Hight Tea at the Stamford Hotel

I have been very neglectful of my blog, but life is soooooo busy, but let me start and work backwards.
Today Georgie (Martins wife) invited her mum, her mums friend Pat from Adelaide, Dorothy  Snelleman (Bert's wife) and myself to high tea at the Stamford. It was so beautiful there and such lovely company and the food was delicious so much to eat and a glass of champers, at ten am wow! but we all managed to don it down.
Tony was driving me to the train when we heard there was a problem at Central, so he drove me to Chermside and I caught the bus into the city, the bus is terrific and it only took 15mins to King George Square, from there I walked to the Stamford. We stayed at the hotel until almost 12noon. Georgie dropped me off at Roma Street and Tony picked me up at Narangba all in all I was out for half a day.

Eventually got the dresses for the girls in Mt Isa some of them had only been worn once and the manager of the Vinnies Store in Morayfield gave them to me for such a good price, they arrived safely in Mt Isa on Tuesday and the girls are over the moon with them. According to Anne they wanted to start wearing them straight away and the shoes she almost had to drag them from their feet, just waiting to get some photos from the formal which will be next week

Anne has decided to come back to Brissie and as yet has not secured a job but has had a couple of interviews so please god it wont be long before she will be set here, and it has solved our problem of a house sitter when we go overseas.

We have filled out the forms to go to Hong Kong and have decided we will not go there for Chinese New Year but instead will get there at the end of January or early February.
We caught up with one of the ladies who has been to Hong Kong as a volunteer 2years ago and she gave us an insight on what to expect when we get there. Its somewhat different to what I was expecting, but then again I had no idea what to expect.

Not a lot happening at present, except lots and lots of voluntary work and everytime I see Rita she has another job for me, this week it was house cleaning and we are on a two week roster, but only for 6 weeks. But I do enjoy doing it.

Can't think of anything else for the moment but if I do I'll add to this

My quiet day at home

Tuesday is an at home day and my quiet day.  Went for walk and saw the sun rise over the bay, did some washing and mopping floors and then mostly relax.

Then tried to make a phone call only to find the land line dead so spent the next 20 minutes speaking to someone in India (Optus) regarding this, but eventually I managed to get through to him and within the next half hour there was a technician on the job and walla phone fixed.

Have an appointment with Morayfield Vinnies on Thursday  to look at the formal wear for the students at the Flexi school.

I found this wonderful Country music on the net and had such a lovely time listening to the old time music.

Had a long chat with Anne and still no resolvement on what she is doing next year.

OOps spoke to soon just had a call from Care and Concern and now my Tuesdays have been called on,  I will be on a cleaning roster  for a family of 4 with a very sick child who have no family to help out. I'm so lucky!!!
So once a month I'll be mowing and once a month on house cleaning and once a month on church cleaning.
I know God has a sense of humour, he knows I don't like cleaning or dusting ect ect.

All for today.

Shopping for Formal Dresses

Monday again, so same start walk along the shorefront see the sun rising and hearing the birds sing, this is how paradise is.
Go to Mass and catch up with friends and spoke to Clare about her time in Hong Kong and got a few pointers from her, she is coming over soon with all the ins and outs of the schools there.

These storms clouds cleared up and it is a beautiful sunny day

Had a call from Anne re Formal wear for her students for their formal, so off I went to the store with recycled clothes with my trusty camera, but as usual I should have checked the battery first so have only taken 7 photos. I will go to the Red Cross store tomorrow and the Vinnies at Morayfield  I'm told there is a great selection there.
 I will add some more after I've been shopping tomorrow

Sunday at Indooroopilly

One of my greatest pleasures once a month is that we go over to Indooroopilly on a Sunday morn and go to Mass with Martin and family. The children are so good and I think they enjoy it as much as we do. We then went back to their place and had a lovely breakie, followed by delicious chocolate truffles made by Georgie, again so decadent and fattening!!
The loveliest thing about today is that when we were leaving Henry called out he wanted to go to church with Nana and Grandad, it really makes life so worth while.

Martin googling fares to Hong Kong, I think we have our first visitors booked to come see us there  (hope so)
Not much happening so I might go for a stroll to the beach and have a lazy reading my book.

