EASTER

Hi Everyone,
Easter is over and my family have have now gone home.

I had a fantastic Easter,started with phone call from Gary Good Friday "were are you Mum!" come and have fish and chips with us, so of course I went around and joined in the fun, had dinner and a couple of drinks,before heading back home to bed.
Saturday Joanne, Colin and family arrived, they weren't there long before the kids were in the pool having fun, after dinner we all went back to Donna's for a few drinks.
Then Sunday all back to my home were Colin cooked a BBQ lunch, and Joanne made the salads, . and Gary doing a repair job to my pond and water features, Monday all was back again for Rylies birthday, before saying there goodbyes and heading home.
Joanne , Colin,Timothy, Kara and Liam stayed till Tuesday as it was Timothy's birthday ,were Donna, Kayne, Rylie and Maddison come around for a birthday lunch before Joanne and Crew headed for home. A good time was had by all

Thank you all for a great weekend.

To End with a few photo's

Good Friday, Fish and chips under candlelight At Donna & Bretts

This is WHY! Power Black out from dusk to the wee hrs of the morning . All these vehicles are on Donna and Bretts front lawn. Due to a transformer blown on a power pole on the edge of Donna's property.

Gary, redoing my rockery as the stream had sprung a leak, and also getting all my water features working

Nearly finished

All working theres water tumbling down the rocks, also Dolphins spraying water above the gnomes head, a fountian low in the pond just in front of the frog,and a little puppy having a shower.

(The Ponds still clear Cazz)
BTW. All the water is recirculating from the fish pond .
Gary looking very pleased with the finished product. Thank You Gary

Monday was Rylies Birthday.(In White) So all come around to wish her a happy birthday, after pressies were opened, it was time for some icecream birthday cake for all before they started heading home..

Tuesday was Timothy's Birthday (In Green)

OOOppps nearly forgot about my 2 Moodle Granddogs (LOL)

Jack And Molly playing tug a war with a rope toy, These 2 found there way on to the foot of my bed everynight..

And of course a holiday at Nan's not complete without a dip in the pool

Joanne went to put the pool brolly up this is what greated her . Well this eight leggered beastie A Red back spider Didnt get a chance to get away, I grabbed the Camera sorry its a bit blurry but didnt want to get to close as its very poisonous..

HAPPY EASTER

Happy Easter TO All

Hi Everyone,
I would like to wish one and all a very Happy Easter.
I have had my2 beautiful Grandaughters Rylie and Maddison staying with me this week while their Parents Brett and Donna are away at a conference.
and of Course it was up early everyday to get their breakfast , make lunches , and take them to school, I felt know sooner had I taken them and it was time to go back and pick them up again . But I must admit I really enjoyed having them and spoiling them.
Well my Son Gary and Daughter inlaw Christine and their family, plus their good friends (2 couples) and there families are due up tonight for Easter, house sitting at Donna's ,and will call and see me for a little while, then take the girls home, No doubt I will see them everyday.
Then Saturday , My Daughter Joanne , Colin , And 3 children will be comming to stay with me untill Tuesday, Sunday everyone is comming for a few drinks, BBQ lunch so a lot of fun will be had by all, Maybe turn into a little bithday party as its Rylie's Bithday on Monday and Joanne' and Colins Son Timothy's birthday is Tuesday.

Donna and Brett are Due back Monday Afternoon.
*^*^*^*^*^*^

Rylie and Maddison Waiting for Breakfast

Rylie and Maddison just getting in my car to go to school

Rylie and Maddison Going through the school gates

UpDate: Gary ,Christine, Emilyand Nathan . Matt,Midge Jorga and Rylie , Marc and Kristy,have arrived , just relaxing with a drink before they head around to Donna's

round the table..Chris in white . Midge, Kristy, Marc. Gary. and Matt nearest camera

Maddison in pink. Nathan , Jorga, Rylie, Emily. and Rylie..

