G'Day,

          I am  back in my blog tonight, doing a bit of an update on where I am up to. 

We are now back in Wagga after moving here on 28th of December 2012. It sure was a busy and tiring Christmas and New Year this year. Moving house is always a very difficult and trying time. In the long run things will be good.

The employment situation doesn't seem to be going any where at the moment. Pete has put in for quite a few jobs and as yet has been unsuccessful. My friend Janelle, an old workmate, has given me a job for 12 hrs a week at her cafe.  I am so grateful to her, but 12 hrs work isn't enough to pay the bills. She has helped me out and I di think her for it, don't get me wrong. My cousin's wife got me a fill in job at a motel where she works but there are even less hours involved with that one. I did some training there and didn't seem to fit in with the other girls so I wasn't called back to do more. I will be filling in when someone is away though. I put in for a hotel services job at the local hospital but bombed out with that one. 

 I did predict that work would be hard to get here in Wagga. The cost of housing in comparison to Canberra is very good though. The lack of employment is daunting, but I guess I am happy to have come back here where I have, in the last few months, been back in contact with many old friends and relatives who still call me friend, after not seeing them for many years. Work in Canberra was easy to get but I had nobody to have some girl talk with, not like I have here. So plus and minus. Oh well, something will come along.

 We have been enjoying demolishing and renovating this yard we now have. 

Here are some pics to accompany the progress.

 First pic is showing one of the over grown and neglected garden beds before we moved in. We dug and chopped and pruned and weeded and, and and!

 The next pic shows the work on this garden bed half done.

 The garden bed is now cleared and some plants have been planted.
The pink oleander, the salvia and the 2 old neglected roses are all that was worth keeping in here.
My old friend Jeanette came for a visit the other day. She and I started pottery lessons together almost 30 years ago now. I moved away to Urana and left her behind. We knew each others children as babies and toddlers. Now our children are grown, she has grand children and both her girls are married. I am now officially an empty-nester for the first time in 30 and a half years. Strange how the years can pass, then when we met up again, via face book, she came to visit and the years seemed to disappear. We clicked back in together. As she said "We are lifetime friends". Anyway, she is now a horticultural teacher. She advised me that this bed would make a better vege garden that the other bed I had planned to put my vegetables in. So as I had planted some plants in here already, and didn't want to remove them. I decided to mix the two in together. There are now, spring onions, parsley,  rocket and silver beet planted in here. They seem to be doing well, especially the silver beet which seems to have doubled in size in just a few weeks. I fed the soil this afternoon with dynamic lifter and had previously added worm juice when I did the plantings. My neighbors will hate me for stinking out their weekend, hehehe. Oh well it is only temporary.
 I have also had a lovely visit from another friend with whom I worked. Alison, she bought me a house warming present, a pretty wire plant hanger with three herb pots in it for me to plant.

Other additions since moving into the house have been built in wardrobes. Which are greatly appreciated because now I have storage.
 The broken air conditioner has at last been fixed. It took them 2 and a half months to do. I got very angry with the business provider and made a few nasty phone calls before they actually handed the job over to another business and it was done a few short days afterwards. Grrr. I was really sick of their mode of operation. Seems they kept us at the bottom of their list for who knows what reason and we had to go to the solicitors to get things going.
 Another pantry cupboard in the kitchen and a cupboard for the bathroom. White venetian blinds in all the front windows so they all match, the old ones were broken.
A new king size bed which is great. Pete's joke the first morning we slept in it was. "I was going to send you a text message to say good morning" because we were so far away from each other in the big bed.
We hope to soon have a solar electricity system installed on the roof. Just waiting for them to finalize things for us and come back to do the work. The system will provide most, but not all, of our energy needs with the option of  any unused power that is made being sold back into the grid.

 Garden bed at front is now planted up and mulched heavily. I think the rhododendron has got some nice new growth on it since planting it out into the ground. It has been in a pot for probably 10 years and been carted around from place to place with me. I hope it is happy where I have chosen to plant it. The silver foliage plants either side of it are Western Australian natives. They are grafted, as they are known to be sensitive to root problems that make them fall in a heap. I liked the contrast in the foliage they provide. It is called Eremophilla nivea, it gets blue/purple flowers. The gladiolus in this bed were here before me. I just shifted them around.

