Reality Bites
Now Playing: Jennifer Juniper - Donovan
What's midlife crisis all about, if you can't spend some time having a whinge, or indulge in some of those - 'what if things had been different', Should of /could of types of fantasies?

And what better way to recapture some old memories than to play one of those old songs from way back way to jog the memory cells a little. These thoughts came to me today as I listened to this lovely, gentle song from Donovan. You probably remember it too?

Jennifer Juniper lives upon the hill,
Jennifer Juniper, sitting very still.
Is she sleeping ? I don't think so.
Is she breathing ? Yes, very low.
Whatcha doing, Jennifer, my love ?
Jennifer Juniper, rides a dappled mare,
Jennifer Juniper, lilacs in her hair.
Is she dreaming ? Yes, I think so.
Is she pretty ? Yes, ever so.
Whatcha doing, Jennifer, my love ?
I'm thinking of what it would be like if she loved me.
You know just lately this happy song it came along
And I like to somehow try and tell you.
Jennifer Juniper, hair of golden flax.
Jennifer Juniper longs for what she lacks.
Do you like her ? Yes, I do, Sir.
Would you love her ? Yes, I would, Sir.
Whatcha doing Jennifer, my love ?
Jennifer Juniper, Jennifer Juniper, Jennifer Juniper.
Jennifer Juniper vit sur la colline,
Jennifer Juniper assise trs tranquille.
Dort-elle ? Je ne crois pas.
Respire-t-elle ? Oui, mais tout bas.
Qu'est-ce que tu fais, Jenny mon amour ?
Jennifer Juniper, Jennifer Juniper, Jennifer Juniper.

I like the bits in french and I make sure I sing them in an extra loud voice just to make myself feel tres francais!

When you are five and a bit feet tall, and a bit of a short n' dumpy brunette, you listen to the words, and begin thinking about the girl - Jennifer in the song.
I realised that Jennifer embodies the fantasy woman inside of me, and wish I'd been born a willowy, svelte, blonde, who rides a dappled mare. I'm well within the realms of reality with the horse bit, having been a bit of a rider myself, I can imagine myself cantering through some Olde Worlde English village. No dramas on this score.
Lilacs in my hair...now we start to have a few problems. I love lilacs to bits, but would probably have to take my hayfever meds before hand, and if you read any hayfever medication it always instructs not to operate heavy machinery. So that precludes the dappled mare.
Jennifer lives on a hill. I live on a coastal plain...so not a lots of hills about here. Never mind, the song goes on to say:

Jennifer Juniper longs for what she lacks.

Maybe Jennifer really wanted to be a short n'dumpy brunette?

Good.....Butt
Way too small for mine! lol.


So here it is - Not only...

Butt also....

When I saw this yesterday near the Expo 'rest area', I thought of David - re: recent comments, ( lol - about Lakeside) and wondered if there is one situated in Joondalup somewhere?

Good...but....



I did wonder rather hard, at what the expo organisers were thinking when they set up their entrance prices structure. Personally, I thought that the entry fee was rather steep, especially for two people, one of whom was almost dragged to accompany the other, kicking and screaming,under duress. The entry fee was just another insult adding to the injury, And 'partner' (ok..it was dh!)seemed intent on reminding me of this fact at least every 10 minutes or so!

The whole event itself was extremely well organised - no gripes there, the stands well grouped, nice products, nice people, nice everything really, v pleasant and relaxing experience, except - yes you guessed again, the prices charged for products and services I feel were again not at show prices or at least they didn't try to be expo friendly.

I think that, what could have been a more hands on experience, giving us the chance to try more of these unsusual and alternative therapies and products were priced out of reach.

Having just spent $30 just to walk thru the entrance , I then went onto spend... $25 on an aura photograph, complete with reading and interpretion...this I felt was money well worth the service I was given.

