Sunday August 12th 2007
I want to do this, any one want to join me - I will be walking
It is on my list of things to do before i die, so feel obligated
Join me - you know you want to!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
City To Surf
Sunday August 12th 2007
I want to do this, any one want to join me - I will be walking
It is on my list of things to do before i die, so feel obligated
Join me - you know you want to!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Its about time I posted some nieces!
So i finally have photos, access and nicki's computer! And i thought I'd show of my lovely new nieces (born around aprilish). there are a couple more since (an american nephew and a half german niece) but i haven't got pictures of them yet! The girls are called Sascha (or the german shepherd as nicki refers to her) and Elena, but i dont know which is which in the pictures.
Aprilish:
July:
Friday, July 20, 2007
Last 20 something birthday do.
It my last 20 something birthday so I think another house party is in order.
When: 25th Aug 7:30pm onwards
Where: Our house, you know where.
Why: My last 20-something birthday.
Bring whatever you want to drink, we'll have some small bits and pieces for you to nibble on.
When: 25th Aug 7:30pm onwards
Where: Our house, you know where.
Why: My last 20-something birthday.
Bring whatever you want to drink, we'll have some small bits and pieces for you to nibble on.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Decking Day!
Decking Day!!!! You are all invited to help out with the fun bit, cutting and nailing down all the planks onto the frame to get the decking in our backyard finished (enjoying the finished product at the end of the day).
The plan: turn up when you want and help get the decking done. As it's done, enjoy it with a BBQ and a few beers. Basic BBQ provided, bring along anything special or fancy you want to throw on.
When: Sunday Aug 12th 10am till it gets dark.
Where: Our house, ring me if you want the address, I'm not writing it up here ;)
(Also foundation day, ready for decking day, for those hard core decking fans will probably be this Sunday if you are interested)
The plan: turn up when you want and help get the decking done. As it's done, enjoy it with a BBQ and a few beers. Basic BBQ provided, bring along anything special or fancy you want to throw on.
When: Sunday Aug 12th 10am till it gets dark.
Where: Our house, ring me if you want the address, I'm not writing it up here ;)
(Also foundation day, ready for decking day, for those hard core decking fans will probably be this Sunday if you are interested)
Thursday Joke
A woman pregnant with triplets was walking down the street when a masked robber ran out of a bank and shot her three times in the stomach. Luckily the babies were OK The surgeon decided to leave the bullets in because it was too risky to operate. She gave birth to two healthy daughters and a healthy son. All was fine for 16 years, and then one daughter walked into the room in tears. "What's wrong?" asked the mother. "I was taking a tinkle and this bullet came out," replied the daughter. The mother told her it was okay and explained what happened 16 years ago.
About a week later the second daughter walked into the room in tears."Mom, I was taking a tinkle and this bullet came out" Again the mother told her not to worry and explained what happened 16 years ago.
A week later her son walked into the room in tears. "It's okay" said the Mom, "I know what happened. You were taking a tinkle and a bullet came out." "No," said the boy, "I was playing with myself and I shot the dog."
About a week later the second daughter walked into the room in tears."Mom, I was taking a tinkle and this bullet came out" Again the mother told her not to worry and explained what happened 16 years ago.
A week later her son walked into the room in tears. "It's okay" said the Mom, "I know what happened. You were taking a tinkle and a bullet came out." "No," said the boy, "I was playing with myself and I shot the dog."
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Sunday, July 08, 2007
My new toy
Carrying on the Winterfest theme, some of you may remember that I bought an old 1950's Agfa camera at the CWA market in Leura while we were in the midst of our Winterfestivities last weekend. It seemed to be in working order at the time of purchase, and the gentleman who sold it to me assured me that this was so. However, upon further examination after purchase, I discovered that in fact the focussing mechanism and the viewfinder mechanism were both completely jammed, rendering the camera fairly useless.
Oh well, I thought, I suppose I could take it in to a camera place and see if they could limit the repair cost to only one arm and leg.
I jumped on the net and did a bit of research about the camera (mostly just to find out if I had been ripped off) and was surprised to discover a page with repair instructions for my specific model of camera and for the two exact problems that my camera was sufferring from. It turns out that back in the 50's Agfa used to use a "lubricant" that over time basically turns into a glue. So with a little bit of tinkering and only a minimal amount of swearing, I was able to take the camera apart, unstick all the problem areas, and get it back into working order. I even managed to put it together again without having extra pieces left over!
Here is the finished product:
I still have to find film, however; it takes the old 120 style, which is not as easy to come by these days, although it shouldn't be too difficult.
