Queen Garnet Plums

I've just feasted on my last Queen Garnet plums for the 2026 season. Apart from the occasional strawberries and grapes, I've been buying QG plums non stop for the last six weeks. Oh, so delicious. None in the supermarket when I dropped by this morning.

A Sigh of Relief

A long awaited final service for our congregation's pastor has come and gone this morning.  The various speeches went well until Pastor's longwinded speech at the end, which dragged on, and he got on his high horse with his opinions, which didn't make us feel any better about ourselves or him. Anyway, that's the end of an era now, and apart from various admin duties, we shouldn't have much else to do with him. 

The day has turned out sunny and shiny, gleaming and showy after a few days of cooler temps. It's my last week of school crossing duty coming up - a four day week before the school holidays start, and then I take some sick leave, so a proper break for me.

Running Late

Yes, running late here today. It's been one of those days, where an appointment went long, church emails requiring attention were coming in, and I've been trying to catch up all day. Just when I was about to head out for a walk, the phone rang and a longwinded conversation followed; I'm finally here, briefly. 

 

Bunnings and Other Places

Well, there was church in the morning, of course, and then for lunch we were at Proudfoots Boathouse enjoying a meal with good friends.

After that we toddled off to Bunnings for a look see and some purchases.

It was time to update our stepladder. The old original stepladder which has served us well for over 30 years; served me well for over 30 years, being a munchkin, needed to be replaced. Jim had occasion to use it yesterday, doing some cleaning and it was really no longer safe enough to do the job, or safe enough for me, for my reaching tasks. The new one's a little bit wider, with sturdier rubber feet. 

 

The deck pots have been empty since christmas so we come home with some potted colour, as well. They'll look better in a couple of days when they've perked up after transplanting... I'm pretty rough when it comes to potting up...

Pottering Through the Days

Once again, there's not much news. I'm getting my daily tasks done, and then extra tasks that rotate on the calendar every 2-3-6 months. Pulled my bed out from the wall today, and vacced and dusted behind and underneath where it usually sits. Turned the mattress over. I'd washed the underblanket, top blanket and pillows a couple of weeks ago, so that should set me up for the next few months. 

The nights are turning cooler, and I'm generally sleeping well snuggled up under an extra blanket. 

Appointments and commitments are going on the calender, and into the diary already for Term 2. I'm hoping church stuff will settle down after Easter - we'll see how we go...

 

Not Much News

There's been a few bits and pieces going on with appointments, and discussions with various church people during the last week, but basically not much news of any note.

Tired as anything today... The doctor has given me a strong cortisone cream for my chronically itchy back, and I'm wondering if that's having an affect? Not on the list of side effects, but you never know.

We had a quick outing to Koroit this afternoon to catch-up with some-one, but she was out. We did a short walk along the rail trail, and then got home for our afternoon tea. 

Beachport 2026

We made our annual trek, along with the families, to Beachport on the weekend. It was a great time for everyone, but a wild wind blew for 48 hours. It was well nigh impossible to put my head out the door for a walk, or a stroll around the shops. It had blown itself out just when we were packing up to go home. 

Just to get out of the apartment, Jim and I did a bit of a tourist drive around the local coast road, and ended up at Woolley Lake. It was warm and sheltered walking along the bush track.

 

Falling Into Place

An upcoming event has been scheduled with some certainty, now, so I can make plans about other things happening in the next couple of months. March and April doings are all falling into place...

No changes to this weekend coming - as we're off to Beachport for our annual visit. I've got the Beachport list out; most things are in hand; the weather is promising to be mild; the children will be cheerful, and I've got a good book packed and/or a Midsomer Murders ep to watch on the ipad. 

Today

Today was Harvest Thanksgiving at church. Despite the numbers of members at church being considerably reduced in the last few months, we had a very respectable display of fresh and packaged goods . Our visiting Pastor gave a wonderful address, and despite the lapel mic not working all went well. 

A Story of Waffles

Back Story One - Jules Schiller and Sonya Feldhof host the 5.30club on ABC Radio week day mornings at 5.30am! I listen back, often at 5.30pm, on my daily walk. It's the best 25 minutes on radio. All sorts of odd people ring in, and what may start out as a singular topic can morph into a talkback discussion on just about anything. On a particular morning last week the topic was idiosyncratic stores in Adelaide or SA that were definitely one of a kind. 

Back Story Two - Jim and I have been driving along the Dukes Highway between Keith and Tailem Bend pretty much 8-12 times a year for the last 50 years... (Phew!)

