March 20 a year ago...an Encore post.

Regular readers will be surprised to learn that today is exactly one year since we arrived in the UK for our driving holiday there...time has certainly flown.
Remembering...

THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014

Arrival in London...

We arrived in London at around 4.35 am London time after a flight of just over 12 hours. We had had a stopover at Hong Kong Airport for 6 hours and when we had arrived in HK there were no details on the board about what gate we would board through for our next flight. So we hung around Gate 60 as it was near where we had gone through Security after our flight from Brisbane.

I must share with you the photo I took of the label of some bottled water that I bought in Hong Kong Airport...

What a load of codswallop ! Lo

Eventually we found out that we would be boarding throughGate 2! It was then we really realised how BIG Hong Kong Airport is! Lol

When we finally boarded we were very tired? I actually dozed and missed the take-off... After we were served supper on board, I went to sleep again. When I awoke I was sure that I had slept for hours and hours...can you imagine my disappointment when I discovered that there was still 8 hours of the flight  to go! 

Nevertheless the time passed and we were at last in London...the photo below shows the images on the screens we could see from the outside camera on the plane. I had been able to see images of nighttime London via this camera, as we came in over the Thames Estuary. The man sitting behind us was obviously a local and had pointed out landmarks such as old docks and Canary Docks etc. 

Then it was all the official stuff such as Customs and Immigration.

DH and I then caught the train to Earls Court and then another train to West Brompton which was actually closer to our Earls Court hotel. . We were so lucky when we arrived at our hotel, as we were allowed an early check in! I was sooooo grateful. 

So we had a rest and a shower and then it was back to the station...

We went to the Westfields in Shepherd's Bush as DH was going to collect his Westfield discount card and also to organise a mobile phone...

A lovely little coffee shop called Butlers where we stopped for a coffee...

Some of the shops in the huge Westfield...

Also just beside the complex we saw this! 

This icecream truck is outside Jamie Oliver's restaurant. 

Just inside Westfields we saw this shop...I first found branches of this clothing chain throughout the US when we were there in 2011...same window display. I'm pointing to a Singer model just like my mum's. 

After that we walked around the streets of Shepherd's Bush outside the big complex. There were lots of fabric shops that reminded me of the fabric shops in the Indian quarter of Singapore...lots of fancy fabrics.

Then we caught a bus to the city...

And look what shop I saw in a street running off Oxford St?? 

I was busy looking at 'stuff' and DH was busy taking photos!

I bought some precuts Liberty fabric...I just ignored the price tags...

As well as the fabric strip WOF pieces, I also bought some precut hexies and card template for the papers. The Plan is to perhaps work on this EPP project while we travel. 

Day 1 of our trip also included dinner at a small pub up the street from our hotel...all very quaint. 

So that was 12 months ago...

Babysitting plants...

DH's cousin and her husband have sold their house in Ashgrove and have bought a house on 3/4 acre at Deception Bay just to the north of Brisbane. They have been keen gardeners for years and have collected a rather large number of plants, including some rare tropical plants. They needed somewhere to store the bulk of their plant collection until they move into their spacious new home...and they asked DH if we could 'babysit' the plants. And that's why our garden has gradually become quite crowded with lots of new plants...
The plants come loaded on a trailer...so far we have had 4 trailer loads...I think it's only 4 but I may have lost count! :-/

At first P and G arranged their plants near our back fence...

 I love the hanging baskets in the old mango tree...

More plants were lined up against the side fence...

Some were lined up along the other side fence...with more hanging baskets...

Some plants that needed shade were tucked under the side veranda...

Some plants found their temporary home nestled under the trees and shrubs near the back gate...

 Other plants were put under the eaves of the house on the western side, nestled near the battens but leaving room to walk...

Some of the plants were very tall and quite unstable in their pots...

So G tied them to the fence...

Here's a closer look at one of those flowers...

 And one of the blue ginger plants was flowering too...

Lots of bromeliads for me to snitch 'pups' from...

P and G have given us some money towards our water bill as these plants will need water over the next month...if you don't hear from me during this time, it may be because I got lost in my new tropical garden whilst watering them! lol
P did some watering of the 'new arrivals' yesterday...

I said earlier that DH and I have the bulk of their collection...a trailer load did go to G's sister's place at Toorbul. We expect one more load and that's the indoor plants from Ashgrove. They are going to nestle around our water storage tanks which are under our front veranda. 

St Patrick's Day...

Today was St Patrick's Day, and like a lot of Aussies, my family tree on my mother's side traces back to Ireland...County Cork to be exact. My mother was very proud of her Irish heritage. She had always talked of her grandparents as being born in Ireland. But when my sister and I started doing family research, we found that mum's grandparents were actually born in Australia in the Warrnambool district. So instead of my great grandparents being Irish born it was my great great grandparents who came to Australia as immigrants. I now know a bit more about one of the first genation of my family born in this country.