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

To End with a couple of quotes :

****
A faithful friend is a strong defense;

And he that hath found him hath found a treasure.Louisa May Alcott

A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell;

And very hard the task I find of governing it well. Louisa May Alcott

Beauty is whatever gives joy.Edna St. Vincent Millay

^*^*^*^*^*

Happy St Patrick's Day

A drunk gets on a bus and asks the conductor how long the trip is between Limerick to Cork. "About 2 hours," says the conductor."Okay," says the drunk "then how long is the trip between Cork to Limerick?" The irate conductor says to the drunk "It's still about 2 hours, man.Why'd ya think there'd be a difference?" "Well," says the drunk, "It's only a week between Christmas and New Year's, but it's a helluva long time between New Year's to Christmas!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE IRISH PROSTITUTE

An Irish daughter had not been home for over 5 years. Upon her return, her father cussed her. 'Where have ye been all this time? Why did ye not write to us, not even a line? Why didn't ye call? Can ye not understand what ye put yer old mum thru?The girl, crying, replied, 'Sniff, sniff....dad....I became a prostitute......'Ye what!!? Out of here, ye shameless harlot! Sinner! You're a disgrace to this family.''OK, dad-- as ye wish. I just came back to give mum this luxurious fur coat, title deed to a ten bedroom mansion plus a savings certificate for $5 millionFor me little brother, this gold Rolex and for ye daddy the sparkling new Mercedes limited edition convertible that's parked outside plus a membership to the country club....(takes a breath).... and an invitation for ye all to spend New Years Eve on board my new yacht in the Riviera, and....''Now what was it ye said ye had become?' says dad.Girl, crying again, 'Sniff, sniff....a prostitute dad! Sniff, sniff.''Oh! Be Jesus! Ye scared me half to death, girl! I thought ye said a Protestant. Come here and give yer old man a hug!'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dentist

