What we did in September

Isn't the year flying I really can't keep up.  September was another busy month.  One of the highlights of the months was two days of lessons with the wonderful Donna Downey, http://www.donnadowney.com she is one of the most delightful people Ive ever met and she is so talented.  The classes were so enjoyable I don't consider myself arty in any way but three of the projects were finished and the fourth was an art journal so it was ongoing   We attended the classes at Joybells in Landsborough http://www.joybellsscrapbooking.com.au.  Joy is amazing and is able to get some top rated teachers to come to the Sunshine Coast to teach us lucky girls.

  

 

Last month I attended an organic veggie gardening workshop with Lizzie Moult from http://www.strayedtable.com and Gary from Kookaburra Organics http://www.malenyfarmersmarket.com.au  loved every minute of it so I eventually got my veggie garden started.  They suggested we use mushroom compost from one of the mushroom farms here on the coast so I tracked some down and we were told to make sure we were there early we got there the first Saturday at 6.20am and they had sold out, the next Saturday we arrived at 5.45am and they weren't selling that day, needless to say we still haven't gotten any from that farm we went to another mushroom farm and they had plenty but it didn't seem as fresh. Anyway I have one small  garden which is a start. I planted some lettuce Kale and beans I have some heirloom tomato seeds that I have to plant.  On the 7th of September Tony, Lucy and I went to the Maleny Real Food Festival,  http://realfoodfestival.com.au.  I love this festival we are so lucky to live in an area that has the best farmers producing the most spectacular fresh food.  This festival has everything  and it's a delight to go to.

 

Oh my goodness this honey was divine and was the zucchini pickles and I also picked up this cute apron.

I participated in Ali Edwards from http://aliedwards.com A week in the life.  I have started putting the album together but as usual haven't finished it yet.  I do love this project and Im also looking forward to the December Daily Album.

Just because she's cute if you look at her nose there are bits missing she hates other dogs and every chance she gets she has a go at this big dog called Bob he is in his yard behind his gate , they usually just make a lot of noise.  This day Milly stuck her nose in a bit too far and he bit it, totally her fault and she hasn't done it since, she really suffers from little dog syndrome.  One of my biggies this month is that I joined a gym, I really don't like exercise  I used to play a lot of sport when I was younger but once I left the army and had children it all went to the way side.  I had been walking the past few weeks but I felt I needed more and a bit of structure,  I think Ive been there about four or five weeks so far.  Its a good gym I haven't for a minute felt uncomfortable, you know how some gyms are.

This has become my second home.  

My football team made it to the final series and won the minor premiership   Go the Roosters

Tess got a new tattoo no I don't like them but she's 20 and it's her decision at least they are fairly tasteful and hidden except for this one which was small birds it was rather cute.  She asks me to go with her in case she faints and can't drive home like when she past out at the piercing shop.  Lucy had exam block so want at school a great deal throughout the month. Of course Nanny turned 101 years old.I finally got to go to It's Rawsome  which is at 522 Petrie Creek Rd Rosemount,it is a raw vegan cafe I have been trying to get there for a year surprisingly it was Tony who came with me not Tess and surprisingly he really enjoyed it. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-Rawsome-Cafe/156217407775977

Tony's always on the phone  I can't remember what Tony had a burger of sorts, could have been a chickpea patty but I had beetroot ravioli with cashew cream, absolutely divine but dessert was even better Tony had a the hazelnut cheesecake mine was a Banoffee pie.  Superb .

Tony and I had two days at the Gold Coast to meet up with an old army friend of Tonys, we had a great time, staying at a lovely resort Peppers

The view from our balcony

 

All we seemed to do was eat as soon as we arrived we found a cute little coffee shop then went onto a pub for lunch which was excellent.  The lovely surprise was dinner, not being overly hungry and wanting to leave room for dessert we ended up at a cuban restaurant which was right near Peppers, I can't remember the name of it but the food was so lovely.  Sorry about the not so good photo's I only took them with my phone.  Im going to have to find some cuban recipes.

 

After dinner we went to Max Brenner  http://www.maxbrenner.com.au OMG this was amazing and so so delicious.

 

 

 

 

Tony and I woke up early  so we went back to the cuban restaurant for breakfast then a walk along the beach.  

The weather had been horrible the day and especially the night before it was starting to clear so the day ended up hot and humid.  We checked out of our room and met up again with Tony's friend and then went over to Pacific fair for some shopping  We had yum cha at a chinese restaurant it was different and it was the least enjoyable meal of the trip.  We left the Gold Coast at about 2pm and headed home.  I headed straight to the gym to work off all that wonderful food which I think Im still paying for.

Lucy wanted to go and stay with my parents over the school holidays so we met them halfway it was Grandma's birthday, I should have taken  photo inside as it was really windy and very sunny

After we left Tess and I called in for a quick visit to Ikea, we just wanted to get a couple of LITTLE storage items

Lucky we drove the 4WD and I had been after an outside table for ages.  

The last week of September was spent painting our bedroom, it used to be Lucy's room  I do love the colour but wanted an all white room, silly me decided to paint our furniture to which I still have to do yet.  I painted the bedside tables but still have to do the four poster bed and the dressing table.  I don't have an after photo yet but Im really happy with it

After the first coat Tony didn't like the gaps in the vj's as you can see below yes I know that sounds stupid so he fill them and it looks so much better

 

Anyway that was our September.

Bye for now

Jackie

Happy Birthday

We have a very special birthday in our family today, my grandma is 101.  I think she looks wonderful.

