Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig

Well it is so good to be home again for a little while, and have my little abode to myself again.  Himself is well, and able to take care of himself so my job is done. 

I managed to have a finish of a page, and have two works in progress which I will post about later.  Now this can wait until it is stitched to its backing page.

 I have just realised I have a line on the bottom right that I need to get rid of....oops.

My plants have survived my absence after all, except for the sage plant which turned up its toes in the extreme heat we have been having. The first time I came home everything looked very bad. I took my son's advice and gave everything a feed with "seasol" and it is a miracle.  The mint is flourishing again, and my precious miniature fuschia has all new leaves.  I did lose some of the new coriander, but with the ones that have survived I will get new seedlings.

You can see the difference in the plants from before and after the seasol treatment, and how good they were to come back to.

I dont think I am going to revive the sage or the strawberries.

While I was at the farm, my lovely cactus was in flower.  There are two different colours and they are stunning. Unfortunately they only last   a short while.

The jacaranda trees on the property are all in flower and make a stunning display.

Next to the steps I discovered the tiny snapdragon plant, with one normal sized flower. It was only about 3 inches high.  There was a time a few years ago when I did have snapdragons in that spot so it must have been a lonely little seed that germinated after all that time. When we were children we called them "puppy dog flowers".

we have been experiencing very high temperatures for the last couple of weeks, but today seems a bit milder.  I do feel so sorry though for all those people experiencing the extreme cold weather in the northern hemisphere.

Until next time, happy stitching

Back From the Bush

My blog posts seem to be getting further and further apart these days.  However I am now back from another sojourn, with some pics to share.

There were some new arrivals this visit, deer in the farm paddock next door.  It was so exciting to see something different having never seen deer in real life.

It took a a while to get photos, and these are as close as I got.

Main picture deer near carports inside our property.. top left cattle.. bottom left deer in paddock centre: deer in orchard bottom right: deer moving along fence

The cattle like to get in the act and watch what is going on.

I did enjoy my stay, but it entailed quite a bit of housework.  Himself is having trouble with his hip and is in a lot of pain so has not been able to cope with the cleaning, particularly anything that is  low down.  By the time I left it was good to see my lovely house all spic and span again.

I didn't feel the cold up there because we had a fire every night.  Not much flowering in the garden, although I did get some pics of what is there.

The bromelaids are almost finished but what was there was striking. There are also weeds which are on the bottom right and left. The yellow daisies are almost finished  but managed to capture one lonely flower that was left. I do love the red and pink crucifix orchids.  The white daisy has wonderful blue spots in the centre.

I have managed to finish off my botanica. It now has a backing and hanging sleeve and is ready for the quilt show in September. I have made a collage with some close-ups

Of course a post about serenity is not done unless there is something about the wallabies.  There are new babies, one just out of the pouch and others on the way.  There is also a new baby rabbit, which sadly was taken by a hawk the day after I took the photo...that is nature for you.

The baby rabbit is in the photo with the mummy in the centre bottom pic.  The main pic has "shorty" who we think is the dad of quite a few of the babies relaxing while mum supervises the newest joey out of the pouch.

I did manage to have a couple of sewing days with my friend, but will keep the results for my next post.

bye for now, happy stitching.

Serenity

On this visit to serenity the daisies are in full flower, and the sunrises are just as lovely.  Unfortunately a lot of the garden is showing signs of neglect which is sad.  The pink rose has gone to heaven, 

It used to look like this...the pink one at the back

now it looks like this...

I made some progress with the garden, but even more progress in the kitchen.

There were sausage rolls, and there was soup.....

Not much room for anything else.

Last but not least, when I was a young girl my grandmother sang this song to me and I never forgot it.  A few years ago I was fortunate to find the sheet music for it......

Then while at the Gold Coast DIL actually found the song recorded from many years ago on u-tube.. This style of music may be well before the time of many readers, but it puts a spring in ones step just the same.

Just google

In Your Green Hat Nathan Glantz Arthur Hall Earl

click on this and it will take you to you tube.

Catching up

It seems so long since I was home in my new abode....and even longer since I posted here.  I had a lovely relaxing time at the gold coast, and was able to spend time with both my sons which Ienjoyed.  Over easter eldest son and his wife took me to lunch at a wonderful place called The Teavine Teahouse.  It is situated at the Gold Coast inland from Tallebudgera.

The grounds are lovely and ideal for taking photographs.

 Beside main meals, they are known for their  morning and afternoon teas served in beautiful china from lovely teapots, with choice from an array of delicious cakes.

As you can see while at the Coast we enjoyed some amazing weather, warm days, and continuous sunshine. It was magnificent.

My eldest son has recently upgraded his tablet and I was fortunate to receive his old one.  It is a Samsung Galaxy  and I am totally in love with it.  For mothers day they bought me a pink cover to keep it in...

I was able to purchase a wi fi gadget that allows me to connect to the internet when there is no internet connection available.  I have no idea how this works when I am away at "the farm" in the middle of nowhere. ...but it does.

My grandaughter has moved back to Queensland to live with her father, and it was wonderful to see her.  She is 17 in June, and is a delightful girl.  I love her to bits.

 
At the Gold Coast I was able to catch up with an old friend from my days in the art group where I lived at Rainbow Beach.  

