My mother is the same age as the Queen, and I took these photos of my wonderful parents, Mary and Trevor, on my mother's birthday, when we called in for a visit on our way to a birthday afternoon tea. For her 80th last year I made her a quilt. This year her special gift was a gorgeous little bundle called Alexanne - their first great-grandchild.
I decided to incorporate Australian wildflowers into the design - but after that my creative ideas dried up.
A couple of years ago, when I was going through an enthusiastic needleturn applique phase, I designed and made a "Rose of Sharon" medallion block, set it on point and surrounded it with a couple of borders - but after that my creative ideas dried up.
Do you see a trend emerging here? I'm such a good "starter", but not a great finisher!
As I was dithering about, Boak, the voice of reason, suggested that, since time was of the essence in the making of this quilt, perhaps I ought to use the already completed "Rose of Sharon" medallion as a starting point. I dismissed his helpful suggestion, preferring instead to let my fingers do the Googling whilst I researched Korean cultural sites for better ideas.
I should have listened in the first place for his suggestion turned out to be quite inspired - not that even he realised it at the time.
Did you know that the "Rose of Sharon", Mugunghwa, or hibiscus syriacus, is the national flower of South Korea?
Wow! I had found the starting point for my quilt, and it had been hanging on my design wall in front of my eyes all this time! My good friend Robbie kindly donated a handful of charm squares in Australian wildflower prints, I added several more, Gail spent a morning helping me pin it before I machine quilted it, and before you could say "Bob's your uncle" my Australian-Korean quilt came together.
I think Sunny's parents liked it - they were certainly excited when I gave it to them, and insisted on standing barefoot on the couch so I could take their photo with the quilt reaching to the floor.
For years, as I've sat on the nearby beach, I've watched the sea planes taking off and landing and imagined what a thrill it would be to hop aboard one of these little craft and fly north for lunch. A little like the idea of flying from London to Paris for lunch - but not quite as ritzy!
There were 5 passengers, so someone had to sit in the cockpit beside the pilot. Guess who volunteered for the job? Doesn't he look the part? The headphones were to muffle the noise of the engine which is very loud in the tiny cabin. Conversation is a challenge so sign language becomes the order of the day.
I had fresh admiration for my nephew Matthew (see earlier blog entry describing his wedding) who proposed to Michelle during one such flight over North Curl Curl Beach. No wonder her initial answer to his romantic proposal was to shout "What????"
The flight was spectacular. The day was one of those sparkling autumn days Sydney does so well and the harbour waters glistened as we took off. The plane flew low up the coast, and the sea was emerald - really!
In around 30 minutes we landed gracefully on Pittwater and taxied to the wharf where a car transported us to nearby Jonah's Restaurant, perched high on the cliffs at Whale Beach. You can just see the sea in the background of the photo above.
Such an exciting flight north, full of promise and picturesque delights, would be hard to top on the return trip, I imagined. However our pilot managed to have us gasping with delight as we circled Sydney Harbour several times, amazed by our bird's eye view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
We even flew close to our home! In the photo of Darling Point above, the red arrow points to it. If it weren't for the giant Port Jackson fig trees you'd be able to see it.
I have always maintained that you'll never, ever get me in a small plane, thank you very much. So why wasn't my heart in my mouth in this tiny craft? Call me senile and deluded (many do), but I told myself that since our little sea-plane had "water wings", and since we were flying over nice soft water and not hard ground, if we ran into any trouble we would gently land on the water and float. Of course I now realise this was nonsense - the sea would have made a mighty hard landing strip at high speed!
Wow, what a spectacular finale to the "Season of turning Sixty"!
"Spoiled!", I hear you mutter? He certainly was! So much for a "no fuss" birthday!
Janet and Ian
Donald and Liccy
Pamela, Di and Robyn
Growing older is inevitable...
...Growing up is optional!
When the Birthday Boy rose to give the notices at the 8am service he was interrupted by the full choir and pipe organ (joined by the congregation) launching into "Happy Birthday".
After a riotous dinner party with old friends the night before, hosted by Liccy, it was time for the family celebration at home.
Since Sunny's parents were visiting from Korea I decided pavlova birthday cakes would give them a little taste of Australiana.
"I don't want any fuss", the Birthday Boy instructed, as his 60th approached. But as the word went out, one by one small groups of our friends and family decided they would each do something to make it a special time for him. Nothing OTT, nothing spectacular, no speeches - just small happy gatherings to let him know how much we all love him.
