FLYING ABOUT

Perhaps in preparation for our forthcoming long trip, we cardinals have been flitting here and there of late..

On a recent trip to the Granite Belt, south-west of Brisbane, we spent our first night in a grand B&B...

The Abbey of the Roses was a former convent school...

where my late mother was a boarder during her high school years, a very long time ago.  Our accommodation was in a room adjacent to the former large dormitory where 80 girls slept in narrow beds, guarded by the nun/nurse whose room was firmly outside their door, at the top of the stairs!

The dormitory is on the upper level, with all the windows along the side.

and this is the only photo I have of my mother in her school uniform, aged about 14.  She had never had a haircut.

The beautiful old convent building is heritage listed..

I saw the music room, where my mother had her piano lessons and examinations.

Sadly, the sweet Chapel has been deconsecrated, but is preserved.

Along with other guests, we had a delicious hot breakfast served in the former nuns' dining room.

We drove further south through the town of Stanthorpe, and on to the cool region of wineries and apple orchards.

It seemed wrong not to visit a place with a Red Bird logo...

Their lunch of rustic pumpkin soup and bread was just right..

Four vineyards and wineries later, we retreated to a motel for the night.

Next day, at the Jam Factory..

buying Apple Strudel jam, Boozy Plum and Shiraz jam, and a few other treats.

We made our way south to Wallangarra, a town lost in the mists of the past..

Back in the 1800s, Queensland and New South Wales each decided on different gauge railway networks.  I know, how silly and what poor planning.

Wallangarra is on the border of the two states, and became the connection point of the rail traffic between Brisbane and Sydney.

This old Station was a bustling place before road and air links replaced the era of railroad dominance.  Travellers stepped off their train on one side, could eat in the long dining room inside, and then go out the other side to connect to the different gauge train to continue the journey.

A museum of the town's history and a quiet cafe now occupy the building.

Kangaroos were jumping about on the lines when we visited.  Apart from the occasional steam train excursion, the line is rarely used now.

Last weekend we flew off to Sydney with Little Aussie..

At the Powerhouse Museum, to see their exhibition celebrating the anniversary of the Moon landings..

This Moon sculpture was beautiful...

An old Women's Weekly... Mr Cardinal still has an original Life Magazine from the day...

1969 fashion and decor..

lunar toys and child's space suit..

Aussie and his Dad inspect a rocket..

Aussie attempts to land Apollo 11 on a simulator..

(he was adopting a Darth Vader look that day)

A look at the landscape of Mars...

Moon buggy..

Meanwhile, over in Canada, our other two grandsons were attending similar exhibitions in Ottawa..

Canada boy No 2 is showing the same artistic talent as his older brother, producing his own take on the Moon landings...

Yes, another Moon sculpture..

The Red Cardinal garden of Neglect struggles on,

confused by the weather as are we all.

We had a burst of very cold days in June, a warmest average July ever recorded, about 2 deg higher most days.

Lots of heavy fog in the mornings.

Cold minimum today, 5 deg, but up to 25 in the afternoon.

The Iris seem happy enough..

But the pansies I have always grown through Winter are dying despite my ministrations..

And several ferns have developed strange white parasite infestation..

Poinsettias seem to think it is Christmas...

I think it is Global Warming.

What do you think?

Have a great week

XXXX