Caxton St Seafood Festival

This morning we wandered down to Caxton St Seafood Festival to have a look, mainly because Dan England, that is Dready Dan from Australian Idol 2005, was performing. He was great, sang 4 songs, some originals and i took lots of pics so i can scrap them.

Russell Crowe was also singing there with his band. We didnt stay to see him, but the crowd was building as we left, so probably all there to see him.

The food was nice, just stood and ate it as there were no seats left, but still nice. The weather was just so hot, way too hot for this time of year. It was a good couple of hours.

Here is a pic of the dready boy for all those fans...

a trip down memory lane...

This easter weekend i went "home" to my school reunion. I only spent 7 years in Cowra, from aged 10-17, but i consider this my home base. I flew to Canberra and caught up briefly with my daughter, then drove 2+ hours to Cowra. I actually grew up on a farm 14 miles from Cowra, but went to the local primary/high schools.

While there i went around and took photos of spots that held memories for me...the main steet, the local cafe where we used to hang out, the primary and high schools, the farm i grew up on, my nana's house...

The reunion itself was an absolute blast, seeing old friends, most of whom i had not seen since the last reunion about 15 years ago.

I am now going to scrap these pages so i have those memories saved for posterity.

In canberra i went around and took photos of each house i had lived in - well most of them, some of them no longer exist. I am doing an album on places i have lived, so these photos will assist in completing that. I also took some touristy photos as these will make great scrapping pages.

Critic's Choice: THE BOY FROM OZ

What: Stage show
About: The life of Peter Allen

Ok, i know this is not around yet, but for those considering seeing it later this year with Hugh Jackman....

I have seen this in Sydney and Brisbane (both with Todd McKenney) and once in New York with Hugh Jackman, and the Aussie production runs rings around the NYC production - but both were great. I love Todd, he is so wonderful in EVERYTHING he is in and Hugh was great, but the show was had a lot more darker undertones iykwim than the aussie one that was quite joyful..

If you have never seen it then i would recommend a visit...
If you like Hugh Jackman (who doesnt??) then i would also recommend you go...

We had only been in New York 5 hours and only a few days in USA, but when Hugh sang "I still call Australia Home" it brought a tear to my eye - swear!!

Rating: Aussie production - 5 star; USA production 3.5 star

As a side bit of info, they auctioned the black T-shirt that Hugh wore in the show after it and the bidding was crazy, from memory up to $US1800, and there were 2 women both bidding, eventually they gave them both one, for that price EACH! and a photo with Hugh as well.

We waited at the stage door afterward and finally he came out and signed a few things, including our stuff, and i said "Hello Hugh" -cos noone else was talking to him - and he immediately recognized the aussie accent and asked where we were from. That was a couple of years ago. He was gorgeous.

Critic's Choice: INSIDE MAN

I am starting what will hopefully be a regular review of movies, plays, stageshows that we see. This first one is a movie review.

Movie: INSIDE MAN
Story: bank robbery

Stars:
- Denzel Washington - shaved head and a bit fat imo, not the usual yummy Denzel but great acting as usual.
- Clive Owen - didnt see much of his face but yummo! He is also great
- Jodie Foster - wasnt quite sure what her role was all about and whether the movie would have been better off without that role. She is a great actress but the role did seem a little superfluous to me.

General Comments: very intriguing movie, lots of twists and turns for a bank robbery movie.

Stars: 3.5

Our Family Tree

I have been tracing my family tree since i was 16 years old and my dh has also been tracing his for the last 10 years - due in part to my interest rubbing off on him. We have now set up a web site that contains links to our family trees, so anyone can check them to see if they are related somehow.

My dh found some really cool software that converts GEDCOM files into a cool HTML website. Today we purchased a url (www.sdfamilytree.com) and set up a home page. We will be linking our family trees off this when time permits - hopefully very soon. If anyone is interested in the software that we used (we got it off the web - its free) then please contact us to find out where to get it.

Our new website has been listed under GRANDMA'S HOPE CHEST. Happy searching.

School Friends

Last weekend i went to visit some old school friends that i have not seen for 27 years - it was such fun and i would recommend it to anyone. It was just like we had never been apart and we had a great day of reminiscing. I hope to keep in touch with them now.

I am going to a school reunion over Easter weekend as well and hopefully that will be as much fun. Anyone who wants to get in touch with old school friends or work mates go to www.friendsreunited.com.au and search there for them. It's free to search and put yourself up, but to send emails to people you need to join up. Its $A20 a year to join.

The school reunion is being held in country NSW - i am also catching up with my daughter in Canberra while i am down there.