Weekend Escape with Wallabies and Coffee to Cairns!

Hi!

Well. Apologies for not checking in sooner, again......! But, here we are on another beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon. There's a nice breeze, and it's thankfully not too hot or humid, which makes doing the chores and whatnot just a little easier to bear. Outside are the twittering birds (mainly yammering crows, warbling magpies, and chatty lorikeets) and napping cats, all to the usual hip n' cool jazz tunes and a nice, cool stand-by Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (always my favorite, even after 24 years - gasp!).

So work. Yep. It's good. Winding down to Xmas, and our move to the building next door. I must say I'm not too jazzed about my seating assignment - I'll have my back to all and sundry on the floor and am right next to a main pathway/aisle, but there's nothing I can do but be thankful for a decent, steady job.......! And we're just that much closer to having our contract officially extended until the aircraft is basically in pieces after it's been retired, so we'll hopefully have another five years or so of work - which is good I suppose if you have to work. Oh, and surprises of surprises, to mark my five years of "dedication to the corporation" I was presented with a certificate with a little badge pin and a gift certificate! Well, I'll be. That was nice of them. Most companies don't do anything let alone give you a gift certificate. I was pretty impressed they not only remembered but spelled my name right! Huh. So yes, work is good - hooray for gainful employment!

And then there were a few weekends in there..... One nice, extra long weekend was spent up in Cairns with my friends Glen and Alison! That was reeeeeally nice, even if it rained the whole time and we didn't get to go to Fitzroy Island like we'd bought tickets (for the ferry ride over) to do. It was great to see them tho, catch up and swim in their pool! We did make it onto the Skyrail (gondolas that glide quietly over the rainforest - one of my favorite things to do there, even if it was my third time doing it) and up to Kuranda for a wander around and have some lunch at the Rainforest View Cafe........ I'm not sure why it gets reviewed so badly on Trip Advisor, sure the food is nothing to write home about but it wasn't that bad (I had the kangaroo burger with fries (NOM!) and Mom had the supreme pizza with a couple glasses of wine) and I thought it was perfectly fine. The place was quiet and the service was good. Sure, it's not five-star fancy pants, but you're surrounded by rainforest and lovely cool breezes, and they cook and bring you food and wine - what's to complain about?! Some folks can be pretty precious sometimes I guess! And then we wandered down to meet the Kuranda Scenic Rail train for our ride back down the "mountain" and back into Cairns. That is always a nice way to spend a couple hours, especially when you're in a Gold Class carriage! All the views, breezes, and wine and cheese you can drink and eat! That was a good day.

Then the next day, even tho it was raining (off and on) we headed out across the Atherton Tablelands to Mareeba for a look around and a tour of the Jaques Coffee Plantation. Once at Jaques, before we set off, included in our ticket price was a cup of their coffee, any way we liked. And the coffee was excellent, I have to say. Then, to start our tour, we headed into a little tiny cinema for a little documentary about the plantation and the family and the trials and

tribulations they've gone through over the years to get the plantation established - wooooweeee they've been through some stuff (I highly recommend you read that 'history' article in the link above), but they've kept it going! Then it was off on our tour (just the four of us), with our tour guide being the son himself, Jason, and he took us out and about. Then it was back to the cafe for a quick tasting of the two liquers they do (a Kahluay one and a Bailey'sy one, both really, really good. Good thing they have an online shop!) It. Was. EX-cellent. He was so nice, personable, and really really friendly. Can't recommend the place enough. It was so good!
 

Afterwards we headed off to meet and feed some wild Rock Wallabies at Granite Gorge National Park. The park itself is beautiful with these amazing, well, granite, rock formations and tons of cute little wallabies hopping all over the place. There were soooo many of them you were practically mugged! They were terribly cute tho, and one even had a tiny little joey in her pouch that would peek its little head out and have a look around with its biiiig, brown eyes. So cute. But then a storm came through and chased us back to our car. Everyone was happy - the wallabies all got a free lunch and we got tons of photos.

Then we headed back towards Cairns with a stop for lunch in Palm Cove at the local surf club. Good food and the money always goes to a good cause - the surf lifesavers that will pluck your butt out of the seashould you overestimate your swimming abilities! But, again, it was raining so you couldn't really see much even tho the sea was right across the road; still, lunch and good company couldn't be beaten!

The next day we actually stayed close to home as the weather was still crap. Tho we did head out in the morning for an incredibly good breakfast at the Cairns Botanic Gardens Cafe where I had the largest cup of coffee known to man!The food was soooo good, as was the service and the surrounds - right there within the rainforest. It was most, most excellent. Then we headed home for a lively game of Monopoly and even Yahtzee! And then the next day was Monday where we hung around the house before our flight home. Finishing off a most excellent weekend, rain and all.

