the family I’m from

We’ve had a lot of rain this morning. It started bucketing round 2am and kept bucketing till round 5am, since then we have had showers on and off.

My phone just rang, it was Matthew, my younger brother does not typically call me so I was a little concerned at first as to what might have happened. However, Mums voice came over the speaker wanting to know what my back yard looked like. After I gave her the run down she told me that her and Matthew were at the Toombul car park observing it in all its flooded glory. Matthew must have gone out last night as Mum had picked him up from the bus stop due to the rain. He had told her that Kedron Brook was over the banks. They then proceeded to check out Kedron Brook at as many vantages as they could to watch the flooding. They are now headed on to Downfall Creek to see what it looked like.

Mum was telling me they were taking photos on Matthews phone of the flooding. I didn’t comment then but I will now since I know Mum will see this fairly shortly, that is why I take my camera with me wherever I go!

Yep, that’s my family, well really the Stephenson part of us, straight down the line from Grandad, a man who has kept weather records dating back to the war. The family for which the first thought when it buckets, is “mmmm I wonder how high the creek is?” or Mum’s favourite idea when it has rained is to go waterfall chasing. Yeah, we like our weather.

I got up close to 5, thinking there must be a fair amount of water in our backyard by now, sure enough there was. (A fact of life when living at a bottom of a hill on three sides, is when it rains our backyard will fill with water.) Our street is more convex than most streets to help the street drain in such events. There was probably about 10-20cm over the “top” of the road and about 30cm at the kerb. In our backyard, the water was over the retaining wall. I took a few photos but was not in the mood to get the tripod out so they have been pushed a little bit in Lightroom.

204/365
It has rained, 204/365

I went back to bed for a little while but wasn’t in a mood to sleep, instead I took my book (it seemed quite fitting to be reading a tales of Brisbane, whilst watching the water drain off the street) and my quilt and cozied up on the couch on the deck, watching the taxi drivers trying to decide whether or not to drive the street. By 6ish I was ready to go back to sleep and returned to my bed to doze to the sound of the drizzling rain for you know, oh 45mins or so. I’m not one to sleep in!

The street now just has a little bit of water in the gutter and the water in our backyard has gone down a wee bit, it’s no longer over the retaining wall. I won’t have to water the veggies for a while….

It has rained

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain, as a child when I first saw My Fair Lady, I thought they were referring to a plane not a plain and could not for the life of me figure out why the rain would stay in the plane!

The rain in ‘Bris stays mainly in our yard!

Not Sundae today

It’s been an interesting last little while

The Kitchen, 179/365.
Dinner Time, 179/365

The Sails, 180/365
Sailing away, 180/265

This is it, 181/365
This is it, 181/365

Day 182 or My big trip to the Gympie area to check out Antique and Op shops.
The Lifeline Sunshine Coast sale at Gympie – the reason for the trip. I came away with a pair of jeans, a few tops, a cardi, a tunic and a few other bits and bobs.
All items $3.50

A canister set that I found adorable – they had one for oatmeal!!
Love this canister set

Isn’t the design on this wash set just so perfect?
Love this design

Fat Hen Creek, 182/365
I’m guessing the creek is full of super nutrients that produce fat chooks?
Fat Hen Creek, 182/365

Day 183, Lifeline bookfest and cocktails.
Fish Lane, I just love this for a street name, I wonder if at some stage there was a fish market here? Taken on the way back to the car from the bookfest.
Something Fishy

Sapphire Sunday at Libertine with Sam and Katherine.
A matter of what to say here. The cocktails were amazing, the food was quite good but the service was beyond belief.
Sapphire Sunday at Libertine

I do believe it’s Mango time, 183/365
I decided to walk home from The Barracks and stopped to smile at the squashed mangos on the road.
Mango, squashed, 183/365

Coro Drive, 17:48, 184/365
Coro Drive, Traffic, 184/365

A fold a day, 185/365
I’ve had this calendar on my Amazon wishlist for a while, imagine my delight when I found it amongst the $5 2010 calendars and diaries at Borders???
A fold away keeps the doctor away, 185/365

