A new family member has arrived!

Today my nephew Stuart and his wife became parents for the first time with the birth of Harper Eve. She was born 12.04pm and weighed 3.275 kg. DH and I now have had 4 great nieces born in 2010! And we are so thrilled !!


Proud dad, Stu with his baby daughter, Harper!



I learn a lot from blogging...

I've learned a lot recently from reading other people's blogs. I've got new recipes to try, heaps of sewing and knitting ideas, discovered just how cold it can get in the US, got ideas for gardening, found about Charley Harper and have discovered that the plants we call  'hippeastrums' here in Australia are also known as Amaryllis in the US! (And those are just a few of the things I've learned)





These 2 photos show some hippeastrums which were on display and for sale in Holland at some gardens known as Keukenhof. They were all magnificent specimums but I resisted temptation to buy any as I would have had no chance of bringing them back into Australia.


This is a view of a small part of the gardens at Keukenhof which is outside Amsterdam. The gardens are only open for 6 weeks in the year; obviously when the tulips and other flowers are in bloom.

Closer to home than the Netherlands here are some other gardens we have visited.

This photo shows some of the garden beds at Floriade 2009 in Canberra. This amazing festival is held annually (Sept/Oct ) and I had always dreamed of seeing it first hand and last year DH made the dream come true. I wasn't disappointed! The gardens cover acres/hectares of Centennial Park and none of the photos we took do it justice.

Even closer to home, the photo above is of part of the gardens in Toowoomba's annual Carnival of Flowers, held every September.

One day I plan to sort through all the photos we've taken and make a calendar of the gardens we have visited. We took photos of a number of other gardens when we went to the UK and Europe in 2008, as well as some in NZ and Norfolk Island.



De-cluttering continues...

Yesterday I found a large plastic box on the bottom shelf of the built ins in my sewing room which was full of school 'stuff' left after I sorted out 4 boxes of school related items about 4-5 years ago. This time I decided to throw out the worksheets for assorted year levels that I had kept. This resulted in a small 'mountain' of now empty plastic sleeves as I decided that I would only throw out the sheets inside the plastic. I made another pile which contained items that my neighbour's grandson may like, art projects, books, stickers etc. Another pile was made of books for the charity bin and another pile was things I would keep. (thankfully very very small!) Another pile was my 'throw out' pile. Now my 'keeping' pile has been placed in a box which has already been packed with items that I brought home from my classroom, soooo... I now have a whole shelf which is empty in my sewing room which means I can put away some of the clutter on my sewing table!

So that means I have decluttered 3 'areas' and that is a good start. Early this year, I colour coded my yarns and fabrics and put them into zippered sweater bags and sorted my sewing accessories and put them into various containers. At that time (January 2010) we knew that we needed to 'free up' another bedroom as one daughter was coming back from the UK and even though she had lived with her mother before she worked OS, that was no longer possible. The room was absolutely shocking because, as well as my sewing equipment being on a table in there, the room had become a dumping ground for all members of the family. I spent hours and hours sorting out things and eventually cleared enough to have a made up bed ready but really very little or no space for Meg to put her own belongings. Then her sister moved out and we had a large bedroom spare but it was quickly occupied by another daughter who had come home for some TLC after a particularly trying time in her personal life. DH and I are at present on our own and will continue to de-clutter our 'stuff'!

Today I also did some scanning of some magazine pages today as the mags were from the library and are due back tomorrow. The use of the photocopier at work I'll really miss as the scanner takes a lot longer and there is no A3 size on it. So I've copied a knitting pattern or two and 2 quilting ideas.

Talking of work, last night I finally did a task that I've been putting off for ages...re-newing my teacher registration! Normally you just pay the fees but this year they (the Queensland College of teachers) are tying registration to professional development completed. Full-timers have to do 30 hours per year. As a .6 I had to do 18 hours. The QCT had been sending us letters and emails discussing this PD etc and I was of the opinion that it would be complicated to re-register. I have to re-register as technically I'm on leave not retired. Time was running out to register so last night I made my reluctant self re-read all the letters etc and I went online. The site wouldn't accept my password, and even though the site indicated my password had been emailed to me after my request it did not arrive. No panic! remember I'm more laidback now that I'm almost retired but it would cost extra $$ if I couldn't register by 31st. Luckily I found in one of the letters that they had reassigned me a new password. So when I finally got into the site, it took me just over 5 minutes, including a redirection to pay the fees! No justification or filling out forms regarding my PD just the somewhat gentle threat of a possible audit of my paperwork showing what training I'd completed. All that procrastination!!! I could have done the re-registering before Nov 15 and have been in the draw for an iPad for heaven's sake!!!! lol

Waiting for the water taxi to head over to St Marco Square. We were amazed by the obvious complete lack of O.H. and S!!!