 Two of the rose bushes out the back looked promising. They were very old and leggy, with lots of tangles and dead wood in them. Before I decided if I was going to keep them I pruned them back and forced them to flower to see what they were, even though it was the wrong time of year to do this. The poor stunted flower in this picture is from one of those bushes. I think it may be a peace rose by the looks of the flower.  Btw I made that table cloth, hehe.
The other larger rose bush I pruned back to force it to flower may be a Mr Lincoln. A big strong crimson red rose. It has lots of small flowers on it at the moment. The flowers will continue to improve with feeding, watering and TLC.They will both be staying.
There were lots of horrible briar roses around the yard that I also removed. Also removed were the  noxious weeds, privet, broom and cottoneaster. There is vinca in amongst some of the beds. It is an absolute pain to get rid of. It will take vigilance and work for that to happen.
 A huge viburnum dominated one side of the yard. It was cut down but it's stump is like iron, you can't chop it with an axe it is so hard. We also tried digging and poisoning it but it has now begun to re-shoot, so I poisoned it a second time. Wayne, our next door neighbour has offered to help remove it, as he has a chainsaw and is the owner of the local sharpening business so can repair the chainsaw,( his words, not mine) Hahaha. He is a nice neighbour.
The lady on the other side of us is friendly but her husband has twice turned his back on us and won't acknowledge us. Go figure? Our conscience is clear, so I don't know what his problem is. Suffice to say, he won't get another chance to snub us.
 The man across the road waves to us, but we haven't met him yet.
 Wagga people are quite different to Canberra people. They walk down the street and look at each other. In the city people don't look each other in the face and talk in hushed voices. In Wagga they talk out loud and laugh together and stand around in the street talking. They dress and drive differently too.
There is a box in the shed that has several hundred bulbs in it to be replanted. We found them all over the yard, so there must once have been gardeners here. As the many garden beds attest to. I am hoping the bulbs are daffodils. They look like either daffodils or jonquils. I guess as they have been neglected for many years they may not flower for me the first year. I hope with feed, water and TLC they will flower the following year.

 My niece Judy was here over the school holidays visiting her father and spent some time with me, which was lovely. She is an art teacher, when she was leaving she gave me this woven basket that she had made from found rope and string, dyed with turmeric. I added some twiggy legs to it using trimmings from the big old grevillea shrub that I removed from the back garden and hot glue. The yellow thread is antique sylko thread which I had in the back of my sewing kit.

 I don't think I have posted these in my blog before. Before I left Canberra I made some candle and tea light holders out of imperial porcelain clay. These are 2 of them, they sit on the windowsill in my lounge room now. Porcelain clay is quite different to the usual pottery clay I use. It can slump and tear easily and is more fragile and temperamental, especially before it is fired.
The pure whiteness of it lends the clay to become almost transparent when used thinly so it is good to use for candles, as the light will illuminate it and shine through. Lovely stuff.
I am now back at Wagga Potter's club as a member again. I went there to do my first duty day in the shop today. I have missed that place. They had the AGM a few weeks back. I took on the workshop person's job.
The Canberra potters society was great and I will miss my Thursday drop in group friends. It had government funding so the facilities there were extensive and I will miss that. But..... Wagga potters club is like an old friend to me. Some members have gone, some have stayed and there are a few new ones too. I made 6 small candle holder/tea light holder pots from imperial porcelain today. I hope they survive, I made them very thinly.

 The pic above is my second son David and my Mum on Christmas day 2012. Due to the move back to Wagga we cut right back on this Christmas. We went to the banquet at the Southern Cross club in Canberra for our Christmas day lunch. It worked out well. No cooking, no left overs, no food shopping. Easier than doing it myself. The banquet was great, even if it was a bit expensive. In fact it was much nicer than I expected it would be.

 Nan, my Mum, 90 years old, bending Santa's ear.Hahahaha.
A very young Santa with an old child.

 Myself, Pete and David. Christmas dinner at the club. The pearl necklace I am wearing was a christmas present from my Mum. It is lovely, I don't think I have ever had real pearls before.