A man and his wife walked into a dentist's office.The man said to the dentist, "Doctor, I'm in one hell of a big hurry! I have two buddies sitting out in my car waiting for us to go play golf. So forget about the anesthetic and just pull the tooth and be done with it.I don't have time to wait for the anesthetic to work!" The dentist thought to himself, "My goodness, this sure is a very brave man, asking me to pull his tooth without using anything to kill the pain". So the dentist asked him, "Which tooth is it, sir? " The man turned to his wife and said, "Open your mouth, Honey, and show the doctor which tooth hurts."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Five Englishmen in an Audi Quattro arrived at an Irish border checkpoint.Paddy, the officer, stops them and tells them: 'It is illegal to put 5 people in a Quattro, Quattro means four''Quattro is just the name of the automobile,' the Englishman retorts disbelievingly. 'Look at the papers, this car is designed to carry five persons.''You cannot pull that one on me,' replies Paddy 'Quattro means four. You have five people in your car and you are therefore breaking the law.'The Englishmen replies angrily, 'You idiot! Call your supervisor over I want to speak to someone with more intelligence!''Sorry,' responds Paddy, 'Murphy is busy with 2 guys in a Fiat Uno.'

~~~~~~~~~~

An Irishman was terribly overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.

'I want you to eat regularly for 2 days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for 2 weeks.

The next time I see you, you should have lost at least 5 pounds.

When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 60lbs! 'Why, that's amazing!' the doctor said, 'Did you follow my instructions?'

The Irishman nodded...'I'll tell you though, by jaesuz, I t'aut I were going to drop dead on dat 3rd day.'

'From the hunger, you mean?' asked the doctor. 'No, from the f**kin' skippin'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paddy and Mick were nailing up the side of a wooden house.Mick noticed that Paddy was examining the nails and throwing away every second and third.'What's wrong with the nails?' he asked.'Sure the heads are at the wrong end.''You are stupid you idiot, can't you see they are for the other side of the house!.

Retail Therapy !!!

Hi everyone,

Tuesday us ladies, Pauline, Donna, Cazz and myself (Jen), decided it was time for a little retail therapy. The winning destination was Albury due to the fact it has a large variety of shops to appease our womanly needs, but its 1.5hr drive and it was already 1.30pm, so we all hastily put on the lippy and off we went. Myers City Center Store, was stop one, were we wondered around, tried on clothes, splashed ourselves in the latest perfume, and purchased "intimate apparel". A few hours had passed, and the hunger pangs started to get the better of us, so off to the SS&A Club (Sailors, Service & Airmen) for a bistro meal, were we met up with Paulines daughter Lousie and her 2 children. Oh how the time flies when you have a brandy in hand and great company, before we knew it it was 7.30pm and we still hadn't finished our shopping, so off we go again. Cazz decided that I had to have a new chair at the computer, as my old one was very uncomfortable. Next stop Officeworks, and what a task that turned out to be, so many chairs, 3 women with different comfort needs, was a good laugh, and naturally my chair, my choice, and Cazzs muscle to assemble. We still had 1/2 remaining before close of business, so we hit Target until we were asked to leave.


We arrived home quite beat around 10.30pm, but satisfied with our day and purchases .. ewwww now to await the arrival of the credit card statement !!!!

Look out Myers, here come the big spenders. Donna,Pauline and Carol.

Carol paying for her purchases at the register


Carol, next morning, unloading the chair from my car

The Managers chair, as I am the manager and organiser of all things !!!

The new throne, after Carol put it all together .

The queen upon her throne, and I must say it is very comfortable.

The old and the new, no comparision, good call Cazz.

Cazz is heading home, back to Shepparton today, Wednesday, but what a busy and fun filled time we spent together. I'ts going to take me awhile to get back into normal sleeping patterns, as she is a bit of a night owl, but she left me with a fridge full of cooked meals YUMMMY .. Thank you Carol xxxoooxxx.

Taste of Rutherglen

Hi All,

Well Cazz is still here visiting, and this morning (Saturday), being a lovely bright sunny day suggested that we grab Pauline (my sister) and head off to Rutherglen to grab a few rather YUMMY award winning Parker Pies. Unbeknown to us at the time, it turned out to be the "The Taste of Rutherglen" weekend, so naturally after purchasing our pies, we then had to participate in the "walk-about". First off we have to purchase our "walk-about" wine glasses @$10ea which gave us access to all tastings at the 21 Vineyards participating. So sit back, grab a chardie (wine) and join us on tour. You can click on the links to read more info at each destination.

Cazz nominated herself to be the designated driver of "old drunks" or "seasoned wine connoisseurs", so here we go, buckle up, kick back and relax.

1st stop - Lake Moodemere Vineyard: Lake Moodemere Vineyards was established in 1886, is nestled on the banks of Lake Moodemere, Rutherglen. Sixth generation winemaker, Michael Chambers, produces wine entirely with grapes harvested from the Lake Moodemere Vineyards which have a history of producing grapes of the highest quality. We have utilised the very best selection of our friut to ensure our wines live up to this history.


The entrance to the tastings and sale office

Pauline and myself having our first taste of the day.

From our table above, this is the view that we had, a very picturesque, and tranquil setting on Lake Moodemere.

Our 2nd stop - Jones Winery & Vineyard : Is a unique Rutherglen experience. An integral part of the region's heritage, the winery was established in 1860, purchased by the Jones family in 1927 and has been continously operated by successive generations of Jones family since. The legacy extends to the vineyard where entire blocks of old vine have been preserved, making the winery one of only a few in Australia to produce wine from vines planted more than 100 years ago.

The entrance to the cellar door.

Ohhhh, look who Cazz found holding up the bar !!!!

This cellar had a very rustic feel and appearance. Look at the walls and ceilings.

We even have old tree trunks, holding up the ceilings above the bar.

3rd stop - Tanton & Killeen Wines: In 1855 Timothy Stanton abandoned his occupation as a mechanic in West Suffolk, England and brought his family to Australia in search of gold. In 1864 together with his son John Lewis Stanton, Timothy purchased land at Rutherglen in North East Victoria immediatley establishing a farm and vineyard. By 1875 the Stantons were well established as successful Rutherglen vignerons. Timothy's grandson John Richard Stanton continued to improve and expand the business and by the 1920's had established the magnificent "Park View" vineyard and winery.

The entrance to the cellar door and tasting and Stanton.

This time I caught Cazz and Pauline having a little tipple !!

4th stop: Campbells Winery: The Campbell family winemaking heritage began in 1870, when Scotsman, John Campbell vintaged his first wine from his " Bobbie Burns" vineyard. The venture prospered and by 1885 he had 15 hectares planted to vines.

A few of the barrels containing the next batch of award winning reds.

These barrels of Muscat are at the entrance to the tasting area.

