Month: March 2009

The robbery

A gunman walks into a bank wearing a balaclava, waves a pistol and shouts

“this is a hold up, every one stand still and look at the floor”

He then jumps the counter and fills up a bag with money.

As he is leaving the bank a brave soul reaches out and pulls the Balaclava off.

The gunman immediately shoots the hero in the head and shouts, “did any one else see my face?”

After a few moments of silence a voice from the back says,

“I think my wife might have”

The World’s Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl ‘Will you marry me?’

The girl said, ‘NO!’

And the guy lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and went fishing and hunting and played golf a lot and drank beer and scotch and left thetoilet seat up and farted whenever he wanted.

The End

I know they are gross (male humour) but you have to laugh ‘cose they are so awful

Well it’s been quite a week, and it’s not over yet 😦

One or two extra points are ok but at the rate she wanted me to eat them (both the chocolate and the points they represented) I’d of not had any left to for lunch or dinner that evening lol

Spent the afternoon talking to oldest Dd – another unhappy lady.

This time I found out her role at work had been made redundant so she was at home if I needed her. Offered another position in the company she decided even tho’ it might not have been the best thing in this environment she’d take the package and leave, have a rest and reassess her life.

I know I said unhappy but I don’t think that’s actually true ‘cose she was looking forward to being at home, not having to rush out the door and get the little one to school so she could get to work on time, not have to utilise after school care or vacation care ‘cose both she and the partner were at work, be able to do all the household things like cooking lovely meals and not have a pile of ironing in the corner.

You know Mum all the things you did when we were at school.

What she is annoyed about is the likelihood of not having the extra cash to do what she wants with. Had to keep telling her it wasn’t HER who was made redundant it was her JOB and not having extra cash isn’t the end of the world. Not sure she believed me tho:(

I have to pick up DGd (her little one) from school today and this time I mustn’t be late.

Last week I was late, nobody in the kiss and ride area when I got there so had to go and look for her. Whoops, was I in trouble – needless to say she was not amused and Oh the humiliation of having to sign her out from The Office as a Late Pick Up.

All those feelings came back as I approached the window – you know the ones I mean – I felt as tho I’d done something wrong and could expect the door to open and The Headmaster to come out.

Anyway today Mum is off doing an event already arranged well before her date with the CEO last week – she and 3 friends are running/walking the Melbourne Oxfam 100km Trailwalker which began today and will continue over the weekend.

http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/Melbourne/about/default.aspx

It certainly doesn’t seem like 12 months since the last time they attemped it, she and the other girls are experienced walkers/runners and baring anything going wrong hope to finish in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Not my idea of fun but then I’ll give them full marks for trying :))

On Wednesday I took Leroy our old old Chocolate Burmese Fella to the vet but I’ll talk about that another day – he was diagnosed with something nasty late last year but now it may not be true after all which was one thing that did go right this week

My brother rang from England the other day to say they would be over in Jouly, great ‘cept we had just decided we’d go north for the Winter again. Lots of map looking and rearranging of dates and places which means we will meet them in Cairns late July instead of in Melbourne as they thought in August. Hopefully I’ll get to call in to Brisbane again and meet up with the GD we don’t see. Thats all in the future tho’

There is a definite change in the air down here now, its not getting light till nearly 7am, didn’t look at the clock when I woke this morning and then had a fit as it was later than I thought, had to run like crazy to be out on time. Microwave porridge isn’t the same as cooked on the stove

We’ve had some lovely sunny days but its getting cooler overnight and feels cold in the mornings, that silly time when the house takes ages to warm up and feels colder than outside so you’re putting on and taking off as you go in and out. No bare feet these days and certainly slippers in the evening.

The Run for The Kids both Dh and I volunteered for last year is being run next Sunday so we’ll be up and in the city early then.
http://www.runforthekids.com.au/r4k/

Had the volunteers meeting last night in Melbourne so we tootled off on the train (cost a fortune in parking last year) and thought that the best option. Went in about 3.30 in the afternoon, the train was packed with High School kids, you know that lovely group of young people from the age of 11/12 up to 17/18 , oh – can they talk and make a noise.

