and had a couple of dreams about floods. I looked up 'dreaming about floods' and found this ... "If the flood was gentle and the water clear, you will soon see an end to all the worries that have been plaguing you about a certain matter."
So I guess that's a good thing. If the flood waters had washed me away or was torrential and muddy, my dream would have meant something completely different.
Poor Adoring Husband doesn't know what to do with himself with the tennis on all day. He usually has full control of the TV remote, but twice a year, during the Australian Open and Wimbledon, (and sometimes the US Open) I am the boss of the TV! The US and French Open don't thrill me as much, unless there is an Aussie doing incredibly well.
Tonight, he headed to bed before 8pm and now I am sitting on the couch, with the dogs on the 'storm chair', because we had some threatening weather earlier, waiting for the match with two Aussies.
Bernard Tomic plays John Millman. I think the winner of this match has to play Andy Murray in the next round and I don't hold out much hope of an Aussie win there. Andy Murray has been playing too well lately.
I hope John Millman wins tonight.
Thought I might add a little reading matter about our health. I've always thought that I needed a lithe and supple body to be able to practise yoga, but yoga moves can be modified and adapted to suit everyone's capabilities. I found this interesting Yoga shown to boost brain power in older adults. I know that my brain power could use some boosting!
I found these videos on youtube. Nice gentle yoga for beginners and seniors (60+). I've watched both of them, but haven't tried them yet myself. They look pretty basic and not at all painful.
Third Age Yoga for Seniors - episode 1 of 2
Third Age Yoga for Seniors - episode 2 of 2
I always like how I feel after 20 minutes of yoga, but I've never been able to get into a regular habit with it. I might try and make that one of my goals this year. I'll add it to my 'life workbook' and my 'shining year calendar'.
Anyway, here I am still writing and the tennis match I've been waiting for, is half over! John Millman needs my support!
Nite all.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Ending The Week
I had a lovely morning catching up with The Motivator.
I had a lovely evening catching up with the Bowls Club poker machines and my wonderful friends at the Bowls Club.
I am enjoying the end of the day watching Nick Kyrgios play in the Australian Open. He lost the first two sets but is playing like a champion now, having won the third set and I feel like he is in control in the fourth set.
I am also feeling very weary and I don't think I can stay awake for the end of the match.
Daria Gavrilova, aka Dasher, won her match in three sets .. very happy with that outcome.
I can't stop yawning, so I'm off to bed to get a good night of sleep (it's 10pm).
Sorry, I have nothing to share to make this post more interesting. I may have pictures of pictures that Chicklet has been working on, tomorrow evening. Maybe.
Nite all.
I had a lovely evening catching up with the Bowls Club poker machines and my wonderful friends at the Bowls Club.
I am enjoying the end of the day watching Nick Kyrgios play in the Australian Open. He lost the first two sets but is playing like a champion now, having won the third set and I feel like he is in control in the fourth set.
I am also feeling very weary and I don't think I can stay awake for the end of the match.
Daria Gavrilova, aka Dasher, won her match in three sets .. very happy with that outcome.
I can't stop yawning, so I'm off to bed to get a good night of sleep (it's 10pm).
Sorry, I have nothing to share to make this post more interesting. I may have pictures of pictures that Chicklet has been working on, tomorrow evening. Maybe.
Nite all.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Just a Bit
So I did 'just a bit' of housework today.
I cleaned out the fridge. I cleaned one toilet. I did three loads of washing. I cooked one meal.
I stopped when the tennis started on TV. Tennis will always win over housework. Come to think of it, just about everything will win over housework.
Vegan Chickie and Chicklet phoned me today and it was nice to catch up with their news. It seems that Chicklet's new favourite person is Aunty BGWLBH. Sideways swinging and funny words have become the foundation for a beautiful friendship! I think that's lovely :)
We farewelled Lleyton Hewitt from the tennis circuit tonight when he was soundly beaten in his second round match against David Ferrer. I will miss Lleyton. He was one of my favourites.
Another Aussie, John Millman, who has been playing professionally for ten years, but has been a very quiet achiever, won his match and for the first time is into the third round of a Grand Slam. He will probably have to play Bernard Tomic in the next round. Tomic has won his first two sets and is looking good to win his match.
BGWLBH arrived home safensound yesterday, only to find the house ransacked. She had been robbed. They even took her pillows and doona!
If that wasn't bad enough, today she had to say goodbye to her best friend, Indi, the dog. She was 16 years old, a beautiful gentle and loving companion to BGWLBH and she will be greatly missed.
So please focus for a moment on sending strength and positive energy down south in the direction of BGWLBH to help her get through this very challenging period of her life. The universe sure sends us some mean curve balls sometimes, but this past six months of hell seems just a bit excessive!
One day at a time.
I think I might be up for an early one tonight. It's almost 10pm and I'm feeling weary after last night's bed time of 1am.
Nite all.
I cleaned out the fridge. I cleaned one toilet. I did three loads of washing. I cooked one meal.
I stopped when the tennis started on TV. Tennis will always win over housework. Come to think of it, just about everything will win over housework.
