Month: January 2011

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Do I look fat in this?

There I was enjoying the warm fresh air we’ve had recently
snoozing in one of the cosy beds we have
and all of a sudden I wake with a start
I had that funny feeling that somebody was staring at me
Opened my eyes and there she was
Laughing at me
Telling me I look too big for this bed
Hold on mo’ while I shift a bit
Ooh thats nice
It really is quite comfy in here
Just got to move my head a bit
No its not a tight sqeeze !
Just another adjustment to my upper body
and I’ll be fine
Ooh thats better
We’ve had these beds for years
and nobody ever mentioned all the extras
Just discovered this little neck rest
Makes a world of difference to the comfort level
And its got a fully reclining side
I never noticed that before
Now go away please and leave me in peace
And No this bed is not too small for me
Its like some of your trousers with elastic in the waist
It stretches to fit!!!
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Thin again – Begin again

The future depends on what we do in the present
Mahatma Gandhi
There was an old man called Michael Finnegan

He grew fat and then grew thin again

Then he died and had to begin again

Poor old Michael Finnegan, begin again

Part of the lyrics to a fun Irish song my Dad used to sing 
Source
When you are small – by that I mean is not very tall - every extra kilo of weight shows in the form of flabby flesh rolls of fat, so you try very hard to trim down and lose it – things happen and it reappears – you work hard at it again  – then slacken off and ‘Hello Again’ those extra kilos are back again lol  For me over these past few years it seems like a never ending yo-yo situation
Compared to others I don’t have a lot to lose but with a family history like mine and a GP advising you to lose it the benefits of not being over weight are very important.  
It was the reason I started this blog a few years ago – http://stillwaters-cathy.blogspot.com/2006/01/day-1-beginning-of-new-me.html 
And looking back again I know I can do it with help –  http://stillwaters-cathy.blogspot.com/2009/05/thanks-for-compliments.html
Now this photo is of a pathway I often walk down – nice and straight (well sort of) then theres a bit of a bend and then it carries on in the same direction straight down the road – sort of like this journey of mine   
Except there seem to be more and more twists and turns along the way

Which means I am going to have to Make Good Food choices by not bringing temptation into the house – Exercise on a regular basis by using my Leisure Centre membership frequently and Walking at every opportunity – and also Use Skills Learned in the past maybe even Revisit the learning centre (WW).

We live in a beautiful area with nice leafy suburbs around about so theres no excuse for me not to be out and about

Can you see how this path straightens out as its going up the hill, well thats where I’m going. 

Onward and Upward………..or should that be downward lol

Photos will enlarge with a click
Oh and the quote at the top – how true it is

One I have to think of and live by if I want to return to a healthier me

The future depends on what we do in the present.
Mahatma Gandhi

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Happens just about every year

Weather forecast for Melbourne courtesy of Weather.com.au
Week beginning Saturday January 29th 2011

SAT  Warm. Dry. 12c/53f – 32c/89f

SUN Sunny. Very Hot. Dry. 20c/68f – 40c/104f
MON Warm. Dry. 21c/69f – 33c/91f
TUE Mostly Sunny. Warm. 18c/64f – 31c/87f
WED Warm. 16c/60f – 31c/87f
THU Mostly Sunny. Hot. Humid. 18c/64f – 35c/95f

FRI Mostly Sunny. Hot. Humid. 24c/75f – 36c/97f
Looks like summer is here – took a while!
Take a guess as to when all the kids go back to school in Victoria ??
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A cloudy day before Christmas

We were on our way up the road before Christmas
Going out the back of Lilydale about 10.30am
Late start to the day – driving to Shepparton 
to see what was available at the SPC outlet
And this was the cloudy sky that caught my attention
Half an hour up the road and we are in open countryside
Clouds were lifting and opening up
This farmer likes his hay covered
possibly for sale
This is another hours drive further up the road
and the cloud is almost not there 
This farmer left his open to the elements
more than likely for his own use
But guess what
At 4.30pm on our way home through Yarra Glen
the clouds have reappeared
If you click and enlarge you will be able to see the tv masts
on the end of the Dandenongs
They are the ones I can see from my backgarden and
have featured here on more than one occasion
(not always through a dirty windscreen tho lol)
Clicking here will take you to the home of  
Skywatch Friday
There you will see more skies from around the world
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Did you know

This year we will experience 4 unusual dates…. 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11 ………. NOW go figure this out…. take the last 2 digits of the year you were born plus the age you will be this year and it WILL EQUAL …. 111!

