Muffy's 11th birthday

Muffy is still my pride and joy.  We spend hours together every day.  I gave her some extra kisses this morning for her birthday.

Weather gone mad

This tree fell in strong winds not far from here.  Our house is at the top of a gorge and at times winds sweep up and nearly blow the house away.  Yesterday it was pouring rain in the morning - we had to pump water out of the pool to avoid an overflow - and in the afternoon the sun was shining.  I love swimming in the rain!  There's something special about being in the water while the rain is splashing down.

For anybody with young children, OzPhonics has a few things on YouTube.  So far an Intro and Level 1 are available in the AppStore.  The other levels will come out progressively.
It has Australian, American and New Zealand accents.

Fires, floods, gales

Goodness gracious me!  Bad weather all over the world.  It's frightening.  I feel dreadfully sorry for people affected by these extraordinary happenings and am always aware something terrible could happen to us at any moment.  Nobody is immune.

I haven't written anything for a while as I have been too busy standing up or walking round!!! The Australian Open finished last night with Novak Djokovic beating Andy Murray.  Since the tennis started two weeks ago I've watched lots of matches and stood up and exercised lightly during all the commercials.  I've also done dozens of online jigsaw puzzles, all the while standing up.  My weight has gone from 65.8 kg to 64.5.  I wasn't even trying to lose weight and find it hard to believe it's dropping off so effortlessly.  

Very strange.  And it sure beats going to the gym or exercise classes puffing and panting!!!!  I've read lots of stuff on Google about the dangers of sitting down by the hour and it all makes good sense to me.

What's in store for us?

It was 45.8 degrees in Sydney today, its hottest day on record.   Unbelievably, it was only 27 inside my home so I didn't feel the heat till I went outside.  Now a severe weather warning has been issued.  Strong winds have blown trees over not far from here.   It's extremely worrying.

- More than 95 fires are burning across NSW, including 14 that are uncontrolled.
- More than 700 firefighters, 200 trucks and 60 aircraft deployed.
- More than 100,000ha burnt statewide.

- Train services affected.

A horrendous summer

The bushfires are terrible.  I know they are making news all round the world.  None are close to Sydney, so we're OK, but I feel so much empathy for those who've lost their homes. Temperatures in central Australia have been hitting 50 degrees.  Strangely we've had cool days and even rain while other areas are sweltering.  Today's forecast is for 26, which is very comfortable.

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

But after only one day, I'm not so sure if I like standing up at the pc.  Philip gave me a big monitor so I can see the jigsaws better and it's a bit tricky typing straight ahead on the laptop and looking sideways to see the picture.

The Australian Open tennis started this morning and I decided not to sit still while I watch, so get up every time the commercials come on (which is every two seconds) and do some exercises (for the 10 minutes or so they last).  It truly is beyond me how anybody can watch commercial TV.  I'm just about at the limit of my patience and there are 13 days to go!

I'm already tired of walking up and down the steps, throwing and catching balls, touching my toes and stretching my legs, and balancing on the exercise ball for longer periods than the actual tennis.  And who knows if all this moving round will make any difference at all.
I don't really think I want to live longer, anyway - at least not if I have to go to so much bother. 

Jigsaw addict

I've been doing upwards of 10 jigsaws per day since I discovered they are online.  This is one of my favourites.  I can't make the picture bigger without losing clarity, but you can get an idea of the detail in the house, which I think is really beautiful.  If you're interested in doing some yourself, here's the link:

http://thejigsawpuzzles.com/Street-View/The-Painted-Lady-jigsaw-puzzle#.UPHZorlwmRE.email

This morning I watched an American man on TV explaining how bad sitting down is for us, so I'm going to put my pc on top of my chest of drawers and give standing a try for a while.  Then I needn't feel so guilty about spending so much time at the keyboard.

Standing up now!  I just googled and found the research was done at the University of Leicester (the one I saw was American but I don't know which uni).  Here's the result:

Conclusions/interpretation

Sedentary time is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality; the strength of the association is most consistent for diabetes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/21/is-sitting-bad-for-you

Catastrophic fire conditions in many places

Oh dear.  No bushfires near us, but you never know...We've been warned to expect temperatures close to 40 as the norm in the future.  Yesterday it was 43 here, but fortunately my unit was cool.  Humidity was only 13%, so I wasn't bothered at all.  It's high humidity I can't take.

Something nice

To save my sanity I have to convince myself there are nice things in the world as well as appalling, so just took this photo of the sky above our pool.  I swim here every day and my world is perfectly OK.

How are you going with your food wastage, Frank?  So far so good with me!  But the year is only young...

New Year's Eve

I got these appalling photos from the Daily Mail, but the dress and behaviour are the same in some places in Australia, I'm told.  No wonder I don't feel like going out any more and worry about the future for my grandchildren.  Mind you, I have reached the ripe old age of almost 70 without anybody I know behaving like this, so I suppose I can count that as a blessing.