First Word -

Merry Christmas, back at you glitter

Just loves these

Ah, the beloved (giggles) mouse we gave Dutchy.. I remember well, you woke up and was using a pretend mouse, thought you were on the threads and so, we gave you a special one, on Yabber line as well as in real life

Dear me.. The look on those faces says it all Von, devastated.. That's horrible and the wildlife too, as well as people hope it settles itself down very soon... I won't even mention our weather for now.

STURGIS - answered you on a thread something along the lines of "I'm here are you blind" I think it was 5 words LOLS. Hi Sturgis.. We can gang up on Dutchy now cause ya not here

Be back with some photos

PHOTO SHARING TIME I have to cut back that fern today eweee. Ms Kia, who decided it was "her" chair to lay on for the night (boxing day night)





Off course Rawaii had to get in on it, like "what about me? "



A DAY AT THE RACES. Was a wonderful way of spending the day after Christmas, great food, wine, company and a few small bets

TROLLS

The trolls are funny! I especially like the 'troll dad dancing' - it is so obviously a woman! But I guess that's what trolls do sometimes - pose as a woman when they are a man, or pose as a man when they are a woman - all too much for my little brain to take in! Strange world of the internet!!!



I remember well the day you bought the jewelled mouse for Dutchy - such a lovely thought for a special person. His finger had been clicking away on an imaginary mouse as he woke - so sweet, and so typically Dutchy.

You are so right about the look of despair on so many faces in the UK after the Christmas floods - poor people. Poor wildlife. Some tragic stories emerging in the media - little kiddies deprived of Christmas presents that were under trees when the storm hit - no Christmas dinners because of power outages - journeys to see loved ones for a Christmas visit cancelled because of problems with road, rail and air. And we are to expect more of the same tomorrow night, and again next week! More trees down - more homes flooded. But perhaps it won't be so bad next time.

Great photos of Kia and Rawaii - and of you and D! Just seen them as I started to post this.

Is that what they are? TROLLS? OH MY GOD NOT AGAIN !!!! Yeah, usually it's a guy posing as a woman, or there is a little woman as well, a bit not all together there and they do it together...

It has to stop at some stage, hang in there Sunshine xx

(edit) Just saw the man lols...

DUTCHY

Oh of course, that's your name for Dutchy isn't it - here's a tune to go with the name -



After all the rain in the UK lately, perhaps I'll make it my signature tune too - go round singing it in the hope that we might see some of that wonderful yellow stuff in the sky! REAL sunshine - very rare at the moment

I'm feeling sorry for myself, I have bronchitis. Nobody likes to be sick, but damn.

You're allowed to feel sorry for yourself, that's an aweful thing to have. Take it easy, x

SUNSHINE

Oh Vonny I wish I could send you some of our glorious weather, here I am, Sunday morning and doing a bit of sunbaking and getting stuck into a feed of prawns my son brought me yesterday. Will share them with Foundy as he brought me 10 kg and a Lobster.

Wonderful to have my 3 grandchildren around me, we had so much to talk about and surprise them with some Christmas presents. Young Archer (8 years) dedicated some school work to me which brought tears to my eyes, amazing the things he wrote about his "Opa".

Great photos Foundy, the dogs and you at the races, as usual you look fantastically young for a 30 year old. How lucky is D. to have you on his arm. You could never tell she is a "witch".

Hope you're feeling better soon glitterbag.

Enjoy your weekend all. Waves from downunder.

OH

So you plan on ganging up on Dutchy eh, just because you think I'm not around. Well that shows how misinformed you might be (or not) since I am always here (except when I'm not).

Been a really difficult week and I have been annoyed and aggravated on almost every front. Unfortunately some of it will extend well into this next week and possibly even beyond that. Probably shouldn't be surprised or complain too much since for the most part my life has been on a somewhat decent run (leg issues excluded).

