Carols, a photo essay!!!

Saturday, after a busy day of doing this and that, (not to mention having a 3 hour sleep causing us to run more than a 'little' late, saw us sitting in the VIP Lawn area for this years, Carols in the Domain. The day had been forecast for showers/rain, but thankfully, these had stayed away! It was a lovely evening...

Carols 2008

Shannon Noll

Delta Goodrum

Delta & Bryan

Bryan McFadden

And then, there was always SOMETHING for the kids, The Wiggles!!!

The Wiggles

Carols Finale

All photos were taken handheld, no tripod, so they are not to my usual standard, sorry...

On a night like this...

Yesterday, we celebrated our 8th anniversary, and was it a very different day to that day 8 years ago... No where near as hot (from memory, it was nearing 40 degrees c...) where as yesterday was simply MUGGY!

We had decided that this year, we will once again go and see Kylie Minouge (aka as the singing budgie), and boy, was it a great night! I managed to get, what I thought were pretty good tickets. It was not until we got to the seats that we VERY quickly realised that we actually had GREAT seats! Slightly having to look to the left, but we were pretty much level to the stage and about 25m from it! Whilst this show was a little dark and lite on with staging, but the light show more than made up for it... I tried to get a couple of shots on my mobile, but they simply did not work out (and I thought there was no need to take the little 'point and shoot' camera as there is NORMALLY no photography allowed!).

We got to the venue, Acer Arena, a little early and had a bite to eat at the 'Brewery'. We both wanted to have the Salt & Pepper Calamari, but it had sold out, so I just had the Fish 'n' Chips and L had the Seared Chicken breast and salad. I also enjoyed a Bourbon & coke, and at $9.50 boy, did it taste good!!!

After leaving the Arena, with ringing ears and still buzzing after an additional 5 set encore (it was her last Sydney concert...), we got home just around midnight to a couple of pets angry we were not home! So Happy Anniversary L!

Whats next though, I hear you ask? I have also managed to get tickets to this years Carols in the Domain. This is being held on Saturday night, and is a lovely event. We will be catching up with friends for the night, so hopefully the night will be storm free and a typically Wonderful Sydney evening. Here is a shot from a previous Carols:

Carols Domain

Carols Crowd

Carols Man with hat

Carols Dog

Happy Birthday L

Ok, as L had her surgery on friday (instead of Thursday) this meant that her birthday party may have been cancelled... But, being the 'trooper' that she is, it went ahead...

Here are some shots of the day (and I have not really included any of her, as due to the pain she was in (and still is today mind you)), she was not looking her 'best':

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday... TROLL!

Yesterday, was L's birthday... And it was going to be a 'special' day. You see, last Thursday, I had a meeting with her specialist and it was arranged that she will be 'slotted in' where he can for a couple of investigations for recurrent miscarriages. Guess what, he got her in ON her birthday! What's more, she was first on the list and had to be there by 6.30am! But a call from the clinic the following day rescheduled it for today, Friday...
So how did we celebrate it??? Croissants and fresh brewed coffee in the morning with the delivery of her present, a Troll Bracelet.

Fish Lock

Birthday Troll

After a nice morning relaxing spa, we headed north for the morning taking BACK the bracelet, as it was a little long and I had fears of it falling off! The girls at M-Studio were fantastic and she swapped it over no worries. However, whilst we were in there, she Had to get another three beads now!!!
After all changes were made, we headed over to a new shop for some lunch, Fourth Village Providore (an Italian market/Café) in Mosman. This was FANTASTIC! We shared a pizza (Bufalo Cheese, Prosciutto, Basil and fresh Parmesan)! Dessert was a Chocolate Fig Tart with Mascarpone and chocolate sauce drizzled around the plate!!!! YUMM!
After lunch we headed home to finish getting the house ready for the family and friends gathering on Sunday, maybe. L has come up rather sore from the surgery, so it is on notice... It would be terrible if she could not get out of bed! The cake is ordered and I will be collecting it tomorrow morning... More on that over the weekend!

Man, have we been busy!!!

This is a bit of a 'catch-up', so apologies in advance!
Firstly, in news other than homely stuff, 'L' had another cycle, however, this time, it was a negative. Friday, she is going off to have some investigative surgery to have a look at the insides... More on that in another post!
So, what have we been doing? A lot! Tiling the back (and front) verandahs...
Before:

Side

Back

Back Wide

During...

Side During

Back During

Side Finished

Back Finished II

And finished & cleaned off...

Back Cleaned

Also, the second bedroom was still in the colours that were in it when we bought the house 3 1/2 years ago, so a change was in order...

2nd Bedroom

Clearly, the previous owner's little girl had influenced the colour choice...

2nd Bedroom Door

And, as tomorrow is 'L's' birthday and a party will be had on Sunday, we are doing a spot of cleaning!!!

Rug Cleaning

I promise, I will post a photo of the present I have got her tomorrow afternoon!!!

Softies...

