A Dance And A Shuffle

Still waiting for Alfred.
It seems to have been dancing along the coast, with a bit of a shuffle here and there…
It’s been a bit weird here – lots of sun, but everything seems to be holding its breath.
We sorted out downstairs today. Put things up off the floor, or brought them upstairs. I rearranged the art room a bit more, and put the heavy curtains back up. We’ve filled the bath and various water containers.
The wind has been blowing doors closed, so I thought I’d hold the inner front door open with a doorstop. Forgot how far it was off the floor…

😆

Also decided to bring my plushy things into the lounge, where they watch me read.

And we brought in some statues from the garden – they were there when we moved in, so we don’t tend to remember they’re there. The only one still out is a big wombat, which could be a formidable missile. It seems to be stuck to the rock it’s on, though, and that is planted in the ground.

I thought we’d done most of the preparation in the last couple of days!
I woke up with what felt like a cold, complete with slight temperature. I’m pretty much OK now, but the day felt a bit strange – like a minor fever dream…it was interesting 🙂
Too busy to get this kind of treatment!

😆

So now – we wait.
(again…)

And read lots of books.
❤

Published in: on March 7, 2025 at 10:31 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Waiting For Alfred

Been a bit windy today.
We’ve battened down some hatches, and assessed the pantry contents.
Got some bottled water (but left what we could for others – the shelves were a bit empty).
We have tidied up the yard, and looked at what we would need to do for different scenarios. Went down to Bunnings to look for something to plug up the windows – hopefully we can stop any upstairs floods before they start! Empty plastic boxes in the back sun room for the leaks.
I’ve put the knick-knacky things in the art room into boxes so I can get them shifted quickly if necessary…we’re not panicking, but I am aware that the side and front of the art room are basically glass from floor to ceiling.
So. Here we are. Pretty much as ready for a random cyclone as we can be!

We were still able to go out for a coffee this morning – much enjoyed…

I forgot to take a photo before we started…

😀

Since we’re looking at a fair bit of rain soonish, here’s a sunflower.

If you look closely at the upper petals, you can see that a kind insect has made a little heart for you.
❤

Would you rather while away the hours (well…minutes) watching talent show auditions?
Here are some that showcase the amazing things people can do.

Warning – contains extreme sword swallowing (third segment).

If you prefer seeing what people are capable of creating if they let their imaginations roam…

Enjoy.
Stay safe.
And remember –
if the power goes out, that’s just a sign that you should be reading a book!
🙂

Published in: on March 5, 2025 at 11:41 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Bimbling

Another week of pottering about, getting stuff done, interspersed with slightly faster pottering…
I have another couple of paintings to do, and I know I will probably enjoy doing them once I’ve started (properly). The trick is getting to the starting point.
At times like these, I just have to plod on, next step forward. I divide things up into doable steps…then read a bit. Make a cup of coffee. Rearrange some knick-knacks 😀
Still – the preliminary sketches are done, and transferred to the canvases.

It’s fun to create, and something I could do more of.
In an upside down world, where the craven castigate the brave, it helps to still have the bright spots and the ability to at least make things in my small sphere better.
Also – cartoon cats smiling down on me.

Or if you prefer sound – the music of a heartbeat ❤

Or raindrops in a storm…

Rain or shine.
Up or down.
May you always see (and be) the beauty.
❤

Published in: on March 1, 2025 at 10:58 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Nope To The Rope

It’s been a fairly quiet week.
We did go out midweek for a…

😆

Not quite like that.
More coffee based.

Yay!
😀

Apart from that, it’s been mostly a stay at home kind of week.
Home, that was briefly invaded today.

I do not expect to go to the back steps and see this.
And yes – that is our top step just in the photo.
My Babe managed to get it to go back downstairs and out of our yard (at least, we think so…)
It did make its way further up the stairs and into our sunroom.
A (little) bit of a panic ensued – for us and the snake, which was probably terrified and glad to be shot of us.
We think it was most likely to be harmless (a green tree snake? It was greener than it looks there).
Still not the most welcome visitor to our house.

