Queen's birthday holiday weekend

It's not often hubby and I go away but this past weekend was an exception.  We were asked by good friends to join them for an annual food and wine  festival which takes place in the King Valley.  The three hour drive from Melbourne took us through some beautiful countryside.

Early morning in the Yarra Valley

Yarra Valley

Yarra Valley

We caught up with our friends in Yarck to have a coffee break and then took alternate routes to the Milawa Cheese factory where we stopped and picked up some wonderful cheeses and breads for our dinner that night.

Strathbogie Ranges area

Strathbogie Ranges area

You can find out a little more about the Strathbogie Ranges here.  Here are some photos of scenery as we were driving down the valley.

Our first appointment in the lovely King Valley was at Politini Wines where we had the most wonderful Italian inspired lunch.  We were very lucky with the weather as it was sunny although VERY cold.  We sat at tables outdoors and enjoyed food, wine and live entertainment.

Taken late afternoon.

 We headed towards our accommodation passing beautiful scenery.  We stopped at Gentle Annie
for a stroll along the road and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine.

Our original accommodation fell through so in the 11th hour our friends found alternative accommodation in the only place left in the valley that had vacancies.  (The food and wine festival is extremely popular and accommodation is booked a year in advance.)  So hubby and I were in a dorm room with an ensuite and no insulation in the roof or walls.  We did have a small fan heater in the room and I had thought to take a hot water bottle.  Nevertheless we spent a very cold night.  The other two couples in our party were in a little cottage with no insulation but they did have a split system air conditioner so were perhaps a few degrees warmer than us.  Despite the cold night, we enjoyed ourselves hugely feasting on cheeses, breads and other delicacies all washed down with some good quality wines.  We played a board game which had us all in fits of laughter and helped take our mind off the chillyness of the evening.

This is me next morning rugged up in every possible layer of clothing I could find, multiple doonas and my trusty crochet blanket.  Hubby had very kindly offered to brave the cold and make me a steaming hot cup of tea for which I was extremely grateful.

After a late breakfast we headed off to the Mountain View Hotel in Whitfield for lunch.  The food was delicious and everyone was well fed.  Later we headed off to Pizzini Wines for some more wine tasting, coffee and to enjoy the ambiance and atmosphere of people having a wonderful time.  There were people of all ages enjoying themselves, lots of kids and babies too, a real family occasion.  We met with the owner of the winery Fred Pizzini who was absolutely charming and had met our friends on their previous visits the the region.

Fred Pizzini is on the left, an Italian with red hair, amazing.  His sister Carla has redder hair and freckles and I felt right at home.  :)

Old tobacco drying sheds at Pizzinis now converted for the purpose of wine making.

 After an enjoyable afternoon and a few wine purchases we went back to the Mountain View hotel for dinner and had the most amazing pizza.  Fred Pizzini's son runs the hotel so good Italian style food and Pizzini wines were in abundance.

Our second night was cold but we bundled ourselves up in even more layers, cocooned ourselves in as many doonas as we could find and slept a little better.  After packing up and taking a few more photos, we headed off and had brunch at a cafe.

Our accommodation was the central building with the verandah.

 We then went to see an art show that was being held at another winery.  I fell quite in love with this espalier on the wall outside.

After viewing the artwork we parted ways with our friends and drove back to Melbourne.  Before heading out to a more main road we had to stop for a herd of dairy cows on the way to being milked.  Some decided the grass up the road was greener and the farmer had to round them up.  They were quite content to stand in front of our car and not let us through.

Our drive home took us through Mansfield a place I've always wanted to visit.  We didn't have much time to look around but I saw enough to want me to come back and visit.

Two quick photos of the Mansfield area taken out of the front window of the car.

So that was our weekend.  I'm sorry this is such a long post, thank you for taking the time to get to the end.

Anne  xx

Highlights and plans

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

 I hope everyone has had a lovely festive period and enjoyable New Year celebrations.

As I've been looking around blog land the past few days, I've noticed that many people in 2013 are focusing on being grateful and what is making them happy.  Some are posting once a week about four things that have/are making them happy.  Others are writing little notes about good things that happen and putting them in a jar to read at the end of the year.  Both of these ideas are lovely and my aim is to incorporate both of them into my life this year.

I suppose the end of the year and the beginning of a new one is a good time to look back and reflect, to look forward and plan.  There were three highlights in 2012 for me.  Our two month trip to Europe, turning 50 (yes it was a highlight) and our 25th wedding anniversary.

Traveling to Europe was fantastic...something I've always wanted to do and it didn't disappoint.  People ask me where was my favourite place or what was my favourite thing about our trip and I can honestly say that it was all good.  There were frustrating moments like when we received a parking fine in La Colle-sur-Loup and I had to wade my way through French bureaucracy, me with no French, them with no English.

 
There were scary moments, our first time driving in Paris,

finding ourselves on roads that were more like goat tracks than roads thanks to our GPS,

and some days when hubby and I were unwell,

Full of a head cold in Venice

  but we managed to get through those days without too much disruption to our plans.  I loved France, I loved Italy, although I found Rome overwhelming.  And I certainly loved Cornwall and Staffordshire.  A huge part of our experience was enjoying meeting people whether they were hosts at our accommodation or interacting with people in shops and restaurants.  But best of all was meeting Louise and Dave in Staffordshire, what a weekend we had with them!  We also were able to stay with relatives in Shrewsbury which was awesome.  Our favourite French person was Sami who was a night man at our accommodation in Paris.  We sat up at night for hours talking to him about language, politics and culture.

