It's Spring Again and I'll Sing Again.....

Hello Dhaaarlings...

my goodness... doesn't time fly...

Especially when one is up to ones pits in bark and sawdust...

I'd have been tip toing through the tulips but sadly I didn't get around to planting any... never mind... perhaps an adventure to some of the local parks might just be the ticket to view the councils effort with tulips this year...

now where was I?... Oh that's right... up to my pits in bark and saw dust

I've been busy in the garden trying to get it back to resembling some form of its former glory...

No mean feat I might add considering the amounts of bark and sawdust laying about after having the huge gumtree removed from the back corner of the yard.... not to mention the piles and piles of wood stacked haphazardly about the nooks and crannies making it difficult to actually get into some of the areas needing to be worked.
so it has been a somewhat adventurous task particularly when the trusty old trailer that I take all the clippings and detritus to the tip with... decided to go on strike!
Yes!... That's right!.... After 25 years of neglect it decided that not only would one of it's tires develop an irreparable split in it's side wall but the other, decided to go out in sympathy with it by developing a slow leak... how rude I thought.... After all I haven't done for you over the years and this is how you repay me!
2 new tyres later and I could finally get back to work... or so I THOUGHT...
I filled the trailer with rubbish and tied it all down ready for a run to the tip the next morning.... well that was the plan. on making a final check before going out the driveway I discovered that one of the brand new tires was totally flat! not only that but the  tyre had pulled away from the rim making it impossible to tow.
I contacted the tyre mob who eventually realized my predicament after several phonecalls of to-ing and fro-ing... you know like initially saying to "bring the trailer in and they would take a look at it mate"... Then " well... bring the wheel in and we'll fix it" and finally " oh... so the trailers full...  and you don't have the right tools to remove the wheel to bring it in to us"
eventually they sent out the manager who within the space of 20 minutes removed the offending wheel took it back to the store to be fixed and returned and put it back on the trailer... All for no fee!

Any way back to the garden...

The rose path is about to come into bloom

Princess has wood!

and even Bigger wood...

and a lovely crop of "Sticky Willy"

the self sown "Jonny Jump ups" continue to survive in two old wheelbarrows...

the peony roses are just about done...

but the Wisteria has again been stunning...

I'm feeling good again and my energy levels keep getting better as well...

The Empress gets out and potters about in the garden with me but it is spasmodic as her blood pressure still causes problems and she ends up spending the day in bed or on her favourite recliner chair when it drops to low and she starts getting the giddies on me... It doesn't stop her from coming up with multiple suggestions for plantings in the garden, maintenance that needs to be done around the yard or new things that need to be built or fixed... the trouble is... there is only one of me and her list of ideas keeps getting longer... when she is up to working she tends to push herself all day despite my pleas for her to take a break. subsequently she is exhausted for the next day or so....

not to worry... as life goes on...

Anyway darlings I'm looking forward to catching up with all your gardening efforts over at MJ's annual event...

you can all just take wander about while you here...

and don't be surprised if you find me Bottom up in the shrubbery...

Ahhhhh.... That feels better... or Prinny Prinny where have you been?

Hello Dhaaarlings...

I'm Finally home again... it has been quite some time since we last spoke hasn't it darlings  

and so much has happened... well not so much... but as much as can happen when leading such an extraordinarily exciting lifestyle... er... I mean... the quiet and secluded life of a proverbial hermit.

July continued to be cold and very wintery... 

Not much happening in the garden or elsewhere for that matter, apart from having the big old gum tree in the back yard cut down as it was starting to die back and drop limbs becoming a safety hazard.

