My Ramblings

Happy Anniversary, 2007

Today is the 28th anniversary of our wedding.  Last year, the MOTH surprised me with a day out and an overnight stay at a B&B, along with a massage for me.  This year, I didn't want him to do that, as it's as much HIS anniversary as it is mine, and why should I be the only one to get the treats.  So, yesterday we thought about what we could do, and I decided I'd like to go to the Eureka Tower, the newest and tallest building in Melbourne.  On the 88th floor, there is the sky deck, with 360 degree views of Melbourne and surrounds.  There is also "THE EDGE", a viewing platform that moves 3 metres out from the building.  Once at its extent, the walls and the floor, previously opaque, become clear glass, and you can seen down to the ground, some 300+ metres below.  Now I am not at all good with heights;  infact I'm known to be very squeamish, so going up this tower was a big step for me.  Going up in the lift, I was already starting to feel quite nauseous, and hung onto the rails.  Once out of the lift, the view hits you in the face, and I felt quite dizzy.  Still, I went over to the window, and was fine whilst looking straight ahead, but when I looked directly in front and down, I got very giddy.  I did however take quite a few photo's and as I was taking them, my nervousness evaporated and I began to enjoy the views.  I even ventured outside onto the caged open air area..........such a brave girl I am. lol  Finally, we went into "The Edge"
It was absolutely amazing, and what was more amazing was that I was less afraid in there than I had been just looking out of the ordinary windows......go figure.  To be able to stand, look at your feet, and see the pavement, road and vehicles so far below was mind boggling.  I have every intention of going again, next time at night so I can see the lights of the city and surrounding suburbs.  For any of you in Melbourne, or thinking visiting our fair city, make sure you visit the Eureka tower, it's well worth it.
Here are some photo's.
View of the tower from the ground, I got dizzy just looking up at it.

Looking south toward the bay, the large white rectangle mid picture is the Exhibition Centre, otherwise known as Jeff's shed after Jeff Kennet, the Premier of Victoria at the time it was built.  When the position fell to Steve Bracks sometime later, some wags then started calling it Brack's Shack.  Now that John Brumby has taken on the job, I wonder what it will be named now??
Looking north east.  The white building is the Governor of Victoria's residence.  The Governor is the Queens representative in Victoria.  Each state has a Governor, and the Queens Federal rep is the Governor General.

Looking east, and middle picture is the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), home of the boxing day cricket test, and the AFL grand final, which will take place this Saturday.

Just in front of the MCG is Melbourne Park, aka the tennis centre, home of the Australian Open Tennis tournament.

Federation Square and the Fabulous or Fugly building, depending on opinion.  Mine is the latter incidentally.  God only know why such a disgusting building was erected on this site.  It contains galleries and shops, but it's all pretty high brow stuff, not really for the everyday Aussie.  I've been there once, and as far as I was concerned, it was a total waste of time.  I'd rather go to the museum or the art gallery.  The stuff on sale is all way out of my budget range, so really, this is for those with money, and those who think they have superior taste etc.

That will do for now.  Will try to do some more tomorrow, but right now I have to get organised for dinner, though I don't know how I'm going to fit anything in as we had a Greek banquest for lunch.

Take care everyone, and happy knitting.

Since my last post....

