Jill and Gerard's Seachange

Gerard Having a go!!!

posted by Jill @ 10:01 am 0 comments

Moi!!!!! Flying this big kite!!!!

posted by Jill @ 9:38 am 0 comments

Kate and Matt!!

posted by Jill @ 9:19 am 0 comments

Check this out!!!!! What a laugh!!

posted by Jill @ 9:05 am 0 comments

Kate and Matt's visit

Kate and Matt turned up a day early!!!!!!!! Instead of Wednesday night they arrived Tuesday night. Real surprise once again. Heard a car, but thought it was not for here, and then the front door opened and in walks Kate and Matt. Matt had an RDO owing to him and Kate had a day off owing to her so they decided to use them now. A pleasant surprise.

They decided to stay with us this time and they had bought themselves a HUGE queensize blow up mattress as high as a normal bed!!!!! It blows up with a powerpoint and is so much easier, up in just a few minutes.

We were having a BBQ tea so there was plenty for them to join in.

Milly was pleased to see Kate, but the strong bond was not there, she was just another visitor, but a bit more special.

The cats made themselves scarce once again, Ashley must still remember that day Kate got her and put her in a cage and took her to the vets to be picked up by us the following day and then that awful car trip to here!!!! She did not want to know her. Eventually Rusty did appear for the odd look and Ash popped her head in maybe once.

We went to the Main in Bairnsdale for yet another delicious meal, great pub, the meals are so good and huge!!!! Could not do a great deal as it was so hot. But we managed to do a few things before the heat. Matt bought up his large kite and we had some great wind on Thursday and a bit Friday for flying. Got some mad photos of us. Will post a couple of them. It was great fun, never flown a kite as big. It has the two strings and boy is it strong when the wind catches it...

Matt bought down his petrol remote controlled mini car and had some fun with it, exercising the neighbours dog and making a bit of noise, entertaining the kids, big and little next door as well. Unfortunately he melted the clutch and so his fun was over in two days!!!!

We sat on the verandah and played Phase 10, our usual challenge a couple of times, but it got too hot out there.

We sat inside and watched the tennis and just lazed around a bit. Kate and Matt were lucky enough to get some flat water to paddle in the neighbours kayaks, while I was having my back worked on in Bairnsdale.

Kate and Gerard managed to have a long talk together, hopefully it will now settle Gerard and he can get on with trying to make a life up here without feeling so guilty leaving Kate behind!!!!!

Kate and I also managed to have a bit of a talk, it eased some tension between us which was good, but still a way to go there I think. But it is all good.

Saturday came too quickly and it was time for them to go home. Kate rang when they got home to say they arrived safely and got greeted by thunderstorms. It has been so humid here and hot and wet. Reminds me a bit of the monsoon weather we had when we were in Malaya. Hot and sticky. Thank goodness for air conditioners.

A stamping buddy called in Saturday arvo for a quick visit as she was visiting her mother in law in Bairnsdale for her birthday, great to catch up with her and she was excited to see the purple palace!!!! and can now visualise the whole concept here and understands the end of my emails ""in paradise in Paynesville.""

Barb's Mother in Law lives in a hostel in Bairnsdale and she has invited Mum and I to go and have a look around which is great as it may be the answer for Mum later on.. Hopefully as I don't know what is going to happen with her when she can no longer live in the unit. It all comes down to cost again, this is a government run hostel attached to the Bairnsdale hospital not a private one like the Paynesville one so who knows if there is a difference in it. Will see. I have mentioned to Mum the invite and she is o.k. about going and having a look around which is good.

Living in the unit is not the ideal place for her as she goes into her own shell and does not get out enough except with me!! Which is not good for either of us, she needs to have other company not just me!!!! That is a bridge for later on anyway.

So yesterday was a productive day for me in the Palace only to discover I cannot find any of my tea pot stamps!! Not to worry though.

Last night we watched the tennis here between Roger Federer and Marcos Baghditis or Baggypants as I call him. Good game would have been a real buzz for Marcos to win, but Roger had the upper hand eventually, but Marcos gave him a good workout.

So the tennis is over...... No more visitors for a while......... Off to Melbourne on Sunday til Thursday.............. Milly to the vet today............ Second LEGS get together on Saturday.............. need to get some cards done before I go to Melbourne.............. finish the Deco book for the swap....... find the huntsman in the cats enclosure!!!!!!!!!!!!!! eeeekkkk ooohhhhooohhh... get the outdoor spray working to eliminate some ants as they are bad around the place and that is about it!!!!

So much for nothing to do in paradise???????????????? No way, I will never be bored that is for sure.

Oh yes I also have some info on the gym and pool here so when I get back from Melbourne next week I am going in for an assessment and getting stuck into the toning bit!!!!!!! Try to get rid of the flab as I lose more weight!!!

ta ta!!!!!

posted by Jill @ 8:36 am 0 comments

Too Hot to sleep and when I do..............

