Treasured Finds& Blessings of Mums.

Recently at the op shop I found some books.I love Helen Styner Rice and was blessed to find 3 of her books,one I will give to my friend Melissa as she loves her work also and it is one I already have. Another 2 I found were a very old Little women and The Christmas Story.
 Bob and I are so blessed to still have our Mums, mine lives with us and his Mum is over 8 hours away so we only get to see her a couple of times a year,but we chat every Sunday by phone..Both will be turning 90 at the end of the year.

Joyce (my Mum),Bob,Joan ( Bobs Mum)..

In front of one of the books the previous owner had written a verse and it really made me ponder as to why she wrote it but it is lovely,and made me think of what is to come for us,when it is time to say goodbye to our Mums.


WHEN I COME TO THE END OF THE ROAD
AND THE SUN HAS SET FOR ME
I WANT NO RITES IN A GLOOM FILLED ROOM
WHY CRY FOR A SOUL SET FREE.

MISS ME A LITTLE BUT NOT TOO LONG
AND NOT WITH YOUR HEAD BOWED LOW
REMEMBER THE LOVE THAT WE ONCE SHARED
MISS ME -BUT LET ME GO

FOR THIS IS THE JOURNEY WE ALL MUST TAKE
AND EACH MUST GO ALONE
IT'S ALL PART OF THE MASTERS PLAN
A STEP ON THE ROAD TO HOME

WHEN YOU ARE LONELY AND SICK OF HEART
GO TO THE FRIENDS WE KNOW
AND BURY YOUR SORROW IN DOING GOOD DEED
MISS ME -BUT LET ME GO.


I wonder did anyone see this written, find the other notes in the book,the special newspaper cuttings ,or did they merely toss it aside when the time came for clearing out.Am I just too sentimental ? as I could never have parted with this if it had been my Mums. I often see my Mum sitting in her favourite chair with a little book jotting things down, I have not a clue as to what Mum writes but one day I will read them and I will miss her terribley but I will remember to let her go.
Have a blessed new start to the week. Carole

Strike while the oven is Hot ( with Georgies help)!

George is part of our everyday life so whatever we are doing georgie has his nose in it!

As the oven was already hot from the bottles I had sterilised for the pickles, I decided to do a batch of our family favourite sausage rolls,I have made these ever since our children were little and you can vary the recipe by having different flavours eg: curry or chilli.We mainly just love them as is.

Sausage rolls.
1kg sausage mince
2 onions chopped finely
2pkt french onion soup mix(homebrand)these are optional but add a lovely flavour.
2 slices of bread soaked in milk
2eggs
10 sheets puff pasty laid out on bench to defrost while you mix:

Have oven on at about 180 (my oven is a very hot one so it is plenty for mine).grease oven trays (I use spray) .
Put sausage mince in a lge bowl,add french onion soup mix, chopped onions,eggs and squeeze milk from bread and add it too( the bread saoked in milk takes up any fats in your mix).Mix all together.

Place a line of mixture along one edge of your pastry,and as firmly as you can roll it up.

with a fork, press down each end and go along the join and press,this will stop spillage and splitting( I think, I always do it lol) then cut your roll into pieces of required size I generally cut 5 from each piece,like a good sized party sausage roll.You could make them larger if you wanted.

Place them on a tray and in your oven for about 10 mins they do not take long and,enjoy.

If you cut them into the smaller size you will get about 50 rolls,I freeze them in packs of 4,they are a great size for the grandchildren and also for Mum.

Also while I was doing this I thre a slice tgether a friend told me about the other day,problem is it is yummy and hard to leave alson.

