Happy Anniversary.

Nerys and Tim celebrated 11 years of marriage today, what a lovely couple they are, a delight to know and a pleasure to be with. To celebrate they went off to the city for lunch and a movie while Pennie minded Charlie for the day, David went to Tempe and Jackson went and played with Kyle saying to his parents as he was dropped off that he wanted them to go out again together so he could go to Pennie's for the day... it's lovely being popular.

Gwilym and Emily...

I love it when Gwilym and Emily put some new photos up on their Flickr site, they have a wonderful eye for an interesting photograph that always makes me smile... almost as good as having them back home with us... Nah!! that last bit is a lie!This is my favourite for today, this little boy is begging for Dirham.
Playing the Tourists, so far they've sent home two boxes of new purchases... another one from London is planned as well :-)
This is my favourite non G&E photo!
There is a quilt pattern in there methinks.
Accommodation is cheap in Morocco.

Dad and Mum.

It is fun visiting Dad and Mum, I get up to their very comfortable abode at Kincumber every couple of weeks or so and spend a couple of happy hours... mostly laughing! Mum is a pretty fit 83 and Dad is almost 90, he has a bad foot at the moment but it doesn't stopped him from talking about and planning his big birthday party coming up. They both love their little garden which is mostly pots on the veranda, one of their very special plants is this Wollemi Pine, isn't it amazing how the new growth happens on the end of the old. They also have a Waratah which is one metre high but not in flower right now.

It's that time of year again...

... when our beautiful Lemon Scented Gums start to peel their bark!!! I love these trees but the mess they leave on the driveway always bugs me, I wouldn't mind if they did it over a couple of weeks but no... they take at least three months from the begining of November to the end of January to shed... so we have a messy driveway impossible to walk on unless we rake it all up with lots of bark in the pool that jams up the pool cleaner grrrrr But I mustn't grumble (this is something normally said just after someone has grumbled!!) I do love these trees... their shade, the lovely fresh smell of their leaves and their beauty.
For nine months these gums look nice and tidy.
But for three months of each year they shed their bark!

A Night at the Opera.

David and I went to our first Opera last night, at the Sydney Opera House... in the last three weeks we've been watching Operatunity Oz on ABC Television and decided we wanted to go and see 'Rigoletto' where the winner of the show would have a small lead role, it turned out that there was one winner and two second places. Internet friends of ours were also going so we decided to make a meal of it and meet up before the show at 'Opera Bar' which is run by Matt Moran one of Australia's great chefs. We can vouch for the food, the value and the atmosphere... just terrific and we'll be back.

The six finalists from left, Jody then the winner David Parkin, second place Emily and equal second Roy, then John and Rene.
Cameras on the Judging Panel while they sip champagne in the Opera House forecourt, I took this photo without a flash so there was movement but I rather like the way it's turned out.
Richard Gill announcing the start of Rigoletto.
The Winner is David Parkin , a Bass, playing the role of Sparafucile.
Check out some of the Audition Tapes if you have time, some are quite amusing.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/operatunityoz/

Nerys/Charlie Ripley... Charlie Ripley/Nerys

We all thought Jackson Harry looked just like his Mum, but look at these photos of Nerys and Charlie Ripley... Wow!!

Nerys in the travel seat that was used by all four children

Charlie Ripley in the same seat...

My Brother Nick.

My baby brother Nick... Uncle Nick to our children... Great Uncle Nick to our Grandchildren is a very clever chap, he's just won the Certified Practising Marketing Award for Excellence from the Australian Institute of Marketing. Congratulations Nick!

What's Tom up to?.....

A Photo for Tom's CV and one of Tom and Emma a little more relaxed.

... I do get asked this question quite often, sometimes I'm up on how he's earning a crust but sometimes it's just one exciting blur. I did manage a good catch up chat with him the other morning, evening his time... he was waiting for Jonothan Ross to interview Russell Crowe on the telly :-) We used to watch Jonothan Ross, it was hard to miss him, he seemed to be on the telly all hours of the day and night.
Anyway... Tomo is in rehearsals at the moment for the understudy of the role of Anatoli in the musical 'Chess', it's for a one week gig in Oslo next month, he doesn't really like working 9 to 5 and it's not something he does often, the money isn't too good and he doesn't see much of Abigail, but it's another feather in his cap.
At the same time he's fitting in a couple of Three Waiters gigs on the weekends or evenings.
Also on the books is work on some Cruise Ships, they fly him to a port somewhere in Europe, he stays on the ship for about three days singing songs from Phanton and so on, then they fly him home from the next port, Emma and Abigail are able to go along on these gigs which will be wonderful for them all. Tom is making a CD to sell on these Cruise Ships which they say will sell well after eveyone hears him sing... I want some of those CD's for myself and my friends as well please Tomo.
On top of all that, Emma has a company called CPG Concepts which she set up with a friend in Hong Kong many years ago, Tom and Emma have started it up in London now and are organizing dancers, singers and so on for Events in England. Phew... Oh and of course Emma has about 12 weeks to go before our new baby is born... Double Phew!!!

