The more things change.......

 

Jae and Me circa early 70's - we both still look just like this! (Well maybe not JUST like this.)

"The more things change, the more they stay the same"

 

We've all heard that from one source or another.  I thought when beginning this post the quote was an apt remark to begin with.  Then I decided to find out where it originated.....  Its attributed to a nineteenth century French critic, journalist, novelist and keen flower lover Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.  Wikipedia says his epigrams (which they define as brief, interesting and sometimes surprising or satirical statements) were frequently quoted.  He gave the dahlia plant/flower its name and 'practically founded' the cut flower trade on the French Rivera.  Fascinating.

That isn't what I originally sat down to write about but you know what often happens when you start something on the Internet.  It leads you to something else and then something else.  What a wonderful thing to have so much knowledge - and bull shit - at your fingertips.

Nothing much of note has been happening with us over the past few days.  With one very big exception which was our lunch with friends J & K.  Originally we were planning to have a casual lunch in a harbour side restaurant on Monday - which was the official public holiday for Australia Day.  That was the day that Sydney got hit with it's share of the torrential downpour from the x-cyclone (as the press kept calling it) that had already ravaged Queensland.  We needed rain but - my goodness - we got a month's worth in one day!  So we decided instead to have an impromptu dinner party at their house.  What a great decision that turned out to be!!!  Great food, great wine, and good times with great friends.  We hadn't had such a fun day in a while although we did, however, take a bit of time to get moving the next day.  Neither Mr G nor me is used to quite that level of alcohol any more.

So back to not much going on.  While walking to the gym this morning I was thinking about how much life has changed for me in the past 6 months.  I left work and I'm enjoying it, changed gyms and now motivating myself to train without personal trainers, I'm learning to live frugally on a budget, I'm cooking almost every day and night, reading more and just generally living a lot differently than less than a year ago.  And yet, with all that change, things are pretty much the same ... with the exception that I believe I am becoming more mindful.  When you slow down you really do have the opportunity to appreciate more of what's around you.  In my walk this morning I had a wonderful moment patting a neighbourhood cat I hadn't noticed before - he was so animated and loving!  When I got home the king parrots were outside on the railing and they are getting very tame.  I realised I'm enjoying the little surprising things a lot.  

So there...everything has changed but it's all still the same.  I've just had the opportunity to see it through different eyes.  Nice.

Stairway to Happiness and Australia Day

 

Yesterday was Australia Day and normally Mr G and I share our boat with our friends Jenny and Keith - plus others - for a day of drinking, eating, sailing and more drinking and eating!  But this year Mr G had been talking about sailing the boat to Tasmania - with or without me.  Now, he'll hate me saying this, but I think this plan was a bit of a threat.  You see I've made it quite clear that Tasmania is one place I do not want to go in our little boat - especially with just the two of us sailing it.  Maybe if I miraculously become a calmer, better sailor I will manage it with others aboard.  But, as Dirty Harry once said in the movies, "a man (woman here) has got to know his limitations"....and this woman knows hers very clearly.  Mr G knows if I think he may do something in reality I'll usually give in and go along ... but I wasn't budging on this one.

 

So, because of the stalemate, the plans for our usual Australia Day didn't happen this year although we are meeting J & K for lunch later so we won't miss out on the drinking and eating!

 

Instead, Mr G helped his friend John sail his boat 'Happiness' down to his new mooring in Sydney Harbour.  When he bought it, 'Happiness' came with the single most ornate set of steps leading up to board the boat we have ever seen.  So here's Mr G and John on their departure for the sail to Sydney via the Stairway to Happiness!

 

 



 



I was told it was a terrific sail down.  Me, I went to the movies to see 'Les Miserables' on my own because Mr G flat refuses to see musicals.  I thought the movie was technically terrific and the fact that the actors had to sing their parts in one shot direct to camera was amazing and moving.  But, I wouldn't claim to have enjoyed the two and a half hours.  It was way too depressing, religious and mellow dramatic for my tastes.

 

In spite of having a completely different kind of Australia Day I still absolutely LOVE the day. 

