Oh no!

One of the problems with amassing a stash of china is you have to keep it stored somewhere safe, and most importantly, don’t drop it.

Oh well, I still have a heap more stashed away, and if i clean up the broken handle, this dish can be used as a lolly holder

International TOF

My search for pieces for my dinner setting has gone international.

I used to sit and look at the pieces on international ebay sites and drool, but when the Australian Dollar reached parity and beyond with US dollar, the price of getting these pieces became much cheaper, so I figured, "why not".

So i have had several weeks of fun on US and UK Ebay site, and i now have several years worth of presents for my mother.

Oh, and a few bits for myself too.

Taph and I are preparing to jump the ditch and head over to New Zealand for a holiday.

The Rugby World Cup may also be happening while we are there, so we are catching a few games.

These we will see in-between enabling Taphs fibre habit, sampling the regions whiskeys, wines and chocolates. And of course, doing some skiing.

However when I heard The William Webb Ellis Trophy was coming to Yass (a country town near Canberra) I figured it was worth the trip.

Damm

i have posted before about my trips to Whisky live in 2010 and 2009.

I was getting ready to go up to Sydney for Whiskey live in October, when i got the following notice.

Whisky live in Sydney is delayed until June 2011.

Damm,

Oh My God

I had a recent trip to Wollongong. The trip there was relatively uneventful until we approached the city limits, where we encountered every teenage boys (and top gear fans) wet dream.

Four Ferraris out for a run together.

While i am a guy, i am not that much of a Ferrari fan, so i have no idea what models these are, so if anyone out there can help with that info, there would be sum thanks as i am not that much of a Ferrari fan.

More wine tasting

Taph and i recently paid a visit to a wine tasting. The wine they had for tasting were very good

It was a winner with taph too. She tried a few fantasy wines, and they had a salvos store next door, and a knitting chair too.

Updates no 2

I said in my previous post that there was more to follow, and this is much more.

Yep, The Old flame jr is going to be getting married. We celebrated the engagement at the Green Herring in Canberra*.

Its a loverly little restaurant and well worth a visit to.

*we are not associated with or received any discount from the Green Herring Restaurant for this shameless plug (But we did try).

An update.

It has been a little while since I blogged, however with so many things have been happening, and not happening it has been hard to write.

First to the not happening. The paving project is progressing extremely slowly.

This is because I was able to sprain both my thumbs. (but luckily, not at the same time).

A lot of the pavers have bits of concrete stuck to them, so most evenings in the summer I was outside with a hammer and chisel, cleaning the pavers up. The problem was I did not like wearing a glove on the hand I was holding the hammer with. I felt like I lost too much control over the hammer, so I just wore the glove on my other hand.

And this hand ended up doing all the work in moving the clay pavers, which weighed around 2 kilos each, and the ligaments in that thumb got sprained.

As for how I sprained the other thumb, there is even less of a story there. I just fell off my bike. The front wheel got trapped in a little drainage culvert, and I was trying to turn, and the wheel didn't.

As an accident, it was so unspectacular that if there was a video recording of it, it would note even have been considered for a weekly prize in Funniest Home Videos. However it was enough to result in my hand being strapped for a week and a bit, and a sore thumb for a few weeks.

The photos don't show the full full purple hue that encompassed my hand, as that details was lost in the flash of the camera.

As for the other things that are happening, well stay tuned.

Shopping

I went into the video shop today, and the queues at the checkouts we rather slow. I had a little bit too much time on my hands, so i reorganised a table display for them.

I wonder what the next person to the table thought?

A new Career.

A number of new shops have opened at the local shopping centre.

I think in one of these shops a new career is waiting me.

Berry Goodness

A friend revealed they had some thornless blackberries in their back yard, and it was giving them more fruit then they could process.

When Taph and I heard this, we sprung into action.

One and a half kilos of fruit later we were home and processing it into jam. In-fact we were able to get six big and one little jars of jam bottled.

We also got a little bonus. We were able to dig up two vines that we have stuck into pots at home. If they grow, we will have our own supply of thornless blackberries for a couple of years time.

How to tell if you are frugal?

How to tell if you are frugal?

You fix broken clothes pegs.

Frugal, economical or just tight. You be the judge.

The Paving Project

The paving project took a bit of a weather hit (sorting pavers in 37o heat is no fun) and health hit (with my knee playing up, and Taphs hip going out), but as the photos show we are going well and getting the pavers organised before we start laying them.

The piles of unsorted pavers are getting smaller.

the piles of sorted clean pavers are getting bigger

and the piles of pavers with concrete stuck to them are also growing (but not as quickly as the piles of clean pavers).

And Snowie the Dog has been the foreman in this whole process.