Very quick and very  easy,you will need;

1 Whitewings buttercake cake mix

1 cup chopped dates

1 tin condensed milk 125 gms melted butter.

mix the cake mix and butter together and press into a slice tray.cook 15 mins.

 remove the slice from the oven and place chopped dates onto top

then gently pour the whole tin of condensed milk over the dates and place back in the oven for 15 mins.

when you remove it at the finish the condensed milk will be like a stcky caramel and just lovely.Forgot to take a pic of the finished product!.
So after a day of rain ,rain and more rain,we have heaps of pickles 16 jars, soup for dinner tonight and 6 containers for the freezer and one for my brother,54 sausage rolls  in the freezer less the one that Georgie pinched ,a slice to give my helpers tomorrow when we wrap more gifts for the elderly next week and do their showbags.
The house smells lovely,the fire is so warm and we feel so blessed to have a full cupbard. The pickles I will share with friends and family and the Worcter Sauce I made the other day also shared.We are thinking of getting a bradmaker, but I am worried Bob will fall in love with it and we will get even fatter!!! We are reading everyones blogs to see how much they use theirs,Ido not want it to be a fad item.Each day we are using up things in our cupbaord so we can use less bought addatives and more back to basics( hence why we had french onion soup in the pantry)I had to go buy the cakemix as the slice was so yummy and it does not hurt now and then to stray.So I look forward to using everyone recipes and hope you can make use of some of our family favourites.Have a lovely day.

Its Raining its Pouring..no time for Snoring!!!

On such a wet day the only thing to do is cook up a storm. I love days like this as I can do one of my favourite things,cook.Although we did plan a day getting our new garden beds ready,thee will be plenty of time to do that,best be known we are very tired and we like to cook together,even george helps!!! as you will see.
First job was to put Rhonda's Pea and Ham on the stove,now 2 hours later it smells devine.Thankyou Rhonda(Down---To---Earth).

Next a double lot of my favourite Choko Pickle recipe,it really is as easy as 123.
                                   Choko Pickles:
4lb Chokos
1lb onions
4 cups brown vinegar
4 cups sugar
salt
1 tablespoon Curry Powder
1 tablespoon Mustard powder
1 small cup plain flour
1 tablespoon Tumeric powder

This is a bargain our new favourite toy we got at the op shop for $5 had bnever been out of the box and uses no power except man power brilliant for the onions!

Chop your onions and chokos to your desired size if you like chunky do chunky if fine do fine.Add them to your pot with vinegar, sugar, mustard ,salt and curry powder. Mix it all thoroughly.

Boil together until choko pieces are soft .
Mix your cup of flour and tablespoon of tumeric together using some extra vinegar, make it to a paste,I add a  water as well to make a nice runny mix, take the pot off the stove and stir in slowly,I stir wirth one hand and gently pour in the mix with the other this way you never get lumps, place back on the heat for just 5 mns or so and then bottle.( I steralise the bottles as it is cooking ,I do them in the oven.
This  is a lovely easy recipe and you will get 8 to 10 bottles from a batch.Yumm yumm

There is nothing like homemade.

Today I decide to make homemade Worcester Sauce after finding lovely plums at Newcastle Markets on Sunday.

Ingredients needed.

4lbs plums

3lb white sugar

2lb brown sugar

850gms Treacle( the amount in the regular jar)

7quarts vinegar(2ltres white and 2litres brown)

2 heaped tablespoons salt

2tablespoons minced garlic

1tablespoon white pepper

1tablespoon allspice

2teaspoons powdered cloves

1 dessertspoon cayene pepper

1 tablespoon ground ginger

Seed the plums and add all ingredients in a large boiler ,boil together until soft and cooked about 1 hour.Take from the heat and blend all together( I use my whizzer stick) ,place back on heat and boil for another hour.As it is cooking remove scum that gathers on the top.

Have your sterilized bottles ready.

This receipe makes about 20/23 bottles.

This is my Mum Joyce 89 and helping me wash the bottles ready for sterilzing.

Remember to remove the scum as you go.

A funnel makes it easier to bottle,lots of soft drink bottles have screw tops and they are the perfect size and other sauce bottles of course.Ask friends to save them for you.

The end product, this time I got 20 bottles of  sauce,not only yummy on your food great for added flavour for gravies, sauces and soups.

Making pickles and sauce is very relaxing and so worth the effort,once you make this you will never wat to buy it again.

Enjoy.

