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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

An Update On Meow

Hi There,

Thought it was high time I presented you all with another post. It's been ages, and I feel, as usual, like I've been neglecting my blog friends.

So, what have I been up to ...

Well, it was my mum's 60th birthday on the 2nd March, and I spent some time putting together a huge collage poster of photos of her, and stuff that she loves. It turned out great, she cried (she cries at the drop of a hat ... she is a very emotional person !!) ...

It was a lovely party, mainly just family and some close friends ... about 20 people ... we put on a bbq and salads, and stuff ... yummy ... drinks, music, and good old fashined fun. We bought mum this concrete garden statue / ornament thingy, which she loves (once again, she cried ... not sure why, but she did LOL) ...

My poor Mitsubishi Magna finally gave up the ghost. It had been regularly giving me various problems ... overheating, strange noises, brake issues ... this time it was the automatic gearbox ... nothing worse than driving an automatic, which chooses not to use all it's gears, and screams then clunks quite violently into the 3rd gear, all the while putting out a smoke screen whilst stuck in peak hour traffic ... at least no-one could see me LOL. Not nice at all. It did bring things to a head, and we went out and quickly bought me a new car (well, a used car, but it was new to me!!). It is a gorgeous burgundy/red coloured Daewoo Lanos 3 door hatch. It is a 2000 model, with only 74,000km on the clock. It had only had one owner, and all the books and service details were there. We got it for a song. I looooove my new car. It's a 5 speed manual (the Magna was an automatic), and it is such fun driving it, as it is a zippy little car.

The weather has been horrendously hot lately. For the past couple of weeks, it has been in the mid to high 30s ... that's really hot, people. No rain, very dry, and horribly hot. At times, it was also windy ... it was like being in a furnace ... yuck !! Fortunately, a cool change (finally) came through yesterday, and it was a pleasant mid-20s today. Aaaah, much better !!

Yesterday, I picked up Clare O, a friend of Clare's, from London. She was staying with some friends in Bulleen, whilst visiting Melbourne, during her 6 week trip to Australia. We went for a drive to Frankston, where there was a Sand Sculpture Exhibition. The exhibition was amazing, and the sand castles (if you can call them that) were incredible ... all in the theme of Fairytales & Fables. Here are a few photos of my favorites ...

This first one shows Clare in front of the Wizard of Oz sculpture ...


This next one depicts May Gibbs Gumnut Babies ... taken from an Australian children's story .

This one is of the characters from Dorothy Wall's Blinky Bill stories ... another Aussie story.

Puss in Boots ...




Alice in Wonderland ...


This next one was huge, and featured many of the stories from Mother Goose. There were so many things to see, we just had to keep going back to look for more ... just amazing.



Hansel & Gretel ...


Little Red Riding Hood ...

Three Blind Mice (part of the Mother Goose sculpture) ...

Goldilocks & The Three Bears ...

When we had had our fill of admiring and photographing the amazing sand sculptures, it was most definately time for lunch and an eagerly awaited drink (it was still way-hot at this stage ... the cool change hadn't quite hit !!). We went into a restaurant on the foreshore, and ate with our eyes ... we ordered too-big pizzas, which we had to take the remainders home with us. They were yummy, and the cold Pepsi's we had with them were great.

After eating our fill, we headed back outside, where the cool change had hit, and it was now blowing a gale !!! We walked out on the Frankston Pier (getting slightly sand blasted as we traversed the beach), staying near the railing, for fear of being blown over the edge !!! The wind had chopped up the normally calm sea (part of our Port Phillip Bay), and there were waves and white-caps. Fun !!!

We decided to head back to the car, and took a scenic route through the countryside, ending up at Lysterfield Lake. Whilst I actually live quite near to this beautiful lake, I had never actually been there. Now I know what it is like, I will for sure go back. There were people swimming (it was more sheltered here than at the beach, and it had gotten a bit warmer again). It was just lovely.

Back into the car, and over to my place, where a long cold Pepsi was waiting for us ... sightseeing sure works up a thirst !! We chatted for awhile, I shared some of my photos from our travels, and then back into the car to take Clare back to where she was staying, so she could catch up with the people she was staying with !! I struggled with some peak-hour traffic coming home, but not too bad. It was a great day, and I must say, Clare is a lovely person. It felt like we were old friends, and we just chatted away all day. Thank you Clare, for allowing me to be your tour-guide for the day, it was a pleasure !! Here is a photo of the two of us in my lounge-room, before I took Clare home !!

I went back to work today, for my last day until the week starting Monday 7th April, which is after the school holidays (the rosters aren't done yet, so am not sure which days I will be working).

