Tasmania

We are back in the Hunter Valley.  It is raining here at the moment….   Well, really, it has been raining for DAYS!.  Our front yard looks like a swamp.  Funny how all the kangaroos come in close to the house when it rains.  Sometimes when we wake up, there are 20 kangaroos in our yard!

 Peter and I have just returned from spending a month on our tree property in Tasmania.  It is called 'Liena', rhyming with Hyena.  We camped....  i.e. cooked over an open fire, although we do have a small van to sleep in at night.  But we have no electricity, no phone, no internet, etc.  (We have to drive about a kilometer down the road to get a phone signal.)

But what can I say...  the wilderness is fantastic.  The property is incredibly beautiful with 3 running streams on it.  I have enclosed a picture of our ‘mountain hut’  When we bought the property, our hut didn’t have windows and doors and the flooring was covered in 2 feet of sheep poo.  Half of the hut was in such bad shape, we pulled it down.  But what we can salvage, we will build a verandah out to the open fire place.

The hut is now cleaned out, and we have bought secondhand windows and doors.  A builder should be putting them in as I write this.  He will also be putting in a new wooden floor and lining the walls.  Hopefully, the next time we visit our tree property, we can sleep in our little hut.  

But we still won’t have electricity or phone.  So I will be cooking over an open fire with my ‘camp oven’.  I made a beef roast one night...  with some of the left over beef, I made 'stroganoff' the next night, and the remainder I made into a wonderfully rich beef stew.  My next adventure is to learn how to make a damper in an open fire.

Can't believe I haven't posted for 2 months....

I am in the U.S., visiting my elderly mother.  She is just a 'hoot'!  Here is a picture of her going to a Christmas party in Velvet Dress, heels, and red Christmas socks.  Only 'she' could get away with such an outfit!!  She is so.o.o.o.o tiny.  She weighs 88 lbs or 40 kgs.

Aquamarine Gem Stone

Peter bought me a set of beautiful aquamarine jewelry when we were in India.  I just loved it!!  About 5 years ago when we were going overseas, Peter told me to NOT take any valuable jewelry, and to hide it in our house.  I hid my aquamarine stones extremely well.  I couldn't find it upon my return, even though I turned the house upside down looking.  Then we moved from Ballina to Sydney, and as I packed, I kept looking for the jewelry without success.   I had taken a whole heap of shoes, clothing, and purses to St. Vincent de Paul before we left...  and I had a sickening feeling I left the jewelry in a pocket or a shoe, etc. and gave it away.

I even listened to my Mother who told me I should pray to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things.

Recently on my meditation course, I meditated on 'letting go' of the pain regarding the jewelry I had lost.

This morning... 5 years later, in the Hunter Valley, I pulled out a hair clip from a plastic bag....  and out fell a little jewelry case....   and there it was, my aquamarine earings, ring, and pendant.  I thank whomever, or whatever, for giving it back to me!

Eye Surgery

I had laser surgery on my right eye 3 days ago.  Amazing stuff.  No pain and bandages came off 24 hours after op.  I can now see better in that eye without my glasses...  but I need my glasses for my other eye.  And things are a bit blurry in close proximity.  All should be well within the week as my right eye adjusts to it's new lens.  Then in 4 weeks time...  I get my left eye done.  They are correcting what is called 'angular closure glaucoma'...  something you can get as you get older.

Anyway...  for the moment, all is well.

Back home in Australia

We are back in the Hunter Valley.  Only been back one week and today we are off to Canowindra to do some ballooning!!

Switzerland was wonderful.  We took many long Alpine walks.

We also spent a week in France on a boat with some N.Z. friends a week before we left Switzerland.  I am quite sure we will have another boat in France in the years to come.  It is just that we have some other travels to take care of before we settle down again.

On the way back from Switzerland, I visited with my 95 year old Mum!  Gosh she is fantastic.  Great humour, laughs alot, enjoys company, etc.  I can only home I live to her age with her faculties!

Peter, meanwhile, was visiting the World Hot-Air Balloon Championships, and then went on to visit with David Levin and other balloonists in Colorado.  He had a wonderful time.

I will try to keep my blog more 'up to date'.

World Hot Air Balloon Championships

Well, we can't stay away from ballooning too long.  Here we are in Battle Creek, Michigan in the U.S. at the World Championships.  Peter is loving it!  We are seeing many old friends.  Ruth Wilson is here from Australia...  and also Matthew Scaife is coming in 4th, which is wonderful.  Matthew is the son of the man who purchased Balloon Aloft from us, and Matt is running our company in Australia.  We are very pleased with his success.

But ballooning has changed with the advent of computers and GPS's, and I am not so sure Peter or I would like to compete anymore.  It is a different world than the one we used to fly in!!!

Another month has gone by......

I can't believe it is more than a month since my last blog.  We have done many exciting things in Switzerland, including a 'Bisse' walk around the side of a mountain with sheer drops that took my breath away!  We have also been to France and spent 4 days with New Zealand friends on their boat on a canal in France and absolutely loved it!