~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

~Girls Day In The Country 2014~

We are back from a lovely Girls Day in the Country hosted by the gorgeous Kerry 

from Cottage on the Hill at Nundle

The 2 first things I packed were my sewing basket and JoJo's suitcase

Then off for an overnight stay with my 2 little grandchildren

After  10 hours of driving with stops Mr Armchair, JoJo and I finally arrived at beautiful Nundle!

This is what the road 30k out looked like.......a storm had been and there was a rainbow

Welcoming signs in

We pull up at the cabins and JoJo says 'Mum's friends (aka Girlfriends)

First stop in town was the delightful Odgers & McLelland Exchange Stores established in 1891 full of vintage style cookware, real brooms, enamel etc.......with not a plastic item in stock......suits me right down to the ground LOL!!!

I also bought an Ostrich Feather Duster

something I have been wanting for years and years

I also ended up buying a coffee pot very similar to the ones above except taller

I call it my 'Dances With Wolves' coffee pot

perfect on the stovetop when there is a blackout

Some enamel bakeware perfect for Shepherd's Pie

(pics with kind permission from Odgers & McLelland)

One of the first Girlfriends I saw was Shez

and Chez!!!

After that up to Kerry's shop

and for you Geo (no blog)

Wooden table in the shop

Timber Basket

Cute birdhouse

Cattle grazing

Also treated myself to a lovely felt hat

Chookyblue hosted a Make It, Fake It or Buy it Swap

and she opted to have JoJo for a partner

above is what JoJo received

a pencil case, milkbottle lollies (her favourite), some stickers and fluro wand

Thanks so much Chooky!!!

I received from Gail a hand towel embroidered with Grub Roses and soap from Goondowindi

The gift I gave was Buy It.....a book received by Lynda

Finished by Dinner for us here at The Peel Inn......we use to live at Peel outside of Bathurst so nice memories at the sound of this name.  

More of the actual day coming!!!