Krissies Birthday - 28th March

A few photos from Krissies Birthday  -  Lunch at Belles Tearooms
then we partied on at home:

The Search for a Pound Puppy

Now that Easter is behind us,  the search for a dog for Krissie has gone up a level.

For the last few months we have put the word out that we are looking for a pet dog - hoping that someone might know of anyone who can't look after their pet anymore,  maybe moving or going into a nursing home etc.  But, no pets came to us.  Then with Easter approaching and a trip to the east coast planned,  we stopped looking in March.

Once home from the east coast we had three weeks to find a dog before we leave for WA.    So I started ringing the RSPCA's in Launceston and Devonport and the Deloraine Dogs Home.

Deloraine didn't have anything other than a 3 month old puppy.   Devonport had an 8 yr old Jack Russell but they had not done a behaviour test on him yet.   Launceston said they had a little guy called Maxi who was 3 yrs old.
A couple of days later they put a photo of Maxi on the adopt.a.pet website.  He looked a nice little fella.

On the Saturday Krissie and I went to visit him. When we got there someone was out walking him.  We waited for him to come back and when he did, it was raining,  so we tried to get to know him inside and there were lots of other people around, Maxi was very shy and would only look at the lady who had taken him for a walk.   I wish they could have left us alone with him for a while.

Anyway, Krissie was not too sure.  So the next tuesday we went back to see him again.  This time we took him for some walks and he was lovely,  Krissie even had him 'sitting' and 'dancing' on command.  He also seemed very affectionate too.
We decided we would like to adopt him and as he still had some vets visits to go thru, we said we would come back on Saturday to pick him up.

Well, he has totally blended in with Krissie so completely.  He is the most perfect little pet you could ever wish to have.   He is gentle, quiet, affectionate, clean and well behaved.  He is totally awesome.   He sleeps inside with Krissie,  and he has got her out of bed early EVERY SINGLE MORNING and they go for walks,  she is going to get so fit!!   

He is so beautiful, Krissie says she can't imagine her life without him now.

the Month of APRIL - 2010

First there was Easter:

We left home on Good Friday and met up with Danny and Alison Beer at the St.Leonards pub car park.   We drove in convoy out thru Blessington and on to Mathinna via Forestry tracks.

We stopped on a ridge overlooking the east coast hinterland for our lunch.

Then it was on to St.Helens.

We showed Danny and Alison where they were staying at the Sweetwater Villas.  Then we dropped Krissie off at Haylee's place before we settled in to our caravan.

That evening we all headed off to the Bayside Inn for dinner, then afterwards we popped out to Stielglitz to see Mandy Norton who was staying at the railway holiday house.

SATURDAY:   Went to the market and got some goodies to take on a picnic.   Ran into Rosemary Oliver who I used to work with for years when we worked for Australia Post.  They have inherited some land at Lottah and were camping there for Easter!!!
Met up with Danny and  Alison again and we headed off in the direction of Pyengana.  First stop was the St.Columba Falls before heading off to the Pub in the Paddock where we took some photos.   From there it was a short ride to the Holy Cow Cafe at the Pyengana Cheese Company.   The others had some cheese tastings and purchased some cheeses.

Next stop was the Anchor Stampers on the Blue Tier.   Took some more photos in there. Then up the hill further to Poimena, the site of an abandoned town (theres nothing left there now) We stopped and cooked some burgers and pancakes for our lunch at a 'culturally significant site'  No idea why it was culturally significant, perhaps it was once an aboriginal midden,  or maybe it was the site of the original blacksmiths shop?   Anyway, we had a yummy lunch.   Then it was down the hill again and out through Goulds Country and back in the general direction of St.Helens.

Before we got to the top of Long Hill, we took a left turn and ended up on the Ansons Bay Road.  Then we turned off up Reids Road which took us out to the Gardens Road where headed north up to Taylors Beach,   we also popped into Cosy Corner, but being Easter, the place was more packed than the caravan park we were staying in.

Then a quick trip back thru Binalong Bay and up the Dora Point Lookout and back to St.  Helens.

