My Mother in Law turns 90.

Joan and Charlie when I first met them in 1968.(Dad passed away at 84 years).

Happy 90th birthday to Bobs Mum, I call her Mum too,unlike many, I like my mother in law.I have not

 always felt liked or loved or whatever but for the last 30 years I have felt very much liked and loved.

We had a wonderful family gathering 8 hours away travel for us and our children, worth every moment.There were 44 people in all and thats just immediate family,Bobs side has definately been more productive than mine ! lol.

I do not have many pics as they used my camera to record the day,that memory card was then placed in a digital frame and Joan could watch them even as the day was ending, eventually I will get copies.

We had a Pinyta and pass the parcel as there were so many little children there but Great Nanna had to have first go!

Joan and our Michael,he was very brave to hold the pinyata lol what chaos when it finally burst ,lollies and goodies all over the hall!!!! kids scampering everywhere to fill their pockets.

In December my Mum will turn 90 but we will not have to travel for that one,we will have it either at our home or at our little church hall depends how many family say they can come.

Joan is still very active in her community going on bus trips each thursday and helping the elderly on and off !!! I am not sure when she will consider herself as aged .

This next pic is just a little print that is in our hallway.It takes people eye and they ask who are those children ?strangely enough my fathers family founded an old gold mining town way out in the dusty western part of Australia,he and his wife were both bad asthmatics and had a large brood of children,sadly many died and the children in this pic are reminders to me of the family babies,I have visited the graves.

This print is quite spooky  as when you pass by it faces appear in the trees etc.There is a soldier ,another  tiny baby and quite a few ladies in 1800 dress,they are very visible( I am not crazy) I have been told that black and white pics capture lost spirits,has anyone else ever heard of this?.I put this pic up as when I was reading Kimmies story the other day of her dream,and this pic came to me.The other strange thing is the number of children in this print is the number of children lost to this lovley man and woman,what a hard life they must have had,eventually they had to move on and went back to Sydney and made a life there.

I do hope you don't all think I am mad lol.

Have a lovely day and be blessed and smile at someone today,it might just be the only lovely thing that has happened for them today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB

On Saturday 11th september it is an anniversary for a horrible time in the world,but in our little world it is my husband Bobs birthday,this year he will be 63.

We first met when he was just turning 21 and I was just 19.

We had no money to do the "dating" thing as he was still in training and  we both loved old furniture so most of our time together was doing up a bedroom suite in my families shed and getting things together.

Bob asked me to marry him on the day we met 21st Feb 1968.I said yes but "don't ask Mum yet as she would have a fit" so he waited till the next day! the reaction was mirth of course.So 2 years from that day we were married.

We have moved so many times since we married but not the last 20 years.Bob was a train driver when I met him and still was when our daughter,Katrina, was born,then he wanted to become an Ambulance driver so that meant a move from the country to the city!! Boy what a change,there we had our son Michael,and moved in with Bobs grandmother to help care for her. Then were transferred out west  to a small town,had 3 years there,then back inland a bit for another three years,then another transfer to a town 10 minutes from here.

We were there for 10 years when Bob had a breakdown"post traumatic stress syndrome" they call it.

It shattered our lives,but we coped,we were in an ambulance home so after realising Bob could not go back to work we found our little cottage here and settled in. Katrina went to uiversity just months after our change she did not want to go but we said she must,she is now a very successful young woman ,a huge job that she juggles with the help of a lovely hubby who chose to be a stay at home Dad for a while and just works weekends to allow her to do this job and 3 gorgeous children, a wonderful Christain woman.She is a rock to us,we are so proud of what she has achieved but it is her daughterness that makes us more proud,she is so much loved and I just know she is there someone you can be "sure of".

Katrina and Stevens children

This is a pic I recieved on my phone sending Grammy a kiss on a not so well day just recently,they are Alexander,Olivia and William.I just love them.

Our son is a wonderful man, he has had lots of mountains to climb,he did not cope so well when his "rock",his dad crumbled but over the years has had battles with his demons.I am so proud that he has risen above his  barriers,found God and is doing so well at his job,  I do not think I would have the strength do be able to do what he has done and managed, he is just terrific.He is a good Christian man,always provided for his family and has enabled his lovely  wife to be a stay at home Mum.Just as with his sister I fell in love with Michael the moment he was born. Recently Michael thought he did not want to be of this worls any longer and it was the hardest time of my life,I know he will never go to that dark place again for he knows how much he is loved by us all and he is too good a man to to that to his family,I call it a hic cup in his life he has turned a corner.He has gone on to have 3 gorgeous children also.

