Here and there...

Last week DH was listening to the radio when a competition came up and he knew the answer. He rang and won a Tim McGraw CD and 2 tickets to an Aussie movie, 'Save Your Legs' which opens here tomorrow. We had to drive across town to Cannon Hill to where the office of 4BC is nowadays to collect the prizes.

After that DH and I headed towards the Gateway Motorway and started heading north. Then on to the small motorway known as the Deagon Deviation (it's always fascinated me that they would name a road that!) . from there it was a short drive over Bramble Bay (Houghton highway) and a little way farther north and we had arrived at our second destination of the day...Redcliffe.

This is what we came to see...

Last week the Moreton Bay District Council had the official opening of their tribute to the Bee Gees. Barry, the last surviving brother was there, as was his wife, mother, son and niece. The Gibbs family lived in various places on the Redcliffe Peninsula when they emigrated to Australia in 1958. They went on to be a great success both here in Australia, and of course overseas. The display included photos chosen by Barry Gibb.
So take a walk with me down Bee Gees Way...

DH stands in front of the sculpture made by Philip Piperides

On the opposite wall was this large mural

Yours truly looking a bit windblown! lol

Looking from the Walk towards the jetty which the boys spent a lot of time on as boys...

Their parents' wedding

A thank you to Col Joye

Looking towards the beachfront and the other new sculpture. Those rings revolved!

When we walked to the end of the wall I suggested that I just check out a fabric shop in the back street :-) where I bought some fabric to make more bunting.

It was a lovely day weatherwise too...no rain ,just sunshine.

Let's go for a drive...

This was DH's suggestion this lovely spring, Saturday morning, so we did. We headed north from home, towards the Redcliffe Peninsula.

Here we are, crossing Bramble Bay via the Houghton Highway

Just had to put the camera outside the window to take a photo of the part of the old Hornibrook Highway Bridge that has been left standing

Off the bridge now and looking towards the unit buildings that are taking over  areas such as Clontarf

Looking towards the sea

The 'Red Dolphin' fish and chip shop at Margate, where we originally planned to buy lunch

The foreshore is being redeveloped at Margate

DH's favourite fish shop in the peninsula area is the Red Dolphin, (mine is Morgans' Takeaway at Scarborough) and we planned to buy some fish and chips there. But the queue in the shop was very long indeed. A number of years ago, we once waited over and hour at this shop in the late afternoon. It IS very popular. We decided to drive towards Redcliffe instead of ordering at the Red Dolphin.

As we drove into Scott's Point was saw another fish shop which had a cafe attached...so we stopped there instead. We waited hardly any time for our food and it was delicious! And the view out to sea was wonderful too.

I just had to take a photo of our lunch; what a treat. 

DH was sitting under a sign which said 'Do not feed wildlife'; there's a dog on the sign but I expect it really refers to the pesky seagulls! lol

More of the view from our table.

Did you notice the blonde lady in red in some of those photos? Well she was joined by a man ( I refuse to use the term 'gentleman') just as our meal arrived. After he sat down, in a loud voice, he proceeded to tell off this young woman for repeating something which she had been told about him. It would seem to be in the workplace that this happened. DH and I had already sussed that he was something in Real Estate and this was confirmed as this loud conversation/tirade continued beside our table. DH and I tried to continue our conversation normally but it was difficult with the volume of this man's voice. We were both appalled that such a public place was chosen for this 'dressing down'! DH had been a manager in his work career and was adamant that this was not the way he would have handled such a situation. So while we were 'entertained' during our meal, we were glad to get away too.

We had a quick stop at Westfield North Lakes and then headed towards home.

After such a large lunch, it will be just a sandwich for dinner tonight! lol

A bit hot lately...

For the early part of this week, my part of the state experienced heatwave conditions. Stifling hot days followed by very hot uncomfortable nights were the norm for 4 days. When I worked, and high temperatures were predicted, the school had a number of procedures such as showing movies in the aircond library at lunchtime, more breaks for drinks, extra rostered time at the school pool, art lessons and quiet, free reading activities on the concreted areas under the buildings etc.
And it's a bit like that at home too with routines adapted. Extra hot days means more showers taken, ceiling fans on, doors and windows open to get cross breezes, salad meals and cooking meat on the BBQ, fresh bedding and night wear after a hot humid night, lots of chilled filtered water, I wear sarongs around the house and the minimum of house work gets done! DH and I don't have a pool and we don't have airconditioning and the number of days when it is 'super' hot is a very small precentage of the whole year so we do 'survive' quite nicely.

DH and I walked on the Redcliffe Pier

The view from the cafe

Seagulls lined up 'waiting to catch a wave' perhaps?

We do sometimes go to the movies or the council library to use the aircon there! lol Where we live is also fairly close to beaches and going the other way, we are half hour from the mountain range areas behind the city with their cool rainforest parks and picnic areas with cold creeks flowing; so we're pretty lucky! So on Thursday, just gone, DH and I took a 30 minute drive north to Redcliffe, one of my favourite places. We went  for a walk enjoying all the lovely cool seabreezes and then had a coffee at Banjos, a cafe chain which we first discovered in Tasmania in 2010.

A cool change has come to this part of the state so I'm now working on the myriad of jobs that need doing around the house...and in the garden.

Just another magnificent Monday...

Today, being the first Monday of the month, I headed north to Scarborough for a Knit and Natter group there. It's about a half hour drive and very pleasant as peak hour is well and truly over. Scarborough is part of the Redcliffe Peninsula and I  always love going to this area with it's lovely coastline views. Springtime here is a beautiful time of year.

Today I handed in the 2 throws for K4BN as well as my very modest contribution to the Christmas Challenge which was last weekend. The idea was to make items with a Christmas theme, which charities and community groups could use as small gifts for the needy in the community. We were told that there was no need for little knitted Christmas stockings as there were hundreds left over from a drive last year. Another K4BN member, Laraine, offered to send me a pattern for a simple knitted teddy which I eagerly accepted. The challenge started on Friday night and went through to Sunday night. I procrastinated...'Would the pattern be easy to follow? Would the bear be easy to sew up? Would my bear look like a bear?...Eventually on Sunday I had no option...I had to make a start...actually, I had to finish the bear. Once I got started  I really enjoyed making 'him' and then was sorry that I left it so late otherwise I would have made a few more. The teddy is knitted all in one piece and he is about 5 inches tall. The other ladies at Knit and Natter this morning thought he looked quite ok and Karen even gave him a little cuddle! lol

His Christmas bow is nearly as big as him!

When I arrived home early afternoon, DH said that a parcel had arrived for me. It was from Fiona of 'Designs by Fee' . This is what was in the parcel...

A parcel wrapped in some gorgeous gift paper with dogs on it (so cute), and inside the parcel a novel and a couple of little goodies and a little note from Fee.

And, glued inside the front of the book, is the explanation about this book's journey...

When Fiona finished reading the book, she offered readers the chance to be next in the Pay It Forward Giveaway. I was lucky enough to win the draw so now my task is to firstly read the book...
When I've finished reading the book, I'll offer people who read my blog the chance to be the next person in the Pay It Forward Giveaway. So it's a case of 'Watch this Space'!

A closer view of that lovely paper