tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96198692010-01-02T05:45:02.780+11:00Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.comBlogger288125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-82004449256615435252007-11-29T09:34:00.000+11:002007-11-29T09:55:25.211+11:00

My dear blogger buddies,I have been taking a break from blogging and am not sure when I'll be back. Rest assured this lapse is for good reasons - no tragedy has befallen me or the family. Quite the contrary: my new crafty life is really kicking in and the Man Who Cooks is retiring next month after 33 years with the same employer. While still exulting about my own retirement (and very much

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-51246155054889100852007-11-05T17:41:00.000+11:002007-11-05T18:37:30.912+11:00

Connie and I have known each other since our university days in the 60s and 70s in Berkeley. Although we have lived in different countries for over 3 decades (she still lives in Berkeley), we've kept in touch and have always been able to resume our friendship very easily on the rare occasions when we do see each other.Connie doesn't like being away from home very long or traveling long distances,

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-14210899943000465312007-11-02T19:38:00.000+11:002007-11-02T19:54:30.020+11:00

This was an event that took me by surprise. Thousands of young people and (ahem) supposedly more mature adults, turn out in wild and weird costumes, parading up and down the main street, photographing each other and pointing and laughing. This was my "costume": My version of the Aussie corks on the hat, which is supposed to keep the flies away from your face. I used my mom's rollers sewn onto my

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-353252430738065862007-10-29T14:20:00.000+11:002007-10-29T15:07:58.020+11:00

This was taken at a beachside restaurant where Dad and I had lunch today. Life is good.I spent the morning at the zoo, and went back again after lunch. Even though it was Sunday, there were no crowds to contend with - everyone's at the beach. I saw flamingos for the first time since a trip to Florida in the 1950s. Such a beautiful color.The galapagos tortoises were awesome. This one was quite

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-35362420126088693062007-10-24T18:41:00.000+10:002007-10-24T19:26:43.186+10:00

I will soon be in Hawaii, leaving on Friday. I'll spend a couple of weeks with my dad, have a few mai tai drinks under the 100 year old banyan tree right on the beach, eat some prime rib steaks at Chuck's Restaurant, and in general hang out. My very dearest friend from university days will be visiting there from California too, which will make it even more special.I'm not much of a beach person,

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-18818766727524942662007-10-14T20:03:00.000+10:002007-10-15T21:17:11.141+10:00

...and oh what a week it was. There's a substantial book filled with various events free or low cost to seniors, right around the state, offering something of interest to everyone. It'll take me a while to get through all the things I was interested in, but managed to get to a few events this week.One of the best things about Seniors Week is that public transport throughout Victoria is free for

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-84828636809401846252007-10-05T12:28:00.000+10:002007-10-05T13:39:26.313+10:00

I have been keeping busy with lots of fun things to do since I returned from my trip to Albury. Have been to a great new version of the Nutcracker ballet with MIL, celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary this week by going to see the musical 42nd Street (I LOVE tap dancing, and even the Man Who Cooks enjoyed the show), created books inspired by the artist book exhibition I saw in Albury, went for

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-47998059675872578872007-09-26T09:47:00.000+10:002007-09-26T13:02:43.435+10:00

I've been taking a break from blogging, and dread to think what my Google Reader will look like when I finally log in, as I haven't even been reading blogs.So this morning when I was reading the newspaper online and saw the opinion article Spend, spend, spend. It's no way to happiness, I thought, that's something that I feel strongly about and it's a ready made post. Written by Catherine Deveny

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-89159477481164141202007-09-19T11:43:00.000+10:002007-09-19T11:56:04.362+10:00

Got here yesterday by train, with the main goal in mind to visit the new Library Museum and see a special book artists' exhibition. When I arrived at the Library Museum this morning at 9.30, a half hour before opening time, there were already some people waiting to get in. By the time the doors opened, there was a veritable charge of all manner of eager library users / museum visitors towards the

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-16910356297960233822007-09-13T17:41:00.000+10:002007-09-13T18:14:01.067+10:00

This week I had lunch with four friends I've known for a long time. One of them has been housebound for a week and felt like some company. So I organised for the 3 of us to bring something over to her house for lunch and making sure we all didn't turn up with the same thing. It was fun for everyone, especially the hostess as she just had to set the table and wait for people to arrive with a

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-74279713456373680802007-09-08T17:06:00.000+10:002007-09-08T18:01:25.153+10:00

... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.On Wednesday and Thursday this week I packed a picnic lunch and a good book and headed off for places I knew would be ideal spots for relaxing. My first choice was Ruffy Lake Park, just a short drive away. However, as I approached the car park I was confronted with maybe a dozen huge buses already there, marquees set up around some areas of the park and

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-58756603188230842322007-08-29T11:45:00.000+10:002007-08-29T12:10:37.516+10:00

At some stage I must have mentioned that I met the Man Who Cooks at International House at the University of California in Berkeley. This is a hall of residence for U.S. and international students and "its mission is to foster intercultural respect, understanding, lifelong friendships and leadership skills for the promotion of a more tolerant and peaceful world." Well, the Man Who Cooks and I

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-47104101262612743522007-08-26T18:06:00.000+10:002007-08-26T18:16:40.205+10:00

