HELP! I'm lost.

That's what happens when I start reading blogs. I start checking those on my links but then like to read the comments, too. I think, "This comment is interesting. I must check out this person's site". Before I know it, one site has lead to another and another, and I wonder, "How did I get here?" I see so many interesting posts along the way that I just want to keep reading, but I know that I have other things to do and I can't sit here for hours.

Blogs provide such a smorgasboard of interesting delights that I become overwhelmed by the choice. I skip around the world from Hobart to Brisbane, from Florida to Canada, from New Zealand to Scotland, and almost everywhere in between. Then I think of a something that I want to read again but I can't remember where it was or how to get there!

HELP!

Weekend of Celebration

Whilst the nation celebrated the 60th Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific, we celebrated our son's 30th birthday with a surprise party. His girlfriend, Kirby Kid, suggested the party weeks ago and then had the difficult job of arranging it without dropping any hints. It was a total surprise to Russ (or else he's a very good actor!) and was a lovely evening with guests including former schoolfriends and teachers, hockey mates and family friends. Several people travelled long distances, including Tamworth, Melbourne and Brisbane, and his sister, Tanya, flew down from Townsville. As ShellyC, said T. is freezing in Canberra's winter.

Yesterday we 'relaxed' by having a BBQ family breakfast with visitors at 8.30, visiting the Craft Show, and then watching ShellyC and our youngest daughter, Sara, play and win their respective hockey matches. We also played with the grandchildren during the second game.

Hope to have more family activities today before Tanya flies back to Townsville tomorrow. It was lovely to see her after an absence of nearly twenty months.

I Have Decided ...

... that being a mother is real work. We minded the two youngest grandchildren for most of the day. They are a total delight, easy to entertain and so much fun, but I feel like I've really done a day's work. I guess I'm just not used to being at the beck and call of two energetic little ones.

I try to remember my own children when they were that age but for the most part I can't recall the day-to-day things that we did. (I daren't ask them because I'll get some exaggerated story about what we did or didn't do, etc.) I wish I'd taken more photos, kept a diary, taped conversations, etc. All the things that need a bit of forethought and dedication, which weren't high on my list of characteristics. I enjoyed being a mother and looking after the children, so why does my mind refuse to let me relive those days now that I have time to do so?

We must have done some things right though as all four of them turned out to be responsible, happy adults of whom we are very proud and love dearly.

See, I told you it snowed!

Okay, I know it's only a little bit, just enough to make me go out in the cold at 6.30am and take these photos.




 


 

It's Snowing here too!

Those of us who don't normally get snow become quite childlike when it does fall, as it is at the moment. Such a shame that it's dark because I'd love to take some photos. Perhaps it will still be there in the morning (if I get up early enough to see it).

It started with very fine flakes early this evening but Richard scoffed and said that it was just sleet. I told him to tell that to his hockey players at training later in the evening! By the time he came home at 7.30 there was quite a build up on the car and the snow was falling like big white cornflakes. So pretty and quiet.

WINTER! Brrrr.....

In case you missed the weather forecast for tomorrow -

Canberra 8 degrees; Hobart 7 degrees; Melbourne 10 degrees; etc. etc.

Blizzards, storms and snow everywhere.

Hope you can all keep the home fires burning.

Longer Days

Anyone notice that the days are getting longer - not warmer, just longer? A lovely 32mm of rain this week helped keep the gardens moist. Richard has begun tackling the last section of the yard, quite a large area, too. It's an area that has never been developed properly. It was originally to be lawn but with the water situation as it is, there's no chance of that now. We want to plant trees, shrubs, perrenials, maybe a pond as well. Another large area of lawn will be incorporated into the new venture. There could be a few animated discussions in the next few weeks as we already seem to have differing ideas as to how it should look. At this stage we can still laugh about it and say "Well, I'm having this in MY garden, and you can have what you like in YOUR garden." The fact that we are talking about the same piece of ground is a mere detail.

ShellyC and the family will return from Switzerland this weekend. Canberra winter after a Swiss summer will be a bit of a shock.

Lighthouses

Kali posted a verse and photos of the lighthouse she can see from her home. It made me think of the importance of these structures. Several years ago we drove down to Lizard, the southernmost point of England, intending to have a tour through the enormous lighthouse complex there. However, when only a few metres from the lighthouse it had to be closed to visitors as thick fog had suddenly descended and there were several ships passing quite close to the coast. The fog horns were switched on to warn the ships. What an eerie sound they made. Every 20 seconds the deep, throbbing siren sent it's warning message out through the thick black fog. We could just barely make out the dim shapes of four ships passing only a few hundreds yards offshore.

Last year we climbed up the lighthouse at Cape Otway on the coast of Victoria on a very windy day. It must have been quite frightening for the operators of manned lighthouses on very stormy nights years ago.

Am I addicted, or what?

It's 3.30am on a cold Canberra morning and only 12 degrees in the this room. I was lying awake and convinced myself that I needed a drink. So I put on my cosy Ugg boots and my dressing gown, came up to the kitchen and turned on the jug. The water has boiled but I'm still sitting here writing and reading BLOGS. If I'm totally honest, that's the real reason I got up! There are so many earlier blogs from new friends that I haven't yet read, and each time I read a comment, I seem to find another like-minded soul somewhere out there in the world. It's like a pebble in the pond with ever widening ripples enfolding new friends into my world.

Most of these people I will never meet, although I would love to meet the Aussie ones if I venture into their locality, but in many ways I think people are more open in their writing than they may be face-to-face. So I feel that I am really getting to know my ever increasing 'family'.

Now, I'd better go and make that drink before the water gets cold.

The Circle Grows

In recent weeks my circle of web-logging friends has grown to include three more ladies, in three different States. Ladies who appreciate beauty in their surroundings, anticipation in each day, and fulfilment in the simple things in life.

Ms Robyn lives in the magnificent Blue Mountains in NSW.

Kali enjoys the picturesque scenery around Hobart in Tasmania.

Shell lives in sunny Brisbane, Qld.

I hope these ladies don't mind me 'advertising' their pages, but they are a joy to read, and it's such a pleasure to expand the circle, especially geographically.