Should Auld Aquaintance Be Forgot ...!!

It's that time of year when we sing "Auld Lang Syne", stay up past midnight (normal for some of us night owls!!), reflect on "The Year That Was" and look forward with hope and optimism to "The Year That Will Be". It's a time to take stock of where we're at in life and decide if we need to be somewhere else. But for me, the end of one year and the start of the next is a time to count my BLESSINGS ... which are NUMEROUS and too many to list! :0) At the top of that list, though would have to be my FANTASTIC FAMILY, my FABULOUS FRIENDS and my BRILLIANT BLOGGING BUDDIES! :0) A super-duper-deluxe ...

BEAR HUG!!!

... to you all, wherever in the world you may be tonight!!

I'm not really one to philosophise (probably haven't even SPELT it correctly!!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) so I will end my blogging year with one of my favourite verses/prose ... An Irish Blessing ... that I send out to you all as my wish and prayer for you in 2011 ...

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

And the rain fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again ...

May God hold you safe in the palm of His hand.

Thank you all for being part of my 2010! I'm looking forward with hope, optimism and EXCITEMENT to you being part of my adventures in 2011 ... we're in for one HECK of a ride!! :0)
Til next time ... next YEAR! ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS & SCOTT

(AKA Beloved Geek Boy)

(Please excuse the bags under our eyes ... this was taken at my work Christmas Brekkie and us night owls weren't 100% awake yet! Tee! Hee! Hee!)

Home Town Under Water!!

I mentioned last post that my Mum, Dad and sort-of-sister Tiffy couldn't get down for their planned post-Christmas visit because of floodwaters cutting the roads in the Mundubbera area. Many Aussie gals have been watching the news, saw my home town mentioned in the evacuations and have emailed or texted, wondering if my folks were OK. What sweeties you all are! And YES, they're fine. Mum and Dad have a double-storey house that is almost at the top of one of the higher hills in Mundubbera, so they're not in any danger of getting their feet wet. They DID however send me some photos, cos I was having trouble imagining my home town under water, so I thought I'd share them ... I know a few blogging buddies have also visited my home town and would be interested. So ... have you got your FLOATIES ready?! :0)
Before I share the pics with you, Tiffy actually emailed them through to me ... my Mum is a bit of a techno-phobe and I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know how to turn the computer ON, let alone send photos! :0) Now, when Mum rang to check my email to say she was sending some photos through, my Beloved Geek Boy and I looked at each other a little sceptically ... like my Grandma, Mum has a bit of a track record of taking 'arty' photos ... you know ... the road where the parade WAS, the SKY above the bride and groom, the GARDEN where the puppy was playing ... you get the picture, right! Tee! Hee! Hee! When Tiffy emailed the photos, she prefaced them with a little message which said,
"These are the photos your Mum took of the flood waters. I left out the ones of the inside of the car and the door!"
Tee! Hee! Hee! Poor Mum! :0) OK ... enough giggles at Mum's expense and onto the photos. This one made my brother laugh ..

Don't know if you can read it well in the pic, but the sign says "Road Subject To Flooding". My brother's comment was ... "Road?!?!? WHAT road?!?!?" :0)

This shows some of the houses in the lower-lying part of town.

This is the end of the street my parents live in ... about three blocks away at the bottom of the hill.

Do you see that white house through the trees to the left? It's actually on one and a half storey high pilings! It gives a bit of an idea of just how deep some of the flood water is.

This photo was taken from the end of Mum and Dad's driveway, looking back down the hill at the water. This water isn't actually the river ... it's a usually-shallow gully that runs along the end of town. It filled with runoff from the heavy rains, then when the river rose, the water backed up into Red Gully, as it's known. My Dad has to drive down through Red Gully to get to work, so guess who won't be going into the office for a few days! :0)

This is the main bridge that you have to cross to get into Mundubbera from the Dalby/Jandowae/Durong direction. Trust me ... there's a bridge under there ... it's what looks like rough water towards the right of the photo. This pic was taken from the rest area/park near the visitor info centre on the riverbank, which currently boasts REALLY impressive river views ...

This roadway leads down to the riverside walkway which at the moment is ... err ... closed due to water on the path?!?! :0) The shed you can see to the right houses an old steam engine that used to be near the pool and I remember climbing all over it as a kid ... hmmm ... seems it missed it's water views of the pool! :0)

The barbecue in the same park ... what? No line-up??

So there you go, that's the Burnett River at Mundubbera. The water was due to peak last night, though locals thought that it had already reached its peak yesterday when these photos were taken. There is more water to come down from further north where there has also been some terrible flooding ... some entire towns have had to be evacuated and places like Chinchilla have seen the whole town under deep water ... but they don't think the river will get higher than it already has, so while around 20 homes had to be evacuated in Mundubbera from the Red Gully end of town and there will be a huge clean up and repair bill for roads etc, the town has been very fortunate compared to others. And although I'm a bit sad that I didn't get to catch up with Mum and Dad over this special time of year, I'm so grateful they weren't caught on the side of the road or stuck here and worrying about friends and neighbours ... in a small town, everyone knows each other. Last I heard, Dad was in a tinny (little aluminium dinghy type boat) helping retrieve items from houses that were in danger of going under water and Mum was making chicken soup and sandwiches for the SES volunteers and evacuated families. Australia really is a country of droughts and flooding rains ... but we wouldn't live anywhere else! :0) And tough times like this tend to see people band together to help each other - a silver lining to the rather persistent storm clouds! Our hearts do go out to everyone affected by the widespread flooding though ... how very hard it must be to walk away from your home, knowing that it will probably be swamped in rising floodwaters.

On the home front, the sun has finally peeked out today on top of our hill ... though it DID bring gale force winds with it ... and since the Aussie cricketers have managed to get themselves all out and lose the Ashes to England, I'm catching up on washing and about to watch a DVD and stitch some more on my Gardeners Journal blocks - my stitching has been MUCH more successful than the Aussie Ashes campaign! :0) So, thank you again to those lovely blogging buddies who were thinking of my folks and whatever you're doing as 2010 winds down, I hope you're safe and enjoying the comfort and company of family and friends. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS
PS. OPAMers ... don't forget to update your sidebar lists and/or email me or Peg with your December finishes ... last draw for 2010 ... what was your finally tally for the year?!?! BH! KRIS

Christmas Day, Gifts & RAIN!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day/Boxing Day and were able to enjoy some time spent with friends and loved ones. I thought I'd pop in to tell you ... and show you! ... about OUR Christmas day, but be warned, there's quite a few photos, so you might want to grab a cuppa and a bickie first ... oh ... and perhaps some galoshes or floaties, cos there's a LOT of water involved! Tee! Hee! Hee!

We headed off down the hill to Brisbane to spend Christmas Day with Scott's (AKA My Beloved Geek Boy!!) family. This was our view out the windscreen winding our way down the range ...

Wet and foggy. The strip of blue up the top of this pic is the anti-glare strip on the windscreen and the ONLY way we saw blue sky on Christmas Day was to look through this! :0) As we got closer to Brisbane, we found we weren't the only ones travelling on Christmas Day ... we ran into a traffic snarl where we discovered that 'Every man and his DOG' were travelling on Christmas day in fact ...

This doggy was getting wet and telling everyone about it ... he gave some very impressive demonstrations of barking and howling to show his displeasure ... or perhaps he was chatting to the dog that was in the ute in front of him! Tee! Hee! Hee! We weren't held up too long in the traffic and arrived to a full-house ... the Meares' Madhouse in full flight! :0) Eleven adults and Eleven kids aged from about seven months through to 16 years old ... the kids that is, we didn't like to mention ADULT ages! Tee! Hee! Hee! Here's some of the Meares' mob in Christmas mode ...

