NOT PACKED YET

Well today is Monday and tomorrow evening we fly off to Europe with our first destination Paris, where we shall stay and explore for 7 days, before heading off for the rest of our European holiday.

As of this morning my suitcases were still empty.

A few Sundays ago Allison and I enjoyed a relaxing mother-daughter day at the Eagle Farm markets.  We both purchased some glitzy sandals, and I also bought a lovely necklace.
Last Saturday night I went to wear the necklace out to dinner, and felt like a Christmas tree.  But I guess I will take it.

I have gathered my little netbook computer, camera and batteries, Kobo (for reading on the plane) and Ipod, as well as all the necessary power leads for each of these.  We have purchased the universal plug for Europe and another adaptor with the 2USB ports as well as an ordinary power plug.  As Barry now has an Ipad, this holiday I will not have to share my netbook.




My Eletronics

For a few weeks I have had a small pile of clothes ready, but I will still need to add to this.  I guess the easiest thing is to lay everything out and decide what to take.  Some hours later I have finished packing the large suitcase and of course forgot my toiletry bag, but I am sure there will be hole somewhere to fill. 

Au Revoir from Brisbane.   

   

LUCKY FIND

This week I was sorting and getting together old paperback novels and various other books no longer required and I was taking them to my local library for the community bookstore.  The community bookstore is for local groups to help raise a little money and the books are very reasonably priced. 

My lucky find came about when there was one book which I had only read about 50 pages. One of those books I just couldn't get interested in and had been sitting on the top of the giveaway collection for some months.  Before I put it in the discard box I asked my husband if he wanted to read it, and, I was just thumbing through the pages when on page 92 I found $150.00.  Now why would I have $150.00 in this book, and the only explanation is that my son's board money and I was possibly reading the book at the time.   Talk about a lucky find and imagine the surprise someone may have had if I hadn't been flicking though the pages.

This instantly took me back many years before, when I was helping my in-laws pack up the house for their big move to a new unit in a retirement village.  During the week Dad-in-law was supposed to go through his spare cupboard and throw out anything that wasn't important.  To me this was to throw out all his old tax returns dating back to the 60's, and stuff that hadn't seen the light of day for many years.  This was difficult task for him to do, so on one the many Saturdays, my daughter and I started cleaning out the old cupboard.  We came across a shoe box with some old stuff and papers, but under the papers there was a $1000.00.  Obviously he didn't get very far with this task although he said he had finished what he needed to do.  When I asked him if he wanted to the old shoe box, he said that he will just make sure there wasn't anything in it he may want to keep.   My daughter and I watched as he proceeded to go through this box, and to his surprise on looking at the contents said that he didn't think he would throw out the box.  He had completely forgotten about the money which had been put away for any emergency which may occur 
  
Many years later my mum-in-law who was beyond caring for herself went into a nursing home.  I had decided to pack her shoes without the boxes and lucky I did as I found money hidden in a shoe box underneath the shoes which were still nicely wrapped in their tissue paper.  From then on everything was searched thoroughly for any other hidden treasures. 
I still have all the 60th wedding anniversary cards as well as Mum-in-law's 90th birthday cards.  Will I go through them just in case something has been hidden.  

AN EUROPEAN ADVENTURE

Although I haven't finished my holiday stories from Tripping USA in 2013 (which is now 12 months ago), over the last 6 months we have started planning our next overseas holiday.

This will be our first time in Europe - visiting the countries of France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary.  As it will be autumn when we are there, the changing colours of the landscape will be nice to see, and hopefully make for some pleasing photography.  

When we leave Brisbane in September this year our first 7 nights will be spent in Paris.  At the same time Barry has 2 friends (they are doing a walking tour of France), will be there so we will catch up with them one night for dinner.  I really enjoy French food and I am looking forward to tasting all the wonderful cuisine and visiting local patisseries.  I think we had both better stay on our exercise regime.  Before, during and after.

We have booked a Battlefields tour for 4 days which visits the Western Front of World War 1. Some of the sites we will be going to are Flanders, Ypres Salient and the Somme.  These areas were major battlefields for young Australian soldiers as well as many allies and thousands of these brave men lost their lives.  I originally had no interest in doing this tour, but after seeing the ANZAC broadcast from Villers-Bretonneux and reading a little more information about the Western Front I have become increasingly interested and see this as a different experience. 

We return to Paris for 1 night, then intend catching a train to Reims, in the champagne region where we will stay for 3 nights. 