                          

                                             A Journey Never to be Forgotten.

In memory of Eva Linda Sandra Gallett nee Suchenek- Suchecka..24/04/1952....23/04/2009



                                               The Story of Eve and Carole




In 1997 after the closing down of the Aberdeen Meatworks I found myself looking for work and a friend suggested that I go out to Rosemount Winery for work.I did this and was placed in the area of removing labels and packing etc. That is when I met Eve.I have called her Eve and not Eva since the day we met, we worked alongside of one another many times and that is when I learned of her car accident and her long and exhausting road to recovery.

We had wonderful funny times all telling tales of our partners,our children and their lives and we shared a mutual friend Tracey Morgan, who worked with us.We shared Tracey's hard times as her marriage broke down,kids in trouble,my son and daughters day to day trials and when my first grandchild was born and the excitement,all this was made easier knowing that when I got to work I could pour my heart out to all these girls, and,they could do the same,Eve worried about Sara who was going through a tough time with a relationship,Ricky and his rough times, Ryan and his health ,and of course Frank! Well thats a story in itself. Just knowing we were going to be able to talk about all these things as we worked was wonderful knowing the nasty old world outside would go away for 8 hours,true friendships were formed as we all got to know one another better each day.

After the winery closed down and we were all layed off,Eve and I stayed in touch and I would go out to Denman and we would have craft days. We decided we would make enough dolls folk art and all to have a stall at the market .We worked our fingers off,didn”t sell that much but had a great time doing it. Eve is a lovely painter, it was something she loved to do.She also made fabulous fabric dolls with hand painted faces, I have 2 in my bedroom they are a constant reminder of my wonderful friend and her amazing talents,how frustrated she must feel in her mind at what she would love to be still doing and can't,she never says anything much about it but I know.

At the time of painting and sewing and even in afterthought at Rosemount, Eve's movements were getting slower and slower and we all thought that this was a result of her car accident, little did we know that this was really possibly the Palsy starting to rear its ugly head.

Through the winery days and then our craft days we became better friends ,Eve even went to another friend Tracey who lives around the corner and this girl had a serious back injury and Eve “PAINTED THE INIDE OF HER BLOODY HOUSE!” Sadly to say this girl never even pops around to see if my sweet friend is ok,there are givers and takers in this world and Eve is a giver.She is a giver of time, love, friendship,she would give you the shirt off her back,but, mind you not her bikini.



In 2006 Eve went to England to visit with her family, she had a wonderful time,she came home telling me about these sisters and brothers and their children,and I loved them from afar just because of their wonderful love for their sister.When she went “home” on that visit things were not so obvious for her such as a proper diagnosis ,so that it was not like she would not be seeing them again.

Not too long after that visit she did receive her news that it was not something that was going to go away, or just make life harder but a final ,horrible blow. I went to visit Eve one Tuesday afternoon and she literally threw some paperwork at me and said “read Carole”, I did and was in shock as I read about the Palsy that she had .The words were like knives in my heart so I can't even imagine how they were to Eve and Frank . I asked had she shown these papers to the family, she said no, I asked how long she had known she said last month.I told her she needed to talk to the children asap and Sara was coming the same day.Sara read the papers and from then on it was “real”.

In 2007 Eve asked me if I would travel “home” with her to say
goodbye to her family in Britain. I know I was not the first choice I believe that another friend was asked but could not go,fate or God stepped in.I said if I had the money I would but it was not possible, we had just started a mail contract,and I did not know how I could get away let alone pay for it. Sara also asked me if it was possible could I go and I desperately wanted to do this for Sara as well as Eve. Frank said if he could find the fare could I go,and thinking it would never happen said of course.

Frank rang me and said he sold Eve's little car as she could no longer drive and he had enough for both our fares.SHIT!! it was going to happen! I said as long as I could get someone to do my job I would go,prayed about it and the girl I was taking over from offered to stay 7 weeks longer so I would be free to go. God is good. I had been to Britain 3 years earlier and loved it but never dreamed I would go back, let alone like this. My guilt over not being able to pay my way was horrible, I felt I was taking away from Eve,but Sara was so supportive telling me not to think that way as there was no one else to go.I thought it was Franks job to take Eve home, thank God he did not take Eve as it was not easy physically but mentally it was wonderful for her,no stress,lots laughs, she needed this badly.

