Bird is the Word - Travel/Explore Challenge

I have a sister that lives and works in the USA; in order to be allowed to work as a trauma nurse there she needed to travel to the USA in March of 1998 to sit an exam. She was already well travelled and knowing how much I have wanted to travel, she kindly offered me the opportunity of accompanying her. She was required to sit the exam in Los Angeles and wanted to visit a friend in Boston and spend a few days in New York but was happy for me to choose where we travelled after that. I chose to spend a few days in London, see Oxford and spend some time in Paris as I had spent three years learning French in high school and had fallen in love with the idea of seeing this great city. I also needed and wanted to be home for our 20th anniversary on the 8th of April which very much limited our time away. We went around the world on nine flights in twenty days!

I was fortunate to spend time in Disney Land, walk on the Boston Common and see the beautiful copper domes, travel through the snow covered country side to Amish Country in Pennsylvania and go to the top of the Empire State building and stand in the crown of the statue of Liberty. I spent two days wandering around London, touched the ancient walls of the Roman baths and stood in front of Buckingham Palace. We flew to Paris and arrived mid afternoon and after checking into our hotel wandered through the nearby streets to find some dinner. In the morning we walked through Montmartre to Sacre Coeur, climbed the steps to the top and turned to see the city laid out below. We  returned to our hotel to catch a three hour city tour bus which would give us a snapshot of the city as we only had sixteen hours here before our flight home. The driver took us to the Arc de Triomphe and although not allowed, quickly stopped so we could get out look down the Champs Elysee to the Eiffel Tower. We were standing on the balcony in a gentle rain on a very overcast day looking upon the landmark and tears came to my eyes; I could not believe my childhood dream had come true and I had finally arrived. It was a moment that I will never forget.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes. 

http://birdisthewordchallenge.blogspot.com.au/

123 Get Scrappy Challenge #1

I was introduced to this new challenge site by my lovely niece Bel Woods who has been selected to be on the initial design team;  Bel is such a wonderful choice, she has such a quirky style and is completely self taught. The challenge is to play tic tac toe with the squares; choose a straight line of three and use these in your LO. I chose the top three across: hexagons, red, brads: I am not fond of red and I don't like brads and rarely use them so this one pushed me a little. You will notice some red accents and I slid 5 brads down one side of the photo, I just couldn't use them in any other way!

This is a photo of my scrapbooking friends, the ones that have helped and supported me over the past 4 years since we lost our eldest son and I cannot thank them enough for their friendship. I guess I am the groups organiser; I have worked in marketing for 7 years and love putting together events. To thank them for their love and to have some fun, I organise two camps a year. I also organise the 0 birthdays e.g. 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th (I won't say who has celebrated which!). We have had Lis's, Tamara's and Kay's birthday parties all themed for what I think is appropriate for each; in October last year we celebrated Kate's 0 birthday a nautical themed party as she loves the sea. I wanted to go on a boat cruise but many of the girls suffer from motion sickness so we had to stay on land. I organised a guided tour of the Maritime Museum in Fremantle followed by tea on the lawn, a walk along the beach to watch the sunset and a sea food dinner. This photo was taken outside the museum among the anchor and chains from a local ship wreck; the whole group together, only one unable to be present due to illness. I am looking forward to organising Jimmie's and Peta's 0 parties later this year.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.

 

 

 

http://123getscrappy.blogspot.com.au/

Once Upon A Sketch - August



Our third grandson at our fourth grandsons birthday party; I have written of this little man several times but it is here that I explained that he is actually in a wheelchair in this photo and how he came to be there.

His wonderful personality shone through when I saw him at the hospital the day after his accident. His little face lit up when I walked into the room even though he was in a box splint and traction with cords and pulleys everywhere. He wanted to show me everything that he had to keep him busy while he was recovering but first he needed to show me what would happen when he leaned back and grabbed the cords behind the bed. 'Look Nan' and he pulled the cords forward; his boxed leg swung up into the air and back down again all while he was laughing... mostly at the reaction of the adults surrounding his bed! He has such spirit, such heart, such a wonderful personality, a beautiful smile and his Dad's lovely blue eyes. I will never forget the courage he shows in adversity.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes.
 

http://onceuponasketchblog.blogspot.com.au/

Bird is the Word Challenge - Celebrate

I have written in a previous post about our five yearly professional photo shoot here and is a matching page to that layout. Today I am sharing another photo from the shoot we had taken in October 2001. The journaling is on the filigree tag behind the photo.

The stance of both of us speaks volumes. The wonderful man by my side is my protector, my strength, my friend and my love. I lean on him and he has held me and helped me through the very best of times and the very worst; he puts up with my OCD tendencies, supports me so I can do the things I need to do and encourages me to do the things I want to do. He has given me four of the most handsome boys in the world and helped them to become the wonderful young men, husbands and fathers they are. He gives willingly of his time to family, friends and the community and is empathetic and charitable.

In the last week of December this year we will have been a couple for 40 years and will have known each other for a further two years. I will never regret attending the Catholic Policeman's Picnic at the Benedictine Monastery in New Norcia with my uncle as a 14 year old; I knew that day that I had met the man I wanted to marry. I have never regretted a moment of the life we have had together and there is only one day in those 42 years I would change if I could.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may leave, best wishes. 

http://birdisthewordchallenge.blogspot.com.au/