Days in the Mountains

Ok, I know, I didn't get this post up yesterday, though credit where its due... I am here now!

Our first day in the Blue Mountains was, well short really. We had taken a rather slow drive to get up there. (Five hours worth of drive) When we did at long last arrive and 'check in' at the place we were to stay over the weekend it was around 4pm. We looked around a few shops, in particular a second-hand book shop, (Happy times!!) after which was dinner, and wondering around the building I already had started calling 'home.'

Day Two and to 'Iron Fest' we went! It turned out to be quite a warm day, I found myself heavily over dressed. The Iron fest has different forging displays, and items that have been made from metal. There is jousting, and reenactments of combats in full armor. A variety of live music was playing throughout the whole day, with stalls and food...

.....................................My Dad and Me...................................



Day Three, and we decided to take a wonder to Lawson. There was well planned thought and reason behind our trip to Lawson, and that was to see Rick Rutherford's shop. For years my mother and I have followed "Country Collections" Rick was the editor. It was around two years ago he left the magazine and opened an on-line store which has now been followed by the shop in Lawson. The shop filled all our imaginings, and emptied our wallets... And, we did in fact get to meet Rick.

After such an enjoyable beginning, the afternoon took a turn for the worst... We got stuck in traffic for over two hours! During this time we did find some amusement making sure that there were no queue hoppers. Please can someone explain to me, there is one long line of cars all banked up, it is not like we are all sitting in our cars for hours for the fun of it, so why is there always those people who try to ride down the side of the road, and think that it is there right to push in further up? It certainly kept us alert. We would keep a look out to let dad know if there were any cars trying to do the whole "one, two" and dad would pull halfway off the road to make sure they couldn't pass. I know we were not the only people finding this quite rude, for there were others who were doing quite the same thing of blocking those who thought themselves too good to wait in the 'jam.'

....................................What you do in a Jam............................


Day Four, we hopped on the Mountain Explorer bus. (Which had seen better days) It was one of those old, red, double-decker, English buses. I'm sure you can picture the kind I mean. There were times while going up and down those mountain roads I truly believed this bus was not going to make it. Or that maybe everyone on the bus would have to stand at the front of the bus, or on a certain side just to help the poor thing out. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride!
We went on the sky rail, where you are suspended 600 feet over a valley. My camera was playing up the whole weekend, and it wouldn't let me take many photos while we were up there. These are the ones I did get.

...................................Self Portrait.................................


...................................Three Sisters....................................


....................................Waterfall.......................................


Our trip home was the most perfect way to finish a trip to the Mountains. It had turned to freezing, while we had been traipsing all over the countryside in the explorer bus. (I was now happy for my layers!) As we were starting the long drive home, it started to snow. How beautiful it made every thing look. All of those amazing views we had seen on the way up looked like somewhere we had never seen before with a new white covering. It somehow softens the hard, dry, look this land has acquired.

Just Arrived Home...

After a four hour drive, we have arrived home from our holiday up in the Blue Mountains.

Getting home after a few days away always feels a little odd. All your cloths are in a suitcase, the house has a 'un-lived in' smell about it. And although you've just been sitting in a car for hours, you find yourself exhausted, wanting to sit and do nothing at all.

Because we only made it home late, our puppies and my bird are still at the boarding kennels. Which has given 'home' an even weird-er feeling, because the dogs aren't going crazy seeing us again, my bird is not saying 'hello' and blowing me kisses.

All is so very strange...

I will post the full story of our time away, hopefully tomorrow...

In ways of my life...

I realised that I have not really mentioned anything about my life, or what I have been doing lately. Hopefully this will change that a little.

I recently recorded my very first vocal performance. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. It turned out to be quite a bit of fun, working through the song a few times. I think it took about three takes, before we were completely happy with it. The guy who is mixing it all just dropped of a proof copy this evening. It is amazing how different it sounds properly mixed.

