A month of birthdays and cakes!

It looked like my birthday was going to be a bit of a non event this year. But I was wrong! On the actual day the girls, one son in law and I were driving from country Victoria to Melbourne airport. Our brunch stop was in Ballarat and we found a lovely cafe in a homewares store and there DD2 bought me breakfast...delicious! 

Originally I had planned a birthday brunch here in Brisbane at a friend’s cafe but this had had to be cancelled. My darling stepdaughters organised a birthday dinner for me when I arrived home late Saturday afternoon instead. 

The main course was from my freezer 😉😜 but DsD2 made me a special birthday cake which was delicious.

DH had bought me a new wheelbarrow as a gift and it was the perfect spot to prop #5 granddaughter while we had dinner 😆! 

On the Monday it was Miss Holly’s birthday. DD2, Holly and I went out for morning tea. No cake but a babycino and a profiterole for the birthday girl...

May 2019 was the celebration of a special birthday for DH...one of those birthdays ending in a zero 😉😄. On a weekend that suited all the family we gathered at Bribie Island. 

Here’s one of the many photos taken on the weekend...

The birthday cake made by DsD2 was magnificent! 

Mind you she had some help with the final touches...😍

And then those little helpers helped Grandpa blow out the candles...

Finally on the last Sunday of May, Miss Holly had her birthday party. 

The cake was made by a Filipino lady and was a purple yam cake...it was so light and delicious.


There was also a unicorn piñata which defied all the thumping that the children gave it! 😄

One of DD2’s friends took pity on the children and using brute strength she ripped the tag to open that unicorn 🦄. 

In another post I’ll write more about our week up at Bribie. Next family birthday celebration is in 7 days...DH’s brother. I guess it means another cake 🎂 lol. 

Some outings on our Victorian visit.

Just to assure you that I wasn’t stuck in a motel room with 2 little girls all the time we were away recently, I thought I’d write about some of our outings. 

Although I must point out that our ‘grazing plates’ of cheeses and antipasto in our motel room were fun and delicious! 

One particular day I ended up having a most enjoyable outing in the town of Maryborough. My girls, along with their daughters were paying a condolence visit to their dad’s partner who had suggested they lunch with her. So the girls dropped me at the Maryborough library with me clutching a bag which contained my knitting and the library book that I was currently reading at that time. I read a chapter of the book, then thought that a cup of coffee might be nice, the day being quite cold.

So I went for a walk. I came to a bakery but thought the lack of a coffee machine might indicate that the style of coffee I like wasn’t available. Have I ever mentioned that my children describe me as a ‘coffee snob’ 🤨😜. 

Any way I kept walking and saw this imposing brick building on the corner in the next block.

I think the sign might have been the original business because as I got closer I saw a smaller sign on the corner door saying Madame Chi Chi. I went in and received a really warm welcome, both from Madame Chi Chi herself ( Belinda) and also from the beautifully heated interior of the cafe. It was like someone had just wrapped me up in their arms and said ‘There there, no need to worry...’ 💕

Belinda described the items she was offering for lunch.

The view through the servery showing all the delicious panini fillings...

Belinda explained that she used local products...

I chose a vegetarian panini and a cup of coffee. While my lunch was being prepared I sat in the dining room and admired this lovely old building’s interior. 

A poster in the dining room...

My lunch...

After my delicious lunch, I settled down to knit as I expected to need to fill in a lot more time before the girls would be back at the library to pick me up. 

I’d hardly knitted a row when my phone rang. It was DD1 and they were at the library waiting for me...a bit early I thought! So I directed them to the cafe. 

Turns out their stepmother was too upset to make lunch after all so they’d left after a polite interval. So now Madame Chi Chi made them feel very welcome and then took their orders for some lunch and I had another coffee. 

And because there were 3 of us, I felt no guilt whatsoever of buying a very exotic looking slice that was in the glass case in the store part of the cafe. It’s made locally by a Romanian lady and those eclairs on top are filled with berry flavoured cream.

We got it cut into 3

Delicious and almost guilt free at only a third each! Lol 😆 

What a special place to find on a day when I think I needed some TLC. 

