Testing

Ok, here goes. A post written on my phone.

I haven't done much at all today but play around with settings on the phone and take some photos so that's all you're getting!

It's easier to do a post on this device over my Samsung as the screen is larger and the predictive text a bit more user friendly.

I also uninstalled the blogger app which seemed to be the problem last time. 

Now let's see if I can upload photos...

So far so good. The birds were having a wonderful time in the bushes. Hopefully I can get some bird friendly plants established quickly in the new house as we have some beautiful birds around here.

Now to post this and then see if it works on my PC and, of course, make sure it works for you. Please let me know if you have any issues.

Dinner from the freezer tonight. Chilli and rice.

Feeling happy

The kids arrived on Thursday evening but we didn't see them which is completely understandable after a day on the road.

I was up early (for me) on Friday and had breakfast which I don't usually have until the middle of the day but I wanted to take a celebrex which I did with two paracetamol. I then hotfooted it down to the bridge and walked across it to find Two and his lot. So many lovely cuddles although Henry has obviously forgotten me and basically swiped me away!

After realising that having coffee anywhere near the water was not going to work as Henry is his father's son and kept making a beeline for the lake, we meandered to the doughnut shop where the Lakes' tradition continued. Himself in the meantime was walking the dogs and was able to say hi to everyone as we passed but the girls were very wary. Audrey did stand closeish to Jinx which is a huge start. Murphy, of course, was carrying on and talking loudly which would be offputting to anyone unsure of dogs. 

We decided to gently wander down to the playground which is a bloody long walk if you're a cripple or a small child but, with breaks to watch the water, boats, birds and jump in the sand the children and the cripple made it (the cripple did not jump in the sand). At some point after Audrey had pushed Billie over, the trusty pink walking stick came out (distraction works every time) and Billie and I shared it.

We made it to the playground and shortly after it decided to rain and then did so pretty much for the rest of the day. Himself had taken the dogs home and came and picked Two up so he could go and get their car. 

The kids were getting hungry. They hadn't eaten for over an hour and had had a long walk and a big play. We took everyone up to have a look at the house to kill a bit of time and they had to see it. We snuck in and showed Two and the girls around the outside and peeked in the windows. Nobody is working on the place at the moment so it wasn't a big issue. I found out that the back sliding door is unlocked! I was very tempted but there is no way I would enter the house without the site supervisor.

We went to the pub for lunch (still raining) and then we went to play mini golf. One of the FIVE courses in Lakes is under cover so a great (and dry) time was had. I didn't play as I had done a lot of walking and my hip was grumbling a bit. I scored and cheered everyone on instead. An important role. Two "wore" Henry in a sling contraption and watching him play with Henry's assistance was hysterical. As was watching Henry share Two's post game icecream. He sucked on it with eyes half closed in ecstasy (Henry, not Two).

By this time the younger members were in need of some quiet time and/or a sleep so they all returned to their unit and we came home.

After a while Two came over by himself and we had a proper catch up. I took him on a tiki tour of Lakes as he wanted to see the entrance and other highlights. I was surprised at how much I have learned about the place in the months we have been here. A call from Mads suggested food for the starving would be needed fairly soon so we came home, collected Himself and went to their unit while Two got fish and chips. We opted to leave them to it as we were still full from lunch and, much as I love those girls, they are very noisy! Big hugs all round and we said our goodbyes. It was a flying visit and I was sad it was so short but they have promised to come down again and spend a bit more time here and I will endeavour to get up to them in the latter part of the year.

They headed off this morning as the town was bathed in glorious sunshine. 

HImself walked the dogs then came home and asked me if I fancied a coffee so we went to the recently upgraded slipway (the link is old but that's pretty much how it turned out with an injection of funds from government entities). Murphy has a fan in the manager of the coffee shop. This explains why their milk is so special. I plan to take Three down there for an ale when he is next down and if we are lucky there will be live music as well.

We decided to wander down to the newsagent so Himself could put his lotto on. I chose to stop and sit in the sun after a bit. Let's not overdo things, eh?

A drive past the new house (essential as it gives us hope!) and then home. Himself went back up to mow the grass as the more we can keep it under control the easier it will be for the landscapers - and our site supervisor is happy for us to do it. 

I have realised that taking pain meds makes gentle walking possible and crikey moses it felt good.

I got to spend time with a much loved kid and his fambly.