Laughed inwardly at the girls discussing the boys and the show off behaviour of the boys, as the train moved along the line some got off and other groups from other schools got on but it didn’t seem to matter what school – state or private they all seemed to act the same way lol

You know theres lots of talk these days about people not reading and being more concerned with other technology, yet another thing I noticed on the way home (9pm) I would think out of the 100 heads I counted in our carriage at least 80 of the would have been reading something – a book, newspaper, what looked like work materials or even school/educational material.

Surprising as it may seem I didn’t see one laptop open – lots of eyes closed at times, mine included 🙂

Sorry about this, busy week but will be back soon:)
Cathy

Many aspects of human sexuality are very puzzling ………. take celibacy.

This can be a choice in life, or a condition imposed by environmental factors.

While attending a Marriage Encounter Weekend, Robert and Mary listened to the
instructor declare………………..

‘It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to
each other.’

He addressed the men. ‘Can you each name and describe your wife’s favourite
flower?’

Robert leaned over, touched Mary’s arm gently and whispered, ‘Self raising,
isn’t it?’

Thus began Robert’s life of celibacy.

We get some funny stuff arrive at our inbox and I wanted you to see these……………………….

This is what had me chuckling this morning :)))

Will be back tomorrow and I’ll talk then – Bye

Ice cream or ice-cream (originally iced cream) is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners. This mixture is stirred slowly while cooling to prevent large ice crystals from forming; the result is a smoothly textured ice cream – courtesy of Wikipeadia

Theres so much feeling in this photo – even now when I look at it I can still remember the worry of the 2 little boys who thought they weren’t going to get an ice cream.

Our eldest son and daughter had taken theirs from Dh when he was served at the van in the background – I’d taken the youngest 3 to the loo and when we returned to see them with the ice cream the youngest boys and the other daughter were really worried that Dad had forgotten them.

Dad had his back to them so they couldn’t see what he had in his hands – truth be told they were more interested in what was in their brother’s hand :))

The camera was so handy and I just couldn’t resist taking the picture. The funny thing was normally they would have been carrying on and tears would have been coming down – not that day, they just stood there looking.

Mr Whippy is an Australian Icon – lots of imitators drive the steets – but he seems to have been in business the longest. The strains of Greensleaves alerts kids all round the neighbourhood – some parents have been known to tell their children that he plays the music to let the parents know he’s run out of ice creams.

How mean is that lol

click on photo to enlarge

Today is March 21st – its our Autumn Equinox weekend when all things summery wind down, winter sports start and the summer ones finish.

‘Cept for Tennis that is.

Tennis lessons go all year round down here and Saturday is a big day for kids lessons. This was at 10am and they would have continued all morning with the various ages and levels turning up at their allocated times.

Could be another Aussie Champion amongst those little ones 🙂

An hour of Body Pump made me understand that not all my muscles had been used recently which meant I had to recover with coffee and cake when I got home. Well, Dh had just put the kettle on and I didn’t say no to either of the things he offered, so coffee and cake it was.

We now have the cash to order a water tank and I spent time this afternoon clearing and tidying up the area round the side of the garage where it will go. We want the downpipe water inlet and the outlet tap at the same end which means it has to be a special order so will take about 3 weeks till delivery which is good ‘cose the ground has to be levelled and that will mean some hard work on someone’s part – not mine as I’m not good at that sort of stuff – or at least thats what I told Dh and he sort of accepted that he’d be the someone lol

Mean’t to mention a couple of other bloggers who have joined Caroline in taking a tour of their local area and telling why they live there

Pop over to Joolz and see a post on her home town and locality

And you must read Linda’s also on her town and area

Whilst we all live in Australia its good to know there is no sameness to our towns and states – there used to be a TV programme on ABC called A Big Country and reading these brings the same feelings back as when I watched this programme.

Does anyone else remember seeing it?