Weather has been cold for a large part although today was warmer and tomorrow is expected to be the same. Just look out towards midweek when the bottom drops out again and for a few days the temps are not expected to break over the freeze mark. Think it's best that my sweater is nearby at all times.


glitterbag, sorry that you are in a health downturn, hope it is short lasting and that you can get back into regular daily activities soon. Clearly you don't want to start off the new year hacking and wheezing. Get better.

Enjoyed the photos, clearly Kia has a look which says "get me out of here, these Australian accents are making no sense to me!! Send me to New York!" (and by the way, the chair and anything else always belongs to the little ones, we humans are to do as they direct)

That'll be all for now. Hope people had a good Christmas and are preparing for a good new years eve and new years day.

Back later...

That was a beautiful thing to read, thank you Danny x

KNEW
IT

The moment I threaten to gang up on Dutchy cause ya not here, you get your azz back here

WITCH

Good morning/evening/Sturgis

We know you are wandering around here , doing you thing as you feel at that time, going to bed late, probably eating carp, sometimes and then when you are feeling good you go and make yourself something awesome, well still not healthy but awesome

When the going gets tough the tough get going. See, people think people will drop things for many reasons, if that's not the reason, and it's something else, my saying has been for years, "TOUGHEN UP SUNSHINE" and it will come to you in the good way x

It's hard for Dutchy and I, we can't understand your weather even when it's winter here, though must admit the last two years, there has been very strong winds, even today and yesterday, have to take umbrellas down and it's summer but nothing like what you all go through, makes me feel grateful but also sad. The worse I think is +6 degrees at night in winter. I could go to the snow but short lived, I could never live in that type of weather it would kill me with my injuries..

GLITTER - more love sent your way with healing wishes.

Thank you re photos.. NO SHE DOESN'T she says, I am the boss it is my chair, not yours, I am going to sit on it, you stay over there Seriously. She has a thing for those chairs and I lose PM me your phone number I will ring you on your Birthday and you can hear my Aussie Accent, seriously

VONNY

That goes for you too

NEW YEAR !

Very Soon, who will start the celebrations? Not I I am a follower, no I am a leader, well depends on my mood

NIGHT xxx

ENGLAND

The English weather can be awful, but oh how beautiful it is when the sky is blue and the sun is shining - England's green and pleasant land - it's the promise of spring and summer that gets us through the worst of the winter!











Dutchy - mmm - lobster - one of my favourite foods - didn't have any over Christmas, but did have crab and prawns - both delicious. Glad you had such a great time with the grandchildren - I bet they wrap you round their little fingers!



Glitterbag - poor you - no fun having tonsilitis at any time of the year, but over a holiday period is really bad luck. Get well soon.



Sturgis - glad you finally made an appearance Even if it is only to back up Dutchy Sorry the past week didn't go too smoothly for you - cheer up - 2014 is nearly here and it just might be lots better!



Foundy - typed a long reply to you - but it vanished while I looked for a suitable emoticon! Mmm that does happen, doesn't it? Here's the emoticon - err what was I talking about? Ah yes, Red - no photos of him yet?

BEAUTIFUL

England has a lot to be admired. I hear that a lot that it's the spring and summer you wait for, the beauty of getting out into all that England has to offer, hang in their "sunshine" it will pass...

Birds, gardens, old buildings, just lovely.. Shall get their one day.

RED? YOU ASK, RED?





Went on E-Bay yesterday and bought him a nice, dome large black cage, opened the old white one, and the black one at the same time and he went straight in and swang lols.. Only paid $35 for it and picked it up locally, I'd say it would have cost around $80, then went crazy haha, office chair cheap, an outdoor cage for Red, a quilt cover and two dresses.. I'm bidding on one at the moment O.0 going to become addictive

Speaking of England, we collect all English plates for the op shops, pay something silly for them, I hope who ever gets them one day, keeps them for another 100 years Just bought a cabinet for them



The cutest little lobster EVER!!



Then again, I'm a bit torn now having found this lobster



Good morning all... 2014 is vast approaching... Another year gone, but another beautiful one to start!!!

