A few things ...

Just a few things happening these past two months …

Mum's been a bit lonely since she lost her licence, and her neighbours are either sick or have moved out - so I had an idea ...

Mum came to live with us!! 

- she's down on the ground floor - we're on the 2nd!
- as you can imagine - this is a MASSIVE change for her, and she's being a trooper about it!

- she does like it at our house  … there's the water, the dolphins, the endless parade of people on the dock and, most importantly, there is the incessant stream of (huge) trucks driving over the bridge  - and that is what mum loves most of all!

The entrance to mum's "home" 

"home" -with view of river - hidden slightly by historic "tall ship" - much to mum's annoyance!

Door leads into walk-in-closet, that leads in (huge) bathroom.

New "kitchen" a.k.a laundry!
We had to be rather innovative given that we are renting!
Removed a few doors and counters with the promise to replace when we leave!!

We managed to squeeze in quite a few of her favourites!

We put Mum's house up for sale!

Oh dear - she left this behind! :(

 - minimal worked involved here - certainly no cleaning needed - just the removal of 1,399 photos from the shelves and walls!

staged view (i.e.minus photos) of mum's previous living room/dining room
(I know Brenda- that coffee table just jumps out at you and furniture needs grounding and artwork is too high etc. etc. !  - I tried!)

SOLD mum's house!!  Closing date October 31st. 

Bye bye beautiful roses!!

- we were very lucky to sell quickly and for a decent price.
- we've squeezed a few of mum's "things" into her new "home" (room) - stored others in our garage - some the grandchildren can use and some went to support our Community Garage Sale!  A tad sad esp. for mum :(

Mum bought another house!!

New house - on corner with wrap-around windows!

Looking back towards our current house
we are about where you see the next tree-box.

 (well we are days away from signing the contract)! - closing date Feb 27th 2015

- this one is huge (pretty-much the same as the one we are renting)

- mum will live in the bottom with her own kitchen and bathroom and the same wonderful view we have now

- we rent from her - up on the 2nd floor

-  hopefully this will help avoid/delay her need to move into a nursing home (which over here requires a $350,000-$400,000 deposit if you own your own home!)  yikes!!

In between the buying and selling and moving …

Joseph decided to go to Africa for three months in 2015.
I am happy about this.  I am not happy that the series of injections required has made him sick for the past four weeks :( - they say it's Plurisy and not related to the drugs … but given my extensive medical knowledge - I'm not so sure!

Jasper turned THREE!

- a super-hero party with lots of superheroes and their mums & dads …



















in a park (that we had to ourselves)...

My masterpieces ...

Fairy Bread - of course!

Well Cassia & Joseph did this!

 -

 we had a 2nd party at our house for my family & friends the following weekend! 

Good old ORANGE CAKE … again!

Billie just looks on approvingly …

Such an adorable 3 year old - well that is until he puts on his super-hero cape- then he's a mighty-strong super-hero!!

Cassia & Pablo came to visit … again!!

Cassia came for an interview and was successful!!   Her job is with the Adelaide City Council!!

Pablo also had an interview and he has pretty-much secured himself work (and eventually a project he will manage) at the university!

Sooooo C&P come to live with us … Nov 9th !!

 - they will live on the 3rd level.

The view from Cassia & Pablo's "room"...

There is a small "room" next to the outdoor deck  (mean to be a kitchen with sink and cupboards) - and now - a bed!

Well a mattress that they stand up when not in use   - this provides them with just enough room to move.

- good news is that Cassia will not be cold up on the 3rd level !!



… and on November 12th  Ken & Eileen arrive!

Sadly we don't have a 4th floor for them - but we do have a van! :) !!

At the end of Ken & Eileen's visit we all head to Perth for their daughter Erin's wedding. 
Ken & Eileen are flying over.
Cassia is flying over and so is Mischa.
Mischa & Cassia's parents are DRIVING over!
Urgh - 3? 4? days across the Nullabor!  I enjoyed it the first time ... at least this time we know NOT to buy veggies just before the border!

Lucky me I get to FLY back  (moderately happy about that!)  Joseph gets to drive to Esperance (7hr) and load Cassia & Pablo's furniture into the van (well the three items that are too big to stuff into their tiny car) and drive back across the Nullabor!!  Urgh!