Well, we are de-snaked.
Although I still check out the floor when I go to the sunroom.

It’s late.

Good night!
❤

Published in: on February 21, 2025 at 11:51 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Dried And Done

Just sent in another assessment!
It’s due tomorrow, so I’m cutting it a bit fine.
Took me ages to decide what to do for my pieces – decided in the end to do two fairly simple watercolours. Which meant waiting between colours for the paint to dry – I didn’t want the shapes to blur.
It would also have helped if I’d checked that the pen I used for outlining was waterproof.
Something to think about next time 😆

I also pared down the lovely bouquet from my birthday.

The bigger roses just wilted and died, except for that yellow one at the back. I’m waiting to see if it lasts.
The miniatures generally seem to dry well, so I’ll keep them in this little bud vase.

What to do with my suddenly expanded free time this evening?
Obviously, listen to randomly recommended YouTube clips!

I don’t overdose on news, but I like to be aware of what’s going on.
This seems like it’s still relevant…

Published in: on February 13, 2025 at 10:50 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Rhapsody In Time

Look what I was doing this arvo! 😀


We haven’t really used the TV, or the DVD player, for a while. The TV has served as a handy support for a small quilted artwork, but otherwise has just…sat there.
My beautiful boys have heard me saying that I wanted to watch the more recent Doctor Who episodes (they’ve been on the Disney channel, which we don’t have), so they clubbed together to get me the 60th anniversary specials for my birthday.
In Blu-ray.
I (didn’t) have a blu-ray player, so they tried to find a DVD set for me. Nope. Nothing available.

What to do?
Obviously – buy me a blu-ray player.
Which they did! ❤

My Babe set it up today, and I decided to watch just one episode.
…three episodes later 😆 I had caught up a bit with The Doctor(/Donna), and will be keeping an eye out for the most recent series.
I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon!
😀

(also – because it just came out today 🙂 )

Published in: on February 8, 2025 at 9:28 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Once More Round The Sun

Another year older…

I have had such a lovely day!
From not being able to venture far from my door these last few years, to rambling round the second hand book and charity shops of suburban Brisbane! 🙂
Bit tired now, though.

We started out in Paddington, in a charity shop I’ve been to before.

A nice, leafy part of the suburb.
One of the things I like about this place is that they have a big section outside with free books – yay!

The CDs were from inside, so, not free (but just $1 each), and the C.S.Lewis trilogy at the top was from Koorong – marked down drastically to $10 because of the “tear” on the front cover. Yes – that tiny flap on the top right… All the others were free, and included books from three series that I collect 😀

From there we went to check out The Cupboard Under The Stage, which is inside an antiques shop, presumably in a building that used to be a theatre.

It was very blue.

…and theatrical.

No books for me, but I was glad to have seen it.

From there, we wandered across to West End.
Looked around, didn’t buy anything.
Saw a mural, hidden round the back of a shop, and peeling a bit.


We had morning tea at Hope Street Cafe.

Pretty 🙂
I only had a taste, though.

I had a hot chocolate with cardamom and rosewater syrup.
It was…interesting. A bit coconut-y, for some reason. But nice.

The greenery made lovely shadows on the wall.

I enjoyed being out and about.
I also enjoyed coming home and having a cup of tea!

Apart from my books, I picked up some lovely things, and my Mum gave me some more.

The perfume bottle has dragonflies around it.

The jingly lavender-scented bird is guarding some of my books.

As is the happy little mermaid.

And the tiny unicorn (with the broken horn 😦 ) has made its home at the end of a rainbow.

❤

All of this, and a beautiful bouquet from church 🙂

This getting older’s not so bad!

Published in: on February 4, 2025 at 11:20 pm  Leave a Comment  
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These Streets

What’s happening in the higher echelons of the world?
There’s a lot going on, in various ways.
Sometimes you can think that the world is spinning in the wrong direction…

I don’t have the ear of anyone on Earth who can change things to any great extent.
I do have the ear of Someone Who is listening (as does anyone who wants to pray…)
As for my role in the world – here’s a clue.

