A lazy tea

It's been a busy day today. Housework in the morning

and down to the shops this afternoon followed by a visit

from eldest daughter and still pregnant granddaughter.

She was due six days ago but I think

he is nice and warm and cosy where he is

 and knows it's winter out here :)

ready to go under the grill

So it was a lazy tea tonight.

We had cheese rolls - a southern specialty.

People have their own secret recipes

and they are a popular school fundraiser.

ready to turn

A cheese mixture rolled in bread, brown or white.

We prefer white. We often pair them up with a cup of soup.

Cold day comfort food.

ready to eat

Youngest sister ordered two large cheese roll whilst

out for lunch one day, not realizing large ones

 were made from a caterers loaf. She hadn't

had one since she moved to Australia nearly

thirty years ago.

hamming it up on holiday.

Have a good weekend

Diana

New beginnings

New beginnings in more ways than one.

A lot has changed in my life in the last few months,

I have given up some activities and taken up others.

Some things are going to be a challenge and a

learning curve for me but I'm looking forward to it.

One thing I discovered though was that I needed 

more variety just to bring some balance to my life 

- I needed to do something creative.

So I decided to come back to blogging, this is totally different to anything else I am doing and writing and taking photographs is the type of thing I enjoy doing, I find it very relaxing.

I am also cross stitching on a baby blanket.

Middle sis, in Australia, crocheted it 21 years ago for my daughter when she was pregnant. I never got the stitching done on the blanket before the baby was born so she just used it as it was.

Sis had also earlier crocheted the same blanket for my eldest daughter and I'd managed to do the cross stitch on that but for some reason not on the second one. Above is one of the panels I'm copying.

And now we have a new little life just about to begin.

Eldest granddaughter, Monica, remember

the wedding we went to last year, is going to gift us with

 a little boy and the blanket came out for me to finish.

Now this is not the sort of creativity I am happy with

but seeing as it is for my first great grandchild it will be done :)

And if I do a little each evening it should be finished in time.

We had a baby shower for her a couple of weekends ago so

 I've put up a couple of photo's of the blooming mother to be.

She was so delighted with all her gifts and just slightly overwhelmed by peoples generosity as well, I think.

So...I'm back and find I have enjoyed writing this.

I've been on once or twice reading posts

but only decided last night I needed to come back.

Have a lovely week,

Diana

Cowboy boots, lace and pearls...

The weather had been dreadful leading up to the wedding. Even on the day we were all nervously watching the skies. The aunties and Granma joked about buying bright pink, sparkly gumboots and wearing them, instead of our nice high heeled wedding shoes. But it stayed fine and was quite a nice mild day and we were able to hold the service outside under the trees in the garden at the venue.

Me and sis ready to leave.

We had thrown umbrellas in the boot of the car.

The cake made by the bride's big brother.

There was a bit of drama with the cake as it was so

 hot where he was making the decorations that they

wouldn't set so he ended up bringing it down

uniced and icing it on the morning of the wedding.

We ended up with fresh flowers on it as a substitute

to the artificial ones he had hoped to make.

It looked beautiful.

Siblings, Monica, Andrew and Caitlin.

Caitlin was one of the bridesmaids.

Monica made her bouquet along with those

of the bridesmaids and the rustic table centerpieces,

which I never got a photo of.

The radiant bride and handsome groom

with their groomsman.

She wore cowboy boots under her dress :)

That was one of the borrowed things.

The other was a string of pearls.

With her proud grandad :)

The dress was beautiful as you can see.

Dancing with her proud Dad.

Mum with her partner.

On the dance floor.

A great day was had by all. and all too soon it was over.

Sooner for us older ones than for the younger ones,

oh well we still enjoyed ourselves, but I was glad

to get those heels off when I got home :)

Maybe I should've worn pink, sparkly gumboots!

There was a photo of my little mother and Monica's other grandmother on display. Both had died in the past twelve months and this was a nice way to include them in the celebrations.

Diana

joining Debby for

Friday foto friends

A bridal shower

We had a bridal shower last weekend, at my eldest daughter's home, but before I share some photos with you

here is a little bit of whimsey :)

Can you see the face?

***********

Now to the shower.

My granddaughter Monica is going to be wed this weekend and so it was time to celebrate with just the girls. Pink was the colour theme and the instructions we had were that we should wear something pink :) but as you can see some people never got the message, oh well.

We were greeted at the door by the beautiful bride to be in her pink and white outfit. She and I both love pink. Somehow we ended up with nearly all the food being pink or white as well which meant quite a lot of it was very sweet:)

Once everyone had chatted for a while it was time to play silly games and have some fun. There was a mix of people, workmates, friends and family and the games were a great way to break the ice. Daughter in law was in charge.

Daughter with cake on her face after one of the games - don't ask - but it was fun and I think I won a prize in this one - always a bonus.

Time to open the parcels and I'm not sure why the face pulling but maybe she thought a pink teddy bear was a bit strange at a bridal shower :) She did get some lovely gifts though. Anyway, we all had a fun afternoon and as long as Monica enjoyed it that is all that matters in the end.

************

Middle sis arrives from Aussie late tonight and another grand daughter flew in yesterday. Monica's big brother is bringing the cake down from Christchurch on Friday, he's made and iced it, so none of us have any idea what it's like - well maybe Monica does :) So we're really looking forward to a wonderful celebration with everyone at the weekend.

I'll see you again once it's all over.

Diana

joining in with Debby over at

Friday foto friends