A Love story!

Today is Joans birthday , she would have be 87. She met her husband to be , Jack when she was 15 and waited for him to return from the war. They married when she was 21. She was Jacks carer when he got old and frail.
But she unexpectedly died before him, a few months ago.
So today Jack said goodbye to this old world and went to meet his 'lovely girl'.[ on her birthday ]
We don't feel sad, because when she was called 'home' that's where he wanted to be also.
"God be with you, till we meet again"

101 D .. OGS!

waiting..













waiting........[ notice english sheepdog waiting in background....clever dog ]














waiting........













I've got news for you fella.....it's my ball and you ain't gonna get it!













C ome 5.30 - 6pm the Darlington Oval comes alive.
the dear folk of that village come out by the dozens with their four legged friends.
I've counted 30 dogs and just as many people. None of the dogs fight, which is amazing to Bob and I. Everyone carrys their little plastic bags to pick up their dogs 'woopsees'.
They all seem to know each other, stroll around the boundaries , have a natter, dogs run, chase the ball.
We do it in style......sit in chair, throw the ball, Henry picks it up and drops
it at our feet [ well trained dog ] Well yes, we do walk the boundary.....sometimes!

There is a sheep dog call ....ANZAC and he would give Red Dog a run for his money.
He is just fantastic, never grabs the ball, but goes for the run.

LETS GO SHOPPING!

Oh nothing will fit me......[ little black dress, the one we wore in the 60's $2,890.... I don't think so]















Well what about this lovely shop?







I don't think they will let us in!

Why not the one down the street....you know the one

the doctor prescribed?
'















APPLE!






MY KINDA SHOP!

I invited myself to go with Lajla when she bought her 'little apple'
The shop is the same as the one in Trafford Centre, Manchester, but PERTH'S BIGGER!
Wall to wall people and she got the 'royal treatment' when they paged Guy [Jackson ]
from the office out back . He gave us a quick overview of all it's virtues. Lajla said yes,
and like something out of "Dr.Who' Guy had signed, sealed and ...delivered Laja her Ipad2.

To say we were gob-smacked by the whole experience was an understatement.
We glided back down Hay St., in a bit of a daze...........she's gone home to play!

One very frightened dog!

THEY SAID THERE WOULD BE A THUNDERSTORM.........

AND WHAT A BEAUTY IT WAS!



POOR HENRY, DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH HIMSELF.

IT BUCKETED DOWN......55MM IN 50 MINUTES.

LIGHTENING, AND THE BIGGEST CLAPS OF THUNDER.

LIKE A ROOF FALLING IN.







RAIN WAS POURING OFF THE ROOF.

THEN THE SOUND OF GUM NUTS FALLING??



NO , IT WAS HAIL STONES.





IT WAS STILL 26 INSIDE THE HOUSE, THAT'S WHY IT

WAS HARD TO BELIEVE ....THE HAILSTONES.


GAYLE AND REG SAID IT WAS HORRENDOUS IN MANDURAH,

WHERE IT WAS REPORTED TO BE THE WORST.


BUT OUT OF ALL THAT......THE RAIN.....NO WATERING FOR A

FEW DAYS






HENRY FINALLY SETTLED AND ATE HIS BONE.


LOVE THAT DOG!

Imelda Marcos eat your heart out!

After my littlie fiasco the other day I thought how ridiculous.......all the shoes you've got and you go bare
footed........NEVER AGAIN.!  And these are only my "flat" shoes, just one of each. And there are still
my garden shoes.........Lesson learnt.........the hot way!

One of those days!

Do you ever remember racing the kids to school or the bus stop in your dressing gown and hope to goodness the car doesn't break down?

Well it wasn't my dressing gown, NO SHOES.

