Hello from Maryborough

Well here we are in our new home in Maryborough at long last!  It's been such a busy time since the last post which was from Bundalong ........ settlement on that house should be going through in the next couple of weeks- what a blessing to have it sold right at the last minute! I was very grateful to have some of our neighbors pop over to help with the cleaning of the house and to keep us company as it took longer to get the semi trailer packed with all our stuff than we had hoped, so didn't get to leave Bundalong till almost 3pm ..... 
me in the Pajero with Scruffy and cliff ( the lorikeet) , following Pete who was driving the Ute with the boat

towing behind! 5 hours later we pulled into

Thanks Wendy!

Parkes for the night and I was glad to be off the road after driving in the dark for the last couple of hours.  Luckily we had no issues with kangaroos.  We left there at 4:45am Tuesday morning and drove straight through only stopping for fuel and toilet stops as  during which time 

Mick popping in for a last chat with Pete

Scruffy was able to get out for a quick walk.  We pulled into our friends place at Curra at 5pm for a cuppa and then made the last 40mins pulling into our house here around 6:30pm Tuesday night!  It was one very long couple of days!!!  We had Wednesday to get a little collected before the removalist van arrived on Thursday morning and we started the unloading .....

We are no major hurry to have to get everything unpacked all at once, but have begun making a good

start nun the less.  I quickly discovered I needed more storage in the kitchen so Pete has put up some floating shelves which are making a massive difference already!  I'm cited to see some of my canisters again as they were packed up nearly 18months ag.   When we brought the first load of boxes up in June last year I had seen a couple of little paw paw seedlings growing in the veggie garden ....they were around 2-3 inches high and I carefully tended them while here leaving them with grass mulching around them ...... well, oh my goodness, what a surprise to find not only had they survived, but had grown quite tall and one was even bearing fruit!  I'm looking forward to them ripening and getting to eat fresh paw paw!  Speaking of the yard, our friends hadn't been able to get up to mow for a couple of weeks and the grass was in need of a good mow - Pete soon put the ride on to work pretty much making hay with the amount of it!  I'm putting it into a couple of large boxes to compost down for a new vegie garden bed ....... I'm keeping the empty boxes so I can lay them on the ground to begin making it as I'm hoping to be able to grow quite a bit of produce.

Today we downed tools and headed off to the Koala Market down at the Bay ...... wonderful fresh fruit and I picked up a huge lot of strawberries for just $8 (they are very sweet and yummy, just not looking "right" for supermarkets).  When we got back here I used 1kg to make some jam for us, then

sliced up another 2.5kg which I've put in 1/2 kg lots in the freezer, another 1kg into a container in the fridge to use for smoothies and another 1/2 kg is in a basket on the bench for eating! Once I get a few more things sorted I'll share a few more photos ........ take care all,
Hugs Sharm

All in a Week and last time from Bundalong

Bundalong is Sold!

This time last week it was Pete celebrating his last day at work ..... but since then alot has happened .... Mothers Day on Sunday, then Monday Night this happened ........


And last night it went unconditional!!!  Which means we have Sold!!!!  Settlement should take place somewhere around the June long weekend depending on solicitors and banks




Tuesday was a farewell lunch from the wonderful Pulm Group which was great!

Louise & I - Physio and Nursing with the lovely brooch I was given

Brooch and handmade card from the group

And Wednesday as well as being my birthday was also my last day of work at the hospital in Wangaratta.  I was spoilt with some wonderful gifts and a great afternoon tea!

Since yesterday its been all systems go as I try to get the extra paperwork completed, and packing

The lovely card and gifts from work - talk about spoilt!!

done amidst a couple of goodbye dinners/ drinks.  Eldest son managed to pop into work to say goodbye (not sure he will get out over the weekend) and gave me his footy jersey from the Mothers Day game (which I missed due to the building inspection!)

I had thought I would have time to sit and do a bit of knitting tonight, but it seems that is a long way off at this stage!   
We've woken up to a very Foggy Saturday Morning ...... with internet still working, although it was meant to be cut off yesterday ..... hopefully I'll get alot accomplished this morning and can sit for a bit of knitting later ...........
Not sure if I'll get another post in from Bundalong as the removalist truck arrives Monday morning and we will be leaving as soon as they have it all packed up, and I have the house here cleaned ...... hoping to make it as far as Dubbo on Monday afternoon if we can leave here by lunch time, if not we may be staying at Parkes .............  the plan for Tuesday is up at the crack O Dawn and drive the rest of the way through (somewhere between 10 - 13 hours plus food/fuel/doggy stops).  So I'm expecting next time I post will be from our new home in Queensland .......... see you all there!!

Bye for now and big hugs,

Pete, Scruffy and I  - Not long before we start the trip up!

Sharm xoxo

Happy Retirement and only a Week left

Pete finally retired from work on Friday although I'm not altogether convinced it will be

permanent and I think he feels like its more just part of the whole moving process!  Time will tell, but daughter and I felt the need to give him a bit of a celebration at any rate, which he was pretty to enjoy!