And after that, well, the last couple of weekends just haven't compared! But now it's getting time to get stuff together for Xmas with my annual trip to the foster family over in Toowoomba. This'll be Mom's first Xmas here so it should be pretty good!

And really, that's been about it. Like I said, after Cairns the weekends around here just can't compare! So, one day, when you all get yer butts down here, we'll head up there!!!! You will love it! So, there you are. Hope you're all well up there and like I've said a gazillion times before, if you need help planning your itinerary for your trip down thisaway, I'll be more than happy!!!!!!

BYE!
J!

Weeks of Walks, Baseball and Escape!

Hi!

Well. Here we are, checking in a bit later than I thought it was.... eeeek - sorry about that! Time seems to fly when there's not a lot happenin'! But we're here now - it's a fairly warm and quiet afternoon, getting ready for summer by the feel of it. The chores are all mainly done...... The birds must be having a siesta because it's all rather quiet out there - for now. The kittehs are doing their best to protect the little apartment from anyone foolish enough to climb up over the balcony or up through the floor under my bed..... Got the hip n' groovy jazz tunes, or rather, lounge tunes today just for something different, and of course checking in wouldn't be complete without a nice cool drink and today it happens to be a red wine spritzer - yes, it sounds gross but you try drinking red wine when it's warm out! And hey, you can't knock it until you've tried it, it's pretty good! So yes, all together, life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. Been really quiet lately, which has been good for the most part because we've been able to catch our breath from the mainly busy year..... But I think we're all now starting to get bored..... We like to be busy. They've told us we'll be moving to the building right next door to where we are now because "we've just won sooooo much work and we're running out of room...". Whatever. There will be pluses and minuses to moving, the main plus being we won't have to share the floor (and tiny toilets) with the HR dingbats anymore, which is kind of a shame because they were good for comedy relief - walking into the kitchen to watch one of them dig a slice of toast out of the toaster with a metal knife being one of my favorite episodes of theirs....... The downside to the move is a fear that we're being rounded up to go into a pool of technical writers (as far as I'm aware I'm one of the only technical editors left in the building... gulp). We've been told we're moving, along with two other projects about our size or bigger, at the beginning of December, but within the week of telling us, they've changed the date three times. Soooo, we'll just wait and see. Otherwise, work is good. I just celebrated five whole years with them on the 8th of Nov. Crazy how fast it's gone...... But, no matter what, am always happy to have good, gainful employment!

And then there were a few weekends in there....... Well, one weekend I can think of was spent watching the NY Mets get their butts kicked by the Kansas City Royals in the MLB World Series (thank you to whatever website I was able to find that was live-streaming it! Gotta love the interwebs these days). That was sad - first time the Mets had been back to the World Series since I lived in NYC - and that was 15 years ago (gasp)! And even then, that game was against the Yankees (Yankees suck!) and they got their butts kicked then too..... Poor Mets. Hopefully next year! Go Mets!

And then another weekend I went for a walk with my friend Julian out towards

the bay at Wellington Point to King Island, a teeny, little island that you can only get to at low tide. That was nice because we've been having some interesting storms during the day (usually this time of year we get them in the late afternoon or night) and the time we decided to go just so happened to be a break in the storm series - so the day was actually really, really, really nice and thankfully not too crowded. Then we headed to Cleveland Point (no, not Ohio, even tho that's what I always think when I see the road signs) and stopped in for lunch at a really cool, oooold place called The Grand View Hotel for steaks - nom! We even got to sit upstairs on their veranda, away from the crowded bar area downstairs. That was a good day.

And what else...... Oh, I know, this past Friday I actually went to my very first

swing social dance! I've been going to these classes once a week since June and I finally felt confident enough that I could do a few basic moves and not trip or fall (either myself or anyone else). It was fun! But seeing as these social dances are on [every second] Friday evenings, and I'm no spring chicken, man, I was pooped by 10pm - and it can easily go until midnight! Ahhhh, to be young and not have to get up every morning at 5am to go to your full-time job! I'm not so sure I liked the venue very much, the place itself was fine, in an old church, but the space was so hot and stuffy, and summer isn't even up to full steam yet; so am not sure how often I'll feel like going over the next couple of months...... But yes, it was fun - very glad I finally went!

And, well, I think that's about it. Mom and I are off to Cairns this weekend to see my friends Glen and Alison, so, really looking forward to getting out of town for a little bit and catching up with them! I don't get to see them very often as they're generally super busy either traveling all over the world, hosting family or working too much! And I think the last time I was up there was when Mom was here last! Yikes, time sure flies.

So, there you have it. Apologies for not checking in sooner - time certainly got away from me and am sorry. I hope you're all well up there - drop a line and let me know if you need annnnnnny help planning your trip down thisaway! Yay! 

BYE!
J!

