AUSTRALIANS ALL LET US REJOICE

Happy Australia Day!

Today is our national holiday, a day to give thanks for our wide brown land.

As is our custom, I began the day singing patriotic songs with my ladies choir:

at a Citizenship Ceremony for a large number of new citizens from all corners of the globe.  

It is always heart-warming, and we enjoy seeing the happiness of the candidates as they take the Oath of Alliegance, and receive their Certificates of Citizenship.

Little Aussie has been with us for the Aus-Day weekend...

 wearing his Aussie flag shorts...

and playing cowboys in a vest we acquired years ago in Fort Worth, Texas.

He is always a delight, and now enchants us using lots of three or four syllable words - naturally he is gifted  :)

We have been in the pool today - the perfect Australia Day activity.

The colours of our flag are of course, red, white and blue.

 I am wearing my blue lace Christmas top, and these

new little sandals which have come to live with us.

Mr C now calls me his Little Centipede...

Aussie brought his virtual pet bird, which we gave him for Christmas.

He calls him Greenie, which I must admit lacks originality..

but then, he's only five...

As a nation, we are a little greedy in the National Colour stakes,

also claiming the green/gold combination, especially for sporting uniforms.

For our annual Australia Day neighbourhood street party and barbeque, 
I made a green/yellow rice salad:

We had a perfect end to a busy day, sitting around in the evening cool on the street where we usually drive our cars!

Have a great week

xxxx

LOOKING BACK

A deep waterhole in a local creek, a tree perched high on the bank, a few ropes and you have the traditional Australian Summer holiday pastime for local kids...

Walking along here regularly, I hear the squeals and splashes as one after another they swing out on the ropes and drop into the pool.

As kids have done for generations.

A perfect way to beat the heat - as long as they take care...

The Media have been telling us this week that this is the Hottest Summer for 50 years, 100 years, or since recording it began or whatever.

We were told the same thing in 2013, and 2014..

The truth is out there somewhere - but there is no doubt it is still Awfully Hot!

For some respite, Mr Cardinal and I hotfooted it took the bus to City Hall, and the City of Brisbane Museum.

If you are planning to go to this exhibition, and don't wish to know what is there, Look Away Now..

No photography allowed, but we had a marvelous time checking out dozens of costumes from Hollywood movies, 1930s -1970s.

Thanks to Mr Google, I found a few of them online:

Elizabeth Taylor's lilac sprigged crinoline from Raintree County -

 accessories included..

Bette Davis dressed as another Elizabeth, in The Virgin Queen..

Be still my heart:

Yul Brunner as Ramses in The Ten Commandments.

Collar and belt only.  Fair enough.

Barbara Stanwyck wore this classic black gown in the original Titanic movie, 1953...

and Barbra Streisand, this fabulous velvet number in Funny Girl, 1968.

This one is for you, Amy:

Beautifully preserved, a check dress and little red jacket, worn by Katharine Hepburn as Jo in the 1933 version of Little Women.

And on it went...

Scenes from each movie, featuring the costumes, run behind the displays..

Movie buff or not,

 this is an excellent way to pass a few hours while keeping cool.

Over in Merrie Olde England, Kate is looking cute in her sixth month, with less of a bump than I have any day of the week..

Tomorrow is my dear mother's seventh anniversary;

it is hard to believe seven years have passed already.

We visited my Dad and took him to put flowers on her headstone.

He understood, and was very grateful.

I thought it was sweet when he said 'She was very talented.  

She was really good at sewing'

Bless him...

She was really very good at a great number of things, was my Mum.

Have a happy week

XXXX

SNOW IN JANUARY

Today the temperature gauge is forecast to hit 38 c. in our neck of the woods...

Time to get out the ice and snow pictures..

Five years ago this month,

 the Cardinals flew across the world, 

on our first visit to Ottawa...

to meet a special little guy, our second grandson.

Here he lies on the quilt I made for him, 

not knowing if he was a boy or girl until he arrived. 

Today he is going to French School, and has a little brother.

We stayed here, in a B&B, about 1km away from the little family in their tiny flat..

walking each day through a snowy wonderland, the like of which we had never previously experienced.

Kids can play anywhere - here's an igloo!

The other grandparents, Grandpapa and Grandmama, took us to Quebec for a few days.  This is not a road, this is the frozen Ottawa River, and we drove over it!  A vehicular ferry crosses here in the summer.

Quebec, the Old City, looking up to the funicular which goes up to here:

The St Lawrence Seaway, frozen except for a channel in the middle..

We had lunch here - in such cold weather, 

you can eat anything and still lose weight.

Temperatures hovered around -20 deg C while we were there.

The frozen Montmorency Falls..

Red is a popular colour for houses - the early French settlers used it to find their way home...

Back near Ottawa, we visited a collection of fishing shacks on a lake.

Yes, they catch fish through a hole in the ice, just like in the cartoons.

I don't think I ever believed this actually happened..

We walked on the Rideau Canal, even taking the baby down in the stroller.

We are hoping to go back there this year, in the Spring.

The grand saving plan is underway, and I am raising cash any way I can.

Sold an old Wertheim treadle sewing machine last week:

Bye for now...

I'm off to hide in an air-conditioned Mall for the rest of the day..

Keep cool

XXXX