tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15390533086161265312024-03-13T23:17:54.205-07:00The Next StageThis blog continues to chronicle my adventures in retirement or the 'next stage' of my life. Join me as I search for a simpler life as I re-learn to appreciate what I already have and to acknowledge that 'little people can make a difference'!Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.comBlogger1619125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-85362034798776025272022-09-29T18:43:00.001-07:002022-09-29T18:43:31.161-07:00Teenage Memories…Well it would be a few weeks ago now that I awoke to a text from DH’s cousin in California. The sms simply said, ‘RIP Queen Elizabeth’. Once again, a family member in a faraway land had had a news scoop of something that happened while we were sleeping. As the morning progressed it was obvious that media communications were completely dominated by what was happening back in the UK. And I got to thinking of something a friend and I did way back in 1966. At that time in Australia, there was great excitement as the then Prince Charles had come here to spend 6 months as a student at Timbertop which is part of the prestigious Geelong Grammar. <div> I suspected that she’d probably have forgotten our mischief but I started a Messenger<div> ‘chat’ nevertheless. </div><div><img id="id_2147_42b7_42a6_664" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p8HeIVeAodnRRfas7lR5Q0suFftxhQRrUFwTXhK5mPHFxPqi9R16Y9ypIIKXPV0Eq5I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 337px; height: auto;"><br>But I was wrong; my friend did remember! <br><img id="id_86f6_75d2_5df5_ae93" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/HnZ01nlSDr-FlbsjaNxaWMmASHMq2HKJVDdFI2KJVdKBLarSLuHN3a3A3wWI0a4VvFM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 275px; height: auto;"><br><br>But of course there was no invitation to the funeral so in my inimitable style of never letting a chance go by, I dressed up to watch the event and DH and I enjoyed bubbles and finger food in our own version of a wake. 😍 </div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_3d0e_7db5_54b2_b87f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/spPUJ-ZzEDEEYSBzIQH6ITXgsSCIqYD2VqKmlP-JJFGi-zfwNaLidKcuC23IOu2dlt8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 359px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_27c8_335f_c200_4186" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/k30rACsD9JCOPy4O36s85gsrqsVBawDKi8Otyv2xK_X3T4tLhUeKybgpVkI-8sd82VY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 331px; height: auto;"><br>It was my daughter’s birthday and I’d made her favourite cake as usual. I made a smaller version for DH and I with the left over layer of cake plus the black cherries. <br><img id="id_f75b_15f6_9c4d_51ca" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0KoeGlVQ2rj1agfyvOOuBDwIMyoOe8pctgPS3L5z9PTRIO8Xu45S99PuppwXwxME45s" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 315px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>The pomp and majesty of the monarch’s was second to none…<br><img id="id_3a38_e645_1b8c_1ae9" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/OFEhRcxYibiob8NDo5XQjR16M_Pu0kLA18HRiUOS_Byf_6bl9HKwDr_8KUUw4lsSAuY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 302px; height: auto;"></span><br><br>And in an amazing twist, after talking to Glenda, I actually found a photo of us at the school swimming carnival in February 1967. So a few months after we wrote that fan letter but we still looked the same! That’s me leaning on the railing at the Valley Pool Brisbane, and looking at the camera and Glenda is on my right with her arms crossed. </div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_c456_6345_43c7_be0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Rs7dNCEp2SxQAydNS_m8Av0lJ7l41zg7E25WGUuu6CICIbzLET0tyvwTVujb4t8PCFw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 273px; height: auto;"><br>Aaah memories. 🥰<br><br><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><br><br><br></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-2703271127291620182021-09-05T17:49:00.000-07:002021-09-05T17:49:06.171-07:00Wool on Sunday<p style="text-align: justify;"> When I retired in 2011, I joined a group called Knitting for Brisbane’s Needy ( K4BN). This group made items of warm clothing for distribution by various groups and charities who give support to the needy in the community. As well as warm clothing, knitted and crocheted blankets and quilts, the group provided toiletries, sewn garments, knitted, crocheted or sewn toys and various other items such as school supplies that could help make people’s lives a little happier. The group had been started by Karen Croke who had seen a need in the community to help community organisations who endeavored to help the plight of the needy and disadvantaged in not only Brisbane, but also Queensland wide. Karen was helped by her husband Peter and I believe the group started with just a few people but the numbers increased as the word spread. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The group had a number of Knit and Natter groups, which provided a social gathering as well as a collection point for donations. Over the last 16 years the group has distributed hundreds of thousands of items. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">At one stage in the last 10 years, I was a member of 5 Knit and Natters. One in a private home was disbanded about 5 years ago and a new venue was never found. Then in recent years I’ve had more calls on my time to do ‘Grandma Duty’ so not so many K&Ns for me. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BXkE_xO0Hv0/YTR62Xx96tI/AAAAAAAAtl0/-iW4DPB5sVIn5yhYeV8uYU1T3dH61_4hQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/D90AA29D-AD63-416B-999B-ECC7F6471E05.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BXkE_xO0Hv0/YTR62Xx96tI/AAAAAAAAtl0/-iW4DPB5sVIn5yhYeV8uYU1T3dH61_4hQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/D90AA29D-AD63-416B-999B-ECC7F6471E05.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">I’ve made lots of new friends over these years, been given lots of ideas and patterns by others and have had a thoroughly enjoyable time. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But a few years ago, illness struck Karen…a severe illness at that. Then early this year Peter was also struck down by illness. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">So it really wasn’t a big surprise that in April this year it was announced that K4BN would be wound up. It was obviously a big decision and not one made lightly or without much soul searching. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N-qP9yMMFf4/YTVPq9ShgTI/AAAAAAAAwM8/bhXsrgBllAEzpf-XHzfCKV56BPDQ_UhmwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1536/EF1B23FF-D0B5-4FD1-95D6-E7C930B1B309.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1343" data-original-width="1536" height="280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N-qP9yMMFf4/YTVPq9ShgTI/AAAAAAAAwM8/bhXsrgBllAEzpf-XHzfCKV56BPDQ_UhmwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/EF1B23FF-D0B5-4FD1-95D6-E7C930B1B309.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">In a conversation with Peter, he indicated to me that they had decided to completely close and not merely do a handover to someone else to run this completely voluntary organization. In the 16 years he and Karen had built up a well deserved reputation of being reliable, as well as being supportive, compassionate and caring towards those who were doing it tough in our communities. They feared that if run/managed by others who didn’t have the same commitment to the needy, then the reputation they had built up would be tarnished. They just didn’t want to run that risk. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Sure enough, after that announcement they were inundated with offers to take over. Eventually Karen wrote a post which I copied and saved at the time because it really showed how much this couple had done over the years…a lot of it, quietly in the background. I’ve masked the name of the member, who had suggested how the group should be run as Karen addressed this to her. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MF_oDoV9Gc8/YTVcCLdMhDI/AAAAAAAAwNU/8qfXKvFW8ZM_nk9GL0-V4R_hAgO_OvI5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1536/2984753D-9BDD-4E03-8A53-AC7C9062C7B3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1536" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MF_oDoV9Gc8/YTVcCLdMhDI/AAAAAAAAwNU/8qfXKvFW8ZM_nk9GL0-V4R_hAgO_OvI5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2984753D-9BDD-4E03-8A53-AC7C9062C7B3.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>So here we are in September and that means we are having our last K4BN Knit and Natters in these next few weeks. But that’s not the end of this story. Friendships have developed and even though some groups will disband, many of us are being ‘rebranded’ 😜 and will continue to meet regularly and will continue to make items for needy people. But it will be on a much smaller scale as each group will make lists of community groups we’d like to help. <div><br /></div><div>For example my favourite K&N group at Albany Creek will now become ‘Knit, Crochet, Donate’ (KCD) Albany Creek and our ‘sister group’ is KCD Strathpine. We’ve had a meeting where we discussed the charities we’d like to support and we’ll only make what the charities need. The Albany Creek Library agreed to continue to let us use the meeting room for free as long as we donated to local charities…too easy! <div>Many of us members have friends and family who have supported us by making and donating items to K4BN over the years and I’m forever grateful to these lovely people who have given me the most beautiful and useful items to pass on to K4BN. Hopefully this relationship will continue albeit scaled down somewhat. One thing KDC decided on, no fundraising so I won’t be pestering friends and relatives to buy raffle tickets any more! 😜<br /><div>So wow! This post has been very wordy but it’s a post I felt needed to be written. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here’s a photo of Karen, such an inspiration to so many of us. Not only for her amazing compassion but also her dignity and determination as she lives with an illness that has taken so much of her energy </div><div>, faculties, independence and mobility. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAjzzHsvCZk/YTVjaIX3YAI/AAAAAAAAwOA/8TM6S--8dgcxRevP65HQCIjEn_R1Vta-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/D0275936-880F-498A-ABB9-2DC4FCAF375F.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1530" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAjzzHsvCZk/YTVjaIX3YAI/AAAAAAAAwOA/8TM6S--8dgcxRevP65HQCIjEn_R1Vta-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/D0275936-880F-498A-ABB9-2DC4FCAF375F.jpeg" width="239" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Karen and Peter decided that despite closing down, that this year from September to the end of November they would accept items that could be used as Christmas gifts to the charities that the group usually supported. So I’ll finish the post with some photos of past years where members were packing the famous K4BN mini Christmas stockings. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WykVEsNfgw0/YTVijqKSkGI/AAAAAAAAwNs/Dhwu7Chh588WW7hM0AMJiDqNxxtt9w8YgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/4F06E3BC-48A4-4C48-8CE4-4EE299F413ED.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WykVEsNfgw0/YTVijqKSkGI/AAAAAAAAwNs/Dhwu7Chh588WW7hM0AMJiDqNxxtt9w8YgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/4F06E3BC-48A4-4C48-8CE4-4EE299F413ED.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8t7MxcAdXRk/YTVijpWxfTI/AAAAAAAAwNw/PQbKtwS88GEoFqIqao6pUJSXzZdSATvdACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/21E7E55A-68EA-41AD-8196-0D29EDA4AF98.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8t7MxcAdXRk/YTVijpWxfTI/AAAAAAAAwNw/PQbKtwS88GEoFqIqao6pUJSXzZdSATvdACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/21E7E55A-68EA-41AD-8196-0D29EDA4AF98.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GDHpcxKsmPQ/YTVijeHMR0I/AAAAAAAAwNo/lLzXomfgzgck6XPPVszlGeibrip0UwC2wCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/260EF064-3F30-49B0-84C8-22C4088D0954.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GDHpcxKsmPQ/YTVijeHMR0I/AAAAAAAAwNo/lLzXomfgzgck6XPPVszlGeibrip0UwC2wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/260EF064-3F30-49B0-84C8-22C4088D0954.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>Goodbye K4BN and best wishes to Karen and Peter as they spend more time with their daughters and grandchildren. <br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-72987214823008717532021-09-03T03:24:00.003-07:002021-09-03T06:41:51.327-07:00Spring! <p>Tuesday saw the last day of Winter, ushering in the beginning of Spring on Wednesday. On Facebook that day, I noticed someone asking people to post photos of their Spring garden. Well there wasn’t much sign of the season change in my garden…even my beloved nasturtiums weren’t doing that well. The bromeliads had had flowers but #1 GD had asked the week before if we could pick them to make a bunch to take home to her mum…which we did! </p><p>Never fear though, our household does have another Spring display but it’s in the dining room. #2 GD helped me last Friday to ‘pack up Winter’ from the hutch. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQV_Y_Emiss/YTHx0x_chII/AAAAAAAArFw/kPLHkmMiKY8nDMhkaqLtS7c1FfIJjfxFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/5A68D8FD-D611-4F20-ADB7-9675B3CF0222.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQV_Y_Emiss/YTHx0x_chII/AAAAAAAArFw/kPLHkmMiKY8nDMhkaqLtS7c1FfIJjfxFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/5A68D8FD-D611-4F20-ADB7-9675B3CF0222.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Holly very carefully carried the china from the shelves to the table…( my job later was to give the pieces a wash and then put them away) <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f10ClEq7t10/YTHx0v-VFTI/AAAAAAAArFs/OUSUQ3IqfX0FfYHFwV-cEel7B3ijafF3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A1BF2813-C62A-4337-AC07-5F438CD5AEB5.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f10ClEq7t10/YTHx0v-VFTI/AAAAAAAArFs/OUSUQ3IqfX0FfYHFwV-cEel7B3ijafF3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A1BF2813-C62A-4337-AC07-5F438CD5AEB5.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>She then helped me go through cupboards to get out items that had flowers on them…</p><p>Holly was very particular where items should go…</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vfFVf7pOEyE/YTHytPv_OkI/AAAAAAAArF8/n0O1ddVXdyMOrya1tMt7dCjE7cUtopgsgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/2F9E30AA-7326-469E-86FC-D16429742FAE.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vfFVf7pOEyE/YTHytPv_OkI/AAAAAAAArF8/n0O1ddVXdyMOrya1tMt7dCjE7cUtopgsgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/2F9E30AA-7326-469E-86FC-D16429742FAE.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>We looked in the box where I keep the mini quilts and Holly chose a lovely one given to me by a friend many years ago.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EpZZD-AnoFI/YTHytCMavDI/AAAAAAAArGA/yERvBSVQtME9f0g5_-Bug-D4aKh9-bCGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/6E340B84-A033-4F44-9F5A-04A7AD647383.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EpZZD-AnoFI/YTHytCMavDI/AAAAAAAArGA/yERvBSVQtME9f0g5_-Bug-D4aKh9-bCGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/6E340B84-A033-4F44-9F5A-04A7AD647383.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PAlzqCYxVLU/YTHyuC9gqsI/AAAAAAAArGI/N0a9jzOCheUvNYwQIhvGIEYkbMcbSVOjACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A4414AE7-7CCF-4B1B-8863-A39FF8E5720F.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PAlzqCYxVLU/YTHyuC9gqsI/AAAAAAAArGI/N0a9jzOCheUvNYwQIhvGIEYkbMcbSVOjACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A4414AE7-7CCF-4B1B-8863-A39FF8E5720F.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>I was sure I had more floral pieces but waited until Holly had gone home to have a look for them. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gd7hPBIKxh4/YTH0KZ7Du6I/AAAAAAAArGY/Ovda6lVRq70300XY7-hyg0WEB5MZ1cFFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/073F1BE7-8EEB-40FB-A7B1-0EF4ADCF609E.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gd7hPBIKxh4/YTH0KZ7Du6I/AAAAAAAArGY/Ovda6lVRq70300XY7-hyg0WEB5MZ1cFFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/073F1BE7-8EEB-40FB-A7B1-0EF4ADCF609E.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>Most of the pieces have been gifts. Occasionally I fall in love with china in shops but resist temptation to buy these days…I have enough! <div>This big bowl was a farewell gift/presentation in 2001 from the staff at one of my school postings…very much loved! <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hWpRI1iYwVU/YTH0s8eRZ3I/AAAAAAAArGk/3KqVPuE7zDI7PitTwzymcxvl6wBKIKQaACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/419E089D-71F5-4C6D-B4B4-DF65A84FD68F.