Tag: #weekendcoffeeshare

Coffee Catch-Up #43

inspiringmax

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I hope 2023 brings you fun, laughter, less stress and definitely more joy. For me 2022 was a mixed bag. I have never taken as much sick leave as I did last year. Fortunately that meant that had plenty. I’ve had covid twice, long covid as well as pneumonia. My husband and I were lucky enough to enjoy 2 holidays in Truby (our slide on camper.) We also rented a house for a weekend away with family to celebrate my 60th birthday. A lot of fun a was had and memories created.

If we were having coffee I would ask you about your Christmas. Our family has a colour-themed Christmas every year hosted by my sister. Last year was Copper. It proved to be a difficult colour for both decorations and clothes. But in the end everyone looked great and my sisters creativity shone through. It looked amazing and a great day was had by all.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that hubby and I are becoming grandparents. We got the exciting news at my 60th birthday weekend away. Due in February our bubba will soon be here.

If we were having coffee I would tell you my surprise at seeing a double rainbow outside my kitchen window. It happened on Wednesday evening 15 minutes after I posted by first blog in eight months. I smiled. And took it as a sign from the universe.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about my new toy. I bought myself a Cricut Maker 3 for my 60th. For those of you who don’t what one is, it is a die cutting machine that makes all kinds of crafting simple. It will certainly keep dementia away as there is so much to learn. This Christmas I started by making personalized glitter baubles. I then moved on to basic T-shirts. It is so much fun and I am really enjoying putting my creative hat back on.

If we were having coffee I would confess that I realize my planning for fun on my blog last year didn’t work out. Hindsight tells me that long covid brain fog and travel derailed it. However focusing on excuses won’t help. So now in 2023 I am getting back on track and making new habits. Lucky I have lots of inspiration and now I just have to do it.

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

Thanks Natalie for hosting weekendcoffeeshare.

X: Xtremely Amazing Coastline

inspiringmax

To begin to round off this year’s A-Z challenge I thought I would share with you more of the amazing coastline. Torquay to Port Fairy is 299 kilometres via the Great Ocean Road. This journey runs along the south western coast of Victoria. And can I say that none of it is the same. Around every bend the views were constantly changes, often taking away one’s breath. The other very interesting variant was the weather and the season. For this reason I am sure that the next time we visit, the experience will be different again.

Coffee Catch-Up #41

inspiringmax

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I can’t believe it has been nearly 3 months since our last chat. To be honest this is very similar to my real life coffee catch-ups that aren’t very regular. As you possibly know by now for 4 weeks of this year my husband and I went touring in Truby. ( Our slide on camper and Iveco. ) On many other weekends before and after, I was working to make up my shifts. After work I mean to blog but often don’t make it to the computer.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am again participating in Blogging from A to Z. Writing a blogpost daily is helping get my mojo back. Also, having a theme, our recent holiday, makes the decision of what to write easy. So, it is simply a matter of writing it. Each day I find this to get quicker. Just like when I started blogging in 2014 and I was following the daily word prompts. I have also realsied that when April is finished I still have a lot of other topics to write about.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that my daughter has moved home after living in regional NSW. She is easy to live with so beside the extra stuff around, everything is going smoothly.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I have spent a lot of time covering my new secondhand books in contact. One of the things I love about traveling is going to second hand book shops. It is a great way to support the local communities and increase my library. Sometimes I have specific books that I am looking for, otherwise I accidently find new authors. My husband can now work out my book style based on the artwork on the front cover. We were even able to find some of his much rarer books at reasonable prices. Below is a photo of most of the novels I found.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how surprised I was back in January to hear our most famous children’s group had won the Triple JJJ’s Hottest 100. This countdown features the most popular song for the previous year. It the classic example of doing what you love and success will follow.

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

Thanks to Natalie for hosting #weekend coffee share

Coffee Catch-Up #39

inspiringmax

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was last Thursday to escape town for a few days. As I was finishing work on Wednesday afternoon I felt a little manic. My husband and I took a road trip to Tamworth, 3.5 hours northwest of Newcastle. It felt so weird when we crossed the imaginary line of our LGA (Newcastle Council) because during restrictions it was the limit we could travel to. We had planned to have lunch at an historic pub at Wingen many times and Thursday was the day.

To celebrate the first trip to a pub since lockdown ended I did what most Aussies did and ordered a beer on tap. I don’t often drink beer but thought why not. It was so cold, fresh and memorable. The food was also pretty good. I would have loved another beer but time did not permit. It was great to be out of the city connecting with the country again.

