Drifting through life

washes away the old and clears the way for the new. (thank you, google images) I don't do New Year resolutions, but I have said to myself that I should try to take back control of my time. Perhaps I should say try to make better use of my time. Do more of the doing and less of the sitting on my bum thinking I should be doing (going, finishing, starting). Even less of the lying in bed thinking I really should be getting up now, there's things to do..... Of course, I know those statements will both fall flat on their face with the first hot day. If I don't have to get up and go to work, I'm likely to just stay where I am, whether it be bed, couch, or chair on the porch.  And take my time about getting things done. After all, there's no real rush. Not anymore. The washing can wait , there aren't kids uniforms that need to be cleaned and ready for school. Cooking can wait, there's no one here constantly asking when's dinner, I'm ...

To everybody out there! get used to seeing these numbers...they're going to be around for a while it's almost time *clink* *clink* *clink*  cheers, mate! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! my wish for all of you is peace, love and laughter, and prosperity in 2013. thank you google images

Ooh, these look nice. Bite, chew, crack, ow! ow! ow! ow! sh*t!! One hour later, still going ow! when the upper and lower teeth touch. Out with the phone book, search for emergency dental clinic.... there's one......no answer. there's another one, way across town. appointment at 4pm. checked the bus timetable, yes, I can catch this bus and be there about 3:50. I have to do it. I can't leave it until regular dental services resume and then make an appointment for sometime in the next month. Most dentists around here are fully booked and I don't want an infection in the tooth. Better get my shoes on....

Welcome back to Sunday Selections! This once-a- week-meme was originally begun by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock , as a way to showcase some of the many photos we all take, but don't get around to showing on our blogs. The rules are very simple:- 1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title 2. link back to me, River , somewhere in your post 3. leave me a comment so that I know you've joined in and can come over and see what you've posted. I usually go with a theme for my Sunday Selections and this week my theme is >>>> WHITE   The photo doesn't really do justice to this white jet stream which was brilliantly lit by the early morning sun. The agapanthus outside my flat are white . (the rest of the gardens have blue) Pretty aren't they? Here's a close up of one of the many florets that make up one agapanthus head. White cockatoos feeding at the top of the pine tree. this ...

I had a fabulous day, got on the bus this morning, stayed on as it passed through town, going through another suburb my younger son and daughter got on too, then we rode the bus all the way to Glenelg beach. It's so handy having a bus that goes right across town like that. At the beach, we three met up with other family members for our Christmas lunch get together. The weather was absolutely perfect, hot sun, cool wind, clear blue skies. We sat on the grass eating fish'n'chips while listening to the commentator as he described the races going on down on the sand. There was some sort of competition where contestants in various age groups ran around a course, swam a short distance, and waded through thigh high water. After the competitions were over and people were leaving the area we took a walk along Glenelg jetty. It's a lot shorter than I remember and there are no splintery boards to walk on, it has been surfaced with asphalt now. We reminisced, K and I, abo...

Welcome back to Whimsical Wednesday! The day for the googled giggle that gets you over the hump that is Wednesday and sliding down into the weekend. Today is the last Whimsical day for 2012, Year Of The Dragon. In honour of all Dragons everywhere, (me and my daughter K) I bring you >>> Watermelon Dragons Green Dragon White Dragon These food carvers are so very clever! I love their work, so thank you , whoever did these.

I went to Google Images, searching for a Christmas Tree to say Merry Christmas Everybody with and found so many that I really liked. Here are a few. e-tree pac-man tree pencil shaving tree glass spiral tree star filled tree and this for any Elvis lovers out there. An Elvis adorned tree. There were plenty of traditional trees, but I thought you'd like to see some a little different.  MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, HAVE A FABULOUS NEW YEAR and please, stay safe.

Andrew recently put up a post about his spam comments, which reminded me of mine. The first time I checked the spam folder there were over 800 comments, so I got busy with the delete button. Now that it is a more manageable size, I'll often read before deleting. Just last weekend, as I was reading through the spam, (because I like a bit of a giggle now and again),  to check in case any real comments find their way there and in amongst the many, many, many comments offering me cheap short term loans, (no thanks) and cheap medications, (again, no thanks) , I found a few comments that left me a little puzzled. "....unwell unquestionably come more formerly again since exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this hike." What the heck does that mean? Is this just someone practising their typing? And there's this one > "What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable know-how on the topic of unexpected feelings." Hmm...