Another interesting development was that the leather case of the camera had a soldier's name and details inscribed. I did a quick search, and managed to find out that the camera used to be owned by an old war vet who died in Leura a couple of years ago, which is probably how his posessions ended up at the CWA market. I even found his obituary:
Warrant Officer Class 2 John (Jack) George Norman
14841
May 25, 1925 - February 10, 2005
(ex 17 Construction Squadron
RAE Vietnam, 1967, 198 Works Section
RAE Vietnam, 1967 – 1968, 32 Small
Ship Squadron RAE Vietnam ,1970)
Funeral service held at Leura Memorial
Gardens and Crematorium, Leura
NSW, followed by his cremation.
February 17, 2005
It's kind of interesting to think that he might have had the camera with him when he was away at war. When I first opened up the camera, it still had an old film inside - it's probably completely ruined already, but it might be interesting to find out if there's anything interesting on it.
Oh well, I thought, I suppose I could take it in to a camera place and see if they could limit the repair cost to only one arm and leg.
I jumped on the net and did a bit of research about the camera (mostly just to find out if I had been ripped off) and was surprised to discover a page with repair instructions for my specific model of camera and for the two exact problems that my camera was sufferring from. It turns out that back in the 50's Agfa used to use a "lubricant" that over time basically turns into a glue. So with a little bit of tinkering and only a minimal amount of swearing, I was able to take the camera apart, unstick all the problem areas, and get it back into working order. I even managed to put it together again without having extra pieces left over!
Here is the finished product:
I still have to find film, however; it takes the old 120 style, which is not as easy to come by these days, although it shouldn't be too difficult.
Another interesting development was that the leather case of the camera had a soldier's name and details inscribed. I did a quick search, and managed to find out that the camera used to be owned by an old war vet who died in Leura a couple of years ago, which is probably how his posessions ended up at the CWA market. I even found his obituary:
Warrant Officer Class 2 John (Jack) George Norman
14841
May 25, 1925 - February 10, 2005
(ex 17 Construction Squadron
RAE Vietnam, 1967, 198 Works Section
RAE Vietnam, 1967 – 1968, 32 Small
Ship Squadron RAE Vietnam ,1970)
Funeral service held at Leura Memorial
Gardens and Crematorium, Leura
NSW, followed by his cremation.
February 17, 2005
It's kind of interesting to think that he might have had the camera with him when he was away at war. When I first opened up the camera, it still had an old film inside - it's probably completely ruined already, but it might be interesting to find out if there's anything interesting on it.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Winterfest 2007
Even though it was a full week ago now since we returned from our glorious Winterfest Weekend I thought it would never be too late to share the cheer and relive the coldness.
It must have been 4 degrees that weekend....I can't remember when I've ever been that cold before! Especially the first time we jumped out of the car on Friday night to get some food in Katoomba! Luckily the central heating and Mattwa's expert fire stoking kept us warm and happy. We crowned the winterfest queen in appropriate attire....
... and ate a suitably scrumptious and filling meal to celebrate. Luckily Flitcroft is good at 500, as we now all know he can't play the name game to save himself...poor darling.
Thought you might also like to look at these shots....
The Three Sisters - Cold cold cold!
more Three Sisters and view beyond
Mount Solitary - we camped on top of this one many years ago for our Duke of Edinburgh awards.
The beautiful Girls - one of the few shots that we don't look like we're in pain from how Cold it was....did I mention it was COLD?
On the Sunday, when most winterfesters went home, a small group of us headed back out to Scenic World and paid a ridiculous amount to queue up and get in a yellow box with a million other tourists and take a slow 20 minute journey across the mountains and back again...they did however open our eyes to the magic of the worlds first Electro-Sceni floor! This next photo shows our yellow box from Echo Point (The Three Sisters)
The view out the side of our yellow box, this is the great Katoomba waterfall. Did you know that Katoomba is Aboriginal for tumbling water? well you do now...and apparently this waterfall is where it gets it's name.
And this is the magical Electro-Sceni floor in action!
And finally, the best part of the whole trip......(sound the trumpets).....I am now the owner of the most gorgeous butter dish anyone has ever seen....it makes me so much more fabulous than I already was!
It must have been 4 degrees that weekend....I can't remember when I've ever been that cold before! Especially the first time we jumped out of the car on Friday night to get some food in Katoomba! Luckily the central heating and Mattwa's expert fire stoking kept us warm and happy. We crowned the winterfest queen in appropriate attire....
... and ate a suitably scrumptious and filling meal to celebrate. Luckily Flitcroft is good at 500, as we now all know he can't play the name game to save himself...poor darling.Thought you might also like to look at these shots....
The Three Sisters - Cold cold cold!
more Three Sisters and view beyond
Mount Solitary - we camped on top of this one many years ago for our Duke of Edinburgh awards.
