Little Wobbly Wren

Hello everyone and how are you doing? For those of you in the depths of winter hang on in there. I'm sure Spring is just around the corner! 

I had a memorable few weeks in January. Summer in Australia is usually my favourite time of year. This year it had a few challenges!

Weather:

Here in Australia, after the bushfires came the much-needed rains. I have never seen the parks and gardens of Melbourne looking so lush in February. We had everything, and the kitchen sink, thrown at us weather-wise. The year continued with cyclones, flooding and storms pounding our country.

I spotted this Melbourne street art and agreed with its sentiments.

Our cars were pitted from the hail damage from a tropical storm and we seem to be constantly clearing up from dust storms which have covered us in a red layer. 

No-one will ever dare complain as we are lucky compared with those who lost loved ones, property and businesses and the devastation to the wildlife. We rejoiced on the days when the sky was blue, the air was clear and all was calm.

Melbourne Life

We spent a lot of time at home as my son was recovering from another operation following his bike accident. 

The Crazy Poodle has been happy with this and we invited some of his doggy friends to join us for Doga - Doggy Yoga with Pawdinkum. I have been buying Pawdinkum's healthy range of dog treats for a while, the Doga was a fundraiser for WiRES Wildlife rescue. 

It was such fun. It started with a mass wagging of tails and excited dogs, but it was amazing how the music and Fiona's voice calmed them down. You could hardly believe how relaxed we all were, dogs included. At the end, the dogs all lined up to have Pawsturizer made with essential oils!

The Year of the Rat

Under the Chinese Zodiac, this Year of the Metal Rat is shaping up to be an interesting one. Is this your year?

The years of the Rat are: 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, and 2032.

They say that the Year of the Rat is the year of new beginnings! So I wish you well if you are planning a new start with something life-changing.

Talking of new beginnings at the end of our Doga class our water lily bloomed. It's a once a year event and I took it to be a good omen!

The Gin Safari

Whilst I was in Melbourne I was invited to join The Regional Wanderer's Gin Safari. I was excited by the invitation as gin has made quite a come-back in my circle of friends, so I wanted to learn more about it.

It was also a great opportunity to get out into regional Victoria and show how Australia is still open, and that plenty of our beautiful countryside was not affected by the bushfires

It was quite possibly the hardest blogging adventure of all time. Trying to fully participate in the event, which involved at least 10 gins (over a six-hour period), whilst ensuring I was able to remember all the details to do it justice was a challenge. 

It was a brilliant day out and you can read my finished blog post here: 

The Regional Wanderer's Gin Safari

I would love to know what you think? Hopefully, I did it justice!

Bangkok Life

Meanwhile, from my Bangkok life, I was finalising a couple of posts which might just start a war. 

Are you a coffee or tea drinker? 

I'm both! I certainly can't get very far in my day without seeking out a much-needed coffee. I blame Melbourne for spoiling me when it comes to coffee. Somewhere along the line, I became a coffee snob. 

So I was happy as a pig in mud to have been asked by Expique Bangkok Tours to update their '9 of the Best Coffee shops in Bangkok' blog post. 

You can read about it here: Best Bangkok Coffee Shops.

For those of you who love Instagram check out @midlifeadventuring. Andrea is a fellow coffee lover who originally hails from New York City. She has an awesome travel Instagram page and is the best co-coffee writer I know!

At the same time the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok invited me to join them to test out their Gluten-free and Vegan Afternoon Tea Sets. I just love this historic hotel. When I enter it is like going to a by-gone age, with all mod cons! Please pop along here to let the good folks at the MO see you have visited:

A delightful afternoon tea treat at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

Of course, tea sits well with me too, going back to my British roots where a cup of tea is the solution to almost everything! I have drunk quite a bit of tea over the past few weeks... sitting gripped with horror at the TV bushfire coverage with an English friend to commiserate Brexit, with my son in his hospital room, after a hard to stomach tennis loss, pondering the Coronavirus and where in the world is best to wait it out! 

A summer of Tennis

Our beautiful summer of tennis continues and I made it back to Thailand in time to enjoy the finals of the WTA Thailand Open. We are so lucky to have had this level of women's pro tennis in Hua Hin - a seaside town about 3 hours out of Bangkok.

The tournament turned the tennis courts pink and made the event a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness in Thailand. How special is that?

 You can read all about it here: Anyone for Tennis: WTA Thailand Open 202

Coronavirus
Our big news in the region is the impact of the coronavirus which is taking up a lot of people's energy. Our hearts go out to those in Wuhan and beyond who are affected by the virus. 

We are doing our best to keep healthy and there is a lot of hand washing going on!

Well, I think that's all for now folks. 

Have a great weekend where ever you are reading this!

Linking with thanks to Angie at Mosaic Monday, 

All the hosts at Our World Tuesday

And Betty at My Corner of the World