Month: June 2023

Posted on

And we’re off again..

Happy Days are here again 😎

Taking a little drive ‘up the road’ – leaving very early this Friday morning
(A week later than planned due to an unexpected medical appointment).
Travelling via Parkes, Goondiwindi and Rockhampton
with (hopefully) no floods, fires or state border closures to hinder us…..
it might be a bit wet somewhere along the line though courtesy of an unseasonal front making it’s way cross country west to east. Bowen is expecting a ‘drop or two’ on Monday!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-28/unusual-widespread-winter-rain-predicted-for-queensland/102525130

2,400 kms

We’ve done this 4day drive so many times we usually know what to expect – apart from the unusual aforesaid floods, fires and border closures….there could be roadworks, unexpected health issues like last year or the odd early morning close encounter with roadside grazing ‘roos to contend with but generally it’s smooth sailing all the way. Yes, it’s a fair way to drive but with regular stops and both of us taking the wheel for two hour stints the days seem to pass by quite quickly.

~ ~ ~ ~
A few years ago someone on another site once asked how we coped being together in a small space for that length of time….

“ …Day one starts excitedly, we’re a bit hyped up having spent the last few days making sure we have everything ready and packed in the car so it takes us till lunchtime to relax and get into the swing of things. By the end of the day all this catches up with us and we are glad to get to our first stop.

Day two we start to bicker – happens each time!

Even tho we have bits and pieces in the car (to read, craft and listen to) as well as drinks and snacks I think it’s the effects of sleeping in a strange bed and the prospect of another long day on the road that brings on this stupidity – as thats what it is.

‘Why are you changing the radio station – I was listening to that CD, why are you changing it – why have you changed the heating/cooling – what do you mean keep both hands on the wheel – this one when you can see for miles ahead and there’s not another thing in sight!’  Silly little things.  

By day three its back to normal again, it’s as if we’ve settled down into a better routine knowing and accepting there’s nothing we can do about the size of our great land and as we’ve chosen to drive and not fly thats all there is to it.

Day four is a ‘short day’ the excitement is back again, we know we are on the last leg of the journey to our final destination and relaxation….”

~ ~ ~ ~
We’ll be heading home after Father’s Day – mid September
but I’m sure I’ll be chatting to you before then 😘.
… … … …

Added here to say…..we’ve arrived!.
In spite of it being a bit of a damp journey it was made more pleasant by seeing a double rainbow at West Wyalong and discovering ( thanks to multicultural resettlement programs) the ‘chef’ at the local Namoi Hotel in Narrabri makes the most delicious Nepalese Chicken Curry

The ‘unseasonal front’ is still making itself known…..Bowen is putting on its cool cloudy dull side this week. Rain coming down in torrents, cover on the bed, warm clothing making an appearance and no sun to be seen – hopefully it’ll change by the weekend.

Sharing with Denyse’s weekly link up Wednesday’s Words & Pics 
Why don’t you pop over and see who’s visiting her today

Posted on

🧶 But wait, there’s more..

( Crook – sick, unwell. That’s been me for the past week
Stayed offline – hopefully better now)

The disappointment of having the child’s red woolly returned has gone now, it was a slightly different feeling to that from a couple of years ago but for a little while there left a sour taste in my mouth..

I did get a note from my friend saying how upset she was with her daughter and how sorry (and embarrassed) she was it happened.
Let’s just say (sadly) for her grandson, his loss was my gain – win win in fact – the charity receives and I happily use skills learnt and …as mentioned in that post…plan another venture.

Unfortunately nothing more has happened to the royal blue jumper since then, there’s still just the back waiting patiently….

So…as per usual when I get an idea running through my mind….I charge in wanting to see if it’ll work
Which means …that now there are two more ‘backs’ waiting patiently…

And I’m thinking the makings of 3 fronts and 6 sleeves are going to have to come along for a ride sometime in the near future and be knit elsewhere.

📘 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 📘

You might be interested to know that after I don’t know how long I’ve actually found a book that’s holding my interest – A Shilling for Candles.
A novel given to me by someone who knew I was struggling.
“An old fashioned crime mystery will get you going again”

I’m three chapters in and it appears
“…no hearts were breaking because Christine Clay was no more….the world was dusting off its blacks and hoping for an invitation to her funeral….”.
I’m all ears (well eyes actually) tell me more 😊

It’ll also be coming along for the ride and I’ve been given the ok to pass it on to someone else when I’ve finished.
… … … …

#keeplifesimple

Sharing with Denyse’s weekly link up Wednesday’s Words & Pics 
Why don’t you pop over and see who’s visiting her today

Posted on

Do you ever wonder

Do you ever wonder who has walked down a path before you
Yes I know that sounds ‘very deep’ .
but in this case that is what I actually mean

In the very early years of going up to
Bowen, Queensland

we would always take a daily walk on the nearby beach.
(not so much these days because you know…aches pains etc)

Each time we stepped onto the sands
I’d look up and down Queens Beach

2009
2009

And if I saw footprints in the sand
I often wondered who they belonged to

Were they enjoying life – having a good time
a very easy thing to do in the winter sunshine
of Far North Queensland.

