Happy Birthday

Sunday 22nd January, 2012

"Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me"........I'm another year older.  I had a great day.  Firstly Robyn and Bob came around and we went to Hahndorf and to the Old Mill for lunch.  Had a very nice smorgasbord, ate too much as usual.

When we finished lunch we went and put a few dollars in the Pokies.  Don't know when I last played them but they really don't hold much interest for me.  I came out with $20 and so we went and looked for a coffee shop to have a coffee.  It was so hot outside, the temperature was in the high 30's. There weren't too many people walking up and down the street.

We drank our coffee outside under the trees but it was too warm to sit around for very long.  By the time we got back home it was close to 5pm and we had to organise ourselves to go and pick up Rick and Dianne as we were going to meet Jodi and Troy at Wee Willies for dinner.

I had my camera with me this time and so Tanecia went and took photos of the toilet doors at Wee Willies for me.

Tony and I didn't feel like eating too much after the lunch we had.  Luckily they were slow in serving dinner, Tony and I were the last to receive ours.   We both just had chicken schnitzel.  It was a nice evening.  We got home around 10.00pm.  Normally I don't like all this fuss for my birthdays, to me it's just another day, but thankyou to Robyn, Bob, Andrew, Simone, Rick, Dianne, Jodi, Troy, Tori, Tanecia and Taylor for making it a lovely day.

On Saturday we did some cleaning up outside, Tony mowed the lawn and trimmed the tree, while I vacuumed out the back.  It was the first time using the new vacuum cleaner for outside.

When Tony was finished in the garden he gave the car it's first major clean.  It looked nice and clean and shiny.  After dinner we went for a drive down to the beach at Largs North for an icecream. 

From the Lens.................my birthday present

Tori Is Back Home For A Visit

Tuesday 17th January, 2012

Today turned out to be another very hot day.  Predicted maximum was for 39 degrees with a cooler change later in the day.  It was quite warm when I got up at 6.30 am this morning and the wind was blowing making it uncomfortable.

This afternoon Tori was flying in for a 10 day visit and I had arranged to go and pick up Dianne and take her to the airport.  Jodi was going to meet us there.  We ended up going to Ikea as Tori was going to come across to there so that she could surprise Taylor.

It is also the start of the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under.  Today they were riding from Prospect to Clare, some 149 kilometres.  Gotta feel sorry for those bike riders riding that far in this heat, especially since nearly all of them have come from a Northern Hemisphere winter.  They still wouldn't be acclimatised to our hot weather.

                                                        taken from Adelaide Now website

I had arranged to pick Dianne up at 2.00pm and when I got to her place she informed me that Tori's plane had been delayed half an hour.  We left her place at the normal time, we thought we would go and have a coffee while waiting.

We got to the airport and Ikea just before 3.00pm and Jodi rang saying that she had just got out of the Dr's.  She had been there waiting for 3 and a half hours just to see the doctor to get a prescription.  Apparently her paperwork had got caught up in another patients papers and no-one realised.  Needless to say she was not happy.

Dianne and I went off to have a coffee and waited for Jodi.  Soon after Jodi got there we went downstairs to wait for Tori.   Jodi hadn't told Taylor that Tori was coming back for a visit, she wanted to surprise her and I think she did just that.  Tori came around 4.30pm. 

Dianne kept Taylor occupied by watching a movie with her.  Tori sat on the lounge behind Taylor, tapped her on the arm and when Taylor turned around to look, the look on her face was priceless.  She could not believe it.  It took several minutes for it to sink in that Tori was actually there.

It was great to see her again.   Even though she has only been away for 3 months it seemed like forever since we last saw her.

Dianne ended up going home with Jodi and I went off into town to pick up Tony.   We had some dinner on the way home and then called into the Village to do some shopping.  Thankfully the cool change had come in.  It was trying very hard to rain but all we got was a few drops.   They were so few that they didn't even wet the ground.

From the Lens...........

Not Used To This Much Stress

Sunday 15th January, 2012

Friday evening saw us go and pick up Katie.  Geez, the last three weeks seemed to have gone by so slow and it felt like ages since we had last seen her.

We had to go back into work as Tony had left his mobile phone behind and then we went off to Vilis for some dinner.  Katie has a new favourite there.....marinated chicken.

Katie asked if she was going to see Taylor over the weekend.  I said I didn't think so.  She wanted to know what we were going to do for the weekend.  I said maybe a movie and the pool.   She wanted to know if Taylor could come to the movies with us.  I said no, she got whiney and so I said seeing that it's been so long since we last saw her Nanna and Poppa just wanted to spend some time with her.  We would see about Sunday and she was happy with that.