 

A bit of background for my American friends ..... January 26 marks the day that the First Fleet of 11 ships arrived in what is now called Sydney Cove with a shipment of convicts to establish a new colony.  The ships arrived between the 18th and 20th of January 1788.  The British were forced to establish a new colony because they had lost the 13 colonies in North America after the US war of Independence.  First of all they sailed into Botany Bay which was deemed unsatisfactory so Captain Arthur Phillip sailed up to Port Jackson (better known now as Sydney Harbour) and identified an area for the settlement he called Sydney Cove after the then British Home Secretary.  It took several days to get the ships from Botany Bay to Sydney Cove because of bad weather but they finally made it on January 26, 1788.  The rest - as they say - is history. 

 

There is the belief - which some historians refute - that the landing was marked by a huge ORGY when the female convicts were taken ashore and set up in tents.  How's that for a gene pool?  It leaves the puritan forefathers of my US homeland looking rather staid.  I guess that's why Americans tend toward their particular brand of fundamentalism still today.

 

In keeping with the original settlers Australia Day is marked by serious and not-so-serious celebrations.  It's the most popular day to become an Australian citizen...something that Australian's still feel very proud to do ... Welcome New Australians!  There are so many of us - me and Mr G included - that are deeply grateful for the opportunity to live here!  Then, after the formal swearing in and national honours lists the fun begins!   

 



A colourful bunch celebrating on Sydney Harbour. Picture: Sam Ruttynn from The Telegraph

 

From my youth - A Friend Releases His New Book!

I could regale you with reams and reams of - at times - hair AND eye brow raising stories from my twenties.  But I'll save them for another time and another post. 

One of the great friends, characters - and loves - from my early years is Phillip DePoy.  Celebrity magazines call super talented people a 'triple threat'.  Phillip is a multi-layered threat!  A writer, playwright, actor, composer, musician, performer and on top of all that a college professor as well!!!

Our friendship started at lunch time at Georgia State University in the early 70's.  Daily we would see each other on opposing sides of the crosswalk.   He would always smile at me as we passed and I would look straight ahead and try to pretend I was so cool not to notice him (while my heart was just about to burst in my chest).  I thought we'd never speak and then one day I looked up from my work desk (I was secretary to 7 professors at the time) and there he was!  He came to show me he had a story (I think) published in a magazine.  That started a fabulous long friendship.  Phillip always had a wife or girlfriend at the time so our relationship was always as fast friends!  Hummm...there was a time....

Anyway...Yesterday my wonderful, talented, award winning friend released his latest book "December's Thorn".  Its a new chapter in his series featuring Fever Devlin. 

 

 

It can be ordered through Amazon.  Here's the synopsis...   Fever Devilin is an academic with a complicated past and an unusual view of the world. A folklorist by training, he's returned to his family home in Blue Mountain, a small town in the heart of Georgia's Appalachian Mountains, where nothing is ever quite what it seems, and the past is always complicated. Still recovering from a near-death experience, Fever is visited by a woman who claims to be his wife. And she's there to deliver some shocking news: Fever has a son.

His friends don't really believe the woman exists—they think she's another hallucination of a mind still slowly recovering from a long-term coma. Fever's fiancée is torn between being outraged and concerned for his mental health. None of this is helped by the fact that Fever, even in the best of times, has a tendency to see things that others don't and that may not, strictly speaking, exist. But when someone starts shooting very real bullets from a very real rifle in Fever's direction, the one thing that everyone can agree upon is that there's something very deadly going on. All Fever has to do is sort out who is trying to kill him—and why—before they succeed.

I highly recommend it!

And here's the link to Phillip's website...check out all his books!  Phillip DePoy - His works

Blogging course and Work envy

Last night I attended a 'Blogging for Beginners' course at the Australian Writers Centre here in Sydney.  I took the course initially because I'm enjoying writing this blog but also because I don't have the slightest notion about how to make it better or extend my audience.  I was looking for instruction as well as inspiration.

Everything was looking good as all my fellow attendees entered the room....all women with one male exception.  Glancing around the room, and judging all on face value, I could imagine the personal bloggers like myself learning how to better write about food, or their children or shopping.  However, as we went around the room introducing ourselves and saying what we wanted to get out of the course I realised most were there to learn how to promote their business, or publication or money making initiative.

