Memento Mori Deathling!

A couple of months ago I was looking for a headstone design, not for myself lol but to paint on one of my ceramic pieces. I'd looked on Google images, but nothing was jumping out at me, so I decided that I might look on YouTube for some inspiration. It was there that I stumbled across Ask A Mortician! This channel is run by Caitlin Doughty who's an American funeral homeowner - with a twist!

She's pretty much against everything that your average funeral home owner or employee stands for. Given that I was once employed by a funeral home here in Australia, I "get" where she's coming from and I totally "get" the humour! 

Caitlin has written two books which I own both. I'm 3/4 of the way through Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and it's well worth reading. I don't want to give anything away lol, However, if you would like to read more about her books, you can do so here.

There's a closed group on Facebook called The Deathling Den, which is basically a page for people to discuss Caitlin's books, youtube videos or any other death-related non-conforming topics. Yes, I'm a member lol The group is run by The Order Of The Good Death, this is a charity type group - also powered by Caitlin Doughty - goodness! She's everywhere!!

Anyway, The Deathling Den has started a book club, and yes I have joined the book club too lol The book about to be read and discussed is Ghostland An American History In Haunted Places by Colin Dickey. I'm very much looking forward to reading this book! Although the words "Ghostland" and "Haunted" appear in the title, this book isn't about spooky houses, is more an examination and debunking of these so-called "Haunted Places". My copy is yet to arrive as I had to purchase it from the UK, so I'll have some catching up to do as the club starts reading this week!

Okay, I'm outta here! If you're after more Caitlin info, she has a number of pages on Facebook, she's on Instagram, Twitter and has a website. Just Google her! See you next time!

Kiama Mini-Break

I know it may have seemed that I abandoned my blog once again, however, I didn't. I just needed a bit of a break after losing Lily. We had her cremated and I had a photo of her printed. The days following her passing, there were a couple of weird events - we think she may have popped in to torment the dogs, something she loved to do! Today's blog post isn't meant to be a sad one. I just wanted to add the photo below to my blog.

Roughly a month ago, we went to Kiama for a 5-day mini-break, I mentioned that we were going back in February. As usual, breaks are never quite long enough! We were lucky as it was sunny for most of the time we were there, it only rained the last two days which really wasn't that big of a deal as we had done most of the outside stuff.

The first day that we arrived, there were markets on. We love markets! I did wear a hat, however, I was a bit slack in the sunscreen department and got quite sunburnt! Lesson learnt? Maybe lol 

While we were there, we stayed at Kiama Shores Motel. Now, just for some background info lol. When we travel, we're not the kind of travellers that seek five-star accommodation. For us, accommodation is just somewhere to sleep and to have breakfast and/or dinner. 

According to Google, this motel was 4.1/5 stars and was also well priced. As you can see from the photo, the motel was clean. So what was my issue? Weeell, there wasn't a kitchenette. We had a fridge and a kettle, but no kitchenette. There was also two BBQ's for patrons to use, but given the lack of kitchen amenities, we didn't have utensils or even plates to be able to use the BBQ's. 

The lack of kitchen facilities also meant that the kettle had to be filled from the bathroom sink, the same place that the two mugs had to be washed. This was an issue for me, I don't have OCD, but I do like my kitchen stuff separated from my bathroom stuff.

There was a cafe downstairs called Speak N Easy and we had breakfast there every morning as not only was it convenient, but they had a decent menu, it was well priced and the staff were friendly.

Ok back to my kitchenette issue! Aside from the kettle refilling problem, towards the end of our stay when it was raining and we were getting tired, we couldn't grab some take away earlier in the day to have later on for dinner as we didn't have any cutlery, plates, or even a small microwave. This meant that we went out for dinner every night. Admittedly, the restaurants we went to were great. However, in this day and age, is a kitchenette too much to ask for?

One restaurant we went to was called Ritzy Gritz Mexican Stonegrill and the food was pretty amazing! They didn't scrimp on anything and the surroundings were very Tex Mex!

We had two-day trips to Berry which is the most gorgeous little township about twenty minutes from Kiama. If you ever go to Berry, you simply have to go to The Dairy Bar! OMG! We were only planning on going there once for a look, but after spending one day looking around, we had to go back for another!

On the second trip to Berry, I purchased a new tarot deck for myself. I had actually checked out some reviews on this deck a few years back on Amazon. I can't remember why I didn't get it, perhaps it was out of stock? Anyway, I saw this deck on the shelf and the book was right beside it. I'd already picked up a few other decks but put them back on the shelf as I didn't click with them, so when I saw this deck and guidebook, I knew it was coming home with me. 

I purchased The Halloween Tarot from Shambalaa, they have two storefronts - so should you go looking for a new age shop and find a clothing store - keep looking!  

Ok, well I think the length of this blog post has made up for my absence!  

Broken Hearts

Yesterday morning our hearts broke. Lily our precious little girl passed away while being rushed to SASH. She was only 1.5 years old and we had her for just under one year. Sadly, we suspect that she had Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). 

