Comes A Time

A Day In My Life

2012-02-11T00:24:00.001+10:00

I was only saying the other day I haven't posted a Day In my life for ages so when I read Ali Edwards blog at the beginning of the week she was doing one I thought I would join in but I left it for today as the last two days I have been doing bookwork and didn't leave the house.

Today was crazy and was nothing like a normal day, we ended up waiting for five hours in Caloundra (a beachside town) forty minutes from where I live for my car’s radiator to be fixed, I didn't mind this but as a result I had taken over 300 photo’s by 1.30pm. A lot was taking my camera out of auto and experimenting (not very well either) I had a great day but Tess and Joey were so bored. It’s not often I get to spend hours at the beach and just able to take photos, Pure Bliss.

Tony left for work at 5.30, he has a busy day and has to go down to Brisbane, Milly jumps onto our bed for a snuggle, she does this every morning.

Wake Lucy up at 6.20, She gets up and starts getting ready. While she does that I get the bed made and fix her lunch, no effort this morning left over fried rice. I have little natural light in my house it drives me crazy.

I don't get the hair straightening thing everyday. Finally get out the door at 7.10 was going to go and get a coffee but changed my mind I could have made her walk.

It such a beautiful day today. Lucy isn't real co-operative with me taking photos of her these days and she wouldn't pose while I took a photo of her at the bus stop so I just had to be satisfied with what I could get.

Back home do dishes wake up Tess and Joey to see if they want to come to Caloundra with me. Joey had work at 3pm and I said we had more than enough time turned out not to be and he was almost late to work. We arrived at the Radiator Shop at 9.30 and the owner dropped us off in town and Cafe 21 on Bulcock so we could have breakfast.

I have been really good this week, I started a Whole food Kitchen Workshop and eating nothing but really healthy food so I had my favourite this morning eggs benedict at least it had plenty of protein I haven't eaten this for months.

After breakfast we went to Happy Valley, the water looked superb did I say it was the most beautiful day.

Lily was as colourful as her owner who was dressed all in pink.

Getting a bit worried about the time, we decide to walk back to the main street, get a taxi and just wait at the Radiator shop until the car is finished. I love Caloundra main street it’s so lovely with all the trees and is degrees cooler in summer due to the shade. I love separate shops and dislike shopping centres immensely , at least main streets have character, shopping centres are all the same.

This car was so small and the guy driving it tried to reverse park and hit the gutter we laughed I don't know how you could stuff up parking this car. He stopped when he saw me taking a photo and told us all about the car. Finally got the phone call that the car was ready so we grabbed a taxi (it’s been years since I have travelled by taxi)

Car still wasn't running properly which had nothing to do with the radiator. I was starting to think we wouldn't make it home. Then near home we hit the road works which are going to be there until September.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. Bye Joey you have 50 minutes to get home and get to work.

The dogs were glad to see us as they had been locked up all day. Tess decided to take Tony’s ute and go back to Nambour to pick Lucy up so I started sorting out photos while I listened to the one day cricket match. I really need to do something about those ugly cords. My green walls never photograph nicely.

The girls got back and it was time for a coffee and something to eat.

With Tess working and both girls are busy, they don't spend as much time together as they used to. Lucy actually said this week that she missed spending time with Tess. Renos still not finished.

Found the mail, Mapleton doesn't have a mail service we have to pick it up from the post office. I forgot Tess had picked it up and she just dumped it in a funny place. Nearly all the mail was bills

But there was a “good piece of mail” a save the date card from Tony’s niece, she is getting married in September on Daydream Island

The girls hanging out together, they decided to take Tony’s ute to wash it (any excuse) they just want to do laps at Mooloolaba and go out to dinner.

Tony arrives home and the dogs are so excited.

Girls look after your fathers baby.

Fred's not real happy they took the ute without him in it.

Had to do a quick trip to the shop as I had run out of milk. By the time I cooked dinner it was 8pm I don't like eating late. After dinner I had intended to scrap but I was too tired so I had a few shows that I had recorded that I wanted to watch, I watched Taggart. You get an idea of what I like to watch, what you cant see is Inspector Morse, Lewis, Blood on the Wire, Murphy's Law and Spooks. Love British crime shows and that's the only shows I watch. We got free pay TV with the TV and the only reason I got a new TV was to watch the Tour De France I watch no other TV. All other sport I listen to on the radio. Couldn't live without the radio.

The girls got home about 10.30, they both had a busy day and went straight to bed. Now I'm going to finish this post have a cuppa and have an early night

Bye for now

Jackie

Project Life–Week 4

2012-02-07T18:24:00.001+10:00

Im not a very good project lifer it was Tony’s birthday and I didnt even get a photo of the birthday boy.

Project Life - Week 3

2012-02-07T18:15:00.001+10:00

December Daily Album- Part 2

2012-02-05T19:54:00.001+10:00

DAY 14

DAY 15

Love this card from Typo

Day 16

DAY 17

DAY 18

DAY 19

DAY 20

DAY 21

DAY 22

December Daily Album

2012-02-05T01:23:00.001+10:00

The last three weekends I have been determined to get this album finished well finally today it happened, all but one page. The scans are a bit off but you get the idea.

DAY 5

The card page is more burgundy than brown.

DAY 6 & 7

The 6th and 7th were really quite so they only got a page each.

DAY 8

DAY 9

DAY 10

DAY 11

DAY12

The page with 12 on it scanned really badly these two pages actually look fine sitting next to each other. I had planned to bake I even got some of the cutters in various Christmas shapes but it just didn't happen I took all my ‘sweet" food photos at Starbucks.

DAY13

A couple of the pages I used different types of page protectors and slotted the photos and bits of patterned paper straight in.

It’s getting late so will scan the rest tomorrow

Bye for now

Jackie

Project Life–Week 2

2012-01-22T12:45:00.001+10:00

Had a bit of a senior moment last week and forgot to put on any dates but have fixed that now and remembered to do it this week.

Trying to finish my December Daily Album this weekend.

Bye for now

Jackie

How I'm Approaching Project Life

2012-01-13T10:42:00.001+10:00

Amanda asked me how I was approaching Project Life (Amanda I tried to answer you but I couldn't so thought I would put it here) At the moment I'm taking a photo a day, Only because we are busy and are doing a lot at the moment, in the quieter weeks I probably wont take a photo a day. Some weeks it may be only one thing like a birthday or a trip away. I'm not scrapping much these days so I really want to finish this year. All the album has been put together using the core kit so all I have to do is add photo’s and journaling I am looking at getting my photo’s developed on a Monday so I only have to put the photo’s into the page protectors . I'm trying to do the journaling each day but it doesn't matter if I leave it until I have the photo’s printed because it doesn't have to take that long to do.. I'm thinking this can really be an easy project if we want it to be. I don't intend to complicate this, I just want to document my year. I've never been big into journaling I'm a more of a who, when where, what,why kind of girl rather than putting my inner most thoughts. That’s it at this stage we will see how it goes. Keep It Simple.

Bye for now

Jackie

Project Life- Week 1

2012-01-10T18:31:00.001+10:00

Firstly I must apologise for the dodgy photo I don't have much natural light in my house so still searching for the best spot and time to take the photos. Don't know if I'm 100 percent happy with my first page I may add some more photos or other bits and pieces from the week I'm not going to worry too much about this but I do want to get this done every Monday so I can try and stay on track.

Bye for now

Jackie

Our Week

2012-01-10T18:15:00.001+10:00

The summer holidays are flying by, love the holidays, sitting up late, sleeping in a bit, the girls friends staying over, no lunches to make. Bliss. Poor Lucy is sick and has come down with a really bad cold .The weather has been good up until today it was stinking hot.

Monday we took the dogs to Mudjimba Beach for a swim, Milly was a nightmare, that dog doesn't know the meaning of slow all she wants to do is run and swim. Afterwards we grabbed Fish and Chips and went to Tony’s mums place for dinner, she lives nearby.

Lucy and her friend Maddy

My boy waiting in the back of the ute.

On the 19th of February I've been smoke free for 12 months so this year it’s deal with the weight, we eat right but I don't exercise so I needed some new shoes. I suffer from really sore feet and was trying to get a pair that I could wear when I went out to shop etc but these ones which are so comfortable only came in one colour and it’s a bit bright. I'm enjoying walking in these.

Tess and I do enjoy eating out and probably do it too much, Joey, Tess’ boyfriend had a day off so we went to the Hotel Maroochydore (formally Grinning Dog) the meals are always wonderful and the service fantastic.

Milly’s a garbage guts she will eat anything and eat it quickly I have discovered that she loves coffee.

She will hang around until I'm finished then she likes to lick out the cup.

Was going to our local shops on Sunday and came across these, I'm guessing that there were about 30 cars I would really like one I think lol

I'm partial to the blue one.

Could hear these babies for hours on Sunday afternoon was wrapped to catch their parent feeding them.

A few more random photo’s from the week.

What I'm reading

Tess waiting to get her nails done.

Bye for now

Jackie

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T15:53:00.001+10:00

I've always said that New Year Eve’s celebrations is the most over rated celebration, I've had very few “good” New Year's Eve nights and often end up bored and watching the clock so I can go home. I'm up after midnight every night it’s no big deal. This year we decided to go out and to make matters worse we were going to Mooloolaba Beach where 40 thousand people were expected. The reason we were going was that Lucy who is 15 1/2 and asked us if she could go with Tess we said yes but Tess had to work and didn't finish until 9.30 so it was 10pm before we even got over to Mooloolaba. We thought it silly to drop the girls off, go home then back again at 12.30- 1am.

