As the Year Comes to a Close

For Whatever REASON - apparently this did not post, or I just didn't get back to it before I slid into a big hole ....... rather than delete it, I will post it so you can read what was, if you are interested.

DECEMBER 2019

With only 2 days before the end of this year and the end of yet another decade it's time to catch up with everyone again!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and managed some down time somewhere along the line.  I've been lucky enough to have the time between Christmas Eve and today off work due to Public Holidays and Rostered Day Off and able to get 1 day of annual leave giving me uninterrupted time at home.  We had decided a while back it would be nice if we could convince Dad to come up for Christmas Day given he will be 91 in February.  We went down to pick him up the day prior to Christmas Eve to avoid as much traffic as possible (9 hours round trip) and then Pete took him back down on Friday (a great trip down just under 3.5hrs, but his trip back hit the traffic and came to a standstill a couple of times so although he left Brisbane at 8.30 it was around 1pm when he managed to finally drive in the driveway).  I was so lucky to have him do the trip and leave me at home as I wanted to work on getting more boxes unpacked and trying to get things sorted out a bit better!  Dad was more than understanding of all the boxes around and really had a wonderful time with us.  He loves our new home and its surroundings and I don't think the smile left his face the entire time he was up with us.  He went over the road each day to feed the ducks and swamp hens and watch the Pelicans and tortoises; had fun playing with Cliffy and loved sitting up on the deck around the pool ........ He told us he has no need to go to Bali as he felt like he was already there! (What a great compliment to our home!).  Once I get things a little more cleared inside I'll take you for a bit of a tour.  
Yesterday I decided it was time to get some of the potted plants out into their new garden surrounds - not the best time to be putting in plants, but I don't really want to keep them in the pots much longer either since it's rather congested around the side area and many of them were not really planted up into the pots in a way that was meant to last more than a couple of weeks!
We actually have quite a large area in which I'll be able to get all the plants out into gardens - some in

the front yard and some into the back  and side areas.  A few will remain in pots and I do hope to set up some of the hanging baskets in due time.
Look at this amazing large caterpillar I found while out working in the garden yesterday!  After popping it up on facebook, I discovered its a Privot Hawk Moth which apparently gets quite large!
As you might guess, nothing much is happening on the crafting front at this time ........ It will likely be another couple of weeks before I get what will be my craft room up and running.  It will be a "shared" office/study/craft room.   We have a lot of decluttering to do here and I expect that will take a few months before we are totally on top of it.  We have managed to get the new carport up ...... a single one is yet to go up on the other side for the boat.  The solar has also been installed which I'm thankful for with it being Summer right now!  I''ve managed a couple of walks down along the beachfront, but more about that next time perhaps, but didn't manage to get any Christmas Cards or letters written  In the meantime, enjoy the last couple of days of 2019!
Hugs
Sharm  xo