AT THE MOVIES

Because it is the end of the school year and Christmas AND Summer here, we have our long summer school holidays.
That means all the movies on in the theatres are directed at KIDS!
But after Boxing Day the new releases start and before long we have lots of new movies to choose from.

I  LOVE  movies don't you ?
Especially on the big screen at the movie theatre where the sound is loud .....

and there are no stops for making cups of tea.....

 or phones ringing to interrupt you .....

or people asking you questions ....

or discussing what is happening tomorrow...

and you can concentrate and ENJOY the movie .

On Thursday we went to see this one

We really enjoyed it .

 Had lots of  laughs.

Merryl Streep playing another comedy role.

The whole picture ( movie ) theatre roared laughing in some parts.

Not really complicated at all - just funny!

Cheers

HEXAGONS

This blogging world is great isn't it?
Today ( well it's actually night time here ! ) I've been flying around the world visiting all my bloggy pals and reading about their lives and what they are doing today.
Sometimes I leave a little message, sometimes I decide to go back later when I have more time to "talk".
So when I visited Kate's lovely blog Railway Cottage and read about her "English Paper Piecing" it inspired me to share a project that I have been working on for more than a year.
Actually I think I started it at the beginning of 2008 but I pick it up and put it down - it's a bit of an aimless, meandering project I have to say.
It 's a quilt-as-you-go  hexagon quilty thing.
I don't know how big it's going to end up.
I don't know whether it will be square or rectangular or maybe even roundish.
This is how you do it .

You start off with a hexagon of backing material that blends well with all the other materials you have .

Each side measures about 2 inches so it is quite big.

On it you place a piece of wadding that is about half an inch smaller all round .

On top of that you place another piece of material of the same size from your stash  for this project.

Then fold the edges over and pin them.

When you have a stash of these ready to go you can settle yourself down to watchTV, or whatever takes your fancy and neatly stitch them down.

Steps 1 to 4

When you have a big stash of these you simply fold them right sides facing and sew them together in any pattern you desire.

Perhaps like this

or like this ...

.... until you have a completely finished quilt of the required size!

As you can see I've not decided yet but I think I'll go the random way. It's easier.

I have about 100 now but I'll just keep on until the backing is all used up and I'll work it out then.

Cheers

SUMMER CAN BE DANGEROUS IN OZ

While my friends in the Northern Hemisphere have been battling snow and the freezing temperatures that come with a particularly cold Winter, we in Oz have been dealing with the problems that Summer brings us.

People in Victoria and Western Australia have been dealing with a very frightening Summer problem - BUSHFIRES !
They are dealing with temperatures around 40 C and being told  "to activate their bushfire plans. "
       

This means they have to decide to stay and  attempt to fight the fires and protect their homes thus endandgering their own lives  or flee - get out before the fires cut them off from safety.



The people from western New South Wales have been dealing with a very different problem
FLOODS !

You've heard the saying "It never rains but it pours "? Well I think that was invented just for Australia. If it's not drought it's floods.
Recently two farming regions in Australia’s eastern state of New South Wales have been declared natural disaster zones after days of torrential rains caused major flooding and cut off hundreds of residents.
People rode away in motorboats and farmers herded horses and cattle through the deep water to higher ground in an effort to save their stock.

In the north of Western Australia the residents have already dealt with the first cyclone of the season. They have been buffeted by 280 kilometre an hour winds. Ports have been closed and ships have been moved out to deeper water to ride out the cyclone.

Now they dealing with the damage caused by these destructive winds and rain.

And after Nature has finished there is still more to deal with.

 Mosquitos -  Authorities are now worried about an outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases like Ross River Fever.

"The mozzies are big grey ones and you walk outside and they cover all of your arms and your legs and they come in on your back - everybody is complaining about them," a resident reported.

People have been talking about the towns running out of Aeroguard !

And now for the big finale  !

A RED ALERT has been issued in Kununurra  (WA ) as rains cause cane toad numbers to explode and the pests move to within 27km of the rural Kimberley town!

EVERYBODY hates these  disgusting creatures !

And boy they can grow very BIG!

Not all of us are off enjoying a lovely Summer holiday at the beach.

Cheers.

(all photos and information today are from the Internet)

FRIDAY EVENING

When you are a long way from home studying and working and trying to experience a whole different lifestyle sometimes you have to improvise with what you can lay your hands on for the things we all take for granted.
Actually that's part of the fun of it.
That's what our young friends Lorna and Kevin are doing here in Brisbane. They are from Scotland and over here on a university exchange for Kevin.
While he is trying to find his way around our university and his difficult course Lorna is trying to fit into our hospital system where she is working as a Physio.
All this plus coming to grips with missing your family and friends at home, making new friends, exploring the country and its way of life.
On a tight budget.

