HAPPY BIRTHDAY x 2.

A quick post to say a very Happy Birthday to two of our grandchildren.

The photo  shown below is Miss A (our first grandchild) many years ago as toddler.  Today she turned 20!
Very much the young lady with a job, boyfriend and car.  Where have the years gone?

I spoke to her briefly this afternoon, before phoning the next one.

The other birthday belongs to DD's son, Master L.  He turned 11 and was our 6th grandchild, being one in a line of 7 boys, before we had 2 more granddaughters.

Have a good week all and take care.

PS.  It is cooling down after hitting 37℃ today and it is expected be better tomorrow.  Thank you!!!!

JUST BITS!

It is nearly another week gone & what have I done.  Lots, but not much.

A few forgotten photos, moments & craft to follow.  I'm not even sure where this week has gone,, but I do know that I went to a small craft & chat group Tuesday, coffee/cake run with car club Wednesday, up into the Dandenong ranges yesterday to see the National Rhododendron Garden, which was a wee bit disappointing & today (Friday), I've a podiatrist appointment.  Oh, and in the last 2 weeks, we've visited DD & family and also been to Phillip Island, one of our favourites.  This particular day was  windy & we wondered about the size of the waves.  We were in awe of the way they were breaking, then blowing back on themselves.

The Styrofoam ball I've been working on, sitting atop a gorgeous candlestick fashioned by my very clever hubby.

DD's pretty granny square rug she is working on at the moment.  I love these colours.

Now for the two new arrivals at DD's house.

Top is Twyla & below is Buffy.
They are very cute & evidently becoming quite lovable & cuddly, as well as very mischievous.

PHILLIP ISLAND.

You can see from this photo how rough it was.  I do have a video clip showing the waving grass & waves breaking in the background, but it may make you a bit seasick. (lol).

The view from the windows of the cafe/visitor centre at the end of the island where you can see seals on the rocks on a good day.

.

Isn't this an awesome piece of scrap art.  It is at the start of a nature walk that we will attempt on a not so windy day.

ON THE HOME FRONT.

The handles, no, they were knobs really, were something I did not like at all.
No. 1  They were gold 😞
No. 2 Some were very tarnished.

NEW LOOK.

Much better.😊

I think they look so much better and I do like handles, rather than knobs.
We were lucky that one of our big Hardware chains are closing down and have some very good deals at the moment.  60% off these handles, so way more affordable.  Our oven also died just before we left for the UK & we got a new one of those from the same place and paid less than half.  Bargain!  I can now bake again.  Please excuse the state of my benchtops, as I didn't clear them very well before taking the photos & as you can see my problem of having the big machine on show to all and not in a studio.😢
Can you see my new toy?  If you can guess what it is I may send someone a small gift.
OK, best go and take my feet along to the appointment.  Have a great weekend all and take care.
Huggles, Susan.
Pssst!, I'm off to AQM tomorrow and hope to meet up with Judy from News from Jude.
BYE.

JUST DREAMING.

OK,  not the only thing I'm doing, but settling back into normal life is hard at the moment.
I have been "doing", but nothing seems worth blogging about.  Have you ever dreamt of a beautiful garden, but just don't seem to get it right.  Well, that is how I feel just now.  This will be a post about a garden I visited whilst away & a catch up with mine.

EGGLESTON HALL GARDEN & NURSERY.

This garden & nursery is situated not far from Barnard Castle in County Durham and I enjoyed it, being a little different from others I've seen.  A quick walk through with photos. There is a marked path wandering past herbaceous borders & shrubberies, then into the secret churchyard.

Ruined chapel which dates back to 1612.

 Wandering on, we came to a part walled garden which houses the nursery, along with some small display gardens.

An old espaliered apple.

More espaliers clothe the wall.

An imitation 'Angel of the North" on one wall.

Lovely displays of potted plants for sale, above & below.

There are a giftshop, cafe & tearoom, so you may wander, purchase & eat here.  I wish I'd taken more photos, but the day was very overcast and threatening rain, but oh so lovely.

MY GARDEN.

I missed the flowering of most of my bulbs, but was rewarded with the garden being in quite good shape after being away for 6 weeks.  We evidently experienced quite a bit of rain over that time, so some things have really taken off & I've already started trimming & taking out some of that seaside daisy (erigeron).