They are Elijah,Lillian and Eden.Here they are off to watch their footy team play ,how gorgeous are they!

Both have been married for 12 years now,rough and smooth they are still together.Of couse I worry about them all but I just love the family that the meeting between two people generate 40 years on.

We both still have our Mums both of them turning 90 this year,how blessd are we.

It has taken many years for my husband to get on with life,he is now the town Postie as you would know ans I help.His breakdown was caused through so many children dying in accidents and fron cot death as it seemed to be so rife back 20 years ago, he had 3 on a Christmas day.That was the begginig of the end for him,he coped with the elderly dying but could not cope with anyone under 20.

He is a good man often has a dark far away look and I know the nastly memories are lurking there.

We have stuck together through thick and thin, I am at last getting health issues under control and hope I will be more pleasant to be around. He may not skittle up to the shed so often lol.

My husband has always had great respect for my belief in God and he knows I pray for him although he does not,he only ever made fun of me once and when he saw how hurt I was he never did that again.

My only complaint about him is he does not like cats and Iwould love a ginger one so much,I joke that if he dies first I will have a cat as quick as a flash,he says who says he is going first so I may still miss out!. lol.

When we meet and fall in love with our partener,we have no idea what is ahead, some peoples lives have a smooth road hardly ever a problem,others have nothing but problems,I think we came in the middle.We have no idea when we are all in the first throws of love what will be thrown at us but if it is a strong love and both are good people at heart you can overcome anything.Some people at the other end of life are still together if we are lucky these days,and still in love,some still together for companionship,some because it was too hard to leave and too much trouble,some ended one marriage and went on to have another union maybe happier maybe not.

I am a believer in marriage,got no idea why it is just there in my heart.Both our children did things the old fashioned way,engaged,married then children.I have many young friends that would not marry if their lived depended on it but have had long time parteners live by the same rules of marriage but don't think the paper matters,they are happy and content .Does it matter? that piece of paper? who knows that answer but I know it was marriage for me and here 40 years on  Grumble Bum and Grumble Mum at times in our home would not want to be with anyone else.

Have a beautiful day,enjoy the blessings in your life,the good and bad were meant to happen they are what makes our life journey,would we change anything,perhaps only words that we spoke but in the big pic the hard bits make us who we are.

Praise God for he is good, praise him for your seeds and praise him for just being.

                               Some of the Little People Hangin' round the Home.

These girls are two fabric teddies dressed alike as I made them to represent my mum and her twin.I did not name them after our girls though as I already have a Thelma and Joyce porcelain twins.These ones are named Letti and Millie. One is dressed in Debbie Mumm fabric abd the other just in country check,they have underwear ,petticoats the whole works and their little jackets are appliqued and hand painted name brooches.The other is little Mimmi she is lovely and just perfect the way she is a no frills girl just like me lol.

The stool they are sitting on was made by Bob and painted by me it is our family tree(needs a couple of names added Imust do that!),and they await in the hallway for something exciting to happen.They have been waiting a long time lol.


I thought I would share with you just a few of the lovely little people that share our home.In an earlier post I talked about learning a new craft each year,These girls are from one of those years.I just love making dolls and teddies.Although I have not made any for some time,it is a rewarding thing to do as you never get 2 the same.You watch as they form into shape and then the most exciting is when the face becomes alive almost.

These girls are also hangin' in the hallway just up from the others.They were a lot of fun to make.I have many hanging round on the walls I love them all,Lord knows where they will end up when I leave this world.

It is lovely to have things around us that we love or have made or painted etc but at the end of the day they are just material.They give us great joy when we look at them and sometimes pride but if they were taken away would we really miss them?
It brings the thought to  my mind about words.What it has to do with all this I do not know but I am going to run with it.
Lately I have been sharp in speech,not feeling well is that an excuse?It is not!...would I like my family to remember me by harsh words(not so much words but tone)   NO!!!or the gentle soft caring person that is really within YES PLEASE.

Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

How true are those words...have you been grumpy today? if you checked out for the wonderous heavenly place that awaits us what is the last memory your loved one would have of you today...BLUSH!! BLUSH!!
I think I better go say sorry for being grumpy,and put in place some sweet honeycomb for my loved ones soul.
Thank you for listening to me ramble ,in all of that a lesson came to me,whether you are of Christian faith or other it does not really matter ,for me the Holy Spirit used this post to remind me of that verse,if you listen to your inner self it is the same thing,the hardest part is being obedient to the message.
Have a most beautiful day.

                                                 Who's that hanging round my chickens?