I tried it and it worked lol

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Are you able to ‘Do Nothing’

Thanks to Christine at Christine’s Blog I found this little beauty

Have a look at this website – its ok to click on the link

If you are feeling tired and weary this will refresh you

http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/

The challenge is sit and do nothing for two minutes – just sit and enjoy the peace that comes from doing it.  Be aware you will ‘fail’ if you touch your mouse or the keyboard once your time starts – oh and don’t forget to have your sound on

Enjoy:)

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Everything old is new again

I don’t know if any of you remember but three years ago (January 2008) Rhonda Jean (Down to Earth ) suggested a challenge we might like to take part in. 
She called it the Three Gifts Challenge and encouraged us to choose three items or actions we use or do and think we could limit our use of or even eliminate.
I chose my three actions and later that year posted about how I was coping and what changes I’d actually achieved    
Have to say three years later I am awash with shopping bags – it seems like every company that ever there was have canvas shopping bags available and guess what – I still have to think twice before going into the supermarket to make sure I’ve got them with me lol  
Dh wont use them (the canvas ones) unless forced to – He shops for our fruit and veg and brings it home in plastic bags – which I don’t mind too much as I use them for the bin and they are also the ones which break down after a while. 
There has only been the rare occasion when we have bought bottled water and I have only actually paid for one box of tissues in the last 3 years so all in all we haven’t done too badly considering our usage beforehand.
I’ve been sorting out the library of cookery books that fell on the floor and found a very old Australian Womens Weekly (November 1977) in amongst a huge pile of paper recipes that came from my aunt’s place when she moved into a nursing home and I sort of acquired an awful lot of her ‘stuff’ lol  
I had a good read this afternoon and was amazed to find this article which made me think about the concerns we have had over recent years about plastic shopping bags and thats what reminded me of my challenge.  ‘To give up plastic bags and use ordinary shopping bags’.
If you find the print a bit on the small size the clipping will enlarge – just click and click again
Nothing new in this world – is there lol
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Libraries are to be enjoyed not feared

Dh has gone off to the local library today
We are lucky in that we have several close to home
They all come under the same region
so what you borrow from one can be returned via another
which is great and saves you a journey at times
He’s gone to what I call the ‘little one’
but the one I prefer is what I call the ‘big one’
I’ts quite a nice building – close to the Council Offices
There’s also a lake close by complete with lots of water birds
It has loads of books for loan
Adults as well as childrens
There are Cds, Dvds, toys and jigsaws for those who enjoy them
Nice comfy chairs to sit on while you read the daily paper
Biggish tables for those who need to do school work or planning
Theres computer terminals for use – handy if yours is playing up
Sometimes when you are away from home
you miss all those little things that make up your life
I always have trouble with the weight limit on my luggage
What to take!!
What’s important!
Clothes – shoes – books – crafty things to do along the way
20 kg isn’t very much at all
Oh decisions decisions
So I have really enjoyed spending time in the Library
onboard the ms Zuiderdam
a cruise ship owned and operated by Holland America
I took these photos last year on our cruise
From Vancouver up the Inside Passage and back
See the books
this is just a few of them
Beautiful luxurious comfy chairs
with a water view lol
Computer terminals as well
Large tables for doing whatever you want
And best of all a stock of jigsaws for those who love them
There’s always one on the go
and its lovely to meet others pouring over the table
trying to find that elusive piece to go right ‘there’
Guess where I stopped each time we went in there lol
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Cookery Books Anyone?

