WHAT PENSION WORRIES?

A girlfriend of mine (Auntie Mole) posted this on my Facebook timeline, and I thought it would be an interesting one to share.

I worry about our older generation.  They are the ones that gave us the freedom and life we have today, yet we are happy to overlook and forget them.  They need us now, and it’s just become all too much of an inconvenience for us to deal with.

Think twice next time you’re dealing with oldies; they’re doing the best they can.

What Pension Worries ?
Worried your pension will run short ?

So you're a sick senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing home available for you.  What do you do?

Senior Health Care Solution 

Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets. 

You are allowed to shoot 2 MPs and 2 illegal immigrants!
Of course, this means you will be sent to prison
where you will get 3 meals a day,
a roof over your head, central heating,
air conditioning and all the health care you need!

New teeth? - No problem.
Need glasses? - Great.
New hip, knees, kidney, lungs, heart?
All covered.

(And your kids can come and visit you (as often as they do now).

And who will be paying for all of this?

The same government that just told you
they cannot afford for you to go into a home. 

Plus, because you are a prisoner,
you don't have to pay income tax any more. 

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT?
No wonder the rest of the world’s population can’t get here fast enough!

NICE DAY FOR A .... WHITE WEDDING...

I love weddings.

Charlie calls them funerals. *rolls eyes*

There’s nothing that brings family together more than a wedding or a funeral.  Clearly, a wedding is the preferred of the two, though in Charlie’s view, it’s much in the same.

So, Charlie and I found ourselves at Woodlands Golf Course on Saturday the 8^th of April, to celebrate the nuptials of my cousin Ashlea (second cousin, actually), and her beau, Michael.

What an interesting start to their lives together, these two have had.

They met about five years ago (I didn’t know this) when they worked together at Woolworths. 

Life sent them down different paths, and about eighteen months ago, Ashlea found herself pregnant and alone (her partner at the time showed his true colours, and took off).

So Ashlea turned to her good friend Michael for some advice; one thing lead to another, and we all found ourselves celebrating their union on this special day.

I will be honest and say; I had my doubts.  Possibly still do, to a point, because I don’t know or understand the history between these two in great detail.

However, I do know Ashlea.  She falls in love quick and falls hard.  She’s had her beautiful heart broken a few times by people, and it’s been so very painful for her.

I have no doubt that she loves this man, and after seeing the two of them together on Saturday, I can see it in him too.  They simple adore each other, and I’m so truly happy for them both.

It says a lot about a man’s character when he’s willing to take on another man’s child, particularly before the child has even been born!  He embraced little Oscar when he came into this world, and seems determined to carve out a future for his new little family.

After meeting him (I know! I hadn’t even met him!) and his family on the weekend, I feel confident that both Ash and Mike are supported and loved as much as they support and love each other.

Seeing two people so in love was really a beautiful thing to behold.

The ceremony was outdoors near the first hole of the golf course under a setting of gorgeous gum trees, and was just perfect: short and sweet! Just how I like it!

Ashlea wore a gorgeous white dress with trims of purple and silver.  It was really unusual, but quite stunning.  Michael suited up in a charcoal grey, which matched his ‘best woman’.  Yep; his ‘best man’ was his sister, Anne.  It was his wedding, so why the fuck not?  Nothing in this relationship had been conventional so far, so what change now? :D

Anne and Amber (Ashlea’s sister) wore matching dresses, but Anne was in grey and Amber in purple.  So the whole grey, purple and white theme flowed beautifully.  Can’t wait to see the official photos!

We all enjoyed an absolutely beautiful feed at the Woodlands Club House.  Gorgeous canapés of seafood on potato rosti’s, chicken and prawn skewers and salsa tarts, just to mention a mouth-watering few.

My friends; let’s not kid ourselves.  Sure, a wedding is about celebrating the union of our friends and/or loved ones.

But there’s also the food.

Oh yes; the food.

The reception room was beautifully ornate, and actually had a lounge area as well.  So, after having a big feed and a good time, you could go and chill on the comfy couches if you wished. 

It all overlooked the gorgeous, manicured golf course, which Charlie kept wishing he could play on instead of having to be at a wedding (or funeral, as he called it).

The room was dimly lit, which was wonderful, because I look ten times sexier in a dim light.  Charlie said I would look better in a paper bag, but the dim light would do.  Thanks for that.

So the first course was a choice of either coconut buttered prawns on a cucumber coleslaw (I had this and it was awesome) or a slow cooked spiced pork belly.  Considering Charlie doesn’t do the seafood thing, I think I scored. 

Second course (main) was a choice between a beef sirloin on a potato rosti and spinach or chicken on garlic mash with asparagus and bacon crumbs.  I had the chicken, and swear I died and went to heaven.

Dessert was a selection of brie cheesecake with grape compote and honey jelly, or a gooey chocolate pudding with raspberry jelly and ice cream.

When these meals were placed in front of me, I couldn’t help but think that ‘reception’ food has come such a long way.

It’s no longer the mass pumped out beef and chicken shit that we use to get years ago.  It’s artfully designed, palette pleasing food that’s akin to a three hated restaurant more than a wedding reception.  It was simply stunning.

