I can't believe it!

My brother and sister-in-law are finally spreading their wings and heading off overseas for a holiday in July. This will be the first time they have been in a plane and been out of NSW. It must have taken great courage for them to commit to this as I know Amanda has never been too keen and David is quite happy being a home boy. They will be travelling to Italy, England, France and Germany and Dubai. Olivia and Brooklyn will be meeting them in London and Edwina will be going to a wedding in Portugal then meeting up with them in France. They have friends with a house in the south of France and will be staying with them for a while.

Happy Birthday Lenny. I believe Lenny has turned 3 today. The first day I saw Lenny was on Mother's Day 3 years ago when David and Simone brought him along to a Mother's Day picnic at Homebush. Hope everyone treated you well today Lenny and you got your favourite dinner.

I didn't get to do my Trivia on Tuesday at Tebbutt as they had a concert on instead. Although I did get to do lots of dancing and Nellie even said to me get up the front and dance. I think Nellie is beginning to trust me now as she sits in on my exercise class which she didn't do before. Some of them asked whether I was doing trivia after the concert but I told them I had to go home then but would be back next week which seemed to satisfy them.

A funny thing happened at gardening. The front garden had some large weeds so I thought I would get Robert to pull them out. I told him what to look for but when I turned around he was pulling out the plants. I quickly stomped them back in again but there is no guarantee they will survive. Next week we are painting a couple of old pots we found out the back. I can't image what that will be like.

Remember the Vampires?

We had our friends from our New Zealand holiday, Peter and Gina over for dinner on Friday night. Gina is a vegetarian, not strictly vegetarian as she eats fish and other things from the sea, so I planned the dinner to accommodate her. We started with Tomato Cheese Tarts (a combination of filo pastry, ricotta cheese, basil and tomatoes) followed by Salmon fillets with Mornay Sauce served on a bed of potato and cauliflower mash and accompanied by snow peas and flaked almonds. This was washed down with a bottle of McWilliams, Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon. A baked rice custard was served for dessert. I pretended I was in "My Kitchen Rules" but unlike a lot of those contestants mine turned out ok. Although I would have lost a few points for the first course as I forgot to grease the tins and the pastry got a bit stuck. All in all we enjoyed a good night and made plans for a trip to Mudgee for a couple of days in July. I must tell you about a strange thing that happened to me while I was in the supermarket shopping for this dinner. I needed a certain cheese and was looking through the hundreds 0f cheeses they seemed to have on display and was thinking to myself that I would never be able to find this particular cheese when I heard a thud behind me. I looked around and there on the floor were a couple of cheeses that must have fallen off the shelf. Guess what they happened to be the cheese I was looking for. How weird's that?
Last Tuesday we had lunch at Terry and Janet's at Stanmore and they had invited another couple who we had previously meet at their 50th wedding anniversary. This couple live down Picnic Point way and have a large boat moored outside their house which they have invited us to go on next time with Janet & Terry. Because of this lunch I had to miss out on Tebbut Lodge so I am looking forward to seeing the residents this week and have prepared some trivia and jokes plus some information on plants they had asked me for.

Kerry and I went to see "The Silver Rose " Ballet yesterday. This was a new ballet and all the cast were outstanding. It had a story and was easy to follow and very enjoyable. I caught the M2 bus and met Kerry at the Opera House. However, before this I did a bit of shopping and walking around and by the time I got to Bennalong point my knee was killing me. I go to the specialist next Monday but before this I have an appointment at the dentist so this week I am not looking forward to.

As Tony's car was still out of action we had to take Rolf and Christa's car to Raymond Terrace

last Saturday. Thankfully we have decided to change our 6/7 week meeting routine and are now going to meet 6 monthly. On the 6 monthly meeting we will be going to Nelson Bay and staying overnight which is a much better plan as driving to Raymond Terrace is more like a chore now as it is such a long way to go for a few hours.

Remember the Vampires Melissa? I watched the next one New Moon. I preferred the first one as this one was about Werewolves and everyone knows vampires outdo werewolves. Apparently there are 4 books in the Twilight series and they have already began on the next movie so I can't wait to see that one now.

Are you for real?

That is what Tony said to me when I told him I had brought a dog for 300,000 coins on Farmville and I needed to feed it everyday for 14 days otherwise it would run away. Unfortunately the farm is part of my life now. I am not that interested in my cafe so I won't be going there for awhile. Enough of this nonsense....