P.S. I swear, this little blog sure can make life hard sometimes - no idea what's going on with the font size. I've fought with it and fought with it for an hour so I've given up. Get yer glasses out!

Coffee with Martians!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on a very breezy but very sunny Sunday afternoon. The birds are having an afternoon nap, or are way out running errands because they're a bit quiet at the moment... Resting up for their evening gab-fest I suppose. The chores are mostly done..... even tho I put the filing on top of the little file box, it can't seem to find its way inside.... But, have got a nice cool glass of the standby sparkling Rose, got the hip n' groovy jazz tunes, the kittehs are keeping watch of the balcony and bedroom, making sure nothing with wings gets past them and into the apartment.... Yes, life is good!

So, work. Yep. It's pretty good. Still waiting to hear our fate about our contract that expires at the beginning of December..... We're pretty sure it's all fine, it's just the final clarification questions, lawyers and contracts people are happy, signatures, etc. Way to leave it 'til the last minute folks - you've only known this was coming for the last two years! But what can a gal do but wait it out and hope for the best. Otherwise, things have quietened down a bit... Which is good, gives us time to clean things up and get ready for the Xmas break. I think our customer is saving up the work to send us once the contract finally gets sorted..... They'll heap mountains of work on us just after New Year's, which is good I suppose. It certainly beats having no work at all!!!!!! Yay for work!!!!

And then there've been a few weekends in there....... Am sorry - I've been meaning to check in but seem to have been doing things on these last few Sundays......! Let's see... Mom arrived from the US in the middle of Sept, so we've been out and about getting her phone sorted, got her a good set of walking shoes, show her the bus to take to town, where my work building is, that kinda stuff. That weekend of the 26th Sept we headed over to Toowoomba to visit my "foster family" Paul and Margaret (he was my boss way back when I worked for Qld Fire - I'm their Xmas orphan) - they'd met Mom once before on her last visit out. That weekend was the final weekend of the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers - it's so pretty and the city council puts a ton of work into it, so we all had to check that out. Basically, the city council plants these amazing flower displays at parks (and everywhere else they can jam some in!) all over town. People come from all over to see it, plus you can tour private homes and their gardens, tho we were a bit late in the festival for that. And then we just hung out and caught up, for once we able to catch up properly instead of over a hectic houseful of folks over Xmas! I don't mind Toowoomba, and it was really nice to see Paul and Margaret outside of Xmas. It was a great visit!

And what else.... We've been out to the movies, saw The Martian... ehh, it wasn't baaad, but I'd wait for DVD. I mean, Matt Damon is pretty much excellent in everything he does, and it was directed by Ridley Scott for cryin' out loud, but this was, while not a bad story or bad acting or anything, in fact it had a few pretty funny moments, I don't know what I expected really, but ehhh. I'd call it a DVD for a rainy day - it'd be perfect for that!

And then we've gotten out and run some errands, shown Mom around town (and giving the car a little run in the process)........ A bit of shopping - bought a fanceeeee pants Nespresso machine (and what seemed like hundreds of different little pods), something I kinda always said I'd never buy... But after spending the weekend at Paul and Margaret's using one, well, we decided it could be good to have one of our own. And the best part is, on Amazon, there are reusable/refillable pods that you can fill with your own coffee (looking at you Safari Coffee Roasters - here's a new idea for you - Nespresso-compatible pods!), which I think is pretty cool, and less wasteful (and cheaper too in the long run). So far it's pretty good. A bit of trial and error getting the right blend and amount, but it's fun to experiment. So now if only Safari Coffee would make compatible pods, life would be excellent!

And that's kinda been about it. Planning to go visit the friends Glen and Alison in

Cairns in the next month or so, hopefully. It's always really nice to get up there, I rather like Cairns..... Maybe if things don't work out with the new contract at work.......? Hmmm! But before then Glen will be staying with us for a couple nights in, gosh, just a couple weeks, so it'll be good to see him and catch up. Haven't seen him/them in ages...! Looking forward to the visit(s)!

And that's about it, really! Still trying to get settled into the whole contact lens thing, but I think the one, single thing I've learned from all of this is that my eyes really aren't that bad at all and in the end I may just give up and just wear my stupid reading glasses (if I need to) at work! Gah. Well, I wanted to try them and now I can say I have! What else...... Am still going to my swing/lindy hop dance classes, just started another new eight-week block of both intermediate and beginner - that's nearly two and a half hours of dancing on Monday nights - go me! But am still trying hard to save for this trip over Xmas next year, golly that's gonna kill the bank account but man oh man it'll be worth it!!!!!!!

So there you have it. Sorry for not checking in, things have been busy and yet quiet, but all is well. Hope you're all well up there - hopefully summer has cooled down enough yet? I've seen San Diego has been 100 degrees - what the?! Down here we're enjoying a pretty decent spring so far. We've got to enjoy it while we can because it's so short that before we know it we'll be settled into summer and begging for winter to come - which is an excellent time of year for visitors to come, by the way (wink wink, hint hint)!!!!

