Marguerite
Active Member
G'day, folks.
We've got home this evening after a lovely, relaxing weekend. I know it sounded very busy, but although we got a lot done, we still all feel rested (apart from the rigours of sleeping on easy child & BF1's spare air bed!).
It's either been a bit hotter over the last few nights, or it's easy child & BF1's place which is hotter. It shouldn't be, so close to the water, but maybe it's BF1's banks of computers (he's an IT nerd) all heating up the place. I'm grateful for his computers though - it kept me in touch with you lot.
This morning my brother and his wife arrived, to check out the jetty. Next time he will come by boat instead of by car, to see if his yacht can manage to tie up even at low tide. easy child's place is one cove along from the function centre where she plans to be married and also very close to the lake entrance to the sea. We had lunch there today and watched with amazement the speed of the current as it flows to and forth. BF1 spent his childhood growing up by the lake, he remembers riding the tide out while snorkelling, and riding it back again - how to cover a lot of ground the easy way!
While we were looking at the jetty, I saw why I had my "sinking moment" the night before - there is a drain there, it had scoured out the sediment beside the boat I had been trying to walk around. You could still see the holes in the sediment where I had stepped down deep. Thankfully, the water is really warm, I would estimate over 25 C (77 F). I am really cross with myself for forgetting the swimsuits! Oh well, it would have made our weekend a bit busier. My brother & his wife were reminiscing about when they first moved to Newcastle to live, how they looked everywhere until they found a small flat near the lake edge, well out of town. Then they discovered they loved being near the water and found a small fisherman's shack which they bought, and over time worked on to turn it into a lovely home. Then they sold it and moved to another, slightly larger shack closer to town and did it all again.
Newcastle (north of Sydney) is like a thin, elongated donut, the hole in the middle is Lake Macquarie, like a huge lagoon many miles long and quite a few wide. It's huge. When people settled in the area the lake was a focus of where to live, it's fabulous for fishing. The area began as a coal-mining town and then a shipping centre and general industrial area. South of Sydney is the twin, Wollongong (no lagoon) which mines the southern end of the same, deep coal seam.
But Newcastle - people settled around the lake. The strip of land between the lake and the sea is narrow; easy child & BF1 live along this eastern strip. The other side of the lake has suburbs spreading out wider, deep into the foothills of the mountains and the Hunter Valley, wine country. Currently copping floods from the wet weather systems moving down from the flooding rains of Queensland. My brother lives on the west of the lake. The lake is fringed with mangroves, nurseries for fish in large quantities. Walking along the lake edge I could see huge oysters growing wild on any bit of substrate they could find. I remember as a child I used to use a rock to smash open oyster shells and eat them fresh. I hate to think what risks I took, many of the houses along those foreshores drained their septic tanks right into the lake edge, I don't know why I never caught hepatitis! Now of course the place has been cleaned up.
Lunch was magnificent - I am very happy the kids have chosen that place for their wedding. Only a couple of months to go now. The invitations will be posted out tomorrow. I have brought home those for the family and friends who live nearby.
We had a better trip home tan we had heading north, although traffic was still thick as we got closer to Sydney. Once at the Sydney Harbour Bridge traffic actually eased up. As we headed south, we saw it all getting heavy again, but on the other side of the highway, heading into the city as we headed back out to our home. No room for dinner tonight, after the huge lunch we had.
Tomorrow I see the neurologist. I wonder how he will react when I tell him that prednisone is helping a lot of my symptoms? It's even helping my shoulder, which the neurologist thought was due to nerve damage. Time to re-think, perhaps.
A busy week coming up. Time to head for bed (our own bed! Sweet!) ad catch up on sleep lost over the last couple of nights on the airbed...
Enjoy your Sunday.
Marg
We've got home this evening after a lovely, relaxing weekend. I know it sounded very busy, but although we got a lot done, we still all feel rested (apart from the rigours of sleeping on easy child & BF1's spare air bed!).
It's either been a bit hotter over the last few nights, or it's easy child & BF1's place which is hotter. It shouldn't be, so close to the water, but maybe it's BF1's banks of computers (he's an IT nerd) all heating up the place. I'm grateful for his computers though - it kept me in touch with you lot.
This morning my brother and his wife arrived, to check out the jetty. Next time he will come by boat instead of by car, to see if his yacht can manage to tie up even at low tide. easy child's place is one cove along from the function centre where she plans to be married and also very close to the lake entrance to the sea. We had lunch there today and watched with amazement the speed of the current as it flows to and forth. BF1 spent his childhood growing up by the lake, he remembers riding the tide out while snorkelling, and riding it back again - how to cover a lot of ground the easy way!
While we were looking at the jetty, I saw why I had my "sinking moment" the night before - there is a drain there, it had scoured out the sediment beside the boat I had been trying to walk around. You could still see the holes in the sediment where I had stepped down deep. Thankfully, the water is really warm, I would estimate over 25 C (77 F). I am really cross with myself for forgetting the swimsuits! Oh well, it would have made our weekend a bit busier. My brother & his wife were reminiscing about when they first moved to Newcastle to live, how they looked everywhere until they found a small flat near the lake edge, well out of town. Then they discovered they loved being near the water and found a small fisherman's shack which they bought, and over time worked on to turn it into a lovely home. Then they sold it and moved to another, slightly larger shack closer to town and did it all again.
Newcastle (north of Sydney) is like a thin, elongated donut, the hole in the middle is Lake Macquarie, like a huge lagoon many miles long and quite a few wide. It's huge. When people settled in the area the lake was a focus of where to live, it's fabulous for fishing. The area began as a coal-mining town and then a shipping centre and general industrial area. South of Sydney is the twin, Wollongong (no lagoon) which mines the southern end of the same, deep coal seam.
But Newcastle - people settled around the lake. The strip of land between the lake and the sea is narrow; easy child & BF1 live along this eastern strip. The other side of the lake has suburbs spreading out wider, deep into the foothills of the mountains and the Hunter Valley, wine country. Currently copping floods from the wet weather systems moving down from the flooding rains of Queensland. My brother lives on the west of the lake. The lake is fringed with mangroves, nurseries for fish in large quantities. Walking along the lake edge I could see huge oysters growing wild on any bit of substrate they could find. I remember as a child I used to use a rock to smash open oyster shells and eat them fresh. I hate to think what risks I took, many of the houses along those foreshores drained their septic tanks right into the lake edge, I don't know why I never caught hepatitis! Now of course the place has been cleaned up.
Lunch was magnificent - I am very happy the kids have chosen that place for their wedding. Only a couple of months to go now. The invitations will be posted out tomorrow. I have brought home those for the family and friends who live nearby.
We had a better trip home tan we had heading north, although traffic was still thick as we got closer to Sydney. Once at the Sydney Harbour Bridge traffic actually eased up. As we headed south, we saw it all getting heavy again, but on the other side of the highway, heading into the city as we headed back out to our home. No room for dinner tonight, after the huge lunch we had.
Tomorrow I see the neurologist. I wonder how he will react when I tell him that prednisone is helping a lot of my symptoms? It's even helping my shoulder, which the neurologist thought was due to nerve damage. Time to re-think, perhaps.
A busy week coming up. Time to head for bed (our own bed! Sweet!) ad catch up on sleep lost over the last couple of nights on the airbed...
Enjoy your Sunday.
Marg
