Merry Christmas!

 

Have a wonderful Christmas Everyone!! 

Sending Aussie hugs around the world and a lot of warm weather. xxxx

If only we were all this happy!

Hello my fellow bloggers,

Long time no hear from me, right? I am so hopeless at keeping up with blogging these days, sorry!

I saw this on facebook and it made me smile so much that I had to share it.

Where does all that energy come from?? Lol

Hugs to all of you. Paula xxxxx

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!!

 

Not long now before the big man in the red suit to comes along and brings many  smiles across the world.

 

Sending loads of Aussie warmth to all of you having a white Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere! 🙂

 

Hope everything is well with you all, enjoy the times you spend this month with friends and family.
Hugs, Paula xx

Sydney

Hello World,
How’s life treating you all?

Now, I expect an answer to that question!
Well only if you wish to divulge it to the whole world, right? I say do it! Hahaha.

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to go to Sydney for 1 week, it wasn’t really planned so I hummed and hared about whether or not to go; then I thought, why not!

I’ve been many times, but never to Wollongong so it was fun and exciting to see a different part to Sydney. I am from Perth which is located on the West coast of Australia and Sydney is on the East Coast; it is 3,936 km from Perth to Sydney, which is a total flying time of 5 hours – or 42 hours driving, to give a few of you a perspective on this distance: A flight from London to Washington D.C is 7 hours. Moscow to London is a 4 hour flight or 30 hour drive and from Washington DC to Las Vegas (Woohoo!) is 4 and a half hours flying or 36 hours driving.

Sydney and its surrounds contain 20% of the entire population of Australia! It was the site of the first British colony in Australia, established in 1788 and it was originally going to be named ‘Albion’.
It is home to many iconic Australian landmarks such as the Sydney Bridge, which is the widest spanning steel bridge in the world and it took 272,000 litres of paint for the original 3 coats. It is rumored that at one point, a team of painters was permanently employed to paint the bridge, as once they had finished the job, it was time to paint it again!

‘M’ from Nepal  lives there and had said at one stage that if I ever come to Sydney to contact her, but because it was such a last minute thing I was hesitant to contact her and say, “Guess what, I’m in Sydney” 🙂 Long story short, we did meet and it was great! M came with her husband AS and what a beautiful young couple they are! They are both originally from Nepal, so M arranged for us to meet at an Nepalese restaurant; The food was so full of flavour and the desserts were so good that I went to a Nepalese store and bought the dessert to come back to Perth with! Call me crazy but I was unsure if we had it here in Perth. 🙂

M showed us photos of her wedding to AS in Nepal. Wow! Let me tell you what a colourful and beautiful tradition they have for getting married, the ceremony goes for 10 days. Can you imagine that? We get tired for just the one wedding day, never mind 9 more days after that, right? 🙂 My high heels would be killing me.! Hahaha.  M is the first blogger I’ve met and I hope one day to meet more of you out there! M has met about 4 other bloggers and I’m totally jealous! Hahaha, I can’t think of anything better than meeting more of you; M doesn’t show her face on her blog so out of respect for M I didn’t take a photo of us. 🙂
We are like a  giant community from all walks of life, yet we share one thing in common and that’s a respect for each others thoughts and ideas. Everyone is very supportive of each other and that’s what I love, no one is out to hurt anyone and in part we are all just letting each other into a small part of our world and sharing something that’s passionate to us; whether that be in the form of poetry, art, food, travel, random thoughts and ideas, mental illness, religion, spirituality, photography or a writer. Basically there are many, many topics that are written about and this is just a small example of our community.

We all get busy, and blogging is NOT the only thing in life we do, but it’s a special part of us that we all share.
So from me to you and you and you and you! 🙂  I thank you all for the time and effort that you give to the the blogging community and the rest of the world, If I’m having a bad day you have no idea how coming to the computer and reading your posts or comments can put me in good spirits, so for that I thank you!

Now if this is how I feel and I imagine that many others do too, your blogs do more good than you will ever realise.

So have you met any fellow bloggers?

Many hugs to you all, Paula xxxx

I’ve attached a few pictures of Sydney that I’ve found (I did not take these photographs!).

 

Hello!

 

Hi there everyone, 🙂

Boy was the Christmas break full on with lots of things to do and plenty of drinking… Actually, too much drinking!