'Tis a little bit of a thug, when conditions are right.  The pond is somewhere in there.

Just a few others that are doing quite well.

A dianthus brought over from Ballarat.

One of my Xmas presents last year.  Pierre de Ronsard is doing very well.

Jasmine on the back fence, planted in winter.

Miniature gladiolus, again brought with us.

Blue ixias.
  I had these in a pot for several years after receiving them from an elderly lady.  This is the best they've done.

Sweet peas, I planted from a punnet, not long before our holiday.  They are doing quite well, with all the wind we've experienced over the last 4 weeks.  A few more colours have appeared now.

This little posy (picked from our garden) is sitting on my little side table.

Although I'm still not back into my quilting mode, I do have this on the machine now & have actually done "2" rows.

Ah well, I will try, but now I keep thinking Christmas is fast approaching & want to try & have some small handmade gifts ready for posting.  Must also catch up on this blogging caper too, as before we know it, next year will be here and I've still not caught up on our UK holiday photos.

All for now.  Will I post through the week?  I do hope so and not let so many days go by before I sit here browsing photos and thinking up what to say.  Wish I had a way with words, but you have to take me as I come.
Take care all and hope you're having a good weekend.  Cool, overcast, breezy and occasionally damp for us.  I need to finish mowing the lawns before Tuesday.
Huggles, Susan.

HOLIDAY TO UK - POST 2.

First & foremost, I want to thank everyone who left comments on my last post.  We still seem to have ongoing internet complications.  Hope to deal with it next week.  I've done some catching up with other blogs, though not all.  Sorry!

STAYING IN BURNLEY.

We spent 3 lovely nights away in Burnley.  It was actually the only place we could find on short notice, that was close to some places we wanted to visit.  First day we went back to Skipton to take the train to Carlisle, but once more it was fun & games.  No parking found at the station, so we headed to Gargrave.  Plenty of parking, train caught & we were on our way, but there had been a landslip further up the line, so our trip was somewhat not what we had planned.  We did have a great day though, despite both the weather & change of plans.

Gargrave station.

From the window of the train.

Settle station.

Settle had been where we'd planned to start our journey & the above photo was taken about a week beforehand, when we were doing our homework on the Settle to Carlisle Railway.  This particular day, my camera ran out of battery after I'd taken this snap, so no more photos of Settle.  It is a lovely town & we sat & ate our lunch looking at some very high cliffs.  Lovely.

As the day progressed you can see what the weather, then threw at us.

This is where the gypsy's have their huge horse fair.

A field of black sheep.

Ribblehead Viaduct.

I've always wanted to go over the above viaduct, & although the day didn't go quite as planned, it's one to tick off my bucket list.  This photo was taken after we had been across it later in the afternoon. We thought a photo from the road would be appropriate as I just couldn't manage one from the train.

Friday saw us head to The Commercial Vehicle Museum in Leyland.  For some of my old followers, they might remember we tried to visit in 2014, and the day we went it was closed.  Better equipped this time and it was open.  Just a few pics of what we saw.

Not sure I'd like the taste of these, even though I love scampi.

A very shiny Morris Minor.  Of course I had to take a photo.

Must be from Yorkshire?

I love the colour and shape of this.  Also , those milk churns remind me of my early childhood days.

Now for something I didn't know. "Diesel" fuel was actually named after someone.  Hmmm?  What have I been thinking.  Probably nothing, as it never occurred to me to even contemplate where it got it's name from.

Here he is.

The afternoon was spent at Quarry Bank Mill, a National Trust property.  I LOVED it, but no photos as the camera died once again.  I certainly didn't have much luck with it.  We are members of the N. T. here in Oz, so could use our cards in UK.  That is a big bonus & we took advantage of it  and I will show quite a few others we went to, over the next few weeks.

When we arrived back at the motel, the receptionist asked where we'd been & then asked if we'd seen the Singing Ringing Tree.  No, we hadn't, so were given a sheet of directions and visited it on our way back to Leeds next morning.

This is a Panopticon, which does actually sing & ring in the breeze.  I found it 'amazing'.

View from the TREE.

A very lovely 3 days away.
Hope you enjoyed our short journey and I'll be back with more of our trip over the next few weeks, interspersed with what is going on now, too.
Take care all.
Susan.