Then Brenda & Brad arrive December 17th and will be with us for Christmas!  

I'm telling you this because I'm obviously pretty gosh-darned excited about it all …
and … I'm pretty sure I won't be writing a blog for a while ...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

In Adelaide (well Port Adelaide) people can bring their pet to have coffee with them!
- this one is ... a lamb!!

40 years ago ...

It was 40 years ago today (Oct 1st) that I arrived in Ottawa and of course I didn't know it at the time - but it was, as they say,  to be the first day of the rest of my life …

For some reason I arrived wearing a cape (!!) .   A tad dramatic but just as well because  the weather (not me) was cool and back then you had to walk across the tarmac at the Ottawa Airport .  I was still getting over having the captain come on the intercom in the middle of the flight to announce the hockey scores!! (Canada 2 Russia 1) and I was trying for the life of me to remember what Jane looked like!

It had been over a year since I'd met Jane in London and we had only spent five days together!  Five very cosy days/nights mind you, spent in the one-room bedsitter I shared with my friend Kay from Adelaide.  Jane was on the bus tour to Canterbury Cathedral with us and we felt sorry for her all alone in London so we invited her to come and stay with us … in our one-room bedsitter!!   

Jane is talking to my friend Kay to the left ...

Kitchen of bedsitter  - bed to the right

We spent every night comparing Australian vs. Canadian words for things: slip vs petticoat etc. etc. and every night we would be in hysterics because Jane's hair rollers that were the biggest we had ever seen!! Lots of fun.  Kay went to Ottawa for a while, I went home to Adelaide and then I went back to London and that's when I received Jane's invite for her wedding…

Jane found me phew!  - she was there waiting with Monty (Fred Montgomery Brigham) who she was marrying in three days.  Somehow we managed to stuff all three of us and my two beautiful white hard-sided suitcases with silky red lining

Oh how I loved my suitcase!

 into their Lada, quite the tiniest car I had ever seen, and off we went to Inswood Drive. 

Key players in this story…
Jane, Jill, Joe, Monty (F.M.Brigham!)

It was good to see Jane again and meet Monty and it was good to meet her mum and dad, Muryn and John. I'm not sure how I would have handled having a guest I'd never met arrive to stay in my house just three days before my daughter's wedding - but Muryn (as she always would be) was  very gracious about it all.  I  fell in love with her and John and his (French) accent right away 

John and Muryn - my Canadian family

… and then I met Marg! …  I'd never met anybody like Marg before!!.  She was Muryn's friend and she was there "helping" Muryn.  I guess she said hello, but it was hidden in the middle of everything else she was saying … "Muryn do this, Muryn do that.  John!  Elizabeth (daughter)!!  "Call Peter's Pantry - order pizza - have it ready for me to pick up"  she yelled over the phone that was tucked under her chin while she was applying polish to Muryn's nails, … yadda yadda yadda.  My goodness she must have called Elizabeth about five times before she left … I'd never seen a phone used like that before!!  Woah - this was Canada?

I had a nice room all to myself and as I was trying to fall asleep after such a crazy day,  I looked out of the window and it was snowing!!  I'd never seen snow before but I just knew that's what it was … and I cried!!   I don't know why I cried … Marg? Canada? Hockey? Snow?  No money?  A million miles away form my family?  All of that and more perhaps - but cry I did!

Two days later at the rehearsal dinner, with everybody" dressed to the nines" in long dresses, me in a dress Jane loaned me because I had never heard of a rehearsal dinner before, I met the love-of-my-life.  He didn't look like what I imagined the love-of-my-life would look - he was dressed in brown corduroys and a nylon red-checked shirt!!  He stood out for sure and I did notice him but I sure wasn't swept off of my feet … but I must say when I saw him at the wedding the next day in that navy tuxedo with the cute bow-tie and adorable cumberband  - then I was!

Now you can see why I fell for him … not sure I can say the same for him!

Jane was a beautiful bride and because they had no-where else to put me - there i was right in the middle of everything…I was there while she had her photos taken in the house …  I was right down the front at the church …  right there at the reception … and I was there - back at the house for the "after party" (I'd never heard of an "after-wedding party"!!) .  Marg was there as well, yelling at Gladys, (Muryn's cleaner she had hired to look after the food).  Poor Gladys  even with all the instructions she forgot to put out the rum balls that Marg had made! 

