My Weekend away ..

I was getting a little bored so I decided to go away for the weekend! 

Hmmm - where to go? What to do? There was Jess' wedding (Jessica Elliott - she of Brenda&Brad & Disney on Ice/Cinderella fame) in Toronto on January 18th and they did invite me! No more Aeroplan points - boo hoo! Oh well I checked; prices weren't too bad - number of flights weren't too bad - Joseph said "why not" and Ashely said there was still room for me at a table! So nine days before the wedding I booked …

The Itinerary

                                  Thursday Jan 16 Adelaide - Auckland - LA - Toronto 
                                  Friday Jan 17 Arrive T.O. 5.45 a.m.       

                                  Friday Jan 17 Rehearsal dinner 8.00 p.m. Mill St

                                  Saturday Jan 18 Wedding 4.00 pm  Trinity Church, Reception at Schoolhouse behind

                                  Sunday Jan 19 Breakfast @hotel, Dinner + overnight with Les & Gwen

                                  Mon Jan 20 noon Toronto- LA - Auckland 
                                  Tuesday Jan 22 Arrive Adelaide -  10.40 a.m.

Here's the good, the bad and the ugly (oh so ugly) of my (long) weekend away…

Good ( there was a lot of GOOD on this trip!):

• PILLS:  Tons of pills thanks to friends - who needs doctors when you have (good) friends!
• PREFERRED SEAT:   Extra $$s for (slightly) better seats,(slightly) further up front,(slightly) more room/tilt 
• PRIORITY BOARDING: Thanks to "preferred seat" - worth every penny!  I hate lining up!
• GAP:     Empty seat between me and isle-man Auckland-LA = yummy!
• EARLY FLIGHT:  Made earlier flight LA-TO - arrived 11.30 p.m. (see ugly). 
• MARRIOTT:  Good old Marriott; free shuttle, nice room and FREE (just enough points left)!
• CONDO:    Happy to see completed kitchen in our condo - well done Nathan - condo looked good
• MILKSHAKE:    Spiked (White Russian;Kahlua, Vodka,Van.Icecream) + Mac'nCheese (Truffle Oil)       from old neighbourhood Thompson Hotel Diner - yum, yum
• HOTEL:   Omni King Edward; lovely big room, nice bed, huge bathroom (huge bath), TV in bathroom mirror!!, free WiFii, free  tea/coffee each morning! New favourite hotel!

• 

  TV in my mirror - took me a couple of days to figure it out

• SURPRISE:   Best surprise ever, first Brenda then Jess, at the rehearsal dinner. It's been 1+ years since I saw them.  Well done Ash for keeping the secret.  



There were tears - lots of tears!

•  POPCORN:    Brenda's loot bag full of goodies saved the day (night) for 3.a.m. hunger attack (and I don't even like popcorn)
  

•  WEDDING a.m   Spent the morning with the bridal party having makeup and hair done - such a special treat

the befores ...

The (almost) afters - for Ashley Jess  & Christine

•  WEDDING p.m.  Wonderful, wonderful wedding! Jess' dress was spectacular! Brenda looked amazing! Ash surprised Jess with a children's choir! Sparkler tunnel was crazy fun! Lovely reception in  school house. Steak dinner worthy of 4-star restaurant! Speeches gut-wrenching but Ashley's  won standing ovation! … and they mentioned me coming!! Oh it was so worthwhile!

Ashley, Talia, Jess and Sanah!
Christine was missing but it's too beautiful a pic to leave out.
 Shows the back of Jess dress! 

Proud dad Brad - beautiful bride Jess!

Brenda and brother-in-law Boyd.
Her dress was emerald green and looked spectacular.

The surprise children's choir singing at the end.
Brilliant surprise Ash!

the crazy sparkler tunnel!

The left-over sparklers exploded
and the person holding them had to dump them in the snow!

That's a princess and her prince!

Aaaaaw!