On Saturday morning we decided to go and see "We Bought A Zoo".  Firstly Katie wanted to go and look at a new school bag.  Last night we got her a new dress and she wanted to wear it today.  When she got in the car she  said, "Now, I feel like I really am in a limo with my new dress on". 

We called into the Village and she decided on a Roxy backpack.  Happy with that we went onto the Plaza and she wanted a protective screen put onto her IPod touch.  Then it was time for the movie.......12.20pm. 

We all thoroughly enjoyed the movie, even Tony.  I found it quite emotional, even Katie said she was upset when the boy and his dad were arguing.  I liked it much better than "War Horse". 

After the movie finished we went and had some lunch and a coffee and then went to Office Works to get Katie some stationary for school.  Holidays are finished in two weeks.  She was excited with her new backpack and her pens, pencils. rulers etc.  She said she is all ready for school now and can't wait.  This year she goes intoYear 5.

We called in home, dropped off the shopping and sat around deciding what to do for dinner.  We decided to go down to the beach.  As we were crossing the bridge over the Port River Tony's mobile rang.  It was Jodi asking us where we were and what were we doing.  I told her we were heading to the beach to have some dinner. 

She asked whether they could come too and if we had Katie would it be OK for Taylor to stay the night.  Apparently arrangements had been made for Taylor to go to Jodi's cousin, Rachel's for the night.  Due to whatever, those arrangemnets went out the window and Taylor was upset and so Jodi rang to see if it was alright for her to come over.

We headed on down to Semaphore and waited for them to come.  We didn't have to wait long and they arrived.  There were people everywhere.  Seeing it was a nice evening weather wise plenty of people were out and about.  There was also a Greek festival on the foreshore plus the usual carnival rides.  The girls wanted a ride so they had one on Ali Baba and then we went to find something to eat.  Jodi made Troy go on with them.

We walked up Semaphore Road and came across a pizza restaurant.  Jodi and Troy decided on that, which was alright with us.  Never again.....the worst pizza we have ever eaten.  Lucky I didn't get the name of it otherwise I would out them here.  The base of the pizza was raw, still doughy, and the only taste to it was some herb they used.  YUK! YUK! YUK!

Jodi and Troy had a seafood pizza and Tony said the smell of it turned his stomach.  They weren't impressed either.  Normally Jodi would go and complain about the food but they just left it.  We all vowed never to go back.

We walked back down to the beach and out along the jetty.  There were crabs and some Tommy Ruffs being caught.  It was starting to get really cool and so we headed back to shore.  The girls had another ride and then we decided to go back to the car and head home.  By now it was getting on for 10 o'clock. 

When we got home the girls went straight to bed and were asleep shortly after.  I was sure that Jodi said she would come around about 10am to pick up Taylor.  Anyway she didn't come but Troy rang closer to midday to say they would be over shortly to pick her up.  Taylor spoke to him and as Katie had already told her that we were going to the pool, she wanted to come as well.

Yes, she could go and she was so happy.  We had to call in on the way to get her bathers and then went down to Marion.  They were happy to be in the water together at first but when Katie wanted to go and swim in the deep pool and jump off the diving board, Taylor couldn't understand why she couldn't as well.  Trying to explain to her made no difference.  Tony let her get into the 3metre deep pool and hold onto the sides.  He stayed with her.  She was happy with that but realised it wasn't much fun after a while.  She didn't like it that she couldn't touch the bottom.

Katie then wanted to go on the water slide.  So did Taylor.  I wouldn't let her.  She thought that because she was the right height she should be able to.  But you also had to be at least 10 years of age.......she's 7, can't swim and would have no idea how to get to the surface after coming out of the slide.  She was happy to wait for Katie but soon realised that it wasn't much fun as you couldn't see too much.

Back to the kiddies pool she went and was quite happy "swimming" by herself.  Whether she was in a "mood" because Katie could do things she wasn't able to do, I don't know.  She didn't seem to swim with Katie too much after that.

At one point we saw Taylor go over and talk to the lifeguard.  She told him she couldn't find Katie.  She, Katie, was "hiding" from her.   OMG when the lifeguard called in another lifeguard to report a child "missing" Tony went over to Taylor and told her where Katie was and had to apologise to the lifeguards.  I could just imagine an alert being put out for Katie. 

I was never more happy to see Kahra and Darrin when they came.  I must say it wasn't a great time at the pool.  After saying bye to Katie we headed off to drop Taylor home.  She fell asleep and slept most of the way back to her place. 

It was so good when we got home.......peace!  Katie and Taylor love each other and love seeing each other but a couple of hours is long enough for them to be together.  This morning there was lots of bickering between the two of them.   Even in the car they argued over the songs they wanted to hear or sing to.  Grrr...... what a stressful day! 