Rufus doggie. On Christmas morning we opened our presents. Rufus got this blankie off Santa. He loves blankies and completely wraps himself up inside them, especially in the winter. His old blankie was too big for him. It was actually an old fake leopard skin fabric dressing gown of my Mum's that she had given him and I got sick of it always being dragged out and left in the middle of the floor. I got him this one, due to my guilt in throwing his old one out, hahahaha, he loves it.
 I have to get my baby car re-registered next week. It is such a nuisance changing registration from one state to another. I hope nothing needs fixing first, I may need to get 2 front tyres soon, but am hoping that they will let it pass the test.
This week we purchased plane tickets to go to Western Australia to visit our daughter Anne-Marie. We haven't seen her for a year so have been missing her. Having her move to the opposite side of the country was just too far out of reach for us. We travel next month. She lives in Kalgoorlie. She and her partner Jesse have just purchased their first house and only got the keys to it a couple of days ago. I am so proud of her, especially considering their ages. She always was a determined kid.
 Summer is almost over. It has been hot and dry here where as in other parts of the eastern side of the country there has been catastrophic flooding closer to the coast and summers dreaded bushfires.
Gotta Love Australia.

P.S. Would the person/people who keep putting advertising on my blog comments Please Piss Off!
I am not interested and I will not follow the links you have added there. I advise anyone who reads my blog to also not open these links. They are a nuisance. I do not want them. Do not put them on here!

 
That's all for now.
Bye.
Love Linda.

G'day,
          Goodness me!
 Has it really been 3 months since I have updated my Blog?   Yes...... well as the date says.
 Lots has happened since my last post.
 Pete and I have bought a home of our own, back in Wagga Wagga. Canberra was too expensive for us to purchase a home and stay there so , yep we now have a home of our own again. A home of our own is something I have craved since giving up our home in Junee to move to Canberra 4 and a half years ago now. This time has been scary for me because to get a home of our own has meant a big change, using Pere's superannuation and the full amount of the proceeds from the sale of our Junee home plus a loan to make up the small difference in the price of this house. Plus leaving secure employment in Canberra where we were making a nice living to trade off for the purchase of this house. We are now both unemployed. Scary stuff eh.
 Anyway, we have a house of our own again. We have been here for one week now.
So..... about the house!
 It is a double brick cavity walled house in Wagga Wagga , which is the town I was born in , but haven't lived in for 28 years now. Probably built in the late 1940's by the look of it? 3 bedrooms, Lounge, dining and study area, very good sized rooms and a block of land a bit less than 900X 2 square mtrs in size. Solid as. So far we have erected a garden shed and done a few things to it, (mostly Pete's handiwork, which he has enjoyed doing.) See pic above. The soil looks good, the yard is quite overgrown and needs lots of work, but the inside of the house is pretty good. We have been waiting for the replacement of an air conditioner that is sorely needed ever since we have been here, there has been a monstrous heat wave across the southern part of Australia. The solicitor has told us that it will be actioned tomorrow, Monday, It better be. I hung the thermometer outside his afternoon on the clothes line in the back yard and the temperature showing on it came to 46 degrees Celsius. OUCH! Same is predicted for the rest of this week. I must be getting old because this has been unbearable.I had a drink this evening of diet cola and tullamore dew whiskey and now I just feel sick. Eeeeeewwwww. Afterwards a soak in the cold bathtub and a very light salad for the evening meal, but still feel yucky.
 But....... onwards and upwards.
Last night here there was a spectacular dry storm, with lots of lightening and very few raindrops to accompany it. Scary stuff when it is so tinder dry as the lightening had the potential to start many fires.
 We are both looking for work. My friend Nellie has offered me 6 hrs per week at her Cafe in the early mornings doing food preparation but that isn't enough to pay the bills. Though I am grateful of the work. It is a start. At least I have friends in Wagga , long term friends which certainly beats Canberra where I only had acquaintances.
O.K. other news. My eldest son has stayed in Canberra and is living with his girl, Amber, in a home unit.
My second boy is in Wagga and my lovely daughter is now living in Kalgoorlie which is on the other side of the country from me.
My Mum is back living with us here in Wagga, She had her 90th birthday a few months ago. She is feeling this heatwave terribly. She was quite sick from the heat last night. As I am tonight. We are taking care with her and keeping an eye on her.  This broken air conditioner really sucks!!!.
I haven't started gardening here as yet though I have a nice collection of potted plants that I intend to transfer into garden beds later, it is too hot to do at at his time of year. I have requested a quote to clear the tangled mess of plants throughout the yard here. This seems he way to go at the moment as a bloke with a small backhoe would be able to clear gardens, trees and noxious weed stumps much easier that we could do and remove the debris as well for us, so that I could begin planning and planting when the weather cools down again.
Goodness When I was laying in the tub tonight I thought of all the good words that I should write to update and share in here tonight, but as I sit here at the keyboard they elude me.
It is soooo hot.
Goodnight.
Love Linda.

