Come live love and laugh with me
Oh the joys of married life 😊
Who knew…. that a simple suggestion….followed by a few choice words……..about tidying up a bedside table
Could lead to this
And this
And then after a lot of laughter….. the realisation that
After all these years you’d think we’d have learnt by now lol
Local watering hole 
The day when bloggers post photos that speak for themselves
Look HERE for what others are saying – wordlessly
I looked at the date and thought – it’s not due for another few days.
This was the temperature at 11am yesterday. Cold and wet.
Yes, the sun did come out later along with blue skies but it was still very chilly
There was even snow further north near Ballarat
And as I was making my way to bed it was still b**** cold
‘They’ may have altered the figures slightly but looking at that outlook I see the next few days aren’t going to be any better. (The tomorrow is today)
Today is May 28 – and to me it’s too soon
It definitely looks like we will have to say….
But, but …..Winter’s not really supposed to arrive until June 1 😎
What’s the weather like at your house?
Hot – Cold – Just right 😊
In April 2016 while The Golfer and I were cruising round the South Pacific we stopped into Papeete Tahiti – and just look at what we saw 😊
Some fabulous enormous end of building murals.
I haven’t been able to find the name of the artist/s responsible for this first one but did discover it was painted during the 2014 Street Art Festival or Festival of Street Graffiti as I saw it described somewhere.
An online article plus a (see how they do it) video taken during the festival:-
https://bizarrebeyondbelief.com/2014/11/21/onou-tahiti-street-art-festival-2014/
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This second one was a painted the next year 2015 for the same now annual festival, a collaboration between American artist Pose and Australian Dabs&Myla . Bright bright colours! Seen better when enlarged (with a click) 🙂
Online articles:-
https://bizarrebeyondbelief.com/2015/05/18/pose-x-dabs-myla-new-piece-in-papeete-tahiti/
Sami hosts Monday Murals and if you would like to see more – follow this link.
Not sure if that’s actually a word. War on Waste used it so it must be!
Will it pass the scrunch test? What I mean is……..can you scrunch it up!
There was a time when the supermarkets used to encourage shoppers to return their single use bags to them for recycling – then single use bags at the big chains disappeared (so did the collection bins).
Now there are new bins near the checkouts- the supermarkets are working in conjunction with a company who will also take your plastics (lots of different ones) The emphasis now is on all sorts of soft plastics – and here’s the buzzword…..soft scrunchable ones!
Redcycle takes just about any of them – they talk about the scrunch test Here.
Which means that all those plastic wrappers like the packet the frozen peas came in or the stuff the big bundles of toilet rolls were wrapped up in that were tossed into the general rubbish bin because they couldn’t go into council recycling now have a dedicated recycling destination.
On the website there’s a list of ‘what they’ll take‘ and also a long list of partner companies involved in the programme….not just the two major supermarkets but manufacturers as well.
So all of you in Australia ‘Use it or Lose it’
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RED Group, a Melbourne-based consulting and recycling organisation, has developed and implemented the REDcycle Program; a recovery initiative for post-consumer soft plastic.
RED Group has teamed up with Coles, Woolworths and some of Australia’s most-loved brands to make it easy for you to keep your plastic bags and soft plastic packaging out of landfill.
RED Group also would like to acknowledge the key role of our partners at Replas – http://www.replas.com.au/ – who produce a range of great products using the recycled materials.
As of 2018, a partnership with Downer and Close the Loop means that soft plastic is now also a component of a new municipal road infrastructure.
The REDcycle Program is true product stewardship model where manufacturers, retailers and consumers are sharing responsibility in creating a sustainable future.
Quite a while ago I would occasionally take part in WWW Wednesday when it was hosted by MizB; Sam at Taking on a World of Words now looks after it and even though the knitting might have taken a back seat I seem to have found comfort in books again…… This might be the right time to join in the fun once more 🙂
Anyone can do it – take part that is – just answer these 3 questions
What are you currently reading ?
What did you recently finish reading ?
What do you think you’ll read next ?
My current read is – Alias Grace by Margaret Attwood
“It’s 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders.”
Picked up from the ‘borrow if you want’ table at my cup of coffee book club, I’ve been reading or at least trying to read this for a couple of weeks now except I just can’t get into it. I’ve reached chapter 8 (in Young Man’s Fancy) yes, I know I’ve hardly started but I keep getting sidetracked! Anyway I’m hoping all the excepts and letters and all that going back and forth…..which annoys me no end…..are behind me.
