TIME FOR ANOTHER UPDATE

More than a week has passed since I wrote - the days are just flying past - I know people say that's what happens when we age but this is ridiculous! LOL

An update on BIL's health. His surgery last Thursday went well. The whole tumour was removed and now he is amazing the medical staff with his progress and recovery. The biopsy result won't be in for another few days but we are still praying that it will have been found to be benign. I'm sure his speedy recovery and progress are a direct result of him being uplifted to the Great Physician in prayer - plus the fact that his very new wife is paying him so much attention that he cannot help but want to get well and home. Haven't heard yet when that might be - maybe the doctors are waiting for the results of the biopsy. We still leave him in the Lord's hands.

Granddaughter E18 had her party on Saturday night. It was themed 'a character from a movie' so most of the younger set who attended dressed accordingly and there were some very good ones including 'Queen of Hearts' 'Zorro' (and his wife in typical Spanish getup including the rose between the teeth) Captain of a pirate ship, Cleopatra, Moe and Homer Simpson (Homer's large belly being attributed to a near due pregnancy) and Wonder Woman. Many others - Cruella de vil from 101 Dalmations made a grand entrance with her Indiana Jones husband - all were excellent. Small 'oscar' trophies were given for Best Couple, Best Female, Best Male and Most Outrageous. E18 had a ball and all in all it was a great night for her. DH and I were the first to leave at around 10pm - having had a heavy dose of allergy (hayfever) since the afternoon, by then the noise, laser lights and 'smoke' were adding to my very stuffy head.

I was very happy visiting the new doctor last week. She was thorough and pleasant to talk to. Blood work results need watching and I'll have another lot done in 3 months. Meanwhile a jab in each arm to fight against this coming winter's flu bugs plus pneumonia should set me straight as the season approaches, despite two fairly painful and swollen upper arms! All is good, the swelling has almost gone.

Runner beans are doing really well with heaps of pretty purple/mauve flowers but I'm not sure if there will be enough heat in the sun now that autumn has arrived to bring the bees for pollination. Even if that happens, I fear we will miss most of the fruit as we plan to be away soon. Oh well the neighbour will harvest them I'm sure. The few lettuce I planted out have all matured at once as I thought they probably would but there's only 4 left so they won't take long to consume.

Have a good week friend - blessings!

Granddaughter E18

18 Candles

Moe and Homer Simpson

WEEKEND UPDATE

Today is grand-daughter E's 18th birthday. I've just come in from having lunch with her - a very quick 25 minute 'grab' as she is working today at her part time job - but it was nice to spend even that time helping her celebrate a very momentus day in her life. She will be having a real celebration next weekend at her 'theme' party when all her family and friends will gather to mark the occasion.

I didn't take her gift with me because although the actual quilt is finished, I've still to stitch the 'pioneer story' to the back of it. (thanks to Susan and Shelagh for their info re this - it worked out a treat!).

Update on BIL in Perth - he has had a good few days with a home respite visit on Saturday. His new wife needed to get him back to the hospital by 10am Sunday otherwise he would have 'lost' his bed. The health system here is in disarray but despite that he has confidence in his doctors and the treatment regime he's under at present. The full body scan last Friday revealed no other abnormalities and we thank God for that. Now he just has to concentrate on surgery for the removal of the tumour behind his eye and then to get well. We believe he is in God's hands and are praying that His will shall be done.

Attended a baby shower for little 'Anzac' - code name for a little 'nearly due' bub whose mum is an Aussie and dad is a Kiwi. I think its rather cute actually and the name has actually grown on us all that know this couple. In fact we have heard of at least one baby who is now about 7 months old who has been named Anzac. Anyway the shower was a huge success. Played silly games like collecting a baby safety pin from someone each time the word 'b a b y' was used - the person with the most pins at the end of the afternoon won a little prize - and one I thought was rather cute, a tiny plastic baby had been frozen in ice cubes prior to the afternoon and at a given time, everyone was given a cube to place in their drink and the first 'baby' to be born (or thawed) was the winner. A quiz using the names given to baby animals also kept us amused for quite some time. Many of them I didn't know so learned something new. Taste testing purchased baby foods was also something that was an interesting game and most of us declared that home cooked food was far superior in taste.

DH and I are looking forward to visiting our US family at the end of the month. It is 5 years since DH saw the grandies and DIL and 3 years for me so it will be a good 'catch up' time for everyone.

Meantime our weather still remains so hot and humid. Feel like a grease spot most of the time. Even though nights are cooler than they have been, it is still not easy to sleep with the humidity being so high. As I sit here typing the perspiration is just rolling off me - even after taking a shower, once I get out and dried, I feel like hopping in again! A catch 22! Roll on Autumn.