View from back verandah of The Durham Hotel

If we were having coffee I ask you if you picked the winner of last Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup. In Australia it is known as the race that stops the nation and is Australia’s most famous house race. As it is over 3200 metres it is particularly hard to pick a winner for and this year proved no exception. The favourite, Incentivise was leading with 400m to go when suddenly Verry Elleegant swept in and won.

If we were having coffee how excited I was to find my missing house keys. These keys had been missing since before last Christmas and I had searched everywhere for them. I had given up hope. Then about a week ago I got to catch up with a girlfriend for breakfast. So I dressed up and matched my handbag to my outfit. Then just as we were leaving the café and I was searching for my mask I opened one of the many side pockets and to my surprise found my missing keys. I let out a shriek with excitement and made many heads turn.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the hydofoil surfer I enjoyed watching this morning at the beach. He was difficult to photograph but mesmerising to watch. The beach was high tide and only the surfers were out because of the conditions.

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

Thanks to Natalie The Explorer for hosting our weekendcoffeeshare.

An Australian Original

inspiringmax

Today on my walk around the suburb my attention was drawn to an usual sight. A Banksia plant was displaying several stages of the Banksia cycle all at once. There are over a 170 species of Banksias ranging in size and shape, with all but one of them native to Australia. They were first discovered by and consequently named after Sir Joseph Banks when Captain Cook discovered Australia in 1770. They are a truly an Australian original.

The photo below shows the flower in bloom. This flower was one of the last for the season.

This photograph shows the cone after the flowers have dropped off. It is here that the seeds are stored in pods until opening up. For many Banksia species this is triggered by heat – bushfires or drying out.

I love the contradiction in this photo as it shows a new cone with pods developing as well as a dried out empty cone.

In Australia the dried out cone has inspired many craft and woodwork creations. However, in many ways their greatest claim to fame is being the inspiration for May Gibbs’s Big Bad Banksia Men in her Snugglepot and Cuddlepie books. The Banksia men were the villians. They were always out to create trouble. Owing to the commonness of the species, dried cone can be found everywhere so growing up every child could relate to them. I’m sure my family wasn’t the only one to create their own Banksia boys adventures.

Photo credit: May Gibbs books.

Coffee Catch-Up #38

inspiringmax

If we were having coffee today we can go to a coffee shop and sit down or you could come to my home. New South Wales is now open for anyone who can prove their vaccination status. In fact people were so excited last Monday when we opened up that they spent over 100 million dollars in 24 hours – going to the pub or eating out, having their haircut and going shopping. Some even lined up at midnight to do so. My week however hasn’t involved me doing much different although I did enjoy coffee sitting in the café today. Gyms have also reopened. From tomorrow we have even more freedoms. Now one of the few things we can’t do is travel from Sydney to the regions or reverse.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the fun map of Newcastle I found today. It is on the side of the old Maritime museum and incorporates Newcastle’s history over the years. It isn’t to scale but was very detailed and reminded me of many things that I had forgotten.

If we were having coffee I would tell you my osteoarthritis flared up for the first time this week. I was diagnosed with a small amount of it in my hip 2 years ago but I’m guessing it has gotten worse. For no reason I woke up on Tuesday morning in a lot of pain and with a fever. In this day and age of course having a fever means you need a covid test which was negative. So with rest and pain relief it returned to normal. Eventually I will be able to have a new scan and see how much it has deteriorated but at present that will have to wait as our doctors live in Sydney and we cannot travel there yet.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I walked past Cooks Hill Spoonville on my walk this morning. I was excited to see that the family of spoons had grown.

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

Thanks to Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare.

Coffee Catch-Up # 37

inspiringmax

If we were having coffee we would be either be still walking with our coffee or drinking it in a local park if you are double vaxxed. New South Wales is beginning to get excited as Monday week 11th October is when we are due to have less restrictions if we have had 2 doses of any vaccine. By the middle of November our international borders will also open as we will have reached 80 % double vaxxed. Todays coffee I really enjoyed as if was very smooth and creamy.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was to see a huge mulberry tree fully laden with fruit on my walk last week. This sight brought back strong memories of my childhood. I can remember having silk worms as a pet briefly and watching them make silk. It is strange but silkworms only eat mulberry leaves which is tricky during winter when leaves are scarce. I can also remember loving mulberry pies. They were fun but messy to make. Getting the purple stains out of your fingers was also a challenge. As mulberry trees are so high harvesting the berries from the top is a big challenge.

The dark berries are ready to eat.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that October is Mental Health awareness month. And what better way to draw attention to it than with a massive blow up elephant in the room. I love him. When I first started working in mental health 40 years ago it was never a common topic of conversation. Mental health really was the elephant in the room that no-one talked about. Fortunately this is no longer the case and I for one hope it stays like that.

