Rosellas and Sunflowers

The parrots have been enjoying our sunflowers- the flowers are all gone and now the rosella are eating the seeds. It is lovely to watch them hanging upside down and eating away!

I Am Worried They May Not Let Me Back in the Country

Bill and I are heading off to New Zealand very soon, but I am a bit worried he is trying to tell me something. He sent me a copy of the following article:

Husband puts his wife on terrorist watch list
James Langton

Last Updated: Feb 5, 2011


An immigration officer who wanted to get rid of his wife added her name to a terrorist watch list to prevent her from flying home.

The man illegally accessed government databases in the United Kingdom to list his spouse as someone whose presence in the country was "not conducive to the public good".

As a result the woman was blocked from entering the UK for three years after leaving to visit her family in Pakistan.

When the husband applied for promotion, a routine security check on his family revealed the deception.

A spokesman for Britain's Home Office said the officer had been sacked for "gross misconduct".



So if you don't see me in a few weeks please look into my disappearance and don't be fobbed off my Bill telling you I decided to extend my holiday!

Tuggeranong Dry Stone Wall

On our walk we also passed a dry stone wall. It was built between 1867 and 1875 and marked the boundary between two of the large properties in the area. It is quite a piece of workmanship when you look at how stable it is and how long it has been there.

Flowers and Blackberries

Along the way there were lots of blackberry bushes so we had plenty of stops to refuel! We also saw quite a few flowers along the way.

Pine Island to Red Rock Gorge

Bill and I continued our walking training today, this morning we walked from Pine Island to Red Rock Gorge, about 16km in total. It was a lovely walk, along the river, up into the hills a bit and back down towards the river. Saw quite a few little wild flowers, picked lots of blackberries, rocked hopped across the creek. got scared by a fish trying to jump upstream as I was walking across the creek. It was a lovely walk and so close to home.

We were supposed to be flying in to Christchurch and staying overnight in the centre of the city before heading up to Picton but due to the earthquake we had to change our plans, now flying into Wellington and then across to Picton.

The Day after the Party!

We had a lovely breakfast the following morning and caught up with Bill's Aunt Thela, who is now 88 and very fit and spritley. It was a lovely weekend, even if Sydney weather was hot and humid.

Sydney Habour Cruise - 21st Birthday

We went up to Sydney last weekend for Christopher's 21st. He is the son of Bill's cousin Jocelyn, but we lived near them when we were in Sydney and the kids are just like cousins, so we call him our nephew. We had a lovely time cruising on Sydney Harbour. It was nice to go away all together as a family. It does not happen very often these days.

Lachlan went out with Chris and his mates afterwards, they were going to the casino. They lined up for a poker table, then down to find out it was going to be much more than they were lead to be live, so canned that idea! They had a good time catching up!

Spaghetti Squash

I had never heard of spaghetti squash till I went to Europe two years ago and had it at my sister in law's home in Vienna. We loved it! Discovered it was available in Australia, so this year (or late last year) I planted some in garden and just the other day I picked one, emailed my sister in law for instructions then cooked in by cutting in half, removing the seeds, placing upside down on a foil baking tray, cooking for 45mins in a 180 degree oven. Then used a fork to scrape the insides and they go all spaghetti like. Add a bit of butter, salt and pepper and eat- very simple but yummy and even better both my teenagers liked it- another vegetable to add to the list. Will definitely plant more later this year!

Loganberry Jam

I picked loganberries late last year and stored some in my freezer- finallly got around to making some jam, my first attempt at jam and I must say I was very pleased with the outcome!

Lachlan's Workshop Continued!

Lachlan will be entitled to Frequent Flyer Points at Bunnings very soon! He is becoming a regular visitor- he has come out of his computer cave and is setting up his man shed!
From the photos you can see he has been setting out his tools- how I wish his father and sister would be so organized! He made his additional work bench with a friend of ours and is now all set for projects- he just needs ideas! Well I have put him to work, he has mounted a hose on the wall for me ( I did have to provide $10 to purchase the appropriate drill bit!) Then he made me a little stand to put the TV on in the kitchen, which gives me a whole lot more bench space- I have to paint the edges to finish it off, but he is proving very useful! What can I think of now!!!!!!

CPR Refresher Course

We did a refresher CPR course at work on Friday- to be honest I wasn't particularly looking forward to it, but I came away really pleased I had gone. We went over the basics of CPR again, it has changed since I last did one back in the 80's so it was good to update my knowledge. They also demonstrated the AED machines- defibrillator's, that are now in the shopping centres and different places, so would have the confidence to use one of those if I had to. I now have a face mask to carry around on my keys if I ever have to perform "rescue breathing".

I Think We Need to Eat Potatoes!

It will be mashed potatoes, potato salad, potato wedges, potato anything at our house for the coming weeks. This is just the harvest from a couple of the plants around the garden that Bill dug up yesterday! We have finished the zucchini run, though a did plant another couple of plants hoping to get some more plants before the season ends, but for now it is time for the potato to shine!

Movies with my Son

I will probably get in trouble for writing this in my blog, but I am not sure that Lachlan reads my blog so I might be safe. I wanted to go and see the movie - The Kings Speech- as a number of friends had commented on how good a movie it was. I asked Lachlan if he wanted to come and see it with me, my shout- and he actually agreed to be seen in public with his mother and come to the movies with me! It was a good movie and we really enjoyed it and it was nice to go to the movies with my son!

Lachlan is studying psychology and linguistics at ANU. Someone asked him the other day if he wanted to be a psychologist and he said not really, when asked what he wanted to to do with his studies, he wasn't sure but he did mention that a while back I had mentioned speech therapy to him and that had obviously registered with him- so it is nice to know that sometimes what you say does register!

Murrumbidgee Walk

Bill and I commenced our training for our walking holiday in New Zealand next month when we walk the Queen Charlotte Track. We walked into Tuggeranong via Pt Hut along the Murrumbidgee to Pine Island. It was a lovely walk, lots of water in the river and the sound of the river rushing by. We then headed into Tuggeranong and had a rest at a coffee shop- that hot chocolate sure tasted good! We then walked back to Gordon via the back of Bonython, where there were some lovely views of the Brindabella's- a 16km walk in total! A pleasant way to spend the morning.

Sunflowers

We planted some sunflowers in our garden this year and they are looking good! We always thought they followed the sun and wondered why ours didn't. Lachlan did some research and found out it is only while they are young and still growing, after a certain stage the stop doing it! There is your fact for the day!

The Lindt Cafe

One of the more onerous tasks Amy and I had to do was to take Grandma to the Lindt Cafe at Chadstone Shopping Centre. Chadstone is a huge shopping centre, so we recruited Arlene, my sister in law, and Natalie, my niece to help with the task. I think we did a pretty good job of pretending we were enjoying ourselves!

More Party and Family

We all had a great time. Grandma was up to her usual tricks of exaggerating things- I think her motto should be- "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!" Gary was resplendent in his pink shirt, Matthew was just out to party and had a great time playing with Thomas on Uncle Michael's Ipad, and we all enjoyed each others company!