Harry's New Bed

 

Last week I saw this HUGE bear on the side of the road waiting for the rubbish truck and decided to grab it for the dogs.

I turned the car around, dragged it from under some things and started dragging it back to the car. It's quite heavy for a stuffie....

and I thought I might trip on a wayward leg or something (mine or Bear's)

An elderly couple were walking past with their French Bulldog and stopped to pick some (much smaller) toys, commenting to me about how the dog would love them.

As I stuffed Bear into the passenger seat they called out to me "there's another one!"

"One is enough" 

I drove around all day with Bear helpfully leaning out to check on the traffic and as I couldn't see around it, I had to rely on Bear's expert advice. We are still in one piece so it worked.

The dogs were excited to meet Bear and Harry tried to take Bear to his bed but Bear was too heavy to be dragged anywhere much so Bear has become the bed.

The toy de rigeur for greyhounds is the cuddlepillar. 

Everything in this house is just slightly off centre.

Road Trip

On the weekend I took a  trip to Wagga Wagga  for a birthday party.  It was 430km there and the same back and it reminded me that I should get out of Sydney more often.

This is the Prince Alfred Bridge at Gundagai. It is 930m long and crosses the floodplain. When other bridges were built it fell into disrepair and was closed. Locals tried to get it heritage listed but were unsuccessful so even as I took the photos, it was partly demolished, with demolition set to be completed this month. It is very unfortunate that I have never heard of the bridge until the demolition order hit the news. Maybe if it had been better known it might have survived. 

The view when I stopped for petrol.

The bridge again

I stopped just off the highway at "Barney's",  Bookham for a coffee and bacon & egg roll. I loved the casual atmosphere and the access ramp with hand rails.

The old stone church just down the road from Barney's

Lizique

Silver sisters, she calls us!

I went to primary school with Liz and spent quite a few afternoons at her house after school. "Be home by five" was always mum's instruction.

So off we would go, round the corner, past my grandparents house, almost to the back gate of the school and then down the side street to Liz's place. It was a white house with floral carpet and  half size two-way doors into the kitchen. I thought the swinging doors were fantastic, like something from a TV show and I thought the floral carpet was really old. These days I'm not sure if it was old or just more European in style than what I was accustomed to.

We would go to the golf course opposite and look for tadpoles in the creek or just generally muck about.

Liz's dad was a huge and quiet man who I interpreted as grumpy and her mum was a tiny little, warm hearted lady who sometimes took us bowling and signed in to the bowling centre under her maiden name because her married name was too hard to spell! There was a yappy dachsund who I was a bit scared of. 

When we went to different high schools I lost touch with Liz, just occasionally we would run into each other at the shops or in the street but I guess we both had other things to focus on so we didn't stay in touch. 

In the last couple of years I have often seen her at the pub where I went for trivia, I would invite her to join us and she would decline. Sometimes she would see me advertise some odd thing on a facebook free page and she would drop by to pick it up.

I asked her to my birthday party and she visited me in hospital, bringing a healing crystal and a pretty lidded cup.

And so, unexpectedly to me, we seem to be friends again after almost 40 years.

Her Dad passed away this week and unable to take time away from work I intended to send a card but today a message came "If you want to come to the funeral, please do. Mum loves you"

Isn't it interesting how life twists and turns?