Canoe testing!!!
Can you believe it?? They made me go first to "test" the boat out, and then they decided it needed more air in it!!!!! So naturally they had a better paddle in it. Unfortunately I cannot get the video to work of me canoeing in the lounge room, boy it was a laugh!! That is gerard turning his back on us below...
Well this morning we got up at 9a.m. and headed off to the waters edge. Gerard carried the canoe, so much lighter than the kayaks.
I was first in, well once again Machele and I have had a good laugh at ourselves, otherwise we would cry and get depressed, we decided that our parents in their 50's would not have done what we are doing!!!!!! So that made a difference. My god not the most flattering pics...
Anyway, I got helped in the canoe first and off I went, round and round in circles!!! Took a while to get the hang of it, but managed to go out a few metres and then got back safely, then Gerards turn, he was fine, no help needed in or out. Then Tamyka, well she is a lot thinner than we are, she was in and out of it with ease, then Machele's turn. She was so worried she would not even be able to bend her knees to get in it!!! She did though and loved it too. We have decided to nip into Bairnsdale and get at least another one as it is no fun sitting on the bank while the otherone is paddling away.
To top the morning off we had a few dolphins lol around in the water over by Raymond Island which was so beautiful.
Came back home and viewed the pics and thought again, boy have we aged, but hey we are in our 50's so that is o.k.
Machele is having a nap, Tamyka is playing the Sim's on my lap top cause for some reason the computer did not like it.... PAUL WHERE ARE YOU!!!!! So we gave up and let her use the lap top... I am almost falling asleep too so will probably have a lie down also. Too much for us oldies!!!! Have put all of the Chocolate mud cake in the freezer on the bottom shelf after seeing these pics!!!!
Have just checked the video and it has not loaded, will have to try again... Looks like the video is too big to load so lucky for you, you don't have to endure this side of our silliness.. BUT on the other hand I could try and send you and email or a C.D. of how mad we are!!! It is up to you of course, I won't force this upon anyone!!
Ended up having tea a bit earlier than the night before and invited Anne across the road to join us also, we had quite a few laughs and interesting conversations and could not believe it had gone midnight. It was of course too late to tidy up so we went for a stroll to the waters edge and enjoyed the black starry sky and the company of the four baby swans. They are not very good at seeing at night time, so Machele shon the torch for them to see where the bread had been thrown. Unfortunately we had no chance of listening for any dolphins as the water was choppy and made too much noise.
Tamyka hads been on the lap top all day, playing her Sim's game and so I kicked her off it when we got back from our walk so I could have a bit of a fiddle, unfortunately I downloaded a game to try out for 60 minutes and I promptly fell asleep and woke up at 3.30a.m. and the game had expired so I still have not tried it out!!!!! So I ended up turning off the Christmas lights and staggered to bed.
This morning is rather warm and I feel pretty tired and can't be bothered to do much.
Mum rang from Rye and is coming home tomorrow, Pete is bringing her back and then going back to Rye in one trip!!! Which will be rather tiring for him.
Our plans for today or should I say the rest of the day as it is 11a.m., hey we are on holidays so that is o.k. is to maybe go to Bairnsdale and have a look in K-mart and see if they have any more of the blow up canoes and have a general food shop. That will most likely be it as we are all quite tired..
Tomorrow after lunch the two Geoff's, Sudsy and G.T. are coming down for the arvo to say hello, this is their first visit here for ages. Haven't seen the boys for ages. Gerard went to school with G.T. and Sudsy he has known for years also, just cannot remember how Gerard met him, I think it was playing cards on Friday night all those years ago. It will be nice for a change for Gerard to have some friends visiting us as it is usually my friends calling in.
Harry the neighbour two doors up came over this morning and gave us two life jackets, he noticed us playing in the canoe yesterday and thought we could do with some as he remembered we borrow next doors when in the kayaks. They are practically brand new, so generous of him. He is in his 70's and is selling his boat so let us have them!!
It is warming up here this morning and I have just looked at the forecast for the next few days and I am not going to like it much. Ending up with some 35degree days. Time for me to hibernate with the air conditioner on..
Well I suppose I had better go and do something, Gerard has gone to work at the servo so it is just us three girls here.
I am off now, will talk again later, bye luv Jill
Boxing Day, So tired!!!
Oh boy, woke up about 8a.m. needing the loo and felt awful so went back to bed and did not surface again til 1.30pm, felt terrible as if I had a hangover without the booze!!! We stayed in our jammies all day, opened our pressies and guess what Gerard and I got from Machele and Tamyka???? A blow up canoe!!! spent ages in the loungeroom having a paddle, so much fun. Got lots of pressies with dragonflies on them from Kate and Matt, Carmel and Geoff, Gerard and Machele and Tamyka. Got some gorgeous fairy type lights with dragonflies on them so had to put them up straight away of course. While I am typing this, I am waiting for the movie to upload so you can see how much fun I had paddling around in the loungeroom. When we played it back we were in stitches of laughter not sure if it is funny to anyone else, but we got a giggle from it. To top off the night we decided to have a roast dinner, mind you it was about 7pm, so off we went to the shop and bought some cooked chooks and fresh veggies. Went and checked on mum's tomato plants, also checked all was o.k. at Annette and Pauls and came home and cooked up a huge meal.
We had roast pototoes, carrots, pumpkin, onion and broccoli and carrots, our plates were at capacity. Gerard got home at 9.30 from work and then we sat down at 10p.m. to have our meal!!! We sat at the table on the verandah where I had set it up with some purple things for a bit of fun. Amazingly Gerard did not hesitate to join in!!!! We even got him to blow these little things to keep the ball in the air and not only with one but two of them in his mouth. pictures to follow!!! It was a giggle and a change from being serious.
Another late night for bed!!!
Christmas Day..... Exhausting!!!
This is moi!! Just testing out what we will wear on Boxing day here to celebrate Christmas, seeing we had "purple" decorations on the tree, I decided we would go with the purple shades on the table. Yep I know I am nuts!!!! Look what you missed out on Annette and Paul!!!!!! (giggle)...
