SITTING ON THE FRONT VERANDAH, MAY DAY AND JEREMIAH

Hello my lovelies

I'm sitting here at the table on the front verandah.  It is the most beautiful Autumn day imaginable.  I've been watching petals falling off the Camellia as there are obviously birds in there having a wonderful time.  I can also hear Papa in the guest room practising his guitar.  He's just finished singing and playing a Dylan song.  

While sitting here in the sunshine, I've been eating my breakfast and doing a bit of my Bible Study for Monday.  Although there's no Bible Study tomorrow as it's a public holiday for MAY DAY.  I may decide instead to march with THE WORKERS.

The first of May is known by different names. INTERNATIONAL WORKERS' DAY, LABOUR DAY  and of course MAY DAY.

The people who celebrate the first of May as a WORKER'S DAY celebrate the role of workers in the workforce rather than the owners of the companies.  "Let's celebrate with the workers!" I say.

And of course if you remember CAMELOT, it is also an ancient Northern hemisphere Spring festival.  Sing along with me girls..."It's May, it's May!"

Anyhoo!   While I've been working here on my Bible Study, I've been reading bits and pieces in the Bible and I thought this one was just beautiful.  I'm reading THE MESSAGE Bible which is an easy to read translation.  

Here's an introduction to Jeremiah...

"Life is ambiguous.  There are uncertainties.  Loose ends.  It takes maturity to live with the loose-endedness of life.  But if we refuse to live with it, we exclude something that may very well be essential and dear:  the hazards of faith, the mysteries of God.  The book of Jeremiah ends inconclusively.  We want to know the end, but there is no end.  We want to know that he was finally successful so that if we live well and courageously, we, too, will be successful.  Or we want to know that he was finally unsuccessful, that a life of faith and integrity doesn't pay off, so that we can get on with finding another means by which to live.  We get neither in Jeremiah.  In Egypt, the place he didn't want to be, with people who treated him badly, he continued to be tenaciously faithful, magnificently courageous, and yet heartlessly rejected.  All of which add up to a towering life, terrifically lived.  And though we don't know if his ending was happy, we do know that his character was heroic. Maybe that's all we need to know about his story.  And maybe that's all we need to know about ours."

Faithful and courageous!  That's my prayer for the week for myself and my family.

Love Nanxxxx

GARDENING CLUB, QUILTING, WASHING WOOLLENS, PAINTING AND VISITING

Hello my lovelies

It is the most beautiful Autumn day today.  The cold blast that came from the south over the last couple of days seems to have bypassed us, thank goodness.

Papa has been out to BMS to pick up odds and bods and is now sitting reading the Saturday paper.  I notice as I look out on to the side verandah that he is all set up to continue his painting in his office.

Today is the second coat on the ceiling.  He's being very good and having regular breaks as his back has been giving him a lot of trouble.  He's made an appointment with the doctor for next week for another injection in his back.  This gives him a lot of relief but unfortunately only lasts a few months.

Next door is coming on great guns.  Yesterday they put up the rails on the back deck and from my kitchen and our back deck it looks very pretty - very Paddington if you know what I mean.

This photograph is taken from our back deck, looking through the shutters.

The house still isn't painted yet and as the new owners will be moving in soon, I rather suspect that Lawrence the Builder may get the painters to take over the task he was going to try and do himself.

I had a lovely time at the Garden Club yesterday morning.  It was way out at Middle Ridge on the corner of a main road.  The garden was very small, just a small covered patio and the narrow bit down the side of the house.  The patio was just outside the sitting area in the living/kitchen area and was covered over with a sail.  The groundcover was slabs separated with pebbles.  Just looked at that word separated.  This is a word often spelt incorrectly.  If you ever have to write it, remember it has 'a rat' in the middle.  Back to the slabs.  In amongst the gravel, the owners had planted some small plants.  The very small patio was bordered on the one side by the house and on the other sides by the outside fences.  Along the fence beside the patio the owners had planted camelias, a gadenia and on the fence itself some star jasmine.

Down the side of the house, the owners had planted star jasmine all the way down and had trained it up quite high.  It was a beautiful feature and must fill the area with gorgeous scent when it is in bloom.

