I did it!

Oh Michael, if only I had you in my pocket!  You are such a good teacher - all I had to do was follow each step (and make allowances for some differences on this pc) and it worked! Thank you so much.  Now the problem is choice, as every photo of this trip is stunning.  But today I've gone for my favourite things - Monet's garden and house and another house and garden somewhere in France:

You can't imagine how good I feel when I manage to do something!  On the other hand, when I can't - which is most of the time - I feel complete frustration and worthlessness, almost to the point of jumping off the nearest bridge.

Philip tells me I'm getting my old pc back tonight - whoopee!

From my cockpit...

I feel like the captain of an Airbus A380 as I contemplate my pc screen and keyboard!  It never becomes any easier, as, the minute I feel confident about one thing, it changes and I have to learn all over again.  Since my other pc became riddled with viruses hundreds of years ago - well, it feels like it - Philip insists I use Google Chrome and gmail on this temporary one, for security reasons (which I don't understand).  All I know is I don't seem to have a Word page, emails frequently disappear into cyberspace even before I read them, and recently somebody updated the format of this blog, just to test me!!!


Trying to save photos and get them here is fraught with difficulties for me, and it sometimes takes hours before I fluke it.  I'll bet you all took it for granted this blog just wrote itself and the photos just popped in as if by magic!  No, no, it doesn't work like that, I assure you.  Well, not for me, anyway.   Let me try now with some of your pics, Olga:

Hooray, that one worked.  It was taken in Wollongong, at the Botanic Gardens.

Wow - two out of two.  Amazing.  You obviously have a top camera, as the quality of the photos is so clear.

My next trick is to get pics from your Powerpoint presentations, Michael, following the instructions you sent.  I'll work on that for tomorrow.  Meanwhile, don't hold your breath anybody...

Muffy and the monster

'What is it?????' shrieks Muffy in terror, as through the living room window she spies a strange, spotted creature swimming in the pool.

She runs and hides in the storeroom, then creeps out, belly to the ground, to investigate further.

'Do my eyes deceive me?' you can almost read in her expression.  She worried all night and this morning refused to go outside till I'd removed the duck and wrapped it in a towel.  Even then, it was hours before she tiptoed warily out to do her wee-wee.


Frank and Winifred, yesterday's garden pictures remind me of the grounds of a castle I visited in Scotland.  Simply breathtaking, but I wish we had the castle, too.  Here the ground slopes steeply down into a little valley with a trickle of water at the bottom, and it is refreshingly cool with mountain-like air.  It will be a lovely place to go on a hot day in summer.  There wasn't another soul when I arrived, which added to the pleasure.  I've decided to become a volunteer, with an on-duty day only once a month.

The good life...

I've just got back from Lisgar Gardens, an absolute wonderland five or so kilometres from home! What a discovery!  Here's a taste:


Approach to the gardens:

See the kookaburra in this one:  

If you look closely, you'll see a brush turkey:

I can see myself taking a book and spending a few quiet hours here whenever I get the chance. Next time you visit me, this is where we'll go!  There's no doubt about our local council - they provide so many parks and gardens for us to enjoy, all with free entry.

I've got a real bank of photos waiting to go on the blog, thanks to the many friends who have sent me some.  But I had to jump the queue with this lot as I was so delighted with my discovery this morning.  It's been stormy and raining, so it was a bonus that the rain held off while I was walking round, but pelted down the minute I walked in the door.  The obvious thing to do then was have a glass of red with breadroll and cheese.  Who needs to live in France!

Samir's butterfly

Samir, this photo is exquisite, and just the antidote I need this morning - already afternoon, sorry, and I'm not long up - after reading Anna Funder's 'Stasiland' until the wee small hours.  I am abysmally ignorant of history, in particular the story of the Berlin Wall, so have been looking lots of things up on the Internet and am, needless to say, more and more appalled at human nature. So this beautiful creature, and not ignoring the skills and outlook of the photographer, give some balance.


It is indeed a wonderful thing being able to communicate with people all over the world. What interests me most is/are (?) the details of people's ordinary lives.  Winifred, even though we live thousands of miles apart, we seem to lead similar lives, while you, Samir, must lead quite a different life in Nepal, though with many similarities.  And Frank, I've had the privilege of actually staying in your home with you and Rose, and we do indeed, lead lives almost the same in many respects.


Mind you, living alone as I do, is different again.  Even though the family is upstairs, I am actually on my own and consequently have hours just with my thoughts, which can be extremely difficult.  It's hardly surprising that I look upon Muffy as my dearest companion and talk to or cuddle her whenever possible.

I wonder what would happen if Muffy and a possum ever came face-to-face.  I somehow think Muffy would come scuttling home, screaming for Mummy!  Many people have strong objections to cats because of their damage to wildlife, but Muffy is kept under strict control and is always inside at night or when I go out.

