HAPPY COLOURS

Here is a pic of a Throw called Happy Colours.
It's created with a mixture of Granny Squares
and Butterfly Loom squares.
I'll put the pattern up a bit later.

RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING

Between showers I ran out to capture the
raindrops dancing on this delicate rose, and then
chased this Butterfly on and off all day until
it eventually settled long enough for a quick
click of the camera.

AUSTRALIA DAY

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY

My Country
- Dorothea Mackellar
The love of field and coppice,

Of green and shaded lanes,

Of ordered woods and gardens

Is running in your veins.

Strong love of grey-blue distance

Brown streams and soft, dim skies -

I know but I cannot share it,

My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of rugged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding plains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror -

The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,

All tragic to the moon,

The sapphire-misted mountains,

The hot gold rush of noon.

Green tangle of the brushes,

Where lithe lianas coil,

And orchids deck the tree tops

And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!

Her pitiless blue sky,

When sick at heart, around us,

We see the cattle die -

But then the grey clouds gather,

And we can bless again

The drumming of an army,

The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country

Land of the Rainbow Gold,

For flood and fire and famine,

She pays us back three-fold.

Over the thirsty paddocks,

Watch, after many days,

The filmy veil of greenness

That thickens as we gaze ...

A opal-hearted country,

A wilful, lavish land -

All you who have not loved her,

You will not understand -

Though earth holds many splendours,

Wherever I may die,

I know to what brown country

My homing thoughts will fly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Have a great new year! Leave the stories of the past in the past. Take the lessons and move on!

MY CHRISTMAS WISH FOR YOU

My Christmas wish for you, my friend

Is just a simple one

For I wish you hope and joy and peace

Days filled with warmth and sun

I wish you love and friendship too

Throughout the coming year

Lots of laughter and happiness

To fill your world with cheer

May you count your blessings, one by one

And when totaled by the lot

May you find all you've been given

To be more than what you sought

May your journeys be short, your burdens light

May your spirit never grow old

May all your clouds have silver linings

And your rainbows pots of gold

I wish this all and so much more

May all your dreams come true and

May you have a Merry Christmas

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS CAKE

Countdown to Christmas Day in on....... O days now, only hours away, but there
is still time to make this delicious cake. This is one of our favourites, it smells

scrumptious, and I promise I only tested 1 nut to make sure they are crunchy!

Night before Christmas Cake
175g unsalted butter, softened
225g brown sugar
275g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
175ml buttermilk
2 eggs
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Grated rind of 1 orange
225g fruit mince
2 tbs brandy
Florentine topping
50g hazelnuts
50g blanched almonds
85g brazil nuts
140g red glace cherries
100g golden syrup
Icing
2/3 cup (100g) icing sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
Method
Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line base of a 20cm springform cake pan. Beat butter and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, sift flour and baking powder and stir into butter mixture with buttermilk and eggs. Stir in rinds with fruit mince and brandy. Spoon into pan and bake for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, for florentine topping, place nuts, cherries and golden syrup in a saucepan and warm over a medium heat. When cake has cooked for 1 hour, remove from oven and spread topping over. Return for a further 15-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
For the icing, mix together sugar and lemon juice, place in a piping bag with a small nozzle and drizzle over cake. Decorate with ribbon, if desired.

A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FACE

I put this beautiful little rose in my kitchen
window, and each time I went back into the
kitchen, the sun had moved a little further
around.

Here the sun seems to be shining right through
the petals, and see the reflection in the window?

By now it is almost dusk

It's such a pretty face.