We celebrated Elaine's graduation ...

.. on Saturday night with a dinner at ....

As you all know there was a mix up with dates and we will miss her graduation by ONE DAY .... very very very sad mommy and daddy here!! :(

... so we celebrated her special day .... Honours with cum laude (Marketing) ....

... with dinner and a little prezzie ...




... which she will wear tomorrow ... so that there will be a little part of us with her while she is capped ...

Congratulations, sweetie pie .. you deserve it. You have reaped the rewards of your dedication and hard work ..

.. we love you lots !

Weekly Winners : 20 - 26 Sept

"Incy Wincy spider climbing up/down the spout/wall ....."

These 'rain spiders' give me the absolute creeps !!! I hate/dislike/can't bear them with a passion!

They always appear in the rainy season. This is a youngster!!!! The other day we had a short shower of rain, which was only enough to make things even more dusty looking than they are - it needed to rain harder and longer to wash all the dust off everything !! - and this young fellow decided to see what the outside world looked like in our garage. He has since disappeared ... back to where he came from .... next time we see him he will be much larger, with a round body and furry legs ....

.... once one was quite happy in Elaine's car, unbeknown to her, and gave the car wash lady such a fright ... she screamed in terror and turned rather pale !!! We all wonder how long he had been in there .... and all the places he had visited while travelling around in her car ... university, friends houses, nightclubs etc !!!!

... a few years ago, I was checking the post box for mail and my fingers prodded the soft, warm furry body of one !!! eeeeww !!!

Much more pleasant .... flowers in my garden ... again .... like the palm tree flower ...

... a sad looking daffodil which didn't have the strength to lift it's weary head ... I have never had much success with daffodils and this one decided to join the ranks of it's unsuccessful counterparts ...

Didn't have much success with the anemones either ... planted a huge handful and only a few decided to show their pretty faces ... when spring turns to summer quickly with sudden hot days they don't have much chance ....

Indigenous .... indigenous .... indigenous .... "plant indigenous" is always drummed into our heads at garden centres ... there is a reason .... !!!!

... and finally .. from my garden is the Brunfelsia calycina ... otherwise known as the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow ...

I have five bushes in the garden some are young and smallish ...

... and two are larger and covered in sweet fragrant blossoms at the moment ... these by the window have always been drastically trimmed otherwise we wouldn't see out the window!! Last year my gardener, Samuel, in his wisdom, decided to trim them, whilst I was out, and cut off all the new growth and buds !! I cried !!! This year ... NO ONE has touched them except me !!

I know I have featured them in a previous post, but we are going on holiday for two weeks and by the time we come home the flowers will be dying and falling off :( . They do have odd flowers during the summer but never such a show as in spring/early summer.

More flowers .... and dirty toes ... !!

Jackie waiting for her 'friend' next door to come and sniff and bark at the wall ... she sits for ages there - on one of the stumps from the conifers we felled recently - waiting ... waiting ... waiting ..

Now ... what would a Weekly Winners be without our little 'wild child' ....


This is my last contribution for the next two weeks ... hubby and I are 'going overseas' to Ireland for a holiday .. should be good .... green and wet !!! See you when we get back ....

For more Weekly Winners go to Sarcastic mom - Lotus

Skywatch Friday :

"I'm leaving .... on a jet plane .... "


... "don't know when I'll be back again ... "

Actually, I do ... in two weeks!!! Hubby and I are going to Ireland for a holiday on Monday. We've had quite a traumatic time with all sorts of things going wrong, it will be nice to get away - although I feel as if I am 'abandoning ship' !!


Hoping to have good news today and Nicole (my DIL) will be discharged (I told her to take/steal/borrow an oxygen tank and sneak out!!).

... hoping Carl (my son/her husband) will begin to relax - he has had it tough .. with looking after little Erin, night shifts (he is a paramedic) and now their beautiful 'gentle giant' has died

... hoping the rest of my family don't get sick .. and that includes Elaine who now seems to have the tummy bug I had !!

... hoping that her graduation goes well. We will be there in thought and spirit to watch her receive her Honours with cum laude .... and still very very very upset that the University messed us around with not giving us a firm date of the graduation ... hence the bad timing !! :(

... hoping we don't get another swarm of bees which decided to make a hive in an air vent at the back of the house the other day

... hoping that Elaine and Bryan are safe whilst looking after our house (our friends were the victims of an armed robbery in their home and were thankfully not physically hurt)

... hoping that it rains so that my garden will be watered while we are away

... hoping that my hubby and I will relax over a beer/wine at the airport and drink a toast to our family and a wonderful holiday

One more thing .... below .... Erin, our two year old granddaughter ... a future Skywatcher !!!!!

For more beautiful skies around the world visit Skywatch Friday

RIP Dumbledore

With Nicole still in hospital ... improving daily, thank heavens, Carl has been 'stretched' a little ... with looking after little Erin, who has now had to stay with Nicole's Mum while Carl is on night duty (he is a paramedic) ... and now to top it all ...

... their beautiful 8 year old Great Dane, Dumbledore died yesterday evening

Rest in peace 'gentle giant'

Portrait of a budding photographer ..

Camera in hand ... "are we ready, Grwanny ...



".. nice shot of my Daddy ....

"... a Skywatch photo ....

"look, Grwanny ... there are fairies ... sshhhh .... let's take a photo or two .. or three .. or four .. or five ......

" look ... Daddy .. this is how my Grwanny does it ?