I put on about 2 kilos and are now thinking it’s about time to try and send them back to wherever it is they came from. I think they call it the the cake, chocolate, potato chip bourbon county? Not sure exactly where it is but I’m sure some of you have already had run-ins with this community. They love to leave you with a few kilos here and there and take no responsibility for it. I think i need to complain to their lord mayor, does anyone know his or her name?? Hahahaha

Okay I’ll be serious now. 🙂

As many of you know I come from Australia (Oz, or the land Down Under to some) but the city I live in is Perth, Western Australia. For those that don’t know, Sydney and Melbourne are on the East side which are much cooler States than Perth, yet Melbourne has been experiencing extremely high heats lately also! Our world is changing. 🙂 Now we recently had the Ashes (cricket) here and the poor guys had to play in 44 degrees Celsius. Let me tell you, that is scorching hot and not for the faint of heart. Now playing cricket in that and standing around for hours on end? Grueling!  I would take my hat off to them if I had one for their perseverance. And lets not forget their die hard fans that sat in that crowd cheering them on and showing their support.  I say well done to both the Aussies and the English team!! 🙂

A friend of mine took me last week to watch the 20/20 cricket game here at the WACA. Never before going to watch a game I was a little hesitant about what it would be like, but PEOPLE it was awesome!! So much fun and so exciting. The crowd were all so excited and pumped and I love the vibe and how they encourage the crowds to cheer their team on and how they play music in between the shots. It’s so cool and the game is so fast with heaps of 4’s and 6’s been hit into the crowds. If you’ve never been to one and get the opportunity to do so? I say go for it as you won’t regret it! Oh by the way Perth won over Adelaide by 5 runs, it was nail biting exciting stuff! Yet I don’t bite my nails. Hahaha

As for our weather here? It’s been hot hot hotter and then warm warm warm. Lol We have had some terrible fires that have left many homeless here in Perth but like all good cities the people have come out in their droves to support the needy in anyway they can. Losing your home would be horrific yet I still can’t help but feel for all the wildlife and domestic animals that don’t make it through these horrific fires. Just thinking about it makes you sad. Melbourne has also experienced some terrible fires lately. You know the bit that really grates on me? It’s when you find out that the fires have been lit deliberately. I know a lot of  these people are pyromaniacs and are very ill and are in need of help, but they truly have NO idea of the damage to so many lives they have ruined. They should be made to go and apologise to every single person they have affected and listen to their story and see the damage for themselves. Look in to the eyes  and see the pain and suffering they have inflicted to someone who more than likely never hurt another soul before and is now being punished for someone else’s stupidity! Then go into therapy and get help!!

And then the polar opposite to the other side of the world has been flooding storms and extremely cold temperatures. I suppose the whole world climates are changing and I don’t know if it’s to do with global warming or not, anyone have an opinion as to what’s going on in our beautiful world? 🙂 Would being kinder to our planet make a difference or is mother nature always going to have her way with Planet Earth, regardless? Hmmm the mind ponders so let’s see what you have to say?

I shall be off now so have a great week and many hugs to you all. Paula xxxxx

image source

5 Days till the big man in red comes!

Wow, 5 days people!

I know, some of you are going; “Shhh, I don’t want to know!” .

🙂

Well here is a little Christmas song for good cheer! Now lets all sing together. WordPress family that play together stay together, right? Hahahaha.

Have a great day, everyone!!

Hugs to you all, Paula xxxxx

Dubai: Part 2 of 2

Dubai

Hello Everyone!! *waving*  🙂 

Well I’m back at home on my trusty laptop with Sakura by my side. This makes me incredibly happy.  🙂

I’ve hugged my 2 manly sons and most of my immediate family and it feels good to back around those I love. Tomorrow I’m going for a drive to the country to hug my Llamas (Teco-boy & Margie)  and surprise my grandsons that I’m back home. 🙂  You can’t beat that nana hug, it’s priceless!!

I had the best time away and loved every minute of it! But it’s always good to return to your home country. You see, I kind of have a bit of the Irish gypsy blood in me, so next week you never know I could be ready to go anywhere!! Lol

Only joking no more laughing I have to get serious with my life and that’s going to involve quite a few changes. At first my changes were poor choices on my behalf, but thankfully a little time and commonsense  have won this one, and I’m now on a much better train of thinking. So life will be different and maybe a little lonely at times but I’m sure the universe has a way of putting things back together. I liken it to a jigsaw puzzle, if I take my time then I’m sure all the pieces will fit back  in nicely. I have my Sakura (cat/child lol ) so she will make any place my home. If you have a pet you will know exactly what I’m talking about, right?

