A beautiful day! Sun + Sea + Supper

John and I went to Huskisson for a late brunch today... the water was bright blue and so beautiful, if it had been much warmer I would have been in there. Maybe I should have anyhow?

We had brunch at Pilgrims using one of our new entertainment book vouchers... very excited there's one for the south coast now, we had a beautiful breakfast looking out over Jervis bay for little more than it would have cost to make it at home, and read our favourite sections of the paper, did a little window shopping and a walk along the beach....

I love living where I do!

We stopped at the tip on the way home and picked up some iron bars to make a tripod to cook over the fire with... and some black pipe for another vege bed covering...

And my amazing husband made this for dinner... boeff bourguinonne! In the slow cooker, it was rich, delicious and tender... I made lime meringue pie with limes I picked from mum's tree when I dropped around for a cup of tea this afternoon.

We ate in front of the TV watching the movie Tintin... very enjoyable day and evening together...

Love Weekends :)

Upcycling - recycling but better.

Rhonda over at Down to Earth posted this week on recycling and asked others to talk about their efforts. My house, and the majority of it's contents are recycled in some way, in fact it's only in the last year or so that I have ever bought new furniture (although I did buy new whitegoods when I moved into my house as I had given my old ones away a year before when I moved from Sydney to the south coast to board with friends.

My garden beds are recycled from old fences, rabbit cage from an old chook cage that was chucked out on the side of the road, Some of my plants are recycled (cuttings, saplings from other gardeners, even a mature pear tree that someone gave us in return for digging it out of her garden.) About half of my kitchen equipment is recycled, handed down by an aunt when she replaces things, collected at op shops and garage sales etc. Clothes the same. The list could go on....

Probably my favourite example of recycling/upcycling is my wedding. (click on hyperlink to go to photographer's blog) I got married in June and a lot of things were recycled. Candle holders from op shops and markets, vases from a friend at church, ring holder made from an antique prayer book by inserting a secret hole by cutting out with a punch. We also had a friend drive me to the wedding in a recycled boat (he bought it worse for wear and did it up) some friends were taking bets that I would fall in as there wasn't a proper jetty and we had to walk off the front of the boat

The most important upcycled item was my wedding dress. I purchased it over ten years ago (about 9 or so years before I met my husband but anyhow, it was a steal) in a second hand shop as it was beautiful and fit me like it was made for me... It was a bit old in style though - think lace sleeves with frills over your hands, high frilly neck. I unpicked the sleeves and worked out that I could modernise the dress by pulling it to the sides. Lucky for me I have an amazing friend who studied fashion design and together we recreated the dress....
And it was an amazing wedding!

This last photo is a photo of us recycling a shed - It was originally recycled with old corrugated iron roofing, built around an old cottage fireplace with chimney - to use as kitchen for a camp, and storage when camp not on.

It was blown down in storms last year in September (on father's day - Aussies will remember the weather on the south coast) and we rerecycled it.

hello world

I haven't posted on here... gosh in maybe over a year. life has been busy. Hectic. managing nearly fulltime work, parttime study and life is hard, but I have my eye on the prize, graduating at the end of the year. And I've also had another big thing happen this year... I got married.
So last weekend, despite the wet weather as we were staying in camping caves (giant overhangs that stay pretty much permanently dry) we went on our first hike on our own. Love hiking in the Budawangs, on the east coast of Australia, and the fact that it is only just down the road for us is amazing!

On the second night, I was very grateful that there were two caves, as a scout troop arrived to stay the night after we had settled down at Gadarra Point. They were pretty good, and it was funny to hear a family voice coming down the hill towards us (I knew one of the leaders) It was good to have a chat, and they showed us a track to a waterfall that isn't marked on the maps.

Well, I am going to try and post regularly again - once a week minimum and hope to see some of you here again.

Long weekend

Grateful

For those who have given their lives that I might live

For those who are serving to protect lives and human rights around the world.

For an extra day off this weekend...

For sunshine and walks along the beach...

White sands walk at Jervis Bay, no dolphins today...

For history preserved for us to explore

For God's amazing creation

For water, gently flowing, making music, restoring my soul

Yalwal creek, track was massively overgrown, but fun, and had a snack on a log by the creek

For food shared and fun had

For family and friends

For memories

Amen

Easter Long Weekend

Spent the long weekend at Colo River, just north of Windsor (Northwest Sydney) My mum and I have a share in a holiday park there that's a bit like timeshare but better. We pay an annual fee and get 2 weeks minimum of school holiday time plus can go any other time it's available. I had it booked for easter and had the most amazing week. I had friends come and stay with me, but also made some great friendships with the other people staying who are also shareholders.

