Yet again! I've been sorting through those boxes of photos

If you remember, one of my goals to work on after I retired, was to work my way through the boxes (and boxes) and albums of photos that I seemed to have amassed over the years. My idea was that I would sort the photos into different categories and then scan the photos to make digital albums. There would be a copy kept on our portable hard drive and then there would be copies stored in either my Facebook account and/or my Box account. The latter 2 methods of storage mean that there is yet other copies which can be retrieved from any computer not just ours. The Facebook album of my mother's family has been brilliant for all the younger  members of our extended family as they can copy photos for themselves.  

One lot of photos that I've been putting aside for quite a while and have quite a pile, were photos taken at functions and celebrations at our church. The other day I had fun scanning and putting together a digital album of a concert we had in 1992 to raise funds...and we had lots of fun!

 Everyone helped in some way...

In the kitchen...

These lovely ladies were even having fun with the washing up!

There was a wonderful buffet table in the kitchen and one of the cheeky players  was  getting up close and personal  to one poor fellow...

Some of our young parishioners provided musical items...

There were recitations...

Peta performed a dramatic and moving rendition of 'The Man from Ironbark' 

This lady was a lecturer in the English Department of the University of Queensland...before this she worked as a teacher aide at the school where I worked, and she wrote pantomimes for my Year 7 Drama Club...

 Then we had an item from 'Les Mis'. Adrianna is still involved with music now in her middle 20s

The ladies guild worked on an act too...a medley of songs from 'My Fair Lady'... lots of rehearsals for that!

Waiting in the Sunday School room waiting for our item to be announced...

After Intermission we had 2 melodramas. The casts in these had just a few rehearsals due to work commitments...but that made it even more hilarious!
Melodrama # 1

3 'school girls' and their headmistress wait for their cues...Act 1

Cath, the Head Mistress, walks amongst the tables with her long list...

Then it was a quick change out of the sports uniform into the white outfit to play the poor heroine who was being forced against her will to marry the evil Jasper Jellybags, the villain of the piece!  But like all melodramas, after a lot of 'hamming it up' from the players and booing and hissing from the audience, it all came out right at the end. :-)

Phew! We're nearly at the end of the drama now, having survived forgotten lines  by one cast member  who then ad libbed and jumped a whole page of the script...and that page had my character's funny lines  too! sigh...

Melodrama #2
Father Neville organised this in friendly opposition to our Melodrama#1! They had had less rehearsals than us...and it showed! lol But young Peta was brilliant as Poppy the poor heroine....

The holey stockings were a nice touch! lol

Peta's mum, Pat, and Father Neville were the villains...

There were heaps of other musical items and also some dancing. It was a great night and it's been fun to 'look back'. 

Still keeping busy...

The family got a lovely surprise this Christmas. DsD1 has been quietly getting to know a young man who lives on a property close (ish; I think the property is about 60km away from Wandoan) to the school where she has been posted these last 2 years. Friendship has evolved into love and DsD1 is absolutely radiant! Last night DH and I, plus my BIL and SIL met the young man  when the couple came to dinner. 

He is from a grazier family and although we had tried to buy some meat for the BBQ at a specialist butcher, this butcher did not really have any cuts that would be suitable for cooking on the BBQ, so...we ended up with 'supermarket' steaks, chops and sausages. And our guest complimented us on the meat's quality! (polite?)  It was a lovely evening and even though lots of questions were asked of our guest, I'm sure he didn't mind. :-)

My lovely BIL and SIL...two of our best friends!

 After Christmas I've been organising a couple of new craft projects...

A new project with long hexagons...

 It was amazing what I found in my stash that fitted the theme, sewing. The other morning I sat and fussy cut quite a few of the hexagons but still have to work out what I'll use for the squares. I'm making something for my first swap of 2013 and, for now, it's a bit of a secret :-) It's not a table centre like the photo below but I will use the same layout for this project.

I made this for a Christmas 2011 swap; have never received acknowledgement that it arrived safely :-( 

Another secretive project that I've started is some knitting...the yarn looks grey but is actually black...it's not for a swap, but a gift for someone...

Another little task I've been doing is sorting through some boxes of photos. While DH is 'glued' to the TV watching the cricket, I sit on the couch and look through the photos and collate them  into groups and/or themes. I have found lots of photos of parish life from when my children were little. So far I have shared an album of photos of a 1992 parish concert on Facebook, much to the delight of former parishioners, as well as present day ones! In a later post I'll share some of them :-)

Christmas...

 On Christmas Eve, the family gathered at our place... We started with a lovely spinach dip made in a hollowed out cob loaf that has become a speciality of DD1. Then it was time for the prawns that my brother brings each year...