Well it is gone 7.30 in the morning, had finally got to sleep last night in the heat and ended up having this awful nightmare. I was trapped in a house with a lion, tiger, panther and leopard all under the bed just waiting for me to move so they could get me!!!!!! Rusty our cat walked under the bed!!! OMG and then Sassy came in, here I am shitting myself with fear for them and I am calling Gerard to come in and he is busy doing his own thing, shaving, cleaning his teeth, watering plants ignoring me. The leopard has come out and I am trying to stop it from getting too close, by pushing its face away from me!!!!! FINALLY I wake up, thank goodness and it is over, don't know what happened to them all as I did not go back to sleep!!!! Got up and here I am sitting on the swing or should I say lounging on the swing. It is amazing what the mind conjures up from events during the day I suppose. The only dramatic thing that happened during the day was one of my nieces had a young cat and it came inside the house and she notices some blood on the floor, when she has a closer look at the cat underneath, it has been ripped open down it's stomach. The vet reckons it has got itself caught on something and has struggled and pulled itself out of the situation and torn itself open. Amazing how it got home. Had to be put down though. So that is the only thing I can think of . Oh yes there was a big cat doco I read on the TV guide! Did not watch it though.

O.K. Maree are you any good at analyzing dreams?????? lol!!!!

So back to the chair.

Close your eyes.................... got them closed????????? well silly you cause you won't be able to read this and visualise it at the same time!!!!!! ha! ha! ha!!!!!

O.K. you can open them to be able to read this then. I will let you.

O.K.

What can I see, feel, hear and smell today from my lounging position?????

The sky is white with a heavy shading of grey over it as I look up through the window, if I look further out over the bushes at say 10 to 12 there are a lot of soft cotton wool clouds over the water with bright areas where the sun is trying to reach them. The swallows are flitting over the bushes in that direction, darting here and there, probably catching insects as they soar and flit about the place, they go in all directions so I gather that is what they are doing. Plenty of mozzies I suppose but not a lot of food in them!! No sign of any boats at the moment have not seen a one!

Looking straight ahead at 12 o'clock, I cannot see much that paperbark tree MUST go!!!!! it is getting too big. At about 5 to 12 I can see over to Raymond Island and in the distance on the water the black mounds are there so many of them. There are so many more swans about than last year.

Oops a magpie has just landed on the roof above me and is talking away, probably telling me that it knows I have the fatty bits of the bacon I had yesterday still in the fridge and it is hungry! Oh around the corner has flown about 8 green lorikeets madly squwarking away as they just miss the corner of the verandah! and then they are gone. A grey and pink galah has just flown past from the bushes also making a racket!!!

Maggies chortling away and flying around chasing the parrots. op here come more of the lorikeets again. They must be flying marathons at the moment around the block.

The Plovers are over on the flat past the bush just minding their own business and not , hey I have just heard a kookaburra laughing over on the island. Does that still mean rain????? It looks like it will rain.

Have already had the willy wagtail around and had his bath and is happily in the distance making his odd noise. He was sharing the bird bath with three rosellas. I wonder if the rosellas are the ones that used to come last year. If they are they have almost lost all of their green feathers and are turning that gorgeous blue and red!!! Just stunning. We have a bush that produces some sort of rough berry and they love it.

Uh there is a pacific gull I think they are called just landed on the street light at 12 o'clock.

I can hear the chug chug, but cannot see it yet oh there it is at 5 past 12!! Just a little boat looks like a fishing boat off to see what luck he has maybe. The willy wagtail is back!! Sounds like he has the wrens with him now. They are such petite little birds and look so cute in the water flitting about and getting so wet. Pink and grey galahs are making some noise and the swallows have increased in numbers now so there must be heaps of insects in the air that I cannot see!!!

The sky is getting darker grey and I can feel a cool breeze just a slight one coming in through the window near me. It is so pleasant to feel some natural cool air. The smoke smell has gone thank goodness and the sky does not seem to be so smoke filled as it has been. Yesterday morning it looked very foggy over the water, but I can see the main land over at ten to twelve.

SSSSSSHHHHHHHHH absolute silence. seagulls flying by heaps of them never seen so many over here. A car engine has started and yep a blow fly just flew by!!!!!

Way out at 10 to 12 between the gaps through the trees I can see a boat cutting through the water, the whiteness of the water at each side as it rushes it way through. Can't see it now.

Sounds like the neighbours around here are starting to move about, a few cars going by. oops silence again. The odd cry from a swan, way over on the island the parakeets must be making such a din!!!!!

up what is that at 10 past twelve???? running along the foreshore?? it is only Jack!!! a little fox terrior and there is its owner I think his name is Eddy. And here comes Ivan!!!! for his morning walk. Hat, sunglasses, little shorts and a long sleeved top!!! He used to get out earlier than this unusual for me to see him. oops duck your head here comes an Ibis now heading for the flat part in the bushes. The swans are making a racket now I suppose Jack is stirring them up.

Well I had better get off this fat bum and do something. I have to take Milly to the vet's this arvo as she is losing her hair by the clumps... If she had chemo I would understand, but it is real bad and she is scratching too. No sign of skin irritation but! Hope it is not an allergy to the bushes and the salt water!!! That may be a big problem then....

Mum is coming for the ride and she is going to keep Milly company as I need to pop into KMart and change these bathroom scales I bought as they are not accurate. One minute I am one kilo heavier and then not so heavy it is silly. How can I get an accurate reading to compete with Machele..

The silence is broken, willy wagtail is back, gee he is noisy and the plovers are not happy. I can hear the little squeaks of the wrens too so they must be in the bird bath I reckon, will have to get up and take a look as I get to and do some work!!!!

