ANZAC Day 25th April 2015

Birthday week continued.

The week has improved somewhat since I posted on Sunday.  My back improved dramatically, helped by Aldi's Shiatsu  machine, bought the week previously!  So I was able to give my talk at the Probus club on Monday.  It was only a few minutes, explaining how and when I started patchwork and quilting, and what led me into making quilts for charity.  Then I introduced Yaso who spoke for over an hour about her work in PNG, and the audience was enthralled.  I doubt if they'd had a speaker like that before, and they gathered around her afterwards to say how much they enjoyed her talk.

On Tuesday I drove over to Blackburn to collect my birthday present.  Ken was supposed to be with me as it is his gift to me, but he was having a bad day with his breathing, so I suggested that he stay in bed while I went over there on my own.  Just as well, because the artist who painted the picture for us invited me to stay for a cuppa, and we found so much to talk about I stayed there for about 2 hours!  Ken was grumpy when I got home, telling me he'd made three phone calls to friends because he had nobody to talk to...WTF!!!  He was asleep when I left - how did I know he'd wake up the minute I walked out the door?  Men...
This is the painting.  Marilyn is an 'amateur' artist who paints to relax.  I have only seen one or two other artists who can successfully paint glass (bottles, jars, etc) like this, and one of them is Hilary Jackman, whose work is in the National Gallery  (as well as in Eltham where she was born) and most of her paintings are priced into the thousands of dollars...  Marilyn was reluctant to sell this picture, so she painted it again for me so she could keep the first one!  We have to get it framed in due course, then find a spot for it to hang.

On my birthday (Wednesday), Ken had an appointment at the Austin hospital for his regular defibrillator check up in the morning, and after that we stopped in Eltham to do a bit of shopping, then came home to the sound of hammering and banging while our side fence was being rebuilt.   It had been there for 40 years, so it's done well, but was literally falling down, so our neighbours agreed with us that the whole thing should be replaced.  It was strange in the yard when the old fence had been pulled down.  The boys next door came out to play, and thought it was great to have this HUGE back yard for a few hours!

We went out to dinner that night with our friends Louise and Mark, as we have been doing for many years, as their wedding anniversary is on the same day as my birthday.  We went to a new restaurant (actually an old one under new management) and had a great night.  Nice food and lots of laughs.. Stupid me, I forgot to get the camera out until we'd finished the meal, hence the empty table!  Ken and I are on the left, for those readers who don't know what we look like ;-)

Birthday week.

We are having one of our side fences pulled down tomorrow, and a new one built.  I was moving stuff around on the patio to clear enough space for the workers to bring timber into the back yard, when I lifted something that was far too heavy for me, and...oh, my back....Ken came out and told me off for doing it without him, but he's had his own problems with the shingles, so I didn't ask for his help.  La la la....we are both getting old.  I've also got a stye on my right eyelid which is starting to disappear but is still irritating, and looks horrible.

I'm due to present a talk tomorrow (Monday) at Warrandyte Probus club, about how I got involved making quilts for charity.  Ken's cousin Yaso is also going to speak about how the quilts I have collected for her are distributed among the native PNG tribes for their babies.  Ken rang her tonight to advise her that I  may not be there tomorrow, if my back is still bad, as there is no way I could drive, let alone stand up and give a talk, the way I feel now!  I've taken two of Ken's super strength pain killers, and tomorrow I'll take two Voltaren tablets, so I'm hoping all those will ease the pain and allow me to get to the meeting, as I've been looking forward to it.

On Tuesday we are supposed to be collecting a painting that was commissioned by us last year.  I should be okay if Ken drives over there.  It is going to be my birthday present from him.  My birthday is the next day, and in the morning we will be at the Austin Hospital for Ken's quarterly defib. check.  If we are both feeling okay and the weather is nice, we might go somewhere for lunch.  We are going out to dinner with friends that night, so I'd better be feeling a whole lot better than I do now, otherwise I will be a bag of misery.

Well, now that I've done my whinge for the week, I got something achieved today before I stuffed my back.  I made three handmade cards for the DTE swap coming up later this month, so I'm all organised.  You can see them on my craft blog here.