Someone rang in to Jules and Sonya singing the praises of the Waffles and Jaffles shop at Coonalpyn (on the Dukes Hwy), established in 2014. We had never stopped, despite there always being a line of customers there. Well the time was never right... It was always too early for an afternoon tea stop on our way to Adelaide, and too late for a morning tea stop on our way from Adelaide.  Other people rang in to endorse the first person's endorsement; I felt it just might work for us this trip as we were leaving from Tailem Bend. 

And so it did! We pulled over and ordered a waffle serve each. We discussed the waffles with Claudia (owner), saying we had been to Belgium and not tried waffles there. Apparently the Bruges waffles are cooked differently to the Liege waffles.

Glory be, look at this.  Seven minutes after ordering we were tucking in, and it was to die for. The waffle was crispy, crunchy, with just the right amount of sweetness. 

There is no seating indoors, so I wouldn't want to be seated outside in the heat and flies, but it was just perfect at 10.00am, and strangely weird with the transports and trains rushing noisily past. 

A Long Weekend Story in Pictures

We stopped at Casterton for morning tea on the way to Adelaide, and walked down the slope from the Kelpie Centre to look at the old railway station.

The next morning we crossed the Murray River on the ferry at Wellington.

Morning tea again, this time at Milang.

Another old railway station.

Then it was lots of visiting of sisters, ending up at the birthday party for the birthday girl.

Ready to leave The Bend Caravan Park on Sunday morning. We were happy with our cabin, but not a tree in sight, as I looked across the park from our front verandah. 

A late lunch at the Harrow Post Cafe, and a look down Harrow's main street. 

Finishing up with rocks at Penshurst.

There's a little side story from our travels, but that'll be for Wednesday's post. 

 

February

February is tumbling by with things to do, weather to endure or enjoy, appointments to keep, arrangements to be made, and people to talk to.

We're looking forward to getting out of Warrnambool and away from ongoing concerns for a couple of days.  Also, the shorter travel days from and back to Warrnambool. So, we'll see how it all goes. Saturday is fully booked with people to visit, culminating in the big 40th party. 

A Bit of Clear Air

The main 2 meetings of the year have been and gone, and minutes written up, so I'm finding some little pockets of time to do other things, unrelated to church... I even got the sewing machine out yesterday, to do some mending, after months and months. But it wasn't sewing well, so I spent more time reading the instruction book, than actually sewing. I might try again a bit later.  

It was nice to pick up a clutch of books from the library during the week. It doesn't happen very often these days, as I do a lot of reading on my kindle.

A short week for me, coming up, as Friday we're travelling to South Australia for a milestone birthday. Her actual birthday is tomorrow - not sure how I'm feeling about that - 40years old, the youngest in the family...

The Day

The day has got away from me somewhat - trying to clear a couple of church admin tasks away, and then I got held up this afternoon, talking. 

An elderly acquaintance needed my help filling in some forms, so that took twice as long as expected, and then I dropped into the church for 5 minutes max, and some-one was there, so twenty minutes later I eventually got away.

By then it was almost tea time, walk time and desk time...

 

A Very Full Sunday

Happily, all has gone well with our very full Sunday. Over a BYO lunch at church, between the service and the meeting, I was able to have a good catch up with quite a few people.  Coffee and slice went down well for dessert.

For the first time since the ructions started in the austrlaian church wide church in October 2024, I was able to open up about my views, at the meeting. There was still pressure from one particular person for me to get stuck in and follow a particular course of action, but I felt confident enough to say I would go slowly, as I have done so far. I'm reading the needs of the congregation in a different way. 

The weather is warm and extremely steamy, so I'm sat here writing this post, then will do a books order from the libary or Amazon Kindle, and follow through with a walk after tea. Exercise has been extremely patchy the last couple of weeks, so hoping to get back to a more regular routine to build up some strength, and puff!

Not Much News

Not much news to speak of, once again. I'm between the 2 AGM's, so lots of thinking and working out to do. Women's Fellowship had their first meeting of 2026 this afternoon, about 20 women, so all in all a good meeting, and I didn't have to do anything...

Quick Post

It's been a tricky day, but all went well. 

We had a visiting pastor this morning; he was lovely, and we had a lovely sermon and lovely prayers. The Parish AGM this afternoon was busy, and I talked too much, but I think everyone was happy with the outcomes. 

Out for a flash meal tomorrow evening to celebrate the 75th birthday...