Had a terrific time with Kate and Matt here even though it was so hot. Was able to have a bit of a talk with Kate which will be continued at some other point I guess. We are getting along so much better now.

o.k. I am off now, Milly and Sassy have broken the silence barking at a neighbour with her australian bull dog pup. It is so gorgeous about four months old, huge feet real clumsy looking and has black trousers!!!! Well not really but has black legs and look just like trousers!

o.k. rambled on long enough back to the drawing board for this Deco book swap, have to find something related to tea, teapots, tea cups etc. Have some stamps of them but do you think I can find them?????????????????????????? NUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bye

luv Jill xxx

posted by Jill @ 7:43 am 0 comments

Too HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UGH!!!! What an awful day and night we have had!!!!! Temperature in 40's don't like it at all...

Gave the air conditioner a real good go yesterday and last night, the only problem with it is that you have to have it blasting freezing cold air to get any relief in any other part than the loungeroom! It is lovely I admit, but I don't want to be just in the loungeroom!

So the decision is to have another air conditioner installed in our bedroom, facing out to the hall way and that way we can be cool and warm hopefully more efficiently!!

Woke up at 2am in the loungeroom this morning, found that there was a cool breeze about, so opened up all the windows and doors to cool down the house.

Today is better, the cool breeze is wonderful, but the air is filled with the smell of burning and the smoke has drifted to us from the bush fires and has made the area very dull and hazy, like fog over the water. The hill is just visible!!!!

I am going to lock myself in the Palace for the rest of today and the following two days to get some work done.

Kate and Matt will be here on Wednesday night til late Saturday, I am so looking forward to having them here again.

off I go now

bye
luv Jill xxx

posted by Jill @ 12:06 pm 0 comments

WHAT'S THIS????

Can you believe this, it is January and we have March flies buzzing around???? well they are actually rather quiet flies, you don't even know they have landed on you til they "bite" you!!!!! ouch!!!!!!!!!

Sadly I found a dead dragonfly stuck to the front of my car this morning, all mangled!!!! But happily later on I saw an alive one buzzing around the back of our place!!!!

Gladly I am back on track with my weight loss!!!!! So far no chocolate even near this mouth now for two whole weeks, week three here I come. Have lot 4kgs!!!!! Come on dinner Machele!!!!!! But hey there is still this week to go.... Machele may be a dark horse and hit the post in a flash..

I have made a blog of our hard work. BUT it is for our eyes only, to help and encourage us to keep it up. With all the most unflattering pics I could find of ourselves and lots of encouragement to keep up our good work!!!! It has made it fun this way and hopefully our results will show and amaze ourselves with the results.

o.k. I am off now!!!!

posted by Jill @ 12:10 pm 1 comments

Pigheaded Males!!!!!!!

It was so much better here with the temperature all day, got to high 30's compared to Melbourne in the 40's!

We had a lovely coolish breeze most of the day to keep the temp down and did not even think about putting on the air conditioner not once!!! OMG!!!!!!!!! you say???? Jill what is wrong with you???????????? Hey nothing, I did not need it!!!!


BUT!!!!!!!! today is a different matter.

I got up at 8a.m. this morning and Gerard had pulled across the curtains in the lounge and kitchen which was great as it was so warm in the verandah with the sun belting in........ oh for the double glazed windows for a meer $1,000 extra could have made such a difference keeping the sun at bay!!!!! oh well if he complains it would cost heaps and I mean HEAPS more for that... but hey he won't anyway cause he knows what I would say!!!!

I sat on the verandah out of the sun for about 15 minutes I suppose before I gave in and went inside. Trevor next door was loading up his boat with the ESKY, yes the large esky, fishing rods etc so no guesses what he was doing today...

I looked longingly at the water as it was like a sheet of glass once again, but have to let my back settle down again before I even think of venturing out there. That Kayak needs to fall out of the sky pretty soon to satisfy me with my longing passion.

Just need to be able to work out how I am going to get it to the water by myself, even with a wheely trolley, I need to get it onto it and then take it off the trolley and then the next challenge is to get into the kayak!!! whether gracefully or not and then of course the problem of getting out of the kayak when I get back and then putting the kayak on the wheels again to bring it home.


Goodness it looks like I will be on the search again for a man to be handy at call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol!!!!! Well at least they are useful for something!!!!!!!!

Aannyyyy wayyyyy, why my title, I had not expected to make such a hash of it on the male species as I have not got the the real pig headed topic as yet!!

so here goes.

last night was the perfect evening for a long stroll along the waters edge and up to the hill maybe................ yeah right. Gerard was happy to go for a walk. As usual he had to wait for me cause he was not ready when I was so I did not bother putting socks and shoes on til he was ready. Then he complained cause I put on some Aeroguard. Seems to be part of the daily body perfume for legs, arms and face and hair these days, real good odour!!!!! Anyway he as usual says NO!!!! I don't need any.

Well you should have seen him as soon as we stepped out the door. He was literally swarmed by the mozzies and I was not!!! I had such a lovely "short" stroll while Gerard spent the whole time smacking his arms, legs, neck all over himself and could not wait to get back to the house!!!!! WHY??????? cause he is so pig headed about spraying insect repellant onto himself!!!! What is it??? You are not a man if you use that stuff????? Beats me, I know I would prefer to stink of repellant and have a smacking free walk than to be so uncomfortable, irritable, unable to stand still type of walk!!! and cannot wait to get back home.

Anyway, I gather as I have not seen him yet today as he is working he will be covered in lots of itchy bites on his legs, ankles are the worst part, arms etc. While MOI????? nuh not a one!!!!! So I am comfy so I suppose that is all that matters he can scratch all he likes.