GB sat in the corner and helped some of the nieces and nephews open their gifties ...

You can see GB's gifty stash behind him! :0) And do you remember those project bags I made?

They were a hit! :0) Levi carried his around with him for most of the day and enjoyed drawing in the sketchbook that I popped into the bag. Someone else who enjoyed their gifty ...

 

GB's youngest brother, Benny, got a bag full of home-cooked Christmas goodies ... oh, and a packet of "Reindeer Poop". Tee! Hee! Hee! Saw this idea on Sarah's blog and a few of the older nephews, plus a couple of friends with warped senses of humour received them! It DID lead to some rather sad jokes from the nephews about 'pooping on the chair' when they spilled some!! GROAN!!! :0) Of course, there was the usual Christmas feast that we all enjoyed ... even the youngest member of the family ...

Here's GB playing "Uncle Scott" with his youngest niece, Summer. You can't see it so well in the photo cos it was taken on my phone, but she had bread roll crumbled up EVERYWHERE! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And while it isn't the most important part of Christmas, we all know that one of the fun parts of Christmas celebrations is ... GIFTIES!!! :0) So I thought I'd show you some of what was left under the Christmas tree for me. :0) Firstly ... I FINALLY got to open my SSCS gifty from Satu ... I was a very GOOD girl and didn't open it until 12:15am on Christmas Day! Tee! Hee! Hee! We were still up wrapping gifties at that point ... we keep promising ourselves that one year we'll be so organised that we'll sit back and relax with a cuppa to watch the carols on TV on Christmas Eve rather than being in the midst of a wrapping frenzy ... but it hasn't happened yet! :0) OK ... inside the beautifully wrapped gifty from Satu I found ...

Some WONDERFUL things!! A cute project bag with the SWEETEST cross-stitched bears on the pocket ... Satu tells me their names are "Popcorn" and "Blueberry". Inside the bag I found a butterfly mug rug made up in cheerful red fabrics; a couple of pieces of YUMMY floral fabric that were designed by a Finnish fabric designer ... which makes sense, since that's where Satu lives! :0) Satu suggested that since my kitchen is red and green, I might like to use the fabrics for new potholders. Hmmm ... good thinking!! I'll add it to the "To Do" list! Oops! Did you just hear my list shriek?!?! Tee! Hee! Hee!  And under the green fabric, you can see a packet of pretty napkins that match the big poppies on the fabrics. THANK YOU SATU!! I feel VERY spoilt!! And you can just see the snowflake ornaments on the tree in the background. A HUGE THANK YOU!! To the fabulously organised Chookyblue for once again running a wonderful Christmas swap to help us spread Christmas cheer throughout blogland ... not to mention making new friends! :0) And I can also now show you what I sent off to Laila in Norway, who was MY SSCS partner ...

I sent Laila two of my Christmas tree ornaments and her main gift was the patchwork bag to the right of the photo, which featured one of my fave Bronwyn Hayes stitcheries on the pocket. It's a pretty large bag, perfect to go Christmas shopping NEXT year ... or perhaps to store some favourite Christmas ornaments to keep them safe. Of course, I couldn't send an EMPTY bag, so I filled it up with all sorts of "Australiana" bits and bobs ... a pot mitt and glove with the Aussie flag; a handy notebook with kangaroos on it, a pretty gumnut cross-stitch kit, some pencils with Aussie flag and the boxing kangaroo and lastly, a sweet treat with an Aussie twist ... furry friends chocolates that have Aussie native animals on the wrappers. Hope you enjoy your Aussie Christmas treats, Laila!!

What else was under the Christmas tree for me ...

A patchwork pattern complete with special square ruler from my mate Deb - Thanks Deb! Uh oh! Did you just here my "To Do" list scream again!! Tee! Hee! Hee! And from my brother and his wife ...

