Last concert for 2025, Beethoven's 9th

Back to the Opera House with Michael and Gail.

We drove down this time and it took hours longer than normal due to lots of roadworks and the mess at Singleton while they are building the by-pass. 

 Great concert with the big choir.

 The palm trees at Circular Quay had been yarn bombed by Zonta clubs. They were beautiful and so much work, I hope it doesn't rain during the installation.

 To raise awareness of the 16 Days of Activism in a public and busy location, Zonta District 24 clubs have permission to yarn bomb 15 palm trees at Circular Quay. Clubs from across the District are creating unique tree wraps which will be a highly visual and bright display. Signage in multiple languages will explain the different types of domestic and family violence and encourage passersby to take action to “Change the Story”.

 

Vale Teddy November 2025

We have tragically had Teddy put to sleep on the 20th November 2025. He was 12.

 

He died of this horrible carcinoma on his head. 

 

Usually, it would be Miss Lizzy taking over this post but she is too distraught.

I've never had another dog go into mourning like this.

 

Its all so sad.

 

 Here are my last photos of Tiny Teddy and the progression of his cancer during 2025...

 

 

 

 

 

The saddest thing was that he never lost his bounce, even on the last morning taking him to the vets.

But the cancer was annoying him, he kept scratching at it,  and it was getting more and more smelly.

 

He had a very dignified death.

 

He was awake right until the end despite the sedation and he knew we were with him.

He fell asleep for the final time and I caught his little head in the palm of my hand. Even the vets were moved by that, and damn I'm tearing up again..

 

Miss Lizzy HAS lost her bounce. She is so distressed and anxious that we are at our wits end.

He's been cremated and is back at home with the other doggie ashes. 

 

Lets finish with a lovely pic of Ted from 2018. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SSO Concert - 'Pictures at an Exhibition'

We have been down to Sydney again to the Opera House.

We left poor Teddy in special care at the kennels, but this was a big trip for us. We came down by train but we will be flying back.

 

Finally we see the conductor Simone Young with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.. 

 

Here is the lovely Gail striking a pose in the forecourt.

 

I've still got a walking stick , blah. But its very good for getting people to move out of my way!

 

 

It was great, but not as great as Lang Lang who will now be the benchmark.

Graham and I stayed at the Novotel Darling Harbour.

Which turned out to be a right kerfuffle as the light rail had maintenance and it was a literal pain to get to the Novotel by bus with a walking stick and still dodgy hip...

.... 

But look at this beautiful egg dessert at the Ternary Restaurant. 

Once the white chocolate shell was broken it was full of mango and passionfruit. YummEE 

 

Great Eastland Rally Armidale

Graham and I have been on the organising committee for a car rally this year.

Originally I thought by the time this event came around I would be 6 weeks post my hip replacement,  however my surgery was postponed by 2 weeks so I was still hobbling around with a walking stick.

Anyway, it all turned out well, everyone had a great time and we even made money to donate to charity.

This below was the final night dinner which I will come back to at the end of this post. 

Saturday started with morning tea and a welcome speech from Bron.

 Attending were about 90 people from Tamworth and the coast.

After tea and cake it was a back roads run to Guyra, which Graham marshaled at a corner and we took photos of every car, (for the slide show at the dinner). 

 I'm not going to post photos of all the cars as there were too many. but here are a few.

 Then it was lunch at Guyra Bowling club.

 On Sunday there was an around Armidale run.

I didn't go as I thought it may be a bit much in my current less mobile state. I had also done the run with Graham when we mapped it out in early September.

It seemed to be very successful, people took wrong turns, got lost and overall found it hilarious.  Like herding cats. Maybe they learnt a bit about the towns history as well? 

And it showed off their cars of course.

 

Sunday night was the presentation dinner at Armidale Bowling club, in the ballroom.

I blew up all those balloons by myself, with a helium canister of course. Everyone else was too chicken in case one burst, that will make my mother laugh. We tied them to old tools that Graham had in the garage.

Balloons and helium were donated by local businesses.

 

I also designed all the place mats and Graham helped me laminate them. 

(I hate laminating, its plastic that will take years to break down, but I could see no way around it in this instance).

 

 The fun facts must all be true because I got them from the internet... (-:  

 

The idea was to get people talking at the table and we got 

the idea from something similar from a past rally. 

(But mine are better). 

 

The rally participants all took them home so they must have liked them.  

I've also passed on my word documents to another club who asked for a copy to pinch the idea for their rally. After all,  we pinched ideas for lanyards from another rally. That's the nice thing about car clubs we are all happy to help things evolve.

 

Bron made all the pickles and I made the labels.

Graham also ran the quiz and the slideshow. 

The committee were very pleased with the beautiful trophies which 

were made by Bron's Grandson, Jackson.

https://www.houseofjackson.com.au/ 

Then the raffle was drawn, with winners picking the prize of their choice.

 To my relief, my quilt was one of the first prizes picked. Its gone off to Inverell.  

A lady, its very pleased winner, came up to me later to personally thank me. I was pleased too YAY!

Then we gave out the awards, tidied up the room, popped the balloons and went home.

PHEW!

We had a great team on the committee well done everyone! 

P.S. December 2025 update..

Bronwyn (Rally Director) and Judy (Rally Secretary) 

won the joint club person of the year  for 2025. 

Well done ladies!  

'Are We There Yet'? July 2025

It's been a long time since I've posted about a finished quilt, so here is my next finished project.

'Are We There Yet' is a small lap quilt or a wall hanging using a cheats panel for the centre.

Lots of flying geese in the border and I've matched the colour to the sunset. 

 This one is going to the Car Club to be raffled at the rally in October.

I did my old trick of buying a wide back and using it for both the front and back. Its Basic Grey Grunge in a dark blue. 

 

Sandra has again worked her magic on the machine quilting. 

This pattern is called 'Every Which Way'.

 

I have 2 more quilts waiting for me to hand finish the binding so expect some more quilt posts before the end of the year.

But first, off to hospital to sort out the dodgy hip.