Category Archives: family

A Little Bit Weird

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I know that it is a slightly odd title but it really describes the last 8 days or so.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are on holidays in Queensland. This is my home state and where we lived for 22 years before moving to Victoria about 18 months ago. I am delighted to be on holidays here and we spent a week at the beach over Christmas with both of our daughters and 2 granddaughters. We have enjoyed spending time with my sister, brother-in-law and brother as well as catching up with several friends.

However, underneath all of the fun and socialising I had an odd, nagging feeling that somehow unsettled me when I least expected it yet I could not pinpoint the source. That was…………until yesterday. I realised this was the first time I had returned to Queensland on holidays from interstate since my parents had died. The odd feeling was coming ‘home’ but Mum and Dad were not here. 2025 will mark the 4th and 24th anniversaries of their deaths respectively. I love and miss them both every day but this trip has turned out to be particularly poignant. I am so glad that I figured out my feelings as I honour their memory.

2024 – A Review

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Well, here we are at the end of another year. Like most years, this one has had its ups and downs, highs and lows.

There has been overseas travel and renovations at home.

Sad farewells to friends and family members who have left us far too soon.

Catching up and celebrating with extended family – siblings and cousins.

Regular routines and out of the ordinary adventures.

Living in a location with 4 distinct seasons and lots of deciduous trees clearly defines the seasonal cycle through the year. I appreciate the seasonal changes and cherish the special aspects such as savouring seasonal produce when it is at its best.

We will be spending New Year’s Eve with family but I suspect we may all be in bed well in advance of midnight.

Resolutions are not really something that I do but I am keen to work on some key principles and encourage others to do likewise as we move into 2025. Things like kindness, gratitude, sharing, empathy and community spring to mind. Nothing too big or exciting but simply woven into every day and making a difference to our own and other people’s lives.

I love this image and have used it each year on the blog for a few years as I like to think of the waves gently washing away the year and leaving us with a blank page ready to write the story of the upcoming year. I think it is a better reflection of my attitude to the New Year than fireworks and popping champagne corks.

I would like to close this post by thanking each and every one of you for your interest which encourages to continue writing this blog after almost 14 years.

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2025.

A Beach Christmas

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I am quite surprised that I have not used this blog title previously as we have spent several Christmases at the beach over the past 10 years or so. It is always somewhere different and this year we opted for a house at Peregian Beach for a week with our 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters. My sister, brother and brother-in-law joined us for Christmas Day.

Our lunch menu was a mix of tried and true favourites along with a couple of new recipes.

In fact, when I was re-reading some old blog posts today I stumbled upon one from 2017 and the menu looked like this:

Proscuitto wrapped asparagus and haloumi **
Cold curried chicken **
Rice **
Parsley and cranberry crusted salmon
Mango and avocado salad **
Beetroot and feta salad
Green bean salad with slivered almonds
Meringue roulade with berries and pistachio nuts **

The items marked ** were on the table again in 2024. The meringue roulade is a particular specialty from our younger daughter and she excelled herself this year. She thinks this is the best one she has made.

I took this photo before the addition of the chopped pistachio nuts which add a nice touch of festive green contrast to the raspberries and pomegranate seeds.

A new addition was a Crispy Balsamic Thyme Potato Torte which we all agreed was a winner.

I will add the recipes for both of these in posts over the next couple of weeks.

I hope you have had a celebration which suited you and your family (everyone’s circumstances are different). Wishing you a safe and peaceful season from our home to yours.

Blue is Best

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I generally stick to a relatively small palette of colours when choosing my clothes. Black, white, navy and grey are the neutrals I wear. I like strong colours with a blue undertone and my favourites are cobalt blue and cherry red along with almost any other shade of blue as well as emerald green.

It is clear that I am not alone in sticking to a narrow range of colours.

This is my elder granddaughter yesterday on her 17th birthday. She was excited to be wearing her new blue dress out to dinner.

