Happy New Year to you and I hope that you all had a good festive season. We had a quiet time in-between working, but it was good fun. We hope we can take a break a little later in the year.

I cannot believe that we are now nearly a month into the new year. This year being the year of the Snake. This is the Chinese Zodiac Sign of my other half and my year was last year, the year of the Dragon. Apparently we both get along and I agree with that. We both work well together with different strengths helping each other out.

So far here we have had days filled with heat and humidity and others with heavy rains and winds. Today is one such day. They forecast gales and heavy rains but so far it is fairly peaceful on the winds and rain front. I don’t mind the rain as it fills up our rainwater tanks and in the Summer months the water soon disappears when you start watering plants, fruits, vegetables etc.

Talking of fruits and vegetables. We have had a good number of Strawberries of our plants this year, which is awesome. I picked a few blueberries and soon we will have three or four peppers/capsicums to pick off. Our grapes are growing, although they seem to be growing at a slower rate this year. Last year we picked some around Christmas, but wont complain as there are a number of bunches ready to ripen.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

Crickey, yet another year has passed us by. Where does all this time go, or is it that as we age it seems that way?

It has been a busy year for us. We finally flew home to see family and friends. We managed to decorate some of our house inside. We became grand aunt and uncle to a beautiful little girl in September and hope to go back home and see her soon.

Throughout the world we are all trying to cope with recessions, cost of living crisis, housing issues etc. I hope next year 2025 will be better for some, if not more of us than this year.

Through all of this our family and friends have always been there. No matter what life feels like.

With Christmas just round the corner, literally, I just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy holidays. Enjoy time at home with loved ones and hopefully have a break of some sorts. Stay safe and well as we head into the New Year.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

My sincere apologies for the long gap between my last post, it has been a little hectic with work and life in general.

We are getting regular pictures and updates on our new arrival, who I would like to say is oh so cute and gorgeous. I think most people do say that about babies. They have this adorable quality about them and their giggles are so infectious. She is nearly two months old now and soon she will be looking forward to her first Christmas!

I had a big birthday too and that was great. Age for me is just a number and does not define who you are and what you are able to do or achieve. People do seem to get bogged down with age, but, you are only as young as you feel. Keep your mind and body active and nobody will notice how old you are!

About three weeks ago (which would make it early October), we went shopping and in our local store we heard Christmas carols. I think personally it is a little early, maybe wait until Halloween has passed and then for sure go ahead and play them.

Talking of Christmas. I have been doing some Christmas shopping as it is that time of year that I have to send them overseas. At the moment the postal service is working pretty well with parcels and letters taking around ten days to arrive. I find it easier to do them two or three parcels at a time. It makes the cost a little bit more bearable.

I have had my first pickings off my strawberry plants. I only planted three bushes and have had around eight strawberries, which is not too bad. Fresh ones picked off the bush are always the tastiest. No matter what the fruits or vegetables you grow.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

My nephew and his lovely wife have just delivered a gorgeous baby girl. She was due on the 5th September and arrived on the 10th September. She has a small amount of dark hair but is perfect from the pictures we were sent afterwards.

They married six years ago and planned to start a family after five years. The plan worked and they have now fulfilled their desire for a child. They have it all sorted out and are looking forward to bringing her home and settling in for some sleepless nights and baby crying.

There is no name for the baby as yet, so it will be interesting to see what name they give her. We are hoping to fly over and see them in the next year, which will be exciting.

I am now a great-aunt, which makes me sound old! The grandparents decided on what they would like to be known by and they will all see her soon.

I wish them the best for the new arrival and for the new adventure they will all have together now. They have a number of family for support and also a lot of friends, some of whom have already had children.

This is a good way to start any week. Great news!

Smile and have a great day 🙂

Last month I found a small lump under my armpit and thought I should get it checked out with my doctor. The appointment was not for a couple of days and within that time it had grown. It was painful and I was glad when I sat in the waiting room knowing that it was shortly going to be looked at.

The doctor prodded and poked and gently squeezed and advised me that it was an abscess caused by a blocked cyst and so nothing to really worry about. A course of antibiotics was prescribed which I duly collected and I started them in the evening with dinner as I needed to have them with food. I took a tablet the following morning with breakfast and another in the evening with dinner.

I visited the bathroom and on my way out glanced in the mirror and noticed my eyes starting to look a little odd. I popped into the kitchen to finish something and went back to look again. My face was swelling and so I called my husband to take me to the medical centre.

I was seen straight away and they gave me some anti histamine tablets. They told me I was allergic to penicillin and wrote the details up on the board as anaphylaxis . They put fluids in and I felt a little better, although my face was still tight. After a short time they decided to give me a shot of adrenalin and advised me that I would need to go to the hospital to be monitored., just in case I had a reaction to it. An ambulance was called and in the meantime they decided to give me a second shot of adrenalin. I was seriously shaking, which I was told is an effect of the adrenalin. Information given to the ambulance staff I was taken to hospital and my husband would come over later.

The emergency room was chaotic as a lot of people go there instead of paying to see the doctor. I was seen pretty quickly and monitored. They looked at the antibiotics and told me too that I was now allergic to penicillin. I have had many penicillin antibiotics having had pneumonia and bronchitis and probably whilst I was younger too. They marked my chart accordingly.

After four hours sitting on a bed in hospital I was sent home. New antibiotics given and the lump slowly going away. It was a scary feeling and one I don’t want to repeat again.

Who knew that your body could suddenly react in such a way! I guess it all just built up, or maybe there was a minor drug mixed with it that caused it. I now wear a little bracelet that says I am allergic to penicillin.

