Now for the next 50 years!

Here we are, home again after a fun three weeks.  It is said that travel broadens the mind....it certainly broadens the behind, because we sit a lot when travelling, don't we?

Anyway.....

We had a good time revisiting places from years past, and it's interesting to see changes since then.  The weather was mostly kind (we did have quite a cold change in Canberra but that's nothing new; fortunately we had warm jumpers with us) and there are photos to share.

Seen on the wall of a café in Tumut while sitting under cover out of light rain, a sentiment with which I heartily concur in these days of doom and gloom:

The coffee was good, and the munchies were excellent too; we took a couple of slices back to our accommodation to share later in the day.

The bathroom floor of our apartment in a beautifully renovated old house - the same design as my tumbling blocks currently being sewn, but with only three colours instead of many:

And yes, those are my feet in my gorgeous green sandals - which, believe it or not, started life as boring beige.  Green is much prettier than boring beige....just about anything is better than boring beige, actually.

Not the best pic ever taken, but there we were at the end of summer and there were still flowers on the wisteria shading the verandah - even though they were hiding behind leaves.  I'm not sure if they were late bloomers from last spring, or getting an early start for later in the year.

One day we drove from Tumut to Batlow where this interesting sculpture was on a park at the entrance to the town.  You can't see here - but it moves!  The whole 'leafy' top section swivels back and forth, while the individual 'branches' also twist and turn at the same time.

It's part of a sculpture trail; I was a little annoyed to find no information on the sculpture without having to scan a code and visit a website.  What's wrong with an information board near the sculpture itself?

Perhaps I'm just old......

We celebrated our anniversary with a very nice lunch at a Tumut pub.  When our server found out about our special occasion she insisted on gifting us our drinks, and also brought a special dessert for us to share.  Dark chocolate dipped strawberries, yummo.....cheesecake too.....the strawberries were beautifully ripe and very delicious.  It was a pleasantly warm day, fortunately nowhere near as hot as the day on which we were married 50 years earlier.

There are some more pics to show, which will make their way onto the blog in due course.

How have you all been over the past few weeks?  I hope to catch up with blogs over the next few days; we arrived home three days ago and have been busy unpacking, and sorting, and washing clothes, and putting Stuff away, etc.  You all know what happens at the end of a holiday, don't you.  Well, that's what we've been doing.  However, I think we are just about caught up, so normal life can resume next week.

While we were away stitches were knitted and sewn, and words read.  Some shopping was indulged in, and my supply of home-made jams should last for quite some time.  My wardrobe has been expanded by some op shop purchases including a brand-new-with-tags top from a well-known retailer, which will be quite useful.  A couple of fabrics shops were visited and a small - quite small - amount of shopping done in them.  Best of all, though, was time spent with family and friends.....The One And Only Grandkid is now a foofteenth of a smidgin taller than I am, and he's still only 11.

Today's quote will be continued next week, as it's fairly long.

"Breaking an engagement.

Sometimes it is necessary to break off an engagement.  Many circumstances will justify this.  Indeed, anything which may occur or be discovered which shall promise to render the marriage an unsuitable or unhappy one is, and should be, accepted as justification for such rupture.  Still, breaking an engagement is always a serious and distressing thing, and ought not to be contemplated without absolute and just reasons."

This is true.  I was told about events which, had I been given more notice, would have led to the engagement with the first husband being broken off....but just ten days before a wedding is not much notice, is it?  Especially when one is the only girl in the family, whose parents (particularly whose mother) had been looking to seeing their one and only daughter safely married off.  So the wedding continued, but the marriage did not.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

That's it for the year, folks!

A last post to say farewell to 2024....and to practise writing 2025.  It sometimes takes a few days for one's brain to catch up with the different numbers, doesn't it?

Good news on the photo front, I have worked out how to download pics from my camera to the computer.  It entails a new card reader and a new SD card for my camera and takes a few more steps than it used to, but what the heck.  So long as it works.  In between feeling somewhat unwell (although, I'm pleased to say, slowly improving; if I don't talk too much I don't cough, so the house is fairly quiet at present) I managed to make last week's and the previous week's trees.

This blue and brown batik is leftover from a kit for a bag bought on a trip to Canada, some years ago.  I like the contrast with the orange/red and yellow.

This interesting batik has the Colorado state tree and state flower - thank you, Dianne!  This is the second quilt it's been used in, and there is still some left.

A pretty pale yellow batik with highlights of blue/green; the trunk and branches were going to be a bright turquoise with hints of purple, but then my eyes lit on this mottled green in the Big Basket of Batiks.  I seem to recall buying this yellow fabric in a pack with a few others in Canada, too.

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There are fires burning not far from our town at present, and very bad fires in Victoria.  The colours of this tree block say 'Aussie summer'.....I have to say it just might be my favourite block, so far.

And.....look who came home before Christmas!

Poor thing has been languishing waiting for me to feel well enough to think about binding, or adding a hanging sleeve, or even making a label, but a corner seems to have been turned and the label information has been printed off ready for tracing.  It will be embroidered by hand.

How was everyone's Christmas?  Ours was quiet; we managed a video chat with our Canaussian son and his partner in Toronto, Canada, which was wonderful.  We also spoke to our son in Canberra.  Our Christmas dinner was yummy, we had a small turkey roast (bought from the shop at the turkey farm on the outskirts of town) with vegies, and Christmas cake with gelato instead of the more traditional custard or cream, and even a glass of bubbly.  Yes, I know it's hot.  We have often had a cold meal on a hot Christmas day but this year decided to have our meal in the evening.  It was jolly nice, too.

Words have been read, a few stitches have been sewn....none by hand yet, but those tree blocks were made.  Not one note was plinked - or sung, as the result would have been a credible imitation of a donkey braying.  We did manage to get out to hunt and gather, although it took a lot of my energy.

One of the downsides to feeling so unwell (or 'crook', as Aussies say) was being unable to enjoy a coffee, thanks to the medicated lozenges which helped with the cough but left a taste in the mouth which did nothing whatsoever for coffee.  On Friday while we were out and about we stopped in at a favourite café for a cuppa but I didn't fancy my usual hot coffee so I had an iced coffee, and jolly nice it was too.  This morning I managed my first hot coffee for over two weeks which was thoroughly enjoyed, and now I am about to partake of another.

Many years ago when we lived in the Big Smoke we had to make a decision on where to move when we retired from work, as we both wanted to move out of the big city - big cities are not always user friendly for older folk.  In our travels we often visited Victoria, a state we both like very much, and were even thinking that we could up sticks and move down there.  (My father was born in Victoria's capital city, Melbourne, so I joke that I have Victorian citizenship.  The wonderful staff at the two Victorian hospitals where I was treated after the Big Fall earlier this year thought that was funny.)  However, one day I read that Victoria is the most bushfire-prone state in Australia - I have since read that is one of the most fire-prone areas in the whole world, and that would be heartbreaking. That is the sole reason which decided us to stay in New South Wales, albeit in a country town rather than the big city.

There are only a few days left of the year, so here is some advice should you be travelling:

"If, in riding in the street tram-cars or crossing a ferry, your friend insists on paying for you, permit him to do so without serious remonstrance.  You can return the favor at some other time."

Indeed you can.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer