New friends in the world of textiles

Mary Lou and Robin Friday; Pauline and Colin Verrinder

Whenever we attend the TAFTA Textile Forums we always make wonderful new friends from all over the world. During this Forum at Geelong, Noel and I shared a residential area with two other couples.

Mary Lou and Robin Friend were also participating in the same workshops - Robin in the stitch workspace with Noel and Mary Lou in the bandhani workspace with me.

Pauline Verrinder and her husband, Colin were visiting from Cambridge in the UK. Pauline was one of the invited international tutors at Forum. Each evening, after the work rooms closed for the day and suppertime was over we had a chat and lots of laughs.

The GER ( Mongolian Yurt)

The Mongolian Yurt was set up courtesy of Martien van Zuilen, Viv Young and Jo Haggar. It was so nice to be able to visit the yurt at any time during the Forum.

Edward and the wonderful Janet de Boer OAM

This was a Forum with hats. We were requested to wear a hat of some kind while we were at Forum. Now - here is a photo of Janet on a rare instance when she was not wearing a hat. However, she was wearing a beautiful creature with expressive eyes. I am wearing my story telling hat.

We visit some of the Frost family.

Jonathon, Noel, Norman, Michael and Lachlan

This afternoon we called to see Uncle Norman Frost who has recently been unwell in hospital. Two of his sons, Michael and Jonathon as well as grandson Lachlan were visiting - so it was a bonus for us to spend time with some of our Frost cousins as well as have a chat with Uncle Norman.

Happy 5th Birthday to Edie Broomhall

Polly the dog, Nicole, Edie, Toby and Dorian

Our youngest grandchild celebrated her 5th birthday on 16th. We were unable to be in Hobart on the day , so we drove down today and spent some fun time with edie. She showed us some of her recent drawings. The focus of her current work is the family. They are delightful drawings with very fine details.

We visit Pat King

Edward, Pat and Natasha

Natasha, Pat and Noel

Today we visited our good friend, Pat King who lives at Campbell Town. Natasha Joy joined us for the visit. It was a cold, wet and very windy day - just perfect to sit around a nice warm fire with friends. Pat served us a delicious lunch and we had a nice time sharing stories of some of our experiences,

My birthday dinner

Caroline, Pamela, David, Diana, Edward, Anne

Caroline, Pamela, David, Diana, Noel, Anne

It was my birthday on 12th but Noel and I were very busy with various activities yesterday, so we decided to have a few friends over this evening for a special dinner. It was a very happy evening with a delicious meal cooked by Noel, including roast lamb with roast vegetables followed by a pavlova served with whipped cream, stawberries and yellow kiwi fruit. Pamela and David have just returned from spending time with family in London, while Caroline has recently returned to live in Launceston after having worked in HongKong - so there was a lot to talk about.

Vale Christine Wonders

Very sadly, one of our dear Baha'i friends, Chris Wonders, passed today at her home in Corpus Christi in Texas . We met Chris during the years that we served at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, Israel. She served in the same office as Noel and we became very good friends. This photograph was taken during one of her many visits to our Haifa apartment. She really did not enjoy being photographed - so this is the best one that I could locate in my collection.

We call in at Scottsdale to see cousin Ruth

Noel, Ruth, Edward

Our cousin Ruth works in the Scottsdale store of Begents (note the display of electric kettles and toasters behind us). We decided to call in for a brief visit as we were on our way home from Anson's Bay.

Beautiful plum trees

As we were driving along the main road of Scottsdale, we noticed some plum trees in full bloom. The blossom looked very beautiful against the clear blue sky

Cattle in the fields at Legerwood

We visit Legerwood to see the carvings

On our return journey from Anson's Bay, we took a detour to Legerwood to see the amazing carvings that were made by Eddie Freeman. Mr Freeman lives at Ross in the Midlands of Tasmania. He is well known as a chainsaw carver.

On October 15th 1918, a special ceremony was held at the railway Reserve in Legerwood (originally named Ringarooma Road), 9 trees were planted in honour of the local men who were killed while serving in the armed forces during World War 1.

Following a report on the condition of the trees, that was made in 2001, that the old trees were no longer safe, a suggestion was made in 2004 that the stumps of the trees be carved into a likeness of each of the soldiers.

A day with aunt Iris

We visit Anson's Bay

Today we visited my Aunt Iris, who lives at Scottsdale. We took her for a visit to her holiday cottage that is situated on the East Coast at Anson's Bay. It was a beautiful sunny day for a drive through the beautiful farmlands of NE Tasmania. We enjoyed having some time exploring the beautiful white sandy beaches and little coves around the Bay.

Feast with friends

Noel, Natasha, Tess, Sandhya, Ashok

Edward, Natasha, Tess, Sandhya, Ashok

This evening we hosted a Baha'i Feast. One of our friends, Tess Stevens, is getting organised to go to spend some time in the UK, so it was nice for us to be able to spend some time with her before she leaves next week.

It is spring time.

I spent some time in the garden this afternoon, weeding, re-potting and feeding the existing plants.

We went to a fair this morning and I purchased four nice succulent plants that I planted out on a steep bank area at the side of our house this afternoon. I photographed a few of the flowers that are currently blooming.