A matching pair of Christmas mugs and a pack of lavender tea. Woo! Hoo! That will keep me sipping for a while! :0) Thanks Paul and Ella!! Oh ... and have you noticed my countdown Santa in the background?? Especially for Lynda, I've updated the countdown til NEXT Christmas so it's accurate! Tee! Hee! Hee! Of course... in the next few days, I will be popping Santa back into his hidey hole and promptly forgetting about counting down to Christmas ... especially since I'm still getting over THIS year's! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Hmmm ... what else did Santa bring me ... My Mum and Dad have paid for my ticket to go and see the stage musical, "Wicked" in February - I'm going with my bestest-buddy-since-we-were-nine Lynette, so that should be lots of fun. A new Enya CD from my in-laws, some new baking bits from one SIL, a couple of gorgeous cast iron-look candle sconces from another SIL (I guess I should include the BIL's in there too, but it's usually the gals that organise the gifties, right?!) and a lovely assortment of giftcards for GB and I to share. Oh ... what was that I heard you ask?? What did GB put under the tree for me ??? Well ... it was something that didn't quite FIT under out little tree! Tee! Hee! Hee!

A white cast iron scroll-y table that is part of a set I've been eyeing off for quite a while!! Woo! Hoo! He tells me the chairs are on layby for my birthday, too. Isn't he WONDERFUL!!! :0) This little set will be going in my sewing room ... once it's had it's HUGE clean up-throw out session. We're intending to take out some of the built-in cupboards that are not at all usefully designed, rearrange a bit, take a couple of book cases out, paint ... and then there will be room for this sweet set to sit under one of the windows so I can have a friend in for a cuppa while I'm stitching, or I can just sit and enjoy a cup of lavender tea as I flick through the latest craft mag ... it's also a nice height to sit at to sketch and trace - PERFECT! :0) I promise to show pics when we get around to the renovations/rearrangement of my sewing room.

But at the moment ... none of those sort of jobs happening around the Meares' Madhouse ... it's too darn WET!!! It's rained solidly for the last three days, with no more than the occasional five minute break between downpours. This is my view off the front verandah into our side yard ...

You can see the rain pounding on the surface of the pond and to the right of the garden, there are some puddles starting to form in the yard cos everything is so darn SOGGY that it just can't soak up any more rain!! I know we've been in drought for about seven years and really needed some rain ... but I think we're making up for it all at once!!! SIGH! So really, there's only one thing to do ...

Curl up with my long-neglected Gardener's Journal blocks in front of the cricket and stitch the day away! :0) Cricket is the only sport I really enjoy watching on TV, so GB's set up in one corner of the lounge room with his laptop and I'm in another stitching ... not a bad way to spend some quiet time, actually! :0) Though a sunny day soon would be nice. Oh ... and the rain is all throughout eastern Queensland, which has lifted all of the river levels in the Burnett region where Mum and Dad live. In fact, they're experiencing flood heights in rivers that are higher than have been seen in about 30 years! The town of Mundubbera itself is fine ... and Mum and Dad live on a good size hill, so they're in no danger of being flooded. The biggest problem is that a lot of roads have been cut, so Mum, Dad and Tiffy couldn't come down for their visit as planned. SIGH!!! Still, at least they are safely at home and didn't get stuck half way or something. We'll just have to delay out Christmas get-together for a while.

Hope you've all had a fabulous Christmas, whether you're dealing with snow, rain, floods or summer heat (I wish!!). And may the spirit of Christmas stay alive in all our hearts throughout the next 12 months! But I DO promise to hide my countdown Santa so we don't alarm ourselves! Tee! Hee! The kettle is calling my name, so til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

 

"Beary" Christmas!!

One little candle; one little bear,

Spreading their light and love EVERYWHERE!

 

It's Christmas Eve and I thought I would just pop in quickly to share a Christmas wish with you.

