An Unusual Visitor

September 29, 2015 Joanne6 Comments

After dinner tonight, I let Forrest dog out for a run, and before too long she began barking. She barked, and barked, and barked, way down the back of the garden. And Forrest doesn’t bark for no reason. She may bark because she can’t find her ball and wants help finding it; and she’ll bark at the cats if they don’t want to play with her (which is usual!) and she’s a good watch-dog too, so will bark if someone knocks on the front door.

Forrest is Adam and Mary’s dog, but they had gone out for dinner tonight, so Ben, also thinking the amount of barking was rather excessive, took a torch down the back to see what the problem was. Ben worried that it could be a snake that had Forrest in such a tizzy!

The good news was that it wasn’t a snake. The not so good news was that Forrest had a poor, scared echidna baled up, under a tree!

Forrest didn’t harm the echidna at all, I hasten to add, and I’m sure all her ruckus was an attempt to get this new friend to play with her, but still….you hear stories…..

Sybil, my lovely blogging friend from Nova Scotia, told of an episode where Sooki, who looks very similar in appearance to our Forrest girl, baled up a porcupine, after which the photos of Sooki were not pretty! I had shown photos of Sooki to both Ben and Adam some time ago, complete with “quills” protruding from her face, and this was the first thought that Ben had tonight, as he remembered the Sooki incident.

Ben had a torch with him, and also his mobile phone, so armed with these two items, he managed a clear enough photo to show you the poor little chappy, trying to hide ~

Forrest's new friend, the Echidna. — Forrest’s new friend, the Echidna.

I did a bit of a Google search and found some clearer photos, along with some information about these beautiful mammals, on the Australia Zoo website. Australia Zoo is only a couple of hours drive north of here, and the home of the Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin. Here is a link to the Short-Beaked Echidna page on the Australia Zoo website. I can only assume that our backyard visitor is a short-beaked echidna, as his “beak” was tightly tucked away from Forrest!

Another walk down the garden a short while later revealed no further sign of the Echidna, so we can only assume that he managed to find his way back out of the garden….based on the fact that he found his way in! Hopefully he has a good sense of direction.

Tomorrow when Forrest goes out into the garden, one of us will have to go with her, until we are satisfied that the Echidna has realised that ours isn’t going to be the quietest garden on the block to take up residence in.

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cakes · daughter-in-law · flowers · son · wedding

Before The Wedding.

September 28, 2015 Joanne10 Comments

During the week before the wedding of my son, Adam, and his beautiful bride-to-be, Mary, the house was a virtual hive of activity. And so was the garden. Each weekend, for a few months prior to the wedding, husband had spent every weekend, often with a team of helpers, dismantling and reconstructing a large retaining wall, and relaying the paved area at the back of our house.

The party hire crew were due to arrive on the Tuesday, so the pavers all had to be fully laid by that day. When the three adjoining marquees were constructed, suddenly the garden was transformed into a beautiful wedding venue.

This was all becoming very real!

I loved the folds of white fabric, with the fairy lights shining from behind, and the chandeliers lighting the “rooms” of the marquee. The venue would offer a very romantic atmosphere for the wedding, just the way we wanted it to be.

On Thursday afternoon, our dear friend Therese arrived. She is a marriage celebrant and has known Adam for his entire life, so there would be no other person more appropriate to marry these two young people. Most of the wedding party were available for a rehearsal, and Therese had everyone organised and in their places before too long.

Well, almost everyone was amicable to Therese’s organisation. Miss Forrest was just there for the hugs and pats!

And the bride, bridesmaids and maid-of-honour had spent a girls day together, which included lunch, shopping, manicure and fake tanning treatment. They all loved their nails. Champagne, anyone? 🙂

So, back to Therese having everyone organised ~ men to her left, women to her right, Mary and her step-dad in front, Adam awaiting instructions….

Young Bailey, the pageboy, had a very important role to play, and he took his responsibilities very seriously, listening intently to everything Therese told him that he had to do. He was as pleased as punch with himself!

Now girls, have we got everything right here? Who’s doing what? No, I do that! Oh, I thought she did….so what order do we stand in….?

Adam, hold Mary’s hands….here you will repeat after me…..how many words can you remember at a time….?

Got it? Got it…I’m sure you do, Adam! You do, don’t you? Of course you do!

Once the whole party had “got it”, it was time for more organising, with the big day only a few hours away.

But first, a photo of my three kids….don’t they all look happy? 😉 Get used to it kids, by the end of the wedding, your cheeks will hurt from smiling!

The wedding day arrives, and an old school friend of husbands, who is a very talented caterer, supplied us with the most beautiful cup cakes for the occasion.

