We had a happy Father's Day

We all went to my eldest daughter's, Tracey, for a Father's Day Barbecue on Sunday. We had a great day, the Dads got some nice presents and we all ate far too much. Mind you, Shannon's Dessert, a very large plate piled high with REAL CUPCAKES, was a bit hard to resist. Yep, she even makes great real ones.
So I thought I would share some pics of the day with you all.



Sam & my sweet 4 yr old granddaughter, Kaitlyn. Digging for buried treasure, maybe?




Sam, just digging, cos he can.




A very relaxed Tracey, after lunch.






Scuba Sam. Think the goggles might be just a tad too big?

Alexandra, my 16 yr old granddaughter, doesn't look pleased about having her pic taken.

Tracey's partner, Todd. Big, sweet, gentle man. Not half as scarey as he looks - lol.

You will notice that there is no group photo. Trying to get this lot to all get together in the one spot is like trying to climb Mt Everest, almost impossible. Also, there is no photo of me. I figure Shannon has posted enough ghastly pics of me to keep everyone happy.

Hugs, Coll :-}

PS; I did have a pic of Shannon & Shane, but she made me remove it and like an obedient Mum, I did :-}

Father's Day, Sweet Memories & some tears

We have Father's Day this coming Sunday and I got to thinking while I was doing the dishes this morning.

John & I both have lost our Dads (& my Mum too). My Dad, Frederick (Fred) passed away almost 17 years ago, aged 89. He was in his mid forties when I was born, I was the last of eleven children. He was born in 1901. As you can imagine, he had a very tough life, coming from a not very well off family. His Mother was in a Mental Institution from the time he was 2 yrs old, Dad didn't even know she was alive until she passed away when he was 15. What can possess people to keep things like that a secret from children. He & his brother Gordon were mostly raised by his Maiden Aunt, Ida who, by all accounts, was an unloving woman & a strict disciplinarian. His father, it seems, couldn't cope with raising the 2 boys. He did have a couple of sisters, who he completely lost touch with.

He married my Mum, Minnie, when he was 18 & she was 17 and they raised all those children, through the Depression years when there was no work and Dad did all sorts of jobs, even chocolate making, to feed everyone. After the 2nd World War, he learnt a trade, Blacksmithing, which then became Welding and when he retired from the work force, he was one of the best in the business. He also had a wonderful singing voice, won many talent quests and I often think, if times had been different, what he could have been.

He was at times a hard father, but I always knew he loved us. I helped him through some tough times after Mum died 27 yrs ago, they had been married almost 60 yrs. He lost 2 children (& I lost a brother & a sister) during those 10 years. He carried me though some tough times after my divorce and thankfully, was around to see John & I marry 5 yrs later. This pic is of both our Dads at our wedding reception/party in my neighbours back yard, my Dad is on the left.

John's Dad, Edwin (Ed) passed away nearly 4 yrs ago, aged 86. He was a country boy from Victoria, he also lost his Mum early on and the family was scattered about. He came from a large family and fortunately, they managed to all keep in touch with each other over the years.
He was a train driver for most of his life and a heavy smoker for a lot of it and this resulted in him developing Emphysema, which eventually put a strain on his heart.
He & my Mum-in-Law lived in Queensland, and fortunately John had gone to visit them, because his Dad had been ill. His Dad had a massive heart atack that weekend & passed away in John's arms.
They were both wonderful, hard working men and loving husbands & fathers, grandfathers & great-grandfathers & we miss them very much.

RIP - Safe in God's arms. Happy Father's Day Dads, we love you.

Coll.

Sunny days, flowers, and butterflies

Today was absolutely the most gorgeous sunny day, not that I saw much of it. I was catching up on housework and taking pics for ebay, so mid afternoon I took my shadow, Maddie, around the garden for a walk with a cup of coffee (just me, not the dog, she's giving up caffeine). I took my camera with me, that's getting to be a bit of a habit now, never used to be. Finally sat myself down on our very shabby old garden seat in the back corner of the garden. We have some gorgeous African Daisies & an Abelia hiding a little compost heap up there. It's very sunny right up until the sun dips really low.

This is my mini camellia I planted last year, "Fairy Wand". Just falling over with flowers.

This is some gorgeous Iris, which haven't flowered the two years we've been here, but decided to this year. I think they like the drought. There's some lovely forget-me-nots sprinkled in there too. There's millions of them coming up in the garden, they seed like crazy.

A pair of butterflies, just the regular old Copper Browns, fluttered in amongst the daisies. Those daisies must be really sweet, because they kept coming back. Not only that, I lost count of the times one of them flew around me, across me and even alighted on the seat next to me several times, long enough for me to take a couple of pics. I've heard that it's really good luck if a butterfly flies in your Aura, so I must be the luckiest gal in town right now!

I still can't believe he/she stayed put long enough, I'm sure it knew I had a camera - lol. Anyhow, it is now an internationally travelled butterfly, in it's too short life, courtesy of blogger.

Hugs, Coll :-}

Memories, Memories

Last week I bought a gorgeous old framed floral print on ebay, by a favourite painter of mine, Albert Williams. I have a beautiful HUGE print of his roses in my Lounge Room, and when I saw this one on ebay I had to have it. Only small, but gorgeous. So I bought it.


