Drifting through life

  The original product, so useful for soaking cloth nappies, pillowcases, white shirts, even t-shirts.  and all of them coming out of the wash brilliantly white! Then it became Vanish and was touted to be exactly the same, doing the same job, promising brilliant whites and stain free colours. In my opinion it is NOT the same, and does not produce the brilliant whites I was once accustomed to. I was disappointed. After a while it became the Vanish OxiAction pictured here, still available, and later we had, and still have, Vanish Gold.  If the product is so good why do they need to keep improving it? Is it because customers like me are disappointed with the results? to the point where they stop buying it? 

 Long ago, Kim of Frog ponds Rock, (who no longer blogs), dreamed up a meme called Sunday Selections.  A place where those who were willing could put up photos they wanted to share, new, old, good, bad or indifferent, any photos you please.  Nothing rude or vulgar though. And we don't mind at all if overseas bloggers care to join us. The meme is now continued by Elephant's Child and I occasionally join in as do a few others. Andrew is one.  Messymimi is another. Drop in to them and have a look. we have another selection of oldies today, from 2011 and 2014 , some of you will remember these: 2011 I moved into this block of flats, 2 up, 2 down, behind and attached is another set of four, forming a "T", across the drive is a similar "T" set and going along the drive many more 6 and 8 blocks, just rectangular until right near the other end there is one "L" block. Notice how small and spindly is the one visible plum tree along that side wall. There

  The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles. Sadly, Delores has now closed her blog forever due to other problems. The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind. If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along to read it and add a few encouraging words. This month the words/prompts are supplied by Elephant's Child and can be found here This week's words/prompts are:  1. life  2. lost  3. told  4. wild  5. silence  and/or:  1. year  2. enchanted  3. twice  4. impossible  5. stars Here is my story: The year my grand daughter began high school, my son asked me to stay for a weekend so he and his partner could have an anniversary break in a fancy hotel. Of course I said yes, packed a bag and caught a train to the outer suburbs. I lived very close to the city and had forgotten how quiet life

 Heard on the TV news Tuesday evening, 73 year old John Farnham, beloved by so many Australians for many years, has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing surgery. He began his career with this:  Sadie, the Cleaning Lady, performed on TCN-9's program Bandstand in 1967 I hope this plays He will be always remembered for this: You're the voice, two versions here, one the lyrics and the second with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. I couldn't find the version I like best where a parade of bagpipers march onto the stage to stand behind the orchestra :( Good Luck John, we wish you well.

 In the Text Talk section of the "Have Your Say" page: Robert of Gawler says: "How is it we have a shortage of workers when we have so many people unemployed?" Followed by this: We are told there's heaps of jobs available. Bust most teenagers are not equipped to take on civil engineering, construction managing, systems analysis etc.  The ridiculous list of unattainable jobs goes on. What A Joke. My thoughts: They both make excellent points. Many are unemployed and don't seem to be able to get a job, while young school leavers simply don't qualify for the higher executive positions on offer.  With the older unemployed, any qualifications they may have are often unsuitable for whatever job they may be applying for. They could apply for training to get the right qualifications, but may, as in my case, be told "you can do the course, but you won't get the job, they are looking for younger people" How's that for a smack in the face? They m

 "Queen's daily jam sarnie* Kate Kulniece Could a daily jam sandwich be the secret to the Queen's longevity? A former royal chef has revealed the Queen's favourite sandwich - and she has been having it for more than nine decades. Former royal chef Darren McGrady worked for the family for close to two decades and has now revealed the go-to daily treats of the monarch. "The Queen was served jam pennies (jam sandwiches) in the nursery as a little girl, she's had them for afternoon tea ever since," he said. "Simple, just bread and jam with a little butter, usually strawberry jam. We'd make the jam at Balmoral Castle with the gorgeous Scottish strawberries from the gardens." Mr McGrady shares his insights on YouTube and says the midday meal would not be complete without scones.  :She'd always have afternoon tea wherever she was in the world," he said.  Another savoury sandwich that the Queen is know to enjoy a bite of is a simple tuna ma