DH and I went out today to the movies. We saw 'The Tourist'. I loved every minute of it...pure escapism with the added bonus of beautiful Venice being the setting!

The characters in the movie tended to use the faster water taxis! DH and I (in the aqua hat) enjoying a gondola ride with others on our tour.

Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp's characters went to a function at the Dogue's palace; we just had a tour!

The scenery in the movie was delightful and I couldn't resist turning on the portable hard drive and looking back at our photos of Venice. Great memories!

Playing with my new 'toys'...

Another lovely, leisurely day planned for today!
This morning I decided to use my new knitting tools...my swift and wool winder. I have been finding it quite tiring in my shoulders winding skeins of yarn into balls so was thrilled when Gabrielle from a local yarnstore had swifts and wool winders in stock. Her prices were extremely reasonable compared to some of the online knitting shops I'd looked at. DH was thrilled as he then wanted to buy me these two items for Christmas, as he had been stumped at what to buy me.



At first my ball of yarn looked a bit wonky!




As I got the 'rhythm' right, the shape of the ball improved




This lovely yarn came in a skein that was nearly 2' or 60cm wide! A big job by hand!




Six months ago I'd never heard of a 'swift'! This one worked a treat and rotates easily, letting out more yarn to wind.

 I used all 100grams of yarn to make one ball. In hindsight probably 2x 50gram balls would have been better. I'll see how I go with using the ball; if it unravels too quickly I'll make the smaller balls in future. It was great fun and certainly less taxing on my shoulders and arms! I have lots of skeins waiting to be wound into balls!

It hasn't rained today so DH was out cleaning the boot of his car. It was getting very musty due to putting muddy and wet golf equipment in the boot. If I ever use that car you can guarantee that the boot(trunk) is full of grass and grains of dirt and sand and it doesn't have to have been raining so you can imagine how it would be after the rain we've had. One load of washing is out on the clothesline but the load I did late last night is still hanging on the drying frame which is in our family room at the moment. This sort of weather at this time of year, is just so similar to the weather conditions I can remember from my childhood. Parts of our state  are experiencing really bad flooding; the likes of which haven't been seen for 60 years or more. (no I don't personally remember back that far! lol)


These are the 2 boxes which contain the gifts I buy at any time thoughout the year but especially when we travel. All organised and inventoried for the new year. I have actually taken out something to wrap up and post to a former sister in law who is having a birthday.



I am so fortunate...

It's a lovely part of the year now...things have slowed right down and we're very relaxed and enjoying each day as it comes.
It has been raining here for just over a week now. Perfect weather for tidying up, sorting out, reading, crafts and just general daydreaming about up and coming craft projects and activities. I tend to buy gifts throughout the year and these gifts are kept in 2 big plastic storage tubs- one for general gifts and one for baby gifts. I've spent time over the past 2 days, sorting out items in these tubs and despite wrapping many up for gift giving in 2010, there were still many left. I have written a more up to date inventory for each box so the next time I need a present I'll know straight away if I already have something suitable. There were items in both boxes (they are about 94 litre size boxes) that I had forgotten I had. Realistically I don't really need to spend money buying much for quite a while. I have already made a vow that I would make more gifts from now on too!


A knitted 'washer' I made to go with Meg's set of towels her father and I bought her for christmas.




The big ball of Bernat knitting cotton

To me, Christmas is more about the 'giving' rather than gloating over a big booty of gifts. I feel very privileged when I think about the gifts that my family gave me. Each person obviously thought about my interests and organised gifts that reflect this thoughtfulness. I now have a wool winder and a swift which I am very grateful for as many of the yarns I buy these days are in skeins rather than balls. I also have a new book of knitting patterns with a wide range of projects. I plan to do some of the smaller projects as 'hot weather' knitting activities. I love the old 'Noah's Ark ' story and one of my daughters bought me a fabric panel of this old story. (She also bought me the sweetest set of N.A. cookie cutters and some seeds of old fashioned plants of my childhood) I love watching or reading 'Who done its' and one of our girls gave me two novels of that genre which also include knitting in the setting and plot.


