The holiday is over

Frangipani flower

Well, that is it then, holiday over and back to work. Can’t complain too loudly though, with temperatures over 40 degrees celsius in some parts of Australia it is great to be able to work in air conditioned comfort. My poor doggies are melting, throughout the day they move from one cool, shaded spot to another and you can see the relief on their faces when I come home and they can finally lie on the nice, cool tiles.

Bundy napping on the cool tiles

 

Australian themed Christmas decoration

Christmas and New Years Eve was spent south of the border in New South Wales. My parents live in the country, surrounded by cows, horses and alpacas, it is a very peaceful place to stay and the nights are so dark that you can easily see the stars. The dogs love it there although they’d be much happier inside with us, but their Nan and Pop don’t allow dogs in the house so Maxi claimed the deck and Bundy decided that sitting on the outdoor table was the place to be. Every morning I took Bundy for a walk down to the river while Maxi got to have a walk through the paddock (her legs won’t carry her very far anymore), on the first morning everything was shrouded in fog, it was magnificent to see especially when the sun’s rays started to burn through the fog and throw a little more colour and light onto the picture.

Christmas day was a hot one, after the traditional early morning opening of presents I joined my husband’s family for brunch, watching our nephews playing with their presents reminds me of the excitement I felt when I got my first record player and the soundtrack for the movie Xanadu – I loved Olivia Newton John . The heat and the boys desire to try out their new boogie boards drove us to the beach, it was cloudy and windy, the water freezing but we still got sunburned and soon it was time for us to head off to my cousin’s house for a late Christmas lunch. Christmas with my family usually means five types of meat, a tonne of baked vegetables and more desserts than anyone could possibly need, not to mention lots of bubbles and beer. At some stage water is involved, often swimming in a pool however this year it was a water fight using the latest in water pistols (they look more like cannons) and buckets, this is when holding a camera has its advantages.

Christmas day at the beach

Flynn’s Beach, Port Macquarie

The 2013 National Beach Volleyball tour kicks off in Cronulla, my husband is part of the operations team that organise the event and work started on Boxing Day, December 26 so that is where we spent New Years Eve. Cronulla is heaven for surfers and beach goers, alot of effort has gone into tidying up the foreshore but this Sydney suburb still feels as though it is made for locals and on New Years Eve it was surprisingly quiet. New Years Eve is also our wedding anniversary, this year we celebrated our 5th anniversary and although in Sydney we celebrated quietly with bubbles and delicious nibbles on our hotel balcony, avoiding the crush of two million people on the harbour’s foreshore. New Years Day was spectacular weather wise, the beach was packed and the temperature soared, the lifeguards were going to have a busy day.

View from Rydges Hotel, Cronulla

Cronulla beach

New Years Day at the beach, Cronulla

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflection

Summer is here with a vengance, it has been a few years since we had consistently hot weather and predictions over the weekend were for a week of temperatures in the high thirties (celsius). Yesterday was hot, air conditioned offices were a blessing and the storm that hit last night a huge relief. We had put up some of the Christmas fairy lights on Sunday afternoon, solar powered of course, and as the rain poured down, I noticed that water pooling on the pavers allowed for a colourful reflection of lights that we stuck in the garden. Tonight there is no such relief, today reached 39 degrees and overnight we’ll only see the temperature drop to about 24 degrees and there is no rain predicted so no more funky, colourful reflections.

 

 

 

Christmas all year round

Yesterday a friend took me to a place where it is impossible not to smile and be happy, a place where it is Christmas all year round, a warehouse filled with everything Christmas. Although I object to walking into a supermarket in September and seeing Christmas decorations for sale, the Christmas Shop reminded me of those we visited in Europe (except that here I was allowed to take photos) and I love being able to see and choose from so many different types of decorations, lights and Christmas goodies.