It was a pleasant, not-too-hot evening last night at their "flat" (apartment - unfurnished when they rented it ) on the river.
The view across the river to the university was lovely in the setting sun.

and we were all in the mood for a quiet drink and chat.

 

The citronella candles were burning to keep the mozzies (mosquitos) at bay and give us gentle light..

 

and the nibbles were within reach.

Now, look at the coffee table !

You see what I mean? You can't buy all that fancy furniture when you're only going to be here a short time !

The TV cabinet does the job too.

... the bedside tables are the same!

You have to improvise!

Kevin had a go at bread making but had a bit of trouble working out which flour to use.

They are going to try it toasted !!

However he knows how to cook a mean BBQ....

... and the Lemon Meringue Pie went down well.

Thanks for a lovely night Kevin and Lorna .

COOKING UP A STORM

Firstly I'd like to say a big thank-you to all my blogland friends for their good wishes yesterday.

Thank-you we had a lovely dinner and walk, although the walk home was not as nice as the walk down and by the time we staggered through the front door, I was very hot indeed.
Thank goodness we have air-con and it was not long before I was cool again but oh I hate this heat !!!!


This evening we have been invited to a BBQ with a lovely young Scottish couple who are over here on a university exchange. They are good friends of our daughter who spent several years working in Edinburgh as a physiotherapist.
We were supposed to go last Sunday but the dreaded thunder storms hit and the BBQ had to be cancelled but not before I had made dessert - a Lemon Meringue Pie!
Now you all know that you can't freeze Lemon Meringue Pie....
 and you know how many calories are in a big sweet delectable pie like this.....
 and you know I'm off to Paris in 12 weeks time so of course I must lose weight ...

so........

I had to get rid of it quickly before we succummed to the temptation of scoffing it all down and

EXPLODING !

I quickly sent large slices of it off to friends and neighbours and disaster was avoided!

So ...

Today I made another

Lemon Meringue Pie !

First I lined the dish with pastry...........

Then I assembled all the ingredients for the lushious lemony bit .

I added the juice of 3 lemons to 2 cans of condensed milk .

Tasted it..... mmm. Just right!

Mixed in 4 egg yolks and poured it into the cooked pie shell.

Next I beat 4 egg whites to soft peak then gradually added 1 cup of caster sugar to make the meringue.

On to the lemony stuff I piled it and into the oven ( 350 F  - 180 C ) for as long as it took to lightly brown.

and ......

Voila !

Did you notice I'm speaking   French !

Cheers

AND THE YEARS ROLL BY

Today is our Wedding Anniversary.

38 years of wedded bliss!

Seems just a short time ago . ( Photography has come a long way. Hope our photos today weather time better than these have).

Tonight we intend to walk to our local Thai restaurant for dinner then walk back home. Probably about 3 k each way.

In the cool of the evening it should be very pleasant and help with the weight problem too!

Cheers

NEARLY FINISHED

After all that excitement yesterday I spent the morning today emailing off booking enquiries for an apartment in Paris and three gites in the countryside. Very exciting. I hope they reply quickly because if they are not available I will have to get busy and find something else.
In 2008 we spent three months in England staying in cottages and had a wonderful time. It is such a beautiful country and we feel we really got to know it quite well.
Let's hope the same goes for France - at least the little bit of it we will explore this time.


Later in the morning I set off to the material shop to purchase some material for my quilt.
My first quilt.
It's really coming on. I have put the final border on it.

So all there is to be done now is the quilting.  It's going off to be machine quilted next week so the lining  material was the last bit I had to buy.

 I bought the special stuff that is all in one piece to make life easy ( and cost effective ).

It's not brilliant but is only the lining after all.

I think it will go OK.

Then I set about making a matching pillow case for the bed - not to sleep on you understand. Just to finish off the "look".

Now, you know I'm not really a sewer so I'm flying by the seat of my pants here.

I think it will work out.

I tried to do the " stitch in the ditch" type of quilting here with moderate success - a little puckering even though I tacked it all in place and used a thing called a walking foot. I'll try hard not to point out all my mistakes when I show it off to my quilting pals!

So now I just have to work out the back part and sew it all together and if it all works out then make another one !!!

Then while I was checking that the lining matched OK with the quilt I spied the cushion I made last year at a class on sewing celtic circle patterns and it looks great with it !

So I'm a happy little  ( !! ) sewer.

I've just got to work out the rest of the pillow cover ..............

Cheers