I have bitten the bullet and put the evil vodaphone sim card in the beautiful new google phone. I shall burn sacred herbs, scatter dew gathered at midnight and chant healing incantations when I get a new sim from a better network but the way things are going, it will a cold day in hell before that happens as Himself is dragging his heels and as all that stuff is in his name there is nothing I can do. Nagging does not a happy household make.

Fish and chips for dinner tonight. 

And maybe another little walk tomorrow.

Bubbles of excitement

Two and his tribe should be getting close now. He is also with Vodaphone so any chance of actually making a call between the two of us while he is coming over the mountains would be slim!

Tomorrow will be an early start for us but I don't want to miss a minute of time with them as we only have tomorrow,

And while I was typing that, Two rang to say they were at Cann River which is about an hour and a half away but at this time of the day (dusk) it will probably be more of a two hour drive as the roos will be out and about and it's a shit drive between Cann River and Orbost.

Himself saw an osteopath today about his shoulder. I doubt it will do any good as he needs to actually do the exercises and he prefers a magic pill or knife. 

I am thinking I might go and see the bloke (even if he did say he came to Lakes because God told him to) and he might be able to address my back issues which can only help the hip bits.

You can see it has been another day with not much going on. 

I did google Ashe Magnolia after Ms Moon showed a bloom and described it so poetically (see below).

The blossom is as big around as a dinner plate and the petals, as you can see, are magnificently white. The stamens are impressive in size and arrangement and those little purple dots are like kisses by angels wearing lipstick. 

I should probably have actually read her description and seen the bit about blooms the size of a dinner plate rather than just focussed on the purple lipstick angel kisses. That would have given me a hint that it ain't a small tree! Apparently there is a dwarf variety but it still grows to 12 feet+. 

I guess I will be looking for something smaller. Oh well. That's the fun part of establishing a garden.

BLAT rolls for dinner with apple rhubarb crumble for dessert (thanks to Ms Sarah Lee) which should be followed by an early night so I can get out of bed before lunch time! We are rewatching "The Lincoln Lawyer" on Netflix. A bloody good show.

See you on Saturday as I expect I will be busy tomorrow!

Can't think of a title

I didn't make it to U3A yesterday. I just couldn't face getting out of bed.

Consequently I had a bit of a blah day and didn't feel like posting anything.

We caught up with the landscaper and have decided to go with him. We could save some money by getting the bloke who will do the site clean to prepare the ground for the concrete so Himself will see if he is happy to do that for us. He has already agreed to lay some crushed rock so it will just be a bit more than that.

I had a chat with the couple across the road. Apparently CW has still be giving her builder grief. They have been there every day and she still doesn't appear to have taken possession. They are either really shoddy builders or she is a nit picker - most likely a bit of both, I think.

I had coffee group today. There were four of us and lots of laughs. It is 12 months since the cafe opened and the owner had her chef bake a birthday cake for all the customers and very nice cake it was, too!

I received an email from the company I ordered the pinlooms from. They have had manufacturing issues but I should get them in a couple of weeks. I was right, the yarn will arrive from Denmark before the looms from Australia. I was tempted to buy one from Amazon but it will be shipped from America and cost twice as much. I will just have to be patient.

Three has taken the second week of the July school holidays off as annual leave and the plan is that he and Sally will come and stay with us which will be lovely. I can spoil him and make sure he gets a well earned rest and he and Sally can have some daddy/daughter time and do special things.It is highly unlikely we will be in the new house but we should have the keys so they can have a look around and Sally can help me put things away.

This time in three weeks I will have seen the orthopaedic surgeon and hopefully have a date for surgery. It can't come fast enough. I am now taking Celebrex almost daily. Drugs are good but not all the time.

Two et al come down tomorrow. We won't see them til Friday as after nearly 12 hours in a car they will all be ratty but it will so good to catch up and get some Granny hugs.

BBQ chook, spuds, peas and gravy for dinner followed by chocolate eclairs from my favourite cafe.

Autumn

This is, without doubt, my favourite season of the year.

The chilly mornings, often with a bit of mist or fog. The clear, sunny days where the sun still has a bit of a bite if you stand in it. The still air with a sense of everything slowing down. Woodsmoke, changing colours in the trees (although not as spectacular as the northern hemisphere) and the smells of casseroles and soups wafting from windows.

Today was one such day although the casserole smell was in my house and it has made my mouth water all day! We are looking forward to dinner tonight and I am looking forward to making more of these slow cooks both here and in the new house. I don't know why I haven't made them before in this place as they are easy to prepare, don't heat up the house and don't require the range hood which has gone to god.

