Goodbye Blogger - Follow me into Wordpress.

My friend Catherine Nelson Pollard gifted me a blank blog when I went to India in July of 2009. It was an early birthday present. She thought it would be a good way for me to share my thoughts and times on the Indian Sub continent and how right she was. I love writing and the blog become an extension of me. When I moved to Australia I considered stopping. It didn't take long however to realise that Australia had so much to offer and I was the luckiest person on earth setting out to explore it.

This August my boys gave me another gift - WordPress. They are trying to bring me kicking and screaming into a more user friendly forum. Blogger seems old and outdated now, a bit like me, but I am determined to get to grips with this forum and carry on. All of my content from Blogspot has been moved over to this site http://mezzemoments.wordpress.com

I have had the help of Sel Christofides, with the graphics, Abigail Usher with the website and Anthony, my wonderful youngest son who has guided me throughout this process with immense cheer and patience. I am not the fastest learner in the West.

It's easy if you want to subscribe - at the top of the new blog you will see a box and all you need to do is put in your email. This will ensure that new blog entries are delivered to your email. This new forum is more interactive as well so you can comment more easily.

Goodbye Blogger. This is my last post on this platform. You have been very good to me - most of the time. This is where I started blogging. It has been invaluable to me and will always be treasured. 

My first decade in this lucky country

 

We landed in Australia on the 31st of January 2013. Today I am celebrating my first decade in this lucky country. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to end up here - on the edge of the world - but I could not be happier and more grateful that a chance headhunter's email and some Public Health expertise from hubby meant that we could choose to make Australia our home. It is my home in every which way. The jury is out for hubby who may have some pull back to the UK but that is still an open negotiation. He may have to leave his bees behind and that would not make him happy. 

I know he recognises how important it is to me as tonight he is cooking @https://www.noregrettispaghetti.co/ linguine with prawns for a special celebratory dinner !

And a PS - look at what I got from my lovely boys 

Maleny Botanical Gardens

After a week at home I was itching to get out and we had promised George a trip to Maleny to see if we could spot elusive platypuses in the Obi Obi Creek. We started our day trip in the magnificent Maleny Botanical Gardens set up by Frank Shipp, a South African immigrant from Durban - he purchased the land with a view to create beautiful gardens. He landscaped ponds, lakes and waterfalls and the gardens were opened to the public in 2012. The following year he opened the Bird house which looks after many rescued birds - parrots which were once pets, injured birds, rare species. It's just a delight and especially now when the agapanthus flowers dominate the area,  giant balls of blue blossoms swaying on their strong stalks. Borders of blue - with the occasional white flowers just to break up the colour palate. 

We explored the gardens, the ponds, the waterfalls and the ancient rock formations. 

The Glasshouse mountains silhouetted in many of the photos. Volcanic plugs in the flat landscape. A Euphorbia collection near this pond made us think of the many we came across in Kenya.  

Exquisite flowers and ancient rock formations. 

I have been meaning to visit for years. Well worth it and on our way out we went to the Obi Obi Creek and George spotted Platypus ! 

The inevitability of Covid

It's been an interesting start to the new year. After a lovely NYE with George at one of our favourite seafood restaurants I got home feeling a tickle in my throat. The 1st was lovely as we walked in nature but by the evening I was feverish, coughing and feeling nauseous. Then came the strong headaches. Two days in and a rat test confirmed it was Covid. My days in isolation go from feeling sick as a dog (where does that expression come from ?) to feeling ok after much paracetamol and soluble aspirin. 

After a bad night when I thought my head might explode I decided it was best to seek advice - do I qualify for antivirals? I booked a tele- consultation with my GP practice. The GP took a thorough history and proclaimed me too young and healthy for antivirals. Well, rarely does a consultation with a negative outcome lead to such a heartening message. I felt quite buoyed by it so determined to make this virus vanish resolutely out of my body, slowly but surely. 

Hubby down too - G last man standing - he cooks dinner, makes me cups of tea - he savours the quiet days and the loveliness around him. He needs for nothing more. 

I am confident that I will get better but let no one ignore this appalling virus and the illness and death it has brought to the world. 

Last day of 2022. Welcoming the New Year.

2022 felt like a release, a revival and a time to reconnect. And throughout the year it has been just so, an ability to travel and meet with family and friends, a year when we could tentatively explore new parts of Aus and find joy in going to the theatre and concerts and organising many events once more. This amongst the ongoing war in the Ukraine, the terrible travails of the Truss government in the UK, inflation and climate change events, but the hopeful beginnings of the Albanese government here. The year has come to an end with all the boys being here with us to celebrate Christmas. What joy. Sharing good food and fine bottles of wine and many bubbles in between, days on Australia's pristine beaches and bush lands, time at home on an unusually rainy summer, playing Uno and backgammon and reading good books. 

Two head for Sydney today to party the night away. Lucky to have one with us for a few more days. A friend sent me a thank you card for the Xmas party on the 23rd - this is her card. It could not be a more appropriate message so I am sharing it with you all. 

Happy New Year Everyone - BEE HAPPY and healthy and may the year bring you all you wish for. 

Connectivity

Today I went to my local Greek shop to get some jumbo kalamata olives for the Xmas Party. It is staffed by some great women who are very helpful. I wanted something special so I approached a Chinese lady who was stocking the shelf. She could not speak English but that did not deter her, she whipped out her phone and encouraged me to speak into it, which I did and she instantly heard the Chinese translation and directed me correctly to the shelf where I found what I was looking for. I thanked her and smiled. Wow - 

I went to the till and the woman asked where I was from and I said I was Greek Cypriot - she said she was too, mother from Rhodes and father from Cyprus, a little village in the Famagusta area called Milia which is Turkish Occupied. I told her about my family in Famagusta and we bonded in some corner of West End in Oz.  

In Oz you often find big hunky cars decorated with tinsel -Its all about the seafood and the beers now. 

Two tales for today or is that three ?! 

Bookgroup - End of year 2022

 Have we read some good books?

We all agreed we had and were looking forward to reading some more in 2023 - but for the moment, it was silly hats time and some good food to be shared around the table. Aldi provided the best bons bons or Xmas Crackers for this girlie group I have ever come across and the best jokes were : 

 I am tall when I am young and I am short when I am old - what am I ? A candle.

 What do you call a cow that eats your grass ? A lawn moo- wer! 

Standouts from the year Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe, Bodies of Light Jennifer Down, Crossroads Jonathan Franzen, Elena Ferrantes The Lying life of Adults and Freezing Order by Bill Browden. Some rubbish ones along the way but we wont talk about them. Thank you to all the Wondrous Women who come along on this reading journey. More adventures await in 2023.