I did not get to bed til after 2a.m. cause I was making a mud cake to take down to Matt's for tea and forgot about it cause I fell asleep on the chair with the lap top in my lap!!!
Got up at 6.30a.m. and left Paynesville about 8.45a.m. called into the servo to wish Louise a Merry Christmas and she looked terrible, real hung over!!!
Set off to Melbourne then and took the back road, and another one Gerard had been told about and ended up in Traralgon, it probably was no quicker, but the change in scenery was good and it was quiet.
Decided to call into Lesley's to wish her a Merry Christmas, she had a good surprise!!! Also good to see her Mum and Dad again as it has been a while. Then onto Margaret and Graeme's for lunch joining Chris and Jim there. Then onto Kate at Matt's just over Stud Road at least we did not have to travel too far between meals!!! It was lovely to be with her again and we were made most welcome. Rang Mum to wish her Merry Christmas as she was at Rye at my sister Chris's with the family.
As usual Carmel put on a huge spread, crayfish, prawns and heaps of cold meats and more. We were all so full could hardly move. The boys ended up playing pool which was good as there were four of them so they paired up. Gerard was with Nathan and the challenge was on to beat Matt and his Dad.. Mat does not like to lose, so the passion to win was even stronger..
We left them about 11p.m., had to turn around and go back cause we left the camera behind! Kate had to get up for work about 2am as she had to have the whole deli case filled before the shop opened at 6a.m. Now that she is deli manager she has all the responsibilities....
We had a great time with them and then we went to Keysborough to meet Machele and Tamyka where they could leave their car closer to the station when coming home.
I drove first for some time,then Machele and then Gerard. I was so worried we would hit a kangaroo on the country road, but did not see any, fell asleep a couple of times. We did see a few bunnies but managed not to hit any until the last part of the trip, this little bunny darted here and there on the road and we hit it, sooo sad. But at least we did not run off the road and have an accident and get hurt thank goodness. Gerard was driving at the time.
Finally got home and into bed at 3.30am so exhausted.
The day before and Christmas Eve day!
The little house with the blue roof is ours, this gives you an idea how far from the water we are, I am sitting in the kayak so very far away I have zoomed in to see the house, as you can see in the pic of Gerard the land in the background is how far out we were!
Well it was a very warm night, definitely not a good one for sleeping! Went down to the waters edge about 9pm as it was so hot in the house, took the torch with me and of course Milly came too. We sat on the stone wall for a while and shone the torch into the water, saw another one of those long things, not a snake, not an eel as it has fins at the front of it but wiggles the tail part to move in the water? Cat fish maybe I really have no idea, at least this time Gerard saw it too, he did not know what it was either, looks like I will have to buy myself an A - Z on fish now!!! I have a bird one and a plant one, so may as well add to the collection.....
Not much relief with the air con during the rest of the day cause we got sidetracked..... what's new??
In the morning Trevor and Marg from next door had "thrown" their kayaks on the back of their truck and drove them across the car park to the waters edge and were off for a paddle. Within say 20 minutes they were back, not a quick trip at all, meanwhile we put my "low acid" tomato plant in a bag of potting mix as suggested by someone and see if it grows into a fabulous plant bearing many tomatoes! We were about to extend the cat's haven out under the landing when they came back off loaded the kayaks and said they just went round the block!! As they were about to go inside, they offered them to us for a paddle??? Oh yes please and thank you so much. So forget the cats for the moment, actually forget everything and off we go to the water, boy I do need to get a trolley and a light kayak when we do eventually buy some.. By this time it was almost ten o'clock and warming up, luckily I put on some sunscreen on my arms as they were bare, grabbed my gorgeous straw hat, fly spray, camera, water to drink and a couple of slices of bread to feed swans if necessary!!!
What a glorious morning, the water was like a sheet of glass, so smooth, heaps of swans around but as we were moving along they kept out of our way, we headed over to Raymond Island just across from our place and decided to paddle along the edge there and see how far we could get. We would paddle a bit and then just stop and sit and take in the whole thing!!!!!! Looking down to the water which was so clear you could see the reeds and fish swimming around below us, also little fish were jumping out of the water, they looked like miniature dolphins, yeah right. Speaking of we did not see any, saw larger fish swirls and though maybe we were lucky, but no.
We were out there for about an hour and a half and it was great to see our house from a different outlook!! It looked so tiny next door to Trevor and Margs place towering over ours.. We had a lovely time, the sun was getting hot and I could feel my skin getting rather hot, thank goodness I put on the sunscreen as I am not at all red and uncomfortable. Gerards legs were pretty red as he had shorts on and also had been splashing water on them, silly man!!!! When we got back to the waters edge and I had to get out of the Kayak was the hardest part as once again I had to "squeeze" myself into it in the first place, for anyone who knows what it is like to get onto the floor and then have to get up again, rolling over to ones side and getting onto knees and then hanging onto something to hoist yourself up!! Some of us know what I am saying lol! well eventually I managed to "unsuck" myself out and turn over and get Gerard to help me up, real elegant look, like a beached whale!!!!! Trevor had strolled down to give Gerard a hand to bring the kayaks back which was so great, I did not have to carry anything except my camera!!!
Of course we had forgotten the cat's cage and the air conditioner by this time and I ended up going into the palace to do a bit of tidying up, so I put on my air con on in there and it was just divine, the best place to be, works really well and makes it so comfortable to work in without being too hot and sweaty.
It is amazing at the time of being out on the water you do not realise how much energy one uses until later that day. The whole experience of floating on the water and being so close to it is mesmerising, such a different freedom, no boats were about when we were out there, the stillness and quietness of this large expanse of water is unreal. Gotta get my own kayak...
Gerard is not travelling too well again and I told him he should get out there and just paddle real hard and get it all out of his system and it may make him feel better, don't know what to do with him cause he is dragging me down a bit at the moment and I don't need it as I have my own pain to cope with,, He has been to see someone again so hopefully this new person can help him better than before, it seems as if he does not want to try and sort himself out. I am considering seeing someone too as I don't need all of these ups and downs at the moment.