Supersize Loftkökur, 186/365
Supersize Loftkökur, 186/365

Contrails, 187/365
I was on the way to work and looked up and saw this :D, can you see the birdies in the bottom right of the frame?
Contrails, 187/365

Today is Friday! Yippea! We are celebrating Grandad’s 90th! Birthday tomorrow. It will be quite a bash, with lots of extended family coming. 😀

Have you seen this? – Love Project. I love it 😀

Limes and Fluffy Clouds do not make for Lime Meringue pie

Because the limes just weren’t feeling the love from the eggs…
a Lime Cup

After many months of eating boiled eggs by wrapping a towel round them, I now have an egg cup. Not just any egg cup, a Figgjo Lotte one. Mum has a Lotte “casserole” dish that I have always adored. As my own collection grows from one piece (a little milk jug) to two pieces Mum has been telling me about all the other pieces she used to have. Sigh if only she still had them… Karl – if you happen to see any Lotte pieces round Iceland/Europe where ever you venture, you will collect for me, won’t you?

177/365
This is my village, 177/365

One thing that I adore about Toowong Village is watching the cloud reflections on the glass. If I happen to be at the right spot at the right time for the right sunset, the colours on the glass are amazing. I was walking back from the post office today and just paused for a moment to watch the clouds.

Today, yesterday, the day before etc

I, Helen Thura Palsson, make a commitment, that I in 2010 will post more regularly and bite the bullet and get some of my backlog taken care of. HP 1010 09JAN10.

175/365
Mango! 175/365
Mango! Mango! Mango! Mango for all winter long, well maybe a month or two. Mum and I met up at the Kelvin Grove markets today and the most amazing buy was a tray of Honey Gold Mangos. Honey Golds are literally gold! They are my favourite mangos by a mile, the name describes them perfectly. Golden flesh and a sweet taste. We both got a tray of 15 for $14 each! We got a $1 discount because we bought the two trays.. Normally Honey Golds sell for between $3-4 each at the shop so we got a fantastic buy. I peeled, sliced and packed 10 of the mangos and now have 14 bags in the freezer of honey golden mango goodness!

174/365
My first Shiny Brite, 174/365
My first set of Shiny Brite ornaments

173/365
Oh yes car, 173/365
I went to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on Thursday night and they were just so much fun. I got frocked up in mostly era appropriate clothes and just danced!

172/365
A dreary city, 172/365
Walking home today along the river, the city just looked so dreary!

171/365
Handle with Care, 171/365
I just love this note that was written on the back of a parcel I received a few days ago.

170/365
Helen nail polish for Helen, 170/365
I put this polish on my toes today and whilst I love the colour, I’m not to sure about the quality. The bristles on the brush are really short which made putting it on a little different to my other nail polishes. At the end of the day, the colour is fantastic and the colour is named Helen!

169/365
The Ocean, 169/365
The end of a 36hr oh so getaway to Double Island Point. I love how the water ripples over the sand.

168/365
the end of the line, 168/365
We came across this dugong carcass on the beach up at Double Island Point.

167/365
A little late, 167/365
My little pink pony Christmas tree.
One ornament a day from the 1st till the 24th. My own tradition.

166/365
Hy-drain-ga-s, 166/365
Hydrangeas from the farm, I just love those colours

165/365
A movie!, 165/365
It took me till day 165 to post a movie! I love how the banner flutters in the breeze. You will have to click on the photo to go to Flickr to watch the movie.

164/365
A pretty for me, 164/365
I went to the Paddington Antique market to see if I could find any Christmas decorations (and I did!). I walked past this necklace a few times and kept coming back to it. Now it is mine. The stone is a blue topaz. I adore it!

163/365
Summer Dinner, 163/365
Nothing says summer like handful of prawns, a summer ale and a home-made dipping sauce (coconut cream, sweet chilli sauce, toasted sesame seeds and a dash of sesame oil.