For anyone who's been following this blog, you'll know that Lily had some health issues at the very end of 2017. For those of you who want to read more about her past, I had written two posts about her:- Meet Lily - Part 1 and Meet Lilly - Part 2. 

Lily was a crazy little girl! She was jammed packed to the brim with affection and mischief. She was fueled by her love of food, tormenting the dogs, chasing lizards, crickets, grasshoppers, moths and anything else that was smaller than her and moved! 

When she wasn't eating, chasing insects or thinking up new ways to *surprise* the dogs, she spent her time with us. She sat beside me all day every day, it didn't matter if I was on my computer or in the lounge room, she was right there beside me. Apart from her antics, this is what I'm going to miss. She was company for me, even though 95% of the time, she was asleep. It's hard to describe, she didn't need to be awake, she was just always there.

As strange as it may sound, but I would talk to her, I don't know if she understood? Maybe she just chose to ignore me! In any case, I would talk to her throughout the day while she was *sleeping* beside me.

One thing that has really ripped my heart out, is that I didn't say good-bye. I think in my mind, it was going to be like it was on NYE. That she'd go to SASH and they'd somehow weave their magic and she'd come home. I didn't think for a single solitary minute that she'd die. In my mind, she was simply too young.

Last night, the flickering of the tv had me seeing her wander in. Even now, I keep expecting her to wander in, meow maybe, before jumping up onto the chair beside me and going to sleep.

Lily, if there's any way that you can hear us or feel us. Please know that you were loved SO much little girl. Safe travels to The Rainbow Bridge Miss LilyPilly, run, play, have fun! You're no longer ill little girl! We'll meet again in the blink of an eye before you know it. XOXOXOX

Sunburn, Dolphins and Cheeky Birds

This week my wife and I went for a day trip to Nelson Bay, a work colleague of my wife was holidaying there and asked us up for the day. I wasn't sure how the day was going to go as dark clouds seemed to be rolling in.

We had coffee before going out on a dolphin viewing cruise and wandered around the water's edge. There was a fish feeding area which was absolutely teaming with small fish! I'm not sure if you can see them in the photo? Taking photos of fish underwater with a phone isn't the easiest trick! I took about 8 photos and deleted all but one lol

Naturally, where there's small fish, there's going to be critters that love some seafood in their diet as well as maybe some hot chips that get thrown their way! So I wasn't at all surprised to see that there were a few seagulls hanging about! One which later took a hot chip that I offered from my hand while it was hovering in mid-air.

By the time we were on the cruise boat, the clouds were gone and it was boiling hot! Both my wife and I got sunburnt and are still feeling the effects a couple of days later. It's been a while since I've been burnt, I'm always so careful as I'm whiter than white!  

The sun was so bright, trying to take photos of the dolphins when they appeared was actually quite difficult, even with the brightness turned all the way up on my phone. In the end, I decided that I would take video footage and take some stills from the footage once I was home.

There really weren't all that many dolphins about, however, we did get to see a mother and her baby. According to the captain, this isn't a common sight. So I was pretty happy with this!

Again because of the sun, I couldn't get a photo, so I just took a screenshot of the video footage.Trust me, it was a lot more impressive in real life when they were swimming lol!

Once the cruise was over, we were hot and thirsty! So we thought we'd pop into a nearby cafe for a drink before driving back home. A couple of cheeky little rainbow lorikeets had made themselves at home! They were the funniest little things! There were pulling sachets of sugar out of the holder, ripping the tops off and eating the contents LOL! 

Myself and three other people all rushed to get photo thinking that the parrots would fly off. These birds had no intention of going anywhere lol It was very funny! Eventually, a sullen female teenage employee walked over and told us the birds had to go. We all took our last snaps before she shooed the birds away. Watching the birds for just a few moments, for me, was just as enjoyable as the two-hour dolphin cruise lol What's the saying? Small things amuse small minds lol That reminds me of this meme that I saw on Facebook yesterday:-

Anyway, I'll catch you next time!

March Mini Break

Towards the end of last year, we went to Hobart in Tasmania, it was the first holiday we'd had in years! We loved Tassie so much, we've already booked our next holiday which is towards the end of this year to go there again. In the meantime, my wife has a month of leave over March, so we've decided to go down south for a few days for a bit of a mini break.

My wife's been to Kiama before, but I've only been as far as Wollongong, so we're going on a road trip to Kiama for a couple of days in March. To me, Kiama is best known for its blowholes and Jamberoo Action Park. Due to the time of year that we're going down there, Jamberoo Action Park won't be open, but that's ok, there's plenty of other things for us to see and do. There's also loads of smaller surrounding townships and villages with lots to offer tourists.

One place I'm looking forward to visiting is The Treat Factory in a nearby place called Berry. Guess what they sell? Treats! You can check out their online store here and their Instagram page here for some yummy looking photos!

Kiama also has a mid-week Farmers Market on Wednesdays which I'm also looking forward to checking out. I love markets! You never know what you'll find lol 

We've got about a month before we head off on our mini break/road trip, so we're both busily checking out what Google has to offer in ways of ideas! Who doesn't love a road trip?!?!?