So after this awful night of sleeping off and on with no covers on and the thinnest of nighties I managed to get some sleep only to be woken up at six thirty with Milly yapping as there was thunder and lightening and lots of rain happening. Really do not want to be awake yet, but I give in and get up and let the dogs in, it is pouring with rain, so I go around and shut the windows on the verandah, Gerard has the early shift at the servo so he is not around. O.k. so I pick up the lap top and here I am sitting in the loungeroom with the telly on and SBS is telling me all the temperatures of the world with a bit of a movie of some of the countries, very interesting, flick over to another channel and would you believe it there are these little fairy's flitting about just so cute til they show an older male fairy and he has a "moustache"!!!!!! O.k. they get old too, but it changes the whole look of fairyland.. Flick again and we have video hits and not much to listen to. I have the two dogs in here with me flaked out on the floor and Rusty my little cat is growling and circling my chair, she just seems to hate the thunder so much and this uncontrollable growl just comes from nowhere!! Well the rain has stopped, I suppose I had better drag myself out of this chair and put my foot down on the floor!!!, go outside and get the soaked newspaper and have a shower get dressed and by then it will be time for the shops to open and do the "last minute" shopping before the big "Christmas Day" tomorrow.
We plan to leave here about 8a.m. hopefully there will not be too much traffic at that time of the morning, have no idea what it will be like as we have not travelled from here before on Chrissy day to Melbourne. Usually takes 3 to 31/2 hours depending on how long we stop for a break so will have to time ourselves this time. Having two drivers there and three on the way back should make it easier..
Things to do today!!!!
Do last minute shop..
Make a mud cake for tomorrows dessert
Wrap pressies
put some things away in the second bedroom, blow up the mattress for Machele, make the beds so that they can just fall into bed tomorrow night when we get here.
Clean up the kitchen after cooking session
Do some clothes washing
Pick up things that have been put behind the lounge during the inside painting.
Vacuum
General tidy up etc..
Hey not much to do really!!! Will take me all day and I still have not done any Christmas cards!! Where does the time go? Spend too much time on the computer, mum would say!!!
O.K. SBS now has some bloke talking at a conference in a foreign language and there is an interpreter speaking in another language so don't know what it is all about!! back to video hits and rage I think, no had better get up and have a shower and go to the shops soon.
o.k. hope you have a lovely Christmas whatever you do, will be back later.
luv Jill
P.S. please excuse any typo's as the spell check is not happy with me and I don't want to lose all of this so .....
Kate's News!!!
Last night Kate rang and I was not around, so when I came in, Gerard asked me to ring her as she has some good news to tell me!!! Gerard would not say what it was!! typical.
Well can you imagine what was going through the old grey matter?????!!!! No I won't tell you what was going through it!!!
Well I rang her back and my heart was pounding a million beats. The phone was ringing and I could not concentrate, cause what may be great news for your own daughter may not be so good for her mum!!! I did not know what to think. O.k. she has picked up the phone, wait for it...... a very flat voice says "hello", Kate?? I say is that you?? Dull voice, yes it is mum.... "How are you?" I say, she says oh o.k. still no enthusiasm, well I thought this good news is not that exciting by the sounds of things, come on girl, jump about, shake yourself, get some yippee beans in that system, at least sound happy!!!! I am having me tea.... she says, oh that is nice dear, I have not had mine yet. So........?????? what? she says..... I say.... Dad tells me you have some exciting news to tell me..... Oh yes I have... boy is this like pulling hens teeth!!!! Well what is it then?????
"Well, ................... I am going to be the Deli Manager for the next 6 weeks!!!!!" WOW!!!!!!!!!! that is so great Kate are you pleased with that decision? Yep it is o.k....................
For the last few months she has been unsettled cause she had been made the safety officer for the deli and the second in charge of the deli, but not getting paid for it, so she was not happy and also felt at the 18 she was not old enough to take on that position.
When she has been the two I.C. some of the staff are not happy being told what and when to do the work by an 18 year old who has been working there since she was 15 and they were in their 20's, 30's or 40's. Obviously management thought she was capable of it,. Hard to believe we had to almost tie her up and make her go for the interview for a casual job after school!!! When she got the job after her first two hour stint, she did not want to go back and we told her she had to stick at it for at least 6 months!!!Reluctantly she did and look at her now full time worker and second in charge of the deli and the manager for six weeks of the deli until the new manager arrives. I know she hates coming home after her shift and hates the smell she brings home with her on her clothes etc, handling fish and other gooey things!!!! But she has coped and look at her now. Am I proud??????? Oh yes of course. O.K. she still would love to work with "live" animals, but she can work towards that later on if she still wants to. At least she is earning money and paying her way. The rest of the staff had not been told as yet, so can imagine the ruffled feathers when they do find out!!! Hope she can cope with it all, she has managed so far, but as we know, get a few women and different personalities no matter their age in one room and see the spit fly!!!
Well thought I would just share that with you all...
Just wanted to let you know......
Yep it's me again, just wanted to let you know that I had a very interesting morning. Could see from the kitchen window some swans were hanging around in the water and coaxed Gerard to come with me so he could feed them, while I took some photos. I have not taken any pics of the four babies for a while now and they have changed their look yet again. Boy what fun we had!!!! Yeah right having fun with swans!!!! There was not only them but other adult ones too. There is this huge male, well I reckon it is a male as it is so bit and always picking on the others, it comes out of the water and goes right up to Gerard and takes the bread from him, gets so close. The four babies were a bit clumsy, they came out of the water and toppled back in cause they fell down the small bank trying to get food. The parents now fight with them for the bread, don't let them have first dibs any more. Three of the bubs are similar colourings and the fourth has a darker head, who knows which are male and female, no idea anyway will know sooner or later. Still a lot of new bubs turning up so looks like we will have babies around for a while..
Also the magpies were around again today, they just seem to know when to come to us, as soon as I open the door there they are. There is an adult and four babies, I don't know about one of the bubs if it is hers, but she picks on it all the time, it has no feathers on it's head from being pecked so much, is very skinny and starving, it opens it's mouth for you to feed it.. The others also pick on it and it seems to stand back and stay near the bushes away from the others. So sad!
