Showing posts with label Lochaber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lochaber. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 June 2012

Day Three - Great Ocean Road - Here We Are :))))

Day Three - The Bucket List continues ......

Well would you believe I had written half of my blog when I wanted to add a photo for you to drool on while I write more, and bang its gone. So to start again ........


Our comfy bed at The Grand Pacific

We woke this morning to another happy rainy day :)) LOL I took a few pics whilst the wind blustered around the pier and looked westward toward the ocean to see black forboding clouds. More rain and high winds forecast for the day. Just as well our travel is in a vehicle which has a roof - abliet a sun roof to peek out - and windows that close - lucky us. Lets continue on with this, our GOR trip - its on our bucket list.


Sunrise, the pier and pines at Lorne.

We headed into town to look for some brekky as our hotel didn't serve such through weekdays. Though they do supply a kettle, tea etc so you can have a much needed caffiene start to the days travels. Thanks for that. The town of Lorne dosen't wake up much before 9am though there are some great shops to window shop in. We happened upon a bakery whose window announced that they had the Apprentice Baker of the Year ensconded within. I think I met him as he ladened the shelves with chocolate filled pastries. I ordered two coffees - which were the best we have had for some time and an Apricot Danish for moi. ... yummo.

We headed back from whence we came as we wanted to take a pic of the entry point to The Great Ocean Road - now throughout our holiday to be known as GOR. We turned into the layby and was met not with just the sign across the road, but written and shown in a statue the whole reason the GOR was there in the first place.

From 1918 when our returned servicemen came back from World War 1, two gangs at a time, built the GOR. They worked tirelessly hewing and digging the road to make the road us Australians take for granted. I did not know till this point that the reason that the GOR was built was to re-assimilate these ex-servicemen back into society.  His Lordship and I said the same thing at the same time and that was , this is how they rewarded these men? By re-assimilating them this way? Hand picking and digging, slogging away - not many young men would do this now - as money came in to build.

A truly lovely tribute


There at the beginning of the road is a monument to these men and their tireless work. So our thoughts were very much with these men as we traversed this difficult start to the GOR. We stopped at the plaques dedicated to their work and read them with gusto.  Even though the sky was black in parts and the rain splattering against our window, we kept thinking about these WW1 men and what they had achieved so that we may enjoy the fruits of their labour. To them we say a heartfelt THANK YOU !!!
We will remember you every time we see our photos.



Along the GOR there are many plaques for the traveller to read. If you are visiting - please stop to read, you will be amazed at the information there.

Great Ocean Road in inclement weather

The rain had caused some land slips along the way and there were verious groups of workmen cleaning up, and it looked as they had been there for some time previous. We reached the township of Apollo Bay and stopped to take a peek at the Tourist Information Centre. Helpful staff there gave us maps and brochures of things to see and do for the coming days.  Lunch was freshly cooked fish and chips (the fish rolled in rice flour for everyone and much appreciated by me since being diagnosed as a Coeliac) - Butterfish :)) Yummo.  After sitting at the beach which had been beaten by furious Mother Nature in the days preceding, we ate lunch and then we headed off to our accomodation for the next few days - Beacon Point Ocean View Villas. And they did not disappoint - Have a look below at the view from our deck. We can see the same from the bed in the main bedroom and the lounge dining area. Gorgeous!!


We were given breakfast supplies for the time we are at this accomodation, as well as a welcoming bottle of wine from a local winery. Thank you again. We shall enjoy that one evening. The villa is well appointed with everything you need - comfy bed, premade for the tired traveller. This was not expected as we thought we had to bring our own linen, so bonus :)) Coffee grains for perculating sat in the fridge - will go nicely with brekky. There is even a dishwasher, washing machine and BBQ. As the weather was turning cold and starting to rain again, his lordship loaded up the fire, after fixing the fire door handle (theres more) - funny work always seems to comes with us - we sat and gazed into the flames like mesmerised butterflies. I chanced to look out the window towards the deck and a little wren came to say hi.. So close to the window, dashing and darting about, I had to keep up with it to get a photo. Shortly, the wren was joined by two others and I truly enjoyed watching them.


Planning tomorrows journey at the moment while Lord S snoozes. The fire is still glowing and keeping me toasty warm while blogging.  Hoping you are enjoying my travels with me. Till tomorrow ......

Dee :)

(Please excuse the pics cloudiness - I am an amateur photographer - but keen. You can get the idea though of the beautiful scenery)

Friday, 23 December 2011

★★★ MERRY CHRISTMAS ★★★

                      
                     **
                    *o*
                   *♥*o*
                  *o**♥*o
                 *♥**o**o*
                *o**♥***♥*o
               ****♥*o**o***
              *♥**o*****o**♥*
            ******o*****♥**o**
          *****o**♥****♥o*****o*
                    *****
                    *****

★ MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE ★
  MAY 2012 BE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY
   YEAR. WISHING YOU ALL THE VERY
       ♥ BEST IN LIFE AND LOVE ♥
              WARM WISHES
                
    ★  ★     LADY DIANE   ★ ★




www,highlandtitles.com

Christmas Gingerbread

Merry Christmas Ladies, Lairds and Lords and my readers!!