My wish for you all this Christmas is, just like my photo:

May your corner of the world be lit with warmth, light and hope;

May your home be filled with joy, laughter and love.

Wishing all my blogging buddies a "BEARY" Merry Christmas!!

CHRISTMASSY BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

OPAM 2011!!!

Australia Post has been busily delivering lots of parcels all around Australia (a few overseas ones may take a bit longer to arrive!!) on my behalf to be enjoyed by my fabulous friends and I've been DYING to show you a photo of the latest arrival ... to my blogging buddy Kerryanne at Shabby Art Boutique. Now, Kerryanne's birthday fell during a period of the year when I was snowed under with deadlines, so I didn't get her giftie to her in time ... slack friend that I am! :0) But that got me thinking and I decided to send a double whammy for Christmas/Birthday. Her nervous-Nelly postman (the 'attack' dog was on duty! Tee! Hee! Hee!) delivered her parcel yesterday, so now I can show you what I sent off to her ...

A very LOOOOOOOONG table runner for her dining room table and some matching placemats, all in the beachy/nautical colours that I know Kerryanne has been decorating their beach cottage with. I did cheat a little ... I bought the placemats and runner. I fell in love with the gorgeous cornflower blue shade of the stripes and decided I'd never find fabric as pretty to make them myself ... then I added a few hand-appliqued nautical touches.

HOIST THE ANCHOR! SET THE SAILS!

SCRUB THE DECK! SECURE THE MAINSAIL! 

OK ... have run out of nautical-isms now! Tee! Hee! Hee! I'm hoping that Kerryanne and her family enjoy many cosy meals at their table, enjoying a little something from me. :0) AND ... it means a couple more finishes to add to my OPAM list for December! YAY!! A total of 14 finishes for me ... so far!! ... for a month! I think it's my new record! :0) I do have a couple more gifties that aren't quite finished that I may get done in time, but tomorrow is Christmas cooking day, so I may have to give some "IOU's" for these last couple of gifts ... will see how I go!

And speaking of OPAM ...

YES! OPAM ...

(or for the uninitiated ... One Project A Month ...)

will be happening again in 2011!!

Lots of you OPAMers have been asking Peg and I whether OPAM will be running again next year, so I thought I'd let you know that it WILL be ... but we'll be starting a little later than the last two years. The Fabulous Super Stitcher, Peg, will join me again to co-host OPAM 2011 ... we've had so much fun this year, that we both wanted to spin the wheel again! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Peg and I will both be letting you know more about the guidelines etc for OPAM 2011 in the New Year, but I just wanted to say YES it's happening ... BUT (there's always a "But" isn't there! :0) This is only a small "But"!!) sign up won't be opened until towards the END of January 2011. Peg and I decided we'd like a few weeks to do a little bit of sewing etc for ourselves before we dive back into OPAM. So ... STAY TUNED ... for more details in the New Year.

But we haven't QUITE finished this year yet ... so ... you have until December 31 to add finishes to your sidebar lists to be counted this month. It's my turn to do the random draw and I'll be doing that a few days after New Year's day ... gotta allow some extra time for all the party fare to digest, right! Tee! Hee! Hee! And I'll apologise beforehand if I don't return emails very promptly for a couple of weeks. We're coming and going, visitors are coming and going and the Meares' Madhouse is likely to be even MADDER than usual, so I may not have the uninterrupted time to sit at the computer ... but I might pop in with some photos somewhere along the line! :0)

Right now, though, I'm off to dig out my Christmas cooking recipes to make sure I've got all the ingredients I need for my cooking marathon tomorrow ... perhaps I'll have a cup of my Christmas Tea while I look into that! Tee! Hee! Hee! Only TWO sleeps to go! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. The Lovely Lilly Linda solved the mystery of "Guess That Smell!" that I was telling you about last post ... it was CINNAMON BUNS! We were on the right track and whatever it's called, the room/linen spray smells DELICIOUS!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! BH! KRIS