Month: November 2012

I’ve been trying to put another post together from our time in Mount Suprise earlier in the year and do you think I can get those photos to load 😦

SO

I’ve given up and will try again tomorrow but to take away all this angst I really feel we some need some fun time again – time for jokes – and you all know which ones are my favourite ones 🙂

An old Irish farmer’s dog goes missing and he’s inconsolable.
His wife says “Why don’t you put an advert in the paper?”
He does, but two weeks later the dog is still missing.
“What did you put in the paper Paddy?” his wife asks.
“Here boy” he replies.

Paddy spies a letter lying on his doormat.
It says on the envelope, “DO NOT BEND”.
So Paddy spends the next 2 hours – trying to figure out how to pick the bloody thing up!!

Paddy shouts frantically into the phone, ‘My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!’
Is this her first child? asks the Doctor.
No  shouts Paddy, this is her husband!

Paddy was driving home drunk as a skunk, suddenly he has to swerve to avoid a tree, then another and then another.
A police car pulls him over as he veers about all over the road.
Paddy tells the cop about all the trees in the road.
Cop says “For gods sake Paddy, that’s your air freshener swinging
about!

Paddy and Murphy go for a day of fishing – when they get to the bridge they
realize they have forgotten their equipment.
So Murphy comes up with an idea.
“Paddy you hold me by the ankles over the bridge and when I see a fish I’ll grab
it”.
So Paddy hangs him over the side.
All of a sudden Murphy shouts “Paddy, pull me up quick”
Paddy asks “why Murphy, have you caught a fish?”
“No Paddy” Murphy replies “there’s a train coming!!

See you tomorrow
Cathy

Those ‘candid’ snaps Dh ( otherwise known as The Golfer) took of me in Queensland this year are not a new habit he’s developed.
He’s been at it for years!

Look at this one taken back in 2004 when I was ‘making a garden’ at the side of the deck – thankfully he just missed the raised b…. 🙂

Can you see the little lavender plants round the washing line?
They were put there because I needed something to remind me how far to step forward without walking into the centre pole of the Hills Hoist and thats what I came up with.  Decorative and functional – I’m not just a pretty face!!

I planted about six little tubes and once they filled out and surrounded the pole they grew really well over the years. I gave them a little haircut early in the year and nothing stopped them – those little lavender bushes seemed to flower all year round

Back in 2009 I even wrote a post about it lol  – this is what they looked like that year

Then the drought broke and the rains came but it didn’t seem to make any difference to the dry drought loving lavender.  They took it all in their stride and still flourished as you can see from this very wet garden shot taken last year

We had a very wet summer which meant I didn’t take any photos of the garden – soaking wet again Autumn and Winter of this year and because it had rained so much and I used the little line on the deck I hadn’t pottered around outside.  Which meant when we had a good dry day not long ago and I popped out to take those spring photos I was surprised with what saw.

Even tho there were masses of flowers at the top – the bottom of the bushes had started to die back.  There were just brown twigs, very woody with no green growth there at all – not very healthy looking at all  So what was I to do – I wasn’t quite sure actually – the nursery said to rip them all out and start again but I was reluctant ot do that.

Now I know Lavender can be ‘touchy’ and won’t come back if you cut too far into old wood but that old saying ‘In for a penny – In for a pound’ or was it ‘Damned if I do – Damned if I don’t’ kept going through my head and this is what I ended up doing.

Click to enlarge the smaller photos

Yes I chopped them all back – nearly to the ground in fact!  I will water them over the summer and maybe give them a feed of Seasol and leave them to their own devices.
If they grow again – great – If they turn up their toes – well they are telling me it’s time to come out

You know, sometimes I would get annoyed when the washing snagged on those bushes but somehow it wouldn’t be the same if they weren’t there

Anyone done anything drastic recently??

I’m sure all of you have a feeling of pride when a family member achieves something they set out to do. I spent this past Saturday morning in a large auditorium filled with like-minded proud people – waiting for our achievers.

Pride refers to a satisfied sense of attachment toward one’s own or another’s choices and actions, or toward a whole group of people, and is a product of praise, independent self-reflection, or a fulfilled feeling of belonging.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride

Our achiever was ‘our quiet one’ the youngest daughter of ‘our little girl’ and she certainly has been a quiet one.  She has never been the sporty one or the brainy one or the cheeky one or the naughty one or the pain in bum one that you love just the same – just the quiet one.

You may not remember but I have spoken about our quiet one before
Where some talk about it she just does it.
There she is – small and determined

So what had she done to fill us with pride?
She was about to receive the Australian Scout Medallion.
The highest award available to scouts in Australia

Australian Scout Medallion
The Australian Scout Medallion is the highest award in the Scout Section. It is considered the pinnacle of Scouting at this stage.
To earn the Australian Scout Medallion a Scout must:
Participate in a Scout Leadership Course at any time after completion of the Pioneer Badge
Demonstrate an active leadership role in Scouting
Achieve the Adventurer Cord.
http://scouts.sa.scouts.com.au/asm

A full hall meant it wasn’t always easy to see properly
This was my view most of the time lol
Thankfully the heads parted at the right time
so I was able to catch the Chief Commissioner and hear all he had to say.

But this is what we came for
‘Our Quiet Achiever’
(I had to stand at the end of the row to get these photos)

There are lots of reasons why youngsters should participate in the Scouts or other youth service organisations.  What intrigues me is why do they join?  Our quiet one just asked could she – didn’t mention why – I’m just glad she did.  Next step for her is Venturers and working her way towards the Queen’s Scout Award.

The Governor of Victoria is also the Chief Scout of Victoria – I’ve added his message that was printed in the programme – you may be interested in reading it.  Click to enlarge.

