Constitution Dock

Constitution Dock is a fabulous place to walk around... as soon as we landed in Hobart our fabulous taxi driver took us to our gorgeous hotel where, amazingly, our room was ready... it was very very early in the morning! Then we rugged up and went walking... and walking... and walking...

We saw loads of really old buildings and then walked around the docks... it was really cold... drizzling rain (being Victorian we were excited to have some rain) and there was a breeze coming off that water!

We stopped for hot chocolate, poked around in galleries and found some great bookstores.

Tasmania is a fabulous place to wander around.

Pictures of Tassie!

Tasmania was gorgeous... cold of course, but picturesque!

Here's a pic of the Tasman Bridge... last time we were in Tassie (back in 1977) we couldn't travel over this bridge as part of it had collapsed into the river when a ship crashed into the pylons back in 1975.

I remember the front page of the newspaper in Melbourne at the time showing cars teetering on the edge. So back in 1977 we had to go round and use a different bridge that had been hastily constructed for use following the disaster.

My Gorgeous Fridge!!!

Oh my gorgeous fridge!

Take a look at these cute fridge magnets... my mum and my friends came over to stamp on Wednesday, to make some cards, to chat a little (or a lot!) and I had a sweet little make 'n' take ready for them... fridge magnets ... using Stampin' Up! punches (ooh I have exciting news re punches ... I'll tell you in a minute).. and we used gorgeous felt flowers too.

So about the punches... there's a new fabulous punch coming soon... yes, on 1 August!!! I've been waiting for this one.

Can't tell you yet what it is, but if you guess it I'll give you something special next time I see you! Leave me a comment. I'll check them when I get back from Hobart in a few days. Take care... oh and I hope to blog more often in July!! Why? Cos it's my birthday month!!!

Paella!!

Everyone is sick in this household this week... except me of course, I am determined NOT to get the sniffles etc.

I thought I'd share some pics of the Paella Gordon made recently... it all started when it was his birthday (in May) and I bought him a Paella pan... very large flat pan... and a Spanish recipe book ... he went shopping with our NZ visitor, Greg, and they came back from the supermarket laden with fresh seafood.

In the first picture you can see the mixture bubbling away with some Chorizo sausage in it, the second picture shows the gorgeous seafood - prawns, mussels, squid, etc.



And the third pic is my lovely hubby showing off the finished dish - hope you enjoy our Paella!!

Pocket Silhouettes

Recently I took part in a swap and the theme was "water colour" - so out came the water color crayons from Stampin' Up!

Iused the wonderful Pocket Silhouettes stamp set, colouring the top of the stamp in the blue water colour crayon, and the bottom of the stamp in green, then a quick spray with water and stamp away... I love the wet on wet look where the colour runs!

And how pretty are the new patterned papers - I love them!

What a Great Place for a Weekend... Venus Bay!

Isn't this beautiful... the beach at dusk...

Venus Bay is a beautiful place... we've had a little tiny caravan there for 13 years... this weekend we drove down... it takes two and a half hours - we stopped for a yummy lunch on the way... I had Chicken Pot Pie - delicious... and Gordon had a Burger - absolutely huge... no way could you pick it up to eat!

On Sunday night we settled down to watch some movies we'd been meaning to watch for a while... Memoirs of a Geisha... which was great! Then we watched all the features about how they made it etc. How they recreated the town and how they made kimonos in a couple of weeks that normally take years! Great movie.

Next we watched Dark Night (the latest Batman movie) ... we had to keep turning the sound up because it was raining really hard! YAY we really need the rain!

In Australia do the Kangaroos Jump Down the Street?

Yes they do!!! Lots of overseas visitors to Australia actually think we have kangaroos jumping down the street... but it's true, we do! We live on the edge of suburbia, so the open paddocks are quite nearby and sometimes a kangaroo does jump down the road.

The other night we went looking for them, just on dusk but could only find three... not enough to show off to our latest visitor, Greg, from New Zealand.

So yesterday my friend Bernie rang me and said, quick, get up to the corner, there's a whole mob, so we raced up there... about half a kilometre up the road, and saw a big mob in the paddock, quietly grazing.

Here's a close up:

Needless to say Greg was suitably impressed, especially when a loud truck came along and they all started bounding down the valley... what an amazing sight!

It's a Dog's Life!

Jessie has the perfect life... here she is dozing on the couch, watching TV, relaxing with her favourite people, head on a cushion... it's a dog's life in this house!

BUT, she has a very important job: her purpose in our house is to bring joy to others, and that's exactly what she does - every time she looks at you and wags her tail, and especially when she runs round and round the island bench in the kitchen when we come home ... she is so so excited! And we all fall about laughing.

What's on your Wish List?

So, what's on your wish list?

Items to fill the house... or adventure and excitement... to fill your heart?

Or some more Stampin' Up! product? That certainly makes me happy... a lovely big order arrived yesterday... a box of happy goodies... enough to get the heart racing, pretty papers, new rubber stamps... how lucky am I?

Docklands Aerial View

I thought I'd share this picture that Roslyn took ... from a helicopter... over Melbourne... and more specifically over the Docklands area, showing the big wheel... which is currently being dismantled for repair (estimated to be out of action for about a year I think).

Behind the wheel is the Bolte Bridge going over the Yarra River.

The reason for this photo today is that Roslyn now has a full time job at an ad agency located in the Docklands! (Exactly what she wanted after her two year course at RMIT which finished last November.)

We are all very excited to have her gainfully employed... but now she is working 5 days a week there, and 2 shifts a week at the Bar (where she serves drinks to night time revellers). Not sure how long she can keep this up, and she hasn't made any decisions yet either.

And her favourite thing about working... she loves the work, but she really loves the shopping on pay day! She's always been a mad fan of Sportsgirl!