A VISIT TO HOWARD

The little town of Howard is about 30 minutes inland from Hervey Bay.
I've never been there before but my SIL wanted to visit the fabric shop and the Oldies were having an afternoon rest  so she picked me up and off we went.

The main street (I think ) has only a couple of old buildings. This one is the CWA Hall.


and this one now sadly appears to be empty.

Along the street a little way is the shop we're heading for.

It is one of those small town shops where you can get ANYTHING !
There is a huge amount of stock out on the footpath.
Perhaps a hint of what is to come ?????

Inside is like Aladdin's cave !

Stock is everywhere.
Hanging from the ceiling, lining the walls

with only narrow passageways.

Around a corner ( and over a few piles of stuff !!!) is the corner devoted to quilting fabrics.

 Four people in there was quite a squash and we soon became very good friends !
In the way of shopping in tiny country towns we chatted away while trawling through the materials discussing what we were looking for, where we came from and holding up suggestions for eachother !

Back in the main shop.

 Do you need a handbag?
make up?
greeting cards?
toiletries?

men's hats ?
shorts?
shirts ?
socks?

undies?
shoes?

dresses?
blouses?
jackets?
coats?

beads?
buttons?
yarn?
threads?

A truly one stop shop for this little town !!

Cheers.

Look who's out of hospital !!!!

Thankfully Dad has bounced back with amazing resilience for an oldie.

I'll stay around for another week to make sure all is well as there are still some concerns

 and then hopefully I'll be able to go home.

Thank you all so much for your care and support.

It has been wonderful to know you are all thinking of us.

I'll take a look around and see if I can find something interesting to show you here before I go home ( and to help with my sanity amongst the forgetful, deaf oldies !!!)

Cheers.

ABSENT

I'll be taking a short (I hope !) leave of absence while I spend some time in Hervey Bay with my family dealing with the sudden serious illness of my 90 year old Dad.
He has never been in hospital before in all his 90 years so it is all a new experience for him to be ill.

He has some serious challenges ahead but is facing it all calmly and is receiving good care.
Here's hoping we have a good outcome.

I hope from time to time I will still be able to check on how you are all going my Blogland friends.

Cheers

MARCH IN BRISSY

  After a busy week a leisurely weekend beckoned.
By about 11:00 am we were ready to venture out and cloudy skies meant pleasant temperatures and a lovely breeze.
We headed down the river to the city for a stroll around the Sunday markets.



All was very quiet here as the markets were about to close but we wandered through, purchased a new tripod for Tony's camera and shared a very nice proscutto, pine nut and pumpkin pizza for a late lunch.( sorry no photo! )

Next we strolled towards the shopping part of the city.
I love the way our few old colonial buildings sit amongst the sparkling new high rise buildings of the city.

This building was built in 1889

It was built as offices for the Australian United Steam Navigation Company.
It certainly looked outstanding in those days situated near the wharves near the city centre.

(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #168436)

Now it is dwarfed by the highrise and occupied by the Brisbane Polo Club ( no connection with polo at all as far as I know but an exclusive club of sorts !!)

( photo from the Internet )

On one outside wall there are markers showing flood levels.

The higher one near the man's elbow is from 1974

 and the one high up on the building is from the great Flood in 1893 which was a flood of epic proportions.

I don't think our recent floods reached the Polo Club at all.

It is surrounded on all sides by sparkling new buildings reaching for the stars.

Further along the street we came upon a new initiative of our City Council - pushbikes for hire.
So far not very successful I'm afraid.

All through the city there is lots of greenery and all the streets are lined with trees which takes away that concrete jungle look and softens all those modern constructions.

Lots of people were out shopping in the heart of the city and like most cities this is where the tourists congregate.
An Aboriginal fellow was playing the didgeridoo and had quite a crowd listening and a couple of little girls enjoying the rhythm.
It is a unique sound which I love and I imagine not so easy to achieve but as women traditionally are barred from playing the didgeridoo I haven't given it a try.

As we walked up the Mall we came to another colonial gem, the old Treasury Building, which is now used as Brisbane's Casino (ironic ???).

Brisbane was first settled as a penal settlement around 1825 so these buildings are not old when you compare them to anything in the UK. You can see why we love all the old buildings and houses when we visit there. ( most of them are older than our city !!!)

By now we felt the need for a break  and we sat in a sidewalk cafe and dreamt we were in Paris !!

then crossed the river by way of the Victoria Street bridge to South Bank

where we found this little rainforest oasis.

 

This area was all under water in our floods last year

but this section of the garden has recovered well though some sections are still fenced off and all the restaurants here have been left abandoned and empty - a terrible shame but perhaps will be refurbished in time when money is available.

Can you see a couple of old buildings amongst the new ones across the river? (you may need to click on the photos to enlarge them)

 

Brissy is looking pretty good on this pleasant March day.

Cheers

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY

This morning I was required to rise early ( for me ) and deliver the car to the garage to be serviced.

I had to be there by 7:30 so that meant that I set off by 7:00am  without breakfast.

Not even a cup of tea!!!

Luckily, not far down the road is a very pleasant cafe where I sat among the foliage, shaded from the hot sun and had a leisurely breakfast while I waited for the car.

and as I sat there reading my magazine after my breakfast of eggs benedict I puzzled over what I would write about for Favourite Things Friday.

Then inspiration hit me !

One of my favourite things EVER is

breakfast !!!

I like to start the day with some fruit:

kiwifruit
strawberries
mango
pawpaw
 bananas
pineapple
pears
rock melon




followed by my absolute favourite
eggs



poached are my favourite
with bacon or ham
tomato
avocado




or perhaps cooked in a bread cup.

and finished off with a cup of tea.

So there you have my contribution for FTF today.

Pop over to Shay's blog to read more favourite things

or even join in !

Cheers.

ONLY A PEEK

Look what has arrived today.



Yes, it's the quilt!
Sally's quilt back from the quilting lady.

The backing is the colour of her bedroom walls.
It's one of those special backing materials that are wide enough so there are no joins.

Here's a little peek at the top.

I chose a swirly all over pattern for the quilting.

You can see it better when I don't use the flash even though it loses all the colour.

Tomorrow I'll be showing it off to my quilting group and there'll be a few hands to hold it up for a  proper photo so you'll have to wait till then to see the whole thing.

Cheers.