I’m in Brisbane waiting for someone to take my order at a Turkish restaurant.

Rapidly losing my sangfroid because there is nothing like eating alone to make you impatient with waiting staff.

Southbank itself is a rather lively well landscapes part of town and this Sunday is busy with people strolling along the wide footpaths and eating and drinking in the many restaurants and bars.

Ah my order has been taken.

Thank goodness for my smartphone the century’s equivalent to a book as entertainment when dining alone.

Really you’d think serving singles and getting them out quickly would be good for the restaurant too.

Who wants to dine in a restaurant full of sad lonely desperately trying to look interested in words with friends people who have no friends!

Sigh.

This morning I went rowing on the Swan.

Huh food has arrived very quickly. Must have sensed my comment above.

Hmm it was a rather ordinary meal.

Poor ordering maybe.

Anyway the rowing was fantastic.

Gliding on the water which was still and flat, the rising sun making butter yellow reflections.

No dolphins today.

It was so good to be breaking the routine and experiencing the city in a new and beautiful way.

The pain will come tomorrow I suspect.

Right. Off to the mini mart and some telly before bed.

Signing out.

Is taken from this video:

It’s very good.

Sunset from East Perth

It should be expected right?

So why am I always surprised when the sun sets earlier in winter?

I think it must be that it seems to happen so quickly.

One minute it’s light til 7.30, the next, missing just one train has me walking home in the dark.

Still.

I no complain.

I like winter.

My version

So I tried the sticky lamb chops from Kathryn’s website.

They were very tasty and the honey foamed satisfyingly in the pan.

I think for me and Dippity they were a little sweet and I’d probably halve the honey next time.

The boys loved them.

Oh yeah.

And I forgot to add the spring onions.

I went down to rowing this morning… It was my daughter’s first day and I’m down to help with the breakfast next week so I thought I should find out what I was supposed to do.

Dippity emerged dripping and happy.

As a first timer she was in a single scull (is that what they are called?) presumably until she can learn not to fall in.

Waiting for the girls to come up for breakfast I caught up with Kathryn who I have known since St Georges’ days.

She has a blog which I will be making a firm favourite.

Family Meal Rescue

And if any family is in need of rescuing, food wise, it’s us.

I am going to try this chicken recipe tomorrow night.

Here’s what it’s supposed to look like:

Proscuitto, spinach, bocconcini roast chicken with roasted tomatoes from Family Meal Rescue

Actually a few of the mums are thinking about learning to row – why should the kids have all the fun?

Hmmm interesting.

Early morning sunrise

more sunrise

And if that wasn’t enough… this:

Awwww

The other day my son said he needed some new clothes.

Now I’m lucky, because he doesn’t care about labels and would rather have lots of cheap clothes than one or two designer pieces.

Except when it comes to hiking gear.

And he is still enjoying the suit I bought him for his year 12 ball.

So we went down to Kmart at his request and for $138 bought:

2 jumpers
3 teeshirts
2 pairs of jeans
socks
jocks
1 pair sandshoes

Not a bad little haul.

But I felt guilty.

The jeans were $7.

How can you make jeans for $7??

You can’t even buy the material.

Imagine all the work that has gone into them.

Growing the cotton. Harvesting it. Processing it. Cutting it. Sewing it. Delivering it from China to Australia.

Then the mark up in the shop.

$7.

Who have I had to exploit to enable me to buy those jeans?

Today, in order to write this post I went to the Kmart website.

From the website

50 cents?

Must be a typo.

This is getting ridiculous.

The guilt didn’t stop me from buying the jeans this time.

I try and justify the cost against the $150 I spent on my own jeans a few weeks ago.

And that’s stupid too.

This world is crazy.

This film was created by Chris Lewis of ABC Open.

I watched it on News24 today and was gobsmacked.

So. Many. Budgies.

Morning sunlight

Every morning I walk past this wall and at the time I walk with the sun just rising, the light is very beautiful.

