MY BIONIC MAN NEEDS A NEW BATTERY

Bill and I have been married 41 years. I love him very much. Seven years ago his heart went into Ventricle Tachycardia, dangerous heart arrhythmia, where the heart can stop at any minute. Luckily we got him to hospital before that happened. He had an ICD (implanted cardiac defibrillator)  put in to shock the heart back into sinus rhythm if it was to happen again. However the batteries have run down (he knows because a little alarm beeps from his chest every morning) so he has to have a new device implanted. He is in hospital now and the operation is at 7:30 in the morning. I hope all goes well so that he can enjoy many more years and cook many more dinners, like this one: Fusilli and pork bake.

DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE

My friend Val, rang me and said, "It's time to catch up and have lunch. We have found a new restaurant down by the riverside." Well nobody has to ask me twice to go out for lunch, so off we went. Val gave me the directions to Northshore Park Cafe and after an argument with the driver we finally found this delightful place.

It was a beautiful winter's day, warm enough to take off jackets, open the windows and enjoy the river at the doorstep.

This area on the northern banks of the Brisbane River was a grotty industrial place but now it has been developed into a park and children's playground.

We watched the river traffic.

What is the Sydney Manly Ferry doing in the background? Why is it on the Brisbane River instead of on Sydney Harbour? Getting fixed.

We were also near the airport so colourful planes were often flying over. I thought this red Virgin plane matched the red tug moored on the other side. 

Then a bigger one came, our national carrier QANTAS (Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service). It was a nice day down by the riverside. Tra lala la  la

TWO MONTHS

Sonya and Bernie sent us some iphone photos of our gorgeous little grand "Buebli". Fox is 2 months old today.

Do you think his parents might have a quirky sense of humour?

He is the most gorgeous baby in the world. He is coming to visit us from Sydney on Aug.2.

FLOWERS ON THE ROAD

I snapped some flowers on our recent road trip. I don't know the names of flowers but I think they are pretty.

ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS

During our trip we encountered some interesting animals:

In Cania Gorge Holiday Park the hosts feed the wild birds at sunset. After dark many of these little kangaroos called Bettongs come to eat up the seed left by the birds. They are sometimes called a Rat Kangaroo for obvious reasons, except they hop and don't carry awful diseases.

Later that night we were having a BBQ dinner in the Camp Kitchen. This rather fat possum was on the roof rafters near us. They are cute but they don't have very good manners. Just as I walked under it to the sink it peed. I was lucky it missed me by a whisker.

Besides the native animals there was a variety of cattle. This looks like a Brahman.

These could be Droughtmasters, a cross breed. I was fascinated with the patchwork face of the one behind.

These were at Bunya Mts. This joey has left the pouch but comes back for a drink.

And of course this bear followed us around the whole trip.

BIRDS ON HOLIDAY

While we were on holiday I captured some birds, shot some birds, took some photos of birds.

Common Moorhen,  Alford lake Gympie

Black Swan, Alford Lake Gympie

Kookaburra, Captain Cook Holiday Park,  Town of 1770.

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Big 4 Holiday Park, Cania Gorge.

King Parrot, cabin balcony, Cania Gorge.

Galah, Holiday Park, Cania Gorge.

Rainbow Lorikeet, Holiday Park, Cania Gorge.

I don't know what type of wading bird these are but I thought they looked funny both asleep on one leg.

GIANT LEMONS

A few months ago the lemons started to ripen and the Tarragon was flowering. It made the garden look pretty.

The Tarragon flower.

Now the lemons are ripe. I have so many I have filled many bowls and supplied the neighbours.

I recently bought a black glass bowl to go with the new kitchen. It came in handy for lemons.

Some of them are giant lemons.

The apple is not small it is normal sized.