Catching Up

I see it's been a couple of months since I last posted here - and it's been busy!  Firstly though, thankyou to those friends who have checked in on us, it is really appreciated! So rather than a big long story, I might just put in a few highlights with photos.  You see I also need to write a couple of letters and this way those that enjoy the snail mail will get the details and those that visit the blog will get to enjoy the photos!
 For those wondering about my work - I've moved on from the nursing home and am now finally at the hospital in Maryborough!

We also decided to trade in the

Pajero and get a smaller car (newer model and still under warranty for the next 6yrs!).  That took a good few weeks of doing the rounds of the car yards both here and at the Bay!  So I now have a lovely little Kia Cerato Sports!






   We now have a deck at the back door!  What a difference and how great does it look!  Pete saved us quite a few $$ by doing all the building work!

Yes, we've had family visiting too!   Stace up from Melbourne and Jaron, Renee and the grandies down from Townsville to help celebrate Pete turning 70 this month!

On the Urangan Pier

Nightly Board Games while they were all visiting!

Old Friends Denis and Chrissy with Jaron and Stace - Stace was just turning 3 when we met Denis!

 Petes birthday celebration on the Saturday - a lunch time get together with the family and the couple of friends that we have already made! (I've yet to get the rest of the photos up)

New friends Trevor, Annette and Sharon (Mel somehow escaped the photo)

 Maryborough even had a street party on in the city centre while they were here, which added a nice highlight!

Family Photo Time

We said goodbye to Jaron, Nay and the grandies on the Sunday (they could only stay a couple of days before having to make the 12 hour drive back to Townsville for work).  Stace had managed to get 10days off and it was lovely to have that extra bit of time with her ...... she flew out from the Sunshine Coast so we had to take advantage of a photo with the surf!

The following Day we had my sister Kathy, her hubbie and their 5 children arrive from New Zealand.  They had stopped in Brisbane before coming up and brought Dad up with them to stay in a little/big house they had rented not far from Maryborough.  It was great getting to catch up with them and first time meeting the nieces and nephews!

Our 3 nieces and 2 nephews - loved getting to meet them in person xo

Running/ Walking (prob more walking lol) is still on the exercise front

And yep the vegie garden is thriving ....... currently picking peas, yellow zucchini and butter beans!

Poor old Sruffy however, has slowed right down.  The vet has him on antibiotics which will be long term.  He is still eating , drinking and gets excited when he thinks we may be going somewhere, or when we get home from being out.,    but he is getting very tired.   He turned 16yrs old this month and he is feeling his age.  He was sooooo happy to have had most of his family come to his new home to see him 

So thats the quick catch up for August and September!  Catch you all again very soon

Too Much?

I'm struggling with where to put some of our paintings and pictures - a few are rather large and
 simply don't suit in the lounge room since the wall space is limited due to furniture, windows or doorways ........ and with the older house, I had really hoped to gather a number of different frames to pop on the wall with various family photos ....... but now, well, I'm just not sure.  I spent hours going through piles of old photos, then having to pick ones that would fit the frames ......... and of course included everyone ......... I still have to fill the middle frame with a larger wedding photo, and also there will be another larger frame at the top

above the middle white one which will have a family photo that includes our DIL, grandchildren and daughters partner (I just have to go through the computer and print it off).    But when I look at the photo of the blank wall and then with all the family frames, I wonder if it is too much?

Sometimes the smallest things seem to be the trickiest - never did I imagine dithering around with the photos and paintings!  Usually I have them up pretty quickly, but now I think I'm perhaps over thinking it all - after all, I'm not going for a magazine spread  lol!

Still, I'd be very happy to get your thoughts ........   

Now, If I could just sort out this study/library area that is already over flowing with papers and files, photos, books and magazines, old files that need to be kept for several years and all the stationary items I seem to have acquired!!!!! ......... Yep, there are still things to sort out, places to find for things to "live" ......... and today I start a new job so we shall see how that goes tooo!

Have a great day everyone!

Supercalafragalistic.........

Expialadoshus!  Maryborough has been celebrating Mary Poppins for the past week with a wonderful "day in the park" yesterday which summed it up beautifully!  I had a lovely walk through the park and out onto the streets that were all closed to traffic and set up with Umbrellas, the most wonderful Chalk drawings that looked like they were something taken straight out of the movie!  