We will be going away for a few days over the "Anzac Day" long weekend. We are heading for the hills! The 'hills' will be the Blue Mountains in NSW. There is a wonderful festival they hold up there, 'The Iron Fest,' that is the true reason behind our going away. I am most looking forward to the jousting that they have; Man, horse, lance... racing toward each other.
I hope to take many photos while away; so I'm more than sure that they will find there way on to here.

Other than that it is much like most, a work, eat, sleep - life.

Changing THIER World

I thought I wanted to change the world, but instead, I'd rather make the lives around me happier.

It is true, there have been such ideas in my head of changing things I could never have a hope of changing. What is more, that most of these ideas never really affected me directly.

When I look around and find that there are people I care for who seem to be caught in some glitch, some dark place that is taking their smiles away. Then I realise, that is the real world I want to change. The world of THEIR lives.

Many times throughout my life I had wished I knew more people. I wished I had friends. It was only in this past year of my life I realised that I didn't deserve to know more people. I couldn't even make sure that the people I called friends knew that I would be there if they ever needed anything.

If anyone would have asked if I would be there for them, without hesitation I would run to their beckoning call. But what I realised is that being there for someone doesn't mean that much if your not willing (or in my case, brave) enough to warn a friend that they are heading into trouble. It is easy to point fingers, and tell yourself that you care, but sometimes caring and warning can take away what we thought was the 'closeness' we had with some one. Sometimes warning someone out of love causes you to loose them. Because no one wants to be told that where they are heading will lead to pain, no one wants to hear that they are wrong.

Too often in life we turn on those who have been brave enough to warn us. Too often we loose the people who care for us the most. Is it ever too late to find that caring soul? Is it ever too late to forgive??

Floating Thoughts

My Grandpa brought up a good point of thought. He told me how years ago he had this idea... There was no real cause in his life to have thought up this idea, it didn't take him long to decide upon different complications this idea might hold, how he could market the finished product, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of having this product. He told me how it seemed as though he had plucked this idea from the sky. Because there was no relevance connecting him to the thought.


Grandpa went into some depth of telling me how he had 'seen' this great plan, the different ways he had thought of going about making it. He told me that it was over forty years ago he had gone down this path of thought.

Finishing, he mentioned how in the morning news paper this very same idea, (random, expensive, unproven), had been pulled down from the sky. "They" (whomever the "THEY" always are) were up to the testing part of the project, soon to be released on the market.

Through out this whole conversation I could not help but picture bubbles with different thoughts or ideas within them; floating above our heads like balloons, waiting for someone to grab hold of their strings...

Since then I have not been able to rid myself of the idea of floating thoughts. In my own mind I had to find a way of finishing my Grandpa's story. There just seemed to be too many ways it could end. Here is mine.

My Grandpa never truly understood why he had been given this thought, he knew nothing about the topic involved. He felt no passion for the idea found within the bubble; he didn't even know at the time he had caught it. So, he let go. And its been floating in the skies above the heads of people for forty years.

My Dreamt Up Storyline

The way I imagine the events of tomorrow to play out. I set my scene with sunny skies, I chose the location, the people who will be there, what will be spoken, and most of all the reactions.

The ‘conversations’ I will have with people, where each word is planned out through the script in my mind. The ‘conversation,’ that ends up spinning out of control when the person I am having it with didn’t follow the script. This causes me to think up a new conversation...

The script. In which every reply is quick, effortless, cluey, full of passion, wit, and spoken with such sincerity that the listener is captured in amazement.

You would think that I would have learnt by now... I am sorry to disappoint those who might have believed I could have learnt by now.


What actually happened...


I got the sunny day I had hoped upon, though with winds upto 30k’s an hour.
I in-fact got my times mixed up, and turned up half an hour late.
Because of my lateness I didn’t end up on the end of the table I had set my scene.
And not once through the whole event did I have an opening for any of my planned speeches...

How I love the unexpectedness of what is life.

Childish Excitement!

What happens to the excitement we have as children. Why do we start taking things for granted as we get older. When it is only as we get older that we can really understand how fast things can be taken from us.

I realised the extent of this at work; I was ‘running’ (as we use in the industry) a bowl of chips to a table within the dining room. Upon my entry to the main dining area two little boys started wriggling in their seats, turning around to watch my ever nearing steps toward them.

