a wider view of a few weeks at southport

Week two of my sojourn at southport has now ended and it looks as though I will be spending at least the next two weeks at this place.

However, there have been some respites:-

Pete came for a couple of nights - we had some nice beach walks and she cooked  dinner! 

I went to the Oroton outlet and bought a chocolate coloured bag for 60% off

bought some summer shoes

saw some car races in the street below the apartment

my brother came up from Melbourne and we had lots of long chats (that's me in the mirror)

here he is walking along Main Beach

and then we came back to Briz and he pruned my hedges!!!!

and we let the new elephant out of his cage - he seems to be very happy!!!!!

nice music, noises, gardens and an elephant

 I have had two visits to the cultural centre this week - one before I went to southport on Monday and one when I came back on Saturday.  It was actually very nice to have a bit of a change of pace from the noise of the Gold Coast and the Indi racing drivers.  I feel refreshed enough to return for another week!

Life this week went from this

to this

and, on friday morning, to this!!!!!!

It was bliss to come back to Bris and have a lovely dinner at Ara and watch Tosca - even though she did throw herself over the battlements for love - Our Tosca lived up to her namesake although her fall wasn't on purpose.

I discovered several science experiments in my sink - can't leave your porridge bowl soaking and expect the cleaning lady to turn up and wash it....... lots of penicillin!!!

Back at Lukin St the garden is looking good but a little dry:

there are some flowers on my persimmon tree!!

and lots of growth thanks to Jen's help

and here is a little creature that followed me home from the coast

he'll have to stay in his cage until I come home and train him!

Men can be handy

Rod the handyman came today and spent some time helping me around the house.
I now have new doors (lightweight) in the hallway cupboard - just waiting for their handles and painting:

THEN he went outside and cleaned all my concrete with a Karcher!!!  Amazing how exciting it is to have it all sparkling!

Of course, Toscas rusty footprints are still there to remind me of her  (xxx) and the herbs are doing well.

Babies!!

I've had two babies to play with today:

 Audrey came to do some cooking........

 and a bit of floor cleaning

and then felt so tired she had to have a sleep with Nanny McPhee.
So I went off to New Farm to meet Archer:

 and what a beautiful boy he is!!!!

we've got storms!

Not even summer and we woke up this morning to storm warnings.  All Clayfield seems to have been getting is thunder and clouds with some fairly decent rain.  The light that comes with the storms makes the colours of the garden look great!

 I think the thing in the sub-tropics is to have some yellow and light green foliage.

 this is my saturday morning nook - easier to read the paper on the table than in bed!

chanelling ff

I bought a new jacket and had my hair cut and coloured yesterday which means that I am now in considerable debt.  Thought I sould see if lowering the hectopastels on my camera would make a difference to downloading.
What do you think?

The room is a bit sunny so my glasses went dark! 
Am waiting for some men to come and pick up the couch from upstairs and take it to Liz C.

weekends

I have been having weekend visitors. It was great to have four days with Jen who had the need for a 'girls' weekend - living with two sons and a husband means she needs a break every now and then.
We did some shopping and coffee drinking

and we met up with an old friend for dinner

and then, just to finish off, she helped me in the garden and spread a LARGE amount of mulch around! Old friends ARE good friends!

and the garden is VERY HAPPY!!!!
I've just found out that my new camera was set at 12 megapixels and the photos were taking an age to download. I have now changed it to 2 megapixels.....