Turning 50, I guess that's a bit of a milestone and it's the best.  At 50 I know where I belong in the world, I'm  not the slightest bit bothered what other people think of me and I'm still young enough to have FUN!!  My kids think I'm crazy.

A 25th Wedding Anniversary...WOW!  Where have those years gone, the good, the stressful when I was sick with post natal depression and other bouts of depression, the raising of two beautiful girls who are now gorgeous young women.  I wouldn't change it for the world, perhaps I would give the depression a miss, but that in itself has shaped me to become (hopefully) a more compassionate and understanding person.

So what's ahead in 2013?  I wish for love, peace, happiness and good health.  I wish for the strength to cope with and support my family in what will possibly be a difficult year with my elderly Father's ailing health.

I plan for 2013 to be the year of walking the talk, to complete unfinished projects.   The hand pieced 20 year old quilt would be a good start.  Add to that the granny square rug for my bed,

and this painting.

This year I'd like to start hiking, become a better swimmer, improve my garden, learn more crochet skills, make all my own cards, sew something that actually fits me and paint, paint, paint.

I hope the year 2013 is a good one for you.  Let's all have a fabulous year together and last but not least, welcome to my new followers.  Thank you for taking an interest in my world.

Have a fabulous weekend,

Anne  xx

A thank you, genealolgy and a quilt

Hello, how are you?  I would like to say a big thank you to Louise of Ramblings of a Roachling for sending me two books and the most beautiful card for my birthday.

I love the two books Louise selected for me. In this post Louise talks about reading "The Uninvited", a true story about a family living on a farm in Wales being visited by creatures/aliens not of this world.  I'm quite fascinated by the whole UFO thing and made a passing comment that I would like to read the book one day.  So Louise went to the trouble of tracking down a copy for me for which I'm most appreciative.  I read the book in one sitting and must say that parts of it were a little scary but compelling reading, for me anyway.  :)  The book about the interesting and at time weird exploits of some Brits is so much fun to read.  I love it when people can go out and do something difference and have a lot of fun.

And just how cute is this card?!!  You have the most beautiful cards in England.

 I've been kept very busy this past week continuing to delve into the intriguing world of genealogy.  I met two second cousins for the first time and it just happened to be the 60th birthday of one of them so I decided to have a little fun and bake her a cake.  Decorating this cake with silver ball things and butterflies was most interesting.  I ended up with silver balls all over the kitchen bench top and floor with very few on the cake and the butterflies wanted to fly away. 

I also made her a card from one of my sketches.  Very handy to have a stash of little sketches to make into cards.

I had a very nice visit with my new found cousins and was able to scan some old photos of family members, some of which I had never seen including my great grandmother Annie Ashby.  My granny is the baby and my great aunt standing.

About a month ago I discovered Annie's grave in an old part of a Melbourne cemetery posted about here.

Here is a photo of her grave, in the middle front of the photo without any markings.

It is a very special thing to have a photo of my great grandmother.

When I can tear myself away from my genealogy projects I have a quilt to complete.  Some months ago I put these squares together.

I found this cotton quilt on sale, it's a summer weight at a bargain price and had the bright idea to use this instead of the normal insert batting.

I need some advice from all the quilt making ladies out there.  The bought quilt is a Queen size and the squares I've sewn cover the top of a Queen size mattress so there is some extra fabric that needs to be joined to the edges to make wide enough.  Can I also have some suggestions as to what I could use for the backing fabric?  I was thinking maybe a quilting fabric but it would have to be joined down the centre to make it wide enough.  I'm also wondering what would be the best method of quilting the layers together? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this long post.  I hope you are all having a wonderful day/evening.

Anne  xx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUISE

Hi everyone.  I want to let you know that the 9th of August is the birthday of my good friend Louise from the blog Ramblings of a Roachling.

I met Louise just over a year ago when I started blogging.  Since then from following her blog, I have enjoyed some absolutely beautiful walks she has been on, in and around the area she lives.  I have learnt  historical facts about places she has visited, things about animals, birds and plants found in the U.K. which are unique to me being an Aussie.

Some of the things I've learnt about Louise are:

She loves flares.
Her favoured footware is either flip flops or wellingtons.
Loves walking in mud, in her wellingtons of course  :)
Loves going for exploratory walks.
Loves taking photos for her blog.
Is a vegetarian.
She and her boyfriend Dave, are big Dr. Who fans, and one winter made a Dalek snowman.....AWESOME!!!
Rolling down big steep hills is not only for kids.
 Works in the education industry and is on holidays now, the lucky duck.
Is glad to see the back of Wolverhampton.
She and Dave are FINALLY together after years of commuting to Woverhampton on the weekends.
Loves living in the country.
Loves the Roaches with a passion.
Is a FANTASTIC friend.


And she doesn't like birthdays....he, he and I've just told everyone about it!!!  :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUISE!!

I got in very early Louise because you  need a good few days to CELEBRATE.  One day just isn't enough!!

Wishing you a wonderful birthday and have loads and loads of fun whatever you do.
 
 Anne  xx

The craftiness of Miss G.

It seems that school holidays is bringing out the craftiness in Miss G.  She is going to a birthday party tomorrow night for two friends who just happen to be twin sisters.  Miss G. decided to wanted to add a little something extra to their gifts and this is what she made. 

Quirky keyrings with her friends' first name initials.  I don't know where this daughter of mine comes up with these ideas?  Well I do actually.  :)  Lucky she has her mum's craft supplies to raid.

This photo was taken with the flash so it's a bit washed out.

I wonder what Miss G. will come up with next in her crafty journey?

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Anne  xx