City of Reims (Google Images)

We will do a champagne tour and after reading the tourist bureau information Reims has alot to offer.  From here we will take the train, crossing the French-German border for our next destination of Stuggart.  As it happens Barry has found 2 things of interest in Stuggart.  A visit to the Porsche factory as well as the Mercedes Benz museum.  At the same time on the Saturday the beer festival starts so we opted to stay an extra night to enjoy these festivities.    


From Stuggart we travel to Prague which is part train, part bus travel and from all internet inquiries the scenery looks amazing.  We have a few spare days in Prague before meeting our river cruise tour. We intend hiring a car and head out to the country to other interesting tourist destinations and Barry is hoping to get to the factory where his glider came from.  As long as he doesn't want to buy a new one. 

Our river cruise on the Danbue River is for 10 days and will be one of the many highlights of this European holiday.  The tour starts in Prague but we board our floating hotel at Nuremberg visiting numerous towns on the way before disembarking in Budapest, where we have a few extra days to explore, then plan on going to Salzburg and if time permits Bratislava, before returning to Vienna to make our way home via Dubai for 2 nights.  In Dubai we have booked to do the Dune Safari dinner which has been recommended and I am looking forward to that as well.  

ZUMBA GOLD FOR SENIORS

No our next  challenge didn't have us pulling down our retaining wall in the barby area, but instead we elected to try ZUMBA.

 So now, on Friday mornings we are going to Zumba Gold for Seniors (which you would assume would be nice and slow HA HA).  On our first visit I was amazed at the number of ladies there,  probably a class of 40-50, but Barry wasn't alone as there was another male as well, who also helps the instructor in one or two of the dance routines.    Oh dear, I don't think I will be able to shake my booty like our energetic instructor/leader can.

KEEPING UP- AND BARRY'S  NEW FRIEND ON THE RIGHT

Although I enjoy it, I am a little slow on picking up all the steps and sometimes I am going left instead of right.  Now I have been to 5 sessions and I am still behind, and really have only learnt the slow dancing, a song by Santana that I like.  But I lack the right movements for playing air guitar.  Barry gets lost in his footwork so just makes up his own, which when I watch him is quite funny.  He might think he is on the disco floor from the 70's. 

 He also enjoys the attention from some of the other ladies, congratulating him on giving it a go.  Barry  thinks it may be like line-dancing but more upbeat, not that he has ever tried that.  But it is an enjoyable exercise and we have an nice time together.  I think I may buy an Zumba For Beginners/Oldies so we can practice at home, just like his learn to speak french in 15 minutes a day dvd.  Hasn't moved on from the vino page yet.  

I am home alone this week , and I should close my blog and do the housework which is always a challenge in itself.  That silly saying is ticking in my head " Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today" , or in my case don't put off last Monday what should be done today.

Challenge 3 -  Easter gliding competition for Barry at Goondiwindi, or for me restoring a very old timber shipping, storage or blanket box I don't know which, but I believe it  was owned by his great-grandmother. I will need to ascertain more information as to the history of this sad box. A task that have I been looking at since 2010 and I don't  know why I am attempting  this, only that it would be a good storage container for all the flying magazines we currently have, and the big plastic box has run out of space.

  Is this been sentimental?   But it maybe a story for my blog another time.

POTS OF PURPLE

After finishing our front garden make-over, I thought I would tackle cleaning up the bush house.
I had been very remiss at tending to my cattleya orchids, and they were lacking a good dose of fertilizer and anti-fungal spray as well as tender care, although I did water them when required.

A little neglected

To my  surprise I had 5 orchid plants out in flower, and if I remember these usually flower during March-April.  I don't know what the correct cattleya name is but I always refer to them as the the purple orchids.

So with the help of my wheelbarrow I loaded the pots in, to wheel to where I muck around with pot plants.  Using the wheelbarrow saves on carrying 2 pots at a time and lots of bending over.
I thought this was an ingenious brain wave I had, especially as some pots are quite heavy.

Out with the watering can and new fertilizer, and after weeding, tidying and re potting some of the pots it was time to fertilize and spray with anti-fungal.

5 pots of purple

Back in the barrow then to rearrange the bush house, after I got rid of some weeds and general tree mess. All the plants are looking a lot healthier and happy now, and since it has now been some weeks since, I have given them another top up of fertilizer.  Some have had a second flowering since then.

FILLING IN TIME

As the autumn days in Brisbane have been rather hot, Barry and I have been heading down to the Gold Coast each week for a swim either at Kurrawa or Burleigh Heads.  Some thing we haven't done for such a long time.  Although the water for me is a little cold at first, I pluck up courage and dive under the first wave, before it rolls me over.  It is very relaxing just bobbing around in the surf and certainly clears the cobwebs of usual day to day happenings.  After about an hour we then go for brunch or lunch depending on the time before heading home.  We have found a little restaurant in the Broadbeach mall that serves a very nice breakfast/brunch for just $10.00, but the Burleigh Heads Lifesaving Club can't be beaten for location offering wonderful views of the beach, water as well as good food and nice cold beer.   

