SATURDAY 3.09PM

Hello my lovelies!

Do you like these quilts?  Aren't they just GORGEOUS!  I would love to say I made them, but I didn't.  I think I saw them on a blog somewhere - or perhaps it was Pinterest.  

It's been a busy week here in Kenneth Street.  Neighbours coming and going which is always lovely, plus outings to quilting and church.

Yesterday was the church outing.  Peggy asked me if I could help with the catering for a funeral for an elderly man who had been the minister at St David's a long, long time ago.  I can't remember his name, but he was 94 years old when he died so had lived a long life. So, work began at 8.00am when the army of helpers arrived to begin the preparations.  The army consisted for Peggy, Gay, Fay, Jan, moi and others who popped in with cakes and slices and offered help too.  We began by setting out the tables in the hall - two long trestles which we then covered with our sparkling white, Presbyterian ironed tablecloths.  Then, we placed side plates on each corner and off centre on the table.  Next, serviettes and flowers.  Then it was back into the kitchen.

Peggy had brought the supplies for the sandwiches - lots of soft, fresh bread, ham, cheese, eggs, lettuce, pickles...   I wish I had taken my camera to show you the hive of activity that took place.  Next, the two urns were filled, the one for tea and the other for coffee.  Mugs were put on the trolley which was wheeled to the hatch where we would serve the tea and coffee.  Little tables were put out with chairs around for the oldies to sit down with their sandwiches, cake, slice, biscuit and cuppa and lovely gingham tablecloths were place on these tables.  Peggy had also brought some flowers - white camellias from her garden.  She had made a gorgeous display and these were placed on a stand in the hall.  Fay disappeared into the garden with secateurs in her hand and came back with a few little red roses and some leafed stems.  She procured a lovely vase from the storeroom together with some florist foam and proceeded to make a lovely vase for the centre of the tables where the food was to be put.  We had everything organised by about 10.45am.  The service was underway in the church and the multitudes were to arrive at the hall around 11.30am when the service finished.  We surveyed the results of all our efforts and decided it was perhaps time to have a sit down and eat some of the sandwiches and cakes, tea and coffee before everyone arrived.

When everyone started trooping it, I think they were really surprised by how wonderful everything looked.  By the time it was all over there was still some cake left for Sunday's morning tea!  I was fair exhausted by the end and walked back down the hill around 2.30pm.

Today, we were going to go down to Auntie Emma's but things got a bit mixed up, so, instead, we took the dogs to Queens Park for a walk.  Papa met Ray, his guitar teacher and we chatted with him for quite a while.  He hasn't been at all well.  He is still recovering from a big operation on his throat.

When we arrived home, it was time for lunch and Papa made some toast with this gorgeous bread he bought this morning.  It's from a new shop called The Baker's Duck.

When Papa came back with the loaf he said that the queue was down the street when he got there!  We will take you there when you are next in Toowoomba :)  The place has a coffee shop too.

Tomorrow we're going out to Jenny and Don's for lunch.  Jenny has started a new business (with her daughter Katie) as a function organiser.  I think this includes weddings, birthdays etc.

Here's Jenny with her daughter Katie and here's the logo for their company - Forget Me Not Functions.

Well my dears I shall away, make myself a cuppa and sit down and do some sewing.  

Love Nanxxx

PAPA THE PHOTOGRAPHER

I was eating breakfast and checking out some Christmas recipes.

I sent him off this morning with a long list to buy lots and lots of baking stuff and as soon as I'm finished this post, it's on with the apron, the fan, some Christmas music and out with the butter, flour, eggs, fruit, honey, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, tins....

Love Nanxx

FERGUS' BIRTHDAY, MOTHER'S DAY, FOGGY DAY, VISIT TO DOCTOR AND VISIT TO GRAND CENTRAL

Hello my lovelies

Sorry I missed you yesterday.

Hope you had a great time at your party Liliane and that the science experiment went well Freya.

As you probably know, last week I went down to Brisbane to spend a few days with Auntie Emma and family.  I travelled down on Thursday and came back with Papa last night.  He drove down on Saturday to spend some time with the family on Mother's Day.

We had a lovely day because it was a double celebration with it being dear Fergus' fourth birthday.  It was so funny when, after breakfast we all sat down and Auntie Emma said to Fergus, "Fergus!  Do you know whose birthday it is today?"  He looked a wee bit puzzled until Auntie Emma shouted out, "It's Fergus' birthday today!"  Fergus was really surprised.  His wee face lit up with excitement and then when Auntie Emma said, "Would you like your birthday presents?", he started jumping up and down and turning round and round in circles.

As he loves building sites, Auntie Emma picked up a building sign for him.  He was just thrilled.  He received lots of other presents to but I think this may have been his favourite.

While I kept him busy, Auntie Emma and Angus made his birthday cake which was a tray-truck and in the truck was lots of boulders and gravel - crush Maltesers.