Do you love a good Christmas shop or hate the thought of entering a store where it looks as though Christmas threw up all over the shelves? With the year flying by and Christmas looming just around the corner, I have a feeling that I’ll be a regular visitor the Christmas Shop

…and so that was Christmas

Christmas colour

Christmas Day in our family has always been about food, food and more food so it was nice to have a small Christmas celebration this year where we didn’t eat ourselves stupid. Normally the day starts with a cooked breakfast and then we snack on chocolates, peanuts, prawns and oysters before sitting down to a smorgasboard of meats, vegetables, salads and desserts for a late lunch. By the time night falls we’re usually too stuffed with food to eat anything else but do anyway because we’re often the guests of another family or group of friends.

Maxi doing her best to avoid looking at the camera

Bundy and his Christmas present

With only four of us at our house (my parents and husband), the decision was made to go easy on the food and not cook every type of animal available from the butchers, a cooked breakfast was still on the menu but instead of snacking on seafood we enjoyed a tasty seafood lunch. Before we ate anything it was time to open our presents, even Maxi and Bundy got gifts from Santa and family members – chew toys, schmackos and liver treats. Bundy and Maxi had done alot of shopping, it is amazing how well they did, buying coffee mugs, running shoes and DVDs for all of us.

Prawns and seafood sauce

Oysters Kilpatrick

With lunch out of the way it was a lazy afternoon of talking on the phone, reading magazines and newly acquired books, the two black dogs moving around the yard in an effort to try and find the best place to sleep. With the warmer weather comes flies and mosquitoes, mosquito coils and sandlewood candles helped to keep them at bay however a can of insect repellant was still required. Background music was supplied by cicadas, magpies, noisy miners, lorikeets and the occasional crow.

Prawn tails for lunch

Bird of Paradise

Tealight candles

Our good friend Ron arrived late in the afternoon and joined us for dinner, the outdoor table was set with candles and bon bons, a casual affair enhanced by glasses of sparkling Savignon Blanc from New Zealand and Bundaberg Rum, a local and very popular brew. Dad had the duck roasting in the barbeque and the pork roasting in the George Foreman oven, Mum and I prepared vegetables and I decorated the cake I had made with icing and fresh cherries. Dinner was delicious, the vegetables were basted with duck fat so they were extra tasty and the cake was heavenly served with cream, ice cream and jelly. It was a successful Christmas meal and although we had plenty to eat our stomachs were not uncomfortably stretched, there was still room for the obligatory after dinner cup of tea.

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful day, best wishes for the upcoming new year.

Cherry Cake

Wordless Wednesday

The Save Lennox Christmas Campaign

Merry Christmas Max and Bundy

What a wonderful Christmas it would be if Lennox was allowed to go home to his family, it is the season for giving after all and it is the right thing to do. The Save Lennox website has not been available for a little while, but now you can read about and participate in the Save Lennox Christmas Campaign.

How you can help (more information on www.savelennox.co.uk):

Change your Twitter and Facebook profile pictures to the Save Lennox logo for the length of the holiday period and then send a Tweet, Facebook message or email to someone who may not have heard about Lennox or the many others like him who have fallen victim to the evil draconian law known as Breed Specific Legislation.

Spread the word and make your voice heard, for Lennox and for all the dogs who suffer because of the ignorance of (some) humans!

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is for every dog that is a victim of cruelty, locked away in a kennel or sitting in shelters to be found a forever home where they will be loved and appreciated.

Love

Two Black Dogs

 

Chilled in Amsterdam

Our last day in Amsterdam and our coldest, the temperature is a chilly 10 degrees and it is raining. There is nothing on our itinerary for the day, we walk to the flower market keeping close to the walls to stay out of the wind and rain. The Keukenhof Gardens would have been our choice had the weather been nicer, the flower market was a compromise and still gave me a chance to see and photograph the beautiful tulips that you see all over Amsterdam, Germany and Switzerland. There is a rainbow of colours, some tulips are in bloom and some are still buds, the market stalls sell bulbs, bouquets and pot plants, it is a shame we cannot take any home with us. Near the markets is a Christmas shop called the Christmas Palace, no photos are allowed to be taken and the shop is filled with trees, fairy lights and decorations. The bells over the door ring constantly, it is cute at first but then gets a little annoying. I buy a few decorations, not too many, we will be going to the famous Christmas shops in Rothenburg ob de Tauber when we are then and plan to buy more to ship home.

