Category: Weekendcoffeeshare

Coffee Catch-Up # 37

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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

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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.

Coffee Catch-Up #36

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If we were having coffee we would still be walking and drinking as our region is still locked down. The government is saying it will end only when 70% of the adults are double vaxxed. The catch is that this freedom will only be for the double vaxxed population. If you haven’t been able to have your first or second dose or you are an antivaxer you will not be able to travel, go to the pub or get your haircut. It will be interesting to see how these new freedom will impact the severity of Delta as we learn to live with it.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I am with how our garden is growing. I have a never ending supply of rocket, chillies and several varieties of lettuce. Our wild cherry tomatoes are tasting great. Yesterday I was excited to eat my first snacking capsicum. I was also pleased to grow my first cos lettuce that formed a complete head. Usually I just have multiple leave and I don’t care as they taste great anyway.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about Wacky Wednesday a few weeks ago. The idea was relieve the frustrations for the staff and patients of the lock down. All staff wore their clothes in some sort of wacky manner. It was great fun and brought a smile to everyone faces. All of the staff on our ward had their hair coloured with hairspray. This was a first for me, as my hair had ever been pink, green, blue and yellow. In choosing my outfit I put together things that I didn’t think go together. However, to my surprise everything did go so I now have a alternate winter outfit.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how much fun I have been having this week getting out our original Wii. It has been many years since I last played it and I was pleasantly surprised when my Fitbit age was 41. My actual age is 59. Now to keep working at it and see how low I can make it go.

If we were having coffee I would tell you able the mask tree I found on my walk yesterday. It’s on a public walkway next to the harbour. To remind everyone to wear a mask and keep safe it has been decorated with multi-coloured disposable masks. The tree looks great but I don’t know where they got the masks from as I’ve only seen them in blue.

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

Thanks to Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare

What A Difference A Week Makes

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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’s Fairy Garden

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Today as we are still in lock down in New South Wales, I thought we’d share a takeaway coffee at a secret spot I only discovered last year. Newcastle’s Fairy Garden to my surprise is over 50 years old. I can’t believe I never heard of it as a kid even if then it was a private place.

Merv Moyle created the wonderland across the road from his house in the 1970’s for his children. Over the years he kept adding his new ideas to it until his death in his 90’s.

Imagine how special his children and grand children must felt to have their own fairy garden, complete with a fairy queen, animal friends, fairies and toadstools, not to mention the beautiful flowers and rainforest. As a child, I thought we were lucky as our dad had made us a cubby house. I am glad that it is now open for anyone to wander through and connect with your inner child at this magical place.

I hope you enjoyed our coffee and visit today. Thanks to Natalie The Explorer for hosting Weekend Coffee Share

Coffee Catch-Up # 33

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If we were having coffee I would tell you I can’t believe there is only one more week of summer. This year is going by so fast. Since our last coffee catch-up life has been very busy. It’s lucky that I have begun living a life of semi-retirement as I haven’t had time to work. One thing I have made time for on most days has been an enjoyable cappacino.

If we were having coffee tell you that on Australia Day this year it was 40 years since I started training as a psychiatric nurse. Back in 1981 the stigma attached to people suffering with mental illness was huge and many were too scared to seek help. Fast forward 40 years and with each decade, discussions about mental health have improved greatly. Now there are many options for treatment. One of the things that I am grateful for in Australia over the pandemic is mental health issues have been discussed openly and been at the centre of all government policy and decisions.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about travelling to Tweed Heads for a family wedding at the end January. The wedding itself was on the headland on the New South Wales and Queensland border. (on the New South Wales side.) It was set up so if there was still a problem with the Queensland border closures all guests could get to the wedding. The only problem was that to drive to the wedding site, we had to drive into Queensland and back into New South Wales. This was initially a problem to us as 3 of our 4 members were banned from entering Queensland due to having been in Sydney in the last 14 days. We worked out that we could walk if necessary but fortunately on the day of the wedding the borders opened up to all. So the problem was averted.