Surprisingly it was one of the best new year eve’s I've had. We had dinner at the Nambour RSL which is always good and just waited around for Tess. We thought parking might be an issue as a lot of the streets were blocked off and Mooloolaba was a no go area for vehicles but thankfully we were able to park in the primary school and only had to walk a block and a half. Also another good thing the shop, street and beach areas were a dry area so no alcohol, yes there were drunk people wandering around but everyone seemed fairly well behaved. They had two stages and heaps of bands one was the Whitlams which unfortunately we missed and the other two bands I had never heard of. One was The Floating Bridges, they were really good

The next band was Amy Meredith

Please with my camera because I was a distance from the stage. Unfortunately my fireworks photos are crap. There was a barge just off the beach and all the fireworks were lit on the barge.

This is a close up of the front of the barge, note how the fireworks are attached to the front and all the orange tubes are fireworks also.

Anyway off to the beach to take the dogs for a walk.

Bye for now

A Lovely Christmas

2011-12-29T18:20:00.001+10:00

Christmas is done and dusted for another year, how quickly it passed. Christmas Eve Tess had to work so we went to Tony’s mum Sonja’ s house for dinner, this was lovely as Tony’s sister, brother in law and nephew had come down from Middlemount for Christmas.

We were woken up by the girls at 4.30, something's not right here they are 15 and 18 aren't they supposed to sleep in. Sorry about the terrible photo I don't function very well at that time of the morning as well as bad lighting and the ironing board in the background. We were all really spoilt Ipads , Ipods, Apple Mac Pro’s (I think) .

We needed to leave by 7am as we were travelling to Macleans Ridge in NSW, we drove to Sonjas place to drop Tess off and then headed off. It was such an easy drive as there was not much traffic on the road.

I missed going over the gateway, I fell asleep.

Over the Tweed River and into Northern NSW We arrived there about 11.30. My brother in law Jon is a fabulous cook and was busy in the kitchen preparing lunch. I don't know why but I forgot to take photos of the meal which by the way was delicious.

Lucy and Nanny.

My nephew Darcy

My sister had a house full of people staying so Tony and I booked a motel in Lismore, after lunch we went to check in, have a sleep (too much lunch) after we woke up we went for a drive around Lismore. I love old buildings our motel was right near the Catholic church. These photos are from the Catholic, Anglican and the Uniting Churches.

Nanny and her great grandchildren Olivia, Darcy and Lucy.

We headed back to Danielle’s for dinner, which was a whole snapper, our friend Scotty had caught.It was superb .

We had an early start boxing day Tony had to be back in Brisbane by 11am as he was heading to Broken Hill to pick up his new race car.

Poppy

My gorgeous niece Izzy.

Traffic was awful for no reason, we crawled along at some spots we were only doing 20kms after doing this for half an hour we past a speed camera and that is what was causing the congestion. Crazy, if people kept to the speed limit traffic would have flowed it was a really long trip home.

Tony and Kiwi headed off to Broken Hill at lunchtime on Boxing day Monday and got back at 4am Wednesday morning that’s over three thousand kms I think they are nuts I'm so glad I didn't go with them.

This is what they went to pick up

I think it’s rather ironic but our new car is the one behind ours , Tony assures me that it is a more powerful car. We will see.

Only a couple of days until a new year begins. Looking forward to 2012 it’s going to be a good one.

Bye for now

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T16:10:00.001+10:00

Just stopping in quickly to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We are just heading off overnight but not leaving until Christmas morning. Tess has to work tonight and Boxing Day so has decided to stay here and have Christmas lunch with Friends while we travel to northern NSW to my sisters place. It’s been years since I have had Christmas with my parents and grandma so I'm really looking forward to that. Tony and I will overnight in Lismore then unfortunately leave early as Tony is travelling to Broken Hill to pick up his new race car and needs to get back to Brisbane before lunch time on Boxing day. I have to be back in time to pick Tess up from work. Have a great Christmas, enjoy spending time with your loved ones and those who are travelling drive safely.

Bye for now

Jackie

December Daily Days 1 - 4

2011-12-20T10:39:00.001+10:00

Thought I had better get these scanned how many times I do these projects and then never share them. I decided to use a 8 1/2 x 11 sized album this year.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

I'm not liking this last page might redo it.

A Quick One

2011-12-18T01:52:00.001+10:00

I'm guessing everyone is in the same position as me, very busy at this time of year. I did take some time out to do my December Daily Diary. I'm keeping fairly up to date I don't print at home so am only getting photos printed once a week so it’s a bit of catch up on the weekends. I hope to get my pages scanned in the next day or two. I receive two kits from Jenni Bowlin a month I just adore her products but they are accumulating so I thought I had better get a couple of the project kits done. This one is the Project kit for November.

It took a few hours to make but I think it’s cute except for the glitter, I really hate the stuff (too much of the stuff when Tess danced ) I'm still brushing it off me tonight. If you haven't been to Jenni Bowlins website and blog do go there’s so much eye candy.

Bye for now

Jackie

A Bit of an Update

2011-11-29T00:35:00.001+10:00

Cant believe it’s been over a month since I have written a blog post and less than a month until Christmas. Haven't been doing a great deal Lucy has officially finished school for the year but in reality has missed the last three weeks with a really bad case of conjunctivitis I'm amazed nobody else in the family got it. She’s been housebound and bored out of her brain, poor thing. Tess is getting plenty of work and really enjoying her job. Tony as always is flat out and I'm trying to keep it all together I must admit I've enjoyed the last few weeks out of the school routine. So what have we been up to.

This was a few days before Lucy stopped going to school new glasses were in order for both her and Tony.We went to Specsavers and got the buy one get one free so ended up with four pairs of glasses

Tess and I went to the Wednesday Eumundi Markets I haven't been here for years, when Tony and I first moved to the Coast in 1989 we used to go to the Markets every Saturday morning they were real alternate markets, original goods, organic foods etc it’s a bit too commercialised these days but still nice markets. It was such a hot day lucky there were so many beautiful tree surrounding the area which gave some respite.

There was so much food on offer it was a toss up between a Japanese dish and savoury crepes, the crepes won

The result? Beautiful crepes I had the savoury and Tess had the jam and cream.

I really wished I had written this bands name down I thought I would remember it but didn't and they were really good they had a great sound. If anyone can let me know I would be grateful.

Will finish up tomorrow my other photo’s are on a different computer and it’s a bit late now and I have an early start.

Bye for now

Jackie

Come for a walk with me.

2011-10-20T12:09:00.001+10:00

I'm procrastinating today I have a heap of work to do but really am finding it hard to get going today. It’s been a busy seven days, my patrol’s motor decided not to work anymore and Tony has been pricing motors and trying to get the best deal, we are really lucky that he can do all the work himself but he has been busy with work and went away last weekend. I'm grateful we have two cars but the other one’s a ute so you can imagine the running around that we are doing, I'm averaging four trips a day into Nambour which is a 15 minute drive from here. Tonight Lucy has a dance concert so I have to go and pick her up from school at 3pm and then have her back at school by 5pm, poor Tess will have to come down to the concert with Tony in the truck (glad it’s them not me ).

Anyway I had a really good weekend and was able to scrap five layouts, that was a record for me . I tell you it felt good to be scrapping again. I was going to take a photo of the layouts but it’s a rainy day and the lights not the best, I might scan them later.

So lets walk

This is a neighbours cute van, I think it may have broken down to because it hasn't moved from this spot for a few weeks.

Although you wouldn't know it by the weather this week, it’s rather chilly, but spring has definitely sprung.

We decided to head toward town and meet Lucy off the bus.

We spotted a Kingfisher sitting on a branch, this is only the forth time I've seen them in Mapleton.

I really like this gate

It’s not always easy.

Finally this grand old house has been sold I wish it were me. I cant wait to see what the new owners do to it.

A glimpse of the Old School House, this was the original principal’s house and used to be situated at the school until they moved it to this site, to build a carpark, now it is an information centre and a boutique that is used to raise money for a hospice.

Our community Library it wouldn't survive without the wonderful volunteers that run it, it’s opened from 2 to 5pm daily and from 9 – 12 on Saturdays.

Which way, straight ahead to the shops or left to the Lilyponds?

We will have to walk through the Lilyponds another day.

Lovely roses outside the doctors surgery.

The view toward Mount Coolum.

Up towards the bowling club and post office, we don't get mail delivery here so we have to go to the Post Office everyday to collect our mail. My house used to be on the right hand side of this road about half way up and yes it had a wonderful view. The doctor who owned it moved it to our block and lived in it while he built his house (still lives there)

This is seriously a fantastic restaurant, does takeaway too. Bellavista makes the best chilli crab linguine.

There is a clothes “hippy” shop, a second hand book shop (which I love) and a lovely antique shop.

It’s rather sad but the General store closed for good last weekend.

Hey Lucy, she has that look on her face that says “OH no she has her camera out in public again”

Yes we have an aggressive magpie that loves to swoop men or boys on bicycles it seems to leave females alone.

The front of the Old School House

The old Mapleton Hall

Almost home

A bush turkey building the nest.

Bye for now

Jackie

A Day In Our Lives 7 Oct

2011-10-10T17:33:00.001+10:00

I've come to the conclusion that we lead a fairly boring life lol.

