Saturday, 31 July 2010

I've had a good week, a very full and somewhat tiring week, but a good one just the same. I attended a two day forum on Wed & Thu that provided some challenging days but also provided some steps towards some positive outcomes in my field of work. There are another two forums lined up, one in August and the other in November.

I went to my friend Kharlyn's place for dinner, she'd cooked a delicious curry, and then came home fairly early. How sad is that on a Friday night!!!

Today I took myself into the city to have a look at the Ron Mueck exhibition. His work is fantastic and very life like. Today was the last day of the exhibition so there were lots of people there but thankfully I arrived mid morning so didn't have to deal with the extra long queues.. I just had a long one. After a while it became very long, then extra long and out the doors along the footpath.

I took a stroll through the Southbank markets and enjoyed a walk along the Brisbane River while I was there. I sat for a while in the shade, called my Mum and had a chat to her for a while.

It's hard to choose just one photo for today, so I may even put two or three in.

Sunday, 25 July 2010

Well another week has flown right by. Another week that has held some challenges, however, I have to believe that these are also the times that teach us resilience and remind us to have hope.

This week I have made or met a new online friend and I am thoroughly enjoying our email conversations. Isn't timing a wonderful thing? Serendipity or synchronicity or whatever you like to call it ~ the saying that people come into our lives for a reason comes to mind. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful for the smiles that new friend has given me this week.

Once again, I had the pleasure this week of listening to my friend Washuntara's beautiful music and a couple of new song's that have just been written. They always provide a mid-week lift. Only another 5-6 weeks of performances here before he gets ready to head off again, so again, I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to enjoy his music live.

I was thinking of doing some painting this weekend as I haven't done any for a while, but haven't got there yet. Although the day is still young so who knows? I may do some after all. I was planning to go into the city today to see an exhibition but it has rained over night and it still overcast now, so I'm kind of leaning towards a home day.

My friend Kath came over last night and we enjoyed dinner before settling in to watch the movie Mama Mia. I never seem to tire of that movie and I always enjoy the music.

I haven't done any decluttering for a little while, I've noticed places I want to get into, just haven't got there yet. Perhaps I should go back to setting a time or a corner to work on. Ah well, it won't happen overnight but it WILL happen.

I planted a few more seedlings yesterday so looking forward to seeing them bloom in the springtime.

I'm considering getting a kitten. For some obscure reason I seem to be really really drawn to this idea, yet it's not a logical or sensible one for me for a couple of reasons - one being that I'm allergic to them, so I would have to make sure I always have anti histamines on hand, plus it would have to mostly be an outdoor pet, and two being that I plan to move house in about 6 mths time, so it's always a question of whether pets are allowed. I've been thinking about this idea for some weeks now and had bit of a look yesterday for kittens but didn't find any, so obviously the time isn't right just yet if I am to have one.

In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy my son's baby budgie while he is away, noisy messy little critter that it is. It is awfully cute though, so that makes up for the noise and mess.

Well that's probably enough from me for now. I may come back and post more this evening. Today's pic is a slightly blurry image of a beautiful gerbera I got at last week's farmers markets.

Sunday, 18 July 2010

Well you know how I mentioned in my previous post, that the week preceding had been really crappy and I was hoping for a better week? Didn't happen. There were some good parts, but oh my gosh, it made the previous week pale in comparison.

I guess the Universe has decided I need to be challenged. Boy oh boy, am I being challenged at the moment. My sister said yesterday that is seems to be a test of my resilience. I'm so glad she said that, because it gave me encouragement to keep on going. Things are likely to get worse before they improve, that's just the reality of what's happening here at the moment, but I'm also hopeful that it may not be as bad as we've been led to believe. So here's to hope!!

I'm not going to go into the challenges here because apart from acknowledging them in the way I have done here, I don't want to give them more 'air time' (for want of a better way to say it). I'd rather try and keep looking ahead. I know there is more to come and I know there will be more tough days, but I want to keep focusing on hope and being grateful for the good things that are happening in my life.

So talking about the good things, once again I enjoyed a lovely night listening to Washuntara sing and play last Wednesday night. It is such a joy to be around him while he is making such beautiful music. Actually, it's a joy to be around him anytime.

On Thursday night, I caught up with my friend Brett who I'd gone to school with. I've probably already mentioned that we have been catching up reasonably regularly, along with another friend Sharon who is currently overseas.

Thursday had been a truly awful day so it was good to spend time with a caring friend. He was kind enough to buy me dinner as well after realising I hadn't eaten all day.

Friday afternoon was a continuation of Thursday's events, so an out of the blue invitation to have dinner and watch a movie with another friend Kharlyn was greatly appreciated. We had dinner and we talked until late into the night on all kinds of subjects but we didn't get round to watching the movie.

Then yesterday, my dear friend Kath came and took me out for a drive. We had a couple of hours out in the sunshine near the water. Perfect for de-stressing!

An early trip to the farmers markets was the order of today and I've just had a quiet one since then. Very relaxing. I'm planning to do a little gardening too, although if I'm going to do that, I need to get out there fairly soon!

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Well I have to say that this week was one of those weeks that steadily got crappier as the week went on. It started well and went downhill from there, with a couple of nice moments in there as well thankfully to keep my head above water so to speak. I usually enjoy my job and love returning after holidays, but unfortunately this time the joy was short lived. I'm hopeful things will improve as it won't be easy if they don't.

That aside, there were some good moments too. I enjoyed watching my friend sing on Wednesday night, although I was feeling quite emotional that night and his song lyrics touched some nerves. He writes beautiful songs with beautiful messages - a very talented man indeed. He is going to join one of our family dinners sometime soon, brave man!

