One year forward...

I missed my blog-anniversary! Since the 23rd of October last year I have been blogging.

257 posts, lots of visitors & lots of fun.

It constantly amazes me...the connections with people I've never met, the people I have met & the variety of far flung place that pop up on my visitors list. How does someone from Brazil read my little blog & yet some from my own family haven't cottoned on yet?

Here's to another good year.

Surf's up...

Erin set off this morning to a 3 day surf camp with school. Hopefully she will have good weather & a chance to learn how to surf.

We will miss her & she said she will miss us too.

The house seems too quiet already.

Take 2..

I'm ready for pink ribbon day tomorrow at work.

A fresh batch of cakes to support the cause

I'm sure it will be a bit of fun to brighten up our day.

We survived...

Callum's 18th celebration.

I had told Cal he wasn't having a party for his 18th, concerns about drunken gatecrashers overtook me. So instead he asked if he could have a couple of mates over. Sure I said, so long as it is not a party.
Ended up with 12 friends, some drinking & consuming of pizza & some loud music until midnight. No trouble thank goodness.
I think he will feel as though he celebrated & there wasn't too much cleaning up to do.

I'll ask him later when he gets up how he feels it all went.

Margaret...

On this day five years ago our Mother passed away.

I miss her. I miss her company & her knowledge. I still want to ask her questions. I want my children to be able to have that generational input. The 7 grandchildren will remember her because we will remind them.

Yesterday my older sister gave me a copy of the hundreds of slides that she had laboriously scanned onto her computer just before Mum died (& some after).

I was browsing through these slides last night & got a real sense of the person she was as a young woman. These are from a time I don't remember, but know of because of the stories that surround them.

Like this one, from a wedding she attended.

Or this one posing with a baby nephew before she had children of her own.

This profile shot taken in Cairns at her Grandmother's home

And this one taken on her honeymoon

There are loads of slides of us at beaches...Qld beaches like this one & others at NSW & Vic beaches that I will share later.

I like this one because she looks like she is having fun with her first born daughter, posing for her husband & his wonky photography skills.

The scanned slides have a nostalgic look about them, not only are they from 40 - 50 years ago, they have a lovely quality to them that is not perfect but very special.
When I showed Hayley she was delighted with the 'retro-ness' of them, something that can be recreated with Photoshop nowadays.

The pics are a giggle for sure...to see the fashions of the 60's & 70's not quite reflected in the home made clothing we wore. I will be sharing a large chunk of these pics in a post titled 'Hats'... you will fall off your chair laughing.

Birthday boy...

Happy 18th Birthday Callum

Now you are an adult (!)

The false start offering...

Here are the very posh, thrown together at 1030pm, biscuits I took to my false start pink ribbon day.



Just some pink icing on a Marie biscuit with marshmallow & a pink smartie.
When you do this on a cupcake it looks a little more like a breast than this flat offering, its my version of the post breast feeding breast (you're probably familiar with that version!)

False start...

I went off to work today dressed in my bright pink shirt & with a splash of pink in my hair to celebrate 'pink ribbon day' only to realise that it is next Tuesday not today at all.
I even had some 'breast' biscuits to share with everyone.

Oh well I'll try again next week.

More pics...

I have reinvented this little gem. Originally this cross stitched picture was in a padded fabric frame, from the days when my house was filled with countrified type things...teddies, little birdhouses, cross stitched pictures etc. I got tired of them all & packed them away but I think this one can come back out in a new frame.

This cute little dish (with my favourite lollies inside) came from our mother. It is part of a set of 6 that I have 2 of. When we were dividing Mum's things it was very amiable until it came to this set, we all wanted it, so we settled to have 2 pieces each. Every other thing was settled very easily & fairly. My other one is blue & sitting up on a shelf with other prized things.

New things...

Two new things at my house today...

I saw a mirror like this on Sharon's blog & really like the style, then when I saw it in a catalogue I went ahead & ordered it. Chris put it up for me while I was at work & I really like it even though the pic doesn't do it justice.

And Hayley had a little trip to Daylesford & picked up this tea cosy at the Retro shop. I have been wanting a cosy for ages & am just too lazy to actually knit one myself.

Thanks Hayley!

Moving...

Yesterday Nana moved in to her new unit.

Chris helped with the truck & the heavy stuff & an army of girls did the rest. Colette, Jenna, Ysanne, me, Erin, Jean & Ruth all pitched in trying to sort the boxes while Nana directed. I was too busy to take any photos but did manage to take Erin across the road to the beach for a short break. The 4 hours of driving just about finished us off.
The unit is directly opposite the Rosebud foreshore & will be perfect for visits in summer, it needs a little fixing up but should be really good when she is settled.
Already the neighbours were coming over to introduce themselves, it seems like a nice community within the block.

I am looking forward to a nice quiet day at home today.

Past history...

Just playing around trying to load some of the negatives I have scanned. Seems the usual way of loading is not working because the properties of this scan show it as 99MB & the usual size it just 8MB. I'm going about it in a round about way via Picasa then blogging but it seems to have worked so far.

This is me at the London Bridge at Sorrento back beach circa 1985

Goal!....

Had a great time last night at Etihad Stadium watching the soccer.



Brendan & Linda are over from Perth & we had a good catch up/drinks while watching the game from our Medallion Club seats (thanks Doc).
Shame they are so far away & can't catch up in person very often.

Daylight time...

Anyone else struggling with the switch to daylight savings time? It was bad timing for me to have to go back to work after a week break coinciding with changing the clocks forward. I am struggling to get up in the morning.

Funny thing happened on Saturday night, Hayley had dropped us off at the restaurant so we could both enjoy a drink knowing she was going to drive us home. After our lovely dinner we rang Hayley & knowing she was on her way we decided to start walking. We don't live far from the restaurant but it is all up a very big hill & she had willingly offered. We were almost home when she finally arrived, she had been out at Lucy's. She did drive us home...the last 200 metres!

The other thing to note is that I have tried & tried to load a couple of the scanned negatives but it simply won't work. I'm not sure what the problem is, maybe they are too big, but it is frustrating.

Birthday wishes...

for me today!

My tech savvy husband is installing the drivers for a negative/slide scanner so I can begin scanning. The perfect gift for me, the photo obsessed one. Now not only will I have thousands of digital pics on my hard drive I will have memories of photos past as well (when I get that job done)

Have a great day, I know I will!

Nana!!!...