Tag: Memories

Weekly Photo Challenge: Narrow

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The Narrows is the only entrance to St John’s Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada. The Narrows  has a rugged natural beauty seen above from many angles over many days. At it’s narrowest point it is only 61 metres across, which has proven to be a great natural defense over the centuries. In the 1600’s, the harbour’s narrow entrance has provided the city with protection from pirates and later from enemy ships during war time.

When I first visited the Narrows, I remember my joy at seeing the mighty Atlantic Ocean for the first time—it felt different to the Pacific, I can’t explain why it just did.

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Coffee Catch-Up #12

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that I enjoyed my job interview last Monday and am very excited to start work at my new hospital in early August. The unit has a calm feel to it and I am pleased to be back working in my home town, although I have been happy living a free lifestyle for the last 2 months.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how surprised and in some ways saddened I was, to hear on Friday nights news that they were closing the wooden escalators in both Wynyard and Town Hall Stations over the next 12 months. Apparently there are only 7 wooden escalators left in the world — 4 at Wynyard, 2 at Town Hall and the other in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Of the 4 at Wynyard Station, 3 were opened in 1932, the same year as the Sydney Opera House and the 4th in 1952. The Wynyard wooden escalators were the first in Australia and over 80 years later are still working hard carrying over 150,000 commuters daily.

Growing up I remember that I loved to ride on the wooden escalators in David Jones stores as they had a warm and inviting look to them which made me feel like a part of history. Unfortunately, these escalators were taken out over a decade ago and since then using the escalators is just a means to an end. My mission now will be to make sure that I get to Wynyard Station before they close the wooden escalators for one last ride and reflection.

Wynyards wooden escalators

close up Wynyard Staion Wooden Escalators

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the walk my father and I went on, from his house along Throsby Creek to Newcastle Harbour and back again. With stopping off along the way to explore, our walk took us 2 hours and as you can see it was  a magical winters day. I couldn’t believe the growth that has occurred in this part of Newcastle including the formal walking trail includes many beautiful sculptures like the large lounge shown below.

If we were having coffee I would tell you I can’t believe how quickly this year is going. Tomorrow is the 25th July which means that it is exactly 5 months till Christmas Day. Wow! Then I think about how much I hope to get done between now and Christmas and that is when I get truly exhausted. Start a new job, pack up one house, do repairs to our Newcastle house before moving in, move in, finish book, catch-up with old friends, shop for Christmas and plan a trip to Japan to visit our son. Think positively is my motto so I am sure it will sort itself out for the best. After all, its amazing what one can achieve when motivated to do so.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world?

Share Your World – 2016 Week 29

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What is the perfect pizza?

I like a spicy pizza but not your ordinary Mexicana. When I make a pizza at home it has a pesto, chilli sauce and tomato paste base topped with the following ingredients:

  • roast pumpkin
  • roast sweet potato
  • roast capsicum
  • olives
  • cherry tomatoes
  • feta cheese
  • jalapenos
  • dried chilli flakes
  • fresh capsicum
  • bacon/chicken/hot salami/pepperoni  (which mix of these meats I use depends on my mood)

Once my pizza is cooked, I top it with rocket, sour cream and avocado (if I have any.)

What is your favorite time of day?

My favourite time of day varies depending on what I have on but it is always based on the one thing – ME TIME. I love the quiet time each day when I can do whatever I choose. It keeps me sane in this crazy world.

Show us two of your favorites photographs?  The photos can be from anytime in your life span.  Explain why they are your favorite.

I love this photo of me taken on one of the bridges crossing the Ottawa River, Canada. As we walked from the Quebec side of the river back into Ontario I am not sure which state I am standing in at the time but as we loved them both, it doesn’t matter. It also reminds me of the fun we had walking in the first serious snow we had during our 6 week trip to Canada. We kept believing it would come and eventually it did. I think it was also the last time I wore those jeans as they finally wore themselves out in Canada after over 10 years of faithful service. The colouful hat scarf I am wearing I made close to 30 years ago and is very unique. It remains in good condition however, as Australia doesn’t have enough days cold for me to wear it in.