On Friday night, my dear friend K, came along and took me out for a while. Just the medicine I needed! It was nice to get out of the house for a while.

The remainder of the weekend was fairly quiet until tonight when all the family were here for dinner. Those nights are never quiet but they are a lot of fun. I also looked after Xavier for a couple of hours last night and we enjoyed bopping to the music from Mama Mia.

That's if from me for now. Here's hoping for a better week!

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Today is my last day of holidays and I'm not sure if I'm ready to go back to work. I could quite easily handle another week off. Ah well, another time!

I had the pleasure of having coffee and great getting to know you type conversation with my musician friend Washuntara. It's the first time we've caught up outside of his work or mine. Two hours flew by very quickly! I'm very much liking this blossoming friendship I share with him.

Yesterday afternoon, I picked up my granddaughter Tiara from daycare and we did some cooking. She's such a delight and it's so much fun spending time with her.

I've been playing around with the sepia setting on my camera. I didn't realise it was on there until my niece informed me last week! Today's pic is of Wellington Point jetty.

Monday, 5 July 2010

Heavens to Betsy! Two posts in a row!! :)

I've just made some scones for the first time in a long while - oh my gosh, they are delicious!! Served warm, with a little blackberry jam and some whipped cream.... scrumptious!!

A dear friend has just lost her mother and has been doing lots of reminiscing. The question has been asked, 'what naughty things did you get up to as a kid?' This simple little question has opened the floodgates on some memories.

Like 'accidentally' hosing people as they walked past the front gate. The grocer from across the road used to bring Mum's groceries over once a week and I'm told he used to keep a spare set of clothes at his shop at one stage.

When superglue first came out, we (siblings and I) super glued coins to the top of our gate and on the sidewalk to see how many people would try to pick them up.

There was a phone box outside our neighbour's house - making prank calls. Asking for Susie Wall, nope, John Wall, nope, Brian Wall, nope, any walls at all there? nope, then you better look out, your roof might cave in!

Picking people randomly from the phone book again, calling them and telling them it was the local radio station on behalf of Henny Penny chicken. There was a competition going and if they could cluck x amount of times in one minute, then they would win a free bbq chicken. Boy did we get into some trouble over that one! I'm told it made the local paper - oops!

My brother offering guests foaming sugar for their tea/coffee.

Around fire cracker time in the days when you were allowed to buy fire crackers, there used to be these little tiny sand filled ones called Tom Thumbs or throw downs. Not much bigger than the size of a pea and perfect for lobbing at the heels of unsuspecting pedestrians walking past the front yard.

The wooden spoon was the preferred method of punishment in our house and was kept in a drawer under the stove top. When Mum went into the shower, if the opportunity was there, we would take the wooden spoon, run up the back yard and hoik it over the back fence. Some years later my father put a back gate in, as our place backed onto a laneway.. he says he found a heap of wooden spoons!

When I was little tiny and just walking, my mother was on the phone and apparently I got into the fridge. She was waving at me to get out and I was waving back while I pulled a dozen eggs out and onto the floor.

Encouraging my little sister to pick up a bee.

I'm sure there are lots more, so I'll come back to add no doubt. Today's pic is of an icy willow tree taken between Rylstone and Mudgee last week.

Sunday, 4 July 2010

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Oops, it's been a little while since my last post. I'm recently back from a road trip interstate. I left on a Thursday, stayed a night with my parents in Tamworth, before heading off to Sydney for a couple of nights. On the way to Sydney, I stopped in Scone for coffee with my friend Querida, then stopped again in Newcastle for lunch with my aunt, uncle and cousins. I managed to get into Sydney right on peak hour which is great on a Friday afternoon!! Only took one wrong turn and with phone directions from my friend Gaby, I found it to her place safely.

I had a wonderful night at Gaby's place, good food, good company (we were joined by Sarah, her partner and Isabella), and good conversation. We had brunch the next day at a place called Flower Power, delicious! and we discussed what we might do at our upcoming palooza in October.

From Gaby's place, I went to Cronulla where I spent the night at my friend Tez's place. Another good night, enjoyed bit of an outing, good food and lively conversation. We slept late the next day and had brunch before a drive around Cronulla.

I decided against battling the Monday morning peak hour traffic and headed off to Rylstone in the afternoon, where I spent the next two nights with my brother in law and niece. It was so good to be back on the farm again and so very hard to leave. They've asked me to stay longer next time, so am definitely going to see if I can do something about that in the not too distant future.

It was rather cool down there with the morning temps around -3.5 degrees celcious and the daytime temps around 10 degrees. The drive back to Tamworth was cold, foggy and icy due to a very heavy frost but very beautiful.

I spent the next two nights in Tamworth with my parents. Helped Mum out with some chores, did some cooking and took her out for coffee at a friend's coffee shop. It was great to see Libby again as I haven't seen her for around 15 yrs or so. I also caught up with my friend Tracey who I've also known since school and I cooked indian curries for Trace and her partner before leaving for home the next day.

Good grief it was cold that morning though. It was -5 in Tamworth when I left and I don't think it was much warmer in Glen Innes when I got there. Glen Innes had experienced -10 degrees for the 3rd morning running! I think I was close to the Qld border before I started to warm up. The heater in my car had decided not to work, so that certainly didn't help.

Since returning home, I've enjoyed a couple of quiet days catching up with friends, doing a little shopping and a little gardening. I've taken so many lovely pics while I was away that it will be hard to choose just one to put in here, so you may see a few of them appear over the next little while. Today's pic is of my beautiful niece Elizabeth.