Bird is the Word - Travel/Explore Challenge

I have a sister that lives and works in the USA; in order to be allowed to work as a trauma nurse there she needed to travel to the USA in March of 1998 to sit an exam. She was already well travelled and knowing how much I have wanted to travel, she kindly offered me the opportunity of accompanying her. She was required to sit the exam in Los Angeles and wanted to visit a friend in Boston and spend a few days in New York but was happy for me to choose where we travelled after that. I chose to spend a few days in London, see Oxford and spend some time in Paris as I had spent three years learning French in high school and had fallen in love with the idea of seeing this great city. I also needed and wanted to be home for our 20th anniversary on the 8th of April which very much limited our time away. We went around the world on nine flights in twenty days!

I was fortunate to spend time in Disney Land, walk on the Boston Common and see the beautiful copper domes, travel through the snow covered country side to Amish Country in Pennsylvania and go to the top of the Empire State building and stand in the crown of the statue of Liberty. I spent two days wandering around London, touched the ancient walls of the Roman baths and stood in front of Buckingham Palace. We flew to Paris and arrived mid afternoon and after checking into our hotel wandered through the nearby streets to find some dinner. In the morning we walked through Montmartre to Sacre Coeur, climbed the steps to the top and turned to see the city laid out below. We  returned to our hotel to catch a three hour city tour bus which would give us a snapshot of the city as we only had sixteen hours here before our flight home. The driver took us to the Arc de Triomphe and although not allowed, quickly stopped so we could get out look down the Champs Elysee to the Eiffel Tower. We were standing on the balcony in a gentle rain on a very overcast day looking upon the landmark and tears came to my eyes; I could not believe my childhood dream had come true and I had finally arrived. It was a moment that I will never forget.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes. 

http://birdisthewordchallenge.blogspot.com.au/

123 Get Scrappy Challenge #1

I was introduced to this new challenge site by my lovely niece Bel Woods who has been selected to be on the initial design team;  Bel is such a wonderful choice, she has such a quirky style and is completely self taught. The challenge is to play tic tac toe with the squares; choose a straight line of three and use these in your LO. I chose the top three across: hexagons, red, brads: I am not fond of red and I don't like brads and rarely use them so this one pushed me a little. You will notice some red accents and I slid 5 brads down one side of the photo, I just couldn't use them in any other way!

This is a photo of my scrapbooking friends, the ones that have helped and supported me over the past 4 years since we lost our eldest son and I cannot thank them enough for their friendship. I guess I am the groups organiser; I have worked in marketing for 7 years and love putting together events. To thank them for their love and to have some fun, I organise two camps a year. I also organise the 0 birthdays e.g. 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th (I won't say who has celebrated which!). We have had Lis's, Tamara's and Kay's birthday parties all themed for what I think is appropriate for each; in October last year we celebrated Kate's 0 birthday a nautical themed party as she loves the sea. I wanted to go on a boat cruise but many of the girls suffer from motion sickness so we had to stay on land. I organised a guided tour of the Maritime Museum in Fremantle followed by tea on the lawn, a walk along the beach to watch the sunset and a sea food dinner. This photo was taken outside the museum among the anchor and chains from a local ship wreck; the whole group together, only one unable to be present due to illness. I am looking forward to organising Jimmie's and Peta's 0 parties later this year.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

 

http://123getscrappy.blogspot.com.au/

Once Upon A Sketch - August



Our third grandson at our fourth grandsons birthday party; I have written of this little man several times but it is here that I explained that he is actually in a wheelchair in this photo and how he came to be there.

His wonderful personality shone through when I saw him at the hospital the day after his accident. His little face lit up when I walked into the room even though he was in a box splint and traction with cords and pulleys everywhere. He wanted to show me everything that he had to keep him busy while he was recovering but first he needed to show me what would happen when he leaned back and grabbed the cords behind the bed. 'Look Nan' and he pulled the cords forward; his boxed leg swung up into the air and back down again all while he was laughing... mostly at the reaction of the adults surrounding his bed! He has such spirit, such heart, such a wonderful personality, a beautiful smile and his Dad's lovely blue eyes. I will never forget the courage he shows in adversity.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.
 

http://onceuponasketchblog.blogspot.com.au/

Bird is the Word Challenge - Celebrate

I have written in a previous post about our five yearly professional photo shoot here and is a matching page to that layout. Today I am sharing another photo from the shoot we had taken in October 2001. The journaling is on the filigree tag behind the photo.

The stance of both of us speaks volumes. The wonderful man by my side is my protector, my strength, my friend and my love. I lean on him and he has held me and helped me through the very best of times and the very worst; he puts up with my OCD tendencies, supports me so I can do the things I need to do and encourages me to do the things I want to do. He has given me four of the most handsome boys in the world and helped them to become the wonderful young men, husbands and fathers they are. He gives willingly of his time to family, friends and the community and is empathetic and charitable.

