Twentysix Red Roses

I walked in home yesterday evening and there on the lounge room table stood my tall cobalt blue vase holding a bouquet of twentysix roses. It was absolutely glorious and the frangrance that filled the lounge room was exquisite. Whilst standing there, lost in admiration, Duane came in and said They're not yours you know". Well! So much for me. It was ~ evidently ~ his gift. So I thanked him for sharing them with us ~ after all, they are in the lounge room!

What's Chelsea up to?

A very very delighted Chelsea ~ who is now back at Uni on the Coast ~ phoned to say how absolutely delighted she was with the stage show Mary Poppins. She had nothing but praise for the whole production ~ actors, stage, dancing, props, etcetera and et al. Wish I could have been there with you Chel. Maybe next time.

I don't think there's anything better than live theatre. I hope Chel takes every opportunity to see many, many more productions

Down on the farm...

Sunday afternoon and I'm feeling bored so the best thing to do is.... Go and annoy Dids. He's busy planting out seed trays. A farmer's life is ruled by seasons and each phase of the moon gives him detail for future crops. I'm pretty sure he'd love to see me. Specially if I just lounge about in a chair and watch him work. Wouldn't you?

Concentrating on the job in hand

Can you imagine the patience required to stand there planting tray upon tray of impossibly tiny seeds? The steadiness of hand and eye. No wonder I'm sitting in a chair watching

Then finally taking it next door to the open sunlight, so the seeds can do their thing.

You will see from my next post that he eventually sent me outside to photograph the last flight of Norfolk Air. I failed dismally, as I misjudged the amount of time the camera would take to get ready for the next shot, and therefore, missed the moment of landing. So I then amused myself by wandering around the farm, taking random photos of the flowers around the seed shed. No roses though. That's for it's own special post. His roses are beautiful!

These are carrot flowers. The plants that have gone to seed in the late summer heat have thrown their own flowers. Aren't they lovely

This is the white ginger. The frangrance is absolutely beautiful and very strong. You can smell it as you approach the doorway. This plant was gifted to me by Bill Sanders many years ago. He promised it would be red. As you can plainly see ~ it's white!

A red flower growing outside the tractor bay. I have no idea what it's name might be but it's quite lovely. Some tropical something

An akashia tree growing in the front by the roadside showers the greenery with its vibrant yellow blooms

...and the blue flower hedge throws its misty blue along the long line of trees which separates one field from another. I may not have done anything useful but what is achieved in an afternoon, walking among flowers? Not one second has been wasted.

Last flight of Norfolk Air

Sometimes the pitiful nature of my photography skills comes right to the fore. This is one of those times. The last flight of Norfolk Air and she's coming in right over Did's farm. I've driven to the top of the ridge so that I have a birds eye view. Here she comes, flying out of the west, lining up for the runway

Now in direct flight, she comes in over Bishop's Court, driving steadily toward a perfect landing...


...which I missed. If you peer very very closely at the photo you can just see the tail of the aircraft as it touched down

So having missed that vital moment of landing I tried a last desperate attempt to get her at take-off. Again I missed it, but here she is, last flight of Norfolk Air from Norfolk Island. You served us very very well and thank you.

Visitors at Soul Gallery

Saturday morning seemed fairly sluggish from where I was sitting, but up and doing with Soul Gallery. Unfortunately, Yoyo couldn't work on Saturday afternoon but the visit of two delightful people made the morning worthwhile

Girls Night Out ~ and we did Beccy Cole's proud

What on earth is Australia doing now that we've got Naomi? What a honey. With the last flight of Norfolk Air looming steadily closer, Susan Worthy is going back to the land of Oz, so Nomes being Nomes, arranged for a Girls Night Out!... and what a night, it really was. A get together to farewell Susan and wish her well on her journey

Susan and Leeann ~ obviously a very close comradeship had grown in the Norfolk Air office with Leeann teaching the girls to "toughen up!"

Gaye and Kim ~ what a very fun night was had by all to be sure

Kim and Nomes ~ eat your heart out Australia ~ Naomi's ours now

Nomes, Sonja and Susan ~ you're starting to get the picture with this gathering?

Kim and Wendy ~ up the far end of the table in the dark, but echoes of laughter through the restaurant let's us know that they're still there

Kaye and Lou ~ honestly if the conversation around the table could be put onto a CD it would be a best seller within the week

Terry and Gaye ~ and some threat about breakfast at Flagstaff ~ huh, they'd be lucky

Leeann and Paula ~ it's Paula and Terry who are threatening to walk up the steps to the top of the cliff and thus into my front yard, early one morning. I'm fairly positive that Did's will be delighted to see them.

Lou, Susan and Leeann ~ what villainry is afoot?

Kim, Wendy, Kaye and Lou ~ a night to remember and to oft be repeated. We'll miss you Susan. Hey Nomes, that might be a good reason to have another night out! A night to remember absent friends ~ we can justify anything if we want to

Tampali and Tuning Forks

Another singalong evening on the Rock but this time out at Donald Reynold's hall. A small group gathered to enjoy the evening and also to say farewell to Tony who's going to Aust on the weekend

All assembled in their places

Donald at the piano tuning the uke

Vonnie (No show without Punch) Don Bryant and Clare, getting ready

Melinda and Junie. It really doesn't matter how hard they try, innocence eludes them!

