my whiz bang extra speky coffee machine is getting old

you may or not remember that maz gave me a second hand delonghi coffee machine that does everything except the dishes several years ago.  it's my favourite machine in the house.  it makes delish coffee but isn't easy to maintain.  fill this, empty that and do such and such are regular messages that appear on it's electronic screen.  it's been playing up of late.  the coffee instead of coming out in a nice clean 'puck' (that's coffee machine talk) and falling into the grounds container as it should has been falling in a wet mess all over the place.  i was lucky enough to find a video on youtube that was very informative and may or may not explain the problem.  it shows you how to take the whole machine apart and put it back together whilst identifying faults.  there's also separate videos of how to fix the 'brew unit' (another coffee machine phrase).  but, and here's the problem, it looks extremely complicated and i'm not sure if i feel comfortable carrying out these tasks myself.  there are tiny springs and little valves etc.  now, to get a service is rather expensive and that's not surprising considering the original price of the machine.  i am undecided whether to lash out cash for this or not.  my visitors seem to enjoy my coffee more than me.  perhaps they only like me for my excellent coffee and perhaps i should consider charging per cup. 

a special treat for me

i studied art many years ago and painted for years but somehow i put it on the backburner since i retired.  today i treated myself to a wonderful exhibition at the adelaide art gallery.  the french impressionists.  one of my favourite artists is cezanne and there were three of his paintings included in the exhibition.  all i can say is wow.  i'm so glad i went.  i should make the effort and go again soon.  the pics are not very good.  it was hard to get good views as there were so many people. 

Berthe Morisot

a few pics of the cruise

which was too short.  we enjoyed it though and i would go again even though i got a little bit sea sick.  it didn't last long thank goodness and coming into sydney under the bridge was just spectacular.  i saw some dolphins and a beautiful sunrise too. 

cruising

i've never been on a cruise, although  i've been on the sydney harbour ferry once, and i'm so excited.  maz and i are going on a very short cruise this week, we have a balcony cabin.  melbourne cruising to sydney.  i must say i'm excited but the stuff up with the cost has been a pain.  i made a huge mistake with the return from sydney but most of the $ have been refunded so it's not too bad.  i'm travelling light with only carry on and can put anything i buy in maz's bag as she has check in luggage which is kind of her.  apparently there's so much to do on board that we won't have time to sleep.