Facebook adventures....!

Facebook
Ahhhhhhh
Facebook!!!!!!!


A place I joined (much to Top's horror)
because it was the only way we could see the family photos and UK daughter was too far away not to see what she was doing.

so friends were, the children, their children, their best friends
(who had haunted our kitchen for years and still called us Mr and Mrs!!)



then slowly over the years I said yes to some local friends and then, yes to some girls I went to school with
(though I would be hard pressed to recognise them if I met them in the street!)

then I liked some of my favourite and close bloggy friends

all going cheerily along...I knew what the Grandkids were up to, often before their parents did!
 I could chat online to UK daughter when she was at work and I couldn't sleep
a place where we could play Scrabble, I could have a Restaurant with my Granddaughter, you know... the kinds of things you do on Facebook....!!!!!

so hey, Facebook was really a grand place to hang out on occasion!

Then I went a wee bit, just a small bit, mad and said I liked a sight I had found
(Don't quite remember where)

Really, really pretty pictures
I looked for a blog......No


I found a home page
but I am not quite sure a home page for what
as my internet keeps cutting out and I can't get the translation




and really the images are just magic...
this is one talented girl

but
and you just knew there was going to be a but, didn't you!!!!!!!

she posts like there is no tomorrow and I can no longer see anything on Facebook but
shabby chic mania

Am I complaining?
I'm not sure....I will wait and see

Pop onto her Facebook page and check them out

all images from shabby chic mania Facebook!!!!!

Not this year....!

outside the rain is now falling gently,
the town is quiet,
the dogs are curled tightly  against the chill
of this extraordinary summer
and the house is murmuring, as old houses do,
in the silence of the night



Tonight is not a night for sleeping
it is a night for remembering

                                                 Grandfather and Granddaughter 

It is for remembering
all the
big and little things that made up my life with Top
the love
for each other...for the children...the grandchildren
and the dogs!
the sharing
the wonderful dreams
the laughter, the tears
the bad jokes
the good jokes
the singing
 the worry about the children,
 the joy of the children
the spirited arguments
(that I nearly always lost!)
the superb meals
 (that I did not cook)
the constant relocations
(good and bad!)

All the little and big things that make living together for 40 years so worthwhile

it's now

AUSTRALIA DAY

and it is his birthday
the first in 41 years that we will not be together

I think I might just give it a miss today


You have a wonderful family day

Surfing the net

Whilst I was away we had three days where it was hot enough for me to go into the water.

 It has to be fairly hot for me to hit the surf, but the taste of salt on my lips the push and pull of the waves and the laughter of the children made it well worth the indignity of sand where you didn't want it, stinging eyes and ear ache!!

Over the last few weeks I have been surfing in a much more comfortable way

I have been surfing your blogs
which is why I asked the question on Sunday!

My absolute new favourite is
Janelle McCulloch's Library of Design
her blog design is absolutely outstanding
(The fact that I can't quite work some of it out is absolutely beside the point!)

 Janelle posts regularly and covers fashion, decorating,

food, photography, books 

and bits about herself and probably lots of other things I just haven't caught up with.

 She is charming and always replies (nicely) to my comments no matter how inane!!!
She is a
  * * * * *
blog and I highly recommend a visit if you are not already there



then I came across
bush belles
"for rural women who want to be informed, inspired and instyle"


If you want to know about the Australian country lifestyle she is doing a great job
there is important info for rural women, fashion
the blog design is attractive and easy to move around all in all a really lovely blog

eye candy, when you really need it

and I am just enjoying reading though I haven't gone too far back yet.
* * * * * 
I am thoroughly enjoying it and again highly recommend that you drop in for a visit and check it for yourself.

do you want more recommendations?
and let me know if you agree with me!

images from Janelle McCulloch and bushbelles (except the first which is from moi!)

Following blogs and the beach.....!!!!!!

After two years of blogging and following I have a problem.



following the blogs of others

When I started most blogs I found were on blogger and I just pressed the little follow button on the top left and the blog would faithfully turn up on my dashboard where I could read and comment to my hearts content.

After going missing in action for over six months I notice there have been some changes.
Many bloggers have swapped to WordPress
Now, if I was following them before, that is fine they still pop up on  my dashboard
but...
if they look exciting and I would like to follow it appears I have to subscribe via email!!!!

This I won't do!

My email here is where I conduct beautiful conversations with you and the one thing that gets me out of bed in the mornings is the chance that there might be a lovely message from you
I do not need to lose that amongst the emailed blogs!