I was sitting in the doctors waiting room on Friday and I began to think of how many hours I must have waited in there over the years. About 40 years ago when I first moved to North Rocks I used to see Dr Penney in the old surgery in Lawndale Ave. He then moved to new premises in Pembury St and when he retired about 20 odd years ago I began seeing another doctor in the same surgery, namely Dr Lee, and I have been seeing him ever since. Patients for the other 2 doctors there are in and out. Whereas there is always about an hour or so wait to see Dr Lee.

Anyway, I eventually got in to see him and he gave me a referral to an orthopedic specialist.

He then suggested I have the flu/swine flu needle and preceded to tell me the side effects you can get with it...... paralyses etc. I said "and you want me to have it". He said it is very rare so I agreed and now I have a very sore arm. I rang the specialist when I got home to make an appointment for my knee. However, the girl said he was on holidays and asked was it urgent. I said no I have put up with this sore knee for over 3 months and little bit longer won't matter. She then said, "oh I'm sorry but doctor only does feet and ankles." So I had to get back to Dr Lee for another referral which I will pick up on Monday.

We have only had our new car for about six weeks and already it is going back to the smash repairs for the second time. A week after we got it, Tony reversed down the driveway into the neighbour's car parked across the road. Then on Thursday coming along the M4 Tony was sitting behind a couple of large trucks and by the time he saw the tyre sitting on the road it was to late to change lanes so he had to go over it. He didn't realise until he got home how much damage it had caused. The front bumper was hanging down and all underneath was damaged. I think this car is jinxed. I guess we are making the most out of our present insurance company as we will be leaving them on the 17 of the month and going to APIA.

Yes the Easter Bunny did come this year......we had our usually Easter Egg Hunt in the front

garden and for lunch we had roast lamb and mint sauce.

This is a photo of the children looking pleased with their find. We also celebrated Michael's

birthday with some fairy cup cakes. This is a photo of Michael trying really hard to blow out his candle. Other important Birthday's .......Jazmin turned 14 today and Rob, our friend in Scotland, also celebrated today.

The "rabbits" played at Gosford last night so we went up there and had lunch with one of my oldest friends I have known since kindergarten. We meet Dale and John at the Leagues Club

and had a good chat for a few hours before we ventured across the road to see the game. The Rabbits won so Tony was happy and we got home and watch the Tigers go on to win as well.

How long can they keep this up???? For awhile I hope, although the Tigers lost a very good halfback, Tim Moltzen, for the rest of the season with a knee injury which is unfortunate.

Have a good week everyone!!

Happy Easter Everyone

It is Good Friday. I have just been on a walk as the gym is shut for the next 4 days. I should have said a hobble not a walk as that is how i get around these days. I have been putting off the inevitable... ie having a knee operation but the time has come when I can no longer do this as it is interfering with day to day living. I will make an appointment with the GP next week and he most definitely will send me to a specialist.

Sokit had a baby shower for her daughter-in-law. They were mostly Sokit's friends as Laura had already had a shower with her friends the previous week. Have you ever been to a "do" with a roomful of Filipino's. It is so interesting to watch and listen. They all talk together and no one listens to what the others are saying. I made my famous lemon merinque pie as you will notice in the photo. The dishes Sokit made were yummy.

Tony and I went to the Premiers Concert for Seniors at the Entertainment Centre with Rolf and Christa during seniors week. Kristina Kennealy welcomed us all and gave a very good speech. I didn't realise there was so many older people and I don't think the city would have seen so many in there since the Christmas concert. Thirty thousand people attended the concerts over 2 days. The show was called " After Dark" and we were transported back to the magic and excitement of a 1930s nightclub. The cast featured some of Australia's leading talent (although you may not have heard of them) including Valerie Bader, Rachael Beck, Blazey Best, Anthony Harkin, Ian Stenlake and Greg Stone. They were accompanied by the seven-piece gypsy fusion band Monsieur Camembert. We are not looking forward to the Christmas one.

Felise and Jake were out guests last weekend. They came for a 2 nights sleepover while their parents headed down to Canberra to see the Musée D'Orsay exhibition at the Art Gallery. We headed off to Featherdale Farm. Jake wasn't afraid of the Kangaroos like he is with Pinto. Although I think he is getting better with Pinto now but he doesn't like it when pinto corners him. We spend a couple of hours at the Park and I think the best thing they liked was the crocodile and the gingerbread men they had for morning tea. The rest of the weekend was taken up with a visit to see Emily and Amy, park, shops, lots of games and eating. Felise helped cheer on the "Tigers" to a win on Friday night while Jake was curled up asleep in bed.