Possum

Winifred, here's a possum for you.  They are the size of a very big cat.  I'd always imagined your squirrels were this size, too, until my visit to UK, when I discovered they are actually tiny.


I just drove to my favourite coffee shop to have coffee and a pain au chocolat and found a friend there.  It's extraordinary to run into friends in a city the size of Sydney, and this is about the fourth time this has happened with the same friend!  We used to teach together in Newcastle in the seventies and she now lives in Sydney.


We both exclaimed over how lucky we are to live here, as we both love Sydney.  And we both count ourselves as very fortunate to be in good health and able to please ourselves what we do every day (as opposed to years of teaching, which was very stressful).


Now I'll play the piano till HeartMoves at 2:30, then do my food shopping on the way home.

Beginning of my garden

It's taken a while, but yesterday I visited a lovely nursery a few kilometres from here and came home with some pots, white snapdragons and a pink geranium (this latter for Emma, who loves anything pink), to put outside my living room:

I also got another couple of plants that were unknown to me - one, a fragrant Mexican orange blossom, to act as a screen between us and the neighbours, in the only bare spot:

and a mandevilla hybrid called Sun Parasol:

I expect this one to climb the stairs, thus hiding the wire balustrade between the pool and the upper deck.


I will look at them every day and get all excited when they begin to grow!  I hope I've chosen things that possums don't like, otherwise they could all disappear overnight!  Maybe I should leave some fruit scraps out as a substitute.  I've never lived with possums before - we often hear them clambering about on the roof or scampering along the deck.


I was very taken by the gentle look in the kangaroo's eyes, Winifred.  It's a wonderful close shot.  Maybe it's mother and joey, both obviously not the least bit nervous of humans.

Another great shot

Christabel, do you recognise this photo from your blog?  I think it's adorable!  Like your father, I'd like you to put the names of the places you visit.  I don't recognise this kangaroo paradise at all.


I was quite surprised when looking in the atlas to see where Estonia is - you'll be surprised, Olga, that I only had the vaguest idea - to discover it is very close to Finland!   So you and Christabel must almost be related :-))  (I bought a globe a few weeks ago for Emma and me to share, but she took it upstairs straight away and I don't like my chances of getting it back!)  


This afternoon when I was at the park with Emma, we spoke to a 19-year-old German au pair with her 6-year-old charge.  It reminded me of Bianka, who came to Australia for her gap year at the same age.  I think it's a wonderful experience for young folk.  But I know how much I would have worried if my 19-year-old had wanted to go to the opposite end of the world.  Fortunately he didn't!  Well, not till he was much older, when he worked in Edinburgh for several months.

Another beautiful picture from Samir

Thank you so much, Samir, for your wonderful photos on Facebook.  I hope everybody will go to your address and look at the Nature section:  www.facebook.com/baralsamir.  It's hard to choose as they are all so delightful, but here goes for today:

How people can get up and make war or commit crimes when there are so many options is beyond me.  Human nature is impossible to understand.

Ohhhhhh, so very beautiful

Winifred, your photos are so, so beautiful and make me want to hop on a plane straight away!  Please keep sending more...UK and Europe have so many old things that we completely lack.  Michael, the photos you send are always wonderful, too.  Frank, please send me more - I love the baby pics, but some of the local area, too, would be nice.  Olga, do you have any of Estonia or Russia I could use here?  This invitation is open to everybody who reads my blog - maybe Tarja and Scott, you could send some of Finland.

Every Friday night I watch a double dose of 'Escape to the Country'.  For those of you who don't know, it's a British TV program about people selling their home in a city and moving to the country.  We get to see the inside of those quaint British houses.  I just adore it!!!!!!!!!!!  I have 'a thing' about houses, gardens and lovely views of the countryside.


About an hour later:  I'm still here at the keyboard, after getting an email message to look at Facebook.  I have to admit I find Facebook terribly confusing but I was delighted to find this beautiful pic from Samir in Nepal and then discovered he has albums of dozens of wonderful pics. I asked him if I can put this one on my blog but can't wait for an answer, as I'm sure he won't mind.

Then another friend, this one from Argentina, started typing away at me, so I had a written conversation with her.  Oh my goodness, the wonders of modern technology!!  Then I came across Christabel's blog with fabulous pictures of her first trip to Australia from Finland.  It's very interesting getting an outsider's view of our country.

I could stay here all day, in touch with people from all over the world.  Simply amazing...

But I have to cook a casserole as friends from Newcastle are coming for lunch tomorrow. Yesterday I had other Newcastle visitors so I made cupcakes!  They nearly all disappeared in an instant!