2011-07-30 17.13.54

This photo the original of Inspiring Max’s profile picture was taken 5 years ago from Melbourne’s Aquatic Centre. My daughter and I were there for her last School Sports Australia Diving competition which marked the end of an era for us. At the time there was a lot of difficult things happening in our lives that got worse as the year progressed. However, never being one to focus on the negative, if I needed an extra boost of positivity that everything would be alright in the end, I would get out my double rainbow, feel inspired and keep going.

Another thing I love about this photo is that it was one of the first photos I have taken that I was really proud of as you can see the individual rainbow colours on both sides.

Complete this sentence:  I’m looking forward to…. 

moving back to Newcastle and commencing nursing in a new hospital. I have been working towards this for over 12 months and now it is getting very close.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

My husband starting his new job and getting together with my family without having to rush back to Sydney to work. In the next eek I am looking forward to my future employment being confirmed and maybe even a start date given.

Share Your World – 2016 Week 29

 

Left Behind

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Change is inevitable and with it something or someone is always left behind. It’s not a bad thing but part of the circle of life. Ironically, we often don’t know the impact someone or something has on our lives until we leave it behind.

Currently our world is full of change. (See Coffee Catch-Up #9 for details.) You see, I believe it’s the new experiences and reinvention because someone or something is left behind that are exciting. For example, at present while my husband and I are considering which pieces of furniture to leave behind, our daughter is planning what she would like left behind and how she and her friends will change the house to make it more practical for them—a WIN WIN for everyone. It’s a modern day example of the reading at our wedding or popular song from the 1960’s if you are musically inclined.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 King James Version (KJV)

3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

 

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Unpredictable

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Life is unpredictable and that is what makes it great. If everything we did was the same everyday, yes it would be safe but also boring. One of the things I love about mental health nursing is that no day is ever the same. It’s the interactions with people that make the difference and change the course of the day.  I see being unpredictable as adding the following to my life:

Uniqueness

Never boring

Passion

Richness

Enjoyment

Daring

Individuality

Change

Trust

Adventure

Brilliance

Learning

Experience

Unpredictability makes life more exciting, like the difference between riding the rapids or a calm stream. A mixture of both allows us to use all of our skills.

 

Lower Tonangiro River

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Share Your World 2016 – Week 26

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What’s your most memorable (good or bad) airplane flight?

On our way home from Guangzhou in 2013 we were upgraded to Premium Economy. The staff didn’t tell us of our upgrade, so image our surprise when suddenly we had more room and extra features we weren’t expecting. Nowadays, when we are traveling somewhere we always look at the price difference and if it is at all possible to pay the difference however we haven’t yet been able to justify it.

How many bones, if any, have you broken?

Fortunately, I have only had 3 broken bones and as doctors are now describing my bones as super bones, I hope to not have a problem with broken bones due to osteoporosis in my later years. My first broken bone, a greenstick fracture of my right arm, happened when I was 15.  I thought I was so cool skateboarding down a hill when I hit a stone on the pathway. Oh well. at least the plaster cast helped my cool image.

My second broken bone, my right little toe, somehow occurred during the Newcastle earthquake. I didn’t find out what was causing my pain initially as when we went to the hospital they were evacuating it and we suddenly realised my pain wasn’t the priority.

My third and hopefully last broken bone occurred in my 40’s when I was helping set up a gymnastics competition. Several men were carrying a balance beam when they dropped it onto the middle of my left foot. You could hear me yell for miles I think. It hurt and definitely wasn’t cool.