If we were having coffee I would asked you who you thought our next Premier would be after the shock resignation of Gladys on Friday. It definitely feels weird to be leaderless during such a difficult time in our state’s history. I’m no expert in politics but my guess is the current Treasurer.

If we were having coffee I would have asked you if you enjoyed a coffee on Friday for International Coffee Day. I did and again it was a good one. I also wrote a post to celebrate in which I discussed the virtues of coffee with an acrostic poem using my favourite coffee style, cappuccino. If your interested I have attached post here.

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

Thanks to Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare

Cooly Rocks On

inspiringmax

Every year in June Australia’s biggest Rock ‘n’ Roll and nostalgia festival is held in Coolangatta. Last year we were fortunate enough to attend. Cooly Rocks On celebrates everything that was great about the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. It was like a step back in time. Lining the streets were thousands of vintage cars of every make and model. I have never seen as many proud people as the men and woman showing off their piece of history. Everyone painstakingly restored with love and styled to the associated era.

I think my favourite was called Violet Crumble for obvious reasons.

Indian motorcycles were also a huge hit with crowds. They had their own dedicated area.

I loved the Goggomobil display. These micro cars were so cute. I loved how they were decorated. I had heard of these cars before however most car shows don’t include them so I hadn’t seen them before. They were also a crowd favourite.

You can’t have a nostalgia festival without the King. Yes Elvis was there in many ways. There was a specific Elvis precinct that we didn’t go into. The lineup to get in was huge. We were lucky enough to see several of the Elvis impersonators who were performing in the precinct wandering through the street. Also to add 50’s appeal to several of the vintage cars many had Elvis portraits painted beautifully on them.

Rock ‘n’ Roll music could be heard all over Cooly. You knew you were somewhere special and I loved the effort many people went to to look the part. Rock ‘n’ Roll outfits were everywhere. I especially loved the matching outfits the regular dancers wore. It was like a step back in time to old photos of our parents as youngsters.

And the best part. It was free.

What A Difference A Week Makes

inspiringmax

The photos above were taken last Sunday on my walk. The news had said that the southern swells and Spring high tides earlier in the week had caused major erosion of my local Merewether beach not seen in our area since a major storm in 1974. The 1974 storm was locally known as the Sygna storm after the Norwegian bulk carrier of the same name that ran aground on Stockton beach at the time. I was fascinated to see what everyone was talking about. Wow! I wasn’t expecting what I saw. It didn’t even occur to me that there were rocks under the sand. All the media reports about the erosion stated that history had proved that the sand would return by summer. The swells and the tides would put it all back again. No intervention needed.

While I had no evidence to go by I just trusted mother nature and didn’t think any more about it. Today on our lockdown walk as we had nothing else to do we thought we’d go back to Merewether and see what was happening. We were gob smacked. Merewether beach was back and beautiful. The photos below were taken this morning. They are from similar spots and of the same stretch of beach that was stripped bare last Sunday. We were also surprised to note that there seemed to be even more sand on the beach than before. It was also clean and yellow. Merewether beach had been Spring cleaned at no cost.

Thanks to Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare

Newcastle Window Wander

inspiringmax

This week again we will be having takeaway coffee as New South Wales remains in lockdown. As we cannot have visitors to our homes or most shops we will take a walk with purpose. Today we will be exploring the Newcastle Window Wander. A group of local businesses have gathered together to increase their shops profile while closed and at the same time give locals something to look at during their daily exercise. The idea is to follow the map, look at the specially created window displays, take a selfie, upload it the social media and then go in the draw to win a gift voucher.

Today was a beautiful day for walking with Spring just around the corner. It was interesting to go walking with the specific goal of looking in shop windows. What surprised me was that I don’t really notice what is in the windows when I walk. As I followed the map I found most of the window displays. On 3 occasions I was so impressed I will go back to the shops when they reopen. Unfortunately being window displays they were hard to photo graph without something being reflected in the glass.

I smiled at the first window I saw that used humour to catch our attention. They created a “shitty” birthday cake made out of toilet paper rolls.

The next shop a few doors down in Darby Street was a men’s wear store that I didn’t know existed and they keep my husband’s favourite John Lennon brand shirts. I loved the one in the window.

Some were a little bit clever.

The birds at the gallery were spectacular. They were amazing replicas of some of our iconic birds. Unfortunately, due to the doors breaking the line of vision my photos don’t do them justice.

The last stop on our journey was Pappa Sven. I have walked past this small shop many times but never looked inside or at the windows. It is a Swedish shop and looks amazing. They had created their window display to represent celebrating the joy of Swedish Midsummer.