When I first arrived, there was a delicious looking morning tea spread out on the kitchen bench which included tiny chocolate brownies, what looked like a hazelnut cake and little quiches.  The serviettes, of course, were ones with pictures of plants on them.  And the mugs?  Gorgeous, gorgeous.  They were all different designs of blue and white Spode mugs.

After morning tea and our wee walk around the small garden, we listened and watched a florist giving a demonstration and ideas in respect to making a bouquet.  She was a lovely lady and said that she has a 'ministry' in flowers. I'm not quite sure what that entails but would love to know.  She has a shop in the Bell Street Mall, just off Ruthven Street, so I shall pop in and have a chat next time I'm in town.  She sounded as though she originally came from an Eastern European country.

She also gives classes on flower arranging.  Will give that some thought too!  I could definitely do with some advice in that area.  The collection of 'flowers' she had on the table were unusual.  There were two banksias, rosemary, reeds, palm fronds, succulents, gum leaves and some unusual shrub-like flowers.

Here is the bouquet she made while she was talking to us about all the things she was doing.

Can you see how she has bent over the palm-fronds?  She bent them over and tied them with florist tape.  She also gave a couple of tips about flower arranging.  You must strip all the stem that is going to be in water.  When you are putting a bouquet together, you hold it in your hand and as you begin to add the different plants to your hand, you make sure that as you add, you add in the one direction.

With the little succulent, she put it on the top of a florist stem and just taped it to the stem because succulents such as these ones don't have stems.

It was a very interesting talk and quite funny in parts.  I'm not quite sure what was funny as the battery in my hearing aid decided to die, but I laughed along with everyone else.

Because it was my first visit, I knew only one other person, but I wandered around and chatted to different ladies.  They seem a lovely group and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.
When I started talking with some of the ladies and mentioned our garden out at Cabarlah, they knew the garden well as they had gone there when it was an Open Garden so that was something I could talk forever on.

After the Garden Club, I headed over to Robyn's for quilting.  It was a quiet day there as only Jenny and Bonnie were there (along with Robyn).  It worked out quite well though as Robyn was able to spend quite a bit of time with Bonnie who had made heaps and heaps of flowers, leaves and stems for a very large border for her quilt.  Both Bonnie and Robyn worked away placing everything in between chatting, cups of coffee and lunch.

Today is a quiet day at home with Papa painting and me catching up on some housework.  Although it is a bit difficult with everything higgilty piggilty.  I've done a big wash which included some woollens so there's a lovely smell of Martha Gardener's Eucalyptus Woolwash pervading the kitchen.

Tomorrow, we've been invited to Sasha and Eleanora's for lunch and for a soup 'tea' we've been invited along with Charis and Neil to Anne and Roger's out at Cabarlah tomorrow evening.

A lovely wee photograph of a knitted radish for you.

Well my darlings I shall away.  Thinking of you both as you sleep in your wee white beds as I type.

Love Nanxxxx

AUTUMN, PAPA'S LATEST U3A CLASS, THE GARDENING CLUB AND A VISIT TO ROBYN

Hello my lovlies

We woke up to a very cold morning this morning although it was sunny with blue skies.  I have two jumpers, leggings, ugg boots and my fleece on.  Feeling loovely and cosy.

On my walk after lunch, I noticed that the Camphor Laurel trees are beginning to drop their berries all over the place.  The trees that drop their leaves in Autumn are really beginning to turn golden with leaves everywhere.  There was also a lovely smell of woodsmoke coming from chimneys around the place.

Papa went to his first class on archeology this morning.  He wasn't sure he would enjoy it as he felt he already knew quite a bit about the subject.  However, he was pleasantly suprised.  It looks as though the course is going to be fun.  The teacher who is doing his masters or something on the subject is using some aspects of his studies to teach the oldies.  At the bottom of the course notes he instructed the students they needed to bring nothing but their quills and papyrus.  I think he sounds a great teacher.

After Papa came home and we had lunch, he put on his workclothes and did some more painting in his office.  He painted the part above the picture rail and tomorrow I think he's going to give the ceiling its first coat.

Tomorrow I'm going to my gardening club.  I say 'my gardening club' as though I have been going to it for years when in actual fact I haven't been once yet!  This will be my first visit and I am really looking forward to it.

I'll try and remember to take the camera.

After that, I will head over to see Robyn who has been in Melbourne for a few days.