In August we had a 2 week visit to Western Australia to catch up with family and attend a Nephews wedding.
It was lovely to catch up with family and friends and to meet new members of the family... Notably 3 great nieces... and the Empress (more commonly known as Gran Nan) delighted in spoiling them royally.
Staying with sister and her husband was enjoyable and it was great to spend time with brother in law who has had a difficult year battling bowel cancer. Diagnosed 12 months ago and following treatments of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and several surgeries he has been given the "all clear" almost 12 months to the day.
Spending time with the Nephew, his new wife and their 2 little girls was really special, on meeting Miss 4 for the first time she announced..."I know you, you're the lady and man I talk to on daddy's computer"... She and little sister 2yo made the cutest flower girls as they held hands carefully walking down the aisle carrying a basket of rose petals each. They were so busy concerntrating on walking nicely that in the process forgot to throw the petals.
The look on their faces when they realised they had forgotten to throw the petals was priceless... but then Miss 2 on realising the mistake promptly announced 'Oh No!' and tipped the basket of petals out into a pile on the floor... saying "That's better"
The day was delightful and we both felt very privelidged to be able to share the day with them.
On another day we were able to visit the zoo with the children and the next day travelled to spend the day with the family before they departed on holiday/honeymoon.
It was great to see the home where they live an be given a personalised tour and demonstration by the girls of their local playground and parkland... including a walk through the bushland to see all the "pretty flowers"..
We spent a very quiet second week relaxing and visiting a few of the local haunts, fish and chips on the beach, a picnic in the park and the odd ale and a meal at a variety of local pubs.

We did have a lovely time but it was nice to come home again.
The weather is starting to get warmer now and gardening is back on the agenda once again.
The backyard is full of piles of wood resulting from the lopping down of the tree. Some of the logs are very large and will need two or three people o help to move them. Brother has a combustion heater in his home and has 'first dibs" on the wood. Other neighbours and friends have also made enquiries. So eventually I might be able get the garden back into shape without having to climb over mountains of logs.
Health wise we are both feeling refreshed and getting back into the swing of things again.
It is a good feeling and I'm finally feeling re energised and ready to get back into life.

Still haven't worked out how to post pictures yet but now feeling well enough to tackle this new technology.
Till next we speak Darlings...
Bottoms Up!

I'm Not Dead, But Some Days it just feels like it...

Hello Dhaarlings...

It has been a long time since we last spoke...and I know you must have all been terribly worried about  where prinny had pfaffed off to... without even a hint of her whereabouts...

Turn off the alarms and stand the search parties down... I'm here darlings... sitting in my recliner in front of the heater doing very little else but read, watch telly and visits to the doctor for either the Empress or myself.

It has been a cold and shitty winter. Both of us have been plagued by recurrent chest infections and I'm still struggling with Chronic Fatigue.

The Empresses hip is giving her some recurrent pain and slows her down when she'd really like to be going full pelt. The weather has curtailed our gardening exploits even when I have been feeling up to gettin down and dirty in the weed patch. Needless to say, the yard is looking quite neglected and forlorn... I'd show you a picture but I still haven't worked out how to download one from the new camera to this new computer gadget thingy... 

I call it deliberate product frustration...

I do miss the old mouse. All this tap and slide stuff does my head in...

Anyway darlings I must away... Miss Daisy has summoned her driver... I believe we are off to the chemist to replenish the drug supply...

BOttoms up Darlings...

Dhaaarlings.... I'm Home!...

Hello Dhaaarlings...

Finally I'm back on air... It's been a long wait I know and I'm very grateful for your patience... but it has not been without it's traumas darlings let me tell you!

Firstly... the old dinosaur of a computer I had gave up the ghost... not voluntarily but because the parent company in their wisdom decided to cease support to the platform i'd been happily plodding along with for years... Which effectively meant that it no longer recognized the internet connection that had been working perfectly well up to that point.

I then has to wait to replace the computer with a new one, albeit second hand reco notebook... which took some time to procure.

My telco then issued me with a new modum which i'd just managed to set up the week before Easter and while I was still trying to come to terms with driving the new notebook then sent another, different modum for the new faster broadband system and in the process decided to switch off the old internet system and sign us up to a new faster system.

Sadly they decided to do this over the Easter break which meant that all internet connectivity was down including our land line telephones that needed to be switched to the new system remotely. I had to ring the company to arrange this and get talked through the process.

finally all things seem to be up and running again and so I can finally start posting... hopefully a little more frequently than I have been...

Now all I have to do is to work out how to save pictures to the new contraption and then I'll be set!