• DAY AFTER:     Breakfast with wedding guests at hotel, me "helping" with cleanup of reception (if my sad efforts on one mirror = help)
• LAST NIGHT:    Dinner & overnight with Les & Gwen in their lovely new house - such a treat.
• CANADA:    First time in the US as a Canadian!! Such a breeze compared to being Australian. 
• WEATHER:   Cold (very cold) before I arrived and cold (very cold) again on day I left, but weather was perfect while I was in TO  (-10c?)
• ANZ LOUNGE LA:  $60 to spend 8 hrs in Air New Zealand Bus. Lounge and worth every penny!! Shower (because I could) + food + champagne + sleep + PRIORITY BOARDING!! (I hate lining up)

Bad (there really wasn't much bad about this trip):

• PREFERRED SEAT:  Other than my seat on LA-Auckland flight having less leg room than an ordinary seat and therefore not worthy of "preferred" classification or extra $$s - there really wasn't anything else "bad" about the trip!  Not even the bumps Auckland-LA!!  I seemed to almost enjoy them (oh such great pills!)

• NO iPHONE:  I left my iPhone home to avoid hidden costs (pills can do that) so all I had was my iPad to take photos.  It's great for reading but quite the intrusion taking photos; down the isle as the bride walks in so the official photographer can't see her!, at the reception table!, and pretty much whenever else I wanted to take a photo …

  

  … and I can't figure out how to take a selfie with it!!

Ugly (it usually gets ugly when I'm on pills):

• LATE ARRIVAL:      Arriving in TO at 11.30 pm. with no hotel wasn't great - but doable - just call Marriott Fairfield - they have a room and the lovely lady said they will send a shuttle.  Ugly started  outside at the airport after 1.5 hrs of no shuttle and me in tears, in my cotton dress with my blazer and wool tights getting colder and too scared to go inside to call incase I missed the shuttle. Pleading every time the BIG Marriott bus when past and finally he  stopped and let me inside and he called Fairfield for me.  Alas!  the Fairfield Inn didn't  have a reservation for me, never had a woman on duty that night and there was no shuttle!   So who on EARTH did I call and book with??  Oh dear those pills! 

• MISSED BREAKFAST!!:        LA-Auckland - woke up and realized I had no breakfast!  Growled at my neighbour as to why they didn't wake me (tried he said - ha!  sure you did!). So in my sleeveless cotton  dress with armpits at (his) head-height - I leaned over him and buzzed the "attendant" button about 100 times until the "attendant" (what are they called?) ran down the isle to find out what the problem (emergency?) was.  "You missed serving me breakfast and I'm starving" I cried.  I think she wanted to strangle me but she came back with my breakfast god bless her!   Oh dear those pills! 
  
  

In the end …

                               It was a crazy trip, mostly crazy that I went all that way (and suffered all those flights I 

                               hate so much) and still didn't make it to Ottawa! So I missed seeing friends there (well 

                               those that weren't at the wedding)   BUT if I had been away any longer it would have made 

                               it a completely different trip on so many levels, and while it breaks my heart to miss out on 

                               Ottawa and friends, as it turned out , it was pretty-much a perfect trip. I'm so glad I went - 

                               so grateful to be part of Jess' wedding and so grateful, that in the middle of the busiest day 

                               in their lives, Brenda, Brad, Ash and Jess took the time to make sure I was looked after.  

                               Dear me - what did I ever do to deserve such good friends!

Christmas 2013

It was our second Christmas here in Adelaide with my family but it was the first one in our own house so there were no more excuses ...

Our three-level house.  Christmas on top - New Years on the bottom!

CHRISTMAS CARDS ..

 I had absolutely no excuses for not sending Christmas cards this year - so I did - and was delighted to receive some as well.  My Christmas list is somewhere in Ontario so some names didn't make it ! … and even if you did make it to my 2013 list let me mention that the 2014 list will be significantly shorter (non-existent?) …. unless Australia Post reduces the price of their stamps by 90% instead of increasing it, as was the case for 2013.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING  ...

Last year after arriving at the end of November we were still in dreamland!  This year - no excuses!!  So we dedicated a whole day to shop (we can do that - we are retired now!) something I haven't done in a long, long time.  We agonized (and agonized) over the gifts and i realized how much I miss our store! … and even more so after paying $39 to park the car for the day!!  We do secret Santa for the adults, thank goodness so not so many gifts to buy - but even at that I had some definite misses.