Well it is going to be another hot day tomorrow here, so I have told Gerard to give the air conditioner a try out and put it on early in the morning and see how it fares!!!! After yesterday with the northerly wind and heat and Gerard having all the doors and windows open, it was too hot to do anything inside as the sweat poured off me. Just hate it and by the time the air conditioner gave any relief, the cool change had come through and Gerard opened all the doors and windows again and any cool air inside went out and the place warmed up again!!!!! Just does not understand!!!! So tomorrow, even though I will be in the Palace all day doing some sorting out and yes the air con in there will be going full boar, I want the one on inside early to see how it copes as I hate the heat and looks like more will come and so I will know what to expect from the air con. At the moment it is not going to be efficient!!! May have to have one put in our bedroom so the air can then come down the hall to meet the other cool air coming around the corner. Only problem, but not for me, is it is so cold in the lounge room!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway I will now go to the swans blog and post some pictures of my babies for you to see how they have grown and some more pics of maggies and a couple of some pink and grey galahs and a blue tongue lizard, not that it is a good pic really.
Have to get a wiggle on cause I want to go for a walk later tonight and listen for the dolphins again and see if they have a pattern for times!!!!
Sleep well
luv Jill xxx
P.S. don't forget to give any comments at any time, cause I don't know if anyone is reading my blog or am I just talking to myself!! o.k. I know Maree has had a gander again, but does anyone else???
Probably ramble on too much and it gets boring.
A Walk to Remember!!
Gerard and I have taken to a nightly walk, last night we checked out a few houses with their Christmas lights on. Not many really. Ours are out the back of the house, so you probably would only see them if you were coming in by boat!!!
Anyway tonight we decided to go up our street and then down to the waiter's edge. Pitch black except for the mass of stars in the sky, the milky way was amazing!! Looking up to the black mass with all these tiny bright lights is just beautiful. I suggested we go onto the jetty and just see if we can hear any dolphins tonight! Yeah right says Gerard as if they would be there right now! Well we stood in the darkness and just listened to the silence. We could hear fish jumping out of the water and plopping back down, mozzies flying around and the odd swan squawking in the distance. There were about ten swans settled down for the night on the sand bank and one of them suddenly stood up and flapped its wings, could only see the white feathers moving in the darkness. The silence was entrancing and we stood motionless on the jetty for some time. We decided to go home and as I turned around and took a few steps, I heard that swoosh noise, sshhh Gerard listen and sure enough, they were there in the water not far from us, we could not see them, but could hear them so clearly, there were two groups of them coming up for air and going back down into the water, then silence and suddenly they were back and then far away, we even heard a loud splash as if one had leapt out of the water. Will have to take the torch down with us next time!! As the sounds were moving away from us a car came into the car park and stopped at the far end. We walked up that way back to the house and there was this bloke walking in the water with a torch, a large tin tied to his waist and a spear!! he was looking for Flounder!!! and within seconds he caught one and then a prawn!!! One never knows what one will see or hear when going out for a walk!!! Oh well tomorrow is another night......
One Week to Christmas
Here in Paynesville tonight (Saturday) was Carols by the Lakes, but unfortunately it rained so much it was transferred to the Community centre. I was going to go, but instead Mum came over for tea and she did not want to go. She is being picked up by Kristy and Lauren tomorrow to go to Rye and spend Christmas with them. It has been many years now since Mum has spent Christmas with my sister and her family. Gerard has found out he is not working Christmas Day, so we will be going to Melbourne in the morning, have lunch with his sisters and then see Kate and have tea with her and Matt's family. Then we will come back to Paynesville that night with Machele and Tamyka as Gerard has to work Boxing Day. It will be such a long and tiring day but worth it..
But before then, we need to write out Christmas cards, I ended up buying some as I have run out of time to make them and need to notify people that we have moved. Mind you it is almost 12 months since we moved!!! Where has that time gone? Also need to do last minute shopping still!! Talk about leaving it to the last minute. Will never learn...
I am struggling with pain at the moment and cannot get started on doing anything. I hate it, I am not good at tolerating pain at all and it makes me so tired and miserable. Just cannot come to terms with the crooked aching fingers and hands, no strength in them is very frustrating. O.K. I am having a whinge now. Stuffed the back last week when the cat threw up on a piece of carpet, so I took it outside to wash down and did not think about putting it up on the fence while it was dry and light, oh no I had to wash it first and then "hoik" it onto the fence by myself. Bing bong!!! should not have that is what did my back, it is over a week now and still not good.
And my feet!!!!........ Well put it this way... I have flashes of me using a walking stick or even a wheel chair to get around in at times they are so painful, then again on the same day I can go for a short walk as they are not bad. So frustrating.. Will be back to the doctor in the new year for sure.
Well it is almost one in the morning, had better try and get some sleep. Need to muster up some energy in the morning to put some stuff away and find homes for other stuff.
House renovation update!
Pat the painter has started on the outside of the house. We already had some paint for the walls and he went and bought another 20 gallons of the stuff. Turns out the colour we had mixed was darker than the colour he had, so the first coat was done with ours and the second coat with his for that little bit lighter look. A lot of the old paint had to be scraped off first and made such a mess even though he had drop sheets down!
By the time he started painting some of the timber areas the blue colour, I was not home at the time. so when I got home that afternoon I got a shock cause the blue is brighter, than the paint I have been using on the back of the house and so I was not so happy. O.K. should I be so picky seeing it was only a shade different? Well yes I think so, here I am painting out the back and getting used to the slightly duller blue than what he has used. Uncanny this time My mixed paint I liked better than what he had. I was even called ?DEAR"!!!!! that tells you how unpleased Pat was with me. I thought stuff this I have to say something. Well you would have thought I had asked him to cut off his arm or leg, it was such a big ordeal.. Ended up pouring my colour into his colour tin to hopefully come to a better colour!!! Not sure about this, he has so much paint it is not funny. Well he has done one coat of blue at the front of the house, so will wait and see if we get used to the colour. He won't be back now til after Christmas.