Till next time darlings...

Bottoms up!

Do My Eyes Deceive Me?...

 Hello Dhaaarlings...

My poor sad old computer is slowly grinding a long and protracted march toward an inevitable and long awaited death. A week ago it started to do very strange things like get slower and slower to load and programs that I have used for ages suddenly crashing...
So it was time to start looking for a new apparatus.
Now the old darling will not recognise the new modem and so I can't even get on line to acces the help desk!
The Empress has been wanting to upgrade her mobile phone for some time now so off we went. I have never had a mobile device! I know! Reading this news you've probably gone into shock...
But I'm just an old fashioned girl darlings...
Anyway... After speaking to the lovely young shop assistant...We now have three mobile devices a smartphone each plus the inclusion of an iPad Mini which explains why I have just been for another check with the optometrist.
Yes...Prinny needs stronger glasses for reading and now driving as well...
It was already bad enough trying to read and write using the old computer but on these new contraptions I'm thoroughly stuffed...
Everything is so small and I have big clunky fingers to stuff up texting in an exemplary manner
That's even without trying to locate the correct icon in the first place.
The trouble with all these smart gadgets is that they are smarter than the person attempting to use them and then when yo do finally find what it is you are looking for it starts
interrupting you with silly questions or sliding things over the screen that you didn't want and now don't know how to get rid of.

Bugger technology darlings...

It has taken me over a week to write this with my grandson ? Fuck predictive text. What I was trying to write was great big clunky fingers and strained eyesight..

Ahhhhrg I've had enough!!!

A Screw Loose?... More Like A Lost Screw....

Hello Dhaaarlings....

This set out to be an update on my further readings and other goings on about The Palais since we last conversed.

But given the events of the past few weeks I think the theme for discussion will be rectification... you know like fixing things up or putting things right again...

Everything had been going swimmingly with the bed rest and reading and pottering about the garden... until this happened....

Or something very similar... A loose screw suddenly became a lost screw and put paid to my continued readings until i could get off my arse and go get my reading glasses fixed... Which just happened to be today...

Whilst at the optometrist I made a long overdue appointment to have a review of my eyesight as the current glasses just don't seem to be working as well as they used to... or perhaps its has more to do with my eyes just not working as well as they used to... either way... it's time to rectify the problem.

In other news I'm feeling a lot better in myself and have found great benefits from having some decent remedial massages. 

My wonky shoulder is back to normal... as in... It's not wonky any more...

The aches and pains that I knew I had and even the ones that I didn't know I had until I started having them worked on.... have improved to the point were the ones that knew and the ones that I didn't know I had are almost gone completely... sure... I still feel achy for a day or so after a massage but it's a good ache... And... as the massages are remedial they are covered by my health insurance. So far... I have not incurred any out of pocket expenses... Yay!

I've also discovered that eye care is covered by my policy as well... so things are looking up!... if you will pardon the pun...

I'm also feeling my energy levels returning... slowly... but still needing to pace myself...

Now... Who was it that once said...

 "Princess... Life is a marathon... Not a sprint" ?...

It could have been my premature ejaculation therapist... Well that's how he introduced himself... I really wouldn't know... He was holding on to my ears at the time and I could hardly hear a word he was saying...

But I digress...

Since our last conversation darlings... The Palais has been having some sewerage "difficulties" to say the least.

Over Christmas and New Year I started to notice that some areas of the backyard rather than taking on the look of an arid desert... which is usual at this time of year... were remaining green and verdant and abundant with grass... "That's odd" I thought to myself

On other days I'd notice patches of "water" laying on the surface of the ground to about 2 inches deep in places... "That's even odder" I thought to myself... "I didn't leave a sprinkler running overnight again did I?" then remembered that I had just installed new "Tap Timers" on all the garden taps and hoses used to water the garden that can be pre set to turn themselves off. And I'd not watered in the offending area's at any rate.

Then the toilet in my unit started to do strange things... 

Like back up and take ages to drain... or have bubbles of water and air gurgling up through the bowl.

