Vale Kristian Anderson

He was famous producing a YouTube video tribute to his wife Rachel for her birthday..

What a purely romantic gesture, and if you are like me, when you watch it, you cry..

Sadly Kristian Anderson lost his battle with bowel cancer on Monday 2nd January 2012 , he died far too young, and although he fought hard against this disease it won.  He died at peace, but left his loving wife and two children behind and believed in God until the end.

I know that religion always seems to raise its head during dreadful occurances such as this, but if there was/is a God, why would he/she take someone who has SO much to live for?

Recently a new friend I have made in my new country community lost her Mum and Step Dad in a nasty motor vehicle accident.  The deceased was so young, so full of life had found love and was happy... Once again, I ask the question.. WHY?

Not that this post is about me, but I have to remember that I asked myself the same question when I was diagnosed with MS.  WHY?  Why did it have to be a condition that effected my brain.. My BRAIN!  The only thing that cannot be replaced, transplanted, mended, patched up and sewen back together. I am the same age as Kristian..

Please take the time to watch this tribute to Kristian or even take the time to read his blog that you will find a link to (I have been following his journey with Cancer) - http://howthelightgetsin.net/

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/oprahs-sadness-over-kristian/story-e6frewz0-1226236983083

The YouTube video that started it all..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A58po6ZgEqQ&feature=related

Now, hold your family and loved ones just that little bit closer and appreciate..

Lots o' love
Sal

A letter to a temporary Australian

Dear Motorcycle Enthusiast

I know when you have finished work for the day and heading to the gym (or "beat" which is yet to be established) for a work out. Well, I assume you work; you would have to as to be able to afford not only the fuel for your piece of "muscle machinery", but also the parts, tyres and blown engines of which I am sure there are a few going by your riding style.

I do appreciate the wakeup call at 1540 hours almost every afternoon when I can hear you accelerate around the roundabout which is approximately 800m from my office. It reminds me that I haven’t had my afternoon coffee and I should probably wee.

Then I assume once you have mastered the roundabout successfully, your attempt to become airborne from the speed you do along the road every afternoon is thwarted by having to go over the cattlegrid at the gateway to my office and your "beat", but, don’t give up I am sure one day you will succeed, with or without still being firming seated on your piece of machinery. Please note that should you become disengaged from your bike, the fact that I have advanced first aid will be completely useless considering the speed and velocity involved when you encounter the cattlegrid. Don’t worry if I hear the crash I’ll make sure I dial 000 before leaving the office or maybe just the morgue to give them a heads up on your “belly up”.

Whilst I am sure that you LOVE your piece of machinery and you enjoy riding it around our small town, I personally am not a fan. Perhaps it’s not your machine that I am not a fan of, perhaps it is your “attempt” at riding it that I am not fond of.

I am not sure if you revv the engine because:

1. It’s idling too low and you’re afraid it will cut out on you (I’ll happily refer you to a good mechanic)

2. You’re deaf and you NEED TO HEAR THE ENGINE.

3. You get off on the vibrations of the engine between your legs

4. It’s just a part of being a motorcycle enthusiast

5. You revv the engine to let me/whoever know you are coming

6. It’s your calling card

7. LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you ride like this around your home, you must be really popular with the neighbours. If I only encounter you a few times a week and I want to slash your tyres I’d hate to think what your neighbours want to do to your prized piece of metal. Personally I am tempted to get one of our trucks and park you in, your bike would be no match for a 6 tonne fully laden truck.

Hear you soon!

Lots o'Love
The chick next door.

One big bag of fruit..

They say when you move to the country you are supposed to eat a lot of peaches.. According to the song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvcohzJvviQ

You know what, I have had more nectarines, grapes (of both fresh and pressed state) and apples than I have had peaches, but life is still pretty “peachy” down here!

I guess considering we are in a winery region I could take up grape picking, but Bloke assures me it's hard work in the heat of summer.  I've given it some thought and I reckon I'll give it a wide berth.

I am missing having a huge variety of fresh fruit and veg available at Flemington Markets or at my local fruit and veg market.. The nearest large fruit and veg place is a 40 minute drive to our nearest large city.

