Gee, it's good to be back home again......

As the song says.  You'll be singing it all day now, won't you?

We had a good time with family, visiting new - to us - places, and re-visiting favourites.  The weather ranged from glorious at Easter to frost and cold wind the following week but it only rained twice, both times at night, so we stayed dry.  

The One-And-Only-Grandkid is shooting up like a weed, as is to be expected now that he's six.  One evening he called me 'Jennifer' instead of 'Grandma' while giving me a sidelong glance to see if he could get away with it......I think he was a bit miffed when everyone ignored it!

Aren't these windows amazing?  They are in the shop at the National Library of Australia, in Canberra.  There are more in the café but they were difficult to photograph without people in the way, perhaps on another visit I may be lucky.

These are floor to high ceiling.  The café windows use more red and orange in their designs than those in the shop.

Information on how they were made is here.    

I try to visit the National Library when in Canberra as it has interesting exhibitions.  The reason for this visit was to see Australian art from the late 1800s; we also took in a 'blockbuster' exhibition of European art at the National Gallery of Australia but the Australian art really spoke to me, I enjoyed it so much more.  There were even some sketches of our town made in the late 1880s including one of the Post Office, which is still standing today.

We stayed for several days in Cootamundra - such a nice town, with beautiful old homes and civic buildings.    Cootamundra Wattle is a plant with glorious yellow flowers; I don't know if this is one, the colour is a bit pale.  It was near our camp site.

A distant cousin lives in Cootamundra, the reason for our visit.  Our mothers were first cousins, and we spent much of our meeting time catching up on family history; I was able to tell Diane things she didn't know about the family, and she was able to give me information in return.  We share the same middle name - Grace - as did her mother Nadine, named for a teenage cousin who died just a few months before Nadine was born.  My niece has also given her daughter the middle name of Grace, so the family tradition continues.

We were both in the wars while in Canberra.  We spent Sunday evenings at our DIL'S parents for family dinner, and while descending their front steps one night I fell off the bottom step.  There are 16 steps but, apart from a light outside the front door (which was behind us as we descended so it didn't help much) it was dark.  The railing which I was clutching ends at the third step from the bottom, and I didn't realise I had run out of handhold until down I went.  Never mind, things have finally stopped hurting, nothing has fallen off......and the following Sunday when we visited there was a light outside the garage at the foot of the steps.

A couple of days later Kevin stood up too soon when entering the caravan and boinked his head on the metal door frame, cutting it open (the head, not the door).  We now know where there is an excellent walk-in medical centre with helpful staff, although we hope not to need it again!  The scar is fading, his head is still a bit tender, but - like my bruised bits - it hasn't fallen off either.  Which is probably A Good Thing.

To welcome us home, a couple of autumn houses were made yesterday.  They share the same faded green for their lawns, just as greens are fading here with the cooler weather.

Two more to go, which may also be autumn houses.

For several months now there has been a mouse plague in our part of the world, and while we and Bianca were away the mice moved in to play.  We are now in the process of suggesting to them that there are much nicer placer that they would like to live.  I do not like the idea of meecies rampaging through my home; we are told that winter's colder frosty weather, particularly if it's wet as well, should move them on.  Fingers crossed.

"It is rude and awkward to elevate your elbows and move your arms at the table, so as to incommode those on either side of you.

Whenever one or both hands are unoccupied, they should be kept below the table, and not pushed upon the table and into prominence."

Indeed.  Keep those elbows and hands down, and don't poke your dinner  neighbours.

Enjoy your days!