Burleigh Heads - one of our many famous beaches

I was interested in attending yoga, and our local council was offering classes at Berrinbah Wetlands. Not knowing where this was, I did a google search and one picture in particular caught my eye.  It was Bill who runs the Logan U3A camera club, and Bill and Diane who got me into blogging after I attended their classes. Just to make sure I was right, I checked out Adventure before Dementia blog, and there was a post written by Diane in 2009 when Berrinbah Wetlands was new. 

We headed off for a drive to see how far these wetlands were, and to do something a little different.  Everything was very dry and the pond would be nice with a good soaking of rain. I think a better time to visit would be after a good downpour.  

This is were yoga is held

Another excellent facility provided by our local council, but it lacked directions on how far the other tracks were.  It is a wonderful place for walkers, bike riders, and has a nice big picnic and play area.

Solar Power Bird

Pedal Power

 

The little creek

Big bridge structure

Foot Power

 We both decided that it was just a little out of our way for yoga.  On our way home we came across a golf driving range, so why not give it a try.  Barry purchased 2 half buckets of golf balls, which for non golfers was quite a lot.  But it was fun, and something we can take our eldest grandson to during the holidays.  As he has a competitive streak maybe Barry and I need to go back and practice refining our technique

As if- who would want to win this

Not quite the right stanch, but I did hit it 

Definitely need more practice 

A DAY (OR WEEK) IN THE GARDEN

Our old timber fence disintergrated after 30 odd years, and we agreed with our neighbour to replace it with an old fashioned chain wire fence.  Not something that we really wanted and we certainly didn't want a colorbond prison fence as suggested.  Everything looked ok until, they then chopped and pulled out every plant in their yard which had now left our front and side totally exposed and lacking any privacy.  I guess if we had planted trees some years ago we wouldn't be in this situation.  

Barry and I headed off to the nursery for ideas.  It was suggested that since we have very heavy clay soil and for new shrubs to grow quickly, we would need to dig holes twice as big and wide as the plant pot and then introduce new organic soil.  Herein lies the challenge.  Digging a total of 15 holes.  Our first attempt was using a hired jack hammer to dig said holes, but after 2 hours and a little square made, we decided that this wasn't going to be very successful exercise.

One little jackhammer hole

With a little help from our son we managed to dig 9 holes in the garden bed that had softer soil, before returning the jackhammer.  But what will we do with all this left over clay and dirt which we will eventually have.   Problem solved, I rang a local gent with a dingo.  So Kelby came with his little digger, dug our holes or more to the point an enormous trench and he took away the excess dirt.  Dollars well spent.  Hallelujah.

Kelby and his dingo

Been very keen to keep things moving along, I went off to Bunnings and bought 9 Mandevilla plants to start the garden makeover.  As suggested I had already premixed some good organic soil, sand and potting mix together, hoping that his would give the plants a good start.  As it was a hot day I waited until late afternoon before planting my new shrubs. 

9 Mandevillas for 9 holes.

Sunday came so Barry and I went to the Rocklea Markets for the first time ever, and found a few nursery stalls selling very good established shrubs which we were wanting and at very reasonable prices.  So the following weekend we returned and purchased the plants we had chosen, and with the holes dug and 4 trailer loads of new rich organic soil replacing the clay, we now had a new landscaped side garden with our new trees planted.

A small helping hand

Well there was no stopping Barry now, who obviously got bitten by a garden bug.  He decided  to fertilize the front yard and kept telling me that rain was predicted, but of course who trusts the weather bureau.  Yes, we shall have a huge water bill.  Everything is green and the garden is looking refreshed, and, even if I do say so myself the best front yard in the street.  Lets hope our previous lack of green fingers will now work.

A challenge successfully completed before moving onto the next one.

Challenge 2:  Will we pull down and replace the retaining wall in our barbque area or join Zumba Gold for Seniors.

   

BACK BLOGGING

After a long  silence, I decided to return to my blog.  Now that I have I am unsure of where to start.  Start where I left off some 6-7 months ago or start from now.  

First up I decided to change my original picture.  I wish now that I hadn't, as I haven't had any success with the resizing of my new photo and now I have deleted it.  Help?  Shall need assistance from my tutors.