"Time to call a plumber" I thought to myself.

I called a plumbing company who instructed me to call the local sewerage authority to establish whether the fault was theirs or ours and thus if it was their fault we would not require a plumber.

I contacted the local authority and was told after describing the situation to the receptionist to "go and see if there was anything wrong with the "Manhole" covers located behind your property... I did this without having a clue as to what i was meant to be looking for. I explained to the person on the phone that i couldn't actually see over the back fences given their height... But there was a very strong odour of raw sewerage in the vicinity and grey water laying in the yard...

I was then informed that she had looked up the computer and their system was reporting that everything was "fine" and it was "more likely that the problem is on your property and you I should call a plumber!"

I rang the plumbing company again to be told that the soonest that someone could come out would be tomorrow as most of their staff were all still away on leave...

So the plumber came the next day, shoved a very long thingy down the pipes, Thought he had felt something "dislodge"... and left saying that he didn't have his "Pipe camera" with him but if there were still problems over the weekend to contact him again on Monday 

The problems persisted over the weekend and got a little worse but I shan't entertain you with further yucky details darlings.

I called them again on Monday morning to be told that  the plumber in question had been called out on another emergency but would call by in the afternoon... He did... at 4pm...

I gave him all the horrid details of my trauma over the weekend.

He walked into the toilet and flushed it!

Of course it flushed normally for him didn't it!... He's an expert in such matters after all... despite the surrounding evidence of buckets and plungers l'd left strewn the offending loo as evidence.  

He  scratched his head and then looked all over the old toilet and announced  "It may have to be replaced... and because the old bowl has been cemented into the floor and tiled around... it will be a "big job" and be "fairly pricey" to fix"...

But as it was nearly "Knock off time" he couldn't start on anything now and would come back tomorrow...

He arrived bright and early the next morning armed with all sorts of contraptions including the "pipe camera" and proceeded to perform an endoscopy on the pipework. Apart from a bit of fatty buildup in the pipes themselves he could find no problem... they were draining normally until he got to a patch where he could see the build up of sewerage not draining away.

He then removed the camera on its wire and proceeded to walk down the back yard with me holding the wire from where it entered the pipe.

He got to the back fence and still had 15 meters of cable that he says had entered into the mains and that was where the problem was.

The stench coming from somewhere was far more noticable and had gotten stronger since the weekend...

Together we just happened to look over into the next door neighbours property (which is a rental that is currently unoccupied) to witness a river of raw sewerage flowing in under their back fence line... at least a foot deep!

"That's where your problem is" says Einstein... "It's definitely the mains....

 It's backing up and seeping into your yard as well.

Ring the barstards now while I'm here and tell them that they're the ones with the problem...

Then they will want to fight over who's going to pay my bill...

So don't pay my account when it comes... give it to them to sort out with us.

I contacted the sewerage authority to inform them that "Despite my alerting them to the problem over a week ago to be told that their system was "Fine" without doing a manual inspection and that the problem must be on my property and to contact a Plumber... I've had to call a plumber out 3 times since making the initial report to you.... He has discovered that the problem is in fact yours and is definitely a blocked sewerage main."...

I went on to inform him that I would not be held responsible for the plumbing account when it arrived and that they would need to cover any expenses incurred...

The immediate response from the other end of the phone was...

"Well hang on just a minute... we first have to establish that the problem is in fact ours"... to which i replied " Well let me help you... there is a foot deep river of shit running through the neighbours back yard and backing up into mine... does that help you in your establishment of fact?"

His response... "I'll send out a crew immediately"

"And how long will that take?... Can I expect them tomorrow or the next day?" I inquired...

"They will be there within 15 minutes Sir" 

And they were...

It was like all hell had broken loose... All of a sudden there were trucks and Ute's and suckers and blowers and a plethora of gentlemen in High Vis gear swarming everywhere in the paddock behind the property.

The loo is now in full working order and there are no longer stinky puddles of grey water seeping up through the ground in the back yard and the next door neighbours yard has been cleaned up too.