GUESTS

So nice to have them occasionally - especially when they bring a gorgeous German Shepherd with them, but it's left me very short of time - so a flying visit only.

Red is lovely - so glad to see photos of him at last. I love his tail feathers - gorgeous colours. Lucky boy having a smart new cage. I bet he's glad that he finished up in your watering can - one story that's having a very happy ending!

English Staffordshire blue and white porcelain is still very popular over here - that's what your china collection looks like. Very smart. Nice lighting - displays it well!

Oh dear, my flying visit is coming to an end - see you tomorrow. Have another storm to get through overnight if forecasters are to be believed.

Thank you for those lovely photos Vonny, especially those cottages, how lovely they look. I know what your country side looks like having received many photos from Izzie, I'm just fascinated by the Moors where she lives, hauntingly beautiful.

Foundy you excelled yourself too with all those pictures, Red looks magnificent in his new cage, and your plate collection cabinet looks really classy. Anna collects plates too, Delft Blue, a particular Dutch brand, hundreds of years old.

My Port Lincoln family will be here later on and I intend to take some photos of the kids and post them if suitable.

With the warmer weather we have quite a few bush fires burning around the State, they're causing no problems and are all contained by the Country Fire Emergency Service. The hot dessert winds are missing which makes it easier to keep them under control.

Meeting Foundy NYE, looking forward to that. Anna will be baking "Appel-flappen" (apple turn-overs) for the night, a special Dutch tradition.

Waves from downunder,the Boss

Thank you, aren't they awesome? Though I love the rosellas and their colours.

I will have a look and tell you most of them, but D says most are Churchill . Not that rich Op shops aren't that stupid : )

Hey, so friggen TIRED.................................................D is cooking, in bed early really early, just feel run down at the moment....

THANK YOU

too I always knew Anna and I had a few things in common My Grandmother started me off with tea cups, I have probably around 20 sets in her old china cabinet she left me out of 23 grandchildren, shhhh now you know why some of my cousins "don't exactly like me" not all, just some

Red loves his new cage for some reason, though they like a lot of attention, liken themselves to dogs and cats, apparently.. So yet, another not mouth to feed but one to train and love That be me.

BAHAHAHA - No, in the morning of NYE that's different just a little, see ya in the morning and then in the morning cause I can't concentrate

Hey Tomorrow though we can light this place up with loads of fireworks as it's our NYE

MOORLAND

Exmoor and Dartmoor are wonderful, I agree. As are the North York Moors near my husband's birthplace, and the moors of my native Northumbria. For such a small country, it's amazing how much of it is still unspoilt countryside - great for horse riding!

Delft Blue tableware was one of the things my mother collected - beautiful antiques, but hard wearing and in daily use until she died. Not surprised that Anna likes it - some of the older pieces of Delft Blue go back for centuries and are quite valuable.

Looking forward to seeing the photographs of your family - how much longer will they be staying with you?

New Years Eve will come a lot sooner for you than for us - it's forecast to be dry here at midnight on NYE, so fireworks might not be extinguished by rain after all. Do you have 'first-footers' - tall dark strangers knocking on your door, bearing gifts of coal and bread - or something like that! I think they even carried silver coins as gifts too - old traditions - don't even know if they still do things like that nowadays. Anna's apple turnovers sound rather special - I bet they are tasty.

I don't like the sound of the bush fires - hope cherrie's home is well clear of them. Such a vast area for the firefighters to cope with if you do get any fires. Some of the footage on television when fires last took control of parts of Australia were pretty frightening. Poor people - how awful to lose one's home to flood or fire. Let's hope 2014 is much better globally as far as weather is concerned.

Glitterbag - how is your throat now? I hope the bout of tonsillitis is soon gone, and that you will feel much better to welcome in the coming year.

Vonny, a poem for you in reply to yours

My Country

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea Mackellar




We have had a few fires around Victoria but nothing really major yet, and nothing too serious around this area.