Saturday, August 31, 2019

Once more for Whitby

I already mentioned the keys we were given at the Saxonville Hotel but thought I would share a few more images from there before I say goodbye to Whitby altogether.

The grandfather clock was there to greet just near the reception area.  Looked the part but never heard it chime.















The dining room with white tablecloths and silver service dining.

Not just good looks but the food was just the best.

The waitress was there for our every need, if required.

Making bookings on line for accommodation can be ‘very interesting’.  Not all places live up to how they are publicised but the Saxonville did not let us down we are glad to say.














What would you prefer?

The Saxonville Hotel in Whitby was set up in an old world style and to go with the style we were given this set of keys with a very heavy brass key and tag.

Quite a contrast to the electronic key cards that are given out in a lot of accommodation places these days.

After carrying the keys around in my jacket pocket all day I decided I definitely preferred the modern day electronic device.

Which do you think you would prefer?

Thursday, August 29, 2019

What to say about Whitby

I actually think that Whitby, where we had a brief but good stay, stole a little bit of my heart.

Our hotel, The Saxonville, was not far from the northern beach and it did not take us long to walk there.

We were happy enough to look over the cliff edge at the activity below without the slightest intention of digging our toes in the sand. There were plenty of others doing that for us.


A bit more of a walk and then we came across the statue of Captain James Cook that looks out over the mouth of the River Esk and beyond over the North Sea.

The locals are very proud of their James Cook heritage and we took time out to visit the museum where he lived for some time while he learnt his craft as a sailor.












Looking across the Esk River you can see the remains of the Whitby Abbey predating Viking times.

Another prominent spot on the landscape are the 199 steps that lead to the Abbey and they also get frequent mention.

You can see the trail of people making their little pilgrimage to the site.

As for us, we found a local pub, had a glass of Guinness and caught the hop on/hop off bus which took us up and around there in style.

In spite of taking the easy option, we still managed to exceed 13,000 steps for our walking for the day.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Women of influence

On Friday we attended the wedding of Courtney and Rhian.
They have become friends of the family through my son, James, pictured bottom right with his girlfriend, Briana.
It was a privilege for us to have been invited.
The wedding venue was a farm in New South Wales, Australia.  Although crisp first thing it was a lovely clear day for an outdoor wedding and the brides could not have wished for better.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

More family catch up

More family catch up time.

We moved on from Melbourne, but brother Bob had an Aussie Rules football game to come to Sydney for so we had another family gathering.

The picture does not show all of the family gathered but Uncle Bob was happy to be catching up with my son, Rick, and Hannah, his partner, here from England for a few days.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Time for a cup of tea?

Son, David, had heard that George Street, Sydney had been closed to traffic and thought that a walk the length from Town Hall Station to Circular Quay would be a great idea.

We really enjoyed the outing.

We stopped for breakfast in the lovely, old Queen Victoria Building and what a lovely surprise to see grandson, Jackson, order a pot of tea - and he drank it all.

The crockery was mismatched but lovely fine china nevertheless.

Dymocks Bookstore presented another trip down memory lane.  They have a mezzanine cafe and our mother thought it was a bit like heaven, being able to stop and have something to eat and drink while in a book store.  She was an avid reader.


Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Down Memory Lane

After travelling from Melbourne to Sydney we were reunited with other family members.

The Seattle White family, David, Lisa and Jackson were already in an Airbnb in Pyrmont and it was so good to be with them again.

When I went to live in Sydney when I was 21 I used to catch a ferry from Mosman into Circular Quay as my main means of getting to and from work.

I never got tired of this method of transport and so I was looking forward to catching the ferry to Manly so that I could see those familiar sites - the Opera House,

The Sydney Harbour Bridge (along with a lot of others showing an interest too) -













The ever changing skyline of the city -














And then, Manly Beach.

To think it can be so crowded in summer but there we were on cool spring like morning and hardly a soul in view.

A walk along the Manly Corso and a refreshing drink at one of seaside restaurants and all was well with the world.

