Wednesday 30 December 2009

The Season.

G'Day
This is sort of a diary entry about what I have been up to over the past week or so. I have had a busy time and have been loving it........ mostly.
My Mum was here for about 2 months and returned to Queensland on the 23rd. She has decided to stay at my sister Ellen's house in Biloela, she likes it up there and I think maybe my sister handles her better than I do so.... I took the week off work. On the same day my other sister Thelma came here in the afternoon to spend a few days with us for Christmas, and my two younger children, David and Annie brat, came during he evening and stayed a few days as well. So we had a nice Christmas. I think there were a few less prezzies under the tree than some other years. The budget has been a bit harsher since moving to Canberra, but that is o.k. Christmas isn't just about how many presents you can give, it is about being together.
Other stuff I did during the break were;
Thelma and I went to the national gallery and saw the "Masterpieces from Paris" exhibition. Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and beyond. Cool eh! I stood in front of "Starry Night" and the words and music from that old song ran through my head, I saw into Vinnie's bedroom and his self portrait. I saw the little ballerina paintings by Degas, I used to have my bedroom curtains and quilt in that pattern when I was a little girl. Aw pretty. I gawked at the beautiful lady with the sunshade umbrella by Cezanne. Gauguin's Polynesian ladies. I don't remember the proper names but those were pretty special paintings and very well known ones.
We also had a guided tour of the Australian artists gallery and got to chatter on with the guide about them. T'was also good because when I have gone there before with other people they are impatient with my dawdling and gawking and want to leave before I do. I still love the Aussie paintings best, the stuff from the Heidelberg school especially. Not really into a lot of the more modern stuff.
On Christmas eve we sat with our feet in the lake and skipped stones across the water at Yarralumla. It was so hot that day.
We had a half hearted look at the boxing day sales in Woden. I got a pair of shorts and a shirt, Annie go some clothes. Today if I have time I want to go into the city and see what I can find to love from the T2 shop, I love getting in there.It is a specialty shop devoted to tea and the things used to drink/serve it. Dave got me a gift voucher from there, and I got another gift voucher from Michael from another home wares type shop in Kingston. Should be fun.
Then there was that impromptu trip down the coast. A bit sad though, at one of the places we visited, Pebbly beach, there was a nasty accident just a few hours after we passed through. A petrol tanker hit a car and exploded. The truck driver was killed and the family in the car was decimated, the two little girls died and their parents are fighting for their lives in hospital.
Yesterday I took Peter to the emergency department at the Canberra Hospital. He was having some very nasty pain and cramping after his gall bladder removal last week and I thought it needed checking out. We ended up being there from a bit before 4.00 until 1.00 that night. But everything worked out and he is o.k, just needed some better pain killers.
Also yesterday I went to spotlight and got some netting material and fabric to match to make a cover for the futon/swing Pete and I got for Christmas. It is in the garage at the moment and I didn't want to put it out in the back yard unprotected so will make a cover for it. I also got some new Christmas decorations for next year. I always look for them after christmas at the sales. They were 75% off. A nice little bargain. Things are getting a bit lean in the bank balance and I don't get any work for another week or so, but that is o.k. I have done it before and will no doubt do it again.
Today, after lunch, I want to meet up with an old friend, Barb, who is in Canberra visiting her children who live here. She is down at the lake today skiing. Should be good. I haven't seen her for a few years now. She lives at Ariah park on a farm and they have been feeling the effects of the drought badly for many years. A tough life.
Better get moving.
Bye.
Love Linda.

Monday 28 December 2009

Sunday scribblings "Delicious"

G'Day,
Well it is all over for another year. Merry Christmas. Such a lot of fun and a lot of money spent for just one special day of the year that is a special birthday, celebrated on the wrong day. But... I do love Christmas.
Sunday Scribblings has given us the word prompt "Delicious" to write on this week.

