Ramada Hotel, Ballina.....

 

Last weekend we were very lucky to be shouted a night
by Koo & Mitch to the Ramada Hotel at Ballina.  What a lovely place....with our very own spa room!!.  As you can see Shane & I were very excited as we don't get to do this type of thing very often....actually, never!!  We celebrated Mitchs' 50th Birthday
with his family and friends at a lovely Italian restaurant,
and continued well into the night with cocktails at
the Hotel Bar.....and yes, we were very sore and sorry
for ourselves the next day!.   We didn't get to
utilise the gorgeous Spa, but not to worry, this is
definitely a place we will come back to......

 

 

You Capture / Lines.....

Well, this was an easy one for me as I just so happened to take this picture of the brush fence at the pub on Mothers Day!.  I loved the detail of the twigs and the rusty wire holding it all together.  I wasn't that happy with
the images I got though...Once again I should have spent a bit more time mucking around with the camera, instead of worrying that I'm looking like an idiot taking photos of such
random objects!!.
We had a fence just like this one where I grew up in Brisbane, and at the time, it was definitely a standout in the neighbourhood, and beautifully complimented my Dads' self landscaped native garden.Check out You Capture for some more images of 'lines'

Mothers Day.....

Me and my Peeps, minus one :(
had a lovely lunch at the Shaws Bay Hotel, Ballina.
Hope you all had a lovely Mothers Day.....it's a pretty good
job don't you reckon? x

Lismore Rally against CSG.....

The Rally against Coal Seam Gas in Lismore on Saturday was a huge success.
Around 7000 people turned up to peacefully protest against the CSG
Industry, and it is obvious there is no taking a back seat on this issue.
This was proof that if these companies want to 'Frack' with us.....BOY, will they have one hell of a fight on their hands!!
Lismore says 'NO', Dunoon says 'NO', Ewingar says 'NO', Drake says 'NO',
Goolmangar says 'NO', Coffee Camp says 'NO', The Channon says 'NO',
Keerong Valley says 'NO', Nimbin says 'NO', The Alice says 'NO',
Tabulam says 'NO' , Bonalbo says 'NO', Kyogle says 'NO',
Pillar Valley says 'NO', Mallanganee says 'NO',.......and on it goes........

The Northern Rivers says 'NO'......

 

 

We declare that we will learn from the mistakes of America, and in honour of those citizens who now have no clean drinking water, sick children and contaminated land,
we will say 'NO'.........

But more importantly in honour of our fellow Australians just over the border
in Queensland, who are right here and right now suffering under the hands
of this industry, and their failing government. Who have had to leave their homes, and watch their children get sick, and see their livelihoods disappear before their eyes.....we will say 'NO'

We will give our children a future....we will continue to grow precious
food and respect our vital, pristine, life giving water, and in honour of 
our suffering fellow countrymen, and our generations to come
we will say.....

........'NO'.......

 

The areas that have declared themselves CSG free areas, handed their 
declarations to the Mayors.  And now we will have signs 
declaring our Roads Gasfield Free!!.

If you think this doesn't affect you, think again.  Just imagine what an already
parched country like Australia would be like with little to no groundwater,
or contaminated water that is unusable for any purpose.
I implore you to join the Lock the Gate Alliance, and to educate
yourselves on the most insidious threat to us human beings
that is taking place under your nose.  Please, be aware
of what will happen to us all if this industry is allowed 
to go on.  Australia.....we need to say 'NO'

• http://www.csgfreenorthernrivers.org/
• http://lockthegate.org.au/
• http://coalseamgasnews.org/
• http://www.keerronggassquad.org/
• http://www.stoppilligacoalseamgas.com.au/
• http://www.scenicrim.qld.gov.au/coal-mining-and-coal-seam-gas
• http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/coal-seam-gas-by-the-numbers/
• http://stop-csg-illawarra.org/
• http://www.ccag.org.au/
• http://bimblebox.org/
• http://ntn.org.au/
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Women-Against-Coal-Seam-Gas/214606121987465
• http://www.youtube.com/user/csgfreenr/videos

Check out these sites for information.

You Capture / Spring......

 

 

I know it is not Spring here, in fact the cold is very quickly creeping in and  soon there will be very few things that have any colour and life about them.....including me !. 
So I could only capture something that reminds me of Spring....these beautiful mauve Tree Dahlias. x

D.I.Y jewellery stand....

Hi guys, thought I would share with you this cute little jewellery stand I created a couple of days ago.
I have had a pile of jewellery just thrown into a jewellery box and hanging over my mirror and it was irking me as to how messy and unsorted it was, not to mention it doesn't keep necklaces looking very good when they get entangled with one another.  I had seen some really nice jewellery stands on etsy, and was debating
over whether to splurge out or not, when I came across these mug holders at the op shop....

One was taller than the other so I thought the smaller one would be great for
Summers  pile of jewellery also.  So,  I gave them a quick sand....

and then two undercoats of white spraypaint....and then
two coats of a beautiful turquoise blue colour, and then sanded them back
really roughly and took back some areas to the wood underneath, and
basically just roughed them up a bit.....and this is how they turned out.....

 

 

 

 

I'm really pleased with them and now I can see all my necklaces at a glance.
I think they would look great in other colours also......x

Introducing.....

April Hannah.....welcome to the world darling girl....great grandchild number
18 for our dearly missed Frank & Lena.  They would be thrilled to bits
to see Leah and Ricky finally become parents....

 

Thankfully, after a tumultuos few days she arrived safe and sound, and into the arms of her relieved, tired and emotional Mum Leah.....

5.10 a.m Wednesday 2nd May 2012, 5lb 3oz.....

Congratulations Ricky and Leah, we are so very happy for you, and we
look forward to getting to know this precious little girl, for whom you
waited so long!!.......x
(P.S I remember Grandma & Grandpa getting a real kick out of our Summer being born in Winter, and I can almost feel them getting a little kick also over April being born in May!!)