My cookery books live on a couple of shelves in the laundry
Some of them are old favourites and are used a lot
Others were fanciful purchases when one just ‘had’ to have
the next one in a series 
The shelf usually plays the game and holds them all safe and sound
‘Cept for the other day when wham – down it came with a thud
Books everywhere mostly in the tub but some on the ground
So what happens when your table is chockablock with books
Lovely cookery books
mostly full of fabulous coloured pictures
of tempting dishes
This picture doesn’t show all of them 
There were others still in the laundry
and even more on the kitchen benches
Now it’s decision time
Realising there are just too many there
I have to decide
Which ones are to go and which ones are to stay
Which ones had I used recently
and which hadn’t been opened in ages
What a horrible choice I have to make lol
You can see my life in those books – theres the:
Finding the right way to do it – courtesy of  Womens Weekly days
The Entertaining days
Oh dear, the BP is going up days
Family cooking days – they loved cakes
More entertaining days
And then the realisation that we needed to eat well to live well
Hadn’t we been doing that already ?
This was from one of my trying to cook with chocolate days 
I think I tried one recipe and have never looked at the book since lol
Now we are into the losing weight days
I think we might be eating on trays for a couple more days
while I sort this lot out
Does anyone else have a love of cookery books?
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What was the book about?

I’ve had several enquiries about the book I was reading in yesterday’s post
Still Waters written by Jennifer Lauck
Its not a novel but recollections of an early life
One of my daughters returned it recently along with a pile of others I’d lent her.  I can’t remember where it came from – I think in a pile I was given – but I do know I hadn’t read it before certainly don’t even remember seeing it before lol
Most of the people I associate with are like minded –  saving a cent here and there -recycling is our second name – we pass around amongst each other books we come across in op shops, have been given as gifts or even ones we have on loan from the library. 
There are strict instructions on return dates with that one lol  
So there are times when I lend out books if I’ve got a lot sitting there and know I won’t get round to reading them for a while. 
Anyway I don’t remember seeing it before so the name (Still Waters) couldn’t have been on my mind when I renamed my blog last year.  It used to be called Cathy’s Capers and that began to sound ‘childish’ and not reflect my posts, such as they were.  
I was really upset after we said goodbye to Leroy and wanted a change in everything.  Was even going to close down and have a rest – then the name SW popped into my head.  I was trying to be calm but there were so many emotions below the surface – the new name seemed right and so it has stayed 
As I said before the book isn’t a novel but an autobiography of sorts – just one problem I’m going to have to fix – it’s a follow up book to one dealing with a younger childhood.  The first one was called ‘Blackbird’ and from what I’ve now read on the internet did very well – it was about the authors very early life dealing with adoption and the death of her adoptive parents.  This one starts at the time she moves to live with other family when the second partner of her now deceased adoptive father ‘tosses her out’. 
What I’ve read so far had been easy to read, about a young girl growing up and how she deals with that stage of her life and the problems that arise when she is moved from pillar to post having to live with various members of the family.  Hoping its as good at the end of the book as it is at the beginning
Now my next ‘job’ is to try all the local Op – as in opportunity (Thrift/Charity) shops to see if I can find the first book lol
http://www.jenniferlauck.com/jennifer.php
http://www.jenniferlauck.com/blackbird.php
http://www.jenniferlauck.com/still_waters.php
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Thursday January 20th 2011