This gift was a hit … sort of!

CHRISTMAS BAKING ...

Since the start of this millennium I've had an excuse for no Christmas baking.  Last year we were in our van so still nothing.  THIS year -  no excuses!!  After I asked Jasper if  he wanted to make a ginger-cookie/Santa decorations for his mum and he cried (!!) I decided to make my first-ever gingerbread house!  I've helped Jane (Keogh) with icing for her daughter Emily's scholarship fundraising houses (well I dump spoonfuls into a bag!)  but I've never actually made one of my own.  To make sure it wasn't a disaster I bought the kit from IKEA!    

On the next babysitting day Jess & James came over to help Jasper decorate it.   All we had to do was MAKE the house so they could start!! Well, I made the icing according to the IKEA instructions but of course it wouldn't come out of the stupid bag and Joseph couldn't get the stupid walls & roof to stay together and then the kids were bored and then when the icing did come out it exploded and there was icing all over the table and floor and  then the kiddies started to eat the candies (which I must admit were pretty-darned good - from IKEA) and so after an hour- we scrapped it!  

I was pretty shattered by this grandmother-failure, so one night all alone I took the icing that had thickened to almost cement and slapped (and I mean slapped) it onto the walls and roof and it stuck!  So then I shoved (and I mean shoved) the candies randomly over the roof and around the house. I refused to make more icing so it really was the most ugly gingerbread house ever and I'm sorry I don't have a picture to prove it - just this one after Jess & James had the pleasure of smashing it on New Years.

Smashed gingerbread house - you'll just have to try and imagine how ugly it was!

                           Christmas Eve supper!

CHRISTMAS LUNCH:

Since the start of this millennium we've had an excuse for not hosting the Christmas meal.  We even resorted to Thyme and Again dinner for a few years!  Last year we were in our van so we still had an excuse.  THIS year - we had absolutely NO excuse!

On the second level - getting ready to go UP!!

 From the moment we first saw this house we decided Christmas meal for the family would be "up on the deck" - the THIRD floor deck.  It's beautiful up there - 360 views and a breeze most times (sometimes gale-force!) and it's only 24 stairs UP from the kitchen so with a forecast of 34c -  that's where 14 of us were headed for our big Christmas meal (lunch) 

Sadly, after the100th time going up and down those 24 stairs I started to hate that deck. There is a sink up there and space for a fridge and (i guess) a stove/microwave but we weren't there yet. We already had plates and cutlery up there - but even if you cooked up there - I can't see how to avoid those crazy stairs.   - And even if you have your darling children to call upon, and even if you can convince (threaten) your nieces and nephews to make a few trips - seriously - it is a lot of stairs!!  

  Regardless of the extra exercise and trauma of cooking for 14 (I know - only 14!!)  it turned out to be a lovely lunch and everybody was happy and we enjoyed our special little crazy place to get together!!!

Resting after lunch - getting ready for supper - back UP the stairs!

BOXING DAY SHOPPING

I have never (ever) been shopping on Boxing Day and after all those years of getting up early the day after Christmas Day ( still exhausted from the weeks before) to run a SALE  - I'm pretty sure we vowed we never (ever) would.  BUT … poor Cassia lives a million miles from shopping-worthy stores and there was precious little time she was here visiting - so what is a mother to do but get up early and go shopping ... on BOXING DAY!!    We should have done a little homework because, except for the people lining up, we were almost alone on the mall (only downtown stores were open) because the stores didn't open until - 11.00 a.m.!!  urgh! Oh well a few opened at 10 and Cassia did find some nice things and by the time we were ready to leave the crowds had increased to the point where it was almost impossible to cross to the other side of the mall.  

Trying to get from here ...

… over to here!



Pablo is here!

So that was a first (and probably a last)  … but a crazy fun thing to do together as well.

After a nightmare in customs (traces of drugs on his brand-new carry-on luggage!!) finally he is here!

NEW YEARS!! - and with no excuses left  for not hosting New Years Eve - it was yet another party !! 

