Au revoir Dad

My gorgeous Dad passed away in the early hours of this morning just one day shy of his 85th birthday.  I was priviledged to be with him holding his hand as he passed.  I'm so glad he is now without the emcumbrances that his illness brought him, is peaceful and on his way to whatever happens next.

Thank you so much for your messages of encouragement, love and support.  They have been a great source if encouragement and comfort to me and my Mum.

Anne  xx

Dad

As most of you will know I am in Western Australia visiting my parents.  My Dad who has been ill for some time and in hospital very nearly passed on Monday.  We don't know how but he rallied and Mum and I stayed with him Monday night until Tuesday afternoon.  We came home for a brief rest and spent some more time with him last night.  Although he was weak, he was alert, pain free and we were able to give him his 85th birthday gifts just a few days early which he loved.  I saw his beautiful smile and cheeky grin again.  It has been so precious to spend a little extra time with him.

We don't know how it will be for him in the next day or so, but as long as he is peaceful while he goes to sleep, that is all I ask.

Some may think this is too personal a subject to talk about on a blog, but I know that you will be thinking of me and my family during this very difficult time.  I do ask that if any of you have any beliefs, what ever they may be, that you think especially of my Mum at this time who is struggling so terribly with grief and sadness.

Thank you all so much for your support and love, it is much appreciated and very much needed at this time.

I hope you are having a lovely week and for those in the northern hemisphere some sunshine and warm weather.

Anne  xx

:: 52 weeks of happy, 16/52 ::

I'm doing this post early as I'm heading off to Western Australia for two and a half weeks on Sunday to stay with my Mum on the farm and visit Dad who is in hospital.  This post is probably more about being grateful rather than happy, but I don't think you can separate the two.

1.  I'm grateful to have the means and the time to visit and stay with my Mum on the farm and visit my very unwell Dad.

2.  Making these goodies during the week made me very grateful that I have access and means to buy ingredients to make them.

Boiled fruit cakes and soft ginger biscuits.

 3.  Finding this cute and a bit over the top collar for Stripey.  Who says male cats can't wear a bit of bling?!  :)  (I'll let you in on a little secret, it was the only cat collar in the grocery store.)

4.   Sketching this tractor to put on my Dad's birthday card.  He turns 85 on the 26th of April so I'll be home for his birthday.  :)

Materials used:  water colour paper, black fine line pen and water colour pencils.

Wishing you all many happy moments in the week ahead.

Anne  xx

Autumn

You know Autumn has well and truly arrived when at 9.30 in the morning with a clear blue sky, dew drops like these can be found.

On the clothes line.

Looking like diamonds on Rose leaves

Under the pergola.

On this Peace Rose.

On the Rocket in the vege patch.

On the lettuce

On the Parsley.

Big droplets on the Pandorea.

Anne  xx

:: 52 weeks of happy 15/52

Another week has passed and time to share four happy moments, a wonderful idea from Little Birdie

1.  Sitting outside in my PJ's in the warmth and cuddling Stripey.

2.  Buying some lovely yarn to make into a vest.  The light is terrible in my house now the days are shorter, so lousy photo.  Sorry.

3.  Helping hubby make green tomato relish.  One kilo of tomatoes yielded two and a bit jars of relish.  One in the fridge already being demolished.  YUM!

4.  Having breakfast out with good friends.  My Bircher muesli with yogurt, rhubarb jam and pistachios was delicious.

Wishing you all many happy moments this week.

Anne  xx

Birdsland Reserve

Last week I looked after my nephew and niece for a couple of days during the school holidays and on one of those days we went for a picnic at Birdsland Reserve  The reserve or bushland park as it is sometimes referred as, was originally owned by a farming family by the name of Birds and the area was known locally as "Bird's Paddock".   It was sold in 1984 to the then Shire of Sherbrooke and opened to the public for picnicking, bush walking and sightseeing.  It is also a popular place for joggers, bike riders and dog walkers.

There are two main water storage areas, a large lake at the west end and a lagoon at the eastern end.  Monbulk creek flows through the reserve and the waterways are managed by Melbourne Water.

The lake, west end.

 

You can see two men fishing on the opposite bank, I have no idea what they would find in this murky water.  You can see a man jogging with twins in a double stroller too.  He jogged around the lake at least five times while we were there, the twins were asleep the whole time.

Of course where there is water, ducks will always be found.

Nice day for a bath!

These Coots were happy to eat grass around us while we were eating our lunch.  The blue smudge on the left is my nephew's jeans.

 I'm fairly certain the bird in the tree below is a Darter (Anhinga melanogaster).

 They swim in the water very low with only part of their long neck and head out of the water.  We tried to take a photo of it in the water a number of times but it went under each time and staying under water for a good 30 seconds if not more.  Each time it came up to the surface it was in a different place and immediately went under again.

There were many of these Swamphens wandering around.  They nest in the rushes in the Spring.

The lake.