Coincidentally, a photo popped up in my Facebook memories a couple of days ago. It was a blue dress I had made for her 8th birthday gift in 2015.

This photo of her wearing it was taken about 15 months later.

Her high school formal is early next year and the dress she has chosen is blue, of course. In fact, her motto could almost be, “Any colour, as long as it is blue”.

Time Out

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Apologies for radio silence as it is over 2 weeks since my last post. There has been plenty happening but it has not been suitable material for blog posts.

We enjoyed a short break in Melbourne last week and spent time with both of our adult daughters and teenage granddaughters. A highlight was a shared family dinner at an excellent suburban Mexican restaurant.

Meanwhile work has been continuing on both the new front fence and the pantry extension.

The fence is complete apart from painting the pickets and the gates. They are already finished with a white undercoat so the overall look will not really change as the finished colour of them will be white. The large gates have been hung but it will be a couple of weeks before the mechanism is installed and electricity is connected. I am really looking forward to having the whole property fenced and secured.

The view from the other side of the road.

Looking from near the front door.

The pantry is coming along nicely. Here is a progress photo taken today. There is a bit of a delay until the benchtop and drawer fronts are ready but you can get a sense of the final result.

Looking at the other end which was the original pantry area.

It will be very exciting to rearrange things so that they are more accessible. Watch this space…………..

Birthday Boy

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Today has been a bit of a mixed bag.

We went to Bendigo after lunch. First up, I had an appointment then we did the shopping. We went to the supermarket, greengrocer, bottle shop and butcher as well as filling the car with fuel. Most of the shopping was for a special lunch I am preparing for Sunday.

You see, today is GMan’s birthday.

Tonight we went out for dinner and on Sunday we will be celebrating at home with a small group of extended family and friends. The festivities look set to continue intermittently over the next 4 months as we catch up with other friends and family who can’t be with us this week.

Choosing A Title

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After almost 13 years and over 1700 published blog posts it is sometimes a bit tricky to come up with an original title that is relatively short, snappy and relevant.

I can, and sometimes do use a title more than once.  In fact, this post was going to be ‘Home, Sweet Home’ as I have been away for about 10 days.  However, I found that I had actually just about worn that out with no fewer than 6 blog posts with that moniker.

Anyway, enough rambling.  I am arrived home safely on Tuesday afternoon following a trip to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.  It was not under the best of circumstances as I attended a funeral.  It was for my cousin who is only a year older than me and sadly lost a battle with bowel cancer.

I chose to spend some extra time in Queensland with my daughter and granddaughters as well as my brother and sister.

I have unpacked, done some washing and prepared meals so nothing terribly exciting happening here at the moment.  We bought some fruit and vegetables yesterday and I spotted a couple of trays of mangoes.  This is not a common sight in Victoria so I bought a tray.  14 medium sized mangoes for $15.  I am planning to dehydrate some, freeze others and keep at least one fresh to make mango salsa to go with our dinner tomorrow night.

Creating and Crafty

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We have been away for a few days at the beach with our guests. The weather was not great – cool and rainy. Unfortunately, you cannot plan on good weather but we had a relaxing time and a change of scenery.

Yesterday evening I was inspired to create a Christmas table centrepiece using a hard plastic cone which had contained Ferrero Rocher chocolates. I did not buy them but it had been brought by a guest at a function we hosted a couple of weeks ago and it seemed too good to throw out. I filled it with a few baubles and Christmas decorations. Then I reattached the base with sticky tape and added some gold ribbon trim before placing it on a stand made from part of the insert which held the chocolates.

It has been hot today so I have stayed indoors and done some sewing. I made these bags from some fabric gifted from a friend.

Then I finished refashioning the sundress for Miss14. I cut a small amount from the hem to create straps to tie over the shoulders. These replace the rather flimsy adjustable shoestring straps that were on it originally. She is happy with the result.

