Month: May 2012

Bert lives up the street from us – he has the most beautiful Liquid Amber tree in his garden.  It’s huge and towers over nearly all the trees in the street and does a great job shading his house from the afternoon sun in the Summer.  It’s just visible from my laundry window – not that I stand there all that much –  but it’s quite nice to look at when the leaves turn red in the Autumn.

Cheryl lives on the other side of the steet – she has one in her garden as well.  I can see hers from the top of our drive and it also turns a fabulous red in the Autumn.

When it rains at this time of the year the gutters get filled with leaves – red leaves from a Liquid Amber tree.

Because of the bend in the footpath they gather at the top of our drive – the rain pushes them along but often they will overflow on the footpath.

I know where they come from but wouldn’t have the heart to complain.  For many years I would trundle my barrow up the street and gather up all the leaves for the compost but Bert’s wife retired recently and with time to spare has been doing a sterling job at collecting them herself.

The two trees compliment each other so well – normally looking spectacular – even with all the rain we’ve had they still look good against the heavy skies. 

What is Monday like for you?  Are you a traditional housewife for whom Monday is wash day? It used to be  heavy work but these days with all the household aids any day could be wash day.  Is Monday for you the day you head off to work after a couple of days at home – or is it the day you heave a sigh and sit down for a while in peace and quiet – knowing you have all day to yourself until the children arrive home from school.  In the past I’ve enjoyed all of those Mondays and now my Mondays in retirement are different again.  Since I stopped paid employment I’ve deliberately never had a regular routine for Monday which means I can enjoy whatever turns up – make me an offer and I can be there lol

Would you like to see a Monday in Victoria – this is what it was like here yesterday – A true Rainy Day and a Monday to boot. The last Monday in May 2012.    Heavy skies, freezing cold without a trace of wind – certainly not a good day if your wash day is a Monday – my neighbour’s flag hung like that all day long.

No matter which way I looked it was the same – dull dreary grey skies.

This is what I saw over the top of next door’s roof – a leafless tree silhouetted against that heavy grey sky.

Signs of rain and winter everywhere

 

Officially Winter begins in Australia this coming Friday – June 1st – something makes me think it has made an early appearance!  What was your Monday like?

Do any of you remember those times when your mind seemed to want to carry on at full pelt instead of closing down for the night –  look carefully at the fun going on above and seemingly you will find the reason there lol

I have absolutely no idea whereabouts on the internet I actually found this – Entitled ‘A Womens Brain’ or ‘Why Women find it hard to go to Sleep’ –  I can totally relate to all the stuff going on there.  There are things happening all over the place – It just goes on and on!!

 

Questions have been asked
– in person and via email –
where have you been – What have you been up to?
Well like I said the other day I haven’t been doing much at all.
There has been a bit of reading and some knitting and some family history stuff
Not really heavy mind blowing stuff at all

What we have had recently – well until the past couple of days –
were quite a few days when the rain hasn’t tumbled down
which in my eyes meant time outside trying to sort out the garden.

If the next few weeks fly by as quickly as the past ones
it’ll be the beginning of July before I know where I am
and we’ll be on our way up north to the warm sunshine
leaving behind a garden full of weeds and unpruned roses.

Yesterday it poured
actually that’s a slight understatement
as in fact here in Melbourne it was
the coldest day since 2000 and the wettest May day in 17 years –
outside our house it was wet, miserable and freezing cold
we spent the day doing not much at all.
Today is not much better
I’ve spent most of it following up on some family research
while dh has been curled up in his comfy chair
comfortably warm with a book, the TV remote control and ipad

So to cheer us all up
I thought I’d show you something I managed to find in the garden last month
before I got let loose with the secateurs and cut everything to the ground
Aren’t they beautiful
A couple of late bloomers and A couple of early bloomers
Along with some feline friends

More beautiful flowers can be found here  

All is well – days come and days go – there’s not much happening – I will be back in a few days if not before!
Bye for now
Cathy

 

As I mentioned the other day the best sort of communication I’d been party to over the past few months was watching a daughter achieve her goal of becoming a ‘legend’ and receiving the yellow bandana for finishing her fifth Trail Walker event.