Happier times during the day..........

What's Up With The Weather?

Tuesday 10th January, 2012

What's up with our topsy turvy weather? This time last week we were sweltering in 40 plus temperatures, today the temperature has dropped down to the low 20's. It is grey outside and we have had a few sprinkles of rain.  Overnight I lay listening to the rain, it came down quite steadily.

Not that I mind the rain.  It's great for the garden and whatever water falls from the sky means less what we have to water and pay for.  My ideal weather would be rain once a week during the night and the days warming to between 25-28C degrees.

We are constantly hearing about gobal warming.........is this it?  Are the weather patterns changing?  The northern hemisphere has not had much of a winter so far this year.  I remember last year lots of the USA were under snow and in some parts of the country they never have snow.  I read where some plants are coming up now and even roses have continued to bloom.

Our state of South Australia is facing a dilemma in the next few years.  Apparently General Motors Holden has warned that it may not continue to operate in this state after 2016.  Currently our Premier, Jay Weatherill, is in the USA to have talks with the bosses from GMH.

If this happens it will also have a flow on effect to lots of other businesses that have dealings with Holden.  Currently they build the Commodore and Cruze here.  Last year was the first time in 15 years that Commodore has been outsold by another car maker in this country.  The Mazda 3 outsold them.

Apparently GMH want the Government, both Federal and State, to pour money into them so that they can remain here.  I don't know what the answer is....I'm not an economist.  If, for 15 years they built the top selling car in this country, why do they need a bailout.  Is it because all the profit from the sales of these cars is going overseas?

All I know is that if Holden shuts up shop then this state is in dire straits.  So many of our workforce rely on Holden and it's associate businesses for employment.  Let's hope that a decision is made for the long term survival of GMH, but is bailing them out to the tune of $200 million the answer?

From the archive.........The Cruze

One Week In, Fifty One To Go

Saturday 7th January, 2012

One week of 2012 gone and it has been uneventful.  On Wednesday the car had to go in for its first service, 1,000km service and we had done 2,015km.  I went into work with Tony and then we left at 8.45am to take the car in.  As the service was only going to take approximately an hour we sat and waited for it.  After it was finished I wanted to go to Ikea as I wanted another "table".  Tony decided to come too.  Afterwards, I dropped Tony back at work and then went off home.  

The weather has started to warm up again.  This morning was an awful day, hot, wind was blowing a gale and it was whipping up so much dust from the outlying farming areas.  As we drove down the hill it was almost impossible to see Parafield Airport due to the amount of dust.  We went and bought ourselves a new vacuum cleaner for outside.  We got a wet/dry vacuum, industrial strength and this one should be more suitable for vacuuming the pavers.

We then went up into the hills and to Hahndorf as we wanted to book in for lunch at the Hahndorf Old Mill for Sunday 22nd January.  They have a smorgasbord and Bob and Robyn have always wanted to go and see what it's like and so we thought we would.

While there we saw an advert saying that Adam Brand would be appearing there on February 2nd.  As I have always wanted to go and see him perform I said to Tony I would like to come and see him.  I rang Robyn and she said to get them two tickets as well, and so we have booked to go and see him, dinner and show.

There was no wind up there, just a gentle breeze.  The skies had begun to darken and looked as if there was some rain on the way.

When talking to Robyn she mentioned that they were going to the Lower Light pub for tea and did we want to go as well.  Tony said yes and so we arranged to meet them there.  We went onto Mt Barker as I needed to do a bit of food shopping.

Got that done and then headed home.  We got back earlier than I thought and so rang Robyn again to say we would come out to their place as I still had a container of theirs and their ice blocks.

We ended up going to Lower Light in our car.  On the way we could see the storm front coming in, the sky was black but we didn't hear or see any thunder or lightning.

Just as we were about to turn off the highway and go into Lower Light the heavens opened and down came the rain.  It didn't last very long but it dropped some water.

The pub is only a small hotel, (twenty people and the bar area is full) but they seemed to be booked out for meals.  We all had the Lower Light special, schnitzel, beef or chicken, with prawns in a white herb garlic sauce, except for Bob who had a rump steak.  The beef schnitzels were huge (they overlapped the plates) and there were plenty of prawns and shrimp on top, so much that I couldn't eat all of mine.

They had a salad bar which included help yourself pasta with three sauces.  The food was nice, Bob thought his steak wasn't as tender as he likes though it was cooked to his liking, medium rare.  Still, you gotta try these places.

On the way back we stopped off at Two Wells for a dessert pizza.  We went to the Empire Cafe where we ended up having coffee and this time decided on the Ferraro Roche pizza.  Yum! Yum! it was unanimous, this was delicious.  Much nicer than the one we had previously, Banana Caramel.