The round piece in of land you can see in the lake in the centre of the photo is actually an island, a safe haven for nesting birds.

The lagoon on the east end.

The walking track that takes you to the lagoon, lake and walking trails.

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As we were walking along this track we saw these Superb Fairy-Wrens.  They are a bit hard to see in these photos.

You can see the blue tale of the Superb Fairy-Wren in the centre of the photo.  This one is probably a male juvenile and his colours aren't fully developed yet.

This one is harder to see.  It's sitting on the long branch with it's tail up in the air.

The reserve is a very important link for locally rare Platypus and the Yellow Bellied-Glider.  I've not seen a Yellow Bellied-Glider but I have seen Platypus at the Healesville Sanctury, they are gorgeous and a lot smaller than you'd expect.

In February 2009 a large bushfire swept through the Birdsland Reserve area covering an area of around 300 hectares.  This followed just two weeks after the devastating 2009 Victorian bush fires. The fire caused much damage to facilities, tracks, and fences and consequently some walking tracks have been closed to allow for re-vegetation and as a safety precaution.  Fortunately work has been undertaken to build new fences and gates in the car park area.  Other facilities in the reserve, the sustainably designed education centre with solar panels, composting toilets and rain water tanks were not affected.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing this lovely tranquil area near where I live.

Anne  xx

Autumn posy

A posy of the last of Autumn's flowers.

Dahlias, Daisies, Salvia, Trailing Lantana and one solitary Rose.

Anne  xx

By the river

Last night Genevieve had an invitation to attend a concert of Pirates of the Caribbean music in Melbourne's city centre.  Hubby and I drove her in so that she wouldn't need to take public transport home late at night.  While we were in the city we took the opportunity to have dinner at Southbank which is south of the Yarra River.

It was a beautiful Autumn evening, not hot and not cold, perfect for strolling and admiring the view.

I learnt how to take a panorama photo on my phone camera although something funny does seemed to have happened to the clouds in the middle of the photo

We ate at the World Resturant and Bar  which had lovely decor and wonderful ambiance.  We started with drinks and some nibbles.  I had a Pimm's and lemonade.  I've heard my U.K. blog friends talk about Pimm's and thought I'd try it out.  Very refreshing.

Olives and almonds, yum!

For our main meal we had a spicy lamb pizza with hummus which was disappointing.  No spice to speak of and hardly any hummus.  Oh well.  We also had a delicious Greek salad and hubby had an open chicken taco which he said was lovely.

About 8p.m. a trio of musicians started playing live soul music, we stayed for a few songs and then went out to stroll in the lovely night air again.  My night shots are a bit dodgy, can't expect too much from a phone camera.

We walked through an arcade and wandered around a bookshop that was open.  I love bookshops, the smell of the books, wondering if you might come across a literary treasure or two.

We finished our evening by having gelato (me), sorbet (hubby) in a cone and enjoyed our treats sitting on a seat outside in the fresh night air.  We were entertained by a young woman doing amazing things with hula hoops and people watching.  Genevieve thoroughly enjoyed her evening and just as we arrived home, Charlotte arrived home too from going to the movies. 

We don't often go out on a Saturday night, we are home bodies so it was nice for a change.

Anne  xx

:: 52 weeks of happy 14/52 ::

I've had many happy moments this week, here are four of them.

1.  The happiest moments this week were hearing that my Dad was able to leave hospital for some visits to the farm for a few hours at a time and also go out for a coffee at a local town cafe.  Thanks to my sister who is currently visiting Dad and Mum in Western Australia.

2.  Giving Genevieve a driving lesson, just a small way to help her become independent.

Photo taken on my phone.  I've entered the 21st century.

3.  Going on a picnic with my nephew and niece to Birdlands Reserve.  (A more informative post about our picnic and Birdsland Reserve to follow.)

4.  Discovering the first issue of this lovely magazine, filled with things that I love.

Wishing you many happy moments this week.  

Anne  xx

Photo scavenger hunt - March

I've been very lazy this month about taking photos and am relying on some of my photos taken from our Europe trip last year.  Oh well, perhaps I'll do better with April's challenge.

1.  Bubbles - in my champagne, 25th wedding anniversary September last year.

2.  Dessert - Also from 25th wedding anniversary celebration last September.

3.  Bridge - The Iron Bridge near Shrewsbury.

4.  Eggs - from when we use to have chooks.  They use to lay some big eggs and the big one in the photo would have been about 100g.

5.  Empty - A beautiful crochet bowl I won in a giveaway from Jacquie at Bunny Mummy 
blog.

6.  Green - in my garden a tall green succulent or Aeonium arboruem canariense (I think that is it's proper name.)

  7.  Shoes - In a shop window in Avignon, France.

8.  Gate - In the back yard.

9.  Three

10.  Toys - My faithful old teddy bear.

11.  Uniform - A policeman directing school children in Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy.

12.  Water - Venice, where else! 

Looking forward to the April list.

 Anne  xx