Odds and ends

I am still here . I’ve not been posting much other stuff because I want to finish posting about my holiday. This hasn’t worked out so well and it’s now three months since I returned. The full memories have already faded a bit and each day I delay, more details are disappearing. Anyway, I managed to write up most of day four last night and after referring to photos I hope to finish and post tonight or tomorrow.

Meanwhile winter has arrived here in Australia. Funnily, it’s actually pretty warm right now but rather muggy. There is plenty of time ahead for really cold days and nights so will enjoy warmth when it’s around. It has been a bit wet the last couple of days so not much happening in the walking or cycling arena. I decided to use the spin bike yesterday instead of trying to go out and about for exercise since the showers were pretty random.

The big news for our house is we have finally had our patio roof installed after all these years. It looks lovely and a couple days ago we had the electrician out to install lights and to upgrade some of our plug points inside. When we built this house we were very low budget and didn’t have any ideas of where we should have our plug points and how big they should be. Well, we do know after twenty years more about what our needs are.

In turn the clean up involved before the electrician arrived allowed for clearing out quite a bit of dust. The Scientist did most of this work but I did clear out space in the bedroom so I could get a second plug point on my side of the bed. Nothing like stirring up dust that’s been sitting for months or years. I must admit that clearing out dust have surely been good for the body with so much less yuck being inhaled.

Today marks twenty-one years since I arrived in Australia and Perth. The day I arrived was pretty dreary and wet and today is also kind of dreary. But not so wet and the sun does poke through the clouds every so often. The Scientist is going to bake some brownies later to celebrate the occasion.

Speaking of occasions, apparently it was the Italian national holiday on Tuesday so we had pizza from our favourite local shop. I overindulged but don’t regret it. I was just that hungry and the pizza was just that good. I usually only manage two slices but this time I finished all four of mine and still wasn’t overly full.

I bought yet another camera a couple weeks ago and I do believe it’s a perfect match for me. I had been eyeing a different model for a little while but it was only just released and there were no great deals happening yet. Meanwhile, I’d read about the older but more advanced model from this line of cameras. It was a bit bigger than I had wanted and also I was worried about the weight after having a proper look at one. But the grip on it is really lovely and so I also put that into consideration. I had intended to postpone any purchases for a little while due to some family budget issues. But then the camera company came out with a deal for an extra battery and camera grip for free with the top end model. Plus the top of the line is actually less expensive than the new model so it was kind of what some might call a no-brainer. I went ahead and purchased it and got it with the pro lens kit and I am have been more than satisfied. This is the first time I have taken so well to a new camera so quickly. I am now thinking less on the camera models and now thinking about lenses…which I never thought I would do but I guess it does happen. I have also found the really good lens has been a lot more noticeable than I ever expected it would be.

I had to send my Nokia Lumia phone back to Microsoft for repair this week. With the Scientist’s help, we worked out that one of the microphones wasn’t functioning at all and thus I could use voice recorder mode or the Cortana app. It feels weird to be without that phone and I am now using the old iPhone. Not that I haven’t used it lately but the other was always there. The only reason I have used the old phone lately is if the power was low on the Lumia or to just use up some credit left over on the other sim card. I need to also let them know that the Bluetooth was dropping out quite regularly too. The form I used was limited to one issue so I chose the microphone issue.

I think there were plenty of other things I wanted to write about but figure this is a good odds and ends update until I get back on track soon.