Not being a fan of Ferraro Roche chocolates I didn't know if I would like it, but it was so good I even licked my plate much to the disgust of the others.......hahahaha.  Hey, if it's good enough for Amanda Blair to take a group of listeners out to a restaurant and they ALL licked their plates it's good enough for me.

After finishing there we decided to go to the movies and see "War Horse".  We ended up going to the Elizabeth cinemas.  On the way back we realised it must have been some storm that passed through earlier as there was a lot of debris on the roads (leaves and branches) and lots of water laying on the side of the road.  At one point the road was flooded and we had to drive through the water with care.

We enjoyed the movie, I think even Bob did, though it wasn't how I thought it would be.  People, who had seen it, warned to take tissues, but even though the end wasn't sad, it had a lovely ending.  It was a nice way to end a great evening.

When we got home I checked the rain guage and we had had 25mm of rain (that's an inch). 

The Heat Continues

Monday 2nd January, 2012

Today is another scorcher of a day!  This morning Tony cleaned out the fish pond, a job that was supposed to have been done back in October.  Time just seemed to have got away.

After he finished cleaning the pond he had to go into work AGAIN.  The chiller keeps going into alarm and he has to go in to reset the switch, even though he can log in to work from home and check the running of it.  They are going through an upgrade of their chillers and with only one working at the moment it has trouble keeping up with this hot weather.  Even though today was a public holiday there are always people who work in the building, regardless of what day it is, and call for air conditioning.

After we had been in there we decided to go out to Virginia Nursery.  The outside temperature was showing 40 degrees C but the car kept us cool.  The council has "closed" down their Pet Shop that they had and also want to shut their gift shop and kitchenware shop that is within the Nursery.  We signed the petition that they had requesting to keep these shops open and also to re-open the pet shop.  They also have Doncho's cafe but that looks like it can remain open.

Not all people want to go out there and buy plants.  It was nice to go and look at the animals in the pet shop and also to browse in the other two shops.  That is where we used to get our fish from for the pond.  What the Council doesn't seem to think about is the extra revenue that is brought to the area with people calling into the local hotel and the local shopping centre.

We bought a couple of water plants and had a coffee.  We came back to Parafield and got ourselves some fish.  We now have five.  We were down to two fish and one of them was quite aggressive, always chasing the other one away especially when we fed them.  We bought a small tank as we were told to separate it when it became aggressive.  It may have worked.  When we put it in with the other fish it didn't seem to bother with them. 

Looking forward to tomorrow.....we are supposed to have a cool change, expected temperature 37C and we may get some rain.  I won't hold my breath......for the rain.

What a Scorcher!

Sunday 1st January, 2012


Oh my! our plans for last night went out the window.  We had to go and fill our water bottles up and so we left home around 6.00pm thinking that we may as well get some dinner while we were out.  We thought that we would go to Vili's, but they were closed.  So, we headed down Anzac Highway and went to Cafe Primo.  The food was a bit overcooked but we ate it. 


We got home around 8.30pm and I was feeling tired.  Tony said he didn't feel like going into the city and so we decided to stay home.  Our first time staying home for around 15 years.  I fell asleep in front of the computer (lol) and Tony came in to wake me up around 11.30pm so that I could watch the fireworks from Sydney.  Seeing we are 30 minutes behind NSW time they didn't start here until midnight......and they were boring!!!  It's much better to see fireworks in real life not via TV.


We could hear a few going off around here but when I went outside to investigate I couldn't see any, just heard the bangs.  I don't know where people get the fireworks from as it's illegal here to set off your own.  You have to have a permit.


Shortly after, I went to bed..........real party animal that I am.  This morning I slept in until 11.10am.  It felt so good.  Seeing that I had been sick for most of the week it finally caught up with me, so a good sleep was what I needed.

I don't have any New Years resolutions.  I just take life as it comes, anyway the resolutions are usually broken the first few weeks into the New Year.


The temperature has hit the 41C mark and it's now our hottest New Years Day since 1900.  How can people go and sit on the beach in these temperatures?   Tomorrow's forecast is not much better....40C.

I don't know if he was having a go at us because we had no food for them or whether he was talking to his 'friends'

After dinner we thought we would take a drive down to the beach.  When we left home around 7.20pm the temperature was 40C.  Coming home, around 9.40pm, the temperature had dropped to 37C.  There was no sea breeze down by the water making it still very warm, and there were lots of people on the beaches and in the water.  We drove from Outer Harbour through to Henley Beach. 

Let's hope that there are no serious bushfires with this extreme heat.  SA is due for one, seeing all the other states have had them.  We'll keep our fingers crossed! 

From the Lens............sunset over the water