Mark the builder was here also and ended up pulling up the floor boards at the front entrance and replaced rotten wood underneath and also at one corner of the house. It has made such a difference. It is amazing how different the house now looks. After Christmas he will be making a shelter over the laundry door, sort of like a carport to protect the steps and door from the weather and also put the kennel out there too. Also will be putting up a fence from the end of the house to the fence to give us a bit of privacy from the front street with out washing line and to also keep the dogs in and an added bonus will be that Gerard will then feed the dogs out from the laundry door and not trapes their food bowls through the house!!! At long last. Also discussing the front entrance area so hopefully by the end of January maybe February it will all be finished.
The Other Night...
It was getting dark, so Gerard and I took the dogs to the waters edge. Gerard was tired so he and Sassy went back to the house, while Milly and I went on further. We got to the first jetty and decided to have a sit down. It was a warm night, now dark, could see the red beaks only of the swans in the distance. Could hear some swans far in the distance crying out and a bird on the island squawking. The moon was leaving a silver shimmer on the water it was just a perfect night to be out. I could hear another sound and wondered what could be in the water and then it dawned on me it was similar to the sound when I was in the kayak out near the island and the dolphins were swimming near us. And sure enough that was it, I could not see them but could hear them breaking the water coming up for air and then going back down in the water again. Simply amazing....
Oh My Goodness!!! Up before the birds!!!
Well after eating half of the brownie, I fell asleep in the chair.............................................
When I woke up the Christmas lights were still flashing at the windows on the verandah, the Christmas tree was still merrily sparkling away and the T.V. had some wierd show blaring away.... I looked up at the window and noticed an orange glow in the distance, goodness!!! is that the sun?????? I squinted over to the clock to see what time it was after I managed to get Ashley off my shoulder!!!!! OMG!!!! It was five in the morning!!!!! I had a wonderful sleep, except my neck felt a bit stiff.. Gerard not here to wake me up which was good so I did not get a disturbed night!!!
I ended up deciding to go for a walk, by myself, without Milly!!! Now how was I going to do that???? I quietly put on my shoes, walked back into the kitchen to grab a pear to eat and some bread incase I saw some swans and as I walked around the corner to go out the laundry door, there was Milly at the door outside. I ignored her and kept going and quietly creapt out the laundry door and off I went. Why should I feel so guilty????? I ended up going around the block and down to the waters edge near us and not a swan in sight, disappointed, I ended up creeping past our house without disturbing the dogs and walked up to the hill. On the way, I stopped to give a Maggie some bread and delicately she took the bread and flew to her baby not far away, after a couple of times I went on and she was still going back and forth. I think the baby was pretty new as it was hiding low in the bushes.. i ended up walking to the hill and back again. It was such a gorgeous morning, the orange sun rising and the water was so dark in the distance I could not see the difference in the swan colour and the water..
It had been a windy old night so much so the waters edge reminded me of a washing machine with all the suds, the wind had tossed the water back and forth so much there was white foam everywhere.
I was a bit disappointed with my walk cause there were no swans about, as I walked back, a few groups of swans flew over and six pelicans also soared past me. By the time I got back to the house, Milly was sitting outside so I let her and Sassy out to go for their walk back to the waters edge. I still had bread with me and there were about 60 odd swans scattered about the place. Only 2 swans came over at first, then along came a couple with their new four bubs and they came so close, they are so gorgeous...
Well I suppose this is a first going for a walk and being up before the birds!!!!!
So what did I do then??? Go back to bed????? No way, my foot had coped so well with the walk and I was feeling good. I ended up raking up the dead leaves, cleared up the dogs mess and trimmed my Papyrus! Did a few other things outside and then came inside and thought I had better do some dishes, by now my foot had decided to pack it in!!!! ouch... By this time Pat the painter had arived to do some more painting outside and before I knew it it was time to go to Mums as the landlord was coming over for a meeting. Got there by 9am to surprise Mum, after about an hour the lady next door came over to say he could not make it today!!!! Damn.
So in the end Mum came here, we watched Dr. Phil, Oprah and I showed her some emails. Ended up having to go outside to "vacuum" up all the paint that had been scraped off the walls that did not get onto the drop sheets, 99.9% of it.... It is now 4.20pm and will shortly take mum home and go to Bairnsdale to pick up Gerard from the station and come home. I have been sitting here with my foot up for a while so hope it will settle down now. Boy am I sleepy now, looks like it won't be a late night by the way I feel at the moment.
Oh yes also spent ages on the net trying to buy John Farnham tickets for February!!! No good as they were four rows from the back!!!!! No thank you!!!!
hopefully they will open up some more shows...
o.k. off to drop mum home and then to get Gerard.
The days are rolling by!!!
Well after having a late night Thursday and getting up to take the dog to the vet, I had to get up even earlier, Sunday morning to take Gerard to the station as he was going to Melbourne by train. I did not go to bed that morning til 4am. and then got up at 7.30am.... Took him to the station and then Mum and I went Christmas present shopping. We left Gerard at about 8.15am and set off to spend money, we got back home at about 3pm absolutely exhausted!!! I could hardly walk as my foot was so bad by then...
I did not do much last night except cooked a chocolate fudge brownie from a packet, iced it while still hot and had a real pig out....
Another day!!!
As usual went to bed late, was posting pics on Blogs!!!! No not playing games for a change.
Gerard called me 7.45 and of course did not want to get out of bed, but HAD to cause I was taking Sassy to the vet for her three weekly injection...
She is o.k. as usual weighed in at 33.9kg forgot to ask what she was last time!!! Had her toe nails cut and bit the vet!!! cause he got a bit too close. Milly just HAD to come along for the ride and was a bit concerned.
Got home and have come in here to the computer and decided to print out some of my entries, thought I would keep a copy of them on paper!!!
It is a bit overcast today, not hot not cold. Just nice..