Vegan Chickie and Chicklet phoned me today and it was nice to catch up with their news. It seems that Chicklet's new favourite person is Aunty BGWLBH. Sideways swinging and funny words have become the foundation for a beautiful friendship! I think that's lovely :)
We farewelled Lleyton Hewitt from the tennis circuit tonight when he was soundly beaten in his second round match against David Ferrer. I will miss Lleyton. He was one of my favourites.
Another Aussie, John Millman, who has been playing professionally for ten years, but has been a very quiet achiever, won his match and for the first time is into the third round of a Grand Slam. He will probably have to play Bernard Tomic in the next round. Tomic has won his first two sets and is looking good to win his match.
BGWLBH arrived home safensound yesterday, only to find the house ransacked. She had been robbed. They even took her pillows and doona!
If that wasn't bad enough, today she had to say goodbye to her best friend, Indi, the dog. She was 16 years old, a beautiful gentle and loving companion to BGWLBH and she will be greatly missed.
So please focus for a moment on sending strength and positive energy down south in the direction of BGWLBH to help her get through this very challenging period of her life. The universe sure sends us some mean curve balls sometimes, but this past six months of hell seems just a bit excessive!
One day at a time.
I think I might be up for an early one tonight. It's almost 10pm and I'm feeling weary after last night's bed time of 1am.
Nite all.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Find a Rhythm
My life needs rhythm.
I need a plan and a routine and I need to NIKE (just do it)!!
I'm talking about housework of course. One thing in my life with which I have always struggled, so if anybody out there has any hot tips for making housework easier, faster, enjoyable or less of a chore, please feel free to share!! The only idea that I can come up with is hiring a cleaner!
I was running late for morning tea with the ladies today because I received a call from Mrs Bucket, a phone call that was very 'newsy' and took some time .. however most phone calls with Mrs Bucket take a bit of time :) It was good to hear from her, even though she had some upsetting family news.
When I eventually got there, I really enjoyed morning tea with the girls. Five of us were in attendance and we did miss Lady Lynn and Mardi and Reality TV Queen and Maid Marian who texted me to ask if coffee was on, but she strangely didn't turn up.
It was almost 10.30am by the time we said our farewells and headed home. (this is why my housework never gets done!)
Adoring husband had SES duties all morning, but came home for an early lunch and I had the afternoon to myself, during which I did NO housework, but instead, watched a movie called 'Elsa and Fred' with Shirley Maclaine and Christopher Plummer in it. I enjoyed it very much, because I like both of those actors.
Then I watched some tennis before doing a lamb roast for dinner. I cooked some 'parson's noses' in the oven first and used the fat left over from that, to cook the potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. The meat was a plain butterflied lamb leg which I browned in the skillet and then baked at high heat for fifteen minutes. I made a gravy with the lamb fat which was left in the skillet, some tapioca flour and some home made chicken broth and served it all with steamed fresh green beans.
It was delicious and AH said the pumpkin was the best he'd ever tasted. It was beautifully caramelised in the chicken fat.
I'm now NOT doing more housework while I watch more tennis. The Aussies are all doing well (except Sam Stosur, who never seems to do well at the Aussie Open) so far, which makes it a bit more interesting.
Found this on Magnesium today, which I found interesting, particularly because BGWLBH and I had discussions about it while she was here.
I have a couple more pics from our time on the Sunny Coast ...
and these for a giggle ...
And it's good night from me.
Nite all.
I need a plan and a routine and I need to NIKE (just do it)!!
I'm talking about housework of course. One thing in my life with which I have always struggled, so if anybody out there has any hot tips for making housework easier, faster, enjoyable or less of a chore, please feel free to share!! The only idea that I can come up with is hiring a cleaner!
I was running late for morning tea with the ladies today because I received a call from Mrs Bucket, a phone call that was very 'newsy' and took some time .. however most phone calls with Mrs Bucket take a bit of time :) It was good to hear from her, even though she had some upsetting family news.
When I eventually got there, I really enjoyed morning tea with the girls. Five of us were in attendance and we did miss Lady Lynn and Mardi and Reality TV Queen and Maid Marian who texted me to ask if coffee was on, but she strangely didn't turn up.
It was almost 10.30am by the time we said our farewells and headed home. (this is why my housework never gets done!)
Adoring husband had SES duties all morning, but came home for an early lunch and I had the afternoon to myself, during which I did NO housework, but instead, watched a movie called 'Elsa and Fred' with Shirley Maclaine and Christopher Plummer in it. I enjoyed it very much, because I like both of those actors.
Then I watched some tennis before doing a lamb roast for dinner. I cooked some 'parson's noses' in the oven first and used the fat left over from that, to cook the potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. The meat was a plain butterflied lamb leg which I browned in the skillet and then baked at high heat for fifteen minutes. I made a gravy with the lamb fat which was left in the skillet, some tapioca flour and some home made chicken broth and served it all with steamed fresh green beans.
It was delicious and AH said the pumpkin was the best he'd ever tasted. It was beautifully caramelised in the chicken fat.
I'm now NOT doing more housework while I watch more tennis. The Aussies are all doing well (except Sam Stosur, who never seems to do well at the Aussie Open) so far, which makes it a bit more interesting.
Found this on Magnesium today, which I found interesting, particularly because BGWLBH and I had discussions about it while she was here.
I have a couple more pics from our time on the Sunny Coast ...
and these for a giggle ...