Did she do it or did she not? That is the question. I’m not normally a ‘read the last chapter’ person but am quite tempted in this case…..I suppose I could ask Mr Google….but that would be cheating, wouldn’t it 😊
My most recent finish was – the ones you trust by Caroline Overington
“Someone has taken her little girl … Emma Cardwell, host of top-rating morning TV show Cuppa, is beloved by audiences and only occasionally stalked by crazy fans. She seems to have it all – fame, money, a gorgeous family – but when her tiny daughter disappears from ldaycare, Emma is faced with every mother’s worst nightmare. Is this a kidnapping, a product of her high profile, or is somebody out for revenge?”
A story that had you wondering right from page 1. Who What Where and Why?. A quick easy read, some rather unlikable characters, maybe a little far fetched storyline with a very strange ending. The author obviously had done much research into the world of morning tv – I kept seeing the sets of Sunrise or Today wondering who the male presenter had been based on, who was the ghastly executive who seemed to rule everyone’s life and who was the model for Emma. The plot – a possible event but highly unlikely!
And my ‘maybe’ next one is – Force of Nature by Jane Harper (Aaron Falk 2)
“Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along a muddy track.
Only four come out on the other side.
The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and encourage teamwork and resilience. At least, that’s what the corporate retreat website advertises”
While all my book club friends raved about Jane Harper’s first novel The Dry (Aaron Falk #1) it didn’t turn me on at all. I know, I know – I’m hard to please at times. I kept thinking if the main character didn’t want to be there, why didn’t he just go back to Melbourne. He’d fiddle about doing this, and a bit of that, and nothing seemed to happen. And those flashbacks annoyed me so much. Now with a bit of luck I’ll enjoy the second in the series more than the first..I’ve been good and haven’t even peeked inside the covers and I just have to remember that series reading ‘was’ my aim for this year……see Books read 2019 😊
And if not these also came home with me a couple of weeks ago from
my book club that isn’t a book club.
Only one recent release – but when did that affect me reading a book 😊
Tomorrow the World – Josephine Cox
The Seafront Tea Room – Vanessa Greene
Gold Dust – Kimberley Freeman
The Clockmaker’s Daughter – Kate Morton
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Come on – tell me – I’d love to know your answers to the three questions?
Yesterday was Monday. A Monday that couldn’t make up it’s mind. Dry and sunny or dull damp and cool. Just an Autumn day in Melbourne.
I had a ‘coffee date’ with an old friend- a longer friendship than the one from last week – a much simpler friendship going back to ‘when our children were at school together’. We are of a similar age, both of us 1940’s babies raised in post war Britain so can laugh and reminisce about similar events and lifestyle. Today’s cool morning had us camped on the cafe’s couch next to the fire in fits of laughter over a picture I gleaned from f/b. Most of us (children) had worn them plus a vest (singlet) – with open coal fires and no central heating most of us needed the extra warmth they provided!
After days of much needed rain, middle of the day sunshine showed me some of the very neglected roses had decided on a last hurrah before their final descent into winter hibernation. 
Somewhere in my ‘files’ I’ve a ‘plan’ (lol a rough sketch with black blobs where a rose was put in the ground) with the names of them all. They all had names attached (on tags) when planted, don’t ask me to identify them now as I’ve no idea….except the big blousey ones (like the pale pink pictured) are Austen’s! I really must spend some time out there tidying things up – this year is flying by so quickly it won’t be long before they need their winter haircut.
Unscheduled afternoon trips often provide ‘smiley moments’. Coming back from Yarra Glen in the late afternoon (under dark low lying clouds) we were approaching Dame Nelly Melba’s ‘cottage’ on the Melba Highway when I saw our landmark. The Dandenongs!
“The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km (22 mi) east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandenong_Ranges
The long straggling range is just up the road from us in the outer eastern suburbs. No matter which way we approach Melbourne, as soon as we see them we know we’re nearly home.
And there right at the ‘end’ were the TV masts.
I was smiling because there was only about 15 minutes to go and I could get that longed for cuppa while looking at the very same from our back deck!
Love ’em or hate ’em, there’s no use complaining, you just have to accept them and enjoy whatever crops up on Autumn days in Melbourne – just as I did yesterday 😊😎
The Golfer and I made our way up to Echuca in the north of Victoria again last week, this time to enjoy the company of interstate visitors. And even though they are very very long time friends it’s sometimes difficult to know how to ‘amuse’ them, particularly when one has a permanent ankle injury and the other ‘a bad back’….which meant wandering about and taking in the sights and sounds of the little compact town that Echuca is was not on the list of things to do and see.