“The chips are coming!!!”

They were telling the restraunt, in their young high pitched excitement. The mum, try as she may to control the youngsters had no hope.

“I can see boys, but I need you to sit quietly in your seats...”

Hearing this, the elder of the two boys looked at his mother, then at me, as I now stood at the end of their table.

“But mum, you don’t understand, the chips are HERE!!!!”

I want find my childish excitement, this world has enough gloom.

Remember the stars...

Waiting for the world to stop spinning; or the sky to stop moving. Will the stars stop shining? Will the birds stop flying. Will I ever stop wondering??


Do you remember the stars? Did you stop to take note of them last night?

When we were kids we were told to make a wish "upon a star."
I took this quite to heart. After being 'tucked in' I would sneak to my window to find that same star I had talked with the night before.

The star never came to me with a wand, in a shining gown, as it had visited Pinocchio.

I puzzled over where the star hid in the day. Because I knew I could hide better in the dark.

"Are they still there?"

I never stopped 'speaking' to the stars at night. I never stopped wondering if they watched. Each evening I find it my habit to go out on the back deck, just to make sure they are still there shining over me.

I read something the other day that brought this childish habit to my attention.

"Tell them to look up, tell them to remember the stars."

It made me realise why I still do this.

There are so many things throughout life that cause one to forget his place. How we let happenings determine who we think ourselves to be.

For me, the stars help me to remember, that we are all so much smaller than it all. God didn't want us to forget this in the dark.

All dressed up with nowhere to go...

This morning started off as any other Wednesday. Alarm started beeping at 6:30am, I fumbled around feeling for the off button...

Although most Wednesdays I know we need to be in the car by 7:00am, I knew I had an extra half hour today. Yes I used this extra time staying warm.(Wouldn't anyone?)

Everything seemed to be ok, until... The clock jumped forward by 40 minutes. By this time I was dressed ready to face my day in town. (As living in the country we are limited to one trip into town a week, ~ unless we go shopping for something special.) The sad thing about having a long drive into town is that sometimes you have to dismiss the expecting (exciting) knowledge of an event, because although it may only start in half an hour, there is no way you could get there in time. I was late, very late!

So then you are faced with the predicament I find myself in... In your 'Good' cloths, wondering whether you should go for the fun of it. Or change and use this time to catch up with all those things around the house you've been trying to avoid... (The washing, weeding, cleaning the floors, catching up in theory or Italian grammar...) Does this list ever stop growing?

Often I find when I start on this 'to do' list, (and believe me when I tell you I have got a lot of them floating around) I end up either making more work, or finding things that should have been on there to start with.

My other alternative to 'the list,' is start on something that didn't really need to be done. Like sorting all my books into author alphabetical order. Then finding a title that distracts me for an hour or two while I flick through a few pages. (Telling myself the whole time that I won't be long)
The worst part of going down this path is that often it is the case that I don't finish my random 'sort' so in the end it still ads one more thing to the grand 'To Do' list that runs my life.

It has been in the past two years I have come to realise how there are so many layers to your life. We all know they are there of cause, but I think more then not we try to avoid the thought of it all.

Take one aspect of life that we all have, say relationships. I will go by my own life here. First there is the relationship between me and my parents. It takes work, thought, patience, and that is different for Mam as it is for Dad.
There is the relationship I hold as a sister. Again different to my sister, and brother. Now multiply that by Grandparents, Work colleagues, Friends, acquaintances, neighbors, etc. That is a job all of its own.

That is why I hate advertisements that say something along the lines of "Just 20 minutes a day", or "Simply replace once a month". As if there isn't enough in our lives to worry about!!

I have told myself that one day I am going to sit down and write all those things I am meant to fit in. (Flipping your mattress every two months, changing the filter in the water pump, cleaning out the gutters once a month; everything right down to taking vitamins every day) And see, if I was to do all these things that "THEY" tell me I must, within the time limits "THEY" give, would I have time to get my 8 hours of sleep a day??

I'll keep you updated.