My personal email currently has dozens of unopened emails that I really need to attend to so I don't need more there either

So my conundrum is
do I follow from someone else's blogroll (and not really get to know them!) not follow at all (and thus miss out on what may become a beautiful friendship!)
Now sometimes they do have an RSS feed but this creates another problem...I do not understand RSS feed and every time I try to do this I just get the same blog (1 only) from about 18 months ago from a blog that I no longer wish to follow as she was somewhat offensive!!!
I have also tried copying the URL (?) and adding it to the dashboard only when I do that all of you, my dear band of merry men, disappear (obviously blogger objects strenuously to outside influences!!)
so...

what to do???

and the images you ask? I am just trying to pretend I am still at the beach!!!
first photos taken on my new (old) camera!!!
(I have to work on the lighting thing as it was one of the few sunny days!!!)

How many shoes is too many...?

I went to the big smoke for Christmas and I took
summer and winter clothes 'cause the weather was very strange
I took the leg of ham
I took 3 books to read
and I took 8 pairs of shoes
I was prepared for every eventuality!

unfortunately this pair were not amongst the eight pair


but these were!!

Now it is possible that 8 pairs is slightly excessive for just 3 weeks
and it does seem highly unlikely that I would need any more shoes but I have a small thing about shoes.
You could almost accuse me of having a shoe fetish
My excuse was that the sales were on and I wouldn't be back in the Big Smoke for some months


I would like to say that I was looking for these, but I don't think I would have found them where I was looking

but I think I would love a pair of banana shoe or maybe coffee or Asian or mother/daughter or
toucan or duck or swan or olive oyl shoes and I always wanted to be a blonde!!!

all these wonderful shoes and more can be seen at Kobi Levi's blog here

but instead I went looking for a pair of ballet slipper type in a little shoe shop I knew about
I walked out with a few pair!!!
Then we went to Blue illusion and the white shoes belonged to me
and of course we went to David Jones and who could consider not getting a pair of half boots for winter
after all it is just around the corner...isn't it?

 winter really is just around the corner...really so the lace up walking shoes had to come home too
Do you think arriving with 8 pair and going home three weeks later with 22 pair is just a wee bit more than excessive?

See you at the next shoe  sale!!!!

Is bling still fashionable....?

my glasses, for the last 3 years, have been reasonably 

unobtrusive but they allow me to read the telephone book, the paper,  the latest book

and mostly recognise who is talking to me...but not always!

and then suddenly I couldn't do any of those things!
So off to the optician I went.
Searched the shop and could not find frames that I liked that were also comfortable. Knew I could just have new lenses put in the old frames, but they were still really good for driving and I wanted to have a spare pair.... just in case!

The next day I decided to clear out a drawer, you know the drawer, the one where you put everything that doesn't have a home  and there it all stays until suddenly the drawer doesn't quite close any more!
At the bottom of the drawer I found a pair of sunglasses that my cousin had given me, as she didn't like them and had never worn them. Obviously at the time they hadn't impressed me either and they were her prescription so I probably couldn't see out of them anyway and so they had found their way into my 'where do I put it drawer'!

As I was about to throw them out I realised that they were rather nice to look at, looked good on and were comfortable and most importantly it appeared that the lenses could be removed'
So off to the optometrist I went again

Yes of course I could use these frames they said

and so it was done. I went to pick them up and as they were being fitted the young lass started talking about Judith Leiber glasses and I realised that I would probably never have been able to afford these glasses if they hadn't been given to me

When she told me the pretty bits of glass on the side were Swarovski crystals I knew I wouldn't have been able to afford them..... and they really, really look good on.

Well, that is, until I walk along the street on the sunny side and cause chaos to everyone else going about their business as the sun bounces of those pretty little crystals and practically blinds everyone within two feet!!!!!!

But hey I've got some bling!!

Have you?

For the birds....!

As I sit on the verandah with a hot cup of coffee in one hand and a cold glass of juice in the other I watch

the antics of the two chooks that have taken up residence on the lawn of the unit I am staying in
they are wild and divide their time between here and the golf club opposite.

How they survive the two cats that are also in residence is a mystery but the hunting and fleeing
makes for some hysterical viewing. Mostly the hunting is done by the chooks and the fleeing by the cats!!!!

This beautiful place is on the beach and seems to call to all the local bird life

as the rainbow lorikeets come in the morning for their tit bits

but I am afraid they don't much fancy Special K!!!

The smell of the barbecue didn't take long to tempt the local kookaburra family

as Mum and Dad and the large child kept a close eye on the meat that was cooking;

Those beaks are a bit large to get too close to so I'm afraid I wasn't into the feeding part. The children, who have no fear did that for us!!!

Each morning as I walk along the beach the seagulls keep me company

but once they discover I have run out of titbits they tend to fight among themselves and get very noisy

and cheeky.

as they squabble over the bits of seaweed that they think might contain a breadcrumb or two.

Wishful thinking, on their part, I am afraid!

This was supposed to be about the birds I have been spending time with but I have included this image because
I could!!

UK daughter got a new, very impressive, camera last year and now
I have inherited her old one and it is magic!
Allows me to take photos of the sun hitting the trees at just the right moment!

What birds do you have in your garden?