Love Nanxxx

VISIT FROM THE KENNEDYS AND SUPERVET

Hello my lovelies

It's been a busy time here at Kenneth Street.

As you know, last week we decided it was time to redecorate Papa's office.  Once all the furniture was removed, dust-sheets laid all over the place, not to mention furniture all over the place too, Uncle Aaron telephoned to say that he, Auntie Janet and the family were heading north to Mackay from Melbourne and would like to pop in on there way.

Well, we were thrilled of course to see family but looked around and thought "Where on earth are we going to put everyone."

I emailed back to tell them we were in a bit of a guddle and they very kindly emailed back and said that Uncle Aaron, Auntie Janet and Emlyn would book into a hotel to sleep for the two nights.  That left only Sinead, Finn and Oscar to bed down for the nights which was no bother in the guest room.

Then, just a few hours before they arrived our computer got hacked!  This is a real treat just before visitors are about to arrive and you have to think about cooking a meal for eight people.  Papa and I had to run around cancelling access to bank accounts and credit cards.  The banks said that we had to have our computer professionally cleaned before they would set up Internet access again.  So, it was on to Sasha who quickly came to the rescue.

He delivered the computer back to us yesterday and we went to the bank today with his letter. Hopefully everything is AOK now.

It was lovely to see the Kennedys.  They left yesterday.  Here are some photographs of their stay.


Here's Finn,

and Sinead eating her breakfast.

While everyone was here, we watched quite a few episodes of THE SUPERVET and in this photograph, Emlyn is carrying out an operation on Molly's little soft toy.   Here's a link to The Supervet.  I think you may be able to look at some of the vet's cases on the website.

This photograph is of Oscar.  His soft toy Milo had a wee operation too and Sinead made a little cone for his head so he Milo didn't pull his stitches out.

While they were travelling from Victoria, Sinead made some of her 'little' things.  Once she arrived at Kenneth Street, we put them in the oven and baked them so they would become hard.  Here's a little pie.

Avocado, crackers, olives, carrot sticks and peppers.

SOME of her collection!

And here they all are heading off again.  Emlyn was making a funny face.

Love Nanxxxx

IT WAS ANGUS' BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY

...and because we've been having trouble with our computer, I wasn't able to put up a photograph of him yesterday.  Sasha took the computer away and brought it back today.

                   HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY ANGUS!

I love this photograph.  Angus looks like a character from Winnie the Pooh, so innocent looking.

Talking of which there's a wonderful exhibition on at the moment in Tasmania.  The exhibition is showing sketches by Ernest Shepard which he made for the original Winnie the Pooh book(s).

Mr Shepard who lived in England, left his sketches to a family member who lived in Tasmania and she bequeathed them in 1981 to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

This image shows why the clock was drawn.  Can you read the writing on the wall?

So, no matter how big you get Angus I shall always remember you with your head bent while Papa tied your bib on.

Love Nanxxx

THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR AND MARGARET DOWN THE STREET

Hello my lovelies

I popped down to see Margaret down the street this morning and sat beside her and had a lovely chat. She is keeping really well and always asks after you both.  I was telling her it was the Easter holidays in Geneva and because Mummy and Daddy are working, you are both enrolled in cooking classes. Margaret just loves watching cooking programmes on the television and is looking forward to hearing what sort of things you cooked in your classes.

As I left, Keith cut me a beautiful red rose which is called Poetry.  It smells divine.

On my way home, Lawrence the Builder who has been working on the renovations next door was loading his trailer with lots of off-cuts of wood.  "You look tired Lawrence." I said.

"I am!" he said.  I think once he's finished this job he will probably take some time off before starting the next one.  I went home and grabbed the camera to take some photographs for you.

How do you like these tiles in the ensuite?

Pretty snazzy.  I don't think I would be brave enough to use them though.

This is taken from the street.  Lawrence has pulled the front gable out further, built a carport and a new verandah.  The master bedroom at the back of the house is an addition too.  You can see a bit of it down at the end of the house on the carport side.

The house has been sold to a young couple with two children.  One of the children is called Matilda which I think I may have already told you about.  Can you see the paint colours on the boards at the front.  I think they have decided on the paler grey with windows, doors and trims in white.

This picture is looking towards the front main window.  The small window overlooks our garden.

This photograph is taken from the front windows looking towards the kitchen and laundry.  The door on the left is the laundry door leading on to the back deck and the door on the right is another door leading on to the back deck.