A lady rang about the Family History Centre [ we are closed for the holidays]
After she hung up, I felt impressed to quickly put a sign up at the door of the Chapel to let people know the times we will open in Feb.
So I just dashed out the door, no shoes, it's only around the corner, in out of the
car, back home......no problem.............except the car didn't even make a sound.
Just dead..........' oh well, back into the Chapel, use the phone"
except.......I forgot we gave the old phone to DJ, the new one needed a connection to the wall! "Oh dear, try praying Pam"............inspiration!
Visit the neighbours, use their phone..........no one home.
Feet feeling a bit 'hot' by now crossing the road, walking over prickly grass.
Car getting very hot...........nothing left to do Pam......walk!
If the pioneers can cross the plains, you can walk around the block.....
In the scorching heat..........road is blistering.
I will probably laugh about it tomorrow, after my feet cool down. You can see it can't you, this silly old dame, walking, running, putting down some flyers [ thank goodness they were available. good old Woolworths.] to stand on when the road got to hot to run on.
Woodbridge Drive, never looked so good!

Whole Orange Cake!

Jeni put me onto this recipe from the "Down-to-Earth" blog

It's the easiest orange cake I've ever made.

Yvonne gave me a big bag of oranges so I figured I'd make use of them.

Keep in mind folks.......I never stick completely to a recipe.

1 ORANGE [ I used 3 ....one for the glazing on the top]

3 EGGS [ bragging....we have our own ]

180 grms BUTTER [ soft ] and I only used 80 grms. this was before I
made my own.....LOL!
1 CUP OF SUGAR [ you can halve it if you like, the topping is quite sweet ]
1 1/2 CUPS SELF.RAISING FLOUR



1
If you have a wizz, just mash the oranges to a pulp,


Then throw the rest in.......fantastic!

cook for around 40 minutes.


YOU'LL BE OPENING A CAKE SHOP NEXT!

oops I suppose you want to know how I made this wonderful topping.
mmmm, maybe I should keep it to myself.

Nah!, it's just the mashed orange and made a syrup with lots of sugar!
I know , sugar isn't good for you, but by gum it taste good.

My own butter!

Made this big tub of butter [ in the thermomix of course]

Cost me $2.

I'm so proud of myself......."A milking we will go, A milking we will go,

Hi Ho the dairy oh, a milking we will go.

It's their turn.....Bali here we come!

Caught them as they got out of the pool. We went to pick Henry up. Us peasants get to go to 'Swan Park"

Off to Sri Lanka- Sunday 7th Jan.

Felicity and Darren have decided to take the big plunge and go on their adventure to Sri Lanka while the children are still small.
They will be away for 6 months [ maybe
longer??]

Missing them already!.













Carol and Bill opened their home to their family and friends.

It was wall to wall or I should say 'garden' held outside under their

lovely patio, people spilling out onto the lawn area.

Sonia and Glor.

I had to take these photos from negatives I had developed.....THANK GOODNESS.

I can't believe I deleted them !






Warren and Abi with Heather and Scott and their gorgeous

little boy who now calls Carol and Bill Grandma & Grandad!















The "Kellys"..... Jim and Jane..... forever family!


















Our beautiful girl and BANJO!













Trudy, Jane , Felicity and Kay .....oops Banjo!

Glen Forest Carols By Candlelight

Maizy , Lily and Maizy's friend
India.

Forgot to blog the above ......it was the best ever!                      
Real Christmas Carols......no vocal gymnastics.....if you know what I mean.
This photo taken last year.
 Forgot my camera, can you believe it?
They have the most spectacular childrens choir. 30 little voices. 
They rehearse for 3 hours a day for 4 days. Just wonderful!
This year Maizy sang solo with the choir backing her......Away in a Manger.
 Just so proud of her. She blew us away a few years ago when we discovered she could sing.
It's a real family night with picnic tea, and the famous Tug -O - War, East side of Hardy road verses
West Side, it's an annual event, such a fun night. 
 A lovely ,rather rotund young chap MC'd and made us all laugh. It turns out he was the "Vicar of Darlington" which made he even funnier as he was a male version of the  'other Vicar!!"
 A huge 'blow up" screen appeared and we watched and sang 
as the Christmas Story was told.......just a beautiful night.............DO COME NEXT YEAR!

The Birthday Girl.....Liluth

HARD TO BELIEVE THAT OUR LILY IS 10 YEARS OLD TODAY

THESE PICTURES TAKEN WHEN SHE WAS AROUND 6 YEARS

OLD BY GRANDMA. BUT THEY ARE MY FAVOURITE.

