DECORATING FRENZY

Well today was the day.
The day to put the Christmas decorations up.
The big box of decorations came down from its place high up in the cupboard and the tree was unpacked and decorated.

Presents wrapped and under the tree.  
Well done!!

Now for the rest - a few favourite decorations that go up every year, handmade gifts from friends that are carefully packed away every year.

These lovely beaded bells were handmade by my 86 year old mother last year.

They take their place on the Christmas tree every year.

The dining table decorated.

Did you notice the centre piece?

I've just finished polishing the silver - not my favourite job!

It is a cricket trophy won by Tony's grandfather

Doesn't it come up well?

It shows off  my  handmade decorations made with beads and sequins 25 years ago and still taking pride of place!

And finally an Aussie Christmas card!

 Next job ?....... CHRISTMAS  COOKING !

Cheers

WHERE I LIVE

In answer to a request from Sandy ( Teacup Lane (http://www.teacuplane-sandy.blogspot.com/ ) I'm going to tell you a little about where I live.
Most of my blog friends from the UK will know a bit about Australia, after all we were an English colony and are part of the British Commonwealth, but those of you from Canada and USA may not know too much about us.

.

I live in Brisbane, capital of the state of Queensland. Our city has a population of about 2 million and sits on the Brisbane River about 60 miles inland and not far from the border with New South Wales.

Our city has grown up in the last 20 years. In 1988 we hosted EXPO 88 and since then our city has really developed. The centre of the city, or "town " as we call it, is now a thriving centre with a growing number of tall buildings and the suburbs radiate out from there in all directions for quite a long way a - a big sprawling city.

I live in one of those outer suburbs about 40 minutes from the city (town )...

... in a newish housing development so there is still house building going on all around us which, in our climate,  means we live with lots of DUST!

Where the EXPO was, is now a busy parkland along the river right in the centre of town. We call it  Southbank. There are restaurants, public BBQs , picnic areas and a beautiful purpose built beach where anyone can go for the day to swim, picnic and laze in the sun.

For free!!
Open to all and right in the heart of the city.

Needless to say it is very popular and well used, especially in our hot summer weather.

About 60 miles away on the coast we have the lovely beaches of our Gold Coast where Surfers Paradise is the best known resort beach.

To the north we have another set of beautiful beaches we call the Sunshine Coast. They are a little further ( perhaps 100miles ) and stretch a long way to the north. Noosa , Mooloolaba and Caloundra are some of the beaches there.

We are famous for our beaches and surf and I think you would be hard pressed to find better beaches anywhere in the world. Our sand is white and fine and squeeks when you walk in it. It gets so hot you can burn your feet on a hot day and the water is blue and clean and never goes below 20 degrees - usually its about 26 - 27 in the Summer. Surfing and going to the beach is a very large part of our way of life because on the whole our weather is fine and warm to hot.

Well that's a little about where I live. Hope I haven't droned on too much.

I'd love to hear more about where you live.

Cheers.

JET SETTERS !

Can you guess where we went on the weekend?

It was just my luck to have a window seat on the plane and then be on the wrong side to take the photo that I wanted for my blog !

Well, can you guess where this is?

OK, to be fair I'll show you a better photo of where we went then you might recognise the city.

Does this help?

or this?

Yes , we went to Sydney for the day.

It's an hour and a half flight from Brisbane so we went down early and were back at home around 8:00pm.

A long but enjoyable day to visit number one son and his partner for Christmas as they will be spending the day with her family this year.

Sydney Harbour is always beautiful. We took these photos on a previous visit.

and on the way home we flew over Bondi Beach ( the crescent of sand you can see below)

We had to zigzag our way through these stormy clouds on the way home.

Made for a bumpy trip home!

Cheers

CHRISTMAS CARDS

Sending Christmas cards is a tradition that seems to be dying in this age of electronic communication. I know I do not send very many these days.
I'd rather phone and have a chat, say a personal " Hello" and "Merry Christmas" but there are those few that I continue to send.
To older folk who still like the old fashioned ways or family overseas who like to show others that they have been remembered.
But most cards in the shops look like this .......

or this

or this

... and that bears no resemblance to an Aussie Christmas.

So ....

in the weeks leading up to Christmas I'm going to show you a few Aussie style Christmas cards.

Here 's what an  Aussie  Christmas card looks like.

and this

I LOve the humour in them, the way they reflect our Aussie way of life.

I've lots more of them to show you as the days count down towards Christmas.

Cheers

MUSINGS

Well the cacophony of sound that is the flowering gum breakfast sesssion woke me up again this morning but this time I reacted differently.
I clamped my eyes shut and lay there and drifted - drifted and planned and listened to the squarking and chattering and quarreling of the lorikeets and it was very pleasant.

And then the noise stopped. They were gone and the silence was  deafening !

But I had used the drifting time to think about blogging and how much I am enjoying myself, enjoying writing and communicating, enjoying planning and photographing, enjoying flitting all over the world and peeping into people's lives, enjoying making new friends and getting to know new people.

So now I have some plans. Some new ideas for posts. I hope you'll  find them interesting 'cos your blogs fill my day with interest.
I LOve to visit you and see what is happening in your world.

You've brightened my day.
Cheers

GETTING INTO THE GROOVE

Usually I'm a bit ho hum about Christmas, a bit of an Ebeneezer Scrooge.
I love to get together with the family but it is all TOO HOT !
But this year I feel a bit different - more into it . Actually looking forward to it a bit.

This year we're not the hosts ( perhaps THAT has something to do with it !!!) so it will be less hectic in the heat and with less to organise, less to clean up, less to run around setting up I think I'm looking forward to it !

So, yesterday I bought a cute new Santa.

and some other bits to get me in the mood.

Then on the way home in the car I came upon a house - not far from home - all ready for the season.

My, the owners have been hard at work

 Can't wait to see it all lit up.

EARLY MORNING WAKE UP

First of all let me explain that I'm not an early riser.
I'm a night owl - never in bed 'til midnight.

Oh, I wake up early enough but I like to lie in and doze. Go back to sleep for a bit.
Never, if I can help it, actually get up 'til 7 o'clock.
Now that I can.
Now that I'm retired........( though it's not so easy in the Summer )
and I explained before my love of trees
So let me tell you about the flowering gums that are also in flower at the moment. We have one....

Here it is in bud. It's only a baby tree.

Our neighbours at the back have a big one and it is just starting to flower and the native birds especially the lorikeets, LOVE it.....

..... and that's where my talk about sleeping in comes in.

At the moment that is impossible. It's 6:00am and here I am at the computer writing this post. I've already been out taking photos for you!

(This is an old picture of lorikeets so you know what they look like !)

Lorikeets are very noisy birds. They screech. They quarrel with eachother. They fight over food, branches, flowers......

But  they never come in ones. There are always lots of them and the noise they make high up in the trees WAKES YOU UP !!!!

Now when I went to take some photos for you this morning I learnt a lesson on camouflage.

 I've always wondered about the bright colour of the lorikeets and if their colours made them easy to see. Put them in danger from predators.

But look. Can you spot them in the flowering gum?

Here it is !

or here

Can you see this one ?

or this one?

 

They are after the honey in the flowers.

 

Isn't nature clever?

Just as well that I love birds as well as trees!!!