Happy 2013 to everyone!

I know it's been a while since I posted (my sister in London keeps telling me this!!) For no particular reason - I just haven't felt like it for a while. But now, at the end of the Christmas holidays (back to work tomorrow, sigh!) I guess it's time to pick up the metaphoric pen and paper again ... :)

Had a lovely Christmas, despite it being the first one I haven't spent with my mother for  many many years. I didn't know how it would go, but ... spent Christmas Eve with my aunt and cousins here in Brisbane. And then on Christmas Day I drove down to Mullumbimby (northern NSW) to spend the day/night with friends who were housesitting there. And really it was the best thing I could have done! No family ties or anything - just good friends, good food and good company! I spent the night there and the next day before I drove home we all visited some other friends who live on the coast near there ... it was lovely!

Since then I've been going to the movies with friends - saw Les Miserables (not my choice, but I have to say the end was incredibly stirring!) and the Hobbit (loved it and can't wait for the next part). Went to the sales and bought some clothes. And just generally hung around, reading and relaxing ... I managed to do some yoga most days - even if only sun salutes some days! Was glad to see from their website that class starts again this Saturday.

Oh, and I spent a lovely weekend down in Ocean Shores (northern NSW again) in early December with my friend Victor. It was just great ...

And now it's 2013 ... New plans for the future are evolving. I'm going to be taking steps to enable this during the year. It feels great to have a plan and be working towards it. Hopefully it will only be a month or so before I can start working 4 days a week - I am so looking forward to that!!

And I'm also planning an overseas trip for later this year. It's all very vague at the moment but I definitely intend to go to London/Europe. Will have to start making firmer plans on that in the next month or two (which will include a yoga workshop somewhere!)

Yes, it should really be a great year ... I haven't really bothered with New Year's resolutions this time round. It feels like my whole life is a new resolution - and that's big enough for me!!

Usual Christmas activities!

A very traditional sort of Boxing Day at my Mum's house ... Family lying around reading books and watching the Boxing Day Test (cricket) match on TV! After a very large lunch! Cooking and eating being the other traditional activities!

Sadly Tendulkar didn't get to 100 this time, but there's still the 2nd innings to come!

Even Amber the dog was (sort of!) getting into the spirit of things!

Rain Everywhere!

I drove home over this bridge yesterday afternoon. The water was just under the bridge, but the actual road-base on my side had been lifted up badly already. I was only just able to get over it without damaging the car! And this is the view (from my side!) this morning!!

Has been a real drama-filled couple of days! It's funny - people think "Australian Christmas" = "barbecue on the beach in the blazing sun". Well, it hasn't been like that this year. (Not actually sure that I've ever had an Aussie Christmas like that!) It has been raining and raining for most of December. Having committed myself to volunteering at the Woodford music festival, which involves camping, I've been watching the weather with increasing dread! The last time I volunteered at Woodford - 3 years ago, it rained a lot and it was just awful! My tent leaked, mud was everywhere!! And I said I'd never go back ... :)

So on Boxing Day I flew back to Brisbane, collected my car (pre-packed for Woodford camping!) from near the airport and set off for Woodford. In the rain! Once I'd registered I set off to find where my friends had set up their campsite. The internal roads (tracks really!) were just dreadful - worse that I'd ever driven on. I had to drive through these huge pools/puddles of water that I'd never normally dream of driving through. A couple of times the car bottom was scraping along the bottom!!! I was soo freaked out!! Eventually I found it, and Helen helped me set up my tent - again in the rain!! I was wondering how I'd ever be able to drive out again (a week later when the festival finishes).

I then went to the actual Festival site and did the orientation for the Internet Cafe (where I was volunteering). Was reasonably encouraged to see that the road out appeared to be in much better condition than the road in! And then went back to the campsite, sat and drank red wine with Helen and Michelle. Then when I went to bed I discovered some of my bedding had got wet! There was a stream about 2 meters away, and I kept imagining it getting higher and higher with all the rain, and flooding the tents! So somewhere in that night I finally decided that unless I felt better I would to go home the next day! Pack up my tent and everything, get the car out of the campsite into the main carpark and then do my first shift at the Internet Cafe, before leaving. I could always drive back from home to do volunteer shifts. Then I fell asleep!!

Next morning I did all that - though of course there was a bit of reluctance to leave when I was wondering around the Festival site looking for something to have for lunch. There is something very seductive about it, even in the rain! (But that doesn't include camping in the rain at all!!)