Cynthia, smiling beautifully because she knows that I can't see to focus! Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot of Mrs Butters who was also looking particularly lovely that evening

The star of the night. Mr Tonno Gizzard. Come home soon brud.

Vonnie and Don ~ what a pair to have sitting together!

Clare and Donald, getting the programme in order

Tony Lette is visiting the island. He tunes the piano's for us and keep all the instruments sane in this insane humidity. Mudgie is listening and I'll just bet that Peter is behind her, up to naughty tricks. I had to keep moving because there was another function just down the road at Dino's.
I left Dino's at 10.15 and noticed bright lights still on at Tampali when I drove past. Made a quick decision to go home and did so, much to my disappointment today when Mrs Butters tells me that the evening went on til after 1am, with people calling in from the Opera in Paradise crowd, George Smith and Andre, with Don Bryant and Peter Guile singing, Tony's friend singing Crazy and all in all, a fabulous night, enjoyed by everyone. Oh well. Next time me.

Robin's Return for another year

Friday 24th February and Madam Adams celebrated another year. After a full day of celebration and before going out to dinner, a small but very select group gathered under the towering Norfolk Pine at Camelot gardens, and raised a glass or two

Gathered around the table with glee, well wishes and much laughter ~ not to mention food and wine

Hi Robbie, Good to see ya

May the sun be always at your back

A photo of the table from the other end, just in case I missed anyone. I'm not too sure what Andrea's doing. She may well be singing I think

Amber and Missy showing everyone just what to do at such gatherings

Jodie being so kind as to help Amber re-arrange Andrea's hair

A final picture of the afternoon with Andrea bedecked in ribbons, thanks to the agile fingers of Miss Amber Bigg

It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about? Henry David Thoreau

Last weekend was pretty busy. Chelsea went back to Uni on the Gold Coast and we're still here. We miss her happiness. Naturally, there were feeding times. Most of her family went to lunch on Friday, and then the rest, residue and remainder came to dinner at Flagstaff that evening. Although we all brought along only one or two dishes, Michael set up his barbeque and there was food enough for all and more. No photos were taken! I really think that the blog has seen more then enough of Dottie and Jack's offspring feeding their faces.

On another note entirely, Dad fell down his steps the other evening and grazed himself in a couple of places and suffered a nasty cut above his good eye. Four stitches later from Dr Jenny and he's as fine as ninepence. His feet are swollen, and Dr Jen said "I don't like the look of your feet Jack" to which he replied, "They look okay to me Doc!" Tough old bird.

Chel's funny bone

Every so often my daughter sends me an email which (she thinks) is screamingly funny. I have to admit that this one certainly appealed! It's Gold!

Valentine's Day en Me

Many, many years ago when the world was young I went to Mirra's and ate a piece of an EXTRAORDINARY cake. She had been given the recipe by Billy Ward, an elderly American lady who lived on the island ~ has since passed away ~ and it was called an Angel Cake. Now this cake was so devine that I had been pressing Mirra for another piece ever since. Yesterday I received a message to phone her as she had something for me. Hallelujah! Mirra had made me a Billy Ward Angel Cake for Valentine's Day! I immediately drove up and spent a short but wonderful time with her and came away with my Angel Cake.

Hetieh! I could go on and on and on and on, but just let your imagination run free

Dids came home with a beautiful bouquet of roses from the farm with three blooms of the magnificent white ginger. The frangrance of the display is exquisite, and although the roses are fading quickly in our summer heat, the arrangement is still lovely.

In the evening, we drove to Hili's Restaurant to enjoy a quiet dinner. Happy Valentine's Day again orl aklan.

Valentine's Day and Soul Gallery

Cristina emailed Soul Sistas to say that Suzanne had come up with a great idea. We would have a Valentine's Day LOVE exhibition which would open on Sunday 12th February and run until the 14th. What a great idea! Seems we've all been waiting for a push to start something new and this gave us the push we wanted. So! Put on our creative caps and start moving...

I've decided on little folk art hearts, so spoke with David about going out to his shed and working the scroll saw. This is fine by him, so hetieh me, doing the hard yards

Alot of planning goes into these little creative splurges. First you have to think of the idea, then move from thought to reality, then find wood, then trace...

But what an excellent job I'm doing. Just as long as people realise that hand made hasn't quite the same meaning as machine made, with a perfect shape each time

Back home and snug in my little work area, still at the preparation stage. There's sanding and sealing, underpainting and...

...being disturbed by children with camera who wish to record each moment of truth

...and again. Is this karma from my constant snapping for the blog, do you think?

Some painted and I'm standing back to admire. Yep. Someone is sure to love these. What are they for? You hang them on doornobbs, and handles, sky hooks and kitchen cupboards. Any place that needs a lift of lovin

Se musa dan. Himii orn de hoem stretch nau

Then up to SOUL to set them up

Hanging them on the wall to display for the people

Sunday afternoon and all are gathered on the verandah to enjoy some fun time and camaraderie

and of course ~ food, drink and merriment. Happy Valentine's Day orl yorlyi