Seeing this
Reminded me of this – Simon’s Cat in the bathroom
Watch and Smile – and watch again 😊
Can you tell I’m missing Kiera 😊🐈
Fun Friday – the day we forget the worries of the week
The feet have (had) it…..
Well maybe that should be……wear different shoes next time:)
Last weekend was spectacular – Friday night we had a storm to end all storms.
Residents in Melbourne’s east are clearing up following a night of storms that delivered heavy rain and large hail to parts of Melbourne east.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the outer east and a flash flooding warning was in place for flash flooding suburbs including Mooroolbark, Chirnside Park, Croydon, Croydon North and Wonga Park
More strong winds and rain on Saturday meant I was looking for a nice quiet Sunday; so it was with a ‘hopeful nature’ I got on the train to go to the city with The Golfer. The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival was on and he wanted to walk Southbank browsing the Food Vans, the pop up restaurants along with the wine tasting booths.
What he hadn’t mentioned was:-
- He also wanted to go back to Fed Square to look at another exhibition….. ‘Screen Worlds‘ in the Australian Centre for the Moving Image aka ACMI.
- Then make our way up to the Club in Bourke Street for a bite to eat,
- Then before coming home nip into the old DFO, now given the posh name of Spencer Outlet Centre , for a ‘quick’ look at a place in there.
So when what I thought was going to be a pleasant saunter from Flinders Street Station, across the river and then a wander along the riverbank turns into a 5km hike in city streets I became a tad tetchy 🙂
- We didn’t buy any take away food…..nothing really appealed
- It was an interesting exhibition but no place to sit down unless you went back out into the foyer
- There was a meaningful discussion as we walked up to Bourke Street about using the tram up to the club….yes, up the street literally…we gave up trying as each one that arrived was crammed full.
- Later as we walked aimlessly round a huge shopping centre (I really didn’t want to be in) I was shocked to hear ‘his words‘ (or words similar to ones he uses when shopping with me ) coming out of my mouth as he picked up various pieces of clothing …..”Do you need that? …..Will you wear that? …..Don’t you have something like that at home?
Thankfully our train home could be be picked up right there at Spencer Street (now known as as Southern Cross…but I don’t know anyone who calls it that.
My feet were sore and all I could think of was getting home and putting them up
All’s well now, we are talking again- but next time it will be blow the fashionable summer sandal look and on with the runners!!
Monday Musings….
A very dear friend of mine was talking to me about her youngest child – now a grown man in his very early 50s – it seems he tells her she should ‘let go’. She says that out of all her children he is the only one who does so. Don’t know why, she said, could possibly be something to do with his wife; a person with few personal possessions who has fashioned their home in a minimalist style. Because it certainly wasn’t his style when he was a young man living at home 😊
‘Get rid of it, it’s only taking up space, when are you going to use it again’.
That seems to be today’s catch cry.
And like many others over these past few years, I’ve done just that. Moved on, passed on, given away, rehomed, knowing someone else will be able to make use of all the crockery and cooking stuff that’s no longer used – just the way we did when we were younger and short of cash to buy brand spanking new.
So what do you do when these emerge from the back of the cupboard? Four small child sized plastic beakers with another styled as a lid to hold them together. One set slightly larger than the other.
I looked at them on the countertop, reliving memories of the day the red ones were bought (way back in the 1970s) in a tourist shop at Glenrowan – Ned Kelly country – over 225kms/140 miles up the road from here.
It’s quite funny in that I know where they were bought – I can see myself walking into the shop, I know why they were bought – squabbles over sharing a bottle of soft drink. ‘He/she had more swallows than me’ But I can’t for the life of me remember why we were so far from home that day !
Unlike these days when each child has their allocated water bottle,(well before water in bottles was sold at the supermarket) we’d buy a large bottle of whatever they chose…Fanta or Lemon Squash or even Coke……to share between us …..which meant those little red beakers certainly earned their keep. Everyone knew exactly how much pop each of them was given😊
And of course as they grew in age and size…. I bought the slightly larger ones
My friend asked if they’d ever been used again. Actually yes I said, quite regularly a while ago by visiting grandchildren – small children being allowed a forbidden treat of fizzy drinks at Grandma’s (with parents permission – wouldn’t have done iit otherwise 😀
So here it is Monday morning again and I’m sitting with my coffee thinking about or maybe that should be wondering when it will be time.