All the excitement of Mother's Day and Fergus' birthday is now over and Papa and I are back home again.  Apparently today was extremely foggy in Brisbane.  Here's a photograph which shows the tops of the office buildings in the city showing through the fog.

Today wasn't a terribly exciting day for me as I had to go and have three, yes THREE injections.  One was for my bones, another a flu injection and another for pneumonia.  First of all I had to wait for almost three quarters of an hour to see the doctor to get the prescription for the bones injection.  Then I had to go to the chemist to pick up the injection which is a very funny looking injection - a bit like your epi pen Freya.

The chemist didn't have any in stock, so I had to get back in the car and head into town to pick it up from another chemist.  Then it was home for lunch, popped the injection package into the fridge, ran around the house doing some jobs and then back out to the doctor.  It was a bit sore having the injection as it goes into the tummy :(

After the doctor, I decided to head into Grand Central as I had it in my mind to buy a couple of trays for my laundry which I thought would make the tops look a bit more organised.

While I was there, I decided to have my hair cut too and then on my way back to the car, I bought a lovely pair of leggings and a tunic-type wool jumper from Tennery's - where we bought my summer dresses.

Tomorrow is a quieter day at home and then on Wednesday, I'm heading back down to Brisbane for a couple of days - back on Friday.

Must away my dears.

Hope your week is proving to be a great one.

Love Nanxxxx

A NEW PLANT AND AN OLD PHOTOGRAPH

Do you like the new plant Papa planted up for me for the kitchen?  I love it and have been putting it here, there and everywhere to see where it looks best.  I think Chooky looks lovely beside it, but Chooky has flown the coop since I took this photograph.  She is now up on top of the cabinet you can see above the plant.

And this photograph, can you guess who the man is?

Yes!  It's Uncle Angus from Glasgow.  Doesn't he look funny?  Do you like the gorgeous curtain behind him.  I think Auntie Mairi bought it in France.  And his sun hat!  And the lovely bricks...and what's on the shelf behind him?  And what about those socks!

Tomorrow I'm off to quilting at Robyn's.  My goal for the day is to embroider a fence on my Hebridean quilt and discuss with Robyn whether to put on borders or not.  Actually I've made the fence already.  It's the wire I have to learn how to embroider.

Also, I have an appointment with the dentist to check everything is healing in my mouth the way it should.  I'm still feeling quite unwell with it all.  Getting quite fed up if the truth be known.  I went and did a big pantry/laundry shop this morning and by the time I drove home and realized that Papa was next door chatting to the Builder and I probably had the task of bringing all the shopping in myself, I just about fell on the ground crying.  "Yoo hoo!" shouted Papa over to me in a very happy voice.  "Could you please come over and help me with this shopping." I replied.  He came over very quickly.  I think he could detect from my voice I was a bit at the end of my tether.  He helped me in with the shopping, sat me down, put the fan on and made me a nice cup of tea.

I am now quite recovered and starting a list for when I feel able to get going again.

Quote from the wee doggie book.

"A friend is someone that won't talk behind your tail when you leave the room."



Love Nanxxxx

MARKET, CHURCH AND HOME

I woke early - 5.30am and got up to take a tablet for my sore tooth.  Once up I decided to stay up, dressed and took Molly for a walk in the mist.

Home again and closed the kitchen door to allow Papa a sleep-in.

He's up now and has headed off to the market to buy some fruit and vegetables.

What I would really like to do is head back to bed as my tooth or lack thereof, is making me feel a bit low.  But I'll be strong and have a shower, get dressed and go to church.

Now this is a church!  But not this morning's outing.  This one is on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and was built in the 15th century.

After church, home, Songs of Praise and a relaxing afternoon.

I shall away and get myself organised.

Love Nanxxxx

AUNTIE WEDELAINE'S BIRTHDAY, DUSTY SHOPPING AND QUILT STORE SHOPPING

Hello my lovelies

Do you remember Auntie Wedelaine?  She is Uncle Alan's wife and they have a wee boy called Samuel.  Uncle Alan is my youngest brother.  I was twelve when he was born and just loved looking after him like a 'wee' mum.  When he was young, he had the most gorgeous golden curls and in the summer I used to put him in his pram, clip on the sun-shade and take him for walks all the time. Needless to say, he was a very good baby as he had plenty to occupy himself what with watching the world go by as we walked and walked and walked.

This is exactly what the pram looked like.  Isn't it just gorgeous?  I used to just love taking him for walks and by the end of the summer holidays, the back of my hands were as brown as berries.

Here's another photograph of Alan sitting on the apple tree in our garden and me beside him making sure he didn't fall off.

Anyway, enough about Alan, today is Auntie Wedelaine's birthday.  I noticed on Facebook that she isn't feeling the best at the moment so I'm hoping that Uncle Alan and all her friends put something nice together for her birthday and help her to feel a lot better.

