GOODBYE WINTER

Today is the day we in Oz call the first day of Spring.
The temperature yesterday was 30 degrees here in Brissy so it looks like we are in for a hot Summer.

Last night we farewelled Winter with a chicken and mushroom pie.

Guess we'll be switching to salads from now on .
( that brown stuff near the potato is roasted cauliflower - a bit crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside- lovely )






Cheers.

PLANNING

 

I'm still working away at my photo book from this year's holiday

 

but I'm also researching next year's holiday.

 

This research lark can eat up a lot of time as you go back and forth

 checking out accommodation,

checking out distances to drive between stop overs,

checking out things to see,

zooming in on Google Earth.

 

 

Here are a few photos from the Internet of the places we're hoping to visit.

 

 

I look forward to posting my own photos of these lovely places.

 

Now what did I do with that Italian for Dummies CD ?

 

Cheers.



BRING ON THE 7th

 

That's LNP candidate Tony Abbott in the centre of a group of young soldiers who(m?) he joined for their morning PT session at the army barracks recently.

 

 It's terrific to have a future PM that gets out and about with the real people and at 55 can keep up with the young fellows.

 

He said :

"Terrific to be part of the team at Robertson Barracks this morning for a gruelling exercise session. These guys sign up and put themselves at risk so that the rest of us can be safe and free. I honour their service. "

Can't wait for 7th September.



BIRDS

When we lived on acreage in our previous house I used to feed the birds.

They didn't need to be fed, I just liked to have them visit.

Specificly I used to feed the Lorikeets  - both Scaley and Rainbow varieties - and when they come they usually come in large numbers.

As the grevilleas are all flowering and so are full of Lorikeets at the moment I decided to see if I could get them to come to a feeder.

I placed bread soaked in sugary water down near the Grevillea bushes and it wasn't long before they found it.




The only problem was that there were a few other birds who wanted a share too.




Now Cockatoos are lovely birds too but very destructive.




They attack the tin on your roof or your garden shed and bend it out of shape, chew your wooden garden furniture so I wasn't too pleased to see four or five of them swinging in the nearby trees.
Anyway they like seeds.




The Magpie came to have a look too though he really prefers worms and such.


But I needn't have worried as Lokireets are bossy little birds
 

 

 and they soon chased the others away !

 

 

 They're very noisy and bossy but I love them.

 

 Looks like Tony will have to get a move on and build me the bird feeder that he promised.

Cheers.

ANYONE HAVE A SET OF EARPLUGS I CAN BORROW?

 

Does anyone out there have a spare set of earplugs?

 

 

I'm so sick of listening to politicians every time I turn the TV on.

 

 

 

If you don't know by now who you will be voting for, you must have been asleep for the last 3 years !

 

 

 

 

 

For Heaven's sake Tony don't just pose for the photo like that , give the smarmy idiot a big shove and get it over with !!!

 

September 7th can't come soon enough !!!

HAPPENINGS AND DECORATING

It's been over two months since we returned from our wonderful holiday in France and Switzerland.

Most of the time that seems like ages and we've been fairly rapidly plunged back into activities associated with supporting our three elderly parents.

Last week was especially busy with ongoing medical support for Tony's mother and a visit from her sister who stayed with us for a couple of days.

No sooner were the sheets washed and the bed remade than we had a visit from Mum and Dad for the occasion of Dad's sister's 90th birthday celebrations on Sunday.
It's lovely to see them all together and a little sad to think that this could be the last time as travelling is becoming harder for all of them.

91, 90, 87 and 82 !

Now that they have all left and we have recovered from what we have been calling Oldies Week I thought I would show you the latest bit of home decoration I have put up on the wall.

It's a momento of our holiday.

We managed to purchase, at the Fayence village market, a set of water colours of scenes painted in the little hill top villages in the area.
Armed with these we set out to capture those scenes with our camera with the thought that we might frame them together.

This is the result.




Painted scene on the left and photo on the right.
 

Painting top and photo bottom

They've turned out rather nicely and they now have pride of place ......

"
"
"
in the loo !!!!


I'm working on  a couple of photos for my bedroom wall now.
I took lots of photos with this project in mind so I have not made a definite decision yet but here are a few of the candidates.

1.

I'm going for a bit of a French Provincial look in there and I have two very nice frames done in that milk paint look.

2.

3.

 

4.

 

 5.

 

6. 

 

I'm leaning towards 1 and 2

 

What do you think?

 

Cheers. 

BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST !!!

Recently this photo appeared on Cro's blog.



He commented that it was to be found here in Oz and that the reason Australians ( and Americans ) have a bit of an obsession with these BIG items was probably because we didn't really have anything much that was OLD.

That's possibly true.
 ( although Carol reminded us that we do have the oldest living race of people, the Australian Aborigines ).

We certainly do seem to have an obsession with all things BIG as I found when I went off to research the subject.


We have a few super candidates right here in the Sunshine State.

Like these for example. 

We seem to be preoccupied by fruit !



Can you guess what this one is all about?




It is found at a place in North Queensland called Tully.
They have the highest amount of rainfall hence the huge gumboot and green frog !!

Moving south there is the Big Banana



and the Golden Guitar

in the country music capital of Australia.


Then there are the quirky ones,

the folk hero ones

famous explorers,



but most of all there are the animal ones

 

 

For some obscure reason people want to climb inside them !!

 

 

These are but a few.
If you would like to see more here is a link.


To finish up I give you two of the most disturbing of all. 

Someone has a twisted sense of humour !!!

Cheers.

YELLOW

 

Yellow

 

Carol from Cairns  started it so I couldn't let the Aussie side down.

 

Besides Queensland is called " the Sunshine State"

 

and sunshine is yellow isn't it?

 

So here are a few things that Queenslanders associate with Yellow !

  

Wattle!

 

Has to be the first thing you think of that's yellow if you're an Aussie!
 



 

 

Pineapples and 

 

Bananas and

 

 

Mangoes ! 

 

The first fruit you think of when you think of Queensland

 

 

 Frangipanni florish in Queensland

 

 

and Lifesavers

  keep us all safe when we engage in one of our favourite outdoor sports.

 

 

Cheers.