another beautiful Sydney off leash dog park.....right near Mona Vale hospital

On the road to the beaches....... but 

before we got there we stopped off at the Bahi Temple on the way.

 It is a sea of tranquility.

 one rug i loved

part of the off leash park, which is next to a golf course and

next door to the hospital and helipad

and right on the water !

me and my dog 

 part of the hospital

  a rough pod from the banksia tree shown earlier

the exterior of the Temple

this is  Burns Rd which has a wonderful canopy of leaves right across the road in summer.

 At this time of year it is full of bare limbs

some photos post torrential rain

front

front

sink for washing soapmaking pots

bird of paradise plant.

back deck and part of garden son wants to clear

so we moved and ..........................

from the time this concept was first conceived things did not go as planned.

at no point ever.
this is just one reason why.
they appeared 8 days into our new residence.
sigh

there were some great positives like the real estate agent who sold our house for us in one day back on the market.....thanks Dawn.

The great removalist guys.........Jason and Shane......who worked so hard all day...

 but who i suspect underestimated the sheer volume of one  parties collection of stuffs.

the endless boxes of stuffs. totally endless.

most of all there was Jen who helped me pack and who organized me

 when my mind was chaos.

 who never failed to get everything back on track and tightly clad in boxes...

 which were  taped and labelled  immaculately.

There was Allan the physio who sorted out my neck and back..
 so that when the day came and we finally moved......as the drama and stresses increased
.......the pain levels went down.
that is some miracle.

the least said about the actual process around the sale......the better.

i have bought and sold 6 times now and never have i had such a drama.
drama unto the last minute 

part of it was due to a very senior moment i had and which caused a problem.

 other stuff........well it just happened. 

the tension on the last day waiting to see if the deal would *settle * before Easter

..........best forgotten. it is like childbirth...you know the pain  occurred ....
but  you tend to prefer to 

simply see the end result of the effort, than to dwell on the pain of the process.
 which seems extreme in relation to any possible positives attached to the outcome. 

now i am here i can see the light at the end of the tunnel after 2 weeks
of delays on fixing up what will be a great soapmaking area.
 pity about the man who was supposed to lay the floor.

he stood me up twice with no explanation.
must be good money in floor laying to turn ones

 nose up at what i would have thought were well paid  jobs like that

a pity that i decided that the bench was too long and needed to be made smaller.

 that seems to take time :-) Poor Kyle...he is patient and thoughtful.

it is great that i have some better electrical connections and lights.

pity about the cement dust that got into everything and caused me to wash
most non nailed down items.......which resulted in one pillow

 spilling its white fluffy guts into the pump of the washing machine.

i hope the new machine will serve me well !!!!

pity about the endless rain of the last few days

most of all ........a pity about the creatures we have found on the back deck....

 and down the back wall.

killa katerpillaz. 

truly revolting

this lot on the side of a small stairway

a few between the bricks

9 huge handfuls of them in 3 days.
they creep me out endlessly as they are silent and swift to congregate in places
that they were not in 5 mins before.
reportedly existing between us and next door is a brush turkey,
a lyre bird (fabulous) and green tree snakes. i had NO idea that green
tree snakes lived in this part of the world. i thought they were in tropical
places only ....like the Daintree where i have seen them.

my neighbours are kindly and friendly........something i am so glad to have again.

the gum trees are monstrous, the leaves endless....

 and the unpacking (in my sector) is nearly over.
just need some new shelving and i am done.....after the soaping area  is done !!!!!!

the telstra man even hooked up our cable internet .......effeciently and on time.

much to my suprise. great speeds too !!.

it is a pleasant area even tho, as i keep saying, it is half way to Newcastle !!!

i leave much out of this drama filled story........ being aware of the benefits

 of not using some peoples names .

i just dont get how it has all  been beset by so many negatives.

suffice to say i will not move again in a hurry , will be glad to be finally sorted 

in about a month. i do miss Pennant Hills as much

 as i enjoy  the friendliness that has always been the way of Westleigh.

pity it is so far from the railway station.