Our adventures started the moment we left our families at Mc Donalds at Maitland,we had an airport van pick us up there and we said our goodbyes and off we went,our adventure ,sad though it was ,was about to start.

We had a flat tyre on the wheelchair when we left Australia and we still had the flat tyre when we got back 7 weeks later,what a difference a little air would have made to our lives,we cursed that flat tyre daily,I think it is still flat.nearly a year later.The airport experiences were horrendous at times and so good at others,we had 2 large suitcases, 2 hand luggage bags, full to the allowable weight I might add, our hand bags , a walking stick which poked everyone as it passed by the crowds,a life unto itself it finally got lost at Heathrow on the way home as we had to take off our shoes ,and put everything through the xray and it was not till we were on the plane that we missed it, never to be seen again,I think it was sick of us! Not everyone stops to help ladies struggling with all this and trying to get through ,some people glared at us if we got to go in front of the line as if we were privileged to have a wheelchair,I often felt like saying “want to swap places with Eve's life?” this was the exception rather than the rule.

Our plane flights were long and not so comfortable for Eve as she is so tall but she never complained,she was so excited. The look on her face at Heathrow when she saw her brothers Ray and Chris was worth all the angst I had,my big concern was if I was up to the job ahead,if I was strong enough mentally and physically,to cope with what was ahead,but I made it and proud to say I delivered Eve home with no bruises, bad falls or anything ,it was the hardest job I have ever done but I loved it and I know she would have done the same for me.

At last we were Brocks barn,Badgers Lane, Over Almondsbury Bristol,and our adventures were about to begin,7 weeks I will never forget.



Our first adventure was a visit to Portshead to see Eve's fathers grave as it was his birthday and she wanted to place a card on the grave. We arrived safe and found the tiny cemetery behind a little church, I was amazed at the little gardens planted on the graves unlike Australia and turned to say to Eve how lovely and she was nowhere to be found,I looked over the top of another headstone and there she was flat on the ground, she had insisted on wearing heeled shoes and the ground was so uneven she had silently fallen over missing hitting her head by inches and we laughed and laughed as she said “blody hell”, bloody hopeless” which I then learned was one of her favourite sayings repeated many times,I told her stop trying to get in with everyone we had too much to do and see, it was funny,from then on the heels were banned unless she was to be in the chair all the time.That was to be an omen for the rest of that days outing. We found her family home and how blessed she was to have grown up with such a magnificent view and a rambling house that was full of nooks crannies little hidden rooms and scary spots,we would loved to have gone inside ,but her stories of the things they got up to was our entertainment for the rest of the drive back to the motorway..DISATER STRUCK! It was 12 noon and we got on the wrong round about outlet ending up in the middle of Bristol city..Panic struck me the driver, we finally got back to another round about and BANG again back in Bristol City,another try at last onto the motorway of speeding cars and not sure of where to go as it had all changed since Eve had gone there last,I felt we were going the wrong way but Eve said “keep going keep going” KEEP GOING ALRIGHT I LOOKED AND WE ARE ON THE HUGE BRIDGE AND INTO WALES!!!

The panic I felt earlier was nothing compared to how I felt now by this we had been lost 21/2 hours! I drove into the toll lane with an attendant,we told him we were lost and he said “are you Australian” we laughed at that one,he got us a guide truck that took us around and faced us the other way, told us to follow the motorway till we got to Thornbury turn and follow that...simple.. we headed off and got to a roundabout BRISTOL CITY AGAIN!! we could not believe it, we found a garage to park in, called Chris and Deb they could not help us as they had no idea what part of the city we were in, found a kind man to go to the roadside with me and point to where to go, we did this and at last the right turn ,onto the motorway again and there were 2 roadside guard trucks on the road, we parked in between them with the officer shouting that you can't stop on the motorway, he could see our faces as we explained we had been lost for over 3 hours and so they told us we were ok ,in the right direction, and our turn was only 5 miles away, they placed witches hats out on the road and cleared a lane for us to get back in the traffic,and off we went