The account for the plumbing arrived last week  for $440.00 

I immediately took it into the Sewerage Authorities office and explained the situation again to them.

I received a phone call from the manager last Friday to say that the fault was indeed theirs and that they would accept the incurred costs and would contact the plumbing service to have the invoice rectified.

I thanked him for his prompt response... But...

I'll be very keen to see if the water and sewerage rate notice isn't $440.00

above what it usually is...

I'm not paranoid at all darlings...

The even better news is that the missing screw is no longer missing!...

 So darlings... I'm off to bed for a good read...

Bottoms Up!

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired...

Hello Dhaaarlings...

I'm just struggling through each day darlings... The chronic fatigue is a bummer and I'm finding it more frustrating as time goes on with not much improvement.

But given that my level of physical activity and stamina is up and down, I do what I can do on a good day when I can... But on a bad day it's a real effort to even get out of bed.

To add to the problems I keep getting reoccurring chest infections and have a muscle out in my neck that is causing pain and limited movement and spasming in my right shoulder which limits my gardening to short bursts...

I seemed to miss much of the Reading Challenge from last year (and i really love reading) due to the ammount of costuming and wedding work I'd done and had very little time for reading... But I did enjoy reading about what you all have been reading throughout the year.

Given that I now have time on my hands on bad days I'm using my time productively by reading!

So I'm setting myself a challenge for 2017... To read/re read as many books as I can at the moment and to see just how many books I can get through by the end of the year.

So far I'm on my sixth tome since the New year started which may give you some indication of how unwell I've been...

Here is the list so far...

James Follett- "The Doomsday Ultimatum"

James Follett- "Cage of Eagles"

James Patterson- "Black Market"

James Patterson- "Hide and Seek"

Dan Brown- "Angels and Deamons"

Dan Brown- "Inferno"

And I'm about to embark on another Dan Brown- "Digital Fortress"  

I do like a good Thriller/ Conspiracy theory as you may have guessed...

I had intended to do a post to update the Gardens and the Vegie Patch around the Palais but it's a vey overcast day here so tha put paid to that idea...

Not to worry... The sun might decide to shine tomorrow darlings...

Bottoms up Darlings...

Good Morning 2017...

Good Morning Dhaaarlings...

It's just after 4 am here in OZ so i decided that i'd put down a few thoughts.

"Why is Princess writing at 4am on newyears day?"... You may well ask. and i'd be quite happy to tell you.

The Empress and i for some years now have not been all that fussed about celebrating in the new year. Our eve consists mainly of sharing a meal together talking to family and the odd friend on the phone, watching a bit of TV. Congratulating eachother for surviving another year and then retiring to bed at around 9.30 pm.

 So around 4am I was rudely awoken by my bladder.... or as my father used to say "I was forced out of bed by water"

As i'm now slightly awake I thought id just say hello and wish all of you a better 2017. 

2016 seems to have been a pretty shitty year all around for many including myself... but there are a lot of things to be greatful for.

Family being top of the list... Not just our biological family but those that we invite into our lives as friends that become like family... including blog friends that have shared many years of joy, dissappointments, sadness, the ups and downs of life and all of the permutations in between. The celebration in welcoming new family members and sharing in the sadness and grief of losing others. Just doing life together.

My intention in life is to try and be a good person... To help someone when they are in need... to try not to judge other people even if feel frustrated or angered by their words or actions... (sometimes i don't do this so well and have to stop myself.) 

This past year has been a difficult one for me as I've been plagued by ongoing illness... but i have learned something from it all...

I need to be kind and good person to myself 

I've always been one to volunteer and first to say yes to helping out in any way I can... but how can I be of help to others if i'm burnt out and exhausted and left without any time for me?

So this year I'm making a resolution.

It's the first time I've ever made one... 

My resolution for 2017 is to learn to say NO! But in the nicest possible way...

I won't wish you all the usual New Year guff  as none of us know what the coming year holds in store.

But what I will say is just be kind to yourself, be kind to others, and lets just start this new year together in the hope that in some tiny way it's a little better than the one just gone...

I'm going back to bed now darlings... See you in the morning...