My swift, wool winder, knitting book and 2 novels



The Noah's Ark fabric panel



We have had a lot of rain this year and I'm a keen gardener who's had a lot of weeding and pruning to do as a result. A few years ago my 2 daughters gave me a pair of purple 'crocs' which I had to promise them I would never wear in public (because they would be so embarassed! lol) places so I have always worn them as my 'yard shoes'. With the extra rain this year, the ground became extremely soggy and mud and water would get inside the crocs. So one of my step-daughters gave me a pair of gumboots. They are magnificent, as the photo below shows and they are my new 'yard shoes' when we've had lots of rain.

My new gumboots

So as you can see, I'm well and truly blessed with these thoughtful gifts and all will be so helpful in all my creative pursuits in the future, both craft wise and garden wise.

Our Christmas

We have a family meal at our place on Christmas Eve. This allows family members to then meet up with friends and other family members on Christmas Day. This year was the smallest gathering we've had in ages but that worked out well, as since starting the medication the doctor prescribed, nearly a week ago, I've felt quite unwell. The family were brilliant as each brought a contribution to the meal. An unexpected last minute drop out was my brother's girlfriend. Her older male dog had taken ill and had to be rushed to the vet. My brother came on his own two hours late but it was relief to know that he and Myra were ok as I had started to worry that they had been in a car accident in the heavy rain driving down from Mt Nebo. Still sad news about the dog. I must try to find out the latest but the dog wasn't expected to last long...so sad!!!

 The food is all prepared and DH and I are enjoying a drink on the veranda. We had a hot roast dinner this year as the weather has been quite mild with all this rain. The entree was prawns but these were delayed as they were H's contribution. So we had them as a second course I guess. Some of us managed to have dessert which was a fruit platter, plum pudding/custard/icecream . Truffles and mini Christmas puds were offered but there were very few takers.

My poor frazzled brother enjoying a late dinner.

My daughter Liz brought the spinach dip in the cobloaf...it was very popular!

Liz and Jen

 Meg

 Nikki took lots of photos for me

Present unwrapping; lots of lovely thoughtful gifts were given

The presents under the tree. This year it was my brother's turn to hand out the presents.

On Christmas Day we went to DH's brother and sister in law's place for lunch. The photo above shows some of Mary's decorations. It was a larger gathering of the  family including David's children and their children and Meg and Liz also attended.



Another little great-niece, little 6 week old Ashleigh celebrating her first Christmas.



Someone thought all his Christmases had come at once. Obviously the pantry door was left ajar and the lid on the dry cat food container was easy to get off.

We didn't even hear a noise of the cannister falling but even Eduardo knows when he's had enough; he stopped voluntarily!!! lol

Busy, busy, busy...

The rain eased today but is predicted to be back for the next few days. DH and I did some tidying up and vacuuming today in readiness for the family dinner tomorrow night. One daughter has moved out so naturally my boxes of 'school stuff' went into that room. I tidied up the veranda and started putting some decorations in the lounge room, veranda and family room.

I had promised myself that I would make some mini Christmas puddings out of some dark fruit cake. Last night I crumbled the cake and poured some brandy over it. Then rolled it into balls. Left them in the fridge overnight, then today put spoonfuls of melted white chocolate on the top of each one and put cut up green and red glace cherries on top to represent a sprig of holly. The results are pictures below.

Early in the afternoon we took another daughter and her partner to the airport. They are spending Christmas in New Zealand with Karl's family. Naturally, being so close to the Airport DFO, we went there to have a look at the outlet shops. I bought some gifts, DH bought a pair of running shoes and a DVD (hard drive)player/recorder. When we got home he spent ages trying to get it to work. He came to the conclusion that he needed a particular cable so after dinner tonight we went to the local shops and while I bought groceries, he bought this cable and a mobile broadband 'thing' to use with my elderly laptop. (which he is using for this contract that he's currently working on) I think everything is working fine now as I can't hear any complaints from the next room! lol

I've a few more things I want to do tonight in readiness for tomorrow night. Then hopefully a good night's sleep and up early to get everything ready. I'll relax about half past midnight tomorrow night as I volunteered to serve at our church's 11.30 pm service tomorrow night. It's always a beautiful service but I'm usually very tired...