Yesterday we drove down the mountain, running away from home for just a short break. Sometimes, just sometimes we have the opportunity to quench our cravings.
The craving for the sea, the spectacular scenery of the unspoiled bush, those smells and colors, ahhhh yes. Delicious.
Down the Clyde mountain turning north away from Bateman's Bay and the worst of the holiday crowds and mad traffic. We found accommodation easily which was lucky for this time of year when there is a mass exodus from the city to the coast. We drove to South Durras, to a van park set between the lake and the sea, an eco tourism park where there are Roos and birds everywhere. Just a few meters across the sand dune and you are on the beach.
I love it.
To the hot sun warming your back and the salty fresh smell of the Tasman sea as waves send mist back across the beach filling the senses with smell, sound, colour.
That fantastic transparent pale aqua blue, deepening to clear green, graduating to blue green and in the distance dark dark navy blue gray. The magic curl as waves crest then tumble, frothy white as they break and rush towards the edge of the land.
I walk down through the soft foot mark pocked sand. Down to the edge where the waves change the color of the sand and it becomes cool on my bare feet and firm to walk on, then onwards.
Just a few feet more. Here it comes, here, closer, closer then... the delicious cool rush of the sea water as it reaches my feet. That first touch catches my breath and puts a smile a mile wide across my face. Then the waves dizzying rush back to rejoin the sea and I have to stand still for a moment, face the water and watch to regain my balance.
We sit down and absorb it all for a while with Pete's head resting on my lap, his shirt pulled up to get the warm sun to heal his scars. I make him a back rest out of sand and he sleeps for a while until a friendly black dog runs up to check on him and see if he is o.k. and he is woken with a start.
I wander and I dare each breaking wave to reach me, until my feet don't feel hot and the water doesn't feel cold anymore.
The sea and the beach making children of the best of us.
I see a pretty young woman playing as if nobody can see her, alone, kicking the sand , marching, kicking her legs high through the tumbling water, until she looks up and notices me then she walks on embarrassed, sensible, self conscious again. Parents playing with their children laughing with them, children again.
Looking at the seaweed washing up in small clumps, looking at the tiny shells along the line where the rushing waves change the color of the sand with their wetness. Exploring the flotsam and jetsam, a blue bottle, a jelly blubber a bit of wood here, an old thong, feathers, seed pods.
South Durras is a big open beach, not a tiny bay beach and I walk along to see if the entrance to the lake is open to the sea, it was several years ago and it was so deep I couldn't walk across it, but it is now closed by a sand bank and the lake has dwindled away to a series of shallow ponds.
There is a man here playing with his airfoil kite, probably his christmas present. He makes it dip and swoop low then high up into the sky again, he has quite an audience. You can see his kite above the beach from one end to the other. Flying like a big blue series of curved, air filled pillows joined together.
There are families returning to their cars. It is starting to get late as they take the children back to their accommodation to feed and bathe and put them to bed. They straggle slowly, reluctantly, back along the waterline. Adults carrying an assortment of fishing rods, towels, boards, toys. The children still running and exploring along the way. Picking up sticks and throwing them back into the water, drawing with their feet and fingers in the sand then running to catch up to the adults. A little girl is grizzling, in the hope that her Dad will pick her up and carry her across his hip, or better still, sling her across his shoulders to save her tired little legs from going any further.
The sky is partly clad in light wispy clouds and back towards the mountains heavier more threatening gray cloud is approaching. Out over the sea the setting sun is coloring some light clouds with pink and orange. So pretty, and the sea is beginning to darken towards night. Cyclone Laurence far, far to the north of the continent is sending magic. Much traveled, much needed rain, to wash our world clean and cool the summer heated air in our southern states. Keep it coming Laurie. In the north of the state there are floods, but not here. We want the cool rain to water the earth and fill the dams.
We leave the beach and walk the short distance back to the cabin we have rented for the night. Our legs tired and dragging through the heavy soft sand that covers the dune. There is a small mob of Roos in the park now, grazing on the short cropped grass, they don't take much notice of us as we pass by, they are used to being around people and know they will not be harmed here. The cheeky, colorful little rainbow lorikeets are coming into the trees around us to roost for the night and are fluttering noisily before settling. A whip bird is calling somewhere but I can't spot him. Wattle birds, crimson rosellas, top knot pigeons, king parrots, currawongs, magpies. There is a family of wood ducks and later I see a possum near the amenities block on my way to the showers. Some children are still zipping around the park in the half dark, on their scooters and bikes. Some young teens have a meeting near the camp kitchen, talking loud, giggling and flirting, showing off for each other. And the world turns.
We drove home today, north, along the coast road, exploring some of the little side roads along the way. Forests, cliffs, light houses, beaches. Then up through the escarpment into the Kangaroo valley where we dawdled through the little craft shops and assorted galleries, real touristy stuff. We drove through wet misty clouds near Cambewarra mountain. The rain forest. Beautiful, green and lush. Then back to the Hume highway, onto the federal highway and back here to Canberra. A delicious round trip. To quench our cravings for little while.
And....I forgot my camera.
Bye.
Love Linda.

Sunday 20 December 2009

Sunday Scribblings "Dare"



G'Day,
For some reason unbeknown to me this computer is working again so here I am.