While listening to them talk I started to miss working....I was actually yearning to be working at something - anything.  The feeling kind of ambushed me.  I certainly hadn't thought about it much for weeks...the Christmas holidays, being on the boat and enjoying that summer "down time" mindset had me coasting along.  Then WHAM I suddenly had a reality moment....I must be really "retired".  It was a weird wake up feeling and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  I certainly enjoy what I'm doing now...but I'm sure this isn't all there is.  I read on someone's CV on 'linkedin' the other day that they are on "Executive Sabbatical".  I think I'll start to think of myself like that instead of retired.  It doesn't sound as permanent.

Anyway, the course was great, informative.... very short though.  I could have asked a million questions but one thing the instructor kept saying is the most important thing is to just get started with blogging and talk to people who blog and read other people's blog.  So expect more of this from me as I attempt to get better and more interesting!  Thanks for sticking with me so far.

Naked men; moving friends and more HEAT!

I haven't blogged for a while (sorry) because (1) we were on the boat and in an Internet black hole and (2) we helped a friend move some furniture. 

Mr G and molly in a roadside stopover.

The furniture move happened yesterday for our friend, Leona, who had her furniture in long term storage.  Taking on her long term dream, Leona took the brave step of moving to Paris to learn and live the French way for awhile.  Returning late in 2012 was tough because it took some time to find a job and, in turn, to really know where she would live.  Now that she's settled in a job in Canberra she wanted to move some of her belongings out of storage and to a friend's farm in the Southern Highlands. 

Mr G, being the good man that he is, offered to move the furniture in his truck so the 3 of us - Molly came along too - drove to the small community of Murulan to the "farm".  I emphasise the word "farm" because I had heard her talk so much about this place and, as you do, had a clear visual picture of it in my mind.  In my imagination the "farm" looked like something out of an old western movie....big old wooden farmhouse, dirt roads, and old wooden fences with worn out buildings all around.   Boy was I surprised to see a modern looking brick home with a newish brick shed with glass sliding doors.  All in all the drive was very enjoyable, pretty scenery and something different to do for the day. 

Naked men - What?  When we were on the boat last week we moored in a spot we don't usually go to...America Bay.  It's still in the Ku-ring-gai National Park and just around from our usual spot in Refuge Bay near the waterfall (or the fountain of youth as my friend Donna named it).  It was late in the afternoon, Mr G was reading in the boat and I was sitting in the cockpit peering at the cliff and woods through the binoculars looking for birds.  Much to my surprise I saw this man standing up on a cliff top looking out over the bay completely starkers - Naked - just standing there enjoying the fresh air.  He was too far away for a photo or I would show you exactly what I saw! Well you can imagine I kept the binoculars on him for some time.  There is a bush walk that goes down to that area so I suppose he was there to take in the sun and some isolation but he must have thought the 10 or so boats in the bay below could see him.  Guess he didn't care...I applaud his sense of freedom!  The things you see when you just take the time to have a good look around!

Finally I have to mention the record setting HOT day we had on Friday.  It was 45.8 C (well over 110 F) here in Sydney - a record.  That day was unbearable.  We got to our mooring at Claireville Beach about 9:30 Friday morning and by the time we had cleaned up and made it to the beach it was already in the mid 30s.  By the time we got back to the house it was 40 C and it kept going.   It hit 45 just in our backyard - in the shade!  We did get relief in the form of a southerly change that blew in about 8:30 that night.  It has stayed cool this weekend - thank goodness.  There are still so many fires burning all over Australia and so many people and animals have lost their homes... it is very sad and tragic.  We are certainly getting the summer from HELL this year.

Done, finished, thank goodness that's over with!

Boat yard chic.

Oh what a glamorous 3 day weekend I've had working side by side with Mr G to scrape, strip, clean, paint and polish Southern Belle!  It's only when you have to work down one side of the boat - all 42 feet - and then start all over again on the other side that you/we realise just how big this dream boat of ours really is....84 feet to do all that work!

As you can see from my attire not only did I have the obligatory hat and sunnies but I also had the additional, and so very lovely, white face mask in place. This mask is a must to keep the toxic anti-foul paint out of throat and lungs. 



Mr G rolling on the paint.