This morning I had my history session with U3A. It's as much about the chit chat before hand and we had a good talk about the tragedy in Sydney, the problems that face children adopted from other countries and potential hip replacements. 

This afternoon we took the dogs to the vet. We saw the lovely vet who treated Jinx for her girly problems and she was thrilled to see how well she has done. They both got a good going over and their vaccinations and Jinx got something to treat a bit of a rash and Murphy got some medication to deal with his anxiety. Himself isn't too sure about the latter but I have assured him we will give it a few months and then reassesss. Hopefully things will settle once we have moved but if he has to stay on it to keep him calm and content then so be it. As the vet was explaining about serotonin I put my hand up and she did the same!

Tomorrow is another U3A day although I have withdrawn from the Qigong - I am in too much pain. The teacher rang me to say I could do it sitting down but she didn't seem to get that pain is pain sitting or standing and I don't enjoy the exercises at the moment. As the criminology class is right after Qigong I shall make sure to hobble in with my bright pink walking stick although it won't be an act.

In the afternoon we have an appointment with the landscaper - we got his quote over the weekend. It was a triple scotch quote but not unexpected. Himself started talking about what he could do. NOTHING was my reply. This is why we are paying someone to do it and the odd bit here or there is not going to make that much difference in the overall scheme of things. We can play with the plants but we are NOT playing with the infrastructure. Yes, we will have to dip into our super which is a bit scary but once the house is done we will be able to live quite efficiently. We don't travel. We don't eat out a lot. We don't have expensive hobbies (shush) and we don't have expensive taste in clothes.

The yarn has been dispatched from Denmark but I haven't heard from the loom people. I shall send them an email tomorrow as I haven't had acknowledgment of the purchase other than the Paypal receipt.

Time to stir the casserole and make the house smell even more divine.

NOT AWOL!

Yesterday was a bit of a nothing day so I didn't get around to writing anything.

Himself went up to the block and did some work on the storm water drain (he has permission and supplies from the developer but they obviously can't be bothered doing it themselves) and then did a bit of a tidy up of the building site. Strictly not allowed but it was bugging him. The trades (young fellas) do tend to leave a bit of a mess so Himself just went around picking up drink cans and offcuts of this and that and put it in a neat pile.

The estate is really coming along. There are now three houses completed and lived in, one nearly done (CW's and her builders are going around touching up all the things she found fault with so she shouldn't be far off finsihing), us and another couple well on the way to finishing and another three at slab/frame stage. At least one of those will more than likely be a rental. It is the same design as ours but a bog standard version and the owner is an Indian solicitor based in Melbourne. Andy (site supervisor) says he has overseen a few lately that have been built by Indians based in Melbourne and they are all investment properties which, I hope, will help the long term rental market down here and not just the short term, holiday rental market. As far as I am aware, the other houses will all be owner occupied (apart from one of the completed three which is currently housing CW and will then be a short term rental with the owners using it as a holiday house - it is right up the other end of the road from us so any party types won't bother us).

The topic on everyone's mind is, of course, the awful situation at a shopping centre in Bondi in Sydney where yesterday, a man went on a rampage with a knife and killed 8 people - mainly women. He was shot dead by a police inspector who happened to be in the area and responded to the call. It is believed he had severe mental health issues for many, many years. I wish the bloody media would stop sensationalising this. It is a sad situation where nobody wins. At least we learnt from Port Arthur after which our gun laws changed or it could have been so much worse.

Later ...

Himself has walked the dogs. I am so envious. I try to walk but the pain makes it impossible. The appointment with the surgeon can't come soon enough (8th May) and then I have to wait for an opening in his theatre list. I just hope that the issue is the hip and not something that can't be fixed. Yes, I am catastrophising but pain makes you do that.

We went to the supermarket. The hip/back/knee was so bad today I had to use a trolley to lean on. Steak for dinner and the makings for a slow cook which I will prepare shortly and then turn on in the morning and dinner will be ready in the evening. My favourite kind of cooking!

I am sorely missing my weaving and although all the looms I have could be considered small and portable they still require setting up and take up a bit of space and time to use. Yesterday I found an Australian company that sells pin looms and showed great constraint in only buying a 4" square and a 4" hexagon. This afternoon I went to Hobbii and bought some variegated cotton with which I plan to make some place mats for the new house. It comes from Denmark but they ship very quickly and I used them a lot during Covid. The yarn will probably arrive before the pin looms!!

It should go well with the colours we have chosen. 

Later still ...

