Happy Birthday Louise

  Here is Louise with Abbey, 2 gorgeous girls! Abbey will be 1 next month.

Last week Louise celebrated her Birthday with a heap of friends and family. We had an excellent Barbecue brekkie, went home for a sleep and then after lunch we headed out to the boardwalk at Caloundra to watch the amazing Kite Surfers and eat gourmet ice creams. Lou and I had Violet Crumble ice creams which were yummy :)

Just Testing

 

I have just installed Windows 7 and it seems that it can help me do my Blog Posts :) If this works I am really excited as it saves a whole lot of work and even makes it fun.  As I have just bought a new computer I am now going through the slow process of moving everything and organising it all in Windows 7 libraries.  I found this photo of our beautiful cat Lewis who died in August last year. Here he can be seen packing himself in our bag just before we went on a holiday, he was such a beautiful cat with loads of cattitude and we miss him so.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone and I wish you well with all your New Year Resolutions. I am definitely a fan of the `one word concept'. It is so much easier to choose a word and work with that. My word for this year is `release' - we have our acreage property on the market right now and after 14 years on acreage we are moving to a duplex villa in a complex of almost 170 !!!

So life will be very different for us in the future but in a good way. Having said that there is much we will be leaving behind here. Not just our country lifestyle with horses and chooks etc. but also our friends and neighbours in this great country town we currently call home. We have made so many wonderful friends and it will be sad to say goodbye. However we also know that there are many new friends to be made in the future.

We will also be `releasing' a lot of our possessions - old books, furniture and other stuff - we will only be keeping that which is either useful or beautiful - everything else will go. I will be keeping many of my books, but only the ones I know I will read again. I don't believe that `release' is a negative word, for us it will be positive and we will be creating some space for a lot of different experiences, adventures and new friends. Bring on 2010 :)

Morning Swim

Where we live we are lucky to have a really nice swimming pool only 10 minutes from home. Now that summer is here I am enjoying swimming for fitness in the mornings. Most of the time I use a swim snorkel which makes me look like an alien :) but I love the way it works. I can just swim without worrying about the breathing etc. I am also using a kick board to mix it up a bit. This morning the pool was just beautiful, when we got there it was just after 7.00 am and there were only about 6 people there. There is a 2 hour window between squad and schoolies and that's the time all the lap swimmers arrive, many are much older than me and its good to see. Some are quite overweight and it is good to see them there too. There is a `pool etiquette' to learn with the use of lanes etc. and I have found that everyone is very friendly - so no `pool rage' LOL. It is a wonderful way to start the day and everyone is in a mellow frame of mind. Added to that a season pass is only $100.00 and then we can go any time. Bargain!!

A Holiday in Tassie

`If we can revise our attitudes towards the land under our feet; if we can
accept a role of steward and depart from the role of conqueror; if we can
accept
the view that man and nature are inseparable parts of the unified
whole - then
Tasmania can be a shining beacon in a dull, uniform and largely
artificial
world'

We have just returned from a wonderful 2 week holiday in Tasmania. I have always wanted to visit Tassie and when I found out someone I knew was organising a tour group to visit in October we decided to join in. We were lucky enough to have perfect sunny weather for our whole trip and the whole experience was perfect. We travelled right around the island, missing nothing :), and the place we both loved best was Strachan, closely followed by Cradle Mountain. This is a `World Heritage Area' and incredibly special. We loved the scenery, the parks and gardens, the history, the food and wine and the friendly people. We also loved having a break from our hot and humid weather. The air in Tassie was fresh and cool and I loved having the chance to `rug up' in hats, scarves and jackets and sit in front of log fires during `happy hour'. Here are just some of our photos.

A `Fairy Pathway' near Dove Lake at Cradle Mountain
Coles Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula.

The beautiful Macquarie Harbour at Strachan

An Arch of flowers

18 months ago my sister Anne gave us a little Star Jasmine plant in a pot which she had found at the local Market. It was Winter and there were no flowers on it but we knew we had to find the right place to plant it. I knew it was a climber so we went off to buy a Garden Arch. Then we had to find a place for the Arch and we decided to use it to frame the view and our Birdbath which the birds love. I planted a Honeysuckle on the other side, we fed and watered both plants and this Spring we have been rewarded! Not only do we now have `join up' we have loads of sweet smelling flowers. Thanks Anne!!

A Holiday in Yamba

This is the view from the Lounge Bar of the Pacific Hotel. The tables are all arranged along the windows and it is a wonderful place for a Sundowner.

This is Main Beach Yamba and this is a place where you could easily spend all day. The Kiosk has little tables and you can buy Lattes and even Sushi as well as the usual hot chips and ice creams

We have just returned from a holiday in beautiful Yamba. The Caravan Park where we stayed was right on the Clarence River which was especially beautiful at Sunset. There was a walking path along the bank which allows people to walk along the river from the beach to the Marina. With 5 beaches, lots of great beach walks (with just a little rock hopping), a cute little main street with coffee shops and bakeries and other interesting little shops, the smallest Cinema in Australia and some great Restaurants (including the Pub), this was we felt the perfect seaside town for a holiday. We plan to go back next year to celebrate Alan's 70th which will be in the October school holidays so everyone is invited to join us :)