a weekend of stuff

 So last week we had a little rain.....

 It turned to hail..... just some small ones.

 It poured!  This was just after we had done around the bay in a day... the fisherman had done his first 100km ride.  It was perfect conditions, best in 5 years.

 Muck up day on Wednesday... this is part of the noisy ones costume... it will hang from her umbrella, she is a weather reporter from a game she plays online.

 I got me some nice new socks.... and have started to top up the tan again!

 The fisherman decided to pull several bikes apart and turn them into a 'new' bike to put on the trainer on the back veranda so he can ride/train on it.

Cookie was playing the you cant see me game... hahahah.  fail.

you wont believe it!

the fisherman has decided to start cycling!!

yes indeedy.... he has taken over my old bike, the beast and is turning into a MAMIL.  middle aged man in lycra for those wondering what that is.  (I am a MAFIL) lol.

He now has some more Lycra and is looking quite the part... in fact as I type this he is opening a parcel that arrived today, with his new cycling shoes and cleats.....

stay tuned

annual retreat

 This year we were given a pile of colouring in pictures to do while we waited for dinner!  Its all the craze at the moment, adult colouring in books are everywhere. this was my fox!  I did an owl too but left it behind.

 I worked on the froglets double wedding ring and I have nearly completed all the melons.  My lovely friend Jennifer bought me some bike fabric.... swoon.... Every time I see some I'm buying it and will make myself a quilt with bikes!  I got a great one in Queensland... its a skeleton with a top hat riding a penny farthing.

 This is what Jennifer is working on... hand piecing.

 There was strips of fabric all over the place.

 bits in progress....

 A few Christmas quilts being finished up.....

 Stunning paper piecing... I am in awe of this one.

 little bears.....

 quilt as you go blocks.....

 hexies of course....

 show and tell at the end of the weekend showing some of the over achievers off....

 simple but beautiful....

 my friend Simone has needle turned this, only part of a quilt for her sister....

 stunning colours....

and marge made this for her lucky daughter in law.

I had a lovely weekend as per usual, I think the best part is you don't have to cook and can just sew until dinner is served, you eat and return to your work... no dishes either!

busy busy busy

 made some wonton soup last night and there is a simple recipe going around on face book for these buns, so I whipped up a batch... not bad, but I do love a coffee scroll!

 Its winter inter club time again!  I figured this is my 8th year of going into MSAC and doing timekeeping and general mum duties.

 Last week I did timekeeping on pool deck, this week I sat up with the club and did splits for each swimmer.

 Here's the noisy one doing her breaststroke.  Not her favourite but she is a natural swimmer.

 Last weekend I did a fundraiser for a young lady who is needing $220,000 for treatment for leukemia.  I rode on a stationary bike with a team for 24hours.  I didn't do the entire 24hrs straight (I'm not that insane lol).

 While we pedalled through the night we watched the tour De France and played games.  I ended up riding for about 5.5hr and did 151km  We raised over $4000.

When I came outside in the morning not only was it about -3deg I was under a tree that must have had the biggest birds roosting in it overnight and they all must have dumped their contents of their guts onto my car....  this really doesn't show how bad my poor car looked!

Next weekend is retreat weekend!

what to do on a cold wet day

 I laid out the froglets DWR.  its coming along nicely.

I have been sick the last few days with a weird virus so riding today didn't happen which was possibly a good thing as it rained and my friends who did ride got drowned.

my trip up north

 But first.... my dirty bike!

 Poor Wasabi, she got very muddy

 I'm having so much fun riding her, and I gave her a good wash down and she came up a treat.

 Cookie has taken to the towel rack again as the heating is on most evenings and guess where its warmest?

 Lil knows the other hot spots and has now become a real indoor cat.

 I had a great seat on the way up to Brisbane, I love looking out the window.

 Alexandria and I had lunch/brunch and dinners out.  This was goji berry ice cream on pancakes.

 I had the most divine prosciutto, mushrooms and poached egg on rye sour dough with a olive tapenade  that was spot on in flavours.  not to mention the best coffee!

 We went to Brighton (Queensland) to a quirky tea house and had more brunch and pots of real  tea served with mishmash of china.  Next door was a bike shop!  not the type I would usually go to but very suitable for the area.

 We drove up along the beach fronts and noted how much damage had been done by the last lot of storms, they are now putting the beaches back where they should be.

 Very near to the froglets house is a reservoir, so we took a drive there and walked the 5km track.  If you look closely in the middle of this photo is a black dot... its actually a very LARGE spider.  I reckon Queensland breed some of the biggest spiders and they spin the most incredible webs, I wish I could take photos that show them better.

 We walked the track and didn't dilly dally as the mozzies would land on you as soon as you even slowed down, the froglet is paranoid about Ross river fever and we didn't think to take areoguard with us.

 We spied a really decent sized echidna, he had buried himself into the ground and wasn't coming out to say hello.

 Of course there were bush turkeys running around, they wouldn't stand still for me to take their photos.

 I went into Brisbane city for the day and walked 12km (my vivo fit told me i did!)

 The botanical gardens are much like ours but they have mangroves.  I wasn't really there at the best time of year to see flowers.

 They have a south bank the same as Melbourne but they have a man made beach, now that was pretty awesome.

I had breakfast here with this view.  hard life eh?

The best part of my short holiday was of course spending time with the froglet, she is off to Europe in 8 weeks time for a 3 month holiday!  I bought her a backpack and other bits and pieces for her trip.
She is following my footsteps when I was 20 I did the same trip....  now its my turn to worry about her travelling :)