Wherever you are, and whatever you celebrate........

........best wishes for a time of love and peace.

And chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

Back home again......in an empty house

Finally - we moved back home a couple of days ago, seven weeks after moving out.  The house isn't fixed; we have no carpet, very little furniture, and the kitchen has to have major repair work done.....but we are home, and Bianca The White Cat is also home after her extended holiday.

Just as well we weren't expecting guests for Christmas, isn't it?  There are no spare beds, they had to be thrown out because of water/mould, but our bed is safe

Ah well.  No sense crying over that which is gone.  There is still some packing and sorting to be done here, but we are gradually making the place livable.

Big celebration this week, Young Euan turned three a couple of days ago!  He loves his dinosaur shirt and Lego animals from his distant grandparents.

However, our Canaussian son over there on the far side of the known universe isn't doing too well.  For some time now he has been having treatment for a vascular tumour in his hand, and tomorrow goes into hospital for an operation to remove it (the tumour, not the hand).  He's been in pain for quite a while and doctors have tried various treatments, but have now opted for surgery.  The treatments he has been having are experimental as it seems there are only about fifty cases known world-wide.  We always knew our boys were special, but making medical history is not how we wanted them to be unique.....he has a wonderful partner who will keep us updated on his progress, and supportive friends who will be waiting in hospital with her.

Most of my stash didn't suffer in the flood, but my plastic basket of batik fabrics was sitting on the floor.  Note that I said "basket", not "box", which means there were lots of holes for water to enter.  There are a few interesting colour runs, but they will be taken care of in due course - they certainly looked pretty hanging out to dry.

 It was a warm sunny day, so much so that my arms did get a little sunburnt from spending so much time hanging fabrics out, bringing them in, hanging out the next batch......

Those fabrics dried very quickly!

One morning when we were staying in our apartment home-away-from-home we noticed that this gorgeous moth had made itself at home on the wall in the entrance hall.  According to an online friend it's an Emperor Gum Moth - they are quite spectacular, and very big.  This one's wingspan would have been the length of my hand from wrist to fingertip.

There are pictures online of these moths compared to a human hand for size.  I don't think I would hold one just to show you all but take my word for it - they are huge.  We had one in our garden a few years ago too.

Over the past few weeks the uke group has had a few gigs, which has been a good distraction from getting upset over a flood-damaged house.  We're getting quite good at playing Christmas stuff, you know.  We've even been invited to play at a gospel breakfast at a small church a little way out of town next month, isn't that something?  Fame at last......who would have thought that at my advanced age I would be arranging gigs for a musical group......

Are you all organised for Christmas?  We're not, but then we wouldn't be organised for anything else right now either.  We have two small tabletop trees each surrounded by tiny lights, so at least the house does feel a bit festive.

"The hand.
The beautiful hand is long and slender, with tapering fingers and pink, filbert shaped nails.  The hand to be in proper proportion to the rest of the body should be as long as from the point of the chin to the edge of the hair on the forehead."

Somehow I don't think our boy is worrying about his pretty pink nails right now.

Enjoy your days!