Nite all.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Back to Normal
Tears all round as BGWLBH left this morning. I was very surprised to see her car still parked in the driveway when I woke this morning, so I actually got to see her drive away and I wasn't expecting that. It's much easier without 'goodbyes'.
We've had contact during the day and she is travelling well.
So the first half of my day was very quiet with both Adoring Husband and BGWLBH out of the house.
I took the opportunity to take a breath, and I watched one of my new dvds, "Last Cab to Darwin". It was not as sad as I expected, although it was quite dark in places, but funny with typical Aussie humour in other parts. I thought all the characters were well played except for Jackie Weaver. I usually like her, but I didn't like her in this role.
Just as I pressed 'play' on the second dvd, AH phoned to say that he was on his way home, so I paused the movie, made his lunch (duck breast with salad) and we sat down together to watch "Aloha".
It stars Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Emma Stone and Bill Murray. The first half of the movie was a bit confusing trying to figure out what was going on, but it eventually all came together and I enjoyed the movie a lot, with a few tears at the end.
AH is at a meeting tonight, so I get to watch the tennis in peace. At the moment Bernard Tomic is playing Denis Istomin from Uzbek. He is leading 2 sets to 1. I'm looking forward to Lleyton Hewitt's match tonight against another Aussie, James Duckworth. I hope he does well in his final Australian Open appearance.
I have another photo to share from our holiday. I call it "HIGHER! HIGHER!" which, much to BGWLBH's dismay, is pretty much was Chicklet was yelling for the entire time that she was on the swing.
Time for me to settle into the tennis.
Nite all.
We've had contact during the day and she is travelling well.
So the first half of my day was very quiet with both Adoring Husband and BGWLBH out of the house.
I took the opportunity to take a breath, and I watched one of my new dvds, "Last Cab to Darwin". It was not as sad as I expected, although it was quite dark in places, but funny with typical Aussie humour in other parts. I thought all the characters were well played except for Jackie Weaver. I usually like her, but I didn't like her in this role.
Just as I pressed 'play' on the second dvd, AH phoned to say that he was on his way home, so I paused the movie, made his lunch (duck breast with salad) and we sat down together to watch "Aloha".
It stars Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Emma Stone and Bill Murray. The first half of the movie was a bit confusing trying to figure out what was going on, but it eventually all came together and I enjoyed the movie a lot, with a few tears at the end.
AH is at a meeting tonight, so I get to watch the tennis in peace. At the moment Bernard Tomic is playing Denis Istomin from Uzbek. He is leading 2 sets to 1. I'm looking forward to Lleyton Hewitt's match tonight against another Aussie, James Duckworth. I hope he does well in his final Australian Open appearance.
I have another photo to share from our holiday. I call it "HIGHER! HIGHER!" which, much to BGWLBH's dismay, is pretty much was Chicklet was yelling for the entire time that she was on the swing.
Time for me to settle into the tennis.
Nite all.
Final Holiday Day
Today was BGWLBH's last day here.
As you read this blog post, she is probably already on her way home.
So we spent the day together at the Boat Club in The Bay. It was a good day. The coffee was good, the poker machines were reasonably friendly .. and by that I mean that we spent four hours there for free and the atmosphere was happy (because most tourists have left town now).
It was a nice way to spend the last day of our holiday.
I have two photos to share from our road trip.
The first is of my Grandfather's name (Francis John Fordham) on the war memorial in Esk. It was revealed to me only last year, that his name was there. Apparently, in his teenage years, he worked on a farm in Esk and joined the Navy at the beginning of WWI. He survived the war and Esk claimed him as their own.
The second is of the river at Wiangaree. Very picturesque.
Well, it's midnight. I'm off to bed. Hopefully I will be awake when BGWLBH leaves tomorrow .. although we both hate goodbyes and I wouldn't be surprised if she left without saying goodbye. It's easier that way. Less painful for both of us. She will sneak out in the early hours.
Nite all.
As you read this blog post, she is probably already on her way home.
So we spent the day together at the Boat Club in The Bay. It was a good day. The coffee was good, the poker machines were reasonably friendly .. and by that I mean that we spent four hours there for free and the atmosphere was happy (because most tourists have left town now).
It was a nice way to spend the last day of our holiday.
I have two photos to share from our road trip.
The first is of my Grandfather's name (Francis John Fordham) on the war memorial in Esk. It was revealed to me only last year, that his name was there. Apparently, in his teenage years, he worked on a farm in Esk and joined the Navy at the beginning of WWI. He survived the war and Esk claimed him as their own.
The second is of the river at Wiangaree. Very picturesque.
Well, it's midnight. I'm off to bed. Hopefully I will be awake when BGWLBH leaves tomorrow .. although we both hate goodbyes and I wouldn't be surprised if she left without saying goodbye. It's easier that way. Less painful for both of us. She will sneak out in the early hours.
Nite all.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Sunday Movies
Watched the new Star Wars movie with Adoring Husband. He loved it!
We decided to watch a second movie, but it meant that we had almost four hours to kill. We filled some time by visiting Stocklands and I got my reading glasses repaired. Adoring Husband had lunch while BGWLBH went book shopping and I got some groceries for dinner.
It was such a beautiful day, we drove along the Esplanade to check out the water and then decided to take our first look inside the Beach House Hotel since it was rebuilt and opened 18 months ago.