Hi All, I've had a bit of "fun" since my last post.  As you know, I was without my car for over a week when it went in to have the transmission leak, breaks and a couple of other things fixed.  Well, got it back ok, had it for about 4 days, then it was pranged (hit, smashed, bingled).  #1 son, Aaron, had gone to work, and parked the car outside the business premises while he went off in the truck to do furniture removals.  He got a call from his boss to say there had been an accicent and that my car was involved.  Apparently the boss had been reversing his ute (pick-up) out of the driveway and was hit by a bus that didn't stop before coming through an intersection.  The force of the smash pushed the ute into my car, and it was hit directly over the left hand wheel.  The car is driveable, but not advisable with any more than one person as it rubs terribly.  Thankfully it will all be taken care of on someone elses insurance, but once again I am disadvantaged as I really can't do any long trips.  The trouble is, I really need (want) to do a fairly long trip as my Mum called yesterday and told me that a family friend had had a bad fall and was in hospital.  "Hoddy" as we call her, lives across the road from the house we first moved into after we left the migrant hostel in 1965.  Being on our own in this country, apart from friends we and our parents had made, Hoddy immediately adopted us and became a surrogate Nanna to us kids, even though she's only a few years older than our parents.  Hoddy has been there for all of us over the years, and her garden has been the backdrop for several wedding photo's.  She is now an elderly woman who has been living on her own for a number of years now, and had been planning to move into a unit nearer to her daughters house about 25 minutes drive away.  Yesterday she apparently fell when going out into her back yard, and she was there for some time before she was found.  She was apparently calling out, but wasn't heard for quite a while.  She does have a personal alarm, but the feed is to her daughter who lives 25 minutes away.  Pity it wasn't to my brother who still lives in the old family home having bought it from our parents.  It seems that Hoddy has broken her collar bone and has some other bruises.  So far, I believe that she hasn't broken her hip, but I'll know more once I speak to my Mum after she goes to visit today.  I hope to get over there in the next couple of days.........somehow.  I adore Hoddy, and want to let her know that I'm there for her.  I would hazzard a guess to say that she will not be going back to her home, but that her move into a unit will now be expidited as there are steps at both the front and back doors of her home, and her knees have been getting worse lately.  She says that her knees just gave way on this occasion.  I'm just thankful that it wasn't a worse fall, or that it happened yesterday not the night before as it got VERY cold that night and I hate to think what would have happened had she been lying out there all night.  So now, all is as well as it can be with her, and she shouldn't have any residual problems from this.  It will be sad for my brother  not to have her over the road though, as she has always been a fixture of our lives there.  Still, it will be better for Hoddy to be closer to her family.

On the knitting front.........I'm doing a little summer top for Jayda, one of my granddaughters.  She will be 3 in November, and one of the yarns I got in the yellow swap is a rather sweet, variegated (yellow/orange) ribbon yarn.  Knitted up it looks sort of like the fabric of the bubbly swimming costumes I wore as a young child.  I just need to get over to her house to measure it against her so that it is long enough, and so I can put the straps etc in the right place.  As I have lent my camera to her daddy, I can't show pics at the moment, but I will as soon as I get the camera back.  He does have a camera of his own, but was having problems being able to up-load the photo's from it.  He borrowed my camera so that he could swap the memory cards, but it seems that the problem is actually with his computer and not the camera.
OK, so I have digressed as usual.  The other thing I am knitting is some "secret" knitting so don't want to show it here just in case.  Rest assured that I will just as soon as I am able to.  I will take photo's at various intervals so that I can later show it as a work in progress as well as the finished item.

So, there you have it; my usual caos............does it ever change?  Probably not, and if it did I doubt that I would know what to do with myself. lol  Take care everyone, and happy knitting.

I'm Back.

I was unable to get online for quiet a while as the network card in my computer died and so the computer and modem weren't communicating.  The computer was working, the modem was working, but neither could see the other.......how very frustrating.  I also haven't been doing much knitting, catching up on my reading instead, and have been thoroughly enjoying it too.
I eventually finished the little jacket, just kept it the colours it is, and will add embroidery or appliques on the front bodice.  Need to put the buttons on too.

Well, I have now reached 301 comments, and the person who wrote the 300th is Cathy.  Well done Cathy, I will work out what to send you very soon, so if you can send me your snail mail addy that would be great, thanks.   To all who continue to read and comment on my blog, thankyou and sorry I have been less than prolific of late. 

Take care, and happy knitting everyone.

P.S.  I'm another one who has been sucked in to Facebook, and now spend far too much time in there. lol