On Fridays we get a bit of a sleep in as Lucy doesn't have to leave for the bus at 7am. Every Friday Lucy spends most of the day at a local daycare centre, she doesn't have to be there until 8.30. We needed to take a photo of her so she can write a bit about herself and pin it up on the wall at Daycare so the parents know who she is.

We left the house at 8am first stop was into the local store for Lucy to buy some morning tea, Mapleton only has one store now as the general store closed on the weekend. Great shot of the antenna.

Dropped Lucy off at daycare

Tess and I decided we would go and have some breakfast before she started work. We tried a new coffee shop called Jaxon’s, we are pleased to say that it is very nice. It was nice to just sit and read the paper.

Tess was very good she had poached eggs I was a bit naughty.

I needed to get fuel as I was nearly on empty, silly me forgot it was Friday and should have filled up Wednesday or Thursday.

We then had to drive to Montville to take Tess to work

Went to collect the mail only exciting piece of mail that I got was a letter and a photo from my 99 year old grandmother, which is always lovely to get

I really wasn't in the mood to do much the house was clean and I had only got the computer back the day before and definitely didn't want to start doing bookwork so I decided to go back into town and visit a friend and as it looked like rain pick Lucy up and take her back to school when she finished at daycare.

You could see the rain on the coast. I dropped Lucy off at school and headed back home.

I love the drive home, it’s very relaxing not alot of traffic (roadworks at the moment is giving me a bit of grief) you can feel the tension drain away by the time you get up the range. It’s always made me feel that way.

Mapleton sits on top of this range, known as the Blackall range. When I got home I caught up on some blogs and found an interesting one that talked about making your own ricotta, we eat a lot of this and I would like to try making some, it sounded really easy.

I went for a walk around the yard, Milly came with me Fred was too lazy. The Iris was in flower

Our block backs onto a farm and this tree is massive, the photo doesn't really show how big it is

The dark brown bit at the bottom of the photo is a termites nest that the kookaburras nest in every year.

The farmer had slashed his block and it was rich picking for the ducks. Milly was giving me this sad look “let me out I wont run away or chase the ducks” but I know better than that and she wouldn't be able to help herself so in the yard she had to stay.

Then Milly wanted to play ball, now this posed a problem as we don't have any balls because she has chewed them all up into tiny pieces, she's not fussy a lemon will do once she gets it off the tree.

The dogs get so excited when Tony gets home, not that Fred looks real excited but trust me he is.

Tess home from work and is having a rest and catching up with a friend on the phone before she has to go to work at 6pm. Lucy gets home from school and is having her usual healthy afternoon tea.

Tony found a softball and thought it might last Milly a bit longer, yes her feet are off the ground. These photo’s were taken over the next half hour.

I had good intentions to keep taking photos but by the time I took Tess to work, cooked dinner and did the night time stuff I never got back to it. I went to pick Tess up at 9ish then we went to Maccas to get a coffee, came home and watch an episode of Inspector Morse that I had recorded.

Bye for now

Jackie

A Day In our Lives- Monday 26th September

2011-10-01T08:22:00.001+10:00

I haven't done a post in a while and am having computer issues (working off Lucy’s laptop) so thought I would do a day in our lives. I thought it was going to be a quiet day as it was school holidays. I really needed to get up early, unfortunately I hit snooze several times too many when the alarm went off at 6am. This was the time I got up, not a good start to the day.

It’s a beautiful sunny morning, Milly loves to sit out in the morning sun.

After breakfast a bit of cleaning and washing (always lots of washing ) was in order.

Dont think Lucy’s going to be any help today.

Its really hard to clean with Milly around she has to attack everything.

Burning my favorite candle. Looks a bit worse for wear

After the housework a nice shower was in order. I love my Reclaim products.

Time for a cuppa and finish the menu planning.

Four Lists one for IGA, Woolies, Butchers and the fruit shop

Milly’s really sad because she knows she’s not coming with us and is going to get locked in the shed (she escapes all the time). Don't worry Fred you will get some soon the promise of biscuits if Milly goes into the shed. Fred always makes sure he gets some to

Off to Nambour to meet Lucy’s friend Rhiannon and her grandmothers at Michelles for a coffee, Rhiannon is staying at our house tonight.

They are finally fixing the road into Mapleton so for the next few months we are going to come across a lot of roadworks and yes the car windows are putrid. A job for Lucy on the weekend.

I do my grocery shopping here and here

Got my drugs I always need these by this stage of shopping my head felt ready to explode

Then we drove out to Bli Bli to get our fruit and veg.

I know bad photos but it’s small and always busy I was feeling like a real dork so no inside photos only bad outdoors.

Called into our post office,we don't get a mail service so all of Mapleton have to call in to the PO to collect their mail

Home again Home again jiggity, jiggity, jig Fred was on the footpath eating a bone that the dog food lady had given him and Tony was as always on the phone

I dare anyone to take his bone away, look at the look on his face lol

Worse thing about shopping is putting everything away. Got to love a full fridge

Time to start thinking about dinner, marinated some chicken then went outside to have a game with Milly

Tess has to be at work by 6pm, thankfully Tony runs her down to Nambour while I get dinner

I looked into the pantry and decided I could not live with it for one more second so I started cleaning it out, not a good move at that time of the day. I had made a start on this and it didn't take too long to get it looking good and to be able to fit things in better. This photo is obviously during.

Despite the salads appearance it was delicious. Balsamic Chicken and white bean salad from www.taste.com.au After dinner the usual night time duties, washing up, making Tony’s lunch then I had to drive down and pick up Tess from work. Got home and collapsed in front of the TV and watched an Inspector Morse show I had taped and went to bed about 12.30am. Until next time

Bye for now

Jackie

Uluru- Up Up and Away

2011-08-20T10:20:00.001+10:00

One of my favourite things to do is to fly around Uluru and Kata Tjuta, it’s not that expensive to do. You can go on a brief 15mins to an hour flight, we did the half hour flight. This is the second time that I have done this and next time would really like to do the hour which includes flying over Kings Canyon, Mt Connor and Lake Amadeus. You are unable to fly over the top of Uluru and Kata Tjuta and have to fly a certain distance away from them but that really doesn't matter.

Ready to go Tony got the front seat as usual.

Connellan Airport

Ayers Rock Resort. Everything from camping grounds to 5 star Motels.

You can see the climb where the cars are parked,

You can see the surface is full of small craters not smooth at all.

This was one of the highlights from our trip.

Bye for now

Jackie

Uluru – On top of the World

2011-08-17T03:03:00.001+10:00

I know people have different opinions on the climbing of Uluru so this is not a right or wrong post and my views are irrelevant. Tony, Stitch and a few of the other guys that were with us decided to climb and I must says their photo’s were wonderful. I'm sorry for what’s going to be photo overload but it’s really hard to get a handle on how huge this rock is. Off the top of my head and I could be wrong but I think it’s about a 9km walk around the base.

Empty car park at the start of the climb and also the walks around Uluru. At this stage the rock was closed to climbers. The picture below is very deceiving it really doesn't show just how steep it is. It’s a steep little climb up to the hand rails.

The first climbers of the day.

Tony said once they reached that top bit, it dipped then went up again, he said you thought you had reached the top but had not, it was never ending

There's always one idiot that strays off the track, seriously what a dickhead this was so steep.

From here on are Stitchy’s photo’s

yep it’s straight up

No where near the top just having a rest.

The next few photo’s taken by David Andrews.

A few more of Stitchy’s

You can see our trailer from here it’s the biggest vehicle in the car park. Lucy waited patiently for her dad to climb back down.

Everyone had a very enjoyable morning and it was only 12pm.

Uluru

2011-08-17T00:38:00.001+10:00

What can I say about Uluru, nothing I put into words can describe it, it’s magical. You can feel the energy there its amazing and I found it to be quiet intense. Once again I came away disappointed that I didn't get to spend enough time there and I couldn't do any of the walks as I had a really bad back through most of our trip but I will get back there and spend the time that I need to.

To be honest I didn't like this viewing platform you get a nice view of Kata Tjuta but the sun isn't as intense as it was from the view point that we were at in 2007

Aren't the colours of the flora amazing it had rained the few weeks before our visit and it was really beautiful.

cuppa time it was freezing.

We pulled over where the viewing platform had been a few years previous and in my opinion this was a much better spot to watch the first suns rays of the day hit the rock.

A small part of a walk at the base of Uluru.

What a Win

2011-07-26T18:18:00.001+10:00

Congratulations Cadel. Cadel Evans has made us Aussies very proud, the way he conducted himself throughout the Tour shows what a champion he is. Cadel for 2012 Australian of the Year. Now I might be able to catch up on some sleep. Thanks goodness for SBS because I dont think any other free to air tv stations would touch this and show it live to us every night for the duration of the Tour. I feel lost now but I can go back to not watching tv, until this time next year at least.

These photo’s were taken by Michael Steele and Laurent Rebours.

Day 12- Monday- On the Road Again

2011-07-26T17:30:00.001+10:00

We thought we should stay and watch the cars come back over the finishing line as our good friends Les and Glenys were still running. Les has an amazing record he has ALWAYS finish the race. They finished 5th in class and I think in the top 20 (give or take a few) so at least it was a successful weekend for one of us.

Congratulations guys.