 The main course this year was a variety of roast meats, accompanied by 3 large baking dishes of baked vegetables, steamed greens and gravy.

That's my dinner in the foreground :-)

 I had put a lot of wrapped gifts under the tree but as the family arrived the pile of presents grew dramatically. (I always get a bit 'thingy' at this time because I feel that there are too many presents but the family chooses to ignore my suggestion that they limit the spending :-/)
The pile of presents was just so overwhelming, that I suggested that each person, hands out the gifts that they had bought and I would hand out the Secret Santa gifts that the 5 girls do between them. So pretty soon the dinner tables looked like this!

DsD3 brought along Roberto as he has no family here. He is from El Salvador. I told him that I had planned to fry some plantains to make him feel at home, but decided not to when my local fruit shop expected me to buy the whole carton as it's a special order :-) Roberto didn't mind...he was impressed that I'd thought of him

DD1 brought along her housemate, Janelle who is sitting between my 2 girls...

DsD looking a bit pensive here...

Our Son in Law to be!

My 'little' nephew is now 14 and over a foot taller than me!

My lovely DH who had peeled lots of vegetables and brought tables and chairs out of storage...and was generally a great help!

My brother and his partner gave me this magnificent hydrangea 

 Then on Christmas Day we went to my BIL and SIL's place for lunch... more food and more presents! lol

 But we'd already had a cooked breakfast with DD2 who had come  over about 8.30.

 Now a couple of photos of the Advent swap goodies...

Haha! Blogger keeps turning this photo on its side...All these beautiful items from Cheryl took me up to Christmas Eve... On Christmas morning I opened the last parcel and what a lovely surprise!!!

Two lovely Christmas mats made with the folded start technique! They will make a wonderful addition to Christmas in 2013. Thank you so much for being my swap buddy Cheryl; I've loved everything and it was so much fun!

So that was Christmas! And pretty special it was too :-)

Another Christmas Eve is upon us...

It's been a bit busy here today as DH and I get ready to have our family (and a few extra people) Christmas Eve dinner. It's become a bit of a family tradition to celebrate on this night and it's always a fun, sometimes noisy celebration. For a few years we've had a BBQ dinner but I know that everyone prefers a hot roast dinner, so that's what we're having tonight. I've been very fortunate that the day isn't nearly as hot as the previous days. The plan had been to cook the beef in the slow cooker on the verandah but it's cool enough to have it on the kitchen bench.

 He hehe...our doors look like they have one round eye and one rectangular one!

 This little fellow greets all our guests as they come through the doors...my friend painted him for me about 25 years ago. He emerges from his tissue paper each December, looking as good as new! lol

Over the years I've come to really love the poinsettia as a symbol of Christmas.... 

If our guests come in the back gate, we have a wreath at the back steps to greet them as well...

This photo only shows some of the gifts for our 12 guests tonight...

My friend Pamela made me 2 new tablecloths for Christmas and added some lovely deer table decorations...

Lastly I would like to wish everyone who reads my blog, the very best for a wonderful Christmas. May your Christmas be filled with peace, joy and love. Thank you to those of you who leave comments; they really make my day when you do... Here's a card that I did especially for all of you. (the site is safe)

That same friend also made me this wreath in 2 of my favourite colours (hand dyed with silk paints)

Still being 'spoiled' and another 'finish'.

Firstly some more goodies in the Advent swap...The day that I opened up the parcel and found the Gail Pan pattern was a lovely surprise because only a few days before I had been looking at her patterns online and thinking how nice they were and that maybe I should order one to try...so how opportune was Cheryl's gift??

Now I feel a bit like a spoiled, over-indulged child but here are some photos of some of the goodies that I got from Liz in Canberra in another Christmas Swap; this one was organised through Elfster. Liz wrote in her card that she thought that a 'pamper' basket was the way to go at this busy time of year...and I readily agree! lol 

Look at these lovely wine glass markers in the shape of Christmas baubles...

 Then there was a  reusable coffee mug (with a lid) with a flavoured coffee...

 The pampering continues with some lovely green tea facial wipes (so gentle), some guest soaps that smell yummy enough to eat! a lovely body lotion, a tulle sponge and some tissues, all resting on a hand towel and washer set of the softest towelling.

 The basket had been wrapped in a beautiful linen Christmas tea towel...

 And look at these beautiful tree decorations and that gorgeous red ribbon with white stars that decorated the basket.

Thank you Liz for my beautiful pamper basket; I love it!