In the last week of December this year we will have been a couple for 40 years and will have known each other for a further two years. I will never regret attending the Catholic Policeman's Picnic at the Benedictine Monastery in New Norcia with my uncle as a 14 year old; I knew that day that I had met the man I wanted to marry. I have never regretted a moment of the life we have had together and there is only one day in those 42 years I would change if I could.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes. 

http://birdisthewordchallenge.blogspot.com.au/

1 2 3 Challenge - July

I know I have talked about conquering my fear of heights in a previous blog here but this photo is really where the challenge for me really began. We live in the west of Australia and decided to take a holiday visiting some of the rural towns in New South Wales then coming into Sydney for the last week. During the planning for this trip my husband expressed a wish to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge; he insisted that he would not do the climb unless I was with him even though he knew I was almost paralysed in fear doing something as simple as walking across a suspension bridge or standing on a balcony. I think he knew that I had gotten to a point where I needed to challenge myself as part of the recovering from losing our eldest son in the previous year. I decided that if he was going to insist there were a couple of things I wanted to do that I would insist on too. He had to ride a Segway with me and take me to see the stage production of Wicked.

I don't think I could understate how scared I was in preparation for the climb but every step is so carefully prepared for that it is almost impossible to fall. Absolutely everything is strapped to you in some way right down to the cap and sunglasses on your head to the handkerchief that might be needed to wipe the sweat from your brow. You are attached to part of the bridge by cable the whole way. We chose a twilight tour and I was put at the front of the line so that the guide would be nearby if I froze. We reached the top of the arch as the sun was setting over the Blue Mountains in the west and the full moon was rising over the Opera House below us to the right. It was one of the most awesome sights I have ever had the pleasure of seeing and having achieved the climb meant a great deal to me.

My husband later thoroughly enjoyed both the Segway tour and Wicked and we were both thrilled that we had experience all three things together.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

http://123-challenge-blog.blogspot.com.au/

Once Upon a Sketch - July: Grow

I have mentioned in previous posts here and here that we have a tradition of having a professional family photo shoot every five years; we didn't have a lot of money in the early years of our family but I made sure there was at least one professional photo taken of each of the boys at different stages of their early years. The first was taken at 6 weeks, then 6 months, 1 year etc. As each child was added they were also taken together once a year. This is the first professional photo taken of the four boys together. The youngest is 6 weeks, the next almost 3, the next almost 5 and the eldest would not be 7 for another 6 months. It was certainly a very busy time in our lives.

I remember endless clothes lines of nappies and tiny clothes, the chaos of meal and bath times and the peace at bed time. Doing the rounds at night and checking on each of them, seeing their sweet little faces at rest and covering them with their blankets and making sure their special toy was close by and thinking how very blessed we were to have them. The boys played outside climbing trees or in the sandpit, on their trikes and bikes or with friends. I wouldn't change a single thing about those years. We didn't have a lot but we were happy.

My husband needed our only car to carry his tools for work; I remember walking uphill to school 3.5 kms away in the mornings, going back at lunch time to pick up the pres-schooler and going back again the afternoon to pick up the eldest one often carrying shopping on the way back; we walked through all weather with me pushing one or more in the pram and the older ones walking beside me. We used that time as our conversation time, talking about the passing cars, trucks, plants and animals as well as the changes in our community; we practised spelling or the times tables to our step beat. It wasn't always easy; there were the very hot days where there was no relief from the hot sun except the occasional shady tree or ice cream on the way home. There were the very wet days where everyone was wrapped from head to toe in rain hats, coats and 'boggy boots' with a change of footwear at school so that they would be comfortable and warm. It was tough on the boys but we didn't have a choice and they grew up to be strong, fit, healthy, independent, resilient, hard working young men who understand the value of getting what they have from what they earn. I could not be more proud of each of them and consider myself to be truly blessed.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 http://onceuponasketchblog.blogspot.com.au/

Scrap Around the World - July Mood Board and Sketch

I loved this mood board as soon as I saw it; the softness of the colours, the romance of the draping and the tiniest hint of my favourite colour, the very light aqua in the lowest image on the right. All of it spoke of weddings and I knew I had the perfect photo.

This is a photo taken at my second sons' wedding. He had already asked each of his brothers to stand with him and his fiancé had asked our eldest son's wife to be the matron of honour; there were two other friends that were supposed to be bridesmaids but they had not been supportive and when things came to a head they were asked to stand down and did not attend the wedding. My son did not want to ask his any of his brothers to step down so all of them stood with him to support him on the day. Strangely it did not look odd, the whole group were close and carried it off really well. The bride loves the ocean and our boys love the bush so the couple compromised; the ceremony was held on the lawn beside a river under some lovely gum trees in a wine region in the east of the city and the reception held near the ocean. The day was slightly overcast though very hot and the colours of the sky, sea and sand were perfect for the photographs. The best part for me; all my family at that time are in this photo.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes

http://scraparoundtheworld.blogspot.com.au/