SOME CHRISTMAS BAKING

Hello my lovelies!

I've been doing a bit of Christmas baking for the Kennedys who were passing through on their way south.

I decided to leave the icing of the chocolate cookies for the young 'uns when they arrived.

Love Nanxx

LOG CABIN NUMBER TWO!

Hello my lovelies!

Here are the blocks all laid out on the bed.  I've sewn them all together since taking this photograph and am now thinking about what colours to do for the borders.  Any suggestions?

Love Nanxxx

BIRD BLOCKS

Hello my lovelies!

I think these are blocks five and six.

Love Nanxxx

GARDENING CLUB

Friday wasn't just a 'quilting day' with Robyn, it was also the final Gardening Club get-together for the year.  I arrived at Robyn's around 9.00am, left at 11.30am for the Gardening Club and then after lunch, I headed back to Robyn's.

"Have a cup of tea and tell us all about your lunch!" said Robyn.  And so, I drank my lovely cup of tea and ate the gorgeous little star Christmassy biscuit and began to tell the ladies all about the lovely lunch.

I've been to this garden before and know the lady quite well as she helped us when we had our Open Garden at Summerfield a few years ago.  As you can see, she lives in a lovely old Queenslander and has a simple but beautiful garden.  When I arrived at the front door, a little late, I could see down the hallway that everyone was chatting away outside on the back deck.  So, I opened the door and made my way through the house, putting my bag and cardigan on a chair on my way.  When I arrived at the back deck Rhondda was there to welcome me and asked if I would like white wine or Champagne?  Well of course the answer to that one is always "I'll have the Champagne please."  Off I went with glass in hand to meet up with and chat to the ladies.  They are a lovely group and all love gardening.

Before lunch, Rhondda told us a bit about her garden, mentioning in passing that she was having trouble with her lawn.  She has planted a number of Capital Pear trees along the back boundary and the shade from them is inhibiting the lawn growing properly.  Someone from the group shouted out as she spoke that she should try a grass called........Oh dear!  I can't remember what she said.  It was something like Sleep Seed, or Simpering Seed or Seedy Seed.  If I remember I'll let you know for your future reference.

She also mentioned that mealy bugs were getting into her Agapanthus:(  I'm not sure what that looks like and I don't think I want to know because if she, with her beautiful garden has mealy bugs in her agapanthus, we MUST have them in ours.

After Rhondda had finished talking and everyone had a little say in a trip to a garden that is being planned for next year, it was time for lunch.  Lunch was just beautiful.

It started off with trays of ribbon sandwhiches being brought around.  Do you know what they are?  You use the softest bread you can find;  some white and some brown.  You lay out three slices and using one of their ideas, spread avocado on one of the white slices, top with a brown slice and then add some salmon mixed with mayonnaise and perhaps a bit of red onion and then on top of that one, you top off with the last white slice.  You then cut off all the crusts and cut what's left into fingers.

After the 'sandwhich' course, trays of fruit were brought round - all this while we stood on the verandah chatting and drinking our Champagne.  The fruit trays included, mango pieces, rock melon, strawberries, blueberries, grapes cut into little bunches...and for the last course, trays of fruit cake were brought around.

It was a yummy lunch.

Love Nanxxx

ARGENTINA

Hello my lovelies

I have been enjoying the emails and photographs from your Mumma.  And I can see on the board that a message from you Liliane was sent to the conference.  Love it!  

Papa and I were very interested to see that Andrew (Twiggy) Forrest was there and we loved the photograph he was in with your Mumma.  Do you think his nickname is Twiggy because his surname is Forrest?  For other readers of the blog the excerpt below is from Greer and describes Mr Forrest's role in the conference.

"I also attended this Inter-Faith Event hosted by Andrew Forrest which brought together about eight religious leaders from Argentina to promise to work with their communities to help them understand that before God they are free, made in his image and should live and work in dignity. Andrew Forrest’s vision is that if the religious leaders (the main centers of education and thought in most countries) help people understand their true nature and dignity, then this will help to create a momentum of people demanding of their leaders to better regulate business and employment conditions..."

I just Googled Twiggy and he has a very interesting story about how he came to have a relationship with God.  

Andrew Forrest   (1961 – )  mining magnate
Forrest publicly pledged this year to give away most of his fortune.   He revealed the biggest inspiration for his giving: the Bible. Forrest’s devout Christianity is unusual for a prominent Australian entrepreneur.

Forrest publicly pledged this year to give away most of his fortune – recently estimated by Forbes magazine at $5.7 billion – to charity. It’s a promise that could make him Australia’s greatest philanthropist. He revealed the biggest inspiration for his giving: the Bible. Forrest’s devout Christianity is unusual for a prominent Australian entrepreneur, perhaps especially so for one who thrives on risk and adopts a win-at-all-costs approach to business. But none of Forrest’s friends doubts his piety. They have experienced enough Forrest- led prayer sessions, or caught him sneaking a quick read of his Bible during enough hectic overseas business trips, to understand that belief in God appears to guide his every waking hour.