We were anxious to leave and head to Uluru which would be about 450 kms however due to the volcano eruption in Chile all flights from Alice Springs to Melbourne were cancelled, we had to give some guys a lift to Uluru so they could get flights from there. Our friend Stitchy and a friend of his were travelling with us also.

I would love to visit this rock it’s wonderful but for now will have to be content to viewing it from the lookout on the highway. Mt Connor is situated on a vast, fully operational, privately owned cattle station, called Curtin Springs Station.

Our mate Stitch

At the resort there are a few choices in accommodation the resort, bunk style or camping. The guys we gave a lift to went into the resort to get a price for a room for the night $380 was the ridiculous price they were given, they ended up staying in the bunk style accommodation for $30. We couldn't quite fit our fifth wheel into the camping ground so we drove back out a bit and pulled up at a rest stop and camped there the night.

July, My Favourite Month

2011-07-19T10:09:00.001+10:00

I love July, I truly do. It’s the middle of winter and although Queensland winters are no where near cold enough for me you have to appreciate the cold crisp mornings and the superb mild sunny days. It is glorious. I tend to hibernate in July, I don't stay indoors all the time but for three weeks I'm not getting to bed until 2am. Why???? One of my favourite sporting events is on, The Tour de France.

I always knew about the event but never actually watched it until I came across the highlights package at 5.30pm on SBS about eight years ago. I remember it was raining and I was watching them racing down a mountain at terrifyingly fast speeds. I was hooked how on earth did they stay upright how could one ride so fast, I then discovered that it was on live every night at 10pm. I quickly became mesmerised by the French countryside and the quaint little villages that dotted the route.

For four years I worked in a bakery and had to start work at 5.30 which meant getting up at 4am, this really interfered with the Tour. I actually took time off especially when the mountain climbs were on. I was lucky I had Thursdays off and didn't work weekends so it was okay but I could only watch it until 12. It was really difficult to do.

People have said to me oh how boring, no way, it’s a real team sport an entire team racing for one rider it’s so interesting to watch the tactics of the various teams unfold during a race. It certainly took me a few years to “get it”. So during July I'm not online much especially at night, also its the coldest room in the house where my computer is, it’s the only room not heated so I don't spend a lot of time out here. I'm actually starting to think that in a few years, once the girls have left home I would like to go to France and follow the tour around. Maybe I should start to learn French . To me these guys are the most amazing athletes in the world to push your body like that for three weeks with only two rest days is truly incredible .

I’m trying to talk Tony into taking two weeks off in late January to go to the Tour down Under in SA, seems we have been spending a lot of time in that state this year. Tony is off to SA to race again this weekend, apparently they have more drivers from Qld than they do from SA. I tell you the travelling starting to wear us down. the first race of the year was in WA, then NT now SA, Tony is certainly looking forward to the race in QLD which is the last race of the season in October, only a three or four hour drive.

These images were borrowed from SBS Cycling Central site, a wonderful site. Go Cadel, will it be his year this year, I hope so.

Day 11- Sunday

2011-07-06T17:08:00.001+10:00

Forgot to mention in the last post that Tony prologued 25 out of 98 buggies. To say he was happy is an understatement. Our car is an older car and some of the top buggies are worth over two hundred thousand dollars, our is definitely not but it goes well for what it is.

Another early start Lucy and I took Stitchies car and drove about 25kms down the track until we found a good spot that wasn't too far away as we were recovery for our team. The other pit crew had left for Finke which takes hours to get there. The drivers leave first, race to Finke which is about 223kms one way, then the bikes leave and they stay the night at Finke and race back on the Monday. If you want to read more about it go here.

Another glorious sunrise as Lucy and I head out to find a good spot.

Our car 138

I was absolutely showered with dirt, it felt like hail but I stayed there and kept clicking.

I am so happy with my camera, this was the first time I photographed race cars with it. I was hoping to get a practice run a few months prior but it didn't happen cant wait until I know how to use it properly. After all the buggies and cars went through we were sitting in the car waiting for the bikes and we heard over the two way radio that car 138 had broken down near the 35km mark. Not good. I dropped Lucy back off at the pits, ran up to headquarters to find out exactly where they were, hooked Les’ dodgy trailer up and off I went. It was so embarrassing, after about 30kms I was pulled over and breathalysed I'm so used to driving an automatic car as I pulled over I forgot to put my foot on the clutch and stalled in front of the police, I was more worried about the trailer I was towing.

A really sad sight, it was a long way to go to only race 35kms but there is always next year and as they say that’s racing.

Fortunately there is always spectators on the side of the track that are willing to give you a hand.

Lucky we didn't see any police on the way back as Tony had to sit in the buggy as Stitchie’s car only seats two. Now we were free on Sunday and Monday morning so we decided to wait until our friends Les and Glenyis finished the race on Monday and head out to Uluru a day earlier than planned. So the remainder of Sunday was spent packing up and back to the park we were staying at. I was relieved in a way that Tony had broken down as Lucy and I would have had to spend the night in the fifth wheel out at the track as I don't have a licence to drive it and I wasn't looking forward to that. Spent the rest of the day washing as that was going to be the last chance to wash clothes, towels and sheets until we got home.

Day 10- Saturday

2011-07-06T15:32:00.001+10:00

These holiday posts are really dragging on aren't they, I had better hurry up and finish them or we will be ready to set off again and I still wont have finished blogging about this holiday.

Saturday is prologue day and a really early start, we were out at the track by 5.30, the drivers had to be out there for the early drivers briefing and the first car goes out at 7.30am. I wasn't happy with the spot Lucy and I picked for photo’s but we were on foot and it was difficult to find a good spot. I had also been fiddling around with the camera and when I took the camera out of auto into the shutter setting it was in black and white. Do you think I could remember where to find the setting, no and the instruction book was back in the pits. Don't think I will forget that again.

Hope he’s strapped in.

Camera out of auto, playing with different shutter speeds, without success but it’s the only way I'm going to learn.

The rest of Saturday Tony made final adjustments to the buggy and make sure everything was ready to go for Sunday

Day 9 Friday

2011-07-06T14:45:00.001+10:00

Not much happening today, time to catch up on some washing and the van needed some cleaning so Lucy and I got stuck into that while Tony went out to the track to have a look at the prologue course. After he came back we went into town to do some things then went straight out to the Alice Springs show ground where scruitineering occurs.

This is a really long night but important as the locals get a chance to come to the show ground and have a look at the buggies and the hundreds of motorbikes. Fortunately for us this year we had to take the fifth wheel out there as that is the only way we have of transporting the buggy so we were able to hang out there in comfort. So different from other years, the cars and bikes are put into the pavilions , we usually get to the grounds about 4.00pm and the cars have to stay there until 9pm. It is usually bitterly cold and by the end of the night the feet are killing you as is the back and you are well and truly over it. It was really like my army days, Hurry up and wait.

A budding photographer maybe?

Has he got his race face on yet? Almost

Tony and Les, they are like an old married couple.

Another sunset and at this stage I retreated back to the van and put the heater on. I only ventured out once and that was to go and find a coffee, which I did. It was really remiss of me but I didn't go over to the bikes at all.

Day 8 Thursday

2011-06-26T22:27:00.001+10:00

Great excitement started the day today my baby turned 15. We made her wait until today to give her a portable DVD player yes we made her wait until we had already driven 3361.02KM I have always be against my kids having DVD players in the car I prefer mine look out the window and see a bit of this beautiful country that we live in. Lucy survived. She also got some vouchers from Grandma, Grandpa and Nanny. We were going to visit the Alice Springs Desert Park it’s a fantastic park I put it equal with Australia Zoo. You can go on walks through Woodland Habitat, Desert Rivers and sand country. There is so much to see even in winter, all the lovely plants and the spectacular wildlife. Someone once said to me they thought the desert landscape was boring, you have got to be joking.

This photo was taken in 2007 but I forgot to take a photo of the entrance so I'm using this one, look at the gorgeous blue sky.

I hope to name these birds correctly I had to buy a bird book called Birds of the Red Centre by Malcolm Arnold. This little guy above is a Rainbow Bee Eater

I don't know either of these but the bird below sings the most beautiful song, I will have to go and find my other bird book.

Black Winged Stilt

A cute little fairy wren, sorry I'm to lazy to find out the name of the others.

Mum and bub a big bub at that.

After spending hours at the park we had to go and pick up Lucy’s birthday cake. I was fortunate to have a friend that lived in Alice Springs and his wife was able to tell me the best place for cake was Cakes for You. Just lovely was so pleased with this cake and it tasted delicious .

This photo just doesn't do this cake justice. We went out to dinner to celebrate Lucy’s birthday I hope she had a good day.

Days 6 & 7 Tuesday and Wednesday

2011-06-26T19:43:00.001+10:00

We decided to push on to Alice Springs and arrive there on Wednesday so that would give us time for Tony to have a look around as usually he’s too busy. Lucy wanted to see Coober Pedy, it’s a fascinating place but I can take it or leave it, on the other hand Tony really likes it. I didn't take any photo’s of the mounds driving into Coober Pedy as I have been there before and thought I would take them on the way back home. Coober Pedy is interesting, 80 percent of the town is underground. Last time we didn't get time to go on many underground tours that’s one of the reasons I wanted to go back.

A glance up the main street, there was a TAFE college to the right of the photo, two supermarkets, plenty of takeaways places and the pub and a large Caltex servo that could make a decent coffee.