I wanted to have at least one tarot/card reading, so looking out for a tarot or card reading that I could afford, I chose to have a sitting with Linda the Laughing Witch, who not only made me laugh too, but spent a lot of time talking, gave me a very interesting and accurate reading,and all at a laughably low price. She was brilliant, she was value plus + plus.

As a conscious living 'newbie', I would have loved to have sampled more of what was on offer...alas I was beaten by the wallet monsters who grabbed my cash at the door, and left little for later. Shame.

Expo continued
This was taken at the end of the day - feeling tired and holding armfuls of conscious living advertising bumph...here is moi, more than ready to go home and put my aching feet up!
(still in the blue t-shirt)

Thats all I have time to post in for now - more details on what I did, and what I saw there later!

Conscious Living Expo
We took our camera to do some 'city shots'while driving to the Expo. I thought that my non Oz readers would maybe like to see 'big smoke' (lol) Oz style.

Here we go....the journey begins....

Into the tunnel that cuts under the city....

Down...we go.....

And out at at the other end...I think we've reached our destination.....Conscious Living Expo...here we come!

(That's me in the blue t-shirt)

Random lists
Out of Sight:

Mark Latham - leader of Labour party
Most of the political candidates from recent elections (thank goodness!)


Foods I Am Tired Of:

"Balsamic" anything
winter veggies
soups
hot pies or sausage rolls


Print Publications That No longer Speak To Me:
New Idea
Womans Day
Womans Weekly
Hello magazine


Recent purchases:
New outdoor table - in navy blue
Navy blue HUGE outdoor umbrella (Market umbrella)
Bamboo matchstick blinds for the outdoor area

Things I'm really over:

Hearing about politics
Elections - ANY election!
Post election analysis
Melbourne Cup (fatuous) Fashion competitions, best hat goes to.....yawn....
The continuing adventures of Paris and Nicole (sorry David)


Feel free to add yours in the comments box. I would be fascinated to hear what others are thinking about at the moment.

Pantry perfect
Here's a link to a cooking site that shows what you need to have in your kitchen to have a well stocked pantry.

Click here

I realized that I do this naturally, but this is a ready made reminder list of what should be inside a well stocked food pantry. It's a great list to print out, especially to get things ready and organised for Christmas. Its time efficient to have things on hand when baking or cooking, rather than running out to pick up groceries or ingredients at the last minute.

Plus there's a lot of other great articles and tips for cooking on this site. Enjoy browsing!

A busy day here, I hope you'll excuse today's meagre offerings. More tomorrow. I'll leave you with a photo of the orchid I received as a gift last week(?) and then sketched.

Here's the link to jog your memory

orchid

AHA...it worked...bottle brush close up




Unusual isn't it?

Bottlebrushes
Adding a splash of colour to a Spring garden.
Here is the whole bottlebrush bush ablaze with 'brushes', its an Australian native plant, which in water restricted times is a good choice as it requires virtually no watering or maintenance.

It carries a great deal of pollen, and is loved by native birds as a food source.

Angelfire has been having some problems with uploading photos today - so I'll post in the bottlebrush close up piccie tomorrow if its working.

The TV is showing almost non stop coverage of the US elections. We are watching and wondering which way it still may go or is it a fait accompli as we speak?

Horsey update
I won, I won!! Ok, I'm feeling very pleased with myself here, having jagged $10. Um....if you're going to do the maths you'll see that having bet $15 all up, some losses were recorded but not acknowledged due to euphoric delight!
I watched the race whilst cramming cheese and tomato sandwiches into myself so that I could be well ready to go back to the turf accountants to collect my booty!
I felt really sorry for the horses that did race - the weather was shocking, the rain bucketted down, but didn't manage to dampen anyone's spirits.

The betting shop was chock full of people, the computers promptly obliged by shutting down due to heavy demand. We all waited patiently to be paid out;then with cash in hand I skipped out into the afternoon sunshine, heart all a flutter.....only 363 days now to wait till next years race!!