The other day when we were having all that rain I made some comment at home about wet washing hanging around in the rainy weather.

We haven’t used (or had ) a dryer at home for many years – ours packed up and at that time there were various reasons why we didn’t replace it – lack of money, effect on electricity bill, and the thought that here in Melbourne maybe tomorrow would be a day when I could use the outside line after all.

I can (and do) hang clothes overnight in the doorway of the laundry and they are often dry the next morning and for other larger things I use the big clothes horse outside under the covered deck. The one thing I have never wanted is a line outside the back door under the covered deck – Chinese laundry style:)

Well I was given a large package and this is what it contained –

Yes, a portable collapsible rotary clothes line, fully assembled and so easy to put up.

Made up of two halves that slot together, the top half with the line sides down the pole and the bottom half with the legs slides up its pole – and it comes with a zippered bag for storage.

Nowhere near as much line as I normally use mind you but the thought was there and I love them for it.

It fits into that space quite nicely and isn’t in anyones way if they need to walk past; if we do need that seating it can easily be relegated to the garage, only not for long or I’ll forget its there and run out of undies 🙂

A little while ago I mentioned some baby jackets I knit on regular basis to be sold on a charity stall, well as this weekend just gone was rather wet (I’m not going to say miserable ‘cose we needed the rain) and not condusive to gardening (thats true as it was all horrible and soggy out there !) I set to and made up some that were finished. Sewed the side seams and added buttons to make them into the finished article.

All the jackets in the first picture are the same design, simple sleeveless 2 fronts and a back, pick up round the sides for an armhole and round the neck for a little collar as such. Difference is apparent I think – two in Fishermans Rib, one in Broken Rib and the other two in a pattern I borrowed from another cardigan in another book. As long as you have the correct number of stitiches to form the pattern the world is your oyster.

I love these two in the girly colours Now these are another design I enjoy knitting – knit the two fronts and then join both together with extra stitches at the neck and knit on down for the back. Because the little armhole os part of the design all thats needed then is to pick up for the neckband and join at the sides. Easy peasy as the kids say lol

This variegated wool is all the rage over here at the moment

Even tho’ the knitting pattern is for 8ply (similar to double knit) because the design is measured in rows the thickness of the yarn means they can all be different sizes. That happens anyway with lots of patterns, hence the need for a tension square if its an important garment. Not knowing what size these will be is half the fun and this little one is really cute. .

Should fit a 3 month old baby

Caroline at The Simple Things asked – Why do you live where you live??
Follow those links and you’ll see the fabulous place she had near to where she lives.

I suppose we live here in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne ‘cose we are close to all the things we enjoy.

We are an hour from the city (Melbourne) just over an hour from the coast and so so close to the beautiful Dandenongs and the Yarra Valley.

click on the photos to enlarge

A green leafy suburb with some streets like this one not far from mine leading to a roundabout……………………………….

Where if turn one way and go up the road you can then follow the Tourist Road up into the mountains you can see in the distance……………….

Or you can turn the other and make your way to a larger ‘town’ with shopping centres and the railway to the city…………………………

The walking path along here is fairly narrow not concrete but made form gravel and runs past fenced gardens in some places and others with tall leafy treed fences instead . Have to be careful if I use this route for my daily walk – its not as level as it looks and can have me puffing in places lol

One part of the journey takes me past this special spot. Our local Anglican Church, calm and relaxing, a little bit of heaven nestled in amongst the the trees 🙂

Half way up a hill you’ll find a seat with a fabulous view- I know ‘cose I’ve used it on more than one occasion as its a fair slog to get up that hill:)

As you come up that hill you can look up and off to the Dandenongs in the distance or back down over the wetlands . This is just a little look at a place I love and would miss if we moved away

Whats it like where you live?

Would you like to show us around a small part and tell ‘Why you live where you live’

Told to me this afternoon – from 10 year old grandchild

What do you call a train loaded with toffee?