after that day out we became a little more adventurous and 2 days before we came home I got brave enough to go out on the motorway again to find the Mall that Debbie had been taking us to from time to time and we actually made it there and back home with no dramas,so if we had stayed longer I would have been confident to go back to Portshead again as we would both have loved that.However different family members took us there,Ray would pick us up when he was working in nice places drop us off to explore and come and take us to lunch,they were wonderful days, cream teas in a little tea house rambling on the side of a hill looking into the ocean,lunch on the canal in Bristol City (yes but its good if someone is with you) Eve's face covered in chocolate.Debbie taking us to castles for cream teas,to beautiful villages with streams running through and Eve loving her ice creams 99ers wonderful Chris and Deb taking us to the wonderful gardens all having a turn on the mortised chair that when Eve was the driver terrorized us as she almost hit everything and everyone in sight we had to run for cover ,family picnics on the canal for Alas birthday.Deb taking us to Bath for a boat ride and then we had a horse drawn carriage waiting for us for a surprise for Eve for a tour of the city a day of spoiling at a spa at a hotel in bath what wonderful days.

We had some time in Weymouth with Louise and Lou and saw the sites there,lovely walks on the promenade and lou having a turn in the chair with Eve pushing, they decided to get married while we were there and it was lovley Eve was so proud of her sister and being there.Louise and Carole's family gathered at Chris and Debs and that was a great day with the kids entertaining us.

Twice a week Eve's school friends Jane and Val came and had a visit on their way home from work, I would go and leave them in peace to catch up but they would call me to come out and join in and hear their tales, have a wine,I got to love them, they are amazing girls ,one one visit they bought another old friend Sue, these girls must have been the Girls of St Trinians I think ,what they did not do has not been done!

After spending 7 weeks with Eve every waking moment, going up 13 steps everyday to shower and getting back down them without a fall was our greatest achievement,there are no secrets as I have seen every part of her body,poor darling I was like Hitler we had not come all this way for her to fall and spoil her family time,she was very patient with me,we know each other very well! Back home all these things and so many more are but wonderful memories,I was honored to be the one to take Eve on her journey back,now at home I have tried to see her as often as I can,I have a little group of ladies that meet twice a month it is our Cackle Club and Eve has started to come,we love having her there, we talk sew, knit whatever or just listen,have a cry if you need it, Eve knits and we all talk to her and she loves it.Those that have never met Eve before are getting to know the friend that I love dearly,and are so loving and caring to her.

When Eve's younger set family gathered the weekend before we came home,two little great nieces about 9 Lilli(a cheerleader,Carole's granddaughter) and Summer(Lee and Tracey's daughter) made up a little show and did a dance and song for us and it sums our Eve up perfectly, and we hope that we all made her journey a memorable one.

CHEERLEADERS SONG FOR EVA.

Ready OK!

Lilly and Summer are here,

We've made up a cheer,

We came to see Eva

The cool and funky diva,

come on crowd

because were making Eva proud

YEAH!!!



Eve's passing was long and cruel,she lost her speach and body control but her mind was sharp as a tack, we miss her dreadfully and in June her daughter will take her ashes home to be spread with her beloved Mum and  Dad on Portshead cemetary.,and after leaving her homeland at a very young age with her husband and coming so far away she will at last be at peace and "home".

The Quilts I Forgot to Upload

Lilli's quilt my grandaughter ,who is 9 years old. It will be put away till she grows up as it took 2 years to embroider, I am currently doing one for Livvy our other grandaughter for when she grows up.(if I leave it too many years my eyes will not do the work).

This is an apple quilt with farm animals as well, very simple but bright.

