Choo-choo

One good thing about being married to a train afficionado (I almost wrote train freak), is that you get to go to places you might never have thought of going to otherwise.

When hubby told me he had a little trip planned by train to Brisbane Water I was mildly surprised. You see, Brisbane is in Queensland, 8 to 9 hours drive or more from here.  I would have preferred to fly there, but since I hadn't been there before I thought "What the heck, it will be fun even if it is by steam train and just for the day." It will be like these rich people in Europe who go from London to Paris just for lunch or fly to Rome for a romantic dinner. But guess what? Brisbane Waters is just north of Sydney, near Woy Woy!  We went anyway.

Most people got off in Woy Woy to go for a little lunch cruise, but we stayed on until Gosford where hubby had a whale of a time checking out the shunting movements, the turning of the steam engine, and the numerous super freighters that came through the station. Thank goodness I brought a book.

Of course, this was before I was told about the new health scare, i.e. "Sitting is the new smoking."
Hubby had a health meeting at work where they were cautioned against sitting still for too long. Many people order stand up tables. I know, tables always stand up, but these can be pulled up to become high so people have to stand up and work at them.   So my favorite activities will have to be limited, sitting in a comfortable chair reading, or watching TV, or surfing the net in an office chair, or painting which I prefer doing sitting down as well. Fortunately lying down is ok so that will have to do then I guess.

I had lunch this week with the ladies in my painting group. We went to a place called Camellia Gardens Teahouse and it was lovely. I wish I had known about it before. I could have taken so many visitors there, I know they would have loved it. For you who are still to come this will be a little treat, I promise you.

 

So until next time here is a little quite from Aesop :" No act of kindness, no matter how small,  is ever wasted".

Men chase dog

When we got back from the city a couple of weeks ago we saw a very funny sight. It was two big, beefy men running after a small bundle of fluff, that turned out to be a dog, one of those cute little things that people take to special hair dressers for dogs. The dog was very happy to be off the leash and was running very fast on its little legs downhill towards the nearest forest. The big burly men, despite the many hours probably spent in a gym judging by their looks, had a hard time keeping up. Behind them were two gorgeous looking girls wearing very high heels trying in vain to join the chase. One was probably the owner of the dog since she was holding out a rhinestone-studded leash, which matched her own belt. I hope the story didn't end with "Man bites dog"!

You may have noticed that I have been off the radar for longer than I planned. The thing is when you write about little things happening in your priviliged life it just seems a bit frivolous compared to what has been happening in the world lately. I am thinking about the Syrian situation in particular. I dearly hope there will be an end to it soon.

Anyway, the last part of my stay in the cottage after the last visitors left was a bit long. Luckily, our old friends from up north took pity on me and came for a visit. We also had a quick trip to Oslo to pick up elder daughter and see a great exhibition with the artist Munch.

Lunch at Havets Hus in
Lysekil

First time I have paid with
my Visa card to go to the
toilet.

Elder daughter in front of
the Opera House in Oslo

However, the second week of September I went to meet hubby in Prague. He was there for a conference after having spent ten days in Spain. We both loved Prague and the hotel was conveniently situated right near the castle.

We rented a car for two days to get a chance to see the country side as well. A place I am not in a hurry to go back to is Kunta Hora or rather the Sedlec Ossuary. It was a chapel decorated with bones and sculls of 40.000 to 70.000 people. After 1511 a half-blind monk was charged with organizing these bones in a decorative way and when he was finished he got his sight back??!! If you crave more information about it, check out Wikipedia.

The Sydney weather has been pleasant but not too hot since I got back here. Except one day when it was +38°C and very windy. It felt like my eyeballs dried up and I couldn't close my eyes.

Last week end we went to the Manly Jazz festival which is on every year but we always miss it. It was great, with music being played everywhere, in the street, in pubs in churches, and on the beach.

Last Monday was a public holiday (Labour Day) I think. We had a bunch of people over for the first barbecue for the summer, and had a great time. But WHEN will I learn that when you prepare food for 12 people it doesn't mean that you have to prepare for 25 just in case?