A few other alterations for Miss16. I shortened a newish pair of cargo pants which were just a bit too long and dragging on the ground as well as turning a pair of older black leggings with holes in the lower leg into a functional pair of bike shorts. These are always in high demand in their household for wearing under netball uniforms.

Finally, I am working on some minor alterations to this dress. It is for Miss16 and we found it in an op shop while we were away. She is notoriously fussy and difficult to please but fell in love with this one. I have unpicked the side seams of the bodice to take it in slightly under the arms. I also intend to redo the hem so that it has an overall better finish. I think it was $7.50 well spent as she is planning to wear it to her semi-formal in the middle of next year.

Four Days of Fun

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It is now 4 days since our granddaughters arrived from Queensland. They are here for 10 days and we are trying to find a balance of interesting things to do with a 16 year old and 14 year old.

After we picked them up at the airport we found a spot for a picnic lunch before we headed home.

A spot of mulberry picking rounded out the day.

On Tuesday we headed to Bendigo to buy a birthday gift for Miss 16 as well as a couple of other errands.

Yesterday we went to nearby Lake Cairn Curran for a BBQ picnic lunch, paddle in the water and a walk with the dog.

Here is a view I captured while waiting for lunch.

Finally, we picked up this DVD from Castlemaine Library before the girls headed to the local pool for a swim. We watched ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ in preparation for our outing today. It was interesting to note that some of the scenes were filmed in a town where we used to live, although the film was made long before we moved there.

Our first view of the rock.

Almost at the top.

A view of the surrounding country.

A quick op shop stop on the way home and Miss 14 found this pair of denim shorts for $4. A sundress completed her haul for the day.

Tonight we watched ‘Looking For Alibrandi’ on SBS On Demand and they both enjoyed this movie. We have plenty more adventures planned so most of the regular chores have been put on hold while we enjoy spending time with this special pair of teenagers.

Creating Space

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You could be excused for assuming that this post is about more of my decluttering efforts. However, it is not.

We arrived home a couple of days ago after a brief road trip to Sydney to attend a family wedding. The outfit I had made worked well and we had a delightful day. It was very special to be able to spend time with all of my siblings, children, niece and nephews as our family are ‘scattered to the four winds’. In fact, it was the first time that we had ever all been together.

The wedding was a significant event and the latter half of this year has been neatly divided, at least in my mind, to ‘before the wedding’ and ‘after the wedding’. This leads back to the title of the post.

Rehoming physical stuff is not the only type of decluttering. There is also digital decluttering which I have mentioned in the past. This link will take you to several posts on the topic. Then there is mental clutter.

I have found that ‘to do’ lists seem to get a bit of a bad rap recently. They are deemed to be everything from non-productive, inhibiting mindfulness and inducing guilt and sleeplessness. I guess it depends on personal use and expectation of any list, however, I have actually found the exact opposite. By writing things down/creating a list it releases the necessity for me to remember things.

As a retired person, I do not have the time-frames, constraints and expectations of being in a paid job and answerable to an employer. Everything I do is my own decision and choice, however, I do not choose to drift aimlessly through my retirement years. I am not driven by deadlines and certainly do not beat myself up if everything on the list is not finished by a certain time.

I enjoy the knowledge that I have recorded tasks/projects and I am not wasting mental energy on recalling or prioritising them. I add items as I think of them or they come up in conversation with GMan. It is nothing fancy – just a simple list in the notes section of my phone. I add and delete items almost every day. Some are extensive and long-term, others will be completed within the next 24 hours. But most importantly, I do not stress about tasks achieved (or not) nor let the list dictate my life.

Here is a sample of some of the items currently on my list.

Tidy sewing room
Clean fridge
Make marmalade
Make new cover for dog bed
Mend socks
Update Google calendar

Some of these have been on the list for well over a week and I am not losing any sleep over them not being completed. They will happen one day. Meanwhile, we are heading out this evening to listen to some live music at a small local bar.