Flying visit return

How I wish that all the bits of my life, all the lovely family, all the lovely friends , could get to meet one another, just once somewhere in the world.
Sue Thomas and her lovely Isa brown chickens that are part of the family....
Our step-son Dylan and beautiful new baby boy, Orson...
Our wonderful friend Gwen who's been around since I was 11. Here with Macgregor's brorther Hamish who was always the groovy elder brother to our foolishly immature trials....
Mardi & Macgreg here with Sue & Adam (her partner) at Gwen's for dinner with our (step) daughter Roxi.The wondrous Olive Honey (Mardi's daughter).......On a different tack here are my wedding presents on the Bride & Groom's bed...
And on yet another tack, I had a few precious moments having a coffee out at Yarra Yering winery with my sis a fabulous spot, very VERY close to where the bushfires were. Here's a photo at the vineyard looking through the cypresses to the blackened grass beyond...
Adam had been working on a beautiful house at Yarra Glen when the fires came through. It was one of the few houses to burn there, the house was almost finished but all his tools were there & he lost the lot. This is it before...and this after, so sad to see such a beautiful piece of Victoria's history raised to rubble.

On a happier note, I went to visit a friend of Sue & Adam's, Sandy Kilpatrick an amazing jeweller. Here is some of her work, boy, if I had the do-ray-me boys,this would all be mine.

THE WEDDING

At last the big day arrived. The sun shone the smoke cleared and all the world looked beautiful for Mardi & Macgreg's wedding. Here are the first bridesmaids heralding Mard's arrival. How can I explain how special these two people are...Mardi & Macgreg are an inspiration with their blended family and it was profoundly emotional to see them tie the knot.
Mard has had a hard time ... her beautiful Dad "Biggy" died last year and her daughter's Dad committed suicide in 2005. Macgreg's Mum died in 2002, his Dad died a long time ago. There was a lot to remember....
When she & Macreg got together we all waited with baited breath to see if such an amazing pair would actually tie the knot. Here is Macgreg waiting for her too.
First came the littlest bridesmaids....
And at last the girl we all wanted to see most, on Biggy's partner Ced's arm. This was when I started crying and I didn't really stop.You can see here what a big thing it was for them... but they were so keen to be there. at last some relief with sisters, daughters and friends.
Unfortunately I missed the dove free-ing bit with the camera by seconds, but this is moments later. That's the wedding blanket they both knitted hanging over the Beverly Hillbillys chairs.
Next up was THE PARTY, at their groovy new (to them) 7o's house... it was 70's dress and boy did people take it to the limit.
Finally we all let our hair down. People were on the dance floor from 5.30 pm!!!!
Bless you my wonderful buddies. I can't think of anyone who deserves more happiness.

I'm really here!!!!!!

This was the eerie light from the bush fires this morning. Sobering to say the least.
We are about 1/2 an hours drive from Kinglake and the air smells of smoke. Everyone knows someone who's been directly affected and people are weary of disaster. The Age newspaper has the most amazing images.


But I'm here for good stuff as well.
It 's Valentines' day and look what came? The most perfumed bunch of roses and eucalyptus from my most gorgeous Valentine.
Then it was off to the Vic market for bleary eyed morning coffee and weird drinks.
Special photo here for Father Dave of endless amounts of Australian cuddly toys (all made in China)
Roxi & I were on a mission though, to buy 2 white doves for THE wedding. Unfortunately you can't see them as they are in the box.

More wedding bells

Before I go I just thought I'd show you what it's like here in this neck of the woods.
Last weekend we rang the bells at a tiny church in a place called Shropham. The bells are notoriously bad & we get a perverse pleasure out of ringing them (evry stroke is different and you have to pull like crazy to make sure your bell stays up).
It was absolutely freezing & yet the bride & all the poor little bridesmaids had strapless dresses on, by the end of the service the brides arms were blue. What a crazy waste of an opportunity to wear the fabulous fur trimmed velvet gown.

There are snow drops out though.
On the way home we drove past snowy fields with LOTS of pheasants. If you click on the picture it will come up bigger & you can just see them scurrying about in the snow saying "Hey guys my feet are kind of cold".

Fire

I've been watching on my laptop as the dreadful news has been unfolding about the bush fires in Victoria, with tears falling onto my keyboard and a lump like a tennis ball in my throat. So many people dead and so many terrible stories.
My sister Sue & family are all safe, the fires didn't come in as far as Eltham but I know the area that burnt so well. Mum had land at Strathewen, we used to swim in a reservoir near Kinglake & most Saturdays were spent at the St Andrews Market where 22 people have died. Those places are all devastated now. It must have been a terrifying time. It's been so dry there for so long, everything would have gone up in minutes with no time to react.
These photos are from the Guardian website


It's been on the news here in the UK a lot and I wept this afternoon as I heard Derek Guille's
voice talking calmly about how amazing people have been with their generosity. That good old Aussie spirit of helping out a mate.

I can't wait to get there & hug my family.

Ding dong ding

In the wilds of Norfolk, it seems there has been fairy dust sprinkled on my life...and I am to fly to the land of Oz for my friends Mardi & Macgregor's wedding. I leave on Wednesday the 12th & the wedding is on Valentines day at Montsalvat. Here are a few photos of the absolutely gorgeous bride to be. At last our spotty dresses can be in the same place at the same time.
Roll on 40 degrees instead of 4 degrees. Let's just hope we can get to Heathrow on Wednesday...I wish we had the zebra mobile here.I'm off.
I just wish Ricardo was able to be packed inside my suitcase. He's the one essential item every girl should travel with.

Too cute really

My Pal Jeremy (he of great bellringing fame) sent me these pictures that someone sent to him from a town called Maude in South Australia it seems this little cuty walked into their back porch looking for a bit of heat relief. They filled up a bucket and this is what happened.

A tale of two hemisheres

Here in the UK it's been freezing. These days it's not called snow any more it's called an 'unexpected snow EVENT'... buses have stopped in London, all underground lines except Victoria and Central are suspended, both runways are closed at Heathrow.
Here in little old East Harling it's vey pretty & quiet...this is the view out our window

But... in the land of OZ, it's been horrendously hot. In Melbourne there have been bad bush fires & record breaking heat. Melbourne on Friday recorded its third consecutive day of temperatures above 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) for the first time since record-keeping began in 1855. Last Christmas when we were there we thought it was hot at 41C on New Years Eve.
I rang my sister Suze this morning & got a blow by blow account of the SNAKE that they found in their loungeroom between the couch & the wall about a metre away from Adam (Sue's partner) watching TV. This is a photo of the wacky snake buster who came & took it away. (It's a link if you click on it, it takes you to his hilarious website. Go & scare yourself stupid). He said it was the biggest & fattest Tiger snake he'd seen all season!!! Oh My GOD. Give me a 'Snow Event' any day.Sue said Lena (my niece) filmed the whole thing so I'll try & post the video when it comes.