Easter Blessings and summary

 Easter for 2023 has almost come to an end!  The weather has certainly cooled off here with Good
Friday being a very rainy day.  Weather since has been cloudy, bits of sunshine, bits of rain and much cooler temps ……we haven’t yet started the fire, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be too long before it’s time to get it going!  Like many areas it’s Autumn Burn off for many of the farmers…….it was a rush by many of them to get paddocks burnt off before the expected rain over Easter.

With Pete on the mend, I’ve taken some time to do a few other things ……. But I started Good Friday by baking some scones which started disappearing the moment they came out of the oven!  Yummy! 

 Friday was definitely out for walking which Lucy was not all pleased about!  So when we had breaks each of the other mornings I took her out for her daily walk.  I have to admit that some days I wouldn’t go out walking except for asking,  Ute I’m always happy to be out there once we get out the door! 

I was keen to work more on the Sundaisy block and I’m pleased to show some good progress although I’d secretly hoped to have the block finished and bordered …….but in order to do that I’ll need to be able to get to my sewing machine so I also had to spend some time clearing some of the stuff that had been dumped in there from after Christmas!  I still have a bit to go on the room ……but here is my block progress ……

Tomatoes came out of the freezer ( once we start picking a good lot of them I cut off the tops and then freeze to use later as the skins c9me off super easy after being frozen).  I used up 3 kgs of them to make relish and still have more in the freezer …… not sure if I will make them up into more relish …… I may use them for a batch of soup and some kept whole for stews over winter!  It’s so nice to have home grown produce to use in cooking throughout the year! 

I had hoped to finish knitting my top …. Towhee by Laura Aylor from Fogbound Knits.   I’m using a
fingering weight held double - likely too heavy to use as a tee shirt here - but my plan is to wear it over the top of a skivy.  I ran out of Sultan and wanting to use up stash I decided to add in this red which is also Wollmeise yarn since I only had about 12 rows to finish on the main section and a couple of rows I think on the sleeves ……I hope I might get the main section finished tonight! 

Easter Sunday I took Lucy over to visit Dad and she put a wonderful smile on his face!  I’d taken him over a strawberry thick shake which is his favourite these days as well as a chocolate Easter rabbit to enjoy.  We actually had a bit of sunshine while we were visiting which was also a bonus!

I made good progress on my crocheted top which is turning out somewhat bigger than I had expected so guess we shall see ……..I’m also wondering if I’ll be playing yarn chicken with this as well!  I sure hope not …..it’s been a bit slow with the constant yarn changes every row! 

Time out reading this book which I’m finding good, but a little slow in parts but over all it’s been rather enlightening as well and remembering what many women went through in the days prior and during wartime …… and understanding why women were so desperate during the 60s to hang on to that independence.

Of course I made up a batch of Rocky Road today which put a much needed smile on a certain man’s face!   He is counting the days / weeks to when he is given clearance to drive again.

As I pulled out my Grandmothers bible from the bookshelf in my craft room, I flicked through and stopped on something she had highlighted who knows how many years ago ……. But it was the gentle reminder I needed after these past few weeks of nursing Peter, doing my chores, the chores that he can’t do right now, see to Lucy and look to the needs of my elderly Dad as well as the usual  …….  I had a lovely enjoyable and productive Easter ......I pray you all did as well 

“ And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men”.  Colossians 3:23

It's a Sundaisy Day........

 

Its Sunday here and the first day back of NO daylight savings!!!!  That's always a plus in my books as I really dislike daylight savings. It was sooo nice to wake up to the sunrise and take Lucy for her morning walk ..... it was a bit shorter this morning as I'd seen a note from Chooky  advising of a very quick zoom for bloggers to catch up ..... a breath of fresh air after my last few weeks!  

Before getting on, I decided to head out and pick some mint and Lemon Balm to make a nice herbal tea .... it's been a while since I've done this and it was just perfect (in fact I ended up having a 2nd cup of it).  I'm hoping by having the Lemon Balm in a pot I can keep it going over the winter months, and as you can see, it also has some chamomile in it as well.

It did help to set the scene for my Sunday .... I took Pete out to the Corowa Market where he managed a
quick short walk around and catching up with a friend before heading back home for a rest and watching the car racing for the day. 

 I meant to show you this lovely gift a lady gave me.  I met her a couple of months back when I first started walking Lucy (she has a 3yr old cavoodle named Bailey)...... she felted this for me and gave it to us when we returned from Melbourne! She made it from memory of how Lucy looked about a month ago when she was tending to go a bit blonde around the snout!  I can't believe how talented she is.

Meantime I headed out to the Garden ...... Even though it is need of lots of weeding since getting back
from Melbourne .... the garden is my place where I've always felt closer to God, nature and at peace - although a it can also help when you need to burn off some energy!!!  The garden out the back area is now starting to take shape as well with the plantings around the pool starting to grow, and the pots doing well.