Also read the manual for the air conditioner today!!!!! Gerard was supposed to have read it ................. hhhhmmmmmmm

He has set the air con to freezing point I think as it is so cold in the loungeroom you cannot sit in it!!!!! So I have worked out how to be comfy in there and still have cool air coming out into the rest of the house. He is the one who grumbles when the electricity bill comes in and he is the one wasting it all!!!

Anyway I have had my whinge for the day, just ignore me as usual and I will get on with some other stuff now.

Today expected to be about 44 in Melbourne and here very high 30's.

bye for now

luv Jill xxx

posted by Jill @ 11:45 am 1 comments

More sightings

Yesterday the Echidna was crossing up at the end of our street. So rapt to see it, just hope it does not get run over.....

Well Chris and Jim left here this morning about 8am. While standing outside by their car I noticed a movement in the water in the distance and it was some dolphins just lolling about in the water. They were so relaxed without a care in the world. It is such an amazing sight to be so close to them. They were more on our side of the water rather than The Island opposite which was a bonus. It made Chris's day and the end of her stay here with us.

After they left I wanted to go out in the water cause it was rather still and a good paddling time. By the time we got ready the current had started moving. We only took one of the boats out as Gerard did not want to paddle really. I di not want to go out by myself for the first time, so Gerard walked around to the seat to make sure I was o.k.

Well it was a good idea, thanks so much Machele for the boat. BUT it is not such a practical approach to go paddling seriously in it...

I did not want to row backwards in case I hit a branch that could puncture the boat, so I was trying to row in the opposite direction. Boy was it hard and it was amazing how hard the current made it. I felt exhausted and as if I was not in control of the boat. I was glad to see Gerard approaching the seat area. The water at the edge of the banks was all grean and slimy and yuk, but I could not paddle back as it was too hard to row. Gerard ended up losing his thongs in the mud under the water and had to wade out to help me get the boat beside the bank. I had to get out of the boat and walk to the bank. The mud stank something shocking!!!!! Don't know how those swans can fossick in that stuff... Further out about 2 metres from the bank is a lot cleaner and the water is so clear there.

Gerard had to pull me up from the water onto the bank and then he had to walk home with no shoes on!!! While walking back, my back started to play up. In the kayaks when I have been out my back has been great, but there is not the solid support in the blow up as there is in the solid kayak, even though it felt comfy in the blow up as it moulds around your body. So the blow ups are great for just having a paddle around in a small area like out the front of the car park. It is so disappointing as Machele and Tamyka and I were so excited when I opened up the present and found it was a boat!!!!!!

It will not be wasted though as it will be fun just paddling around in the shallows here, honestly Machele it will get used a lot.

Another thing that happened today was that I signed up to a thing on the internet to get access to the births deaths and marriages in the U.K. and the 1861 Census. I have found out Mum's parents dates of birth, marriage and deaths. Her dad was only 66 and her Mum was 70 when they died. 66 it seems so young...

We were in Malaya when her Mum died in 1963 and I remember Mum felt helpless and was upset cause she was so far away from her in England. If I remember correctly she had a clot on or near the brain. As for her dad no one knows as mum had no idea where he was as he left the home and family a long time before that...

posted by Jill @ 1:15 am 0 comments

Would you look at that!!!!

Well on my way home last night after our big day in Bairnsdale and dropping mum home, I was rounding the bend approaching the two spare blocks on my right and McMillan drive on my left and I saw something moving on the road!!!!!! Oh boy it was a young ECHIDNA crossing the road!!! I stopped in the middle of the road to let it cross and was so rapt to see one in the area here. It climbed up onto the nature strip and walked up the pathway at one of the units there on the left!!!! It must be living somewhere near the vacant land that was once the old country club hotel!!!! So pleased to see one here as the one that lived down our end has not been sighted now for two years!!! It is such a shame....

Might have to put up a sign on the road to caution drivers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAUTION....ECHIDNA...CROSSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I went to bed at midnight again and while lying in bed I had the full moon shining in my face through the blinds, what a way to drift off to sleep!!!! All that strong wind we had, had blown the clouds away at long last.

This morning was so different to yesterday morning, we have bright sunshine a little breeze and the water has an amazing glint to it.

I have had my walk to the hill with Millie in tow, it was as exhiliarating as ever, it is like you are in your own world, especially on top of the hill overlooking the canal and the lakes. It is a wonderful way to start the day!!!!! I have put in a picture of the hill so you can see how steep it is, not too steep but it is enough for me at the moment!!! I will have to go back later in the day as I did not make it there yesterday!!

Have found the most beautiful bullrushes growing in the wet bog where the frogs are living at the foot of the hill, so far they are surviving the area which got cut in half by the developers. They just don't get it!!!

What do I see and hear from my "office" chair????? The water looks like crystals shimmering away, it is just lovely. No birds at the moment, we have had our usual visit from the little fairy wrens twittering and flitting about and having their usual bath in the bird bath. There are still two males, so bright blue and their flock of females with them. They are gorgeous to see in their own little world. They come around each morning now and evening.

There is only the slightest of breeze here, the tall grasses are cream in colour across from the grassy area on the side here with heaps of seeds in them ready to burst out and plant some more. It is a worry with snakes over there, getting too overgrown. A pigeon/dove is calling out and hey there are a pair of swallows darting around. A lone white butterfly is darting about in the bushes as a couple of maggies swooop by.

Oh here come some dutch or german people I am not sure chatting away in their language, they look like tourists!!!!! He has his video camera over his shoulder!!!

