A quiet day this weekend

After working like a mad person for the past weeks I am now officially off on holidays all week!! Yipeeeee. Time to get some quality R&R and that definitely means going away because if I stay here I tend to work...... so we are off to gorgeous Narooma from Tuesday to Sunday.

I will be taking my watercolours with me and my camera to take some great shots I hope. And I also bought some new watercolour paper so I am hoping to complete a whole lot of paintings as well.

Tonight (Saturday) I went ot my official farewell at Scouts. It was a lovely dinner and a celebration of the time I have spent in scouts (15 years!!). Alan also was leaving tonight too..... so it was a double thing. Scouts was very special for me when my first marriage broke up, and it gave me things to do, experiences and friends who were safe and friendly. Not only that but it developed me in so many ways. I treasure the time I spent as 'KANGA' and hope I made a difference.

We also visited Scribbly Gums today and it is looking great. We are trying to decide on a suitable site for the house....and it is harder than than may seem. It needs to be accessible, have good light, not be too near trees and bushfire risk, nearish to the power..... all pretty important. Any way we met our neighbours today Carlos and Megan and they are friendly and great. They have done a lot of work on their block and will be able to help steer us in the right direction for ous!! It is good to have great neighbours!

Tomorrow I am doing a hair colouring job - more red than usual - but it should be fun for winter. Then off to see Mum and Dad who are well again after a few health concerns 10 or so days ago. We are ppopping in for morning tea.

Not much else to share I am afraid - it is so cold at the moment I will be pleased to have spring here soon - frozen birdbath agin this morning!! Oh and the kids gave me a balloon flight last year for my birthday which I have now booked for the 11th August - now over a year old!! Anyway Phil wants to come too so we are off on a balloon ride on the 11th and I should take some great photos of Canberra!!

Smile, and let the work be concerned about what you have been up too!!

Love
Carol

A mid week catch up

Hello everyone

This is a fairly quick blog for two reasons:

• Because I have had waaay too much wine and I need to lie down
• Because it is mid week and refer to point 1.

A few things are happening and I thought that I would write to let you know......

Firstly we are going away next week to Narooma to stay for 5 nights of tranquility and painting. I am so looking forward to a bit of a break as my workload has been crazy lately. But I have finished so much so that is great! I will work one day over the weekend and complete my stuff on a funding application then it is finished.

Bec, Theresa and I are off to a scrapping retreat with the Little Scrap Book Shop in August. It is actually my birthday weekend. But I am delighted to have the opportunity to go and catch up with the wonderful and talented lassies form LSBS. I know them so much better now and it will be wonderful to catch up again. I am hoping we can go out on Saturday night for dinner..... and celebrate - but we will see. There might be something interesting on which we can't miss!

Matt DS has been showering here for about a week as the gas people did not fill up their tank at where he and Joe live. However today we didn't see him so I am guessing that all is well again and he has hot water and a warm house. What a time to run out of gas though - freezing winter! It gets so chilly here and you really do need heating etc.

Caught up with Jess DD and Jason DSIL on Sunday night and they are well, though a little sore from horse riding over the weekend for a birthday bash in Nowra. They had a great time and apparently the weather was very kind.

Saw Damo last Friday before he returned to Bathurst and he is doing really well. At the end of this year he will be at the halfway mark...... what a wonderful achievement.

On Saturday I say goodbye officially to the training team at Scouts. It has been a big part of my life and I have trained more scout leaders than I can possibly remember. Scouts was a contant force in my life through my marriage breakup 12 years ago and it gave me skills and lots of froiends who have seen me through some difficult and joyful times. Many of my scouts are now adults with their own lives and that in itself is a success. They were great times and so enjoyable. Now it is time to move on, no regrets just sweet memories - I must bring a camera with me to catch those last photos. We always say we are going to catch up but we are also so busy!! Never seems to be the time, I am sad to say.

Mum and Dad have had their ups and downs over the past week - but are now in an up..... which is a relief. They are bringing in community help for showering and dressing in the mornings which will be a good help. Neither of them have as much mobility as they did and this bit of extra help will offer them much needed support.

Other than that I am just mooching along. I haven't felt too inspired to do much lately - work has pretty nuch got in the way - but everything should calm down now for a while anyway. Can't wait to do some paintings in Narooma and lot of quiet days and easy nights - just what I need I think - time with my wonderful, ecentric, atristic, patient and incredibly tollerant husband Phil!