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hWpRI1iYwVU/YTH0s8eRZ3I/AAAAAAAArGk/3KqVPuE7zDI7PitTwzymcxvl6wBKIKQaACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/419E089D-71F5-4C6D-B4B4-DF65A84FD68F.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wBro6gwsIF0/YTH0sm5gInI/AAAAAAAArGg/e2uJz5cLEZw3mxdvwW-6Dfp2_78fDUkMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/25266F66-B012-4577-A355-B91C0FE465DA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wBro6gwsIF0/YTH0sm5gInI/AAAAAAAArGg/e2uJz5cLEZw3mxdvwW-6Dfp2_78fDUkMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/25266F66-B012-4577-A355-B91C0FE465DA.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>And this vase was presented to me in 1981 when I was going on maternity leave at my first school posting to have DD1. Another much loved item with lots of good memories. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtBOKYxUi6M/YTH2NY8W4zI/AAAAAAAArGw/T1FbT3EhcLce7GFHbXxG8xW10n4SKJ0VACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/B62AA10F-A053-4974-8F6B-9B27EF13C124.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtBOKYxUi6M/YTH2NY8W4zI/AAAAAAAArGw/T1FbT3EhcLce7GFHbXxG8xW10n4SKJ0VACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/B62AA10F-A053-4974-8F6B-9B27EF13C124.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>So hopefully the garden will catch up soon and put on a spring display as well…<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-50954889227781615592021-08-30T23:49:00.000-07:002021-08-30T23:49:02.358-07:00Been MIA for a while…Life in Colour<p> I haven’t blogged in quite a while…planned a lot of posts in my head…but never actually got around to writing them. For ages I had been getting regular emails from Google alerting me to the fact that my blog had ‘readability issues’ and I was urged to do something about it. I couldn’t see what the problem was as when I googled my posts, they looked fine. But I followed Google’s directions but still the emails came. A few years ago, the Blogger app became very unstable ( well for me anyway) so I bought an app which seemed to work okay but must have caused ‘readability issues’. Today I’m once again trying out Blogger 🤞🤞. </p><p>But I thought I’d try something relatively easy…a Life in Colour post to finish off August. The colour for August is red. So here we go with some reds…</p><p>First photos are the Wiggles car which was on display in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney in 2018 ( I think) </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gdCLMdQU6Ao/YS3JUxa6BhI/AAAAAAAArDU/scD0j2xi6poJ9S_eC_NGQZ5OxBqwFV52wCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/5C890E7A-1EDA-4D13-A4A2-CA4A2482AA05.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gdCLMdQU6Ao/YS3JUxa6BhI/AAAAAAAArDU/scD0j2xi6poJ9S_eC_NGQZ5OxBqwFV52wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/5C890E7A-1EDA-4D13-A4A2-CA4A2482AA05.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FcbJ2MBXpnw/YS3JU3Y8eFI/AAAAAAAArDY/MYkYDBccQBUQ5WBlcZNpnDp5fl8DGC4JACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/05123794-6192-415A-A50F-CF33960D8933.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="540" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FcbJ2MBXpnw/YS3JU3Y8eFI/AAAAAAAArDY/MYkYDBccQBUQ5WBlcZNpnDp5fl8DGC4JACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/05123794-6192-415A-A50F-CF33960D8933.jpeg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><p>Lovely old letterbox in Albany Western Australia…imagine, Queen Victoria was the monarch! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0fcCD9QmV8/YS3K37fZdQI/AAAAAAAArDk/aaoOZMXfQAc3N9J7jwcfhYfRIkyb7-0ngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/12A346A6-20CE-419E-BA75-CD574C2A9509.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H0fcCD9QmV8/YS3K37fZdQI/AAAAAAAArDk/aaoOZMXfQAc3N9J7jwcfhYfRIkyb7-0ngCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/12A346A6-20CE-419E-BA75-CD574C2A9509.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Px8iVP6xiQM/YS3K52reToI/AAAAAAAArD4/BqDFH8lbr-M5wvS3NHB-XGO_lt-Wh5TvACLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/7A20CB30-C189-4B37-8292-79773714EAD0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Px8iVP6xiQM/YS3K52reToI/AAAAAAAArD4/BqDFH8lbr-M5wvS3NHB-XGO_lt-Wh5TvACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/7A20CB30-C189-4B37-8292-79773714EAD0.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>Next is the little red stool from IKEA that we bought GD #1 for her first Christmas…my theory that it would be very useful turned out to be ‘spot on’! <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TTmgu_tis14/YS3LfrxT32I/AAAAAAAArEo/MPchlLkk3oYRH-r-XxvC9DCmSIDtUs5RgCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/3AD8AA77-CD8A-4519-AB13-2A5BDAB52D97.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TTmgu_tis14/YS3LfrxT32I/AAAAAAAArEo/MPchlLkk3oYRH-r-XxvC9DCmSIDtUs5RgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/3AD8AA77-CD8A-4519-AB13-2A5BDAB52D97.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>For many years, I’ve donated lollipops to the Christmas Stocking project that my knitting group does each year…here’s my trolley with my donations on a rare visit to Costco. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1d0jeibwGMg/YS3Lfiok1EI/AAAAAAAArEs/ZQaOrz1zrasZwttA72T6BoIV6DL0Be5xACLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/38CE78E1-54FB-45B2-81D4-3C9F2AE4F311.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1d0jeibwGMg/YS3Lfiok1EI/AAAAAAAArEs/ZQaOrz1zrasZwttA72T6BoIV6DL0Be5xACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/38CE78E1-54FB-45B2-81D4-3C9F2AE4F311.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>A red tram coming into Glenelg in South Australia. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1VMQkncrmY/YS3Lfn1RcII/AAAAAAAArEw/ltrL9DmaI8oXmIR9i33yg9ZFuLAjhkDLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/317E4EA1-CFCB-4CC0-8845-0B9C43E2E3E5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C1VMQkncrmY/YS3Lfn1RcII/AAAAAAAArEw/ltrL9DmaI8oXmIR9i33yg9ZFuLAjhkDLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/317E4EA1-CFCB-4CC0-8845-0B9C43E2E3E5.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>Next photo is of the red netting and red canvas seats in an old air force plane at the museum situated at the Amberley Airforce Base here in Queensland.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7IXk9vc4Jc/YS3MwYULrmI/AAAAAAAArE8/lblNNWjOcCE_TZM6A2Yk9lT0SbhKvzwgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/8C3AB77B-20BB-40F8-8E01-4FD5BDA83EFF.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="750" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7IXk9vc4Jc/YS3MwYULrmI/AAAAAAAArE8/lblNNWjOcCE_TZM6A2Yk9lT0SbhKvzwgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/8C3AB77B-20BB-40F8-8E01-4FD5BDA83EFF.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Quite a few splashes of red on the wharf on Rottnest Island in Western Australia. DH and I didn’t hire one of those bikes…we caught the little train there on the island.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3qAbmbfKotg/YS3MwgzmwsI/AAAAAAAArFA/jddTWkjkUjEg3PIRBobgkcX9bE-rw-_1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s750/72BD21C8-9A96-4BD0-99A7-CC2D498B46F6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="750" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3qAbmbfKotg/YS3MwgzmwsI/AAAAAAAArFA/jddTWkjkUjEg3PIRBobgkcX9bE-rw-_1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/72BD21C8-9A96-4BD0-99A7-CC2D498B46F6.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Santas crocheted by one of the members in my knitting group…these went to needy people in the community as gifts.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G5q8SaBqvD8/YS3MxrKGZhI/AAAAAAAArFM/UAbCbxKzjxQn2dTVt2EZ80MR6i1mNZipQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/A66EB4D1-476D-4A3F-B0F2-CEB8581F58CA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G5q8SaBqvD8/YS3MxrKGZhI/AAAAAAAArFM/UAbCbxKzjxQn2dTVt2EZ80MR6i1mNZipQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A66EB4D1-476D-4A3F-B0F2-CEB8581F58CA.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Some of the Christmas packages GD Anthea helped me do up for K4BN’s Christmas Stocking Project.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CZ9JZZnFhlo/YS3MxLJ-dgI/AAAAAAAArFI/qfl94DeQd8YLXCJAS43s106wROkIBjmGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/A5298C6D-3D72-4BB3-BE2E-F4D90AABDDF0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CZ9JZZnFhlo/YS3MxLJ-dgI/AAAAAAAArFI/qfl94DeQd8YLXCJAS43s106wROkIBjmGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/A5298C6D-3D72-4BB3-BE2E-F4D90AABDDF0.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>DH in his red shirt standing at a red tram stop in a tramway museum we visited.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5pT__JBXROw/YS3Mxx8Hm6I/AAAAAAAArFQ/LA1eO8OfaEgBD-rAAVVs1V6gJbXVBKCvgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1004/B62CD860-5A54-4FB0-86C8-78C25C64241F.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5pT__JBXROw/YS3Mxx8Hm6I/AAAAAAAArFQ/LA1eO8OfaEgBD-rAAVVs1V6gJbXVBKCvgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/B62CD860-5A54-4FB0-86C8-78C25C64241F.jpeg" width="239" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The next picture is of a page of my Cliff Richard scrapbook that I made in my teens…somehow this book survived culls and declutters 😜. Without a doubt this book would be at least 51 years old! <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_e6nHDH1HQU/YS3MyOQ6M9I/AAAAAAAArFU/oKz8vD7dyRouuvdoiBk5LHZ_WXFZkQwHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1536/E67EF7F8-1E8A-4EE3-B602-C4088D23A756.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1536" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_e6nHDH1HQU/YS3MyOQ6M9I/AAAAAAAArFU/oKz8vD7dyRouuvdoiBk5LHZ_WXFZkQwHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/E67EF7F8-1E8A-4EE3-B602-C4088D23A756.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>The last photo is a little block with an EPP heart made with a Liberty fabric. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dg10vm8raaw/YS3Mwouh2KI/AAAAAAAArFE/71IW9Zyfq2cpxXPwhGdHCWpgtMxxGdy1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1536/0F3FA17E-5314-4F33-9BAE-EC881B0EEB02.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1230" data-original-width="1536" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dg10vm8raaw/YS3Mwouh2KI/AAAAAAAArFE/71IW9Zyfq2cpxXPwhGdHCWpgtMxxGdy1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/0F3FA17E-5314-4F33-9BAE-EC881B0EEB02.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>So joining in with Jude from Travel Words <a href="https://traveltalk.me.uk/2021/08/29/life-in-colour-24/">Here</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-42842160542847786662021-03-30T00:22:00.001-07:002021-03-30T02:14:59.240-07:00Life in ColourWell March is almost over so next Sunday Jude over at Travel Words <a href="https://traveltalk.me.uk/2021/03/28/life-in-colour-11/" id="id_7cb3_2436_daec_eb4d">here</a> will select a new feature colour for her Life in Colour series. And I ended up finding lots of photos for the Green Theme so this post will be like the last hurrah for green. 😀<div><img id="id_1093_b6c2_8a7d_e63d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BTyook5cE31v0RxB18JqhNJk9Fa0Fg2cgBRdsuznMk4zBo5lcH-DIIS-qWEAwVwZFzQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 283px; height: auto;"><br><br>Greens on Lantau Island, Hong Kong.</div><div>Next up are some greens I spied in Brighton, UK. During our stay in London in 2019, we took a train to this seaside town...a lovely day and some wonderful memories. </div><div><img id="id_b2e4_d393_50b8_ba29" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/1Kxr26UmQwEwTDQtjKRNcKXVYYfI917KIgpqEdG-fcONfquwdZjhCTD_X79JJ1F7hgs" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 350px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Next is a lovely tranquil spot in the Sun Yet-San Gardens in Vancouver...a delightful garden in that city’s Chinatown area. <br></span><br><img id="id_104c_5a11_2a6e_73b1" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/5AC70KVs9bAi9ADWQxhfZVC9L_tpgRfd78I6tjldKy8Ap8O3bf2ssurqqGFNaanOcqE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 435px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span>A ride at Santa Monica Pier...we just watched! <br><img id="id_d64e_1896_97da_f3e" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Bi_RgpNctCYDp1ZmcfDY6eimVi2nDZLVYpuHiBUFNdmWPpkyeSjYvPuujJkggWgTFvU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 361px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span>In 2014 DH and I toured the old set of Coronation St, his favourite TV show...this is part of the outdoors set. <br><img id="id_c01b_92ef_5b97_a253" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/eQUzxX6T6P3twLsMGTTAPbaVpsBEREvQBosGM0w1nKvU-iJ0nMqQZ8jjPqq-8RTywSo" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 398px; height: auto;"><br>Filming of the interior of the pub was in a set inside the main building at these now demolished studios. </div><div><br></div><div>The next photo is in the Cotswold village of Bibury...I was fascinated by that plant that looked like it belonged in the tropics! </div><div><img id="id_43c5_ea38_dfd5_1736" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/W0lqibqo3NPAmkIu-zMQizArseA41E4C-pTnI-SKnIkKR5n0wArYvNfJeZXLiOw5nG8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 441px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>Next photo is some green in Singapore...</div><div><img id="id_806b_7390_c7ce_5fed" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/n8zZTrW5NpRCa2FbZWCbmpTSgYmqMf6_TrUYohMMob9EH_80rppYqCmJF6mtZxjIxVU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 420px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Only a tiny bit of green in this next photo taken in Bunbury, Western Australia. Driving down this suburban street in this town, we just had to stop and check out this front yard. Marge Simpson of course is resplendent in a green frock. Not your average front yard I think! </span><br><img id="id_3604_9a3_f39b_1bd2" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/n-tzQTnQuuQH1ado_rp20LnZlMaFxuwqzl9FwAh2u8jedMFjkF6pG8HRbFO-bp_Jhk8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 441px; height: auto;"><br><br><br>Next photo shows the different greens in this sunken garden in Mt Gambier, South Australia. <br><img id="id_c77e_ba52_b312_6a93" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9GMQPNim5Y8YwMCq6coJ7F__7cExoJjqWyDZs21Sir685oZ2S4T-v-QRL5uvhpAdUFQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 399px; height: auto;"><br><br>The next photo is closer to home...I spied this at our local ( but smallish) shopping Centre. How times have changed since my childhood and even the childhood of my children! </div><div>Looks fun! And the grownups don’t even need to rummage for coins! </div><div><img id="id_f879_539f_3e2e_134e" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/AtyjnBFrdnSMK7fyY8PD1PqAdJgGppDo2e7qWhV1ayhN1xrjwrnN-IoQGisb4etyBhg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 384px; height: auto;"><br><br>Yep! Just tap the credit card! <br><img id="id_c104_7df4_daad_3de2" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/vqZkUTTr5lBtBJT8YQdNe1PtoWtRBEownukAoFBJai-9kWD-3myAEUb6Oqt6Bhf_boI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 338px; height: auto;"><br><br>Last Sunday was Palm Sunday which means palm leaves and palm crosses! </div><div><img id="id_609f_4ded_7d2b_ca98" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/le6foJdEvcaTonVjtwD9F02NcxUpg43sUdTCO9xxMp3rY-Wg0Yy5uZBv1bNWKjgBMv8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 263px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_6d05_a70a_da4f_af03" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AIrjmViLWZx_vOOAjbIhJeGtuWFf0RRaQu97mCvbCuW7wLPqv1zFw9BxCMLsnHBQl_c" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 275px; height: auto;"><br><br>We have a granddaughter who lost a leg due to sepsis. Here she is in a green dress having fun on a green slippery slide. </div><div><img id="id_159f_20c8_5ee3_5fd1" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/CCTcgzGirh3zfLDazvLcsvwbXXxfbhuHO0nuAcUPImk9Vg_zK3FyRCR-UTSHf69z7kU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 355px; height: auto;"><br><br>My friends in the Sunday Stitchers group found out that there is an Amputee Awareness Month so in November 2019 they honored Carrie at our monthly meeting by presenting me with 2 bags of story books for her. How special are these lovely ladies. </div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_1f5c_e699_fd37_8232" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NmjL0Jf84AX970eox60lnN2hurnSPdFdtO0bTP2u8UUGg1g8HjVAv3-rxT15w3ftSgY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 348px; height: auto;"><br><br>The last photo is a meme attributed to John F Kennedy that I shared on my FB page a few years ago. For many years DsD1 and her husband lived on a grazing property and I naturally started to take an interest in the farming/grazing sector so I could be more informed of what the lifestyle entailed. </div><div><img id="id_1464_3418_12cb_e482" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/2YOaCKPI7syIH50nr_vJFAmcK0_87ksSbvRxIDq7bfE1mXVMmnREJA4wh2YR0WVG4jU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 351px; height: auto;"><br><br>How true this is! <br><br></div><div><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-23455922825675614232021-03-13T23:27:00.001-08:002021-03-14T03:24:13.802-07:00Life in Colour. Once again joining in with Jude over at her Travel Words blog for the monthly feature, Life in Colour. This month’s colour is green. This week, Jude has written a post <a href="https://traveltalk.me.uk/2021/03/14/life-in-colour-13/" id="id_a8d0_147_3f7a_4277">here </a> about trams/streetcars, with their stunning green paintwork of course. Her photos of these lovely old beauties are just wonderful! <div>My post this week features an eclectic/hotchpotch of ‘greens’. 