 This time the party was  on ground level - about 18 stairs DOWN from the kitchen!!  Mum had a minor car accident that resulted in a broken tibia and sternum and needed a brace on her leg that meant she couldn't climb the stairs.  

So we ate outside - right on the dock of the river. 

Sister Jennifer received this as a gift from her employer …  and she doesn't eat lobster1

It was the most spectacular evening (weather-wise) and in spite of the million trips up and down those crazy  stairs it was lots of fun.  Especially the fireworks at midnight and the especially the wedding guests  that came to the dock to watch the fireworks and especially those that eventually jumped in the river! 

This was the father of the bride!!

Cassia & Pablo left right after New Years and drove their "new" (second-hand) little car that was stuffed to the gills, over the nullabor back to Esperance (2.5 days).  Luckily the weather wasn't too hot and the winds were slight so it was a good trip.  

So they are settling into life back together again and with no visitors and no more parties, life for us, here on the dock is back to normal!

Beautiful Christmas gift to ourselves!

My Christmas gift from Joseph ...

The (Joe) Eagle has landed ...

Well he's back - with a one year visitor's visa - not the ideal but we'll take it.  Four months separation has been excruciating … well the last month for sure.  After we settle in, we'll attempt to apply for the spousal visa, but for now … he's "home" - yippee!

(oops - no photo of him - he looks pretty much the same as when he left surprisingly!)

He was 3rd through the door after the 43hr trip, looking in pretty good shape and that would be thanks to the business class seats we had enough points left for (sadly the last time either of us flies bus. class).  Jasper ran into his arms and then went all shy - he was used to poking him on a screen and now here he was right here in front of him - very confusing.

Forgot to get a picture of him running into Joseph's arms!

Thanks also to business class there were two HUGE suitcases to unpack - full of mostly things for me!  My teapot (yippee), my photos (oh so many photos!), my Creative Memories stuff (oops!  CM has gone bankrupt! who knew?), the plastic cake server my brother made in high school!, a few more pieces of clothing … but not my jeans!  I've been asking for my jeans for four months - I know I left them behind and there were two pairs!  He says he's looked everywhere and they are not there.  Humph!  Finding jeans that fit is so traumatic - I want my jeans!!  Well there are 15 more boxes arriving any day surely THEY will have my jeans.

The very next night we have a neighbourhood party - right on the dock - three feet from our front door!  Good to meet the neighbours and I think I finally have their names sorted out.  Surprised to find out there were some youngsters in the group - renters like us - and mostly from overseas; an Irish couple, Vicki from London, Anika from Germany. The oldies include two artists, the couple who started the local pancake restaurant and Mike who is the doyen of it all. 

Not great pics but you get the general idea!

They were impressed with my bbq meatballs!! (recipe from internet and I didn't even have any Worcestershire sauce!!) … aaah … ignorance is bliss!!  They even liked our tomato/basil/boccancini appetizers (from Katrina's wedding) and even my Moosewood gazpacho soup!!   The mini maple-sugar pies were so-so… but the Nespresso machine was a definite hit.  

Sorry ... no photos of the dolphins … it was dark!

Just as we were packing up (in the dark), the dolphins arrived and did three or four jumps completely out of the water SIDEWAYS!!  We (well the girls) were screaming with delight!  I think they heard us talking and came to show off… I honestly do.


An extra day babysitting makes for lots of grandpa/Jasper catchups and still no jet lag!!

He was SO good at putting the decorations on.

There was the odd bird from ONW that Joseph bought with him
and the rest are from the Salvation Army
(a bag for $1)

He's slowly settling back into MY house...
It's tricky having to remember there is somebody ELSE to consider when doing … well … when doing nearly everything and of course when your boyfriend's back, there's gonna be laundry, and it was while doing the laundry that we realized that HE had been wearing MY jeans for the past four months!!  It was happy/sad … mostly sad that my jeans fit him, a little sad that winter has gone and I no longer need them, but ecstatically happy that I have at least one pair of jeans!!!