Gerard has just told me it is expected to be 41degreesCel. on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In Melbourne that is, so it will be hot here too.... I know where I will be that day!!! Shut away in the palace with the air conditioner on, thank goodness I have it in there for working in. Such a wonderful thing to keep cool. Hate it too hot and that is hot... Would melt all the snow very quickly over there in England!!!!

The pigeon has someone answering its calls now from one side of the house over to the other!!!! Wonder what they say???? """""are you there?????'''''''''''''''' """""i am here""""" Maybe who knows, the imagination could go wild... but will stop listening to them....


Goodness do I prattle on??????????????

Any way I will post these pics now and leave you to it for the day. Want to get into the palace to look for some teapot stamps as my first book here for the swap is themed teapots!!!! I know I have a couple somewhere in those many blue drawers. Will take a while to go through them though.

o.k. talk again soon

posted by Jill @ 9:21 am 0 comments

Well here I am!!

Hey guess where I am at the moment?????? Can't guess?????? Oh sure you can..... I'll give you a hint!! It is relaxing............... No???? oh o.k. I will tell you..............



I am on the swing on our verandah with the laptop on my lap!! What a funny place to have a lap top!!!! Yep I am in one of those moods what ever they are!!! I went to bed early last night, well midnight instead of 2am which has been the norm.. Woike up at around 6 and needed a wee desperately and that was the end of my sleeping time. Have been drinking HUGE amounts of water these past days, well LITRES then, sound better? Gerard put up a new bottle of 19 litres on Thursday and I had finished it byMonday.. Have been so dry lately, bit scary, but maybe I am compensating for not eating any chocolate!!! Tomorrow it will be TWO WEEKS!!!!!!! can you believe it???????????????? No chocolate at all, nothing,, nothing chocolate flavoured, zilch absolutely nothing, oh I tell a lie I forgot I had two little squares of Laxettes!!!! if you call that chocolate, it was more like a thick paste of yuk when chewed up!!! So really I don't think that counts do you??? I am amazed at how the switch turned off once Machele challenged me to losing the 5kgs!!!! Have been so good!!! Back on track at long last. Anyway..............

The day is so different or should I say the morning compared to yesterday. Yesterday it was so hot in the verandah you could not sit out there for too long as the sun belting in and the heat even with the windows on was too much, no wind at all.

Well this morning it is as windy as all, grey sky, the water is dark grey and wery choppy, the swans cannot keep balance or stay in one spot it is so strong!!! Have not seen any boats at all going out as yet..

I ended up taking the dogs out for their morning walk to the waters edge and back, so Gerard could have a lie in for a change. He has had to get up early for a while now withPat the painter coming around. Now that he isn't, Gerard maybe can relax bit!

If I lean forward a bit I can see blue sky creeping along , but the billowy clouds are winning the race, they seem to be moving so quickly.

Chris and Jim are up and about, Jim is always up early cause he does a paper run back in Melbourne.

People are at it already mowing the grass at 8am.. They seem to go to bed early around here, after 5pm when the shops shut except for the supermarkets it is as if the whole town goes to bed!!!! Takes a bit of getting used to, by 7pm the two supermarkets are shut and by 9pm the one and only petrol station shuts. I suppose that does not worry me anymore cause I am not needing chocolates and ice creams any more!!!! lol!!!!

What does today bring???? Well silly me mentioned going to water aerobics this morning and invited Chris along, now I cannot be bothered!!! I have the Osteo path at lunch time in Bairnsdale and Mum has an eye appointment with the eye specialist at 2.30 so the day is gone. The eye bloke is usually 2 hours behind and wastes so much time!!!! Oh well maybe I should take the lap top with me and potter on!!!!

Huh the clouds won, all the blue sky has gone!!! Will check the weather for today not looking promising, but who knows.

At least we have had a couple of good downpours these past two days, will get the grass growing again at Annette and Pauls I hope, It looks very sad at the moment!!!

Oh well I suppose I had better toodle off and get something done this morning before I get busy...

see ya!!

posted by Jill @ 7:53 am 1 comments

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

Can you believe it????????

We have been living in Paynesville now for 12 months and 2 days!!!!!!

Where has the time gone??????

I am so happy here, it feels well and truly like "HOME", the renovations done, the house painted completely, it is like living in a new house!!!! Just love it..... I will have to be carried out of here on a stretcher!!!!!! Not going anywhere now....

Just thought I would let you know how the time has flown by!!!!

posted by Jill @ 12:57 pm 0 comments

Old Timers Disease!!

Huh look what happens when you get well past 50!!! You start repeating yourself. Sorry about that, but these things happen. Hope it does not turn you off reading the rest of my Blogs!! Ha! Ha!

posted by Jill @ 12:45 pm 0 comments

Another warm one.

Hi there,

Well it is another warm morning and I have decided to shut the curtains this time to see what happens in the house, heat wise.

Chris and Jim arrived yesterday afternoon and were gobsmacked at the way the house has changed. They stayed here for a week about 5 years ago!!! They just could not stop mentioning how great it looked. The kitchen really impressed Chris! The painting outside is finished for now and the whole outside of the house has changed dramatically!

Am working on posting the before and after photos but it is very time consuming so be patient with me I will get there. If you want to see our stamping group sitting on the verandah just click on the LEGS blog on the right and you can get an idea!!

Machele has challenged me!!!! To encourage us both to lose some weight!!! Oh No!!! not down that road again. Oh yes I am!!!! Hope I don't bore you!!!!