BYE!
J!

Weekends of Seeing Through Citizenship Applications and Chores.....!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another lovely, breezy Sunday afternoon. The chores are all (mainly) done, the laundry is out there swinging in the breeze only this time I'm hoping that not only will the birds not poop on it, that the rain holds off for another hour or so at least.......! The kittehs are taking an afternoon nap in their respective beds, a break from a rough day of sleeping on the comfy chairs on the balcony. Got some fun and bouncy jazz tunes from the great standby RadioTunes (same type of music we dance to in mah swing dance class!), and to top it all off I have a nice, cool glass of the beer I made mahself - yes, life is good!

So, work. Yep. It's good. I'm busy, but then being such a small team I think we all are at the moment, which has been super good because the days have flown by. There're more Management moves and arm-wrestling matches going on but none of us really care as long as it doesn't affect us, and we're pretty sure it won't any time soon. If anything, our project will end when they retire their FA18s in a couple of years. But yes, so far all is well. Now that it's September (gasp - that was quick), people are starting to think about Xmas and all the time off they get to take. I'm always amazed at how folks here/at work

all go away for five weeks or so to go camping, usually to the same campgrounds that everyone else does. How is that "getting away from it all"???? Good grief, last thing I'd want to do, ever, is head out into the wilderness for some peace and quiet only to be surround by people from work! No offense work folks but you're the last folks I'd want to see for my five week break. Good lord it sounds like a nightmare. Or at the very least a murder mystery/thriller.......... Otherwise, all is well. I know I say this every single time, but after years and years and years of non-permanent jobs, including all those years at the theatre, having a stable, half-decent job to go to everyday just doesn't get old. Sure, actually having to work for a living does, because really, who wouldn't rather float around on yachts in the Mediterranean sipping fancee French champagne all day? But the paycheck keeps the bank happy, the kittehs in tuna, and me in a normal apartment - and who can really argue with that? So, hooray for gainful employment (until those winning lottery numbers come in....)!

And then there were a couple weekends in there........ Eh, the weekends have been pretty quiet lately...... Come to think of it, so have the weeks. Except for mah swing dance class Monday evenings, of course. Still haven't worked up the guts (or the end-of-the-week energy) to go to one of their bi-weekly social dances...... One night I will..... sometime. Maybe I have to be dying of the flu to have a lively social calendar? I know one thing I did after work one night (hardly exciting tho....) - went and got a prescription for real contact lenses! So, my

eyes aren't actually that bad, but I've been thinking about what life might be like if I didn't have to haul my reading glasses around all the time, and what if getting a proper prescription made seeing things an incredible new experience? So, the optometrist gal and I tried to narrow down what I could and couldn't see, tried two real ones and settled on the latter one. So, with mah new eyes, off I toddled into the world of rush hour. Eeeeesh. Wierd is what it was but made it home safely. Wore them to work all day the next day, and then spent the whole day with a low-grade headache wondering if by "getting used to them" she meant getting used to not actually seeing the things I could before? Basically, the suckers were super good for stuff within arm's length, anything beyond that it was doubled and kinda off, sort of 3D... I can't explain it but all I know is I couldn't see like I could without them. So, needless to say I haven't worn them since. And that's OK because you apparently get lots of visits until they get it right. And really, what this little exercise has taught me is that I don't actually need help seeing just yet (whew!). But man, I hate dragging these stupid glasses around........ Never mind, I'm just super happy to know my vision isn't nearly as bad as I thought!

And, really, sadly, that's about it. Oh, I know one other thing I did, forgot to mention last time, I submitted my application for Australian Citizenship on the 10th of August (I was eligible on the 7th of Aug)!!!! Still waiting to hear anything about when they want me to come in for an interview..... I did get an email from them saying they got my application, so that was good. When I called with some basic questions before I submitted it I asked the gal how long this whole process might take, and she was really good, broke it down into chunks of weeks, and basically, I hope to know in the next few months..... I like to hope I'll be able to get in on an Australia Day (26th of Jan) citizenship ceremony? Hopefully? Hard to know. You'd think they'd be over the moon that I had all the documents they required and that they were all clear, legible and in English! Will keep you posted.....!

And that really is about it. Quiet, but that's fine. Like I've said, the less I leave the house on weekends, the less likely I am to spend money, because I can always think of something I "need"! But hey, if any of you feel a "need" to get out and check out the great outdoors, why, c'mon down thisaway and do it! 'Course not in summer, unless you like Florida hot, or if you head into the Outback, Phoenix/Death Valley kinda hot........ But hey, there are nine other months that are safe to visit - pick one (or two or a few) and c'mon down!!!!

BYE!

J!