Category Archives: family

A Lucky Find

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While some of my op shop bargains have been deliberate purchases, many are simply incidental finds.

My win from today was not even in an op shop. We were walking the dog and as we approached the main street there was a small rack of secondhand clothes outside a craft shop.

I spotted this coat and immediately thought of our elder granddaughter who is coming to visit for a week in July. Since she lives in Queensland her selection of clothes for a Victorian winter is somewhat limited. The coat is a small size which will be perfect for her and it was $5.

This is the view from the back.

The colour in the first photo is the most accurate. I love the shaping and pleated detail which gives it a bit more style than a puffer jacket or the like.

I barely hesitated before buying it as I figured that worst case scenario was that I would simply donate it if it was not deemed suitable, however, she seemed genuinely pleased when I rang to let her know what I had bought. I have even offered to store it in the wardrobe between her visits as she would not need it where she lives.

So Much Happening

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It is almost a month since my last post and whilst I would not necessarily say I have been busy, I have not felt ready to share many of the things that have been going on as they all seem to have ‘work in progress’ status.

Cars – this has been a real juggling act. After our jaunt to the Melbourne Motor Show which I wrote about here we went to Ballarat and test drove a Geely X5. This confirmed our thoughts and we ordered one which we should have within the next week or so. GMan agreed to sell the Hilux ute so that has now gone to a new home. Meanwhile, the Subaru Forester which was damaged in a traffic accident in late February has finally been repaired and the hire car which we have been driving for nearly 3 months has been returned. The next step is to sell the Forester which coincidentally had a ‘spa day’ after the repairs were completed so it is looking bright and shiny and hopefully will be sold soon.

In other news, I spent a week in Brisbane recently. My visit was specifically so that I could attend several reunion events planned for the group who began our student nursing training at Princess Alexandra Hospital in March 1976. It was amazing to reconnect with women, most of whom I had not seen for 47 years since we finishing our general training. There were many hours of laughter, memories and friendships rekindled. Preliminary plans are already afoot for another in 3 years to celebrate 50 years since our graduation! I was also able to spend some time with several family members which was a lovely bonus.

The minutae of life continue and I will continue to share the regular stuff as I have been doing on this blog for over 15 years. That milestone slipped by in March without me noticing. As a matter of interest, I would love to know how you found this blog and how long you have been reading.

Celebration of an Evolution

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The quilt which was an 18th birthday gift is now in the hands of the recipient.

Yesterday was the 18th birthday of our elder granddaughter. Her growth from baby to young lady is beautifully captured in the reel of photos below.

It has been an absolute joy to witness her transformation and watch her finish her secondary schooling. She is now poised on the threshold with exciting life and career prospects ahead of her.

Congratulations!!

Birthday Outing

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Today is GMan’s birthday and coincidentally we arranged to go to Melbourne with the express purpose of going to the exhibition of French Impressionism at the National Gallery of Victoria. It includes over 100 artworks drawn from the extensive collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

However, the first thing that caught our attention was before we even entered the gallery. The bare plane trees on the footpath outside the gallery were adorned with a series of threads of paper cranes as today is the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. This modest yet powerful memorial was appreciated by many people passing by.

The exhibition is very popular so there were lots of people around but still enough space to view all of the paintings as well as the detailed information adjacent to each.

Here are a few photographs of some that particularly caught my eye.

Entrance to the village of Osny by Paul Gaugin.

Two peasant women in a meadow by Camille Pissarro.

There were 19 Monet works in the exhibition. Some were quite familiar subjects such as waterlilies, the Japanese bridge in the garden at Giverny and haystacks but here are a couple of less well-known pieces.

Road at La Cavée, Pourville

Boulevard Saint Denis Argenteuil in winter

Finally, a view from inside the foyer of the gallery.

After the gallery adventure we headed back the Elio’s Place, a small European bistro in Flinders Lane for a birthday lunch. Then it was a couple of errands before catching the train home. It was a full and fun day out.

Independence Day – A Reflection

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I know that I am a couple of days late for American Independence Day which is celebrated on 4th July. 6 years ago I had my own version of Independence Day as 4th July 2019 marked my last working day in the office. Interestingly enough, it took me another 3 weeks before I was sufficiently organised to even write a blog post which combines a measure of relief and optimism. You can read it here.

A themed dinner with work colleagues.

Well, here I am 6 years later and still writing this blog – I have actually been writing it since March 2011. Life has had some ups and downs, some expected and others totally unforeseen. We managed a mere 6 months of retirement before our collective worlds were turned upside down with the arrival of Covid-19 in early 2020.