Saturday was hard.  The weather was in the high 30s (HOT) and sunny....I added about a gazillion more freckles during the day.  Heaven arrived about 3:30 in the form of a southerly change which brought a welcome cloud cover and some sprinkles of rain.

When we got home on Saturday night I didn't have the strength to blog.  But I did write to Jae about how I felt...... What a day! We've just arrived home...both of us barely able to walk. Mr G's back is really hurting.

Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in Downton Abbey...or lived like them for days like this. To have someone peel the sweaty, grimy, dirty clothes off you...run your bath ... scrub your aching body and then dress you in something clean that smells nice (the boat yard smells of paint and thinners and waxing paste - and I wore a paper mask all day). AND THEN....when you have a lovely chilled wine in your hand they come and say, "dinner is served m'lady". I want staff.

 

Sunday wasn't supposed to be as hard - Mr G promised - but it was still really busy.  The weather was nice and cool and cloudy.  On Saturday I had polished the entire boat - all 84 feet.  Sunday was buffing that off.  Not easy for me.  I just couldn't hold the buffer hard enough against the hull.  Mr G - bless him - did most of that while I hand buffed the bow section where the boat name was.  Then we had to put the final coat of anti-foul paint on and then finally wax and hand buff the entire water line - which was my job.

 

I can honestly say that my dedication to the gym all these years paid off this weekend.   The work, combined with moving and climbing on and off scaffolding, would have killed me if I wasn't relatively fit.  Oh and one more thing...I was the only woman at the boat yard.  We got several comments from the men there that their wives, "wouldn't be caught dead doing this".  That gave me a strange sense of pride that I was there doing my share...even with the heat, smell and grime .... I was proud of myself for being equal to the guys.  Misplaced?  Maybe.

 

Anyway, we finished on Sunday about 4:30 just before the sky opened up and we had our best rain since Christmas Day.  Whew....just in time.  Monday morning we were booked in to go back into the water at 7:30am.  The boat looks fantastic.  Done, finished and we don't have to go through that again for at least 18 months to 2 years.

 

All clean and beautiful and headed for the water.

 

Why don't most men listen?

Part of the joy of owning a beautiful boat is the not so lovely chore of keeping her bottom nice and clean.  It's mucky and dirty work.  Also this weekend is meant to be quite warm again so it will be HOT as well.  Plus, I'll be at the mercy of Mr G who can be a bit autocratic with "getting the job done".  

The boat came out of the water this afternoon.  Goodness I couldn't believe how furry she looked.   Mr G has put a diving tank on and scraped at the muck a couple of times while at our mooring  ..which you can see in the pics... but having the chance to look at the boat as a WHOLE it really showed how bad the growth had become.

There was drama in getting her in the boat lift.  The wind was blowing a bit too lively and they only wanted us to back the boat in to the sling.  Well, Miss Southern Belle doesn't like to back up -  especially in a cross wind. 

WHY DON'T MOST MEN LISTEN?   There's an eternal question...why don't they???  One of the guys driving the boat lift said to Mr G, "you'll need to back her in mate".  Mr G replied, "she doesn't back up that well".  I said, "do you want us to put some stern sheets on so it can be pulled in?".   He said, "just drive it in she'll be fine".  After Mr G had 4 good attempts at it the lift guy came on board to give it a go himself for about 5 times...no luck.  Guess what?  We had 5 men on her with stern ropes by the end of the ordeal.  And, then she slid into place.  Later, over a beer at the bar, I asked Mr G that question.  He just gave me that, "I can't believe she's bringing this up" look and rolled his eyes.  Guess he doesn't know or doesn't want to share it with me.

All day tomorrow and Sunday we will be washing and scraping and painting and waxing and polishing.  Think of us.  There's always dues to pay to have a good time!  I'm not really complaining ... I'm grateful that we have our lovely Miss Southern Belle and I will do my time and try to enjoy the opportunity to do this together.... happily .... with a smile on my face. 

What a difference a day makes! and "Pi"

Molly and her favourite ball!

Soccer in the backyard now but yesterday it was too hot here in Lane Cove, Sydney...in fact it was too hot all over Australia!  There was no kicking the ball around the back yard, no going outside, and no happy looking dogs sitting on the grass.  It was certainly oppressive.  The temperature hit 42.5 C in the backyard and 34 C in the house.   We certainly feel extremely grateful that we were blessed to not experience the horror of the bush fires raging all over - 120 in New South Wales alone - or the loss of our home but geeezzz does it have to be this HOT?