Purple runner beans I planted about 5 weeks ago are just flowering and I'm hoping we will get a few to freeze before we leave. I feel sure we will if this heat keeps up another couple of weeks. The lettuce are almost ready to pick but those I planted in a tub I've been using for over a week now. They are so tender and I'm just picking the outside leaves off as they get large enough.

I visited a new doctor this morning as I plan to transfer from the one we've been attending for the last 11 years - long story which I won't bore you with - but I mentioned to her that I've been trying to lose some weight over the past 3 or 4 months and have succeeded so far in only shedding 6 and a bit kilo (14 pounds) so when she weighed me and measured my height was surprised when she told me definitely not to lose any more - my BMI is now right for my height. I didn 't think I'd lost that much really, however I'll take her word for it. Am still planning to continue on with the same kind of regime but will now begin to add a little more carbs however I don't think I run any sort of risk of losing anything more - I've remained fairly static for the past few weeks despite not deviating in food intake.

That's about all for now - blessings all and have a good week!

Our family members at 'Anzac's' baby shower - from left - 18yr old grand-daughter, expectant mum, her MIL, my DIL, me and my niece - all with surname McInnes!

LAST WEEK I...

was busy. At least that's how it seemed to be. The weather has certainly been more to my liking (not that I'm being selfish here you understand) however autumn definitely has kicked in, with heavy dew in the mornings and cooler night time temperatures with that beautiful 'frosted' look about the rose petals each new day - definitely my time of the year - leading into the best time - winter!

However, I digress and as usual got sidetracked from my week. A funeral mid week of a young man who had barely begun to live life, laid him to rest. He went to sleep after watching a movie with his mum and in the morning he was 'gone.' So sad for his family and friends.

News of DH's youngest brother's hospitalisation and the subsequent diagnosis of a brain tumour behind his right eye has not been a happy part of the week. An MRI of the brain on Thursday has suggested it is in a very accessible position and a whole body scan yesterday was to check if there are any other areas to be looked at. Surgery to remove the tumour mid next week is to take place after a weekend respite visit at home for him. We are praying for a miracle and asking that doctors and surgeons to be guided by the Great Healer himself. Can you imagine this situation happening just a couple of days after being married? Well it was a wedding celebration just a week ago and two days later a hospital admission. Not the best way to start to married life! Happily though new wife is coping admirably and both are extremely positive about the outcome. We pray it will be true.

Trips to the shopping centre to pick up travel stuff, another day to check DH's newish iPod nano which had frozen - fortunately there wasn't anything radically wrong and is now functioning as it should - dropping grandkids to school and pre-school and picking them up again - purchasing a cabin bag - making an appointment to see a new doctor for a regular checkup - laundry - just a few of the things that have occupied my week.

This afternoon I'm off to a baby shower - this long awaited baby due in 5 weeks time will be the first grandchild of DH's brother and SIL - a celebration of combining one Australian parent and one Kiwi - baby's codename "Anzac" - isn't that the cutest thing?

Have a good weekend friend. Blessings!

MAKING CARDS

On Saturday I attended a pencil watercolour class and made some cards. I've used watercolour pencils before but never very successfully so I was looking forward to some professional help.

The three cards made during the class turned out really well although had I a choice of colour, I wouldn't have chosen brown however it was an exercise which I enjoyed and now feel more confident to do something else using the pencils. I really like the softness that can be created using this medium.

Sunday was also enjoyable. Our bible study group met for the first time in 2010 and we had a great time lunching together then opening God's word - this time looking at Job. It should be interesting as we get into it a little further and I believe God has something to say to each of us in the group from this study. Having recently heard about 3 friends having deaths in their families - two of them relatively young people - I believe now is an opportune time to learn more about this steadfast man of God.

Blessings friend!

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE?

As I stepped on to the wooden floorboards in the kitchen I was immediately conscious of grains of rice which had fallen on the floor. As I went to get the dustpan and broom to sweep them up I realised with a shock that we hadn't eaten rice in our house for a good 4 months (diet blamed here!). A closer look at the floor revealed - MAGGOTS! I nearly heaved - then quickly went for the can of insect spray. Spraying them like crazy didn't really help. There must have been a couple of dozen of the critters and each second they were creating a wider circle in all directions - mostly towards my feet - and all the spray was doing was creating a slick on the floor which wasn't stopping them.

In panic mode now I dove into the laundry to grab the dustpan and broom and started furiously sweeping them up, racking my brain the whole time wondering where they had come from and was there any more lurking where I couldn't see!