Admirable, but his way of finding God seems disturbingly trivial:

Forrest “found” God as a nine-year-old boy in the sandhills near Minderoo, the family property. He grew up in a family of Anglicans, but the Forrests were not overtly religious. Late one afternoon, Andrew was riding his motorbike miles from the homestead when he decided to throw the key to the machine away in the dunes to see if he could find it again. He related the anecdote last year: “One of the reasons I became a Christian and am still a Christian now is because after about three or four hours of fruitless search among the spinifex and the hot sand for this key which I was probably never going to find, I tried everything, every physical thing to find the key. And eventually, when I had given up all hope … I prayed. And when I came up from praying, there was the key between a little petrol overflow hose and the carburettor on the motorbike. “Now there’s not a snowflake’s chance in hell that I threw it there; I threw it over my shoulder. So I just thought, ‘OK, that’s cool, we’re showing off a little here, God. That’s a very obvious sign, I won’t ever test you again’ – and I haven’t.”

And, a final photograph of Twiggy with the religious leaders.

Love Nanxxx

QUILTING THE FURROWS AND FIELDS

Hello my lovelies!

Friday was my quilting day with Robyn. As you can see, I took along my Hebridean quilt and asked her to draw me some quilting lines.  Aren't they just gorgeous?  Shall put up a post when I've stitched them.

Nanxx

TA DA!

Hello my lovelies

It's finished and hanging in Papa's office.

Love Nanxxx

PROVENCE STAR QUILT

Hello my lovelies!

Here is some of the quilting on the Provence Star quilt.  I'm just about there.  We're going to hang it in Papa's office when it's finished.

Love Nanxx

DOGGIES DRESSED FOR CHRISTMAS LUNCH

Hello my lovelies

I thought you would like this photograph of Heather's wee doggies.  They were so cute when they came to meet us when we arrived for Christmas lunch on Monday.

Thankfully, for them, it was quite a cool day!

Love Nanxxx

BIBLE STUDY BREAK-UP

Hello my lovelies!

It was Christmas break-up for my Bible Study yesterday.  We have now finished our get-togethers for the year and will meet up again in early February.

To finish the year off, Heather suggested we all bring a plate and meet at her house for a Christmas lunch.  Heather lives in Ramsay which is South of Toowoomba.  I arranged to pick up a couple of ladies who travelled with me in my car.  As Heather's house is quite out-of-the-way, I set the GPS with the address and set off.  Well, what a journey we all had.  Let's just say that I think the GPS needs updating and the countryside in South East Queensland is looking lovely and green after the recent rains we've had.  

One of the ladies was getting quite concerned and at one point said in a quiet voice, "I don't recognize anything from my trip out here last year."   

"Have faith Joan!" I replied. 

 I knew that even if the GPS took us via Darwin, we would eventually get there.  And get there we did.  Heather's house is a gorgeous wee cottage set on top of a hill with fantastic views over the Lockyer Valley.  

As you can see Heather had set her home up beautifully to celebrate with us all.

That's Heather in the background, Simone, the minister's wife with her hair pulled back and Katherine, the Sunday School teacher sitting beside her.

It was a lovely day and as we were leaving, Heather gave each of us a big Christmas bag with lots of goodies in it.  And...on our way to the cars, we were given a pottted succulent that she had prepared for us all.  My succulent is sitting on a kitchen shelf and looks very happy.

Love Nanxxx

COLOURING IN

Hello my lovelies!

Look at this fabulous Bible!  I mentioned to my friend Robyn that I wanted to buy a Bible for someone I know and she said, "Oh!  I bought a Bible some time ago.  Perhaps you would like to give the lady this one."  And away she went to look for the Bible.

What do you think?  Isn't it wonderful.  Imagine how even more beautiful it will look when it is all coloured in!

The translation is The Message translation which is easy to read.  The man who sat down and translated the whole Bible into this easy-to-read version is called Eugene Peterson.  

Here he is with the singer Bono.

Perhaps you could put this on your Christmas list :)

Love Nanxxx

NO DOGS ALLOWED!

Hello my lovelies!

Papa and I had a bit of a run-in with the Ranger at the Ravensbourne National Park the other day.

"Let's take a picnic up to the lookout at Ravensbourne!" I suggested.  So, Papa put together a lovely picnic as the dogs jumped around all excited at the prospect of an outing.  Esky with picnic, flask, cups and dogs were bundled into the car and off we went.

It was a beautiful day, just perfect for sitting beside the lookout and enjoying the lovely spring air.  When we arrived we realized that NO DOGS were allowed, but as we are very good dog owners and there was no-one about but a lone bikie having his lunch at a nearby table, we tied the dogs to the table leg where we were sitting and set ourselves up for our lovely relaxing picnic.