I've never been much of a gardener.  To be honest, I've never been a gardener that does things.  I've always been the one to "suggest" that something needs to be done to Mr G - or when that strategy fails I've been the one to call in help.  When I was working, long after Mr G stopped taking "suggestions", I just had someone come to do everything in the garden once or twice a month.  It was easy then to admire our lawn & flowers with no effort expended.

Now that we are "retired" - as Mr G likes to point out at every available opportunity (usually when I have my credit card in hand and at the ready) - we have to do these things ourselves - by hand - in real time - expending energy.  So when yesterday's heat wave hit I was really worried about the things we had invested our time and energy into...the flowers, the tomato plants and the lawn.  Just 24 hours ago things looked like they were going to keel over a die...today all is happy as you can see...

 

We had a heavenly southerly change come through last night about 2am which cooled things down to a very respectable 25 C today.  This is forecast to hold until Friday when it starts to heat up again with high temps again forecast for Sunday.  There is a "dome" of high heat sitting over the major part of the interior of Australia - imagine something the size of the entire mid-west of America, from Nevada to Tennessee - which is driving all this extreme heat.  Looks like we're getting the summer we haven't had for years now.

In order to escape the heat yesterday afternoon, Mr G and I went to see "Life of Pi" in 3D at the cinema.  It was terrific!!!  What an amazing and beautiful movie.  If you get a chance you must see this at the cinema and in 3D.  I think it even beat "Avatar" in being the best 3D movie I've ever seen.  I didn't read the book, I may yet.  The film poses a good questions and gives food for thought.  Highly recommended from our point of view.

Now...back to soccer with Molly Grant-Beckham!

Fantastic TV Docos

The non-rating period on TV offers a great opportunity to explore other stations that Mr G and I don't always go to.  Normally we only watch the ABC which usually has great programming on a Sunday night but now only re-runs.  So we ventured to the multi-cultural station SBS for our evening's entertainment.  Not very adventurous I can hear most of you say...but it turned out to be a very good decision.

We watched the Documentary "Dirty Business: How Mining Made Australia".  For once, without political or big corporation interference, the doco presented an apparent fair overview of the good and bad impact of mining - as well as the greed that drives it - on our culture, people and economy.   Fascinating stuff.  Last night was all about the first gold rush and how Melbourne, multiculturalism and later racism grew out of it.  Here's the link if you're interested....How Mining Made Australia .  You can see the first episode on line here from Australia but not sure if that's possible from elsewhere.

The second doco/film was "Freakonomics".  I had never heard of the book - "Freakonomics - The Hidden Side of Everything"- that inspired this film.  The film was made in sections by what a review called "a super group of contemporary documentary directors".  Have a read of the review - Freakonomics review - Cult Book Makes for a Neat Film .  Again you can catch it on line at the SBS site SBS.com.au

Apologies to my overseas friends if you can't access either of these.

Finally our thoughts and best wishes are with the people and animals and nature that have been tragically affected by the bush fires in Tasmania.  The devastation is heartbreaking.  With more extreme weather on the way tomorrow for New South Wales and Victoria this is really turning out to be a dangerous summer fire season.  May everyone stay safe until this heat passes.

Sunday Morning Fish Market

A trip to the fish market on Saturday or Sunday morning is a usual occurrence for Mr G and me.  So this beautiful, sunny (and not yet hot) Sunday morning was no exception.

The Sydney Fish Market is an amazing place .... so much, well, FISH!  The area isn't that pretty and parking can be a bit of a battle.  On the weekend ff you arrive before 11am you're sure to find a space and can get in, get what you need, and get out before bus loads of tourist and day trippers arrive.

As usual we have coffee in the Blackwattle Deli first - Great Coffee - while sitting at a busy communal table amongst the stacks of goods on sale.  There is a very cosmopolitan feel even though you also have a pungent wafting smell of fish all around.

And then, on the way back, we stop at Blackman Park to give Molly a good run.   This is a HUGE park usually full of 3 or 4 games of cricket going at once but because its still the Christmas hols there was absolutely no one else about...not even other dog walkers.