They just kept wriggling along and as I inspected the rest of the kitchen floor found a few where they had managed to crawl/wriggle along the edge of the wall. Even now a couple of hours later I am absolutely puzzled to know where they came from.

After the cleanup I inspected all cupboards and drawers within the vicinity and could find nothing resembling the afore-mentioned critters. Can 'things' like this hatch in such a short time? My husband had been pottering in the kitchen only minutes before this as he made preparations for breakfast then left for work.

On checking the internet it seems they can hatch almost within minutes of the eggs being laid. Had the grandsons here yesterday afternoon and they have a habit of leaving the scrren door open. Last night I had spotted a fly in the kitchen area which must have sneaked in and had sprayed it with insecticide but didn't find the 'evidence' of its death. This morning it was on the benchtop - dead. I'm now wondering whether in it's last moments it had laid eggs on the floor and this morning's little 'troop' was the result - eek - it still sends shivers up my spine even thinking about it!

As I sit here typing close to the back door there is a dreadful racket going on outside - from birds! I've mentioned before that we have a large number of native bird who come regularly to the yard here to get fed with bread. In the past months we have also had some 'imports' of the brown Indian Mynah birds who have taken up resident in our neighbours garage roof and bred now two lots of babies. They are extremely territorial and quite vicious in attacking the natives in what they have seemed to claim as 'their' backyard. A couple of them had come down looking for bits left by the natives and had been immediately 'shoo-ed' off by both them and a couple of magpies who got in on the act for good measure. Now that they've been banished back to the neighbours yard, it is quietly peaceful except for the occasional bird calls of the maggies or beautiful butcher bird.

A good start to the day? Perhaps blessings in disguise - depends on which way you look at it I guess!

Blessings to you dear friends!

CHRISTMAS DAY IS ALMOST OVER

Christmas day in Sydney NSW. The day proved to be a lovely cool, overcast 27 degrees before a few brief showers about mid-afternoon.

The big Christmas Day cricket match! (all for fun of course)

Daughter in law talks to family in Texas USA



Daughter Kate with yummy turkey cooked in the bbq with a special cranberry marinade

SIL with the wonderful ham he cooked

Grandson E6 - Lego - just what I wanted!

Grandson L4 got a scooter and play costume

Grandsons - good mates!



Visitors for Christmas Day - pink and grey Galahs

Lovely memories of Christmas day 2009 together with family.

Blessings All!

CHRISTMAS IS HERE

The presents are wrapped, the beef is roasted and all that remains to do early tomorrow morning is prepare the vegetables for roasting. Then - the traditional family dinner that we've been waiting a whole year for will be enjoyed by us 10 at daughter and SIL's home. Here in Sydney our family take it turn about to host the Christmas day dinner. This spreads the load nicely and everyone brings a contribution toward the yummy dinner.

This time it will be ham, turkey (freshly bbq'd) beef, roast potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes (kumera) carrots and peas with Christmas pudding, custard and cream (or ice cream) to follow.

Then the gifts under the tree will be opened by the two smallest members of the family who will no doubt have already received 'Santa's' contribution early in the morning.

Tonight I am planning to attend the local Anglican church for their Christmas Eve service. What a lovely way to get into the Christmas spirit - to worship the babe who was born to be King!

Have included a photo this time but not of Christmas origin! The finished 'Pioneer Quilt' all except the back where I plan to stitch and include the story of the family pioneers who emigrated from England in the 1850's. This quilt is to be a special gift for a precious granddaughter who has her 18th birthday next year. The appliqued blocks represent activities the great grandparents undertook on their arrival in New Zealand.

We are planning a few days in Auckland New Zealand soon after Christmas so I won't be posting until we're back home.

To those of my blogging friends who visit from time to time, I wish you a very safe, restful, blessed and holy Christmas, and all the blessings of the New Year.

Merry Christmas all!

WHERE ARE THEY?

I see such beautiful Christmas pictures and photos on many blogs at this time of the year but I wonder where they come from. I've looked around 'the web' and find either stuff that's not suitable or they have royalty or copyright attached. Can someone tell me please 'where are they'?

Meanwhile thought I'd give a gllimpse at the church banners I've been busy finishing during the past week. The first one has been 'hoisted' up and is now hanging in our church with the other two to get hung over the next two Sundays. Unfortunately the quality of the photos is not good - I had them pinned to a curtain to take the shots so the colour has been affected - but it will give a bit of an idea of what they look like.

I've been making 'patches' towards making a 'pioneer' quilt for about 3 years. It has been a slow process as I've really only been using bits and pieces from my fabric stash as well as using applique to make 'pictures' of aspects of our ancestors arrival from England in the mid 1850's to New Zealand. After finally being motivated to get it finished, I've now stitched it together with borders and yesterday spent almost the whole day machine quilting the various blocks. I've a few to go yet but am on the way to being able to finish it. When that's done I'll post a photo.