Some of the buildings are from back in the 1800's, and I had meant to go and check out a few more things but somehow I found myself just walking the street taking in all the festivities, It was looking like rain was on the way so I wanted to get back home before it started ...... it poured down all afternoon as it turned out - what a shame for the chalk drawings ...... a bit like the movie I guess!

There were little tiny trains for just one or two men to sit on, and the steam train that runs through

the park that was filled with adults and children enjoying the fun. Theme songs from the  Mary Poppins movie were playing over the loud speakers and many in the crowd found themselves singing along as they walked past the festivities!

  Queens Park is right beside the River Banks of the Mary River so it was a lovely walk.




On Friday night I joined in with Cheryl for FNWF - the virtual handwork which I find is helpful in inspiring to get things worked on ........ I decided to make an all out effort and managed to finish knitting the Fogbound Cardigan (Laura

Aylor design), even getting the ends sewn in.  I just need to give it a bath and block it which I will likely do today since it looks sunny this morning. 








I also managed some secret sewing that I can't show just yet as it will be a gift for somebody that I know reads this blog from time to time.  Oh, and I managed to get the curtains for the dining room finished earlier in the week.  It was so nice to get those horrid blinds down (remember the photo from my last post?)  The curtains make the area look so much nicer now I think ....

Since it rained all afternoon yesterday, I decided to work on some more of the embroidery I'm doing for a table runner.  I got a few more flowers done on it.  Pete had left early to head to Howard with a friend who was doing a stall at the Market up there.  I think they enjoyed having some "bloke time" ..... 



And I certainly kept myself busy ...... I bit the bullet and registered

to undertake my very first Park Run/Walk experience!  And then of course I was off to Mary Poppins and back doing embroidery!  I'm not sure just what will be happening today as yet. 



After spending the past couple of weeks searching, I did eventually locate another tall boy chest of drawers on a buy/swap/sell site.  My hope was that Pete and I could have one each which would allow me to get rid of the horrid wire racks that were already in the house when we bought it! 

We picked it up early Friday morning ........ since it was just near the boat ramps at Urangan, we took advantage and went for a quick walk to have a look ........

Yep, Scruffy came for the road trip in the ute with us!  He is on borrowed time now as he has recently had a couple of little seizures - at 16 1/2yrs we are just letting him enjoy life.
Once back home, I was kept busy then for the entire morning as I dismantled the horrid wire racks

that had been left here (no idea why somebody would set a wardrobe up like that!) ...... and then moved the wardrobes we bought so they lined up where the wire shelves had been, and put the two

tall boys in place which now hold all our clothes that can't be hung.  This dressing area looks soooo much better, feels sooo much better and works wonderfully!!!
Have a great rest of the weekend friends!

The current favorite spot at the top of the stairs to catch the breeze and keep and eye on us both lol ...... at least when he's not in his bed or in the "flower garden"!

June Round Up - Yee Hah!

Time to round up for June ..... our first full month here and wow have we been busy and enjoying life!
As most of you know we arrived here on May 22 with our furniture and goods arriving a couple of days later ......... so much of this first month has been busy unpacking boxes and finding places for furniture to go, getting a couple of new bits of furniture to hold things like the wonderful bookcase and the glass cabinet which are both full already!  The kitchen has been set up (well, pretty much so - there are a couple more bits to do), and it's been nice to begin putting a few touches here and there.  Alot of work has gone on in the yard area with Pete removing the chook yard and pen, putting in water tanks, changing gates and we've added an extra vegie garden bed!

On the crafting front .....  I've been busy making curtains for several windows, working on the cardigan, and brought out some WIP's thanks to walking down to the local sewing/ patchwork shop and joining in with a lovely bunch of girls on a Wednesday morning!  I think I've done more sewing this past month than I have for the past few months down in Bundalong before we moved!!




We've enjoyed drives around the local area and checking out various markets and have begun to make progress with all the changes needed on the admin side of things (car rego change overs, changes of address for numerous things etc etc - still got a few more to go!). 