Thinking about today reminded me of a monthly meme that ran for 12 months in 2008
Called A Day in my Life it was organised by Little Jenny Wren
It was good fun and I looked forward to the 14th of each month
so I could talk about my daily happenings
Anyway today is the 20th of the month but never the less
I’m thought I’d tell you about my day today lol 
An early wake up call courtesy of my neighbours motor bike meant I was awake about 6.30am:(.  Red’s back on ABC breakfast radio after his summer break so we listened till 7am when I got up, made us our early cup of tea and came back to bed.  No reason to be up that early so it was a lazy lie in today:)    Brought my breakfast and knitting to bed and had Kiera for company while Dh had his as he checked emails and other bits and pieces.  Don’t often have lazy mornings like this and I certainly enjoyed it lol
Pottered around doing all those morning jobs – dishes and bed, checked some blogs, the bank and my emails, then we went to get fruit and veg from a local greengrocers.  Normally well priced but I was not overjoyed when I saw the price on the till roll.  Almost double our regular order – I think the drought and the floods are beginning to tell.
Remember the flowers from the last post – the roses I brought inside a week ago
Well this is what they looked like this morning.  Being down in the dumps as I was last week I really didn’t take much notice of things around me and hadn’t realised they were on the way out.  So they went out to the compost quick smart.
Was a bit chilly while we were down the road (9c/49f overnight) but soon warmed up and I pottered round the back garden deadheading and weeding then took time to get rid of – or rather put away – the last of the Christmas stuff that hadn’t found its way back into the garage.  I put the little line back in its bag over Christmas but it didn’t stay there for long as it rained again so I’m leaving it up for the time being lol
It wasn’t take long before trouble aka Kiera turned up
She’s still following me around like a shadow wanting to know what I’m up to all the time
We had a little lunch outside followed by coffee and a sit down .  Sounds like a really busy day so far lol …………….I hadn’t intended to do much today ‘cept enjoy it and knitting and reading seemed as good a way as any.  Dh will be away for a few days next week so a quiet day together is nice now and again
 I’m in the middle of knitting some slippers for a friend’s husband
 in a very serviceable male colour.   
Told you she stays close by!
The afternoon was so peaceful and quiet out there – I think the neighbours children were away for the day and nobody was using their lawn mower (thats a sunday job in our street) but too much of a good thing doesn’t do you any good so I finally had to come inside about 6pm and think about dinner.  Warm afternoons and evenings mean light meals for us so it was scrambled eggs and salad folowed by a fresh fruit and little yogurt.
Now its (supposedly) high summer there isn’t a huge amount flowering in my garden however I did manage to find some flowers this morning to bring inside for the hall table.
Roses, buddleia, lavender and some fuschia 
So a very quiet day – not much done as far as housework – yuk ghastly word!! – but much done on the relaxation dept.
I’ve enjoyed this so may even do it again next month
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Funny ol’ week

Have felt a bit off this past week – no energy, no enthusiasm, no interest in anything at all.
It was hot and humid for a while then wet and today has been really cold – its been a week of watching the terrible events unfold in Queensland and now in Victoria and feeling a bit unwell at times.  Physically as well as mentally.
A phone call yesterday and a letter today seemed to bring me back to life again – I had a call from my lovely friend Bonnie who lives in Nova Scotia and we laughed and joked about the great time we had in Newfoundland last yearso when I came off the phone I began to realise there was nothing I could do about events of that scale here  or elsewhere. Then I received a letter from Ann in Alberta, the widow of Dh’s friend Gorton (who passed away last year) and she reminded me that life is to be lived and not worried about. 
So here I am again – wondering what I can talk about this evening.
 
There’s economics – gas and electric companies have raised their prices.  Not content with charging us higher prices for the power they have also raised the supply cost as well. Means we will have to find an extra $90 a year just for that – not so much a problem for us but could be for others.  This is the time off the year when  I look at finances – you know that thing of totalling last years bills and dividing the totals to arrive at monthly figures.  Most years we are good at coping (even saving) but with so many goods and comodities going up in price I’m thinking some of our pleasures may have to go down -or even out the door lol
Then theres the family history I’m trying to research.  Have learn’t some upsetting things about one of Dh’s GtAunts – I know it was the times (1912) and this went on – am still trying to get facts together so I’ll write about it another day 
And then there’s the garden
I don’t often bring the roses into the house but these looked so good outside
I wanted to enjoy them inside
I started this last night – Tuesday
Will be back soon
hopefully more sociable
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Take a little look

These photos are for Tracy
An average girl who is having a bit of a rough trot at the moment
She is hanging out for Spring and hoping things will get better
They aren’t that marvellous
but they will show
that seasons come
and seasons go
Most of the roses have finished their summer bloom
which means my Gardenia and Buddleia are in full bloom
Agapanthus are thriving all over the garden
And in shadyish spots
Fuschia and Yellow Phygelius
(Cape Fuschia)  
grow happily side by side
Soon it will be our turn for shorter days
and longer nights
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11-1-11

Another one of those dates that I won’t see again lol

Today was also another of those days I don’t ‘want’ to see again.

