ANZAC Day 2014 and Elizabeth's Portrait of Dad

Mostly photos today, they can tell the story better than me! This year's ANZAC Day parade was made extra special because we had four generations there...

We had a lovely buffet lunch at the RSL Hall and then went back to Mum and Dad's house for Dad's big surprise. Elizabeth has had this photo of her granddad taken in Japan in 1953 after his stint in the Korean War...as her skills improve she has been keen to take a black and white photograph and paint it in colour. This is the one she chose...

This is how it turned out...she even looks like her granddad!

Dad was quite over-come by her painting which now hangs with pride over the fireplace.

Family...nothing quite like it is there?

Love from Sue
xxx

A Round-up...

I seem to have been so tired and flat since Christmas that I couldn't even think about blogging but today I'll just share a few pics and recipes we had recently.
Christmas this year was extra, extra special as Elizabeth, Caleb and David came and had Christmas dinner with us for the first time in 13years!

Elizabeth suits a crown!

3 generations of serious foodies(Jessie scored a moustache in her cracker/bonbon!)

Since Christmas Perth has been sweltering with a 44C day last Sunday and we broke the hottest night on record that night with the temp only dropping to 29.7C at 3am...it was already 40C at 9am on Monday morning before a cool change came in. Our backyard thermometer went up to 46C on Sunday...no wonder I feel tired!!! A friend's glass topped heat treated outdoor table shattered in the sun and my tomatoes were scorched and ruined.

I have finished that diagonal blanket at long last...the stripes are very random because I didn't plan it properly/at all and it's very heavy as the wool is 12 ply...

this pile of wash-cloths has doubled in size...I love to knit while watching cricket and tennis on telly

Poor Joe has had 3 groups of BCCs cut from his face and neck and is rather tender at the moment...this is one of them and I beg all of you to stay out of the sun(Joe's are not caused by sun exposure but rather a syndrome called Gorlin's that he has)

Two great biscuit recipes I made in the food processor recently...a parmesan shortbread from Nigella and these delicious peanut butter cookie are so morish!

Parmesan Shortbreads...double this recipe, they and the dough freeze very well
Peanut Butter Cookies...mine looked smoother than these and they also freeze very well

Elizabeth has a new painting on her easel...it's undergone several big changes as she rises to the challenge...the trench in the front came about after she spilled choc-milk on it!

Twitch is still enjoying life and several bunches of kale a week...under the telly is a favourite for grand-dad naps...

he seems to be developing a Harry Potter type zig-zag on his forehead

Overseas news is that Priscilla's chemo did nothing at all to reduce her tumour so the next plan is to try surgery and cousin Dave's chemo is on-going and we pray it's working for him and Janet and their family.

Dave and son, Peter on Christmas Day...instead of losing his hair it's growing as strongly as ever(funny chap) and Peter is the one with the plant growing out of his head(according to Jan)

Kyra turned 5 years of age on Friday...that has gone very fast...

and Austin turned 2 years of age on December 21st...what a clown!

So that's about all our news for now, thank you all for the Christmas and New Year wishes, hope all is well with you and yours
Love from Sue
xxx

The Tale of Socksie Kitten

I may have to start paying Elizabeth for writing my blog but I do love her "voice"...here she explains how her cat adopted her...

"Don't know what it is about this box. Its been puzzling me for weeks now. It started off in the main living area and the cat would poke around it. I almost fell off my chair when she actually jumped up and climbed inside it - she was a stray and doesn't have a playful bone in her body. 

I ended up bringing it into my room when I was packing away my ornaments and stuff and she's followed it in there. I don't know what it is, she loves the thing and I don't have the heart to take it off her just so I can fill it up with my junk.

 It was about 3 winters ago, I was painting out the back in the middle of the night and she must have taken 10 years off my life when she appeared out of nowhere, just a flash of white darting across my peripheral. Every night she would turn up at the same time and every morning she would be gone again. 

I remember telling the kids about this black cat with white socks that would come calling each night and maybe 2wks later they were so excited when she arrived one afternoon. She was such a skinny little thing, I had started giving her the kids dinner leftovers by that time. 

Then about a month after she first turned up I went to slide a note to her owner under her flea collar and the bloody thing was so tight. The trouble I had trying to get it off! She wasn't quite fully grown and I was fuming that someone could put a collar on a kitten then "misplace" their pet. She never really left after that.

She's still a bit of a loner, she doesn't do ANYthing even remotely cool like all those cats on YouTube, she just spends her days stalking from one sleeping place to another but she's wicked with the mice, she's super patient with the boys and on the rare occasions when she actually wants my company...when she jumps up on my bed and curls up behind my knees on a cold winters night, or (even rarer) when she actually wants to sit on my lap....that's hard won affection. She makes me feel terribly humbled and grateful for it."



Have a great weekend, I'm really enjoying the cricket! 
Sue
xx

From Elizabeth's Easel

"And! AND! On top of all my quibbles about the dodgy orange and shadows (or lack of) on the bird, Caleb reckons my grevillea flower looks like a brain with legs. 

Its getting there and its really, really nerve racking. I've got this idea in my mind of what its supposed to look like, right? 

I know exactly where I'm up to, exactly what I'm going to do next. 

It feels like I'm thiiiiiiis close to to pulling off the painting of the century and it's paralysing me!! 

I'm second guessing everything. Nit picking over the tiniest detail. Questioning my colour choices. I dunno. It'll all come together in the end...not the way I have it pictured in my mind, but it'll still be something special in its own right."

I am just in awe!

xx