Today is Wednesday - my day for looking after E6 (before and after school) and L4 (all day) however as it's almost the end of our school year, E6's school has made arrangements for them to be transported to a local high school for a large EOY assembly. To have little 5 and 6 year olds sitting in a massive school hall for the morning seems a bit unreasonable to us so he will not be going. Therefore I will look after the two nippers at their house today instead of mine - so I'd better move myself and get over there so their mum can get herself off to work.

Must run - have a good day!

Blessings all!

PHOTOS FROM LAST FEW WEEKS

Been really busy making Church banners for Christmas so not much time to be blogging but will post a few photos that I've taken over the past few weeks.

My lovely Gardenia has been loaded with blooms this year

The butcher bird that kept swooping down on me a few weeks ago

When friends from the UK visited we took them to Manly on the harbour

Eight of the family went to see the musical "Wicked"

Grandson L4 surprised me when he came in dressed in a Batman costume

That's about all for this time. Have a good weekend.

Blessings!

CHIT CHAT

My weigh in showed I'd lost 3kg (about 6.6lb) in one week but I know that a lot of that loss was not so much body fat, but retained fluid. Last Monday's weigh in showed a gain of 600gram. Disappointing for me as I'd stuck closely to the diet however the wiring thingy test result showed I'd actually lost 1kg of body fat but was retaining more body fluid. I'm definitely seeing a difference in my clothing - particularly trousers and skirts are looser around the waist so I shouldn't be despondent I guess. One of the aims of this eating regime is to lose inches from the waist - the most dangerous place for women to store body fat. So I've kept strictly to what is allowed and hope that this week there'll be a loss showing on the scales.

We've just come through a 3 day heatwave - it was awful. Air conditioning in houses here has become more popular in recent years, especially being built in to new homes. Many however have none and I really feel so sorry for those who live in them in conditions such as we've just had. We do get it hot here in Sydney on occasions but not as hot, nor as early as November but this heatwave was a 'doosy'! The thermometer topped 40, 42 and 41 on the three days last weekend finally giving relief through Sunday night and dropping to a cool 20. Today was only 18C! Rather a contrast and no wonder so many people pick up colds and bugs in these conditions. DH did just that and spent an almost unheard of (for him) day at home from work today. A visit to the doctor confirmed a bacterial infection but medication should certainly bring that under control in a couple of days.

Spent today in a large room with 21 others 'learning' about customer service. I attended a seminar which was a compulsory activity for accreditation as a volunteer in our local Visitor Information Centre. In our council area we are very fortunate to have a number of historic houses and properties which have been preserved and some restored. VIC's are built on the same properties and as well as giving information about the area, tours of the houses can be conducted for groups as well as individuals. I love the history of these places and it seems to me a good idea to be able to combine these activities, with the centres manned by volunteers. The room in which the seminar was held was modern, huge and cold! We tried several times to have the manager raise the temperature somewhat as the majority of people were complaining of feeling uncomfortable however although I believe this was done, it didn't seem to make too much difference - I wonder how many of us will come down with colds as a result. At least the seminar is now 'out of the way'!

It's 3am as I write this - wasn't sleeping, so a hot herbal tea and a bit of chit chat might just be the thing to put me back to sleep again. Here's hoping !

Bless you!

SCRAPBOOK PAGES FINISHED

It's finished. The bling was easy peasy to put on. I had been warned that it was difficult and the best method to fix it in place was to pick it up off the backing with masking tape first then place it on the page. Nothing like that needed. It peeled off its backing sweet! I'm sorry the photo hasn't done it justice but at least it will give an idea of what it looks like. I'm pleased with it.

Last night went to a Thanksgiving Dinner at a friends home. We all contributed to the food - I had to make the pumpkin pies. Never attempted that before so followed the recipe to the T. All went well apart from the baking time. Recipe said 1 hour at 375 - eventually I pulled them out at 2 1/2 hours and they appeared set. (I was just hoping for the best, not knowing exactly what they should look like). Anyway they went down well with honey sweetened whipped cream, although I didn't get to eat any of the prepared dinner - I took my own salad greens and chicken meal.

I think I have worked out why the pies took so long to bake. The recipe called for cans of pumpkin (USA) However we can't buy that here but have heaps of fresh pumpkin in the shops to buy so prepared and cooked my own. I think the fresh pumpkin is much moister than the canned - therefore the mixture is much wetter as well - thus the longer time in baking. That's my theory anyway.

