Christmas Prepped

BGWLBH and I drove to the Australiana Cottage Crafts at Takura this morning.

I grabbed a couple of Christmas gifts from their extensive array of crafty goodness and we did a tour of the property looking at the chickens, roosters, ducks, geese, budgies, guinea pigs, sheep and other creatures.

They had a large selection of herbs and plants to choose from as well as a shed full of garden ornaments from pelicans, chickens, frogs, dogs, angels, hands, emus, flowers etc.

It has the potential to be a tourist destination of value, but it’s old and worn, overgrown and broken down and just a bit sad.

The craft shop is pretty amazing though.

It didn’t open until 10am and we spent a good 90 minutes there.

We then drove to Office Works getting every red light along the way 🫤

That’s where I found some more arty gifts for Christmas presents. Time doesn’t exist when we are at Office Works, our favourite store.

We did a small Coles shop, browsed through Rivers and Big W and the dress shop, checked and renewed our lotto tickets and then decided to visit ‘Choice’ and spend up on art and craft goodies.

All the fun stuff to help create/fill my art journal. I did spend a lot. They had an enormous range of Halloween paraphernalia too and it was difficult to leave it all on the shelf.

We wanted to drop by the orchid show at one of the schools, but we were so exhausted from shopping we decided to put that off until tomorrow.

This afternoon, I cooked a very early dinner so that I could watch Carlton and Brisbane Lions play the AFL preliminary final. I didn’t care who won because they are both my teams.

Brisbane Lions will play AH’s team, Collingwood, next week in the Grand Final.

Straight after that was Broncos against NZ Warriors. Broncos won easily so they play Penrith Panthers next week in the Grand Final.

With my teams playing in both Grand Finals, it will be an exciting weekend for me!

My Christmas shopping is almost complete! Just a couple more purchases and I’ll be done!

Best get some sleep now. After a good night of sleep, my shoulder was much improved this morning and I’m hoping that one more night should fix it.

Nite all.

Considering Options

Deep Brain Stimulation

Adoring Husband had his 6 monthly visit to the Parkinson’s Professor in Brisvegas yesterday.

We are now considering the next option of Deep Brain Stimulation.

So many ‘fors’ and so many ‘againsts’.

There is a lot to consider and still a lot to know and learn.

Thank you Universe for providing something new to stress about. I appreciate your generosity.

Meanwhile, I have hurt my shoulder. I should say that Harley hurt my shoulder. My left shoulder blade has been screaming at me since around midday today. It was niggling last night and early this morning, but by lunch time it was full on stabbing pain whenever I moved in certain directions.

The trick is to NOT move in those directions!

Easier said than done.

I hope that when I wake up tomorrow morning, the pain will have eased or disappeared.

I spent three hours with The Gypsy this morning.

We were supposed to be practicing a hoop chi routine that we’ve agreed to present to a group in October, but with my niggling shoulder, I decided not to push it.

Instead, I had a counselling session and a meditation after which we shared coffee and gluten free treats.

It was healing.

BGWLBH spent the day in The Bay, while AH spent the day sleeping in his chair recovering from an eleven hour day of travel.

Tonight Penrith Panthers defeated Melbourne Storm and will be playing in their 4th Grand Final in a row. Now we wait for tomorrow nights game where my beloved Brisbane Broncos play New Zealand Warriors to determine who play the Panthers in said Grand Final.

I am sitting up in bed watching Collingwood play GWS in the AFL preliminary final and tomorrow, my two AFL teams, Carlton and Brisbane Lions play each other to see who goes into the Grand Final with tonight’s winner.

It’s all happening!

Now I need to find a comfortable position in bed to reduce the discomfort in my shoulder so that I can sleep.

Wish me luck!

Nite all.

Mistakes Were Not Made

Mistakes were not made.

A mostly uneventful day.

Cooked breakfast, played with Harley, started watching a Netflix series called “Unbelievable” with Toni Collette and Merritt Wever and then rode around the corner to visit The Gypsy for almost four hours.

Time always flies when we’re together because there is just so much to talk about!

Because I was so late returning home, Adoring Husband heated up the leftover spaghetti bolognese sauce from the other night and cooked some penne to have with it.

He has been easing some of my cooking load lately, by cooking breakfast and a couple of dinners. I am grateful for the break sometimes.

Thank you AH 😘

He is being driven to Brisvegas tomorrow for an appointment with the Parkinson’s Professor. His mate offered to drive him instead of him catching the train. He accepted that very generous offer and it should make for a much shorter day and more comfortable trip.