.and yes i will go over and learn the
mysteries of the bright red shiny fire fighting equipment over the road.
it is a very high risk fire area so it is prudent  to know
 what to do with the gear

there is a LOT of garden again (sigh) to be sorted.
not as bad as gardens in my past......but largish never the less.
there is lavender about which i am happy.
and monster gums......about which i am not happy.
some fruit trees which the previous owner used for marmelade.
pity i tossed all my jars before leaving!!!!

there has to be time now to destress, take stock of life
 ........and critically to make some soap as soon as my space is ready.
i am about out of any stock except Castile

dog is enjoying her new garden but will not leave my side. just  in case i send
her to the vet for boarding  again so she wont keep barking at, and trying to herd, the removalists.
in case she gets released to find her familiar home.........all gone.
replaced by a comparative veritable jungle with many spots to hide bones 

ok...........so we are selling this house and moving elsewhere, so i figured to take

a  last few pics of our small yard . it has been great having such a small area after 

huge gardens in the past . back to large garden again.!!!

this is only half the yard.....you cant see the rest because the

washing is hanging out in it!!

after a wet, and thus humid, summer i can feel the tinge of autumn arriving.

it is welcome. i hate the heat.

  the dreaded spanish moss that i rather like. will have to remember to take some with me.

see what it does to monster gum trees that inhabit the new abode

a paper bark tree that has grown hugely in the last 11 years . the bark fascinates me.

the size of the tree may not be appropriate to the area however. we are not allowed to cut it down so it stays

chain of heats that takes years to grow and which got rather damaged in a clean up one day

not happy :-(

a quilt made by my fathers mother. well over 100 years old . the violet silk backing is all worn

and many of the squares are damaged. i dont have the skill to redo them or fix.

the bark

my favourite plant.......the original cutting came from

 a friends place in Mittagong.

it grew in a pot in an apartment in Chatswood,

 a cutting went to Killara, a cutting of that went to 

Thornleigh

 and a cutting of that .......came here.

 i have several cuttings ready to be planted in the new house.

height of the trees....too much light into the last picture but

 am not motivated to attempt to alter it

ummmmmmmm after looking at these photos i realise that the problem
with my camera that shows as a very light spot in the centre of pics........
is getting worse.

this week has been pretty mind numbingly boring with back injuries and enforced lying around.

my peripheral neuropathy has run rampant pain wise. not happy.

missed my last two pool classes too :-(

it has been relieved by the installation of my new shutters in bedroom and living room .

so expensive but sooooo worth it.

i love the effect and the look of the filtered view of the outside world .....

especially the  light of summer that is so  hash.

 the dog has started to learn to move the slats with her nose

.......which is good and bad.

 life  has also been helped by a massage last night by the very very skillful  Joni .

son freaked when he saw the number of teeny teeny tiny ants on the bench the other day..

 and took a photo. they are the worlds tiniest ants i do believe. here in my house.

lucky lucy me !!!

the photo is included as a sign of my boredom.

another positive is the dehumidifier that i also caused the arrival of......
for what i (not even jokingly) call the "mould room".

that room i refuse to enter which houses my sons way too large collection of stuff he finds interesting.

and which needs protection from the elements of a damp summer.

the view thro a slat of the shutters......all the beautiful blue flowers are  running down the side of my driveway

part of why the vet wants dog to loose some weight

the view from my pillow

blackhawk down

it landed in a local park this afternoon, but i didnt get to see it for quite  a few hours... and until it was dark.

had to photo as best i could with the huge sports lights that were on for the kids to play

 and with my trusty small camera. it  was verging on a carnival spirit really with people coming and going .

i had been going to go to that park with dog...but didnt when there were so many helicopters overhead.!!!

i figured there had been a traffic accident and i wasnt going to mess with peak hour snarled traffic

 just to walk a dog. it was part of a formation of four apparently.

when i got there  around 9.30pm some of the soldiers were playing footy with some of the kids who were scheduled to be there for practise and for whom the huge lights had been turned on.

eveyone started to come home apparently when the sports lights were turned off.

a lot of people were there .....as many as Santa attracts ...

or the huge water bombers in the bushfires do

the spirit of christmas at a busy intersection in inner west of Sydney

last week i saw the decorations on the pole so this week i took my camera . unfortunately i got a split second to take these pics as the lights changed fast both times i went past.
therefore they are not very good quality.

 i am sure it is the kind of thing that could only happen here  in this sort of weather.

for those unfamiliar with the idea of a xmas man at a traffic light.......it is an illegal practise done here and there where a person sets themselves up at the lights and when traffic is inevitably stopped.....he rushes out to ask everyone if he can clean their windows. he  then gets (usually) way too much money for the work. or maybe no acceptances at all