#11 It Happened In New Zealand…or Was It Australia…

Wait…wait…I’m still in the States!   and…

Home for the Holidays 2015…

I’ve been back in the States for 9 months now, and up until two or so months ago, I was pretty dedicated about recapping my five month adventure.  Then…well…I sorta started doing some other fun stuff.  That’s what retirement’s all about…right?

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During November I canned  3 dozen jars of apple butter, one of my annual pre-Christmas activities.  This year I didn’t peel the apples…just cored them…otherwise sooo much waste, including the pectin in the skins. I also deviated from my usual combo of Jonathan and Cortland apples. This year I combined Winesap with my Cortland. I got some questionable looks when I mentioned this duet, but…my taste buds tell me this year’s yield is exemplary!

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Then I got a yen to make doll clothes for my granddaughter’s Groovy Girls doll.
A while back, I found this rag doll named “Kayla” in a Salvation Army bin and was so taken by her groovy smile, I just had to buy her! Clothes, I thought. She needs some clothes! So what did I do?? I stashed her away in the guest room closet for…Oh maybe a couple years.
When 2013 rolled around, I rediscovered her and thought, Clothes. She needs clothes. I know what I’ll do! I’ll make some dresses and give the doll and her wardrobe to Skye for her birthday! (Skye was 3 years old at the time). I’m motivated this time around and proceed to design/sew some dresses, summer togs and a bolero.
When Skye and her family visited us that summer (they live in Idaho), I introduced her to “”Lucy Jo” (a more fitting name for an uptown Appalachian gal!). The next thing I see is Skye walking around with Lucy Jo in tow…nice Skye, but OMG not by her hair! I don’t know…maybe I carried my Lulu doll around by the hair when I was three, so I gotta be gentle about this rescue. I take the doll from Skye and say, “No, dear. This is how to carry your dolly.” And I cradle Lucy Jo in my arms.

Well, I guess Skye’s too young for the responsibility of a doll with a designer wardrobe. Sooo Lucy Jo and her wardrobe shall be a bequeathment. In the meantime I’ll just enjoy designing/sewing clothes for Lucy Jo.

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Then I decided to make Skye a mermaid blanket for her Christmas present.  It took a lot longer than the directions said it would, but…as you can see, Skye, now five!, happily wears her mermaid blanket! 

And here I am showing off the shark blanket I crocheted for grandson Charlie, now two years old.  So solly!  No pictures of Charlie and his shark available.  But son Steve did say Charlie cried, “No! No! No!” when it slithered out of its box!  Maybe Charlie will make friends with his shark when he gets bigger!  Charlie…that is!

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Sometimes I need a break from my projects and when I do…I go looking for my color books  ( I don’t know why, but even as a kid, I always said “color” books and not “coloring” books?!).  I decide whether to use my Prang or Crayola crayons or maybe a combination of both, find a comfy spot on the couch, leaf through the pages until one catches my imagination and…begin to bring the page to life with my crayons!  Oh, how I love, love, LOVE to color!!  I even wrote a book for kids about generational coloring!  It’s called Eva Blue!

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Anyway, now that we’re all caught up on my “doings,” it’s time to  continue blogging about…

It Happened In New Zealand…or Was It Australia…

Good-bye Yalca!  Len and I bid a fond farewell to Margi at the Albury train station.  We chug along to Melbourne, change trains and continue on to Mt. Albert where Charmaine meets us at the station.  Well..that was the plan, but you know how it is with the plans of mice and men…right?   This is the “skinny”…what really happened. 

We weren’t sure of our stop.  I remember the train having stopped and wondering, Is this where we’re supposed to get off?  The train started up again, and as I looked out the window...surprise!…I see Charmaine standing on the platform!  Guess we missed our stop!!  Nothing gets by Charmaine!  Within five minutes after getting off at the next stop, there she was…bright and charming as ever.  She swooped us up and drove us to her lovely house.  Here she is preparing the evening meal for us and her brother Neil.  Note the red accents.  You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!!

To be continued…