Daily Prompt: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

What is the best dream you’ve ever had? Recount it for us in all its ethereal glory. If no dream stands out in your memory, recount your worst nightmare. Leave no frightening detail out.

I don’t know if I mentioned it before but I’m going on one of those sampler cruises in a few weeks. The date seems to be rushing towards me at an alarming rate; who’d have thought March would arrive so quickly.

Anyway my sister in law was visiting about a month ago and she said she was going on a three night sampler cruise as her family wants to go on a longer cruise around the Islands and she wants to make sure she won’t hate it first. She said – you should come and I said – yeah right. But then I thought about it and the next day decided we’d go because people who go on cruises seem to love them and if my mother ever does decide she wants me to go on a longer one with her I’ll know if I can hack it.

So it leaves from Sydney on a Friday night and gets back into Sydney Monday morning and it just goes up and then down the coast in between.

I was pretty excited about it and now I’ve moved into slightly freaked out about it and I’m hoping to move into pleasantly anticipating it next week. I’m not worried about getting sea sick or anything, it’s just the thought of being on a boat – out in water, I don’t really like boats or water but face your fears and all that.

Anyway last night I had this dream that we were on the boat and seriously it wasn’t much bigger than the Manly ferry – in fact it looked like something people smugglers might have sold to the cruise line. There was definitely no pool or waterslide or fancy restaurants or shopping malls on it. It makes my tummy feel a bit wobbly just thinking about it actually.

Bon Voyage – The Bergensfjord – taken by Papa in Scandanavia in 1956.

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Anyone from Germany???

I give up; I can’t find any information about this picture.

Mind you it says Cologne Germany on it so I guess I can presume that’s where it was taken. Usually I can track down something from a picture and I expected to be able to with this one considering that building has so much sign writing on it but if it exists today I don’t think it looks much like that anymore.

All those stores and brand names didn’t help me at all – and it has infuriated me how that building in the background that looks as if it could be a church or cathedral doesn’t have enough showing to identify it. Actually that needs more investigating.

I can tell you that für jeden geschmack translates to for every taste in regards to Nescafe and I must say it is my preferred brand of instant coffee.

I love the picture so if anyone has been wandering about Cologne lately and this looks familiar can you tell me a bit about it please.

I believe this was taken in 1957 and it always amazes me how soon really that was after the war ended and how quickly everything was back up and running and rebuilt. Because Cologne had a terrible time during the war, the bombing that went on there was phenomenal. I remember when I was listening to the recordings my father made about his life as a child in England during the war – he said that they lived under the flight path of the bombers that used to fly out at night to Germany to drop bombs and I just remember his voice when he said – they had a terrible time over there.

Burrendong Dam

I’ve been trying to do the daily prompt daily but sometimes they’re just too crap or too serious or too personal or too American.

So seeing as how it’s Australia Day here tomorrow I’ll share with you this photo of my mother (on the left) and her sister that was taken at Burrendong Dam which is near Wellington in NSW – sort of central NSW. This was taken in the early fifties and it was just a normal sort of dam but in the sixties they turned it into a massive hydro water storage setup and it holds three times as much water as Sydney Harbour. They use it for irrigation and general water supply to the surrounding areas.

Mum tells me that they were travelling to South Australia for the tennis, I think it was the Davis Cup and I think we went there as a family once. Plus I just discovered that the word Burrendong is an aboriginal word (Wiradjuri people) for Koala.

Anyway it’s a beautiful shot, them in their frocks and all the blue and the gum trees and the dry earth with the mountain ranges in the background. It just screams Australia to me and I can just about hear the cicadas when I look at it (or maybe they’re just the ones in my head).

Arc de triomphe

Paris 1964

Edinburgh Castle 1964

This is pretty cool – all the old cars. I’m going to say it was 1964 because Nan and Papa were in England in 1964 and I’m assuming they went to Scotland at the same time.

The statue is the Royal Scots Greys (a cavalry regiment) Monument – commemorates the ones killed (or fallen as they say) during the Boer War.

llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

The longest town name in the world I believe; llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. It’s in Wales, Anglesey to be exact which is where Kate and William hang. Translated it means – Saint Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirpool and the Church of Saint Tysilio of the red cave.

I also discovered that the name was used in the 1960’s cult film Barbarella (Jane Fonda) as the password for Dildano’s headquarters and that it’s now on the Anglesey Monopoly game.

This would have been late fifties – it looks like a giant car outside a tiny building with a massive name.

If you want to learn how to say it here are the instructions

Celebrating birthdays

Loving the old fellow I saw on tv last night who is taking part in a dementia study. 101 years old, fit and healthy and showing no signs of a wandering mind he said:

Well I don’t feel 101 but then I don’t feel 65 either

Lol, left hoping that one day I too can reminisce about my spring chicken-ish sixties.

Of course my sister emjay is nowhere near 65 yet but wishing her a happy birthday today as well. She’s in the middle here with me the little one and our sister Min. Happy beach holiday years – but just looking at these photos makes me wince a little when I think of all that sun damage!

Happy birthday to… who?

Off to celebrate Mums 80th birthday party today – she’s pretty stoked to have made it for some reason.

Anyway I had organised a cake and went to pick it up this morning and they couldn’t find it and we told them our name and no, couldn’t see it and then she yelled back from the room

are you sure your name isn’t Bennett?

Ah well you know what, I’m pretty sure it isn’t love – wasn’t yesterday at least.

Then

Is it for Judith?

That’s the one.