Yet another celebration down here at The Port!!  This time it's the The Port Santa parade complete with fireworks. Mum's walking with the Meals On Wheels "float" with Jess & James along for the ride … er walk… so we're off to wave to them.  It's a beautiful warm evening, perfect for a Santa Parade - and we wave at the mishmash of "floats": the Green Bin (feed it your kitchen scraps!), the nursery-school cuties, the men waving hankies (huh?  an English thing apparently), the greyhounds!!! (surely only in Aust!).

Here's the green bin with his cheese scrap …
such a Christmasy thing!

Who has greyhounds in a Christmas parade?

We're still waving … and finally here comes the M.O.W. with Jess & James waving at the crowd ... but no Mother!

Here's the Meals On Wheels "float" ...

… here's James & Jess! … where's mum?

So we keep waving and wonder if she is lying on the road and the bands are having to step over her, but finally, a good five minutes later, she appears - she's been stopping to chat to everybody she knows along the 1.2km route!! Of course!!  

Now this is Christmassy!

Can you see the beer in his hand? 

Here's one of the four hotels on the parade route - three more just a street away!

Some of the bands aren't too bad and the large Aussie crowd is pretty excited!.  It's easy to get excited when you can order a beer and step right outside onto the sidewalk and see the Christmas parade pass before you. Down here at The Port there is a *hotel on (almost) every corner  - it's just the perfect place for a parade!

Yoo hoo Sanata … over here!

Back at the house after eats and drinks the fireworks start and they are within spittin' distance from us so the balcony and upstairs deck are just the perfect places to watch!  The noise is pretty crazy and they seem to be almost on top of us but it's an amazing display - on a par with any Canada Day ones I've seen - Joseph of course disagrees!   Pretty good for a local council I say.

I'm too excited to take good photos!

Next day there's a bbq and tennis in the hills … it's been so long since I've hit a tennis ball!  Joseph finds the requisite koala and a Superb Blue Wren that I missed 'cos I was just too comfortable in the shade in my chair.

Ali & Theresa hugging Kim!

The place is alive with people having BBQs/picnics playing cricket or tennis and waving away the flies - oh so many flies!

Then, after just over a week together we are apart again!   Joseph is off to Esperance to visit Cassia. He's so happy to see her and I think Cassia is happy to have company and of course it's a great place to bird!  I use my alone-time to finish Christmas cards and I almost faint when the Post Office worker tells me how much it will cost to mail them to Canada!  Apparently it's a 94% increase from last year!  Next year … hmmm … I'm gonna have to think about it.

Yet another funeral - six since we arrived 12 months ago - this time in the Barossa, where the Droegemueller's are from - and we take time to visit my 101 year-old great aunt that I can't remember ever meeting. Dear Auntie Nell is almost blind and wishes she weren't here, but she leans over and asks Mum if I'm "her girl that went to England"!!!  Goodness me - how on earth can she remember that!  She's my maternal grandfather's sister - the baby in a family of 10. The genes seem to be good on both sides of our families … Mrs. Dafoe's younger sister, Aunt Zeta sister turns 100 on Christmas Day but  Joseph says we only have enough money to last until we are 83!!

On my way to funeral # 5 this is what was on the road in front of me!
It's a mother koala with her baby on her back!
it took me a while to figure out what it was as well

Christmas is nigh and our house is moderately (pathetically) decorated and I find myself thinking about Ottawa and decorating the store, our ONW friend's Christmas shopping night, Thymes (I'm always thinking about Thymes) and that's it's been a while since we've been gone …

It's not quite up to Eileen's standards :(

My bit of snow - when the lights go out the "snow" on the tree glows…
only trouble is when I turn out the lights I'm on my way to bed!

The tree!

The wreath! (too windy to put it on the door!)

That's neighbour Mike the doyen - pointing to my brother John
(inside the trailer that my brother David USED to own)
taking out some gems that we made good use of!
(alas he wouldn't take out the toilet paper for me!)
(That's Kym doing her Vanna impression)

Note:

*There really was a hotel on every corner in The Port, when the Wharfies (Waterside Workers) numbered around 30,000. Some hotels, have closed, some empty for years but there are still quite a few operating and Joseph especially likes one near us that offers "Happy Hour from 7.00 a.m. until 9.00 a.m..".