Look at this great impression of a foot I saw in the sand

And this big shoe print – looks like a man’s to me
Walking on his own by the look of it
‘cose
I couldn’t find any dog paw prints close by

And these might be the group of women
who would run/jog along here each morning 
just after breakfast

Anyway, over the years we’ve spent quite a few months of walking up there
while it was cold and wintery in Melbourne
2400 kms away.
And I was wondering how many of the feet who made those footprints in the sand are still doing so? I wonder if their owners are still making as clear an impression as they did then?.

Won’t be long before I’ll be checking it out again.
And with a forecast like this for next week- it can’t come soon enough 😎

Monday Musings – a time to think and ponder

Sharing with Denyse’s weekly link up Wednesday’s Words & Pics 
Why don’t you pop over and see who’s visiting her today

Posted on

Changing rooms….

I’ve done very little actual clothes shopping over the recent years that needed ‘trying on’ so imagine my surprise last week at being shown to a unisex change room large enough to hold a dance in.
‘There’s only me’ I said.
‘They’re all like this’ the assistant said.

Certainly looked like a ‘cradle to the grave’ family sized one.
With grab (support) rails on the walls plus plenty of space to manoeuvre a wheel chair…. or pram/pusher and floor space for children to play/wait/run around in…it seems one size fits all these days
Then of course there was the dreaded all seeing- all knowing three sided corner mirror, guaranteed to put you down in the dumps before you’ve even shut the door.
And gone are the days of quick decisions- three hooks on the wall – don’t you love it when traders give you choices – yes, no and maybe. Maybe what….different colour- lose a little weight – I’ll think about it while I’m waiting in line to pay?

Question of the week!
Are you as confused as I am
trying to work out where I was standing to take the mirror shot 😊😊.
(flowers look strange but are covering a very visible- ghastly looking cold sore
that I’d rather you didn’t see…I wore a mask in the store..but even so)

And (sorry fellas, this is for the ladies) a handy wall chart to peruse while you’re standing there half naked wondering ‘why doesn’t this fit properly’

I

Should be back on Monday – hopefully will see you then!

Posted on

🧶Stranded…..

I am now officially finished with knitting for ‘friends’!
I should’ve known better but this one wanted to give her grandson something to wear this winter that was entirely different to anything else he had.
To begin with she wanted a fair isle jumper – as In the whole of the garment completely covered in bands of colour.
Similar to this 👇

Source

It’ll be too busy for a two year old I said, too heavy as well. It’s almost like two layers of knitting and where we live our winters don’t warrant that, also his mother won’t thank you when it comes to washing/drying.
Maybe something simpler like half and half would be be the thing – plain sleeves with front and back having small bands of stranded patterns below the armholes. He’ll have ease of movement at the top as well as interest at the bottom.

This is what she chose from my pile of patterns – ‘love the red, he’ll look good in that’.
‘ It doesn’t have to be red’ I said.
She dropped off a bag of red 8ply (acrylic mill ends manufacturer unknown) a couple of days later!.
That was much earlier in the year.

It was returned – unworn – three weeks ago.
‘My daughter doesn’t like it, it’s too bright. She says to put it in your charity box’

I don’t mind too much, someone will benefit from it and I definitely enjoyed knitting it (even if the wool was a bit rough in texture). Making it gave me the idea on how to use up some of the left overs as well as looking at a different way to reduce the large amount of yarn I have waiting to be used …..the supply of knitting material I have gathered.

So the idea at the moment is – I want to make more of these –
What do I have I can use?
Original Sirdar pattern for sizing – library and online resources for band (peeries) patterns. Various colours for the body plus white/cream for contrast.

Never one to let an idea pass here’s the nearly finished back of my next one

And….I have enough cream to use as a contrast with this denim blue as well the tweedy brown. And….look what I found on the library shelf

The very easy guide to Fair Isle Knitting – Lynne Watterson

It’s all out there just waiting to be discovered!.
(As was the last of this year’s Roses and the first Camellia)

Thank heavens for plain knitting The Golfer said when I reached the end of the last pattern row. I was driving him batty with my mutterings of 1 2 3 – 1
as I counted the colours along the rows

Just wait until he finds out I have more in mind 🧶😊
*****

Joining in with Kat and others at Unraveled Wednesday 
Lots of knitting and reading and general chit chat going on
Why don’t you pop over – you never know who you might see there

Posted on

No idea why….

These days my attention span is getting shorter and shorter – I’m not really a television watcher, nothing seems to hold my interest (sport is different 😊) and unless a book ‘grabs me’ early on you can say goodbye to me finishing it.

