Catching up

Ok, so here I am catching up, but guess as I'm the only one who looks at it and comments, what really is the point, except that I enjoy the blogging.

OK. We went off to the Great Ocean Road for 7 days early October, it was so lovely to be at the coast again I so miss the smell of sea air..
We went to Geelong on the Tuesday, saw these bollards at The Pier  Entrance.

Bollards at The Pier

Kennetts River

This one above was at a great place called Kennets River, just past Wye River, we loved this place so much we went back the next day for the day, that is after we (kids) played at skate park etc etc.. And of course you can guess what had happened prior to this photo being taken, yep the wave was huge and knocked kids off their feet LOL, We hope to go to this place again and camp there for a few days.  Toria loved getting the shells and the cuttlefish that were washed up.

Torias shells and cuttlefish

 

Aroha

Aroha loved to bury herself in the sand.. She was not too keen on the rolling waves, but will eventually get used to it we hope. Toria is still much the same as this but loves a swimming pool at home.

Okey dokey, back soon with more of the last month.

Week 12 FotoChallenge TRANSPORT

Week 12 FotoChallenge TRANSPORT.
This is a bit hard for me living in the boonies to get some good transport pics. But as we were in Melbourne this week I tried to capture the busyness of the freeways etc.

So here we go..........

Transport Melbourne Freeway.

The cars in front and to the side of us on our side of the freeway.  A busy day for us is about 10 cars the whole day LOL..............  But thank goodness for Transport, that we can get about this beautiful country we live in and for great roads that can take the amount of transport that Melbourne generates..

Road trip to Wagga Wagga January 2013

In the first week of January, Bevlea, Lucy and I went up to Wagga Wagga to visit our other BFF Barb T. Such a long time since we had got together to play.

Originally we had been planning a weekend away with all four of us together - but Barb's family and  health issues, along with Lucy's recent auto accident which has left her with a badly injured leg, put paid to that and it was cancelled. Bevlea, Lucy and I decided to rent a unit in Wagga for a few days, drive up and surprise her.

To ensure that it all went smoothly we secretly co-ordinated it with her hubby. We should have known better... never involve a man in planning says Bevlea LOL....... Barb had a day procedure scheduled for day two of our three day visit - and with the first day taken up largely by traveling our time together was briefer than we would have liked - but that made our time together all the more important. The weather was very kind to us, sunny and warm without being too hot.

 We headed up on the Monday morning - stopped off in Culcairn and had a light lunch at the fabulous bakery there that Bevlea and Lucy had partaken of on a previous visit.   Photo courtesy of Bevlea's blog...

 

While Barb was having her surgery on Tuesday we took a side trip up to Gundagai, I had never been there, but can now say I have visited and seen the Tucker Box. Bevlea took a pic of the three of us there...

We had morning tea in Gundagai itself before this pic and also Bevlea and I took some photos of the old bridges there.

The  heritage railway station is a fantastic place for pics, really old fashioned, just imagine the years of passengers that has come and go here..

 Might do this in Black and white like Bevlea has as it sure looks great, go and have a look at her Rusty Ramblers Blog.

While I was away My DH did some renovations to our kitchen as we are moving to a new job, with a house provided in the country. It is Managing a Christian Camp in Cheshunt, so altho it is a less stressful job than we have had it will keep us busy with lots of renovtions etc, as its quite old fashioned looking and needs an update.

Here is the bench he upgraded with a paint product that makes your bench look like formica etc. Very good and very easy. He also put new vinyl tiles on the floor too. He is a good man :-) A keeper......

I am going to miss my kitchen as the house we are going to has a "very small" kitchen/dining /lounge area, oh dear, Us in our 60s and 3 little children, hmmmmmmmmm might need some renovations methinks....

Anyway. I better go pack some more.

Oh BTW, we finally got custody of the other grandchild Aroha, Toria and I went to NZ and bought her back last week, she is a real cutie, but has some routine issues she needs to learn...... 

Morning hair look :-)

First morning back, and Paul was keen to help her with breakfast, he is so pleased to have her here at long last, as is Toria and Geoff and I too.......... Jared and Pauline are thrilled too, as it was what they wanted all along, until they can get themselves together properly.
anyway, MUST get and pack another box or two.

THE WHITE KING, Earthquakes, floods and things

Wowee, how about that, Bevlea announced the Challenge for this month on Friday night the 3rd, its now the 5th and I have done it already, what a feat. LOL...
I loved it and a special thanks to my friend Barb for a suggestion, Oh my she's quick that lady.hehehehe..............................

Anyway, here is my Zetti White King......
For those non Aussies White King is a bleach in a bottle.
The background is a scrapbook paper which I distressed a bit with inks, stamped with white the circles and added some pen lines etc I also used a bit of star burst stains on it too. Gave him a mop head of hair and crowned him with a crown.
The story is that Alice in the first chapter of  "Through the Looking glass" The White Queen had rushed past the King and knocked him over among the cinders, where he got covered from head to foot in ashes. Alice gently picked him up and dusted him off a little before she put him back on the table.
This challenge for the book of Alice is such fun. Now I need to backtrack and do the two from earlier in the year that I didn't find time to do.