And, thinking that the Kholo Bridge might be closed, I decided to come home the 'back way'. But I discovered there was a torrent of water over the road that even a big 4-wheel drive wasn't going to attempt, and I certainly wasn't in my little car!! So I decided to check out the Kholo Bridge before giving up and seeing if I could go and stay at my Aunt's place. And luckily it was 'open', although there were 'closed' signs up, but pulled a bit to one side. The water hadn't got over the bridge (like it is in the photo above). But the tarmac on one side was all broken up by the water that had come up there, and it was only because people had made a way through that I could get across it without damaging the car bottom! And now this morning the river has risen again, as evidenced by the photo, so no way anyone is getting over it for a few days now! So it's lucky I did a bit of shopping before I came home!! Marooned for a day or two probably, after which I'll try the back way again!!

Christmas in Bowral

Lazy days down at my Mum's ... As if! Life is not like that with her, although she'd deny that! But lots of fun nonetheless!

Arrived on Sunday afternoon, and within a very short period of time we were off to the local cinema to see a preview showing of The King's Speech. With Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth (plus the lovely Helena Bonham Carter playing the Queen Mum - in earlier days). Totally wonderful film - hope it gets Oscars for its stars!

The next day it was all hands on deck to prepare for a dinner party that Mum had organised for that night! A few dramas but it all worked out and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Since then we've been up to Sydney for the night to have a pre-Christmas dinner with John, Gina and Peter in Peter's new flat. Which has absolutely no furniture in it at the moment - we even had to bring the chairs to sit on! But it was a fun night.

I've managed to find space to do yoga a couple of times too. Did standing one day and today I've done the seated poses (well, most of them!) Now I have to get back to cooking dinner ...:)

this and that

I'm a bad blogger ... haven't blogged for ages - can it be 2 weeks?! And I'm afraid it's not that my life has been so full of exciting things I haven't had time to blog! Just the more 'normal' day-to-day stuff, the lead-up to Christmas etc etc.

Just one more week at work and then I stop till the new year. I'm going down to Mum's in NSW on the Sunday (19th). She has lined up some 'entertaining' - giving a dinner party the day after I arrive, and a few other things, including going for an early Christmas dinner in Sydney with the rest of the family - only one nephew left in Sydney now, since Jo and Emma moved to London a month or two ago! But we're all going to be having it at Peter's new flat (or apartment!) which he has just bought, which should be good! His first adventure in the wild world of property-owning!!

Yoga has been good ... until this week! Since I've been back I've been able to practice a lot more during the week (lunchtimes) than before - due entirely to being able to use my boss's office at lunchtime when she goes to the gym, or out to lunch, and her doing this more frequently! But this week I was sick at home on the only day her room was available, and I only managed a few sun salutes. So the only yoga I've managed to do this week is one regular class on Wednesday evening, and then a vinyasa class at the Uni gym at lunchtime today. Does that count? I don't think it does really, but when all else fails, it's better than nothing!

At least there's my normal Saturday afternoon class to look forward to - but this is the last one for the year. I'm hoping that my boss will get to the gym more days next week!!

When I go to Woodford (folk/music festival running from 27th December to 1st January) I'll be taking a yoga mat. They have quite a few different yoga classes,though no Ashtanga ones sadly! They used to say it was because it was considered too hot for an outside camping festival, but I noticed in the programme there was mention of a couple of Bikram classes, so I guess they've changed their minds on that!

Middle-of-the-night blues

I think it shows what a wiped-out state I've arrived at over the past couple of weeks, that last night I woke up at 3.30am totally depressed and in a state, convinced I had far too many things to do/organise before Christmas, and too little time! And I lay awake for at least half an hour with all this stuff going round and round (and round!) in my head, unable to get back to sleep. All the time a part of me knew that I most likely would not be feeling like this in the morning, but that made no difference to my feverish, worried brain!

Why do I do this to myself? Of course I can organise what I need to do in the next couple of days - I'm well on the way to that already (nearly lunchtime on Tuesday!) I can understand this sort of thing happening when big/bad things are happening in my life, but ... really, Christmas preparations?!!! All I can do is put it down to being tired and run out of energy at the end of the year. Thank goodness where I work give us the time between Christmas and New Year off for 'free'. So when I stop at lunchtime tomorrow, I'm not back at work till the 4th January ... should be able to 'recharge the batteries' in that time!

I've also arranged to spend a few days in late January with a friend who lives near Byron Bay - and very near the beach!  So that should be really lovely! Hmm, I wonder if I can drop in at Dena's shala while I'm down there. Now that'd be wonderful - must investigate!

Time of year busy-ness!