PLAYING DRESS-UPS WAS HER FAVOURITE THING TO DO

WHEN THEY SPENT TIME AT OUR HOUSE, SO I HAD A SPECIAL

DRESS UP BOX .

MIND YOU THE HATS WERE'NT PART OF THE DRESS UP, BUT THEY
'
KNEW WHERE TO FIND THEM!!

AS SHE GREW OLDER SHE BECAME MORE CAMERA SHY, BUT WAS

A REAL LITTLE 'ACTRESS' IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA BACK THEN.




SHE HAS DECIDED THAT 'DOGS' ARE HER FAVOURITE THING AND

HER AUNTY ABI HAS SET UP A WEBSITE JUST FOR HER CALLED

LILY AND HER DREAM DOGS.

SHE WILL BE SURPRISED. IT'S REALLY LOVELY.

SHE CAN PUT HER HAND TO ANY CRAFT, ESPECIALLY FINGER KNITTING,

WHICH SHE TAUGHT ME.

KNITS DOLLS AND CROCHETS.

HENRY HER DOG IS THE LOVE OF HER LIFE...........OURS TOO!

SHE AND HER SISTER MAIZY GET ALONG FAMOUSLY.

I DON'T THINK I HAVE EVER HEARD THEM ARGUE.....ALTHOUGH THEIR MOTHER

WILL TELL YOU DIFFERENT.




SHE TAKES THE GREATEST JOY IN THINGS THAT ARE MADE BY HAND.

ESPECIALLY WHEN HER BIG SISTER MAKES THEM. A GENTLE,

LOVING AND HAPPY LITTLE GIRL



WE WISH HER ALL THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE AND A VERY, HAPPY

BIRTHDAY.









THIS IS MY VERY FAVOURITE PICTURE .....TAKEN WHEN NOT

EXPECTING ME TO SHOOT IT, JUST A VERY NATURAL PICTURE.

Putting Christmas away !

Didn't take long for me to put the deco's away.

Packed away last Thursday, it was hot outside so I

spent the day clearing and putting them in their boxes for next year.

Love Christmas and everything that goes with it, but after a month......

THATS IT!

My house is so small that after awhile it's starts to feel cluttered.

This little carousel was my mothers .....it comes out every year.






I started with a big tree and after a few years decided this one suited my small

lounge area.

I started out ...all angels, but after a time with gifts from family and friends it grew

a 'mixed bag' , although there are more angels on my tree than any other decoration.

I found my Eiffel Tower sitting in front of the tree one morning.....Bob said it was my

'present' ..........meaning my trip to Paris. he just wanted to remind me!

WELL I'VE GOT NEWS FOR HIM!







This beautiful copper Angel , one of those treasures that I found at the beginning

of a Christmas Season. I was shopping early in the morning. Bought it , went back

to get another later............all gone!













Belle de Noel.....Ms Penelope Partridge. Just love her and her sister

Ms Pepper Mint.............a gift from Karen one year when she was here on holidays

from the UK. Haven't seen them in the shops since.














Dear Old Saint Nicholas..............

Lajla and I decided to go into business one year and make these. We started in February and every

Tuesday up until October we would spend a morning , cutting, gluing [ oh boy how many burnt fingers

we had ] We made them in every colour and size. Barbara G ran a Christmas Craft show at the

Northam Town Hall...........WE DID VERY WELL!

But you could say ' we burnt our bridges' after that and took to the pool instead.




This dear little Nativity is knitted. I remember admiring
Jeni's and she trotted off

to Kafarela's and bought me one.......Just love it!

Goodbye 2011

View from Ryecroft Rd., Darlington, over looks the City of Perth.


I've had a wonderful year.

Turned 70 [ it's only a number!!]

Of course the highlight was going back to England to visit the family, what a blessing

we got to see Steve.

Glencoe [ my little plot of Scotland ] and of course PARIS!

Ticked it off my bucket list...............well maybe!


My life seems to be full of 'highlights"

FAMILY being my reason for living, just love you all.


I'VE BEEN BLESSED!


So goodbye 2011, thanks for all the memories!