 We met for coffee, and then adjourned to Broadbeach for lunch at my younger son's unit overlooking the ocean. This is the view we saw while sitting on the balcony enjoying our lunch.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the Gold Coast, it was good to get home so I could have the laser treatment on my eyes.  I have had the left eye done, and am now having the right eye done next Tuesday.  The difference in my sight already has been remarkable so after Tuesday I will be able to see an ant at 60 paces.....cant wait for the further transformation.

I have only just returned from 2 weeks at "the farm" so will write a separate post for that.



 
 

Building sandcastles

It seems forever since I went away and it is so good to be back home again even though the weather has been bleak and awful since my return.  Holidays are nice but being back among my own "stuff" makes life so much simpler.   I did not even turn on the computer for 3 days and retreated to the couch under a doona to watch the Olympics.

We did get to build sandcastles and had walks on the beach.   The weather was not kind enough for swimming though although we did have some nice sunny days.

Late one afternoon the girls had a lot of fun with their father building sandcastles.  It is lovely to see them all so happy together.

On the girls  last day we had one last walk down to the beach where we again dug a moat round the sandcastle and had fun trying to rescue it from the surf.

Even the seagulls got into the act.

During the week I took the girls to see the Katy Perry movie, which they enjoyed, and there were walks down to the shops, where Georgia scored some new clothes...purple jeans and a haircut which she was so happy with.

It was all so busy, the time flew by and before we knew, it was time for the girls to return home.   Very sad for their father as he misses them a lot.

I don't know how they found us on the 22nd floor, but every morning for a few days we had these visitors coming for breakfast of apple and honey

We were even treated to the antics of some playful whales out in the ocean that was so exciting to see.

Now I really must concentrate on catching up with my Tast Stitches so I promise some photos of the results soon.

Off again

I will be away again on Thursday for about 3 weeks, away from the cold and back to the beach.  Gone to build sandcastles with the girls.

 Happy blogging everyone, stay safe.  

Holiday Fun

On the next stage of my holiday, this was the view I woke to every morning, looking out over the balcony which faced the ocean.  It had such a relaxing impact to start the day with.   Every day the view changed, so it never got boring.

Now, now, my friends, no I did not turn into a "Cougar" while away.  This was my youngest son pretending to teach me to swim....he makes me so happy. We managed to have a nice warm sunny day, and the pool was heated. What does one do without a  swimming costume...... swim in your clothes I was told....well being an obedient mother, and as we were the only ones on the pool deck why not?  I did make sure the tshirt was not see through first though. :)

In case anyone is wondering, yes I did get some retail therapy....who would be able to go to the Gold Coast without it.  Came home with a couple of nice additions to my summer wardrobe.....when and if the weather ever warms up again.  I love Robina Town Centre.

The views below are something I could very easily get used to.  I am looking forward to returning for another visit with my grandchildren in a couple of weeks.

Ah, shopping is close by

Kayakers paddling past

Another acquisition while away  was a new phone....yes the pink one has been relegated to the cupboard. My older son gave this "fancy dancy" one  to me and I love it. He is so good to me.   It is so much better than the old one.   It even has a speech feature for when txting....and I can get my emails on it too...I am rapt, cant wait to work out all the different things I can do with it.

Yesterday  did some more cooking. Pumpkin soup, and a supply of spag bol sauce.  So now I can pretend I am a lady and not have to cook every night for a while, with all the frozen meals I have now.

Still no stitching, sorry ladies it looks like another multiple sample coming up...maybe this afternoon.

Home Again Home Again Jiggedy Jig

It was so windy Beau's ears are flapping in the wind. Chloe stayed next to Nana

Hi all my blogger friends.  Well I did eventually come home, if only for a shortish visit. Yes I am returning to the Gold Coast in a couple of weeks to see my grandaughters who are coming to visit their father in the school holidays.  So that will be another exciting trip.

Well this one went too quickly, although now I feel like I have been away for months.  At the beginning the weather was sunny, but windy, then the rain set in and made everything miserable.  It was hard keeping warm.  Then the sun shone through again long enough for me to spend the rest of my holiday with sunshine and warm days.

I have heaps of photos, so will start at the beginning, with son number one, helping him to babysit the dogs while DIL was overseas.

Accompanying the pups to their excercise on the beach was such fun they are so active, and love to run in the open.

Beau gets there first

Beau gave the ball to Chloe

 I had such a lovely morning at the beach with them.  They are lovely and so active.

Back on the balcony, and worn out, the wind was  cold so they needed their blankets after sitting waiting hopefully for mummy to come up the drive.

When the rain set in there was no lolling by the pool, and the amount of rain we had caused the pawpaw tree which was laden to snap.

an abundance of pawpaws meant.........

green pawpaw (papaya) chutney!

I forgot to take a photo of the chutney all packed into jars and most of it I have given away now so just imagine this all chopped up finely and sitting in lovely little jars, looking tempting and good enough to eat.  It is very yummy but I made sure I did not overdo the chilli.....just enough to be tasty.

The day I left I had this photo (below) taken just to show that I did get to be by this pool in the sunshine, once the rain cleared.  As the photo above shows the deck was too wet to enjoy, even between showers..

Since I have been home have been busy settling in again.  Haven't had time to even pick up a needle, but guess that could be next week.  I will need to catch up before I go again.  Today I have to finish making pumpkin soup that I baked the pumpkin for, and have some meat to make into meals to freeze to make life easy while I am in my travelling mood...

Back tomorrow with the next part of my adventure.    Did I just happen to mention that I L O V E the Gold Coast?   :)  Next time I am taking my swimming costume.