Never the less, I started our vegetable garden on the weekend and we already have babies pushing their little green heads through the soil, I just have to keep the grass short to deter any nasties of the legless reptilian variety.

Peach out!

The Cremator and The Pope

So, the possessed toaster has raised it's ugly head again.

I say "possessed" because it never really cooked toast in a consistant manner. Without changing the "browning" settings on the toaster it would either not cook the bread or burn it to within an inch of it's life.  It was more of a "cremator" than a toaster at the best of times.

Anyway.... Here I was assured that I had witnessed it being ceremoniously dumped in the garbage bin in Sydney, yet, 600kms away I come home and find it sitting on the kitchen bench complete with taunting message in reflector tape, haunting me.

Not only the toaster, but the bastard mongrel "Pope" whippersnipper that I ran over with the lawn egder (somewhat accidentally on purpose) has also turned up.  

Whippersnippers and I DO NOT see eye to eye.  I would much rather push the Victa from here to Perth than to whippersnip a 5cm strip of grass.  However, my father thought it wise to keep the damned thing thinking that he would repair it one day, instead he gave it to Bloke to repair, so here it is back in our shed.  I thought I had done a good enough job so that it would just go to whippersnipper hell, but clearly I didn't try hard enough! 

In hindsight I should have run over the bastard thing twice, but after the first go I had to stop the edger and untangle all the battery lines, starter cord and fuel line before I could go any further.

Those of you involved, sleep with one eye open!  Hilarious!

Popular?

2,265 page views....  From countries all over the world...

Gotta love stats... The question is:  What makes my blog so interesting?

Eitherway, that's pretty good...  I am glad people find my random ramblings so interesting..

Thank you readers!!!!!

Dear Neighbour..

Dear Neighbour,

You may or may not be aware that your dog barks constantly ALL day when you are not home.  Now, I am no Caesar Milan - Dog Whisperer, but I'll hazard a few guesses as to why he/she is barking;

• Classic case of separation anxiety
• He/She could just be hungry
• Was a politician in a previous life
• Has something to say and the WHOLE WORLD needs to know about it
• Likes to sing doggy tunes to other doggies
• Is trying to chat up the neighbours dog cause "he/she sounds cute"
• Trying out for "Australia's Got Talent"
• Is loud n' proud

To those of us that are stay at home mum's, shift workers, or just plain lazy bums that live near you, this is exceptionally annoying and enough to drive a person mentally insane and start to lick windows and/or strangers in the street.  However, I do understand that it is not his/her fault that he/she misses his/her owners.

For the purpose of the rest of this letter I will now refer to your dog as "Rowdy" mostly because I do not know if it is a him or her and "Rowdy" is appropriate and easy to write when referring to your dog.

Whilst I have not made a formal complaint to the Council I can tell you we, as your neighbours, are not far off it.

To put it bluntly, "Rowdy" is a nuisance and "Rowdy's" constant incessant non stop irritating barking is driving us all around the bend.

Frankly, I am sick of having to leave my own home for peace and quiet and I can't afford to go shopping all the time just to get away from the barking - my credit card just can't take the pressure and I am well over going to the movies or the pub, mostly because I am sick of being picked up by unsavory drunken locals that look as though they could do with a good bath in a metric tonne of Dettol, especially considering I am too old and hitched.  However, on that note you really should check out the local Pub, it's new and improved and they have a good steak deal on Tuesday night or keep an eye out for a shop a docket which gets you your second meal for only $5!!!  However, please take "Rowdy" with you so we don't have to listen to the barking.

I am not sure what you can do with "Rowdy's" barking, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, please try!

Lots of love

Us!

Bloke's brush with fame

It's amazing who you see in your little home town!

We were in Safeway on Saturday.  I was being the diligent partner and pushing the trolley whilst Bloke made the decision on what sweet meat was coming home with us for him to transform into some decadent and delicious morsel to be prepared and cooked by my very own MasterChef.

As I stand in a daydream (more than likely perving on Bloke's denim clad rear end) his voice penetrates my thoughts "That's Angry Anderson!". 