It's impressive! There was live music and a nice size crowd inside. We played the pokies for about 30 minutes before heading back to the cinemas.
We watched The Fifth Wave because AH said he was keen to see it, and the previews looked ok.
Absolute rubbish. I generously give it a 2/10. Acting was atrocious. Storyline was pathetic. It had absolutely nothing going for it and I recommend that you avoid it and don't waste 112 minutes of your life .. you'll never get that time back!
So we didn't get home til about 7pm, which meant a late dinner.
I made my version of Nachos. Sweet potato chips, avocado mash, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, rocket, chopped spring onions, grated carrot, goat's cheese, pork and chicken meatballs (which were already prepared and I'd taken them out of the freezer before we went out) with a sweet spicy sauce (coconut aminos, chilli powder, balsamic vinegar and tomato paste) poured over the top.
It was delicious.
Another round of trivia that BGWLBH won.
And now, once again, it is rapidly approaching 1am.
I need to sleep!!
The days have been full!!
Nite all.
We decided to watch a second movie, but it meant that we had almost four hours to kill. We filled some time by visiting Stocklands and I got my reading glasses repaired. Adoring Husband had lunch while BGWLBH went book shopping and I got some groceries for dinner.
It was such a beautiful day, we drove along the Esplanade to check out the water and then decided to take our first look inside the Beach House Hotel since it was rebuilt and opened 18 months ago.
It's impressive! There was live music and a nice size crowd inside. We played the pokies for about 30 minutes before heading back to the cinemas.
We watched The Fifth Wave because AH said he was keen to see it, and the previews looked ok.
Absolute rubbish. I generously give it a 2/10. Acting was atrocious. Storyline was pathetic. It had absolutely nothing going for it and I recommend that you avoid it and don't waste 112 minutes of your life .. you'll never get that time back!
So we didn't get home til about 7pm, which meant a late dinner.
I made my version of Nachos. Sweet potato chips, avocado mash, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, rocket, chopped spring onions, grated carrot, goat's cheese, pork and chicken meatballs (which were already prepared and I'd taken them out of the freezer before we went out) with a sweet spicy sauce (coconut aminos, chilli powder, balsamic vinegar and tomato paste) poured over the top.
It was delicious.
Another round of trivia that BGWLBH won.
And now, once again, it is rapidly approaching 1am.
I need to sleep!!
The days have been full!!
Nite all.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Oopsy!
Today was intended to be movie day.
All three of us climbed into the car at 8.30am and headed into The Bay for our movie date. Halfway there, I realised that I'd left my glasses at home. Ugh!
Too blind to watch a movie without them, so we had to change our plans .. either go home to get the glasses, or postpone the viewing until the next day .. the second option was the best one.
So BGWLBH and I got our nails done .. a full set of gel nails.
We followed up with a bit of retail therapy.
Across town to savour the best coffee in town and also to visit Nana's Pantry and the Go Natural store.
A stop at JB HiFi so that Adoring Husband could spend his christmas voucher and of course some more retail therapy for we girls.
We arrived home at about 2pm and cooked up a quick beef stroganoff for a late lunch. While AH cleaned the kitchen, BGWLBH and I wandered down to the beach, me on the trike and BGWLBH walking.
I parked the trike and we kicked off our shoes to walk barefoot over the sand and wade ankle deep in the water at low tide. Even though it was overcast, the weather was quite mild and comfortable. We got caught in a couple of small showers, but nothing too dramatic.
On the way home, we grabbed a couple of coffees 'to go'.
We relaxed for about an hour before I made a fresh salad for BGWLBH and gave AH some leftovers from lunch and we followed that with a marathon trivia game.
After about 4 hours, we declared it a tie.
BGWLBH and I had all our pieces of pie and spent over an hour attempting to land in the middle and answer our final question to win the game, but try as we might, we couldn't get that last question right!!
We conceded well after 11pm. AH still had two pieces of pie to get and wouldn't let us declare a two way tie .. it had to be a three way tie! Cheeky! We were too tired to argue, so agreed that he could claim a win with us.
By the time we got ourselves organised and tidied up the dining room table, finished cleaning up the kitchen, filled all our water bottles, took the dogs out for their pre-bedtime pee, filled the slow cooker with chicken broth ingredients and turned it on and then sat down to write this blog, it was well after midnight!!
It's now rapidly approaching 1am and we have to be up reasonably early to see the boys at the Seat of Knowledge in the morning, so I'd best get some sleep.
I began to edit some photos to post tonight, but realised that it's just too late!
Sorry about that.
Nite all.
All three of us climbed into the car at 8.30am and headed into The Bay for our movie date. Halfway there, I realised that I'd left my glasses at home. Ugh!
Too blind to watch a movie without them, so we had to change our plans .. either go home to get the glasses, or postpone the viewing until the next day .. the second option was the best one.
So BGWLBH and I got our nails done .. a full set of gel nails.
We followed up with a bit of retail therapy.
Across town to savour the best coffee in town and also to visit Nana's Pantry and the Go Natural store.
A stop at JB HiFi so that Adoring Husband could spend his christmas voucher and of course some more retail therapy for we girls.
We arrived home at about 2pm and cooked up a quick beef stroganoff for a late lunch. While AH cleaned the kitchen, BGWLBH and I wandered down to the beach, me on the trike and BGWLBH walking.