Time to let go, that is.
You know, those little beakers really don’t take up much space, and even though they appear to be empty are actually filled with memories, and besides, all those grandchildren are now old enough to have their own little ones so you never know when they might come in handy again 😎
Do you have things tucked away waiting?
Waiting for you to decide when the time is right?
And the times they are a changing…..
The new season can definitely be felt now…..the harsh heat of summer has gone and the nights are very much cooler. Even to the point of putting on pjs, dressing gown and knitted slippers well before ‘retiring time’.
Different seasons means different vegetables
And guess what’s on the menu for tonight? Yes, Brussel Sprouts! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_sprout
The sprout farm at Coldstream is picking !
It’s opened its sales to the public again, these lovely freshly picked little green bundles of joy are there on the road side stall by the farm gate all nicely packed ready to come home – and if the stall is bare you just ring the bell and one of the pickers comes down with some more.
I’m not enthralled by the plastic packaging, it’s a fairly slim strong bag which fits the purpose. Trouble is trying to contain those lumpy sprouts in soft plastic doesn’t work too well when they are sold a kilo a time. Plus these aren’t graded, unlike those that make their way from the farm to other places …..sold to national supermarket chains …..so it’ll be a mix of sizes. Which keeps the cost (to us) down There are times when after all the mark ups, sprouts aren’t the cheapest veg on the shelf, they do drop in price as more arrive. These that The Golfer picks up on his way to/from his 2nd home (oops…golf course) are a standard $5 a kilo all the time
So you win some – lose some as far as price is concerned
BUT
Straight from the paddock to the plate….that’s my idea of freshness. And that’s what counts for me.
Trouble with comments
WordPress blog….
Is anyone else having problems with comments going straight into the spam folder?
These are comments from ‘known’ bloggers who have commented before – not new ones that must be approved.
Most annoying.
Monday Musings….
And just for the fun of it there has been another change in my life this year.
Another social one that is.
With pleasure being the name of the game I’ve upped stumps and joined another choir.
The one I joined last year – the one I settled into so easily and throughly enjoyed singing with – moved house. To another suburb One much further from home. They raised the annual membership fee plus the weekly fee which when combined with longer train travel there and back was going to make a big dent in my day as well as my small personal monthly allowance so I looked around for another option.
And I found one really close to home – a short 10 minute drive in fact!
It’s not quite as organised as some I’ve sung with (meaning the conductor may not have as many qualifications as some of the others) yet for a group of 30 retirees the quality of singing is just as good.
We have a gig coming up at the end of this month that is going to be lots of FUN
Performing at the Highland Games and Celtic Festival out here in the eastern suburbs. How good is that!
Since our first rehearsal at the end of January it’s been Popular Scottish songs/tunes all the way. Well mostly Scottish; Men of Harlech The Ash Grove and Danny Boy may be heard – to give a nod to a couple of other Celtic nations 😊
Last week during rehearsal we were asked what songs we sang as youngsters on bus trips. With no idea what was wanted suggestions included……
- If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands
- The wheels on the bus go round and round
- 10 green bottles hanging on the wall
- She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes
- Oh the grand old Duke of York
- Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree
- Row Row Row your boat gently down the stream
- I’ll tell me Ma when I come home, the boys won’t leave the girls alone
No, we get told, They are too general, I want something this particular audience will relate to. Then our lovely pianist (of Scottish descent) started to sing this.
Oh ye cannae shove yer Granny aff a bus
Ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus,
Oh ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus,
Ye cannae shove yer granny, for she’s yer mammy’s mammy,
Ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus.
Ye can shove yer other granny aff a bus,
Ye can shove yer other granny aff a bus.
You can shove yer other granny, for she’s yer daddy’s mammy,
Ye can shove yer other granny aff a bus.