Ok, so today I decided to take the frame apart, clean everything up and paint the frame, which was black. Behind the print was all this old newspaper, from January 1964. John & I had a great old giggle about some of the articles, brought back lots of memories. So I thought I would share them with you. This is the colour the newspaper was, I didn't want to change it.

Oh, my goodness, how would the poor nurses feel if they had to wear that headgear these days.

And don't you just love the old ads. They were for some airconditioning system, but who would know. Love the headband.

I'm going to put it all back when I reframe the print. Who knows who will find it one day.

Hugs, Coll :-}

Finally, Sunshine, Yippee!!!

Today we finally got some sunshine. This weather is insane, it rains like crazy until all my plants grow webbed feet, but it still doesn't rain where they need it most, in the country. Our farmers are still doing it very tough and that, of course, is pushing prices up on everything. But as usual, it isn't the poor ole farmer who gets the loot, it's the big chains of Supermarkets who keep getting richer and the farmers still struggle on the land. Our fresh food etc keeps going up in price and you wouldn't mind if the money went where it should. Same the world over, I suppose. Still, it stinks!

Anyhow, back to the sunshine. I worked last night and was really glad to get home today so I could get out into the garden in the sun. Had a wonderful time, pulled weeds, planted some more lavender and some primula (pink & white, of course) and gave lots of things a good feed, as well as the snails. I know, I know, they are God's creatures too, but could God ask them to please not eat my primula.

So when I finally stopped and sat in my favourite old cane chair in the sun to have a cuppa (and a chat on the phone with Shannon), I couldn't believe how beautiful the late afternoon sun looked coming through the boughs of my gorgeous flowering cherry, which is set to burst into beautiful blossom in a few weeks. I took some pics and I am amazed at how the camera picked up the light as the sun sank lower, especially in the last pic. Just like a rainbow. Moments like that, you just know there is a God.

Hugs, Coll :-}

My pretty kitchen window

Did some re-arranging in my kitchen yesterday. I have this huge window, which looks out onto my garden, with a nice window sill, which is just perfect for putting stuff on. Pink stuff, of course. My kitchen is all blue, it's old and shabby and I just adore the French Blue. Painted by my darling Shannon when we moved in here 2 years ago. It was the most repulsive timber stained yuk you can imagine.

Anyway, I have hated the curtains since we've been here, pretty lace, but cream and just a bit either side. Very nothing.

So, through the week I had to get some other curtains out of lay-by (will post them when they are up), so I shouted myself some new ones for the kitchen.

What a difference. Gives it a whole fresh new look, I get more light in, as it's on the shady side of the house, and I can see all of my garden, even if it does look a bit dreary at the moment, rain, no sun forever, and just about at the end of winter.

Not only that, now I have lots of stuff on the window sill too.

Could probably get more on there maybe - lol. I "need" some more pretty salt & pepper shakers. I now have 3 sets around the kitchen, is that a collection starting?

Ok, gotta go, working this weekend. Taking my guys from work out for a drive in the country for afternoon tea today and I get to pick up some pretty purchases from ebay at the same time. Pretty good eh.

Hugs, Coll :-}

Garage Sale-ing & To-die-for Mountain Homes

Iwoke up early this morning and it was so nice and sunny, I decided I may as well get up, have a cuppa with DH before he went to work and then toddle off up into the Mountains and go Garage Sale-ing. Lots of beautiful old homes up higher, gorgeous gardens. Even in winter they still look wonderful, a bit like England really. So I did a bit of driving around and sighing enviously as well - lol. You've gotta love the pink house. The other is called Maple Lodge. Sorry the pics aren't great, they're out of a local real estate book. I, of course, forgot my camera this morning. As you do.

So I got to the garage sales finally. I have no idea why we call them that, very odd. I think in the States they're Yard Sales, aren't they? Anyway. I got some great bargains. Lovely old & very heavy flower shaped mirror with a bevelled edge $10, (she wanted $20), which I will probably shabby up and keep, just gorgeous gilt mirror $10, Depression Glass Dresser Set $10 (bit much but I couldn't resist it), Woods Ivory Ware Sweet Set $5, Tole Lamp $5 (wanted $10), this will also get a paint job and probably the shade recovered, and the sweetest little porcelain roses, which I am definately keeping. So I was very happy with my finds this morning.

After having such a good time at the garage sales, I had to go to K-Mart to buy a new keyboard for my computer, since mine decided that the b & n wouldn't work, very awkward, because I couldn't sign in to anything.

Ok, so I get home, put my treasures away and get set to install the new keyboard. So now, of course, the rotten thing decides to work agan. You get that, eh.

Well, at least I will have one here should the thing decide to go off the rails again.

Now I'm off to make a cuppa, the weather has turned lousy again, so I think I'll sit down and do some more envious sighing over that real estate book. Maybe we could buy the pink house, it's only $895,000. (C'mon Shann, we could ALL live in it, it's got 5 bedrooms-lol).

Hugs Coll :-}