a painting

last time i was in bali i went to the kuta art market and bought a small painting. i buy one every trip. well, i don't know why but yesterday i suddenly remembered buying it and i don't have it. did i pack it? no idea. i think it may have been in a magazine to keep it flat and the magazine got recycled. so no painting. unless it's around here somewhere. i can't even remember what it looked like. oh dear, it sucks getting old.

i've booked our trip

well not me exactly, my friend from WA did it for me on the net coz i'm such a baby when it comes to travel arrangements. i'm waiting to hear about the hotel and it's all good. i've not heard from our usual TA which is very poor as we've used her about four or five times and it's been nearly two months. then i got two more quotes and haven't heard from them either. what is it with TAs? so i bit the bullet and Leonie did it last night. i'm quite relieved actually. we are staying at a different hotel this time which is exciting. new places etc etc. i've started packing already. suitcase is on the bedroom floor so i'm chucking things in as i pass which is my version of packing. my son isn't coming over today as g/daughter is sick. i've got to go food shopping later which fills me with almost as much excitement as a trip to bali. almost :)

at last ... my birthday surprise

we went to the elephant walk in melbourne street which is a tiny little cafe with three enclosed cane booths each side of a tiny aisle. it only holds about twenty people tops. the decor is asian/indian and it's got very soft lighting and a lovely cozy atmosphere. there's a queue of people outside every night that they're open as they don't take bookings. i must say i've never noticed it before. i must tell you about my present from Maz. it's a little pot of miracles with 60 pieces of coloured paper inside tied with silver ribbon. on each piece of paper Maz wrote a special word in silver pen. i love it. let's face it i have most things i need/want so this is a unique lovely gift that she put time and effort into making. i love it.

i hate computers

i got a virus the other day. that's bad. i cleaned it up with avg. that's good. BUT since then i have not been able to right mouse click in IE. so i upgraded to IE8. didn't work. so i thought i'd finally load vista. all went well if SLOWLY. yes, i'm shouting. now i only have one bar in my internet connections box thingy. the speed is poor. that's their word for it mine is something else that i will not type here. so then i loaded firefox. it's ok. i've searched the web for a solution to my slow internet problem but i can't understand a bloody word in the answers given and i'm fairly savvy with computers. i'm frustrated. i'm tired. i'm fed up. i'm over it. ahhhhhhhh i suppose i'll have to bite the bullet and ring bigpond help line. i don't mind doing this except that i don't have two hours to spare. although, having said that, if i'd rung them earlier i might have this problem solved BUT maybe not. looks like i'll have to go back to XP. i hate computers. ps. i can right mouse click anywhere i damn well want now. yay

cairns

i'm back from my week in cairns. it's was good however, one week is not enough time to see or do much but i gave it my best shot. good trip up and back, flew jet* direct. weather was good, warm, hot some days, nights were mild. there are mountains all around the city which is pretty spectacular, actually the place is very picturesque. heaps of shops and cafes after all it is a tourist town. as a bali tragic from way back i can see many similarities but it's vastly different. i didn't have to change any money or buy a visa or pay an exit visa for that matter. lol. we went to a greek restaurant owned by peter andre's brother who does a mean zorba dance (go figa) and is very friendly. we went to the night markets and had a massage, 40 minutes for $15 and nice asian food. did i mention lots of shopping. i think cairns is quite expensive to visit the locals can get a resident's card which makes it cheaper for them. we went to atherton in the tablelands which was really nice and they had an indonesian restaurant believe it or not, and visited the crystal cave where they have the world's largest amethyst geode. it's truly spectacular. it's called the empress of uruguay. i love cairns but i don't know if i'd want to live there. liyana keeps telling me i should, easy for her to say.