My family has a military tradition as do many Australian families. My childhood memories are strong with attendances at ANZAC Day parades and dawn services. As an adult living in Canberra my best memory of a dawn service was around this reflection pool at the Australian War Memorial..

That was in the days when only a few hundred people turned up. Now there are thousands and it has to be held outside.

I grew up knowing the excerpt from the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon (1869 - 1943), that is always recited on this day that commemorates Australian and New Zealand soldiers who landed on the beach at Gallipolli in Turkey on 25 April 1915...

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

...which always ends with everyone saying 'lest we forget'. 
I have my mother's photo album that she lovingly compiled when her father returned from the Middle East at the end of World War 2. 

It's old and battered just like it should be. My father served in the Army enlisting as a very young man and fought in Papua New Guinea...he still suffers from recurring bouts of malaria.  My sister was in the Army, her husband served in Vietnam...twice, I was in the Army but thankfully long before the time women were allowed to serve in combat zones. I wouldn't want either of my children placed in harm's way like that but I honour and respect those who do, today, yesterday and unfortunately tomorrow. 

But...I need to put that outside and go and clean up from last night's dinner party...oh you should see the mess... and make some ANZAC biscuits for the first born...she insists and who am I to argue!

I'm trying hard to curb my natural worry-wart tendencies...I really am. I worry (in varying degrees) about the people in my life, the quality of my work, my weight, ageing, the mortgage, what colour to paint my study walls!!  I really shouldn't...it shows (again in varying degrees) a complete lack of trust in my loved ones and their ability to live their lives, an unreasonably critical perspective on what I do (which I mostly do well), a focus on my weight gain rather than doing something about it, trying to fight the inevitability of getting older (because heaven knows the alternative is much worse!), the reality that 'owning' a house brings...and the knowledge that if I don't like the colour on my walls I can just paint right on over it!  

So along with reducing my weight (starting the Women's Weekly 21 day diet on Monday!!) I'm going to try to stop worrying so much and get a bit more zen...

Heaven knows I have enough buddhas around my house...I'll show them to you one day...they should be inspiration enough!

For now the only thing I have to worry about is the fact that my ex-husband, his new wife and his other daughter who live in Townsville (a very long way away) are coming to dinner tonight with our two children. Actually, you know...I'm really looking forward to that. Maybe they'll let me take photos and post them...or maybe not :)

Finally...a huge thank you to A-M for the extraordinarily beautiful coasters I won on her new Cape Cod Designs blog. She tells me they're now collectors items so I'll be very careful who I let use them...but I'll try not to worry too much about that!

Have a lovely weekend...it's a long one here.

image 1: tumblr image 2: colourlovers image 3: moi

Normally on a Friday I do a 'soul food friday' post...my little attempt at some navel gazing aimed fairly and squarely at myself...you know...focusing on what's important, keeping grounded, self improvement, being thankful, making light of things...stuff like that.  But today, having read about this fabulous website somewhere (and how I wish I could remember where!) I just wanted to share some gorgeous pictures instead. There is no theme...although there do seem to be rather a lot of flowers...they just screamed politely put their hand up and said 'pick me please'. So I did. I hope you enjoy them...

...so... soul food friday will be on saturday this week...well it will be friday somewhere in the world tomorrow when it's saturday here...won't it?!? Yes of course it will :) Wherever you are, whatever the day...have a lovely one bloggy people. And as John Denver once said "...and I'll try to do the same!" Oh and if you're a complete dag like me, I did a post on John once (just once I promise!)..actually it was images inspired by his lyrics to be precise...you can find it here 

all images by photographers represented by Sarah Kaye

My lovely, lovely bloggy friend Kerri with an 'i' ...she can't help it poor thing :)...from Driftwood Interiors, has nominated me to play this bloggy tag game where...as you probably all know by now...you have to post your 6th blog photo and take a stroll down memory lane with it and talk about your inspiration. As it wasn't all that long ago...my pre-menopausal blonde brain may just be able to tackle this one!

I can take much better photos now with my new Canon PowerShot by the way...and boy has my bedroom changed since then...but I know you'll forgive the poor quality of this one...as it was from a blog post titled Valentine Schmalentine! I was ranting merely expressing my opinion that Valentine's Day was far too commercial and could plunge into the realms of tacky if not carefully managed...and that I was neither a fan of it or of long stemmed red roses (sorry!) 

However...before I get hoist on the romance petard (what is a petard anyway??)...ooh, ooh...meticulous research Google tells me that:

BACK IN THE DAY, military engineers used to blast castle door and walls with a liftable mine, called (in French) a petard. To get hoisted by your own petard is to shoot yourself in the foot; get flung by your own catapult; trapped by the trap you set for another. 

So there you go...doesn't look very pleasant does it?

And now we have not one, but two very bad photos in this post...way to go Kez!

Sorry, where was I? In that post I did tell you all (not that anyone was reading then except those who are still in my will) that the MGM (he of the lovingly cooked beef pho)...

...had plucked a lovely rose from his garden on the two nights preceding Valentine's Day and brought those over to the tranquil townhouse. Awwww....and I still think that's so much nicer and a much more loving gesture than any Valentine's Day box of chocolates could ever be. And there they are in that photo, preserved forever. Happy place!

