...Right. It's Sunday night, I've got the England/Scotland game recorded and ready to watch, and a post. An actual post :):):)
Well, I ended up pretty tired after the trip last year and certain things that were happening around me, both good and bad, got to be too much. I fell into one of those cycles where posting was something I felt should do, and a stress. Then commenting got to be the same, then I thought if I took a break altogether it would work out - yeah, not so much. I have a ton of unfinished draft posts and comments sitting around on my PC from all of that.
So I figure the only thing to do is just get on with it *g*. And to get into the swing of things again, this is a quick review of the highlights of 2011 so far. Almost no downer stuff, and the only thing missing is Easter and just afterwards in Canberra, because I did manage to post about that.
January: Took B to the Boxing Day sale at a sporting goods store, looking for odds & sods to make the camping life easier - we ended up walking out the door with one of these, http://youtu.be/KMVmemG7SrY, which led to this:
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Our very own kayak in tandem configuration. This picture was from a long paddle on the Nepean River on the Australia Day weekend. Taken during a break on the way upstream. |
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Me, in the kayak, on the river. I'm looking happy, so it must be morning. |
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The Nepean River, heading upstream. See that bend ahead? We reached it. And the one beyond, and the one beyond that... |
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Eventually we ran out of easily navigable river. That didn't stop B, however! Get out and pull! |
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We finally(!) reached the Nortons Basin swimming hole around 1 pm. Unfortunately I can't post a picture of the waterfall that feeds into the basin as I couldn't manage a shot without kids in it. They took to the kayak like crazy so we had lunch and a swim/rest while they paddled about. Then we headed off on the 5 hour return journey. Strong words were used during and at the end of it *g*. |
February: swamp hen chicks around the lagoon; more weekends on the water and a trip to Newcastle - alas when we got there the brewery was out of gingerbeer, and I didn't take any good pics;
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swamp hen chicks |
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I did do this screencap at the start of Proswatch 2011. At the time I really wanted a picture of the inside of Doyle's ID. |
March:
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Home Front: major plumping repairs make a mess of finances - and front yards. |
April: B went to see William Shatner in Sydney - I could have gone, but I was still reeling from the expenses in March. And let's face it - I'm not quite the Shatner fan B is :) He also went to the VIP Q&A session before the show and recorded some of the interview: http://www.youtube.com/user/routier1642#p/u/1/xAgSkoamcA8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPlZ4r1-oB8
The next photo deserves some explanation. At the end of 1995, B and I had just moved in together. Early in 1996 he got the opportunity to go to Moscow to a meet-up of people from a mailing list he was on, Friends and Partners in Space. Well, he was going, no matter what I thought or said, so naturally I insisted on packing my bags too! Jens Kieffer-Olsen was one of the other attendees at FPSPACE96. In mid-March he emailed us to say that he'd be in Australia in April revisiting old haunts - oh, and running a marathon! Would we like to raise a glass with him to celebrate Cosmonautics Day? We would, and we did:
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May: was the month I got called back into service with ALHF. I had thought that was behind me. I'd been a founding member and everything but over the last few years had become less active and I finally resigned from the committee a couple of years ago, for good, I thought. May was also Blacktown Medieval Fayre month....
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Here, have a picture of me pulling a face just after being squeezed into my pikeman's armour at BMF. No, the front and back sections don't meet at the sides any more. Do I need to shed some kilos? Yup. |
June: around these parts we do not speak of June.
July: a group outing to an exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite works at the Art Gallery of NSW. about a dozen of us went. Some dressed up for the occasion (p.s. if you can't see the picture, it's because we aren't friended wherever you're reading this. Sorry about that, it's a privacy thing).
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Ohhhh, seriously, I think I need to stop there. Let August take care of itself, although I may come back to September soon, since it's only just become last month.
One more moment of stupidity - while I was writing this post I went back into my Inbox to check old messages - and promptly managed to delete the lot! So if I've missed something of yours that I need to reply to, please pm me again *shameface*.
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