Well, after last weekend I almost need a day off to recover! I think it must be a combination of the lead-up to the 'holiday season', plus I realise I haven't had much time off at all this past year. And it just seems like there's always heaps of things to do, Christmas parties to go to at this time of the year!

On Saturday I found myself getting up early to do shopping, go to the library, etc. Then driving half an hour west to go to our Book Club Christmas meeting/lunch. Which was really nice - we'd had The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - the first book of the wonderful Millennium trilogy, sadly published posthumously, by Stieg Larsson. I've got the 2nd book as an audiobook (thank you audible.co.uk!) and if I don't get the 3rd one for Christmas I'm going straight out to buy it!! Highly recommended - everyone loved it! (And I caught a bit of the ABC's 'First Tuesday Night Bookclub' program last night on TV. Everyone was recommending books for holiday reading and I noticed these books came up on quite a few lists!)

But anyway, then I had to drive over an hour and a quarter in the opposite direction to get to my yoga class. And it was really humid - and I've never sweated so much in a class!! Followed by my (normal) 45 minutes drive back home again. And I'm still trying to track down this wonderful instrumental version of arti that they were playing in class a couple of weeks back! Richard can't quite get the info right for me to find it on iTunes ... (Premie readers will know what I'm talking about!!)

Yesterday - Sunday - I was supposed to go to another Christmas party - and I really would have loved to but ... I was completely knackered and just couldn't! I did however manage to make it to my friend Helen's art exhibition opening at the Ipswich Art Gallery late in the afternoon. Could only stay for about 20 minutes before leaving to go home to collapse again! Lovely watercolours from her recent long South American holiday ...

Ah well - not long now!

a post in search of a title!

I missed my normal Saturday yoga class, but luckily a friend and I had already arranged to do yoga at my place on the Sunday.

I put on the David Swenson DVD and we followed that. My friend has done a lot of yoga for years. Although she hasn't specifically done the ashtanga practice, she knew most of the poses in the first series. It was an incredibly hot day (39degC) outside and I put the air-conditioning on. I think we would have been in a sauna if I hadn't - my house is not well insulated at all! Anyway, we both really enjoyed it and are looking forward to out next 'yoga Sunday' - which won't be till mid-January unfortunately, what with the approaching Christmas/holiday busy-ness!

And the approach of Christmas means I have to get myself organised! Mum is coming up to stay for the Christmas week - I normally go south to her place, but as I'll be going down there in early January for my nephew Jo's wedding, she decided to save me one of those trips! We'll mostly be doing the usual family stuff - and I have managed to book lunch for a few of us up at the wonderful Spirit House Thai restaurant in Yandina ... Can't wait!

Back home + new kitten

Back home after a nice Christmas down at my Mum's. Ate lots of wonderful food (too much of course!) and enjoyed good company! This photo was from the Saturday Christmas lunch (the 2nd one!) - typical Aussie Christmas. Everyone collapsed reading their presents, and/or watching the Boxing Day Test Match (cricket) ...

The weather was pretty dismal for the first few days I was down there - I can somehow never remember how cold it can get in Bowral at Christmas! In Queensland it's usually heat wave conditions, and so when I pack I manage to remember to throw in a pair of jeans, cardigan and a couple of long-sleeved teeshirts and think that will do it. Wrong! On Christmas Eve we took the dog to the dog park (off-leash area) before going on to some friends for drinks. It was drizzling, cold and the grass was wet. No one there could believe I'd come down with only sandals to wear. I don't wear any other shoes in summer!! And so my feet and sandals got progressively wetter and wetter! And the people we were going to were not the sort where you could kick off your shoes and go barefoot!

But I don't/didn't mind, really! I had a lovely time. Managed to do some yoga a couple of times. Peter, my nephew, told me that his work was offering staff yoga and he was enjoying that. Can't remember what sort - definitely not ashtanga. I guess that'd leave people a bit too sweaty to go back to their desks!!

And then yesterday I collected the new kitten on my way home from the airport. (No, it wasn't on the way at all unless I had moved north of Brisbane, but ...) She spent a couple of hours hiding behind the sofa and/or fridge, but then got bolder and ventured out. By the time it was bed-time she was ready to snuggle in my bed! Right now she wants to help me type this blog! I'm sure I'm going to be exhausted running after her for the next few weeks!

It was fun!

Party was fun - although a lot of work! Even though everyone helped with the washing up etc., there was still a bit to do after they'd left. But I finally managed to collapse with my feet up and a glass of wine, and reflect!

