Festive December - Decorating styles

Another meal  at the Golf Club again last Sunday

This time it was a Christmas Gathering for Dh's service mates

They'd put up some decorations

but I found them very 'modern' minimalistic

Not very interesting at all

Well I suppose they were rather nice if thats your style

but I didn't find them 'warm and inviting' at all

Very corporate

These are an example of what was around the place

Two rather undernourished reindeer

A long trailing bauble feature in gold and orange

and

a very snooty looking Rudolf

Meanwhile back here at the house

I finally made a start on our big tree

What with one thing and another

it took me the best part of today to get it finished

Lots of familiar ornaments and trinkets collected over the years

Some handmade - some bought

Most of my older ones go on another tree in the hallway

which hopefully will be done tomorrow

No pressies there yet - 'cose they aren't ready yet lol

They have to be sorted and wrapped

then labelled and possibly will make it under there

by December 20th when we have the BBQ   

But in the meantime I'll fill the space underneath with some wrapped boxes

That will keep any nosy parkers guessing :))

As you can see there are unbreakeable ornaments all around the bottom of the tree

I put them down there each year

Not because of any little children these days

but because of the cats lol

Oh, it can be very interesting when they see it for the first time each season

Theres a couple of those bell type ornaments and a metal Santa with a bell

right on the bottom that will hopefully give them a fright and then they'll leave it alone

I'm not nasty - just cautious -

Kiera thought she was clever one year and climbed into the tree to investigate

Got all tangled up in the lights and

Leroy thinks things are put there for him to bat around

so a sharp Ding Aling here and there

doesn't go astray

I didn't see one Father Christmas/Santa at the Golf Club

Don't know what they are missing do they

When I've finshed - there will be plenty here lol

Don't forget to click on the photos and enlarge them

Watery Wednesday

Masked Lapwings

on Queens Beach

Bowen, Far North Queensland

Back in August this year we spent some time in Far North Queensland

Walking this lovely beach at least once day

 meant we came in contact with various birds

many of which 'cose I live in the suburbs

I'd never seen before

The Masked Lapwing

aka as Plovers

were some that were new to me

I'd seen some on grassland close by earlier in the day

but was surprised to see this little group

who were actually in the water late one afternoon

and as usual I tried to put words into their mouths lol

click on the photos for a better view

'Where do you think our fine feathered friend is going?'

'Don't know but he'd better watch out'

'Dare devil that he is, he'll get washed away if he's not careful'

'Its getting a bit cold and wet in here, reckon we'll leave him to it'

'Come on then, race you home, I fancy a nice cup of tea'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_Lapwing

http://birdsinbackyards.net/bird/94

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Festive December - Carols in the Park

One of the good things about Christmas in the Australian summer

is that carol singing is (usually) held in reasonable weather

and not in the freezing cold

that I remember from my childhood in England

Often known as Carols by Candlelight

our open air get togethers can be spectacular

as it gets darker and the candles are light

Each Christmas Eve in the city

there is a huge concert televised

from the Myer Music Bowl

Melbourne's big outdoor auditorium

Even tho' its nowhere near as huge an event

the Salvos from a nearby suburb

-along with their band and singers -

come each year to a nearby park

where I occasionally walk

The carol singing here doesn't on go long enough

in the evening to be called

Carols by Candlelight

but is still a lovely event all the same

Hopefully the weather will be kind

We have rain forecast for this week coming

- which is good for this week as the ground has dried out substantially

 good for my tank also lol

but not good if it comes down

on this particular evening the week after tho

no covered area there at all :(

Anyway I hope to get along

and also take my camera with me

Now you see it - now you don't

A few of the comments on the last post

mentioned how organised all the Christmas stuff  looked

Go back to January this year

when I was so annoyed at the state I got myself into

trying to find various decorations for the trees in the cardboard boxes

I had used for years

When it came to put everything away 

I decided it was time to really do something about it

The result was what you saw in the photo

I felt so good about that endeavour

I got going on another chore

Sorting out our laundry

Its very small and its located just inside the back door

and tended to be a dumping ground for all and sundry

so you'd fall over all sorts of things

I wanted a solution that had things handy

but out of the way

First solution was to find a new wash basket

not wicker - been there, done that

the cats love them and they end up tearing them to pieces

I wanted one that would fit under the laundry trough

Meant it had to be plastic so it was flexible

but never mind

I finally found one that fitted

Voila

close at hand when a loads finished

and hidden when I don't need it

All the cook books

- yes contrary to popular family belief

I do have some -

lived on the book shelf in the lounge

A real pain if I wanted to find something

SO

I persuaded Dh to put shelves up

beside the trough

Handy to the kitchen as you'll see in a minute

Then there were the bags that seemed to be everywhere

They'd hang on chairs in the kitchen

anywhere there was a spot

(even on the floor in the bedroom)