Anyway, to my Christchurch friends in New Zealand,  I hope the severe earthquakes have not done too much damage if any to your homes. I am still waiting to hear from two families there. To our friends in  Shepparton and surrounds also Jen Crossley in Ballarat, I hope the water recedes with no damage to your homes....................................

Also there has been severe unrest in Maputo in Mozambique, which is where we would have been had we gone over there on our first missions 3yr terms. I was meant to be going in November for a short term trip, but having the children here has stopped that for a time. I heard from Steve and Roz  (team leaders) that there has been severe rioting , tyres burnt, cars overturned etc etc outside the compound and apart from stinging eyes from tear gas from the military trying to stop the unrest they are all ok.

Scary sight, Steve said all the missionaries, the kitchen staff and the children are all ok, but most workers are unable to get to work as its not safe to be out on the roads. It has arisen because the cost of living has  gone up so high. On 1st September the cost of bread rose 30%, the cost of a sack of rice doubled which is a huge amount for the people in one of the most poorest nations in the world where only 14% are employed and the money they earn is not very high either, when we were over there we gave a beggar 10,000 meticals and then realise it was only about $1.50 our money, but for him it was a weeks wages or more. Sad but true......................

And Two days later...........

Geoff and I, decided to go for a drive today in the bush. It was such a nice day. We headed for Mt Donna Buang and didnt quite get there. We went to another area instead. We stopped on the way and there was all these beautiful birds. I managed to get one on my hand by offering it some cake we had with us. Well it was fruit cake home made off course so very healthy for a Female Ecclectus.
Here it is. Its so beautiful I am happy for you to take this picture and use it. Its not copyright :-)..............

I am just finishing my Number ATC's too so will load it shortly.

2 Months have gone by

since I last posted here. What did happen to my new years resolution to blog at least weekly and to do some challenges. Well the year has bought some bad health issues for me, but not life threatening. I'm OK, just extrmely tired and combine that with working full time and I dont seem to find a lot of time for any art work or blogging.

In March I attended CSR and had a ball. I was so tired (part of my not being well) that weekend I dont know how I managed to do anything. Hey HRH next year will be a different story, you won't be up by yourself at 3am LOL, you can keep your bottle to yourself though, I stick to my EB tea............. I did have a fantastic time and attended Bernie Berlins class Saturday, DJ Pettit on Sunday and did face painting which I found very daunting but DJ is an awesome tutor.
Here is my face I did.

Then Monday I did Stephanie Lee's Elements Handbook, made with plaster gauze and the cover was soldered over rose brass. ohhhhhhhhh that was scary and it took me forever along with a few wonderful helpful ladies to get my "pro-torch" working. It just did not want to work, so I got way behind and didnt finsih it totally, and its still not done. I will put a picture in here when I have finished it. Now thats a promise.
The day after the retreat weekend our daughter Tanya returned home to NZ, she had been with us since the day after Victoria's Black Saturday.
Then Easter arrived and Geoff's sister and a friend came for a few days. Loved having them all, then it was count down to our visit home for family and to do a conference for work.

We went over on 9th May and returned here on 23rd. We enjoyed catching up with family, grandchildren who are so adorable and friends etc. Time was too short.

Anyway............I will be back in the ncest day or so to add more retreat pics and also some art work etc.
Cheers

January 23rd

Well, we've had Christmas and New Year, quiet for us and a first to not have any family about.

But excitement, we are off to NZ on Saturday to visit the family and to attend a long awaited wedding. Congratulations Lulu (Rochelle) number 1 niece....We are so looking forward to that day......

This week a friend from NZ had my grandson visit, so she took

some up to date pictures of him. here is Paul at 9months, Isn't he in one word ""gorgeous""I cant wait to cuddle and spoil him. His Dad says hes even more gorgeous and cuddly in the flesh.

I have been busy in the craft room too and finally finished the canvas that I have been wanting to do for ages, Now it adorns the title space on this blog. I really must get into Photoshop and edit out the ironing board behind the pic, but thought you would like to see it anyway.

The pic was taken a couple of days before we left Maziotela in Northern Mozambique to return to NZ in 2001 and it is pics of the grandmother Amelia and the baby Nelia that I looked after while out there. She was crying because Geoff was taking the photo and she didn't like white men as they hurt her. She had to go to the clinic for treatment for her bad burns and Terry the Australian male nurse used to treat her. She had got used to me by this stage. We returned her and Amelia to the bush village the next day.

Anyway. I am going to enjoy my visit to NZ, catching up with a couple of friends and hopefully get a bit of craft work done too.......

See ya in February.