Happy New Year!!

We’ve had quite a good day today. Lots to eat, a fair bit to drink, an afternoon at the ice rink in the cool followed by an evening in the swimming pool which was *really* warm!! Came in and watched a really wonderful little foreign film on SBS and am quite pleased with the way [...]

The bride wore drag!!

SO… there we were drifting into our seats at the ‘all you can eat’ restaurant after a hot and tiring day walking in the mountains. Not least because it isn’t easy hiking with no soles on your boots… but I’ve covered that before and I digress.
There we are seated at the far end of the [...]

Well, well… all home in one piece!

We are all indeed home in one piece. A couple of possible near misses but nothing serious. However… as usual the ‘unexplainable’ met the unexpected’ and the day produced it’s share of jinx associated events.
For a start I had a few ‘problems’ with my Colorado boots. I bought the boots years ago to use when [...]

A blue day ahead.

Despite me being all bar crippled with my back, all of us are off to the Blue Mountains for the day. The picnic is made… dishes are packed… water is in the bottles… and away we go. I did none of the preparation because last night I finally came down with the cold that’s been [...]

Working on the finances

We’ve sat around this arvo looking at ways to save a few dollars this year. What with one thing and another the bank balance is currently looking a little bare… ok a bit less than bare!
So far we’ve slashed $300 a month off our expenses with more to come. Not as much as we’d like… [...]

Oh… by the way.

In case you were wondering, which I bet you weren’t, the back still hurts.

I like Barbie’s!

Ok I admit I *do* like Barbie’s, but I think I should point out I’m not talking about the diminutive and anatomically challenged variety… more the food and drink oriented type.
Back at the Ice Rink yesterday we met up with some friends who invited us over for a couple of hours R&R for [...]

My back hurts - still.

I wish I could report how much better my back feels and that I’m bouncing around like a teenager again. Well the fat makes me bounce alright, but the pain tends to make it a risky business.
Both sides are hurting so I think it’s clear I have a compression somewhere in the lower back affecting [...]

The Aftermath.

Had a bit of an upset night when the effects of such a major change in my diet came back to bite me. At around 1:30 a.m. my digestive system finally rebelled and indulged in some reverse peristalsis. After two sessions calling Hughie I finally crawled into bed and collapsed until the dog woke me [...]

A trifle is no trifle!

Italian sponge fingers… a half pound of locally made strawberry jam… a quarter of a pint of Armagnac  and Muscat… a pint or two of raspberry jelly (couldn’t be bothered with flavouring my own gelatine)… a pint of custard courtesy of Bird’s… a pint of double cream and some caster sugar… a dozen halved maraschino [...]

On the other hand…

On the other hand maybe I *do* bring the chaos on myself sometimes…. just occasionally of course.
The prime example might be balancing a rather hefty boom box on top of a much smaller bedside clock on Xmas Eve to provide musical accompaniment while packing presents… and then forgetting it’s there when you drift off to [...]

My luvs fude me aye!

So I cooked the pork. I’d ordered a leg… but got a shoulder. Couldn’t complain because they closed for the holidays before I found out… yet again the fickle finger of fate pointed at me and laughed it’s socks off. Wiped it down with the lime and garlic infused olive oil, I poked lots of [...]

And *now* I’m off!

Right. Things to do… places to go… people to see… food to buy… and a snowman to put up!!
Back later!

Chop it off I reckon.

The eldest, eldest daughter from the UK has a nasty looking infection on her leg. I think she was bitten by something a few days ago. Lord knows what took a bite out of here, there are so many nasties over here it could have been anything. Either way the result was a lump… that [...]

Best wishes Phantom!!

The Phantom has come down with the lurgy. This seems to be a virus slowly spreading around the world since it’s affecting us here as well. Colds, flu and the like are all international illnesses now and what hits one country hits all others within days or weeks.
Our infections weren’t helped by the grand-daughter arriving [...]

And so this is Xmas.

After the sojourn to the Ice Rink and saga of the internal squabbling described in the last post, and the fun of finding the pool being wrecked… we finally set out to finish off the shopping and buy ‘little’ stuff.
The first thing we bought was totally inessential… but something we both agreed we wanted. An [...]

Talking of skating…

We’ve had ‘political’ ructions at the Sydney Ice Arena recently.
As said on many occasions, the youngest daughter is a competent little skater and goes to the rink at least three times a week spending three hours or more there each time. It’s a bit of a waste of *my* time since I have to be [...]

Say what you like… it *can’t* all be me!

We went out early to take the youngest to the ice rink for her lesson and to give the coach a small present for Xmas… as you do. We came back to drop her off before setting out to complete the search for presents  and such like.
We’d not been in for two minutes when the [...]

Twas on the Monday morning…

‘Twas on the Monday morning that the poolman came to call… a couple of Mondays ago maybe… anyway the pump wasn’t working properly so they removed it… kept is for days… cleared leaves out of the impeller (they said)… and replaced it in situ. Two days later it stopped again.
I rang, told them the pump [...]

Sporadic posts rule.

Xmas is coming and I’m not getting fat… yet
There’s just too much to do for me to keep blogging as much as usual, so for the next few days there won’t be as much happening in here as usual. Apart from the usual cleaning stuff Xmas is just around the corner and the [...]

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