Unfortunately poor little Scruffy has not been well.  Once again his mouth was playing up - even though he had dental surgery just a couple of months ago where they took out 5 teeth.  So we headed up to the local vet here and it seems that he must have a bone infection in the jaw which is why his teeth keep playing up and becoming so loose ...... due to his age of 16 years the best option is some high dose antibiotics to manage the infection and pain meds as needed.  He is still eating and enjoys being around us ....... although he was pretty keen to be leaving the Vet's rooms!!

Yesterday was such a beautiful sunny day ....... I've finally worked out where I'm going to put a flower garden ....... so yesterday afternoon I got to digging over the area which took quite a bit of work pulling up all the grass that was there.  Sometime this week I'll begin planting it up after I put in a few soil additives to help boost it up a bit. This view is from the top of our back stairs, so I think it will be a nice sight to see once it gets going

   With today being the first day of July and a bit rainy here in Maryborough ...... I decided I would begin working on the next lot of curtains.  I've been waiting for the fabric to arrive at Spotlight and was able to pick it up yesterday.  What do you think?

  These curtains will be going in the Dining area to replace this wooden blind that doesn't work and

seems to be a great dust catcher!  I got them finished (apart from hems), just a little while ago but they will have to wait till Pete gets up and removes the blind and puts up the new curtain rod .......... he's really excited to have that job to do again lol

Well, I'd say all in all we have had a very successful first month here ... Yee Hah indeed lol!   And now with the Sunday Roast in the oven, I'm going to grab a cuppa and sit down and knit and watch a movie  ........

See ya next time!

Cloudy Days

Today its rather cloudy and overcast - rained overnight and more is expected - so different from Sunday when we went for a drive after visiting the market at the showgrounds.  We headed down towards the Sandy Strait to check out what the boat ramp situation is like ....... the tide was out ...... way out and it reminded me alot of the Wynnum area where I've lived on and off over the years since I was a baby!  




Anyhow, its nice to go for a drive and look at our new area - lots of sugar cane currently in flower whilst other cane is getting cut and transported to the mill - took these photos on our way 

I've been a few times now to meet up with some of the other girls down at the sewing shop - attended

the club meeting last Saturday where they showed us how to make a quick scarf    - knowing I had some fabric that would likely work well - I gave it a try and am pleased with the results, while the colour doesn't suit me, it will work as a gift for somebody else!

Things are getting well sorted out in the craft room (AKA _ The Beehive) ....Things are finding homesand the curtains for the bedroom and dressing area are now made (just the tie backs to complete)...... and I've been pulling out some WIP's  -  Getting back to "Down the Rabbit Hole" at long last and spent some time cutting out the applique bits for the next tulip and rabbit which I've begun sewing down (needle turn ......)
I also pulled out the hexies from ages ago!!!  







 Last Wednesday during the sewing morning I found a

little purse pattern using hexies so naturally I purchased the pattern and have spent some time this morning working on making up some hexies ready to begin this project which I think will make some lovely little gifts!!  It occured to me that it just might be EPP week with Anthea from Hibiscus Stitches  which it is, so I'm linking up with her to share the EPP love!  It's been rather nice pulling out my little material bits to make up some hexies with them!

Yarn Cupboard is now sorted

Evenings are seeing me continue work on the cardigan ........ the knitting of the band seems like an endless task as each row currently takes around 30mins to complete due to the huge number of stitches sitting on the circular needles!!  I think I only have about 5 or 6 rows left of the band - Hooray!!  Then just one sleeve to knit up after that and it will be done!

I've begun the process of putting in some applications for work - hoping to just pick up a couple of days a week - 3 at most is really all I want but it depends on what turns up ....... 


in the meantime, I'm enjoying setting things up in our house ........ which is very much feeling rather homely already!  I'm really enjoying getting back to doing some baking (biscuits and a lemon slice yesterday)

and I wouldn't mind making a batch of lemon butter a bit later.  I'm really enjoying this slower pace of life again, and the easy good nature attitude of everyone we seem to come in contact with here!  And I've been pleasantly surprised yesterday by a kookaburra coming into the yard for a visit with us!  Naturally I threw him a couple of goodies and he was happy enough to hang around for a couple of photo shoots lol  At some point I'll begin doing more in the garden and get a few herbs growing and things that bring the birds and bees in for a visit and provide some fragrance and flowers for us to enjoy ....... all in good time!