My 'relaxation' was a bit disturbed when vehicles drove up the track to look at the view.  "Oh! No!" I'd say as each vehicle made its way up to near where we were sitting.  All the vehicles that passed as we were having lunch, stopped for a minute, looked at the view and drove off again.  HOWEVER, the last vehicle to come into view had RANGER emblazoned across its door.  You can imagine my reaction.  Papa just said "It'll be fine!", but I wasn't so sure.  So I leapt off my seat, grabbed the shirt off Papa's back - it was one of those checked ones he wears over his polo top, I unhooked the noisy dog who I knew would start barking, covered her with Papa's shirt, picked up the esky to try and hide her, walked over to the car, struggled to get the boot open with Molly struggling to breath inside the shirt, threw her and the esky in without even releasing her from the shirt, banged down the door and as the Ranger slowly climbed out of his utility, I said, in quite a high-pitched voice,"Morning!  Lovely day!"  He slowly walked over to me and said with a very authoritive voice, "Have you read this sign?"  The sign he pointed to was the picture of a dog with a line through it so I couldn't use the excuse that I couldn't read.   "We didn't realize there were no dogs allowed until we got here, so we just thought we would quickly eat our sandwiches and go."  He was having none of it and went into a long spiel about no dogs being allowed in National Parks, and the fine of $100.00 that was attached to members of the public who broke the rule.  

I felt so silly thinking he must have been watching the whole palava of me with Molly inside the shirt, staggering around with her under one arm and the esky in the other.  And...still ANOTHER dog tied up to the bench.

The good news is that he didn't fine us but we HAVE BEEN WARNED!  It's such a shame as the dogs are so good and, as you know we keep them tied up beside us when we go anywhere.

It was still a nice outing, and on our way home, we popped in to see if Don and Jenny's house was finished.  It was.  They had only moved in a few days before, so we didn't stay but we did have a quick run through their beautiful new home.

Here's a picture of me heading towards the lookout to enjoy the view.

Love Nanxxx

BLOCK NUMBER THREE

Fifty odd to go!

Love Nanxx

WHAT AN AFTERNOON IT'S BEEN

Hello my lovelies!

As we're heading down to Brisbane tomorrow I thought I would make some biscuits for the boys.  "Now!  What will I make?" I said to myself.  "I know!  I'll make some Anzacs."  Out came David Herbert's recipe, out came the flour, butter, golden syrup, brown sugar, rolled oats, coconut, salt and bi-carb of soda.

I decided to double the recipe so pulled out a really big bowl. Got out the measuring cups and measured 2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 2 cups coconut, 2 cups rolled oats and a pinch of salt.  Mixed all together with my hands in the sink as I'm not that tall and I need my bowl a bit lower.  Then it was time to melt the butter and golden syrup.  Once that was gently melting its merry heart out, I measured 2 tsp bi-carb into a cup and added a couple of tablespoons of boiling water.  Mix the two together, carried the cup over to the little pot where the butter and golden syrup were melting, poured in the bi-carb and watched a volcano erupt all over my stove.  I quickly lifted the pot up, thinking I would take it to the sink, but as it was still frothing like billy-o I couldn't and so I managed to spread melted butter and golden syrup all over the stove.  I wish I had had thought to run for the camera for you to see the disaster.  You will just have to imagine it.  I stood there looking at the mess, not quite sure what to do next.  I decided to pour what was left in the little pot, into the dry mixture and see if it brought the dry ingredients together and of course it didn't.  "What SHALL I do now?" I asked myself.  Well, I actually didn't use these exact words but you can imagine.  I took my large bowl of mixture over to the stove and started spooning the stuff off the stove into my bowl until it came together.  Then I prepared one tray and put that in the oven to get things going.  While the first batch of biscuits were cooking, I started pulling the stove to bits.  I have now managed to get the kitchen back into some semblance of normality, all before Papa came in from the garden thank the Lord.  He is really starting to worry when I head into the kitchen.  "What happened to the stove?" he asked when he came in and I slowly and wearily went through the whole story. 

The metal things that hold the pots etc in place are now in the dishwasher and I've washed all the bits and pieces that produce the flame for cooking.  Hopefully when all goes together again everything will work.

And the biscuits?  Turned out beautifully.  Papa says they're delicious.  I shall have one with my afternoon cuppa.

Love Nanxxx

HOW SWEET AND AWEFUL IS THIS PLACE

Hello my lovelies

I listened to this hymn this morning at breakfast and because the words were so beautiful, I started singing along.  Papa heard me from his office and came and stood behind me and joined in.  We made a lovely duet together :)

It was written by Isaac Watts in the 17th century.

HERE'S a link to the song.

xxxxNan

IN THE GARDEN YESTERDAY

Hello my lovelies!

It was such a beautiful day yesterday I just had to pick up my camera, go for a walk around the garden and take some pictures for you.

Love Nanxxx

SECOND BLOCK

Love Nanxxx