💚🟢🟩</div><div><br></div><div>Once I had a very bright fresh looking tablecloth for our rather large outdoor table...</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_352b_8017_32ed_c562" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/GWXPK0ewkrQEUOJpMIkRbQNFU90MDl2WdsY6-rrJs9IuR-T4yznYBRFeAxGsv16re6c" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 391px; height: auto;"><br>The grandchildren liked to count all the different greens in those stripes.</div><div>I still have that cloth, but time has taken a toll on that brightness...</div><div><img id="id_e0ab_49ae_eaa3_9ad9" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/zVar96w-DEStp_sUzkjugRo5PXsRAbw3yNQk5TAzXa1LZI9aHLTPTJCkQ9rZXiDfFEY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 315px; height: auto;"><br><br>Here we are one afternoon last month. Miss 5 has joined us after school for some afternoon tea. The cloth may be faded but look at that very new school uniform...yep! Greens! </div><div><br></div><div>Next, is half way around the world from here. The lovely green painted metal ( and shopping baskets) at Borough Markets in London. </div><div><img id="id_270a_c7d8_9368_de2a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/02B_9Uw6g2dF9HGUdWxnkhtLJ3ECKGpgvXbq7560wle_ifV4X79TilOYY1lSrKVkLbY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 402px; height: auto;"><br>Lovely memories of a holiday in 2019. We took cheeses, breads, deli meats and fruit from the market back to our holiday apartment in Chelsea. <br><img id="id_b4e4_7f6b_7401_ee0f" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/603hyOjIMO2VEO3muG_lTsGt7GCBrrntF_cZlhSlRPv9onWpXk4rfKTplOyJuUCuxCA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 422px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">And here is another green in my life...<br></span>With Covid-19 came library closures and suddenly I became a lot more enthusiastic about ebooks. I’d bought such books over the years but now I started to borrow them from the library. And BorrowBox is the app that most of the titles I was interested in were available. ( a few still used Overdrive as the reader) <br><img id="id_6a1a_e048_3919_59a6" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Ta-D9H3nOW6f2He-Ft1XFns2wxbCODiw2H5gtXllC0O3ckhw64LWOAp6hrpDAt1YUmg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 258px; height: auto;"><br><br>For me I still love the so called traditional Christmas colours which certainly include green. Last year I made some knitted wreaths as little gifts for friends...some were green...well maybe most were green! Lol</div><div><img id="id_3155_4e6e_e743_632d" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/P_m59VD9M7xnSuGSADLV0hsX05ecOgVqGtK7FPQirljuMpahos_-WSK8nHiGdZiGC6M" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 377px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_754e_eea6_9505_bbb6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/XdvJeDgymDTQyvFlv4V7i6FlOeqDZ7gSfJ2abXNnc6_vUQBRdRcGIuPBXRGtTbGkkIU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 319px; height: auto;"><br><br>A few years back I was shopping at a Christmas Market at the Karuna Hospice here in Brisbane and spied this elf. The amount of work involved in its making was impressive and the price quite rightly reflected this. But I’d fallen in love and it was a good cause, so the green elf came home with me. </div><div><img id="id_7830_48a_aed0_c865" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/WgQZocjy70PgOiDsxxZgtQn4M6JX23-LNN1AJI68m2RQRMf_B2nAo4_mCgKrPyPuYtI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 322px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">And I once pinned this next photo on my Pinterest Christmas board...</span></div><div><img id="id_6ab1_4a2d_872a_477f" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/HYIBBZZWR_7ETivtyvHYFTtgBvSihWvgkzlq8YZvgKO6ZV0go3wuBeL5VrslLSLIAvc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 394px; height: auto;"><br><br><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Now this next photo may look like a big pine undecorated Christmas tree, but looks are deceiving. It’s actually a phone tower in Hawaii. I took the photo through the window of the bus that had taken us on a tour of the island of Kauai. </span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><img id="id_3592_5ab8_bfff_7196" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_1AfnQd5jL6tPouICI7YscX-Yy8o_UWwrh5DGc8LSmmD-zriM5JVwfZ5xJ1h5NEBoDQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 329px; height: auto;"><br>What a great way to disguise a phone tower! </div><div>And there will be some more ‘greens’ from me next week. <br><br><br></div><div><br><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-16920525781279420002021-03-07T03:53:00.001-08:002021-03-07T05:28:39.904-08:00Life in ColourOnce again joining in with Jude of the Travel Talk blog for her <a href="https://traveltalk.me.uk/2021/03/07/life-in-colour-14/" id="id_ef84_22af_c872_2192">Life in Colour</a> monthly challenge. The colour for March is green. Jude posted some gorgeous photos. <div>So here are some of my ‘greens’...</div><div><img id="id_2a74_6423_d3ae_779e" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/8jpNfQoP2Gy0eNhB6elErCe051Uw2KxA48QL2mZsalI5UZDpLEU43u3oTxqDgV3R0zA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 390px; height: auto;"><br>The sign is outside the Eureka Centre and Museum in Ballarat, a city in Victoria which is part of the gold rush history of Australia. </div><div>And the next photo was also taken in Ballarat. This beautifully restored old tram runs on weekends. </div><div><img id="id_7ad6_a156_b952_74a9" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dwTTEeG8h8Un4JxvrLFUUjxXAhDlSQsoDRSs7SxlRLvd1hB5VgLZ0YYohW5w7Ip3A3Q" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 383px; height: auto;"><br><br>I’ve always associated Ireland with the colour green and when we finally got to visit the land of my forebears ( on my mother’s side), these green post boxes really stood out when you come from a country with red ones! <br><br><img id="id_fc3b_a625_4b01_78a3" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/0a2mXDIQrjAFjzkgUssRodQIT4hMjZ1vLvMTusQqZCTWMvoJVmCZfoRdLRhEFENOpz4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 384px; height: auto;"><br>So I guess it only followed that the postal vehicles would be green also. </div><div><img id="id_70e4_cdf0_2280_8045" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nSCeZIFtmYX-ItU_hQ--eAWoTeVxw_20OGfnbUtqouxxDgJIiuj7Gmy25mSkGVFaTU4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 470px; height: auto;"><br><br>How cute is that! </div><div><br></div><div>Talking of Ireland, there’s St Patrick’s Day which is also enthusiastically celebrated here in Australia. This was the morning tea spread that 3 of us put together for our stitching group’s monthly meetup one March. I think you can guess our theme. 😂 🇮🇪 </div><div><img id="id_8b44_71bd_fe2c_634e" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/IRQYFYtlg_7siyfyHFTrqZwvJJwOGSmNLUVZDI_JvRrzG3Nu7ds-YIGLecrcjfMR6CE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 397px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">And in the ‘new normal’ times we now live in, the ‘green tick’ is an essential step in gaining access to so many places. <br></span><br><img id="id_26a7_9081_a063_e236" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/HFFa9daF6H8e4EAHHaiscn6AkNO1aPJ9kr4RiempEBVbn5SmGPEzl9fZEVHy8owMK80" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 311px; height: auto;"><br><br>So there are some of my greens and as the challenge runs for the whole month, I’ll be back with more! 😜</div><div><br></div><div><br><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-1918407430023449892021-03-02T03:11:00.001-08:002021-03-02T05:00:49.869-08:00Monday Washing Lines...As I’ve started following Jude of the Travel Talk UK blog via email, today a new post popped up in my Inbox entitled ‘Monday Washing Lines’ which Jude was linking up with this theme on Andrew of Have Bag, Will Travel Blog. I just read the synopsis without opening Jude’s actual post and decided I’d look for clothesline photos I might have. I had great fun, even finding a photo that dated back to 1953! A lot of the photos were from my children’s childhood days and of course more recent photos taken in the backyard of my present home. <div>Then after I had this lovely time of finding photos, I then read both Jude and Andrew’s posts fully. </div><a href="https://traveltalk.me.uk/2021/03/01/monday-washing-3/" id="id_8bc8_b123_1ea8_2a85">Jude</a> ‘s post <a href="https://apetcher.wordpress.com/2021/03/01/monday-washing-lines-5/" id="id_5d0b_4a6f_a3be_f218">Andrew</a> ‘s post here. <div>Hmmm...I should have realised from the names of their respective blogs to realise they would be featuring more exotic locations of clotheslines than suburban backyards in Australia, duh! 😜</div><div><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It’s a weekly feature on Andrew’s blog and 2 of the posts that I checked out showed washing hung up in Villajoysa in Spain and Kotor in Montenegro. Jude’s post showed laundry hung up rather creatively on a balcony in Malta. So all in all, my collection is rather pedestrian. But I’m still going to write a post about washing lines that have featured in my life. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Perhaps one of the most significant clotheslines in my life’s journey, I have no photographic record of. It was in the backyard of a house I rented from 2000 till 2002 after I escaped a domestic violence situation. The house was 1930s vintage, shabby on the outside but freshly painted inside. The laundry was in a bit of a ‘lean to’ structure beside the back steps. The rotary clothesline had seen better days. The memory that stands out was a Saturday morning about 2 months after I started living in this house, and I was sitting on the back steps, gazing at the line full of washing that I’d just pegged out. A feeling of contentment came over me as I watched the items moving in the breeze and I knew I was going to be alright. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">So...now some clothesline pics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1953 Paddington, Brisbane. The back yard of the block of flats where my parents rented the ground floor flat. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img id="id_ccad_c467_1e65_a10a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IDCjk1Eiuzs9_vtt3jnwJchqr_s_7yTqssSMyQALZujli8kA1yFoSHDnrpHhXOuG-hI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 183px; height: auto;"><br>Dad and I are standing under the clothesline...it’s one of those awful old clotheslines where the lines were strung between posts in a T configuration and props were used to hold the lines up so large items wouldn’t drag on the ground. Here’s a pic I found on Pinterest showing a line loaded up with washing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img id="id_8b65_b292_231e_f804" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_Cg4Xk2sGyl4Id9B4Sc_Fmsljv-WjdidbbOsJejGMhVymkOtcVgHYugUOGNuofJLdk8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 312px; height: auto;"><br>When my parents bought a house in the mid 1950s this was the sort of clothesline that my mother had. She used that old thing until the early 1970s when she bought the rotary clothesline she’d always dreamed of. My father was of the opinion that if his mother didn’t have an item when he was growing up in rural Sicily, why should he buy such an item for my mother? That was completely disregarding the fact that his mother died in 1914 when he was 6 and let’s face it, labour saving devices tended not to have been invented when his mum was alive. After he died in 1967, mum bought a lovely new stove, an electric mixer, vacuum cleaner but didn’t get the clothes line or washing machine until later. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">In early 1972, my first husband and I moved into our own home which was 20 years old and you wouldn’t believe it...it had the old post and prop line. Our block was long and narrow and luckily the Hills Hoist people had rotary lines of various diameters so we got one to suit the narrowness of the yard. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">A corner of our Hills Hoist can be seen in this photo and the woman in the photo is my dear mother in law, Elsie. She would come up from Melbourne for a visit and would insist on helping around the house, including hanging out the washing like she is here. The toddler is DD2. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img id="id_f762_e036_1ab0_7f9f" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/kIFE1CHabrWoChy2Xwnj9h7AXcPpDyN_85l0q_n06PBiq6RWJKr08HaMXwggT5roeIc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 293px; height: auto;"><br><br>In this photo the girls are riding around under the clothesline. For some reason, DD1 is riding her old pink trike which she had as a toddler! It was that same trike that years earlier she had ridden down the external back stairs on a 2 storey house and suffered no injuries thank goodness! <br><img id="id_9e17_845_5dba_2a2c" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/E4UJV0OBHvkDP31lNY7HoaVgr95pRlNnhrJmE4WS63Ay7PhR4B-elJXSNbTCglPeWZU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 348px; height: auto;"><br><br>Here’s DD1 sitting on the back deck doing some painting. That clothesline is minus any washing though and on the right of the photo are those stairs that she rode down as a toddler. <br><img id="id_c7a6_f705_2147_4707" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/jnij8FlsYI5ey9J9t41kmj9Pa2TQMmwkPNqINOALl5eXhOJnJJSBmdmVcqmSTu2jnWw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 366px; height: auto;"><br><br>Now for more recent washing lines/clothesline photos. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I moved to this house to be with DH he had a very battered rotary clothesline which had been the victim of children and teenagers repeatedly swinging on said line. But pretty soon it would suffer even more indignity. My stepdaughters had a party and they placed a tarp over the line to make a covered area. They left the line covered after the party and went to bed with the idea of getting their dad’s help taking it off next day. It rained heavily in the early hours and the weight of the water in the tarp bent parts of the clothesline down to the ground. It couldn’t be saved so a new line was bought and installed. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our granddaughters love to play in our backyard and at this stage have not tried to swing on the line. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Holly likes to help get the washing from the line; grandpa unpegs the items and she puts the pegs in their basket and puts the towels in the laundry basket. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img id="id_fb83_8075_150e_5caa" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/3_iixib8dvRgmmdD5KpNDRhH0Tt4hUEio5u3-jyNp1m62Edgdz4xdGHZxnAehIATHoo" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 347px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><img id="id_76f0_f606_6df8_a3c4" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/AVggNot-1SL3iW9lu_x7JS-2hBjdUXATrgMP8LqIE0M97fofbxNYbnchajjkffcxg-A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 236px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_6071_b4eb_40b4_d46c" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/7qHxeiHqwfQuj_sGKQReOT9mLd5owKYkkmyhHeVfDXdBKWmoa8cWCRJ9xOT9EydI2hk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 348px; height: auto;"><br><br>Even the birds like the clothesline; it makes a good perch...nighttime </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img id="id_d54_4ac3_1f37_ad1f" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/jHKKQNA5I-eT7XbFa4uH2Vg2qmEf-UjPZpMwMHwD_5l9kSxaf2sWkHd6fhKaZzQmsXA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 339px; height: auto;"><br><br>And daytime...not a very good photo but it’s a kookaburra sitting on the clothesline and he/she was enjoying the ride as the wind was causing the clothesline to spin around. <br><img id="id_f3d8_8b33_3e09_e38b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xoLYCjWTBCJdXOJnbiGalpGS-sJJ08rI2wrYPtDKOmLTAEpWt3QxdplOgpq1H32SWbM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 301px; height: auto;"><br><br>So that’s my interpretation of ‘washing lines’. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br><br><br><br><br><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-16141268537665288462021-02-28T01:45:00.001-08:002021-02-28T02:46:01.327-08:00Life in ColourReading the latest post of Catherine at <a href="https://cranethie.com/2021/02/28/life-in-colour-on-" id="id_2446_dee4_3887_3090">Cathy @Still Waters blog</a> I found out about ‘Life in Colour’ <a href="https://traveltalk.me.uk/2021/02/07/life-in-colour-6/" id="id_96a9_3819_8863_31dc">here</a> where Jude from Travel Worlds has organised a photo challenge in which photos are posted which feature the monthly <font size="4">colour that has been chosen. February was yellow! I can remember colour challenges years ago and how much fun it was sorting through the IPad photo albums for the particular colour. </font><div><font size="4">So here are my ‘yellow’ themed photos. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4">Now that Miss A is at school, I’m getting reacquainted with school resources used in the classroom. Her school uses the THRASS ( Teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills) program which features a number of charts...printed on yellow. I ended up being trained twice in this program due to being transferred to a new school which was introducing the program to their students. Even though I already had certification, I did the 2 day course again. ( that wasn’t a hardship; 2 days off class and delicious morning and afternoon teas and lunches...what’s not to like! 😋😁) </font></div><div><img id="id_692d_df5c_e587_b46c" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/mqcfWWbNkQqEPatrbuXuThSBNgCEJD4xu7msaWR339WIjZB4eBQf4AfTTkmLFNTMp3Q" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 277px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Late last year I taught our eldest granddaughter how to play Guess Who...there’s that yellow colour again! </span></div><div><img id="id_b83d_d430_e434_d44d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9q3jA0MRCxm7GWIHrMhWIP5F0AA3CdsjIFkjRTiSh3e4dfVc2qvk3V59a0V1OJ877Vs" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 314px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span>Next photo shows GD #5’s outfit. Her daddy was 40 in November and as part of his celebrations, he organised matching outfits for his family. But DsD2 did not wear shorts made from this fabric. 😝<br><img id="id_cee3_7c1f_f4f3_fd02" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/SqDz3tE6rWTJ7UX6Di79p7jIVc4O7YTBxtp_sdeAI3p8Wvwco9wsxhjWv7EaryT1a0g" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 324px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span>A very indulgent breakfast of Egg Benedict. I’m fussy about Hollandaise sauce but this one was delicious. <br><img id="id_eadc_5b7f_d3de_4e20" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/n1FxPpdSl53Y5EfhEuxVauOT1UObuxNReIc02U25TassLQWOAeEZk6CajSeQiOyDaeE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 371px; height: auto;"></div><div><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">The sign in the consultation suite in Hearing Australia where DH was fitted with his hearing aids. </span></div><div><img id="id_56dc_c5e9_8651_b656" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lCSzFAVqpWbl_vNuWvTC2xGxAy1nXJlOMkEgqlVujXCYQ7L1iV9grEQLkve9QbPSYRg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 303px; height: auto;"><br><br><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">A Miss Emma Wiggle doll aka the Yellow Wiggle’ belonging to one of our granddaughters. <br></span><img id="id_cc80_112c_40ca_4ee" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lJIE_yxtjcqp1NYQqo9PJl08J9ScEgj3oGEPp9LWWQt4D0qzg-j2eu8tx02YaGKTEdk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 358px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">All my sharp items including that yellow rotary cutter, gathered up ready to hide from visiting granddaughters who love to cut things like paper, wool and fabric that I probably don’t want them to cut! <br></span><br><img id="id_27b5_669b_cbe5_d068" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xM6xYUwXR-PimSRkZtYJIi1MfFo2XVje3M5AozZFDG8vQZmBlL_BdCaCuDPojcwEqWA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 343px; height: auto;"><br><br>A yellow shopping bag full of bags of lollies and Miss A is helping me fill mini Christmas stockings with sweets ready for distribution to community groups that help the needy. <br><img id="id_30_8caa_3663_11d3" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/fS_saOUY9ktamLYagFN43bJsGKZUdSSFrvL1XEOzwWDSfK8QqXdxQKK5mEJdHFPxK2s" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 358px; height: auto;"><br><br><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Yellow sandal-shod feet peeping out from my pantry cupboard. 😜 Just a little someone waiting to open the door and shout, ‘Boo!’<br></span><img id="id_dc54_38e4_91b8_50a6" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/VfDIi9c3RMrURXfb7ED3n5-j6I5hiXQjUXoUjiW3CZ-wO_3taj2dxofcAHqWK8oVtVQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 374px; height: auto;"><br><br>When DH and I were in Sweden I bought a Pippi Longstocking doll. I decided that the doll would be GD Holly’s gift last Christmas and bought this book to go with it. DD2 especially loved the gift that her daughter received as she loves Pippi too! <br><img id="id_5b4e_2871_ad59_ad71" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/fwmh9OAVPHJKNFPY7yRp9zBxQDecgwoNtKauNuxxPWGJlG6E2xBKzzvhFYaFLTvLXZQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 366px; height: auto;"><br><br><font size="4">One of the squares that I ordered from </font><a href="https://www.naturesface.com.au/about/" id="id_a500_a70d_59d2_3677">Naturesface</a><font size="4"> Art in Kuranda, except it’s not a square. Gerhard sent this rectangle as he’d run out of squares. The fabric prints are all from his nature photography. </font></div><div><img id="id_59e5_df4_5aae_a648" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/EYxotScI3a9FeKHNkVs6nIbmpVTQ7-t_-BDrdUfvBOD0GGCSqJykbsAkTsAfZTyOdhc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 351px; height: auto;"><br><br><font size="4">And one more! This is a mini quilt that I received in a swap quite a few years ago...the theme was Summer and Ilene who was my swap buddy said she heard the song ‘Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ on the radio and that was her inspiration. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><img id="id_5bd5_d21b_ded5_ecf2" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/mHXMoGyIxvXwZ3XQtZnnqDjtQoCra6IqbK5o8sXugKaXXFQpDVAijy-34pH5GJAM3Zo" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 401px; height: auto;"><br>And there you have it...yellow! </div><div>And I find I’m really looking forward to March’s colour! <br><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><font size="4">Thank you for your comments on my blog</font></div> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-72413707547212386342020-12-31T19:59:00.001-08:002020-12-31T19:59:27.374-08:00Wool on New Year’s Day! Or should that just be, Wool on Friday? What’s my latest finish in all things yarny? <div>A few weeks before Christmas, I finished a knitted baby blanket which was to be a gift to DsD1’s friend Amy whose first baby was due before Christmas. The parents knew the gender of their coming baby but preferred to keep it a surprise for the rest of us. <div>I’d worked with a particular variegated Holiday yarn with pretty shades before, and had 2x100g in the ‘stash’, so decided to use it with some white Stylecraft Special, to make a simple ripple striped blanket. </div><div>Baby Alyssa surprised everyone by arriving a little earlier than expected, but another week of knitting saw the project finished. </div><div><img id="id_267d_b5e8_7cd0_3980" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/5CksIW2K-UZdgAEDmAuCKrZ0kUfK845asAaHo8h3AFZOxXDAfpLG-9cgzB3tqhs" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 342px; height: auto;"><br><br>I’m glad I chose that yarn as the colours go just perfectly with the white. </div><div>Before I wrapped it, DH decided to ‘model’ it for me. 😁</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_de4c_3bc3_6435_5ae1" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/d0Lozy_xgClE1_-RXE8wIXnYGe59NYTL4O7ZJ1rmL1rFnMSaQjj43yIBc7cavxw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 349px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span>I’m having a lovely quiet day this New Year’s Day. Being a Friday, DH is off playing golf so I’m enjoying just pottering...a bit of knitting, some packing away of Christmas decorations, sharing morning tea with Jimmy the dog, some decluttering, a lot of thinking about what I can do in the garden this year, a bit of reading...it’s amazing how much pottering one can fit into the 6 hours while DH is out golfing! 🤣<br><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-15776356722078224222020-12-31T04:11:00.000-08:002020-12-31T04:11:18.040-08:00Some of my 25 Days of Christmas posts...Eight years ago a friend suggested I join her in a project that she called ‘25 Days of Christmas’ where each day, starting on December 1, we would post a photo on Facebook with a Christmas theme. Little did I know that I would continue to do this for these past 8 years and my friend dropped out eventually when other matters in her life were more pressing. As I had changed my Instagram account to Private this year, I decided to also post the photos on that too. This brought my little project to the attention of a former principal with whom I had worked 16 years ago and she was inspired to do her own series. E’s posts were from different perspectives from mine and they really inspired me to branch out a little as they say. <div>This year’s photos prompted lots of comments from others, and, best of all, they shared their memories with me. </div><div>Here are some of those photos...not in any particular order though. </div><div><br></div><div>When I wrote the post that went with this photo, so many people commented about their childhood <font size="4">dolls. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><font size="4"><img id="id_6ed7_3b5c_7cbe_bc55" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/F1eEgWvRx8jQI31Q_zTh4vy9Jhdrt2XIeY1G1cc943YOKl44HHeSy3w7wE8lvDk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 408px; height: auto;"><br>Here’s what I wrote...<br></font><div><div>25 Days of Christmas; Day 20</div><div>It was Christmas 1959 and my parents surprised me with the gift of a large doll. I was rapt because I’d always wanted one as I only had stuffed toys and 2 small dolls. I called her Suzy. On the same day I received her, somehow Suzy fell on to the floor and a gaping crack appeared on her head running from the top of her head, behind her ear to her neck. I was mortified and was too frightened to tell my mum as I would have got the strap. I remember that I put sticky tape ?? over the gap and put a bonnet on Suzy’s head which I never took off! 😬🤣</div><div>John East ( our neighbour at the back) would have agreed that my mum was scary 😂</div></div><div><br></div><div>Thanks to E, I started to look wider afield as to what Christmas meant...and here in Australia, it can mean the long summer holidays! This memory went back to the early 90s. This is what I wrote...</div><div><br></div><div><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">25 Days of Christmas; Day 16</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">Here in Australia, the word Christmas also conjures up thoughts of the long summer school holidays. In the early 90s Liz, Jen and I had a memorable holiday in Cairns when we visited my BFF who had moved there. Having a very limited budget, we travelled by Greyhound bus which had the cheapest fares. (I wasn’t teaching at that time and earned very little running an OSHC centre) </span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;"> I took little surprises, crafts, puzzles etc to help pass the time on the long journey. The girls were so good...no complaining whatsoever. In Cairns we had the best time; visiting Kuranda, Port Douglas and even snorkeled on Arlington Reef, to mention just a few of our adventures. We even found a family crypt with my family name in Mareeba! </span><span class="s2" style="font-size: 17.41px;">😄</span></p><p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s2" style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br></span></p></div><div><img id="id_11aa_8e14_f185_38f5" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/N1yFOLzRcLdhLNjEqWSE5L3n4Y0Ivv2tbtHTjVeloWiuFHkj8azIVyNHJDqoUos" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 388px; height: auto;"> <br></div><div>On another day I wrote about the joy I felt as a child, when a friend of my father ( and his wife) would give me a book for Christmas each year. Usually it was a Girls’ Crystal Annual and oh the memories when I found these photos on the Internet. The one on the left was my absolute favourite. </div><div><img id="id_c319_b52e_7c1a_f192" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/rChyKetxwTehx0M25VIr5s5fMkNqKIygbo8Sc5sqrpEjw_KQZR-KoKZRaEJ303I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 410px; height: auto;"><br>I described how after Christmas lunch, I would sit and read all my new books for hours...yes mum and dad always included books in my gifts too. To me, it was absolute bliss. </div><div>Friends commented on my post of similar experiences and many also had received Annuals from popular comics of the time.</div><div><br></div><div>Another post I wrote was how my 2 daughters have started a tradition with their daughters...making gingerbread biscuits together before Christmas. Miss Holly is very enthusiastic and very helpful in doing this, so maybe one day she will be in charge. 😜<br><img id="id_b05d_1720_b021_fc6e" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/VKF0XUnUq3h1zD5xxPNCZuROwj1hSqJLFl5JceJkRdKEDr2eaT1ih-5y93VrZuo" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 434px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Another post was to do with the Nativity at our church. Unlike Nativities at shopping centres, ours does not have the Magi in the stable until January 6, Epiphany. So those 3 kings make their journey gradually to the stable...<br></span><br><img id="id_9806_17e_590d_f56f" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/l2J_iFso1_SWfh86sThGFScBE9_tWz4IHQuMoAtDxJqHPpsELD-ukK-2I-74534" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 316px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div>Now this next photo collage got lots of comments. You see, this lovely shop, like a lot of Patchwork Shops, has been closed for many years. Commenters had lovely memories of this shop...as I do. </div><div><div><br></div><div>25 Days of Christmas; Day 15</div><div>In my first year of retirement in 2011, I enjoyed the extra time indulging in my crafting hobbies. So I was a regular visitor to the now long gone Patchwork Tree shop at Alderley and of course went to their Christmas in July and Christmas (in December 🎄) events. At each, Alison and staff put on an amazing spread, games with great prizes, a little stitchery to work on, Secret Santa gifts...and of course shopping the store! 😉😜</div></div><div><br></div><div><br><img id="id_6bcd_d536_d288_a654" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/M5H4NsItox6xfcMz2BsX61ftFVRG1YSUHjjYUtNw9o3zcjBZL9vY7NbtTtMNnTg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 387px; height: auto;"><br><br>The first few years that I did this series, it was really hit and miss what got posted. The last 3 years, I work during the year on getting a lot of my photos ready in an album on Facebook. Of course, there’s always room for new ideas etc to come up and be added. All great fun! Best of all are the discussions and memories that are prompted by my posts. </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-5691585739798265792020-11-11T02:15:00.001-08:002020-11-11T02:56:41.784-08:00Remembrance DayToday is Remembrance Day here in Australia; a day where we honour those who served in wars and in particular those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The date chosen is actually the day that was known as Armistice Day when finally WW1 ended. <div><img id="id_ca18_220e_a05e_cc48" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tXhxOLg_6pZo2dGPChlx05FOpHIQ8JYJV-AEttqdmbFVquBCIr5u_SzxI17-w0I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 481px; height: auto;"><br><br><div><br><div>It’s 9 years since I retired but I still remember the ceremonies that school communities would hold on both Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day. At my last school, Year 7 students would run the ANZAC commemorations and Year 6 would run the Remembrance Day ceremony. Being the Year 6 teacher for a few years, my classes and I worked hard to make each ceremony meaningful. </div><div><img id="id_24b6_5c9a_15dd_159d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5M6N8hG7AptaAyLlVbHO--YceOIMhxzkNlZsLI4xukq_L0ZPHO0JEEvd-DRqwvw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 516px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div>Due to COVID-19 restrictions, things have been different this year of course. I was always going to write a post about ANZAC Day 2020 but some how never got around to it...until today! </div></div></div><div>Due to lockdown restrictions, public gatherings for ANZAC Day were not allowed. Instead, Australians were encouraged to ‘Light Up The Dawn’ and stand in their individual front driveways with candles and follow the dawn services that were being streamed. </div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_8807_ba3f_c124_1a5" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/H85_090O3ogCBDRzxfkP9ej1J8diBzdrGSegVXHg9b7WFBB9wEd6KoO1x6LfY4s" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 329px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div>DH and I stood on our front verandah and various neighbours stood in their driveways and others stood on unit balconies. It was very poignant and as we participated, the sun rose. </div><div>We used battery operated candles...