I've spent quite a few hours in the vegie garden since returning from Melbourne - it was totally out of control as far as the weeding goes .......... I kinda left the vegie garden to Pete this year since he was planting it up with stuff and I had no idea where anything was ....... he's not really into weeding ........ It's a work in progress, and I am gradually making some good progress.

The long grass in front section is hiding the rockmelon vine which is still producing - so leaving that weeding until its finished.

He did cut a barrel in half before the Melbourne trip so I could use both halves to take some of the strawberries out of the vegie patch and into them.  They seem to be coming on quite well and I'm in the process of moving the other strawberries to another area where they might not take over so much!

Strawberries, Mint and Lemongrass - the other half wine barrel is the other side of the fence

After an hour or two doing that it was time to come inside and sit with a cuppa and the book I recently borrowed from the library.  A friend recommended it recently in a letter she sent (Lynda also has her own blog which you might enjoy visiting).  I'm really enjoying it.  It's rather nice to be able to have a library in our little township and I was even more surprised to find they had this book.  Lynda had recommended another but alas - its not to be found here as yet.  Our library does link with a few others in the district which means books can also be ordered in from those libraries.

Yesterday I decided to begin some sorting of the craft/study room and I happened upon the bag with
some fabrics that I had bought back in November last year when I had signed up Daisy a Day with Jenny from Elefantz.  

 It's a paid subscription and I decided I best check through my 10,000 plus emails to find them and print them out ....... which I did ........ which then had me cutting out the backing fabric for the stitcheries ..............

 So today I was inspired to Just simply Stitch and enjoy doing some stitching Just for Me!  I decided to go with the block Sundaisy since today was Sunday and it was such a "Daisy of a Day"....... it feels like its been simply ages since I sat and stitched and it was just soooooo lovely and brought me such joy as sat at the table with the sunlight coming through looking out over the pool and garden area!

And now I'm afraid it's time to tend to the roast I have on (unfortunately the oven has decided its not going to work ...... so into the covered frypan it's gone).  I hope you all have a lovely week ahead ..... I'm currently not working as I left my job so I could take as much time as was going to be needed with Pete - given he is not allowed to drive, or lift anything more than 2kgs for 5-6 wks post surgery!  I couldn't deal with the pressure of giving time frames for how long I needed off considering I had no more than a couple of weeks leave up my sleeve.  So for now .... I'm kinda retired in a very loose sense of the word.  I'd be very happy to not return to work, but we will see how that shapes up over the next few weeks or so.

Until next time ....... Hugs, Sharm

The Heart of It

 On Wed, 15th March Pete went in for heart surgery.  It turned out to be bigger than had been expected with a quadruple bypass, mitral valve repair and a ligation to try stopping the AF he had very recently been diagnosed with.  The operation lasted between 6-7 hrs and he was in ICU from the Wed straight after until the Friday afternoon when he was transferred to the Cardiac Ward.  The Royal Melbourne Hospital was very good (apart from the food for the patients and the extremely limited car parking available).

We had to be in Melbourne on the Monday as he had preadmission appointments at the hospital the day before surgery - We stayed with our daughter Stacey and SIL John and of course Lucy came with us because of 

her only being 4 mths of age and we felt she was just too young to leave in a kennel.  So we enjoyed the Monday afternoon with Stacey and John taking us out and down to the Dog Beach at Altona where Lucy got to experience her first time at a beach .............. 

I think we all enjoyed it just as much watching all the dogs and talking with so many friendly people down with their dogs all playing.

Jaron flew in on the Thursday morning
which was great to have him there as well.  Jaron could see that Stace and I needed a bit of down time with all that was going on and talked us into going to the Richmond Footy match after we had been to see Pete in the hospital.  

I am sooooo glad he did that - at the time I had my doubts, but wow - it was such a relief to get those couple of hours break as we had a long day in ICU visiting and doing shift changes as only 2 could visit at a time. 

 The match and just having time with Stace and Jaron was great! John was more than happy to stay home (he's not an AFL follower),  and look after Lucy (who was not at all coping with the changes and being left!!)  Gotta say it was a heck of a game and a heck of an experience trying to make our way to the trains afterwards!!  Over 88,000 people were at the match which was held at the very famous MCG.

Buttercup is Stacey's rabbit - Lucy wanted so badly to be able to just play with her - they ended up sitting touching noses through the barricade - Lucy had to go into a crate when nobody was at home to keep and eye - as you might imagine!  Since our visit Buttercup has learnt how to escape from her pen  

Melbourne City - some days it took an hour or more to get to the Hospital (in the middle of the city) due to traffic and up to 2hrs to find a car park one day!!  

So a couple of times we took the train and tram to get in and out 
On the Monday the next week Pete was discharged from hospital - I'm sure he would have been kept longer if he hadn't pushed so hard to let out lol.
Lucy has been keeping a close eye on him - although she was a bit thrown the first couple of days not being able to just jump up and such.  Currently Pete is not allowed to lift more than 2kgs in weight for the first few weeks.  His leg and arms and chest cuts are healing well, and finally the wounds from where the tubes came out of his lungs are healing up - they seemed to take a bit longer. The 4th vein was taken from behind the chest wall to use as the fourth bypass.