Now way back on November 30, posting day for this swap, I forgot to take a photo of what I sent Liz. Here's the parcel all sealed up ready for the post bag. I 'toyed' with opening it up when I realised I'd forgotten to photograph it, but because I'd used my last sheet of tissue paper at that moment, (I like to first wrap craft projects in tissue, then gift wrap) and I knew it would tear if I tried to undo it, I let it go. It was a banner made with felt letters (about 6 inches in height) which were padded and decorated and spelled out Merry Christmas. As I admitted to Liz, I didn't make it but instead bought it from the Karuna Hospice Christmas Markets.

Any way Liz reported that she and her 5 children loved the banner so it's found a good home!

Last Wednesday, I went to my last Knit and Natter for 2012 and by knitting under the fan the previous weekend, I was able to take along 'a knitting experiment' all finished. I'd often mused over whether it was possible to make an interesting looking knitted throw just using garter stitch. Some interesting/fancy yarns had been donated to K4BN in recent months and I had taken a few odd balls of these to see what I could come up with.

Now I knew that that old favourite of mine, the chevron , by its very nature, pulled in the width of the knitting somewhat, so I expected to get a wider piece of knitting with plain garter stitch. Hah hah! But I wasn't to know just how much wider it would be! I cast on the same 198 stitches as for the chevron and it soon became obvious that this was going to be much wider...it was 1.68m wide rather than the 1.2-1.3m of the usual chevron despite being the same number of cast on stitches.

The width of the throw nearly covers my large outdoor table...

It wasn't long before I decided that when finished, I would turn the throw so that the strips ran down not across as usual :-)
As well as the lovely donated yarns, I also used some 'leftovers' from the throw that I made for the parish Art Show in July.

Lots of colour and texture in my old favourite (but discontinued) Patons' loopy

As I mentioned, I decided to rotate the throw so the stripes run up and down. But the recipient can turn it any way he/she likes! lol

I know that Karen (the founder and organiser of K4BN) reads this blog and I bet as she reads this, she's already thinking of where 'its new home' may be. The girls at the K&N on Wednesday have said that my experiment has been, in their opinion, a success :-) . And I'm pleased that I got the effect I was hoping for by using those fancy yarns mixed with plain.

It's certainly beginning to look like Christmas...

Yes Christmas is fast approaching. The menu seems to be finalised and the guest list is growing as family members remember people they would like to bring along to our place on Monday night. DH and I will do most of the shopping for food items on the weekend with just the ice for the esky holding the drinks to be picked up on Monday. There's a few more presents to be wrapped and some vouchers to be purchased online to be popped into greeting cards. All the Christmas cards have been posted, as have parcels to relatives  and friends interstate or even just across to the other side of our city. Becky got the little parcel of 'Australiana' that I sent her a few weeks ago as did another US friend,Claudia.

Claudia's cat, CC, sitting beside the 'kangaroo' Christmas stocking and the face washer with a cross stitched kangaroo.

The few shops that I've been into have been having big markdowns and one wonders how they manage to do this. I'm not complaining, as some of my (almost) last minute gift buying have been absolute bargains.

Yesterday a former colleague came over for lunch and of course we exchanged gifts! 

Great minds think alike...we gave each some towels as well as some other things. And Lee also gave me some very special mini Christmas puddings made by another friend of hers. They contain sugar but I'm still going to eat some! lol

And having fun pulling out all those decorations has continued...

Since this photo was taken, the tree skirt has been added and a number of wrapped gifts...

 The tall narrow set of shelves in the corner of the lounge room normally holds family photos and DH's golf trophies. I cleared out 3 of the shelves and put in some Christmas decorations....

The beaded Santa was a gift from a student in 2004. He had saved up to buy it for me...how humbling is that :-) Naturally I treasure it!

A close up of my knitted Nativity which I bought many years ago  at a craft market

A little tree covered in baubles that my SIL made me about 5 or 6 years ago...the runner on the bench was a gift from my SIL (from my first marriage)

Even the coffee table wasn't safe from my decorating fervour... in the bowl is actually an old hanging ornie which had a few scratches etc on it from its long years of service. You can't see the marks when it's surrounded by tinsel and sitting in the bowl :-) The tablecloth was on special at Spotlight about 10 years ago!

This was a fabric wreath that my SIL gave me in the early 1980s. Marlene was involved with a mothers' group that made items for the school fete where her children went. She bought this for me from their stall. It originally had some gum nuts as decoration but they had eventually disintegrated and the ribbons were a bit worse for wear. So I washed and ironed the ribbon, wiped over the dusty wreath, found some fancy gold ribbon I had bought for $1 for the roll and added a decoration that had been on a Christmas hamper that I received one year. 

 So now it's hanging up again, just like new.

Just got a text from DD1, there is someone else she would like to come for dinner on Christmas Eve :-) Hmmm another male...might have to re think how big the pieces of meat that I plan to roast  should be! lol