Am going to get Mum today and take some stuff to the opp shop and then have our hair cut, mine is desperate!!!!! Then sit down and help Mum make a list of what she needs to get for Christmas presents. She is going to my sister Chris's in Rye and is being picked up next weekend. So Mum will not be with us for Christmas this time, I am pleased for her that she has been asked to go there. As she has not spent a Christmas with them for some years now.
We still are not sure what is happening here. All depends on Gerard and his work...
If he is not working we will be going down to Melbourne and have dinner with Kate at Matt's parents place once again, is now expected of us each year to go there...
Stay overnight at Machele's and then come back Boxing day, bring Machele and Tamyka down with us and then on Boxing day we will have Christmas day all over again....
This year I have decided to get on with it and celebrate Christmas with a tree and put up lights again. Our Christmas dinner will be accessorised with purple, have bought these gorgeous purple fluffy halos, purple plates, cutlery, etc. Will take pics and post them here of cause.
Not getting much done lately!!
Well I haven't got a lot to report at the moment!! I have been spending a bit of my time, posting some pictures on Annette, Paul and Hervey's Blog! Just thought I would send them some pictures to remember us by and what they are leaving behind. If you want to have a look see, click on "Hervey's Travels" on the links on the right of this page.
We met Annette, Paul and Hervey after we moved here and did not know their names for some time, but we did know who Hervey was!!!! The dog!!
Finally we introduced ourselves and have become good friends. Unfortunately they have not settled down here and are looking for another place to live. They left this week and have packed up and gone to Queensland for some better weather and a more ideal place to suit them!! I am amazed that they could find a better place than Paynesville. I mean really!!!!!
Paul introduced us to David a friend of theirs and he did the renovations to the house, just before he left here too and has now settled down near Byron Bay!!! I don't know is there something wrong with us?????
They have all come out from England not together though and want for a better life here in Oz. They love our country and have found they are better off here. It would be such a hard decision leaving all your family and friends so far away. It was hard enough for us to leave Rowville and Kate which is only three and a half hours drive away, let alone a plane trip away!!
I have fond memories of them all and will miss them dearly, no amount of coaxing would keep them here. I even offered to be their Nanny for Hervey when they went away, but no it was not enough! :)
Oh well will have to look on the bright side, when the time comes we will have someone to visit in Queensland for a holiday in the future!!!!
I am now going to post some pics on the Purple Palace Blog!
See ya!!
luv Jill
He did not make it!!
The little fellow did not make it. He died yesterday.
AM I A SUCKER OR WHAT!!!!!!!!!!
Gerard left here at 6am this morning, don't remember him saying goodbye!!!! anyway I woke up at 10.30am and have missed the best part of the morning, will have to try and go to bed much earlier... yep another late night!!!! looking up census's trying to find Mum's relo's... that is another story, anyway, the water was like a rich blue sheet of glass with the odd sparkle as it gently ripples. Just magic.
wow there goes a large yacht right now as I sit at the kitchen bench I can see it!!! just floating by so gracefully.
the sun is shining and it is quite warm, I think we are expecting about 30degrees or was that yesterday, I am not sure now but it is warm!! the sky is dotted with soft puffs of cotton wool stretching across the gorgeous baby blue sky. Can you imagine it yet??? Just a slight breeze on the tops of the trees, oh here comes Gypsy and Daisy for their morning walk with their master today not the girl. Gypsy was abandoned on the side of the road and left for dead, she was only about a week old, covered in fleas and ticks and a real mess. She has turned out to be the most gorgeous black kelpie and Daisy is a golden retriever and they get on so well together. Daisy cannot keep up with Gypsy though. hmm where was I?? oh yes get back to the view.
I must get the Christmas lights fixed tonight cause the nest door neighbour has hers on and seeing their house towers over ours, I want to at least have some lights with a bit of sparkle also. At least mine change as theirs don't!!! O.K. they have a "HUGE" tree, but I think mine has a lovely light show happening!! O.k. Jill stop being childish here!! slap!!!!!
Well I decided I had better get out the front and collect the morning paper seeing it was 10.30 in the morning and everyone else around here get up so early!!! So I opened the front door, still had my short nightie on so put on some long pants and crossed my arms and went out bare footed, bleary eyed not able to focus properly yet, grabbed the paper off the ground, turned around, started walking back down the drive ..............
AND.....................................
I had to blink quite a few times and rub my eyes cause there standing on the concrete drive beside my car, near the front wheel was a .................................................
a
a
"Little Pied Cormorant" !!!!!!!! you know the water birds that dart into the water and sit on posts drying their wings? yeah you know don't you?????
Oh my goodness what was I going to do now, I could not just ignore the poor thing, it looked so little.....
So I squatted down near it and it looked at me and I looked at it and it looked at me again and ................ yep o.k. you get the picture.
It was just standing there looking at the chrome on my tyre most of the time....
anyway I remembered I read somewhere that if there is an animal or bird injured, just catch it and put it in a box and keep it dark and safe and call the wildlife rescue!!!
o.k. so that is what I will do then........ Catch it!!!!!!!! Put it in a box!!!!!!!!!!
Luckily I said NO!! to Gerard when he wanted to get rid of the BBQ box which I had just opened last night and put the BBQ together and told him NO!!!! just in case we needed it to return it or something as usual. Anyway the buld lit!!!!! Put the bird in the box....... So inside I go and empty the box of its packaging and manouver it out the front door, put it in the shade by the garage and go back to the bird. Yep still there but had moved a bit... O.K. now to catch it!!!! hhhmmmmmm!!! It has a curl on the end of its beak, it might bite me!!!!! So in I go and find an old towel to "throw" over it... O.K. now this bird has hardly moved this whole time I have been running in and out of the house so what does it do when it sees the towel???? Run under the car or should I say stagger... It comes out the other side and heads towards the front door area, fine I can corner it right!!!! I did not want to throw the towel at it while I was too far from it cause more than likely I would miss it and panic it and of course me!!!!! As I slowly approached this "little" skinny bird, (oh and yes, my foot was killing me so I was hobbling in pain), as I was ready to throw the towel over it, it decided to flutter and jump onto the front verandah entry part, fall in a heap and scramble to the corner, hey presto I could catch it now. The towel, get ready, hobble up the steps and throw...... missed!!! how hard can it be Jill?????? Second go I was closer and presto the towel covered it's back, Neck turning around, beak wide open ready to attack.... No sound just this big mouth darting at me. Covered it's head carried it to the box and put it in, uncovered it, mouth still gaping and folded the lid down.