Nice ... but the heat was starting to rise so we didn't spend too long there.  For a working dog, Molly isn't too fussed on the heat.  She will run after the ball a few times and then take it and lay down in the shade...she's not dumb.

Back home and a lazy afternoon staying out of the sun.  Last night I finished watching Downton Abbey Series 2...and the Christmas Special too.  I am SO hooked on that show.  Can't wait to get started on Series 3 which has been delayed here until February.  Back to the gym tomorrow to start moving some of the extra weight I've added over the last month.  It's been fun.  Guess most things get back to some sort of normalcy tomorrow as well.  I love those 2 weeks of Christmas and New Year even though I'm not working any more.  They make doing nothing seem so OK.

It is HOT....and follow up

Australia is certainly living up to it's reputation for being the 'sun burnt country'.  Just about the whole continent of Australia - Tasmania included - is sweltering under 40 plus temps.  For my American friends that's over 100 Fahrenheit.  There are terrible bush fires in Tassie with over 85 homes lost so far. 

Sydney has been spared the worst - for now.   The climate change sceptics are no doubt sitting with their air conditioners pumping out 18 degree cold air and wondering what all the fuss is about.  Carbon - What Carbon?  Increasing temps?  Surely you can just turn up your air con!

Today, here at the house, the temperature topped 31C (88F) on the back porch in the shade.  But the afternoon sea breezes have kept the afternoon quite nice.  Perfect for sitting outside and doing very little.  We've had a very lazy Saturday.  Not much to tell really.  Planning a lite dinner of lentil salad with roasted beets and goats cheese washed down with a lovely, well chilled,  Hunter Valley Pinot Gris. 

Gender Pay follow up
Seems I wasn't the only person who noticed or took alarm at the news from yesterday regarding the gender pay divide.  There have been several articles in the news today.  One from the group Graduates Careers Australia who claim their data has been misrepresented, one from Anne Summers who went through a great deal of data of her own and one outlining the response from the PM.  This is certainly a serious subject and its good to see it sparked good response.  However, we're in a particularly quiet news cycle.  It will be interesting to see if the subject stays at the forefront once the year kicks in with the usual stuff.   Here are the articles if you'd like to read them....

Gender pay gap still a disgrace
PM concerned by gender pay

Discrimination hurts....Stand up for equality

Two articles relating to gender inequality and a subsequent link caught my eye today.  They got me thinking that we - as women  - get so busy in our own world of work, friends, relationships and family chores/commitments that we don't recognise that gender discrimination is right here in our faces everyday...still.

The first article came to me on my facebook page... an article written by Nick Bryant of BBC News about the year just past - "Australia:  Year of the Women".  Its a fascinating article and well worth the read.  I received it through the Sack Alan Jones website people.  The article provides an overseas journalist's view of the extraordinary attacks the media plus the opposition made on Prime Minister Julia Gillard last year and the social media backlash that resulted from it.  When read in this context it is even more extraordinary that we, as thinking women and men in Australia, allowed this behaviour to continue with even less outrage from the public.  Here's the link to the article  BBC News - Australia-Year of the Women

Within the BBC piece there is a link to a lecture/speech made by Anne Summers - a leading women's rights professional and once the head of the Office of the Status of Women - at the University of Newcastle.  The lecture is entitled Her Rights at Work: The Political Persecution of Australia's First Female Prime Minister.   Have a read of this, it is shocking, confronting and completely hair raising that we as a nation - or women as a group - allowed it to happen to the extent that it did last year.  Where was the outrage - our outrage - when the media were apparently unencumbered in their personal attacks?  It was and is wrong no matter what your political persuasion may be.

The other article was in today's Sydney Morning Herald entitled "Gender Pay Gap Doubles in a Year".  It seems that the gender gap between male and female graduate starting salaries is not only still evident but is growing.  When there is such focus on women in management and growing women on boards how can this still be happening in the 21st century?  Here's the link to the article Gender Pay Gap Doubles in a Year 

I remember the active feminism of the sixties and seventies and then the "women can have it all" publicity of the nineties.  We women have come a long way.  Many of us don't know or think about the fact that women have only had the vote for just slightly over 100 years. Continuing violence to women like we witnessed in Melbourne and, just recently, in India;  gender inequality in our own society and the media's propensity to inflame the issue is something - I believe - we should continue to speak out against loudly.  In Anne Summers article she mentions the site against racism and discrimination called - IT STOPS WITH ME.  It's something we can all do ...Just not allow it at our personal and professional levels.  I'm going to - today - make a commitment to be mindful and speak up about what has been achieved and mindful and speak up about respect for others.

