LIFE'S A WHIRLWIND SO.......

You know, all the end of year stuff (rave rave rave!)

Let's see if I can catch up a little.

Baie won a trophy for the Pipe.

Admired by Daddy.


Rori had her interview with the principal Mrs Eckermann and she's ready to start school!

Passed her aptitude test with flying colours - of course :)

Dean came over from Melbourne to build shelves for Allan's shed.
Now he can finally sort his tools.
And "stuff".

The girls had a sleepover and Tulle couldn't resist a snuggle in 'her' cot.
Even though she has well and truly grown out of it, she can't quite let go!!

Taken a bucket load of photos for:

Formals.
Beautiful Mum's and Gorgeous Babies.

Hello Shauna and Neveah.

Hi there Megan and Charley Lila.

Hello Narelle and Bailee.

Gorgeous 80 year olds on their birthday.
And that's just a few, but it's all been a whole lot of fun!

The Horse Whisperer

Bron's two horses escaped their paddock thanks to one of the farmhands leaving a gate open. Someone must have found them wandering the road and put them safely behind the fence of a neighbours farm!
This meant Bron had to bring them home.


So with no more than a length of rope, she led them back through the paddock.All the way along the road with Nash and me in the car with hazzard lights on hoping a double milk truck didn't come rumbling along!



And safely home again.She's a natural with animals, I was freaking out (inside of course!), Morty the bay is so big and Tori the palamino is not broken in yet but she had no trouble with them whatsoever, they followed along like little puppies!

BORN TO BE WILD............

Kylie Bubba Louie, you've never looked better - I just love it - God bless you and little Bubba Louie, it's count down now!

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL..

For me the memories always centre around the excitement of NEW SHOES! Here's our number 3's new school shoes on her first orientation day at St Martins.

So very proud to be in her big sisters uniform.

Here she is peeking into Nan's office where she visits most days!

BABY SMOOCHES

These two little smoochers have been together almost since birth - no they're not twins!


They are "Just Friends" -They are Nash and Neveah!Actually, they just love each other!!
Even though they will eventually live on opposite sides of the world from each other...
I hope they will always remain friends :)
At the very least they will have these cute photos to remember each other by.

FROM PERFECT DAY TO PERFECT NIGHT

Each evening God paints a different picture for us outside our window. This was Wednesday's sunset and we sat on the balcony and watched it all unfold until it was dark - perfect!

A PERFECT DAY AT THE BAY

For those of you who are not familiar with "The Bay" - it's what Port MacDonnell is generally known as. If you were to ask, where do you live? The answer would be in "The Bay". If you are going for a drive to Port Mac. You're heading to "The Bay, and today it was a perfect day at The Bay.

We had a load of fun on the kayaks.
Tulle was up and dancing.
No waves - but lots of smiles
But that didn't matter, it was the perfect opportunity for the little ones to learn some paddling skills.
There was some hanging out to do in the warm water of the pools.
A quick chat amongst sisters.
And of course, finish off with a game of beach cricket.

We ended our delicious beach day with a belated celebration for Steve's birthday, complete with delicious Tarsha Torte....

.....and pretend candles! Who forgot the candles!!? Who needs candles when everyone has a great imagination!In deep contemplation - cutting the cake with a wish - I wonder what he wished for :)

SUMMER - HERE IT COMES

And summer, here we come!
The kayaks are out - Bron having her first paddle - Adam coaching and trying not to get his 'bits' wet!

The first day of the heat wave.



We're sure to be spending a lot of time at this spot!

CLOISONNE - beautiful handmade in China

We visited a 'factory' where the items are made by hand, painted and kiln fired (8 times) to produce a beautiful item that looked like fine china (the breakable kind!).

The "canvas" for a Cloisonné pattern is made of copper.

A coppersmith fashions the copper by hand into the shape required. He sits and hammers away for hours.
The pattern is imprinted onto the base, and copper wire that is approximately 1/16 of an inch in diameter is bent into the desired pattern and soldered into place. This is painstaking work.
To make to coloured fillings various pigments are ground into a fine powder. Then comes enamel filling. The pigment is added to each cell compartment by hand. See the droppers in the mix?
Once the first filling is complete, the piece is fired in a crucible. As the copper base turns red the pigments will melt filling each cell. There is a slight amount of shrinkage to the pigments on the first firing, and some re-filling of the cells will be required before a second firing. There can be as many as six or seven or more firings to achieve the desired results.
Once all of the compartments are sufficiently full the object is placed on a motorized wheel, and cutting emery is used to even the surface. (Didn't have anyone working on that the day we visited, so no photo). The object will be fired for a final time, then polished with whetstone and carbon.

The exposed metal filigree is electroplated with gold or silver to prevent oxidation from dulling the filigree. Then the object will be given a final polish.


Check out the beautiful end result...........

Decisions Decisions!!