Happy New Year to you all!
I hope you had a fabulous NYE! What did you get up to?
We stayed home and watched the Sydney fireworks on TV with the kids and the dogs. Sydney has two huge fireworks displays all focused on the magnificent Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Harbour. There’s the family display at 9.00PM and of course, the huge midnight extravaganza. I understand that I’m using a lot of flashy lingo here but these fireworks were truly out of this world and even the photos I took from the television at home were breathtakingly beautiful.
You can read more about it here:
https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/sydney-fireworks-a-prelude-to-midnight/
https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/happy-new-year-sydney/
However, every rose has it’s thorns and the unfortunate downside of the fireworks is terrified and panic-stricken pets.
We had a lot of local people letting of backyard fireworks and it’s these explosions which seriously distressed our younger dog, Lady. She turned into a slobbering, shaking mess, which went on for almost 5 hours. With my glasses all fogged up and needing windscreen wipers, it was a long night…for us and the dog!
A panic-stricken Lady seeking to uproot the laptop.
This is not the first New Year’s Eve we’ve been home babysitting dogs either. Once upon a time, we used to be out by the Harbour smelling the gunpowder and being part of the atmosphere instead of watching on.
Yes, once upon a time.
Indeed, Geoff and I actually met on New Year’s Eve 17 years ago at a friend’s party overlooking the fireworks. Obviously, there were fireworks of a different sort.
Have you set any New Year’s Resolutions?
Or, perhaps, you’re a bit like me and had them thrust upon you…the New Year’s Resolutions you had to have?
Here are just a few which have been thrust on me:
- Be on time. This includes the kids as well.
- Go to bed earlier.
- Establish a weekly routine/schedule.
- Reduce spending.
- Organise house.
I addressed the whole resolution thing here: A Magical New Year https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2016/01/02/a-magical-new-year/
Meanwhile, I’ve set myself the goal to get on with the Book Project, which could well be completely incompatible and at odd with all of the above points.
I’m also starting to think about the Blogging A-Z April Challenge. I am writing about Sydney but working on an angle to try to limit the scope. I also want to make it really interesting for overseas readers, which make up most of my readers. I’ll be getting started on this almost immediately so the kids and I can work on it over the holidays and get material. That will be a fun holiday project for them.
It takes a hell of a lot of work for a Scout to get to Jamboree!
Meanwhile, if we were having coffee today, I’d be telling you that the reason why we haven’t gone away this January is that our son has gone away to Jamboree with Scouts for 12 days and when he gets back, he’ll be off to High School. From what we’ve been told, he’ll be doing so much at Jamboree that when he gets home, he’ll just be wanting to sleep. Not sure for how long but I’ve already arranged for his sister to be at my parents’ place when he gets back so he can have some peace. I am expecting a potentially growling bear going into hibernation.
Major reconstruction required to the room!
While he’s away, we’re painting his room. There’ll be no surprises here as we discussed it all before he left. However, I’m sure you know how these projects work. You don’t appreciate the full horror until it’s too late to turn back. “A paint job” or face lift has now turning into reconstructive surgery. However, there’s no anaethetist for the hapless parents doing the task while the lad is off having the time of his life. No team of TV experts either. I must also admit that I’d have to classify myself as a major liability to smooth operations and I’m more likely to break than fix anything.
Before kids, I painted all the walls. After kids, I applied a seemingly simple patch to a hole in the wall and instead of being flat, it bulged outward like a tumour.My husband is now talking to me about the ???!! instructions after removing said patch and fixing it himself.
As for how the hole ended up in the wall, I need more than a coffee to deal with that!
With all of this going on, I dropped my prednisone used to treat my auto-immune disease down half a mg today to 7.5mg per day and really felt it. Have spent much of the day in bed. Will take a few days to adjust and I’m going to stay at this level while we get through first term.
So, here I am sitting at my computer having coffee with you while Geoff is at work. Mister is at Scout Jamboree and our daughter is living it up at her grandparents.
Humph! After writing all this, I realise that yet again, I’m procrastinating. That I’m talking and writing instead of doing but just give me another coffee and I’ll be ready for work!
So, now that we’ve survived the hangover, it’s time to get on with another year!
This has been part of the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Diana at Part Time Monster and please check us out at the linky: http://www.inlinkz.com/new/view.php?id=595142
Love & Best Wishes,
Rowena
PS For any of you in the North who might be experiencing the January Blues, I strongly recommend that if you can’t hop on a plane and join us Down Under that you pop over to Suzie and read this brilliant post. I’ve printed it out because it doesn’t have to be Winter to have a bad day!http://suzie81speaks.com/2016/01/02/how-to-beat-the-january-blues/
Beyond the Flow 
Best wishes for the New Year. If it wasn’t for the prednisone dose change I’d say you have no excuses with son and daughter both away and Hub out at work. Ah! but coffee and procrastination are always good mates to have around. I know them well. 🙂
Thanks, Norah. I’ve just gone and done my bit in Mister’s room so have returned with another but decaf cup of tea. I can only work in short bursts anyway. Will pop over and see what you’ve been up to although I think my husband has just arrived home. He drives a Morris Minor so he generally can’t sneak in the door, even when the dogs don’t let off the alarm. xx Rowena
Of the 5 resolutions thrust upon you I think I could manage the first 4. No problem with no 1 because here in the south of France no-one expects you to be on time unless you are catching a plane or a train. But no 5: Organise the house? That is NEVER going to happen in this house.The only part of this house that is organised is the tack room. And the stables.