162/365
Bed re-dressed, 162/365
My purchase at the Boxing Day sales, very lovely, high thread count sheets. I just love how the white linen looks with the quilt.

161/365
Chair, Booze TTV, 161/365
I spent Boxing Day morning cleaning out my childhood room. I only have a few drawers left to go through which I will do in the coming weeks. On the 27th, I had this terrible feeling in my stomach that I had forgotten to take a photo on the 26th. I had forgotten all about playing with this camera and taking this photo! phew!

29 days and still going!!!

Photos from Days 21-29.
I’ve been to the farm, to work, to play, to the airport, to my parents, to my home and many places more!

Crazy Duck in the Roma St Parklands, 29/365
This morning it was Brown Owls and whilst in the park waiting for the others to arrive I was visited by this bird.
Crazy Duck in the Roma St Parklands, 29/365

Seam Sealing the tent, T-20hrs before departing for Mongolia, 28/365
This morning Mum and her two sisters along with three or four others headed off to Mongolia for the next three and a bit weeks.
seam sealing the tent, T-20hrs before departing for Mongolia, 28/365

Waiting for the future to come, 27/365
Sitting on a bench in Adelaide St, waiting before I went into see the prosthodontist.
Waiting for the future to come, 27/365

Not our pick-up, 26/365
Thursday night, Mum and I went to pick Susan up from the airport. These two drivers waited and waited and waited for their pick-ups to come out of the gate.
Not our pick-up, 26/365

All done at last! 25/365
Ekka Wednesday. Oh so lovely to have a mid-week public holiday. I spent the morning cracking pecans, I finally finished my allotment of pecans from Granddad.
All done at last! 25/365

Oh Yeah Transformable Tomas, 24/365
A few weeks ago Karl, sent me a link to this picture. I couldn’t get over how cool it looked. A look at ebay a few days later, a little $$ later and I now have my own Transformable Tomas.
Oh Yeah Transformable Tomas, 24/365

Catherdal Square flowers, 23/365
This is by no means the best photo but every time I walk past this flower bed, I wonder if anyone stops and picks a few flowers? The flower bed is at chest height and it looks so tempting.
Catherdal Square flowers, 23/365

Squished, Dry Cane Toad, 22/365
We were going to pick up the avocados and passion fruit and I noticed this squished dried out cane toad and just had to a little photo 🙂
Squished, Dry Cane Toad, 22/365

Oh little bird in the yard, 21/365
I don’t mind the birds when they stay in the yard, like this one here. When they cross the border of the deck and try to come into the house though, that I don’t like.
Oh little bird in the yard, 21/365

The Met Up Late

Friday night I went to the The Met Up Late at the Queensland Art Gallery and oh what an amazing night it was. Holly Throsby and Bree did their thing very well on a little stage in the watermall. I am very impressed with the video on my camera! It was quite a nice experience sitting/standing on the edge of the water watching and listening.

American Impressionism & Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met, just the title of the exhibit alone alludes to the size of this exhibition. There was eight (?) rooms at QAG all filled with wonderful art, broken into themes such as Cities, The Countryside Abroad, Studios and Portraits, etc etc and then with each theme they had a few Australian works from the same era. It was really good. My faviourite artist from the exhibit would have to be Childe Hassam. Two of my favourite pieces of his from the exhibit were Broadway and 42nd Street and Peach Blossoms—Villiers-le-Bel. The final piece in the exhibit is Northeaster by Winslow Homer and it was very impressive. It was hung at the end of the final three rooms so each time as you moved from room to room you see the painting at the end of the exhibit. It was really well executed.

There is a virtual tour on the QAG site that is quite interesting to look through as well.

Light and Reflections on the far wall of the Watermall.
QAG Reflections

Holly Throsby.
Holly Throsby, The Met up Late

The City at Dusk.
Looking towards the Victoria Bridge

Photo of the Day, To The Sky, 19/365.
to the sky, 19/365

Looking back on the path taken over the river.
Looking back over the Victoria Bridge