A farewell dinner with friends at Boorhaman Hotel - like going home since we lived just a few doors down from the pub  for 8 years (after Brisbane and before the Townsville move).  I often wish we had gone back to Boorhaman rather than coming to Bundalong - we might well have just stayed put if we had!  And as you might notice in the photo, Stace has the scarf on which I got finished for her.

Meagan (work colleague and friend) was over on Friday for a farewell coffee and she gave me a lovely little bird ornament, and hand cream (which I forgot to take a photo of before packing it) ....... and I in turn surprised her with the finished rainbow lap blanket which she loved to bits and kept draped over her during our catch 

up!

All systems go this weekend - Mothers Day today and the lovely Chrysanthemums from Stace and John to go to the new house and continue the tradition that was started many years ago! 

And Scruffy wasn't forgotten ...... he got a bag full of goodies that Stace and John had picked up the previous weekend while at a dog show in Melbourne ..... he loved it of course and particularly the little stuffed doggie toy they bought him as well!

but I think he loved it even more that Stace had the blow up mattress out in the lounge for the entire weekend for him to share with her lol




Onward with the packing ....... no contract

signed yet so idea if we are leaving here with the house sold or putting a rental in ...... and we are just so over by this stage that we are just proceeding with getting things done ready to leave!  3 more days of work left for me and then we have 4 days to get everything finished off and cars packed up ready to take off tomorrow week!  It's going to be a busy week ahead (with my birthday right in the middle of the week), and hopefully I'll manage to get one more post done before we leave ....... take care everyone

Hugs,
Sharm xo

It's hard work keeping up with everyone!

Hook Me a Rainbow

FNWF  - managed to get a few more rows crocheted on the Rainbow Ripple which is being made for a friend ........ 2 rows of each color, so it's rather nice getting to the next color!  No ends to sew in as I tend to crochet over my ends at the beginning of each row of a color change - I find this works really well!  After a few rows yesterday and a few more last night ........ I spent most of today moving the boxes from the cabin into the lounge room (after making room in a corner), packing more boxes, moving most of the potted plants to an area around the back where the truck will come, doing the usual weekend

washing ...........  and then sitting back in the afternoon sunshine with a cuppa Hooking a Rainbow again!  It was such a joy to sit there with the afternoon sunshine on my back enjoying the quiet and just hooking ...........  Mary and Suzette popped around the corner at one stage and I managed to get a sneaky photo of them  (which meant a selfie with them in the background lol) ......

they have been rather distant since the fox attack a while back and they are now the only 2 chooks left.  A wonderful friend who lives on a farm and has many of her own chooks has offered to take them for me, so tomorrow morning I will be heading over there to drop them to their new home.  They are both older hens now - Mary is about 9 years old, so it will be nice to see out their days in a big yard!  That leaves just the lorikeet Cliff and our dog Scruffy to come with us on the the 2 day move north.  I think Scruffy will be very pleased to get up to a warmer climate ...... and to see his mate Clyde lol

Yesterday we actually got a bit of rain - the first rain in quite some time, and as I went to the kitchen window to look at it, I had to laugh ........... a flock of pink galahs had flown down from the trees to hang upside down with wings outstretched having a shower!  They were having such a wonderful time, I just had to grab a photo.  I hope your weekend is going well ...... Hugs Sharm.       Also linking with swool on sundays

Countdown

It's all systems go around here as we get closer to our big move.  The removalist is all set to arrive at 

8am on Monday 21 May to begin loading our stuff into the truck /Semi!  Yep, we are on countdown with quite a bit to accomplish in that time frame!  My last day of work will be the 16th May (coincidentally that's also my birthday), and Hubbie has his last day of work on Friday 11th May so that he has that last week to get all the sheds cleaned out and all the other jobs he needs to get done - Luckily he only had to give 3 weeks notice.  I'm thankful that my roster already had the Thurs and Friday as rostered days off!   Sometime in these next couple of

weeks we will have a rental sorted out.   
For April OPAM  I was able to get the scarf finished for daughter.  I used a mixture of the 4ply fingering yarn she had chosen when I was in Melbourne and teamed it with the 8ply Bendigo Moon (Milky Way) and I love the texture it's created.

Today is the 1st Friday of the month so I'll be joining in with Cheryll for Friday Night With Friends  - I'm planning to do a bit of work on a crochet rainbow lap blanket that I'm hoping to get finished to give to a friend before we leave.  I'm afraid the test knit cardigan has taken a back seat with everything going on but I hope to get back to it soon!  Meantime the rest of the sewing/craft room has been packed up ...... it will be great to have this lot of stuff reunited with the stash I packed up this time last year when we sent a load up to the house in June. 

Pete couldn't help himself after seeing these two beauties in a shop over where he was working

during the week.  He procrastinated over them for a good few days before finally coming home with them .........   I can see us having alot of fun working out where all the lamps are going live in the new house.  Just getting all our lamps together to see just what we do have will be nice, since so many were sent up last June with the first load of stuff.










 In between all the busyness, I'm getting just a tad excited to be moving on with our next chapter....................

Not long and we will be living here instead of visiting!