On Thursday at the op shop I spotted a little person with no clothes and looking for somewhere to live.
I decided the buy the small child sized doll and shopped for some clothes for her at the same time.
All up she cost me $10.00 for shoes,shirt,overalls and a lovely little hat.
Our old scarecrow is looking delapidated and worn and lonely and my first thought was this little person would make him a great friend.
When I got home I rested Cloe (as I named her) against my new chicken house,The dogs next door went crazy barking, my Mum came out and said who's that? and then I realised that I had placed Cloe as if she were looking into the chicken pen and she looks just like a small child,she fooled the dogs and Mum!
Well it looks like I will have to make my scarecrow a new friend when I go shopping next week and buy some old clothes as Cloe loves looking at the chickens and looks like she is there to stay.
Cloe is serving 2 purposes,she gives Mum so much joy as she looks from the window in the kitchen she can see her,and as for me...well I miss my grandchildren so much that I have a little fantasy that it is one of them looking at "our girls". So for Mum it makes her 89 year old face lite up and for me Cloe just makes me happy,and she is so well behaved!

Would you believe the chickens like her too.How often do we think it is the big things in life that make us happy,when all along a little person someone else disposed of got a new life at our home,has filled us with joy this weekend.

God sends us little mysteries all the time,things to make us be thankful,things that make us smile,I believe he knew this weekend I was more fretful than usual missing my family who all live away and thought to himself "this will cheer her up"

Thank you Lord for all the lovely little joys you bring.

Each day is wonderful,full of surprises and although not feeling the best now for some time,I did not even think about that today.

Praise you Lord.

                                   Reflection on the gifts He gave us


Each of you has been blessed with one of God's many wonderful gifts
 to be used in the service of others.
Use your gift well.
1 peter.4:10 cev


I was reading my little book that my grandchildren gave me sometime ago "His Princess..Love letters from your king" by Sheri  Rose Shepherd, in it is the verse above and I was thinking about the gifts that God has bestowed upon us. I am not actually talking of the  Gifts of the Spirit,(by the way have you been blessed enough to find yours)? I am talking about the little arty things we can do. It made me realise that we do many things in life and move on never realising that we weren't so bad at it.At the age of 47 I decided I would like to learn a new craft each year and I began with Folk Art.

 One of my first attempts at folk art( well good enough to hang lol).There were many things that were very bad and they are still around,in the garden,door stops etc lol where people will not notice them ,but to remind me that things do not have to be perfect to bring joy,because even those items gave great joy at the time of painting.

This was a fine brush type of work that was a joy to do, it ended up looking like tiles but it is actually timber squares with layers of gesso sanded over and over to a lovely smooth surface.

This is mt first cottage I ever did, it is not perfect but I loved doing it.

This was a really challenging work,the faces needed to be realistic and it had many textures and I still look at it and cannot believe I did it!

This is my first lamp and lace work with roses it sits in our loungeroom on a little table that belonged to a friend that has passed over,the cherrubs we call the twins,Mum is a twin and her sister has passed and this is in memory of Aunty Thelma,it is our little memory table.

This is our spice cupboard ,Bob made it from the back of an old wardrobe that we had,and this is my favourite rooster,he is my first one, I have painted dozens of them, on clocks on books,tables you name it! His tail alone always took a couple of days as it is layers and layers if hair fine brush work,he is a lovely fellow.

I rarely paint anymore,I moved on to bear making,quilting,embroidery,crochet,knitting so many wonderful crafts too many to mention,I have stayed with my idea of learning something new each year, sometimes it has had to do with outside the home in the garden but it has always been a great journey, I am perfect at none of them but it does not matter.As I moved around our home to decide which work I would take a photo of I did not pick the best or worst I just picked the ones with the vivid memory of being painted.I have asked myself today why did I stop?There is no real answer to that as we all change from time to time what we eat, wear,methods of doing things we change habits etc so therefore we change to another craft.

I have to say though that looking around me my family will be able to say one day,"gee Mum had a go at anything didn't she".All of them have a special something painted for them male and female alike,so a little bit of me will live on.

I am feeling a little sad though as I realise that God gave me the gift to do these things no matter what they turned out like and I am so grateful for the gifts he has bestowed upon me in everyday life,I wonder did I take them for granted then I realise that he opened another door for me and gave me the oportunity to learn much more,I have taken his blessings with open arms.Thank you Lord.

PS. A little post script for those who understand the gifts of the spirit,when I was baptised,born again,made my promise to our Heavenly Father and gave my life to him,I was told that my gift of the spirit was the gift of giving,I make sure that I make full that blessing I have been given and each day I give of myself,quietly,gently,I pass through each day ending it knowing I did something no matter how small for someone else.How wonderful to get some much joy from something that costs me nothing.Praise God.