Photo Credit: Google Images

Photo Credit: Google Images

 

If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be? (guest can be dead, alive, famous or someone you just know)

Walt Disney: Founder of Disneyland and Disney World and creator of Mickey Mouse

Paul Ramsay: Founder of Ramsay Healthcare

Florence Nightingale: Founder of modern nursing

Make a Currently List: What are you reading, watching, listening to, eating, needing, wanting, and missing right now?

Reading — The Winner’s Bible — Dr Kerry Spackman

Watching — Ally McBeal

Needing — My tenants to find a suitable property for them to move to early so we can begin our move

Wanting — More boxes to pack our belongings into when we can finally move

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week I was grateful to be able to  be able to focus on being a full-time writer and totally rearrange the order of my book. This task, while not yet completed does seem to have increased the flow between the chapters which was my goal.

In the coming week I am looking forward to going to Newcastle and seeing my family. It will be weird going back for the first time since I know I will be moving back in the next few months.

Share Your World – 2016 Week 26

Coffee Catch-Up #11

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If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I am this week to finally have enough energy back that I plan on returning to aqua aerobics this week. Although it hasn’t been all bad as it was very easy to justify not going out in the cold and wet when I wasn’t feeling up to par.

If we were having coffee I would tell you what an inspiring week I have had being a full-time writer. Prior to this I have written and edited most of my book in whatever spare time I have had. This week by being able to just spend all my time on my book, I have noticed my focus change. Now I think I am much more creative. Every day I come up with new ideas as to how to improve its flow. So, this week when I had to stop to complete other important tasks I didn’t want to. After having the weekend off to work on my blog and family life I am excited to see how much closer to completion this week takes me.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about our cats first experience with a kookaburra this morning. He regularly walks up and down our side fence keeping guard making sure we are safe from predators. Today however in the gum tree just off our boundary a kookaburra came and sat. Yes, the kookaburra was sitting in the old gum tree as the Australian classic song suggests, minding his own business. Out cat however wasn’t happy. He stood under the tree on the fence and looked like he was going to attempt to get him, although the reality was the distance was too great. We decided however in the interest of encouraging our new friend to visit for longer, we would distract the cat.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how much I enjoy books. I always have and I always will. So much so that when we move I plan on making myself a library room where I can enjoy all of my books together in one place unlike scattered throughout the house like they are now. Yesterday, as part of this challenge I began sorting the first of many bookcases. As I put the books into boxes to move I have decided to divide them into 4 sections:

  • Children
  • Fiction
  • Non-fiction
  • Reference

Going through my books I enjoyed many memories as I remember the circumstances of each book either as a purchase or as a gift. Something tells me I am not going to be very good at throwing many of them out as I’m too much of a sentimentalist.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how much I am loving the readability score in WordPress. I challenge myself to make sure all of my posts stay in the green or good rating. Should they slip into an orange or red ranking I rewrite the sentence until the readability improves. This is definitely helping my writing style and minimizing my need to edit later.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what was happening in your world?

Coffee Catch-Up #9

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If we were having coffee I would tell you how dramatically my life has changed since our last coffee catch-up 5 weeks ago. My son has moved to Japan to be with his finance, I have resigned from my job, taking a month off before returning to casual nursing and this week it was confirmed that my husband has a new job in Newcastle, the city I grew up in. Life is definitely moving forward and the future looks bright.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the great, wet weekend my husband, son, daughter and I spent together in the Hunter Valley before he left for Japan. The villa I rented contained a slow combustion fire place, so, despite the cold and wet we were toasty warm. I had kept this a secret from my husband to add to give him  a surprise. He was so excited that he didn’t stop playing with it all weekend. The fact that he didn’t have to chop the wood made his day even better. The cabins were in wine country and had resident kangaroos that roamed around the property. The photos below are from our verandah and we thought one of the kangaroos even had a joey in her pouch, however, because it was too wet we couldn’t get any closer. What do you think?

