Organized writing

This is how I usually go about writing this blog.

I have little bits of paper and more often backs of envelopes where I just jot down things that I want to remember. It can be just a word or a saying, so it's usually quite short. The problem is when I find these little gems weeks or months after the event , I have a heck of a hard time trying to remember what it was all about. Sometimes I just have to let it go. Like with the back of receipt that said "enema"?  I couldn't for the life of me figure out what that was all about so can't write about that here. Not that enemas would be something you would like to write about here anyway. But if I remember and it is interesting I'll get back to that.

But here we go with another one of them that I just found and which has been in my bag for more than a year. The back of the envelope said "drop dead".  So going into reverse-thinking mode I realized that it was an ad for pest extermination. This was a period when I was particularly grossed out over cockroaches and felt that they were everywhere. I even took a photo of the company's logo and here it is. Yes, like me you will want to rush out and buy toothbrush containers immediately, right?

It's been a quite an un-eventful week otherwise with only a little last-minute shopping for going next week. Hubby just found out that he can have two bags so of course we now have to fill them up too. The air traffic in Sydney has been a bit disturbed lately because of early-morning fog but our flight is in the afternoon so we should be ok.

When I was looking a my photos the other day I realized that I hadn't put the latest "big thing" out here on my blog so here it is, the big kookaburra. We saw it in Kurri Kurri on our way to the Steamfest in Hunter Valley. More about that another time.

Kurri Kurri

Vivid memories

It must be very nice to turn 80 and have your children organize a garden party with friends and neighbours and  one distant relative. Yes, that distant relative was hubby who is  a second cousin to M on his father's side. The last time we saw M was at her husbands funeral so it was nice to see her at a happier occasion.   It was a very nice BBQ with lots of food and with cake later on and a few nice speeches. It has ben raining quite a lot here in Sydney the last few days but yesterday was beautiful.

The family

Yours truly together with R, the birthday girl's daughter

Friday night after hubby finished work we took the train into Sydney to see  Vivid Sydney which took place in the central parts of Sydney near the Opera house and the Bridge. It rained off and on but thanks to our big IKEA umbrella we didn't suffer too much. Instead we had complete strangers come and stand under it with us to protect their cameras. It's always nice to be popular!





Other than that I have also had my usual painting class and also a special workshop which was very nice. I am trying to do as much as possible before we go to Europe. I intend to bring a few paintings and they need to dry. It takes forever. The framing guy is coming today to deliver two paintings but the rest I have to take with me un- framed.

One of my latest efforts

I can't believe that we are going so soon but looking forward to seeing friends and family of course!!Today is Sunday, yes, I know I said I was going to make Monday my blog day but tomorrow will be busy since I am doing 2 art classes per week until we go next week to make up the time.

Vital organ

For several years hubby had talked about the old pedal organ from the late 1800s that he used to 'play' on as a child in his grandparents' house.  When his grandparents passed on, this organ came to his parents' house, then on to a second cousin, a good friend of hubby, when his parents moved into a retirement village with limited space.  Recently, when the second cousin and his partner considered downsizing, the organ needed a new home.  Needless to say, hubby was keen, and several hundred dollars later the organ was tenderly transported professionally from Melbourne to Sydney.

Hubby was overjoyed of course, since the organ brought back many happy memories of his grandparents and their home.  Then he had the bright idea of 'googling' this make of organ to see how much it was worth.  Big mistake!  It turns out that Mason & Hamlin reed organs were produced at the rate of 200 a week in the late 1800s. Consequently there are oodles about, and the resale value down-under, even for a specimen over 130 years old in fine condition, is not that great, and certainly much less than it cost to transport it from Melbourne to Sydney.  But, hey?  What price can you place on sentiment?  And, it is a nice, if somewhat heavy, piece of furniture.

The family jewel

I will, however, hold hubby to his promise to learn to play the &*!* thing in retirement.

Yeah, Monday morning!!

Monday morning used to be a pest when I was working. It was always a big rush to find something to wear and realizing that what you absolutely needed to wear was in the wash and you had forgotten to photocopy stuff for your class etc. Plus the butterflies in your stomach when you were supposed to start a new class. Sometimes being a teacher starting a new class is like being a stand-up comedian, you have to get their attention with an ice breaker from the start.  I was often grateful that my students were adults. I would have problems with discipline in a class of kids, especially teenagers. If they were mean to me I would probably burst out crying and that wouldn't do, would it? It would be all over Fb and Twitter and YouTube in minutes.

So thankfully I was teaching English to French adult students, which was very rewarding and much less scary.  French students often have an excellent knowledge of  grammar but are intimidated about speaking, so it is a question of getting them to speak and forget the grammar and the "correct way" of saying something and just chat. I quite miss that part, but not the Monday morning panic part.

These are some of my adult students and I must admit that fluency improves with a glass of wine!

Now in my other life Monday morning is great, a new week and new exciting things to do (or not). It helps that it is almost always sunny too. I think I am going to make Monday my blog day.

Yesterday we had a barbecue and it went very well, we were about 15 adults and some children and a gorgeous baby in a cute pink blanket with skulls on it!! Very funky!