Have a lovely sweet blessed day.

Piglet sidled up behind Pooh

"Pooh" he whispered.

"Yes Piglet?"

"Nothing" said Piglet,taking Pooh's paw

"I just wanted to be sure of you".

A.A.Milne(Winnie-the Pooh)

When I read these words three things come to mind.The first is the vision of a little child looking up at Mum or Dad and saying nothing with words but absolute chapters with the look in the childs eyes.

After all, that is all a child really needs isn't it in life, just to be sure he or she is safe in the arms of the parents,hopefully both but in the cases of broken homes the need to be sure of the one parent with primary care.

As I look back at my life as a child of an abusive home first then leading to a broken home,I can say with all honesty and pride that my Mum made me feel those word,for we were sure she would always be there for us, and she was, and now I am looking after her and as a tiny little lady 89 years young I make sure she can look at me and she "can be sure of me" for I will not fail her as she did not fail me.

The second thing is did I make my children feel "sure",and do I make my granchildren feel "sure". It is their story to tell one day but I know I have done everything I can to make them feel safe.I have cuddled them,soothed them,LOVED them with all my being,is there anything more important?.

The third thing that comes to mind is friendship.Over the years I have given frienship too freely at times and have gotten badly burned, it is now in the September of my life that I look back and see the wonderful friendships I made in youth still standing,I look at old photos and think of some faces "what was their name?where are they now?". I believe friendships in life have seasons and reasons, people come and go into our lives and the ones still standing are those that we can be "sure" of.The ones there through thick and thin,some we only touch base with at Christmas but the heart feelings are still there.

New friendships have come along in the last 12 months and these people are so wonderful,I knew instantly they were people that I could be "sure"of.These are myCackle Club friends,and in my troubled times as in theirs we have all been there for one another,proving we can all be "sure of each other.

Above all these of course is my husband,so that makes 4 things .The song says "good and bad ,happy and sad"  this probably describes most marriages,and when you go through all those things and get to the 40th year you can look at each other and say,"I just wanted to be sure of you" and I am.

Other than our precious Lord ,our Heavenly Father,it is nice to know there are others in life we can be sure of, who will make us feel safe,shelter us in our storms in life.

Knowing that our God is there to take our burdens lighten our yolks makes our daily lives so much easier.We only have to ask Him to take our troubles,let our worries and woes go..Let it Go and Let God ... it is the one thing in life we can "be sure of".take care..

Beary Interesting

I was looking at the all the lovely people that follow my blog and saw a new member Bumble Vee, I decided to go visit  her blog and saw that she loves making bears,has a motor bike etc,how wonderful we also have a bike and although we have not been able to go on  it much since mum came to live with us it awaits us in the shed.

What reading her blog did for me was to remind me of how much I loved making bears,my favourite ones are the small ones and I just loved using mohair.There are many bears around our home but my little ones reside in the draws of our old singer sewing machine where they just hang about being beary good.

The wonderful thing about making bears is to see thier own little personality develop as you place their nose and eyes and mouth on, until then they pretty much all look alike.

Two of my favourites are Rosey bear and Little Bob.

 Meet Rosey,I made Rosey especially as a friend for Little Bob,she is a very good little bear,pretty with her rosebud near her ear.I thought Little Bob was lonely so  that is how she came about.They just hang about in the drawers being beary good,having beary interesting chats.

Meet Little Bob,now his story is so beary interesting,he has travelled far and wide and has so many tales to tell. I made Little Bob for my husband Bob when we got our motorbike, Little Bob always came on the bike with us in Bob's vest pocket.He is a beary nice little bear,I was going on a trip 5 years ago and thought I would miss hubby very much so we decided that I should take little Bob with me then I would not miss Bob so much.

What an adventure,Little Bob has been to England,Ireland,Scotland,he has been to 19 countries in Europe including going to Paris, to Amsterdam,Vienna,Venice on and on. He has had a go of driving a tour coach was seen ,having a guiness in a pub ,he has had an amazing life.I originally took all the pics of him in all the wonderful places to write a book for the grandchildren, sadly I did not get around to it,maybe I still should do it.

When I went back to the UK, 2 years ago with Eva I had planned to take Little Bob and Rosie,I thought the could have a beary romatic honeymoon but alas in the rush a bustle I forgot them,and they stayed home with Bob.

It is so nice to read other peoples blogs and see their interests,it brings back memories as to what you have done, brings insperation to what you would like to do and other times makes you just plain envious.So thank you Bumble Vee for reminding me of how much I loved making bears until I started to quilt so now I am inspired to make another one. So thank you beary much indeed.