From our room in the resort, you could see the border barricades and despite the hotel being in New South Wales it ran on Queensland time. This was very confusing as our clocks would move forwards and backwards an hour depending on where in the motel we were. The front of the hotel also had dividing sections telling us which parts were in NSW and parts QLD. It was very weird for 3 days being able to see Queensland and yet not cross the road into it. On the day the barricades came down it was fun to watch the news being made from our motel room and to drive into Queensland because we could.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that our daughter started her registered nursing career and has moved into regional New South Wales. This has taken up much of our time both before and after the wedding. It’s surprising how much stuff she had in either our house or storage. Slowly but surely her house is coming together and eventually I can reinvent our spare room into my space. I am so proud of her taking a risk and moving to an area she knows no-one to follow her dreams and gain experience not attainable in the cities.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about walking around Sydney seeing the preparations for the Lunar New Year Festival. Throughout the city were various figures of the Chinese calendar. The first one we saw as the tiger which is also my favourite as I was born in the year of the Tiger. He was very cute and his eyes seemed to follow you around the park.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about our Sunday walk today. We went to Dixon Park beach, one of our local beaches, to see rocks and etching from 20 years ago that had been uncovered due to the amount of sand that has been washed away recently. This beach is between my two favourite beaches in the local area and I have walked it many times and never seen these rocks as they were covered by sand. Today you couldn’t walk between the beaches without climbing over the rocks. It was very strange. I was also fascinated that the sand in many parts was a mix of grey (assumedly from the rocks) and the usual yellow.

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

Thank you to Natalie The Explorer for hosting this weeks weekend coffee share.

Coffee Catch-Up # 32

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am not really sure where the last moth has gone. I worked up to Christmas Eve and then I was on leave. During this time I relaxed well reading and doing jigsaw puzzles. It wasn’t until returning to work this week that I returned to my routines including blogging.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about our family Christmas. At the previous Christmas the colour/theme is decided by popular vote. At times it can get interesting as all family members have equal voting rights. This year the theme was flamingo, anything pink or flamingo print. As this year we were on trend there were plenty of flamingo accessories to choose from. Christmas is always hosted by my sister and she and her family go to great efforts to make the day beautiful and memorable for all. I wish I had her level of creativity.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about my Sunday walk and coffee this morning. We walk around the local area randomly with no real direction and see what we can find. Today we hit the jackpot. We wandered across a brand new coffee shop that officially opens tomorrow. They opened today for foot traffic only but were happy to set tables and chairs up for us in the café. We were excited to be one of their first customers. By the way the coffee was amazing and we’ll definitely be back.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that over the summer I have been working on improving my Charcuterie board presentations. My last one was my best yet and I am beginning to feel more confident. No wonder they are so popular once you understand the principles of how to make them work there is no limit to options.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that the recent rain has helped the garden grow. Just after the new year I was down looking around for some salad vegies when I discovered our cucumbers had grown. I couldn’t believe it they were huge and tasted amazing. So fresh and crisp. And the good news is that I just finish one cucumber and there is another one to take its place. There is nothing like fresh garden vegies.

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

Thankyou to Natalie The Explorer for hosting this weeks Weekend Coffee Share.

Coffee Catch-Up #27

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If we were having coffee I would tell you I can’t believe that it has been over 3 months since I last blogged. Initially, this was due to writer’s block. I struggled to come up with any inspiration. I found it much easier when I first started blogging as I followed The Daily Post topics. If you have any suggestions or secrets to overcoming writer’s block I would love to hear them.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how much I’m enjoying using my sewing machine again. I hadn’t sewed for over 10 years but wanted to sew masks for my family. Operation cover up has been a family affair. My husband and I enjoyed going to Spotlight to choose fun materials to match everyone’s personalities. Then between my husband, daughter and I, after several trial runs, we eventually found a pattern that sat comfortably on all of our faces.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about our slide-on camper Ruby home. When it came to preparing her for our recent holiday, the hardest thing was deciding what was essential to take. This was because we were limited with weight availability. To fix this we needed to weigh everything we put in her. And if necessary find a lighter alternative. A bigger ute is able to carry a bigger load, so we will look for a new one before our longer trips. Eventually we won the battle and excluded 100 kilos worth of useful things. The we could legally depart and no longer put our insurance at risk.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was to buy myself a pie maker for my birthday. Today is my first attempt at making pies. I chose a basic beef mince pie for the filling. While cooking it had an amazing aroma. The frustration is the need for a delay between making the mince and making the pies. The reason is the mince filling needs to be cold when it goes into the shortcrust pastry or it will go soggy. End results, worth the effort for both regular and gluten free pies.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world. Let me know in the comments.

