Despite the Rain

 Well despite all the massive amounts of rain falling here in Queensland, Things have been ticking along ......  The Bees are just loving the pollen from the palms in the back of the garden.  Can't say I'd ever taken that much notice of them except to have to throw away the old seed heads that would fall to the ground along with the palm leaves ...... however once you here the buzzing of the bees you can't help but stop and check it out. 

 We were very blessed to have some old friends drop in and stay overnight with us last week!  It was

wonderful to have that time to be able to catch up on things.  Lyn and I have been snail mailing for quite a few years now ...... I'm thinking we may have started around 2007/2008ish.  Hopefully we can catch up again before too long ........

We managed to get 160ml of rain fall just  a couple of days before we planned to head North.  It's the first time in this house that we've been here and had the heavy rain - so we were able to see just where it flows and now have an idea where we need to place extra drainage. Even though there was plenty of rain, Pete managed to put in a few trenches during the downpour and managed to get it draining out pretty quickly.  I am glad that we were around for it to at least be able to contain things!  A couple of days later we began our drive North.   All up it wasn't too bad a drive ......
We had some heavy downpours early in the trip and were then surprised to find ourselves driving past the areas that had been on fire the other week ...... still slowly burning!

We enjoyed pulling in early afternoon in Mackay for the night (more about that at a later time) ...... and then spent the next morning driving through some more heavy rainfall ....... wondering if we would get cut off or not ......... the roadsigns continued to tell us it was open for the stretches we needed to get through

although at one point the water was close to lapping the road.

It was lovely to finally drive into Townsville where we will enjoy spending

 some quality time with our Son, DIL and grandies who have only just moved into their first every home!  I hope you are all enjoying this week before Christmas ...... I'll catch up with you all again soon!   Hugs, Sharm

Love this new coffee mug from one of my neighbours!

Time is Flying!

Have you looked at the calendar ?  How quickly are the days moving!!!  I'm just getting around to reporting on my end of November OPAM Finishes and here it is ...... we have just 16 days till Christmas!!!!!  I had no finishes in October being part way through numerous projects - but November did see me finish knitting these 2 Cowls ready for Christmas Gifts  for daughter and her partner who live in Melbourne (where they have been having some still cold days!).  It was nice to get something finished!  

Since then things have heated up as we stepped

from November into December ....... there was my online ladies group (a closed group that formed in 2013 when we all did 12WBT for the first time) .... we usually have a christmas decoration swap which is rather fun - but still requires me taking time out to organize and monitor ...........I used a random number generator this year to choose who was giving to whom

I sent this one off to Karen M........

..... mine arrived last week and WOW, I was blown away by the thought attached to this little ornie ....... not only does it remind us of our little Scruffy Boy, but low and behold, Lyn had put his name on the Santa Hat!  Such a special ornament.

And received this one from Lyn C.

Somehow I also managed to get the job of organizing a Secret Santa for some of us at work .... this will be held on Thursday this week so I hope to capture a couple of photos to share.  Thursday is my last day at work before I take a couple of weeks holidays.  Pete and I plan to head up to

Townsville to spend Christmas Day with our Son, DIL and the Grandkids........... 

 So this kind of meant having to work out the gift giving situation and get stuck into things!  It's been a rather frantic couple of weeks whilst I've been doing some crochet and a bit of sewing to wrap up in various gifts.   It was great to have FNWF on This Friday night to link up with Cheryll and others as it gave me that extra boost I needed to pump out a few things .......... 



I mad a start during the day onFriday and continued on various project till today trying to work through my list lol.   I had quite a mess going on in the sewing cave .......

I've managed to get 4 crocheted dishcloths, 1 Trivot and an Apron made up. 

Missed getting a photo of the 4th one that got made up yesterday for our neighbour.

 I'm pretty happy with that as I was wrapping and sorting out gifts in between doing them all lol.  The little Apron is for the granddaughter to put with one of her gifts (a cupcake making kit).

We head off on Saturday and still have quite a few things on the agenda to tick off so its going to

be quite the busy week for sure!  I hope you are all managing to get things ticked off your lists!  I'd love to show you a photo of our Christmas Tree, but alas - no tree being put up this year as I still need to locate the box with all the decorations and given we head off this Saturday and won't be here for Christmas Day, I decided to stress less and not worry ............  instead Pete has been enjoying putting up some Christmas Lights on the Back Deck ......... A bit hard to see in the photo ......