A little astounded and shocked by his proclamation of someone famous in this little town I shrugged off his announcement calling "Yeah, ok love"...  However, that did not dampen his persistence that he had in fact spotted Angry Anderson choosing apples in the fruit and veg section.

My reply of "What would Angry Anderson be doing here shopping for apples in Safeway?" whilst turning to the direction in which Bloke was pointing was soon scared for life and proven wrong when I spotted the man himself in all of his Rose Tattoo glory! 

I was soon eating humble pie for doubting Bloke and his star spotting skills!  I stood there slightly shocked when Bloke suddenly dropped the chicken thighs, falling with a thud and said "I'm going to say hi" and bounded for glory off to shake the legendary veteran rock 'n roll outlaw's hand!  I figured he had nothing to lose after all they might be blood bros!

I wonder what apples he ended up choosing and whether he needed them for the roughage.

I wonder if he has a tattoo of an apple somewhere on his body.  I hear that he has a tattoo parlour in Kings Cross.  Maybe I'll take Bloke there to get a tattoo of an apple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeTBsQmMEpw

p.s. How many Angry Anderson/Rose Tattoo songs have I quoted in this blog?

Prnksers!

How do you keep an idiot busy for the mjority of the morning?

Stick pperclip in the guts of their keybord and see how long it takes them to get it out.

Especilly when it is stuck under the A key.

The Great Murray River Tour

Bloke and I have just got home from a driving tour of the Murray River. 

The Murray River (River Murray in South Australia) is Australia's longest river. It is approximately 2,375 kilometres (1,476 miles) in length.

Starting from the Albury area we made our way to Echuca as our first pit stop on the trip.  Echuca was a thriving river port city during the 19th century but now it is a tourist destination with the odd paddle steamer boats potting down the river. Sadly the paddle steamers of today are powered by diesel instead of steam.  It's a delightfully historic town and it would have been interesting to see it in it's hayday when it was bustling with people from all walks of life.

We went to the Beechworth Bakery for breakfast and meandered around the town and saw a few of the sites and popped into a few camping stores.  Then motored on down the road heading to Mildura for the night.

Dinner was at the Mildura Working Man's Club (yes they let me in!) where up until 1995 it was noted as having the longest bar in the world. Followed by a great sleep at the best and cheapest hotel we stayed in.

Next day was a drive to the Barossa interrupted briefly by a stop at Banrock Station winery just over the Victorian/South Australian Border. We continued on to Adelaide where we stayed with one of Bloke's old friends from when he was a wee tacker and enjoyed a nice dinner and a few drinks and they caught up on old times!

The next morning we started off fairly early and drove through Adelaide headed to Victor Harbour on the coast.  What beautiful scenery!  I was happy to be able to sit back and take in the view.. This is the life!

Victor Harbour is such a decadent little town. Lots of antique shopping and little specialist shops..  A little steam train that goes through town which is a real tourist attraction and popular with kids!  There is also a horse drawn carriage that takes tourists around but we didn't get the time to see that in the two nights we were there visiting family.

What we did see was a Camel in a horse float, which made me wonder if a camel is in a horse float does that mean it is no longer a horse float? Is it now a camel float?  I think it's worth giving some consideration to.

Our trip home was a quick one.  From Victor Harbour to Albury in one foul swoop which is over 800kms at the disadvantage of a couple of field mice and one rabbit who was in the wrong spot at the wrong time.  On that note, why do you always clench your bum cheeks when you run over a critter?

So, back to reality after a relaxing 6 day break driving around and seeing a bit of the Country that I have never seen before (or don't remember seeing before) spending some quality time with loved one(s) and doing some soul searching whilst touring one of our country's beautiful natural wonders, the Murray River.

Reflective support..

I am watching RAGE in between bumming around the house and have made an observation:

Lady GaGa: who else would think about wearing a bra that makes your boobs look like disco balls?

Genious or tacky?

Now, why didn't Madonna come up with that idea instead of traffic cones?

Then Cindy comes on and tells us girls that all we wanna do is have fun, I have to admit that I do agree with her..

Thank being said, I am going to drink a whisky drink, a lager drink and sing a song about the good times.  I'll get knocked down, but I'll get up again..  You just watch me!

:)