DH enjoyed it and other guests complimented me on the taste - said it had a kind of caramel flavour - so it must have been OK.

Appointment with the Naturopath tomorrow so will see how much weight I've lost in the week.

Blessings all!

CHIT CHAT

The bling has arrived for my scrapbook layout pages so when they are finished I'll post a photo to show you how it turned out.

Did I mention last time I'm consulting a Naturopath for weight reduction and digestive problems? I only started the new food intake regime on Monday and by Thursday I was almost ready to give it up but today I feel as though I might be able to keep it up. The first week apparently is the worst - but hopefully I'm climbing over the top of the 'carb barrier' (my words) and I can be happy I've lost 3kg. I'm sure that 3kg is mostly fluid however so it will take a little while I think to start actually losing body fat. There is a machine that measures the fat/muscle ratio of the body and I'm sure that will begin to show when it's happening!

Meantime the beans I planted a few weeks ago are going crazy. Far exceeding the 6ft height I expected and have now begun to wind their way into the olive tree nearby. It's giving me lots of beautiful beans though and I sliced and blanched another 600g this morning to freeze. Tomatoes are coming on with a couple almost ripe enough to pick. Have also been getting a few blueberries but interestingly, they don't seem to all ripen together. There are lots on the bush that are still green and each day there are perhaps half a dozen that are black enough to pick. I'm really on a learning curve with blueberries!

Enough for now.

Blessings all!

THAT SCRAPBOOK CLASS

The Scrapbook Class I went to last week was great. Only 4 people in it so plenty of attention from the teacher. I'm not posting a photo at this time because the bling which should have completed the double page layout didn't arrive in time so I'm waiting on that phone call to say its available for me to pick up.

I'm always disappointed when things like that happen. It does look good though and the photos of E17 turned out well. I was pleased with the almost finished product. As soon as the bling bits arrive and I'm able to figure out how to put them on I'll post a photo.

Have started this week on a diet after consulting a Naturopath. I am hoping to lose a few kilos which have slowly piled on my frame over the last couple of years. Not doing too much in the way of exercise these last 6 months since my back surgery hasn't helped either. Hope I can stick to it for a while at least.

Its a low carb high protein food intake and I'm missing my cup of tea badly. Up until 6 months ago I was a real coffee drinker but decided to cut back on that and had been drinking mostly tea. Oh well, I'll give it a go for a while and see what can be achieved. I've been warned I'll possibly only lose about 1/2 kg each week but feel I've already lost more than that. I was carrying a lot of fluid and I can feel that is lessening. I'll know next Monday when I get weighed.

The main thing on this regime is loss of body fat, not muscle. Will be interesting to see how it all works.

Blessings!

MAKING BOOKMARKS

While I'm in the 'crafty' kind of mood I tried my hand at some bookmarks to use as little gifts for my Bible study friends. Although a little time consuming as each stage needs time between to dry - stamping, glittering then finally laminating, its been fun and I've enjoyed trying something new.

Tomorrow night I am doing a scrapbooking class using my grand-daughter E17's 2008 Year 10 Formal pics. I've already seen a sample of the double page layout - she is such a beautiful young lady and her photos will totally be the 'wow' factor. I'll post a pic of it when its done.

Blessings!

Front view shows Bible verse from Psalm 9: 11

Back view showing black lace pattern

MAKING CHRISTMAS CARDS

Thought I'd get ahead of myself and get my overseas Christmas cards made early and save myself on a bit of postage - was fooled - went this morning to post a bundle 'sea mail' before the end of October to ensure they got to their destination in time for Christmas only to find out that that service is no longer available - only parcels may now go by sea! What?? Normal price to send a card o/seas? $1.45 - next week a 'special' Christmas card rate comes in for $1.25. Needless to say I'll wait now till nearer Christmas as it's not going to be any cheaper.

You get caught sometimes don't you? Anyway I've enjoyed the therapy of making the cards!

Have a blessed weekend!

FRIENDSHIP RENEWED

Aren't friendships great? People we met and worked with in Zambia 10 years ago live in England. They are in Australia at present on business and flew in to Sydney from Hong Kong on Saturday on their way to Melbourne. We met them at the airport and had a few hours with them catching up on each others news, families, mutual friends and showing them a little bit of Sydney. Had yummy fish and chips at our famous Manly beach and got them back to the airport in time to check in for their flight to Melbourne. How good it was to spend time with them. God is good!

Manly beach - water still only 18C

Refreshments

View while we ate our fish and chips

Manly beach ocean side southern most end

PICTURES TELL THE STORY

Grandson has turned 6!

No need for words - the pictures tell the story. So precious!