I was so busy I almost forgot to take photos but here is one of my Swedish friend L and her boyfriend and a Chinese couple and another one of hubby at the other table.

So this Monday morning means tidying up and doing dishes but I keep thinking of how much fun it was yesterday so it is OK. Also hubby is coming home for lunch since we have so many left-overs to finish off.  Why can I not be reasonable when I have people over?  I always cook for double as many as are actually coming from sheer panic of not having enough. So our son was sent home with enough to eat for a week and we certainly will have enough for a week too. Too bad you can't freeze salads!

Oh, the postman just came, got to go and see if there is anything for us. So bye for now!

Sista April and Mother's Day

Greetings all.

I was very late getting up this morning, or rather leaving the bedroom. It is the only room that can be heated by the combined a/c and heater. The temperatures drops to around 11 or 12 °C at night and the bedroom is the only place to be. We are thinking of moving the TV in here, like the tenants before us. First we thought it seemed a bit decadent when we saw it, but now it seems like the only way to go.

Last week I went to the SIS dinner to celebrate the last day of April - Sista April which is possibly linked to Walpurgis Night. It is very Swedish and if you have been a student at one of the big universities, it is a must. A fire is lit and songs are sung and hats are thrown in the air to celebrate the arrival of Spring. 

In our case it was also a wonderful sit down dinner catered by Two Swedes Cooking and it was very nice. I was very grateful that it was a sit down affair because I had been running around Sydney on foot and on busses all day together with L, a new girl friend who had spent the night at my place since she lives quite far away. One of the places we went to was the Archibald exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. As usual I didn't quite agree with the jury's choice, there being a few others that I liked better.  Anyway I was glad it was a sit down dinner since I don't think I could have managed standing up all night!

Oops, a bit blurred. Maybe this was taken after the
delicious schnaps made of Turkish pepper candy
was served.

The interiour of this warehouse was gorgeous, here
is the link.

Oh, I almost forget that there was also Mother's Day. We went out for lunch with our son. It was cleverly combined with doing laundry since his washing machine is on the blink. It was quite hard to find a place to eat since we had not booked but we found a place in Thirroul, down the coast. We actually looked for houses down that way and we really liked it, but then we found the one we have just moved to and decided on that. It has a pool and wooden floors, which were my main criteria when we were looking.

This coming weekend we are organizing a little housewarming BBQ, and hoping for nice weather. Come along, if you feel like it. We would love to see you!!

Elvers have left the building

In his never-ending quest to keep me amused at week-ends (and to have some fun himself) hubby took me on another mystery tour last week-end, this time westwards towards the Blue Mountains. Not the Blue Mountains that you see in tourist brochures, with the Three Sisters, Leura, and cosy little cafes, but to ...

Warragamba Dam

... a dam!  Yes, after an hour or so of driving through seemingly endless suburbs, then stud farms and orchards, we arrived at Warragamba Dam, the main source of Sydney's water supply, and with Lake Burragorang behind it being four times the size of Sydney Harbour, the reason why a sizeable part of the Blue Mountains is inaccessible.

Eels on a mission

Not only that, I have since learnt that the name of Parramatta, the oldest inland European settlement in Australia, now part of Greater Sydney and not so far far from the dam, is an anglicisation from the Aboriginal dialect 'Barramattagal' meaning 'place where the eels dwell'.

Big boys' toys

Lunch at the Wallacia Hotel.

Did Henry foresee this?

We rounded off the day with a visit to the Campbelltown Arts Centre. The setting was very nice, with a Japanese garden, and not-so-coy Koi. The art by a New Zealand artist was quite thought provoking, but the pieces by another artist depicting various aspects of humiliation of women were fairly challenging.

I'm back, and I'm mad!

Well, dear reader, I couldn't resist.  I'm back, and I'm mad!

By and large, the house move went pretty smoothly seven weeks ago.  Two men and a van, plus ineffectual hubby and me, got the move done in one day, one long day though, nearly 12 hours of grunt, sweat and tears.  On the up-side, hubby lost four kilos, and he hasn't eaten them back yet. I, however,  have not lost a gram.  I just know I would even gain weight in a famine.

What did not go well at all was the move of the telephone and internet connection!  Our previous provider, 'T', promised that the telephone would be switched over the same day, and internet ten days later.  Ha!  Ten days later nothing had happened, although we could ring out and in using the number of the previous occupants.  'T' said that the problem was that the previous occupants had not closed the line, and that it would take another week.  I 'spat the dummy', to use a local expression, and told 'T' that we would not continue with them, but choose a new provider.  Big mistake!

The new provider, 'O', said that they could handle terminate the contract with 'T' and we would have internet within two weeks.  Six weeks later we are still waiting, despite the best efforts of Kevin, Sean, Jason, and Caroline in Mumbai, and many hours on hold before you need to go through the whole story yet again. Our phone doesn't have speaker phone so you have to actually sit and have the phone pressed to your ear. I am sure I have done myself an injury.

At least we now have mobile internet, which if 'T' had been thinking, they would have proposed right from the start, and kept a customer.  Am I happy with having taken a stand? Yes, but hubby just continues to roll his eyes.

At least there is the pool, but that is not just straight forward either; more about that another time.