That ’embroidered wedding sampler’ seemed to take up so much of my time over the past couple of months it seemed as though reading was way down on my ‘things to do when I have the time’ list.   Having said that I did manage to hurtle through a couple of fairly new release books that really took my fancy.

One was recommended by my daughter in law and the other was a quick pic off the library shelf – which coincidently was how dil described the one she recommended.  We all know quick pics can be good or bad – bit like that movie quote ‘life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gunna get’ – I’m not sure about you but I’ve had some good ones and also some real duds lol

Daughter in law had recommended
The Boy under the Table written by Nicole Trope

and I smiled when I saw it on display at the library just a couple of days later.
Snapped it up, started it that afternoon, finished it a couple of days later.

In a nutshell it’s about a little boy (Lockie) who went missing from the Easter Show, his parents, the local policeman and a young runaway called Tina.

A long time ago (1966) when we (dh and I) were much younger and much more trusting we once ‘mislaid’ a little one of ours in a market – both of us assumed the other had hold of her hand.  Round and round we walked looking for her, a stall holder approached us and asked if we were looking for a small child, then told us a policeman had taken her away in his car to the local station.  We found our ‘little girl’ sitting quite comfortably behind the counter eating chocolate biscuits – we were relieved that she’s been found and (as embarassed as I am to admit it) maybe naively hadn’t worried about her safety at all.  I’m not sure how I would have reacted if like Lockie she hadn’t turned up soon after she slipped away.

A thoroughly good read about life and families and how we react and relate to each other in all sorts of situations.  All I can ask is you read This review as it’s far better than one I could ever write.

My quick pic was a novel by S. J. Watson called Before I go to Sleep

This went to Perth with me the other weekend – and if it hadn’t been for the fact we had ‘broken days’ when I couldn’t read it would have been finished much sooner than actually happened. When I had time on my hands I picked it up and was very reluctant to put it down.  It was in my hands so much I was almost antisocial at times lol

When the main character (Christine) wakes each morning she has no memory of life ‘before she went to sleep’ – a husband cares for her and unbeknown to her husband she has treatment from a doctor (Dr Nash) who askes her to write a diary each day ‘before she goes to sleep’.

As I said such an easy book to read – you (and Christine) learn about her life and relationships from reading the chapters which are actually dated and lead up to actual time the book began.  Not flash backs – which as you all know I loathe – but the story unfolding with each day.  Sounds intriguing – things aren’t quite as they seem – you have to read it to understand – watch out for the surprise ending tho!

It seems the book has been a success since the word go and in his blog the author says there is even a film/movie deal in progress with Nicole Kidman in the lead role of Christine.  Not bad for a first book – he also mentions he has another one on the go.

Right, I’m off to the library now
will see what else I can find to keep me entertained
Cathy

Tuesday at Chooks
Whats that all about?
I hear you say!!

Over the recent years I’ve written now and again about our Tuesday evenings at the Folk Club in a neighbouring suburb.  Somehow or another there has been so much going on this year we haven’t managed to make the regular monthly Tuesday. A couple of weeks ago we did have a trip to the theatre to see ‘South Pacific’ but I am really missing live music.   Radio music programmes and recorded music sort of fills the gap but theres stil something missing so when my cousin told us he was planning to take us to a ‘Blues’ session held on a Tuesday night I was over the moon.

But let me explain – cousin lives in Perth but has a small acreage about 3 hours south at  Bridgetown.  A quiet and peaceful place where he is starting to ‘play farmer’.  They have built ‘his version of a bush shack’, he’s planted fruit trees and olives at the front and is planning to put vines in down the back as well.  Good for the blood pressure he says, they try to get down everyweekend when they can and hopefully will move there when he retires in a few years.

So we all drive down there Sunday morning (the day after the wedding) – and I use that word morning loosely remembering how late it was when we got to bed the night before lol  Not only does he play farmer but also amateur chef whilst he’s down there and always cooks one meal to prove he can do it.   Mind you he does hold the belief that a good chef needs a couple of things in the kitchen tho – one is a few bottles of wine and the other is a good assistant.  Luckily for us both were on hand!

Now as we were there on the first Tuesday in November we all sat down with a glass of bubbly and watched the big race – doesn’t do to miss ‘The Cup’ aka the Melbourne Cup even if it does occur at midday in Perth.  It was strange to watch the race and then go to the pub for lunch – quite the reverse to being at home when we settle down to watch the race at 3pm – always with a glass of bubbly in the hand.   None of us picked the winner even tho one of our sons mentioned it to his Dad and someone else had also been given it as a tip!

A little snooze after lunch meant we were all freshened up by 7pm in time to tootle down into ‘town’ to see where all the action was at.

A moody soft lit room at the back of the local Pizza House (where Denise lovingly ‘slaves away’ feeding the pizza oven lol) in Bridgetown is where you’ll find Chook aka Steve Keir and Duan Crozier together in a partnership called Chookfoot.  
So did I feed my need – definitely!!

Shame the wedding wasn’t this past weekend as the annual Blues Festival was on
but if you read this report
maybe its good we weren’t there 🙂

All photos enlarge with a click

Hello there
Just a little note to say I’ll be away for a week – we are off to Perth WA for a family wedding and will be back next Wednesday.  Kiera is up at the cattery and there is just the case to be packed now.  Of course the beautiful weather they were having over in the west has changed which has mucked up all my thoughts on what clothes to take!

I’m sorry I’ve been so busy recently I haven’t answered any comments or done any visiting but will catch up with you all next week.

Anyway I’ll leave you with this little thought – why do cats need visits to the vet and treatment that costs a fortune just before I go away?  That one I’ll never know the answer to.  I suppose theres one good thing about it – and that is she won’t suffer from toothache for the rest of her life now!!

Bye for now
Cathy