The smells of Summer

Walking Lucy in the early morning the other day, it was before too much car fumes got around. There were so delightful smells. Lucy thought so too but she was probably smelling different things to me.

I told Warren that walking her is more a pull than a walk. She has the long lead which will go out to 4 metres and I reel it in or out depending on what she is doing. She will trots ahead and then stop to smell something, she only gets the time between me catching up and going past before I pull her along then, she gets in front of me and pulls me along to the next smell for her.

This was one of the trees in blossom that was smelling the other morning, a nice clean type smell. We have one in the garden but it is only just coming out.

Sleeping on clouds

It has been so hot lately and even at night it is hot. We have been finding that we get hot from the mattress protector.

As Costco the other day, we decided to see if we could buy a new one that would be cooler to sleep. Warren was tasked to find one while I continued to get the things on our list.

He caught up to me with a big bag and said that there was one that was suitable for summer on one side and when it was turned over to the plush side. it was for winter.

Sounded odd to me but it was only a few dollars so we decided to buy and try.

This is it under the sheet, it is quite thick so the sheet sinks into it making the indentations but oh my goodness it is so comfortable, it is what I imagine sleeping on a cloud would be like and surprisingly, to me anyway, it is cooler.

In the West of China we were given a bamboo mat to sleep on, that was fine and cool until Warren turned over in his sleep and woke up in pain, a small splinter of bamboo had gone into his back. No more bamboo mat after that.

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Retirement villages/resorts

Last week we went with a couple to visit one of these places not far from here. They want to be near the beach. The salesperson took us through their display homes and they are homes! no small units about these.

Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, double garage, spacious kitchen dining and lounge areas plus either a study or third bedroom. This room was smallish but still plenty big enough for a desk and/or single bed. The rooms are bigger than the rooms in our house and ours is considered a family home.

There were three different designs that they showed us all with great furniture in them and first we were shown through the reception area which looked like the entrance to a fancy hotel, hence I suppose the name being a resort. The dining area with cheaper meals on offer three nights a week, a coffee shop, hairdresser and bar run by residents, then we branched out and saw the swimming pool and spa, alongside was a covered bowling green.

Very nice and very pricy. The units/houses were from $470,000 to $488,000 not much when said quickly, then there was a weekly fee of $137 this was to cover rates, water and insurance plus garden maintenance. They have a gardener who mows all the lawns but there is a small area of garden that people can chose to work in that.

On leaving, there is a 5% per year up til seven years that needs to be returned to the resort. So if one was to buy in for $400K (just for my ease of working out) then a yearly amount of $7000 plus to be paid, then if people were to leave for whatever reason after five years, then $100,000 goes to the resort. A lot of money!

This is a common area.

Red Centre Experience

Yesterday we attended a bbq to learn more about the event happening in Alice Springs in April.It was nice to meet others who will also be going to NT for the Mega event.

It is a Geo Caching event sponsored by NT  government and they are hoping for over 500 people, they havent quite got the numbers yet. The bbq was free and we got some promotional material to put into caches to let others know that it is happening.

It was held on the banks of the Brisbane River not far from the Airport, great place for a get together.

We will be leaving here early April and taking a leisurely trip up and over with a few days in the Gemtree caravan park which is famous for its gem and anything to do with gems. After the event we will go down through Sth Aust across to Melbourne before returning home.

We have house sitters looking after the house and Lucy, she has met them and has given her approval.

NT Government are putting in several thousand dollars to aid tourism and some of it is going to the placement of caches, 1400 of them in and around Alice and further afield. The aim is to have a bitumen road connecting Perth through Alice to Townsville. It will cost millions but will open up the outback no end.

Lighter Chairs

Wednesday we picked up our new suite which we will use in the dining/family room area. The chairs are quite light and easy to move.

There are two chairs and a glass topped table, just enough for breakfast and foot stools.

The footstools slide under the chairs when not in use and are strong enough to sit on.

After almost fourteen years we replaced the curtain as well.

I didnt want the rug but Warren brought it back inside after the new flooring. He wants it to be a "coastal" corner so this is the start the aqua curtains, maybe a new rig when i find something suitable.

Summer Fruits

Got to love summer for the fantastic fruits that are around. When i was a kid we had heaps of fruit trees in the back yard, there were about five different types of plums, one was called a Christmas plum as every year just before Christmas they were all ripe. Mum made jams and also preserved some. Besides the plums there were nectarines, peaches, quinces (Yuk!) but no apricots.

After one summer holiday, going into high school  I was slightly retarded on one side, couldn't walk properly, couldn't write properly and apparently my speech was distorted too. It was picked up at school and I had to have lots of tests and it was put down to the fact that I had too much fruit acid in my body and my fruit intake had to be curtailed and monitored.

No chance of that happening now but then I remember picking five or so nectarines for morning tea, the same for afternoon tea, then there was jam to eat and usually stewed fruits for after dinner.

This is what we had for dessert tonight and it reminded me of my childhood, probably didnt taste quite the same but yummy anyway.

Cut up nectarines and I did have some cream. Of course milking cows when growing up we always had cream, now its a rare occurrence.

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Drinks Anyone?

Earlier this year when we were travelling, it was so hot in Broome, like 40 degree days and we really had to keep up the hydration. I can drink water but it does become boring after awhile just plain water. I was shopping with Sheridan and she was looking for something in particular and said that it would probably be in the sports drink aisle. We found it and I

bought some too. It certainly made drinking water much more easier to do and I know in Darwin warren and I were drinking about three bottles of water each with just two squirts added.

There are several different flavours and most are sugar free so no guilt.

Now that the weather has become hot, I went looking for them in the shops at home and thankfully I was able to find them, they last quite awhile and not expensive I think I paid about $3.45 for each one and there is supposedly 24 drinks in each but of course that depends on how heavy handed one is. While I was writing, I would head up to the computer with one large drink over ice and that would do me for each session.