Now, I have to nominate others for this pleasure opportunity to not have to think up a new post for at least a minute...so I would like to have a sticky-beak please at the 6th photos of...

Grace from Sense and Simplicity

Jackie from Home

The Moerks from Let's Go Moerkabout

Stephenie from Decorating Addiction

Jules from the Diversion Project 

(Jules and I have spoken and I know she can't play at the moment because of work pressures but I wanted to mention her blog anyway because I just love it to bits!)

Rachael from A Room for Everyone

I do realise that you might not want to do this/have already done it/don't have time for it/think it's a complete and utter load of codswollop...so if you don't want to that is completely/utterly/majorly ok with me! 

But thank you Kerri for helping me relive the loveliness that is my bloke...not that I need too much reminding!

Hello bloggy people...I'm back from my few days away...it went so quickly but was oh so lovely! Hope you enjoyed the food edition on Monday...we know how to eat that man and I...and as some of you pointed out...yes, I am lucky he loves to cook. He makes me wash up though, which hardly seems fair, especially seeing he's the messiest cook ever.  A bit more adoring on his part required I think. Really easy to adore this scenery though...

These views were only about a 500 metre walk from where we were staying...how spectacular are those mountains...called the Blue Mountains...because, well, they're blue...off there in the distance...perhaps not quite so blue right up close! Now, for educative purposes only...this is why they're called the Blue Mountains:

"The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour."

Now you get the idea... The next picture is of the famous Three Sisters...but a rear end view...their backsides you could say. Most people see them from Echo Point...the opposite side to this, but that vantage point is the most popular and we had this view almost entirely to ourselves.

Can you see the three lovelies...it's ok if you can't...I've numbered them for you...I'm so getting the hang of this photoshopping stuff (I don't know what all the fuss is about...it's not nearly as good as real shopping though, and quite a bit more complicated than Picnik which I have been using...this is the danger of having a bloke around who teaches Photoshop to his graphic design students and thinks you should know it as well!)

And for your further education, the three sisters are called that because:

"The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to  return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come."

The best laid plans of witchdoctors hey? Don't say you don't learn stuff here!!

And what do you think it would be like to live here...you'd need a good back fence wouldn't you! A tumble down that hill could be a little inconvenient to say the least. Still working on how to do arrows...

Arty farty fern shot at the outdoor auditorium...very pretty place...

...and then there was the man-made scenery...this was a cute little art gallery...love the frames on the outside

The art wasn't great to be honest, but I did like this little vintage glass display...sitting next to the American Express display...which I moved (I put it back though, promise)

The cute painted chair in our bathroom...with the very 'unusual' painted floor finish.

..and even though it wasn't all that cold...we had to have a fire. There was a fireplace...it was begging to be lit...it was romantic...I used to be a girl guide...it called to me. And I will say no more about the romance factor...and I just bet you're REALLY glad about that!

Leura has the most beautiful array of little and not so little cottages...every time I go on holidays I get all restless and want to move somewhere new...buy a little old house...do it up...

...and there was certainly a lot of shopping scenery...but this is a sneaky back-room shot...I got glared at if I took the camera out in most places.

I actually didn't buy much in Leura apart from a candle and two fantastic fabric hangers that look a bit tribal weapon-ishy and could come in handy if anyone breaks in. Leura, unlike it's neighbouring suburb Katoomba is very 'well heeled' shall we say and the prices absolutely reflect that and its status as a tourist destination. Still, it was fun to look...and there may have been a slight detour via Ikea on the way home! So, a brief break done and dusted. Short on time...long on relaxation. Blessed I am.

All images by me. Factual information (as opposed to my nonsense) is from here

The MGM is having a little nanna nap...so I'm blogging...I knew I couldn't stay away! Thought I'd show you a few snaps of a subject near and dear to my heart...or should I say stomach. We left Canberra a little later than planned...no surprises there...disorganised to the nth degree we are, but we were determined to stop at Cabramatta in Sydney on our way to the mountains. Cabramatta is home to Sydney's Vietnamese community and we love the food and the produce there...so we just had to make the side trip...and it was waaaay past lunch time...we were hungry!

This lovely duck curry was the MGM's choice.  I had squid with ginger and shallots. It was nice but not photo worthy.  We DID NOT choose menu item 44!

The scene across the road as we were sitting outside eating our lunch...

Then a wander to the market-place to get the makings for our own Vietnamese meal that night...such pretty sights among the fruit and veg...

You can probably tell by now that the MGM's nanna nap is over and he's been helping me to learn photoshop, so that I can have my own little signature on my photos...he's a treasure that man! Here's another food collage for your visual pleasure...although I couldn't work out how to put that into the template without distorting it...so much still to learn...and I don't want to disturb someone else who is reading the paper at the moment!! Shhhh...

I'm not silly...I know when to ask and when not to ask...useful skill that!

So we bought a bit of this and that and had to sample the ice-cream...it would have been too rude not to...and eventually headed on up the mountain to our accommodation.

Where...the MGM made me dinner...beef pho...

What more could a girl want...dinner cooked for her, a glass of red, a new book...the fire was lit as well...sigh.  Only one more thing required...a yummy chicken, goat cheese and chilli jam pide for lunch the next day!

Next edition will be...scenery!