~A Carer's Gathering......Kiama~

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Carer Gathering last week at The Sebel Town House in beautiful Kiama

Lucky for me that afternoon there was a Farmer's Market just down the road from where we were staying

Entrance to the market

and coming out of it.  There were 3 Buskers in attendance so that was pretty good!!!

Alternate menu for the evening for dinner

Being Gluten Free I had Fish without the Batter

Dessert was pretty good!!!

Salted Caramel  Creme Brûlée with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Very yummy but couldn't really taste the Caramel

I'm not a Painter but the next day elected to try Painting with Music

We had to choose 4 paint colours

My choices were (from left) teal, a sandstone colour, we had to choose white and a deep purple

and tada.......my pasterpiece lol

I haven't touched paint since High School in First Year so this was pretty cool

Being right handed my left hand was busting to have a go so I let it!!!

Lots of 'scraping' and 'flicking' happening

Then we did some drawings/sketchings to music

I used an organic charcoal.......never held a piece of charcoal before so this was a new experience for me

The 3rd square's song was Red, Red Wine

and the fourth one was Brown Eyed Girl

The 5th one was a pattern I did in 4th class at school but I just couldn't do straight lines!!!

I tried a music class also

and got to play these wooden blocks and a steady beat to the drum

A little bit of organ guided by pink papers lol

Electronic drums

Even a Base Guitar......a, d, e

That evening was a Mad Hatter's Ball and I wore a velvet hat brought back from Venice by DS together with a velvet silk dyed coat

Table decorations were awesome

A quick photo with Sean at the back and another lady

Goat's Cheese Panna Cotta......yummy

The dinner here

This was funded by The Shaw Building Group, Canberra
and hosted by Carers ACT (Australian Capital Territory)

Thank You so much everyone there

We all had a fabulous time!!!
You Guys Rock!!!

The next day Mr Armchair picked me up and we met at Kangaroo Valley

We had a bit of lunch

Mr Armchair had a Salmon/Salad Sandwich

Portobello Mushrooms for me

And who would've thought

A bowl of Tomatoes towards the end of May

Unheard of in our part of the World!!!

A lovely little get-away for me with Mr Armchair taking over Caring Duties

And the best part.......I got to sleep all night as JoJo has taken to waking during the evening!!!!

Till next time, Dzintra xo

A Carer's Break Away!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to participate with other Carers a trip to the 

Snowy Mountains of New South Wales 

A pic of sunset at arrival

DS trying out a tandem bicycle he has purchased to take JoJo for rides with Mr Armchair assisting

The welcoming fireside at our venue Rydges Snowy Mountains

A cushion I purchased........as if I need a new cushion but this was TOO hard to resist

the back

The Sun coming up over my view at Lake Jindabyne

On the last evening there was a Masquerade Ball and I wore an authentic mask and cape purchased in Venice by DS

The Menu for Dinner but of course I had the gluten free version

A most interesting dessert

One of the beautiful prints on display

The next morning we were in for a treat

I knew we were going to Thredbo but I didn't know this included going on the chair lift

A W E S O M E

Going up

On the way up some parked machinery

A quick selfie......and I was loving the cold

whoever thought I would miss it lol

1 deg celsius up top

Up the top

and coming back down

Thank You Carers ACT

I had the best time

Now back to the business of caring and working out this new NDIS scheme

(National Disability Insurance Scheme)

~Aloha......it's Carer's Week 2013......A Special Verse for Carers~

Last week it was Carer's Week and our local Council organized a special little lunchtime getaway for Carer's in the Shire......

Above are the steps to a property out-of-town Moruya called Cattinya

The property sits on about 32 acres and is an Eco Property

It sleeps approximately 32 people.......4 to a room and was built as an Education Centre

One of the girls was thinking what a fabulous place for a girly weekend

A bit or organization would be involved here as we are all caring for somebody

By the front steps

Verandah

And upon entering we were each presented with a lei

a little goody bag

and a Mocktail!!!

Part of the open area inside

One of the Hostesses Shaneane at the 'Bar'

I loved this green crepe paper cut into strips

Part of the lunch......Frittata......made by Gundary Store

View from one of the bedrooms

A seating area outside

And I had to take a selfie into this fabulous mirror!!!

Thanks so much to the Organizers........we all had a great time for a few hours!!!

Caring is a hard job......there are no sick days if you are sick.......no holiday

Hard if you have no family around

Caring is ongoing

This verse below written by a Mother beautifully describes our very own piece of Holland......

especially the last 2 verses

'Welcome to Holland' 

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this ...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Colosseum, Michelangelo's David - the gondolas of Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland'.

'Holland'? You say. 'What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy'.

But there has been a change in the flight plan. They have landed in Holland, and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, filthy place, full of famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they are all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, 'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That is what I had planned'.

The pain of that will never go away, because the loss of a dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Written by Emily Perl Kingsley......Mother of a Child with a Disability

No matter how many times I read this it still gets me every time and makes me all teary

I hope all Carers were treated out by somebody and were spoilt for a few hours......coffee......even a meal.......perhaps some respite while you had a massage, pedicure etc!!!

Hugs, Dzintra xo