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Showing posts with label family memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family memories. Show all posts

Sunday, April 1, 2018

The past and present merge...

When my girls were little, I would organise an Easter Egg Hunt for them. Most times, the chocolate eggs were hidden around the garden. Some years it would be too wet and muddy so the egg hunt would move to inside.

The photos in the collage show DD1 and DD2 checking out their 'booty' after one Hunt. Their dad and I would make sure that the eggs were shared evenly between both girls.
( A family legend known as the 'Great Easter Egg Heist' saw a certain big sister sneak into ( and eat) her little sister's stash of eggs while little sister had her afternoon nap! 🙄)
And here we are at Easter 2018...most of the family were away this Easter. Just DH and I and DsD2 and her little family were in Brisbane.

And so I organised an Egg Hunt just for Anthea. I hid 9 small eggs on our wide veranda as the garden was rather muddy after all the rain we've had.

After 9 eggs had been found, I suggested that Anthea pick two that she'd like to eat right away. She 'wheeled and dealed' in the nicest possible way that maybe 3 would be good...😍 so 3 it was. And the other 6 got put in a 'bunny shaped box' to take home.
When I taught in a 2 teacher school in the early 2000s, our teacher aide would stamp bunny footprints on the stairs and hallway using flour and a homemade footprint stamp. And the Easter Bunny would send me an email later in the day which would tell us where to look in the classroom/computer room or even the staff room for the basket of eggs he had hidden. Surprisingly, that Bunny always left enough eggs for everyone!! 😉😉
Hope you've all had a wonderful Easter sharing your family's traditions.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Holly's Baptism...

It seems like ages ago I wrote a post about the family heirlooms ( as in a 59 year old gown and petticoat and a 138 year old crocheted bonnet) that Holly would wear for her baptism. Well that all happened on November 11, so no wonder it seems ages ago.
I arrived before everyone else so I could help set up for the ceremony...especially boiling the jug in the vestry so the hot water could be added to the cold tap water in the big brass ewer jug.  Thus the water would be warm for the baby...😊
Pretty soon the 'star' arrived with her mum, dad, one of her godparents and some friends. Holly was just wearing the petticoat at this stage.
I was given the job of dressing  the baby in the gown and putting on the bonnet. Earlier, when DD2 and I were planning the christening and she was checking out the gown and bonnet, I got the distinct impression that she only wanted to borrow the gown. But something made me soak the bonnet a few days before and get to work with the iron on the crocheted flower motifs. And I took it with me to the church that day...and DD2 was very keen for Holly to wear it! Thank goodness I had got it ready and brought it with me.
 
Some photos before the ceremony...

Father B always likes to involve any other children in the congregation in the ceremony and pretty soon Holly's cousins were helping...
Father B is of aboriginal descent and since being in our parish, he has introduced a tradition of taking a newly baptised child around the church as all women and girls reach out and touch the baby gently. It is surprisingly moving.
I particularly wanted to get a photo of Holly with myself and Grandma P...as I have photos of my mother and mother in law holding DD1 at her baptism...
And a lovely photo of Anthea, Holly and DsD2
And one with grandpa!
And DD2's godmother had come along and she and I did a bit of reminiscing of DD2's christening at the same church 33 years ago.
After the ceremony and heaps of photos were taken, everyone headed off to the local hotel where quite a bit of the restaurant had been reserved for a celebratory lunch. Looking at the next photo I can understand Father B's quip about there being more people gathered for Holly's baptism than at the Sunday services. 😉
And DsD2 had made a christening cake ( well 2 actually) for all to share after lunch. 

It was a lovely day and was timed perfectly, as from November 13, I was back temporarily in the workforce,  working for DH on the state election and this time around, I found those 8.30 to 5pm days really tired me out more than ever before. I guess the years are catching up! lol

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

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??🤔

Sunday, August 12, 2012

White...

White....
Guess who aged 18; white shawl, white gloves, white carnations and white lace curtains!

Once again I'm joining in with Evi over at Sister Sun and today I've chosen some photos with 'White' as the focus. I was never a debutante so did not have the long white evening dress. The year that I graduated from teachers' college ( at 19) was the first year that a long white dress was not mandatory; we were free to wear colours. So I did; I wore a peach coloured crepe dress with gold braid trims! 


At my first wedding I wore white, I have often owned and worn white shoes; when I was younger I wore white gloves with ballgowns. I remember Maggie Tabberer (an Australian model from the 50s and 60s) saying that all women should have a white shirt/blouse in their wardrobes and when I wore more formal work clothes, I did indeed have a number of white shirts. 

In Australia it's often said that if you are going to eat beetroot...don't wear white as you will invariably spill the beetroot on those white garments. Tennis players and lawn bowls players once only wore white...but not any more! Anyway...here are my photos for this week...


 The photo above is of my nephew Edward who is wrapped up in a baby blanket that I had made for him. I used lots of colours but 'framed' them with white
The photo below is the first quilt that I ever made. It was made of rosettes/suffolk puffs and colours are sewn into blocks and then edged by a row of white rosettes.

This is on the deck of the Queen Mary which is now a hotel in Long Beach CA

One of our cousin's golden retrievers

Holding my great niece Lucy who is wearing a little 'peasant style' blouse that I gave her and I'm wearing one of my favourite blouses.

Snow field near Saltlake City

Coming from sub tropical Brisbane, I found Saltlake City a bit cold...

A model of the Mormon temple in Temple Square information centre

A model of an astronaut in Evergreen Aeronautical and  Space Museum just outside Portland

A model of the moon buggy

Workers cottages in Cannery Row

The lovely crisp white sheets on the bed in our hotel in Monterey

What was originally the dining room in Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay

An unknown jogger on the path beside a lake in central Park, NY

The magnificent Guggenheim Gallery, NY

I rode this ferris wheel at Niagara while DH preferred to stay on the ground and take photos!

Ice and white spray in a section of Niagara Falls

The closest we could get to the White House was the 'back gate'; note the 2  black shapes on the roof?  Men with big guns!!!

Still on the subject of the White House...this is the gown that Michelle Obama wore to the Inaugural Ball (on display with other first lady gowns in the Smithsonian)  

The statue of Abe in the Lincoln Memorial

I was so entranced by the beauty of the Basilica and bell tower (leaning tower) in Pisa. It is built of the most exquisite white marble...photos just don't do it justice


The photo above shows my DDs playing 'dress ups'. DD1 is wearing my wedding dress and veil (but not the original headdress) and DD2 is dressed as the groom!! (Those 2 always loved to dress up when they were girls!) Now below is yours truly wearing the same dress...



This is DD1 and I

Here is DD2 and husband
Sadly both those marriages ended in divorce so these photos rarely see the light of day any more.