I parked the trike and we kicked off our shoes to walk barefoot over the sand and wade ankle deep in the water at low tide. Even though it was overcast, the weather was quite mild and comfortable. We got caught in a couple of small showers, but nothing too dramatic.
On the way home, we grabbed a couple of coffees 'to go'.
We relaxed for about an hour before I made a fresh salad for BGWLBH and gave AH some leftovers from lunch and we followed that with a marathon trivia game.
After about 4 hours, we declared it a tie.
BGWLBH and I had all our pieces of pie and spent over an hour attempting to land in the middle and answer our final question to win the game, but try as we might, we couldn't get that last question right!!
We conceded well after 11pm. AH still had two pieces of pie to get and wouldn't let us declare a two way tie .. it had to be a three way tie! Cheeky! We were too tired to argue, so agreed that he could claim a win with us.
By the time we got ourselves organised and tidied up the dining room table, finished cleaning up the kitchen, filled all our water bottles, took the dogs out for their pre-bedtime pee, filled the slow cooker with chicken broth ingredients and turned it on and then sat down to write this blog, it was well after midnight!!
It's now rapidly approaching 1am and we have to be up reasonably early to see the boys at the Seat of Knowledge in the morning, so I'd best get some sleep.
I began to edit some photos to post tonight, but realised that it's just too late!
Sorry about that.
Nite all.
Friday, January 15, 2016
We Made it!
We enjoyed a pleasant breakfast in Noosaville with Chicklet and Vegan Chickie before we began the drive home, but then, impulsively, we took a short detour by turning left, instead of right, making our way to Sunshine Plaza for a spot of shopping.
We didn't spend much money, but we spent a lot of time .. maybe 3 hours wandering around the plaza looking for something 'different', but we decided that Sunshine Plaza is like Miranda Fair or Westfield Geelong or Westfield North Lakes. Same shops, same clothes, same shoes, same bags etc etc etc.
Finally, just in time to cook dinner, we arrived home. It was a long day and we had stopped at Sexie Coffee at 5pm for a coffee, which was a mighty mistake for me because I was still awake at 2.45am unable to relax and sleep.
I did manage to wake up at 7.00am and got to pedal down to spend a brief amount of time with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and then buy some groceries and coffees to bring home.
I had to spend the entire morning editing the remaining town Christmas party photos to send through ready for the January town newsletter.
Next on the agenda was to cook a late roast chicken and veg lunch, which was quite yummy.
I went to the Bowls Club alone tonight, so it was a matter of scratching leftovers and nibbles together for dinner.
I had a chance to briefly look at our holiday photos this afternoon, but no chance to edit them .. I hope that I get to post some next week for your viewing pleasure.
Right now, after only 4 hours sleep last night, I am feeling decidedly tired and need desperately to sleep.
We are taking Adoring Husband into town (or he is taking us) to watch the new Star Wars movie tomorrow. BGWLBH and I also want to have our nails done, so it will be an early start.
For now ...
Nite all.
We didn't spend much money, but we spent a lot of time .. maybe 3 hours wandering around the plaza looking for something 'different', but we decided that Sunshine Plaza is like Miranda Fair or Westfield Geelong or Westfield North Lakes. Same shops, same clothes, same shoes, same bags etc etc etc.
Finally, just in time to cook dinner, we arrived home. It was a long day and we had stopped at Sexie Coffee at 5pm for a coffee, which was a mighty mistake for me because I was still awake at 2.45am unable to relax and sleep.
I did manage to wake up at 7.00am and got to pedal down to spend a brief amount of time with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and then buy some groceries and coffees to bring home.
I had to spend the entire morning editing the remaining town Christmas party photos to send through ready for the January town newsletter.
Next on the agenda was to cook a late roast chicken and veg lunch, which was quite yummy.
I went to the Bowls Club alone tonight, so it was a matter of scratching leftovers and nibbles together for dinner.
I had a chance to briefly look at our holiday photos this afternoon, but no chance to edit them .. I hope that I get to post some next week for your viewing pleasure.
Right now, after only 4 hours sleep last night, I am feeling decidedly tired and need desperately to sleep.
We are taking Adoring Husband into town (or he is taking us) to watch the new Star Wars movie tomorrow. BGWLBH and I also want to have our nails done, so it will be an early start.
For now ...
Nite all.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Hot and Sunny
We had fairly big plans for today, but the hot weather and an exhausted Chicklet reduced the plans somewhat.
Breakfast at a little cafe on the marina, overlooking the water was a nice start to the morning. Beautifully cooked bacon and eggs and delicious coffee with excellent service from the very friendly and efficient staff.
We walked up to the Tewantin shopping area and utilised the new, albeit disappointing, children's park. It has no cover for shade, all of the equipment for playing was too hot to use, there is no fence around it, which seems unsafe considering there is a road on one side and open water on the other.
The main problem being that the main slide is such a big construction that you can't see what your child is doing from one side to the other. As a parent, it's impossible to see where your child is at all times unless you follow closely behind and use the equipment with the child.
We left there and bought some new stickers for activity play and a mini cold bag to keep my coconut yoghurt cold.