It was smiles all the way from the very start to the end.

This is a fundraiser for Oxfam which involves walking/running 100kms up and down various hilly ‘trails’ (from ground to 600 metres) in a given time of 48 hrs.  It allows time (if you want/need) to stop and meet up with support crews at each checkpoint along the way – some teams choose to move right on and only make minimal stops, others whose aim is finishing rather than getting a ‘good’ time choose to rest for several hours or even sleep overnight.

Her team smiled as they went through various checkpoints – as you can see the morning slowly went from wet and miserable to dry and sunny – didn’t matter the smiles kept coming.

Chatted with me (wearing the fawn sleeveless jacket)and her Dad in what seemed like the middle of the night but was just 7pm at checkpoint 4 in Olinda just a short drive from our home –  and then after jogging/walking for just over 24 hours arrived at the finish line – still smiling and laughing!

Always ready to give it a go – Congratulations J – we love you!

Well it’s over two months since the blog moved house and so far so good – we seem to be settling quite well – apart from accidentally pushing the publish button a bit too early a couple of times – I’ve managed to put together some posts and now that readers are getting to know where I am to receive some comments on those posts.  Tho’ I must get back into the habit of saying thank you for them lol

This week I started to think about how I was managing to utilise my word for 2012 in my life – full marks for those who remembered that the word I settled on was communication.  I really wanted to encompass that idea in more ways than just speech but thinking about what I’ve actually been doing led me to the thought that somehow it seems I have been been interpreting communication from others to me more than me to them lol

Not long after it was released I had a ‘date’ with Dh – we went to the cinema and saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  A funny film with a great cast who showed so well the problems of growing older and how the things you dream of never seem to really be what you actually want and how other things will arrive to fill that need.

We had a weekend away in Port Fairy where we spent a lot of time walking by the beach, enjoying the fresh air and also catching up with old friends.

It was a talkative time and a time where I discovered there were others in the group who were as intrigued with lighthouses as I was.

When a group of ladies take the train instead of driving to Bendigo to see the Grace Kelly Exhibition it means on thing – we have understood completely the State Government’s reason for providing us (pensioners) with a couple of free rail passes each year – it’s so we can have fun on the cheap lol

After seeing the clothing on display and reading the literature we understood a lot more about her life as a film star and duties as a princess in Monaco.

I’ve been spending Friday evenings watching reruns of an old ABC series called Sea Change.  It’s about a woman who gives up a high power job in the city and relocates to a very small coastal town and how her life changes over the years.  Watching how the characters relate to each other each week has me smiling – and who wouldn’t smile at a much younger Sigrid Thornton and David Wenham (Diver Dan) as well as actors John Howard and Kerry Armstrong playing husband and wife .

Watching and also wondering if all those other people in real life who move to realise their dream of a sea change or tree change become involved in a community as colourful as that of Pearl Bay.

Another day out was to the Australian Garden in Cranbourne

which meant I could see for myself Australian Native Plants in semi mass plantings in display gardens and by listening to the guides and reading the leaflets understand how the different plants have changed over time to cope with various climate zones in Australia.

But I’ll tell you all about the best communication that took place in this time another day.

This is our No 1 grandson’s kinder photo at the age of four – a very mischievous boy with a cheeky smile that would melt your heart.

His favourite activity was to play – to play anything – especially ball games – especially the ball games many Australian boys love to play – namely Cricket and Aussie Rules Football.  Footy began as a little one in the back garden – kick to kick with his Dad (son in law) and as soon as he was old enough with Auskick.  Now he is a big strapping lad who still plays ball games – still gets out on the oval during the winter to play Aussie Rules with his team here in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.  This weekend just gone he passed a milestone in his ‘playing career’ – he played his 100th game.

