good to be back home!

edited to add photos

Between last Friday and Tuesday, we (WM, mum and I) notched up over 2,000 kilometres (1250 miles) by driving out to Bathurst to collect my nephew from university then to drive to Tamworth, where my sister lives. Saturday was the wedding of my sister’s older daughter – the wedding itself was held in Quirindi (the town where my niece lives) and the reception in the village of Duri. After the wedding we returned to Tamworth where were staying in a motel; DD and SIL had the room next door – it was lovely to spend some time with them.

the bride and her maternal grandmother

 On Sunday, we drove the 153km (approx 95 miles) to the town of Bingara, where my parents retired twenty-nine years ago. We spent a couple of days going through mum’s extensive wardrobe and her personal possessions and WM did an amazing job of cramming as much in his small sedan as was possible. It took him more than four hours and I never thought the unloading would finish when we arrived home at 8pm on Tuesday (after stopping for lunch at my sister’s in Tamworth).

goodbye to mum's newly-roofed house

Most of Wednesday was spend unpacking and finding homes for all this paraphernalia! It won’t all fit in mum’s bedroom so it’s going to have to be culled again when we finally find a room for her in an aged care facility. Right now, we are waiting for my sister to get an appointment with Centrelink (the Australian government’s Department of Human Services); we can proceed no further without their approval and assistance. Today my sister is seeing a solicitor and the only real estate agent in Bingara to get some guidance in how we proceed from here.

The property market in major towns and cities in Australia is booming; houses are selling in less than a month of being on the market. But in small country towns like Bingara, where there are no jobs and no prospects, the population is mostly elderly and more and more properties keep coming on to the market as they move into aged care facilities or die. The last home mum and dad owned in Bingara took several years to sell; and it was less than ten years old. Mum’s current home is nearly 100 years old, in need of TLC (it will probably be a knock-down-and-rebuild) so we are under no illusions that this home will sell in an over-saturated market. We are considering renting it rather than having it stand empty; but that means clearing out the accumulation of fifty-plus years of marriage – and both my parents were hoarders in different ways! Much of dad’s stuff is gone but there is still a lot of stuff to be sorted!

Today WM has gone back to work and mum and I are having a quiet day at home – just three loads of washing (laundry) separate me from my sewing machine! Mum is not happy in new or strange environments so it’s good to have a day where she can completely relax!

How’s your week shaping up?

Christmas: home and away

Warning: lots of words, no pictures!

As Christmas approaches, my sewing time has diminished to next to nothing. The reason for that is this:

Yesterday (Tuesday), I got some knitting and some reading (three quilting magazines) done as I travelled for nearly ten hours by train to Coffs Harbour where I was met by DD who took me home to her place. I arrived after the boys were in bed so they had a lovely surprise when they awoke this morning. Around mid-morning, the four of us left for my home. Unfortunately, SIL was not able to join us due to work commitments; which is why I had to make the trip; 591 km – 370 miles is a long trip for one adult with two active toddlers! We arrived home at 7:45pm, just over nine hours after we left Woolgoolga.

Tomorrow evening, my mother arrives by bus and train from her home town of Bingara – a ten-hour trip. I am sure she will be very tired and very hungry (she never eats or drinks on the trip; Dad would be so cross if he knew) but pleased to see her great-grandsons.

On Friday, apart from entertaining my guests, I have an appointment for a  haircut and have to take Mum shopping for some personal items. I also need to do the last of my grocery shopping and cook the turkey for Christmas lunch (we have it cold – it’s summer here).

On Saturday, my uncle (my father’s brother), my aunt, my brother, DSIL and four-year-old niece, will join mum, DD, the Grandboys, WM and I to celebrate Christmas. Saturday evening we will spend in front of the television watching the Carols in the Domain.

On Sunday, after church, we will join WM’s extended family at the retirement village where his mother lives. It is next to a school and there is a large fenced sports oval for the little ones to run around in (and not escape). Some members of the family will bring gazebos for some shade. Lunch is basically a bring-your-own-meat for the barbecue and a standardised pot-luck (in the sense that the women tend to bring the same thing every year – I always being a cheesecake for dessert; apparently if I didn’t, I would be told to go home and make one!). It will either be served in the “rec room” which MIL has booked for the day or on the oval. All very Australian, isn’t it?