Floriadne 2012 & Spring Flowers

 G'Day,
           Yep! You guessed it. Floriade is on here in Canberra again. It is a festival of spring time and her floral bounty. The displays this year, as for every year, astound me.
I always wonder how they time everything so beautifully to have the flowers last for the whole time the festival is on. Especially so, as there is always changeable weather  in Canberra at this time of year. We can get everything from frosts to very warm dry days, strong winds and heavy rain with thunder storms.

 Not all of the photographs I have added for this post are taken at Floriade, I will label them accordingly for you.
The first pic above his text is of one of my favourite reasons to go to the botanic gardens in Canberra.He is a Gippsland water dragon. The day I took this picture was sunny but cold and I disturbed this little bloke as he was trying to warm himself in the sunshine near the information office and bookshop area. He tried to squeeze himself back between the rocks to hide from me. On warm days and during the summer these dragons are everywhere in the gardens but more prolific around the waterfall area and water features.



The flowers at Floriade are centered around Tulips of all colors, shapes, styles and sizes. each year there is a different theme. The plantings are done in patterns and pictures which can be explored, worked out, if you so wish, and seen better from the heights of the ferris wheel in the park. To tell you the truth, this year I didn't even bother to try and work them out. I just enjoyed the flowers and tent displays.

I thought these white and pink Tulips were lovely. Then again, I liked them all. You can see some of the under plantings in the closer photos. They included Hyacinths, Viola, English daisies, Daffodils , Poppies and Jonquils.

Same bed taken further back. these flowers must have to be some of the most photographed in all of Australia, going by the people there, nearly all if not all of them were clicking away.

This is the lake in the centre of commonwealth park where Floriade is held each year. The bed of Daffodils are finished flowering. Of course you can see that can't you.

 The beds along here were planted out with  themed patterns. With some imagination you can sort of see that the yellow tulips here form a stiletto.

 Isn't this pretty. White tulips, small red tulips, white hyacinths and English daisies adorn this bed.

Another view of the lake , across one of the tulip beds.

This purple Tulip wasn't sure which color it wanted, so it chose to be both purple and red combined.

A double white tulip.
My hand, I stabbed it with a knife while trying to remove an avocado seed. How stupid, I know very well how to do that and went ahead to do it the wrong way. My fault, but I did have a very sore hand for a few days.Hahaha.

A white fringed Tulip.

 Along this walkway in amongst the trees and on both sides of the pathway, hundreds of white perspex peace cranes had been hung. It looked really good. You can't see it very well in the photos though.
 The picture below this shows a closer example of the cranes.

Red Tulips. I love red. There were many different shades of red amongst the tulips displayed.

 The yellow, red and purple tulips in this bed were planted so that they were different heights and rose and fell like a big quilt or clouds or rippling waves.

Red red tulips, red English daisies and the smaller red parrot tulips .

These raised beds were in the Bunnings display area. They were planted with edible things, leafy greens, herbs and vegetables. I want these for my new yard when I move. They are a better height than many raised beds that I have seen and of a proportion that allowed you to stand and reach across to tend the plants, without getting down on my haunches and hurting my stupid legs and knees. Because they are metal they would hopefully last for many years as well.

