Dad's 80th Birthday weekend at Kangaroo Valley

Hello there, Dear Readers!

I have a huge number of photos to share with you from my lovely fathers 80th birthday weekend, so make a cup of tea to sustain yourself during this epic post. 

Not all these photos are mine and I have cropped and tidied up a couple. And many thanks to all of those  I have nicked pics from!!!

To begin :-  above is the Stewart - Malby - Doodson clan with their assorted partners. (Edith was asleep and missed this pic). 

Shall I name everyone? ?

NOOO it gets too complicated! But its all the children, grandchildren  and cousins together.

This photo is the ultimate selfie,  as Sean took it with his drone,--- great hey! That's why you can't see his hands!... More drone photos further on. 

This house is also next door to my son's Andrew's School were he teaches. Glengarry.

 https://www.tsc.nsw.edu.au/glengarry 

____

And Below:- Margaret and Ian and their three kids. (Bruce, Cathy & Kim, I'm the eldest, Bruce next, and Cathy is the baby). Very rare to have us all in the same place at the same time!

There is so much to tell that I will break this whole post into chapters!

 

Chapter 1 - Lake David - The House

Cathy found this house, isn't she clever.

It was gorgeous! 

https://lakedavid.com.au/

These drone shots from Sean, the Drone Master,  really show how dry it is.

 

 I took heaps of stuff to cook with, no need to as the kitchen was fantastic.

 Beautiful property, with wombats, yes I will come to them later.

However! 

Walking around in the serenity, then you hear a buzzing, like a mosquito, and from above the crest of a hill a red eyed science fiction creature hovers into view.....

Above :- is the Drone Master, and his Pop, taking selfies with the drone!

And the interior.. was just my style, shabby chic, although I like a little more colour of course.

We think that every room had a theme.

 Below, is the TV room - 'The boat room'

The kitchen/dining room was all to do with chickens!

The kitchen has 2 dishwashers YEY,....2 ovens , 2 fridges,YEY, YEY .

In fact it has everything - don't bring your lasagna dish, like I did, as there was 4 there!

Chapter 2 - Party Day

Okay, so we got there on the Friday.

Graham and I arrived, (after a 10 hour drive)  in the dark and  miraculously managed to avoid killing any wildlife on the road,

Saturday was so windy that it was difficult to do anything. But I did cook dinner. 

(for memory's sake it was - Four Cheese's  Lasagna, and Cauliflower Cheese Pasta Bake. Along with green veg and bread, lots left overs!). 

I had a support crew for clean up etc. Which was good as I was a bit 'tired'.

And... Sunday 2nd September 2018 was Fathers Day, and Dads birthday!

So a BBQ lunch party

 Okay Dad! We have the message.. Happy Birthday!!!

Below :- Edith is ready to blow out  those candles. 

(that we haven't even put on the cake yet sweetheart). 

This is a photo comparing the size of the cake to the baby.

Chapter 3 - Wombats

 OMG! 

Where do I begin.

There were hundreds of them. And they are staving due to the drought. 

Their little hips are sticking out.

I tried to count them one afternoon. 

I counted to 30, looked around and estimated a hundred that I could see.

 There must have been more that I couldn't see.

There is no food , so instead of being their usual nocturnal selves,

 they are out all day trying to fill their tummy's. 

Poor things.

And..they have burrows EVERYWHERE,,, its like Hobbiton!

The owners  have a live wire around the house to protect the plants.

And the wombat poo.. It was everywhere!!~!!

There must be an industry for that?

Okay, so I know Dear Readers 

That this is a burning question that you have all been ASKING!

Q:- Why is a wombats poo square?

 

A:- The wombat is highly territorial so uses its cube-shaped poo to mark its territory, preventing conflict. Wombats have been found to differentiate between various poos and show avoidance behaviour when presented with poo produced by predators and other male wombats. The hormonal content of poo can also be examined, for example so that males can tell when females are most fertile. 

https://theconversation.com/why-do-wombats-do-cube-shaped-poo-55975

 

Conclusion 

Well, I think everyone had a great time. Certainly a memorable one.

AND!!

A BIG

THANK YOU.

To my lovely little sister, Cathy, who did the majority of the work to pull this event together.

And a second THANK YOU, to all the family.. 

Everyone's different, BUT., we all get on well .. don't we?

(Mum's 80th in 2019 - don't know what we will do for that)

 

Lost in the 50's

Hi Dear Readers.

Here are some photos from our recent weekend away with the Car Club  to visit the Lost in the 50's museum in Newcastle.

 So, first stop on Saturday was New England cheese at Nowendoc.
We had a cheese tasting and bought some cheese to take home.

Its looking really dry, although not as bad at Nowendoc, coming home on Sunday it is far worse out around Tamworth.

 They have goats! they milk them to make the cheese.

Then we went onto Raymond Terrace were we spent the night.

Day 2, and it was an early start, as we had an 8:30 am entry time to go into the museum. They have to give entry times because the museum is so popular they have to stagger the entries, and you need to book in advance. This Sunday was totally booked out.

And by the way I personally do not remember the 50's. AS I WASN'T BORN. But I did enjoy reminding our older friends of this fact.

Okay, so this bloke has spent 20 years collecting American cars and memorabilia from the 50's and 60's. And he has massive amounts of STUFF!

 www.lostinthe50s.com.au

... And its all going up for Auction in October.

So if you want a Batmobile,

 Or a DeLorean,
you now know where to look

I don't like American cars very much. Too square, too long. Too hard to park .

 But these ones were immaculately restored and so many pretty colours.

We saw only one Lotus in the whole place and here it is below!

 But its not just the cars!

Look at all the other crap he has! 10 000 items apparently. ALL GOING TO BE SOLD!

And it was packed with people!

Lizzy's Doggie update

Hello, My Mum's Dear Readers!

Its me, Miss Lizzy here, to update you on all the goings on in 'Lizzy's world'..

I just wanted to model for you, our new winter fashions.

... even though my preference is to rip the coat off Teddy's back and run around the backyard swinging it around my head. .... he he he... However, my Mum doesn't seem very happy with this idea, 

I don't know why, IT's FUN MUM..

In these above  pic's, Ted,s gone for the Star Wars look, while I've got the foxy thing going on...

And below, Teddy is modelling the camouflage trend (we'll loose Ted in the backyard if we are not careful)...and I have the chic Cheetah/Wilma Flintstone look.

 Below: Umm. MUM! 

You've got HIM up on the bed, 
while I'm still down here on the Floor!!!

Whats that about!?

I understand, sigh,  he's MY best doggie friend in the world!

Until next time!

Love & wet noses 

from Miss Lizzy