My niece will arrive on Monday to take Mum home and DD, the Grandboys and I will spend a quiet 

day before making the return trip to Woolgoolga on Tuesday. WW will follow by train on Christmas Eve (after work). It will be a long day for him: he gets up at 5:45am and the train arrives in Coffs Harbour at midnight! At least he can sleep on the train.

We will stay in Coffs Harbour that night but join DD and the family early on Christmas morning. Christmas lunch will be held at SIL’s parents place, which is nearby. J&A, SIL’s parents, are kindly giving us the use a car while we’re in Woolgoolga, so we will have some freedom to come and go as we please.

We plan to spend the Friday and the Saturday with DD and family and, hopefully, some of that time will be spent on the beach (10 minutes from DD’s home). On Sunday we will catch the train home so that WM can return to work on Monday!

Then, with Christmas behind me, and most other commitments on a summer hiatus, I plan to sew and sew and sew and sew! There will also be more ironing, cutting, sorting and storing of scraps since I am nowhere near done and I’m obviously not going to get much done in the next ten days!

How about you?
Will your Christmas be as hectic as mine?
Or do you plan on a quiet celebration?

vacation photo journal

“A picture paints a thousand words” so I hope this gives a small indication of our time away from home (in Australia, we call this ‘holidays’). Warning: as the title suggests, this is a photo heavy post.

We spent a weekend catching up with friends that we haven’t seen in seven years, except for DD’s wedding and my dad’s funeral. They live in a small town called Bellbrook, a community of 360 people. We spent most of our time talking but WM got up early and took some photos. Here is a photo of their house and part of their 18 acres. The second photo is taken over their dam as seen from their back patio.

We spent a few days with my mother – she spends most of her time reading.

WM did a few small jobs while there; including getting up on the roof and turning on the evaporative air cooler. Can you see him up there?

From mum’s, we drove east to the coast, passing through the town of Grafton the weekend they celebrated the Jacaranda Festival. I took these photos out the front window while WM was driving. Jacarandas are an imported species; the tree with gold flowers in the first photo is Grevillea Robusta ( common name: “Silky Oak”) which is an Australian native.

 

Our ‘real’ vacation began when we took possession of a beachside cabin at Woolgoolga, just a few minutes drive from DD’s home.

 

This was the view from our front veranda early one morning:

We had lots of walks on the beach.

Both grandsons were fascinated with these little balls made as the sand-crabs made little holes for themselves.

The seagulls didn’t take any notice of us – unless they thought there might be some food on offer! WM took a great photo; I love the reflection.

We went whale spotting up on the headland and were rewarded with seeing whales every day. The whales were travelling south; returning to the cold waters of the Antarctic Ocean after going north for a few months to while away the winter in warmer water. The return journey is usually slower and more in-shore, given that there are calves to be taken care of, and therefore better for whale spotting.

They were much further out than WM’s camera could capture so don’t expect professional photos.

The first indication that there is a whale is the sight of a spout as they surface to breathe.

 

Sometimes you catch a glimpse of some body part out of the water, like this faraway tail!

And sometimes, they jump out of the water. We saw several whales breach but they were always too far away to get a clear photo. This was WM’s best shot of a humpback breaching.

Our best experience was when a mother humpback and her calf came in relatively close to the shore. They were close enough that, with the onshore wind, we could hear the mother slapping the water.

On our final day in Woolgoolga, we made Christmas puddings. Both boys love to cook so they were very excited when we arrived at their house. “Did you bring the ‘gredients?” was our greeting!

Our Christmas puddings have threepences in them; an old English tradition from my mum’s family. Threepences are part of Australia’s pre-decimal currency – they contain a large amount of silver so don’t harm the food as modern coins would. These photos show some members of the family throwing their threepences in (and making a ‘wish’). Next year we’re going to add the threepences to the dry ingredients to make it easier for the boys to stir.

SIL came home from work just in time. We ended our holiday/vacation with a family lunch at a popular tavern nearby which has a great play area for the kids – it was much more crowded than we expected; we forgot it was Halloween (a ‘tradition’ that is only just taking on in Australia) and celebrated here mostly for fun and dressing up in ghoulish costumes!