So one day it was ‘top up the tank’ for a quick drive down the road to have a look round the little town of Tongala. One of those rural places opened up in the 1870s with a smallish population that…..according to census returns……is slowly growing; up from 869 persons in 1911 to 1869 in 2011. Like lots of small towns, locals rack their brains to find ways of bringing people (and money) to the area. Assisted by local artist Murray Ross, Tongala has hit on street art in the form of murals – lots of them, showing the history of the town and the associated dairy industry, as their way of bringing those visitors to Tonny….as the locals call it 😊
https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/tongala
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Here’s one I really liked – two ‘old timers’ out in the bush, the billy coming to the boil on the fire, their dog resting peacefully beside them.
I took a quick photo then moved on up the street – see their heads and eyes are facing the front looking right at me.
Coming back to the car I snapped it again- different light, different angle.
Well, bugger me, I’d swear they’ve turned their heads to their left so they could still look me in the eye 😊
I did take more photos of the clever art work – which I’ll post another day.
Sami hosts Monday Murals and if you would like to see more – follow this link.
I ‘discovered’ this little piece in a very old folder labelled Jokes. I don’t think I’ve posted it before – so as Fun Friday passed me by I’m going to let you read it on Silly Saturday 😊
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A tourist in Vienna is going through a graveyard and all of a sudden he hears music.
No one is around, so he starts searching for the source.
He finally locates the origin and finds it is coming from a grave with a headstone that reads: “Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770- 1827”.
Then he realizes that the music is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and it is being played backward!
Puzzled, he leaves the graveyard and persuades a friend to return with him.
By the time they arrive back at the grave, the music has changed.
This time it is the Seventh Symphony, but like the previous piece, it is being played backwards.
Curious, the men agree to consult a music scholar.
When they return with the expert, the Fifth Symphony is playing, again backwards.
The expert notices that the symphonies are being played in the reverse order in which they were composed,
The 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th.
By the next day the word has spread, and a crowd has gathered around the grave.
They are all listening to the Second Symphony being played backward.
Just then the graveyard’s caretaker ambles up to the group.
Someone in the group asks him if he has an explanation for the music.
“I would have thought it was obvious,” the caretaker says.
” He’s decomposing ”
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I also had this article bookmarked –
Ludwig van/von Beethoven – a brilliant composer and an antisocial drunk
Two chicken carcasses – 2 carrots – 1 onion – dried soup mix – chicken stock powder – plus a huge saucepan of water
Put it together – and what have you got? Lunch for a cool day yet warm enough to eat outside.
Put that together with tea, whole meal crackers and a book And then what have you got?
A Fun, Frugal Afternoon Filled with Feelings of Contentment!
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Wordless Wednesday occurs all over the internet each Wednesday, when bloggers let photos speak for themselves.
Click the link below and see what others have to say ‘Wordlessly’ (or almost)
You never know what’s around the corner- just ask any family historian!
I wonder what life would be like if it was all plain sailing?
If they were able to I’m sure our ancestors could tell us a thing or two!
It doesn’t take much to please me – not a lot to make me feel good.
It’s little things in life like a cool change after a sweltering hot summers day, a warm bath when I’m aching, a nice cup of tea or (shhh) a bar of chocolate😊
It’s a well known fact in our house that I’m a ‘water babe’ – the feeling of being immersed makes me feel good all over, seems to calm me, definitely makes me feel peaceful. According to my mum, from the day i was born putting me in a bath of warm water was a sure fire way to settle me. And at this time of my life I’ve told the family if/when I need to go into a nursing home it has to be one with bathing pools / large baths with sling hoists allowing them to manoeuvre the person, so they are able to ‘float’ and enjoy the warmth and the peace that comes with it.
These days as well as my warm bath (and sessions in a nearby heated remedial pool) I suffer the shivers of getting into our supposedly ‘heated’ local pool and dips in the ocean on hot summer days – all to enjoy ‘that’ feeling, knowing whichever way I choose it will bring a distinct change in my attitude.
Unlike these lovely ladies frolicking at the waters edge
The Bathing Beauties 1872
Frederick Arthur Bridgman
1847 – 1928
sold by Christie’s USD 31,000
‘My’ frolicking has always been clothed. There are times – usually when I’m reclining in the bath, book and coffee close to hand
…..I think about the merits of sun bathing in the raw and skinny dipping. Bathing cosies are big business…….expensive too. What if I was to forgoe buying a new one in favour of using the clothing optional beach in the town where we winter?? I’m sure I’d not look out of place – probably 75% of people in town at that time of the year would be 60yrs and over lol
So putting all thoughts of size, shape and inhibitions aside…..have any of you wondered about (or even ‘done/taken part in’….that doesn’t sound right lol) going au naturel on the beach?
I heard it described as Masterchef with bricks!
Such fun – time clocks, eliminations and not a nasty word from any of them!
Small one minute videos
pictures
pictures
Still Waters 