(also good to read in context)

So, I can’t storm the parliaments.
I can pay attention, as I walk through the streets of my town.
Help when I can.
Pray when I can’t.

And continue to notice beauty – like the sunset the other night.

The street gardens.

Flora and fauna! 🙂

There’s always the possibility of surprise.

…and, just because I enjoyed this –

You never know what your streets might hold.
❤

Published in: on February 1, 2025 at 8:51 pm  Leave a Comment  
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In The Waiting Room

It’s hard to believe that January’s almost over.
I have been moving into the schedules for the year, but it’s been hard to get a good rhythm going. Some commitments haven’t quite started yet, so when they do, that will help to get the week sorted.

I had decided to get some online study done yesterday (Monday – it was a public holiday here).
I did the washing, sorted the dry things, and then…
creeping pain, and derailment of the day.
I get random bouts of pain, and these days I tend to just breathe through and move on. The last time I mentioned it at the doctors’ surgery, they told me off for not going to the hospital to get checked, so I decided that the “next time” I would.
Yesterday was the “next time”…

No point in anyone else having to sit around with me, and my Babe had a busy day set up, so I got him to drop me off at A&E.
Not as busy as it can be. I was seen fairly quickly, at least for the initial checks. Got a cannula put in, in case it was needed later, and a ECG. I wasn’t expecting anything major to be found, and it wasn’t in the end, but there were various tests to be done just in case 🙂
Spent the next hours sitting in the main waiting room, with the dots from the ECG sticking in various places, and a cannula that hurt when I moved my hand too much.
In some ways, it seemed like all the world paraded past.
Accidents, illnesses. People at their lowest ebb. A few children, who thankfully seemed to be not too sick/hurt (and were, on the whole, quieter and better behaved than some of the adults).
All up, I think I was there for around 8ish hours. Mostly waiting.
There were two calls for security while I was there, and also two police escorts with patients in tow.
Mostly we just sat and snoozed, uncomfortably, in the seats.
Still – when you’re in A&E, it’s pretty much a good thing when you’re deemed low priority! 😀

Eventually I made it back behind the scenes.
Got follow up tests, was finally pronounced “good to go”, and made my way out to the fresh air – yay!

FREEDOM!

Also, there’s a nice little garden-y sort of area down the bottom of the hospital where you can wait to be picked up.

One thing about these episodes is that I can tend to be quite tired for a day or two afterwards, and I was pretty tired by then. I also hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, and only half a cup of water.
We picked up some food on the way home, from the only place that seemed to be open by then.
So, I didn’t get to do the writing I had planned to do yesterday.
But I did get to have a lovely parmi and chips, and a big cup of strong, milky tea to settle in back home again.
❤

Published in: on January 29, 2025 at 12:15 am  Leave a Comment  

The Good, The Cute, And The Funny…

After briefly wondering at the state of the world yesterday, I thought I’d seek out some good things today.
The funny and cute just seemed to tag along…

A cup of coffee – always a good start to the day!

A big slice of cheesecake.

Not mine.
But I did get one of the freckles!
🙂

Admired the painterly feel of the shadows from the greenery in the cafe.

Also, the sun shining through the bottle, like a little piece of fire.

I started a book by Richard Osman – the first in a new series.

When I start a book, I tend to check the back for authors’ notes and acknowledgements. You often find explanations or research if the book has historical elements, and I like to read those first so the end of the story is the end of the book for me.
So, it was a surprise to read this.

Thanks, Richard.

All the doings of the day washed down with a creaming soda flavoured kombucha.

Such a pretty colour 🙂

I have been whiling away the evening watching auditions from talent shows.
Some can be quite bad. Some good. Or funny. And some both touching and amazing.

And then – something so cute, you just Can’t Stand It.

I don’t think I could stop smiling even if I tried.
❤

Published in: on January 22, 2025 at 11:27 pm  Leave a Comment  
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