Anyway she has challenged me to the first of us to lose 5kgs takes the other one out for a spiffy meal!!!! We also give each other challenges for the day or week.

I am going to do a blog I think on this I think. It will be interesting for us if not you to see how we go. Anyway my challenge this week it to walk to the "hill" and back every day and hers is to walk around the block at work!!

You will have to look at the Blog for comments etc if you are interested!!!!

Anyway I am supposed to be in the Palace today doing some work cause the boys from Aero are doing a trade fair this week and card orders are sure to appear before I have got any stock in hand. So two definite days this week of cards!

Chris and Jim have gone to Lakes Entrance today for a drive and Gerard is in Bairnsdale. So it is noew 12.30 need to get to it.

Oh by the way, looked out the loungeroom window last night in the dark and the moon was simply stunning, full and so bright, stood up from my chair and looked out to the water, ohhh it was so shimmery breathtaking. I was very paradoid in Rowville and here when we first moved in to have the curtains shut by dark, but since we have had the renovations done, I have gotten over that and this is only the second time the curtains have been shut and it is daytime!!!!! Boy all these full moons I have missed out on!!!

We have new Ibis coming around. Why do I know they are new???? Well they are so white!!!!! So they must be the new batch for the year. Will post a pic on the swans blog, just click on it at the right to see them.

Was lucky enough, (well I think so) to pick up a feather from the Ibis, it has a great pattern on it. White with black swirls!!

Next problem: What to have for tea!!!!! Electric BBQ is wonderful, similar looking to yours Annette and Paul, oval shape, just love it!! Could be the thing for tonight I reckon. Will go see what is in the freezer.

o.k. bye for now, sorry I have not been in touch much, have been kept busy and not much time to BLOG!!! or write, but will soon I hope. How are you Jane???

posted by Jill @ 12:39 pm 0 comments

Been a hotty today!

It seems such a long time since I have written, thought I'd let you look at some pics for a while. Today was another warm one, but I was in the Palace all day and had the air con so did not notice it, I even had to turn off the air con for a while cause it got too cool.

Well it is now nine o'clock at night, the sun has gone and is almost completely dark can still see black clouds catching up with the white ones, the breeze is lovely now and there is a cricket calling, there is a whitling sound down by the jetties where the wind is going through something and the odd ting ting where a metal bit on the strings for the sails is hitting the tall pole is it the mast? You can tell I don't know much about boating can't you.

A couple of Plovers have started screeching in the distance. The wind is dying down and there is the pit pat of rain as it is trying to escape the clouds! As I ouch a mozzie, lean back here in the chair with my feet up you can hear the wind coming from different directions, going away and then rolling up the car park again, now there is absolute silence except for the tapping of the keys with my nails, damn must cut them, now the wind is on the other side of the house. They have forecast rain, but it does not look promising.. Have not had a good downpour for some time now and it is getting so dry about the place.

I have not said much about the house lately. Well the outside painting is almost done now, such a change to twelve months ago.... So many compliments on the place which is so nice. It seems like it has been going on forever, well it has I suppose, ever since we moved here really. We decided to paint the pine outside at the verandah as the place did not look finished off, the pine was looking rather dry and now we like it with the paint on, makes the verandah look part of the house. Was a difficult decision like everything else here, but it is done now and so now we will have to paint it all the time! Oh well Gerard will have something to do in his spare time,,,,,

Pat the painter hopes to finish here by Friday, so we will see.....

We have Gerard's sister and hubby, Chris and Jim coming down on Sunday for the week, so won't have much time on the computer I suppose as it will be a bit rude, but I will try and get on as much as I can, I need to start posting pics of the house before and after.

Kate rang the other day as she has got a couple of days off work so she and Matt are coming down to make a long weekend on the Australia day holiday which is so wonderful. They will be staying here with us this time which is even better. We are all looking forward to it. I am glad they like to come down here. Will be able to go out paddling in our blow up boats!!

Kate has been so hard at it since Boxing day with work as she is the Deli manager for six weeks, she has decided she will not do it again as she only gets thirty dollars extra in her pay a week for all that hard work and responsibility, unfortunately being nineteen does not get her more pay whereas the manager who left was earning over two hundred dollars a day compared to Kate's one hundred. Not bad for a nineteen year old anyway. She is exhausted and looking forward to the break down here.

Well it is still trying to rain with not much success at the moment it is black as I gaze out the windows, oh no I tell a lie there is a silouette of the bushes and there are a couple of street lights no four of them out at the car park, the clock has just struck nine thirty, Sassy is lying on the floor beside me fast asleep breathing rather heavily, on the chair on the other side of the table is Gerard and it sounds like he has fallen asleep also! I don't know where Milly is probably under my chair and the cats are out in their cage part taking it all in as they have been locked in the house all day as Pat has been in their area painting and their outdoor area had been moved out from the house for painting. Not happy girls at all.

Goodness I just sneezed and scared the life out of Gerard!

When Machele got back home she had her weigh in at weight watchers and put on 1.8kgs over the Christmas period, so she got onto me to challenge me. The first one to lose 5kgs has to take the other one out to dinner!! defeates the purpose, no not really, so I have accepted the challenge and have not had chocolate for 5 days now. Thursday is weigh in day so we will see how we go. I have almost put on all the weight I lost when I was doing the Bairnsdale Biggest Loser competition which is such a shame as I was feeling much better and could move a lot easier, so now back to almost square one, but I will achieve it this time. Yeah yeah heard it before I know, but it will be different this time... no really it will be.