September 11th 2001 – or 9/11 as some of you know it was one of those days.  For most of that day – well actually it was the next day because our time is ahead of time in the USA – I watched television.  I sat in my sitting room and watched all those horrible devastating scenes unfolding on front of me

February 7th 2009 – Black Saturday was another of those days I don’t want to see again – another day when I listened to my radio and sat in front of my television watching and hearing terrible things unfolding in front of my eyes and ears.  This time much closer to home, in my own country, in my own state.

Same things happened today – it has been a very emotional day sitting and watching horrible devastating scenes of flooding and the effects of flooding from the previous day in the beautiful Sunshine State of Queensland unfold on my television.

It also brought home to me that when I am emotionally drained I eat.  I have eaten all day long today and I remember doing exactly that on those other two occasions.  I am not making light of those disasters – just realising that when I am stressed or have problems I eat

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New Technology – Wireless

New Technology
an alternative construction or operating method
Wireless
is a term used to describe telecommunications in which electromagnetic waves (rather than some form of wire) carry the signal over part or all of the communication path
All this new technology
can be a pain to get used to
baffling at times
Even for the birds
You may need to enlarge cartoon
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I’m a survivor

When I see particular flowers
they usually ‘say’ some thing to me to me
Geraniums are so bright and lively they say happiness
Arum Lilies have a mournful look about them
and they say sadness
However Gardenias are so calm
they say ‘peace and quietness’
so when they first start blooming 
I always bring some indoors
Believe it or not this is just two Gardenia Radicans plants
growing up the side of our old garage

They have been there about twenty years now
tiny little things they were
planted as an experiment
and how they have survived I’ll never know
They are growing in the thinnest piece of dirt imaginable
rarely get watered ‘cept for the run off down the driveway
and certainly never get fed
When they bloom I feel they deserve to come into my kitchen
for me to savour their heady perfume
and smile at the lovely white colour of their petals
I took these photos a few weeks ago
(the day I groomed Kiera)
Hard to see with no flash
but with flash the ambience of the photo seems to be lost
Look at that lovely bud with the green edging on the petals
The photo above of the plants by the garage
and the one below were taken today
The flowers that are blooming now have a creamy appearance
and not the bright white the earlier ones had
They are dieing off more quickly as well
which is a shame
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Neighbourhood watch

If you look at the houses
Across the road
Over the back fence
Next door
And even at the one down my drive
It looks like my neighbourhood is closed for the day
Doesn’t look like there is much going on
Because when the forecast is for over 30c/86f
with gusty northerly winds
We just pull down the blinds and find something quiet to do
For the past few days whilst the weather had been warm
I’ve been busy on the computer
visiting various genealogy (family history) sites
Trying to delve deeper into the mysteries of Dh’s family
When we were in Nova Scotia last year
we visited Dh’s Aunt (his late Mother’s sister)
One day she was quite upset –
and told me she was sad that at 87 years 
she still had so little to tell her children
about the family she left back in England 
She had moved to Canada in 1946 as a War Bride
and in all those years had only returned once
To see her dying sister
  
Taking advantage of 14day free trials some of these sites offer
I have looked at every Census ever recorded in England
Births Deaths and Marriages have been found  
I have managed to find out so much more information
than even Dh had recorded
So he’s pleased that I wasn’t just avoiding him
and all the time I’ve been tucked away
here in front of this screen has been worthwhile lol
Aunt Dorothy knows I’ve found out a little
but not the full extent
Now all I have to do is put it together in some form 
and send it over to her. 
Oh, I’d love to be a fly on the wall when she receives it:)
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