My son in law Cam ( DD1’s husband) has an uncle who lives in the town of Avoca, and this Uncle David would be celebrating his birthday on the Friday and mine was the day after. So the girls took us both out to lunch in Maryborough on the Thursday. The venue was the Highland Society Club. Holly was rather taken with the statue out the front...

( My choice from the menu wasn’t great but the rest of our party said theirs were good...don’t you hate it when you make a not so good choice 😏😂🤪)! 

An unexpected trip interstate

Last week I had an unexpected trip interstate to Victoria. Unfortunately my daughters’ father had passed away and I was needed to accompany them to help with their 2 children. 

Here we are at 6am at Brisbane Airport...

Travelling with little children has always been a challenge and in our case we had a 2 hour flight, followed by a 2 1/2 hour drive before reaching our destination. 

The girls had lots of appointments etc so my job was to look after the little ones. Most of the time we stayed in the motel room as outside was quite cold and there was even some rain. 

I had brought some items in my luggage to help occupy a 1 and 2 year old.

Two little cuties ‘reading’ some of the picture books I brought with me 😍

And of course I had a scribble pad plus some coloured pencils...


And who doesn’t love a picnic? Even if the picnic cloth is a towel and the picnic is inside 😜

No photos but one day that I was minding the girls, we went outside to a little grassed area in the motel grounds and had ‘races’. Holly loves playing what she calls, ‘Ready Set Go!’ So with me pushing little Carrie in the stroller, Holly, Carrie and I played races...I got puffed before them! 🥴😂

We also played dressups with items in my suitcase...

And because DD1 and DD2 are modern young mums, they had downloaded children’s shows on their iPads and this Grandma was quite happy to use these to amuse my charges. 

And 2 of the teddies that live at my place also came on our trip as I knew that Miss Holly loves playing with them...

The brown bear is called Billy Bob and he averted a few ‘meltdowns’ as he is a particular favourite of Holly’s. 

The 5 days flew past and we were all relieved when the funeral was over.  It was in Maryborough where the girls’ dad had eventually relocated. I made sure I introduced myself to their dad’s partner as it was ridiculous how we had both pretended we hadn’t noticed each other. 

And so on the Saturday we drove from Avoca where we had stayed, back to Melbourne to catch our flight home. 

It was great to be home! 

Mothers Day

Last week I thought it was time to finally put away all the Easter decorations. It’s a bit early for a Winter display but then I thought...Mothers Day! 

So it was time to get out the mini quilt that I had received in a Mothers Day Mini Swap a few years ago.  And that’s my mum in the photo. 

And then I thought I’d bring out some of the floral patterned china that was packed away in cupboards...most of these items have been gifts over the years.

I love hydrangeas and family and friends have given me lots of lovely items with those flowers on them


Years ago I fell in love with this pattern and saved up to buy this plate...


My daughters have given me 4 Mum mugs over the years 😍


And there is DH’s mum! I usually like to buy a bunch of chrysanthemums around Mothers Day as my mum loved them. Because I was going to be away for 5 days, instead I got a potted flowering plant instead.




Hope all mothers had a lovely day today and received lots of attention and spoiling from their offspring 😍

Wool on Sunday

Joining in with the monthly Wool on Sunday over at Rainbow Hare.

With the cooler weather the knitting charity that I support  has been inundated with requests for warm items, especially blankets, beanies and gloves. 

Over Easter, I set to and joined some bags of donated squares into blankets...

And then there was a bag of smaller squares with a different style of granny square design. It made a lovely knee rug...

The lady who gave them to me normally joins her squares into rugs but she felt like a break from joining after donating quite a few of her rugs to the group. And I certainly didn’t mind helping out. 

I also had been storing some blankets that I’d made up in the warmer months from squares crocheted by a friend. Because so many items that left the K4BN storage shed for distribution , there was now room for more donations. 

These beautiful and warm blankets won’t be in storage for long; they will be distributed very soon. 

A total of 9 blankets made from the bags of donated squares that I’d been given to join. 

And at the moment I’m away interstate for a few days and in spare moments I’m using up some US variegated yarn that a friend brought back as a gift for me years ago, to make a baby blanket; most probably an item for K4BN.

And that’s Wool on Sunday for May 😄