Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens

Yesterday it was almost like spring so we went for a drive up through Windsor, Richmond and along Bells Line of Road past Bilpin to the gardens. We wandered about for a few hours looking at plants I wish I could grow but also getting ideas that can be used. I will plant daffodils next year in the lawn under the gum tree, plus I got the name of a new lawn which grows slowly, is very green and needs little water. We drove back through Mount Victoria and Katoomba to home. There is a lot road work about Katoomba and now I realise what the locals are complaining about.

Odds and ends

Met some of the Hurstville post ladies up at the Catholic Club for coffee which lasted 3 hours. Lots to catch up on.
Diane came over one afternoon to pick up part of a parcel for father's Day and we also caught up with news.
John's vest has again been unravelled even though I only had knitted about 4 inches this time, and now it is correct and can continue.
I attended a dietitian at St. George Hosp. during the week who went through a plan and now its having to TRY to stick to it. Already, yesterday there was a breakdown. I am in my 4th week of a 6 week diabeties program where I am picking up info I should have known before.
Mum's news re her breast cancer was not good but now she is on drugs which should reduce the growth and that will be assessed in 3 weeks.
Two chooks are laying and so there are plenty of eggs for us now and a few to give away.
Great news -on Friday I had 7 mins on Skype with Fiona, Andrew and Lucy after a rocky start, so now thats working but have another problem now to work on.

Excelsior Park, Baulkam Hills

We met at Parramatta Bus Interchange and caught a bus (15 min ) to Baulkam Hills. The walk was mainly on good bush track, but there was some rock hopping, several small bits of scrambling over rocks and three creek crossings and these should have been no problem. One person's foot slipped on a mossy rock and down she went into the creek. Other than getting very wet and a scraped elbow, pride was the main hurt. Over 7 kms were covered over hill and dale giving the legs a good workout. A great day.

Election Day

I put my name down to work on election day, 21st, at a polling booth. Training was to be given either by computer or by mail, neither of which arrived, but that didnt bother me. At 7.30 I am to be at Athelstane school Arncliffe, and so started a VERY long day till 10pm with half hour for lunch and half hour for dinner. My job was to mark off names and as the tables were not in aphabetical sections, we had to flip through the complete electrol roll and this took time. There were a number of rude people but on the whole the time went by. At six the door were locked and the scrutineers were is to observe the counting. The green papers counted first and then the long whites were unfurled with some greens inside. This was the time consuming and as this was a labour seat, you could just see their pile rise. It was very disappointed to see so many informal papers, some with nothing on them but others with swearing or crude messages. I dont think I will do this again.

Movie Tuesday

Margaret, Helen and I , after a bit of confusion over transport, saw the Swedish movie - Everlasting Moments at the Dendy. It was excellent. After the movie, we caught the bus up to the other end of town to SMSA to the public talk by Larry Writer who is the author of The Australian Book of Heroism. Again it was interesting and glad we attended.
I'm still working on spreadsheets at the Wed. computer classes and have managed to master my own financial page.
Wilma and I spent Thursday together, catching up plus trying to work her laptop here. No luck.

Probus

On Monday I officially became a member of St George Probus group and was presented with a copy of the constitution plus my name badge. The previous Monday a group of 30 of us went to visit Sydney Uni which is the oldest in Australia. We toured the older parts including the imposing great hall and the quadrangle with its lovely manicured lawns plus we visited two of the three museums. It was a lovely day.

Disaster

John"s vest that I was knitting has turned out to be a disaster. What I did was just pick up the knitting when I sat down to watch tv and knitted without really rechecking the size. Well it turns out that the Alpaca wool, even though the tension is supposed to be the same as 8ply, my knitting is looser and it turn out huge. So I've unravelled it and will start again.

On the go

Alan left after a couple of days stay and so it was back to things to do. John started a new job so it was a 6am wake up for him but I slept in a bit till I headed off to Mosman for the lecture on Australian Gardens. It was a good morning but wish it was on more normal gardens than the extremes shown. I attended the diabeties group evening meeting where food was discussed.

Because it rained on Tuesday John stayed home and here I caught him napping on the back verandah.

At the computer lesson, I started on the spreadsheet program in excel and found it interesting. At the library, Harry Dillon, an author, spoke on his book of Govenor Macquarie which is going to lead to the talk and display at the Mitchell Library in a month's time on Macquarie, as it 200 years since he governed Sydney.

I caught the train to Cronulla for the meeing of new members of U3A but before I went to the meeting I walked down to the beach. What a surf, apparently it was the wildest in quite a while.

Two live shows in one day - Gwen in Purgatory at the Belvoir Street Theatre and then in the evening Bjorn Again at the State. The play was on old age and many found it very funny but we didnt as it looked more like reality thats not far away. As we both like Abba, this live music show got us up moving and singing to the music. I must admit it was a long day so slept in till late.

r

Hawthorn won today and here you can see a happy John with the scores on the screen. The other photo is my next project, the wool for John's vest. The instructions given to me were a black plain sleeveless vest please.

This past week

Michael left not long ago after removing something from the computer and it seems that now Skype works. I wonder, will know when someone tries to connect.

John accompanied me to Mossman Monday to the talk on Kew Gardens in London and the Keukenhoff Gardens in Holland. The slides with commentary were interesting and I enjoyed it, though John did not. Flowers are not his thing.

Tuesday at the Dendy in the Quay, Margaret and I saw two Australian movies - The Waiting City - made in India and the other South Sokiary filmed in Victoria mainly at Nelson Lighthouse. Both were excellent.

At my computer lesson on Wed. on Fontwork went well but when I came home and tried it on Openoffice I wasnt too successful. I think I need some more patience and a bit of practice.

Thursday was garden day but only for a couple of hours while the sun was out. The raspberries need help and will look at them again on Tuesday. I have forgotton how messy the chooks are and the gate to the veg. garden must be closed.

Yesterday the 12 km walk from Bardwell Park to Campsie was great as the weather was nice and there were only 13 people which is an easier number to manager. Kay lead the group and I walked last to make sure no one got lost. I was less sore and did some stretches after the walk.

Alan came up from Melbourne last night and they are both at the football - Hawks and S. Swans - as I write. I just hope the right team won.

Down the back

Instead of the metal framed and canvas gazebo, we have decided to have a wooden frame with smoky coloured roofing. Here is John making the four footings.

knitting

A while ago I showed on the blogthe cotton I bought for a bolero, so here is the finished product and I must say, it looks good.