I went to the doctors today as I had some blood tests done before Christmas and had not been back to the doctors, and guess what as I suspected, my Cholesterol was sky high, 7, the bad stuff was over 4, Soo the doctor has decided I need to go on some tablets seeing Mum has high blood pressure and Dad had had heart attacks, so the risk of me having a stroke or heart attack early is pretty high... Shit.... excuse me, sorry for swearing. So I now have to take medication most likely for the rest of my life to lower the Cholesterol... Great fun eh.... Also was told I need to lose 20kgs!!! Not fair it is always such a struggle, I can't help it if I like all the wrong things especially chocolate. I have removed all the chocolate in the house it is banned and I gave Mum what I had.. Gerard has been told to hide the cream biscuits and take the chocolate out of the house. No lollies either... or mud cake boo hoo. He has recommended me go on the CSIRO wellbeing diet as it is low in carbs and higher in protein which seems to work better for me. Cannot handle all the carbs, they give me terrible heartburn and so tired all the time. I have to do it this time for ever.

Go back at the end of Feb for another blood test and see how the Cholesterol is going.


Huh the wind has gone completely and so has the spits of rain, complete silence except for me and the clock ticking. Gerard has stopped snoring and is awake and Sassy has moved away. Not even any swans making any noises nor the cricket.

Have decided Tuesdays are going to be my work day, so that was today. I got into the Palace at nine this morning and ended up getting so side tracked by getting myself organised for a swap I am involved with at the Stamphappy online group. It is a Deco book, which is a little themed book, I have to make the book, decorate the cover and more pages if I want, make a page for the other nine participants to sign their names, and make sure there is at least 9 pages in the book, the book is then passed onto one of the other nine and they do two pages in it and pass it onto the next person, in the end the book is fully decorated with a them or your choice and then it gets sent back to the owner. As if I have nothing to do eh? It is a bit of fun and I want to get back into the stamping now that the renovations are almost done.

o.k. am going now to talk to Machele see you later on

posted by Jill @ 9:05 pm 0 comments

The cruise on the Lakes!!!

Wow!! Annette and Paul's house from the water!!!!
Pelican breeding colony Just amazing, these birds take three months to reach maturity, they stay here the entire time and are white!!!!

Nice setting and boat!
Tamyka on the 90 mile beach
Tamyka being free!


Machele
The Grange walk past here to get over the dunes ond onto the ninety mile beach.

Just thought I'd pop in some pics of the three of us on the little cruise we did on the "Plover".

posted by Jill @ 12:20 am 0 comments

The Day After New Years Day.....

above
Tamyka was rapt to celebrate her birthday with us! Below is mum in the party mood!


O.K. for some reason I have woken earlier than days gone by!! Did not have as late a night either so that could be the reason.

We had yet another lovely BBQ and once again in the dark by the time we ate it, Mum came over and joined us for tea and we had a tiny birthday celebration for Tamyka as her birthday is on the 4th January and she will be back home.

Our day was much like the other days where in we got up late! 11ish, no energy, felt real lazy and so on, we finally decided we had better get a wiggle on and go down the street, have a hot drink and have some of the dutch pancakes, Tamyka had been craving for since the last time they were here. By this time, shock and horror it is 2.30pm can you believe it?? Well I suppose you can seeing what time we got up! Quickly called into Annette and Pauls to give the plants a water and then scurried off the Mum's to collect her and off we went to the hustle and bustle of Paynesville. Hhmmm reasonably busy by this time. Everyone serving were feeling a bit wiery after the night before! Had our drink and the devine pancakes and did a bit of food shopping and came back here.

Tea was going to be late again, hey what is new, so we had our delicious salmon dip for starters, by the time we actually sat down for tea it was around 9 I suppose, our metabolism will be all up the creek for sure. Anne called over with my new "Dragonfly" purchase she so kindly picked up for me from Orbost It is simply stunning, will have to take a pic for you to see it too.. We had a chocolate mud cake and candles for Tamyka so Anne joined in with us too, the more the merrier.

Tamyka appreciated our little birthday celebration for her as she will be at home with Machele working on the actual day!


We took mum into the bedroom to view our video of the kayak trip in the loungeroom, and she was making us laugh at it all over again cause she was laughing so much too. It is amazing after watching it a couple of times we are still having uncontrolled laughter with this! As she said it probably would not be funny to anyone not knowing us... Which is probably true, but we had another good giggle, know what to do now when I am a bit down!!!

My sister had sent with Mum a DVD of my niece Lauren's wedding, so we sat and watched that too before I took mum home, she was a gorgeous bride..

By this time it was midnight, took Mum home, then had a fiddle sending some photos to Machele for her to keep on her email and then the penny dropped!! Why not burn a CD for her????? DUH!!!! by this time, it was too late, we were both getting quieter by the minute as we were both having a doze between pics, while Tamyka was wide awake out in the loungeroom on the lap top playing her Sims game. About 3am when we went to bed!

We had quite a bit of rain later on in the day and so it gave everything a fairly good dampen, this morning the clouds have come over quite dark in patches, not sure of the forecast, but I don't think they expect too hot days for this week, thank goodness.

My Plan for the rest of the week is????

Get some cards done to send Lesley as she gave me an order!! was planning to send them with Machele, but had no time!!! I wonder why?

Get stuck into the Palace as I have some girls coming up for a viewing!! and a bit of a play day... on Friday...