WM and I had a good trip home. With the boys, the trip is nine hours; we did it in seven and a half!

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite photos from our holiday – Younger Grandson doesn’t usually wear his hair like that; we’d just come in from the beach and Grandad had towel-dried it!

they’ve gone now

DD, SIL and the two grandsons arrived here in the evening of 4 October. DD and SIL left again at lunch time on the following day to fly to Adelaide. They were joining other members of SIL’s family (his parents and sisters) for a three day trip crossing Australia from south to north by train.

It was a long weekend here (Labour Day) so WM was home for three days. His mother, my wonderful MIL, visited on the Tuesday and stayed for several hours, so I only had one full day (Wednesday) with the boys on my own! I vacillated between calling them “darlings” and (lovingly) “the hooligan and the terrorist”!

It took Younger Grandson a little longer than Older Grandson to adjust to the routine and rules of living in Grandmum and Grandad’s house but we all survived!  DD and SIL were picked up at the local railway station at 10pm last Wednesday and the family left late on Friday morning.

We will see them again on 14th December when the extended family gathers for Christmas, a little less than nine weeks from now.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from our week.

Older Grandson washing down one of our outdoor tables so he could do some crafting

Younger Grandson playing with Mr Potato Head

Older Grandson playing games on the iPad and stitching with Grandmum on a warm day

   

Younger Grandson did some stitching too (using a tapestry needle to join knitted rectangles) but, unfortunately, WM wasn’t around to take photos.

Younger Grandson cutting mushrooms (with a butter knife) and Older Grandson preparing the pizza for cooking

  

The boys having bath-time fun with Grandad and Younger Grandson waiting to watch some TV before bed

Two tired munchkins having an afternoon nap!

 

Gotta love those boys!

What a week it was!

Last Monday, 1 July, DD and Younger Grandson had to come to “the big smoke” to see a cardiac specialist.Tests were done and the all clear was given! Hurrah!

On Wednesday, after seeing the specialist, WM, DD, YG and I headed north for a few days with the family to celebrate YG’s birthday. Little did we know the trip would take nine long hours – we arrived just before 1:30am! Just as well I had thought to ask SIL to collect our room key for the motel so we wouldn’t disturb the owners with our late arrival!

Thursday is the day the boys attend Day Care, so we three adults spent the day near the beach. The sun was shining but it was very windy. This is a view of Back Beach from the headland.

We saw some dolphins playing near these rocks but WM was unable to get a photo.

We tried to spot whales but we just didn’t see any. DD and I had almost given up and taken shelter in the warmth of the car when WM informed us that a whale had been sighted by a local who had told him where to look.

With renewed enthusiasm, we braved the cold – I wore WM’s fleece pullover which was in the car and DD wrapped herself in a small quilt (as best she could). At first we thought we were just imagining things but then we saw a whale breach! Wow! How exciting! WM wasn’t fast enough with the camera for that event but he did manage a couple of photos.

What do you mean you can’t see anything? How about this then?

We spent Friday with DD and the boys. We had a picnic lunch in the park near the playground. In the evening we went to SIL’s parents’ place to celebrate Younger Grandson’s birthday. There was food and drink and conversation but the most important thing to the little guys was this (made by their other grandmother):

YG wouldn’t blow his candle out so OG lovingly obliged!

On Saturday, WM and I went whale-spotting before heading out to DD’s again. Much to our surprise and delight, a humpback whale swam in much close than the ones we had seen two days previously. Taking photos is always a challenge – especially with a big lens and no tripod – but the memory of that whale just a few hundred metres away will stay with us for a long time!

In the early afternoon, WM and I had some one-on-one time with OG while YG had a nap.

Later WM took YG to the playground near the beach for some one-on-one time.

OG was given the chance to go too but he chose to stay at home! He likes to play games on the iPad, especially if it’s Grandmum’s iPad not mummy’s!

While DD was preparing dinner, OG helped Grandmum with her hand-stitching. Just look at that concentration!

All too soon our wonderful few days were over and it was time to make the long trip home.

Roll on October – I miss my grandsons already!