~A Carer's Gathering......Kiama~

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Carer Gathering last week at The Sebel Town House in beautiful Kiama

Lucky for me that afternoon there was a Farmer's Market just down the road from where we were staying

Entrance to the market

and coming out of it.  There were 3 Buskers in attendance so that was pretty good!!!

Alternate menu for the evening for dinner

Being Gluten Free I had Fish without the Batter

Dessert was pretty good!!!

Salted Caramel  Creme Brûlée with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Very yummy but couldn't really taste the Caramel

I'm not a Painter but the next day elected to try Painting with Music

We had to choose 4 paint colours

My choices were (from left) teal, a sandstone colour, we had to choose white and a deep purple

and tada.......my pasterpiece lol

I haven't touched paint since High School in First Year so this was pretty cool

Being right handed my left hand was busting to have a go so I let it!!!

Lots of 'scraping' and 'flicking' happening

Then we did some drawings/sketchings to music

I used an organic charcoal.......never held a piece of charcoal before so this was a new experience for me

The 3rd square's song was Red, Red Wine

and the fourth one was Brown Eyed Girl

The 5th one was a pattern I did in 4th class at school but I just couldn't do straight lines!!!

I tried a music class also

and got to play these wooden blocks and a steady beat to the drum

A little bit of organ guided by pink papers lol

Electronic drums

Even a Base Guitar......a, d, e

That evening was a Mad Hatter's Ball and I wore a velvet hat brought back from Venice by DS together with a velvet silk dyed coat

Table decorations were awesome

A quick photo with Sean at the back and another lady

Goat's Cheese Panna Cotta......yummy

The dinner here

This was funded by The Shaw Building Group, Canberra
and hosted by Carers ACT (Australian Capital Territory)

Thank You so much everyone there

We all had a fabulous time!!!
You Guys Rock!!!

The next day Mr Armchair picked me up and we met at Kangaroo Valley

We had a bit of lunch

Mr Armchair had a Salmon/Salad Sandwich

Portobello Mushrooms for me

And who would've thought

A bowl of Tomatoes towards the end of May

Unheard of in our part of the World!!!

A lovely little get-away for me with Mr Armchair taking over Caring Duties

And the best part.......I got to sleep all night as JoJo has taken to waking during the evening!!!!

Till next time, Dzintra xo

A Carer's Break Away!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to participate with other Carers a trip to the 

Snowy Mountains of New South Wales 

A pic of sunset at arrival

DS trying out a tandem bicycle he has purchased to take JoJo for rides with Mr Armchair assisting

The welcoming fireside at our venue Rydges Snowy Mountains

A cushion I purchased........as if I need a new cushion but this was TOO hard to resist

the back

The Sun coming up over my view at Lake Jindabyne

On the last evening there was a Masquerade Ball and I wore an authentic mask and cape purchased in Venice by DS

The Menu for Dinner but of course I had the gluten free version

A most interesting dessert

One of the beautiful prints on display

The next morning we were in for a treat

I knew we were going to Thredbo but I didn't know this included going on the chair lift

A W E S O M E

Going up

On the way up some parked machinery

A quick selfie......and I was loving the cold

whoever thought I would miss it lol

1 deg celsius up top

Up the top

and coming back down

Thank You Carers ACT

I had the best time

Now back to the business of caring and working out this new NDIS scheme

(National Disability Insurance Scheme)

Carerfest 2010...Narooma

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Carerfest at Narooma...

Carerfest is an annual event organized by the Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centre to give Carers an opportunity to access, for example...education, information, networking...workshops etc

Part of morning tea organized...

and mine...a gluten free biscuit...these had to be put aside for the people who had to have gluten free as most people wanted these chocolate biscuits LOL!!!

This Carerfest was organized with different alternate therapy workshops in mind...
and giving Carers a break from the day to day job of caring...with respite organized as well...
One of the workshops I attended was Belly Dancing...
here is Melanie doing her stuff!!!
This was great fun...and not as easy as it looks!!!

Other therapies organized were Bowen Therapy...Crystal Healing...Massage (giving and receiving)...
all so very relaxing and certainly took our minds off the day to day routine...

During breaks I was able to slip away to a little patchwork shop just doors up from the Carerfest...


And made a few purchases (of course)...
some Beatrix Potter fabric...

a pattern...

some threads and some Christmas ribbon for JoJo!!!

And of course something for the kitchen...some potholders!!!

Also I was able to grab a coffee...

and sat in this little corner...

and tried some Wagonga Coffee from Montague Coffee Roasters...and this Honey and Coconut Gluten Free loaf...delicious!!!

We were all supplied with a pedometer to see who recorded the most steps...and also the least steps taken...

Narooma has a couple of steep hills and I walked up and down them and of course my pedometer kept falling off and resetting itself...

And my total pedometer steps taken...34!!!
And I scored this prize...a gorgeous mug and Toblerone chocolate...

who says you have to do a lot of steps LOL!!!

The Government recently introduced the Carer Recognition Bill 2010. This marks a significant milestone for Carers across Australia. The Bill is part of a broader Carer Recognition Framework, already committed to by the Federal Government. To read more on this Bill go over here

All in all a wonderful relaxing 2 days away...meeting other Carers...trying Therapies I haven't tried before...

Thank you so much to Ros and the team at the Respite Centre for organizing this...and hopefully I will be able to attend again next year...funding permitting...

And now...when's my next massage due, wouldn't mind some of that Crystal Therapy also (as if ha ha!!!)