I love Poppies. These ones are either Artists poppies or Iceland poppies. They are tough annuals so will grow easier than the big poppies.









Below is a closer view of a gorgeous poppy. These flowers say "Spring!" to me.

A big bed of little white daisies. Oh my do you think I can remember their proper name? 
I know I should but........

A big steam powered Calliope that is at Floriade every year. 

  The next lot of photos I have displayed in this post are not taken at Floriade. The scene above is taken from The Red Hill lookout. Which is one of several placed on the hills around Canberra to view the city from different angles.In the center you can see the big flagpole that sits above new Parliament house. The lake beyond is Lake Burley Griffin. Named after the bloke who won the competition to design Canberra. It runs through the city and is made by the damming of the Molongolo river, which flows down into the Murrumbidgee river. Peter and I were up there last weekend and went into the restaurant/ cafe up the top for afternoon tea. I always wanted to go in there.

The next photo is taken in The Victory Memorial gardens in Wagga's main street.
I think this is called loropetalum?
It was in the sensory garden there.

Sweet Williams in the Victory Memorial Gardens, Wagga.

Orange Calendula. Wagga gardens again.

 Perfect yellow Calendula. Wagga again.
 We sat in the park here at lunchtime and phoned the real estate lady to make an offer on the house we are going to buy.  So, another memory made. Another memory to add to times spent in this park over many years of visits during my life.
 As a child, feeding the ducks and being scared of the honking geese there.
 Of running through here barefoot and grubby, climbing on the trees, putting my bare feet in the lagoon and poking the water with sticks at 10 years old.
 Of the possum who made us teenaged girls scream and run when he showed himself in the tree that hung over the bridge in the main street right in our faces, late one night after a rock concert.
 Of other photos taken of my own children playing on the play equipment in the park.
Of lunchtime meetings with my husband in the park for lunch, when he worked at the council across the road when my eldest son was a baby.
 Of  soft serve ice creams that melted and ran down your arms and shirt in the summer heat,  bought from the dairy delight shop just around the corner in the main street, now closed.
Or my children, in their teens, laughing wildly as a bird pooped on my head while we had a picnic lunch of Kentucky Fried chicken there.
Of  attempts to escape into the shade of big trees on hot sweltering summer days .
Or waiting as a child to stand underneath that huge old pine tree to see the Christmas lights turned on.

 The pic above is at Wagga again. A bright bed of Livingstone daisies and viola.

Back in Canerra one of my favorite Sunday things to do is go to the Kingston Bus depot markets. They have gourmet foods and plants, craft and arts, buskers, a food hall area, antiques and a junk place out the back.
One of the things I will miss when I move from Canberra is this place.

 Kingston markets again. The still warm woodfired bread, antipasto, and strawberries are a highlight.

These next pics are of the orchids at the botanic gardens again. Don't know their names.

The color of this orchid reminds me of little eggs.

Little papery daisies planted near the waterfalls at the royal botanic gardens, Canberra.

 G'Day.
           I hope if anyone reads this post they are well and happy in their lives. 