Susan and Lyn (and my mother!) will be happy to hear that I didn't go with the plastic plate option in the end - I borrowed the pretty plates from my work. (Which very annoyingly were just a bit too big to fit into the dishwasher!) Everyone had a good time - although I sometimes think that when you're the one having/organising the party, you spend most of your time making sure food is appearing (I let the drinks take care of themselves!) and that people are having a good time, meeting others etc. So it's hard to sit down and chat to friends for any length of time. But still, I did have a very enjoyable time - and hopefully it will remind me that entertaining can be just that - a lot of fun!

Unfortunately I left my camera on my bed, and so forgot to take any photos! Memories will have to remain in my head, and not my Macbook ...

Now I've got a quiet week, gearing up firstly for Wednesday's appointment with my specialist, and then on Sunday for the flight down to Sydney (and thence the NSW countryside) to spend Christmas at my Mum's. Everything's slowing down at work - people are starting to leave - for the holidays I mean, although actually 3 people will be leaving for good at Christmas. All a precursor for the departures/redundancies early next year - they are either going to, or are expecting to go to other jobs in the new year.

stuff!

I'm getting a new abyssinian kitten! I went and saw her a few weeks ago when she was only about 4 weeks old - so cute! This is a not very good photo I took of her then - she was being held by the breeder. I wasn't allowed to touch her at that time - I guess she hadn't had any vaccinations yet. Her name is Saffron - Saffie for short.

I had been going to pick her up the weekend before Christmas and fly her down to NSW with me to stay at my Mum's for Christmas. It seemed like a good idea when I thought of it months ago. I have 2 weeks off over Christmas and will be spending the first week down in NSW. But as the time has approached I have been wondering if this is really such a good idea after all - mostly for her! Being picked up by a new person, and about 24 hours later being put in a plane and going to yet another new place! anyway, the breeder has agreed to hold onto her until I come back (with some relief on both of our parts!) so I'm going to collect her on my way home from the airport!

My health has been mostly OK, although I seem to have started coughing again at night which is extremely boring to say the least! I don't know who I can complain to now! But I'm still OK in the daytime (touch wood!). I've been doing yoga and going to the Curves gym 3 times a week, which I'm pleased about. I do know that exercise is good for your health, and immune system generally. I haven't started going back to class (yoga) yet. I was going to go today but ended up getting spaced out doing Christmas shopping and didn't get it together. I think I will probably have to leave it till next year now - I could only go next Saturday now, as the following ones are going to be busy busy busy!

It's funny, normally I'm not very social at Christmas but this year I seem to have been invited to heaps of Christmas 'dos' - starting tomorrow evening! And I'm having a Christmas BBQ lunch myself in a couple of weeks too! Mostly some people from work, family and a few other friends. Should be nice.

Apricot jam, and music, and the environment, and cricket ...

Back home after a lovely lazy fun-filled holiday! Down at my Mum's in NSW we celebrated Christmas on the Saturday (23rd) as the relatives couldn't come on Christmas Day ...

And on Christmas day we had a quiet day and ended up making Apricot Jam with the apricots from Mum's tree - which was completely laden! Such a nice thing to do (and it is delicious!!)










Then it was back on the plane and up to Woodford ... Here are a few photos ...

street scene


Flamenco Fire


Afro Dizziac playing


Street Performer outside the Circus tent


"Seagulls" at the Woodford cricket match, stealing food!!

Saw/heard some wonderful music, dancing, even a demo of Capoeira which is just incredible! If I wasn't doing Ashtanga I'd be really tempted to have a go at that ... Saw Tim Freedman (singer from The Whitlams), Po' Girl (a Canadian group), John Butler Trio - and heaps of others.

It was great to collapse in the village green area and find a Woodford cricket match going on! Complete with Tony Greig (sound-alike!) commentator! All the kids were joining in - and then these street performing 'seagulls' appeared and having interfered with the ball in the game, then decided to wander through the crowd and try and steal their food (chips etc!!) Hilarious!!! (I won't mention the 55+-year-old male streaker that appeared! Some things should be left unsaid - and unseen!!!)

And one of the (many!) really great things was getting a chance to hear Bob Brown (Australian Green Senator) speak a couple of times. He is such a wonderful speaker, and is so clear on the importance of our environment. Everyone there - we all wanted him to be the next Prime Minister of Australia! One thing he said really stuck with me. That when people say that the economy will go to pieces if we put the environment first, to remember that when women were trying to get the vote, everyone then said that if women got the vote it would be disastrous for the economy. And how ridiculous is that now!!! He also said that suffragettes fought for many many years to get the vote, but eventually they succeeded. And we have to be like that about the environment.