Hubby, Chicky and I are off this weekend to Bonnie Doon for Easter, then back home for a day or two, then we pack the car for a 10 day camping tour around the country-side ... we are doing a couple of days in the Murray Sunset National Park (Vic), a couple of days in Renmark (SA), a couple of days at Lake Mungo National Park (NSW), back into Victoria for a night somewhere, then down to The Grampians for another couple of days. Should be quite a lot of driving, but a lot of exploring, and guaranteed ... a lot of photos !! I'm sure we will have a ball ... just the 3 of us. Can't wait.

So, enough from me for now ... I would like to finish by wishing you all a Very Happy Easter. Stay safe, and happy, and enjoy the extended long weekend. Oh yeah, don't eat too much chocolate !!

Till next time ...

Take care,

17 comments:

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Loved ALL the pics, Connie! Sounds like you had a good visit with Clare, and those sand sculptures are amazing!

We're just now beginning our Spring here, and we're having another cold snap. It's 44F as I type this, so we need our jackets right now.

Glad to see you post again, my friend. I've missed you!

Have a great rest of your week, and Happy Easter! :o)

Love and hugs,

Diane

megz_mum said...

I love those sand sculptures! Enjoy your Easter break!

Saur♥Kraut said...

I used to do MAJOR sandsculptures with a partner. We are quite well-known for them in our area, so I don't like to give a lot of details (as I try to stay anonymous). BUT... they take a great deal of work and are NOT at all fun. I used to HATE it when people would walk up and joke about how nice it must be to goof off and build sandsculptures all day. Grrrrrr.

Peter said...

Hi Connie, the burgundy Daewoo looks great especially against the green of your nature strip!!!!!!
Have a great Easter and camping trip.

Devil Mood said...

Wow, those sculptures are amazing!
:)

I could get pretty emotional with such a lovely party like your Mother had. Love the collage you made :)

Thanks for the email, I hope you have a great Easter and enjoy your car vrrooom-vrooom hehe

Jean-Luc Picard said...

Those are some sculptures, Connie.

Clare said...

Those sand sculptures are amazing and I'm so happy you got to meet Clare O and had such a good time :). Now all you have to do is come to London and we can show you round our part of the world.
I hope you have a lovely Easter in Bonnie Doon and look forward to hearing all about it when you come back.

Heidi said...

So cool u met Clare! I would love to me a fellow blogger..

Happy Easter Connie..Hugs xo

Fliss and Mike Adventures said...

I just LOVE the Gumnut babies... when in Australia last I bought a huge May Gibbs book and statue of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie so when we get our daughter that she will grow up knowing who they are...

Spider Girl said...

Hi Meow, Happy Easter!

I love doing collages for friends--they are always so appreciated because the receiver knows homemade gifts like that take a lot of effort, are just for them, and therefore come with extra love attached. It was a very thoughtful birthday present for your mom.

Heh, the last collage I did made my friend do happy-crying too. It's a good thing that. :)

Greeneyes said...

¸.•*´¨`*•.¸
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Happy Easter Meow:Connie .
wow you have been a very busy girlie!
The pic collage is amazing , what a sweet daughter you must be , I bet it did make her cry what a nice thing to do , and look at all those memories !!!!! a Fantastic Job !


Your car is a beaut! looks brand spanking new , you'll have to teach me how to drive stick one of these days , I did many years ago but too many hills where i live ,I would bop around like a pea in a can HAHA

I am now totally jealous !(wink) you got to meet Clare in person and she got to met YOU!!!!Sniff Sniff , I better start buying lotto tickets in bulk ;)
Except we would nt get very far we would be chatty chat chat !!LOL AND that would be great with me
:-)
AHHHHH one day , perchance to dream >>>>>>>>>>>

Have fun just the three of you , sounds relaxing and fun '

Hugs Dear friend , Miss you

Greeneyes

Jeanette said...

Hi Dear Connie, Lovely to see a new blog. loved all your photo's of the sand sculptures. and hope you had a great time at Bonnie Doone, Take Care Traveling around...

Saur♥Kraut said...

Hey Meow! Where ARE you?

Unknown said...

Happy belated birthdat to your mom!

Congratulations on the new wheels!

Wow! Those sand sculptures are impressive!

Unknown said...

Alice in Wonderland, a Daewoo for Meow, and a Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame!

GLAD TO SEE YOU HERE AGAIN, MEOW!!!

Susie said...

Hi Connie,
Glad to see you post again and catch up on your news! Your Mom and I are close to the same age! I can see why she'd have a tear or two with the cute figurine..
:)

~jack~ said...

the sand sculptures made my heart leap with joy and wow!!!
Amazing artists !!!!