In the process of trying to find a post office we find lots of shoes and scarves and Marty pays 1 euro to use the toilet in a toilet shop call ‘2 the loo’, they offer a clean place to pee and a selection of amusing gifts to purchase. Finally we find a post office and can send the postcards we have written on, they may be of Paris but I’m sure our friends and family will understand.

Amsterdam frites with mayonnaise is a well known snack, not sure if they got the idea from Belgium or if they share it with them, we get our huge servings from a frites shop called Mannekin Pis, the serving has half a jar of mayo on it much to our surprise. We get out of the way of all the pedestrians and lean on a bridge while sucking down this tasty treat, near us is the Grasshopper coffeeshop and jetty for the canal cruises, it is a very Amsterdam location to have lunch. In comparison to lunch we eat Thai food in our room that night, for 9 euro we get spring rolls and a meal of noodles with vegetables, stir fry vegetables and a beef with broccoli dish. The ladies in the takeaway shop were happy to chat to us in English, they have family in Australia but have never been themselves, the rest of the customers spoke Dutch so we assume that they were locals popping in for an easy, cheap meal.

Post-Christmas

Christmas is over for another year, it has been a wonderful time for catching up with dear friends and family, drinking too much and eating lots of delicious food. Christmas with my family isn’t complete unless five different meats are served plus a selection of seafood and dessert consisting of pavlova and cheesecake, eskies (chilly bins) are essential for all the beer and soft drink. Dinner with my in-laws is a little more sedate, but the numbers are fewer and you don’t have to yell to be heard which makes for a pleasant change.

Avoiding the shops on boxing day is another family tradition, the start of the Ashes Test (cricket game between England and Australia) and the Sydney to Hobart race are televised so the lounge or a chair at a pub is the place to be. I avoid both like the plague and look forward to taking the dogs to the beach for a run and a swim, the smell of wet dog is not so bad on a warm summer’s day. Bundy took the chance to stretch his legs and even said hello to a couple of chocolate labs who were enjoying some time off the leash, being a staffy you could see the grin on his face as he raced across the sand and into the surf. Maxi stayed at my folks and had a nice walk around the farm, she’s getting too old for strenuous exercise however that doesn’t stop her from making the most of every opportunity to get out of the yard.

It is so peaceful and quiet at my parents’, I love spending time here and going for early morning walks plus you can see the stars so clearly on a cloudless night. After all the misty rain we’ve had the frogs can be heard croaking in the gutter and downpipes, there are tadpoles in the dog’s water bowl and everything is beautiful and green. In one way hate to leave, but look forward to being back in my own home and soon it will be time to pack the car up and head north, the holidays are almost over and we will return to our normal routine.

Greetings

Today is a great day, work is finished for the year and soon we’ll be heading south to spend time with family and friends for Christmas. Christmas for us is spending time at the beach, sitting on the back deck and enjoying a cold drink, avoiding hysteria at the sales and going to the races, it is also when we have alot of storms and have to drug Maxi so she doesn’t freak out.

Tomorrow we’ll do all of those last minute things that you have to do when going on holiday, plus we might brave the shops again to buy the last of the Christmas presents. Our car isn’t huge and somehow we have to make our luggage, presents, two black dogs and their bedding fit into the back of the car so that we can fit comfortably in the front. My husband wants to take his golf clubs and his fishing rods, apparently these are a necessity and are things he cannot borrow from a friend but I guess we’ll find out soon enough