2011...the ones that got away...A Year In Pictures OR 13 by the dozen!!!

It's New Year's Eve...

for the first time in many years I have my 3 children here with us...including grandchildren!!!

I thought for this post I would put up a photo from each month...

photos that I took and intended to blog but just didn't get to it!!!

January......one evening JoJo and I went out for dinner to Starfish Deli...

February...went up to Canberra and had a ride on the famous Carousel...JoJo's favourite...

Headline of the month...I broke my arm, in 2 places...ouch!!!

March......Mr Armchair one Friday evening made snacks and wine for us...here Brie cheese and garlic and chilli olives...(didn't take me long to get to food ha ha)

Baker's Dozen...sling off my arm, doing physiotherapy and trying to lift the rod up...hard work!!!

Little Ryan staying with us for a week in the school holidays...he is on holiday from Pre-School...

May...went to Moruya and there were hot-rods everywhere...here JoJo's favourite...

June......and here's the girl herself...our good friends Geo and Lloyd stayed at not-too-far-away Mollymook...

July......caught up with my Niece...here I am with Grand-daughter Lidija and Great Niece Grace Eliza...

August......went to Canberra Craft Fair and had to have this kit......a flannel snowman quilt kit...

the plan is to start on my birthday......let's see how we go!!!

September.....back to food......this time Chocolate Mousse for Tracey and John.....

October......Mr Armchair, normally camera shy said 'take a picture of me' while he was cutting down some bouganvillea......

November......back to Starfish Del, it's our Wedding Anniversary......lunch and then off to Twilight the movie...

December......New Year's Eve...

here we all are having late lunch...

What a year......who ever thought this much could happen in a year...

another great year......arm is still mending......

beachwalk today......pink bubbles at the moment......happy conversation around me...

cheeseplate coming...

Happy New Year......

Wishing everybody Peace, Joy and Contentment in the coming year......

let's hope it's a good one with everything happy in this world of ours!!!

Love, Dzintra

A Trip Up To The 'Big Smoke'...and Halloween...or, It's All About JoJo!!!

Yesterday we had no power here for the day...we had had notice of this, and I thought why not go up to Canberra for the day and check out the shops to see what Halloween stuff they had...

Halloween is slowly creeping into our part of the world and JoJo loves to celebrate ALL occassions!!!

We needed a coffee and first stop after the drive is The Blue Olive...

a great cafe...great coffee and a whole shelf devoted to gluten free cakes!!!

JoJo looking at some mags while I ordered...

a large cappaccino...

marshmallows for JoJo...

pistachio for me...

Here she is looking surprised on the famous carousel...a must do every time we come up...

Check out this gorgeous gown!!!

A bright green tie that JoJo HAD to have...

We finished off the day with ice cream martinis...

Set up a quick table with her new goodies...

And we actually got 2 lots of Trick or Treaters...

FUN...FUN...FUN!!!

JoJo really gets us into the spirit of the occassion...

she always seems to know what's going on and makes us stop and think...

  be in the moment and have fun!!!

And followed by Halloween we have the Melbourne Cup and, yes she wanted to wear a hat for that too...I can't help but get caught up in it all...

As JoJo would say...Take It Easy!!!

A Trip Up To The 'Big Smoke'...

Mr Armchair commutes to work and one day a couple of weeks ago JoJo and I went with him up to Canberra for some shopping and a dental appointment...

We left the Bay...some of the scenes just before we crossed the bridge...

and headed up the Mountain...

One of my favourite shops...The Essential Ingredient at Kingston and not far from the Dentist and when we come up here we always call in and get a little something...

Beautiful timber boards...

Colourful tagines...

French cheeses on offer...

and Cornichons...we bought a little cheese and 2 jars of these Cornichons!!!

Later on JoJo had a chocolate biscuit...

and I had the best breakfast

Home made Hash Browns...the best scrambled egg...and tomato topped with rocket lettuce...

just perfect on a cold winter's day...

This is the cafe...as you can see not much action outside due to the cold day...

but lovely and warm inside...it will probably be busier later on in the day!!!

After that we headed off in to town to meet my Daughter and 

Grandson who both had a ride on the merry go round ...

a must do while up here!!!

The original organ, the hand-carved woodenThe merry- go-round started life in Melbourne in 1914. The fifty two hand carved wooden horses and two elephants were specially imported from Germany. 

The twisted brass upright poles came from Scotland. 

After extensive restoration work, the merry-go-round began operating in Canberra's Petrie Plaza in 1974. TTTThe ed wooden horses iand the two elephants were imported from Germany, while its twisted brass poles came all the way from Scotland.

And here's a big wave from Ryan!!!

After that we wandered around for a bit and then headed off to have a coffee...hot chocolate and chat before going in different directions and then finally back home again...

A Great Day!!!

It's been quite cold here this Winter although not as cold as where we came from inland...

Keeping warm and cozy inside and not venturing out too much is what's happening here...

Getting JoJo off everyday on her programme and being here when she comes back...

and of course too many stitching projects to do...

How come I keep wanting to get more!!!

A litte bit of baking and cooking been happening here too this week...

All good for the Soul!!!

Keep warm...Dzintra