</div><div><img id="id_76ae_1e5b_211b_3961" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nrXT9AyanG10KiSN2lM4MOuqefREPF26ACZNhHrvPxRX8T5HgE2tWm1v4pmvCSE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 421px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_9b80_e94e_765f_b8e6" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ULjbGFG9tm8nKA7IMyNg4_YVE1-cWCfuSei8vukFjVIgnfJlwJh5V2ffrpZhrV8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 431px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">We streamed the RSL service on my iPad...</span></div><div><img id="id_c0a7_b90e_ba8c_7321" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DM-ajE89cOIb2A-C9W2LgdGN2C55AYD2ewb2GqsREN59kKV-Ac0h6LdcU7gk8M" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 336px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>A few days before April 25, inspired by photos being posted on Facebook, I decided to make some felt red poppies...<br><img id="id_64c9_6368_b3b6_b952" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Ujoru2nFw1eTcBIOvLxk00ioupJuTntgFd3TVZvJOssKJnGp1zCLbW1ZHf9ElsE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 322px; height: auto;"><br><br>And then I thought I’d have a go at making a wreath...</div><div><img id="id_8611_ad3a_19ea_cd47" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/E-gKkfNibD6BO1GePwRjqwFrXMhH1zdjoiW5aJpKgYzdE56JQFWeyQfgx6861uY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 378px; height: auto;"><br><br>And the 2 teddies I’d bought from Legacy stalls years ago were brought out and into service for ANZAC Day too. </div><div>Then I decided that I’d have a go at making a knitted wreath too! 😉</div><div><img id="id_1a21_6a0_8d2_7fc0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/O1VvwatuenJyvg29ORX_DnboPUb_wxO6Ck3Dl5K95fSBNfvwB0h3wco1Bmdcdc8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 311px; height: auto;"><br><br>So all in all, ANZAC Day 2020 turned out to be rather special. </div><div>Today, the ceremonies were televised once again as large gatherings are not allowed...unless it’s a football match...but that’s another story and I must resist the temptation to suggest that hypocrisy is alive and well! 🙄🙄</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-35241518827204106722020-09-27T17:07:00.001-07:002020-09-28T00:36:04.299-07:00Wool on Sunday...I noticed that Janine from the Rainbow Hare blog had just written a post for Wool on Sunday. As it’s been ages since I wrote any blog post, I thought I’d make an effort to remedy that situation. I have been pondering on the fact that I don’t seem to have done much in the knitting and crocheting situation this year, but I looked through photos on my iPad and found that perhaps I’d been a bit harsh with myself. <div>Early in the pandemic, I did some Christmas knitting...I made some knitted decorations. The photo is masked with a call out as some of the recipients of these read my blog. 😉</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_9418_dddf_c614_6e46" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/5N7c56cjvx-mDob9XIdKLXsyuSHS-4b5GkUjelvfLgOIiN9R56Fi6R33D8pocx4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 326px; height: auto;"><br><br>Because of the increased demand for warm items for the needy in the community, for many months I focused on joining donated squares into blankets for distribution. To this end, I also crocheted the most granny squares, I’ve done in many a year...with that ultimate goal of providing yet another blanket or two for Knitting for Brisbane’s Needy to distribute. </div><div>In the next photo, I have sewn some donated circles on donated squares. The circles were a bit wonky and squaring them up would have also made a square that was a bit open. </div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_da30_4256_8f5_36ec" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/TZtWszJ0H7m_72JWFE6EEBKcpv5Y4XSzz2DGFhgvGArSZ-lvOW0H-0zU8H98VVk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 380px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Some more of the blankets I put together for K4BN; I used bright colors, that’s for sure! <br></span><br><img id="id_6a3f_ba29_30b3_2bb6" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/T4T1FVhgfiQ4qyM-Yw-CuEFHkzfWos8Nj-hj9NJsUm9ZQREHmRvfnLWHKKgu_mw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 324px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><img id="id_e349_742a_a574_8588" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/TQ3EjlXHbWDQXIMPe6yUDG0nifAU7A_664t4VMT8Sy-T14-8KXz4-enZum6xLPI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 365px; height: auto;"><br><br><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><br>I think that my tally for blankets was 11...but it could have been more. </div><div>At one stage I started a baby blanket using oddments of yarn. The plan was to make it to donate to K4BN, but a week or so after I started I found out that my nephew and his wife who live in Sydney, had had a new baby daughter about 6 weeks before. ( my brother thought I knew so didn’t bother to tell me...hmmm 😜) So the newly started blanket suddenly became baby Zali’s gift and I quickly finished it ready for posting. </div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_1a09_3e75_1af1_2f39" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/c8EGJpxttNUZPDbupVreP5CKVoe5zcktwL2MfsVnfg7n2l_uO1fEi7q3htYIQQw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 334px; height: auto;"><br><br>And then there was the throw that I knitted for our parish art and craft show, which this year was all online. DH warned me that it probably wouldn’t sell as being a photo in an online catalogue isn’t the same as seeing such an item in ‘real life’, but I wanted to feel as though I was contributing to our parish’s main yearly fundraiser. And it didn’t sell which meant I could take it to Sunday Stitchers that month as my Show and Tell. And of course, I have a throw available to give away if the need arises. At Sunday Stitchers, the lovely Helen took this next photo of me holding up the throw. </div><div><img id="id_ca55_1c64_7811_89b5" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/wB4Q1HKV3ajm4m1fpehGSjqY9agXftUGa_aq-cn9ia85hNVipsIOXUYtCQzcsHM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 369px; height: auto;"><br><br>With the restrictions on meetings due to COVID-19, our regular Knit and Natters were discontinued for a time. Eventually a very, very small number of venues were reopened with strict protocols in place and with very restricted numbers. But at one Knit and Natter, we started bringing a chair and having an alfresco Knit and Natter beside the car park of the library venue. ( With the social distancing regulations, only 4 of us could meet IN the library...so that would NOT have worked!) </div><div><img id="id_c237_a68_f9f5_58f6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/suLnEd5GoGnuQRA199ZltERC6qlyvBi5L8DY4eA6Xm_cfJ3OrF0Am1vVwhOiCNM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 368px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_d92f_6693_c917_babc" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/lg8NiC8e-yHYJOA7Qc3wFnH7ELCwY_AF7jtubsQowWw5zYMeXoGtAYzUz_LE7uk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 370px; height: auto;"><br><br>And in these strange times I decided to use as my knitting bag, a bag I bought from the merchandise counter at The Addams Family Musical. It seemed appropriate 😉😜</div><div><img id="id_86da_753f_6ae6_aa92" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/x0VuTbTvakTtBCQUOYXgBAZhJ-7r1dO325g_jTGuHlCtyU1gblgiPb3b02PcFRw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 337px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_e2c1_7274_13a9_6cf" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/tfoe-bc4GJuTB2ekh1bxnSQcvQbjDCKekbC4juiuU-OzQKHu0Et901I4nnhQ_9U" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 331px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-88426214526807060502020-07-15T05:48:00.001-07:002020-07-15T05:48:48.823-07:00Wool on...any day ending with a ‘y’. From February 2016 I wrote dozens of monthly posts titled Wool on Sundays. The idea of bloggers sharing posts about fibre arts such as knitting, crocheting and stitching was the brainchild of Janine who organised the link ups through her delightful Rainbow Hare blog. <div>Times and directions change, and this forum for sharing ‘yarny’ projects is no longer a formal monthly feature. And even though I’ve been a bit slack at blogging in recent times, I’ve found that I really miss chatting about projects. So here’s my version, Wool on any day of the week! Lol</div><div><br></div><div>In a previous post written in the last month, I showed some photos of blankets made for Knitting for Brisbane’s Needy; a combination of crocheted squares given to me and some granny squares made by me. The solid squares made by my friend Susan were perfect for a plan I’d finally come up with on how to use a big bundle of crocheted motifs that had been passed on to me a few years ago. </div><div><img id="id_7070_7174_d847_f4d4" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Nb6QZ_CssyARSDiCjpPom1NO2rLlyaQKSldYVhUsYP4UEJpNFehC3p0k5jKAhEc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Originally I thought I’d square them up by crocheting more rounds. But I went off that idea as the motifs were quite thin which I thought would not make the resultant blanket warm for the homeless. So I’ve stitched them to the solid squares; the stitches disappearing into the crocheting, so the backs of the squares are neat. </div><div><img id="id_f381_c51b_306c_c30e" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-85hh3e3wtoTh-fKUR2jz3unA4Uqi03vj47wargYCPkfA2gk6TMiyvozJnF83hg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>All the squares laid out ready to be joined together...<br><img id="id_ba87_99e7_8ece_37d6" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/HmHjdToTePRn27kKQYfivxqrSixKIG1rIsw_c1jggE9CP31gpnVA2k_DQ0YrX7c" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>Finished blanket ready to keep someone warm. <br><img id="id_4470_9ad7_2694_6e95" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_3cVf0B0xVcI40-sKZ-cgYHJGpOsmxHBkL56MHHTy1Okk-lD7NCq3FWSCaIGxlA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>A few months ago I bought some Bendigo Woollen Mill’s Classic 8 ply online. It took a while to arrive which wasn’t surprising as on the BWM Facebook page they showed a photo of huge wire bins full of parcels ready to be posted. The company had been overwhelmed with the support from knitters all around Australia. And apparently the orders are still coming in as witnessed by this recent FB post. </div><div><img id="id_5566_3202_bbdc_538b" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/RpYCatA1kfJ5PNpVdD7FMx3MbXqSqimnPyHTDTpAVDcxoxFxyI_QUzP8wmV4vsU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>Some incredible statistics there! And this is what I’m making with my order...the variegated Shepherd yarn was in my stash...completely forgotten about for a number of years too 🙄😉</div><div><img id="id_aba2_a434_363c_1cb6" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/GTz9huTP_51eIir3Pqt3QNbx5HDu-XdKQdDEmHdreE-yAefUx2oEEaxsvW27ScM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>It’s lovely working with wool again. <br><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-26897833361300144272020-07-10T22:09:00.001-07:002020-07-10T23:40:29.568-07:00Easter 2020...In a way my story of this year’s Easter started back in early March. I bring out the Easter decorations early now that we have grandchildren, as they love to help set them up and love hearing the stories behind some of the older pieces. <div>We had been in the habit of taking Anthea out on an ‘adventure’ each Thursday and one of our last Thursdays before Lockdown, we went by bus to Toombul Shoppingtown. Riding in a bus is an adventure in itself for the grandies! </div><div><img id="id_8947_8c64_3b9c_dea" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cyjf2xGyl2P9UMrgicbz26W8WVIuMQpxZoHo6_9VEMi0HTRYfhUhMLOaPhrDkJA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>And of course morning tea was on the agenda when we got to the shopping centre. </div><div><img id="id_186a_6f0b_27db_6783" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/TVFGfgPnXkNFQPHsACpiAbI_5MIkGfvC7eFUDhgepT-siVN-fxVjPcS5GPasnVU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Of course a ride on the escalator painted in rainbow colours was a must as well 😄! </div><div><img id="id_cab1_ffc8_860e_ed3a" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/nnIxNlEbBCAQu9c2EG25LZzAIYK2jbIG4Y9LhGZzXHhBGLGGDAYcTsHu3UskwIo" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>I love the decorations that Bed Bath and Table sell, so the next stop in the centre was in that shop. The plan was to let Anthea choose an Easter decoration to start her own collection. As in every other year the store had the most beautiful items on display for sale. I have to admit that I tried to steer her away from the snow globes because of the glass but she really had fallen in love with one...so after discussing how careful she would have to be, we bought it. </div><div>Back home at our place, she was just so delighted with her gift. </div><div><img id="id_861f_b873_d48a_c481" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/i2BPDe9QiD_yTFOrJNvmawTrtFrVNyVFjapZiN0HNwqc7rSqCTBctNP71aBu08U" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>A few days later Anthea and her little sister came for a visit and with their help, we started decorating the hutch. </div><div><img id="id_c445_5ef_b6d5_3484" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/d8cna8ndfmicOY_gtohE0LipYgVCl71g7CMqC1AH7Zg_q60lq10CCY4HNw8SKAQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_22f1_6feb_a046_e03d" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/n9zUuoFHNCYPVnrTcSMIIj-PHhUJytpy-rd4bSEFeYD5edcrGXhzOn_oERNcM8c" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_7d46_90a4_5bbe_5021" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/lqNg4EuG84_2lwPeVAq47XRIH2uN4AFHgisqtLQBD17r80hSouiEC0Zzmd9M5No" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>And it wasn’t long after that, that we went into Lockdown. So I rearranged the display slightly and put some of the more fragile ( and sentimental) pieces on lower shelves. There was no risk of accidental breakages lol. </div><div><img id="id_7ce6_ed09_6c29_93cf" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ENv86bx_BcRCCte9PVlmLYSZaqRHUrp3wpa2EgPKV3p6T4YuI8S3goVuWQCxxyE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>As Easter got closer, I went out and found some lovely Easter eggs in a quiet local shop. I made up 5 packages for the granddaughters plus some for our neighbours. Luckily our out of town grandie was in Brisbane for appointments so we were able to give her her package in person. Two of the other households, we did drive bys and left them on doorsteps. The drive to Kallangur was actually breaking the regulations as it isn’t a near suburb, but we didn’t see any roadblocks on the highway to or from there...phew! </div><div><img id="id_2ca5_ee42_8129_cfd3" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/zshWuKtqKTKH0oGkuneSClZaWZFoM9NHOglbZ7ifjGFCVsLb4jHujOFs7UdsFxw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>I used the last of the bunnies that I bought at a sale a few years ago. They held the little eggs. <br><img id="id_2f36_ae9c_86cd_70e3" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/fVz0ubzLyJy68SUoMgau9fOxGFMKcgTx5_0AjR25v_k_QZHqiIE17h2jrZ2yhNE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Just before Easter, restrictions eased to 2 visitors as long as it was either in your own suburb or adjoining ones. So we went to morning tea at DsD2 and her family’s place taking the Easter treats we had for the girls. </div><div>Nom nom chocolate 🍫😜! </div><div><img id="id_7ee4_8037_cddc_9194" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/swxSqc1MBahGMwAv4HlFwb8RgA_vGvCLU1ML-Eh2RNPuVOPFpPmsZWQJxeUUQvk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_9aec_7a33_d2dd_a50c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cB6xJYGnnnZNqGLmq0g6vnkzwJVpamirY7LGL5WzCTo114MvOcPDN7vZPpKvkAY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>We had some FaceTime with Miss Holly and her mum so she could tell us how much she liked her package that we’d left at their place. <br><img id="id_90a_89ef_fc21_63e" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/boXEOKilQLB7ZhT_bWalWExF-OWl4qAjekoKGfYWgC76zpqGlO98lKqx3BOcykA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>I wore my bunny ears for that session. </div><div><img id="id_c254_1826_674c_ae6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wq6UINjG-p_PXWZo0t_mND9tS-_3EI9xxm90kv9HszyntUM-IHHDD8NBCbIb9Zw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>We joined in Zoom services for Good Friday and Easter Day...and maintaining a little tradition in our parish, the females all wore hats/Easter Bonnets. </div><div><img id="id_86a3_5309_2113_5ae1" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Zsy03h16AymGwj7QM7dlOlaNzIan2AKzlihtWSbsIbq-cEWfTYBOxMWpgX5mpWU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_88e4_d17_c26a_e069" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Dnmq0L-C8DTC5yJot-FssrCt-W9BMYxk0OrPNGhwBeMjCvwp3f15n5OawVGWlEg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>And our neighbour came and joined us for the Easter Day service...