Saturday, March 31, 2012

Trespassers be warned.

G'day. While driving through Ulverstone in Tasmania I spotted this sign in the front yard of the local church.

Someone has a great sense of humour !! I guess it says it all.

Hubby and I are off to the beautiful state of South Australia for Easter, leaving next Thursday. We will be in Adelaide (The City of Churches) for five days and are both looking forward to it. It's only a short break and a very long drive, but will be enjoyable. The car club we belong to is having a gathering there and people and their classic cars will be coming from all over Australia. It's a chance to catch up with friends that we don't see very often. We are taking the  Zephyr convertible this time, so it will be a case of the wind in our hair and all that good stuff. The weather is promising to be great and that's all we can ask for.

I hope my non quilting friends will forgive me, but I have just finished my spicy mug mats and I need some help. Does anyone have a good recipe for some sweet smelling spice to add to the homemade sachet to go in the back. These mats have a pillowcase opening in the back, so the sachet can be removed when the mats need washing. I have used Allspice, but it's not doing the job of releasing the fragrance when a hot cuppa is placed on them.I know there are various recipes on the Internet, but I am hoping one of you lovely folk may know a good one.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. My son throughout his younger years was very much captivated with this disaster and because of this I learned  a lot of history about this mighty ship and it's fate. I'm still in awe of it. The incredible loss of life will never be forgotten, history will see to that. Take care. Liz...

Friday, March 30, 2012

An Octopuses garden by the sea.

G'day. Determined to continue going to a weekly meeting of Weight Watchers while on holiday in Tasmania, we stayed at a lovely town called Burnie, which is along the top coast of this beautiful land.The ladies at the WW meeting were very impressed to say the least, that a visitor from the Mainland, should still want to attend a meeting while on holiday and they couldn't have been more friendly or helpful.They even asked hubby to come in and say hello and to please bring our little dog in, so everyone could make a fuss of him.

I asked one of these kind folk what was a good eatery to have a meal at and they told us about a place called Fish Frenzy. So, feeling like fish and chips would do the trick, off we went. The food was delicious, but what really captivated me was watching a young man sitting on the concrete with a computer in front of him and the manhole cover near the octopuses open and he seemed to be  working on something and for the life of us we couldn't figure what he was up to. Time went by, we finished our meal, hubby was drinking the last dregs of the beer in his glass, when the young man packed up the computer, put the manhole cover back in place (you might be able to see a black and a grey pole sticking out of the ground in front of the octopuses) with the two poles that he had used to lift the cover up with in the first place and then he pressed a button and water shot out of the heads of the creatures in a fantastic plume and then it would change to another display of cascading water. After about five minutes the water stopped and that was it. I was intrigued.

Hubby by this stage had made his way back to the van, but I needed to know why the water had stopped and how could it start again, hubby thought it must be on some sort of timer, but, me being me, wanted to know more. So camera in hand,over I walked once again. By this time, a few people were nearby and I had walked to the manhole cover and saw just beside it a button recessed into the concrete with a small plaque beside that, saying to press the button to start the water feature and as soon as the people had moved on that is just what I did. Sadly the display of water didn't show up on the photo, but I guess you get the idea. I really am just a big kid at heart and I hope that never changes. My daughter gave me a book mark recently and it has a saying on it "Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional" I couldn't have said it better myself.Take care. Liz...

Monday, March 26, 2012

The very majestic Cradle Mountain.

G'day. Continuing on with our trip to Tasmania, this is my very favourite area in this lovely country. The beautiful Cradle Mountain with the boat shed and Dove Lake in the foreground.

 This would have to be one of the most photographed sights in Tasmania and no trip to Tassie is complete for me without a visit to this glorious place. It is in the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park and tourists flock here to see the sights of this magical area.

There are numerous walking tracks around the lake, some can take more than a few hours to explore, others can take much longer and on the day we visited there were quite a few walking parties setting out on their travels. I have always wanted to do one of these walks, but have never managed to make it happen. It was a very cold day on this visit and we were grateful to be back in the car, so a walk was out of the question, but maybe next time.I have always loved this spot in the winter, when the mountain is capped in snow, it never fails to stir something in me.Of course, there was no snow at this time of the year, but with the low clouds swirling around the top of the peak it was still a lovely sight and I never tire of visiting it.Take care. Liz...