Most people ate communally, cooking food on the barbeques and eating at large picnic tables, I think we only cooked one meal inside our cabin, the rest were all outdoor meals... delicious
I have found myself cooking on the Barbeque more since the weekend.

Fun kayaking, meeting a yoga swami living on the river and doing bush regeneration, playing cards, a little bit of study, a lot of fun.

On the last night my two gorgeous cousins came to stay and we had a lot of fun, watching 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' on the outdoor big screen, kayaking, finding eels and lots of laughs.

Just what I needed to end a lovely holiday...

Grateful for stopping and going.

This is Kieran, my friend's baby on his one month birthday.

Isn't the smell of a newborn baby something special?

Grateful for moments to breathe...

listen...

just be...

These were taken at Gymea baths in Sth Sydney on my way north, just before having dinner with a family friend. I think one of the best pizzas of my life - Crust on Gymea Bay Rd. Thanks for the pizza Sam.

Dropping into a friends and walking around the garden,

Being given some Rhubarb,

Sharing a cup of tea,

Helping fix a saxaphone... who would have thought.

A last minute call to go with my brother and friends out to Wandandian,

Watching them hurl themselves down a hill on mountain bikes,

Big kisses from his dogs,

Lots of laughs,

Hanging out with Kate, his amazing girlfriend,

The beauty of the bush, the way light streams through the trees.

Grateful for travelling and for coming home

I was away for a couple of days with work recently, travelled to Newcastle for some training. We were blessed with an amazing view from the room where the training was held, right on the main Newcastle beach. I may have gotten distracted at times....

Grateful for the chance to catch up with Carli, a very old friend who is studying in Newcastle. She put me up at her place and we got to know each other all over again as we saw the sights, had great coffee by the beach, cooked dinner, went out on the town....

But always grateful to be home,

exploring new walks and undiscovered beaches,

spending time with friends...

Throwing birthday parties, BBQ's and enjoying eating outdoors as the weather begins to get milder.

And being inspired by the Watoto children's choir

These children are all orphans, some in the most horrific circumstances, but they have been found by Watoto, a group that house orphans with widows, who would otherwise have to turn to begging or worse and create families, villages and communities. I was overwhelmed by the joy of these children, the healing they show and their passion for life and for God. This picture shows just a tiny bit of their energy as they danced and sang (and tried to get us to join them)

A day at the beach

This past Saturday (prior to the trip to the mountain in my last post) Vani my housemate, SJ my back fence neighbour's housemate and I went out to Huskisson, on the shores of Jervis Bay. Yet again I am reminded that I live in one of the most beautiful corners of the world.

Vani and I at Husky

(all the photos today were taken on my phone - I was surprised at the quality)

Me, Vani and SJ

Looking south towards Vincentia across the rock pools

Looking out into the bay - point perpendicular a faint outline in the background as the sun begins to set behind us.

Toby's Estate coffee from supply, some fish and chips by the water, and a walk along the beach - what more could you ask for of a weekend.

A is for active

I saw another blog using the idea of the alphabet to head her posts, so I am going to try, that I will make my way through the alphabet of posts.

Active, because I had an active weekend. On Saturday morning B, D and I got up early in the misty rain and drove through fog to do Drawing Room Rocks walk. It wasn't really raining much at all, the wetest part is brushing past all the heathy plants once you get up on top of the hill. The mist clings to them, hits your leg and runs down. I had my goretex jacket and some gaiters so my top and my feet stayed nice and dry, my legs however were soaked.

I am quite proud that we surprised ourselves by how quickly we did the walk, only half an hour up and a bit less back. No stops required. We have to plan a harder walk next time.

At the top it was a complete white out, that is, we were in the middle of the cloud. It made sitting on the chair look quite interesting, we thought we could just insert our own background. When I get photos off D I'll share.

Sunday morning B, A and I went rockclimbing, down at Thompson's Point, near the university. It was raining the night before, but obviously not all night as it had dried out enough to climb. Thinking back, it was the first outdoor climb I had done since starting a coaching course at Hangdog Gym in Wollongong that I did for a month or more, and I could really tell the difference. B is going to do a mountaineering course in NZ in Jan so she was wanting to do some training hence the walk and the climb. The exciting thing about the climb is that there is a grade 15 climb which I had never succeeded in climbing, and yesterday, no problems. It was amazing how much difference a little bit of climbing made to what I could do. I was all ready to go on for something bigger but we ran out of time.