Plenty of room to park, we were parked in front of a underground motel , where you can see the mound that’s a lookout and in the hill was an opal shop and another motel. I loved the underground bookshop but his books were so expensive and it was a shame as I really wanted to buy a few of the books all about the Coober Pedy region. We also went to look at the underground catholic church. What I like is that all the underground buildings were so warm, this was a really chilly day and the temperature is a constant 24 degrees, it’s really comfortable.

We wanted to visit Faye’s underground Home, Faye was the first female to live in Coober Pedy. Her home was originally a one room garage for the mail truck It was converted by Faye and two other women, using only picks and shovels, into a kitchen and bedroom. Later five other rooms were added including a wine cellar and a swimming pool. Unlike a number of display homes in town, Faye's Underground Home is actually lived in and the owners are happy to show you through the house. Faye moved to Chelmer in Brisbane.

The cream building is the games room which has a full size pool table and a good sized swimming pool. The moment you go into the house you step down into the kitchen

Despite what my camera shows they had crystal clear reception this was two levels down they had a fire place but it has never been lit.

Note the dressing table if a piece of furniture doesn't fit you just dig out some more until it does. This bedroom leads down another level to the main bedroom.

This bedroom had a huge walk in wardrobe, the small doors that you can see in the wall are now storage space but when Faye live there she was sick of her large dogs trying to sleep on her bed so she dug a space for them to sleep in, the dogs could see her they were happy and stayed off the bed. Having slept in an underground campground, you really do sleep well as it is so dark and quiet and not to mention really warm and cosy. Faye built this room around the pool as she discovered when she built the pool she was losing too much water in evaporation.

I wish I could remember the couples name who live in this house now, they were lovely. Tony and Lucy did the mine tour that is on the property as well.

After leaving Coober Pedy we travelled to the other side of Marla and pulled over for the night at a busy truck stop lots of trucks and caravans. It rained through the night and when we got up we were surrounded by a foot of water. Luckily we were able to get out and not get bogged. We travelled onto Alice Springs getting there just after lunch. We had booked it at the Macdonnell Range Holiday Park we have stayed here several times and always happy with it. That afternoon we went into town for another decent coffee and to do some grocery shopping, it was nice to know we were staying in the one spot for the next five nights. That night we had dinner at the Todd Tavern which was much nicer this time around.

Day 5 Monday

2011-06-22T16:54:00.001+10:00

Big driving day today, we wanted to get as close to Coober Pedy as we could. Started off a lovely day sunny but very cool. After we crossed into South Australia we spotted what looked to be cloud but was actually fog

I’m loving all the different colours it’s amazing, all we get at home is green so I'm not used to all these gorgeous creams, tinged with green and red. We passed through many a small town with not much more than a railway station, most were being restored, a pub and a servo. I love small towns and I love looking at old buildings so we ended up spending ages walking around Peterborough. It used to be a railway town, it’s a bit sad a lot of empty buildings and a lot up for sale, if you are looking for a change some of the properties for sale were an absolute bargain.

Peterborough is famous for Bob the Railway Dog now ironically I had never heard of Bob until a few months ago when I heard an interview about him on the 612ABC. It’s a rather delightful story. In Adelaide in 1883 Bob was rounded up with other stray dogs to be sent north to deal with the rabbit plague. William Seth Ferry saw Bob and offered the rabbiter money to buy him, the rabbiter refused, he would only do a swap, one dog for another. William went to Port Augusta found a stray dog at the Police Station, returned and made the swap.

William then transferred to Peterborough, during this time Bob would travel everywhere with his owner then he decided he could travel by himself. So Bob continued on his merry way and travelled widely to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. At the completion of every trip he always followed the engineer home and was an important visitor. When back in Adelaide he always went for a feed at the Eagle Hotel and the girls always gave him the best. Every traveller knew Bob and the children adored him. Some drivers would put him off, and he knew them and never got on their engine.

Bob loved travelling on trains. and he loved the men that worked on them. When he heard the whistle of a train he was off! For a time he went missing, he was stolen by a sheep farmer. Unfortunately for him he had Bob herding sheep near a railway line. Bob heard the whistle of a train and ran to the engine where the crew recognized him and claimed him. The farmer was told that Bob was the property of the SAR and that he would be prosecuted for theft if he did not give him up. (from the time that William Ferry rescued him in Terowie the railway men had always kept his licence current) After this incident one of his friends, a commercial traveller, had a special collar made with the legendary inscription on it of “stop me not but let me jog for I am Bob the Drivers’ dog.

Give me an old fashioned main street with it’s mixture of shops over a shopping centre any day.

In this photo you can see the YMCA on the left, the Town Hall in the middle, and the original town hall at the end. The original town hall is now a private residence, would that be nice.

This is the court house which is attached to the Police Station. Below is the original printing office and bank.

The cute information centre, it was the warmest place in town. We spent most of the morning there and by late afternoon had arrived at Port Augusta. This was the first view we had of the Spencer Gulf it was breathtaking although the photos don’t do it justice.

Day 4 Silverton

2011-06-11T08:30:00.001+10:00

I woke up to this this morning,The photo doesn't do it justice the colours were quite intense.

The plan was to spend the day in Broken Hill on Sunday, then before we left on Monday spent a few hours out in Silverton. For some reason we ended up going out to Silverton, Sunday morning.

Silverton is a little town about 25km from Broken Hill, population is less than 60. Following the discovery of silver and lead it was proclaimed a town in 1885 at it’s peak the population was 3000. As Broken Hill’s larger mines were established Silverton fell into decline. The municipal Chambers ceased operation in 1899 leaving Silverton under the control of the NSW Government. With building materials in short supply many of Silvertons buildings were transported to Broken Hill on jinkers, pulled by teams of camels or bullocks. That is the reason there are so few buildings remaining today. These days Silverton is managed by the Silverton Village Committee , the town has many art galleries and is a popular destination for movie and commercial locations. Mad Max 2 , A town like Alice, Pricilla, Queen of the Desert . Mad Max 4 is going to be filmed there but was postponed for a few months as the surrounds was too green with all the rain they have had.

First stop was the Mad Max Museum

They had the most amazing collection of photographs, thousands of them, original and replica costumes and memorabilia Unfortunately . We weren't allowed to take photo’s inside the museum. The owners kindly posed for a photo with us. They were the nicest people.

Loved this old church, it has been renovated into a private residence. It was built in 1886 and was the Catholic Church, St Carthage

Silverton School 1884 -1970

Courthouse and Memorial Youth Camp

Silverton Gaol

I really enjoyed visiting Silverton it was a really interesting place the museums in the school and gaol were fascinating.

After we left Silverton, we drove a few kilometers to Mundi Mundi lookout were you can see the curvature of the earth, fantastic view. Then we went to the historic Day Dream Mine which was discovered in 1882 and did an underground tour, What a hard life those miners hard no wonder they didn't live to be very old. I wanted to go to the Sculpture Symposium which is a short drive out of Broken Hill to take some great photos of the sun setting on the Sculptures, we left it a bit late we got there just in time however then the sun decided to go behind a cloud and didn't get the photo’s I had hoped for.

I would recommend a visit to Silverton, well worth the drive out there. We were so tired and had planned to stay at a caravan park but was unable to so we drove about 30km out of town and parked at a rest stop so we decided not to head back the next day but to keep going. Hopefully we will get some time to call in on the way home.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY

2011-06-09T18:28:00.001+10:00

MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL is 15 years old today.

As I'm using Lucy’s laptop these were the “youngest” photo’s I could find.

Hope you have a really great day. xxxxx

Day 3 Near Moree to Broken Hill

2011-06-08T22:45:00.001+10:00

It was really good to be back on the road we spent the night at a rest stop outside Moree, we pulled in to Maccas at 5.30am for coffee and pancakes, our aim today was to reach Broken Hill.

Here’s home for the next 18 days it might not look much but it’s really comfortable and warm too. Hardly have the heater on as it heats up too much, Has two bunk beds and a double, kitchen with fridge, microwave and oven, plenty of cupboard space and most importantly shower and toilet. In the back is the racecar and again plenty of “workshop” space.

About 30 kms outside Broken Hill we called it a night and pulled up at another rest stop. The fridge has a small freezer compartment (think bar fridge) so I was able to premake meals and freeze them so we have been eating really well as long as I can freeze things as flat as I can we have fit heaps in. I even froze several bags of chicken soup, spag bol, rissoles and various cuts of meat to make satay chicken etc. I did a menu plan up for the time we left until we got to Alice Springs, then a rough one up for the rest of the time away.

IT’S ALL PART OF THE ADVENTURE

2011-06-08T13:43:00.001+10:00

That became our mantra on our trip to Alice Springs in 2007 when we drove and did the touristy thing with a group of friends. Well we are just into twelve hours of our big adventure and we are stuck. Stuck at the bottom of the Toowoomba Range and as I have been telling Lucy it’s all part of the adventure. With so much to do yesterday we didn't end up leaving until 9.30pm. All was well we made it through Brisbane and had a stop at Gatton to grab coffee, Tony was feeling a bit tired then plan was to make it to the other side of Toowoomba where we were going to stop for the night.