Welcome back to Sunday Selections! This once-a- week-meme was originally begun by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock, as a way to showcase some of the many photos we all take, but don't get around to showing on our blogs. The rules are very simple:- 1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title 2. link back to me, River , somewhere in your post 3. leave me a comment so that I know you've joined in and can come over and see what you've posted. I usually go with a theme for my Sunday Selections but this week I have just a few photos.  Death of a Rose I had five roses in bottles along the shelf, this one hung on the longest. The colour is so different, so much warmer, when photographed from the kitchen side. The end. All five bottles now stand empty in the corner behind the front door. Waiting for a fresh crop of blooms.

Read this little piece in The Advertiser during the last week. "Sticky Business Three people have been arrested in connection with a huge maple syrup heist from a Quebec warehouse which had put a dent in the global supply.  Authorities never disclosed the exact amount of syrup stolen in August. But the warehouse contained Quebec's maple syrup reserves, which were supposed to hold 4.54 million kilograms, valued at $30 million." I buy "100% genuine Canadian Maple Syrup" , (well, that's what the label says) ,  to pour on my pancakes. Over here in OZ it comes in small bottles of 200ml,  for about $9 each, but I don't have pancakes every day, not even every week, so it lasts me quite a while which makes the cost a little easier to bear. Besides, it's the best tasting syrup.  I'm wondering now what someone would do with 4.54 kilograms of syrup. What size pancake are they making? How do you get away with 4.54 kilos of syrup? Was it stor...

I love my kindle, I really do. So many books in one tiny package. Plus, of course, the kindle user's guide. Which I have mostly ignored since reading the part about how to download the books. Every now and again, after finishing whatever book I've been reading, I'll go back to the user's guide and read another chapter of it. Sometimes it's relevant, sometimes not. Last night I read how to make "collections" with my books. I could choose to have a romance collection, a comedy collection, a murder mystery collection, simply by selecting "create a new collection" from the menu choices and typing in a title for it. I've chosen instead to create collections based on either story characters or authors. For instance, the author Lee Child writes about a character named Jack Reacher, so I've titled one collection "Jack Reacher" , now I have to go through the long, long process of finding each Jack Reacher story ( 24 of...

Welcome back to Whimsical Wednesday! The day for your weekly googled giggle that gets you over the hump that is Wednesday and sliding down into the weekend. Mummy, my breakfast is scaring me!

With gravy.  And onions.  I don't remember how long ago I started on this latest attempt to lose a few kilos, but I'm sticking with it, (sort of, there's been a lapse or three), and the weight is coming off. Very slowly, to be truthful, but that was my plan. I'm too old to be crash dieting, and I certainly don't want metres of empty skin hanging like drapes from my body. So slow is the way to go and hopefully the skin will adjust and not look too baggy. I stepped on the scales on Sunday morning and for the first time in a long, long time, the needle stopped below the 70kg mark. Below! Woo-Hoo!! Progress! It helps that summer fruits are now in the shops. Yes, I know they have been in the shops for a while, but first pickings are usually a little too unripe (sour) for my taste. I always wait a couple of months and get the riper, therefore sweeter,  second and third pickings. Nectarines now are nicer than they were six weeks ago, when they were mor...

Welcome back to Sunday Selections! This once-a- week-meme was originally begun by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock , as a way to showcase some of the many photos we all take, but don't get around to showing on our blogs. The rules are very simple:- 1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title 2. link back to me, River, somewhere in your post 3. leave me a comment so that I know you've joined in and can come over and see what you've posted. I usually go with a theme for my Sunday Selections and this week I'm continuing the Christmas theme that is spreading throughout the blogosphere.  The following are photos of this year's tree, which I had to take twice because the first lot showed images of my kids in the photo board behind the tree.  I had to hang up a towel to cover it. Here it is..... My Tree 2012. The tree, the whole tree, nothing but the tree :) the bottom, the middle, the top. N...