Long Weekend.

Last weekend was our Queen's Birthday long weekend. We get a holiday Monday to salute the Queen's birthday. It is not her actual birthday, & I am unsure how it came to be celebrated on that particular day.

New Zealand celebrated it the weekend before. Perth also celebrated it a week sooner than we do. I am unsure of other States.

Canada also celebrates the occasion, but on a different date again.

I would suppose that Britain must surely celebrate their Monarch's Birthday too, but I have no idea. I am too lazy to Google it, this evening.

We had a busy weekend.
On Sunday, we had our daughter, SIL, & grandchildren to visit.

Gom excelled himself. He prepared all the snack foods, & he even made Prawn Toasts! From a recipe he found, & he did all the preparation & cooking thereof, by himself.

They were brilliant.

I gave him a deep fryer some years ago, & it was a bit of a one month wonder, for a while. Of course, neither of us really need deep fried food, & it is only fairly recently he got it out, & began using it for social occasions, to cook tasty morsels for finger foods.

Successful, but awkward to clean, & awkward to use. It was over 12 years old.

This past Christmas I bought him a new one, a swish 2 vat model, & he was delighted. He was like a man with 2 vats, one might say. as opposed to a man with 2 rats!haha

He has whipped out chips- french fries- to have on cold days. He has cooked up delightful Chinese delicacies. Fish, Chicken. No problems to the Gom. As BFJ says, he is a real Social Delight!

Monday afternoon evening, we had friends come to visit, & Gom did his magic with the fryer again. He has become the perfect host.

It used to fall to me to do all that, once upon a time. Gom enjoys doing it, it gives him an interest (besides his Garden Vandalism, & his Pantry Nazi-ism), so I just let him go for it now.


On Sunday night, as it got cold & dark, SG wanted to go off to sleep. He asked for a quilt, & I told him to help himself out of the box where they are kept, in the lounge.

I expected him to get the brightest, but it wasn't there.

Then he remembered it was at his place, on his bed.
He had fallen asleep here one other night, & had been scooped up in the quilt & taken home.

His mother told him he would have to bring the quilt back to Nanna's, because it was my quilt & it was made for 'The Family'.

He declared he had to have it on his bed, and he said, "Well, I am family!" Cant argue with that!

He has always loved that quilt since he was little. It is ideal for a child, because it is so bright, & has lots of lovely animal squares. I made it from a gift pack of charm squares, plus some brights I was given, to make a quilt for myself.

Edit added. I had some queries about the pattern for this quilt. It is called Tumbling Blocks, (I think) & I got the pattern from an early edition of Australian Patchwork & Stitching, around 2002. It is really great because it is all roller cut, machine stitched, & there are no insets. It went together super fast, & I just quilted it in the ditch, which means it is very soft & cuddly.
If anyone would like to make it, send me an email.




We had just found out that SG was on the way, but had not yet found out he was a he.

Here he is, with the 'Class Bear' " Stanley" last year, with said quilt, when it was his turn to have Stanley for the weekend. He uses the quilt for cubbies, & loves to snuggle up in the brightness.





Here is another pic of "Just for Fun", which is what I called the quilt, with Honey peeping out from under.
I have made him other bright quilts, but for some reason, he really loves this, & it is a good size for a single bed.


Gom & I were quite tired, after our busy weekend.
There has been a cold snap, with the weather being a chill 5 degrees Celsius, due to wind chill. That is almost unheard of around here!


Truly weather for comfort foods! Thick soup, casseroles, slowcooker food.





I was hoping not to have visitors today. I lumbered about with so many layers of clothing, I looked like a Yeti who had raided the Sallies Bin.
I really need to get out to the shops for some new shoes, that are not falling apart, & some new, extra capacious warm tops, for the new expanding me!
My excuse is I need multi layers of clothes to keep warm.




Keep Warm! Or Cool if you are in a hot climate.






Sheryl Crow, Every Day is a Winding Road