Friday, March 23, 2012

More photos from Tasmania. A town called "Penguin"

G'day. Firstly I would just like to say "thank you" to those who sent me 60th birthday wishes. I do appreciate your kind words.

After getting of The Spirit of Tasmania, we headed to the lovely little seaside town of Penguin. It's such a quaint town and they really have embraced their name. They have pengiun rubbish bins lining the main street, the tourist information centre has a large and colorful penguin out the front. It makes for a delightful stop on one's journey. Each time we come to Tasmania, we always seem to head in this direction and never get tired of seeing some of these delightful towns that are along the top of Tassie.

Just a short post today. As usual, there are a hundred and one things to do and time as always seems to be in short supply. My next item today is to plant a beautiful pink Hydrangea that I have recently bought. When I say it's a pink Hydrangea, I am only going on the tag as it's not actually out in flower and is only a very small plant.I purchased a rather largish citrus yellow plant pot some time ago and it has been sitting empty, just waiting for some bush or standard to be planted in it, at least that was the plan. I was thinking along the lines of a standard Lilypilly, but it hasn't happened. Even though the pink of the Hydrangea may clash with the citrus yellow of the pot, I think it will still look quite ok.Time will tell and as this Hydrangea should only grow to about a metre high, it, in theory sounds ideal. Maybe at some stage it will be a glorious sight and I will post a photo of it. Take care. Liz...

Monday, March 19, 2012

Uh, Oh, I made a boo boo !!!

G'day. Oh dear, I must have pressed the wrong button and my last post was published before I knew what had hit me and I had only just started it. It is  going to be one of those days and that's a worry. Anyway, the last picture was of the Spirit of Tasmania which is the ship we sailed on . We went over on a day cruise and were glad that we did, even if it was just looking at the ocean for eight hours or so. This one has hubby and our sweet little "Lucky" in it. We took our boy with us to Tassie and even though he didn't seem to like the trip over or back (In the kennels on the ship) he did enjoy the holiday in my home State.
We had a great time, the week we were there was all too short, but it was a good break for us.As I said in the last (short) post, I don't know where the time is going. I hardly seem to have time to do much at all when I have a day off work and the weekends just fly by. Where does the time get too? Can anyone tell me?

I had my 60th birthday on Sunday just gone and we had a fabulous time. The Tasmania trip was my present from hubby and on the day itself I had asked for just a quiet affair with family and it couldn't have been better. Of course I ate too much, but who cares.

I have a phone call to make soon to a school friend that I have not seen for over 40 + years. We both seemed to have gone our seperate ways when we married and started our families, but through another school friend, we have made contact again and she tried to ring me over the weekend to wish me happy birthday, but as we didn't get in till late, I intend to make the call to her soon. She turned 60 four days before me. We will have a lot to talk about.I also have a call to make to another dear friend who sent me birthday wishes via my mobile phone on Sunday and also told me in the text that her husband has left her. I am trying to think of the right things to say to her. They have two young children and as you can imagine they are all devastated.

I told hubby that I would plant some of the poor pot plants that have been sitting waiting patiently for their turn to go in the garden, but time seems to be beating me again. I have been down the street and have done some shopping, have done some washing and have it out in the lovely sun drying, have that precious phone call to make, have a WW meeting to attend tonight (I have lost 13.5 kg now) I already have tea ready to  be put in the oven later this afternoon. I haven't had a chance to read some of the great post that I follow, let alone respond to many. I promise that I will at some stage get to them.

I will show more of our fabulous Tasmania trip over the next few posts. I have just previewed this post before publishing it and have come to the conclusion that my two phone calls are more important than anything else that needs to be done around here. I am sure you would agree. Take care.Liz...

Help. Can someone please tell me where the time goes ??

G'day. I really do need some help. I just don't know where each day goes and why is it going so fast? I never have enough time to do everything and there is always so much that needs doing. I try to plan my day to get the maximum out of it, but it sweeps me along and by the end of it I wonder what went wrong.