European Adventure Begins May 2019

After 6 months of planning, Amy and I have left Australian shores and are on our way to Europe . We are spending 2 weeks in Ireland and 2 weeks in France with a stop over in Singapore for three nights. We flew out of Canberra on Thursday night, Canberra to Singapore- nice and easy. We arrived in Singapore about 5:30 am and were quickly and efficiently through Immigration and Customs and after catching a taxi were out our hotel- the Swissotel Merchant Court by 6:30 am. Check in was at 3 3 pm but fortunately they had a room available for us which was so good. Snooze , shower and breakfast and then we went for an explore down to Gardens by the Bay.

Waterfall at the entrance to the Cloud Forest Dome

Some of the amazing trees we saw in both domes

Don't know what these flowers were but they looked lovely

Cool trees

 Amy in Aloe Land

Amy and the $1.50 ice-cream sandwich- they were $1 when Bill and I went in 2012!



Amy enjoying her Singapore Sling

Rest of April

The week before Easter Bill drove over to Adelaide to meet his sisters and clear out his parents house as it has been sold. I should have taken a photo of the hi lux and trailer all loaded up when Bill arrived home. We now have a pile of stuff in the lounge and spare room that we need to sort through and discard or find a place for- not looking forward to that job.

This trailer was full to the brim!

Just some of the stuff in the spare room including two spinning wheels and a 6 boxes of spinning related stuff- Amy mentioned she would like a spinning wheel!

Went for a walk with some friends on Easter Monday from the Botanic Gardens to the Arboretum. Canberra is an amazing city, you are 10 minutes from the city centre but could be out bush miles away. Just loved this amazing tree.

 Lovely view of Lake Burley Griffin from the side of Black Mountain

 Lovely autumn leaves- love this time of year.

Anzac day we made Anzac biscuits

Amy and I gave plasma at the Blood Bank on Friday it was Amy's 10th donation.

April Catch Up

The Macaws have been a bit naughty of late and rather noisy, we figured it might be because they were a bit bored and needed entertainment, so Amy and I went of visiting some of the local St Vinnies stores and checked out the baby toy sections and found some toys that are keeping them entertained. This play gym was a bargain at $5 - they love it and we can keep tying things to it.

The Macaws went to the vet for a check up recently and the vet snapped this photo of these 3 ratbags to put up on their Facebook page- a lovely shot of all three of them.

 Got to catch up with my neice Mia at church the other week, she is looking all grown up these days.

Mia has come home from Ireland 6 months early to start Year 11 here in Canberra and seems to be doing really well.

Amy has been on a cooking spree lately, these were some of the yummy carrot cup cakes she made, she has also been making macaroons, but i didn't get a photo- eaten up too quickly.

 I planted my veggie garden late this year, through in some okra seeds I had and managed to get some- grew them for the birds who love them in their budgie bowls each morning!

Had our Good Friday Easter Picnic at home this year with just the Garcia's. That meant Easter Malamute Luna could join us, We had bacon and egg rolls as per normal, just in our own home. Bill was away in Adelaide so we decided to have Brunch at home, was nice catching up with the Garcia's.

March Catch Up

I have been slack with my blog lately, life has been a bit hectic so here are some photos catching up on life for the past few weeks.

I had a weekend down in Melbourne catching up with mum- she put me to work while I was there. We cleaned out to her pantry- should have taken a before and after shot!

Weeded her courtyard and gave it a good sweep. We also checked out some new stoves at Harvey Norman, got a new cartridge for her printer and had dinner with Mike and Leeanne, Kim and Fil and Natalie so was a nice weekend away catching up with family,

 The next week I was kid sitting , house sitting and dog sitting for a family friend. Fizzy the dog got lots of walks while I was there. Amy came over on the weekend and brought Jack and his pram so Jack and Fizzy had a play date and enjoyed a walk together. 

Fizzy was in bad need of a hair cut so he had a bath the night before and when Amy came over she brought her clippers and gave him a trim. Jack watched on glad it wasn't him for once having a hair cut.

Amy is very pleased with herself has finally managed to get the hang of french braiding her own hair, this was one of her earlier attempts she is getting better each time.

Possibly a future start up- delivering ice coffee to you daughter at work when she has your car!

 Daylight saving has ended, the last few weeks or so it has been rather dark walking the dogs in the morning, here we are setting off at 6am under the street light in the first shot- we need the flashing lights to warn everyone we are coming,

 The swans are a little more cautious  in the early morning light but still come over for their cornflakes

Jack lets us know if we leave him behind on the walk, loves his pram walk in the morning

Late evening walk last weekend down in Merimbula. It had been a cold, wet windy day but we managed a walk around a different side to the lake. I had to go down for church so Bill came with me, always enjoy my time down at Merimbula.

Trees and Balloons

Over the past couple of years we have lost a few large branches from this Black Wattle in the back corner of our yard. The trunk is made up of three solid branches from the ground, one of these came down during a storm in January, we were lucky it came down parallel to our fence. Bill spent a number of weeks cutting it up, having his friend Bruce from work coming over with his chain saw to help, it was taking forever! Lachlan and I figured the rest of the tree needed to come down as it was not looking very solid. Bill had someone at work that did tree trimming on the side, but he decided it was too big a job for him. So Bill and Bruce figured they could hire a cherry picker and do it themselves. I knew that was recipe for disaster so called Trees are Us, got a quote on the Friday which was very reasonable and the following Friday they were came and cut down the tree. In two hours it was cut up, branches mulched and left behind for me to spread and a load of firewood for Bruce to collect! Our fence was still intact along with the neighbours and Bill was in one piece- would not have been if he did the job! These guys were very efficient and a job well done.

Monday morning was a holiday in Canberra so after walking the dogs went for ride into the lake to see if I could spot some of the balloons. It was a lovely morning and I found quite a few, there were lots of people out and about.

The Beagle Balloon was very popular and looked lovely up in the sky and then was tethered for a while.

Long Weekend at Avoca Beach

For probably the last 20 years the Australia Day Weekend has usually been spent in Bright, however this year we broke with tradition and the kids and I went up to Avoca Beach to visit Jos and Steve in their new place up there. Amy hadn't been so she and I drove up on the Friday in our new Hyundai i30 which was very comfortable. Lachlan joined us on the Saturday and we left Bill at home to look after the birds and the dogs. We had a very relaxing time up there but I didn't take many photos!

Friday night we enjoyed a cheese platter on the balcony overlooking the sea while we waited for Chris and Siobhan to arrive from Sydney- you can see it was a tough ask!

Charlie and Chloe are a bit tired after their walk down to the beach.

Saturday was Australia Day- we had a lamb roast on the BBQ- very Australian and very nice!

Chris,  Amy and I went for a walk along the beach one night so Amy at least got to see the beach.

We had a lovely relaxing time, nice to see the kids relaxing and enjoying cousin time, it was a lovely weekend.