Walking

I have taken up walking regularly again.

(My SC colleagues will be pleased - I may even post there again one day soon)

I have changed my route from the one I have been using for the past three/four years. (Goodness that is a long time now that I write it! ) My new walking route is approximately 1 hour 10 minutes long. I walked it three times this week with 5 kilo hand weights. I rock!

Anyway, that is not the point of this post.

Today I was walking and saw a few funny things.

• A Napoleon Dynamite looking teen walking home from the bus, listening to his iPod and play the air drums intensely
  
• A man mowing dirt (there was no grass) in a full business suit
• Two men lying side by side on the footpath trying to see under the car parked on the curb

I love looking at the houses in our suburb when I walk but I think from now on I will pay more attention to the odd people I see to live near...

Under the Jacaranda

This painting by Godfrey River, which he painted in 1903 of himself and his later wife, is one of my favorites.

I have a print of it hanging my my dinning room. The colours of the flowers and that umbrella are amazing.

We have a Jacaranda tree in our front yard. It is bigger than this one - probably twice the size of our house. Every storm season Tom and I pray it won't fall on the house.

If we renovate our house this year it will be cut down to make way for the driveway. I will miss the beauty of the tree but not the fallen leaves that create a purple mush underfoot in Spring.

Quote of the day

I came across this quote the other day:-

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Coastal Markets

Tom and I went to the Eumundi Markets the week before last. They were huge and I mean HUGE. I have never ever been to markets this big. There were hundreds and hundred of stalls and thousands of people there - and it was a Wednesday!

I am not really into crafty things so my main purchasing focus was food. Yes, food, glorious food. I ate hot sausage with mustard (and sauerkraut) from the German Sausage Hut. I ate Dutch poffertjes with icing sugar. And I bought a raspberry tart from the stall below - the lady from " Swiss Cakes" had such a lovely selection I almost couldn't chose - but I worked through it and was very happy with my choice.


The fashion of those at the markets was varied (at best) but these boots/sandals really take the cake. I mean who would leave the house in these? There is not way that they could be comfortable.

Random House Returns

You may remember a while ago I mentioned that I had received a unexpected parcel? Well the mystery has been solved.

It turns out that my brother sent me a book as a Birthday present.

Apparently he did tell me that it was coming and that I should expect something in the mail - but the time between that discussion and the arrival of the package was sufficient that I had completely forgotten the discussion and did not put the two things together.

The book was "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. It was excellent and only disappointing in so far as it is the first in a trilogy and neither of the other books have been published yet. I am waiting with baited breath for book two - which is due to be released in April.

But anyway - mystery solved!

walk along the beach

Last week Tom and I went for a stroll along the beach. We walked out from our apartment and across the road to the bush path that seemed to lead in the direction of the ocean. The path went for longer than we expected, but we could see the ocean in the distance.



After walking a few minutes we came across another couple who were walking back up the other way. I asked for directions from them and the gent let me know that there were two beaches along the path; one of which was a nudist beach. He gave us directions to both and said that if we were after the nudist one to let him know and he would be back down to have a look in ten minutes. Funny.

Anyway we did go to the nudist beach but there were no nudists there. Lucky for us. It was a nice beach hidden between two rocky points. There were a few pretty rock pools with fish in them.

All in all it was a nice stroll on the beach.

Bring it on

Well after a week away at Coolum I am back, refreshed, revived and ready for the year.

The week away was great. We stayed at a resort-style place that I booked online. On arrival we were upgraded to a better, bigger apartment which was wonderful - I am all for upgrades.

The views of the ocean were amazing - as you would expect from the Queensland coast. This is the view from our balcony...


and this is the view from our driveway....


It was great and the holiday was needed.

I spent a lot of time reading books and sleeping and I seemed to be eating almost constantly.

It was great! Now I am ready to take on 2009.

Happy Birthday Tom and Chuckie

Tom and his Granddad "Chuckie" had a joint birthday party this year...

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Tom and Chuckie
Happy Birthday to you!

Note well the fabulous chocolate mud cake that I made from scratch!

The song of the ages

Have you ever noticed that people seem to like the music that was around when they first started listening to music the best?

It makes it easy to predict their age. If for example you like Pink you are young. If you like Bob Dylan you ............have grown up children.

My Niece

My sister in law had a baby today - Saturday 3rd January - so I am now an Aunt.

My niece is adorable, as you can see.

Happy New Year

Here is to a happy and healthy 2009