Maree is coming up on Saturday, it will be great to catch up with her.

Gerard's sister Chris and hubby Jim are coming up for a week on the 15th January.

Machele and Tamyka hope to make it up here for the Australia Day weekend too.

So we have a very busy month ahead!!

Anyway had better get off this bum and do some stuff before the day goes.

Machele and Tamyka are leaving today :( :( :( boo hoo, it has been so much fun having them here, will look forward to their next visit!! So this arvo Mum and I will farewell them as they leave here for Melbourne on the train. And then there were two!!!!!

So I am off to have a shower and wake the troops so they can appreciate yet another different morning view as each day the setting is so different.

o.k. till next time

luv Jill xxx

posted by Jill @ 9:28 am 0 comments

Happy New Year!!!!!!! 2006!!

Thought this was a good time to test the "fireworks" setting on my camera! It was not easy cause I had to hold the camera and then I was not sure where the explosion would be!! Took a video of some of them, but once again the Blog does not like movies!!!!

Hi all, well it is the first day of 2006, nothing has changed, still feeling tired and it is too hot outside... expecting 37degrees celcius!!! I wonder how many dogs in the world are lazing in the loungeroom with the air conditioner blowing on them????? Well I can tell you of two!!! Sassy is flaked out at the other end of the room obviously getting the benefit of the cool air, Milly as usual is lying on the floor between chairs as close as she can get to me!! She is my shadow.

It is 11.30am, I have my feet up, telly on with video hits on, Gerard is at work at the servo and Machele and Tamyka have not appeared from the bedroom as yet! We, us three girls have had a very lazy time here, but hey the weather has been like that. I feel as if I need to go and have a nap again!!

Had a visit from the two Geoffs, it was so good to see them again, they stayed for tea and we "christened" the new BBQ. We have had BBQ's for tea ever since. Have gotten addicted to lamb back straps marinated with of all things "mint sauce" they are so yummy!!!

Just don't know what day it is anymore, every day just rolls into the next one with no set routine at all, even Gerard is upside down as his shifts over the Christmas and New Year period are all over the place..

We ended up at K-Mart and bought another canoe and also looked at Clark Rubber, they have a blow up Kayak which is made of very tuff stuff, so am thinking of maybe buying one of them as it will be a lot lighter for me to carry to the waters edge. Speaking of waters edge, the activity here is amazing. This is our first Christmas here as permanent residents, being so warm, the water has water skiers, jet ski's, swimmers, canoes, kayaks, donut shaped things on the back of boats, paddlers and heaps and heaps of swans. The main street is so busy with activity and people are out sitting on the sand at 10 in the morning all set for the day.

O.K. what did we do for new years eve??? The day before Friday was just soo hot, did nothing at all, yesterday was a few degrees cooler but not much, we had booked to go on a three hour boat trip around the lakes. It was great only us three girls were on the boat, Gerard had to work and mum did not want to go out in the heat. Well it was so great, the owner, Doug was great he took us over to the ninety mile beach, struggled a walk over the sand dune to experience the most awesome beach that went for miles, 93 in fact!! Just stunning. We left there and went to view a Pelican breeding colony!! So amazing, apparently Pelicans take three months from birth to reach adulthood. They are born feather less, then have white feathers and then get their black ones too. You don't see any pelicans apart from the mature ones normaly as they wait for the three months before venturing out. There were hundreds of them!!

We also saw some late nesting swans, and got a glimpse of some eggs as the swan rose to give them some air I suppose.

Learn't some of the rules of boating on the lakes and how the boat knows how deep the water is below it with a screen also saw where we were heading on another screen and the route we were taking. We boated past our house, amazing from a different view point and back up the new canal. The houses are worth big bucks on the canals, not to mention some of the boats. Could see Annette and Pauls house from the canal also! It was an excellent 3 hours, cool breeze, a bit more of a tan, yes used sun block, took some pics, hope to upload them soon. Can understand the "need" to get on the water, the canoes and kayaks will have to do as the money will not spread that far at all...

As soon as we got home there was a message from Gerard asking me to come and give him a hand at the servo, boy was it busy up there and especially after 7p.m. when the two supermarkets closed, of course there was no one else open except for some cafe's. The things people bought, two minute noodles, toilet paper, dish washing detergent, smokes, sunglasses, cold drinks, potato chips, chocolate, bait and oil!! oh and petrol of course or gas.

There was a constant trail of cars going past the servo heading for the main part of Paynesville obviously getting ready to see the new year in. This year they had fireworks at 9.30pm and midnight. We chose the midnight ones as we did not have our tea til 10pm, have been eating our tea by candlight a lot lately! My feet were exploding with pain, but I managed to get up and go down to the main street to watch the fire works with Machele and Tamyka. We got there about 11.30pm and were surprised to see so many teenagers and just so many people on the whole. Did not know so many people existed. We walked down to where it was all happening and joined in sitting on the embankment to view the fireworks display. Such beautiful explosions in the sky, just fascinating, and to hear the shrieks of the children and adults as they explode. We then called into mums to wish her happy new year as she was still awake. We then went on to see if anyone had their christmas lights on still and found a few of them, we also went to our regular bunny spotting place and yes we saw a few of them, not as many as in the past though. Got back home about 1a.m. and eventually went to bed, after falling asleep in the chair until 4a.m.!!

Well had better go as I have an order of cards I need to do and get Machele to take them to Lesley for me.

posted by Jill @ 11:23 am 1 comments