Garden, Garden and more Garden...

Yesterdays heat of 38c had me inside a closed up, 24c house, only venturing outside to check the temp... so first thing this morning I was up and watering our poor garden that must have suffered so much yesterday... we are on Level 3 Water Restrictions which means:- Hand-held hosing of lawns and gardens and drip irrigation is allowed only on Wednesdays and Sundays before 10 am and after 4 pm. Mum and Dad one hour north of us are on Level 4 Water Restrictions which means no watering outside at all, only buckets of grey water from the bath or shower is permissable, it's not so bad because they have a small garden with lots of pots and they are just managing but I cannot imagine what we will do if we get to Level 4 because our garden is so large and long. We do have three Water Tanks but two of those are empty now... the sky has been grey all day but the promised rain from last night has yet to come.
This photo is for Gwillo, he transplanted these Iris from his grandparents home in Canberra before it was sold.
This is the Captain Cook Bottlebrush, Mum and Dad bought this plant for us way back in 1977, 200 years after Cook discovered Australia
This photo is for Tomo, it's one of his Grevillias that try and survive on the nature strip.
This is a close up of my favourite hedge... it's growing up one of the fences of thetennis court.
Playing tennis for the next couple of months is bliss... the smell is delightful.
I love lavender... rows and rows of Lavender.

Picture Postcards...

I adore the colours and textures in these photos taken by Gwilym and Emily in Marrakech, they're crying out to be framed or turned into postcards... or quilts even, yum yum!

Gwilym and Emily in the Sahara Desert.

Don't you just love this photo, that's Em in the middle and Gwil on the left.
I hope they didn't get sea sick! What a wonderful time they continue to have!!

Our little piece of Paradise.

After the heat of the day the afternoon sun is shining through the tennis court onto the freshly mowed lawn and a rose or two in flower, doesn't it look peaceful :-)


Believe it or not this rose is called Penelope!!
Altisimo

Busy, Busy Day...

My Friend Jenny is like a pocket rocket in the garden, she comes to us once a fortnight. Nothing daunts her, she shimmies up trees to cut off dead branches, she climbs into Green Waste Bins to stomp them down making more room, she climbed up the pergola to give the grape vines a heavy prune before the painter came.... she's SUPERGARDENER!! Here she is starting to thin out the Agapanthus... her rake is a blur showing what a SUPERGARDENER she is!

David is slowly putting the pieces of his bus back together again, here he is cutting and glueing Malthoid onto the Gear Box cover. Malthoid is a black tar sort of stuff that was on the floor of old buses, David was lucky enough to get some rolls of it years ago to cover the wooden floors with... see the roll in this photo.

And what did I do today??? Well I played two sets of tennis and then I..... I think what I did is best described as Supervisor, well someone has to do it :-)

She's Home.

The Green Bus went out yesterday and the Red Bus comes in today.





Look what Jackson Harry can do... when he eventually made it up into the cabin I told him that I was going to tell David... he turned around quickly and said, 'Will he be pleased?'

The Excitement is Catching...

One of my Quilting Internet friends rang me in great excitement, she was minding her own business and heading for the shops when a shiny red thing caught her eye, she dived across two lanes of traffic to take this photo of the Leyland sunning her self at the Tramway Museum before her trip home tomorrow. Thanks Loz, she looks mighty fine doesn't she. I think Red buses should be known as 'She' they look very ladylike I think.

Just to try and confuse you......

This is my baby in London on the platform of an old Routemaster. I showed Jackson Harry this photo and explained where Gwilym was and how different this red bus was to our red bus... he looked at it closely and said... 'I'm going to stand there like Gwill, when I go to 'Ingerland', can I do that Pennie?' Of course you can darling :-)