Mixed Week some good some not so good

Week started off as usual, I was very excited about getting the formal clothes for the students at Anne's school and had them all lined up. Anne rang to say (a) she didn't get the job up in the gulf, and then the administrator of her present school was not going to pay her for the Christmas holidays, she was so disappointed hearing this, considering all the work and effort she has put into this school and how the Principal kept telling her they would come to the party, but alas it was not to be, so it looks like its back to the drawingboard for her to come back to Brissie and consider her options! On the up side of this it solves our problem of house sitter for the 4 or 5 months that we will be in Hong Kong

Friday Joseph rang to say they had bought a beautiful house in Point Cook in Melbourne and that they will be on TV on Location Location some time in the future. We are so very happy for them.

Saturday Margaret-Mary and I went to lunch at Bretts Wharf, very very posh!! oh so nice!!  Oyseters Natural, Rib Fillet Steak, (so tender it would melt in your mouth) followed by a decadent dessert. I didn't get to meet Alister but I did have my photo with the Pelican?

Happy Days

Went for my usual walk along the beach this am and Tony said he'd come but I couldn't get him moving before 5am eventually we got there, had breakie and then I mowed the yard, did my usual chores and had everything done before 8.30am. We then went to Mass and am still trying to catch the nun who might be interested in house sitting for us.

At about 11am I had a call from Melbourne re Hong Kong and horay horay we are definately going, maybe not as early as we thought but definately by early February, the secretary is sending out the forms today.

Then I went looking for formal dresses for Anne's Indigenous girls and I saw some lovely ones at the Red Cross shop and hopefully once I get sizes from Anne I will go get them. I will take my camera tomorrow and get some idea if this is what Anne is looking for.  I'm hoping Martin is ready to update his wardrobe and send them for the boys
Then Rita rang and wants cakes for a funeral tomorrow, so I will get up early and have them ready for her when she calls over around 7am, I have a lovely date slice which I got from Georgie.

Melbourne Cup Day

What a quiet day I'm having today?  Tony has two Dr's appt's so I'm housebound and not much to do.
I do miss the big hullabaloo of the cup sweeps and lunch at a fancy restaurant! we used to do at the clinic. But I did manage to get a bet on so can look forward to watching the big race.

My horse in the Melbourne looked as enthusiastic as this one !!
So now to see how my horses fare in the cup !!!!
Oops! did my dosh!!
Yesterday we had a visit from the provincial of the Oblates Fr Harry Dyer and old and beautiful Fr Donal ( not Donald as he always reminds us) they came for afternoon tea and stayed for over 2hrs it was a great afternoon and we all had a great chat and laugh.

Anne is extremely busy at school preparing her students for their graduation and has bought all the gear to cut and style their hair and cosmetics to do the make up for the night, I do believe God has sent her there as she has made such a difference to these kids, and typical Anne she feeds and clothes half of them and not to mention shelter for some. Hopefully we intend to get some formal wear for the girls and maybe some for the boys as well, I have an appointment at Morayfield Vinnies on Thursday arvo just need to know some sizes.
Really should mow but why do something today when I can put it off until tomorrow!!!!

Christening of Jasmine

What a beautiful baby is Jasmine and what a lovely natured baby as well.
Sacred Heart Church Sandgate was the venue for the Baptism of Jasmine and all the usual suspects were there, (so to speak) The Priest was very informative and explained everything he did and why its done. I thought he'd drown the poor child with the amount of water he poured over her.
We then  adjourned to Emily's home in Regency Street, where she put on a fantastic spread.
It was lovely catching up with the family and hearing how all the families are going.

 Kate and Troy

 Marian and Charlie

 3 Stoogies

 Therese Donna and Craig

Craig Charlie and Kym

Busy busy busy

What a busy week this has been, it started off quiet enough usual Monday walk, mass and then I went to the city and met up with my sister Katherine and had lunch at the Irish Club, from there we went to St Pauls book store to get some nice books for grandchildren etc and spent a very plesant hour there, we had a lovely catch up day.

