From our front door to yours.....WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.

 

    

             Woodland theme Christmas table. 

 

  

We haven't had two trees for quite a few years.  Left is placed in the lounge room, while the right photo is taken in the family room at the back of the house.  As you can see we are fairly low-key with our decorations, time, the weather, and a wonderful trip to Tassie to see my boys and their families has made for a simple set up, and I'm quite ok with that. 

No outside Chrissy lights, so we made do with party lights undercover on the back deck.

 

From hot, humid, and a little wet Sydney we wish all our dear family and friends a Very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy 2016.

 

Love,  Louisa, Percy, Duncan and Julia   x x x

CWA at their best.....

 

CWA Morisset Branch have a fun Christmas Party each year, with silliness and fun for all.

This years, each Branch attending, was to make a Christmas Tree from items provided.

This is what CWA Hornsby Branch produced.  Don't laugh, we won.  Sitting next to "Mary Christmas" is our President, June Thornton.  Just blowing up the plastic gloves was work enough to deserve a good drink.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, Bunny.

Julia is off to a Halloween Party and I totally forgot to post this pic.

Love the make-up, Bunny.  Yes, I call her 'Bunny'

Mad Martha at Halloween

 

Follow the flame.....follow the flame.....

 

The two sides of Miss Martha,  mad crazy one minute, then...

"Who me?  I wouldn't do that!" the next.

 

We know you so well, Miss Martha.

 

From Our House to Yours.

HAPPY  HALLOWEEN

 

B O O !

What's that in the Distance?

At the risk of being run off the road, I pulled over to take a photo of these strange mountains in the distance as I head back to Brisbane

Shame these pics aren't great.  A little further on you see and huge rock spire with other smaller, yet still as steep mountains.  Well Ms Google tells me it's the Glasshouse Mountains.

http://www.glasshouse-mountains.com/

So much of this country I still would like to see.

Kilcoy Queensland Trip October 2015

Yowie Park

Just across the road from the motel I stayed in while visiting Karen and Keith Jones, was this lovely parkland and a pull in place for travellers. 

 Yowie Coffee is a local brand and sold at a mobile coffee van parked in the park.

You guessed it - Yowie....in person.  What the heck....?

A 4 metre statue to the mysterious Yowie.  Is he a local?

What! ?

Never ever far from home, even in Kilcoy.

Kilcoy's main street, love the angle parking.

I guess you could call this the top pub, because Kilcoy is a typical Aussie town, more pubs than grocers.  Not sure why the animal cut outs are there, but hey they look rural. 

Long Jetty, Central Coast, NSW

CWA Long Jetty/The Entrance Branch hosted the Northumberland Group's Cultural Day.  

Position, position, position...and all just across the road from the CWA Rooms.

Well as you can see it's not called Long Jetty for nothing.  The little black dot at the end of the jetty above are two men fishing.  SO long.

Below is a shot of the next jetty along, zoomed in so much it's blurred, but you can see 

Newcastle Coal plant in the distance, which is another 40 minutes north of here.

So many pretty, sleepy coastal towns on the New South Wales coastline.

Spring in Thornleigh - 2015

 We were experiencing a lovely change in the weather 2 or 3 weeks ago, so I'd thought I would capture some Spring sunshine.

 This bush always reminds me of Barbara's 'snow in summer' bushes along her drive in Woodinville.

Some of Julia's succulents and my Christmas Cactus.

New veggie garden beds, in the space where the trampoline deck once covered.

Palms looking pretty.

Well I've carried these garden items around with me for years.  

When will they find a permanent home?

TODAY AT THE BIRD FEEDER....

 Well hello there...

Cockatoos are quite big really.

Whoops....the Rainbow Lorikeets believe this is their bird food..

Such bully boys, size does not deter them...

Well usually not...

What are you looking at?  

I think he knows I'm coming to shoo him away.  

Unfortunately cockatoos are very destructive, last weekend in retaliation a cockatoo ripped 3 of the 4 remaining lemons off my tree just to prove a point - don't shoo me away! 

HURRY UP SPRING !

Duncan, Julia and I gave Percy this orchid plant for Father's Day, September 2013.  Look at it now. Gran's owl, in front, has traveled the world with us, as has my planter.  

I dare not mention how old that planter is, around 40 years I think.  Hmm.....

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE  

At the Bird Feeder.....

There is always someone visiting the bird feeder.

