First Light

There is a lighthouse in NSW where Australia sees first light however Evie who knows all about light houses had never actually seen one. So that was all we needed for todays activity because there is a print of a nearby lighthouse above our table and we were off to see that light. It was not a beach day this morning so the crowds were down and the playgrounds a bit freer.  Another first was having fish and chips on the beach. Mummy has headed back to QLD, so now we are down to two guests and they are both small.

Kids Science

Who would have thought, when we were off to Collendina for a pool scenario and the weather changes to a crispy southerly that we would end up at an indoor Crazy Chemist show scheduled for the afternoon. It kept them watching for at least 30 minutes which was better than getting cold in the pool. I think the crazy chemist should have been a bit more animated.  We retreated to the van for coffee and snacks and a trivia game which kept us going til the chocolates ran out. We just did the easy topics and I struggled with those. eg name a vegetable starting with B and you have 10 9 8 7 ........ 0 seconds.  

professor summer

way to breezy

Keep em Busy

Rule of Thumb - Grandie energy is 25 times the the average age of the grand parents.  So keep the variety of activities on a rotation but introduce the new ones on a regular basis.  The beach is still the big winner, while all the presents last a much shorter time but are still worthwhile like the single car ramp that is being placed in new locations. Food is a good distraction. James got the spit going so there was another round of crackle.  We are now down to two grandies for the next few days but the schedule probably wont change.

Big Beach Day

 The afternoon session was a longer one and this time we brought the whole shebang. Two shelters, a spare umbrella and one kayak. The kayak proved to be a winner. The older three got the hang of it quickly and tried various manouvres for turning which sometimes worked.  It was quite shallow so they never got far away. Then there was the rock climbing in bare feet which I have trouble with these days on those groyne rocks however once one went up then there was no stopping the rest of them. All good signs to try get them outdoors and off the internet at a later age.

Beach Session One

 There was a lot of effort on food yesterday and there are left overs to feed the hordes. So today is activiity day and the morning beach session was a neat two hours without needing to carry too much gear, like buckets, spades, one umbrella and a few towels. The obligatory food snacks and water bottles was the heaviest bag. Simply carting water back and forth for sand play was the first hour  and a slow beach walk was the second hour. There were jelly fish but mostly shells including the largest intact oysters we have seen. The farm across the way is producing some monster feeds lately.  I have not mentioned the effort needed to put the bunks together, Daniel has worked on this 3D jigsaw before.

With the Trimmings

 I can report that pork cooked in the air fryer produces the best crackling ever.  This was Debbie's full on Christmas sit down for 12 of us which was not a big number considering past sit downs.  Again I will not be eating much in the evening.  More presents were cleaned out from under the tree and I am not sure how some of them will be going back on the plane.  We finished off with trifle and pudding and chocolate with brandied cream.  And this is the last set of dishes I am doing until tomorrow.  Surely this is the end of it and don't call me surely.

Estelle floats the Keys

 For the first day at least, of this post Christmas Grandie bonanza, Estelle is getting all of the attention.  There will be much more competition soon.  It's just too exciting to combine Christmas with sleepovers. So far attention moves quickly from one thing to the next. The piano did get a lot of time and maybe there is some interest there for future lessons.  Also the Grinch continues to be the trend around here. I never paid much attention to the Grinch previously but recently I have seen both movies. I can hear someone on the hunt and she is small.

 

Christmas Stagger

 I don't mean the imbibing type of stagger although a few frothies, bubblies and winos have gone down in the last few days.  We are having a Boxing day lunch with a full on clove hitched ham going into the oven any minute. I have only been eating lunches for the last few days and not needing anything much til the next day.  I also opened a late Christmas present to find a set of six glasses designed for martinis that should also be suitable for the espresso style. These have a large footprint so something else has to go. I sorted thru 50 yar of accummulated glassware.  Mostly they all started out as sets of six but now are down to one, two or three.  All these have been tossed, as well as some way older stuff never been used in 30 yar.  I must have removed at least 20 glasses and there was no Kondo spark issuing off them. Must be time for a drink.

Lunch Bugs

Another one of the talents from out beach friend Jill is cooking. We supplied a snapper and some prawns while she got some Moreton Bay Bugs. We were at Moreton Island recently and there was no sign of any bugs. These were cooked over the coals  and while they were being devoured, the snapper went on the coals as well. Each course was 30 to 40 mins on the heat and the bugs had the taste of the sea. It was all washed down with Yuzu lemon prosecco. Such a good lunch. 