Floriade is on the tele (Better Homes and Garden's show) at the moment as I write. I hope to go there for a look tomorrow. It is spring time here.
Oh I so love spring, don't you? It is my favorite season.
 Since I have been in here writing my story, there have been changes happening in my life.
 I thought I would record them here.
 I am being positive at moving forwards towards our future.
We are in the process of purchasing a house in my old home town of Wagga,  New South Wales.
The house is an old double red brick place probably built in the late 1940's or early 50's going by my knowledge of the housing styles in the area. It is solid as the proverbial brick s**t house.
In fact the building report has stated that the timbers in it are much harder and stronger than the recommended building standards require. No movement in the building and the pest report that is required of such purchases states that there are no problems as well.
All is go!
 I am pleased to have found a house that is also out of the residential areas of Wagga that I suspect will become lower class (rough) in the near future. It is however on the brink of a semi industrial area, I don't see that as a problem, but more of an asset if we need to sell for what ever reason in the future.
The house is in reasonable walking and close driving distance to the main CBD of Wagga. Tick.
Otherwise it seems to tick the boxes of what we are looking for to settle and retire. It has nice big rooms.
A good size yard, even though it may take a bit of work to make it what we want. But that should be totally enjoyable for me.
Just under the 900 square meter block. So, room to build a studio and work shed for us and have a chook yard and garden. Albeit there will be some work to remove old cement cracked pathways that radiate throughout the back yard. there is a humongous old  hills type rotary clothes line that will have to go.
I have been looking at chicken suppliers today. At the different breeds and how to get them.
Oh this is going to be so much fun!
 We are in the process of prioritizing the things that we need first to make this home into ours.
We have finance approved. Tick.
One thing though. The contract arrived by mail today. It was drenched and dripping from the horrid weather we are having, but also our names were spelled wrong. So it will have to be returned and rectified. Minor setback.
Then we need a fence to keep beloved little doggie Rufus safe. To be achieved.
Then next; a tin prefab shed to store all our jumk in and later to store gardening gear in as there is no storage in the yard..
The house does not have built in wardrobes but there is plenty of room in each of the 3 bedrooms to have them added. There are 3 joinery type businesses just near the house.
Minor repairs to one tile on the roof, and a drawer front in the kitchen is missing, yep easy!
 I said minor repairs, as the interior of the house is in very good order, the kitchen and bathroom have been modernized.
 The advert said it was a 4 bedroom home but as one of the (so called) bedrooms is adjoining the dining room and we will use it as a computer room / office area.
 The home is in a safe, flood free area. Tick!
 Strange. The building report man said that the heater in the lounge room is of a style that he had never seen before. It has a copper pipe running from under the house and the building inspector said he couldn't ascertain if it was for oil of gas heating?   Maybe we could go to a metal working place and have an insert made to convert it to a wood heater as it looks like one of those old fashioned enamelled yellow looking wood heaters from the outside. I think they were called warmray. Chimney looks like it is still intact. Pest report, likewise, passed inspection, so no termites to eat the house away. They are a problem in Australia.
 Also has 2x air conditioners and an evaporative air conditioner, which will not be used as I don't like them.
Other than that; I want to have solar power installed. I am not interested in having the amount of solar power that will require selling our power back to the grid, but rather supplementing the amount of power we consume and therefore reducing our exponentially growing power bills in the future.
AND a studio to play in. Yes, I know I have mentioned this subject before but....I am enjoying the possibilities! And the planning that goes with it. I have an area envisioned that would  be suitable.
Oh I have plans!
 Although the plans for a studio are not a first priority. They do include an additional toilet as there is not a second one inside the house. Which is run from, as required of newer council requirements, water collected in a rainwater tank, as will likewise be the water supply to my studio/work area.
It will be interesting to see the advancement and achievement of my dreams for that in a few years won't it? What has been achieved and afforded financially, as opposed to what is the dream?
But......for now, I will plan and dream and, and, and, sign papers and commit my next few years to paying back the loan that will  make it all a reality.
 Anyone who knows me will know that over the last 4 and and half years that I have lived in Canberra I have desperately missed having the security of actually belonging somewhere on my own little patch of earth and doing what I wanted on said block.  You just cannot do that when you are renting someone else's property.
Once you have your own place you have difficulty with the restrictions placed upon a rented property owned by someone else. And! the inconvenience of having to leave a property owned by some one else who decides to sell and move on to their next project, and finding another place to live. As has happened to us for the third time since being here.
I do recognize that it is their property , but it is so difficult to keep moving after having your own place and doing it every year or so as we have had to do since moving to Canberra.
I have loved living in Canberra, it is a great place to live and I have enjoyed living here. If I could change things and stay I would. But the fact is we can not afford to live here with the high costs of accommodation and housing in general.
 Work here is good, and I have always had the type of  work here that I am able to do, be in high demand. To the point of being offered more work than I am physically able to handle.
But that is not a future at my age, so I have to move onwards and hopefully upwards. I will have to look for work all over again in Wagga after not living there for 28 years.
There are of course reservations in moving back to Wagga . There is one person there that I do not want o ever be in my life again, if I was to see her on the street I don't know what I would do. But. Hopefully. Hopefully that stage in my life is finished with. As hopefully my association with her, and her catastrophic position in my family is likewise.
How do you trust again after such adversity caused by her idiocy?
Ah well. That is another story eh?


