Five Things

Five Things You May Not Know About Me

Claire of Claire’s Garden tagged me to do this meme back in December and I’m just now getting around to it. I’m not good at thinking of answers for memes!
So finally……here are 5 things you may not know about me (plus a few pictures!!).

Monday morning, looking out our back door

1. Growing up in sunny Australia, I didn’t see snow until I was 18 years old! That was in the southern part of NSW, on a skiing holiday at Perisher Valley.
Living here in NY since the age of 23, I’ve seen enough snow to last me a good long time. It was late arriving this winter, but it seems to be here to stay for a while now. The big chill has set in for a while.

Pete walked with me in the snow yesterday morning.


2. During my growing up years, when I wasn’t reading or sewing, I was drawing. It’s still something I love to do, but I very rarely take the time to do it these days.

A Pink and gray galah was one of my favorite pets during the pet shop years. It talked!

3. My parents owned a pet shop while I was growing up, and consequently I had all kinds of pets….cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, fish…..nothing big like horses or cows though. I added cows to the list when I married my husband and moved here to the farm in NY :)

Jasmine came with me to the mail box...January 18th

4. My mind wanders easily, making me not a very good listener sometimes, but I do try hard to stay focused! I really am interested in what you’re telling me….honest! :)

1980 in Australia

5. I consider raising our 3 children to be the most interesting, enjoyable and rewarding job I’ve ever had, with never a dull moment. That’s not to say it’s always been a piece of cake, but the joy has far outweighed the few rough spots, and I’m forever thankful for the continued blessings they bring me.

Our 3 kids at our son's wedding

And as a reward we now have grandchildren!!! (The ultimate joy!) I highly recommend them!

(picture taken last year by my DIL or son)

I’m not going to tag anyone specifically, but please feel free to do this if you want to. Let me know if you do, because I’d love to read your answers.

Veterans and Red Berries

Since we were traveling to our son and daughter-in-law's house on Veteran's Day, I didn't get a post done.

I'm a bit late, but I think any time is the right time to say thank you to Veterans all over the world and to our servicemen and women who are doing such a wonderful job serving their country.

My husband (pictured above in 1970) served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and my father served in the Australian Army in World War 2.

I want to thank them both for their courage and commitment to their countries. Freedom isn't free and sometimes we must fight for it. I'm very proud of them and all the men and women who are willing to do that for the rest of us....to keep us safe and free.

Thanks to all of you from the bottom of my heart.



On the second last day in October I walked up behind the barn to see what I could see. The trees were almost bare and the woods had lost most of their color.



But I spotted this bush with bright red berries among the somber browns and olive greens. I badly wanted to take some back to the house to make a nice arrangement, but no matter how hard I tried to get closer to it, my efforts were thwarted by either blackberry bushes or water. I finally gave up, but that afternoon I mentioned it to my hubby. He gallantly took his little tractor up there and managed to get close enough to cut some branches for me. What a guy :)



They made a pretty fall arrangement paired with some of the gourds my hubby grew in the vegetable garden.

Such a vibrant red. Lovely!

I'm very impressed with these last petunias that are still blooming in the window box outside our bathroom window. Talk about survivors! Normally I'd have all the window boxes and containers emptied out and put away by now, but due to the extraordinary amount of wet weather we've had, that job still waits to be done.

I hardly dare mention that it's absolutely pouring rain outside again tonight. Apple, who lives not too far away from us, suggested that we may have to get out the life rafts for Thanksgiving! Perhaps we need to start building an ark! How I wish we could funnel this rain over to Australia, where it's needed!

Another Craft Show

Tink playing on the fence yesterday morning.

We're having another sunny day...yah!

I'm shuffling off to Buffalo to work at a 4-day craft show. It's in Hamburg, below Buffalo at the Erie County Fair Grounds and is called Christmas in the Country. If you're anywhere in that area you should go. It's a wonderful show, with hundreds of fascinating crafters.

I'll catch up with everyone when I get back. I'll miss you all!



Here are a couple of tired little trick or treaters (1977) Kylie is wearing my 'Farrah Fawcett wig :)



Kathy with her Pumkin and Rufus the kitten in 1987

Kylie was a rather less curvy Catwoman in 1977!

Have a great weekend everyone!

How Old IS That Camera?

This is a sort of 'Self Portrait Tuesday' post, with a little added....

In a previous post (http://colorsofthegarden.blogspot.com/2006/01/green-and-growing.html) I mentioned that we’d had our first Canon camera for a long time. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was old.

See….?

That’s the camera in my hands. I was the ripe old age of 22. Ross was 21. Yes, I'm 10 months older. He thinks he's very funny when he calls me his 'old lady' :)

These pics were taken in September of 1970, before we were married, when Ross was in Australia on 30 days leave from Vietnam. He was a US Marine and we had met the previous June when he was visiting the land of Oz for the first time on 6 days R&R. (rest & recreation). On this day we were touring the beautiful beaches south of Sydney.
We were first introduced at the wedding of a couple (Pat & Alan) who were close friends of mine (and now ours), but that’s another story :)
Our courtship (such a quaint oldfashioned word) consisted mainly of about a million letters! Our wedding was in April, 1971.
I should add, for those of you who haven’t read my profile, that I was born in Australia and left that wonderful country shortly after our marriage, to come to the US at the tender age of 23. You can probably guess that I miss the land of my birth very much, even though I love this country with a passion too. America is a wonderful place to live! I feel I’ve had the best of both worlds. In Oz I lived at the beach and here I live in the country. Who could ask for anything more?
But oh, how I miss those magnificent Aussie beaches! They’re the best in the world. Well, the Aussies think so anyway (and they’re right mate!).
I am now an American citizen (so I can vote!!) but my heart will always be at least partly, in ‘the land of droughts and flooding rains’. I always cry when I hear that song....."I Still Call Australia Home". Getting a bit sentimental here!
Ross and I have used that faithful old Canon camera through all our years of marriage…..for weddings, and all kinds of memorable occasions.
It began acting a little unreliable a few years ago, (although it still works fine…a good cleaning and servicing did wonders) so Ross surprised me one Thanksgiving with a neat little Vivitar camera. It too has been great, and very reliable. I hope I’ll still take the time to use both of these cameras even though we now have the digital Canon Power Shot.
I had some fun with it today taking pics of the birds and the farm in the snow.

There's our barn for you again Alice!

Those chickadees don't keep still for very long!

I'm still learning...with a long way to go!