It is Christmas time, I dare you to have a slice of that Pavlova
or an extra serving of that delicious looking creamy pasta salad,
here have some more ham, turkey another barbecued marinated steak.
How would you like some more or that wine or another beer.
C'mon I dare you, it is Christmas time, the one day of the year that
breaking the promise and beating your addiction won't hurt you.
Aunt Joan makes the best Christmas pudding you ever tasted.
Look at all those chocolates and candy canes, what else are they there for?
Smash that diet... I dare you!
Burp!
Fix it next month!

************************************

The picture of the little vases at the top of this post are the ones I made for Christmas presents this year. I can't reposition it so it still at the top. There is one vase missing because I already wrapped it. I also made a large serving bowl for a present from terracotta with a white glaze and a footprint type pattern in bright colors, it is wrapped up too. Silly me, before I took a pic of it. It is in the blue wrapping paper in the other picture though. Hahahaha.

Merry Christmas

Love Linda.



Friday 18 December 2009

Catching Up

G'Day,
I finally worked out how to get back on here and the old puter is actually letting me get back on line tonight so I can catch up with putting on some of the pictures I have been talking about and show them all off.
First up I wanted to show off some of the summer flowers I have been enjoying around my yard.
The top picture of the apricot coloured rose is one I have bben keeping in a large pot for several years now, it is called a patio rose and has been flowering prolifically for weeks with more buds coming out all the time. The next one is of course a pink dianthus, they are good value plants but this one has finished it's flowering this season already. I think it's name is Doris.
There are 4 or 5 of these white, red and pink oleander plants around this yard. These are good tough plants to grow, and will take the frost or the extreme heat that we get here in the summer and still flower happily. It was so hot here for the past 2 days with temps above the old 100 Fahrenheit mark. Ouch, too hot to work in...but I did, I wanna get paid. Really bad bushfire weather with the heat followed by blast furnace hot high winds. There are several bushfires happening around N.S.W. including one just across the border, south of Canberra, where there were 3 houses lost at Michelago. Not a good christmas present. 6 houses were lost in a fire burning near Albury. Luckily no lives lost in the fires. Not so lucky..... the christmas season road toll. The mad... or the silly season on the roads. UGH!

The next picture is of one of my day lilies. I have a couple of other colors but they have not flowered as yet. What a pretty girl she is.
Next picture is of my cane begonia. I thought I had lost this plant a year ago but she has fought back with some TLC and is showing me how tough she is giving me some nice new shoots.
I would be very upset if I did lose this plant as she has special sentimental value. It came from a plant originally belonging to my maternal grand mother who died when I was 5 years old and I have kept it going ever since I was first married, 29 years ago. Special.
Speaking of family heirlooms. Last weekend I went to Griffith for my Aunty Joan's 80th birthday party. We stayed at my Uncle Bill's house and he gave me a piece of begonia, different from this one, that actually came from a plant originally belonging to my great grand mother Collis who died long before I was born. I must look after that one eh!

The picture above is of 4 generations of the Hearn family with my Aunty Joan, the matriarch, in the middle covered with kids. The bloke with his arms crossed and very little hair is my terrible twin, Joe. I have told stories about him in my blog before. We were given a birthday cake together at my Aunty's party for our 50th, the first one we have shared together since we were 16. This family just keeps growing and there were kids scooting everywhere, I love it.
This is a picture of my cousins daughter, M'Liss, I can't believe she is 38 yrs old. She is lovely and when she was a baby I adored her, she was my own real life baby doll to play with. I got to spend lots of time with her then. My Aunty Peg is in the back ground, Uncle Bill's wife.
My mob. At Annie's 21st birthday party. Can you tell my boys don't like getting their photo taken? My baby does not look like she is 21, nah! she can't be can she?
O.K caught up.
G'night.
Love Linda.

Monday 7 December 2009

Test of trust.