So after eating and drinking our fill, dragging Charlie around the dance floor (much to his displeasure) and taking and being in fifty million photos, moving around tables and having conversations with cousins I haven’t seen for ages, reminiscing about my own special day, being jealous over the clear adoration that Ash and Mike had for one another, it was time to go home.

Time to leave and let Mr and Mrs Riley start their new life together.

I wish them many blessings.

Peace out.

MASTERCHEF ADS

So, the ads for the new Masterchef season have started, and they’re already shitting me.

What’s with the weird Russian sounding music?

What’s with the fantasy theme? 

Who is that chick, and why does she feature so strongly in their advertising?  She caught a fish, but clearly can’t cook it, because it looked raw to me.

‘That’s how I like my trout…’ she declared.  Really?  If that’s the case, you’d possibly be dead from food poisoning, you clown.

Christ, I hope you never cook for me.

She’s already annoying me.  I wonder if she’s the new Dani?  Or the new Marion, who everyone falls in love with because she’s so perfect, but crashes and burns on something simple like a satay sauce.

Pffftt…

And is it just me, or do the judges look a little thinner?  Dieting or a long-lensed camera?

I wonder if Curtis Stone will be back.  I hope not.  That horrendous ad with Normie Rowe was enough to put me off him and Coles for a while.

I hope Matt Moran is back, because he’s like the nicest person on earth, and I already miss Anna Gare, even though she’s in the kiddy version of the show.

I wonder what ridiculous international challenges they’ll wheel out this season.  I wonder if they’ll listen to their audience, and spend more time in the Masterchef kitchen, and less time jetting around the planet carrying out seemingly pointless challenges.

I wonder if they’ll get Merle Parrish back to participate in an immunity challenge again.  She whipped Billy’s arse last season, and now has a best-selling cookbook out there.

http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/book/merles-kitchen/27415431/

Yours for just $34.99 plus postage and handling.

I wonder what the future will bring this season’s competitors.  The opportunity to design a special menu for Noodle Box (Adam Liow)? Funky pizza for Pizza Hut (Aaron)? Produce your own packaged meals (Jimmy and Marion)? TV shows like Julie Goowin, Poh and Justine Sheofield?  Who knows?

I wonder what creations Adriano Zumbo will throw at them.  Or all of the other awesomely impressive internationally famous chefs, like Heston Blumenthal, Tetsuya, Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer, Donna Hay and Pete Gilmore, just to mention a few.

I hope they’ll have the predictable competitors they usually do.  The token mum, yuppie, gay Asian, funky young chick, annoyingly competitive person that’s ‘here to change my life’, the hot surfer dude, people with funky glasses, drama queens and people that cry at the drop of a hat.

I can’t wait to find out.

Boom! Boom! Shake the room!

Peace out.

ALOWYN GARDENS

So on the weekend, Charlie, Iris and I travelled down to Mt Evelyn to stay with my cousins Mary and Pete. 

We all had a family wedding to attend on the Saturday, and it was just easier to stay at Mez and Pete’s place instead of travelling like three hours home on the night of the wedding.

Anyway, the day after the big gig, we’re heading back to Tooborac, via Yarra Glen.  Lovely place, Yarra Glen.  Particularly if you’re into wines.

So, on the outskirts of Yarra Glen, is a beautiful private garden called Alowyn Gardens.

We passed it on the way down to Mez and Pete’s, and I said to Charlie that we’d have to call in there one afternoon and have a look.

Little did I know that on the way home, that’s exactly what Charlie planned to do. 

Having Iris and I (two avid gardeners) trapped in the car with him, we had little choice by to go along with him! LOL!

From the road, Alowyn doesn’t look like much, but my God! What a beautiful place!

Spread across many acres of land, the owners started clearing the grounds in 1999, and after a lot of planning and design, planted their first tree in 2001.  Eleven years later, the result is nothing short of amazing.

It’s mainly a drought tolerant garden, and considering the time frame in which it was designed, planted and established, it would have to be.  The creation of this magnificent garden was during a very tough drought period.

Alowyn Gardens has got everything.  Lovely cottage style gardens, manicured hedge gardens, sweeping mass-planted landscapes, native gardens, birch forests, a little miners cottage, vegetable and herb gardens and an amazing orchard boasting apples, plums, persimmons and quince, to an incredible vertical garden with the most amazing gourds I’ve ever seen.

It was simply incredible! 

I’ve never seen so many varieties of salvia in my life, and I LOVE salvia!  I nearly lost my tiny little mind. Pentstemons, dahlias, daisies, roses, wisteria, succulents… and so many more that I cannot even begin to describe.

The work put into this garden is incredible, and it’s no wonder it won Garden of the Year in 2008.

They have a gorgeous outdoor café and nursery, where iris very excitedly bought quite a few little plants.

The entry fee is $9.00 for adults, and $7.50 for concession.  I can’t remember the costs for kids, but that will give you a ball park idea.

It’s open Saturday and Sunday from 10.00am to 5.00pm, and closed through the week, except for public holidays.  It’s also closed during June, July and August (winter months).

If you have the opportunity, or for some reason, find yourself in this area, please do yourself a favour, and visit Alowyn Gardens.

http://www.alowyngardens.com.au/

Peace out.