Arid Lands, Scones and CampBeds

I spent a good part of yesterday at the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens with the photography group. I have to admit that I was not feeling the best and really didn’t do much. On arrival I had coffee and  cake (don’t tell Annabell!)  but I paid for it – in more ways than one!  It was a lovely day  and after the drive over (80klms) I just wanted to sit down for a bit. After the coffee and chat I went for a wander around the gardens. As I said it was a really nice day, warm and sunny and after a wander I found a nice spot to sit down and relax in the sun. My only regrets in coming here are that I could not  bring  Benji. I would have loved to have had Annabell here but it would have been too much for her – the  long, winding walk from the car-park to the buildings alone would have been a bit much. It being such a lovely day, the place was fairly busy so there was a long wait for  meals. Most of the group enjoyed a good lunch but still not feeling great I opted for simple Scones and Butter ( I like scones)  However,  I ordered two scones and discovered that  the scones at the Arid Lands  are very big and one scone  was about equal to two scones that humans have, so my two scones were about  four “normal” scones and I struggled.  The drive home was uneventful and I was glad to see Annabell and Benji.

This is the first time that I have been with the photograph group outside meetings and I was interested to see  quite a few of them have  the kind of camera that you would find with a good journalist – large telephoto lenses. Interesting.

Two years ago I bought a new tent. The  reason for this was simply to  get out to Point Lowly or Douglas Point with Benji and camp there for the night. I would then be in a great place to get up in the early morning and get some really good photographs of the sunrise. That was the plan.  Knowing the area I knew that it is not “good” ground so I ordered on line, an inflatable camp bed. Then, Annabell took ill, then the seizure and everything other than that took a back seat. I actually forgot about the inflatable campbed and the fact that it never arrived drove it from my mind.  Fast forward to ten days ago and I ordered a new Camera Bag. So, in the middle of last week I  had notifications that a package was coming via Parcel Post. I was

impressed in that the Camera Bag was coming already!  Imagine my  astonishment when the parcel arrived this morning and I opened it to find – not the Camera Bag but the Camp Bed that I ordered 16 months ago and had given up as lost.  Annabell was very amused and I had to explain to her what it was all about and the fact that there was a tent that I’ve never used, lying in the garage.  The clocks go forward this weekend and since we are starting to get some decent weather ( between the rain, of course)  I might still get out to  Point Douglas for an overnight stay.

This last week has been interesting in more ways than one.  Some days ago my computer crashed – well, windows crashed – and I lost my access to Outlook, which is where my diary is.  I expect you know what’s coming – yes I lost all my diary entries for the last three years. However, I  still have hard copies for the last ten years ( yes I am a Magpie!)  I use a Filofax and have done for many years. Up until two years ago I used a “personal”size , but with all that has been happening these last two years = meetings, hospitals and doctors and everything in between, I moved up to an A5 size – I can get everything into that. What I have done for all the years that I have been using a Filofax is that at the end of each week I transfer the written copies into the computer using Outlook. I then print the  copies off  and bind them. So I have all my entres filed and bound – everything is there. I have just lost the ability to quickly go back to any particular date and get the information using the computer  The oddest thing is that only Outlook was damaged.  Flashing through my mind in all of this,  this last week was an old Greek Saying  “Whom the Gods condemn, they first deprive of reason”  I’m getting there, I think  :o)