Irene's Blog

Still enjoying our new car which means driving it a lot up and down hills, and all over the place. Today we went to the Cardinia Reservoir and noticed that the water level had dropped dramatically since our last visit some years ago. From there, we drove to Emerald and had a walk in the main street. I thought we might stop for a Devonshire tea there but no, the driver wanted to move on elsewhere. Moving on, we ended up at the Sky High on Mt Dandenong where we had a latté and cake while looking at the hazy view towards Melbourne. It was quite warm but there was a nice breeze up there. We walked in the English Gardens which was really nice then headed for home.

Yesterday, we drove out to Warburton for lunch by the river. Fish and chips always tastes better outdoors in the sunshine. We had a lovely afternoon and the new car drove really well.

Today, we picked up our brand new 2010 Mazda 3 Neo, 5 door hatch. Lovely car inside and out. We looked at used cars but the deal we got with our trade in was too good to pass up - we'd probably have paid as much for a car a couple of years old. Looking forward to a few nice drives in the hills to run it in.

I spent some time today redoing my little front garden and it's looking quite nice. I removed a Protea which was getting a bit too large and put in 2 rose bushes instead, ones that won't get too tall. I also added a border of white Petunias and renewed the red mulch which really sets it off.

We had a lovely day when the family came over for dinner - the food was really delicious thanks to the chef (me). We had roast chicken, roast beef and ham with roast potatoes, peas, carrots and corn and not forgetting the gravy. For dessert I'd made a trifle and also a Scottish Clootie Dumpling and Jackie (daughter) brought over a chocolate ripple cake.......3 meats and 3 desserts, can't be beat!!! Everyone enjoyed their gifts and the boys, who got scooters, managed to ride them quite well without injury.

Lachlan and Corey celebrated their 6th birthday at an indoor play centre......by the looks on their faces when we sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY you'd think they were upset, but I think they were a bit overwhelmed as they were off with their friends a few minutes later playing. I think they were all exhausted by the time they went home. It was nice that the parents could sit and have a coffee and a chat without worrying that the kids might be hurt - these indoor places are brilliant.

Well, that's another holiday to Surfers Paradise gone and we had a brilliant time yet again. The weather was beautiful every day with temperatures being around 25ºC with only a little rain overnight on two nights, but it dried up quickly in the morning. We had a very nice apartment at the Surfers Plaza above the Commerce Bowling Club where they served cheap meals in the restaurant and had a bar with live entertainment and you could try lawn bowls if you wished - we didn't because we didn't want to make fools of ourselves!!! This is a view of our apartment We went on the whale watching trip which leaves from Appel Park on the river at Surfers which was really convenient with our apartment building being a short stroll from the wharf. I didn't think we'd see any whales but we saw at least 6 and they were very active. We also went to the Australian Outback Spectacular which was excellent. The 3 course meal served was good too, but the trick riding was brilliant. The au...

My son in law had the opportunity to fly with a friend this morning. They flew over Melbourne and this is one of the photos he took. The tall building in the centre is the Eureka Tower, the world's tallest residential building and the glass on the top 10 floors is 24 carat gold plated.

The circus is in town so I got tickets to take my grandsons as they'd never been to a circus before. They didn't know we were going until we drove into the car parking area. We had a really great time and Lachlan got picked by the clown to go into the ring to take part in a hula hoop demonstration. The audience applauded for each child's efforts and the one who got the loudest applause won - and that was Lachlan. He's such a character and definitely full of confidence.

Today, my daughter and I took the twins to the shopping centre where they had a BEN 10 show on for the school holidays. The boys didn't know where we were going so they were really excited once we arrived and they saw the stage which clearly had the BEN 10 graphics on it. After the show, the kids were told they could line up to meet Ben but an orderly queue wasn't exactly what happened, however, after a while of jockeying positions my daughter managed to get the boys up front to meet their idol and then my daughter got a photo of them together.

Lachlan and Corey having fun at the indoor play centre - after playing for about 2 hours they still wanted to stay but we managed to drag them away to do the shopping. The boys had a ball and mum and nana were able to sit and have a lovely cup of coffee and a chat, uninterrupted !!!

Recently, I went up to our local council offices and thought I'd take a photo of the artwork outside the Karalyka Centre next to the council offices.

Just as well there was glass between Corey and the eels, because they seemed to have taken a liking to him.

Uncle Stephen was 22 years old on 13th March and even though he couldn't be home for his birthday cake we went ahead and recorded the event which he saw when he got home from work - and we even saved him some cake.

Here's a photo of one of my roses. It's my favourite one right now because it's so bright. I have a number of other rose bushes throughout the garden including 2 white climbers, a red rose, lilac rose and a couple of beautiful yellow roses and a standard yellow rose. They are so rewarding when they're in flower and the white climbers right now are covered in roses.

Just back from a lovely week at Surfers Paradise, Queensland. The weather was brilliant and we managed to see a lot while we were there. We stayed about 2 blocks away from Cavill Mall where all the action is. Along one side is mainly eating places with a huge range of restaurants to choose from. You can get meals for less than $10 and they're more than enough at times. We visited Movie World, our second visit having been there 17 years earlier. I even went on a roller coaster, but not the big one - the little one in the kiddies section but that was more than enough for me as I don't like fast rides and I'm scared of heights. I don't know how I even agreed to go on that ride though there were lots of other adults on it and hardly any children. Met Batman and Robin on our travels through Movie World and enjoyed the Batman 2 ride - but I wasn't game to go on the big Batman ride. We were happy to see that the main street at Movie World is now under cover as I had vision...

Kids sure do keep you on your toes and at times are a great source of laughter. This is a photo of one of my grandsons taken today when he was having lunch. He'd asked for Vegemite in his bread roll but then decided to examine it up close just to make sure I'd given him what he wanted. Why he made such a funny face I don't know but I just couldn't let it pass without a photo. Just wait until he's having an 18th or 21st birthday - I'm sure he'd love it blown up to poster size!!!

Tonight, John called me to see the possums who were walking across our front fence so I rushed in and got my camera to see if I could get a shot.........they're quite cute little animals as long as you don't have a metal roof as we used to have because if they jump from a nearby tree onto your roof in the middle of the night, it gives you quite a scare. Thank goodness we have tiles on the roof now and don't hear them even if they do run across the roof. After I took this photo, the possum made a dash up a nearby tree......I guess he was camera shy.