April 18th Walks With Minnie

More mystery plants encountered on my walk with Minnie.  This first one I am not sure if it is either a Pomegranate or a Chilean Guava. 

Look at the berries on this tree. Aren't they a gorgeous colour?. This is a large tree and the first time I have ever seen any berries on it. It is absolutely laden.

Finally, on my walks with Minnie, we usually encounter discarded mattresses. Well today it was furniture, and two plastic bags full of wine and martini glasses. Glad to see the neighbourhood is mixing it up.

April 16th & 17th An Autumnal Weekend

I love the word Autumnal. When said out loud, it doesn't sound anything like Autumn and yet it is specific to Autumn. You just have to love the English language and all of its idiosyncracies.

And the weekend blog isn't related to the English language. I just went off on a different tangent, as I often do. The weekend was really a game of two halves. Saturday was a lovely Autumn day. There was blue sky and the leaves that need to fall have started falling. It is a lovely time of year to walk in the park

 Sunday was a complete contrast. It was wet and if Minnie doesn't ask to go for a walk, you know it isn't the sort of day you want to venture out into. So the day was the sort of day you park yourself on the sofa, with Minnie cuddled up beside you. She manages to gradually wriggle herself off her blankie, until I find myself perched precariously on the edge

And you know Autumn is definitely here, when by 7:00pm it is pitch black outside

And there is a roast in the oven for dinner

April 15th Three Strikes

Well it really wasn't a negative day, but three negatives happened. Which is about three many too negatives that one person should endure in their daily routine.

First up. Am I glad for insect bombs. This is the first one of these ugly critters I have seen for quite a while, but it was good to see him on his back, legs in the air and very dead. I hope he goes straight to hell and down the toilet he went

Next up and only in the matter of minutes. I decided some Sardines wouldn't go amiss for my lunch. But why, oh why, do ring pull tins have you terrified that you are going to sever an artery if you try and take the entire lid off. They never peel completely off - for me anyway!!  I only ever get 3/4 of the way and then have visions of me unintentionally slitting a wrist and being found in a pool of my own blood on the kitchen floor.

Finally, and I have posted a photo of this before, but to have all three negatives in the one day is a tad too much. Child proof locks on cleaning products. If I didn't have to wait for George to come home to open it for me, I would be over at the neighbour's asking "Excuse me, can you open my bottle of toilet cleaner"?

April 14th Game Of Thrones Winter Is Coming

This particular morning certainly felt like an episode of Game of Thrones. When I opened the curtains this was my view from the bedroom window, and it was time to send out a warning that the Winter is coming - and to get the heat pump going. Although I am quite certain they did not have heat pumps in Game of Thrones - but in some episodes they certainly did seem to pump some heat!!

April 13th A Bridge and A Presentation

Firstly I will do the 'pretty' picture. One of Hamilton's bridges, which is lit up each evening, but from a different angle

I wouldn't normally drive this route, but had been to an Industry function. Everyone was transfixed by the presentation

April 12th Sympathy From A Conglomerate

A bit of a surprise. A manufacturer of Cold Sore Patches showing sympathy that someone has to use their product.

April 11th A Daytime Peeping Tom

Spotted peeping in our bedroom window today. - fortunately I was dressed

April 10th Madam Woo's - A Culinary Experience

We were out to enjoy a long, leisurely Sunday lunch today at the recently opened Madam Woo's restaurant. It's claim to fame is not only ownership by a celebrity chef, but also the fact that it takes its inspiration from traditional Malaysian hawker food.

So as we try to regularly enjoy new dining experiences with Alvin, Alicia and  until now their daughter Ella - which has now increased by one to include gorgeous Esme - and as Alvin and Alicia hail from Malaysia, our next dining spot had to be Madam Woo's.

Toasted Black Sesame Seed and Chilli Ice Cream

 

 

April 9th Mrs Olimpia's World Famous Bean Soup

Tonight we were invited to indulge in a meal of Olimpia's Bean Soup. It is so good, that every time we end up with a sore tummy due to over indulgence. There is no Bean Soup in existence that is better than Olimpia's Bean Soup

As if our tummies weren't bulging enough, we had to finish with one of Bea's home made cupcakes

Thanks to all for a lovely evening

April 6th to 8th Queenstown Me...

From Wednesday through to Friday, I attended a trade conference, which was Queensland on Tour, being held in Queenstown in the South Island of NZ.