What's Around My Corner?  The beginning of a new phase in our lives.  2013 was certainly a different and challenging year in a lot of respects.  My husband Barry finished his working life in April and after taking his long service and holiday leave he officially retired in October.  During this time we had another enjoyable trip to America and Canada for 6 weeks, which included a road trip from New York through West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and finishing in Chicago. 

The Bean-Chicago

 From there we flew to Quebec visited Montreal and Toronto before returning to New York for an extra 4 days.    Although we had visited New York for 4 days in 2010, we really only saw the main tourist attractions, so this time we did a lot more exploring through the different neighbourhoods.  Even after a total of 10 days of constantly being on the sight seeing trail I could have had another week or two in N.Y.    I think this could be said for any city you visit when on holidays, if only we had more time.   My ideal US holiday would be to travel there for 6 months but I know I would miss my special grandsons too much, and the Gold Lotto people have obviously lost my telephone number.  

What's Around My Corner in Quebec?

Coming back to reality land was a little hard as I now had to share my time, space and freedom each day with an extra person.  Why do men have to have morning and afternoon tea.  I survived all these years without this.
Although Barry hasn't missed going to work, for a period of time he missed the social contact with his ex-staff and colleagues, but has been able to catch up with some of them for coffee or lunch.  I personally think he missed the chocolate bar box and his afternoon cherry ripe treat, which isn't available from my pantry.  He has now thrown himself into the Boonah Gliding Club, been elected as Vice President which keeps him more than occupied, and the 1st Friday of each month is now Flying Friday, he is able to enjoy his soaring with no students or people wanting to experience a glider flight.  We both hope for fine weather and good flying conditions on these days.  Hopefully, he will do his next challenge of competing in the 2014 Easter Comps at Goondiwindi.  Something he hasn't competed in for a few years.

Gliding over Boonah area.

He had lessons at Apple on how to use his new Ipad, and after some frustrating weeks for him as well as myself, he finally made a few picture slide albums of our holiday photos and was able to add music as well. Very clever indeed.  I'm still trying to come to grips with my new laptop (bought on impulse) and unbeknown to me has Windows 8.  Argh, but I am getting there.  New toys like Ipads and Samsung smartphones seem to be very addictive.  

As we are planning a trip to France and beyond this year, I  purchased a "Learn French in 15 minutes a  Day". So far he hasn't got very far but did skip to page 49 to start at the beverage page.  He now knows the difference between wine and beer.  I am going to download this to my Ipod so when I go for my morning walk I can listen and hopefully learn some common words and phrases as well..

Oh yes 2014, we have numerous challenges to tackle  (as well as neglected household and yard maintenance) ahead of us so we shall be keeping busy and active  before we head off on our next trip but after that then our biggest challenge starts. 

Au revoir, a la prochaine.

(Goodbye, until next time)

START OF THE ROAD TRIP

Time to leave New York and start our next leg of tripping USA.  Barry was quite anxious about driving out of New York, as I am not the greatest of navigators, but we did have a borrowed Tom Tom with American maps installed, which would help guide us, as well as written directions to get us out of New York and the correct highways to take to Gettysburg. 

After collecting the car and loading the suitcases, time came to set up the Tom Tom with the directions and the damn thing wouldn't work.  No maps to navigate us through Manhattan, the Lincoln Tunnel, New Jersey Turnpike and various interstate highway changes.  Then Barry remembered his Samsung Smartphone.  On the previous Saturday night he met up with a work colleague also holidaying in New York, and he gave Barry some tuition on how to use his phone for navigating.  So out with the smart phone, finding the navigation app, entered the destination by voice command and away we went.  The drive out of Manhattan was really easy, straight down 83rd street across all the avenues until we came to the FDR which runs along the East River.  Although we had to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get on the New Jersey turnpike nobody blasted their horns at us.  What a relief, it must have been the different state plates on the car.  We cruised down the I 78 keeping up with the traffic at 80mph, when the battery on the phone went flat after a few hours.  So now we resorted to our written directions and finally found the next highway and sign that lead us to Gettysburg.  

After arriving at the motel we went for a walk down the main street to the town centre.  Gettysburg is interesting but definitely aimed at the tourist market.  The town was preparing for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War so was adorned with flags.  Lots of military and tourist shops, as well as many historic homes and lovely old churches.  Barry was keen to buy a Civil War revolver and thought we were going into a gun shop, until I steered him around the corner to a far more interesting shop.    

Day one of sightseeing the motel owner gave us a cd to use in the car, which allowed us to do our own tour by following the directions as well as learning the history of the battlefields, which consist of 10,000 acres, more than 1450 monuments, markers and plagues on the fields and all criss-crossed by more than 40 miles of avenues.  For the size of this area everything is very well maintained.  I find the monuments remarkable, not only for their size but the detail in the figures.