By coincidence, just as footwear discussions are raging around Bloggerworld, Melbourne's main paper yesterday had an interesting article about the tyranny that the fashion world inflicts on susceptible females.The link to the entire article is via the post title, but I'd like to quote my favorite bit here:"When I was young in the '60s, we rejoiced in liberation from stiletto heels and

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-92119261096769904092007-08-23T16:55:00.000+10:002007-08-23T16:55:36.422+10:00

Jelly had an interesting post the other day about her favorite shoes. It was so much fun to read and to look at her photos. She suggested that others do a similar post. At first I thought I'd be the wrong person to do this - my favorite footwear is very practical, either lace ups or slippers. But as I started looking around in my closets, I thought I'd do a footwear retrospective. Here

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-37765527126415953412007-08-16T08:53:00.001+10:002007-08-17T17:48:17.119+10:00

...yes, it is my birthday today. I wasn't going to mention it but Merle has spread the word on her blog, as I discovered in some comments on my last post. To celebrate we're going out tonight to see an Argentine tango group perform at the state theatre. I'm really looking forward to that!Merle has also awarded me the Nice Matters Award (and coincidentally so did Kali) - that plus having a

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-76454637079650465312007-08-14T09:57:00.000+10:002007-08-14T10:41:38.668+10:00

Like Diane recently, I often find it's hard to think of a relevant and unique title for my posts. I mean, how boring is "My weekend". But I'm afraid that would be the most relevant.A major event for me last weekend was meeting up, face to face, with yet another blogger buddy. Catsmum lives near Castlemaine, and I was delivering to her the special CD Meow made for her blogger buddies. Before I

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-60377749011903574262007-08-10T14:05:00.000+10:002007-08-10T15:08:57.957+10:00

So, I survived two full days of work this week, but for those of you who expressed concern about being sucked back into "most-time work", as Joan put it, I don't think that's going to happen. In fact the timetable is every Monday morning from 9 - 12.30, and every second Saturday morning, and even that is flexible. But having set times makes it easier for me to plan something in advance. So far

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-21345496784096218722007-08-07T20:56:00.000+10:002007-08-07T21:16:09.505+10:00

After all the hoohah I've made about how much I've enjoyed being retired over the last year, I must confess that a part time job has fallen into my lap. A couple of half days a week at a local optometrist (5 minute walk from home) shouldn't put too much of a dent in my leisure time. I'll see how it goes. This week I was needed for two full days though, and today was my first full day's work since

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-56254358270634090412007-08-05T20:35:00.000+10:002007-08-07T21:29:35.249+10:00

Recently Susie mentioned that her Australian sister in law still kept a number of her Aussie ways even after living more than 30 years in the U.S. I was curious as to which habits she maintained. When Susie replied that her SIL used her utensils in an unusual way, this got me to thinking again about why Americans have a different way of eating than Europeans and Australians.Briefly, the American

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-14827313002997125812007-08-04T10:33:00.000+10:002007-08-04T10:59:23.748+10:00

I have always loved crayons, still do, even though I haven't used them for years. When I was a kid we had a tradition of opening just one present on Christmas Eve and the rest in the morning. One year I happened to pick crayons and a coloring book for my evening present. Of course I woke up way too early on Christmas morning, probably around 5 a.m., so I decided I'd use the time to do some

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-79233557438240892552007-08-03T16:27:00.001+10:002007-08-03T16:41:57.414+10:00

Gina asked in her comment about the Shared items feature in my sidebar. This is what I wrote to her, in case other people would like to know too:The shared link is available when you use GoogleReader (like bloglines, it tells you when someone has posted something new, and has saved me heaps of time). So if you do use GoogleReader, beneath each post that comes up, there are a number of options

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-88529411950571328932007-08-02T17:31:00.000+10:002007-08-07T21:29:35.250+10:00

Today Meow and I had lunch together, near a bakery that makes those special large soft pretzels (Laugen Bretzeln) you often see in Europe and in some cities in the U.S. but they are not so common here. I do love eating those pretzels, and made a big deal of them when I found them in the Barossa Valley recently. Here's Meow and I doing a silly pose, showing off our pretzels. (Sounds rather rude,

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-38154023120025685662007-07-26T18:25:00.000+10:002007-08-07T21:18:09.707+10:00

Today I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Melbourne. I was a bit apprehensive about the anticipated crowds, but I got there early (9.20) and had previously planned out what I wanted to see. As I approached Jeff's Shed*, I felt a part of an army of like minded people. Marching along with me were women who, well, had that crafty look about them. It was a hoot! When I arrived the queue was not

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-46245042888680258922007-07-25T12:08:00.000+10:002007-07-25T16:20:29.866+10:00

Yesterday I met up with Lindsay (another Blogger buddy) and his wife Anne, and Gina who I've met previously. They live in Eltham, a lovely suburb of Melbourne, but had not met each other previously. We had lunch at a cafe next to the Eltham Library (yes, I did get there early to borrow some books), and then we went on to Montsalvat, an artists colony that looks like it could be in Europe. Artists

Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04456736523331076619noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9619869.post-38630520483168800222007-07-20T11:46:00.000+10:002007-07-20T12:37:31.753+10:00

Yesterday I wound up commenting on Motherkitty's blog for the first time. I have seen Motherkitty around the Blogosphere for a while now, commenting on blogs that I have been reading. Because I am making a conscious effort to keep my blog reading to a manageable size, I rarely add new blogs to my Google Reader. But sometimes there is just something that catches my eye (OK, if the truth be known,

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