Now what do I do????? heart racing...... Oh yes ring the wild life rescue people here in Paynesville. where is the phone number??? Oh yes I know in the mobile phone, thank goodness I recharged the phone yesterday.. ringing .................. ringing ................ ringing ....................... uh oh no answer what am I to do now with this bird in the box?? sleepy young teenage overhung voice says heello????? Durrrrr.. Eventually got him to make sense of the call, left my address and waited................. and waited ............. and waited for two and a half hours, no one coming??????? So I rang again and a woman answered this time, meanwhile the bird was still alive, had it's head sticking out the handle holes of the box for a while, had a sleep, thought it had died and then pecking at the box again. Yes we will take it, can you bring it down???? O.k. so now I have to put this humungus box into my little car...... The boot will not fit it and the back seat, well we stood the box on it's side to get it home in the first place. Opened the boot and got hit with the morning heat, nup won't fit in the boot unless I take the shelf off and fold down the back seats ........... How easy is that? No it is not, so I got the box and carefully squeezed ito the back seats of the car. Easy well almost, did not tip the bird up at all. Still no noise from it.
I had locked the front door and got into the car and halfway down the road when I realised I had left the address inside the house, oh well will have to go by memory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hmmmmm what number was the house............ Anyway I found the place, it is located just behind where Mum is living, so now I know where it is they will probably see more often.
The lady was waiting for me, took the bird out of the box, INSIDE MY CAR!!!!!! my goodness what if it jumps out and poops all over the car?????? It was an adult bird, absolutely starving, so skinny its bones were sticking out. She thought at first it might be poisoned although it was not trembling, so very weak and had not eaten for some time. So she took it away and said it will most likely not survive it was so malnourished. Anyway I will call later today and see if it survived. I told her I was a sucker for this type of thing!!!! She was pretty vague about volunteers, so who knows I might end up getting involved or maybe not!!!!
So I drive home with this large empty box in the back of my car with the towel and some poop the bird left behind. Feeling sad for the poor little thing. Yeah come on Jill don't be such a sook!!!!
I drive into the driveway and get out the car, take out the box, towel, my phone, put the box in the garage, take the other stuff to the front door, turn around to get the junk mail out of the letter box and there sitting in the shade was........................... beside my Palace ......................................
a
a
little dog!!!!!! having a rest, so thirsty, got it some water and off it trotted on it's way. It has been here before wanders around the place gets out of its home. So I thought no!!!!! Jill leave it, it must know it's way home by now......
so that is it for the day so far, Pat the Painter has turned up so had better see what he is up to, probably picking up his stuff for another job this week....
Am going to Mum's this arvo with the vacuum cleaner and do some cleaning for her, don't feel like it, but these things need to be done, probably laze away the rest of the arvo and see what the rest of the day brings. Would have been a great morning for the kayaks.....
o.k. talk soon.
luv Jill
It is cooling down a bit more cloud but still gorgeous.
Another day in paradise!!!
Well it is Saturday morning but the afternoon has struck. I have been up now for about an hour or so and have decided it is a morning for the swing seat on the verandah!!! What a way to spend some time.
Swallows are flitting about once again darting up and down through the strong wind currents, they come here almost every day and play about above the bushes. When taking the dogs for a walk to the waters edge they dart around us and fly very close, not sure if they have nests near by! The clouds are slowly taking over the blue sky and the sun is coming and going. I can hear the Plovers at the car park ka ka kakking at someone or something, they are so very territorial.
I also had the pleasure of viewing a Pelican hovering about outside the windows here, must have been practising its changes in wing manouvering with the wind as it was wobbling all over the place, very funny to see. Luckily it stayed above ground and was a delight to watch. They are usually such a graceful flying bird.
As I lift my head up I can see the long black necks of the swans and their red beaks bobbing up and down in the water. Their bubs are realling growing, will post some more pics on my swan blog for you to see them if you are interested. Have been down to the waters edge at night as it has been so warm here, and have been amazed at the family of swans who take up residence near the jettys and the sand bank each night. Their four bubs are growing rapidly and they are all so hungry.
It is a wonderful experience walking down on the grass to the waters edge, on a warm night darkness everywhere and to see the whole sky amass of the most bright twinkling stars is amazing no clouds anywhere just blackness and these twinkles. As we approach the water the only light is from the few street lights. As your eyes adjust to the darkness of the water suddenly you pick up on some dark round shadows appearing and coming towards you. Like a scary movie. OMG what are they?????? Huh!!! swans of course, silly!!!!! They come from nowhere out of the darkness as if they have been waiting silently for some sucker to come along eating some food at that time of night??? Well we weren't eating food, but we did happen to have some bread with us in case any were lurking about.. So yes we were the suckers I suppose lol!! There were 10 of them and they hung around for ages for more, we could hear their mates on the other side of the island opposite calling and sure enough they must have been telling each other that we were there cause more appeared from the darkness.
Huh a white car has just cruised around the car park and driven onto the grass area and it is the lady with her large dog, she takes him for a walk everyday, but she has difficulty walking so drives the car and he walks along following her and having a few sniffs on the way etc. He is getting rather old and stiff and I can hear her calling him along. Probably has had a bad day and does not want to walk so far today!! or she is in a hurry. Our two dogs are out by the small fence barking away at him and he is long gone!!!
Oh where was I??????? oh yes the darkness and the monsters of the night!!!!!
My life is so different now, I enjoy taking walks at night and during the day and sitting not quite outdoors, am dying to get out on a kayak again!! Not enough hours in the day though to experience it all.