The scenery in the South Island of New Zealand will leave you in awe at it's sheer beauty. I kept taking photo after photo, it was just so beautiful. We weren't there for the scenery unfortunately - but still managed to see it. I flew from Auckland to Queenstown on Wednesday, we had registration on arrival followed by welcome drinks.

Thursday was an early start. There were 50 operators in attendance from Queensland, Australia. It was an extremely full on day, but fortunately the event was held at The Skyline, which afforded us stunning views over Queenstown. The only way to get up and down is via Gondola.  Thursday evening we enjoyed a Gala Dinner at The Barn, Moonlight Country, which is an approximate 15 minute drive from Queenstown.

There were three Jelly Bean Mosaics on display - love this tribute to Lord Of The Rings

Beady eyes watching us eat our dinner

 Friday morning we returned to The Skyline for final presentations, before being whisked back to the airport for our return flights. Fortunately I had time to sit and enjoy the comings and goings at Queenstown Airport's tarmac

Time to board our flight. With a beautiful blue sky, the flight home left me with wonderful images of a country I am so proud to call home

ps I know this was supposed to be about Queensland, but when you have views such as this... what can you do?

April 5th What's On The Menu?

Well if it's a fish 'n chip shop, and it's the middle of the day - this is definitely not a common place for me to be in. Unless it's Bluff Oyster season and I have another hankering for battered Bluff Oysters for my lunch

The day finished with another stunning sunset

April 4th An Intruder

Spotted in the dark of the night, lurking outside our house. I am presuming this may be the same one that one day last week, decided it would attach itself to my face, as I was outside

ps and yes I know this window is dirty. Come on nitpickers, give me a break?

April 3rd The Sunday Food Trail

The title of today's Blog certainly can certainly be misconstrued. Did you have visions of me and mine, out on a sunny Sunday, enjoying wine trails, calling in to Farmers' Markets, sampling wares along the way and returning home with wicker baskets full of lovely produce? Certainly not on this particular Sunday

Instead we were enjoying a Sunday at home, as you do. I actually did come into contact with some wine bottles. That is, I spent time washing, removing labels, ensuring we have empty wine bottles for when our next batch is prepared

My next call of duty reads like a thread on Facebook. She took a dozen eggs and then she did this. Click here to see. Well my darlings, you don't have to do any clicking. Because I will tell you here what I did. I took a dozen eggs, and I placed them in the oven. Here's a tip of the day for you. Heat your oven to 160 degrees celsius (sorry my Fahrenheit readers, you will have to Google the conversion), place a wet tea towel on a rack, followed by your raw eggs. Leave in the oven for 30 minutes. The result? Perfect hard boiled eggs and not one crack or exploding egg to be seen.

Next on our Sunday food trail was brunch/lunch/afternoon munch. Crumbed Eggplant (aka Aubergine), which we ate with Chili Sauce. For him, a strong, fiery Chili Sauce and for her, a sweet Chili Sauce

Finally, a late evening after dinner snack for her. Wonderful, wonderful passionfruit. Not as sweet as the passionfruit from countries with warmer climes, but still good enough to allow me to down more than one.

After all that wonderful lot, I feel like we had our own little private Farmers Market, right here at home

March 31st to April 2nd.. Slugging It Out

I usually pen my blog first thing in the morning, whilst waking up with my caffeine fix. However finding time has been a bit of a problem over the last few days.

Friday, April 1st (no April Fools) we had an early start as we were meeting our granddaughters for an early breakfast to celebrate the eldest' 7th birthday the next day, before they headed off to the beach with their Mum and Dad.

We finished the end of day with our monthly 'First Friday Of The Month Whoop Your Butt' card game. Some (okay me) were a little sluggish at the game

Yes we had an uninvited guest at the game. They appeared from the grapes we were eating and looked like they wanted to join in.

This photo says it all. Bryan enjoying one of his rare wins.

Note to self: never ask Crae to open a bottle of wine for me. I handed him a corkscrew but just to cut through the shrink wrap. Crae decided to take the corkscrew to a whole new level

Saturday was a lick your wounds day (for me). A quiet day and the only photo I took was of dusk, as it was to be the last dusk before daylight savings ended and we start the downward spiral to winter nights

Oh wait a minute! Rewind! Rewind! Back to Thursday. I just realised there is no photo of the day for Thursday, and I did take one. Not very exciting or scenic. But I wonder what is it with our neighbourhood and leaving mattresses out on the path. This was seen a couple of blocks away on my walk with Minnie. A homeless person is hardly going to be able to carry this home. What is it with these people? Haven't they heard of rubbish dumps?