Just as we were approaching Toowoomba range the truck started to make a funny noise, that’s alright we knew what that was a hose fell off the turbo, Tony pulled over and fixed it, unfortunately what he didn't know was that a small piece of something hose or clamp fell off into turbo which got into the engine, we weren't going anywhere . Lucky Tony has his brother Michael who came to the rescue as he always does (lucky it was a public holiday Maleny show day) he assures me we will be gone by 3. Gary, Tony’s navigator who lives in Brisbane grabbed the parts that we needed so I'm confident we will be gone sometime this afternoon. With trips like this it pays to be flexible so I'm going to have to do some rearranging again the reason we are going this way through Broken Hill, Flinders ranges, Cobber Pedy is we didn't get to spend much time there last time. I had even booked a flight for us over Wilpenia pound for Monday. Despite having to rearrange our aim is to reach Goondiwindi tonight. Our original goal was to be in Broken Hill sometime this evening :) I've actually had a good day despite being a bit bored but I had a really good read of my camera’s instruction manual shame we didn't break down somewhere with more interesting things to take photo’s of. Lucy has slept all day, if Tony did decided to drive through the night which he wont be because he hasn't slept since Wednesday night at least Lucy could have stayed up with him and kept him awake. Lucy and I got to bed at about 3am I had no idea how many semi’s drove past but they were so noisy.

A Day At the Zoo

2011-05-25T00:12:00.001+10:00

Australia Zoo that is, I haven't been there for years and it’s still very impressive. What I love about it is it’s so clean and the animals are so well looked after, the Sunshine Coast is so lucky to have this wonderful attraction. I remember first going there back in 1996 it was so small compared to what it is today.

When I used to work the early shift at the bakery the old men would gather outside in the car park and stand there and talk for 30-60minutes nearly every day, these guys on the rock just reminded me of that.

Love the otters, I could just stand and watch them for hours they are so entertaining.

The girls were waiting in line for their turn when Tess saw the Koala poo on the girl that was nursing him so when it came to their turn she promptly made Lucy hold the koala, not that Lucy minded at all.

The Irwins.

The croc in the throes of a death roll.

I would be running too.

That feels soooooo good.

This little one had an itch that just wouldn't quit .

A little Tasmanian Devil.

A gorgeous dingo, just love them.

The tigers were hard to photograph as they were behind glass or thick perspex. As you can imagine I took hundreds of photos, haven't even touched on the birds It was pretty yucky weather but we had a great day.

Fashionista? I don't think so.

We were very grateful for these raincoats.

That’s it for now

Bye

Your Invited to Lunch- Don't look if you are squeamish

2011-05-23T00:59:00.001+10:00

I was on the computer listening to the birds outside when I heard something fall out of the tree and hitting the ground. Thinking it was a branch, ignored it, Milly was out side pacing back and forth and making a funny noise. Time to go out and investigate and this is what I found.

You can see the snake’s mouth, this was not a small possum. I will just add the possum was dead when they hit the ground. My neighbours and I stood and watched for almost an hour it was fascinating.

Look how wide that mouth has become. (below)

I took about 200 photo’s but this one below is my favourite all done but for the tail.

All gone, then the snake stayed in the one spot for about 30mins then very slowly went on his way. I was able to get about a metre away as this snake was so full it wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Something nicer to finish this post off with

I'm Back

2011-05-22T22:36:00.000+10:00

I cant believe I haven't posted since the end of February , I do have a reason not a very good one but one anyway. I really haven't done anything worth blogging about, same old same old but the reason for feeling like this I'm convinced its the Champix tablets that I have been taking to give up smoking. I'm still not smoking it’s been 13 long long weeks. I wouldn't call myself a non smoker, far from that, I'm a smoker who is dying to have a cigarette but wont. I find I walk slowly through the plumes of smoke where the smokers gather outside shopping centres etc. and I take in the deepest breaths I can. I had a friend come over yesterday and she kept moving away from me, please stay nearby I was thinking. How long is this going to go on for? Anyway I would never have stopped smoking without the tablets but they really did my head in. I've had no motivation what so ever to do anything so as a result I'm behind with everything . It was like having “baby brain” as I wrote in an earlier post at first they made me fall asleep while I was driving, then after a while I wasn't sleeping at all. One weekend I was paying a rather large bill and put the money into an account that didn't exist and then found that the bank staff didn't work on Saturdays (which was advertised that they did) I think it was a long weekend. So I had an anxious wait until I could contact the bank and let them know what happened. Oh it should be back into your account in a couple of days but if not phone us on Thursday or Friday, lucky for me it appeared three days later. The most stupid thing I did was stop taking the tablets three weeks ago. I didn't even give it a thought that I would be giving up the tablets cold turkey, dumb dumb dumb, told you my mind wasn't in a good place. I had a good week last week so I might be getting back to normal I am craving a bit more than I was but I will get over it. The good thing is my mind is much more with it.

The other exciting thing is my girl turned 18, I'm seriously too young to have an 18 year old. So we had breakfast with her and some of her friends, then sent them on their way to the Gold Coast for the weekend. The funny thing is that Tess wanted Tony and I to go with her but we thought the kids would cramp our style and to be honest my clubbing days are well and truly over.

They stayed at the The Towers of Chevron Renaissance which was a really good price $350 for a two bedroom apartment for two nights, Tess said it was lovely it was right in town close to the shops and nightclubs. Then on the Saturday night we had booked them with a limo tour, well it was actually a stretched hummer. I was really happy with this, they were taken to various nightclubs around the coast, when they arrived they were escorted into VIP areas and had security with them all night. Tess only took three of her friends but she said the group below were a lot of fun, they were all in the hummer together. The cost of this was $120 per person

She had such a good time, she doesn't look 18 does she :)

Went Shopping

2011-02-27T22:59:00.001+10:00

We don't have many vintage or “French” style shops or none that I have found on the Sunshine Coast I'm guessing there are probably some in Noosa but I rarely go there. So Bed Bath & Table is becoming a firm favourite. Scored these last Thursday night. I've been after a clock for the lounge room I know what I want but cant find it. So I got this for the time being.

Love this it’s so cute

Have no idea what I'm going to do with this but it was $50 reduced to 19.95

Hope everyone had a great weekend

Jackie

A Day In my Life- Monday

2011-02-23T22:07:00.001+10:00

I enjoy reading these kind of posts so I was inspired by Libby from Life is a Journey not a Destination to do one myself. So here is my day.

Woke up at 5.50, Tony always makes a me a cup of tea, got up and did a quick tidy around the house and threw on some washing. Woke the girls up at 7am, usually they are up at 6 and leave for the bus at 7 but Tess has been missing the early connection bus to Tafe so I have been driving them most mornings. Made breakfast, Hash browns for Tess and a peach smoothie for me. I prefer to use fresh fruit and didn't have any silken tofu which really makes it creamy and smooth but it was still nice.

Dishes done and we were out the door by 8am. I don't get to drive much any more Tess has driven over 30 hours already (that’s with 3 driving lessons).

a self portrait by Lucy lol. I dropped Lucy into town to meet up with her friends and then they walk to school. I was able to talk Tess into going and getting me a coffee from Michelle’s while I minded Milly.

Dropped Tess off at Tafe. Not the best photo I was taking a lot of these photo’s with Lucy’s camera as it is small.

On the way home I stopped at the post office, Mapleton doesn't have mail delivery lol. I'm glad I did because it was a good mail day. My Jenni Bowlin monthly kit arrived oh my goodness such beautiful goodies. If you

want to check out these kits you can here. Enough procrastination I had a heap of bookwork to do. It’s hot today so only last about an hour and decide to go for swim. I let Milly into the pool yard as she doesn't like swimming and will run around the pool poor Fred cant come in because once he gets in the pool you cant get him out. Every now and then Milly slips in and today was one of them. She’s not happy

After a swim I'm feeling peckish so had marinated tofu and a boiled egg. Despite it’s appearance it was very nice.

Got a fair bit done but the heat got to me so back to the pool . Time for lunch and doing some menu planning for the week.

Pick Lucy up at 3pm then headed out to the fruit shop a 15 minute drive toward the coast.

There was no way I was taking a photo out of the car (that’s why I borrowed Lucy’s camera) there was a lady parked right in front of me that kept looking at me funny if she seen me taking photo’s I think she would have called the police lol.

I had Lucy all lined up to take a photo of the fruit shop as I pulled up in front a rather large man stripped of his T shirt right in our way so this is the best she could do was the little sign on the front gate lol

We rushed back to Nambour to meet Tess at 4, she had a driving lesson and was being dropped off at the supermarket. Lucy took this photo of Tess

Shopping done and this is what greeted us as we walked outside. It was only 5.15pm.

It poured down but Tess still wanted to drive I must admit I was nervous but she has to learn to drive in all conditions. That’s it for photo’s got home, cooked dinner and had an early night (I don't watch tv but did watch Underbelly) That was my day

Bye for now

Jackie

Life Rolls Along

2011-02-19T16:58:00.001+10:00

I started this blog post a while ago.

It amazes me how quickly the weeks fly by It’s a bit scary really. I haven't done anything interesting lately I had promised myself the last two weekends that I would get some craft time in but that didn't happen. I'm definitely going to try in the next week or so.

All week we watched in horror as the massive cyclone Yasi made it’s way to North Queensland, one of our friends evacuated and another was going to wait it out, he owns a sugar cane farm I'm not sure how that held up. More flooding in Victoria and horrible bushfires in WA, what is going to happen next.

I dragged Tess down to the local park for some photos we compromised she could drive if she let me take photos. I like this tree it has interesting bark, I wish I could find the photos of the girls when they were young in front of this tree I wanted a then and now.