If we were having coffee I would tell you that since we last meet my blog has turned 2. I can’t believe how much I have learnt and grown since I joined the blogging community. This time 2 years ago I think I was still struggling to have 7 followers and now I have over 700 and fortunately they continue to grow daily. My goal by Christmas is to have over 1,000, which I think is doable if I keep chipping blogging away. My goal for my 3rd blogiversary is to have had 50,000 views. As this is  just over double what I am now on, it may be a tall order, but hey reach for the stars I say.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that since I resigned from my managers position, I have enjoyed having no stress and getting back into my blogging regularly. I don’t think I realised the impact the stress was having on me until I stopped and literally felt my body relax. Every time people see me now they are commenting on how good I am looking and how it is nice to see me smile again.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how grateful I am to A Momma’s View for choosing my poem on understanding as one of her pick’s of the week. It has helped me develop my confidence in my new skill of poetry writing. Stop by and visit her blog if you get the chance it definitely worth a look.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how nice it was last Saturday to share an Aussie BBQ with my son and close family and friends just hours before he left the country to start his new adventure in Japan. Sharing stories and future plans is great bonding experience and with the ease of travel these days nowhere is far away.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the beautiful flowers I got from my staff after leaving work. They were so heavy and take pride of place on the table behind my desk, bringing a smile to my face daily.

2016-06-18 16.03.03

 

If we were having coffee I would tell you that my daughter’s birthday seems like it was months ago, however in reality, it was only 3 weeks ago. Because everyone was busy, it was extended over the week and celebrated many times with some intimate gathering of family and friends at the times everyone was available.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what you have been up to since we last met. Has your world been calmer or crazier than mine? Let me know in the comments.

Coffee Catch-up # 8

Weekend Coffee Share

Share Your World – 2016 # 24

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What is the most fun thing you did in school?

During our 5th form  Jindabyne Ski Excursion (yes I am that old, now called year 11) I became a popular girl for 5 days. My rise to fame happened quickly and by accident, when I became friends with a group of popular kids from another school. Unfortunately, as they were from another part of the state, we never saw each other again as travel between areas wasn’t as easy as it is today. At the same camp I also discovered my natural ability to ski. This also helped my popularity as most of the kids couldn’t ski. It was a surprise to many as usual my reputation was as the person nobody wants on their sporting team. Karma felt nice for a few days as suddenly the roles were reversed.

What is your favorite type of dog?  (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal or character in a movie)

I wouldn’t describe myself as a cat or dog person. However, one dog I have always loved is Snoopy. So loyal, cute and creative, he helps Charlie Brown out of many scraps. I haven’t seen the Peanuts Movie yet but hope to enjoy Snoopy in his latest movie soon. My long time love of Snoopy is the reason somewhere hiding in our house is a much loved stuffed Snoopy that has been a part of the family since my children were little.

You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you never met.  Would you attend this party if you were to go by yourself?

I have spent my life doing things by myself so attending a party I want to attend doesn’t phase me. The secret is if I want to attend it or if some else thinks I should for whatever reason. I am not a work the room sort of person but can easily find my way when I need to.

Complete this sentence:  Never In My Life Have I…. 

Won a talent or popularity contest. To be fair and honest however, I have never put a great deal of effort into trying to win them either. One thing I plan on putting a bit more effort into this year is my Toastmaster speeches to see if I can by polishing them give myself the chance of taking my speaking to the next level.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

Last week I was grateful that most of my family was able to travel to Sydney to farewell my son who left on Saturday to spend a couple of years in Japan. We had a great afternoon although it went quickly before his departure later that night.

During this coming week I am looking forward to getting back into my aqua aerobics and organizing my house. We have many things that are no longer required and need removing.  Now is the time to put this plan into action.

Share Your World – 2016 Week 24

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pure

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While traveling to Canada, my husband and I accidentally wandered into the Canadian Mint in Ottawa where we could touch and pick up a 24 K gold bar weighing 28 pounds (12.7 kilograms.) It was an amazing experience and I was astounded that it was 999.9% pure gold. So simple but so beautiful.

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