</div><div><img id="id_2a9e_18eb_12d2_e29d" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/84EBKx0O6zFNUm7YtTUJ6JdAH-xoITf5QEOTBLsekRuKaxPNj0UrV4rkKV41FaQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>So there you have it...our Easter 2020. It was certainly different but the essential elements were still there albeit a lot different. <br>For our children and their families, Easter was very different this year. Most years they go away for the 4 days but travelling was banned so they all stayed home. The 2 families who camp couldn’t, as parks and grounds were closed, as were barge services to favourite islands such as Moreton and Fraser. Since retiring, DH and I rarely travel at Easter any way as accomodation is always at higher prices, so we had usually travelled in off peak times. <br><br></div><div> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-10757902048425899942020-07-04T17:39:00.001-07:002020-07-04T19:16:39.021-07:00Lots of ‘firsts’...I’m gradually recording the life changes and adaptations that have occurred in my life throughout the lockdown, social isolation and social distancing measures caused by the Pandemic. Pondering has become quite a big thing in my life and one conclusion I’ve come to is that life in recent months has been a whole series of ‘firsts’. In this post I’ll write about one of the first ‘firsts’ that occurred...worship in a pandemic. <div>Like many parishes, we went online. Firstly we tried out a free version of the Zoom app but that is limited to 40 mins per session, but it was good to get a feel for the technology. A lot of us were familiar with FaceTime and Skype but many parishioners weren’t. But even our 90 year olds started to embrace the system. Very soon, the parish moved to a paid version of the app (paid for by the Diocese so we were no longer restricted to 40 min meetings) and not only was it used for services, but also parish meetings and training sessions for our trainee priest placement. </div><div><br></div><div>Palm Sunday was a ‘first’. I wanted DH and I to have the little palm crosses so I had looked around the garden for leaves I could use as we don’t have a Queen’s palm tree that is traditionally used. I thought, dianella, liriope or lomandra leaves could be used but thought I might try strips of the leaves of the pony tail palm which apparently isn’t a palm tree after all. </div><div><img id="id_eb65_f3a1_6fa8_9771" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZlHKksKhGgKRAbOIGIpnVdKLEKXLMaMjgb92BbNMOvboe5WVGxunDqAu5sEZ_s" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_5474_995c_6317_8a04" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/RCWU3reMZOEUGBhZHyS5Iqm4Ab4J6az_Of3F36RzhaQBn1GBbsz_BVw0o97VNYg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>It worked perfectly! I used what I had available and it had worked. But I’d been prepared to try those other leaves if it hadn’t worked out. You know that old saying about ‘necessity’ and the ‘mother of invention’. <br><img id="id_e35e_b77e_a14f_d75" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/wNiIFGG_BzqfopA_e5d43UFb8W01iI8tXUK2FKj-bc-g6c2-0H3ACEwVLkFL48I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>And I cut a frond off another palm-like tree which was self-sown years ago in our backyard to place behind our chairs in lieu of the normal Palm Sunday procession. </div><div><img id="id_a184_7177_aa3f_3e24" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/XidBTcENsmGIEwf1FAuBVQ1jqlbDWPk1Jo6POqzVZNWmkcowkJ2ex6WB84anq5Q" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>We used an iPad for the Zoom meeting which only has room on the screen for 9 participants. You have to scroll sideways to see everybody. But some people used their PCs and this friend with a large monitor sent us all this photo. <br><br><img id="id_dc68_c112_a07_e8dd" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9Uxgbuw7REbeT3KoIkSSz-1QKhfBfOl5tDrUXGtQTSRN1g1gKO8OX0pVS-gVKTc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>And through the wonders of Zoom, we had Bishop Jeremy as a guest preacher. We were all in different places but could be ‘together’ in another sense. </div><div><img id="id_d69f_995_8784_bfdd" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/6nC7PymHLTMsr1Hqc-ICMQ5fScqBHaNYAucEKY_sJFHVJqtLCnRmm7awA8PM2fg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Soon I’m going to write a post about Easter 2020 and there will be ‘firsts’ in that too! </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-73459069963576964472020-07-04T04:45:00.001-07:002020-07-04T05:41:42.677-07:00Family celebrations After COVID-17 LockdownsSo I’ve already written a post about 3 family birthdays we celebrated this year before COVID-19 changed so much. <div>It was DsD2’s birthday in early April when no one was allowed visitors in their homes. Our son in law made a cake and the little family of 4 celebrated this event. </div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_e04c_a1d3_53ad_6aaf" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/2x_7QV-aQUVbBowpZ3ghQHzeNocYmTQ2Ipu34xnwncoGiQvC9Lu01eFdHCMC0eU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 355px; height: auto;"><br><br>It had been organised that the rest of the family would sing Happy Birthday to DsD via FaceTime from our respective homes. </div><div>And then we were able to watch the candles blown out...</div><div><img id="id_a6ba_25e3_a861_92e2" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/tUVNLBBUp2L_azIBmP5gtUt5NZO85JmJys8NdEnfqlC7B-uomCixjf-DQ1UQGrk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 330px; height: auto;"><br><br>And then we watched the cake being cut and watched enviously as the slices were eaten...😀<br><img id="id_3596_bd71_68ae_4b28" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3-Pl4t6LOYjuRnz5FFnmArxhiZ8-2-AMjUo0xj0DRygHxn82RFOxs0VuC6rpHkM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 334px; height: auto;"><br><br>In May it was my turn to celebrate a birthday. By then restrictions had eased a little and people could have 2 visitors to their home. DD1 and Carrie were the first to come on a visit to help me celebrate. It was on DD1’s day off, a week before my actual birthday. DD1 organised lunch from a local fish and chip shop, delivered by Uber. </div><div><img id="id_6cfc_b9e3_12c6_3eaf" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/b4dIabH366S5GxPITtuQ33TAFDxpsBh3HfUqawTp1zRzsqRzi8EWcXnHppqKxJ4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 451px; height: auto;"><br>It was lovely spending time with them.</div><div>On the night before my birthday I had 2 surprise visitors...DH had known they were coming. Anthea and her mum had made me a cake and delivered it to me. </div><div><img id="id_7cfc_c5dc_3548_be3" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ATmmjLL3jwlLNRwko76R-0nEUJ46H2-O2m2wsOY4BSnKRyo8b9zzZtnfSbYDKqA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 371px; height: auto;"><br><br>Naturally we all had a slice there and then! It was a delicious carrot cake with yummy cream cheese icing.</div><div> </div><div>That next night, DH organised a takeaway for 2 from my friend’s cafe...lasagne ( my friend’s mum’s recipe), salad and for dessert, tiramisu. So out came the candles and the fancy glasses...</div><div><img id="id_10f0_dad4_da0d_4487" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/YPOuDu7NSRPUoylzKr44mFSdAoIy62p3pU2vKDwGUzlaf-kNhJ_NsMKAS303_Cc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 412px; height: auto;"><br>At 7pm, the family came on Zoom, and sang Happy Birthday to me. Then we chatted for quite a while as they wanted to know what sort of a day I’d had. <br><img id="id_2445_6e1f_f61d_f313" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/mUbxvJQYlve9wYtv_OZjfWnXNZtbOF_6I1e7YqCR9nCv1E3zwxBQuURYXFFhUTc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 409px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">DsD3 had stopped by in the morning of my birthday to drop off a gift from 5 of the family...</span></div><div><img id="id_5f32_cd2a_36fa_5258" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/UQ_kv4MuYy7eG9Msmoi-rlJyDUUKoEhOmd3AORBPA7O4GNJPv8MlA4gLgV_0NcM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 302px; height: auto;"><br>Always a winner with me! <br>The next day, DD2 and Holly came to celebrate my birthday, bringing morning tea and gifts...I was still being spoiled. </div><div><img id="id_688a_8a3b_5148_e87a" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/gvhsSzyAWF5l_mO4Ux3lOkyklxow9A1fh4VB3ESy32qg9ymL_HJ4cptFuv_nhQ0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 374px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div>DH’s birthday was at the end of May and restrictions had eased even more...by then you could have 5 visitors. So we had 2 sessions, half the family at each; a roast dinner on the Friday night and a takeaway on Saturday lunch time. ( we had 2 little girls at both sessions as their mum was working on the Saturday) </div><div><img id="id_340d_e160_61b6_98a2" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/OAtbWex3xbMzip_X5WhZWDrgaL1jsJyS5bg4ismQrDgzGnBaUs8T0ztCV345RM0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 425px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span>DsD2 made a beautiful (and large) chocolate cake for the Friday night so on Saturday I just turned the cut part away from the camera and we had the candle on top for DH to blow out. <br><img id="id_8142_7f63_2d0d_2878" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YhY3Feq5SFniUDrjXcq56J0uCy5qRtzU3LJQxJWDmaLgQkSGXQNf4pGY6NI_ySY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 433px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>So now we are in July and once again restrictions in my state have eased considerably more than in late May. We can now celebrate in clubs, pubs and restaurants and can have up to 100 at our home. DH says even our family isn’t that big! Lol <br><br></div><div>Later in May on a week day when our local Bunnings tends to be quiet, I had fun spending my birthday gift card...</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_450d_1b4a_60_cf60" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/GHzJ_B9zkbrnOhdmfhDI4UDKmc4uD7pT8eaAuBCe28hzpTZLqnuZFVDJ9Tifi1I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 325px; height: auto;"><br><br>I wonder how we will celebrate the 2 family birthdays in September? </div><div><br></div><div><br><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-66741607503923077972020-07-02T03:48:00.001-07:002020-07-02T04:29:28.329-07:00Joining in some Isolation Games In early April I came across a group on Facebook known as Bin Isolation Outing and decided to join in. The premise of the group was that due to Lockdown restrictions, our rubbish bins would have more outings than us. Each week our general rubbish bin would be wheeled out to the footpath and the council contractors would empty those bins. Every fortnight our recycling bin would also be emptied. <div><img id="id_99c9_91a2_253_cae8" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/hueuXnl5kOYiSGRAs3g6iTKOlA0HAFDlhILWG5U4LUnN9kX-F923yMIKTJrQBDM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Members of the group were encouraged to dress up to take the bin/s out, video or photograph this and then post it on the Facebook page, giving details of what city/country you were from. I thought I’d give it a go as it sounded like fun. The numbers in the group swelled as word spread; people from all around the world joined. Some of the posts were absolutely brilliant and funny! My efforts were very modest but I had a lot of fun...</div><div>First week for me but second week of the group operating saw me dressing up in an outfit I’d worn to a nephew’s wedding years ago...a 2 bin week! </div><div><img id="id_c607_197e_2525_239d" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/PIsBPxzVZXmIKdVu1H_0uQkRS5BJ-oy6ppuuPWf8WSl71Fusho5ph_v_CM6YGus" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Another week, I went for the hippy look...</div><div><img id="id_8756_6a6e_a3ba_80fa" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/gld4ZtQACcj41aIcZQddDaSkh64OTmeU22Bh1fXXw4fVFnDSxXtMTaLXVkynTBI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Another week I recycled my 1920s outfit that I had worn to a parish dinner a few years ago...</div><div><img id="id_7122_c5d2_f8ac_1b03" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/u1_jKjQH_enRpnItJ7Ir6UkVHNtjF20noApWwBDCzbnA9VedWcEuTw_E9e6ndrU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>As the weeks went by restrictions started to ease and after being only allowed to travel within our suburb we suddenly could travel up to 50 km from home. So in my 4th week of dressing up I decided it would be my last. It was time to bring out Sister Mary from the Ridiculous Order who had gone to an adults fancy dress party in the 1970s. But her outfit was newly cobbled together complete with a cardboard cross coloured in with a gold pen. Be blowed if I could find the rosary beads though! Lol</div><div><img id="id_3a7_eca6_b9b9_44bb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mk5T1pZJYcuQaWaRpOm-uZse4M3sjfhd9rX0kQEfQ9iYHKZRt-9zLtruk21S5uM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>The group is still going on Facebook and the number of members is now over a million. It was fun joining in and so much fun seeing other people’s photos and videos. </div><div><img id="id_dff5_780c_2e19_6795" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/OXzCFMH6PERr6HPO6gcQFUlW-791QZdFyQBjZhhN9JjrPtmwOohgr9GejmPoGwk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Another game I joined in with was at the invitation of a former student from the 1970s who conscripted a group of us to play a word game. Each day Darlene would send us a word via text and we had to make up a sentence. And they were not easy words I can tell you! </div><div>Peroration, conniption, supervenient, uxorious, zeitgeist, penurious, thwack, quidnunc, brouhaha, coterie, drabble, grimalkin. Aren’t they frightening 😫? I have to admit that I was only familiar with a few of them but online dictionaries were a great help. After 12 words, Darlene must have decided enough was enough, so no more brain strain for us! Lol </div><div><br></div><div>The pandemic brought about a lot of ‘firsts’ as we all tried to make the best of our circumstances. And as I’m using my blog to record rather belatedly my experiences from late March, through to the end of June, I’ll keep those memories coming. </div><div><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-61612101781419429432020-06-30T22:10:00.001-07:002020-07-01T18:16:19.901-07:00When the wheels fell off the proverbial bus!<div>This post is a bit serious but in my inimitable way, I finish on a lighter note 😄. </div>A saying I can remember adults using to describe when things went horribly wrong when I was growing up here in Australia in the 50s and 60s was, ‘and the wheels fell off the bus’. Or sometimes just, ‘the wheels fell off!’ <div>And that’s how I describe what happened mid to late March this year. We had been hearing of this virus rampaging and killing people in the northern hemisphere and every day the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) would be speaking on news broadcasts assuring the world it wasn’t a pandemic at that stage. </div><div>In my school days we had learned about the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic but that was something way beyond our comprehension being so far back in time. </div><div>But to those who lived through it, it would have been horrific. </div><div><img id="id_42c3_f39b_3751_7c0d" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/0GBurR47YY4PetLpxyI0NidNm7aO51DTSuJLQgnjNUsK_8JzhyyIth-NWDZz9pI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_554d_3066_137_db0e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/DFFHl2TwWPXECFQkC_yciw6fJayXCmoH2P0VK6EhTLUrrFibED0da_8ITJ569qw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_3646_1637_afe0_c96e" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-nIc5OkXlJe5qUFR_4TGUp3UUKbJFCPKZ7M5jLbCOjCI2-Nyv7JzLnxAQPjcRFk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_8f16_4437_e13d_f933" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/iLndCUgSpdlEE4OTwcLTaDx_0pTValtSVBVJdY6K-lfm94NRqo12Fow7R2yBfZM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div>Then, back in March, every day as I watched the Aussie national broadcaster‘s, (ABC) breakfast show it became obvious that I was actually living through another momentous time in history. The wheels had fallen off the bus!! Big time!! </div><div>The news stories from overseas countries had unbelievable footage and the numbers of deaths grew so quickly. And then the cases started to be recorded here in Australia. Every morning the totals for each state would be listed; number with the virus and the number dead. </div><div>It seemed to happen overnight where businesses closed, people were in lockdown with restricted movement from their homes. In some states schools closed and eventually in the beginning of term 2, students went to online learning from home. </div><div><br></div><div>Supermarkets were open but shelves quickly emptied. In some places fights broke out in the aisles of supermarkets as being fought over groceries, especially toilet paper, hand sanitisers, flour and pasta. </div><div><br></div><div>My GP rang me to tell me about the flu vax and to assure me the medical centre was still open for business. She explained that if I made an appointment, I was to park in the car park, remain in my car and ring reception to say I’d arrived. They would then come to the car, check my temp then escort me to the doctor’s room. And of course there were telephone consultations which had been introduced because of the pandemic. </div><div><br></div><div>My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones, those who lost jobs due to the lockdowns, to those whose businesses will fail for the same reason. How awful it must be for those who lie awake due to money worries, and worries about being able to keep their home or feed their family and also pay bills. Mental health breakdowns are on the increase too. The homeless must be even more vulnerable now. I worry for the families where domestic violence has escalated; what anxiety for children living in such environments. </div><div>I’m grateful for all those essential workers who kept providing services to the public but I’m ashamed of those in the community who directed verbal and physical abuse at those workers. </div><div><br></div><div>Just because DH, myself and our family are safe, our children still have jobs with most working from home, we know not all have been as fortunate as us. As most golf clubs remained open in Queensland during lockdown, DH and mates continued to play 3 days per week, which gave me lots of time to knit/crochet for K4BN, sew and garden. </div><div>(At the moment many people in Victoria are again facing lockdowns if they live in hotspots where the virus has again appeared. How horrible these Aussies must feel. 😫)</div><div>And friends would send me funny memes...</div><div><img id="id_2ad8_9142_3312_3de3" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/JofagHGTju628TPcE1i9xibcsnervvzGmETxHxC5qHUTrh0qw7xwZO99_ShEYIM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_6700_fad1_779c_fbe" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/MRDEQEvvKuH_Y-NBhCbk6GUxunljhpGegw8z9haGPs1AtR31BpVabWy863Vto2w" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_73b7_cf1e_b2e3_7a" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Nb5sJkqmPGlwKmLJaZDoTpELR1sGUAUKE99wSt-X04kCdjNrMkOz4r8ZJMZY4pc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_3fe3_f8b2_fe45_227e" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Y07qfhyTJEuGyX_ZLEJejxI6ytGrdEgUuKLK_s_fQh00lUIeUbUp2dVmESie9O8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_c536_b23_c1af_4461" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/n1wXYXuPhEzeLZx4rF0woJX5KHJrzxiSpOp2zJcW_SlAlejNTkrpEXa0WL0JuKU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Stay tuned for some more of my ramblings about what we’ve done in these last 3 months or so. Because it’s been a case of living in a time of great change so we are all creating history in how we coped, how we adapted, how we helped others and so the list goes on. <br></span><br><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-56149080157408992852020-06-28T16:51:00.001-07:002020-06-28T17:24:45.492-07:00What about the Needy? Long time readers of my blog would know that I belong to a group who work constantly at providing warm items, children’s clothes and toys and toiletries to the needy in not just Brisbane, but also further afield in our state. We would also meet up on a regular basis at our Knit and Natters which take place at various locations, such as community centres and libraries. But with the Covid-19 crisis, these venues closed. <div><br></div><div>But as you can imagine, the demand for the items we provide grew tremendously. And our members knitted, sewed and crocheted on regardless as we knew that eventually restrictions would ease enough for boxes of items to be distributed where they were needed. </div><div>I made blankets out of donated squares I’d been given, as well as crocheting 100 plus granny squares myself over a number of weeks </div><div><img id="id_ef9e_c409_41d4_4eb4" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/2qd6c_ENPqbsjILPRD6HQLz7pnFsKN7qTNnUxZ9bVJA2lSzW5ItlTaO0lrvkeIc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>After Christmas I had tagged along with DH while he checked out his favourite shop, Rivers at their sales. I would grab the 5 packs of men’s socks while we were in the shop and most times DH would insist on paying for them along with the items of clothing he was purchasing. So I had a few packs of these socks which are highly sought after by the homeless in the community. ( I eventually had a stockpile of 28 pairs of men’s socks as well as 13 pairs of women’s socks. I’d had a quick trip to the Reject Shop for yarn in early May and got a good deal on socks there!) </div><div><br></div><div>And it was on May 8 that those of us on the Northside of the city were able to meet in the car park of the Albany Creek Library and hand over our donations. One of our members brought a ute ( utility) and each person put their bags and boxes in the tray. </div><div><img id="id_ce21_abd8_d925_3991" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/i8nwAYtyKBCUwkV4NickJjh7zaStqRM4u7ew2QlkZIpODkX7Fi8WVH-5KeLZYww" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_605f_3249_4e7e_9b10" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/hti4c062-P227ckyiZbrEiN4Ap20LZrAa6QQdFWhjdIMZDHCt13CxxKTdMA1QdQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_9dff_160a_85d9_cb0b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YarpxD0-bGzlFihWSlCQcuQ9YsLYRuAM9s77OtKI2PPuGQgJ3h0-V4KG2V4r5-0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>We practised social distancing...</div><div><img id="id_714c_38e9_7f0f_c71c" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/AfXju5YYU7gyYrVJv6bVwx3EHPKDy2ngKLAnS7j_YJ-6JLqPxS1h0Xf7QlMCEr4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Debra in the front of the photo was the organiser of this collection. After she took the donations home she spread the items on tables in the sun for a few days and then she sorted and packed up all the items again ready to take to K4BN’s storage shed at Glasshouse Mountains township. A big job! </div><div>A lot of yarn was also handed in which was wonderful as many of the ladies in the group had been running out of yarn! </div><div><img id="id_9753_d5b3_87fb_4199" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Qry5r0UREHvPwCuvCLS2UZf2wONBYQd_Zn57hM01AveVwFTefFD5JdzDey9BILM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Since Debra organised that collection, other areas have organised their own collections to help restock the storage shed. We’ve had another collection at Albany Creek too, once again organised by Debra. It is easier now to get items to the shed or to community groups who also distribute our items, as we can travel any where within our state. </div><div>This winter is turning out to be a lot colder than we’ve had here in the south east of state, for many years. So as you can guess, I’m still knitting and crocheting as much as possible. </div><div>The Zillmere Knit and Natter is on tomorrow...the first time in many many months. The big room we use in the community centre can only take 13 people under the rules for social distancing so the contingency plan is for any extra people to sit in the outdoor area. It’s a start as they say but sadly most of our venues are smaller than this one so probably only 4-5 people per meeting room if and when they invite us back. <br><br><br><br></div><div><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-58142577958179130342020-06-27T02:54:00.001-07:002020-06-27T03:40:24.925-07:00Weekend in WandoanI mentioned in my last post that DH and I drove to Wandoan for our #4 granddaughter’s birthday. I thought I’d share some of the photos I took. <div>First of all, here’s a map showing the town's position in regards to where I live in Brisbane. </div><div><img id="id_f143_842e_cc47_c131" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ISgQSDUQY2KgrlUhoiSI4OLMTT2Mr1fuqLrzAyQbFBukbFO7fpWgLCTTYT3qh9Q" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>The family live on a property about 70km from the township of Wandoan. It’s a cattle property. </div><div><img id="id_b28b_10fb_2e85_e80d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EmyxhQs3CBJJqKfcYhYDOqiy2_Ly8cqmjJpJw6Rsw5EfzcBQstIU7-btliAp-3A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>The afternoon we arrived, DsD1 took us for a drive around part of the property. It was in that farm Ute in the photo above. I got to sit in the cab but the rest of the family sat in the tray at the back. DH told me later it was a rough ride! 😜 lol </div><div><img id="id_da29_474a_a049_d1ec" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_PRJLBog8Y2-9Cs3xqH79MjHCREICRckXeOGQS_Zg55-J5wonXkgESG6LYbSTmQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Even the birthday girl sat in the back with her Grandpa Jim. <br><img id="id_9938_6f9e_329d_6f4a" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/xd-Qga0qUq2eb7WY0utNxM-REtc-KBRZCVp4pjfWaBX3dtY12LDun9Znv3SoDbU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>There had been rain in the weeks before we were there and instead of being brown, the property had turned green and lush...such a transformation! <br><img id="id_ca1d_9f0_8104_a0e3" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qiSINznFW2IwrY2yGImPQMMyd5__5Pzbg5JWeGFgIXrWsEFDM0UesatMUNAHDlc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_a03c_1580_92c4_beca" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/TwvTZlG1Qrz5XSRamH3hsYrxVRn0wDFbzHS5E-mSk20PpIY_rC_DSzxRu9x0gGU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Our son in law jumped down from the back of the Ute and opened and closed gates for us...</div><div><img id="id_9b73_952e_7058_eab7" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/zStJWDA826oIB2UrtaCcDgNUFWfunhMD7gijS-hekh9_e0NBmcRqh3ebj_7Qq3Q" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_a8b2_550_7f35_c98d" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/VkwuxKc9inXXlSUY-dJeXkbzktq7Af0AX_bFUfVYysvQhTKEUVr8q1zhDcFj76M" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>This group of cattle took their time getting off the track...<br><img id="id_7e29_258f_751a_a74e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LerGKjErUbzAOyj7ryRlF-P_6tIKg_Qm2L-wqGx0L8CScdfoMgwgu0YC7BNl3k0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>After the drive we walked around past the big sheds to the main house...the girls loved the 7 farm dogs!!<br><img id="id_9f0a_aa05_e4f5_80c0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/OuJkcCC9wVh2rgu33iogmgwbJi9ewb1oNKNMi_TXwVMBXjmk6sqy2CB1GVEA8EU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Next morning, we followed Grandpa Jim around while he did some chores.</div><div>Horses to be fed...</div><div><img id="id_7541_9bc_a3a6_bd0e" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Bj1T13Rp6AhT1e65BdUrVGpLx1qZI5n9H2fBLHtr1MLbmxSG_9RvhiA1UbLEiqg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_47fe_6cb2_40b5_4644" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MRMbUALKXohy3PT1lDS92PzAxft14BEn5eotSaBLzZHA7JejFleh6lnWdYag_X8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_c768_f93a_c592_e71c" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/jDkskKtvr3pgdhM-mL04_wqGPqP2hv6lzBEBdSqVyk5ZoPW5Rhh7g-2-yhBXu3A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>And I plucked up the courage to pat this friendly equine. 😉</div><div><img id="id_245d_f479_64a0_866c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/TGxPDyCINIRLiU6xNDdhjFDMQRThmj_WTXRbOnAy8GSyEq3gJMnCFP2_DopRGjc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>We also helped feed the poddy calves...</div><div><img id="id_8080_49e4_e7ec_b03e" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/9XjTYdFyOQ0HFTfaaZsIUEzteT4I3fNACcjV0_Ev-E0cwZT080xgjuhwxnEP59s" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_3702_2e7_cf8d_1ce5" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/9ndX0uEqJjCbzvkx7EhM_GEl5aOT6USp12M8AcYBrplpLeexmjFtLCGVKtAECaU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Those calves sure have strong suction on those feeding bottles...I needed both hands to hang on to it. </div><div>And that filled in the morning until it was time to drive into town for Abby’s party. </div><div>And after the party we headed for home with just a stop for a late lunch at our favourite cafe in Chinchilla. </div><div><img id="id_27df_46d1_7e5a_fc90" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/UxCtwtjvyl7UkqAcCLCxPVP5z8yEdCPNXLeXNOywGG2RlXR_FQmqvWN2f_yZ5XQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>It looks a humble establishment but the food is pretty good. <br><img id="id_4eb8_b495_a47b_33a4" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/eE8YfCrHMx250bnW1Bjsy-Ro3T2C5P774j_LG9YHo8oCQ23MeH0nQzOoJJ4MJ5Y" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div><br><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-63942343815318241462020-06-23T04:05:00.001-07:002020-06-24T15:58:09.170-07:00Birthdays B.C. DH commented last year that the birthday celebrations of our immediate family now number 16 each year so that’s a lot of dinners/parties and cake! <div>We start off the year of celebrations early...January no less! Then February, 2 sons in law in March who prefer no fuss, then April, May and early June. Then a big break until September, then November. Now the way 2020 has rolled out, I’ve been describing family birthdays as Before Covid ( B.C.) and After Covid (A.C.) 😜</div><div>Carrie’s 2nd birthday in January was a fun occasion with DD1 organising lots of lovely decorations, cake, jumping castle, amazing food etc. </div><div><img id="id_8723_ecf3_926d_8024" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/VZ_uQrKShMxkZfwK0K8wswk_3sfmsz9GMeeTdumAXjIw8kkB4rczqAxyVkX6hDU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_7135_5e00_ea06_cf62" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/V0oPiV_Da7q-ZU8XgZwK1YxzxmP2Bttt7fj1zsLrK0pq3qmiDK6zKVVpxwOucYE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Carrie’s first birthday party had been at the beach and I hadn’t made her some bunting like I had done for the others...but I’d made sure that she had her own personalised bunting this year. </div><div><img id="id_625b_1c09_52b2_df13" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bIMYbivuF2mHi3KIMWSjKmvcYTyZ57a453ytlCk7PTFv8y2w0D5VJKQ1XlLwqrQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>Too long for one photo! Lol </div><div><br><img id="id_b198_1d9b_e8b2_4e97" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/trWwrmHXJ_ngW895cZy70YODSu93-PJwsnRAxSCU1rX9LQY61rN7iXe_RncLxEw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div>Anthea’s was the next birthday in early February...she had 2 parties! One in the morning with her kindy friends and children of her parents’ friends. Then in late afternoon she had her family party at a local tavern which has a playground and games room. </div><div>We gave her a Paddington Bear and a pack of PB books which I put in a red suitcase from Ikea. </div><div><img id="id_fe88_76c5_ac90_5056" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8gfvnwZoP6yFlPhSO4mJXXcrImi3LMMBFYRBJ_p5wRnq27WOB8Nmt8PvIhua3Ug" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_b10c_3700_3f17_dc01" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/TUv_6uCqDU8CdWT8yFLHC_AUqM8tsuuLdopXanlAUi1zhDsPa_rj1lY5tVC3h-A" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_8e3d_955b_cbf1_7318" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oiCRRbJT92iohY3ozWiwdEZ8qfGqLBAsR0HpbnurWtkkkhDnMYnWmRJ3Qa6Z3j0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><br>Of course when you get some new books, you want to read them straight away! <br><img id="id_51d9_f9f3_7d22_8c72" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/LgS3jfVUzUpQI8EEZEEfJg9PJpRDd-D0PwuS_AnqX8oT6JwvFQ1kDUhVkpm1Lq4" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>DsD2 made a gorgeous unicorn cake! </div><div><img id="id_3060_c216_76d1_d464" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MwwqpvPa9cHA5e4y2YkHyqVQzfoCYnwVr149iyuBv-d7AcWzuT-2SIfYJ-dxcUY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_bea7_3274_d9b3_f33f" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/1TzLrV1khBNWewqpLAJTXIQhsC_VhD1-yNBInnLk2qFVTvh_BoTVbiVBxOgI_Ro" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>The next family birthday BC was at the end of February and for this one we drove 6 hours to the farm at Wandoan to celebrate Abby’s second birthday. We drove up on the Saturday and stayed the night at the farm. The party was in a park in the town which is 70km from the farm. It had rained during the night and our son in-law rang various friends to check on road conditions before we set off. We drove through water on the road but not far from the town we encountered this sight...