Our plan was to go on a ferry ride on the river, but the weather was getting hotter and the walking had sapped the energy from some of us, so we convinced Chicklet that a better idea was to go home to the air conditioning and have fun with the stickers instead.
So we grabbed a couple of take away coffees and headed home.
There was sticker play, then some outside play with the new wind up bird toy, then some quiet time with Mama, then some Minion game play on the bed, then some play with Dadu when he came home for a break, then BGWLBH and I took Chicklet to the park across the road.
Another 'dud' park .. surely built for teenagers, because there was no way for a (not even) 5 yr old to climb onto the equipment and the only way for Chicklet to get to the top of the slide, was to walk up the slide itself (while we held her hands) and turn around to slide back down.
Not even we adults were able to get to the top of the equipment. The rope ladders had such big gaps between each rung that you needed to be a circus acrobat to reach them and there was no solid ladder or means to reach the top level. It was a very strange design.
Anyway, we had a bit of fun with Chicklet there and then returned home for a bath. Waited patiently for our take away Thai dinner to be delivered and then Chicklet headed off to bed early.
We had fun for a couple of hours playing trivia from various web sites and I actually beat BGWLBH for the first time in about 20 years!! Yay for me!!
Tomorrow, we are heading home. It's been fun catching up with the Chicklet family and Chicklet loves BGWLBH, so the visit has been a huge success.
Adoring Husband has been very patient and is looking forward to seeing us tomorrow.
It'll be fun going through all the photos from our trip and I should be able to post some of them in a few days.
Time for sleep now.
Nite all.
Breakfast at a little cafe on the marina, overlooking the water was a nice start to the morning. Beautifully cooked bacon and eggs and delicious coffee with excellent service from the very friendly and efficient staff.
We walked up to the Tewantin shopping area and utilised the new, albeit disappointing, children's park. It has no cover for shade, all of the equipment for playing was too hot to use, there is no fence around it, which seems unsafe considering there is a road on one side and open water on the other.
The main problem being that the main slide is such a big construction that you can't see what your child is doing from one side to the other. As a parent, it's impossible to see where your child is at all times unless you follow closely behind and use the equipment with the child.
We left there and bought some new stickers for activity play and a mini cold bag to keep my coconut yoghurt cold.
Our plan was to go on a ferry ride on the river, but the weather was getting hotter and the walking had sapped the energy from some of us, so we convinced Chicklet that a better idea was to go home to the air conditioning and have fun with the stickers instead.
So we grabbed a couple of take away coffees and headed home.
There was sticker play, then some outside play with the new wind up bird toy, then some quiet time with Mama, then some Minion game play on the bed, then some play with Dadu when he came home for a break, then BGWLBH and I took Chicklet to the park across the road.
Another 'dud' park .. surely built for teenagers, because there was no way for a (not even) 5 yr old to climb onto the equipment and the only way for Chicklet to get to the top of the slide, was to walk up the slide itself (while we held her hands) and turn around to slide back down.
Not even we adults were able to get to the top of the equipment. The rope ladders had such big gaps between each rung that you needed to be a circus acrobat to reach them and there was no solid ladder or means to reach the top level. It was a very strange design.
Anyway, we had a bit of fun with Chicklet there and then returned home for a bath. Waited patiently for our take away Thai dinner to be delivered and then Chicklet headed off to bed early.
We had fun for a couple of hours playing trivia from various web sites and I actually beat BGWLBH for the first time in about 20 years!! Yay for me!!
Tomorrow, we are heading home. It's been fun catching up with the Chicklet family and Chicklet loves BGWLBH, so the visit has been a huge success.
Adoring Husband has been very patient and is looking forward to seeing us tomorrow.
It'll be fun going through all the photos from our trip and I should be able to post some of them in a few days.
Time for sleep now.
Nite all.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Terrific Toowoomba
We loved our room so much, we decided to stay a second night.
We do like Toowoomba. Great shopping. Great food. Great golf club. Great people.
We shopped til we dropped today, spent some time relaxing in our room, played the pokies at the club before enjoying a delicious Thai Chicken and Veg meal in the bistro. The courtesy bus wasn't running, so BGWLBH left earlier than me and walked back to the motel. I got a lift with the security guy on an electric golf buggy through the golf course in the dark .. saw a tawny frogmouth in the headlights too!
Tomorow, we head towards the Sunny Coast to spend a couple of nights with the Chicklet family!
We were saddened to hear the news of David Bowie's passing today ...
We do like Toowoomba. Great shopping. Great food. Great golf club. Great people.
We shopped til we dropped today, spent some time relaxing in our room, played the pokies at the club before enjoying a delicious Thai Chicken and Veg meal in the bistro. The courtesy bus wasn't running, so BGWLBH left earlier than me and walked back to the motel. I got a lift with the security guy on an electric golf buggy through the golf course in the dark .. saw a tawny frogmouth in the headlights too!
Tomorow, we head towards the Sunny Coast to spend a couple of nights with the Chicklet family!
We were saddened to hear the news of David Bowie's passing today ...
RIP David Bowie.
Nite all.Bloody Ballina
Ridiculous prices for average rooms in bloody Ballina.
We've decided that we don't like Ballina and probably won't include it on our road trip lists in the future.
The only special thing about our accommodation, was the lovely Border Collie, Zac, that greeted me when I arrived ...
