June 25 - July 4 2007

Happy 4th
G'day and Happy 4th everyone!! We had a pretty relaxing day other than a spot of shopping.

This morning John started singing God Bless America and I came back with Waltzing Matilda which prompted me to check out Youtube for some more Aussie anthems. I spent the next hour or two crying as I watched and listened to John Williamson, the Seekers and Redgum singing Waltzing Matilda, We are Australian, True Blue, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda and I Still Call Australia Home. All songs had a backdrop of slideshows of Rugby, Aussie Rules, Steve Irwin etc and I cried and got all sooky and have had a very homesick day. Not fair to John on the 4th of July but I hardly ever do this now and he was ready with all kinds of ways to make me feel better. What a trooper.

I wanted to share a pic of some fireworks that we enjoyed on my first 4th in Richmond 4 years ago but cannot find them . This shot is News Eve this year in Perth. Hey it is still fireworks, right? **==
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Wednesday July 4, 2007 - 06:47pm (EDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 1 Comment

MY COUNTRY ~ Dorothea Mckellar
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


Tags: mycountry, | Edit Tags



Tuesday June 26, 2007 - 05:19am (EDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 3 Comments

World war 3 in my garden!
Yep you are right Ted, they are back! F@$*!!# Japanese Beetles! I cannot think of one thing that they are good for except for keeping the makers of their traps in moolah! . This year they have attacked the roses (again), the apple and cherry trees and also, this is the worst part..........my beautiful boston ferns! . I HATE THESE NASTY, SMELLY, LITTLE BITS OF #$%*. Anyway we have the bags in place and yes we have casualties! Some of the more heroic ones have chewed there way out of the traps but they have got to be stupid enough to go back for another lick of the bait. . I think I was a bit slow in putting out the traps. I have marked the calender and next year I will be out there armed and ready to go a week in advance!!!! I will win this battle, I won with the tent caterpillas and I will prevail with these beasties too!

On a happier note......we are all booked for our November trip to Aus. YIPPEEEEEEEE. well the San Fransisco to Brisbane leg is booked anyway. SOOOOo excited and realised today that we leave in under 5 months! I hope that time goes by fast.. Not sure how we are going to get to SF yet. We may drive to Nashville and fly out of there. It all depends on whether Sherry comes here that weekend and flys David back with her or not. COMPLICATED? nahhhhhhh it is all under control. Hey I have waited almost 4 years to get John to Aus, NOTHING or NOBODY is gonna stand in our way! Now we have to get Johns passport organised and Bob's ya uncle. I got to thinking today, it will be kind of neat having Thanksgiving in Aus, especially for John. I may have to take over some special bits and pieces so that we can celebrate authentically with my family. It will be kinda neat for them too.

Hope everyone is well and sorry I don't get here as much, no excuses except life sometimes gets in the way. Things are great here, (not to mention the friggin beetles), we have deer coming regularly, baby rabbits everywhere, Sheba and naughty Ruby are happy and well and Ivan is still a trip. Have a great week Y'all. XXXXX
Tags: gardenwar, trip, plan, | Edit Tags



Monday June 25, 2007 - 07:39pm (EDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 1 Comment

Yipppppppppppieeeeeeeeee Yi Yo
It's raining in parts of Aus and the froggies are croakin and the cows are blowin...hehehe

Spoke to my sister yesterday and she is getting a good amount or rain and then I heard from a certain Burren Junction lass and she is too!! Wooooooo hooooooooooo. Send it down Huey! Fan-bloody-tastic I say!

Heard from the travelers this week, they had landed in San Diego and were headed to Tijuanna the next day. (boosting the economy in Mexico too) LOL.

Have a great weekend all.
Tags: raininaus, | Edit Tags



Friday June 8, 2007 - 05:51am (EDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments

Tuesday Arvo
Yes it really is me. LOL. Life got in the way of blogging there for a week or two. I was really sad to see my two mates, Red and Col leave Central Virginia and head to Vegas for the next leg of their wonderful trip. I think they may be in California now or even Mexico . They really are going to need those 5 or 6 lazy days in Hawaii before heading back to the grind in Aus. I cannot tell you how fantastic it was being in their company for a week. We most probably drove John crazy with our constant chatter and laughter. The three of us acting like dags the whole time and Red and I making frequent runs to the loo doubled over and still laughing as we jostled past other women before we burst. LOL. John love them as much as I did and he fitted in very well and was soon giving it back to Col. Ahhhh but all good things must come to an end and life has returned to normal. November will be here before we know it and I will be back on their turf and we can catch up once again. Yippeeeeeeee!!!!!

We have been busily fixing up one of the extra rooms for Sherry and Carrie. It is finally empty and now my sewing room is bursting at the seams. Sherry will fly in from Nashville every other weekend and they will both stay here with us. We are going to paint the room and get a bed for them this weekend. We are hoping for everyones sake that this will be temporary and that the court will give Sherry full custody so that she can take her daughter back to TN with her. It is really hard as the Dad is a good bloke too and no one wants to hurt anyone but it is just one of those things. John Jr came in from Vegas end of last week and helped Sherry by driving the Uhaul to Nashville. They all came over for a bit of a barbie before they headed off. It was pretty sad. The week on a whole was pretty sad really.

Anyway, thats about it from me. I still havent figured out how to get pics in here from flickr. I did it once but it does not seem to like me again. When I get it figured, I will share some more pics from when the guys from Aus were here. Be good now

ps. had to share this pic with you all.........how Australian is this? The farm dogs are checking out the latest member of the family. Pic from rellies in Katherine, NT.
Tags: missingredandcol, marls, col, | Edit Tags



Tuesday June 5, 2007 - 06:51pm (EDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 1 Comment