After three very late nights, I’m feeling pretty tired right now, so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Resting Up

It’s not a coincidence that this keeps happening to those who are outspoken or exposing the truth.

Trump, Brand, Rogan, Musk, Tucker, Tate, Assange have all had allegations made against them.

If you go against the Mainstream narrative you will pay the price with either your career, freedom or life.

If they can do this to these influential people just imagine what they can do to me or you.

Silencing those with opposing views is the sort of thing that happens in North Korea and China.

It sucks.

Nothing much happened today. 

Adoring Husband cooked breakfast AND dinner so I was responsibility free!

I played with Harley a couple of times and spent the afternoon in bed dozing. The whale watching trip yesterday took it out of me.

I received a letter yesterday from Chicklet which was an unexpected surprise! I knew a letter would come but I didn’t think it would arrive for another week. She included some of her drawings which I’m going to start pasting in an art journal. I have five now.

I can’t explain what a thrill it is to receive mail from her and she opened the letter with “My lovely Bozzy Wozzy” *sigh* my heart melts.

There was no meditation today because the hall was booked for another event so I found a YouTube video on The Gypsy’s channel and did a meditation in my bedroom. I didn’t do any hoop chi but I’ll do some in the morning.

The Gypsy and I are doing a hoop chi presentation in front of a LOT of people next month so we need to practice. That should be an interesting experience! 

It’s after 11pm so I’m off to sleep now.

GMO vs non-GMO corn (click here for a scientist’s review)

Nite all.

Whales Again

Do we still think there's nothing going on in the background and the Voice is nothing but a diversion?

A list of Companies based in Australia, yet foreign owned, promoting the YES campaign and pouring millions into it. 😳😳😳

• ANZ (Major shareholders are Black Rock and Vanguard Group) 

• BHP (73% owned by American investors) 

• Coles (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group) 

• Commonwealth Bank (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group) 

• National Australia Bank (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group) 

• Newcrest Mining (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group and BlackRock) 

• Rio Tinto (Top shareholder group = BlackRock and China) 

• Telstra (Top shareholder group = BlackRock) 

• Transurban (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group) 

• Wesfarmers (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group and BlackRock) 

• Westpac (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group) 

• Woodside Energy (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group and BlackRock) 

• Woolworths (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group and BlackRock) 

• Atlassian (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group) 

• Qantas (Top shareholder group = Vanguard Group)

Whale watching was great today.

The weather was perfect, the water was every shade of blue, the captain and crew on the boat were happy and friendly, the other passengers had a positive energy, the whales were active, the air was clean (compared to the smoky skies at home when we left) and we were totally relaxed.

We returned to the marina almost an hour later than we should have because the captain kept stopping for more whales - not that anybody complained!

Tomorrow will be a rest day because today wore me out!

Nite all.

Back in the Day

I found this today and for my era, it rings totally true…

My mum used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread butter on bread on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e. Coli 

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake or at the beach instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

We all took PE ..... And risked permanent injury with a pair of Dunlop sandshoes instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors that cost as much as a small car. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.

We got the cane for doing something wrong at school, they used to call it discipline yet we all grew up to accept the rules and to honour & respect those older than us. 

We had 50 kids in our class and we all learned to read and write, do maths and spell almost all the words needed to write a grammatically correct letter.

We all said prayers in school irrespective of our religion, sang the national anthem and no one got upset.

Staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention we wish we hadn't got.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. 

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations. We weren't!!

Oh yeah .... where were the antibiotics and sterilisation kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played "King of the Hill" on piles of gravel left on vacant building sites and when we got hurt, mum pulled out the 2/6p bottle of iodine and then we got our backside spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10 day dose of antibiotics and then mum calls the lawyer to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that?

We never needed to get into group therapy and/or anger management classes. We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!

How did we ever survive? 

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA. AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T, SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED.

This afternoon, I watched “Funny Girl”. It’s been at least 20 years since I’ve seen that movie and it was better than I remembered. Barbra Streisand is pretty amazing.

No art today.

Plenty of play time with Harley.

I made Mandarin Chicken with fried rice for dinner. It was a huge success with BGWLBH, not so much with Adoring Husband.

Whale watching tomorrow. The weather forecast is much better than last week and the baby whales have been very active over the last few days, so I’m excited about what tomorrow might bring.

Watch this space.

Nite all.

Marketing Day

Today was Market day for BGWLBH and I.