But thank goodness for that "after party" because that's where the love-of-my-life invited me to drive in his Peugeot 204 and chase the bride and groom as they left on their honeymoon.

  I'd never heard of anything like that before, but in I hopped and it wasn't the last time I would be in that Peugeot as it turns out!   

It took three more months before we went out - apparently he called the house right after the wedding but Jane's grandmother had dementia and forget to tell me. So I cancelled my return ticket to London for the following week and decided to stay for Christmas and it took until December 11th for the date to eventuate - and -  we went bowling!!!

So if it was 40 years ago today I arrived in Ottawa - then of course it's Jane & Monty's 40th anniversary on Sunday Oct 5th.  

sadly I have no photos of Jane & Monty's wedding! 

How wonderfully amazing/serendipitous/anotherword? it was that I met Jane in London that summer - and the funny thing was she was there because her boyfriend, Fred Montgomery Brigham, was on a birdwatching trip in the Amazon with … yep! Joseph E. Dafoe

… and how lucky I was to have her family become my "Canadian" family and how wonderful it's been to have Jane and Monty as our friends and watch them work together to raise their family and deal with the ups and (especially) the downs … and…  the birdwatching!

… 40 years ago ... he had me at … "do you want to go chase them?" …  

C E L E B R A T I O N S ...

There's been quite a bit of celebrating here, on the dock of late …

Up until yesterday there was; Pablo's graduation, Pablo & the sharks, Sofia's visit, Cassia & Pablo's visit and our Christmas in July (C-i-J) party … but then the baby was born!

Thursday, August 7th, Mischa, Simone and Jasper added beautiful Billie to their family!  

She's a 9.5lb bundle of joy!   Cassia & Pablo were so happy that she arrived while they were still here visiting … so special to have a cuddle before the next time they see her (Christmas) when she'll probably be walking!!

But before Thursday and Billie…

There was our 39th wedding anniversary, July 25th.

We almost forgot it because it was the same day Cassia arrived and the day before the party. At some point we tried to watch our wedding video ( transferred from Super 8 to DVD) but it's so dark and there are so many holes where it burned on the projector overtime as we dragged it out to share with our (captive) guests, that it's almost impossible to recognize anybody and you seriously had to be there to appreciate what's happening - but we could tell how young and happy we were and that was worth celebrating!

Next year for our 40th we plan to be in Ottawa 

… and that should be enough of an excuse for … a party!!  

Then Cassia arrived for a two-week holiday . 

I'm not sure what I was most excited about - seeing her or having her with us to help with the party!  She is such a help (once she warms up in the morning).  Not sure she was quite as excited about meeting 33 of my paternal relatives - but they were happy to meet her.  Pablo didn't arrive until the next week so he remains a mystery to them.

Christmas in July Party.

Morning of the party … we fantasized that it was a blizzard
 - but alas! it was just fog!

It turned into the most beautiful day!
(remember - this is the depths of winter over here!)

The C-i-J party started out as an excuse to make egg nog.  I mean you just cannot make it (or shop for it, or even think about making it) when the temperature is hovering around 40c (as it is at Christmas here), and as it was, the party day was such a gloriously sunny day that it was only just cold enough that it didn't curdle!!. My usual egg-nog equipment was sadly in Ottawa so off the the Salvation Army to find a big enough bowl.  

I made 1.5 the recipe:

18 eggs yolks
18 egg whites
3 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 cups heavy cream, beaten

6 cups milk

6 cups bourbon

1 cup brandy

1 cup rum

It didn't even all fit in the new bowl so off I went to find another one!   I let it mature/ferment/age? for two weeks and for two weeks I made the necessary "taste tests".  It just needed  another 1/2 batch on the day to top it up,  et voilà there it was! 

                                 …well sadly there are no photos of the egg nog! :(

Not sure anybody really knew what it was and not sure if it really was that good or whether it was my displays of rapture that sold it so well  - but it seemed that quite a few liked it and we managed to plough through most of it!!  I had so much I was  "burping" eggnog in the end!!  I love my egg nog!!