Never in the car when I wanted them lol

I discovered a couple of hooks/hangers in a box in the garage

along with a letter holder

a gift from years ago

Result

somewhere for the string bags to hang

visible yes but thats good

'cose I now hang my keys below the letter rack

and take them and a bag or two out at the same time

I do need to find somewhere

to put all the big shopping bags tho

they lurk unseen in the boot of the car

and I am forever going back to the car to get them 'sigh' :(

You can see here how tiny the laundry is

We keep the fridge freezer in there to give us more room in the kitchen

Its only a step away

We managed to find a corner cupboard just the right size

to use for storage

but also to rest things on

going into and coming out of the fridge

I keep some of the big cooking things on it

as well as the top of the fridge

Those cupboards on the wall were made from the doors

of the original kitchen units that were in the house from 1972

Dh's not just a pretty face lol

Really handy for crockery and things not used all the time

Yes, after sorting this room out I felt good

Then fell in a heap for the rest of the year lol

BTW weekend came and went too quickly

The trees and decorations are still in the sme place they were the other day!

Festive December - Ready to go

Well this is the weekend for trimming the house

All the goodies have been retireved from the garage

I'm hoping the hard work

I put into labelling the boxes last January

will pay off

and the things will be

where I think they are

Festive December

Well the festive season is here again

- and as well as the real meaning to the season -

for most of us it usually means families, friends, functions and food

beaches, books, cricket matches and ............

anything else that takes your fancy lol

Ginny has a rather nice blog called Sweet Myrtle

and she  running a little meme called Festive December

meaning you can post about anything that is festive

you can read all about it here

So during this month of December

I'll try to post some thoughts and photos of festive goings on

in our household and also in the neighbourhood

Won't be quite as tizzy and tinsley as in the Nothern Hemisphere

It tends to look rather stange in the summer sunshine lol

We have to wait till quite late at night to get that special effect

from a house light up with thousands of lights

but you never know what I'll come up with

Skywatch Friday

Power and Phone lines spoiling the skyline

as they weave from house to pole and across the road to pole

This is one of the problems of suburban living

Necessary if underground facilities are not an option

but a viewing nuisance just the same

Big billowing clouds in the sky first thing this morning

seen through those dratted lines across the road

click the photos to enlarge

 

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Donald Duck and Daisy

Donald Duck and Daisy Duck were spending the night together in a hotel room and Donald wanted to have sex with Daisy.

The first thing Daisy asked was, 'Do you have a condom?'

Donald frowned and said, 'No.'

Daisy told Donald that if he didn't get a condom, they could not have sex.

'Maybe they sell them at the front desk,' she suggested.

So Donald went down to the lobby and asked the hotel clerk if they had condoms.

'Yes, we do,' the clerk said and pulled a box out from under the counter and gave it to Donald.

The clerk asked, 'Would you like me to put it on your bill?

'No!' Donald quacked, ‘I'd thuffocate.’

Waterbirds at Benalla

Yesterday when I was talking about the Broken River that runs through Benalla, Ellen asked if we'd seen any waterbirds. 
There were quite a few swimming around, some I knew others I didn't.

The first one was new to me, so I had a quick look around the web

and found out its called a Coot

The Eurasian Coot is recognised by its snowy white bill and forehead shield.

The remainder of the bird is dark sooty grey, except for its bright red eye

If you enlarge the first photo you will see the red eye more clearly

Eurasian coot

The Mallards I knew

But had to look around the web to discover that

Muscovies are easily distinguished from other breeds by their faces

 which are devoid of feathers, bright red, flashy and carnunculated (lumpy)

Muscovy ducks

I saw this great big white duck with a yellowy orange beak

which someone told me had the grand name of an

Indian Runner Duck

Unlike other ducks, the Indian Runner does not waddle but rather the position of its legs gives them a characteristic running motion.Another peculiarity of the Indian Runner Duck is its shape which is described as being like a wine bottle. They also have long, snake-like necks. When wandering around they walk flat but stand upright when disturbed 

Then there was this goose

(of unknown origin)

Looking so angelic swimming about in the water

He kept coming to the edge and looking up and over

watching all that was happening

Once out he seemed to think he was 'In Charge'

He kept rounding everyone up

(You can see the long shape of the Indian Runner in these photos)

It was quite funny to watch

Made a lovely interlude in our day out

please click on these photos and see the enlargement

Watery Wednesday

The Bridge over the Broken River

in Benalla Victoria

Last week we walked alongside the Broken River in Benalla

- enjoyed watching all the waterbirds -

and saw the lovely plain but strong looking bridge

Old photo courtesy National Library Australia

It was built nearly 100 years ago yet this road bridge has no name

It seems that plans are afoot to change this

I found that out from this article - here

Heres what it looked like last week

On a quiet peaceful day with lots of reflections in the water

The white building in the distance on the other side

is the Regional Art Gallery

Unfortunately we didn't have time to crossover and pay a visit

please click on the photos to enlarge them

Getting closer we could see the War Memorial on the other side

Look at the fabulous patterns the pillars made underneath

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