Happy days.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

For a while now we have been looking into changing our venetian blinds in the kitchen, bathroom and en-suite rooms. We couldn’t decide on what we wanted to put back up and so it was left until we could find something we liked.

Much time was spent looking at different furnishings. We decided against curtains as all these rooms can be damp sometimes and we felt that they may become damp and therefore mouldy. We really liked roman blinds, but for the same reason as curtains, probably not a great idea.

It was not going to be cheap to replace all three, but after fifteen years, they really needed it. We looked in various stores and still could not find sizes to fit our windows. Now we had to decide on made-to-measure.

We found an on-line company and with blinds suitable for what we wanted, we ordered them. They were made in a week and picked up by courier shortly afterwards. We had a date for delivery, or so we thought. I waited in for the delivery, not once but four times, all day. On the fourth day I rang them to ask when they were arriving, The answer was not very helpful and the next notification was to say that they had been delayed.

I e-mailed them and was amazed to find out that they were actually on the lorry for delivery that day. Luckily I was home as they arrived in an enormous carboard tube. Not so much heavy as awkward. The delivery took twice as long almost as the company took to make the blinds.

The old venetian blinds taken down and new roller blinds suitable for wet rooms are now hanging proudly. The old venetian blinds have been repurposed as someone we know said they would take them and have sent them to family in the Pacific Islands.

We were happy to be able to do our bit for recycling.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

Life has settled back down after a few weeks back home. We are back into the daily tasks and work that we do. We will have another decorating project soon, but for now we had another job that needed doing first.

With the weather up and down, the garden was looking a little worse for wear. We have had light rains, heavy wind and rains and sunshine. The grass has grown rapidly and the plants grown nearly as quickly.

As we do not have any real definite seasons here, plants never really stop growing. It is hard trying to prune plants that have now produced the new buds for the year.

We paid for a skip bag and went ahead to prune all the plants in the garden and have a major tidy up ready for our Summer. I was amazed just how much we cut off those poor plants. They looked almost naked now! Hopefully when the warmer months come they will start to regrow.

The skip bag was half full and so after a last minute clean up and a few things thrown in from the house it was only slightly fuller. We could not find anything else to throw in there and so we had it picked up and taken away.

The garden looks better, although, as I say a little naked against the fences. Fingers crossed is all I will say!

Smile and have a great day 🙂

So it has been a while since I last wrote a blog and a lot has happened!

We have finished the two rooms of our house that we were decorating now and they look great. We may have another two to do at a later stage but we will wait until the warmer weather arrives.

It was decided that we needed a break as we had not been overseas to visit our parents for a while. It had been about five years since we had last been home. That was predominately because of the Covid outbreak and the travel chaos that ensued afterwards. The costs were at that time, astronomical to say the least.

Finally we made it! We took a three week break and flew home. The time with family and friends was fantastic. The weather could have been a little nicer, but hey, we didn’t go home for the weather now did we? We fitted in some touristy things, that we felt we could now do, as we don’t live there anymore and they were exciting. As a tourist you see a country completely different than you do whilst you lived there. The trip was not really a holiday as such, more a catch-up and driving around to see everyone. Sadly we didn’t get to see everyone, but we tried to see as many as we could.

The three weeks went really quick and soon we were back home again. Time goes real quick and to think we have already been back home for a week!

The garden looked a little overgrown as there was sun, rains and winds whilst we were away. Now is the time to start the pruning and replanting of the vegetable boxes. The grass has since been cut and looks good. Will be a good couple of weeks or so to get the garden back to looking normal again, but hey, if you have time away, what can you expect!

Who knew that flying was so tiring. We had around twenty-six or so hours, including transfer times, there and on the return journey. Planes seem to have been made smaller and aisles narrower. The flight crews trolley just about rolls up and down the aisles. “Mind you fingers and toes, I think.” Space costs money, but a little more room for the most of us who use and pay for a trip to wherever. It doesn’t have to be a large amount, just a little here and there would be nice.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

Oh my goodness, where has the month gone already? I was meant to write this at the beginning of the year, but I guess, better late than never.

Happy New Year to you all and hope you all had a great Christmas and are starting the New Year happy and well.

We have been doing some work on our house and keeping it up to date as much as we can. We have had new appliances in our kitchen and replaced units in our bathrooms too. Over the last week or two we have stripped the hallway of wallpaper, sanded the walls down and painted them a neutral colour. I have also been staining the fence along our boundary, which is fun, but also very long!

We have had a few days away which was nice. Even a few days away from home is a rest for us, although we do a lot of walking etc so it can be tiring.

Easter will soon be here and it just seems the months are flying by. I was told by a friend that the world is not moving faster, just that as we get older, we are slowing down! Damn, its okay to get old, but when you hear that, it makes you realize that you are in fact getting older. I don’t feel my age at all, but I know that I am not as quick at doing somethings as I used to be, or I should say that it is probably more of an effort to do some of those things.

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year and to the year of the Dragon, of which I am one. Hopefully this year will be a lucky year for me. Fingers crossed!!

Smile and have a great day 🙂

It has been a busy period up until Christmas Eve. So much to do and organize.

Today is Christmas Eve and we are able to put our feet up a little. Everything is ready for Christmas day which is great. The last of the housework was done this afternoon.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have rains and some thunderstorms, which is a shame as we have a Santa parade around where we live. It is great to see so many children and parents out and about on Christmas morning.

We have had warmth and humidity for the last week and now that Christmas is here the weather has clanged.

We took a train to the City yesterday and I have to say I was surprised how quiet it was. I thought it would pick up after lunch, but it never really did.

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and peaceful 2024.

Smile and have a great day :