Tuesday I went to help Siobhan at shop as Gerard had, had his op on his shoulder I was up and ready to go at 4am and hardly slept all night watching the clock. Siobhan and Gerard run a little convenience shop at Clontarf and are very busy from 3am until 7 or 8am. I was home by 7.30 and then I spent the rest of the day being tired and lethargic. I'm so not up to going to work anymore.
Wed I went to the shop for  a couple of hours, and when I got home I took the car over to Taringa for a service and as they gave me a very zippy red two door new Audi I made the most of that, I had some time for shopping in Paddington from there I had lunch with the clinic people,  it was a very nice place up at the Barracks at Petrie Terrace called "The Chelsea"
Lunch was very nice but a bit exi !! From there I went back to Indooroopilly and caught up with Georgie and Henry and afterwards had a very short time with Ruby when she got home from school.  It was then time to pick up the car and drive home. I was in bed by 6.30 that night
Thursday I went to the shop again, we didn't go to cards as it was all a bit rushed, we just worked a while in the garden and then I made a big start on my quilt square I love doing that and as  a result I'm not on the computer as much.
Friday was shop again I was not quite as keen getting out of bed that morning but I was still at Clontarf by 4.30am Gerard came in around 5.30 and he seemed able enough to do the till so I left there around the 7am mark.
Tony and I did the Nursing home visit and brought Holy Communion the the Catholic Community there.
Friday was coffee day and a little gardening.
Saturday I was totally exhausted and slept in until 7am, too late and too tired to go walking that day and besides it looked like rain and that was my excuse anyway.
Saturday night was our Parish Dinner, and the guest speaker was "Khoa Do"
he was an excellent speaker and his life story is so inspiring he spoke and told stories for nearly an hr, he was young Australian of the Year in 2005 and as he said last night, anyone who wants to achieve in Australia can! from refugee to Australian of the Year, wow!!!!

Just can't get this to stay upright! will have to get Anne to look at it soon

 This was our theme

So today we are off to the Baptism of Emily's baby "Jasmine" at Sacred Heart Church in Sandgate and then party at her house, hope to take some photos there

Gold Coast Visit

This has been a very busy few days for us.

Wednesday it was Woody Point day for afternoon tea with Siobhan.
Thursday was Bridge day, and when I came home from there, there was a message from Care and Concern (I think thats an inter church group) wanting Tony to mow a lady's lawn, and as he is not up to that I decided to do that, and mowing at 3pm is a lot warmer than at 7am I was very hot after that, it wasn't a huge lawn, but it was average size.

Thursday night we met up with Adrienne and Brendan at the Asian Thai restaurant on Beckett's Road for dinner, it was sooooooooooo good we had a lovely night with them and caught up on all the families doings!

Friday I decided to mow our yard before going to the coast and I did that at 7am, so much cooler then.
Then off to Mass and then Tony went to the Nursing Home for Communion and at 10.45am we took off for the coast.
When we got to Kaths and Bernie's place Andrew and Kym and there two lovely children were there, we had a very pleasent lunch and they then returned home to Brissie.
Katherine and me chatted for the most of the afternoon and at 6pm we set off to see Outdoor Spectacular.
This a must show to see, its so Australian, it started of with a tribute to The Man from Snowy River and continued on from there, it was funny and serious it was fantastic.
Then they did a section on The Horses of the Light Brigade and a tribute to the Australian Diggers, it brought a lump to my throat. so many deaths and all I could think of was the song Willie McBride, and the countless white crosses that standing mute in the sun, and that is exactly what it was like when we were at Flanders and France. so so sad!
We had a great night and thoroughly enjoyable

Sat morn Katherine and I went for a long 5km walk along the shore at Labrador and then came back and Bernard cooked us up a huge brekkie,
Then we were invited to Katherine's friend Judith for morning tea, and she had made delicious scones yummy!!
She has a lovely unit on the waterfront, 
Somehow or another I got conned into doing some embroidery squares for her project for Africa, not sure if I can do this, but will give it my best try.

We arrived home around 2pm and can't remember the trip home as I slept for most of it.

 Adrienne

 Brendan

 Asian Thai Restaurant

 Bernard, Katherine Me and Tony at Outdoor Spectacular

 From Judiths Window

 Judith and katherine

 Labrador

Tide our Labrador