Carl and Erin came on Sunday as he needed time to relax. He, as are we all, are going through a worrying time with Nicole in hospital with no firm diagnosis as to what is wrong with her. She improves slightly daily but is being carefully monitored in the cardiac ward as they have now found that whatever she has is affecting her heart.

Jeanette and I are going to see her later today. Going across town is not that 'easy' anymore with massive road works on our 'highways and by-ways' (they live about half an hour's 'normal driving time' on the highway from here)

Hopefully we will find Nicole much improved.

Jackie went to school ...

.. for Bradley's 'Pet Day' and she loved it !!



Jeanette and family don't have a pet and as Bradley has grown up with our dogs, Robbie and Jackie, we thought it good idea for me to take Jackie. I would have loved to have taken Robbie as Robbie would have absolutely loved all the attention but it would have been too much for 'the old man', so I took our little Jackie - whose not that much of a 'spring chicken' ... she's 10 !!

Bradley was delighted !!! Only four dogs went along to his class that day .. no other pets .. I thought there would be hamsters, mice, rats .... !!! There were other dogs waiting outside the other Grade 0's ... some small, medium, large and extra large !!! I carried her passed the 'extra large' ones !!!!

All the other children in his class brought photographs. Our little Jackie was a star!! She was so well-behaved that we were the last up !!! She sniffed around the classroom in between sitting quietly waiting our turn ....

Oh yes ... very proud of our little 'girlie' !!

Weekly Winners : 13 - 19 September

Angel's wings appeared in the sky last Sunday morning and I knew that my two year old grandson, Connor, would recover. He was in hospital with suspected pneumonia. He did recover and was discharged soon after I took this photo. Do you also see the wing shapes in the Banksia rose?

I am sending these angel's wings to Nicole, my daughter-in-law, together with all our prayers for her speedy recovery. She became ill last Sunday and has spent a few days in High Care in hospital with no definite diagnosis. Tests for various diseases, including Swine Flu came back negative. More tests are being done, and, fortunately, she is improving slightly (we are waiting to hear now as my son has gone to the hospital on his way home from spending a quiet day with us). The thinking now is that she has some sort of immune deficiency but what it is, has still to be pinpointed.

Our love and prayers are with you, Nicole. Erin has taken hundreds of photos today to show you!!!!!

I am also sending these angel's wings to friends of ours who were victims of an armed robbery on Friday night. Their home and lives have been invaded and personal possessions taken but they were not physically hurt. Trauma councelling has helped a lot. Elaine, Bryan and I along with a few other friends, went to be with them after the councelling and we drank wine and celebrated life!

Our love and prayers are with you all. Keep strong and keep safe.

See you on Tuesday, S ... we will have a lovely lunch and celebrate life ..... again!!

What would a Weekly Winners be without flowers from my garden ... like the Banksia rose which is just soooo beautiful at this time of year ....

... and fragrant freesia ....

... and the pale yellow clivia ...

Innocence of little children ... may they keep safe under the shadow of angel's wings forever


For more Weekly Winners can be seen at Lotus' blog

What a traumatic few days we've had ...

Firstly Connor spending last weekend in hospital with suspected pneumonia and thankfully as fully recovered - back to his normal 'wild child' self! On asthma medication for the next six months.

Then my daughter in law - who started feeling ill on Sunday while they were with us for lunch, ending up in High Care a few days later and is still very ill. The first thoughts were 'swine flu' as she had all the symptons but tests came back negative. A battery of tests have now been conducted and hopefully today there will be progress and confirmation as what she has. Very worrying. Waiting to hear from my son what progress has been made and then she will be on the road to recovery.

Little Erin is missing her mommy.

And now ... friends of ours have been the latest victims of an armed robbery - it happened last night while they were having supper. We don't know all the details yet as they are busy sorting and putting back the pieces of their lives - including trauma councelling today. I cannot imagine what they must be going through. They were, thankfully, not physically hurt.
Tied up, threatened and traumatised.

What more can we do .... electric fences, pallisade fencing, alarms, passive alarms ...

Skywatch Friday : Angel's wings

My two year old grandson spent last weekend in hospital with suspected pneumonia ... a little worrying but when I saw these 'angel's wings' on Sunday morning, I knew he would be fine - and he was ... discharged from hospital a little while later.

For more spectacular skies around the world go to Skywatch

Through my kitchen window ...

... I see my yellow Banksia rose arching over the garden wall (photo is a little dark as this was taken yesterday evening) ...

I took this photo the other morning .. love this plant - such a pity it only flowers in spring/early summer and then it's just green for the rest of year ..

Delicate, dainty pale yellow flowers ...

Also 'through my kitchen window' I can see my white Banksia which isn't quite in full bloom yet ..

Early morning sunshine over part of the front garden ... for those interested in what my garden looks like !

Another plant I love is the Cape May which is covered with tiny white blossoms at this time of year

- Janet .. note the 'Yesterday Today and Tomorrow' (Brunfelsia calycina) in full bloom against the house .. this is one of five I have in the garden - their scents waft around the garden and into the house in the evenings

Tiny delicate flowers of the Cape May ...

I haven't finished replantng the side area where the trees came down - but it's coming right ...

The little ditch/river/dried up river bed/where the outlet-water-from-the-pool-goes has needed 'repairs' and there are spaces where I can plant new plants and seedlings etc ....

We've had glorious days lately - although I see it's a little cloudy today and rain would be good!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon the two boys and I spent the whole afternoon on the picnic rug (as I do most afternoons in summer with them) ... we watched the sky and the birds, the fresh new leaves on the trees, counted the aeroplanes ..."jets" ... watched a yellow weaver start another nest just above us, read books ..... it's great being a granny!