SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT 12.15PM

Hello my lovelies!

Do you like this embroidery?  I just love it.  Apparently it's the group badge of the folk who made the Great Tapestry of Scotland.  HERE'S a link to some more photographs of the various blocks they have made.

All well this end. Papa and I have had a fairly relaxing morning reading the Saturday papers and doing a few chores.  I stripped the bed and the sheets are now hanging on the line in the sunshine and Papa did some more work on our grass at the back.  Have I already told you what a mess it's in?  We're not sure if the top-dressing a few months ago was full of weed seeds but we've had a hard time of it trying to stop the grass becoming one huge weed bed.   In the end, Papa scraped most of the grass away and has re-sown parts with new seed.  New grass is starting to appear but it's a bit patchy to say the least.  The other problem could be that we have too much shade what with the leopard trees taking over.   Papa is going to work on the grass for a while yet, but if the worst comes to the worst, we shall have to put our thinking caps on and decide where to next!  All ideas will be gratefully received.

We have been watching a fabulous programme on Netflix called LOVE YOUR GARDEN with the presenter and gardener Alan Titmarsh.  It's been a wonderful series - about eight episodes.  The programme starts with Alan talking about the family he is going to surprise and off the cameras go with him down the street to the house in question.  He rings the bell and waits for the owner to answer the door.  It's hilarious seeing them open the door and the look on their faces when they see Alan and the cameras.  After they get over their initial shock Alan says "I hear your back garden needs some work."  The families who have been chosen have been recommended because of some difficulty in the family;  for example a member of the family may be confined to a wheelchair and can't get out in the garden because it's such a disaster.  Anyway hopefully the series will still be on when you get back HOME! and we can watch it together.

Papa's just calling me for lunch so I'll away and have my sandwich.  I'm on cooking duties today so I'll set to and make a nice stew in the afternoon.

Love Nanxxx

LAST STAGE OF THE JOURNEY HOME

Hello my lovelies!

The last place we stopped off at before arriving back at Auntie Emma and Uncle Michael's was at the Tweed Regional Gallery in Murwillumbah, New South Wales.

As you can see, this gallery is set in a beautiful part of Northern New South Wales.  It's not too far from Byron Bay.

The gallery opened a new Margaret Olley Art Centre which cost around $4 million dollars to construct.  The new Centre houses the 76,000 objects from the studio of artist Margaret Olley, who died in 2011 aged 88.  She seems to have been a bit of a collector.

As you can see from the photographs the Centre has been built in the gallery in such a way that you peer through the windows to view the various rooms of her original home which was somewhere in the area.  From what I can gather, the rooms in the Centre display the rooms of her home exactly as she left them.

Here's one of her paintings.  A lot of her paintings were of scenes from inside her home.

And a lovely cuppa at this table before heading for the car and our last stop in Brisbane.

Another couple of photographs I took looking over the countryside.  As you can see, it was quite smoky.  We're at that time of the year when we are coming to the end of our dry winter and are getting desperate for some rain. 

 Actually, talking of smoke and bushfires, everyone was very nearly evacuated from the wedding as there was a fire close by.  We watched the helicopters carrying their huge buckets of water past the wedding venue towards the fire which was to the left of us.  Thankfully the police took pity on us all and allowed us to carry on with our celebrations.

Love Nanxxxx

TUESDAY MORNING 9.59AM

Hello my lovelies

We've been getting fabulous photographs through from Umbria.  What a wonderful place to be.  We also looked at the video.  I think you weren't long up and Daddy was making breakfast... 

 I can't believe it!  I had typed reems and reams and it's all disappeared except the first three sentences:(

Your weather looks so warm compared to here where it is very cool but sunny.  There are little signs of Spring though in the garden.  The snowdrops are popping up their wee heads, the jasmine is flowering and the magnolia in the corner of the front garden is in flower.  We also have some daffodils budding.

Wee Spotty Boy seems to be going well.  He occasionally limps to remind us he does have a sore leg, but on the whole, he is a lot better.  We give him painkillers in his dinner each day which I think helps.  Last night he was gazing longingly at the couch and obviously didn't feel he could jump up.  "Have you given Spot his medication?" I asked Papa.  I had been out when the dogs were fed and Papa had forgotten.  He jumped up, drew some of the medicine into a syringe and squirted it down his throat.  He wasn't impressed.

Molly Dolly is going well too although she needs a bath every other day.  I think it has something to do with her fur.  Spotty Boy wanders around with his beautiful, silky mane with not a leaf or burr to be seen, unlike his little sister Molly who walks around like a forest in the Autumn :)

Girls!  I have been looking very closely at your dresses.  They are beautiful.  Is your stripey one now your favourite Liliane?  Has the spotty one been thrown to the back of the cupboard?  There is a lovely Japanese lady who has written a book about tidying and folding clothes.  One of the things she says that when you are finished with a piece of clothing and you are about to throw it out or pass it on, you must look at it and thank it for the service it has given you.  Perhaps you could keep this in mind when you are ready to send it on to new pastures Liliane.

Freya!  One of the photographs I just loved was the one with you in your long white dress standing on a balcony like Juliette or perhaps a Roman goddess.  You looked gurgus gerl!

Yesterday, my Bible Study started up again after its three week winter break.  We are now studying the Holy Spirit.  Simone Clarke the minister's wife takes the study and she is just wonderful;  very gentle and very kind.

Here she is with her husband Andrew.  At the Bible Study she was telling us that Andrew has been studying Astrophysics.  How it came up was that at the beginning of the study, we were looking at the first verses in the Bible in Genesis and where God was and what he was doing when the world was created.  While we were discussing the seemingly contradictory views of God's creation, I mentioned the great mathematician, scientist and Christian John Lennox.  Simone mentioned that Andrew read quite a bit of John Lennox's work and then went on to talk about Andrew's studies.

And...for your viewing pleasure.  I can't remember where I saw this photograph.  It was on one of my blogs.  I've just remembered.  It's from posy gets cosy.  You've got a while to go yet, but perhaps you can start thinking about how you are going to decorate and organise your bedrooms when you get back to Australia.

Love Nanxxxx