A quick catch up with some of the caravan park residents and it was out to Stieglitz again for a BBQ with Mandy and John Norton.  
Angelina, Joe and Jimmy had arrived at the Hillcrest Caravan park over the road so they joined us for a BBQ.

SUNDAY:
  Happy Easter !  
Picked up Krissie and went over to Hillcrest to have fish and chips with Ange and  Jimi.

Monday:

Took the back roads to come home,  this time thru Mathinna and up to Ringarooma.  Stopped for a picnic at Ledgerwood with Ange and  Joe before we all went our seperate ways to get home,  we took the Bridport option.  Up until then we managed to avoid getting stuck behind boats and caravans,  but once we hit the Bridport Rd we caught up with them all.

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Crazy weekend at Shearwater to celebrate my birthday

ABOVE,  me with Krissie,  birthmum Val, and cousin Colleen who flew down from NSW.

BELOW:   Krissie with Cousin Frances and Cousin John

  

 Krissie and Joanna

<- my sisters,  Denise and Joanna

This is my oldest friend in the world, Guy Marshall.

BELOW:  Me with Joanna,  our cousin Colleen, and Denise

This lot know how to party:  BELOW is my nephew Shaun,  my sister Joanna,  daughter Angelina,  and Joanna's husband Nick providing special effects

Then they went Feral with my helium balloons

 they hijacked my helium balloons and sucked the air out and talked like chipmunks

Krissie had a ball

Kisses from my sister Jo and my girls Angelina and Krissie

Thats Angelina, Jo and Me

Shaun, Jo and Ang, wondering what mayhem they can cause next

Kylie Moore,  gimme gimme moore

Shaun and Nick

Then they went really feral with the party hats  .........

Reginator

Angelina and Joe

THEN They went feral with the Spoons

Hello young child - I am here to inspect your spoons

MMmmmm,  I want to Lick your rusty Spoons,  I want to Caress your rusty spoooons

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They were doing impressions all night long of SALAD FINGERS ........  watch the video below ...

that was taken in the afternoon before the party when I visited Shaun ~ on the phone to Debbie (Guy's wife)   (Thats Debbie below)

We kicked on till 2am in our apartment  ,  I don't know how we didn't get thrown out of the resort.

Then we cooked a hot breakfast in our room for 13 people the next morning

BOOKS I HAVE READ THIS YEAR

I read so many books,  sometimes I forget which ones I have read!
So, this year, I am going to attempt to write down the titles:


Starting 1st January 2010:


I really like biographies:  and some that I have read this year are:


Ray Martin
Lauren Huxley
Wayne Carey
Billy Thorpe
Glen Wheatley


other titles:
GONE  (a mothers 14 year search for kidnapped daughter)
 Norfolk Island (Janelle Patton murder)
Penelope Goes West (Tim Bowdens book about a trip across the Nullarbor to Margaret River WA - we are going there soon)
Nullarbor by Ion Idreiss
MAD SCIENTIST ( book by Rory Jack Thompson)

April 2010 :   I;ve just finished reading 4 books this month

Revenge by Red Symons
Daughter of the Saints
Three Grannies go to Sea.

http://wanderingscribe.blogspot.com/

The most recent:   ABANDONED  by Anya Peters

A shocking tale,  without giving too much away,  she ended up on the streets living out of her car.  One day, in an internet cafe she saw a link to a 'Blog',  she had never heard of blogs before, and quickly investigated and signed up for her own blog where she wrote abotu her homelessness.  Without knowing that this would end up being the key to the end of her homelessness when her story was picked up by someone from the New York Times.  She was encouraged to write a book about the abuse she suffered.

Here is a link to Anya's original blog -  http://wanderingscribe.blogspot.com/


will add more as I read them .

11th March 2010

We spent the recent long weekend at St.Helens.

Peter had been a bit sick last week and had a few days off work.  He had to go to the doctor in Launceston on Friday and then picked me up from work at 3pm,  so we got on the road nice and early before most of the traffic which was good.

There was a bit of rain as we got closer to St.Marys.   Just outside St.Marys we saw the twins on the side of the road picking apples that were growing wild on the side of road!!!   Later that night both Frances and Margaret came over to the caravan to give us some of the apples.  They also had a little box of Aunty Joyces jewellery for me to give to Angelina and Krissie.