A golden yellowish wash to the day.

I say every morning, but I really mean most mornings.

This morning I slept in and dreamt.

Something about my wedding candles and supplying a church.

And so now, at the other end of the day what I really should be doing is putting on my sandshoes and doing my “morning” lap.

But I’m not.

I have tracky daks on.

I have ugg boots on.

I have a glass of sav blanc.

I feel as if I’ve been given a free night, as I had got the idea in my head that I was playing bridge tonight erroneously.

And, to be honest, the thought was a little exhausting.

Last week I played bridge until 11pm and felt as if I had hit the wall the next day… run over.

Tired in the way that only a night out in Fremantle can alleviate.

It makes me think that my days of going out late on a Thursday night could be over.

*worried look*

Far better to slip on the sheepskin and cuddle up in front of the telly.

Loving the new season of Game of Thrones btw.

I don’t know if you know dear reader, but I am now wearing glasses full time.

Four eyes

Which has been fine because the weather has been fine.

But today it rained.

And of course my glasses fogged up and got covered in raindrops.

Hmmm.

And of course those of you who have seen me daily wrestling with my overstuffed handbag to find my pass, keys, wallet, playing cards, headphones, phone, other phone, book, kindle, nail file, water bottle, book would realise that a quick dip into my bag to pull out my glasses case and get out the special little glasses shammy to clean them is just not possible.

Just another first world problem to put up with.

When I first got my glasses, some were kind enough to point out my resemblance to the character of Velma in Scooby Doo.

In fact, when I, AS A JOKE PEOPLE, used a photo of Velma as my avatar on Facebook, you commented “Great photo” not realising that it was Linda Cardellini.

My alter ego

I don’t even suit orange (although I do like that funky little utility belt).

Still.  It could be worse.

Original Velma

People who wear glasses – what do you do about the rain problem?

Really?

Seen today at the carpark at work. On a scooter. (I don’t think the bub is born yet)

Not for me

What is it with these stickers?

They. Are. Everywhere.

An Australian invention apparently.

Sorry world.

Harsh but fair

But I must say I don’t care that he doesn’t care, even though I don’t care either.

Sign me up for the next season of Grumpy Old Women.

WARNING: The following is a rant. You may wish to stop at the pretty picture.

Sometimes I HATE the world and it's mostly when I look at my phone

So you’re thinking (or maybe you’re not), how can the person who saw the beauty in a morning sunlight on the river hate the world.

I’m blaming Apple.

Seriously.

How annoying is it to have to log in to your Apple ID every time you want to download a FREE app for your phone?

I can tell you.

VERY annoying.

Especially as Apple seems to mysteriously forget my password every time.

A password that has to have ridiculously complicated things.

Which are IMPOSSIBLE to easily type with the STUPID keypad that iphones have.

So I won’t forget my latest password because it is EXACTLY what I say every time I have to enter it.

Expletives are involved.

Grrrrr.

Get me some Game of Thrones to watch STRAIGHT AWAY!

Ahhhhh that’s better.

Perfect autumnal weather

What a gorgeous day.

Not really a day to spend inside playing bridge, but we did, and we won.  Yay us.

Don’t you love it when older people are naughty.

Today at bridge in the seniors competition (all have to be over 59 – and just in case you were wondering, I don’t qualify), one of the players threw a tanty at another player.

I don’t know what about.

But he got quite fired up and the director asked him to leave to cool off.

Well.  He left.

Not just the room but left left.  Went home.

Rage quit.

Leaving his partner at the table with six hands to play.

Not the done thing darling.

We’d finished our session and we having a wine and discussion about the play so a sub was easily found.

Nevertheless, scandalous behaviour.

And these are the Seniors playing for a slot in the Australian National Championships in Darwin in July.

I remain mildly amused.

Normal day.

A normal day... no fog

Foggy day.

Yep. Foggy.

After the fog cleared… you got it.

Geocaching.

Evan's above

Took us about half an hour to find!