We decided to drive to Lismore for breakfast this morning and found a little gallery cafe in town that made delicious food and great coffee.
From there we found some more back roads, stopped in Wiangaree (between Kyogle and Woodenbong) just to take some pics of the river there .. they are on my camera, so you will have to wait for those.
What we noticed most about the properties all along the roads there, was that the lawns and gardens, especially on the acreage properties, were meticulously kept! Very impressive. It was all so lush and green and beautiful too.
We stopped at a little spot that we'd photographed on one of our previous road trips, where there was a running stream and lots of dragonflies. There was a man there this time and he recommended a place called Tooloom Falls and told us that between the falls and the water treatment plant, there were a LOT of platypus (platypi is the incorrect term), but we would need a canoe or kayak to get to them.
We were very excited about the prospect and decided to go in search of the falls and the platypus!
Surprisingly, we found it without too much difficulty and it's a beautiful spot, great for campers, if you like to do it rough. Very picturesque and a lovely swimming hole with good flowing falls. Alas, there were too many people there for platypus to show their faces, so we missed out the wildlife.
The road from there was very tricky. Very windy. Very narrow. Very beautiful. Very lush. Thick rainforest for a good section of it and I could hear so many birds as we drove along!! BGWLBH is a great driver and I felt completely safe - although it seemed the big 4WD vehicles didn't like to move over and we were close to the edge getting out of their way. Luckily, there were only a few to worry about.
It was a lovely drive and we ended up in Toowoomba.
We ate at the golf club, which is pretty special. Nice food. Music. We watched some couples dancing to the slow music for a while and checked out the view of the golf course from the massive glass windows at the rear of the building.
We checked in to a lovely motel and have a beautiful room with very comfortable beds and since it's heading towards 1am, I am going to sleep now!
Having a great time ... wish you were here!
Nite all.
We've decided that we don't like Ballina and probably won't include it on our road trip lists in the future.
The only special thing about our accommodation, was the lovely Border Collie, Zac, that greeted me when I arrived ...
We decided to drive to Lismore for breakfast this morning and found a little gallery cafe in town that made delicious food and great coffee.
From there we found some more back roads, stopped in Wiangaree (between Kyogle and Woodenbong) just to take some pics of the river there .. they are on my camera, so you will have to wait for those.
What we noticed most about the properties all along the roads there, was that the lawns and gardens, especially on the acreage properties, were meticulously kept! Very impressive. It was all so lush and green and beautiful too.
We stopped at a little spot that we'd photographed on one of our previous road trips, where there was a running stream and lots of dragonflies. There was a man there this time and he recommended a place called Tooloom Falls and told us that between the falls and the water treatment plant, there were a LOT of platypus (platypi is the incorrect term), but we would need a canoe or kayak to get to them.
We were very excited about the prospect and decided to go in search of the falls and the platypus!
Surprisingly, we found it without too much difficulty and it's a beautiful spot, great for campers, if you like to do it rough. Very picturesque and a lovely swimming hole with good flowing falls. Alas, there were too many people there for platypus to show their faces, so we missed out the wildlife.
The road from there was very tricky. Very windy. Very narrow. Very beautiful. Very lush. Thick rainforest for a good section of it and I could hear so many birds as we drove along!! BGWLBH is a great driver and I felt completely safe - although it seemed the big 4WD vehicles didn't like to move over and we were close to the edge getting out of their way. Luckily, there were only a few to worry about.
It was a lovely drive and we ended up in Toowoomba.
We ate at the golf club, which is pretty special. Nice food. Music. We watched some couples dancing to the slow music for a while and checked out the view of the golf course from the massive glass windows at the rear of the building.
We checked in to a lovely motel and have a beautiful room with very comfortable beds and since it's heading towards 1am, I am going to sleep now!
Having a great time ... wish you were here!
Nite all.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Lovely Inverell
We stayed at the Cousins Motor Inn at Inverell last night. Another fabulous motel with heavenly beds and a small but decent bathroom.
We dined at the Inverell RSM club and we rate that as the best club dining experience so far. They had great GF options and BGWLBH had the prosciutto wrapped chicken breast with white wine sauce and I had the crumbed lamb cutlets with salad. Great prices too.
I always thought that Blackwater was the bogan capital of Australia, but I think Inverell is giving Blackwater a run for it's money!
As we left Inverell this morning, we saw masses of wildflowers in the fields. Yellow paper daisies, white Queen Ann Lace and some kind of pretty purple flower (not Patterson's Curse). We wanted to stop the car and pick a bouquet of it all, but there was nowhere to stop! We imagined ourselves as kangaroos with long flowing hair bounding over the fences and filling our pouches with the pretty flowers.
I told you yesterday that we were weird!
We stopped at Swanbrook picnic area for a toilet break and there was a lovely little stream lined with willow trees and Superb Fairy Wrens flitting about. I stood under the tree with my camera and the birds were hopping on the tree branches all around me. They were too close for my long lens to even focus on them!
I've never been so close to these beautiful little birds .. I could have reached out and touched them! If I'd had my way, I'd have sat under that Willow tree for a couple of hours and just soaked up the beauty of it all. Those photos are on my camera, so I can't share them here yet.
Hudson picked some wildflowers while we were there, especially for BGWLBH ...