G'Day,
Over the last week I have had some stuff, good and bad.
Firstly, sadly, my blue tongue Lizard, Lizzy was run over by my son and is dead. Poor lizzy, I was quite upset. I came home from work on friday evening to find him/her squished in the driveway of our house. My son had been parked there during the day and had left without seeing Lizzy and the poor thing had no chance. I thought Lizzy was pretty special because it was just about the biggest one I had seen and that meant it had lived here in suburbia for quite a long time and that is a special feat in itself. Secondly that it had the freedom and supposedly the knowledge, or would that more rightly be the luck, to have lived and roamed amongst humans and their introduced dogs and cats who would have been a threat to it. Lizzy was a member of the skink family and the largest member of that species. It was completely harmless and a bonus to have in the garden because it ate slugs and snails. Lizzy must have survived by doing the rounds of ours and some neighbours yards because it had dissapeared until recently and one of the neigbours said it used to live in her yard. Where it was killed in our driveway it would have been coming from her side of the yard across and back to us.
On the good side, or scary which ever you choose to interpret it as:
I have had a life long fear of motor bikes.Pete my hubby has had several of them and loves them, he has always taken it as a challenge to try to convert me. I don't know why I have always been scared of them because I was scared of them long before I ever knew any of the people that I know who were killed or hurt off them but.....Yesterday I gave in. Pete took me on the back of the bike for a short ride. My very first ever. At the age of 50 no less. Hehe.We probably went for about 5 km, just around the block and back again. It wasn't that bad . I held on tightly to the bar thingy on the back and was feeling pretty shaky and insecure, I guess that is the nature of the machine. I didn't think it would make any difference holding on to Pete because if he fell so would I , irrational but, if the bike fell over, it would have made no difference how I was holding on would it. I took some skin off my nose trying to put the helmet on over my glasses, hehe, but I did it. I got on the bike. I beat it, well, not really, I am still scared of bikes but I had my first ride. BTW, did you know how bloody awkward those things are to try to cock your leg up over when you are 50 years old. Hehe.
The third thing: I managed to turn on the burglar alarms at the schools where I clean all by myself without setting them off and scaring the hell out of myself. Small achievement, but an achievement just the same. I always make Michael do it for me, but he wasn't there, so I had to do it myself. I just hope when I go back there this afternoon they don't tell me it wasn't on properly and I did it wrong.
Small fish are sweet.
On Saturday I took Mum and Pete and Rufus, our doggie, across to watch/ hear a Christmas carol thingy . It was only a blocks walk away and held on a vacant block of land across from a local church. I really love Christmas carols, but the best part is seeing everybody else enjoying them, especially the children of all ages having fun and socializing with each other. I love to watch their energy and excitement. Great stuff. Rufus was naughty , as he usually is. He was a bit nervous of all the people and snapped at a little boy who came over and wanted to pat him, and of course there were a few other doggies there who he was most interested in but couldn't get at because they were all on the lead ,as was Rufus. T'was nice though. I enjoyed it.
I have not taken part in the Friday Fertilizer prompt for the last few weeks because even though I took pictures of flowers around my yard this Friday, my puter is playing up, I could load them on to it but am blogging on my hubby's laptop and I don't know how to get the pics from one puter to another. But I have not given up, I still want to participate. When I can do it myself or con someone to do it for me I will be back!
Bye agin"
Love Linda.

Sunday 6 December 2009

Sunday Scribblings "Weird"

G'Day,
The Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week is "Weird".
Yes I am! To other people I am. People like to categorize each other don't they.
One thing I have learned since starting my blog and reading other 's writing from all around the world, is that where ever we come from , what ever our upbringing there are similarities that we have with one another that make us the same. Human, people from all around the world. I reckon that is really cool. We are all different but we are all the same.
We should recognize that, subject to different tastes in fashion, food, behavior, income or what ever else we have learned in our own personal upbringing, we are all the same. Calling someone weird is our strange way of saying "you are different from me, and I want to be recognized as an individual", or "I think I am better than you".
I remember once when I was on holiday with my sister and our children. We were in Sydney and had taken a ferry ride across to Manly. The kids were playing in the water beside the wharf in their clothes because we hadn't been prepared for them to swim. I was itching to play in the water with them, but being a bigger girl and not wanting to be seen in swim wear as well as not having any with me anyway it was really killing me not being able join in the fun. My sister encouraged me to just do it anyway, and so I got in the water in my clothes and had a lovely time playing with the kids. When we went back inside the wharf to catch the ferry back to the quay my clothes were still wet and I must have looked a terrible sight. There were two young women sitting at a table at one of the cafes inside. Both well coiffed, in fashion and enjoying flaunting their status. They stared at me and whispered behind their hands to each other with horrified looks on their faces, turning and watching my every step. I was so so tempted to walk up to their table and shake my hair across them. If I was more game, it would have been a great joke and delicious payback to their bitchiness. But I did not do it. Yes to them I was weird and horrible, a real live bogan to marvel at. I cringed under their criticism and they enjoyed it. Bugger em! They did not know me. They did not know the person I am or my philosophy, but in their nastiness they showed me what they were about didn't they.
My point exactly.
Yes I am weird, in other peoples eyes. I am not pretty enough, or smart enough or fashionable enough or rich enough, but I know that everyone all around the world has felt like that at some time and that I should not let that get to me. My Mum used to say when I was growing up , you are as good as any and better than most. Yes I am! Subjective to your vision. Hehe.
Bye.
Love Linda.