Monday, August 19, 2019

A spot of Irish Dancing

A bit of a contrast to watching Aussie Rules but yesterday we went to watch an Irish Dancing School go through their dance routines as a warm up for State championships next week.

When I was in Melbourne earlier in the year I was here for St Patricks Day and went to see my great niece, Jaeda, at several venues, dancing to celebrate the day.

The first event was at 10am in an Irish Pub and the drinks were flowing even at that hour.  I was happy to have a cappuccino to keep me going.



I didn’t manage to capture an image of Jaeda dancing yesterday but here she is on the right with very proud Grandad and Mum, Irene.












Sunday, August 18, 2019

Bucket list items

I never have considered myself to be a ‘bucket list’ person but paying a visit to the Melbourne Cricket Ground came pretty close to that sort of thing for me.

Even though I had lived in Australia for 30 years I had never had the opportunity to go to this great venue of all things wonderful to Australian sports fans.





We were not there for cricket but for an Aussie Rules game.

Linda and I are pictured here with John, a long standing friend of our brother, Bob.

John and Bob being faithful Saints supporters we just had to wear the right colours for the day.

Another ‘bucket list’ item, if I had a bucket list.

I had always wanted to watch an Aussie Rules game.

I know nothing about the game but I enjoyed the whole show, the atmosphere, the crowd involvement  - it was just great.  Although this image gives the appearance of an empty stand, there were over 50,000 fans there and the roar of the crowd was all part of the fun of the day.


Friday, August 16, 2019

On our way - again

It is 4 years ago since we embarked on an overseas trip and chose cabin baggage for our travels.

We have found this works for us with great success.

Great shopping restraint.  If it can’t fit into our cabin baggage then we won’t be buying.

That said, there is always the option to post a parcel home if something just has to be had, but on the whole we manage.

We have been known to exit a garment or two and replace them with new ones along the way.

This trip will include catching up with family, a wedding in New South Wales, Australia and a little bit of travel into Yorkshire and Wales - a few places in England we have always wanted to go to but not made it until this time around.

A house sitter has been ‘installed’ and we already have positive reports that the cats have adjusted to having someone new in charge.

Today we fly to Melbourne and after a weekend there with our brother and partner we will head up to Sydney to catch up with three of my sons and their spouses.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

A little more indulgence

 I did not think I could say goodbye to talking about Forest Friends without some close ups of some of the blocks so you can see the attention to detail that Linda gave to the individual blocks when she machine quilted them.  This added so much character to the overall quilt.
The quilt was destined to go to London and so my grandson, Caleb, on his fourth birthday, is seen here opening his present with his mother.

He was born on Valentines Day and may give Valentine a run for his money when he is fully grown.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Under the eye of the needle


I have been absent from blog writing for over a year.

When I was last here I was writing about a quilt I was making called Forest Friends.

In the end I think it took me about thirteen months to create all the blocks for this quilt and then, finally, it went under the eye of Linda’s trusty machine quilting needle.












Once completed Hershey had to do the cat scan thing to give his full approval.



















We had the pleasure of having the quilt hung in our lounge room for a few precious weeks.

It was one of my entries in our local quilt show and was given the Viewer’s Choice Award.

I have never won any sort of prize in a quilt show so this was quite exciting for me.













Friday, August 09, 2019

Happy with scraps

 It’s a wee while since a friend of ours went on a caravan adventure with her husband.

Part of the adventure was saying goodbye to some of her possessions and would we like 2 trash bags full of quilting fabrics.

We never pass on an opportunity like this and we had a lot of fun going through everything that was there.

Some pieces were quite substantial yardage but in the midst I found a whole lot of pre cut 2" squares in blue and white.  Some were stitched into 4 patches but a lot were not.

When we do harvesting of scraps we only go down to 2.5" so these small pieces of fabric presented a little challenge for me.

I ended up making some into 9 patch blocks and some into snowball blocks which turned out to a fun combination.

Linda completed the quilt with some lovely machine quilting and so now we have this quilt hanging in or guest bedroom.

Amazing what you can do with some 2" scrappy pieces.

Thank you, Fiona, for sharing your fabric with us.