So now lets get back to the post heading: Dubai!

On the way to the U.K I only had 1 night there so I didn’t do anything except read like a book worm!! lol 🙂 But On my way home, I had 2 nights and boy am I glad I had those 2 nights. My mum had booked us into old Dubai (Bur Dubai) and let me tell you it really was pretty old compared to the city. lol  Strange thing about me though is that I like the old and all the history that goes with it. There’s something about going somewhere where you know so many souls have walked that path.

It was really cheap there compared to the new Dubai. Also, I noticed the population was mostly Indian. I was pretty shocked to see tourists walking around in short shorts and little tops, though I was told that where I was was not as strict as other parts of Dubai.

I went for a tour around the city and it was interesting listening to all about the Muslim customs etc. Plus how they can have 2 wives there, crazy right? Most men can’t handle one wife – imagine two! 🙂 LOL No offence intended, members of the male species.

When the prayer time comes around and they say it over loud speakers, there’s something kind of soothing and comforting in how they sing their prayer. It reminded me of when I was in Egypt,  I heard it so often there that I started humming it.

The Dubai Mall is the largest shopping mall in the world. It has 1200 retail shops and 160 food outlets. Its huge!! Don’t take your credit card, just look!! Lol

The shark filled Aquarium in the mall is just beautiful. You could just sit there and daydream, its so soothing to look at. Or maybe that us the Pisces in me feeling at home!! Lol 🙂

In the city there was 200 buildings right next to each other. Kind of like Lego all stacked up close to one another. The rich are mega rich and the poor seem just that, poor! After travelling around here there and everywhere, we ended up at the 7 star hotel : Bur Al Arab – now, this is an impressive building and brings in a whole new modern Dubai. We had lunch there and even though the courses were small, you felt stuffed by the end of it! 🙂 If you go to Dubai this one is a must and it pays to book so that way you’re assured to get in for lunch/dinner whichever your preference. I’ll make 2 post so you get to see the hotel and the buildings.

Now I’m from Western Australia and should be able to handle the heat there as Perth can have temperatures up to the 40 degrees Celsius and over. But it’s a different heat and its not even their summer and I was hot. Knowing what I know now I could never go their in Summer and was told a lot of the locals leave the country and come back when  summer’s over. I can see why! Their  bus stops are enclosed with air conditioners in them, very impressive!! 🙂

Next time, yes there will be a next time as I loved the place, I’ll stay at least  7 days as there was so much more I wanted to do. The Safari tour is one I’m going back for, you get taken by 4wds out in the middle of know where  and have dinner in a tent pitched and get to ride a camel. Now don’t laugh as I find that terribly romantic – and I’m not even the romantic type! Lol  It certainly is very different from Australia but that’s what I like… Seeing all our world has to offer. Being out of our comfort zone is good for us and opens us up to new and different things, right?

I hope your all well and I did my best to post when I could. I’m way behind on post so please forgive me and I will try keep up from now on.

Have a great weekend everyone and I shall see you all in Blogland!!  🙂

Hugs to you all…..Paula xxxx

Photos of Whitby

We went for a day trip to a pretty coastal town called Whitby.

Whitby is famous for connections such as Captain Cook living here – it was the port of departure for all of his voyages of discovery and where he became a seaman. It was where Bram Stoker wrote the book Dracula and the town is featured in the first few chapters.  Also, Lewis Caroll (who wrote Alice in Wonderland) was supposedly inspired to write his poems The Walrus And The Carpenter from his walks along Whitby Beach. Additionally, The Lady Of The Ladle was set in Whitby.

It’s also famous for Whitby Jet which is black fossilised wood – similar  to today’s monkey puzzle tree and the Araucaria tree, but it looks like polished gem stone. It was at its height of popularity when Queen Victoria’s husband Albert died and she used it as mourning jewellery.

One of the photos above is of the ruins of Whitby Abbey.

The last photo above is of the Whitby Jet that my mum and step father bought.

I’m off to Dubai in today and will be there for 2 days.

I’ll post more photos when I return to the magical land of Oz!!!!

We’re off to see the wizard!! LMAO

Hugs. Everyone!!!  …..Paula xxx

A Little More of Castle Howard

 

 

 

 

Just because it’s so beautiful.

Hope you are all well.

Hugs, Paula xxx