The beautiful Girls - one of the few shots that we don't look like we're in pain from how Cold it was....did I mention it was COLD?On the Sunday, when most winterfesters went home, a small group of us headed back out to Scenic World and paid a ridiculous amount to queue up and get in a yellow box with a million other tourists and take a slow 20 minute journey across the mountains and back again...they did however open our eyes to the magic of the worlds first Electro-Sceni floor! This next photo shows our yellow box from Echo Point (The Three Sisters)
The view out the side of our yellow box, this is the great Katoomba waterfall. Did you know that Katoomba is Aboriginal for tumbling water? well you do now...and apparently this waterfall is where it gets it's name.
And this is the magical Electro-Sceni floor in action!And finally, the best part of the whole trip......(sound the trumpets).....I am now the owner of the most gorgeous butter dish anyone has ever seen....it makes me so much more fabulous than I already was!
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Maybe I'm Amazed
Here's a funny little thing that happened to me this week.
Sarah was kind enough to feed me Red Lentil Soup before we left Quidong a few weeks ago , and I've been meaning to ask her for the recipe since. I finally remembered when email was in easy reach and shot the request off earlier this week. She promptly replied with the surprisingly simple recipe that I haven't yet tried but will soon, maybe after I get myself a bamix (note the model name).
Also this week, I read an article in the SMH about a former lover of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton who inspired Clapton's very famous song Layla. The article got around to naming the muses of other famous musicians such as Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney and ended by saying McCartney's song "Maybe I'm Amazed" is the best love song he ever wrote. I was curious about the song as it wasn't in my Beatles collection, and this is because it was a song by Wings. Being a Geek, I of course looked it up on Wikipedia, and found something funny.
When Paul and Linda McCartney appeared on the Simpsons, the song "Maybe I'm Amazed" is played over the closing credits. In the episode Paul tells Lisa that playing MIA backwards reveals a secret lentil soup recipe, and the version played over the credits actually has a back-mask of Paul McCartney reciting a recipe for lentil soup. So I think the Universe really really wants me to make Lentil soup.
Sarah's Recipe:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil
Add 1 brown onion, chopped and cook for a few minutes till softened.
Add 2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 fresh red chilli, chopped
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
and 1 teaspoon of ground coriander and stir for a few minutes till fragrant.
Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 tins of crushed tomatoes
1 cup of red lentils
2 cups of chicken stock and cook on low heat for 20 minutes. Blend (if you want) and serve.
Paul McCartney's:
one medium onion, chopped
two tablespoons of vegetable oil
one clove of garlic, crushed
one cup of carrots, chopped
two sticks of celery, chopped
half a cup of lentils
one bay leaf
one tablespoon of freshly-chopped parsley
salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste
two and a quarter cups of vegetable stock or water
Just as a side note, this is the 651st post on this blog.
Sarah was kind enough to feed me Red Lentil Soup before we left Quidong a few weeks ago , and I've been meaning to ask her for the recipe since. I finally remembered when email was in easy reach and shot the request off earlier this week. She promptly replied with the surprisingly simple recipe that I haven't yet tried but will soon, maybe after I get myself a bamix (note the model name).
Also this week, I read an article in the SMH about a former lover of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton who inspired Clapton's very famous song Layla. The article got around to naming the muses of other famous musicians such as Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney and ended by saying McCartney's song "Maybe I'm Amazed" is the best love song he ever wrote. I was curious about the song as it wasn't in my Beatles collection, and this is because it was a song by Wings. Being a Geek, I of course looked it up on Wikipedia, and found something funny.
When Paul and Linda McCartney appeared on the Simpsons, the song "Maybe I'm Amazed" is played over the closing credits. In the episode Paul tells Lisa that playing MIA backwards reveals a secret lentil soup recipe, and the version played over the credits actually has a back-mask of Paul McCartney reciting a recipe for lentil soup. So I think the Universe really really wants me to make Lentil soup.
Sarah's Recipe:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil
Add 1 brown onion, chopped and cook for a few minutes till softened.
Add 2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 fresh red chilli, chopped
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
and 1 teaspoon of ground coriander and stir for a few minutes till fragrant.
Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 tins of crushed tomatoes
1 cup of red lentils
2 cups of chicken stock and cook on low heat for 20 minutes. Blend (if you want) and serve.
Paul McCartney's:
one medium onion, chopped
two tablespoons of vegetable oil
one clove of garlic, crushed
one cup of carrots, chopped
two sticks of celery, chopped
half a cup of lentils
one bay leaf
one tablespoon of freshly-chopped parsley
salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste
two and a quarter cups of vegetable stock or water
Just as a side note, this is the 651st post on this blog.
Monday, July 02, 2007
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