The doors to the right lead into bedrooms.

This is the main bathroom which is on the right looking down towards the kitchen.

This is taken from the master bedroom, looking out on to the deck which overlooks our garden. There is also a door into this bedroom just past the kitchen on the right.

View from the back deck looking over the fence into our garden.

Love Nanxxxx

PAPA'S OFFICE

Hello my lovelies

"David, you don't have to do this you know!" I said.

"No! No!  Connie!  I insist!" and so with my help, he started moving the furniture out of his office in preparation to redecorate.

Stuff in the library (sewing room).

Guest room transformed into a new computer room and music room.

Lovely verandah transformed into a builder's yard.

Skirtings coming off.

He's a darling!  As you can imagine, this idea was from both of us.

Shall keep you informed of the progress.

Love Nanxxxx

LETTER FROM FRANCE

Hellow my lovelies

My friend Kerrie who lives in the gorgeous house with all the quilts is on holiday in France with another friend from the quilting group - Val.

Here is the email Kerrie sent this morning.

Dear fellow quilt lovers,

Today Val Bensen and myself had a truly memorable and very special day. We set off on a 200km drive through rural France roaring along the motorway at 130kms an hour  always being passed except by trucks who don't seem to be allowed to go that fast, then through narrow roads and sometimes between farms. 

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, the trees with new leaves iridescent in the sunlight, fabulous wheat crops and startlingly bright yellow canola crops and many flowering trees and shrubs. The lilac is in flower, the cherry trees, hawthorne, may bush, wisteria, broome and many more.

We arrived at the tiny, ancient walled town of Bourage at lunch time and after lunch set off on foot to find the quilt show we'd heard about. What a treat it was, every quilt was beautifully made and exquisitely hand quilted with the tiniest stitches imaginable.

Set in an ancient building and beautifully lit, no charge to enter we felt immensely privileged to see such beautiful work by these amazing French ladies.

We also enjoyed visiting antique shops and art shops while in Brouage.

This show is held every two years and was so worth our 400k journey from our Chambre d'hote near Nantes.

I am now itching to get back to my quilting!

Best wishes from France,

Kerrie 

Don't these quilts look wonderful?  And the room they are hanging in looks pretty wonderful too.

I wonder if you are very far from this little town and if you could visit the quilt show too.

Love Nanxxx

QUIET DAY WITH DUST, EASTER AND STREET LIBRARY

Hello my lovelies

It's been a fairly quiet day today.  That is, apart from the builders next door.  Lots of banging, shouting and laughing.

I had just finished mopping the verandah when I heard an electric saw going.  I looked up and saw they were cutting cement sheets for the ceiling above the new verandah and heaps and heaps of dust was being blown my way.

I quickly ran and locked the doors to Papa's office.  Just then, Papa arrived home with all the shopping.  "There's a lot of dust coming from next door David." I said.

"What from?"  he asked.  When I told him, he went straight down into the garden and called on the builder.  He explained to him about the dust and I could hear the builder apologising profusely.

When Papa came back I said that I didn't expect him to speak to them because all building involves some dust somewhere along the line.  But Papa said cement dust is a different matter.  He said that the men shouldn't even be cutting the sheets without protective masks and eye wear - which of course they weren't using.   So there was no more cutting with the saw and Papa said they were probably using cement cutters.

After all my chores and lunch, I settled down on the side verandah to read the new book Papa picked up from the library for me.  He had picked up a couple last week which I just couldn't get into.  This one though is keeping me reading.  It's set in Ireland and is a mystery novel.

There's no Wednesday quilting for the next few weeks as Kerrie's in France at the moment.  But I do have quilting this Friday with Robyn which will be lovely.

Talking of Robyn, she sent a fabulous link with Dolly Parton singing "HE'S ALIVE!".  If you click here you will be able to link into the song.  Listen to the song to the end.

Here are some more photographs from Easter.

This photograph is of the Street Library round the corner at Mary-Kate's place.  Her house is the one with the Jacaranda tree outside where the children decorate it with beach-balls, flip-flops etc at Christmas.

Hope the cooking classes are going well.

Love Nanxx

EASTER WEEKEND

Hello my lovelies

A couple of photographs of Easter weekend.