She has been driving a lot and is doing really well she has already done over 10 hours and that’s just short trips, she went to Texas this weekend I told her to do a fair bit of the driving to get her hours up. She will have to tow the trailer (I'm not sure if she is even allowed to do that).

Then later it was Lucy’s turn

I like this one, Tess was in the background being a pain in the rear and Lucy was giving her one of her drop dead looks.

I'm not sure if I mentioned before I'm doing Ali Edwards One little Word at Big Picture. My word for the year is HEALTHY so what have I done to work toward being more Healthy. I started Body Trim, it’s not a diet it just changes the way you eat. We have always eaten well but I've been overweight for years, lack of exercise doesn't help nor did the way I ate carbs, lived on them. Ate like a top athlete but didn't exercise like one lol. Body Trim is high protein, low carbs so we didn't have to make huge adjustments just eat more protein and eat more often. I'm never hungry and the foods is delicious . I find Body Trim easy the only thing I struggle with is breakfast, I have never been a breakfast eater so I've been having this smoothie, I try not to have it every morning but it’s to die for.

It has a lot of things I don't like soy yoghurt, protein powder but mixed with silken tofu, strawberries, and lecithin it is seriously one of the nicest smoothies I have ever tasted and the great thing is you don't feel hungry for hours.

I also want to give up smoking so have started taking Champix I have been taking it for two weeks and today is my last day of smoking. I'm not keen on the tablets as the make me fall asleep and it’s like I have morning sickness, something I rarely had when pregnant but I will keep taking them and see what happens. Had a scare the other morning I had a tablet half an hour before I left to take Tess to Tafe she drove there and I was falling asleep in the passengers seat I dropped her and Lucy off and was driving home it’s a 15- 20 min drive I could hardly keep my eyes open and I said to myself pull over, then talked myself out of that. I was going through this rather winding cutting, next minute my eyes flew open and I'm heading towards the bush, squashed the guidepost with a really loud bang lucky I went that way and not the other way as there were three cars heading towards me. I tell you THAT woke me up, so what did I learn when a medication leaflet says do not drive as it may cause drowsiness, take note because it may just be so. Very little medication makes me tired I guess that’s why I didn't take much note. It’s funny because Champix can cause sleeplessness, not on me it doesn't lol.

Anyway to finish off I thought I would share I project I finished a few weeks ago. I have been meaning to make a bus destination board since last year. Found the frame at the Op shop for $10, when ever I went to print the destinations I never had enough ink lol but it’s finally done. I wish I had mixed up the fonts a bit more but I guess if it really annoys me I can print it again. I saw a large canvas of these at a shop in Bangalow for $800.00. You have got to be kidding me even the smaller ones are hundreds of dollars, just ridiculous. I did consider stencilling onto a large canvas but I knew that it would never happen so it was quicker to print them. I do live on the Sunshine Coast so I could have put the beaches but as I live in the hinterland I thought our bus service would be more appropriate as my girls use this bus all the time. Not a good photo as the light was not good.

Bye for now

Jackie

Thank Goodness it’s Friday

2011-01-28T18:45:00.001+10:00

Even though I don't go out to work (I do our businesses books at home ) I'm really glad it’s the weekend. It’s been a busy week and I'm looking forward to relaxing and doing some crafty things this weekend, although it will probably just be catching up with some scrapbooking projects, that I have quickly got behind in doing.

I had great plans for today, get up early, give the house a really good clean, do the washing and ironing, then start on my stuff tonight. Well it’s nearly 5.30 and I've done some washing, that’s it lol. The day started well up early but I made the mistake of lying down to watch the morning news, well two hours later I woke up. Then I spent the next couple of hours on the phone to Telstra as I had no internet since last night. I was going to leave it until this afternoon to do as I knew it would be time consuming, wished I had. Anyway Tess drove us to Montville as she had to go to work, I'm not liking giving up the drivers seat much, not that it’s a reflection on her driving, not at all, she drives really well considering she has hardly driven a car at all but I like to be in control of the car lol. Got home another couple of phone calls, finally connected then disconnected again another call and finally connected for good so it seems. I'm ready to start the house work then I get a phone call from the school, Lucy’s not feeling well could I come and get her. Oh give me a break she’s only been back at school three days. I immediately thought okay what subject does she have on this afternoon, sport (she hates it) or she has had a fight with one of her friends but it wasn't any of those and she swears she felt sick. I might add she seems alright now. Finally get home (after an hour) and twenty minutes later Tess phones, she has finished work and wants me to pick her up so she can drive home. I really didn't want to as she can get a lift home but being the nice mother that I am went and picked her up. So it’s getting later and later, get home then Mitch (Tess’ boyfriend) and Tony turn up, they are all going away this weekend so it was a bit chaotic while they were throwing things into the car at this stage I'm about to give up so I'm going to write a blog post, get Lucy’s dinner which is already cooked, feed the dogs, then clean the house. As I write this the dog has decided he’s hungry and is just sitting next to me, willing me to get up and feed him, well he can wait.

Monday was the last day of the school holidays for Lucy. Now we get fine weather it rained for most of the holidays, lucky she spent two weeks in Wagga and it was fine there the whole time. We decided to do something with Tess (friend) her two sons and niece so we went to Buderim Falls. It’s amazing to see this and it’s right in the middle of suburbia. We entered through the easier way to walk to the falls but didn't get too far as one of the walkways had been washed away in the recent floods so we had to drive up to the other entrance and walk down a really steep and muddy walkway, thank god I wore my Mongrel Boots (these are the most comfortable shoes I own, they are work boots I got when I worked in the bakery but yes I wear them as much as I can) This was the beautiful view we were greeted with.

I was standing at the waterhole looking up and the bridge that crosses the creek.

Actually took my camera out of auto and played with the shutter speed settings, have no idea what I'm doing but was rather pleased with it. I'm having some lessons soon and I know I will look at this in a few months and say what was I thinking lol but I guess you have to start somewhere.

Almost underneath the falls it was so lovely and cool

We had our picnic lunch on the rock that the sun is shining on.

Another view from a different vantage point.

Because of all the recent rain there were little waterfalls everywhere.

We had a great day I took few photo’s of the kids and 400 photos of the waterfall lol. It’s well worth the effort, such a gorgeous place.

Tuesday saw Lucy back at school much to her disgust. I cant believe she is in year 10 now and because of that had to buy all new school shirts this year.

I must have been asleep when I took this because I have only just noticed the little bugger changed out of her brand new skirt and into this old creased one, Why? because I haven't hemmed up her other skirt and if she thinks it’s going to be taken up as short as this one she is mistaken, that skirt was from year 8 and she has grown a touch since then.

Come on Lucy you could look like you were a little bit excited to be going back lol

Wednesday was Australia Day and we didn't actually do anything as the girls both had to work, they work at the same place but had to start at different times so we were running back and forth. At least I got to listen to the cricket.

Thursday was a most exciting day for Tess, her first driving lesson. She was horrified that I was going to take photos so they were rushed and not that good and I also had the wrong lens on. It was a momentous occasion so naturally I was going to take photos. We had to meet her instructor Robbie, at Main Roads in Nambour. Tess is having lessons with Phase Driving School.

Why is she hiding behind her purse.

That’s as good as it got. That’s it for now, Dogs are fed as I got sick of them looking at me. Have a great weekend

Bye for now

Jackie

Summer may be here.

2011-01-26T02:12:00.001+10:00

It seems summer may be with us again, the last few days we have actually had no rain. It’s only 33 days until autumn and for those of us that live in Qld know that the horrible summer humidity and heat can last well into autumn. This year has been odd it has been raining for months, we had record winter rains, it rarely rains in winter and that's when we usually have to buy water for our tank. We had record spring rains and it has just gone on from there. As much as I dislike summer even I felt the need for some sun, however once that humidity hits I will be wishing for the cooler weather again. We were fortunate and although we had amazing rainfalls over 300mms in 24hours we didn't get the damaging floods that everywhere else got but we did have the usual trouble spots. Nambour has parts that go under every time we get heavy rain the main creek that runs through town runs at the bottom of the primary and High school, more than once we have had the call from school that they are evacuating as their ovals turn into rivers. Fortunately it’s school holidays. Our two supermarkets are right next to the creek and the water flowed into the car parks forcing them to be closed for a week. Parking’s bad enough, it was chaos. I went to the supermarket today and noticed the shortage of vegetables, no lettuce and what lettuce they had which was really tiny and was $4 for one. They had very little choice in fresh herbs, I was really wishing now that I had my veggie and herb gardens up and running I need my veggies. Anyway there are a few shots of the flooding in Nambour on my other blog (see link in the sidebar) that was the Monday afternoon following the downpour of 300mms on the Sunday so it had gone down some buy the time we got to Quota Park. When I got home I drove a few kms out to Mapleton Falls I have never seen it flowing like that in the fourteen years since we have lived here, there were three waterfalls.

A very cloudy view from the lookout across the Obi Obi Valley

Two of three waterfalls

The dogs were sick of being indoors and we were sick of having them indoors so as soon as it stopped raining we took them to Mudjimba beach. Rain clouds were threatening but as night fell it had cleared up and has stayed that way for the past few days.

Milly taking Lucy for a run

Reflections

Night time approaching. Notice the two guys taking photos. It was good light but disappeared way too fast. This is looking from Mudjimba toward Maroochydore

My favourite photo of the day, no way perfect and definitely blurry but I'm learning how to use my camera and the sad thing was it was still in auto.