Isn't this a beautiful photograph of Auntie Wedelaine and Uncle Alan on their wedding day?  As you can see, it was a winter wonderland the day they were married.

Dusty shopping?  Papa took me to a very non-exciting place here in Toowoomba called Searcher's End.  I think it's probably called Searcher's End, not because you have finally ended your search by finding what you were looking for but you feel so dusty and miserable as you wander through the junk you feel as though you can't do anything else but end the search and go home :)  I'm not very good with these places!

Quilt shopping?  After Papa and I had finished with Searcher's End, we actually went to a couple more places looking for a couple of chairs for our library.  But no luck.  So home we went and after dropping Papa off, I went to a couple of quilting stores to buy some fabric for the various birthdays of my quilting group at Kerrie's.

I'm not sure if I've told you about this little tradition we have.  At the beginning of each year, Kerrie asks everyone what they would like in the way of some fabric for their birthdays.  Everyone has a good think and then says what they would like.  For example, Leona has asked for 'background material', Val has asked for Kaffe Fassett material...Kaffe Fassett is a quilter and designer of fabric. He is also a knitter.

As you can see he loves COLOUR with a capital 'C'.

So, once everyone has decided what they would like for their birthday, Kerrie types them all up on a list and we are all given a copy of the list.  The first on the list is always Kerrie Jessop because her birthday is at the beginning of February.  When we all meet, someone always makes a birthday cake and we all bring what she has asked for.  Say she was to put on the list that she would like some fabric with a cream background and reddish/pink flowers, everyone in the group goes to the various shops and picks some material for her.  Then Kerrie receives all these gifts from everyone in the group.  Very rarely are two gifts the same.  Everyone's birthdays are spread thoughout the year so that we have a birthday (and a cake) each month.  My birthday has been changed from December to September because when it's my birthday, everyone is on holiday for Christmas.  But I don't mind. It's rather nice having two birthdays in the year :)

Well I must away.  Papa's brought some shopping home which includes a lettuce so I'll go and give it a wee wash and a spin.  I'll also wrap up Kerrie J's birthday gift, make myself a cuppa and settle down to do a bit more on my Hebridean quilt.

Bye for now.
Love Nanxxxx

CLEANING, GROUPING AND SHOPPING

Hello my darling girls

It's been quite a busy day so far.  This morning I gave the house a big clean, dusted, vacuumed and mopped - including the verandahs.

Because it is so hot at the moment, I was fair exhausted at the end of it all.  Papa arrived home from dropping his guitar off at the guitar place and could see I needed a sit-down and a wee cup of tea. After we sat down, he told me about the different places he had been to whilst out doing his various chores.  The guitar of course was dropped off.  Apparently the strings had lost their zing and were a bit dull.  He's just gone to pick the guitar up again so I'm expecting great zinging to come from his office soon.

While I was at church yesterday, the minister mentioned a group which had started up last week but was still open for folk who wanted to attend.  It was a KYB group.  KYB means Know Your Bible. He said if anyone would like some information to see Simone, his wife after the service - which I did. She gave me a book and said I would be very welcome to attend.

The group meets on Mondays at 12.30pm.  I wasn't sure whether to have lunch before I left and decided in the end I would have it when I returned home.  However, the class didn't finish until 2.30pm which was pretty late to be thinking about lunch.  I really enjoyed the class - there were about 12 other ladies there including a lady called Tania who has just arrived from Texas three weeks ago. Her husband has taken up a position at the University here in Toowoomba for six months.  Needless to say, she is finding the heat quite difficult.  She said that she and her husband are taking off at the weekend to head south for a few days.  On the way home the temperature showing in the car was 36 degrees.

After the Bible class, I decided to head down to Harvey Norman and see if they had anything in the way of side-tables.  They did have a few but none that I could say, "Oh!  I like that one!"

Left Harvey Norman and walked across to have a browse in HOWARDS which is a store that sells all things to do with containers - which I love.  Anything that helps me organize my stuff better is a goer for me.

I came away with a two-tier cake stand thing which I thought would be good for my fruit. I'm a bit fed up with bowls all over the place so the plan is to have some fruit on the cake stand and the rest in the fridge and each morning I will refill the fruit stand where necessary.  Good idea?

Keith the builder next door is going great guns with the joists for the extension and back deck already up.  I'm really hoping that whoever buys the house, are nice people as I can see everything on the back deck from my kitchen window.  Papa keeps reminding me that even if they're not, our trees and shrubs will eventually screen them out.

Wow!  What a time you all had on your birthday Freya.  That blizzard looked amazing.  I bet Mama and Dada were glad to get you all home again.  And the fondue looks fabulous too.  And...cake and champagne.  What a day!   You're next Liliane!  Any ideas?

Well I'll away for now.

Love Nannyxxxxx  PS  Don't forget, you can click the photographs to make them larger.