An Occasional Tipple

 From time to time Mr GeniAus and I enjoy a bottle of wine with our dinner. During lockdown we have been buying wines online from Qantas and Naked Wines. We much prefer the wines from Qantas but, as we never waste a drop, we always manage to finish the bottles we open.

I am one of those people who takes photos of just about anything. Today I am sharing snaps of some of the bottles we have emptied during this year.

Seeds

Smart shopping Robert Ball. More seeds for our new veggie patch. We are usually not home for long enough stretches to plant and harvest. We can thank Covid for giving us the opportunity to have fresh home-grown veggies.

Time for Tea

Cultural Differences - spotted in an English supermarket. We'd never see this in Australia 420 Teabags in one huge pack!

Retail therapy

23 December 2016 

Today was a day for retail therapy. As we travelled around I snapped a few random Hawaiian images.

Shopping Stopover

 I took a few snaps of the area as I explored the shopping options in downtown San Francisco. Tomorrow I'll be home with a few more bargains in my bags.

Chowder

 Lunch at Boudin Bakery Cafe. in San Francisco. Conveniently close for shopping at Macys.

The Malls beckon

In Miami at the Intercontinental Hotel Doral where the staff we encountered on reception last night didn't speak English!!

Breakfast done. Walking shoes on. Ready for the Mall. Hoping to find some bargain fashions for the cruise.

Breakfast in Club Intercontinental

Buyers Beware

I took notice of this sign in Cochin, India. I bought nothing.

Put on your High Heel Sneakers

My grand-daughter came home from her school trip to the US wearing this footwear that reminded me of an old song from the Rolling Stones.

High Heel Sneakers

The Final Snap

15 May 2013

On the last day of our magnificent journey we had a 6:00 pm checkout (for a fee - not free) from our airport hotel. We allowed ourselves a big sleepin to try to coax our personal timeclocks towards an Australian timezone so we missed the free hotel breakfast.

What should we so on our last day?  I did not want to travel too far lest our rental car break down and we miss our plane. I realised that I hadn't spent any time in a bookstore during the whole eight weeks of my holiday and I love the big bookshops in the US. Since the demise of Borders the only chain I know is Barnes and Noble.  I also realised that we hadn't visited one of the many Ross stores in Los Angeles - the well stocked one near Farmers Market; how convenient - I remembered that there is a Barnes and Noble store in the Grove Shopping Centre next to Farmers Market.

The Final Holiday Snap - a happy shopper at The Grove

I was quite restrained in my shopping at these venues because our six suitcases back at the hotel were bulging although underweight and the thought of having to squish more treasures into them wasn't too palatable. What I couldn't resist were a couple of DK Travel Guides for my next adventure at the end of June with my daughter.

At the end of a wonderful trip it is always good to have another journey to plan.

Retail therapy

Stock levels in Macys, Marshalls and Ross Stores have been seriously depleted during our last two days in Los Angeles. Some of our grandchildren will be well shod. 

It's touristing tomorrow with both the Getty Villa and Warner Brothers Tours.

Crowning Glory

I Found a large range of Aussie Haircare products In Walgreen's drugstore  today when I Was Looking For Mousse When I Got It Back To The hotel And Read The Fine Print I discovered It Was made In The USA!

$50 well spent

True confessions time - I have an addiction - BOOKS

Even though I am a former librarian I prefer to own books rather than borrow them. I love fetes and op shops where I sometimes pick up pre-loved  books for a song.

Today I found that an Australian charity has put their bookshop online. From their website I learnt that "Brotherhood Books is a new Social Enterprise from the Brotherhood of St Laurence and is intended to encourage the recycling of high quality books and to contribute funds to the Brotherhood’s charitable operations."

Brotherhood Books Home Page www.brotherhoodbooks.org.au

Before I blogged about this fantastic site I joined up and did a little shopping. I allowed myself a budget of $50 and, as I wasn't looking for anything in particular except books relating the Australia's history, I restricted myself to books under $10. 

For that sum I purchased eight books with no extra cost for shipping. I am now anxiously awaiting the arrival of my purchases:

Immigrants in Western Australia
Families in Colonial Australia
Ella Norman: or A Woman's Perils
A Portrait of Bathurst
In Sunshine or in Shadow
A City on a Hill
Chosen: The Jews in Australia
Old Canberra

This is a fantastic initiative from a charity. I encourage all my Aussie friends who share my passion for reading to support this venture. You can keep up with their news at Brotherhood Books on Facebook

Merry Christmas from Buenos Aires

Father Christmas is waiting to hear from Argentinian children at Galerias Pacifico Shopping Mall in Buenos Aires.

Meanwhile, as the mall has free wifi, Robert has run back to the hotel to grab his phone and left me alone in a sea of sparkling shops.