Watching -- Dig and Casual Vacancy
Reading -- Martha Wells City of Bones

Making -- (but taking the LONG road to finish) my hexagon quilt
Dreaming -- of freshly painted walls and plantation shutters, like this

Eating -- flame raisins, cranberries and blueberries, in a little box like you used to take to school for your play lunch!
Feeling -- a little bit fitter thanks to my first week of fitbitting
Thinking -- of writing ... thanks to Neil Gaiman's post 
Hoping -- I can go to the Doctor Who Festival in November
Wondering -- when I can paint my little found by the roadside stool/table
Hearing -- 12's theme
Liking -- this lovely quilt
Wanting -- to watch Star Trek Continues (I only just found out about this fan driven phenomenon!)
Playing -- OK, I admit it, Candy Crush Soda
Wishing -- it was my impromptu long weekend already
Enjoying -- re-watching 8 in preparation for 9 in August!

Where I'm at now

It's after 1am on Sunday, so things don't change do they? Trying out posting on the iPad via the blogger app - quite easy although I have to solve the photo problem, but that's for another day - I'll add photos into this post tomorrow - I hope!

So where am I at just now?

~ Buying a new tap today at Winnings - what a well organised establishment, very civilised free underground parking and a 'working kitchen' where you can help yourself to coffee and yummy things.

~ Walking my daily steps - over 9000 today and (drum roll please) over 11,000 yesterday. Best $118 ever spent on the FitBit - who knew I was that competitive (walking up and down the hall the other evening at 5 to 12!!) Tonight I walked a big block, to the vet, and carried home a bag of crunchies for the boys!

~ Candles, particularly Ecoya, the pine needles one, so fresh! And nearly gone :( Love this in the evening as it glows warmly and scents the room very beautifully.

~ Doctor Who soundtracks! Yes, I know I'm a bit obsessed - but how great it is to drive around town with Murray Gold's wonderful music blaring! Particularly enjoying the 8 soundtrack. Love 8's theme, it's dramatic. Lots of drums. Wonderful symphonic music, I remember this years' (and 2012's) concerts very well, lots of fun and this music works so well when played by an orchestra. It really adds to the show.

~ Cooked a recipe from Tessa Kyros's book Limoncello and Linen water - I think that's the title. Lamb shoulder stuffed with herbs and prunes, baked with veggies and white wine. Very delish.

~ Some beautiful flowers arrived this morning from dad. One of the nicest bunches I've ever received, and such a lovely thing for dad to do.

It's only halfway through the weekend! Time left to dream and walk - and cook more nice things tomorrow. 

An evening in June

Trying to decide how to restart this blog again, but instead I'll add this photo:

This shot was taken on the balcony of the pub in Byron Bay, a couple of years ago. It was winter, and cocktails were about to be served - mine had lots of mint and gin if memory serves me well!

Fast forward to today - it's nearly July, but today was warm and sunny. Walked with a friend at lunchtime and enjoyed the mild day and bright sunshine.

I'll walk some more over the weekend. Hope to visit the markets tomorrow. For now, it's home James and don't spare the horses!

Beginning near the end

Here I am back in Everyday Land ... but the Time Before Now involved an Excellent Adventure on Another Continent.

Yes I know I was going to write and post and add photos en route ... just think of this as a timey wimey thing ...

... here we are in the Sequoia National Park ... well that's me, and can you see some small patches of white near the trunk of the tree? That's snow. The air was crisp and very fresh as we strolled down

a mile long and very well kept footpath/trail, on our way to see the largest living thing - the General Sherman Tree.

These two trees, huge and very old, were so beautifully incorporated into the trail.The blackened gap in the trunk beside me was an opening I could stand in. And don't you love the moss on the mere saplings behind them - huge trees in their own right!

The General Sherman is not as tall as the Redwoods we saw further north, but it is vast and huge and growing wider every year ...

Here's some handy facts:
It's 2,200 years old. The base is 11 metres wide (36.5 ft) and its 31 metres in circumference (103 ft) and weighs a whopping 1,385 tones! And I love this from one of the helpful information posters on the trail - if you could fill the trunk with water, you could have 9,844 baths - one every day for 27 years!

It was a steep hike back up to the car park,so it was great to have lots of rustic wooden benches to rest on.The trail winds past other huge and ancient trees. With the snow, the forest had a magical feel. The Sequoias have such amazing chestnut coloured bark that almost doesn't look real. We saw a few forest critters, little squirrel/chipmunk creatures and tiny birds, enjoying the mountain spring and splashes of sunlight, quite unconcerned about the waves of humans wandering through their forest.

Let's get this blog started ....

Been spending the evening re-kick-starting my blogging - so let's set the scene....

It's way past midnight, and one day 'til lift-off. Yes, Monday we fly out to LA.
We arrive Monday - I love that about travelling east - and then it's off on a road trip, the first for 4 years over in the US.
I'll put up the odd shot here, so stay posted .... !
But for now, it's good night!

3 more sleeps ... Again!

Time has passed, technology has changed and here I find myself again, 3 days out from our next US adventure. Had planned to post over at my blog cherrypips* and perhaps I will, but seeing as I didn't get very far with this one last time, here goes again. (*I did move the post here!)

Dinner tonight? A mushroom omelette, a nice glass of red, a Ten story - Tooth and Claw - and The Hobbit.

A bag sits in the third room, full of my first go at packing, no black cat in it this time though. Jaz has been in for cuddles, Ruf on his table - or vlado!

Trying to sleep one hour earlier tonight, and need to wake one hour earlier - jet lag technique.

Here I lie in bed, writing this on my ipad - a very different style to last time when I had a big, heavy, hot laptop. Hopefully this will make it easier to post en route!

Sleep, it calls ..  Here's a shot from the recent exhibition, it foretold of things to come ...

Dreams, wishes, plans ...

Sitting in dappled sunlight, well my left foot is. It's a new year again, 4 days in, little aunty marg's birthday today, happy birthday to someone I fondly remember. There's a breeze, the titch, titch, titch of crickets, a pleasant rumble and clickety clack of a train crossing the bridge and heading on westwards. A plane roars out, off to some far distant place. Birds rasp, chirp and whistle. Now a train coming east approaches and clatters over the bridge, a nice sound I think.
So here we are in 2013. Our Ruf is currently asleep on top of the BBQ, very relaxed and peaceful. We made it, through 8 weeks of, well, through 8 weeks. Feeding tube gone, jaw working well, now it's just healing and a few more things that we can come to when we come to them.
Happy. Enjoying this moment, and that's what I hope the most for 2013 - enjoy the moment, and make the most of it. Make plans and enjoy them.
So my plan today is Les Mis, shopping, lunch, Bunnings maybe. Tonight I'm cooking my second 15 minute meal, thanks Jamie, the Thai chicken lahksa was very yummy, but more like 45 mins! But that's ok, just need to do more prep, so that means it really isn't 15 mins??!
Days 1,2 and 3?
1 was the last of tube feeding, collar changing, the leash! Lunch - very good roast potatoes! And beef, pork, salads, strudel. Driving up to SASH, then an evening, the first in 8 weeks, that didn't have a night feed. Felt amazing.
2 was waiting, waiting, progress reports, and finally success. Picked up Ruf at 5.30, now just 7 days of meds.
3 saw me lolling a bit! Poor uv had to return to work, but I spent the day checking on Ruf who was enjoying next doors garden and later and who later curled up and slept all afternoon in a corner of their shed. I washed, read, snoozed, talked on the phone, shopped, cooked, watched the first almighty johnsons, season 2. Not bad, eh?