Jasper enjoyed it ALL!

This is Bob who loved the egg nog …
and the mini Christmas puddings!

More rellies! Hi Betty!
Note name tags!  Easier for everybody - not just mum!

I must admit I had no idea how big C-i-J is over here!!  I mean I decorated a bit!!  I had the kiddie poohs help me decorate the tree and hang a few balls around and I put back up some of last year's cards and of course I played Nana and Raffi  and OK we had red &white plates and napkins … and yes the guests brought "Christmassy desserts" - but that's all I did. My hairdresser was having 28 people for a traditional SIT-DOWN dinner and she decorated and MADE her own crackers for goodness sake! There were others I heard of, there were even adds on TV/radio and then … I thought I was having an out-of-body experience when I heard them playing O Holy Night in the Laura Ashley shop while Cassia and I were there shopping (grabbing the bargains in full Christmas-spirit!) …and that was on August 3rd!

My goodness what would these people do if they had snow in winter!!??

Urgh - the egg nog is just off to the left!
This photo is taken late in the afternoon - the egg nog is almost gone -
we're onto the champers-  after most of the "Ingham's" had left
and the next lot of guests arrived - much to Joseph's "delight"!!
That is my cousin Karen - who lived in N.Y. - who kindly let us use her apartment one summer!
She might be our favourite cousin!! :)

I made florentines but there are no photos of them either!! :(

Next day Sofia arrived!!
She's our niece (Tom's daughter) and Cassia's cousin who is currently working in Islamabad!! So she was looking forward to some nice cool weather and doing some "normal"  things - like walking along the street etc.

A walk to our local cafe- such a treat for Sof!

She bought some henna and we decorated our hands (even for Joe!) and did some Bollywood dancing to celebrate Eid. and we did walk a million miles and she did go to the movies and she did meet some of my family and although she missed meeting Billie, she did meet Jasper and revisited with Mischa & Simone… but she also rested and relaxed and we sent her back to the front healthy and happy and we were so glad she came - because what were the chances that C&P would be here at the same time!! …

It was a Christmas miracle!!

A (henna) bird is worth …???

Bollywood Dancing
(video also available!)

Cousins … hanging out!

Dinner with Mischa, Simone, Jasper, and Simone's family
Jane, Barry and Sam!

Then in the middle of Sofia's visit Pablo arrived from Spain. 

He'd been there for four weeks defending his thesis so Cassia was pretty excited to see him and now that he is Dr. Pablo Garcia Valtanen - so were we!!

It's hard working earning your PHD!

His degree is in Virology (viruses!) and we are all pretty-gosh-darned proud of him. 

So we dragged out another bottle of bubbly and celebrated. 

 Then when he returned home alive from his swim with the  sharks (Great Whites) - it was more celebrating and ANOTHER bottle of bubbly!

That's not Pablo but the Canadian girl in the cage with him
… you get the idea of it all!

Dear Pablo even thought to take photos of the birds for his f-i-l to identify!…no it's not an albatross :(

Then … just when we thought we couldn't celebrate anymore… along comes Billie!!!

She makes me giggle when I hold her and makes me cry when I see Jasper holding her - oh dear- now I know what all those other grandparents were talking about!  

  

We are getting used to her name -we didn't realize how many other Billie's there are!  

Billie also happens to be the name of one of the dolphins down here -his picture is on the side of the Dolphin Cruise-boat (along with Hope and Ali) and we (Jasper and I) always walk down there to see the dolphins  - even though they frolic in front of us all of the time - Jasper finds it easier to see them on the boat of course.  So he remembers their names.  Before his sister arrived, if you asked Jasper what the new baby would be called he would say Hope or Ali!  More recently he came up with Tabitha - Tabby he said!  But now we have our Billie.  She has no middle name in keeping with the Dafoe/Fritsch tradition - no middle name for me, Mischa, Cassia, Simone or Jasper …and now … Billie.

Somewhere before Billie and after the sharks
… there was a visit from our friends Carol & Graeme (visiting from Canberra)
Carol - like me is an "ex Port Girl" so it was fun "doing" the old neighbourhood!

Surely Billie's not going to be one of "them??

…. and of course some photos of Jasper to close out ...