Teapots, Cuts, Lizards, Visitors.....

It's been a terrific week on the boat.  We've been down in the depths of the Ku-Ring-Gai National Park on our boat since last Saturday.  I must say this is one of my most favourite places in the whole wide world.  So unspoilt, so isolated and so close to Sydney.  Its really only an hour by road away but light years from the hustle and bustle of a city.  A small downside is not being able to get phone or Internet connection throughout most of the area.  There are spots where the phone will work...if the boat is swinging on the mooring just right ... but mostly its blissful seclusion.  That's why I haven't been blogging in the past week.  So here goes a snapshot of happenings to catch up....

1.  The Teapot Mystery.  We - Mr G, Molly and Me - went home for the night last Friday to take the Christmas decorations down (I'm of the belief that if left up after New Year Day its bad luck) and to take the overflowing bottle recycling bin out.  The day before I had written the blog post about the Towlers Bay mystery.  There meeting us at the house on the front step, all alone, sat a very proper looking teapot.  No note, no Christmas card, nothing to say to whom and from whom it came.  We still don't know who gave us this very welcome gift.  Our old teapot was/is very well worn and used.  Mr G, who could enter - and win - an Olympic game version of crockery breaking, broke the lid for our old pot a couple of months ago and - being Scottish and frugal - was making do with a folded piece of tin foil for a top....he simply couldn't see the need to go out an buy another pot.  A few friends had commented on the need for a new one but didn't say they were planning a surprise.  If you are the thoughtful and wonderful friends responsible for the mysterious Teapot - THANK YOU! 

2.  Cuts.  Mr G cut his finger in one of the boat cupboards as we were driving into Refuge Bay on the first leg of this adventure.  Its enabled him to miss out on dish washing and other household tasks.  BUT not on sailing and general boating stuff.  It didn't need stitches but did require liquids - beer, wine, whiskey - to be administered on a regular basis.  We are currently monitoring the situation.

3.  There is a nice long beach called Hallets Beach in the National Park.  We moored there one day and night.  Molly was able to go ashore on one of the edges to swim and chase the frisbee and then when she was all done Mr G and I dropped her back at the boat and went to the big beach for a swim.  It was pretty crowded on the beach with day trippers set up with eskys (ice chests for my international friends) and beach chairs.   I looked over at the beach from the water and noticed something quite large moving amongst one of the picnics and called Mr G over.  It turns out it was a very large goanna (BIG Aussie lizard for international friends) crawling all over these peoples stuff.  It even crawled up on one of their chairs!  Probably wanting a cold beer and some chips...it was a hot day.  I asked the people nearest to us if it was on their picnic and it was...they freaked and ran up the beach clapping hands.  The goanna very calmly swished up into the bushes.  Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me...but it was quite a sight.

4.  Finally we had some visitors surprise us yesterday with an overnight visit.  They were Kenny and his girlfriend.  Kenny is from the Isle of Skye and came over 2 years ago with Mr G's young cousin John and another friend Ryan on a working visa.  Their time is up and they are on their way back to Scotland via Thailand.  That 2 years flew by.  They were great to have on board...Molly LOVED their attention.  We went for a sail up through Broken Bay and out to sea in company with our friend John in his boat HAPPINESS.  Below is picture of John under full sail from our boat.  We dropped them off this morning .. they were driving back to Melbourne.  We both certainly wish them the best and hope they make it back to Australia soon.

PHEW...that's just a quick look at 5 days on the boat - busy, blissful, beautiful days - in a very short post.   We had coffee on the waterside at this place almost every day...lovely.

 We're back up in Pittwater now.  The food is running low - as is the drink - so it's time to go home tomorrow.  Mr G and Molly are catching up on the nap they didn't get yesterday.  Me, I'm enjoying getting back to blogging and catching up with emails.