My great Grandmother Julia was born in 1868, in the then colony of Victoria. Thanks to Ancestry.com.au, I found other family trees with Julia on them. Eventually I was in contact with 2 of these families. One of these people, shared G grandmother Julia with me. And best of all, this cousin had a photo of Julia...I had never seen a photo before and neither had any of our family...

 

My mother had told me that her grandmother had died young...I bought Julia's death certificate and found that she died in 1905 of Pneumonia and Heart Failure...the family story told by my mother was that Julia had died of 'galloping consumption' so it was good to set the records straight...as I think consumption is a euphemism for TB?

Sadly my g grandmother's death left my g grandfather John, with 5 little girls, aged 10, 7, ( my new found cousin's grandma), 6, ( my grandma), 3 and 11 months. My 'new' cousin Terese also sent me a photo of John and Julia's children...the family (my siblings and my aunt's children) were amazed to see this photo

Only 2 of these girls went on to have children; Terese's grandma in the middle and my Nan second from the right. 

Now I mentioned earlier that there were other family trees on Ancestry.com.au who 'shared' Julia with me. One of these families was able to send me a photo of one of Julia's brother, known as Leo. Julia had 10 siblings! Leo was the g grandfather of this family. 

My sister has been to Ireland and research parish records and she continues to do research on the family, although now she is concentrating more on her father's family...we have different fathers. 

Now back to St Patrick's Day...

I wore this today...a tiny brooch in the shape of a shamrock.

My cousin Terese really got into the spirit of the day...love this!

Happy St Pat's Day! 

Finally finished...

Quite a while ago I wrote a few posts about a hexie project I was working on...a cushion using lots of floral fabrics. The intended recipient is a blogging friend's 90 year old mother. Her milestone birthday was in January...I worked away on the project but just never seemed to make much progress. 'It' would look accusingly at me from where it sat in a heap on my dining room table. But some days I just didn't feel like working on it...and there were lots of those days! Lol

Well I'm pleased to say that the patchwork top is completed and, as of this afternoon, the cushion has been assembled and sewn. This morning I bought some cushion inserts at the Spotlight 30% off sale and the Size 18/46cm was a perfect fit. 

May I present a 'Flurry of Florals and Lace'...

And now I have more time to concentrate on my secret Easter Project...an Easter Runner Swap with the Sunday Stitchers. 

Saturday at Let's Get Stitched...

Another Saturday has come around and I'm only getting around to writing about the Saturday of last weekend! 

Traditionally this is a free day at a LGS weekend with the LGS dinner on the Saturday night. My lovely DH collected my roommates and I late in the morning and off we went to do some sightseeing. 

First stop was Mt Coot-tha Lookout but the view of the city was a bit hampered by haze. Normally you can see the Sandhills of the islands from the lookout. 

Next stop was the Mt Cootha Botanical Gardens for a walk around which included succulents, the tropical plants sections, including the Dome, and even a bit of the fernery. 

In the Dome which contains a collection of tropical plants we were particularly taken with this plant...

Note the berry like things growing on the branches...

This is what the label said...

Yes it is a cacao tree...chocolate! Lol.

We found an interesting chair and had to try it out. We thought it was like something you would see in Alice in Wonderland! :-)

We had a delicious lunch in the Gardens Cafe and I was pleasantly surprised! The food was great and reasonably priced! My city and I didn't know that! Lol. 

My plan was that after lunch we would visit some Northside quilt/fabric shops. Good job I checked the websites in the car...all of them closed at 1pm on a Saturday! Oh dear...a quick change of plans. We took my South Australian roommates to Redcliffe instead...and...they loved what we took them to see there.

The Bee Gees Walk! 

After a cup of coffee, DH drove us back to our hotel. Time for a rest before we headed off to dinner...and boy what a surprise that was going to be! 

Dinner was at the nearby Morrison Hotel...

An area had been set up for us...in this large room...then we noticed the wallpaper...ahem...interesting to say the least! The early comers, including myself, started taking photos....here's one of yours truly posing in front of this interesting wallpaper...

And there was an interesting table lamp in the corner...

(The 'heads' you can see are the cut outs of Sam and Robyn who couldn't attend LGS this year so the cut outs came instead)

Now we wondered whether Joy, the organiser of the event, had previously checked out this venue...this is her reaction when she saw the wallpaper...for the first time it seems, lol. 

Needless to say it will be a story that will become legendary in LGS 'folklore'. Lol

When our food arrived we discovered why the Morrison Hotel has such a wonderful reputation for its food...it was beautiful food!

My eye fillet steak with a very nice Steak Dianne Sauce...yum! 

After a great night it was time to head back to our hotel as the Sunday Stitching Day would be a big one.

Another view of THAT wallpaper! It would have been considered quite risqué at one time and it's possible that this decor was chosen to reflect the rather seedy nature of this part of town in the early years of the 20th Century. 

Some rather interesting businesses apparently operated in this part of town...cough cough!