Nearly broke an ankle.

Good fun.

Where is the treasure??

We went to the cousins for Easter – and a lovely lunch was had – and after lunch, the kids all hyped up on sugar, we wandered down to the local park for a spot of geocaching.  As you do.

What’s geocaching, asks young 8 year old nephew of his Uncle Groover.

It’s like treasure hunting says Groover, staring at his smartphone.

And it’s 30 metres away… 20 metres away…

The kids were getting excited.

It’s ten metres away… 8…

It must be in that tree says Dippity.

It takes maybe one minute to find the film canister at the bottom of a burnt out hole in the tree.

Oohh what’s inside it.

There’s a little pad to log your find and a note explaining geocaching, and a little pencil.

Dippity signs the log book and the film canister is put back in the tree.

Righto lets go back.

Wait.

Is that it?

Where’s the treasure?

I thought there was going to be a clue that led to another clue and then we’d get a whole bunch of Easter eggs, says Mr 8 who has probably had enough Easter eggs.

That sucks.

And I must admit, his expectations had rather been raised.

Later, after goodbyes were said, and mothers dropped home, Groover, Dippity and I went geocaching again.

Now THIS is treasure.

Treasure!!!

A tip for next time.

Let the 8-year-olds in your party hold the phone.

Geranium

What a beautiful day.

Sure, a little chilly in the morning… we had two duvets on last night, but the sun was shining on my morning walk and I really can’t complain.

No geocaching today for me… although three people found our geocache.  So exciting.

Groover came up with a very witty clue and hidden hint.

In fact I read the hidden hint, and even knowing EXACTLY what we did, I didn’t get it.

Dumb.

Me that is.  The hint is clever.

And coincidentally, the person that found the hide first was the person who set up the geocache we found yesterday.

We are heading to Duncraig tomorrow so will have to check out a few geocaches up that way.

In other news, I missed out on a sale dress I saw on Thursday (probably just as well) and we TANKED at bridge.

In other news… I have bought A WHOLE HEAP of Easter eggs.

Just sayin’.

So I supposed you did the right thing and went to Church or something?

For the heathens among us for which Easter is really just an excuse for four days off and a hefty dose of chocolate (the hefty being the result on the scales Tuesday morning).

And of course it’s a bit annoying because ALL of the shops are shut.

Well.  Most of them.

To fill in the time, given we weren’t organised to get away for a “proper” autumnal break, we went Geocaching.

A family group effort!

In case you’re not familiar with the process, you go on the site, find somewhere you want to go geocaching (we looked for somewhere nearby), then you use the app on your phone and it will take you close to where the “treasure” is hidden.

The “treasure” is usually just a list of names but sometimes there are little things which you can take (the etiquette is to replace it with something else).

And there are hints left by the person who created the geocache and those that find it.

It’s lots of fun and you feel quite clever when you find them.

Of course I am a complete n00b compared to my daughter and husband (they have found two others).

Anyway we got home totally inspired to make our own.

We even included a homemade tracker bug.

What’s a tracker bug?

Oh nothing too sinister.

The first person to find our cache gets to collect the tag we’ve placed in the hiding place.  Then they can place it in another case and so on.

The listing is here.

We hope that those that find it come to our new geocache page and let us know.

So that was Good Friday.

I wonder if there’s a restaurant open somewhere…

Not that exciting apparently.

Before

After

How was yours?

PS: By the way… not my keyboard. Groover’s.

Cat 1 Groover 0

Having spent an evening in the company of a cat, my Groover is returned to me.

“Did the cat punch you in the eye?”  says my witty daughter.

This is why we don’t have a cat.

Maybe this song will make him feel better…

It’s PROSH tomorrow.

Remember PROSH?  Uni students create a newspaper full of vulgarity and fun and raise money for a bunch of charities.

Tomorrow my son is participating in his first PROSH.

As a Christmas present.

My son is a gift

The Back

Awwwww.

So cute.