Near Lake Argle - the dawn of time

There are times when life is a kaliescope of colour
Changing, moving and irredescient pools full of promise
And there are times when life is a still stream
Renewing and nuturing everything in its path
It is the ebb and flow of life
That renews and makes a new day
Worth living
Anon

Lots of love
Carol

A few tulips for a rainy afternoon

What a rainy day - so I painted a few tulips which are so lovely and bright at this time of the year! Pop over to Scribbly Gums Art to see some more and a step by step class for a Simple Tulip

I am looking forward to a bit of time off soon as I have been really rushed over the past weeks. I will be working at home for a bit this week to finish off a few things.

We went to see Scribbly Gums today and it was fantastic - Matt came too and we spent a fair bit of time walking over the property... we found lots of wombat holes and evidence that the wombat and wallaby populations are doing well. There is no evidence of rabbits which is great. We also saw lots of birds and a chuffs nest which had fallen to the ground. There has been a bit of a storm which has brought down a few trees.

It is raining now and I am just about to go and do something about dinner for the kids are coming over.

Have a great week - I will try to post something a bit more informative through the week

Till then
Carol

A little something from the beautiful helen

Helen gave me this for my positive attitude to everything

So here I go giving it to others:

Lisa P because you are such a lovely person
Helen J because you always smile and you are so kind
Marg O because you amaze me with your talent
Relsi - because of your kindness and your courage
Spikey Jen - because you are who you are - no pretence
Bec D - because you like working with me even though my brain and ideas never stop
Pepper - because you always comment on my gallery and you lift me up

Keep it going aroung ladies

C

Back home after a few days in Melbourne

Well it is Sunday again and I can't believe that the week has gone so quickly.....

I spent a few wonderful days in beautiful Melbourne - I just love that place. I flew in on Wednesday night and had dinner at a great Greek Restaurant Called the Kri Kri - just down the road from the Crossley where I was staying in Little Bourke Street. The rooms were great value at $149 per night and really convenient to the Sofitel where the conference was (which was enormously expensive at $289 per night - almost double)

The conference was the Addiction Summit and I will be writing a paper sometime when I can this week - it was good for new ideas and to see research about all facets of addiction from the individual to working through systems and approaches. For those who are interested Motivational Interviewing seems to be the therapy of choice when helping people with addicitions and there was heaps about empathy and change talk - all of which I am slowly processing to see what the organisation can work with to help our clients.......

On Thursday night I dined at a cute little Italian Restuarant called I think Lucianettis - the waiters where really great - older italian men who know what they were doing and who called me 'casa bella' which was sweet and senorina (which meant they needed glasses) but the calamari was definitely to die for! I would give you a link but I don't think they have a web address and I am sure I have spelt their name wrong anyway.

On Friday night after a pretty tiring 2 days I found my way to the cinema and watched Mama Mia.....what an absolute hoot! There were about 15 or so in the cinema and we all laughed and sang along! I loved it - it will never win an academy award, but it was fun and light, Meryl Streep was great (and she can sing) and Pierce Brosnon probably shouldn't sing - but then again he is great eye candy and at least he didn't sing off key! Go and see it if you can - I loved it (the guys might not enjoy it so much so go with your girlfriends and have fun!)

Oh and Maggie T had a sale - dangerous - I bought (and have justified) a green woollen coat for winter - reduced from $289 to $69....never could go past a bargain! And a 'few' other things too.... I had fun and I do love spending money!

Saturday I checked out of the Crossley and went to the Kaiser Craft Outlet in Geelong with the gorgeous Relsi and little Meg. What fun we had!!!! I bought more than I intended but things I find hard to get here..... The stock around Canberra is a bit hard to get AND I was going good for the world...... let me explain - the wonderful people at the Kaiser Craft Outlet sell their outdated stock for well below shop price and 90% goes toward building a boys home in Sri Lanka. These boys have lost their parents to Civil War or other circumstances. Pretty cool hey??? Kaiser Craft

As I can't find any reference on the web to the address or that it even exists here are the details
Location: 2 Fitzroy Square, North Geelong
Opening Days: Mon, Wed and Sat
Opening Time: 9.30am to Noon (Sat 9am - Noon)

Well I am back home now and ready to finish a few Christmas in July RAKS (another justification for spending all that money at Kaiser Craft.)