5th and final stop of the day ... oh how time flys: Buller Winery : Our Calliope vineyard in Rutherglen was founded in 1921 and is today the site of our cellar door, head office and the home of family matriarch, Valerie Buller. A unique feature here is the bird wildlife refuge.

Ahhhh, Pauline and myself taking the weight off our feet, but still with our glasses in hand !!

Outside in the extensive grounds, hay bales, umbrella's, live music, food and more wine .. what more could you ask for to the ending of a perfect day

Pauline, rosie cheeked, with her purchase of the day, a flagon of Buller Torkay.

The Taste of Rutherglen is held over 2 days being Saturday and Sunday, live music, meals and or grazing platters ( a variety of dips, cheeses, breads, antipesto's) are available at most Wineries. There are bus services that run between the wineries and arrive/leave at 20min intervals and can be booked at our local tourism office. Next year we have decided thats the way to do it. It would be a great achievement to make all 21 Wineries.

Hope you all enjoyed your day with us, thanks for coming along

Jen, Pauline & Cazz

The Pond

Hi everyone,

Hope your all well where ever you maybe. I had an unexpected visit from my daughter "Cazz", who has come to spend a few days of R&R .. for those that are not acquainted with aussie lingo - rest and relaxation. Well I took a few snaps today of her first day of R&R ..

I started to clean up my little fish pond under the fernery, and was going to bucket out the water manually, as it had been over run by green aglae due to the extreme heat of the summer, but Cazz came to the rescue, pushed me aside and as she does, took over. So I took a few snaps of her hard at work.

First off she had to catch the goldfish, 6 in all, and it was no easy task, and a few giggles were had, the most memorable was when an 8 legged hairy beastie jumped out of the fern, landed on Cazz's arm, she remained calm, screamed and flicked it, which it then landed on my foot, I followed Cazz's lead, screamed and flicked it off my foot, and where do you suppose it landed, but in the bucket of fish, so Cazz then had to rescue the fish from the hairy little beastie, in the end we ended up with our 8 legged mate, stomped on and strampled under foot., but as the picture shows, all fish safe and relocated in a clean bucket of water.

After Cazz had manually bucketed out the green algae it was then a labourious task of scrubbing to removed the scum.

Cazz pressure washing the the pond to remove the excess build-up.

My friend, Ina came to visit, and like all good supervisors, we commanded the proceedings from afar, in a dry and warm place.

Cazz admiring the results of her hard work.

The fish finally back in their clean algae free habitate. Swim litttle fishies, swim, swim, swim.

MMMMMM... Cazz is wondering what is on the itinerary tomorrow !!!

Heaven

Hi all, tonight I am starting with a photo of my Tiger, a few people made mention of him a while ago when it showed up in the background of some photo's on earlier posts. I have had him a few years, he easy to control and doesn't eat much..

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Now on with a few jokes
A cat died and went to Heaven.
God met her at the gates and said, 'You have been a good cat all these years.
Anything you want is yours for the asking.'
The cat thought for a minute and then said, 'All my life I lived on a farm and slept on hard wooden floors.
I would like a real fluffy pillow to sleep on.'
God said, 'Say no more.' Instantly the cat had a huge fluffy pillow.
A few days later, six mice were killed in an accident and they all went to Heaven together.
God met the mice at the gates with the same offer that He made to the cat
The mice said, 'Well, we have had to run all of our lives: from cats, dogs, and even people with brooms!
If we could just have some little roller skates, we would not have to run again.'
God answered, 'It is done.' All the mice had beautiful little roller skates.
About a week later, God decided to check on the cat.
He found her sound asleep on her fluffy pillow.
God gently awakened the cat and asked, 'Is everything okay? How have you been doing? Are you happy?'
The cat replied, 'Oh, it is WONDERFUL. I have never been so happy in my life.
The pillow is so fluffy, and those little Meals on Wheels you have been sending over are delicious!'

We need a cute clean one every once in awhile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business.

He had several hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets', and ten roosters, whose job it was to fertilize the eggs.
The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced.

That took an awful lot of his time, so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters.

Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.

The farmer's favorite rooster was old Butch, a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! John went to investigate.

The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing.

The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover.

But to Farmer John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring.

He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one.

John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result...The judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making: who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.
the bells are not always audible..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,

Pecans in the Cemetery On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence.

One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.

"One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy.

Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle.

As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery.

He slowed down to investigate.

Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you one for me."

He just knew what it was.

He jumped back on his bike and rode off.

Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.

"Come here quick," said the boy,

"you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls!"

The man said, "Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk?" When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled to the cemetery.

Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me..."

The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' the truth.

Let's see if we can see the Lord.

" Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything.

The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the Fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord.

At last they heard, "One for you, one for me.

That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done." They say the old man made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the boy on the bike! .............

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A travel agent looked up from his desk to see an older lady and an older gentleman peering in the shop window at the posters showing the glamorous destinations around the world.

The agent had had a good week and the dejected couple looking in the window gave him a rare feeling of generosity.

He called them into his shop and said, I know that on your pension you could never hope to have a holiday, so I am sending you off to a fabulous resort at my expense, and I won't take no for an answer.

He took them inside and asked his secretary to write two flight tickets and book a room in a five star hotel.

hey, as can be expected, gladly accepted, and were on their way.

About a month later the little lady came in to his shop.

"And how did you like your holiday?" he asked eagerly."The flight was exciting and the room was lovely," she said. "I've come to thank you.

But, one thing puzzled me.

Who was that old guy I had to share the room with?"