It was So nice to wake up Tuesday morning back at home - although it's been pretty much full time nursing care for Pete the first week, in between checking on Dad and seeing to Lucy!  Things are beginning to calm down a little now - Day 11 home from hospital and having got on top of the start of an infection!

Lucy is back to having her daily walks in a place where we both feel a little more safe, and she has been meeting up with some of her doggie friends she sees on our walks - This is Bella, a Groodle and a week younger than Lucy - half the time they are jumping over the top of each other lol

Lucy - now 5 months old 

Since I'm currently not working - I'm trying to keep the cost of living down and hence got back to making my own Laundry Liquid using the ingredients in the photo below.  If you want the recipe you will find it here on my blog - go to the page Laundry and you will find it.  And with that - I'll say goodbye for now.  A big thankyou to those of you who contacted me over the past few weeks :)

A Medical Month

 A quick post - it’s been a rather “interesting “ month or 5/weeks  …… from having Hubbie change GP,s to one we used to use in Wangaratta and on the same day getting an appointment with a specialist we were told Pete appeared to have a couple of cardiac issues that needed some attention - specialist had  him referred and having an Angiogram within 10 days - following which we were told to await a phone call from Royal Melbourne Hospital ……. Long story short we head down to Melbourne tomorrow with preaddmission on Tues and his surgery on Wednesday.  

Needless to say we decided this was not the year to go travelling for our anniversary which we celebrated on 23rd February- 38 years married and 40 yrs together!  We actually had to attend a dental appointment for Pete to have him cleared for surgery!  Don’t think we’ll forget this one!

Lucy is going well and a real little treasure to have around to keep us laughing 🧡 she is 41/2 months old now and has me taking her for a morning walk most days .

The garden produced some good crops of potatoes, tomatoes, corn and rockmelon this year.   I’ll have a bit more time to spend in the garden when we return as I’ve taken a month or two off work while Pete has his operation and we see how the recuperation goes.

Till later this month 

Sharm 

A New Year……. We'd best do a quick catch up!

Seems the best way to catch you up on what's been going on the past couple of months is a quick picture round up ........ But the most exciting for Pete and I was the decision to get a new Puppy ..... Introducing Lucy .....  a little spoodle (X spaniel and poodle) who came to live with us just 2 days before Christmas........  We had thought it would be around March before we found a pup (locally and affordable) so this was most unexpected to us but I'm sure God already had her picked out for us.  She was just 9 wks old at the time and has brought soooo much love and laughter and joy back into our house ....... just what we both needed! 

In early December we had friends from Tassie come to stay a couple of nights and we had a great time catching up and enjoying their 2 Jack Russells who also came with them 

Recently I've managed to finish that 2nd pair of socks I started last year in Feb!

While in November I was busy changing the bathroom curtains and sewing up some new ones for the Kitchen - which are a tad difficult to see in this photo but they have emu's on them

Stacey managed to get up to see us after Christmas and Meet little Lucy!  She is just soooo tiny in these photos but getting a bit bigger now .....

Our youngest Grandson Jax had his first day of high school this week!!!

In November my eldest got me some fat from the Abattoirs and I rendered it down out the back so I could use it to make a more cost effective soap.  Years ago I used tallow and it's blended with oils and has made a beautiful soap that has been shared as gifts to many friends and family - here I had Orange & Spearmint, Lemon Myrtle and a Vanilla & Oats ...... more have been made since then along with a few lip balms and other lotions.  It takes time to render the fat to tallow but I'm pleased to be able to use this free source of what would otherwise be thrown away.

And while our youngest grandchild started highschool this week ...... his brother, our eldest Grandchild Jarryn finished High School in November!  Unfortunately we couldn't afford to make it up to Townsville which was a bit sad, but we are very proud of him.

In late October we had my sister and her family over from New Zealand and it was lovely for Dad to be able to see them all again and great for us all to have some time catching up 

The Garden has produced some beautiful blooms over the seasons and we have been seeing some amazing sunsets !

Little miss Lucy at 9 wks showing her size against Pete's thong!

And this was the best way to get her weight at the time lol ...... Pretty sure she won't sit in the mixing bowl that still any longer!!!  1.6kgs

And it seems reasonable that I should finish the photos with another knitted finish which was done late October or perhaps November??  We were still having some cooler weather then, but it's certainly Hot Summer Days now!!!  Still, I'm looking forward to being able to use this one come Winter ..... the rolled neck actually extends up to come over like a hood

This was just a quick recap of the past few months late Oct through to early / mid January (if you count the first day of high school photo lol).  I've picked up a bit of extra work and the puppy has been keeping me very busy as you might imagine.   I'm hoping that this year can bring me back to blogging a bit more often and it seems like I've been able to find a work around for getting my photos on here which is good.  I've yet to see if I can make comments on other blogs as that was causing me issues which sent me right away from Blogger the past few months!!!  It was just tooo frustrating ...... so we shall see ...........    Till then,

Hugs, Sharm