ONE OF THE MANY AVENUES

       

Day two we visited the museum and visitor center, where we saw a cyclorama light and sound show.  The was an amazing show, as the original painting was by a French artist and completed in 1883.  The story about the cyclorama painting is very interesting and can  found on Wikipedia.  

  

Barry's photos of the amazing Cyclorama painting  

                   Outside the visitor centre Barry made a new friend called Abe.

We completed our drive around the battlefields and came across this imposing monument.  

The Pennsylvania Memorial stands 110 feet plus the statue on top adds an extra 21 foot.  The monument was dedicated in 1910 to the 34,000 Pennsylvania men who fought in this battle.
Gettysburg also has a well established college which started in 1832, and was called Pennsylvania College. 





The above hall was used as a hospital during the Civil War and Pennsylvania College was later renamed in 1921 to Gettysburg College.  What an impressive college.





A DAY AT THE BEACH

Last Monday I went to Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast to meet up with members from Logan U3A Camera Club.  I found many of the members on the rocks where Currumbin Creek meets the ocean. 

While I was walking along the rocks a whale suddenly appeared.  Although it seemed close it would have been out beyond the shark nets.  At this time of year the whales are heading back south after spending time in the warmer waters up north, having their young or maybe finding a new mate.  Too far for a photo.

The tallest building in the background of the above photo is where I stay for long weekends with my scrap booking friends.  It is a fantastic location and Royal Palms Resort is right on the beach.

Our project for today was beach photography, and it was a glorious winter's day with the temperature in the high 20s, a day more akin to early summer weather and the scenery was like a postcard.  With water, sand and sun it was really glary and as I had only taken the point and shoot camera (with no eye view), I found it difficult to see what I was photographing.  So that's what I did, pointed and clicked and hoped for the best, just like this fisherman.  I don't know if he was successful.



 The group headed to the Beach Shack café for coffee and along the way there was this great sculpture.  I believe that every year there is a competition held for beach sculpture.

 

As I had morning tea I really wasn't ready for lunch so I headed back home, but called into the park at Palm Beach to look back to where I had been.  Palm Beach Playground is an excellent family park and is themed on all things pirate.  There is a lot on offer in this park, and is great for young children to splash around in the creek.   Just like these little water babies.



With such great weather at the moment I could have stayed all week, but am counting down the days until September when I shall return for another long weekend away.

      





CENTRAL PARK PHOTO SHOOT

We headed off to Central Park to meet a photographer to do a photo shoot as we had previously arranged.  When we reached to corner of 6th avenue down from our hotel there were thousands of bike riders, fortunately for us the intersection was controlled by police.
Later that evening we found out what the occasion was.  Every year in May a biking event is held and is the Five Boroughs ride.  The ride takes in five neighbourhoods on Manhattan Island and is a 40 mile or 64 kilometres car free ride.  This year funds raised were going to help the victims from the Boston marathon bombing. 

We walked along 5th ave which was a very upmarket area with nice apartments, shops and very expensive cars parked on the street.
                                                           

My practise shot



We finally reached our location at an entrance to Central Park and met the photographer and other people in our group.  Her name was Zim (zimphotography.com) and after a few questions asking what we wanted to learn we set off.  Zim was very helpful, and spent equal time with everyone in the group, explaining how to get the best photograph as well as showing us how to improve on their shot.

  

The morning was still cool but there were plenty of people out and about enjoying the day.

 My reflections

 

 

Barry learnt how to shoot into the sun and he was quite happy with his photo of  Belvedere Castle.    Zim walks backwards most of the time, explaining how to get the best out of your camera and obviously has her favourite spots to take the group.

  

Zim and the Group

Don't know these people 



By now a few hours had gone by and our final location was The Lake.  This was a favourite place for visitors with a lot of people taking pictures.   

What a pretty spot with a lot of row boats on the Lake.



Here ended our photo walk with Zim and we both learnt a little more of photography and had an enjoyable morning.  Headed back the way we came but took a different path looking for a restroom as well as something to eat. 

 Well we found both and enjoyed a hot dog for lunch as well as an ice cream and sat and watched a little league baseball game.

Time to push on, and found our way out, and as we were just near The Metropolitan Museum of Art we decided to have a look in there.  This is one huge museum, and a magnificent building.  One of the many displays was Greek and Roman Art as well as a photographic display of the Civil War.  This was very interesting and would have been difficult been a war correspondent in 1863.

On our way out we came across some artists drawing this statue.  Wow how good is this gentleman. 



This was our last day in New York before starting our 2 week self drive tour with first destination Gettysburg.