There was plenty of time for gardening.

There have been family events – milestone birthdays and weddings as well as several funerals. The death of my mother in early 2021 left an enormous void in my life and that of many others.

Farewell, Mum.

While Covid-19 did put a dent in our overseas travel plans for a few years we made up for that with road trips within Queensland and interstate once the tightest restrictions had eased. The addition of a new puppy in 2020 gave us plenty of distraction, too. We resumed travelling abroad in 2024 and have plenty of plans for later this year and beyond.

The household seems to revolve around Islay.

Our biggest post-retirement change was a move from Queensland to regional Victoria. Although we bought a home that was only a couple of years old there continue to be some modifications needed to make it completely to our liking.

We have settled into life in our small country town and life hums along in a regular rhythm of activities at home, volunteering, cultural events, visits from family and friends as well as travel near and far.

Enjoying a local Writers’ Festival.

Did I really know what to expect from retirement? Not really, but it is simply a matter of finding your own pace and space.

Family Time

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In my last port I mentioned that we had visitors coming to stay. Our daughter and 2 granddaughters who live in Brisbane have been to visit for a week. They spent the first couple of nights in Melbourne where they went to see Beetlejuice and then took the train to Warrnambool where we met them and spent 3 days exploring the surrounding area, including the Great Ocean Road.

At the whale watching lookout at Logan’s Beach but no whales in sight.

Some stunning scenery along the Great Ocean Road.

Finally, we had 2 nights at home before a drive to Melbourne today to drop them at the airport for their return flight. I managed to take up 4 pairs of jeans for the girls as well as trim the younger one’s hair.

Yesterday we went to Bendigo where we went shopping for a 16th birthday gift for our younger granddaughter, had lunch at at Italian restaurant and then GMan, our daughter and I went to see the Frida Khalo exhibition at the Art Gallery. Although the granddaughters weren’t interested in seeing the exhibition we did manage a photo of them near the entrance. They had gelato and went to the gardens instead.

It has been a full and interesting week and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the family.

Back to reality tomorrow as I finish washing the extra bedlinen and rearranging the guest rooms. I am also hoping to do a bit more fence painting as the forecast is for fine weather and not too cold.

Inertia

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It is over 2 weeks since my last post but I have not been overly busy. So, why has my lofty goal of writing a post every second day fallen so spectacularly by the wayside? I have had time to write, computer and internet access as well as plenty of potential material but still no posts.

I look back on the last 2 weeks and my last post was immediately following Easter and my birthday which coincided this year. The intervening time has included several milestones.

25th April is ANZAC Day, the anniversary of the day of the landing of the Allied Forces at Gallipoli in 1915. While not at the original landing, my paternal grandfather did serve at Gallipoli. It is a day to reflect and honour our servicemen and women from all theatres of war.

The remembering did not end that day as 26th April was the fourth anniversary of my mother’s death. The passage of time does dim the acute grief but I miss her every day and this time of the year is particularly poignant.

Grief was brought sharply into focus with the recent death of my uncle and I am currently making a brief visit to Queensland to attend his funeral and importantly, to support my cousins at this time.

There is definitely a degree of inertia with respect to the garden. I feel as though we are all holding our collective breath as we wait for the season to break and bless the ground with some rain. Autumn is definitely with us but it still feels unseasonably warm for the beginning of the second week of May.

The other significant event here is the federal election in Australia. It was held on Saturday 3rd May and we are certain of the main result there are still quite a number of unresolved contests as the counting and recounting continues.

We also cannot ignore global events such as the conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and other places around the world. The impacts of decisions by President Trump continue to cause ripples across the globe which will impact us all. The recent death of Pope Francis and the current conclave to elect his successor are also of note. While it is important to be aware of national and global events, it is wise not to let it overwhelm us.

On the local front, I have had plenty to occupy my mind as I am working on some administrative documents for voluntary work.

All of these things have diverted my attention from the minutiae of my daily activities which is where I draw most of the inspiration for my blog posts.

Meanwhile, life keeps rolling on. Apart from my flying visit to Queensland we are actually on a bit of a road trip to South Australia. You can read more about it here. There may be one or two more holiday posts in the next few days before we head for home.