Coffee Catch-Up #25

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If we were having coffee I would tell you how much I miss having real coffee dates. In Australia, we can buy takeaway coffee. But we can’t sit down anywhere to drink it. Mostly I enjoy my takeaway coffee alone. However, occasionally I share the experience with someone. Walking and drinking coffee isn’t the same luxury as sitting down together for a coffee catch-up.

Takeaway coffee doesn’t give you such amazing art.

If we were having coffee I would ask you if you did anything to celebrate Anzac Day last Saturday. Although I have always thought about attending a dawn service or Anzac Day march I never have. Some years I have gone to the pub to watch the Two-Up. This is a traditional Australian gambling game only legal on Anzac Day.

This year however was very different. No dawn services, no marches and no Two-Up. Instead families and individuals gathered on their driveways, social distancing and remembering our diggers at 0600. For me, it was very personal. I stood alone on my driveway. I was filled with emotion as I could hear the bugles playing The Last Post over the sounds of birds. Next year, I be on my driveway again. This time I will light the dawn with my candle.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how frustrated I have been over the past month with my blog not working as easily as it used to. The problem is everything needed updating and I am not computer friendly. Making the necessary changes has given me a lot of new knowledge about my blog and computer so my confidence has grown.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I bought a subscription to Disney+for the family as an Easter present. My husband and I grew up in the 60’s watching the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. Our kids grew up with Disney channel, so there is something on it for everyone. We have all found many hidden gems and been entertained for hours.

If we were having coffee I would tell you I was pleased to complete this years A-Z blogging challenge. I stated a few days late but caught up and finished on time. It was a great way to retrain my brain into writing regularly and simplifying my words. Now the secret is to come up with a plan for Inspiring Max that helps my creativity develop.

If we were having coffee I would ask you how you have been filling in your days during the world’s lock down. Let me know in the comments.

Coffee Catch-Up #23

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that I finished my Christmas shopping last Tuesday. What a relief. And yesterday I  finished wrapping all of the presents, which I always get excited about. Unfortunately, this year we won’t have a big Christmas tree to put them under as we are currently between trees. The one from our old house is broken from too much loving and I don’t want to buy a new one until we extend next year.  So in the interium it will be back to the small fibre optic tree that changes colours.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about how much fun the family of magpies that has taken up residence in our garden are having playing under the water sprinkler when Rod puts it on to water my garden each evening. They run around under the water in an attempt to cool off and then enjoy looking for worms in the soil. They are too quick for us however, so every time we go to take a photo they run away and play somewhere else.

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that I really enjoyed flying into Sydney from Perth last week. As we flew overnight from the west coast to the east coast of Australia we saw a different flight path and to my surprise we also flew over our old suburb. I loved seeing the sunrise from the sky and an aerial view of what I think is the Parramatta River.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I made my own baked beans this week and was very pleased with how tasty they were. Motivated by having had some when we were in Perth, I was on a mission to give them a go. I have since found some other recipes so I think I might give them all a try and then rank my results. Do you have a favourite baked beans recipe you’d like to share?

If we were having coffee I would probably ask you if you want some Christmas bush. Our tree has once again produced a bumper crop and sharing it with family and friends makes it feel like an Aussie Christmas. We have 2 vases in our house, the one below in the entry to our house and one in the kitchen, the hub of the home.

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If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world? Let me know in the comments.