This is a tribute to all the ladies that love shopping and shoes it is quite comical ,and i usually do not do bright colours I am a shabby chic girl,the border is actually lots of lanterns hanging and the colours were exactly the same as the colours in the quilt so of course I had to have it.

These next 2 quilts are done very quickly called 6 squares. It actually consists of 18'squares, each that are made up of 9 smaller pieces all different dimensions.This pattern is from a lady that says if you have 6 fabrics of 30cms you can make a quilt and this is true as you can see.If you use bright colours or black and white for eg you would never think it was the same pattern it is really good for a quickie.The lavender one I made for Mum for her sunroom.

These quilts are the ones I made for the quilt day we had mentioned in an earlier post and I had forgotten to upload them(thanks for reminding me sweetie)Other than Lilli's they are not my best work but we wanted some quilts to show people that it can be easy you don't have to do complicated patterns to enjoy quilting, people could see that with limited time and knowledge you can still end up with a pretty quilt,the ladies shopping one is actually a panel and it is stitch in the ditch quilted and some borders added.

Have a restful night and be blessed for you are special.

A Belated Mothers Day

Our little corner of love where we place our cards and Mothers Day flowers,this is the other favourite "old girl" in our home,she has been with us a long time and still works wonderfully well.

I forgot to write a little bit when it was Mothers Day last week.I realise how very,very blessed i am to still have my Mum.

her name is Joyce and she lives with Bob and i full time.Se is 89 years and will be 90 in December. She is no trouble at all and is in charge of the washing up and ironing and woe betied us if we try to take those jobs.

Mum has been both Mum and Dad to me since I was 14 ,she left the family home and took us to safety to our grandparents and we had a safe and happy time. Mum worked 2 jobs to keep us and raise us up,she worked until she was 60,she did a great job.

In my family the daughter has always taken the mother in and looked after her so I always knew that I would do it, there was no discussion or worry it just happened when the time was right,that was 2 years ago,Mum lost her twin sister at 85 and found it was too hard to stay in the town where she lived 3 hours away from us and so she made the sea change.

It has worked out so well, Mum comes to the bush with me 3 days a week(Iknow what she is up to the lol) as she is naughty and goes into the garden without her stick and is prone to falls,so she loves to come with me, seeing the Eagles, kangaroos, horses,lambs and occasionally an Echidna.

I just wanted to say I am so proud to be my mothers daughter,and that I take after her and not my father as I would not have been born with a fairness,honesty, a generous heart, a kind tongue and a love of my fellow man, so thank you mum.

All Wrapped Up..

Heather and Amber considering the books, the goods litterally spilled from the inside to the outside of our home.

Lady Di and Val, my partener in crime,we share the load of our community work.Di is also one of my Treasures girls.

We had 4 tables set up inside all wrapping madly, this is lady Di again and Janet my neighbour. Janet and I go to the same church and I help her at the church functions and she decided to become a Treasures girl and helps whenver i need her.I took other pics but as usual they are terrible lol but I hope I get better at it.

Today we spent the day wrapping this years prizes and gifts for our wonderful "Seniors".This year I had 10 helpers!!! I could not believe it.Many hands make light work.We wrapped and giggled all day long and now we have it all wrapped up as far as my gathering goes. Now I will call at the school each day on my mail run and collect the donations from parents and we will wrap them day by day for the next 2 weeks.

Then we will do the showbags, I get so excited when the businesses call and say they have something for me to give away.

Five years ago I decided to devote five years to our little community never imagining that I would get so much more out of it than I give,so I am going to do it for another 5 years,although I am of the age where I could be attending the event,I am having far too much fun getting it ready so my time will have to wait.

I am so very proud of our little community group.At first we started printing the little free paper called "The Aberdeen Whisper",then a major employer in our town closed down and so our Treasurer had the idea of opening a little op shop to give the women a little something to do,so "Aberdeen Treasures" was born,we are now 10 years old and I have been co-ordinator for the past 5 years,then we decide to start the seniors event ,then we decided to hold a Quilt Extravaganza each year,then we decided the men need something and so "Big Boys Toys" was born to be held each year both the latter being a huge success,we decided in amongst all that to try to get a grant to open an Information Centre in town and guess what we got the grant opened the centre and 3 years on it is still going strong. Whew and as I mentioned before 5 committee members but only 3 workers it is amazing.Almost all of this is done with the help of volunteers. I absolutely love all my girls that help me out,if not for them non of it could happen.