Yes, we’ll come and see him I said weeks ago and thankfully after what seemed like months of rain the weather gods smiled and it wasn’t raining.   A little bit nippy and with heavy skies but not raining.    Now to mark these special occasions there has to be a banner to run through so the family set to and produced one worthy of a big professional AFL game lol 

– All of these photos will enlarge with a click –
they will show the story as it progresses

Teams are on the ground and even tho’ they have had lots of encouragement in the team rooms there has to be an onground huddle to start them in the right frame of mind followed by another pre game warm up exercise  And then the umpires are escorted on to the oval – a sign of the times that even for junior games the umpires are escorted on and off.

So with a ball up the game is started – ball up and not centre bounce because the ground was rather soggy and wet .  Out our way trees and perimeter parking are one of the great things about most local football ovals – shade in the summer when its cricket thats played here and if you really need it warmth to watch the footy in the winter on a cold rainy day.  Plus the advantage of being able to toot the horn when a goal is scored lol  This ground is within sight of those hills I keep talking about and if you look carefully the TV masts are visible just in the centre

The Object of game is to score points by getting the ball through the goal posts – yes there are four posts and not two and there are points for whichever ones the ball goes through,  I don’t profess to know all the ins and outs of the game ‘cept there’s lots of running and jostling to get the ball and its a tense time when the play is in front of the goal and its a lonely time for the goal umpire when play is at the other end lol

 

So half time comes and the onground huddle and coach’s talk begins – the ‘play board’ goes along with all the changes visible only to the players – the coach was forever consulting it as he paced up and down whilst watching the game.

Of course it also meant it was time to treat myself to something I definitely haven’t had for a very long time – A Meat Pie – Hot and Tasty and very warming.

Here’s our Action Man (No 4) in action

Grey skies didn’t deter them – the final score was a good one – next week might not be so easy – lots of training to be done in the mean time.  What was great for our grandson was that his team gave him a Moment of Glory as they came off the ground.

Local football is family oriented, Mums and Dads go along to cheer as well as sisters and brothers – what I loved tho’ was the sight of this little one and his ball – maybe a future Man of the Match lol

Also on this particular day the next team on the ground were the Veterans – the big lads – the old fellas – those that had played for the club years ago – they too can remember what it was like to be 17 and there was no way a few balding heads and pot bellies were going to get in the way of their love of the game.

What was your weekend like – were any sporting events in there?  Are you involved in local sport – were you when your children were younger – and do you think it is worthwhile for the youngsters and also for the parents to have a go?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Football_League
http://upfromaustralia.com/ausrulfoot.html
http://www.afl.com.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auskick
http://www.aflauskick.com.au/

There’s is a spot in Ringwood between two shopping areas where you can often see buskers.  Its under cover which is good but I imagine a bit draughty at times which is bad.  Whenever I’ve walked that way there has always been a lot of passing ‘trade’ but I’m sure there must be quiet times as well.

Anyway the other week as I came out of the large shopping centre and started to cross the road I heard it – the unmistakeable sound of a saxophone.  Often you’d hear someone singing or playing instruments but this wasn’t the sort of sound you’d normally hear and I had to stop to see where it was coming from. Also most of the buskers sit further down the walk way closer to where I crossed so I was surprised when I saw the man sitting at the top.  I really needed to go into a nearby shop and yet I didn’t want to move on lol

Of course I couldn’t get out of the shop fast enough as I wanted to listen for a while longer.  Now I suppose I’m guilty of this as well but standing on the other side of the railings I noticed nobody seemed to listen to his music.  There were a few who dropped a coin into his bag but nearly everyone else was so intent with getting on with their business they just walked by.

Yet the man in the hat didn’t seem to care at all.  He just sat there on his own playing beautiful music and watching the world go by.

Buskers have to have a permit and there are conditions to be met so I’ve never been able to fathom out if they do it for the money they hope to make or for the love of performing.  http://www.maroondah.vic.gov.au/Busking.aspx

Did you know the term “busking” was first noted in the English language around the middle 1860s in Great Britain. Up until the 20th century buskers were commonly called minstrels in America, Europe and other English-speaking lands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_performance

Have any of you been game enough to perform on the street?