On the outskirts of Glenn Innes, as we arrived there, we noticed some market stalls in a park, with a coffee van, so we stopped. I bought some goat's milk clothes washing 'stuff' and we bought two coffees. The van operator was from Wagga! His coffee was nice, but his coffee cup lids didn't fit, and we dribbled coffee over ourselves and eventually threw the coffee away. Annoying!
We stopped at the information centre in Glenn Innes to find out about fossicking for gems, but then BGWLBH noticed that they sold small bags of raw gems for $5 so I bought her one of those and we didn't have to spend the money or the time sifting through dirt!! Haha!!
After we left Glenn Innes and headed toward Grafton, we found a turn off that told us 16kms to Mann River, so we took the turn and drove along a dirt road for about 5kms and then the road turned into bitumen, but was very narrow and winding and steep down a mountain. The weather changed from 'fine' to 'fine misty rain', which made the drive even more precarious!
At about the 12km mark we were stopped by a causeway with water flowing over it and we decided that we would go no further, so we turned around, took a few pics, and headed back to the highway. We only passed one car on the way down, but unfortunately passed 5 cars on the way back .. very scary on such a narrow road up a mountain!
The area was green and lush and beautiful rainforest and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive, even if it was a little scary.
We found a lookout called 'Raspberry Lookout' and it was stunning, but as we arrived, a huge black thunder storm loomed behind us and the thunder rolled across the sky with dark clouds closing in quickly. We took some really quick pics and jumped back in the car attempting to beat the storm.
Part of the drive to Grafton ...
Such pretty countryside.
The storm seemed to be on our tail all the way to Grafton, but we beat it and have ended up in Ballina tonight.
Ballina RSL food is not as good as Inverell's and though it's a nice club, it's loud and busy and rates low on our list of favoured clubs.
We are staying in the Best Western Ballina Island Motor Inn tonight. The beds seem comfortable but I'm not sure the price is worth it. I will report tomorrow!
I'm feeling very sleepy now, so I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
We dined at the Inverell RSM club and we rate that as the best club dining experience so far. They had great GF options and BGWLBH had the prosciutto wrapped chicken breast with white wine sauce and I had the crumbed lamb cutlets with salad. Great prices too.
I always thought that Blackwater was the bogan capital of Australia, but I think Inverell is giving Blackwater a run for it's money!
As we left Inverell this morning, we saw masses of wildflowers in the fields. Yellow paper daisies, white Queen Ann Lace and some kind of pretty purple flower (not Patterson's Curse). We wanted to stop the car and pick a bouquet of it all, but there was nowhere to stop! We imagined ourselves as kangaroos with long flowing hair bounding over the fences and filling our pouches with the pretty flowers.
I told you yesterday that we were weird!
We stopped at Swanbrook picnic area for a toilet break and there was a lovely little stream lined with willow trees and Superb Fairy Wrens flitting about. I stood under the tree with my camera and the birds were hopping on the tree branches all around me. They were too close for my long lens to even focus on them!
I've never been so close to these beautiful little birds .. I could have reached out and touched them! If I'd had my way, I'd have sat under that Willow tree for a couple of hours and just soaked up the beauty of it all. Those photos are on my camera, so I can't share them here yet.
Hudson picked some wildflowers while we were there, especially for BGWLBH ...
On the outskirts of Glenn Innes, as we arrived there, we noticed some market stalls in a park, with a coffee van, so we stopped. I bought some goat's milk clothes washing 'stuff' and we bought two coffees. The van operator was from Wagga! His coffee was nice, but his coffee cup lids didn't fit, and we dribbled coffee over ourselves and eventually threw the coffee away. Annoying!
We stopped at the information centre in Glenn Innes to find out about fossicking for gems, but then BGWLBH noticed that they sold small bags of raw gems for $5 so I bought her one of those and we didn't have to spend the money or the time sifting through dirt!! Haha!!
After we left Glenn Innes and headed toward Grafton, we found a turn off that told us 16kms to Mann River, so we took the turn and drove along a dirt road for about 5kms and then the road turned into bitumen, but was very narrow and winding and steep down a mountain. The weather changed from 'fine' to 'fine misty rain', which made the drive even more precarious!
At about the 12km mark we were stopped by a causeway with water flowing over it and we decided that we would go no further, so we turned around, took a few pics, and headed back to the highway. We only passed one car on the way down, but unfortunately passed 5 cars on the way back .. very scary on such a narrow road up a mountain!
The area was green and lush and beautiful rainforest and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive, even if it was a little scary.
We found a lookout called 'Raspberry Lookout' and it was stunning, but as we arrived, a huge black thunder storm loomed behind us and the thunder rolled across the sky with dark clouds closing in quickly. We took some really quick pics and jumped back in the car attempting to beat the storm.
Part of the drive to Grafton ...
Such pretty countryside.
The storm seemed to be on our tail all the way to Grafton, but we beat it and have ended up in Ballina tonight.
Ballina RSL food is not as good as Inverell's and though it's a nice club, it's loud and busy and rates low on our list of favoured clubs.
We are staying in the Best Western Ballina Island Motor Inn tonight. The beds seem comfortable but I'm not sure the price is worth it. I will report tomorrow!
I'm feeling very sleepy now, so I'm off to bed.
Nite all.
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