We have had a lot of rain these past few days and they mentioned flood warnings in the Gippsland area!!!!! OH NO!!!!!!! please don't let it rain that much I don't want all of our work "going down the drain" !!!!!! Kath was evacuated here in the 80's with a flood, she had to be carried out of the house by the fire brigade, it was when she had her stroke and could not walk properly. A neighbour has a concrete fish pond which was covered by the water and when the waters had subsided she still had some of her fish in it!!!!!! Amazing!!!!! Luckily the water did not reach the floorboards of the house so if another one does come it will be an anxious time for us!!!!! Hey yep that would be our luck, get all this work done and here comes the water!!!! Cross fingers we don't experience one...
Started putting up the lights on the verandah, the four sets will fit o.k. but came across a snag as usual....... Need a hole made through some timber so that I can get the rest of the last string of lights to go into the cats area too!!!!!! I have two alternatives!!!!!! YES TWO!!!!!!!! yep Jill is back in frustration mode again!!!!! I can either cut a hole through the fly wire to thread the lights through to the other side.......... or have a hole made through the timber!!!!!!!!! I don't really want to be cutting holes in the fly wire partition that is to keep the cats in their own space now do I??????? No I don't. BUT ......... this is the frustrating part. I need to cut a hole through a piece of timber about three inches thick!!!!!! HHHMMMMmmmmmmm........ What do I do???Looks like I am going to have to go out and buy myself a good drill, all the essential accessories to go with it including the bits that cut holes through things and while I am at it I think I will buy myself an electric saw bench thingy so I can cut timber also when ""I"" want to!!!! I have bought a jig saw, but that won't do the job! So I have come to a halt once again. Boy all I seem to do is whinge.. In my next life I will be a male, be able to do all of these things, hey wait a minute!!!! no I will be a female, with the body and knowledge and the expertise to be able to do all of these things, no arthritis, weight problems, independance, money, and be able to get on with the jobs myself. Sounds good!!!! SLAP!!!!!!! o.k. I am back to reality again...... sorry bout that I was day dreaming out loud again. So I still have to get a hole in the timber somehow and also fasten the extra bits of leads to the ceiling to carry over to the powerpoints and also the absolutely BEST PART of it all is to find out which is the xxxxxxxxxxx light bulb that won't let the stupid lights work properly!!!!!!!! oooohhhhh why do I bother????????.....................................
Well I had decided to start over with Christmas and have a tree again and put up lights and get into the spirit of things! I am probably too late, yes I am to go to the hardware store and see if I can buy a piece to attach to Gerard's old drill, so looks like I will have to wait before I can get that part of the job done. Might just go to Bairnsdale tomorrow or Monday and buy a new drill, one that can be recharged and can screw in the screws etc and then I am home and hose!!! Can put up my curtain shades in the palacer too by myself then. Oh Oh had better get off this track and talk about something else.
Well the wind has changed and I have a lovely cool breeze wafting in through the windows here. Gerard will be home soon as he had the early shift at the garage and will be wanting some lunch or sorts. Hopefully he will have been down the shops and got something for himself or even bought a pie from the garage. He is off to Melbourne tomorrow morning for a few days so I am looking forward to having the place to myself for a while. Pat the painter has another job to do next week, so no early morning wake ups also which will be nice. Speaking of Pat the painter, he has started on the outside of the house, looks o.k. but a bit dark in colour compared to the Purple Palace's walls outside.. So will have to have another look at it when he comes back and compare colours etc. The colour seems to be a bit dirty looking!! Probably cause we are so used to seeing a white house the paperbark is a change.
Annette and Paul have been and gone!!! Yep that quick. They came around here for a meal the other night and we had a BBQ on the verandah, they supplied the barby!! We had a good night and it is such a shame they have gone cause they are such a lovely couple to have as friends. They are heading up north to Queensland round Noosa way to settle down. So we have an invitation to visit them for a holiday in the future!! Just got to get Gerard some leave... and someone to look after the dogs and the cats!!!!! Sassy is too old to go to a kennel these days and Milly!!! what can I say, after the last time she went to a kennel she was a basket case and still has not recovered!!!! The cats would be fine though. Anyway that will be later next year I gather who knows when. The next day I had some beautiful flowers given to me, they are just gorgeous and a white Christmas type lilly was amongst them. The perfume is amazing, it embraces me every time I walk through the house. Just beautiful. They are still looking so good after a few days and another bud is getting ready to open so the perfume and memory of you both will still be around for a long time!!!!
Hey while in Bairnsdale on Thursday I found a BBQ. It is the electric type, so no hassles with gas bottles etc. an oval shape and big enough for what we want. Has a hood too so can cook roasts etc in it too!! Yep I know I have just had a new kitchen put in but hey just gotta have a bbq too!!! Our Boxing Day Christmas Day Christmas dinner may be on the BBQ this year who knows!!!!
oops head up can see a pelican swimming in the water and can hear the swans all calling to each other. The wind has died down a bit and the swallows are back again. The water is a very dark grey and still choppy.
Things I want to do:...... over the next few days......
Finish the Christmas lights
Tidy the verandah and get rid of some boxes that have odds n ends still in them from the kitchen
Set up the BBQ I am dying to do this!!!
Paint a couple of large concrete pots and hopefully put my newly acquired Papyrus Plant in one of them!
Finish my Christmas newsletter.
Make some Christmas cards not even started or know what I am going to do yet.
Notify change of address seeing it is nearly 12 months since we moved!!!
Finish painting the eaves of the verandah and the bottom few rungs on the outside of the verandah.
Get into the Purple Palace and sort it out.
Load photos onto my Blogs
Save all my photos to discs before something bad happens to the computer
Learn how to save to a disc!!!!!! Hopefully I know how to again thanks to Paul!!!
Plant some stuff in the front garden bed
Get back into some serious walking and exercise
Get back to water aerobics
That is just for starters anyway, wonder how many will get done????? Need good body days for some of these.
Wondered what the noise was!!! It is Sassy she is under the swing snoring away!!! Poor old thing.. That is another problem...
Well I had better get off this machine while I can and get some stuff done and go visit mum and see what things I can get done with her today or what is left of it!! Don't feel like doing much, would love to have a sleep right now but had better not otherwise I will be up till all hours of the morning.
see ya!!
luv Jill
