Hopefully.......

........the resized photos will work.

First, the little guy:

 As you can see, he's growing.  From the nose down he looks very much like his mum, but from the nose up (including the shape of his head) he is the image of his dad at the same age.  It's like looking at my first-born all over again......not sure I would want to repeat some of the intervening years, though.  Grandpa Kevin is providing a comforting arm, because Euan was still a little wobbly when it came to sitting unsupported.

One of the visitors who kept us entertained in the campground in Canberra, on a rare sunny day.

 The weather wasn't always that nice, you know.

On both trips we spent a night in a camp ground at Cowra where Phil the owner has a great shed, a previous owner decorated it with railway memorabilia - the platform seats and station signs you can see are just part of the collection.  Each evening Phil lit a fire in the big pit to boil the billy (for the non-Aussies, a metal can is called a billy and a drink made from adding tea leaves to boiling water in said billy is known as billy tea, we even have a commercial brand of tea called Billy Tea) and campers all converged for Happy Hour.

 It looks a bit daggy, but was a really fun place!

On the trip south Phil played old records from the 1950s and 60s, but on the way home guess who was the entertainment......just plinking away in the background while people talked and became acquainted, I didn't sing because I didn't want to interrupt.  However everyone said how much they enjoyed it, and all admired my tenor uke - as well they should, it's a beautiful example of the luthier's art.

We enjoyed our time in Canberra, highlights were spending time with family (of course!), and we visited the National Library of Australia to see the Rothschild Prayer Book - what an exquisite thing that is.  Made between 1505 and 1510 and illustrated with glowing colours and rich gold, it has been so well preserved that it could have been made yesterday.  We quite spent some time marveling at the workmanship.  It was quite a busy week and no doubt you will hear more in due course.  The shopping list had all items ticked off, black walking shoes for the trip to Canada (for which we take off in 67 days, woo hoo!), beads for knitting, and of course the new camera.

One day we went for a Nice Sunday Drive - from memory it was on a Friday but I could be wrong, it was a busy week - and called in at a lovely place out in the country where we found out that it is possible to have lunch made entirely of chocolate.  Should you ever find yourself in Canberra I can recommend a visit to Robyn.

Now back to normality.......

"Do not lack politeness.
Never hesitate in acts of politeness for fear they will not be recognized or returned.  One cannot be too polite so long as he conforms to rules, while it is easy to lack politeness by neglect to them.  Besides, if courtesy is met by neglect and rebuff, it is not for the courteous person to feel mortification, but the boorish one; and so all lookers-on will regard the matter."

We endeavoured to be polite to all we met, and hope we succeeded.  Politeness and courtesy go a long way to making one's stay in a camp ground enjoyable.

Enjoy your days!

WOW Family

These three wombats are obviously made from the same design, although the light one has its head at a different angle from the grey one. They are sold as garden statues so I put them in the garden......well.....near the garden, I picked up a couple of the fallen camellias from the bush nearby. I have no idea of its name, it's very pretty, has pink and white petals with ruffly centres and is one of the few survivors of The Great Hailstorm of 1990. There won't be a WOW post for a few weeks as we will be away, hence the trio.

Yesterday Kevin and I went on a walking tour of the Female Orphanage at Rydalmere, about twenty minutes' drive from here. It was built from 1814 to 1819 and, as well as taking in orphan girls from the age of two to twelve, also took in the daughters of the well-to-do folk to educate them. The girls were taught to read and write at a time when many girls were not even taught those essential skills at home and Aboriginal girls were also cared for under the same conditions as white girls, being educated side-by-side. Like many public buildings of the time it is an imposing brick building and was reached by river, as roads through the bush were practically non-existent in those days. Can you just imagine the impression it would have made on a little girl when, upon stepping out of a boat and walking across a bush path, she was faced by these stone steps she had to climb to get to her new home?
The centre, which had other buildings as well as the main one, functioned as an orphanage until the 1880s, becoming co-ed when boys moved in during the 1850s; their orphanage until then was further away. During the 1880s the foster care system started so the orphanage ceased to be used as such. It then became a psychiatric institution (it was known as 'Rydalmere Asylum for the Insane') for nearly 100 years, many buildings date from 1890-1910. The buildings are interesting and the grounds very peaceful - it is all now part of a university. Unfortunately we were not able to go inside the historic buildings but could look through some of the windows.

Social history is a topic which fascinates me, as you can see! I love finding out how people used to live.

One of the quilts I am making for bushfire victims has the top, backing and binding finished and I have started on the next. They probably won't all get done before we go away next week but it won't be for want of trying....it's a busy week. And the Bernina is behaving itself beautifully since its hissy fit the other day. It was the chocolate that did it.

Have a lovely week, may your seams all be straight.

Jennifer

Best wishes to my American friends

It is 4th July here so if it isn't where you are, it soon will be.....so to my American friends, have a great day. We spent 4th July on American soil three years ago. We were lucky enough to be on a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska and spent 4th in Juneau, it's not a big town for a state capital and it's an interesting place. We spent some time watching their parade which was great fun and even scored some of the candy that was being thrown to the spectators.

I am having a coffee break from sewing, I am assembling blocks into tops to make quilts for victims of the bushfires earlier this year. The need is still there and quilts are still being distributed. But when I stopped sewing to load a new spool of thread - same colour as the old one, same brand, same everything - it kept catching under the bobbin area of the machine. So, like the good girl I am, I took the bobbin area apart, cleaned it, put it back together......and it still kept catching, three times I put it back together and it kept catching......so it and I are having a short break from each other while I have a coffee and perhaps even some chocolate; the Easter chocolate wombat still hasn't been eaten but its time is drawing nigh.

Perhaps My Lovely New Bernina (which will celebrate its tenth birthday next month) could visit the sewing machine spa while we are on holidays.

Enjoy your weekend.

Jennifer

Peaceful Friday

I made this cushion several years ago, the kit was a gift. Not my usual colours but soft and pretty, and I agree with the sentiment; I have been told it's from a quote by Homer (the Greek bloke, not the Simpson one).

Thanks to the lovely folk who have been so encouraging about my green quilt. Meggie asked if I was using my domestic, yes indeed. I am quilting it on My Lovely New Bernina Virtuosa 160 (which is now nearly ten years old), and it's doing a great job. I have been busy for the last few days so haven't gotten back to quilting the borders but it will be done soon. Today is not looking good either, but you never know. I am off to the shops soon to buy supper for the music club tonight - I don't mind being the supper shopper because I get to pick the chocolate biscuits and cake I like!

Today is Kevin's last day at work for ever. Tomorrow he will be a retired Olde Pharte like me. It will be strange having him around all the time, of course we have had holidays together but that's not the same, as holidays end and then we go back to work. And we will be sharing one car, because for some years now the car that Kevin drove belonged to the company for whom he worked. I bought my own little car in....oh, must have been late 1974, maybe early 1975......we have had two cars since then, except for when our sons were living at home when we had three or four cars in our driveway and on our front lawn. It did get crowded at times. Kevin plays lawn bowls every weekend which is almost sacred to him, but I pointed out that there might be times when I have something that is sacred to me too (like quilt guild, or a music club gig) and need the car to get there; public transport where we live isn't great, to say the least. Can't see me walking 20 minutes to the train station carrying a fairly heavy guitar in its case, and a music stand and guitar stand, then trudgeing up and down the station steps, changeing trains (more steps) and then walking home again. I would be too knackered to play a note by the time I arrived at the gig. Compromise will have to be the order of the day.

No doubt all will be well in the end.

Now I am off to the shops to buy cake for tonight, probably chocolate cake, because chocolate makes nearly everything seem right.

Jennifer