What a busy month that was!

Yes May 2016 was definitely a busy month! It started with the tidying and sprucing up that goes with having a guest to stay.

And then we did lots of things with our guest. She arrived on a very busy weekend with Mothers Day and a family get together in honour of our son in law's mother who was visiting from NZ to see/meet/ and adore baby Anthea...( like we all do!) 

Mothers Day lunch at DsD2s place...

And we also celebrated with a Mothers Day Dinner at DD2s....

We celebrated a life at a family gathering to scatter a much loved relative's ashes...

Then a day later it was my birthday celebration with a dinner at a favourite local Swiss restaurant.

 And I've already written about those 'cemetery safaris' tracking down family graves.

We took our visitor to museums too...

We got to travel a bit too...

Close to home was Stradbroke Island with its picturesque scenery and wonderful wildlife...

A bit farther away was a trip to Taree in New South Wales...the Manning River district was beautiful. 

We enjoyed a few meals out during our Taree sojourn...

My ankle continued to improve and only had light strapping on and even though closed in shoes still didn't fit, I could wear my Ziera sandals again...( the bruising on the toes in this photo has now faded somewhat) 

We waved goodbye to our visitor on the 23rd...

 

Near the end of the month, the family gathered to celebrate DH's birthday...

Because we had so many family 'dos' in May, we saw more of DD2's dogs Jimmy and Missy, and that's always a bonus!

And right at the very end of the month, I managed to get to a Knit and Natter with K4BN. I have missed a few of these, so it was lovely to catch up with some knitting friends again.

So I wonder what June will have in store??🤔

Zillmere...

Last week I caught up with knitting friends who attend the Knitting for Brisbane's Needy, Zillmere Knit and Natter at the community centre there on Handford Road...
Bubbles the Sheep is our new cash donations' money box...

The knitted/crocheted items that were handed in that day show the dedication of the members who keep working on items for the needy despite some quite hot weather....

Blankets are always in demand....

 Some of the balls of yarn that have been donated...

 And this box of yarns as well...

Adult sized garments are always in demand as well...

A bag of knitted Teddies from one member...

 Ann arrived with a large bag overflowing with items, including quilts and crocheted blankets, as well as some children's clothing she had made...

One of the dresses that Ann made for a needy child...

 Trish, another member, arrived with a bag of toys that she had made since the December K&N...

Trish also made some more of her very popular elephants.

I think the item count of donations handed in that morning was over 100...so a good start to the new year.

 I just had to take a photo of Elaine, below, as she told me that her personal tally for completed crocheted blankets in 2013, was 101! Now I believe that some of those were joining donated squares into blankets but the majority were Elaine's famous blankets made with '20 round' squares and made mostly using scraps of yarn. A great effort in any terms!

Well done, Elaine!

Still keeping busy...

We got home last Saturday and it's been a busy time since...
Sunday I met up with some school friends for coffee. Monday was just catching up on chores around the house.
Tuesday was a Knit and Natter at Zillmere in the morning

and a former colleague's retirement afternoon tea later in the day...

Her farewell gift was a pair of earrings that she had really wanted...there was a bit of subterfuge here with her daughter helping pick the right gift! lol

Wednesday was DH's birthday, so a lunch for him and one of the DsD's had to be organised... then it was off to Sisters of Stitch as I had a story book to hand in as this group is going to make a donation of children's books to a hospital in honour of the group's birthday in June.

Then Wednesday night, some more of the family came over to help DH celebrate. DsD2 brought a salad and the cake which really cut my workload down and enabled me to go to S.o.S. that day.

What a magnificent cake that DsD2 made for her dad...

Thursday was my 6 monthly check up with the cardiologist (no disease, just racing heart) and all blood test results were great, especially liver function!! No evidence of fatty liver disease any more and that was great news!!! And blood pressure readings continue to lower...so good news all round.

Friday was just a hairdresser appointment but Saturday has seen DH and I out and about in the community.

You see, the Queensland government, after sacking about 14 000 public servants, is now working on cutting services...and our local high school is facing closure. I felt strongly about that because this school is like a community hub in this area...not just offering educational services, but many other groups in the community use the grounds and buildings out of school hours. It is also a school that offers less academic students a number of educational opportunities including trade certificates etc. All 3 of my stepdaughters went to this school as well as DD1 for her year 11 and 12 years after her high school closed. So I've seen what a school closure does to people and the community...so...just after 9.30 this morning DH and I walked to the local state politician's office where we would meet up with other people...the plan was that the assembly would then march to the school.
As we neared the pollie's office I could see that already people had gathered...my heart swelled with pride! people did care!!!

I've been a union member all my working life and a union rep for the last 3 years of my career...I'm an old hand at protests, demos and marches...lol

Here's someone I knew...this lady used to work at the local Coles supermarket before her son was born...her sign on his pram says it all! Also in the photo is a folk singer who sang all those old protest songs we remember from the 60s and 70s.
DH was asked if he would carry a sign...

Here we are all lined up, ready to cross the busy road so we could start our march up Stafford Rd. Brave souls stopped the traffic so we could all cross together...the people in the cars didn't seem to mind...

Here we are walking past the shopping centre

The marchers have reached the school front gate...

This is our destination...the school hall....

The television stations were all there including Sky News...

Here's some of the crowd...

And I'll let the posters have the final word in this post...