Aren’t they pretty? She had quite a large range of decorating options available, but Mary liked the butterflies the best. Husband collected the boxes of cakes on the morning of the day, and each cake was then transferred into tiny individual cake boxes.

As a special “thank-you”, each guest would be receiving a cupcake and a jar of personalised candy.

Our lovely florist, Lindy, arranged flowers which matched the bouquets, in fish bowls along all of the tables.

Mary chose hessian runners for each table, which was also decoratively tied around each peach coloured candle.

The tables were all set by the busy bridesmaids, chairs covered and big bows attached.

Mary even found time to help Lindy decorate the arbour, with the most beautiful array of flowers. If you missed it before, go back and have a look at the stunning flowers Mary chose, and Lindy supplied for the wedding. They were absolutely superb. I called it A Floral Extravaganza, and it really was!

And where was I whilst all of this activity took place? Taking photos of it all, of course, although the last four photos here were taken by our lovely photographer on the day, Sally, as later in the day I could be found rushing from one of the house to the other and back again, tidying, dusting vacuuming, getting myself dolled up, after which I made sure that all of the boys were in perfect order for the ceremony.

I now have so many photos of the wedding, between those I took, Sally’s photos, and those taken by other people, so I can see there will be another three posts added here, at least, before I get through them all. 🙂

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blessings · daughter-in-law · happiness · laughter · new beginnings · son · wedding

Wordless Wednesday

September 16, 2015 Joanne4 Comments

daughter-in-law · grand-baby one · new beginnings · photography · son · wedding

A Floral Extravaganza

September 7, 2015 Joanne18 Comments

For her wedding, Mary chose two beautiful flowers, baby’s breath and roses (we were too late in the season for peonies,) in a gorgeous peach shade, to match her bridesmaid’s dresses. To pretty up the rooms inside of the house, we ordered several bunches of matching flowers, in both long and short stems, so once the flowers that had decorated the marquees were brought inside and placed in various vases around the house, my home has been transformed into an exquisite floral paradise.

The two single roses in the foreground, above, were saved from a couple of men’s jackets, which were discarded once the ceremony formalities were over and the party had begun.

I, however, placed my beautiful corsage in a small vase on the table at the reception. These flowers are so pretty, I want to savour their beauty for as long as possible.

Each table at the wedding reception had a lovely display of baby’s breath and roses inside a fishbowl……

….which, when brought inside the house the next day, look just as stunning in a tiny vase on one of my coffee tables.

I really love to see several vases placed together on a table, in a mass display of white, cream and peach colourings, and isn’t the wedding candle just beautiful? I’ll tell you more about the candle shortly. Right now, it’s all about the flowers!

Here’s my corsage again, looking lovely amid the peach roses. I must find out what type of flowers are in my corsage, as I’d really love to have these in my garden.

I’m quite sure that the flowers toward the centre and left of the photo above are called phlox. They have such delicate white petals and looked so pretty in small vases next to the vanity basin in the bathroom.

Here’s the candle again, beside a floral display of whites and greens, which were a part of the decorations on the arbour, beneath which Adam and Mary exchanged their wedding vows.

Aren’t the roses stunning? I have vases of roses everywhere, and have decided that you can never have too many roses in the house. 🙂

The “ball” of baby’s breath (also known as gypsophilia) to the right of the candle, is one of the bridesmaid’s bouquets. Mary’s bouquet also contained roses, and she wore a simple baby’s breath headpiece in her hair. I’ll show you how beautiful she looked in a day or two.

Here is another photo of all the shades of white, cream and peach together. I think I missed my calling in life, I should have been a florist! How I love these flowers. ❤

And now to the story of the candle, a gift from our wonderful friend, Therese, who also happens to be a Marriage Celebrant, has known Adam all of his life, and officiated at the ceremony on Saturday. The candle represents new beginnings, and Therese has asked Adam and Mary to light the candle each year, on their Wedding Anniversary, to welcome another year of their married life together. And can you see the tiny glass bead in the base of the candle, with the letter “S” on it?

Here’s a closer look. Therese added the S for Samuel, Adam and Mary’s precious baby boy, stillborn just a month ago. The wedding ceremony began with mention of baby Sam, at which point several members of the wedding party, including the men, (and Mary’s mum and myself) became quite choked up with tears in our eyes, which were carefully dabbed away so as not to ruin our makeup. My precious little grandson will always be remembered.

Next time, I will share a few photos of the wedding ceremony, in which you will see the arbour in all of its glory, but for now I hope you enjoy seeing a closeup of the crowning glory of the display, resting beautifully now upon my dinner table.

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