Tuesday 31 December 2013

A Gift from Afar!

Every Christmas for many years I receive a gift from Canada, a Christmas Cake the size of a brick. Today the parcel arrived and I was thrilled. It's the first time the cake arrived after Christmas being posted on the 9th of December.

I first met the lady who makes and sends the cake many years ago on the internet.  I had a 'homepage' with information on it, and it's there the lady emailed me and we have been emailing since.






Tuesday 24 December 2013

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
& a 
Happy New Year!

May peace and plenty be the first
To lift the latch to your door.
And happiness be guided to your home,
By the candle of Christmas.



Sunday 22 December 2013

Christmas In Australia!

No, we don't have snow where I live at Christmas time, it's summer.
Living in the Southern area of Australia we have a hot 1pm meal, called Christmas Dinner.  People do have Barbecues, some have salads, some eat out for Dinner, many go to family and spend a fair bit of the day travelling, some stay at home, some have Christmas Dinner another day, then some don't do much at all. So with our weather Christmas is not always a hot meal.

The photos below is from an Australian Christmas Card which basically shows the opposite to the Northern Hemisphere's Christmas weather.



Friday 20 December 2013

The Bush on the way to Josef Chromy's Winery.

The Tasmanian Bush which I love to walk in when I can. I took some photos on the way to Josef Chromy's Winery.
This time of year it's snake time, so it's not always advisable to walk without the correct shoes, clothing and to be ever watchful, as all the snakes in Tasmania are poisonous.
Josef fled his war-torn Czech village in 1950 as a penniless 19 year old after eleven years of Nazi and Soviet occupation. He escaped across borders guarded by minefields, dogs and soldiers, suffering five month of privation before immigrating to Australia. (copied from his website)
Josef has many awards for his wines from the Relbia Winery in Tasmania.








Thursday 19 December 2013

Flowers for Christmas!



A warm day forecast for tomorrow at 37deg C so expect I won't be doing a great deal.

The roses are blooming well as are the lilies. The photo I have below is a common Lilium, they seem to multiply and not die out as other varieties of the Lilium do.

My late mother used to have beautiful Liliums and because they bloomed around Christmas time we called them 'The Christmas Lily'. I do have a photo of them somewhere, but for now a photo of the common one.




Monday 16 December 2013

Gifts for Christmas!

Sometimes for us it's hard to think of a personal gift for family members. Some are easy to buy for, and some are not.
What I do is phone each of them and ask what they would like, I always get a lovely reply.
Family gets what they want & we pay for it, that way I don't go shopping for presents expect for my husband and my father.
My husband & I have 11 people to buy gifts for which, is not many compared to some people. It's the joy of giving that is the best.
I wonder how others go about buying their Christmas Gifts?


Tuesday 10 December 2013

Before Bed!

Often I do have something to drink and eat before going to bed. The past few nights around 11.30pm to midnight I have been have a mug of Cappuccino and a piece of cream cake.
I took the photo and forgot the little camera didn't take a good photo in partial darkness.

The header I made for this blog isn't as bright as it should be, must be blogger!


Friday 6 December 2013

Nana Mouskouri Rose

I just love this beautiful rose called Nana Mouskouri and named after the singer of the same name. I love her singing also, I can listen to her sing all day, and do.
This particular rose was growing in the front garden till winter time, it's then my husband moved it out to the back rose garden and it's doing very well - as is my husband :)
I have not altered the background or colours in the photo, it comes the way I photographed it, though I did make the photo smaller.


As the rose comes out it goes whiter, but it's not a pure white Floribunda Rose

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Greeting after midnight!

The content of photo below was my greeting just after midnight.  This spider is a Hunstman, harmless, can bite but doesn't usually. Often they can appear in the house if it's going to rain, and it did rain!
These spiders run quickly, can hide in cars and often do and fall on your lap :) that did happen to me once.
Anyway I was able to take care of the huntsman last night, so I thought, just about to step into my kitchen putting my foot down on the floor, bare foot might I add, and it landed on top of that huntsman....no harm done to me, but it's gone!