Anyway!
 Back to the beginning.
The first photo at the top of this post.
 It was taken right outside my back gate here in Canberra, a few weeks ago. Wattle at the height of it's flowering.. There is a walking track/ bicycle path that runs along the back yard of my fence. Spring is here! Flowering wattle trees are endemic at this time of year here. I think the one out the back is known as the black wattle.
 Lovely isn't it?

The second photo at the beginning of this post is also taken from the walkway at my back fence. It is my view of Mount Taylor. Canberra is surrounded by a ring of such hills and is in a hollow. Which explains why it is known as a cold arse hole of a place. It is lovely though. As these areas are preserved as nature reserves, it is a tribute to urban planning design, the bush and open areas are preserved for the future. Pretty special in my mind. We walked up to the top of Mount Taylor last year. When my old dodgy legs were feeling pretty good. I couldn't manage it at the moment though. It was a pretty steep hike. Well worth the trouble. Although along the cemented walking track lots of fit and healthy joggers do it all the time, it was a challenge for me. We walked up the other side, our side, and kept off the marked tracks. There are hundreds of Eastern grey kangaroos up there. Big and small. I enjoyed seeing the wildflowers that are endemic to this area. Some of them quite specialized and rare, considering we are living  just a few kilometers south of Australia's capital city.
O.K.
Change of subject.
  9 weeks ago I went on google and found a lady near me who does Hypnotherapy. I joined her program to lose weight. So far I have lost 9 and a half kilos. It hasn't been easy but I think I feel confident I have mastered it. Rather than a diet, it is more like a lifestyle change. Well, so far so good. I am doing ok. I have lost the cravings and compulsion to eat things that I know are not in my interest. There is accompanied with the program, a lifetime support via email, phone and requested visitation with this lady. So far so good.
Now I can look at something and say "Oh that looks Yum! But I don't want it and I am not going to have it." I haven't missed what I know is naughty food. I am resisting. I like it. The test will be when my Mother comes back to stay with us in a few weeks and pushes her habits onto me again. But...at the moment I am doing O.K. I will go back if the need arises to visit Ilona again for her help.
 Anyway, I guess that this post is pretty boring for others. Rather it is a log of my intentions and happenings at the present time. As the header said, What is in my heart and my head.
Good Night.
Love Linda.

G'Day,
          I took myself walkabout this weekend. Down to the beautiful south coast of New South Wales. Bateman's bay is only 2 and a 1/2 hours from here and is an easy trip.
I see that the pic upload thingy in blogger has been changed since I was in here last. I have pics taken over the last few days but am not willing to work out the new system at the moment, so I will just write.
I left on Saturday morning and stayed in a motel overnight. I quite enjoy being able to run away by my self sometimes for a bit of soul food. The bush and beaches down there are that to me.