Wishing you a very prosperous, productive and healthy 2016
Go on, get painting! I must say its the starting that’s the bummer. Once underway opits not so bad. But I get procrastination. I too have wondered about the A to Z and will now give it some real thought.
Start writing. Just write don’t edit or organise 🙂 I am sure you’ll be a bike to take a lot of notes over the last few days. And if you take a small blogging break to write everyone will understand.
Thanks so much for the encouragement, Solveig. I am defintely getting started again tomorrow xx Rowena
The trouble with painting is all the prep work, which after I sugar soaped most of the walls, I’ve left in Geoff’s court. I get a bit crippled by expectations and experiences of failure…a bit like your travel admin experiences but I will prevail xx Rowena
Thanks very much, Margaretha. It’s interesting how some places and cultures have a much more fluid concept of time than others. IN Australia, we have a beautiful place called Byron Bay on the North NSW coast and they have “Byron Time”. That would be so elastic I think it’s along the lines of “I’ll be there when I get there” type of thing. No trains any more in Byron but there are buses. I have friends with Aboriginal or Islander heritage and they can be pretty flexible as well. I wonder where I get this very schedule time concept from and the feeling I should be stuffing each and every minute with more activity? It pre-dates my health problems. There’s definitely a real sense of time pressure out there.
Good for you. I realise the challenges and am lost in admiration.
I hope you do well with all of your projects. I haven’t made any real resolutions, just some ideas in my head of where I am taking this year.
I dislike fireworks because of what to animals. One our dogs tried to go through and a cement wall. After that we got translators from our vet or stay in a place that didn’t allow fireworks. You could send some of your heat toward us it is 18 degrees Fahrenheit out right now.
WORLD PEACE
ha! I know exactly what you mean about resolutions that are thrust upon you. I’ve been pretty lax about making an of my own resolutions this year, though, for some reason. Perhaps in the next few days I’ll think of some. Or maybe I’ll just resolve not to make resolutions. 😉
Sounds like a busy but fun time you’ve had lately. Our pup is afraid of the fireworks, too, so the poor pup had an unpleasant night, as Sam and I were out with friends. We rarely go out for the holiday, but this year we decided we’d go out. Lots of fun, but we were glad to use the weekend to hibernate, and Tank was happy to have protection from the last random fireworks that people have been setting off over the past few days.
That poor little Lady. You can see in her eyes she is terrified. And they just don’t understand what is happening.
I am also doing a room makeover which hasn’t exactly been going well from the very start! I finally quit trying today and tried my best to relax and procrastinate. It will be there tomorrow and the next day and the next…😞
I’m with you, Deb. I woke up feeling a bit edgy and my self-confidence is round my ankles. I can build everyone else up but it’s a lot harder to convince myself. I seem to make too many mistakes in the practical realm. So, painting can wait.
We also had quite a time getting our son out the door to his scout camp as all his gear was scattered to the four winds. Just feel like staring out the window at the trees blowing in the wind. That could well be the ultimate form of procrastination.
I have done it many times. There is something calming with the breeze in the trees..now extremely high winds is another story! I’d be like your Lady!! 🙂
I decided to get out of the house and went to the shops and took the dogs for a walk along the beach to clear my head. Worked wonders. It’s been raining a lot here lately and while I’m trying to catch up a bit after the busyness of Christmas, it was time to get out. Hope you are going okay. It’s been a rough time of year for you and I have been thinking of you! xx Rowena
It’s a good thing Hub can’t sneak up on you and find you procrastinating. I hope your decaf tea did the trick!
Good luck with the book project over 2016. The other resolutions, I guess if they’ve been thrust on you then you have to do them, but well a slippage here and there is okay too. Saw the footage on the news of the jamboree. It brought back memories. I’m quite jealous of your son. Enjoy your peace and quiet while it lasts – but then you have all these projects. I think it is great that you are going to include your kids in the A – Z data collection. Look forward to seeing what you come up with and as an ex Sydneysider (many moons ago) maybe you’ll bring back many memories. Happy New Year. Cheers Irene
Your description of the fabulous Sydney fireworks reminded me of one of my most memorable New Year’s Eve’s — back when Mr. M and I were first dating and we watched the fireworks bursting over the Mississippi River in New Orleans (his hometown) with several friends. But poor Lady–she looks frantic.
How nice that Mister is at the Jamboree! He takes his scouting quite seriously, doesn’t he? Our boys never did get beyond the first year of Boy Scouts (age 13) so they never went to a Jamboree, but they did each go on an exchange to Japan for 2 ½ weeks at age 14. When the older son (the chatty one) returned from Japan, he talked for 5 hours straight telling us about what all he’d seen and done, then slept for 2 days. When the younger son (the quiet one) returned the next year, he fell straight into bed and slept for 2 days, skipping all that pesky talking nonsense. I tell you this so that (depending upon the personality of your son) you can plan accordingly.
I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday and I’m still trying to get around to see all the Weekend Coffee Shares. I’m always glad to read yours–they are always so newsy and fun! I had a good day yesterday working on book revisions for nearly 4 1/2 hours straight and accomplished a lot. Gives me hope that I might get the novel out sometime soon.