When we got the caravan park,  Jack and Rita invited us to their van for drinks and a BBQ.  It turned into a full on party with Norma and Charlie joining in and visits from different ones around the park.

Saturday we went for a drive around to see if there were any garage sales as I was looking for some old books.   The heavy rain overnight must have changed peoples minds about holding a garage sale,  as there were none about.

Later that day we met up with Geoff and Vicki for dinner at the Bayside,  they were just doing a day trip from Launceston, so it was great to catch up with them.

Sunday we pottered around and then had a visit from Frances and Alan with more goodies.   They had some boxes of old books in their garage,  so when I dropped Peter off at the golf course,  I popped into their place and went thru the books,  found a few interesting titles.

After Peters game of golf we went back and made a big batch of fried rice to share with the oldies in the park.   We all got together and contributed food and had a big smorgasbord at Charlie and Norma's.    Later on that evening we went to the camp kitchen to see some musicians playing.  It wasn't our kinda music but it was great to see the oldies having such a great time.

Lots more rain overnight -  Monday morning, it fined up around 11am so we packed up the car and headed back to Launceston.  Went to Kmart to get some new torches for our outback trip and to price a few other bits and pieces.   Then out to Hadspen to collect Krissie who had been staying at Angelina's place.

Busy weekend.

This friday night we are going to catch up with Sally and Fred at Legana for a BBQ tea.   Havent seen them for nearly a year.
Better go and whip up a dessert ready to take over there.

HAPPY ( 1st ) BIRTHDAY to ME

As much as I didn't want it to happen,  I celebrated my milestone birthday this week.   I got heaps of good wishes on facebook and lots of cards in the mail and even some presents!


I love that my sister Sandra sent me a little gift and card in the mail,  the card had on it that she had waited all her life to say happy birthday to me - so it was happy 1st birthday to me.


I'm having a party later this month so it will be great to catch up with everyone then.


I am disappointed that my brother David and cousin Sue will be unable to make it to my party as they are both having operations a few days before the do.   David is having both his carpal tunnels done and Sue has to have a kidney removed.  Hope she will be ok.

WHERE DID FEB GO ?

I must have blinked and missed it ?

The big event in Feb was our sad loss of our beloved Auntie Joyce.

We held her funeral at the Catholic Church at Campbell Town.

Thanks to Judy Gregg and Phyll Ashton and the other ladies from the Church for their singing on the day  (Also to Judy and Phyll for their love and care of our Auntie over the years) I don't know what we would have done without the two of you.

This really has been the end of an era for us.

So..........  where did the rest of Feb go?  hmm,  just work basically.   not a lot else happening.

Auntie Joyce

Feburary started off quietly, I felt like I was finally feeling better after the bug that has plagued me since Christmas.






Work was busy but we were restricted somewhat by the Paypal corporation requesting more information about the business, and then admin having trouble finding the required documentation for them. Took nearly 3 weeks to sort it out. As soon as the restriction was lifted I made work a couple of thousand dollars in the first week. Then the software I use crashed, and I can't install new software.... More restrictions from admin. They have to call contract I.T. Guys to come and re-install any software or download any updates. Still waiting for that to happen. Consequently I had to do a lot of the work at home. That's ok, I can do in minutes on my computer at home what takes hours to do at work, so not quite as frustrating.






On Thursday the 18th of Feb I got a got a call at lunch time to say that Auntie Joy only had a few hours left. She has not been well for a couple of years but the last eight weeks have been awful for her. She was in so much pain and morphine didn't even take the edge of it.






So I quickly drove down to Campbell Town. She was quite out to it with a massive dose of morphine. They were administering morphine via an automatic pump but the dose was not strong enough so they had to give her top up hits every now and then.


When I got there Sue, Mary and Phyllis and John were there but were just about to leave to go home to pick up Michael from the airport as he was flying down from Townsville to see Aunty Joy.


After they left Mrs Marshall called in to say hello. Sister Marjorie popped in to say that Father Mark Freeman (the Vicar General) was on his way up from Hobart to give her the last rites.


