Flame Trees

If you are of a certain age you will remember the Cold Chisel song "Flame Trees" which I admit is one of my favourites. In fact I love it so much I got my significant other to buy an Illawarra Flame Tree (from which the song gets its name) and plant one here at GG central. We have called it Don Walker in honour of the man who wrote the song. see here and here's the clip on then singing the song.

anyway I am digressing which is my want!

Yesterday we heard on the radio about a project from the University of Wollongong who were entering a solar decathlon in  China of all places and the re-engineered house which was their entry was open for tours and talks about sustainable building, so we were down there in a shot!


here is the link to the house info but in the meantime here are some of our pics with some commentary from me.

the kitchen

The same Parker Lounge that we have at home!

This hydroponic garden is fertilised by a fish pond underneath

Loving the vertical herb garden just outside the kitchen

Another Parker beauty, dining setting, loving the fabrics on the chairs

Looking into the kitchen from the deck(next to vertical garden) really like the serving windows

it was a really interesting couple of hours, and I hope to let you know if they did well at the Solar Decathlon.

Committed!

I am not sure who has recently taken over my body, but something strange is happening.

As per my new years resolution I have registered for the City to Surf yesterday and now I have gone and signed up for Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation starting in May.

And today I woke up and wanted to go for a run, me! Instead went for a 60 minute cycle cranking it as they say I am now calling myself a MAGIL,  (middle aged girl in lycra!). 

Burnt 758 calories according to My fitness pal. So I think a G&T in on the cards.


So I am not sure who is writing this post, because it certainly does not sound like the usual Glenquarry Goddess, but whoever she is, I hope she has fun.

Getting Chicky with it!

Or I could have called this post "feeling clucky"

No, no grandchildren on the horizon, sadly but have just returned home from a weekend of French films and a workshop today on "Writing for Real Woman" of which I am obviously one. 

It was run by Dr Anita Heiss, who is a published author of no less than 13 books and I am now proud to say is following me on twitter! (NO pressure but now I have to come up with the goods, I promised!)

I really feel invigorated, I have seen 10 French movies over the last 2 weekends plus this course and my creative juices are flowing. French movies are the best, they have really interesting and intriguing story lines, people who look and act real ( not Hollywood plastic). 

It's funny but I really only go to the movies a couple of times a year and most of my movies are during the French Film Festival here in Sydney, and judging by the audience I am not the only one, most of the sessions were very full.

so adieu from me for now, I am off to work on my chick lit!

Trivial Pursuits.....

I had a great weekend, not that I don't have a great weekend every weekend, it's the weekend after all, but this last weekend, I did a lot, I mean a real lot!

Saturday saw the significant other and myself off to Wollongong the Brave for a sunny lunch followed by some cultural pursuits, a la, a play direct from the Sydney Theatre Company no less! See we can  get culture in the country!

We had lunch at a fabulous restaurant called Rocksalt which is right on the city beach at Wollongong, and as it was a fabulous sunny day we sat outside (as you do) and had a light lunch of Champagne ( the real deal), oysters, and some soft shell crab. Here are a couple of pictures to whet your appetite!

Oh how sweet, hats cuddling up! Got to protect yourself from the sun!

Yes, I felt like a splurge, and it was a day made for Moet!

Oysters, for entree, lucky we had a play to attend afterwards, who knows what they may have led to!

The play was a blast from the past, it was called School Dance and it  transported me back to being 15 again. Do you remember the anticipation of the school dance?

 I went to an all girls school and the opportunity to see boys (who were not related to you!) was an adventure in itself. We spent weeks planning our outfits, who were the "spunks" we would consider dancing with ( it was the 70's and "spunk" was a legitimate descriptionon, now it would be hot!). Anyway I  loved it and the music that featured.  The bonus was that at the end,  as we were leaving I saw DEBORAH MAILMAN  who was a friend of the playwright and there for a QandA (not the Tony Jones version) afterwards.

I tried to get a photo,  but unfortunately but she had important Deborah Mailman business to attend to, and I did not get a photo, but the significant other can confirm she was there. 

PLUS 

I had to get home to get ready for the highlight of the Burrawang social calendar 

THE BURRAWANG TRIVIA NIGHT!

Burrawang is a village about 10kms from  Glenquarry Goddess HQ, and we like to call it The Wang, anyway we got a last minute call up from Baby Mac who needed some brain power for her table and as good neighbours we answered the call. 

It was a BIG event, 20 tables of 8 baby boomers, and some Gen X's!  Let me say we did not disgrace ourselves, we came 2nd and that was with some performance enhancing  drinks as well, anyway there is next year!

And the final note is that here is a little frog I found in my shower, and it obviously has good taste as it chooses J&J body wash to rest itself upon! ( hope my boss reads this and I get a raise!).