Six claps for six years

Blow hard

Making a wish!

THAT SCARY BIRD (NO! NOT THE ONE IN THE TREE)!

I've discovered that the 'friendly' Butcher Bird who lives in a tree in my front yard - is not at all friendly - at least at present it's not.

For the past 10 days or so when I've gone to the letter box, or to potter in the garden or bring the garbage bin up from the road, the Butcher Bird would appear quite quickly in a nearby branch and sit kinda peering down at me. I thought it was 'asking' for a tidbit of bread as I'd seen it sometimes in the back yard when the Rainbow Lorikeets have been flying in for theirs. It seemed quite shy then and would only fly down to retrieve some bread if I threw it quite close to where it was sitting, and then only after what appeared to be quite long 'inspection' of the morsel. I got a scare recently when coming back from the letterbox to hear a loud 'clack' beside me and realised the bird had flown very close to me and continued up into a tree. It un-nerved me for a second or two until I realised it was Mr or Mrs Butcher Bird. Oh well, it must want bread real bad to do that was my thought.

After having this busy bird 'swoop' at me three times now I've realised (slow learner here I think)! that the poor thing is protecting a nest. There are several of these birds in our area, one of them found dead on the ground recently with an 'attacked head' - the work we suspect of a flock of dreadful Indian Myna birds who terrorise the bird colony around our home. This seems to be their modus operandi when wanting to rid other birds of what they consider their territory. I've actually seen one of these scavengers attack a Rainbow Lorikeet in this manner. Dreadful to watch!

Anyway to get back to the Butcher Bird household. Since it dawned on me that the bird is actually trying to frighten me away from its nest, I'm really rather apprehensive about going outside the front door! I know it sounds foolish - I'm sure the bird wouldn't actually touch me - but I simply don't like the thought of being 'dive bombed'. It's not being aware that it's going to happen that freaks me. I'm sure if my neighbours have seen me in the past few days surrepticiously edging my way down the path they would certainly wonder what had come over me. Since the majority of them go out to work during the day, I don't think they've had to wonder.

These birds belong to the magpie family and from what I've read, they usually don't swoop from the front - I'm sure that's correct since this fellow certainly came each time from behind me. I'm thinking maybe I should buy one of those kids plastic yellow hard hats and glue a pair of eyes on the back. They say a plastic ice cream container works OK as well. Fortunately this kind of behaviour only happens between September and November - until the chicks have fled the nest.

Baby Butcher Bird taken 2007

Even though I've found it scary, I still have to marvel at the way God's little creatures take care of their young. Fancy something so small taking on something of human being size! Not a day goes by that God doesn't teach me more about the person He is! I am grateful and blessed!

Blessings friends!

THIS AND THAT

The 'bird' was not an owl at all. Having done a bit of investigating, have decided it must be a tawny frogmouth. A much harsher face than the soft features of most owls, this bird reminds me of a very stern 'old fashioned' school master perhaps weilding his cane in an attempt to coax his students into behaving. Anyway I haven't worked out a pattern for its appearance yet - it seems to come for a whole day, just sitting on the same branch, seeming not to move, then doesn't appear for a day or so, then back it comes - unusual. It definitely seems to have 'booked' the particular branch in the particular tree for now anyway. Time will tell as the weather gets hotter whether that will continue. Maybe it will seek out the more cool conifers which grow not far away.

Have been doing quite a bit of reading in the past week - I normally read a book a week but two I got from the library were very light reading and I got through them quickly - Anna Jacobs writes light historic romantic stories, often set in England however both these I read were modern in time quite enjoyable. Not long ago I read Ken Follett's "The Pillars of the Earth" which was definitely set in historic England and once into it, couldn't put it down. I have just finished his 'The Hammer of Eden' which also held my attention. I have one more to read before I return them to the library and its Follett's "World Without End". I'll begin that one tonight.

The red dust storm which hit Sydney in the early hours of yesterday morning was a very unusual sight. I woke at 5.45am just after the sun began to rise and an eery orange/red light coming through the window forced me out of bed to get my camera. A strange phenomenon which apparently hasn't occurred here for about 70 years or more. It happens when weather conditions are right - high winds coming from the north west, heat and apparently time of year. The centre of Australia is almost all red earth and the wind had picked up tonnes and tonnes of it and swept it across the country and out to sea. I guess New Zealand may get a sprinkling of it in a day or so. Traffic bedlam reigned, road tunnels closed because of the ventilation problem, harbour ferries stopped, hospitals emergency departments filled with people suffering from asthma and chest complaints triggered by the heavily polluted air. Kids were kept home from school (including my E5 grandson) and those who did go were kept inside the classrooms for most of the day. Not pleasant. We are promised the possibility of another similar dust storm on Saturday!