So why have I suddenly become a watcher of free streaming on ‘catch up’ TV ?
Previously the only things I’d been known to binge on were chocolate and potato chips😊

It all began early in May, I thought I’d try this 👇 but missed the first episode

The Messenger – tv series adapted from Markus Zusak’s novel.
After ‘catching up’ on that one… it became an evening ritual to watch another
And as they were all available it wasn’t long before I’d seen all eight of them

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Messenger_(Zusak_novel)

https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/2023/04/17/the-messenger-markus-zusak/.
… … …

Now isn’t it the case that sometimes one thing leads to another….. sorting through old photos from o/seas trips I found these from a day trip to Castleton Derbyshire –

then browsing another station’s offerings the same week I noticed this 👇

so over the next couple of weeks 2 series of life in a Derbyshire village came and went in my lounge room with me sitting comfortably, knitting away, looking at the iPad close by….earphones in – closed captions on….(accents you know) rather than at a screen blaring away on the other side of the room. They may not be recent productions but they were new to me not having been shown live down here

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Village_(2013_TV_series)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2394340/.
… … … …

After a few trial 1st ep. runs of some other series I’m watching this now👇
2 episodes in (hooked) and thoroughly enjoying it!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8270482/

https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/hiding-the-past-when-your-husbands-a-detective-is-a-challenge-in-clean-sweep/hw1hynr71.
… … …

Monday Musings – a time to think and ponder
After a friend discovered my new ‘routine’ she suggested this
Departure
there are 3 series available
What’s it like? Good – Bad – Mmm – maybe?


So has anyone else done anything out of character recently?

Posted on

Snippets of life….

One thing I do like about the ‘new’ pool I’m going to is the warm hydrotherapy section.
Trouble is it gets busy, full of people trying to encourage their body to work. I’m sure every senior and injured person in the area uses it. Many just hang/stand around the edges in little groups ‘relaxing’ and I’ve unintentionally ‘listened in’ to some strange conversations

Warm water hydrotherapy pool
Lane swimming limited by classes, baby play and toddler teaching pools at far end

Last week’s overheard gem – between a couple of ladies (who had previously told me they both have ‘bad backs’)
Are you a scruncher or folder?? “
“Need a few stretches before I can reach round there”
“I have to scrunch because I can’t reach under”.
🥺🤔😊.

The other Sunday there were trams and trains to ride on as well as coffee and cake at The Bourke Street Club (yes, that one Andrew) then it was up the road to the Comedy Theatre.
Once (the musical) was interesting, basic stage with minimal props, at that lovely theatre with its bar right there in the stalls. Some of the actor/musicians ‘performing’ before curtain up was a novelty- definitely stopped the audience from getting restless pre-show. We enjoyed the music, unfortunately we ‘missed’ a lot of the dialogue, sound from some of the actor’s mics wasn’t the best.

Theatre time again meant confronting someone about infection.
Last time we went he felt there was no need – something I disagreed on…..which we both paid the price for. This time – not by ‘hen pecking’ just ‘suggesting’ – I made sure he got the message. . 
Gotta love a man who does as he’s told
😊😊😋

This is something I do not want to experience again

Known as the WordPress White Screen of Death it came to visit last week.
I was not happy when I saw it – I’d never seen it before and definitely don’t want to see it again!.

Still Waters (the blog) was readable on line but there was nothing to work with on the site. Just an empty white page with a trademark in the middle.
Lots of ‘searching’ – lots of reading, wondering how and why – lots of head scratching.
In the end I logged out altogether, turned the iPad off completely and went to bed.
And mystery of mysteries, when I logged back into w/press again in the morning- everything was the way it was before!

I never know what’s going to happen from one day to the next in my life
What little bits of your life have had you scratching your head recently?

Posted on

All for the mighty dollar….

(This is not an in depth post)

NSW had them well before anyone else – followed by the ACT
But it wasn’t until the 1990s before they arrived here.
All (well about 99%) of the pubs and clubs here in Victoria now have them

Before that (for some) ‘tripping’ across the state borders was the way to go
Bus loads went up and down the highways – train loads in one state
Weekends away were the thing!
I’ll admit back in the 1980s even we took the occasional Saturday drive up to Echuca/Moama – visiting the Rich River Country Club (as it was known then) for lunch plus the novelty of pulling the handle on the machine (as was the way then)

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-pensioners-pokie-express-innocent-fun-before-the-music-stopped-20230216-p5cl00.html

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifestyle/sa-weekend/how-hundreds-of-people-caught-the-pokies-express-into-nsw-to-play-poker-machines/news-story/70b1535cc60464dc94ff17bdee75034f

Then it all went a bit haywire
They now can be found in just about any suburb in Australia
It’s accepted that Australia has a problem with gambling on poker machines

Australia’s love affair with the pokies – 2015
except in WA where they are only allowed in a casino
.
Facts and figures from Western Australia – 2023

But it seems we weren’t the only ones doing some travelling over the border.
Here’s a video to watch – (not on YouTube) so anyone will be able to open it.
.
A little 1966 insight into why the Irish favoured a tiny island in the Irish Sea

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2021/0825/1242753-isle-of-man-gambling/

Website Built with WordPress.com.