Happy Birthday Tony

2011-01-23T15:37:00.001+10:00

My DH turns 44 today, we had dinner last night at the Maroochydore Tavern, used to be known as the Grinning Dog. It was a nice meal and nice company. Jen, notice the shirt he’s wearing, looks good.

I had eye fillet with morton bay bugs in a creamy garlic sauce and a gorgeous salad. I dont eat much steak but it melted in your mouth. I was hoping that I could have had the same meal as last time but it wasnt on the menu.

Tony had the ribs and really enjoyed them.

Can you spot the three brothers lol.

Never Thought I Would See The Day

2011-01-14T01:03:00.001+10:00

I have an L Plater living in my house. Congratulations Tess.

This was the best she would give me today, she did not want me to take her photo. I reminded her who paid for everything today but that didnt sway her.

Cant leave Lucy out

Oh yuk, getting a big sloppy kiss from Fred

Such Sadness

2011-01-13T00:00:00.001+10:00

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this post. As the whole country knows Queensland has been in severe flood since the day after boxing day, It has rained here for months with no end in sight. So much destruction firstly in central and western Queensland then the Darling Downs, Ipswich and Brisbane. Some towns were flooded twice, whole towns have been evacuated. At this stage 12 deaths with about 50 people missing. I have been glued to the TV all day today watching the Brisbane River get higher and higher as I would guess a lot of people have been doing. I think the thing that got to me the most was the inland Tsunami that hit the main street of Toowoomba with no warning then swept down the Toowoomba range taking out everything that stood in it’s way, the footage was incredible to watch, whole houses just get ripped off their stumps, the pure ferocity and speed of the water was terrifying. I have been listening to the 612 ABC radio coverage of the floods since they started that station deserves an award for the service they have given to Queenslanders just amazing. We were fortunate here it rained so much over 300mms in 24hours we don't have huge river systems in the area so when we flood it goes down fairly quickly and we don't get the massive damage bill (to buildings, the roads are another story). My thoughts go out to all that have been affected by the floods, it’s going to take a long time for the state to recover. All these photos are from various news sites.

Bye for now

Jackie

A bit of a catchup

2011-01-05T01:15:00.001+10:00

Life's always busy around here there is never enough hours in the day. I'm really struggling to find time to do crafty things which I really need to do I find it good therapy. Here’s a brief snapshot of what we have been up to lately

Tess went on holiday to Wagga, fortunately before all the rain hit, she had a lovely holiday. I love this photo of her and Nanny.

Love this photo of my mum and dad.

My Friend Tess’ 50th birthday party was an absolute blast. Lot’s of celebrities were there. I spotted Suzi Q and Angus

Charles Manson although I was assured that it was Kris Kristofferson or Willie Nelson.

No mistaking Alice Cooper.

You can see they take after their mother, lol

Just us girls, left to right Monica, Tess, Chris, Tina, Marie (with the yellow glasses) Me and Hayley.

I really don't know these people.

Hmmmmm what’s going on here, well let me just say what goes on at the party stays at the party.

This was going to be a brief catch up wasn't it rofl.

Just Testing.

2011-01-05T00:46:00.001+10:00

Im having a play around with my blog and hoping to be able to post bigger photos like on my other blog, which I have started posting to again. This was the first photo taken with my new camera. I will be updating my blog in the next day or two, here’s hoping Ive still got a reader or two left.

What my Kitchen looked like today.

2010-12-10T00:49:00.001+10:00

After years of using a really crappy oven I finally got a new one put in today. Our friend Brad is doing our minor kitchen reno’s A few months ago he tiled behind the oven, splash back above the sink. This time he made a new base for our fireplace to sit on and add some tiles up behind the fire. Put the new oven in and moved a few of our cupboards that are on the wall around. My place looks like a bomb has gone off. This is the dining table not even a space to put a cup of tea.

This is only the stuff out of two of the cupboards. Silly me said I did want to clean out all the kitchen cupboards well I guess now is my chance.

I hope this isn't a case of the blind leading the blind lol.

Brad doing something with the base of the fire place. Cant remember the technical name lol

My beautiful new Westinghouse oven I cant tell you how exciting this is. My other oven was so bad I hardly cooked in the oven and I haven't baked for years, although working in a bakery I didn't have to lol. I am so looking forward to cooking again Tony is looking forward to a roast, I don't think so as I don't want to dirty it lol.

I will eventually paint all my kitchen cupboards white.

Due to the state of my kitchen and the dust last night we went to dinner at the Maroochydore tavern formerly known as the Grinning Dog Tavern. Oh my goodness the food was to die for.

I had the Cajun dusted Snapper on a bed of rocket, pumpkin, avocado and parmesan cheese with a garlic aioli . This was superb I haven't had a meal this good for a while. All the others had steak and said it just melt in their mouths. Will definitely be going back there. Lucy’s already given me a list of goodies she wants to bake muffins and mudcake seem to be the first lot of things lol

Bye for now

Jackie

INTRODUCING MISS MILLY

2010-12-06T18:44:00.001+10:00

For the last couple of years every birthday and Christmas Lucy has asked for a puppy. As we already had Fred the answer was always no. We were adamant that we did not want another dog.

We have a skip bin business and when we have bins that aren't on a job it’s convenient for Tony to leave them in bushland not far from the dump as all the skip bin operators do. About three weeks ago Tony noticed a little staffy running around through the bush, the dog was very timid, extremely skinny and obviously very hungry. It appeared that she might have had a litter of puppies, he phoned the local Rspca, local animal shelter and the local council to see if someone could come out and get the dog and see if they could find the litter. The first two were understaffed and couldn't possibly do it and the third weren't that interested and would have to take her to the pound. I told Tony to phone the Noosa RSPCA as they have a good name and reputation for helping when needed. He did and although they couldn't get there that day (they are a 40 minute drive away) they would help they asked Tony could he catch the dog or at least feed it. Tony grabbed a tin of dog food and found the dog, she smelt the food straight away, still was very wary of Tony and wouldn't go to the food until he went away.

The next day Tony took some more food to her and she went up to him straight away. After she had eaten he walked with her to see if he could find the puppies, he couldn't find any. As he went to get back into his truck, she jumped in with him. He took her to our vet, mainly to see if she had milk and had she given birth recently. She had given birth but it had not been recently so he phoned the RSPCA again and told them he had the dog and they said they would pick her up the next day.

After spending the afternoon and night with her we decided to keep her. I still don't want two dogs and she is a pain but she is such an affectionate little thing and very sweet. She has some condition caused by mites and when she came to us had no fur on her back or parts of her face, having no fur , she really smells. So Lucy got her puppy, Milly is only 12 months old and it is her responsibility to bath her three times a week (for the mites), rub aloe vera into her skin and look after her.

They have really become the best of friends.

Milly still looking a bit sad, she had only been with us two days. Note all the missing fur.

Milly loving the beach , she had been with us two weeks. She runs so fast and loves to swim. I think she looks a bit possessed in this photo.

Her fur is starting to grow back and she’s put on weight. Fred’s a bit put out and tolerates her, he would prefer that she not be here.

This Is What Our Weekend Looked Liked

2010-11-15T10:55:00.001+10:00

Hellooooooo

2010-10-27T22:53:00.001+10:00

It’s been a long time since I've visited my blog, I'm surprised that anyone still drops in. In reality I haven't been doing anything exciting but have been busy if that makes sense.

What have we been up to. At the beginning of the month we went to “Oktoberfest” at the Maroochydore RSL club, Tony’s dad was German so they used to go to these alot . My sister in law Linda loves having a good time. No matter where you go with her it’s always fun and plenty of laughs.

My camera doesn't take very good indoor photos

What a shame I don't like beer.

Tony and Linda

Eric, Tony and Linda

I have no idea who this guy is and nor did Linda, we just thought his costume was hilarious.

The Barman.

Games were played like eat the sausage.

Musical chairs, sort of.

See the black jeans with the pink shoes? That’s Linda.

Down to the last two.

This is what she won, I think it was a flag.

We had a good time cant say Im fond of german food. While we were here the kids went to the The Monster Truck Show at Kawana sports ground.

Things that have made me happy this week

2010-08-29T15:49:00.001+10:00

Looking at all the Jasmine that is yet to bloom

My beautiful magnolia tree that was given to me by my Grandmother.

Fred’s beautiful face. Actually I have a biscuit held above my head and he is drooling.

How could I not know about this wonderful author Lee Child and his Jack Reacher novels. There are 14 in the series and another to be released at the end of September. I have now read all but two. Love them, couldn't put them down

My Day At Bribie Island

2010-08-15T08:44:00.001+10:00

A few weeks ago I decided to head to Bribie Island for a spot of Op shopping. I could only find a few stores in the phone book but thought I would drive down there anyway as it had been a few years since I had been to Bribie.

To my delight I found Op shops everywhere but didn't get a good haul I'm on a mission to find two chest of drawers and white things for my kitchen dresser. They sound easy enough but no I'm still hunting. There was a lot I thought about buying but I really don't have a lot of room at home so have become a bit selective. All I got was a couple of books, a low carb cookbook , some old bottles and an old colander, not a good shopping day but enjoyable.

I stopped for a while by the water, it was a glorious winters day, one of those winter days that Queensland is famous for .

This is the bridge that you drive over to get to Bribie, you can just see the Glasshouse Mountains in the background, it was a bit windy and hazy.