A couple of weeks ago I fancied doing a little bit of smocking so pleated up some light apple green cotton fabric which I'd had in the cupboard for a couple of years. Got the little baby dress finished this week and have made a frilled lacy coat hanger to go with it. Have no one in mind at this stage to give it to, but I'll just put it by to use when the right occasion comes along.

Have had two baby girls born into our extended family in the past couple of weeks. A 'trendy' name for girls at present must be Ruby. One of the babies has been named Ruby Mae, the other Ruby Rose. Cute!

Here's the pattern for the knitted childs coat hanger if any of you are inclined to try it out.

CHILDS LACY KNITTED COAT HANGER COVER

1 roll Knitting Nylon (in Australia it is Knitlon or sometimes Arbee brand)

1 pr size 4mm (or English 8) knitting needles

2 - 3 mtrs (or yards) nylon lace which has insertion holes through the centre

Wooden coat hanger

Small piece hobby plastic tubing to cover metal hook.

1. Cast on 58 stitches and knit (garter stitch, knit every row) 2 rows

2.Next row knit one stitch and with the lace at the back of the work insert the needle into the stitch and into the hole in the middle of the lace. Continue to the end of the row. Cut off lace at the end of the row.

3. Knit 3 rows garter stitch.

Repeat steps 2 and 3, 3 times (you will now have 4 rows of lace)

Knit 2 rows of garter stitch then cast off.

Thread the metal hood with the plastic tubing. Find the centre of the cover mark with a pin. Sew the short ends of the cover together. Slip the screw in end of the hook through the centre of the cover and screw into the wooden hanger. Holding the edges together, sew the cover on to the hanger along the long ends. If you wish you can tie a satin ribbon bow around the base of the metal hook. I used a double length of the knitting nylon to form a little bow for a nice finish.

These covers can be made to fit an adult size wooden hanger by casting on 68 stitches and following the same instructions. 1 cover uses about 40 mtrs knitting nylon and 3 mtrs nylon lace.

Have fun trying one out and have a blessed week!

THE BIRD IN THE TREE

Spring is the time of year that all the birds seem to come out of the trees and show themselves after the long cold winter. Oh some do continue to come to our backdoor throughout the cool months but others begin to show their lovely colours as they flit about looking for tidbits to feed their young.

Each year we have a family of cheeky butcher birds nesting in the tall eucalyptus tree in our front yard. Shy, with a diet mainly of insects they are always looking for a handout of bread which I feed to the Rainbow Lorikeets. Last Friday after the big truck had collected rubbish from our bins I went down to collect them and bring them around to the back of the house. I felt, rather than saw, something fly past my shoulder. Looking up to where the bird had settled, it was one of our friendly butcher birds - telling me in no uncertain way that bread was what he wanted. With beady little eyes on the bread I threw into the air, he swooped down to pick it up and proceeded to 'soften' it against the tree branch before he took it off to his family.

As I was watching his antics my eyes caught on a large brownish 'lump' further up the tree sitting on a branch. My heart did a flip - not knowing what it was. My neighbour saw me from over the fence and came and looked too. "Oh" he said. "I think it might be an owl".

A week or so ago, he had come home very late at night after playing squash and noticed an 'owl-like' shape sitting on his boat as he drove into his garage. We wondered if it was the same bird. I took a photo of it thinking that would be the last we saw it. These kinds of birds are certainly around the area but rarely seen in daylight hours.

Yesterday I was watering in the front garden and was surprised again to see the bird up in the tree again. This time it was sitting facing me so I got another photo of it. After checking it, I realised that it's not an owl at all - but a tawny frogmouth. Not the most attractive bird I have to say but I don't mind if he decides to hang around for a while. I'll be out there again this afternoon to see if it's come back again. Aren't God's little creatures wonderful?

Have a good week my friend.

Blessings!

NEARLY A MONTH?

I can hardly credit it's almost a month since I put something here. Silly thing about it though is that I really have no good excuse! I have been busier lately its true but somehow I didn't get to writing in this way.

What have I been up to?

Since I began to feel much more human again after surgery I decided to try to find something more constructive with my time rather than sitting around trying to keep warm. I got in touch with the U3A (University of the Third Age) again having tried to find vacancies in classes a couple of times before without success. This time I was able to secure a place in two group which interested me - family history and calligraphy. I think I mentioned a while ago that I had missed the first calligraphy class - another story.