I have prepared the ingredients for tomorrow\s slow cook. Beef which I tossed in flour, pepper, salt and dried herbs then fried off. Added onion and garlic to the pan and fried them off. Deglazed the pan with 500mls of beef stock (no, I don't make my own!) then a couple of spuds, some onions, butternut pumpkin and carrots. A squirt of tomato paste, a handful of bay leaves and a good slurp of red wine. It will sit over night then I can turn it on when I get up and we should have a lovely rich casserole/stew for dinner with plenty for leftovers and hopefully the basics for a soup. If I had my own kitchen I would bake some bread but I'll get some from the bakery tomorrow to mop up the gravy.

Speaking of tomorrow, U3A is back and I am looking forward to it. I am going to have to pull out of qigong for now as I can't stand for the half hour the class goes for but I should be able to go back once the hip is fixed (see ... thinking positively).

I did a load of washing earlier and it is still on the line. There is a controlled burn happening close by and the air is full of smoke. I have a feeling I might have to rewash my clothes. Or walk around smelling like an old fashioned Autumn where everybody burned the dead leaves in the gutters and had open fires and incinerators. 

How many Aussies remember those days? 

The brick incenerators in the back yard where if it wasn't composted it was burnt. The piles of leaves smouldering down the street. The smoke whisps from chimneys as the first fires of the season were lit with the promise of chilly Winter evenings to come. 

Your weekly bin collection was a couple of old fashioned metal bins with lids that would clang as the garbos tossed them off and threw the contents of the bins into the truck that never stopped but slowly kept moving up the road. Not that there was much in those bins. Very little came in or was wrapped in plastic. Meat came from the butcher wrapped in paper. Veges from the greengrocer in paper bags. Water came from the tap. Drinks came in glass or cans that went into a black recycle bin as we embraced the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra.

Oh those garbos. Fit young men (often off-season footy players) wearing short shorts and singlets running behind the truck. Many is the time I was stuck chose to slow down behind them. 

Memories ...

Take 2

I deleted the previous post. Something went horribly wrong. I shall play around with the new phone as I think that was the problem. I will probably repeat a bit of what I said so sorry if you read it before it went into the naughty bin.

Today we went into Bairnsdale to get kitty litter and to talk to Telstra. 

***For the non-Australians out there we have three main mobile networks: Telstra (who used to be Telecom and before that the Post Master General's Department and were, once upon a time, owned and run by the govt.) Optus and Vodaphone. Other companies buy bandwidth from some or all of the three and sell them on to the public with varying degrees of coverage.***

If you live in the sticks (or even some metropolitan suburbs) you do not want to be with Vodaphone. Trust me on this! Optus has had some issues lately with data hacks and major service outages so we were looking at Telstra.

It turns out that one of the, shall we say, budget companies is actually owned by Telstra. Boost. Think Jetstar and Qantas. Apparently if we go with Boost we get the coverage as if we were with Telstra but none of the benefits - like concert tickets and free this and that. A bit of a no brainer, really. Anyway. We forked out the grand sum of $4 for two sim cards and Himself is tasked with setting things up. Worst case we will blow a month on Boost ($22) and go to Telstra. The challenge is moving our numbers from Vodaphone and cancelling the direct debit. That is a Himself job.

Andy, our site supervisor extraordinaire, showed us through the house today. Oh my giddy aunt the place is looking so good. The walls have been painted. Most of the cabinets are in. Doors have been hung. The bathroom cabinets need to be replaced and that will slow us down a bit so we are now looking at a mid June handover. I don't mind. I have so much space. So many cupboards and drawers in the kitchen I won't know what to do with it all. I might have to buy some more appliances! It is very hard picking colours from small samples and I am thrilled with the way everything is coming together. I knew the walls would be OK as the scheme is similar to that which we had in Langy but the kitchen cabinets were a bit of a risk and it has paid off.

We popped into my favourite cafe for a late lunch and they had sticky date puddings to go. So guess what we are having for dessert this evening? It will be left over spanakopita (from Aldi and bloody delicious) and coleslaw for main. 

Last night Himself lit the wood heater. I was concerned I would have to call the fire brigade as anything is possible in this house but it worked really well and was very pleasantly efficient. I understand why wood heaters appear to be the heating of choice in all the older houses here. You used to be able to get wood from trees that had fallen in the bush but nowadays that is not allowed. Also the powers that be don't want us burning any sort of fossil fuel so new houses are forbidden discouraged from having wood or gas heating. (Sending it overseas is OK apparently but that is a political conversation I ain't having right now).

There is a glorious sunset ouyt there. I shall go and take some photos on the new phone so you may or may not get to see them!