Recent events, and celebrations..........

 It is now just 2 1/2 weeks since we arrived home, and life has returned to normal. .....Not too sure just what normal is anymore??........Here is a quick summary of newsfromjude happenings in a catchup post so that I can get my blog book printed before the shut off date....

We came home a week earlier than planned so that we could attend 2 birthday parties....the first one on Saturday evening was Lyn's 80th......

..and this was also attended by 2 of my cousins (there are 45 of us altogether as mum was one of 10 children)............and here I am with Leanne and Lyn. Our mothers were all sisters.

The other party on Sunday and was for Helen's 80th and we enjoyed a delicious lunch and a catchup with many friends.

In amongst all the parties there was a barbecue evening with Barry's brother..............

...........and the weather cooled enough for the fire to be lit...............

.......and there are no photos, but we enjoyed an evening with Ruth and Ashley, my car had to go to Keith, we decluttered more 'stuff', changed the furniture around in the lounge, put photos on the wall, enjoyed lunch at the hotel with friends after church one Sunday, started KYB lessons again, enjoyed coffee to celebrate another friend's 80th birthday, had a catchup coffee with Michelle who I went to the US on a quilting trip with 6 years ago, and of course the usual shopping, hair and doctor appointments, washing, shopping and housework. So all in all we have fitted in a fair bit since we arrived home!!

I need to also mention here that I managed to spend time with Max and churned out some quilts for customers.

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Last weekend there were more celebrations, and the front driveway looked like a caravan park with 2 vans parked. DD3 and family drove from Melbourne for the celebrations.

The occasion was another birthday for me, and this one had an "0" in it. We enjoyed catching up with about 75 family and friends at the Mundulla Hotel on Saturday.

Just a few photos for you........

Here I am with blogging and zoom friend Jo of ButterZ blog.

This is a pic of my oldest granddaughter with the youngest grandie.

My mum, me and my 4 children...............

My mum, me and my 11 grandies.............

With DD1 and family.................

..........DS and family..............

DD2 and family...............

There are more photos to come one day............ but this will do for now so that I can get the book ordered.

It was a lovely day with family and friends, and I thank those who helped make this event happen, and all those who came and those who sent messages, cards, and phoned well wishes. 

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Another big event recently was the graduation of GD2 who received First Class Honors in a Bachelor of Psychology, as well as becoming engaged, and purchasing their first house!!

That's all for now, there are more customer quilts to show, but that will have to wait for another post as I am about to head out again.

Blessings, From Jude

Part 8................ 2 days to home

 We were up early and departed Wodonga, bound for Bendigo. We were planning a catchup with another quilting friend in Bendigo, and had booked into the Big 4 caravan park. There were no plans for being tourists in Bendigo. Maybe that could be another trip for another day??

The countryside was now flat heading across country, and this was the first time in almost 3 weeks that the sky was cloudy and gloomy. 

We had been so fortunate to see blue sky and sunshine every day so far. I know that the farmers, and even the town people would love to see some of that wet stuff fall from the sky in the southern part of Australia which has been very dry.

We stopped for a rest stop in a little town, which I can't remember the name of now, but it was by the Goulburn River.

Just by chance we saw a sign further on which pointed to silo art, so we took the turn and this is what we found!! It was just amazing and in the little town of Colbinabbin. It was a very popular spot and we enjoyed lunch in the van while we were there. 

There were many signs placed nearby telling stories of the people and town's history which were interesting to read.

After checking into the park and setting up, we found where Alison lived and enjoyed a lovely catchup time. Alison is another longarm quilter and Statler owner and has visited The Sanctuary and Number Eight for many retreats over the years. Our conversation lingered long enough for us to go out for an evening meal and keep chatting. 

It has been very special to catchup with quilting friends, cousins and Barry's friends while touring this great country of ours.

It was another early start Friday morning for our last day and the journey home. As we had the whole day we decided to go via Murtoa and visit the Sticks shed that we had bypassed on our trip over.

The Murtoa Grain store (the stick shed) was constructed in 1941 as a solution for grain storage during the World War 11 grain glut, when exports were restricted. Hessian bags and cornsacks were also scarce and a storage solution was needed. Work commenced in september 1941 and the store was ready in January 1942, after 4 months construction time!! It was built from 560 timber poles (56 rows of 10) which support a corrugated iron roof. The shed is 270m long, 60 m wide and 19 m high. The first grain was delivered in Feb and by June was filled with 3,381,600 bushells which remained undisturbed until April 1944.

This is an amazing building and the brochure says......."it evokes a giant, serence cathedral of unmilled timber poles and from certain angles resembles a forest of trees"......

We were impressed at how fast this building was erected in an era of manual labour and makes one wonder if the world has really made progress at all?

This is the Murtoa painted silo. I found it difficult to get good access for a good photo, so this is an aerial photo from the internet. 

From Murtoa it was another 2 hours to home, with a short rest stop at Nhill.

And here is the map showing our last 2 days, from Wodonga to bendigo, and then Bendigo to bordertown and home.

That sums up our 21days touring around. I think I need to find a large map of Australia and mark each trip on it???

I will be back soon with another update of the 2 weeks since we arrived home.

Blessings 

From Jude 

Part 7......... heading for home

 After we left Cooma, we headed north and then west in an effort to be home by Friday. We had planned for 4 weeks on the road, but received invitations to 2 birthday parties in 3 weeks time. We could easily have spent another week away to see more of the Snowy scheme, so perhaps this will be a trip for another time??

We were on the road north towards Tumut, on the Snowy Mountain Highway. This road was very windy and steep up through the mountains, with some treeless areas interspersed with forests, and then down the other side and into Tumut.

There was obvious sign of fire in the trees at some time in the past...........

We stopped off at the pretty little town of Talbinga, where there was another dam and Hydro station 3.

Then it was back on the highway until we came across the Blowering dam and wall. 

We found a pretty little spot to stop for lunch beside a creek. 

From there, it was back onto the highway again and into Tumut. We had left the mountains behind and the countryside was changing to farmland instead of many trees.

Tumut was a pretty little town and many of the trees were showing their autumn glory. 

We kept going from here and headed to Adelong and across the Hume highway and down to Albury/Wodonga. It was time to stop again and we returned to the Park that we had stayed at on the way over. The van stayed connected to the car, ready for a quick departure in the morning. 

The following 2 maps show our route, as we left New South Wales and the Snowy Mountains and returned to Victoria.

I will be back for the last instalment of our trip in the next post. Home was not far away now.

Blessings, From Jude