A VERY GOOD REASON

This



is the reason why we try to go overseas when the weather there is cooler.



We 're not looking for hot sunny days and beautiful beaches when we go on holidays, we have them
 here !
 

This morning we drove for about 70 minutes to reach these lovely beaches.

We had breakfast.
Then shoes in hand and sun visor on, Tony and I strolled along the lovely white sands

 

 and paddled in the clear, refreshing water of the Gold Coast beaches.

The temperature was in the high twenties and we are facing six months of hot weather ahead but today was almost perfect.

There was even a humpback whale frolicking in the deeper water off the beach.

It's school holiday time and families were out enjoying the wonderful Spring weather.
 

Of course a delicious gelato was just what we needed before we set off back home.

It's a hard life.

Cheers.

BRISBANE RIVERFIRE FESTIVAL

September in Brisbane means it's time for the Riverfire Festival.
Like a lot of places all over the world we like to hold our festival in Spring and as we are lucky if we have one month that feels like Spring before Summer comes along in earnest, now is the time.

Just in time I might add as this week has had a couple of record days for Spring heat with the thermometer reaching 33 and 35 .

One of the highlights of the festival is the Laser Light Show where lasers combine with water jets and music to create an extravaganza of colour above the river, right in the centre of the city.

We arrived at about 6:00pm when the light was fading fast and were just in time to see a fly over by some Air Force helicopters.
They came in very low and very fast above the water
and way below the tall buildings of the city.



They were fantastic to watch and dropped so low that the water spray they kicked up travelled right across to the river bank to where the crowds could feel it.

People were arriving in their droves and we ambled along the river bank to the best spot and found ourselves a grassy spot to sit on while we waited for the show.

 

It was a beautiful night after a very hot day with a gentle breeze off the water.

As is the way in sub-tropical places, night falls very quickly and the lights of the city began to glitter and shimmer on the river that is such a muddy brown colour in the daylight.

It is school holiday time here so families were out enjoying the scene.

By 7:00pm it was quite dark and the Laser Show began.



Music blared loudly from loudspeakers along the shoreline

and the light show kept time.

Quite spactacular!

I even managed a little video for you.

 

Once it was all over we made our way through the crowds to a spectacular area of lights which hung from above like icicles...

 

 

and changed colour creating a lovely effect.

 

 Then we were off across the bridge and into the city

where we had a fantastic gormet hamburger for dinner.

The ferries were busy taking people from one side of the river to the other.

and the city was spectacularly beautiful from the back of the ferry as we set off for home.
 

A delightful evening!
Brisbane is truely a lovely modern city.

Cheers.

GRATEFUL

PHEW  !



I'm sure glad that's over !
My back problem has finally disappeared and I'm feeling back to normal once again.

Thank you to all my blogging buddies whose good wishes warmed my heart.
I really appreciated your thoughts and messages and though I was able to read your blogs while lying flat and holding up the ipad, it was quite impossible to comment.
Thank you for entertaining me with snippets of your lives in all corners of the world.

Tony has exhausted his repertoire of recipes and I'm back on kitchen duty once again.
There's a new bed and mattress on order as my ( very old ) bed and mattress have received some of the blame for the problem.
While the bed has been removed the carpet has been cleaned so the whole house is now scattered with clothes from the walk-in wardrobe (carpet in there too !) and bits of bedroom furniture and the new stuff won't be here for 10 days !!!
So it's been musical beds and searching the house for the drawer with the undies in around here for the last day or so.
A thorough cleanup of the bedroom will result in a sparkling bedroom when my nice new white bed arrives.
I'm taking it slow and leaving all the lifting to Tony.
Lucky he's a big strong fellow !

( very cheerful ) Cheers !
 

BACK PAIN IS A PAIN IN ARSE

 

At the moment I'm laid low with back trouble.

 

 

 

It's a real pain in the arse .

Literally!!

 

Don't know what was the cause but I hope it gets better soon.

 

I've got places to go and things to do !!

 

Cheers.

 

(May not be around for a while to comment )

SUNSET

It's the end of a blazing hot Spring day here in Brissy.
The temperature has soared to 32 degrees today.
 Pretty hot for the beginning of Spring.
More heat forecast for the next few days and no rain in sight, so this will be goodbye to what remains of our green lawn.
 

Darkness falls so quickly here.
When I look out the window now - 10 minutes after taking those photos - it is completely dark out there.( 6:15pm )

But it's still very HOT !

 

FEEDING THE BIRDS

Recently I showed you photos of my attempt to feed Lorikeets, my favourite birds.
Australia has millions of them and often places that tourists visit, feed them.
This can be quite a spectacle when thousands of birds descend on the bird feeders.

At the moment there are lots visiting my garden to feed on nectar from the grevilleas that are flowering there.

So Tony has made me a bird feeder - a good sturdy one as I'm hoping they will eventually come in large numbers.

It's right down at the bottom of the garden on the second terrace.

Tony pruned the garden a few months ago  - with a chain saw !! - so we have a lot fewer flowers from the grevilleas than usual.

especially up here on the top terrace.


The new feeder is down among the bigger plants which were trimmed earlier and have recovered enough to flower quite well.





It hasn't taken long for the birds to find the new feeding spot.




Of course they are very wild and spook easily at the moment so I'm taking the photos from inside with my fantastic new zoom.

They make quite a racket. Screech and chatter and tell eachother off the whole time.

 

 These are all Rainbow Lorikeets - easy to see where they get their names

especially when you can see the colours under their wings.


Higher up on the first terrace we have a bird bath which, until now, has been completely ignored
 

 

It is fairly exposed at the moment while the grevilleas are so small but this morning I was so pleased to see a Lorikeet taking a bath. 

 

It was having a great time diving right under and splashing away

 

and was very wet by the time it was finished.

 

 

Hope it tells all its buddies about the great birdbath it found.

 

Cheers.

HELSIE'S KITCHEN

This morning I decided it was time to organise my freezer.
In it were several small containers of leftovers.
As a family we don't do leftovers very well.
No-one here wants them on toast for breakfast !
My response to this is to put them into small containers and freeze them then have a pie making session.

I have a great little Pie Maker that I purchased with just this in mind.

I use frozen shortcrust pastry - it's better than any pastry I can make ! 

First I use the special cutter that came with the Pie Maker to cut out the base and top.
I get 2 pies from each sheet of pastry.
 

This cuts out the base
and the one below does the tops
 

 

The bases go in then the filling 

Chichen and Mushroom on the left ( left over filling from the bigger pie earlier in the week)
Beef and Mushroom casserole on the right.

Tops on with little symbols so we know what's inside.

The finished product

The ones with the cross are filled with mashed-together -leftover Shepherd's Pie

A batch of pumpkin soup for the freezer

Earlier in the week I used leftover beef curry to fill these pies and while I had the pastry out  a Lemon Meringue Pie was needed for Fathers' Day. 

So the freezer is now stocked up with pies instead of lots of little containers !
They'll be ideal for Sunday nights or football finals or just those nights when I don't feel like cooking.

and last night's dinner was a healthy stir fry

With that all done the weekend looks like it's taken care of in the food department anyway.

Cheers.