I hope to share some more of our activities in home once we get back. Please let me know if there is anything in particular you would like me to write about. Most of my posts fall under the general headings of:

Gardening
Cooking
Sewing
Op shopping
Cleaning
Renovations
Decluttering
General organisation

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Rhubarb Is Ready

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I have been away from the blog this past week as other things have taken precedence. We have enjoyed visits from two groups of guests. I has been a delight to show them around our town and the surrounds.

Here are a couple of photos taken from the summit of Mt Tarrengower which overlooks the town.

An almost full moon as we looked east towards the town.

Sunset in the opposite direction.

Our house guests of the past few days departed this morning so I need to get back to some food prep and meal planning. The first step was to cut a generous handful of rhubarb from one of the clumps which are happily growing near the back fence. We usually have some stewed fruit on our cereal each morning so I chopped and stewed the stalks and have containers of stewed rhubarb ready to go in the freezer.

Patchwork – Pink & Pyjamas

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I began a new sewing project today. This is the first block of a patchwork quilt I am making for my elder granddaughter. It is for her 18th birthday in December. One block done, 41 to go.

Most of the fabric has been randomly collected from op shops and offcuts from various previous sewing adventures. However, there will be some from a particularly special piece. The small pale pink squares have history. They are from some leftover fabric from a dress which my mother made for herself – probably close to 30 years ago. From those leftovers I made a dress for my granddaughter which she wore on her first birthday.

This is not a great photo but you get the general idea. It was from an Enid Gilchrist pattern which I had made many time before and numerous times since.

The other patchwork was for the boxer shorts which I mentioned in my last post. I had rather optimistically thought that it would be a simple matter of adding a strip of fabric into the side seams and a bit at the top to extend the overall length of the crotch.

As I began to unpick the side seams it became obvious that the construction method was appalling and regardless of any alterations that I might make, the existing seams were not robust enough to stand up to much wear at all. So, I altered my plan and unpicked the entire garment. By this time it became obvious why they were not a great fit. The pieces bore only minimal resemblance to the pattern I had.

I used the excess length of the original trousers to add pieces to be able to recut all of the pieces for the boxer shorts using my own pattern. I used flat felled seams for joining the extra pieces as well as the main construction as I always do. These seams are great as there are no raw edges on the inside as well as being extra strong due to the two rows of stitching.

This photo shows the randomly joined pieces of fabric before I cut out the pattern pieces. I did not have enough fabric nor the desire to match the pattern.

It was a bit of a fiddle but I now have a pair of boxers which are comfortable. The various joins are really barely visible.

A Labour of Love

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My father was a keen photographer. This was mostly before the days of digital cameras and definitely prior to mobile phones that included a camera. It is almost 24 years since Dad died and I wonder what he would think of camera technology today.

In fact, a large percentage of his photos were slides which he catalogued and stored meticulously. After his death we were left with an enormous collection of slides spanning 3 decades up until 1979. He generally had prints of photos after that time but it is the slides which I want to focus on in this post.

My mother, along with my siblings and I, realised that we could not continue to store these slides forever as they were not easy to access and view and their relevance would quickly fade with passing generations. While the slides were broadly catalogued, most of them did not identify specific individuals. We were all involved but Mum and my sister undertook the bulk of the work to do the first round of discards. This included any that were badly damaged, were of unknown places or people. The next step was to scan/digitise those which we felt could be worth keeping. Mum created digital folders for each of her 4 children containing copies of all of the photos which included that particular child. It is now nearly 4 years since Mum died and the responsibility for the preservation of the images from the slides passed entirely to me and my siblings.

I had all of the digital copies and my sister had all of the physical slides. When we were together at Christmas we went through them again to check that none had been missed in the scanning process. I then brought the slides home with me as I could see that there might have been some useful information on the frame of each slide, however, I needed a magnifying glass to check. This is what I have been working on intermittently for 2 weeks and that step is now completed.

I have cut each slide in half. I am not really sure why but it just feels better to have done this before discarding them in the bin and ultimately to landfill.

The next step is to curate the collection and choose the best photo where there are several of the person or group of people. I will make sure that each digital file includes the names of people in the photo as well as the location and date as best as I can ascertain. I will sort them into folders as part of my larger project to organise all of my photos.

I know that my children and grandchildren may not want to retain all of these photos, however, by doing this I will be providing them with an organised, curated collection with no expectation that they retain them. They will easily be able to see what they want to keep (if any) and discard the rest.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to enjoying some of these relics which have not seen the light of day for a long time and sharing the stories behind them with other family members.

This is a particular favourite – a style statement from a holiday in 1975.