Anyway that is enough of my trivial pursuits, hope you had a good weekend too! Stay tuned as we are going away next weekend !

Afternoon Delight

I know what you are thinking!!!

A blog post called "Afternoon Delight", well I am not paying homage to the Starland Vocal Band but to my new found delight in the good old fashioned "afternoon tea".

Lunch parties are so 2012 I think 2013 is the year of the "Tea party" (not political at all!).

I am not normally a baking person but I have been resurrecting my skills in the old scone department;  and I am pleased to say that I think I have mastered the CWA type quality in my scones.

Cooking in the oven

Scones anyone?

I may have to expand my repertoire to something other than scones with Jam and Cream, any suggestions?

#Wedding daze

We had a wedding in the family the other week.

In fact it was The Son and Heir who got hitched.

It was a wonderful way to start the year with a wonderful family celebration.

Some background,

the couple in question met in high school, but did not get together "officially" until at Schoolies, and have been together ever since, apart from a mutual break when the bride went overseas for her final semester of uni.

The engagement took place news year eve 2011 while we were in New York on holidays so for the past year our whole family has been working towards "The Wedding Day".

I got all carried away in the moment and new media etc etc , (as you do) and started the twitter hashtag #blakewedding and posted little pictures and stuff on it, my goal was to get it trending on twitter, (not sure it made it very high on the list, but I could search for it and find it, so in my mind mission accomplished)

So I am going to try and cheat with this blog post and just copy and paste all my twitter posts for the day, so hold on and see how we go......

  

Phew it took a bit of work but I did it! (insert congratulatory pause here)

the best way to read them is actullay from the end up. That is the order in which they were originally tweeted.

 

	Katie Blake @kt2576	13 Jan
	Last minute change of venue #damn rain! #blakewedding

	Katie Blake @kt2576	13 Jan
	Waiting for the bride #blakewedding

	Katie Blake @kt2576	13 Jan
	Oh no rain, hope it clears by 4. #blakewedding

	Katie Blake @kt2576	13 Jan
	Grooms mommy & daddy on way to the wedding #blakewedding

	Katie Blake @kt2576	12 Jan
	Hairdo from the back #blakewedding

	Katie Blake @kt2576	12 Jan
	Hairdresser time #blakewedding

	Katie Blake @kt2576	12 Jan
	My son the groom with his mommy! #blakewedding

	Katie Blake @kt2576	11 Jan
	Working on the button hole flowers #blakewedding

So that's another one wed off, only 2 more to go! :-)

here a a couple of other pics I didn't tweet.

The bride's Father handing her over !

Take 2, the ceremony moved mid-stream and we started again.

The Grooms Car, it just seemed the right thing to do, note the sunshine, taken the next day, and please note:
Not a hair out of place on Ken!

Paddle your own canoe

I'm on a bit of a high at present, not due to the amount of Christmas season beverages consumed here, but from a little trip we did the other day. The significant other and son and heir joined me on a kayaking safari with an overnight camp stay. Now you know that I am now a big fan of the 5 million stars rather than the more mundane 5 star hotel so this was a trip I was really looking forward to.

We have been thinking about buying our own kayaks for a little while now and thought this was a good chance to "try before we buy" to see if it suited us, and the verdict is.....

checking out the size of the hatches for our gear

I'm all for it, in fact as soon as we got back I was on the net looking for kayaks for sale and checking out other potential kayaking and camping venues, I think I can confidently say I'm hooked!

GG herself having a swim at our camp-spot

 We rented our kayaks from Kangaroo Valley Canoes who are located in,  funny enough,  Kangaroo Valley,  the service was great. You leave your car there on their property and the bus takes you to your departure point. We did the Bendeela to Tallowa Dam after advice that our first choice the Shoalhaven Gorge would be very crowded, so we took the advice and saved the Gorge for another visit.

We were not disappointed, we saw Kangaroos, Wombats, Possums and even a large goanna who was care-taking our camp site. The National Park people have even put in pit toilets so that you don't have to "rough" it too much.

son and heir showing off his fire lighting skills

getting the fire set, note our tents in the background

the view along the way, nothing except the birds and you on the kayak

"Shall I pitch the tent here?"

we went about half way and then pitched out tents and set up home for the night. We had a lovely campfire and cooked our steaks on it. Bedtime was early as we were all pretty tired.  A few nocturnal visitors woke us up during the night, but that is par for the course when you are camping in a national park.

The next day after breakfast we continued, going to a spooky area which had been flooded for the Shoalhaven Dam scheme in the 1970's and all the trees are poking up from the water, quite eerie.

We arrived at our pickup point ahead of schedule and felt very pleased with ourselves ( especially me) that we did the trip.

Next time I want to do the Shoalhaven Gorge, maybe Australia Day, what do you think?