FIRST DAY OF THE NEW YEAR

Open up the shutters and greet the new day,




the first day of 2014.

Set the table and make preparations.

All is ready.

Call the guests to the table

and celebrate friendship and the New Year by eating brunch together.

Here's hoping the year ahead provides us with lots of great times with friends and family.


Happy New Year once again.....

Now,..... any New Year's Resolutions ????

No 1:  Do more of the above !!

Cheers.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Well, there's another year flown by sooo quickly.

It's 6:45pm here in Brissy.
It's been a warmish day but nothing like the 36+C  heat of yesterday.

This is the view out toward the south- west over our neighbour's roof.


The sun is setting for the last time in 2013.



Wishing you all a wonderful  2014.

Happy New Year !

DONE AND DUSTED

Well, that's Christmas done for another year.

Many thanks for all your good wishes.
I've been without a computer for almost a week so I'm tripping round the blogs to see how you are all doing.
~~~

Despite the leadup being very hot and uncomfortable Christmas Day was pleasantly warm with a nice breeze.
We spent a fairly quiet day with Mum and Dad and my brother and his partner -eight of us in all.
The oldies made it through to 2 o'clock and then went off home for a snooze.
(I have to confess to a snooze myself - in airconditioned comfort - very relaxed !)

We put out all the food again about 7 o'clock and managed to polish off another lot before staggering home to our apartment on the beachfront.


Boxing Day

Ah , the day when you are allowed to sit around and do nothing if that's what you want to do.

Later in the day we strolled along the beach to a delightful cafe






where we managed to consume still more food while looking out on this view.



The beach was almost deserted.

 

 A lovely spot to unwind and just   b r e a t h e . . .
 

Cheers.

 

CHRISTMAS WISHES

Tomorrow - Sunday - I'm off to Hervey Bay where we will spend Christmas with my brother and Mum and Dad.

The drive usually takes for four and a half hour so here's hoping the traffic won't be too bad with families travelling to the beach for Christmas turning it into a marathon.

 

Wishing all my wonderful blogging buddies all over the world

 

a wonderful Christmas spent with the people you love

 

and a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year.

 

 

Cheers....

 

from Helsie

 ( and Tony !)

SUMMER BREAKFAST

Kiwifruit, red pawpaw and mango



YUM !

SUMMER IN THE CITY

When the end of the week rolls around

and the weather is fine and the temperature balmy,

sometimes the need for an outing comes upon you.

So it happened on a recent Friday evening that we set out for an aimless wander along the river at Southbank in the city.



We were not the only ones feeling like an outing !!

Southbank was bright and sparkly with lots of people of all ages out enjoying the lovely evening.

The lovely bouganvillea walkway was ablaze with colour

 

By 7 o'clock darkness was falling as it does here in the sub-tropics....

very quickly !
.

Families and couples were enjoying picnic teas on the grass as the city began to sparkle across the river.



It was only a short time before it was completely dark

 

 so we caught the ferry across to the other side of the river for a bite of tea .

The paddle steamer restaurant was loading up for the dinner cruise.

Then it was off home again on the CityCat ferry.

We sat out the back and watched the city disappear

with the breeze adding to our enjoyment of another fantastic evening

in our lovely modern city.

Cheers  .....

 from Brisbane

 

SUMMER STORMS

Summer days in Queensland often mean hot, humid days that end in super thunder storms.

Yesterday, the warnings started in the early afternoon and we could see the storm building up from our backyard vantage point.



Gradually the sun disappeared, the humidity increased and we waited

and batterned down the hatches !

It wasn't long before the sun disappeared

but luckily for us the worst of it passed us by.


Cheers.

BAH HUMBUG !

No Christmas decorations going up here.

 

No, not even a Christmas tree !!

 

We'll be away in Hervey Bay for Christmas and I just can't see the point.

 

Not my favourite time of year - too hot to bother with Christmas.

 

I need to go somewhere it's cold to see what it's like to bustle around and cook and gather the family and be cosy. ( I'll need to take them all with me !!)

 

One day I hope.

 

But until then

 

this .......

 

 

is the only thing that's RED around here !

 

 

Cheers.

SUNSHINE AWARD

Carol from "The Week that Was in Aus " has kindly given me a SUNSHINE  award for creativity and positivism !

 

Why thank you Carol, I am flattered to receive such a sunny award.

As with these blogging awards there are eleven questions to be answered and then the award to be passed on.

 

Here are the questions that Carol has passed to me to answer:-

1. What do you love about blogging? I love that blogging provides me with a glimpse into the lives of fellow bloggers all over the world. I have a set of blogging buddies - some of whom I have been lucky enough to meet - who I now consider friends.
 

2. Who is the most interesting person you have met in real life and why? I'm really struggling to answer this one, I meet many people who are interesting in many ways but I guess I find people who have travelled the world a lot the most interesting.

3. Who is your favourite author and can you recommend one thing I should read of theirs? A difficult question for a lover of reading. The trilogy by Adriana Triggiani comes to mind starting with Big Stone Gap. These have to be mong my all time favourites

4. Newspapers, radio or Breakfast TV?  I'm a breakfast TV girl. I put the TV on as soon as I wake up and it just goes in the background till 9 o'clock. "Sunrise" on Channel 7 is my choice. Current affairs, news and weather all covered. Newspapers are unreliable and often incorrect and the news usually comes with vision that newspapers just can't deliver.
 

5. What is your favourite cake? Ahhhhh a simple chocolate cake is hard to beat ..but not mud cake . Too heavy!
 

6. One thing you would still like to learn? A foreign language !I'd love to speak French without feeling embarassed that I'm making a fool of myself. I'm trying a bit of Italian to get ready for my trip next year.

7. What was your first job? A Christmas job in the city as a shop assistant in a handbag shop at the age of 15. Spending money for the holidays and a great confidence builder for a very shy teenager.

8. One place you would like to visit again before you die? Paris ! Always Paris, the most wonderful city in the world !
 

9. Can you speak a language other than English? I wish. I can make myself understood with broken French with a very bad accent. Wish I had taken more notice at school !!!!!
 

10. The first album you bought with your own money. Can't remember and never have been a real collector. Probably something of the Beatles. 
 

11. What is your favourite flower? Irises. The blue/purple and yellow ones. "Dutch " irises ?? 

~ ~ ~

 

The usual thing is to pass these awards along but I know that many people are not keen on this so I'm going to leave this bit to those people whose blogs I read and those of you who read this blog.

 

I think Bloggers are ALL positive and creative people. 

 

 

If you would like to answer the list of questions below and pass the SUNSHINE AWARD for  POSITIVITY and CREATIVITY along consider yourself nominated.

 

What you have to do if you want to accept the SUNSHINE AWARD

 *Copy and paste the questions I have listed for you to answer.
 

*Post your answers on your blog.                             
 

*Share the fun by passing the SUNSHINE AWARD on in some way. 

Oh, and here's a little sunny flower symbol to go with the award !

 

Here are your questions:-

 

1. What is your favourite thing to do, the one that brings you peace and happiness? 

2. What is your preferred form of art?

3. What was the last great book you read?

4. Do you like to cook and what is your best dish?

5. Are you a water person? Do you like to swim?

6. Are you an early riser or a night owl?

7. What do you prefer coffee or tea?

8. If you had the time would you go hiking and hitch-hiking around the world?

9. Do you like going to the Cinema and which is your favourite movie at the moment?

10. Are you on a diet?

11. Would you say you have a healthy life style?

 

There you go.

The ball's in your court as they say!

 

Cheers.