A chew chew train

Trying to work out this scheduled posting thing

Should leave blogger at 7.05pm Melbourne time

Cathy

You make people feel euphoric and dreamy.

You’re very addicting.

How to date an entry that is to be posted at a later time LOL

The one just posted titled Yesterday should have been published in the morning – our time :))

Anyway hope you enjoy it

Yesterday I was trying to get some shots of the raindrops on the Sedum and this is all I could come up with.There has to be a knack in getting the right angle to show what you want people to see – does that make sense to you?

Considering the awful heat and lack of rain we have had this summer the roses in the background of the next photo still look quite healthy, they are at the back of the bed and near tall shrubs so they get some shade at the hottest time of the day and then into the afternoon.

This is the crop of Sedum that took Kiera’s fancy – the close up photos are from a different crop.

Even tho it doesn’t look like it the whole of the bed was mulched quite heavily at the start of the season and also after the last rain we had before Christmas yet the ones at the front didn’t fare so well. With the strict water restrictions we have I couldn’t rationlise giving them precious drinking water from the tap, on the times I had a bath I would bucket them but in the end decided they would have to take their chances the same as everything else.

What an awful looking scene this is, can you see the remains of the little veggie patch we dug in the middle. We planted cucs and other bits there last Spring but even tho’ it hurt me to pull them out in the end the lack of water took its toll and it hasn’t been that expensive to buy what we needed. Plus I have a friend who grows for a living and we’ve done very nicely from her gifts over the Summer

I must remember to take those buckets back to the paddock and get them filled with horse doodad again. Theres a whole load ‘maturing’ in the background ready to dig in with the roses again this winter and if you don’t get there when the lady is clearing the paddock you miss out – on those days she’s the ‘best friend’ of half the neighbourhood. LOL

As you can see I had company – Kiera aka Brookwood Maura Delight, yes she’s a Brown Burmese, – who always likes to know what’s going on and puts her nose in to all sorts of places, whether its appreciated or not!

I’m reckon she’s thinking – ‘I’m not sure where I’m going but it looks interesting’

Anyway we’d just had shower of rain and having a go at the real art farty type stuff I was trying to snap raindrops on theSedum Autumn Joy which appears to be the only thing that seems to have survived. Not sure about the salvias in that area………..there seems to be green shoots coming up there so we can but hope lol

Watch out here comes sticky beak !!

She hung around while I snapped away……………………I’ll show you those tomorrow – but today is all about this little madam.

Then she tootled off to investigate the Nepeta patch under the roses – what roses you ask. They are still there – just.

Last weeks rain will have done them good and if the cooler weather continues I’ll give them a pick me up drink of Seasol and a little haircut.

‘Now this smells familar’

The cats love Nepeta and it always puts on a good show in the Spring with the early rose blooms.

No rolling around on the plants like they often do on sunny days but I think she still reckoned she could smell that lovely aroma that comes off this plant when its crushed.

On Sunday Dh and I went out for the day, one of his get togethers with his exservice mates. We went to the army base called Puckapunyal near Seymour.

Odd you might think for ex airforce fellas but there are big things there and anything big is of interest to them lol

To get there we chose to take the Melba Highway via Yarra Glen and then through the Kinglake/Toolangi Forest. The main highway is now open to through traffic but the roads to Kinglake and Toolangi that branch off it are still closed.

I tried to get some photos but the car seemed to be going all over the place – this one shows (sort of ) the police car at the Healesville Kinglake road block – but after taking a couple I just sat there in shock.
All that destruction is awful to see – blackened trees one kilometre after another – what it would of been like on those awful days is unimaginable

Anyway this is where we went, or rather where the men were going and the women tagging along for the ride.

There were big ones, small ones, old ones, ones from ww1, ww2, other countries, you name it there seemed to be one there.

Lots of displays under cover, this one very special

All lined up for visitors to wander around and have a look see

Of course at the end there was a gift shop

Guess what they sold – boxed sets of model tanks all ready to be put together. This is just one wall – there were a couple of others with bigger boxes!!