Jill bugs

I did not have time to wrap her present

Santa's Big Box

 Just when we thought all the preparations were done, Santa must have left a couple of large boxes for us overnight.  There were sheets, covers and pillow cases everywhere and suddenly a whole stack of extra washing was needed as it seems you cannot make a brand new bed with brand new sheets out of the packet. They all must be washed first. The mattresses were packed in that air tight vacuum system they all seem to use these days. Stand back while the packaging is slit and the expansion unfolds.  We still have the small matter of no bed to put them on yet.

Hanging the Pud

 There have been the usual frenetic preparations that happen every year. A cruise ship passed us by yesterday and sometimes you think what if we were over there on that and you let the whole Christmas thing slide by just for one year. Let everyone else fuss over it. Back to reality and this years 1st world problem of where to hang the pud.  There are two schools of thought revolving around the creation of pudding. We are in the make it early camp as opposed to the make it on the day brigade. However we changed our shower heads this year and the previously straight pipe style is now a rounded slippery sucker on the end of a hose.  It is still working as a hanging space but a slow slight slip will send it to the floor. Only a few days to go.

A Bang in the Night

After a long day of driving yesterday I was out of it last night and slept thru. Hooray. However, around midnight something hit the roof.  Debbie went searching around but found nothing to see and this morning we did another search until I saw that a support stay for the TV aerial had snapped and was laying across the roof. The main aerial was still up but we had two early warning signs. When the maintenance man was up there two weeks ago he said the aerial looked dodgy.  Last week we noticed that the free to air was not working.  So I took photos to see if there were any obvious breaks in the cabling. We had that aerial replaced seven yar ago and it has rusted clean thru and is now waving around ready to come down.  Shows you what a seaside environment can do and that spot is the most weather exposed we have got.  Mind you we hardly use the air waves for TV these days but we did get the TV man up there at short notice to replace the entire thing. Hooray. Now qwe have aerial supremacy.

before

after

even later

new wave antenna

Christmas Meds

Nothing like a good dose of medicine to get you thru the Silly Season. As usual you cannot do a trip to the Alfred unless you combine it with other visitations.  It was morning tea with Grandies who else.  There was more cake than at a birthday as well, but who cares.  Debbie baked up a fruit cake as a present not to forget the mince tarts. I like a good tart. The afternoon medicine session almost didn't happen due to a mouth condition however we were able to talk our way passed the doctors and get the dose delivered anyway. Hooray. On the way back it was Christmas Shopping for Grandies and a pickup of the snap snap snapper.

Riding Nostalgia

 20 yar ago we would often ride from Collendina and out along the coast. Once we went to Torquay and back for 80km total. This time it was more relaxed with a maximum of 13km to Barwon Heads. We would mostly stop at a bakery which also did reasonable coffee. The lady there was always talking up her retirement and trying to sell the business.  I can report that the business is sold, the coffee is down graded and the concentration is mostly on the baking. So don't go for coffee anymore, there are plenty of other options.  We rode the exact route taken years earlier and the traffic is minimal pre-Christmas, even stopping to see what the LifeSavers are up to. 

Summer Clean

 Just when you think it is time to put your feet up there is something else to do, like poison the brick paths then follow up with a pressure sway on the precious way.  Then rake all the garden beds and lace them with plant food and fertilisers as well as bedding them with sugar cane mulch.  Don't forget the ornaments that have been rusting for a while, as it is a good time to brush and scrape and apply an antirust to prolong their decoration. Someone has to record this in photos.

A Prey to Murder

 The title gives a clue to this whodunnit about including a strong bird flavour. It seems that the author had some bird experiences in her youth and has now used that as a theme for a murder yarn.  This series of books is slightly different to the Vera style. The two slueths here are elderly types who couldn't run to save themselves. I don't think I will revisit these guys again. The story is slow, in keeping with the amateurs who doddle along as well. Some how the bad guy is caught without the police having a clue either.  AHH!

Brown Spotted Jelly

 We got a report yesterday about a guy who got a sting from a jelly. Our informer said he seemed to be playing it up. Nevertheless I went on a hunt for one just now. We did see some the other day and are quite destinctive, being a dark brown internal colour with clear aprons and fine clear tentacles. They are about fist size. I have not been able to swim as yet and normally the jellies I see are much larger and can swim around them. These smaller guys I am not so sure. They do have a mild sting so basically avoid all jellies. There was only one that I could find, hiding in the seagrass, so I don't think we will be closing the beach.