I've asked Auntie Emma and Uncle Michael to email their photographs too so will post them to the blog when I get them.

Hope you found the eggs in the end!

Love Nanxxxx

GOOD FRIDAY

Hello my lovelies

Today is Good Friday.  This is the day we remember the day Jesus was sent hither and thither as the religious leaders tried with all their might to have him executed.  However everywhere Jesus was sent, the authorities couldn't find a reason to execute him.  In order to keep his job and placate the crowds, Pilate, who was the Roman Governor, finally sent Jesus to be crucified.

You might wonder why it is called 'Good' Friday when so many bad things happened on that day. Many reasons have been put forward regarding the day being called "Good..." but regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God's plan to save his people from their sins.

I have looked up the Internet for paintings and scenes from films regarding Good Friday to highlight some of the events that happend on that day.

The day began when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Following his arrest, he was taken to the house of Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas.

There Jesus was interrogated with little result.  He was then bound up and sent to Caiaphas the High Priest where the Sanhedrin had assembled.

The Sanhedrin was a Jewish court made up of seventy men and the High Priest and it was there that Jesus was taken for a more formal interrogation.

Conflicting testimony against Jesus was brought forth by many witnesses to which Jesus answered nothing.  Finally the High Priest asked Jesus to respond under solemn oath, saying "I adjure you, by the Living God, to tell us, are you the Anointed One, the Son of God?"  When Jesus answered that indeed he was, the High Priest condemned him to death for blasphemy.

Blasphemy here means speaking about God without respect.  Something that you say or do that indicates you do not respect God.  And this is what the Sanhedrin thought Jesus was doing.

Because the Sanhedrin couldn't carry out an execution, the whole assembly took Jesus to Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor who could carry out the death penalty.

"What has this man done?" asked Pilate.

The charges that were brought before Pilate regarding Jesus were:

1.  Jesus was trying to overthrow the nation.

2.  Jesus opposed paying taxes to Caesar.

3.  Jesus was making himself a King.

After questioning Jesus, Pilate told the assembly he could find no reason for sentencing Jesus.  After further discussion, Pilate discovered that Jesus was from Galilee and referred the case to the ruler of Galilee, King Herod who was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast.

Herod questioned Jesus about the many accusations that had been made against him but received no answer.

At this point Jesus was sent back to Pilate.

Pilate told the assembly that neither he nor King Herod could find a reason for sentencing Jesus. But to calm the assembly, Pilate decided to have Jesus whipped and released.

The assembly weren't happy and under the guidance of the chief priests, the crowd shouted for Barabbas who had been imprisoned for committing murder during a riot.

As you can see, it was a very difficult day for Pilate.  To top it all off, Pilate's wife came to him and told him she had a dream about Jesus and that Pilate was to "Have nothing to do with this good man."

At this point the chief priests informed Pilate of a new charge.  They demanded Jesus be sentenced to death because he claimed to be God's son.

The possibility that Jesus might be God's son filled Pilate with fear and he brought Jesus back inside the palace and demanded to know where he came from.  But Jesus stayed silent.

Pilate tried and tried to have Jesus released but when the crowd started saying "You are not Caesar's friend if you release him.  Jesus says he is a King and whoever says he is a King is speaking against Caesar."

At this point Pilate came out of the palace and sat down on the judgement seat.  He had Jesus brought out and tried once more to release him.  "Behold your King!" he said to the crowd.  But the crowd cried out, "Crucify him!  Crucify him!  We have no King but Caesar."

"But why?" asked Pilate.  "What has he done wrong?"  When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd.

"I am innocent of this man's blood." he said.

And so Jesus was taken away.

And bearing his cross with the help of Simon of Cyrene, Jesus carried his cross to the site of execution and was crucified along with two criminals.

Following Jesus' crucifixion, a Roman guard on duty said "Surely this was God's Son!"

After the death of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a member of the Sanhedrin and a secret follower of Jesus went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Another secret follower of Jesus and a member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, brought a hundred-pound weight mixture of spices and helped wrap the body of Jesus.

The body was then placed in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea and a large stone was placed in front of the tomb.

Everything that occured from the arrest of Jesus to his many interrogations and final crucifixion was less than a day.

As we come to the end of Good Friday we must always remember what my friend Julian used to say.

"It was Friday!  But Sunday's a'comin!"