</div><div><img id="id_673_10db_f33_1f7d" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/3UChQ7LUxf2KaMXP_tcfuqIYKK_52-87oklEfWt0BSIQodBpbNXFZXEwRPBTw7E" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>As we were in a convoy of 4WD vehicles we got through easily but it had been a bit confronting to us city slickers when we first saw it! </div><div>The rain held off for a while and the children at the party were able to have fun on the play equipment. But the flies were horrific; descending on people and any food 🤨😟. </div><div>That’s not passionfruit seeds! 😖</div><div><img id="id_95ad_6aa2_4cc3_e24f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zb1wjaAomNrn7kBJcCUzsVHbNeNd--9333d-8KE28Jbbyg0XHJ3EiVNLqqF57Fk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>But very soon the rain came down so we all huddled under the one picnic shelter in the park while Abby opened her gifts. We always put money in our grandies’ bank accounts and give them a smaller gift as well. Abby got these from us...</div><div>A book to go with the doll we gave her when she was born...the book is lovely. </div><div><img id="id_8852_6888_6ac4_d7d4" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Zx8T6vXrD8VLHsKNrr_yHXkXx8rlX5on1V-iKpKiFrStbLJoZXHs-BRYvyqB1Cw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Abby’s parents had bought her a toy kitchen for Christmas so I bought her some play food. I also made her a drawstring bag from strawberry and banana patterned fabrics, to store the toy food in. </div><img id="id_8d4b_abc5_e7a6_6a0c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/D7QRdl5Hhy_HbjZwzBXKyrKxx-mY5Wcz8cD7YaJ0BIgOGkGosSTDsDcG1Hl3iJA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><div>Time came to sing Happy Birthday as the rain got heavier...</div><div><img id="id_d5d7_1961_f2_715c" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/zf3p0k6Xe99MieSEO7g07CIGh7KLslLWreVLhjcEYJsfo3whztah6KcPjGyy-8I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>A photo with the grandparents too...</div><div><img id="id_31ec_b477_8901_5073" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Z19zbdtTG4WWXYnAz_euVgJQvds9UP-tODFcGpbwD6L7vRMSHVxa-ubAuujm6eg" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>( faces deliberately covered with text rather than blurring) </div><div><br></div><div>By the time the 2 March birthdays came around at the end of the month, things had changed. But those 2 never want a fuss, so cards and money were posted. <div>By April, celebrations had changed dramatically...but that’s for another post. </div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-66909251547359482962020-06-22T19:33:00.001-07:002020-06-22T23:36:56.402-07:00Way back to last December...Now that the grandies are getting older, I like to involve them with things like decorating for Christmas. <div>When the tree first came out of its box early last December, Miss Anthea straight away put 2 decorations on the tree...just 2! 😜</div><div>Firstly a toy phone from our toy box...</div><div><img id="id_e0bf_9f71_dec3_2c45" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jZvqCEQTKuNgmN4PI_FEYuCEr_YrGovHNCgWn6Xd0oupx7PPhy4fONJjru-IMuM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>And Mary from my knitted Nativity...Along with baby Jesus too of course 😄. </div><div><img id="id_5dfc_f68c_c763_995e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/CpUY4cspKClLhlTxCXIv2C3PXcS1KA55mXscihVuoYpL6PH80pvllJ9_BSPpMmI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>The next day, Holly came for a sleepover so that was a perfect excuse for more decorating of the tree...but first there was some playtime in the red felt sleigh. </div><div><img id="id_913f_7b49_9393_d14f" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/DfgpcyU-RwnaXTuOUJyXuoqFnzOy4sAzGGYZ2vXadDAdu2qKItkeuJjS9oxvgz0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Holly loved helping me with unwrapping the decorations from the tissue paper and then organising me to put the decorations on the tree where she wanted them 😉<br><img id="id_634f_d168_c90b_13d1" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/KvuiFGd6LnvMyQwxclv1rpi6fCBRmYGIwXCHzpzHzKmhoAolCyaS7A-HWZsGP7M" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>We left Mary on the tree...</div><div><img id="id_5418_f8c2_c0d3_cb2e" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/YlZ7abYcmRnhM1Pvx6cA6bV8WmLLqr_dh0GZQtnTTTDVWNnWuqwn7ENLeA3ehX8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Holly even got to play with a Santa decoration made with a dolly peg that her Poppy ( her mum’s dad) made when he was at kindy! (Some how this family heirloom is still in my Xmas boxes) </div><div><img id="id_cab6_a057_1ec_5bdd" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xrWkK94lqF8EAblqIQcUJc6ngejYU6-FqgE98RwYkS0ULHcLtldWTCPYz8spy4c" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Before Holly went home after her sleepover, she had time to write out some of her Christmas cards...</div><div><img id="id_1b59_ab47_aac0_abfd" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/ImGdo0Dm7cPz1t6EWCBBafa7fg8Fa8ZQJUhjP3SRjF4lepIZgdIviEeg5CsU9Ls" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>This was the card for Mummy and Daddy...</div><div><img id="id_b843_5281_555c_2e4e" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/a0T76racXSSFiIjjbPiK9w3mGVXOkRSwhCeiHhDHUb_wWkYk3D79DFO34Y80psM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>A few days before Christmas I dropped something I’d made in the letterbox at Anthea’s place...ready for Christmas Eve. </div><div><img id="id_8463_f92_d5a3_b690" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/ryifVvrv2mXpLep2wbd9ZNUAfmrdHsHgelXfBLLJmjbVuwJBiOZU0K6sdn5lBro" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>A mug rug! There’s a pocket to put a letter to Santa in. </div><div><img id="id_62e8_7f00_6f59_a010" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/q3tIF0rgYZV8zfHokaz5gZLTihfdj-z8wKDy3kUAPel3ENUHy5W8aTtVVB0CG-o" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>As the month went on I did some more Christmas decorating...this year the knitted Nativity was set up on the corner table...</div><img id="id_7f28_80b8_5b8d_c59c" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Wg4aQBLaS0Aip8Zla6JNh3qujrNhs3LlIg5X9Q81EFhQFJByN7sOHaTxzFeCUgM" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><div> We added some battery operated candles....</div><div><img id="id_96bc_55f_721c_d677" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/4fYs-5ALIiJTsRkTUAJX40kenYm35wOt58NoDrfl9L7cyDYnFxfQBrHK39AKuvQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>But alas no Mary and baby...she was still on the tree. </div><div>As usual we had the family Christmas on the evening of the 24th. And what a bonus; this year all 5 of our girls, our 4 sons in law and 5 grandchildren were able to come! </div><div><img id="id_1543_447f_6565_a3c7" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/9QHSnxRQYdYEDzRkfiCXJ3eTzjPnrfeqIkRut1JvYJhN3EEjr4OS7XJz8wcJ0FI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><img id="id_b585_7846_c637_c863" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/AeSdeZwyRhQujKtPSzVn0guotSRYC1KS3fEPoU7xJThupFguhWjB8_KFXLYYQFs" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div><img id="id_c478_8b9b_f769_32f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YdAmwuf7prptFo6t1IUtHOWS5R_6w8pp_mVU3pC2x4n0XfQpwSm-YFPtD_UxwCQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>All lovely memories. </div><div>Who knows what Christmas 2020 will be like. It’s closer than you think...a mere 6 months and 2 days away! 😂 🎅🏻 <br><br><br><br></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-24110782103493600512020-06-21T21:57:00.001-07:002020-06-22T02:50:38.346-07:00Way back in January...In the 1950s I remember my mother and her friends making little potted gardens in terracotta bowl-shaped pots. These gardens featured succulents and little hand-painted stones provided splashes of colour. And years later these little novelty gardens are still very popular. Pinterest is full of ideas! <div>Late last year when I was wondering what I could do to help in the parish Christmas craft market, I had a lightbulb moment...potted gardens!! I figured that I could use succulents that I’d potted up from cuttings. Pots I found in The Reject Shop and I bought some ‘accessories’ on EBay for a reasonable price. So despite having little time due to going to the hospital 6 days a week to sit with Carrie, I was able to contribute to the fundraising. </div><div><img id="id_4350_6a61_994_9812" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/HMDC__5kl9lZENUumhdPS-vBAz8TDRYWRFruzO8lwMclV9yeoowimDaMF1DI4UY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>I was on a roll and made a fairy garden for my neighbour’s Christmas gift 😄</div><div>I added white pebbles before I handed it over...</div><div><img id="id_7969_71e3_72af_f620" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/XcJhYsaO3lUSkzsyAGHgoJismO59_o53HkG8SBboMKfBMDOYIHAwoLiPO6fvHgo" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Now I was really on a roll! When the frame on my wheelbarrow rusted through, DH had bought me a whole new barrow. Ah hah! A perfect excuse to make a fairy garden in the old barrow for the granddaughters. And so it was in late January on a day that we were minding Miss Anthea that I put my plans into action with the help of DH and Anthea. </div><div><img id="id_592e_c05d_4eb1_cbd4" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kjDWLHJZHpAeGdKpC4J1KDBCfkr8fVYHv0k1ptc0gcbXxM4xSx1vsgqzV85X7ZU" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Anthea and I with the ornaments I’d found at stores like Reject Shop and Bunnings. <br><img id="id_ce92_a7ac_5814_1688" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/S38mQk-kAGdTJXG8CaHjq_wu96R402aiUXTrTQ6aHMCTineae9jG66KefyCX8bk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_5bd_d9fb_f859_862" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/i46FcPyv7F8yknUpYC1ZYyrnsM9Dj10ef9ahpx8I-q3F2N-nbxU3s9Thun1yHFs" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br>Anthea made a path from the fairy houses using big white pebbles. <br><img id="id_818e_bb95_f800_92ee" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/paCTIApXIv6BiaIVTltDQJEGMG2MKPPfY-NbOpsru3nfuS2LlMo0rm6k8AyzD7o" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Ta dah! All done! <br><img id="id_caf8_3bba_623_e6cb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/o_DQLWJZWDkiWLHLzUyMS2yPQF2ESv4QoVLQyxYLdNX6zMV1VJGUJbCaRWiSuH0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>A few days later Holly enjoyed playing with the garden...</div><div><img id="id_ff9e_fc82_5c2c_c175" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Nyt7HtWrm9_kfjuvOeb9opSUyY4B8XbPw9L2zUvIT-6ImNEvznfLOA733UZk_9Q" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>A week or so later a bush turkey came along and dug up the garden. ( I’m pretty sure it was a turkey even if I didn’t catch one in the act!) Luckily I saw the damage before the little girls, put it all back together and then covered it with mesh. So then the plants could grow without disruption. </div><div>And I took this photo this morning...</div><div><img id="id_6d4f_4866_edc8_e4d3" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/UeX1_79PinQBgt0DcEyd1uWC-Je644AlfWHvjqJiI7JvvowDLrftrGJ4w7DMaPA" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>The little girls have had so much fun with the garden. We are seeing most of our granddaughters at least once a week now that restrictions are easing a little bit. 💕</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1539053308616126531.post-35313276185273776512020-06-18T02:58:00.001-07:002020-06-18T03:37:00.732-07:00A new member of the family...Early last December DD2 rang me from work to tell me that her dog Jimmy had once again dug his way out and run away and had been handed into a veterinarian a kilometre from her home. She asked me to pick him up from the vet as she had made arrangements for them to hold Jimmy until I arrived. She also asked me if I could give him a home as his constant escaping was causing a lot of stress in the family. But I knew there was a reason for his behaviour...our son in law’s dog Missy had been bullying Jimmy for years and he’d obviously had had enough, poor darling. <div>Jimmy’s nemesis 👿...photo taken in 2016. </div><img id="id_5453_ff56_8ed0_5a14" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/RwYhwo-ZJ98v-HbZGjFNU6Gq9UVEzJggmI4O67NdEVW7dt6iky1U_i0WLMcTBBQ" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><div><div>When DH, Anthea and I arrived at the Vet’s we were told that the council dog catcher had been called and Jimmy had been taken to a council run pound. ( so much for what DD2 has been told) </div><div>So we went to pick him up and pay the fine...or as a friend later commented, ‘ to break Jimmy out of the big house 😜!’ </div><div>First I had a form to fill out and lots of questions to answer. A check of registration records showed that Jimmy’s annual registration due in May 2019 was very overdue...oops! So the rego fee and a day’s pound fees were duly paid and we went to the big green gate and waited for staff to bring Jimmy out to us. A little tan and white dog was brought out, but it wasn’t him! The staff then let us in to the area where usually the public isn’t allowed...to make sure we got the right dog! 🤪</div><div>And there he was in a ‘top floor’ cage. He let everyone know that we were his people! 💕</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_28be_f50b_bc3_fcc8" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/wftiSRzgNxAftfI_JIUFho4tkHetrlA1bfNTqQek7xQoZ7cjykCMN8BKGJOtsDY" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_4a27_389c_6c80_39cc" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_h0hxmu6n5YrRrEeYZAgWVfp9q1uN9ZSngAEaZ3S05MgCMwboHYfMyj17xfzQNw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_6417_111f_6ccd_ec65" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/utYBFhj2HqE_8A5Hs-pEmh1JZ9pGrgbH4WW50zmUudWmm1gY-ekbsMdhg_1pshI" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>He was so happy! <br><img id="id_8b6e_b9af_c7c7_dcc8" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/L39h4dVjb8ZLAxevdR1oi7GXcIDugbUIsWECK9xFmrn6LT77Lw4StpATsdp1lnw" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>So that’s how we became dog owners again! Jimmy had always spent time with us while his family were on holidays so we were used to each other. </div><div>Missy ate the quilt that I had made her years ago and then she had also eaten Jimmy’s. Jimmy’s quilt featured Richard Scarry book characters whom DD2 had loved as a child. </div><div><img id="id_dfab_1d7_49e2_cb45" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ticUfr-8DHbXabII_H6wZGYy7u9Us5cE6Nb2PTWz9icpJepo-l37sKD5axxjNW8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Missy’s ‘grandma quilt’...</div><div><img id="id_8891_752b_60db_ae99" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/510l2j_U3Ar9AQaEB5MXP0QnoWIGQ48xDre99vOdFTv9PgcPzMyjqvF7qkY0ai0" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div>so he now has a knitted blankie. </div><div><img id="id_5ae2_981e_4815_3036" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MVlqtCx9QgH_ysa6ec8ndz_4E4EwUbK1ZAWW64PuEjOI3cvD3ThGqAD0qNhCa0I" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>Jimmy loves us and any friends or relatives who come to visit...<br><img id="id_5320_6eb_aa02_626b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BzjxvmFDUCTAw8aTLAZZiIYDRBuolQ6IUL6nRKzhpmC1TJ6swxyCQNtEW7A0hbE" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 353px; height: auto;"><br><br>And we love him! 💕<br><br></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Thank you for your comments on my blog</div>Mariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594244181463706442noreply@blogger.com10