I just thank God that he bought all these beautiful women into my life, they make me realise how important it is to share, how easy it is to be selfish and say "I am too busy". Every day I promise myself to do something for someone, even if it is a smile or a deed it doesn't matter,kidness never killed anyone,and anyway surely if i do good our Heavenly Father will save me a seat on the right,I hope so anyway.

A Time for Spoiling"FRom Little Things Big Things Grow".

LtoR me,Heather and Amber

Robyn,Me,Tanya

Every year our community group consisting of 5, ( we are small but size does not matter!),we spoil the seniors in our area.This day is approaching so fast this year that with 3 weeks to go it is time to pull all the stops out and bring the day together.

5 years ago we had an idea to give the elderly in the town a day of fun,setting up an old time Country Fair and giving them lunch and a nice day out. With only 3 of the 5 members able to do much we approached our local school.It just happens that the Catholic High School based itself in our little town but the students come from all the surrounding areas to it so it it a large school, we asked if there was anyway they could help us and so they came along the first year and we jointly got games together and the food,we had 57 oldies and it was a lovely day.

Now move forward 5 years and "from little things big things grow" we now have year 11 and 12 students doing all the cooking as part of their Higher School Certificate,the art students decorate the hall, the woodwork students make the games like Knock em Downs, Carpet Bowls runners,numerous things,the music department puts on the entertainment while the people have lunch caberet style and the talent never ceases to amaze me, the IT kids do all the Power Point work and photos on the day.We have gone from 57 to 140 seniors enjoying their day. The large supermarket in our nearest big town gives every person a tray of fruits of the season,we make showbags containing leaflets on services available,pens,pads(supplied by the banks) lollies and chips by the local travelling vendor,coffee vouchers from Mc Donalds and a wonderful bags of creams lip balms etc from our local Chemist, every person gets one of these , we have a Golden Goose( a stuffed toy goose sitting on 13 palstic eggs which open)these eggs contain good prizes first is $200 cash then there are hairdreser, butcher, grocer vouchers plus many more .

On top of that they get prizes galore for games like trivia,horse races run an a large screen,lucky chair,door etc.On arrival every senior person is allocated a"buddy" from years 7 to 9 and that child looks after the senior person all day getting them coffee helping them with lunch or games as many come on walkers, wheelchairs etc but we also have many very healthy ones so we make sure they are all safe.

We choose a "King and Queen of Aberdeen" and they receive a hand made quilt each made by my little quilt group(we call ourselves the Cackle Club),we choose someone who is lonely or had a sad year healthwise as there are many accolades for those that "DO" for others but nothing for the lonely or sad.The look on their faces when they are chosen is priceless and makes it all worthwhile.

So Saturday approaches, my spare room is full to the brim from prizes collected all year,our back patio is also boxed in and volunteers from our little op shop which I am co ordinator of are all coming to our "wrap and giggle" day.We wrap all the prizes in cellephane and ribbons and box them up ready for the day, I could not so it without their help,this year I have 8 girls helping me and we will take from 9am probably till 4 to wrap it all.We have cups of tea and lunch and yummy slices to make the day a social activity as well as work and the giggle part comes in as Bob says the place sounds like a hen house.(which is also why we named our quilt group as we did).

The generosity of people astounds me I find things on my doorstep with little notes saying"just a little help for your day" on them. I am so blessed to have a husband that puts up with all the chaos and is supportive. Bob actually drives the bus to the neighbouring towns to collect the people,and yes ,George goes along too if he doesn't take George they all make a fuss.

I am not good at the pics and posting as yet,I just can't seem to find the time to sit and fiddle, after the 5th June things will be slower and maybe then I can improve!

"