Sky Watch Friday

A sunset last year out near Orange in country New South Wales. It's raining here now and the skies are dismal, but we need it.

For more beautiful skies from around the world, visit Sky Watch Friday.

Been Lazy I Know!!

I have been very lazy lately in regards to my blog. Sorry about that.

I had my gall bladder out two weeks ago tomorrow. I had been getting dreadful chest pain for over ten years and been on Nexium for reflux, but it was getting no better. I finally had an ultrasound done on my gall bladder after seeing a new specialist and they found a large gall stone. I then got referred to a surgeon who had a look at the results and then basically asked when I wanted the gall bladder removed. Two weeks later I was in hospital - thank the gods for private health insurance. The operation was on the day that I was supposed to go back to work after the Christmas holidays :-) The operation went well and after an overnight stay I got to go home to relax for two weeks. I have now finished watching all those movies and television series dvd's that I had stocked up on for the enforced rest.

I go back to work on Wednesday after a morning appointment to see my surgeon. All has healed pretty well and I feel good. I am not looking forward to the amount of mail and stuff on my desk though, apparently it's overflowing. Seven weeks of stuff to go through (I was on holidays for five weeks before the operation) will probably take me the rest of the week.

I am at home today watching the dreadful, horrible news coming out of Victoria about the bushfires and all the lives lost. I sit and weep it's so awful. I hope that all those who survived can get through it.

I will try to get back to more regular posts. Going back to work and getting back into routine will help, I'm sure.

Photo Challenge - LOOKING UPWARDS!

We have been on a few excursions into Sydney over the past few days and I found some great views when I looked up! Thanks to Joan from Joan's Journeys for hosting this challenge. It certainly changed my point of view :-)

A light pole near the Circular Quay. It just looked so interesting, simple and elegant. I love the reflection from the sun.

The Opera House sails are just so beautiful and iconic that I had to include them.

We went to the Australian Museum in Sydney and this was the ceiling in one of the rooms. Gorgeous!

I couldn't resist adding this photo. I took it in the Chinese Gardens at Darling Harbour. It is a view of the roof of one of the pavilions in the gardens. Just beautiful.

For more upwards looking photos go to Brenda's Photo Challenge.

Sky Watch Friday

We usually go away this time of year but this year we decided to stay home and enjoy the city. I could not go past a photo of the Sydney Opera House as my first contribution for 2009. There was not a cloud in the sky.

For more Sky Watch Friday, visit HERE.

Coffs Harbour Butterfly House

On my recent holiday with my sister we visited the Coffs Harbour Butterfly House. There were so many butterflies and we were lucky enough to have a couple land on us (much to Andy's horror...LOL). They have their own breeding and hatching program to keep the butterfly house stocked and there are usually about ten to fifteen species living there. A great experience! Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

A Male Varied Eggfly Butterfly on my shoulder

Male Cruiser Butterfly

Male Cairns Birdwing Butterfly

Female Varied Eggfly Butterfly

Common Crow Butterfly

Andy gets a visit from a Male Varied Eggfly Butterfly

She sure is popular with the butterfly's, much to her horror....LOL

My Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me and my hubbie, Tony. Yes, we share the same birthday but he's a year older. What a coincidence, huh!?

Holiday with my Sister

My sister, Andy, and I went on a holiday together after New year. We left the kids and husbands at home and embarked on a road trip up the coast.

First stop was Morpeth, near Maitland, where we did some shopping. I bought the most beautiful embroidered jacket. We had lunch and were on our way again, only to get stuck in the most horrendous traffic. It took us two hours to travel about 50 kilometres because of road work - and there was actually no road work crews working that day! We finally got to Forster and stayed the night.

The second day we traveled up to Port Macquarie and enjoyed some leisurely shopping and a laze by the pool after we checked in to our motel. We had a lovely dinner at a bar overlooking the river and then retired for the night.

The next day we went to Bellingen, did some shopping and enjoyed the most delicious lunch at the pub. I have never had such divine antipasto. We then travelled on to Coffs Harbour, were we stayed for three nights. We enjoyed plenty of shopping and a little sight-seeing, went to the movies one night to see The Day the Earth Stood Still and ate out for dinner at a lovely restaurant one night. We visited a butterfly house (more in the next post about that). On our last day we also indulged in massages.

We spent day 6 travelling home - a long trip but the traffic was much better. Home after a great trip. I think that I bought more for the girls than myself, but that is usually the way. I kept seeing things that they would love and couldn't help myself.

A great, relaxing holiday :-)