 That may soon happen again. I read in the paper today, and heard on the news, the price of chicken is rising.  The cost of feeding and maintaining the flocks is about $45million per year apparently and the breeders have to raise the prices to keep afloat.  So all of you who enjoy a chicken * parmie at your local pub are going to have to dig a little deeper into your pockets.  Me? I'll continue to buy an occasional bulk pack of chicken breasts and make a freezer load of chicken schnitzels, just like I did this morning. Five chicken breasts, $17.55 and I have 16 meals in the freezer. When the prices get to be too high, I will buy smaller packs and eat less. Of course I don't make giant schnitzels like they do in pubs and restaurants, I make them smaller, about a third or a quarter of the size. I like to have room on my plate for vegetables or salad.  And some of my schnitzels are skinny enough to be called chicken strips, to be served with rice and Asian style lemon sauce, and t

 Long ago, Kim of Frog ponds Rock, (who no longer blogs), dreamed up a meme called Sunday Selections.  A place where those who were willing could put up photos they wanted to share, new, old, good, bad or indifferent, any photos you please.  Nothing rude or vulgar though. And we don't mind at all if overseas bloggers care to join us. The meme is now continued by Elephant's Child and I occasionally join in as do a few others. Andrew is one.  Messymimi is another. Drop in to them and have a look. We'll start with the twins because I know that's what you are all here for: Ana modelling her new pink dress Gen: a camera! hello everyone 😀 sleeping in the pram as they go to the shops, literally three minutes walk from their house and now we are eleven weeks old. Ana wants to eat Gen's hand I think The next photos are older from 2019 and possibly some of you will remember them Lola basking in the warmth of the heater which is to the left out of the picture and now: 

  The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles. Sadly, Delores has now closed her blog forever due to other problems. The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind. If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along to read it and add a few encouraging words. This month the words/prompts are supplied by Elephant's Child and can be found here This week's prompts are:   1. pull the wool over his eyes  2. put a sock in it  3. dog's breakfast  4. gone walkabout  5. six of one, half a dozen of the other  6. tell him he's dreaming Here is my story: Jack sat down to eat, looked at the plate Kelly set in front of him and said, “Bit of a dog’s breakfast here Kel, what is it?” “Last night’s leftovers chopped up and fried with a couple of eggs mixed in.” “Aha,” said Jack. “My mum used to call thi

 Editorial, Have Your Say page: "Triple Soaking" "Last time we experienced a triple-dip La Nina was 1998-2001 Victoria, Queensland and NSW all got drowned, as happens when these rarer events occur a few times in a century.  This time 20 years on, we've now got even more buildings, infrastructure and humans directly in the way of mother nature. Following that last event we unfortunately entered strong El Nino conditions, bringing 10 years of terrible drought, death and destruction.  Australia imposed severe water restrictions and built huge desalination plants. But not dams.  We rarely learn from history. Rob Burns, Modbury North" Let me repeat one CRUCIAL point: BUT NOT DAMS and why the heck not?? DAMS to capture the flooding rains, BEFORE homes and lives are lost. PIPELINES to redirect those flooding waters DAMS in drier areas, drier states, to be used by the people.  WHERE is the government that will do this to save our country?

 Long ago, Kim of Frog ponds Rock, (who no longer blogs), dreamed up a meme called Sunday Selections.  A place where those who were willing could put up photos they wanted to share, new, old, good, bad or indifferent, any photos you please.  Nothing rude or vulgar though. And we don't mind at all if overseas bloggers care to join us. The meme is now continued by Elephant's Child and I occasionally join in as do a few others. Andrew is one.  Messymimi is another. Drop in to them and have a look. we'll begin with a few pictures I took the last time I walked along this boardwalk, July 2016, some of you will remember these.  these are from the section down at Marino, I believe many parts look different now with repairs and safety features added. I really want to get back down here because I love the views so much you can see for miles! and it's a good workout, even the small section I walked. it was seven Km long and I think I did three, I believe the overall length is m