Which encouraged our wonderful neighbours to put up some lights as well .........  we caught up with them last night for a Christmas Celebration as they head off for a cruise on Tuesday and we won't see them till after the Day ......... meantime some friendly competition seems to have sprung up between the guys and they have both enjoyed putting up a few extra christmas lights lol.  Looking forward to seeing them light up later tonight!   I'm off to work on a few more things still on the "To Do" List ..... not totally sure it's getting shorter - perhaps just gets things added as some get crossed off .......hmmmmmm
Big Hugs, 
Sharm

Weekend Away

We took off for the weekend with a couple we've become quite good friends with since moving up here....... We left Friday to head to Lake Mondurah where we had rented a house to share for a couple of nights.  So my FNWF was spent doing some knitting - more chatting, eating and drinking done though ..... you'll see my knitting a bit further down




It was lovely out on the water - although no fish to be seen and only one nibble over the whole weekend.  Unfortunately you couldn't even see the water from the house and there was no easy way of getting my kyack down to the water without taking the boat off the ute and using it to get the kyack up and down the steep roads ....... so it didn't end up seeing the water.

Sharon isn't keen on fishing so she worked on some sewing while I was out on the boat and then I left the boys to it and worked on some of this cowl which will be another Christmas gift.  I found it slow going as I'm not yet able to chat and work cables easily at the same time lol!

Lake Monduran is not far inland from Gin Gin (near Bundaberg).  It's nice to begin exploring our area a bit further out.

On our way back we made a detour to check out Paradise Dam ....... it has camping spots right on the water which would be much better.  We decided to book a weekend in March next year so that will be nice to look forward to!  We had seen the signs to it on our way to Lake Monduran so figured we may as well go check it out.

Mal and Pete checking out which campsites would be the best pick

Blurry photo - but Sharon and I just having fun!

Getting closer to Paradise Dam we passed a sign that pointed to Biggenden which is not that far from Maryborough so on the way back we decided we may as well head back home that way.  It was quite a nice little trek and let us see a bit more of the area around us as well as much more direct route to Paradise Dam when we next head out there.



Sunday afternoon after the unpacking process was completed I enjoyed some more relaxation just sitting on our veranda ..........

View from my comfy rocking chair which sits tucked away at the corner from the side verandah

Thought I may as well put in a photo of the corner where the side veranda meets the front lol

Side verandah where I often sit to have breakfast

Check out the flowers on the Lily Pilly Trees........ the bees are loving them!

I'm currently reading this ............   I know season 3 has started on Foxtel, but we don't have that channel (sure wish we did though!) 

  And now ........ well, it's Monday so time to get ready for work.  Only another 4 weeks and we will be getting ready for our holiday north!
Have a wonderful day everyone!  Hugs Sharm

And Life Goes On

I've finally managed to get something finished!  This knitted cowl will be put aside for a christmas
 gift....... Just need to get some matching buttons that will suit and look fine for a guy!

And I've started work on another cowl which will also be Christmas gift giving!

It's been somewhat tough not having my little mate around - but I've spent time working in the flower garden ........ From a puppy he always loved flowers - smelling them and laying in or around them lol





and when I started making a flower garden here he found a spot he liked ........ he now rests there permanently and I've used the basket (which used to be Gramps and Muffins) and the bed (which was originally Mitzi's) - lucky Scruffy ended up getting to use them both for a few years,

 and now I've incorporated them into the garden to surround him.  It makes it feel more like he has his other little mates right there with him.   I think the flower garden is looking quite lovely now.  
Well I'm off to finish getting ready for work - seems to have been quite a drama getting the photos to load onto the computer this morning so instead of a 10min job, this post has taken over 30mins!!!  I'm sure there has to be a quicker method - perhaps I just need to update my old gear!  Anyhow, I'll leave you with this great Snoopy Clip which reminds us of all the wonderful days we get to spend enjoying life !

Have an awesome day!
Hugs Sharm xo

RIP Scruffy

Yesterday was just the worst day ....... We had to farewell our beautiful little Scruffy.  He turned 16 yrs old in September and we originally got him at 4months of age as a rescue from the RSPCA in Wangaratta.  














He hadn't had a nice first 4 months, but we more than made up for that with the rest of his years.  When he first came into our lives we also had Mitzi, Muffin and Gramps who were a good few years older than him. 

Unfortunately Scruffy has been fighting a bone infection in his mouth for the past few months which was no longer responding to the antibiotics and the pain medication was just not doing it anymore.

My Little Mate, never far away 

  Many of you have shared in his adventures with us here on my blog and I thankyou so much for that.  We will miss our little Scruffy so terribly much. 