We started at the local community markets. There were more stalls than usual and they’ve changed the layout to rows instead of one big circle, which I liked.

I ran into a few people that I know. Some had their own stalls and some were there to spend money. By the time I’d finished chatting with everybody, we’d been there for about 1.5 hours!

From there we drove into The Bay and to Table Eleven on the Esplanade for breakfast. I had GF toast with avocado and potato cakes. BGWLBH had bacon and poached eggs and we shared a pot of tea.

We sat at the table in the front window and we people/dog watched, making up life stories for each person or couple, which was a lot of fun.

After a leisurely breakfast, we walked across the road to Torquay markets. That market is MUCH bigger than it used to be and the variety of stalls was a good mix.

My favourite stall was Paul Pettersson’s art. He’s the guy who painted the mural at Pialba Place and I purchased one of his prints …

I would love a collection of his original art because I LOVE the way he paints. His paintings really move me and I feel emotional when I look at his work. He’s also a lovely man.

We sat for a while and watched an elderly man play the piano accordion. There were so many stalls that were “browseworthy” including crystals, dream catchers, hanging mobiles, clothing, hand made crafts, plants, dog treats (yes Harley got treats), signs, cups, mugs and flasks, flowers, lead lighting, baby wear, hair decorations, jewellery, leather bags etc.

Next, was the Urangan markets, which, by the time we arrived, was very busy. It was well after midday when we decided to get a Su Jus juice on the way home and stop for some groceries.

On the way home, while scrolling through Facebook, I discovered that there was some drama on our river with a loose yacht floating into other boats, so we drove down to the boat ramp to see if we could witness some of the action.

We couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary so we headed home.

I played with Harley and watched the football, made a green curry chicken for dinner, watched a Netflix movie and started watching the latest season of Virgin River.

I’m feeling very weary now, so it’s sleep time for me.

Nite all.

Getting Koi

 Very interesting read 🤔 

😱 One of my friends told me about a powerful lesson in her daughter's school class recently. 

They're learning about the Salem Witch Trials, and their teacher told them they were going to play a game.

"I'm going to come around and whisper to each of you whether you're a witch or a regular person. Your goal is to build the largest group possible that does NOT have a witch in it. At the end, any group found to include a witch gets a failing grade."

The teens dove into grilling each other. One fairly large group formed, but most of the students broke into small, exclusive groups, turning away anyone they thought gave off even a hint of guilt.

"Okay," the teacher said. "You've got your groups. Time to find out which ones fail. All witches, please raise your hands."

No one raised a hand.

The kids were confused and told the teacher he'd messed up the game. "Did I? Was anyone in Salem an actual witch? Or did everyone just believe what they'd been told?"

And that is how you teach kids how easy it is to divide a community.

Shunning, scapegoating and dividing destroys far more than they protect. There's plenty of it going around.

Do not allow the ruling elite to divide and destroy us. We must remain united against those who would do so..‼️

I did some art today, which is not finished yet.

I did that while watching “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Love that movie.

Adoring Husband drove into town for physio on his shoulder this afternoon, so hopefully he will be quickly on the mend.

BGWLBH created a new little potted garden near the pool fence - let’s hope Harley doesn’t destroy it!

I did my usual cooking and playing.

I’m sitting up in bed watching the elimination final between Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters. I’ve tipped Storm and at half time, they are winning 10-6. It’s much closer than I anticipated!

Nothing planned for the weekend so perhaps I’ll do some more art.

Nite all.

Mid Week

He was denied entry from USA for two years.

He was detained and deported from Australia.

He was robbed of ranking points and titles.

He was humiliated and vilified.

But yet he did not let this injustice stop him.

Courage, Determination. Strength. 💪🏻

Novak Djokovic 2⃣4⃣

Yesterday was meditation day, followed by hoop chi.

They were both great classes and Tuesday is fast becoming my favourite day of the week.

The afternoon was pretty miserable with squally rain so there was no play time with Harley and we all stayed inside listening to the weather.

It was easy taco Tuesday for dinner.

Today (Wednesday) BGWLBH and I drove into The Bay to do a grocery shop and pick up the FROG box on the way home.

Adoring Husband has got a couple of busy days coming up, so we had to take the opportunity today to get our stuff done.

I’ve been scribbling in my art book for the last couple of days …

Just mucking around while watching TV so nothing is refined or impressive but it keeps my eye in and activates the “arty farty” in me.

Bangers and mash with snow peas, green beans and carrots for dinner tonight.

I’m feeling a bit weary so it’s time for me to sleep.

Nite all.