Blog for Thursday 15th January 2026

I woke up at half past one, turned over and then later shot out of bed like a scalded cat at four o’clock this morning thinking I had overslept by hours!

Ah-ha! What a lovely sound – the pitter-patter of raindrops on our tin roof – wonderful!

I went up to my studio to have my Quiet Time, and I was smiling, I am sure. We needed this rain desperately as the grass and pastures are yellow and crisp, producing very little for our cattle to eat. The weathermen have predicted rain for us today and I pray that they are correct.

Later I went downstairs to shower and get dressed for a whole day in town. I needed to get my hair cut again and then I had an appointment with the guy to fix the air con in my car at three o’clock. Kent thought I was crazy going int o town that early, but I am delighted that I did.

Port Macquarie was so busy you would have thought it was Christmas time all over again – cars everywhere, people, kids, with few parking spaces. I was pleased that I got into town early and missed a lot of the maddening crowds.

My first stop was to get my hair cut – I go to ‘Just Cuts’ and although they had only just opened the queue was already that long that it was a 75mintues wait! So, I toddled around admiring all the shop window displays and clothes, toys, shoes and blah-blah fish paste – something I never get a chance to do as we are always rush-rushing to get everything done on one day. Plus, one dared not subject one’s husband to a woman’s window-shopping spree! The man would be traumatized.

I had hours and hours to kill so I stopped for a coffee and raisin toast for my late breakfast/early lunch. As I said I admired all the shops windows and dreamt dreams as I did so. I walked around inside some of the shops but only bought a few items that we needed.

Oops! That is not the truth and the whole truth – I was tempted and bought Ken a nice shirt that was on sale in Big W, as I know he will look so handsome wearing it. I also bought him a large bottle of iced coffee – his weakness in life!

So, I dilly-dallied around town then at about one o’clock I returned to Wauchope and there I spent my $100 Gift Voucher given to me by some of our friends from church for my eightieth. I went to ‘Circle of Friends’ and I spent my Gift Voucher there on a beautiful black handbag as my old one’s handles are broken. I also chose a pair of wedge sandals, which I think are so pretty – they are leather and tan in color with sparkles all over them, so call me “Twinkle Toes’!

I popped into the News Agents and got a magazine so I could sit in my car and do crosswords to fill in the remaining time before my air con was fixed.

So, that is exactly what I did. I got myself a cool drink at Ritchies and sat in the shade outside the shop and did my crosswords until it was time to see the mechanic.

The mechanic is such a nice guy, and he works alone. But … sadly he could not fix my air con – apparently it is old and has sprung a leak so needs a certain part to fix that problem, but he no longer does that sort of repair anymore because it took him too long and being on his own it was not worth him doing them.

Ah! Man, I could have cried as I was so excited to have my air con back working again. Well, tough, takkies! Now I will have to make another plan to get it fixed. Ngrrr!

I phoned Ken when I left Wauchope as he had to come across the river to fetch me to get me back home. He dropped me off there this morning because he needed to use the ute’ while I was out.

I am grateful that it did not pour with rain while I was in town – it only dripped and dropped on my way into Port Macquarie and then the sunshine came out.

Before I left home this morning, I made sure that there was water in a pot on the stove as there was to be an electricity outage for most of today. Ken would then be able to make himself a coffee on the gas top stove while the electricity was off.

I got home just on four o’clock and unpacked and put away the groceries and things I had bought in town. By half past five there was much rumbling, grumbling and thunder rolling over us warning of a storm and rain to come later. Then the heavens opened for a short time and the rain pelted down hard.

I will leave all the serious cleaning et cetera for tomorrow as I was whacked after all the walking and ogling, I had done in town!

What lesson did I learn today? That window-shopping is great fun!

What am I grateful nor today? That I was not caught out in the rain.

My saying for today is …