Then Judy Gregg called in and we sat with Joycie for a while.






No sooner had Judy left than Fr Mark and Sr Marj arrived. Once Father Mark had gone Sister Marj and I went over to visit Uncle Keith in the nursing home.


I went back and sat with Aunty Joyce again, then Mary arrived with Michael. We had a good old natter, Michael is running as the Greens candidate for Townsville at the next federal election and listening to him talk, I can see how passionate he is about the environment and everything.


I left Mary and Mike there with Auntie Joy while I went down to Zepps to get something to eat. I got a nice takeaway pumpkin soup which was very peppery. Thank goodness I also grabbed a slice of hedgehog slice.






Mary and Mike left around 10.30pm. Joycie had been a bit restless until they gave her some more morphine . I settled down with a pile of magazines and dozed on and off during the night. She was a little restless around 2am then quite settled till about 8am. She was quite awake Friday morning and knew we were all there.






Sister Marj called in around 8.30 and stayed until Mary and Mike arrived.


I had been at the hospital for 18 hours so I left Mary and Mike there and drove home. I called into work on the way and told them I was grabbing whatever needed to be posted then I was going home for the rest of the day.






Peter left straight after work to go up to Arthurs Lake to stay with Peter Rasmussen at his shack.


My car had no headlights so I wasn't able to go anywhere that night.


I ran Sue to see how she got on at the hospital today. She has to have her kidney removed, The good news is that it is not malignant and the bad news is she will not be able to make it to my birthday :-(


As long as she's ok, that's the main thing!






I don't know how I managed it, but I stayed awake until midnight. Just as I was going to bed, Sue rang me to let me know that Auntie Joy had just passed away. Mary was with her.






We had the funeral on Tuesday 23rd. A sad occasion but we had a lovely day.


The service was at 10.30 at Campbell Town.


At the start of the ceremony Frances, Margaret and myself took the symbols up. Angelina and Krissie did the Offertery.


Monica and Phyllis did the prayers of the faithful and Mary and Sue did a lovely job of delivering the eulogy.






We all went to the bowls club where the ladies put on a magnificent lunch. It was great to catch up with the other cousins, Tony from Longford and Paul, Wendy, Jason, Tamara and Matthew and his new wife George. Jason and Tamara also have a new baby Maddison who is now six months old, so it was great to meet her and have lots of cuddles.






We had to leave by 2pm to go back to Launceston as Peter had a dental appointment. Then after that we went over to Jacks place to pick up some stuff he is giving us as he is moving to Melbourne.


What a day!

February

A Weekend of wining and dining.

Saturday:  We went for a drive up to the Great Lake and stopped off at the pub for lunch.  There we met up with friends Jack and Sue.    Of course we had a few extra drinks over dinner with them.   I had chicken and veg soup for entree and some Lasagne for my main.
Peter had sausages eggs and chips.

After we left Miena/Great Lake,  we drove around to Arthurs Lake and just as we were driving down Dolerite Crescent,  Susie and Peter Rasmussen had just arrived at their shack.   We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the sunshine on their deck sipping champagne and nibbling on Jo's homemade shortbread.

Sunday:  A sunny glorious day.  Not too much wind either.   Sue and Jack came up for a BBQ so we were able to eat out on the balcony, which is a rare occurence here as we nearly always get blown off our balcony.   Peter cooked some steak that Jack bought and some chicken kebabs and some flathead on the BBQ and I made a garden salad out of vegies out of our own garden.
We finished off with a cheese platter and slices of watermelon.

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     Some recent Photography Shoots    

My New Website

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A FEW IMAGES FROM A BBQ AT OUR PLACE RECENTLY

OUR BACKYARD

BELOW: MARIAN AND MIHO FLASHING HER HOLLYWOOD SMILE !!

BERYL NOT SURE IF SHOULD HAVE DRANK THAT WHOLE BOTTLE

JAQUIE, DOT. JENNY, DI, TRISH, HEATHER, HELEN

DAVE (our favourite mechanic) And RON (our favourite tasports Pilot)