So I’m sitting here with my coffee on this sunny Monday morning wondering if it’s only in Scotland where children learn (and seemingly love) a song about pushing their Granny off a bus ?? 😎😎
What strange songs did you learn as a youngster?
But wait….there’s more!
As it always is with life there were more changes to come this year.
This one was not so much a change in exercise routine as finding a different way
Continuing with gym visits for strength – or maybe it should be to use all those lovely machines they have, – walking the streets for endurance plus the pleasure from being outside with all the associated views (which you can’t see from a treadmill) , pool visits because I love the feeling of weightlessness and the knowledge my aches and pains will benefit from exercise in the water
AND
this year adding the Ballet for Adults being offered by a local organisation. I love dance in any form and this class turned up at just the right time.
Having spent so much time recently reading/researching/discovering things past (History of my Family) I wondered if I could turn back the clock and mentally return to a younger Catherine who loved her weekly ballet class.
Last year’s foray into Return to Yoga (for seniors) didn’t do a thing for me. I ached for days after each class….certainly didn’t have that feeling of peace I remember from classes in years gone by, these left me with a feeling of frustration because even though the slim young contortionist the young woman out the front seemingly had qualifications to teach ‘older adults/seniors’ she didn’t seem to understand that some of our bodies just didn’t do the things we may well have been able to do many years ago. By the end of the term so many had found excuses not to attend, there was an awful lot of empty space on the floor which had been covered with mats during the first week!!
Now having admitted that, I’ll also have to admit these Ballet classes are not all ‘wine and roses’ or ‘tea and biscuits’ as some of the attending ladies would prefer to say.
They also are hard work – unlike the Yoga classes where serious was the name of the game – these are hard work with lots of laughter thrown in.
Hard work trying to make your feet turn out like Charlie Chaplin, Pliés are not just bending your knees like squats,
Something simple like sliding your foot along the ground and then pointing the toe – Tendu -is likely to give you cramp (if you try too hard!)
And you know how good your balance is when you try to Relevé – rise onto your toes (or balls of our feet in our case 
Change can be good, some change can be not so good – what I do know is that 7 weeks into the first term, I along with 10 other ‘mature ladies’………….wearing last year’s yoga pants along with tshirts and carrying pink ballet slippers – not a leotard In sight 😊……………leave the local hall feeling better, walking taller, more at ease with ourselves and declaring Tuesday mornings have become our ‘favourite’ time of the week.
And there’s no way we’re going to change that!
The Australian Ballet – Ballet Class as a Beginner
Change….
Change:- Make or become different.
Changes happening not for the sake of change but for ME 😊
Firstly not so much a change of healer as a looking at the benefits of a different practice
After several disappointing consultations over the past few months with my (older in years, single person practice) GP which ended in him stating he had no idea what the problem was, I took advantage of the fact that we are not tied to one Dr/GP (as is the case in other parts of the world) and made an appointment at a larger practice in our area – in my mind, just for another point of view.
Not an easy thing to do as I’m usually a ‘loyal’ person but I wanted an answer…..even if it was the same one.
After the initial niceties and explanations the first words the new Dr said were….well, let’s see what we can eliminate. Words I’d not heard from my original GP.
The upshot was that this and the follow up consultation, followed by a diagnosis and treatment that worked/cured the problem, had me thinking long and hard and making the decision to change to the new practice. One that has several Dr’s (of various ages, levels of experience, different medical interests) available, one that has xray and treatment rooms on the premises as well as allied health workers plus specialist rooms in an adjoining building.
A difficult decision to make – but after consulting the new GP a couple of times since then I’m confident I made the right one.
So after surviving our, and I’m not exaggerating, horrendous in many ways summer I’m finally in a better frame of mind and hoping to be back here on a regular basis. Not sure what I’ll natter about but will most likely find a joke or two here or there. Sadly no tidbits about Kiera – who I greatly miss. No o/s trips on the horizon either – although winter in Bowen, Far North Queensland is being mooted. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, meaning when the really cold weather arrives!
Bye for now….Cathy
Still Waters 