Mosman to Balmoral

What a day we had. Catching a ferry from Circular Quay to Mosman Bay was the first leg and then the walk. I inadvertantly said left when it should hve been right and so it was our first detour but after that we had a great walk to Taronga Zoo wharf, passing that to Clifton Gardens and then on to Balmoral. We walked for 4 hours and covered just on 8km most of which was a good track but there were 2 steeeeeeeep climbs. Today the backs of my legs feel a little sore.

There were a lot of the Eastern Water Dragons sun baking on the paths and they would run as were got closer. John had a fall about half way but carried on only to find when he got home he needed to put ice on the foot to help with the pain. Today the bruise had appeared but he is walking OK.

We stopped at Bradley Head reserve to have our picnic lunch. We were interupted by a family of kookaburras who perched in the tree nearby. As I was holding the last bit of ham and tomato roll, one of the babies swooped down and whipped the food, which was near my mouth, and off it flew. An older French couple came over to take a photo of the birds (they had seen what had happened). Unfortunately their English was very limitied and after a couple of words we headed onwards.
It was a great day and our next walk is Circular Quay, across the bridge, Lavender Bay, McMahons Point to Waverton. All these years and I haven't walked across The Bridge.

odds

Monday lunchtime we spent at Sutherland as the electrician took out the old oven then John removed a section it was sitting on so the new upright could fit in. All went well and I'm sure the tennant would be happy even though there was a gap between new oven and cupboard.
Tuesday Margaret and I went and had our movie fix and saw The King's Speech and Somewhere. Well I wouldn't recomend Somewhere as I walked out the cinema wondering what it was all about. Whereas the King's Speech was excellent as I really like both the main actors - Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth.

A strange visitor

Graham and Pat went to Culburra on Boxing day but they found a very wet rainbow lorikeet in their backyard. It couldn't fly so they presumed it escaped from a home cage and as they were going on hols the bird came over here. Over two days it was happy swinging, hanging upside down plus doing rolls and then his friends arrived. They sat on the verandah and all squawked together so we thought he must be ok and let him out. Off he flew to the blue yonder.

After opening our gifts, we had a cold lunch and as it was warm, the neighbours out to a family do, we spent some time in their pool. We had a roast duck for a change and it was delicious. I am so looking forward to spending my Bunnings gift voucher. Skype with Katrina, Diane and John and then a few minutes with Andrew, Fiona, Lucy and Henry. It was their third Skype and We thought they had had enough. All Skypes were lovely.

First crop

Don't they look delicious. I'm always amazed when I pick them and then taste the difference between bought and home grown. The fruit fly is about and hope they don't ruin too many fruit.

Cardie

The finished product was posted on Thursday and I hope that it not only fits but Lucy likes it too.

Merry Christmas

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and you have health and happiness in 2011.

Success

I sat through the google video many, many times but in the end the result was a pieced together puzzle ring. Now I have broken it a few times and put it together without the video and just hope I remember how to do it.

gardening

It was a gardening weekend for both of us. John attacked the hydrangers down the side of the house as they were taking over the pathway, while I spent time in the vegie patch. This year the raspberries have come on well and enough of them to take to the kitchen and have for sweets. John had cream (for the first time in months) on the raspberries, I like them just plain. Some of the tomatoes are ready for picking and ripening up. Its still a battle with the birds and snails over the strawberries. The pumpkin has gone berserk and the cucumbers are only pencil thin. Ruhbarb is plentiful and will need to be repotted when its a bit cooler.

This past week

Have had a hard time with Skype and could see and hear but my microphone did not work after the update. Katrina patietly sat while I fiddled and now its OK. Thank you.
We had yum cha in Chinatown with the walking group and got to try quite a few items we've never had before. A good couple of hours of chat and laughs.
Met some of the ladies up at the Catholic Club at Hurstville and thats the last time I'm going to the shopping centre before Christmas. BUSY is not the word but chaotic for parking.
I've seen two movies at the Dendy - Fair Game with Naomi Watts and Love and Other Drugs with Anne Hathaway. Both were entertaining and enjoyable. It was unusual to see lots of children at the Dendy - it was to see one of the Narnia movies.
Google seems to have the answer to every question and am now going to find how to put together my puzzle ring.

Culburra

There was a lot to do at the house but as it was overcast all but one day, the jobs got done. The one good afternoon we enjoyed walking on the beach and feeling the sun's warmth. There has been a great job done by council to regenerate the grassy area at the beach in preparation of conserving the sand (you can see it behind me). There were only a couple of other people to share lovely the beach.