Well its almost Christmas Eve and I though I would share my favourite gingerbread biccy recipe. Always goes down well with a dram of whisky for the adults and milk for Santa and all kids under the age of drinking. LOL. Thats all under 21 cause we adults enjoy a wee tipple at the festive time of the year (and of cause if we have spare ice, need a restful nightcap, add to the chrissy pudding, need to medicate  and more) You only need an hour from whoa to go.

Takes about 20 minutes to prepare the cookie mix (plus 20 minutes refrigeration time) and cutting out and 10 minutes to cook them. Even less to eat them. nomnomnom. Makes about 20 biscuits

1/2 cup brown sugar
125g softened unsalted butter
1 egg - kindly donated by my own Miss Henny Penny
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bi-caronate soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3 tablespoons golden syrup
Icing to decorate or small lollies for children

Picture borrowed from the internet

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
2.  Cream brown sugar and butter together till light and
     fluffy. Beat in egg until mixed thru
3. Sift plain flour (I don't but I know other will), bicard soda
     and ginger together. Add to creamed mixture.
4. Stir in golden syrup and mix well.
5. Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured board and
     knead lightly for a few minutes. Wrap in cling wrap and
     refridgerate/chill for 20 minutes.
6. Take mixture out of fridge and roll out mixture until
     its about 5mm thick.
7. Cut the gingerbread into shapes such as stars,
    angels men or and shape you wish.
8. Bake on trays in oven covered with baking paper
    for 10 minutes.
9. When cool decorate how you like, or just munch them
    before the kids get to them :))
Enjoy

Check my other blogs for information on becoming a Lord, Lady or Laird. Join us for the New Year. www,highlandtitles.com

Saturday, 10 December 2011

There be pain for Lady Di

Being a Lady doesn't stop you from feeling a wee bit of pain. As a Lady my smile means a lot to me so visiting the dentist regularly is a must though sometimes at a cost!  I had my wisdom tooth removed Friday and not at 2.30pm - tooth hurty lol but at 2pm. The procedure was an emergency as I was in a lot of pain - cracked it :(   My dentist also thought removing my wisdom teeth would help my debilitating migraines. We will wait and see.......

The bruising is now showing on the outside of my jaw - looking a little like I have been in the boxing ring. No photo of me this time - who wants to see a Lady with a huge bruise on her chin - though I am preparing for the " Di, did you walk into a door" question.

I was researching information about what dentistry would be like a hundred years ago and even though today we still experience pain relief - the tugging, poking and pulling of teeth are still rating within the - I dont like dentists horror stories - we are so lucky to be able to mostly go home with little pain or pain that we can bear. Below is a very interesting link which tells stories about Dentistry.

Information from this link and shared for you from
http://kosmo.hubpages.com/hub/A-Short-Painful-History-of-Dentistry

In the 1700s, John Hunter of England began transplanting human teeth. Hunter would pay people for their healthy teeth and then implant them in the mouths of his patients. These implanted teeth would be tied to adjoining teeth until they stabilized. However, they rarely lasted for longer than a few months.

In the American colonies of the middle 1700s, many dentists implanted dentures and bridges. Patriot Paul Revere was one such dentist. Revere was the first dentist to identify a corpse using postmortem dental forensics. John Greenwood worked on George Washington's teeth, which tormented the poor man his entire adult life, though he never had wooden teeth; they were made of hippo ivory. Moreover, during the American Revolution, scavengers would rob graves for teeth to be used as dentures.
Dentistry began to take its modern form in 1728 when Frenchman, Pierre Fauchard, published his book The Surgeon Dentist, a comprehensive work whose use eventually crowned Fauchard as the father of modern dentistry.

In England during the middle 1800s, anybody could become a dentist without any training whatsoever, though some people paid as much as $1,000 to learn the trade.
The first root canals were performed in the United States in the 1830s. Arsenic was used to devitalize the pulp or root, which was then scooped out, all of this done without anesthetic.

In 1773, nitrous oxide (a.k.a. laughing gas) was discovered by chemist Joseph Priestly, but it wasn't used as an anesthetic until 1844. About the same time, ether was also used as an anesthetic in dentistry. Then chloroform drew people's attention, first used as an anesthetic in 1847.

In the Western dentistry of the time, early amalgam fillings contained a mixture of silver and mercury. By itself mercury is quite toxic. If it doesn't bind completely with the silver, leakage can occur, harming the patient. And these fillings were poured at a temperature of over 200 degrees, certainly very hot when applied to the exposed nerves in one's teeth!

Can you believe what people had to do? Even having old teeth removes and someone elses healthy teeth stuck into your mouth! Poor blighter who needed money and food so badly they sold their teeth for well to dos.

Check this info I founbd about the history of dentistry in Scotland . http://www.rcsed.ac.uk/site/345/default.aspx

If you would like to be a Lady like moi - follow the links on my  page or try the following link - Lord Title | Buy a title | Laird Title - Lochaber Highland Estates
www.lochaberhighlandestates.com