 Rest well little boy and be reunited with Muffin (who you loved heaps), Gramps (who you got into mischief with ...... we will all remember the plaster wall you both chewed through when we did renovations to the kitchen lol), and Mitzi who acted as your Doggie Mumma right up till she passed away.  We love you heaps and you will always hold a part of our hearts xo

As October Ends

As October comes to an end its a little scary to think just how close we are getting to Christmas
 again!  Where once upon a time I would be well and truly on track for gift giving, I'm afraid I'm way behind!  In fact many birthdays this year have been "lacking" (something to work on for next year I guess).  I have made a bit of progress on the "Down the Rabbit Hole" with the 2 side Bunny borders now finished and attached and one bird border well under way.  


As you can see, I'm going to have to do something with the corners yet.  All this handstitched needleturn has taken it's toll and I'm feeling more like this the quilt that just never ends!!!

I'm also working on a knitted cowl that I hope will work out for the daughters partner.

And since I have sooo many items currently on needles, I found myself almost out of stitch holders so I got online and ordered these little beauties ....... aren't they just so cute! And they even came with the tea!  Lovely service and nicely packaged!

Meantime, Pete finished the roof on the deck and made one of the poles into double use by attaching  one of the old wheels and filling it with boards to make a small "bar" table outside.  It's been a lovely spot to sit of an afternoon and enjoy a cold drink or a cuppa while we catch up on our day.




We've been getting lots of lovely weather,  Which makes calling into a beachside cafe all the more appealing lol ......

although the humidity is beginning to show itself since we are  getting quite a few afternoon/evening storms.  While they cool things down, the vegie garden has become like a jungle!  The tomato bushes

are the tallest we've had and Pete is busy picking them before the fruit fly gets to them.  Corn cobs are forming and it won't be long before we are picking cucumbers.  The Butter beans are still producing.  When I planted out the vegie garden it was with the expectation that I would have more days at home than what I do right now, so while I should be getting produce preserved, it just hasn't happened yet - but really needs to before we loose it all! 

Meantime we seem to be getting more birds visiting the yard and while it was sad to farewell our families of kookaburras and magpies back down in Bundalong, it seems we have this little kookaburra who is becoming a frequent visitor.  Well that's me for now as I need to get ready to head to work and it looks like it could rain so I might be taking the car today!  Have a great day!

Hugs Sharm

Rain and Storms .....

We've had storm and even Tornado warnings coming through over the past couple of days - I was blessed that these came through on Thursday arvo and hubbie gave me a phone call at work just as I was about to finish for the day.  Luckily he came to pick me up as it just began spitting rain.  While storm and Tornado warnings came through on our phones, we had time to "batten down the hatches" so to speak (including putting the new car under the house for protection from hail).  

While many areas really got a lashing, we were lucky here - we got hail (no damage), wind and lots of rain - lots of rain ....... This large bowl I'd painted up a few weeks back has been sitting waiting for me to put water in - the plan is to get a solar pump, another plant and a couple of goldfish - but the rain has now filled it! ........
 its the first real downpour we've had since moving here so we were able to see if the work we did on the drains worked ...... a massive improvement!  Just a small amount still coming through in one section under the house (which Pete has now attended to).  Being on a slight hill enables most of the water to drain away pretty quickly (something we considered quite carefully when we were looking to purchase up here). Scruffy has not been impressed with so much rain and took to sulking under his blanket last night! lol, it was soo cute I couldn't help but snap a photo!

 So with the weather continuing to be wet and rainy ....... its the perfect time for handicrafts!  I

spent a good amount of yesterday working on "Down the Rabbit Hole".  These large borders are all handstitched using needleturn - they appear to be taking a   very   long ..... long     time!!!!!  There are 4 large borders - thankfully the first one is almost complete with the other 3 in various stages!

And now I've suddenly come to the realization that as of today there are just 10 Weeks and 2 days left till Christmas!!!   Now while that may still make for a number of "shopping days" ..... let me tell you it is not much when it comes to handmade gifts!!  With all that's been going on this year I have to say that Christmas Planning has been very much on the back burner!!  I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve - guess we shall see!  I've made a start on this cowl which I'm hoping will be in somebody's Santa Sack.

I seem to have a few things that are sitting on needles at present -
 they will likely continue sitting now while I tend to Christmas gift giving lists.  Somehow I have this feeling these next 10 weeks are going to fly!!
I wonder how all of you are going with your christmas gift planning?  I used to be well organised but the last couple of years with all the changes and living day to day put much of that type of planning aside ....... I'm def hoping to get planning ahead back into daily practice come next year - but for now I'd best make the most of the next 10 weeks!!

Have a fruitful weekend my friends!

Hugs,

Sharm xo