 I walked along the beaches and tracks in Murramarang national park which travels along the coast just north of Bateman's bay.
I soaked my soul and heart in the perfect blue - green - turquoise colors of the clear sparkling transparent waters.
I watched the waves rise up, become transparent, change color then tumble over and foam, to be pulled back into the sea again and listened to their music.
 I got leg cramps all night long from the workout my stupid wobbly old legs had from walking too far in the sand.
I stood still in the bush and absorbed the quiet and listened to the tiny rustlings in the undergrowth and the bird song.
I sat by myself in an Italian restaurant and ate sketti bol and drank a 1/2 carafe of white wine.
I quietly observed birds and animals, sneaking up slowly on them to get pictures.
I drove along narrow lonely dirt roads at slow speed with all the windows wound down, because nobody else was around to bother me and I marveled at the beautiful forests and plants.
I listened to classical music in the car that matched and complimented the scenery.
I paddled in the ocean and laid down on the sand  to feel the sun and embraced the earth.
I climbed over rocky headlands and great rock platforms on beaches that could only be accessed on foot.
I watched the afternoon sun turn white and grey trunk eucalypti silver, and sparkling in dappled sunlight.
I traveled sandy walking tracks in the national parks, and saw rare plants and noted in my mind their difference. There was one particular type of casurina I hadn't seen before. The leaves and form of it were quite distinct.
I absorbed nature's growth, regeneration, decay and beauty in  her magnificent forests.
I saw vegetation change in relation to its distance from the ocean. Tall trees, twisted windswept shrubbery, ferns, different eucalypt species, flowering plants and trees.
I watched sadly as pretty introduced species had invaded the bush, because they had escaped from someone's garden.
 I looked in real estate agents windows at the prices and thought, no thanks, but wouldn't it be nice.
I looked at animal tracks along the beaches and in the bush showing goanna, wombat, bird, kangaroo and lyrebirds markings.
I especially loved the midnight blue, male satin bower bird  at pebbly beach. Just gorgeous and so used to being around people that I could watch him without too much trouble.
I marched in the sand alongside sparse people footprints, making patterns with my shoes and bare feet. recognizing them as I went.
I drove down an isolated bush track high up on the escarpment that said Monga national park. I had previously wanted to explore it. Here I saw unspolied bush, different to the coastal variety, including tall, tall eucalypti and their understory of ferns and big old soft fern trees, thick leaf litter and decaying fallen forest giants returning to the earth.
 I stopped at cafes and ate my lunch at tables outside in the sun and chose healthy food. The mushroom and walnut burger was to die for.
I drove safely and within the speed limit, and let speeding traffic on the highway bypass me. I saw one speedster get chased by a highway patrol car. Serves him right.
I had a lovely time.
Good Night.
Love Linda.

Exciting.

G'Day,
          My mind is whirring at the thought that we may be closer to having something that belongs to us. A home. A tiny bit of dirt on this big country that I belong to, may one day belong to me.
We have been looking at houses, back in Wagga, which is my original home town, the place I was born, and where my children were all born.
We looked at one that immediately peaked my interest on the computer. One of many for sale in Wagga. We had a drive past of it last weekend and the flag was outside saying open house. The real estate lady that I had emailed had told me a different time for the opening so it was by chance that we saw inside it at all.
It is a 3 bedroom house about 30 years old, the kitchen has been renovated, there is a nice big enclosed sunroom attached to the back and a nice new big shed. The yard is a funny shape as it is in a cul-de-sac. It is quite a good size but ends in a pointy triangle at the back. We can get the caravan into the back yard easily. Also at the back of the house is another room that could be used as a 4th bedroom.
I am trying not to get my hopes up, but, I think I want this one. In my mind I have plans already of how I may begin to work on the back yard. Dig out around the shed and make a retaining wall that includes a seat/bench and put a roof over it. Make that outside extra room into a room for Pete to have with his music and display his collections and stuff.
We looked at a couple of other houses that were open, but although they were nice etc, they didn't appeal to me as this one has.
I can have chooks again! Oh I loved having chooks. Such great productive little birdies. Also in the back yard is a large aviary. Hmmm not sure about that, I don't really want to fill it up with too many things to look after. I think the aviary is too close to the house to be a chook pen.
Ever since we left our house in Junee I have been pining for something of my own again. I have missed it so much. Yes I know all the cliches. Its not the house that makes a home it is the people in it. But it was so special to feel that we had something that belonged to us as we did when we owned our own place.I have missed the sense of belonging and security that brings. A future.A place to practice what I would like to preach about garden, earth, sustainable gardening. All that and more. Get in the mud again and red Wagga clay.
 There are a few things that I am hesitant about in deciding to go back to Wagga to live. A few people whose presence turns me off the idea, but there are many other good people I still know in town that I can go visit and call on too.
The other thing I love about the house we have looked at, is its position. It is in a flood free zone. Just 2 blocks from the Wiradjiri walking track and on the side of Willan's hill. A place special to me, a bush reserve dividing Wagga. Also within walking distance to the botanic gardens. My park. The place I played as a child, then frequented as a teenager and was married in, then took my own children there to play.
 I know I shouldn't get my hopes up and am scared to be so excited in case we miss this house and someone gets it first, BUT.......
Wish us luck!
Goodnight.
Love Linda.