Thanks for visiting and thanks so much to Relsi and Meg for taking me out for the day!!! You are wonderful!!

Do a random act of kindness for someone this week and don't tell anyone!!!

Love Carol

New paintings on Scribbly Gums Blog

Pop over to the Scribbly Gums Art Blog for a look at my new paintings....see you there !!

Scribbly Gums Art

Cheers
Carol

Menopause the musical

Last weekend Phil and I went to the beautiful town of Tilba - I just love that place. It is quaint, green, peaceful and so picturesque, it is a bit like I would imagine heaven to be - but without the road works.....which are going until September. You feel that you are in another time - it wouldn't surprise me at all if a couple of ladies in long dresses with parasols walked down the path..... It is that sort of place.

We stay at the Central Tilba Farm Cabins - they are very rustic but sooooooooo cheap. $55 per night and that is for the cabin not each!! The cabin could sleep 6 or more and they have a full kitchen and a log fire..... our favourite is the one on the end....it overlooks the valley and the cows. A glass of wine, standing on the deck looking over the valley is my idea of heaven. We even met up with friends there......so a couple of drinks and several laughs - what fun!

Here is the link Central Tilba Farm Cabins

Anyway we were home by 5pm on Sunday and Brenda and I had arranged to go to Menopause the Musical that night at 7.30pm. Well all I can say was that it was so great and funny that I had tears rolling down my cheeks. It was an absolutely wonderful night....... and most of the women in the audience were, well, of a certain age - so we all laughed together..... if you ever get the chance go and see it!!!! We have decided we are going to Shirley Valentine next.

We are now the proud owners of Scribbly Gums - we have settled now and look forward to popping out there in a couple ofweeks time to have a better look around, meet our (only) neighbours and do a bit of measuring up for a shed.

Matt came home after 7 weeks away overseas and he has had a wonderful time! With 3000 photos and lots of stories it was a trip that he will never forget. Tonight we looked at the Dubai photos before he had to go home and get ready to go out (after using the drier and helping us install a shower screen over the bath). He had such a wonderful time though and I think he might have a great case of the travel bug.

Mum and Dad have had a hard week, Dad has an infection and Mum has had a couple of nasty falls. I popped in on Wednesday morning and they were in all sorts of trouble. But today they look so much better and are getting on top of things again. We will take them out to Bungendore and Scribbly Gums once it isn't so cold..... as there is no shelter there yet and it does get bitterly cold. They are looking forward to that!

While we were in Tilba I did some drawings and I hope to do a few tonight so I will load them onto the website - hopefully tomorrow.

The Scrap Therapy website has the Make Believe Masters challenge which I am rather enjoying. I have entered several things and last night I made a birthday book. So Here are the pictures of what I created. They might be great for presents at Christmas for some people I know.......

The Birthday Book

Month Pages

This week at work we open the Althea Wellness Centre officially. This is months of hard work and is wonderful for people who would not usually access health care to get the best possible health care and options in a respectful environment. We have had our first clients. The vision of Althea has obviously been widely received as we have $1 million funding for stage 2. If you are interested here is the link!

Althea Wellness Centre

This week I am off to beautiful Melbourne - my home town - to attend the Addiction Summit. That is very exciting - but even better - I am going to catch up with the lovely Relsi!! We are spending some of Saturday together and do what we do best laugh and shop - we are off to Geelong to the Kaiser Craft factory outlet! How great is that???

Then when I get home after Melbourne I am off to Christmas in July - a work do. Unfortunately Phil is not coming to that because it is a bit pricey (I get it free due to the social club at work) but also because it isn't great for vegetarians. I will bring him home Christmas cake.

I am now having a break from pottery for one whole month....it seems such a long time. Unfortunately I had to miss several classes this last term, and so some of my work wasn't finished....but I do have a casserole, tagine and several cool things waiting to be fired. I will pick them up in August I guess. So the upshot is I don't really have much to show you all. Pop into Scribbly Gums blog this week and have a look at a few paintings..... I will try to add some tomorrow!

Remember - it is the little things that are important in life.
A smile can brighten a day
A coffee with a friend can ease pain
A hug shows someone you care
Live Well, Laugh Often and Love Much

With Love
Carol