This is a Butcher Bird, so called because they feed mostly on small lizards, bugs etc.  When they catch a lizard, or as we watched one day, a mouse, the bird firmly holds the prey in its bill and whacks the lizard onto a tree branch until dead, then skewers it to a thorn or in the fork of a tree to cure....nice.    In its favour, Butcher Birds have the most melodic song.  

The rain is pouring down and tucked up under the eaves 

are a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets.   I call them the bully boys of the backyard.  Nothing

is too big or too loud for them to challenge.  

Thinking Back.... With Love

Finishing and loving crochet and working with yarn took me back to the wonderful throw 

the gals from the Cottage Lake Book Club...aka wonderful, inspiring, loving women, made for Barbara and I, w-a-y back in 2009.

Yes I still have it. No it is not in a box in the garage.  It's in my hall closet and I've

been tempted to bring it out on our cold nights, but I don't want Martha the cat

making a home on it.  

I love seeing your Facebook posts, keep them coming.

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Sydney Weather - April 2015

 This pretty much sums up the weather Sydney had been

experiencing during May this year. 

 5 umbrellas gave their lives to protect us from the elements. 

Can you believe how lucky this bird bath was, inches from destruction.

Well I was please, I have to say, I rather like my bird bath.

The clothes line didn't fare as well though.  It is August 2nd now and we still 

don't have a replacement.  Ah living in rented accommodation....

Well thankfully, Percy borrowed a chainsaw and cut the tree up to get it off the fence.

Quietly one afternoon, I spied our neighbour carrying away what we cut up.  So that

sorted the issue of - what do we do with this wood?

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What do you do when the weather is to lousy to leave the house...

crochet a throw - of course.

It was a challenge to myself.  Many, many years, too many years really, Doris Vince taught me to crochet and I thought then I was too young, too cool, too whatever to spend time crocheting.

Well the time has come to strike up this lovely, calming, comforting craft.

This is my attempt at a corner to corner afghan/throw. 

Give it a try!   

You will be amazed how much fun and how quickly the throw takes shape.

youtube....too easy.

TARONGA ZOO - S & L & H Come to Visit

What a perfect view as you walk from the entry, past the Australian Bird Avery, 

down the path towards the Giraffe.  Best real estate in Sydney.

https://taronga.org.au/taronga-zoo

 Love this pic, plus Lu's in the 'spot light'.

It was a beautiful sunny, autumn day.   

I think the cooler weather was a welcome change for the animals, as they were active and animated, which makes for a fun zoo visit.

  The Koi were larger than the spoon-bill.  

I have a 'hankerin' for a large pool with 2 or 3 Koi.  Well...a fish pond would be nice also...

~ ! ~ ! ~ ! ~ ! ~ ! ~ ! ~ ! ~ ! ~ ! ~

It was a lovely trip to the zoo.  Mothers Day weekend.  Sam, Lu and Henry came to Sydney for a flying 4 day visit.  We were so excited to have them to stay.  

All 3 grand-kids are growing like beans.  In the blink of an eye they are little people with views and opinions and I Love It!  

We visited the Aquarium at Darling Harbour.  So many sharks.  Ate lunch, chatted and people watched.  Sam did some shopping and Lu had a chance to check out some Sydney shops in Pitt Street Mall.  Our last stop - Toys"R'Us was a hit for Henry.  He wandered slowly, pondered long and hard, then decided on 3 toys and off we went to the airport.  It was over way too fast.

Sometime Visitors...

 CRIMSON  ROSELLAS

As the Winter Camellias come into bloom they attract lovely visitors such as these lovely Rosellas.   

EASTER MONDAY - Tick that one off the list!

Easter Monday 2015-  thank you to Percy, Duncan and Julia for saying 'yes' to walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  I've wanted to do this for years.   Yay!

We take the train to Milson's Point (northshore side of the bridge).
OFF  WE  GO!

So many well known icons of Australia in one spot.  Very special.

Waiting for the old gal to take photos.

Is this a Zoolander face, Duncan?
Or just a Duncan face....not sure.

How does the harbour get so busy and no one bumps into one another.
Well,  hardly ever.

I'm actually trying to photograph the bike, Duncan...not you.
Lunch in the Rocks area.     Next to Suez Canal in fact. 

Another 'want to do' item.  Visit the Observatory.  We were just in time for the last tour of the day.  Lucky.

As we pass in the train, just on this side of the bridge,  we see many wedding photos being taken in this rotunda.
Nice view I must say.

Again, it's all about you goofy boy.  

It's getting late, daylight savings finished on Sunday morning so our days are shorter.

Happy family.  Yes I made them walk back over the bridge.  Grumble, grumble, moan.