I have since been a couple of times but am not entirely sure it's 'my' thing. It is quite difficult but doesn't phase me - everything new has an element of difficulty at first - I think I like to work at a slightly faster pace than this particular class. I don't mean to sound 'righteous' or 'better than the rest' but I just don't see myself practising the letters of one particular style for the rest of the year. I think I might be able to do that at home - and at the same time try out some other styles along the way. I'll see how it goes as the term comes to an end.

The Family History group doesn't bring me much joy either (am I sounding a misery?) - they are all except one, interested in Australian families and early history. I do enjoy the history bits that members bring to the group but I had hoped I would be able to get some assistance in my own research - which although I've been 'into' for well over 20 years now, still holds my interest and curiosity.

Oh well - I'll see what other groups have vacancies early next year and perhaps try something different.

What else have I been doing? Knitting squares - I think I'm about half way towards that rug I started earlier in the winter. It's becoming a little too warm here now to knit for much longer so I may need to put it away until next autumn/winter. I"ve done some smocking on a baby frock I intend to give away. Talking about baby stuff - there have been two new baby girls born into our extended family this week - one is Ruby Rose and the other is Ruby Mae! I guess names go through trendy periods and Ruby seems to be the flavour of the month just now! A third bub born to a young friend from church earlier in the week weighed in at 10lb 4ozs and has been named Isabelle. That's another name that seems to have had a revival over the past little while - variations of it as well including Bella. It's certainly been a week for the little girls!

My E17 grand-daughter is getting a puppy in a few weeks time. She has visited the pregnant mum and last week after the birth, went and chose Texas and took photos of her. A tiny bundle of brown and black dachshund - only just fitting in her hand. What a gorgeous little pup - shame they have to grow so quickly. E17 will be taking delivery of her when she's 8 weeks old. She's so looking forward to it.

Have been doing a little gardening also - not too much bending yet (actually I'm finding it difficult to get down) so have been making use of a small stool which we brought back with us from Zambia - most useful and low enough to make weeding a much more comfortable exercise - beans are up - both climbing purple and dwarf yellow butter - silver beet is doing well - blueberries are looking fabulous and just beginning to get a pinky tinge to them - a new variety of tomato plant, the oval fruit is said to have twice as much of the anti-oxidant Lycopene - is doing really well and has little flower buds already. I also purchased some alstroemeria corms and they have begun to shoot little green leaves. I will have to check out how long it takes before they flower. I really love the way they last for so long in a vase. Have done some tidying up and pruning back some shrubs but still have a long way to go. The garden gets away so quickly when not attended doesn't it?

Fathers Day here in Australia today. We are having lunch with family and friends at a brand new restaurant attached to a brand new golf course not far from where the family live. As I write, the sun is shining and it's predicted to be a very nice 21 degrees this afternoon. I'm looking forward to it.

Till next time - blessings!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED TOO!

My friend Melanie has tagged me and handed me the challenge of listing "7 Amazing Things about Myself"

1. I was named Beverley Anne until my mother was on the way to the church to have me dedicated (christened) when for no apparent reason she changed it to Beverley Janice. (Maybe she didn't want my initials to be B.A.G.!)

2. As a child I had lessons in speech training, piano accordian and highland dancing

3. I almost drowned in the sea at Waihi beach (NZ) when I was 18. I can only believe that I was saved by being thrown up on to the shore by the mighty hand of God

4. I have attended the Passion Play in Oberamagau, Germany

5. I have had a book published



6. I have lived in Zambia for 3 years



7. Most memorable holiday was traveling around Europe and parts of Scandinavia in a motor home





I am tagging:



1. Ami

2. Rachael

3. Amy

4. Karen

5. Barbara

6. Joanne

7. Joanne

BIRDS IN THE BACK YARD

We are so fortunate - our back yard seems to have an abundance of native birds - and probably I'd say, because I do put out bread for them especially during the winter and when the summer is very hot and dry. These days I don't put the bread out automatically but wait until they appear on the shade sail above the kitchen window - we have some resident rogues - imported many years ago but now become a pest, scavenger and attacker of other birds - brown Indian Mynas.

For the past few months there has been a pair of quite small parrots who have made it their business to come most days for their bread. The male is quite bold and has actually taken bread out of my hand but the little female remains timid and waits until the 'coast is clear' before joining her mate for dinner (these birds are about the size of a budgerigar but I haven't yet found the name of them).

The last couple of days the male has arrived by himself. I'm wondering if momma bird is now nesting - I don't think August is too soon for that - but time will tell. The last few years the Rainbow Lorikeets have bought their babies to feed once they are out of the nest - what a squarking wheezy noise they make!

The other resident birds at present are a few of those cooing doves - I don't mind them being around but I do object to them sunbaking on the top of my baby spinach! LOL