These last few months have been somewhat, "crafty research" shall we say, and what's more, I am off to Canberra tomorrow bright and early in the aide of more ... research!
You see, it is the Canberra's Handmade Market, so we are making the 300klm trip to go and see if it is any good. I sure hope so!
Below is a little bit of what I have bought, what I have read or reading and what I have to make.
Of the books, the "Little Cat and the Big Red Bus" has some great illustrations, and both of the "Softies" books offer some real inspiration.
With a quilt to make and two dolls to do as well, I suspect that I am going to be more than a little busy, lets hope that I do not find to much tomorrow!

Softies

1. Needs a name, 2. Softie School Photo, 3. Grok, 4. Neville, 5. Little Stiches, 6. Books, 7. Stiched Book double spread, 8. Little cat & the big red bus, 9. Cat, 10. Cat on bus, 11. Red Bus Home, 12. Cat & Dog, 13. Doll kits, 14. 3 eyed fish, 15. Red Bus, 16. Quilt.

Oh what a ... day!

On Monday, we had an interesting morning...

We had to get to the clinic early on Monday for another transfer. This was to be our4th transfer since collecting the follicles a short time ago... So we left early as we had to drive in the morning peak. Trouble was, somebody forgot to tell the rest of the city, that they should also be driving and we got to our destination an HOUR early!

So, nearby, there is a hotel with a coffee shop attached so we parked the car and went there. I was no sooner inside, and thought I recognised some girls sitting there having their breakfast. And it wasn't long before I realised who they were... They were the girls from 'Make me a Supermodel' and here they were, stuffing their faces, being demanding for coffee in a take away cup and generally being a right royal "prima-donnas"!

Then it was time to go to the clinic for the transfer, which went as expected and I will not bore you with the details, and we headed home for a rest. There were a few 'sharp pains' in the lower abdo, and all, but all was going well. We then had to drive into the City, as L had to have an appoint to go to followed by a follow-up/debrief from the Pilot Program that the IVF Clinic had done. This was a weight loss program, that re-educated you on how your body works with food. Eating every three hours, a strict calorie total for the day and a 45 min walk at least 3 times a week. The program leader was sending tips on things to do as well through the 6 week program. All up, L had lost nearly 7kg, drop three sizes in her jeans and is enjoying her walks! All we have to do is get a positive that sticks!

That's all for now, but will keep you updated as we go... We are going to the Canberra Craft Markets this weekend, so lots of crafty goodness will be there!

Colourful time here in Sydney...

I simply love this time of year...

The days are getting longer, and warmer with a top of 35 C expected here today... There is also the colours of spring/summer happening everywhere. From some spots in Sydney, you look over the city and you can see the purples of the Jacaranda's, reds of the Brachychitons and the yellows of the Grevillias.

This morning, on my way into work, there must have been some back burning of the National Parks as there was a very distinct smell around and a smokey haze as well. Of, the summer is not far away now... Apparently, we have a very high to extreme fire risk with a lot of the National Parks have a large amount of leaf litter within the understorey of the bushland. Lets hope that it does not get away like it did back in 2003.

So here are a few of those lovely trees I mentioned. The Jacaranda mimosafolia:

Jacaranda

And the Brachyciton acerifolia:

Brachychiton

The garden is beginning look quite good at the moment, and the vege patch is especially so. I planted a few tomatoes and they are nearly 6 foot tall already! The Truss variety is doing the best, and has a few branch's of tomatoes on them already, so hopefully we will be having home grown tommies!

Farewell Pa; Gone but not forgotten

Pa's Memorial Booklet cover

Yesterday, we had Pa's funeral, and above is a photo of him from (I think) not to long ago... This photo just happened to be facing Nan, and some of his favourite things, were all placed on his coffin in the church (his hat, rosary beads, a diary (he had a diary in his pocket at ALL times!) and of course, some scratchies... no winners here either! The following poem was read out:

The Smile:

By Michael Leunig

I shot a smile into the air
It came to earth, I know not where
Perhaps on someone else's face
In some forgotten quiet place.

Perhaps somewhere a sleeping child
Has had a happy dream and smiled
Or some old soul about to die
Who smiled and made a little sigh.

Has sighed a simple final prayer
Which lifts up gently in the air
And flows into the world so wild
Perhaps to wake the sleeping child.

A much younger Pa

Vale Pa, 94 years young...

Over the last year, we have been lucky enough to have Pa for that time. You see, whilst at 93, he was becoming more and more frail as time went on, he insisted demanded that he stay at home! Now this may sound, well normal, but Nan & Pa live in a two storey townhouse. Stairs (both up and down) were becoming harder and harder to do. He spent some time in hospital over the year and we were fortunate enough to have him for Mothers Day, which was our last family photo. We also were luck to have him for Fathers Day in September.
But since then, he was becoming less mobile and came down with a chest infection and went to Hospital again. Finally, both he and Nan were convinced that some time in respite care would be needed and would offer a chance to re-charge batteries. Nan moved into the hospital whilst Pa's condition became better and was transferred to a different hospital, closer to where Nan is.
It was here though, he became very ill, and was transferred to palliative care last Thursday. We got to see him there and a decision was made that he be made comfortable. The doctor told us that he will become comfortable very quickly and pain free.
1.45am, 31 October, Pa left us. It was International Teachers Day (he was a teacher for his entire working life) so it seemed somewhat fitting...
This photo, was from his 90th Birthday party a couple of years ago.

Rest in peace Pa...

Nan-and-Pa