Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Back of Boort

I bumped into Herbie Lamble in the supermarket the other day. Herb and his wife Vickie run a tour business and travel all over the place. He told me Vickie is in New Zealand with a tour at the moment and he was in Western Victoria with the bus last week. He said he couldn't believe what he saw. There's ancient lake beds there that haven't had water in them since the 1800's. He said you looked out over vast areas of water that for more than a hundred years till recently was farmland. Hay shed rooves, grain bins etc, stick up out of the water. Apparently it may take these lakes up to ten years to dry up again now that there full.

I had a phone call from Ian Sinlair whose was at the Warrumbungles in NSW. Everything's going fine including Lib's car, except he's had some bad news, a real dampener on his trip. His wife Elke who is in Canada with their ten yo son Jethro wants to split with him. What a bugger to learn of while he and his older son are away for 3 months in Australia. He was still planning to get to WA and be back mid April to go to the footy with me before he flies home. I'm hoping by then he and Elke have reconciled but it would be difficult to achieve you'd think while on different sides of the world.

Dicko rang me from 'Percy Springs' near Charter's Towers. They've had a heap of rain and couldn't get into town as has often been the case this season, but their house which they have lovingly restored did not flood. Dave said cyclone Yasey was fearful in noise but they had no damage to the house, the worst of it being further south. Dave said he thought all the birds would be blown away to WA. There was none to be seen after the cyclone passed except for a few dead ducks smashed up along the fence, but within 24 hours the birds were all back as if nothing had happened. How they survive such a massive storm has Dave tossed, and I sure don't know. It's a miracle of nature.

I've been so busy with farm and park and museum stuff that I feel my life is reaching ruination or crisis point.
Not much time for writing reading or clear thinking. I'm almost over the immediate hump and should make a better fist of things shortly. Ricky Ralph tipped 8 in the first round of the footy ( we pay both teams when there's a draw) and has jumped me by three. What a tinny bastard he is to score on those two come from behind last kick victories.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

A Quick Update

There hasn't been much free time to post on my blog and I'm not going into a lengthy excuse. But I have to tell you this. I had breakfast with Lib in 'The Two Buoys' cafe at Dromana last Sunday morning. The food was sensational.

We'd been to a wedding the day before, that of Nicholas and Brook Harkins held at the Montalta Winery at Red Hill. Nick and Brook met as teenagers at Emerald Secondary College some eleven years and began a romance that endures. A bit like Lib and me (we are still on our honeymoon), although we met long after our school years. The setting, the food, the wine, and the happiness of the participants and guests made for a memorable occasion.

I was hung over in the morning after our overnight stay at the less than grand Safety Beach Motor Lodge which has seen better days but did the job. I blame my hangover on the superb Montalta shiraz which was so good, and in plentiful supply, that I sipped, drank, and then quoffed. Good wine is there to be enjoyed.

The menu at 'The Two Buoys' didn't inspire me, all I wanted to do really was get home and take the honey off the beehive at 'Sunset' that I missed last time and extract it by sundown. So I went for something I'd not heard of before, I think it was 'Heurvos Rancheros', for which there was no more info. I was surprised and pleased, it was spinach, fried eggs, jalapenos, salsa, on a fritter of tortilla or something. The spice and lots of cold water blew away the hangover. Lib had a mushroom omelet with truffle flavouring which she said was superb.

To John and Raylene who are our very good friends, parents of the groom, who now reside at Mt. Martha, I say, "GET YOURSELVES DOWN TO 'THE TWO BUOYS' ONE SUNDAY MORNING."

Breakfast was followed by a stroll along the Dromana jetty watching people catch garfish. We were home in the early afternoon and the weather held enabling me to get the honey off and extracted.