ARMIDALE - Part 2

We had a busy day planned but unfortunately ended up starting late as I had a really bad headache .  I eventually got moving around 11am and we drove to Uralla, I wanted to have a look around town and the cemetery's as a lot of my family are from Uralla.  Im so thankful Lucy was able to drive as I certainly wasn't up to it.  The first stop was the information centre and a coffee shop, then we were set.  

As it was so late we started off at thePioneer Cemetery which is the home of the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt's grave.

We found the headstone of my great great great grandmother 

 

We then went to the Uralla Cemetery and visited the grave of my Great grandparents, I knew my great grandmother but unfortunately my great grandfather had died before  I was born

 

It's funny I really miss this beautiful country, so different from where I live now.

As it was getting late we decided not to do the heritage walk through Uralla which was disappointing as I had really wanted to do it. As i still wasn't feeling a hundred percent and it was a warm day we drove to Gostwyck  Chapel and Deeargee Woolshed.  Gostwyck Chapel is a stunning little chapel especially in Autumn when the Virginia Creeper turns vivid shades of red.

This beautiful photo was taken by Michael Boniwell

 

Deeargee Woolshed was built  in 1872.  My memories (or lack of them) was  a B&S Ball back in the early 80's

Lucy was  a little perturbed with all the sheep and cows walking along the side of the road

We drove back to Armidale the "back way" that seemed to go on forever and  a road that I had never driven on, thank goodness for google maps.  We finally got back to the Motel and I phoned Meredith and arranged to meet for dinner, at the same time got a text from some other friends asking what we were doing for dinner.  We ended back at the White Bull Hotel for a lovely dinner.  

Up again early on Monday morning as we had to go to the Armidale cemetery before we left to travel home.  Poor Lucy I think she was a bit over it by this stage but as I said to her it's your family and where you are from.

Another great great great grandmother on my grandfather's side

At last we grabbed a coffee from The Goldfish Bowl, I couldn't talk Lucy into breakfast and we hit the road. Lucy drove all the way except from Warwick to Aratula and we arrived home about pm.  We had a most enjoyable weekend but back to routine for me and school for Lucy, she did try to say she was too tired to go on Tuesday, nice try I made her go. It was nice to have some together time just the two of us.

A Fantastic Weekend- Saturday

Last weekend Lucy and I travelled to Armidale in NSW for my 30th year school reunion.  Wow thirty years since I have left school, where has the time gone it certainly doesn't feel that long.We left home at 8am on Friday morning and arrived in Armidale at 4pm, Lucy drove some of the way to get some much needed hours.

We stayed at the lovely Cotswold Gardens http://www.cotswoldgardensarmidale.com.au  which was right across the road from where our Saturday night school function was.  We rushed downtown to grab a few things then back to the motel for dinner at their lovely restaurant.  This restaurant is so old world it was just lovely and the food was superb.  We had an early night as we were pretty tired and we needed to get up early for breakfast at  a coffee shop that I wanted to try.  All the web reviews said to get there early as it got really busy, they weren't wrong we got there at 7.00 and the place was packed by 7.30.  The coffee shop we tried was called The Goldfish Bowl and was lovely they make all their sourdough bread at the shop in a wood fire stove.  Lucy had fruit toast and I had Eggs Benedict and most importantly the coffee was very good.

 

   

 

After breakfast we went for a walk around town, Armidale has many old buildings which I love. Below is the Catholic Cathedral

 

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Richardson's- It used to be a department store and was where I had my first job, I used to work in the cosmetic department

The Mall which sadly looked a bit tired.

 

 

 

The Presbyterian Church

The Anglican church, my parents were married in this church.  We had to be at the school by 11 for brunch and a tour around the school.  I hadn't been back to the school for thirty years there was a lot that was different but a lot that was still the same, even our little common room that was a room under the school that faced into a courtyard was still there.  We spent many hours sun baking our legs using baby oil or coconut oil.  We weren't sun smart.  Don't know what that room was now as the year 12 had an amazing year 12 space. It was lovely to see some of the girls, there was no awkwardness , everyone just slipped into easy conversation as if we had never been apart.

 

 

We weren't a big year 12 I think we only had forty girls in our year.  After our tour we went to the http://www.whitebullhotel.com/home.php for lunch, we spent several hours there chatting and having a few drinks.

 

  

After lunch Lucy and I went for another drive to take a few more photos and to check a few places out.

What used to be The Armidale Teachers College

 

The Railway Station

 

The View from the Lookout

Movies, pay tv and room services Lucy was set for the night I walked across the road to the  http://www.qualityhotelpowerhouse.com.au/armidale/ for our function.

 

We had a fantastic night and at about 11pm went to the Armidale Bowls Club to meet up with our year from The Armidale school who were also having their school reunion.  It was great to see some of the guys, some of them we had been friends on Facebook for a few years but again I haven't seen some of them for 30 years.   We had a ball and  stayed until the Bowls Club closed.  Im so glad I went and this just reinforced what a great group of people I went to school with, I loved high school.  Tess said to me during the week before I left " i guess the cool girls will get together"  We didn't have a group of cool girls and everyone got on most of the time. I hope Lucy had a good time it was fun showing her around.

Project Life- Week 15

Well this has been a long time coming hasn't it, I cant believe I haven't posted since April.  I'm way behind with my project Life as you can imagine, Am I still loving this,?Well not much the last few weeks it was starting to feel like a burden  I'm better this week now Ive almost completed three more weeks and have a lot more photos developed it's just getting the time to sit down and sort it out.  If I was sensible I would just put the photos in and journal, don't worry about prettying it up.  I mean that what it's designed for isn't it, quick and easy I might do that yet.

We have had a few busy weeks I have some pictures to post from the Garden Show and the Medieval  Festival, will do that this week

Bye for now

Jackie