THURSDAY TO FRIDAY ...... in Horsham, Victoria. FRIDAY TO SUNDAY .... move on to Ballarat.

Beautiful boy engrossed in the TV
(my nephew, my brother's son)

This weekend I went away on a 'sibling 

retreat' of sorts.   I started out in Adelaide,

ended up in Horsham overnight on the way 
through to Ballarat and then on to Melbourne. 
In Horsham I spent the night with my brother 
and his wife and their family of two beautiful 
little angels.

Beautiful angel taking care of the drinks........
(my niece, my brother's daughter)

They certainly keep my sister-in-law on her
toes.  They are two busy little bees, constantly
on the go.

Jessie ..... 
(My brother and his families horse)
Jessie is a beautiful brood mare.  She is just beautiful 
and the two little ones above love her.  Both of
them love getting on the horse with their dad and
going for a ride.  It's amazing how unafraid they are.

Jessie ......
(Jessie has a friend now ..... my brother just brought a 6 month old minature pony ... it's so tiny and beautiful...... her name is Candie and she is a pinto colour and my nephew is taller than her).

Beautiful roses in the garden
(in the garden at Ripon Cottage)

                                                                             

Ripon Cottage, Ballarat

The name says it all 

Ripon Cottage, Ballarat, Victoria.

On Friday, my brother and I left Horsham and headed off to Ballarat in Victoria.  We stayed in Ripon cottage with my other brother and my twin sister and younger sister.

Two years ago we caught up for a sibling weekend and had an awesome time.  We stayed in Halls Gap that time (read more about that here).  This time however we decided to stay somewhere different and went to Ballarat in Victoria.  The cottage we stayed in was lovely and was perfect for our needs.  If you had children it would be a lovely place to stay as down in the back garden they had  a coop with chickens in it and one of the hens had some baby chicks.  Read more about Ripon Cottage here.

After this weekend we all agreed that we need to do this every year.  My younger sister had a stroke last year at the age of 51 and it was so good to see her and see how well she is getting on.  She was very lucky to have had her husband there when she had her stroke ..... he called an ambulance straight away .... and thanks to a new treatment that people that have a stroke can be given, the affects of her stroke are minimal.  So it was a blessing to have her with us this weekend.


Stay tuned for the next instalment of the weekend away which involves my twin sister and I heading off to Melbourne for 2 nights .... more photos to follow.

Pretty

Ripon Cottage

Beautiful

Glorious

NOVEMBER .... SO LONG AGO !!

November .... so long ago .... we are in March now and boy of boy how the time is flying. I know it's been a long time since I blogged. Have done so much and been so busy in that time.

My youngest daughter .... Miss A, has now finished Year 12. Don't know what the year ahead holds for her ... but I'm sure there will be many challenges ahead. For those of you who don't know Miss A has Asperger Syndrome and so much of life is a continual challenge. She is getting help to find a job and I hope for her sake that this will be happening soon. I think being at home all the time, doing nothing, is becoming rather boring. Let me say that despite all the challenges over the years of schooling, I am very proud of her for the achievement of actually completing all her schooling ....... The only one of my children to do so !!!!! Good for her.

Christmas has been and gone and so has New Years, and so has our National Day - Australia Day ..... I've been away on a bonding weekend with my brother's and sister's in Halls Gap, Victoria, and our exchange student who was here from Illinois, USA 29 years ago, and came back to see us again after all these years .... it was wonderful to see her. We had the best time and we are hoping to have a weekend like this away every year .... minus the exchange student who probably won't be able to make it every year. I have been to Tasmania and spent time with my twin sister and my mum, albeit a very short amount of time ...... but I had a great time and loved it.

I will blog more about my time away, with photos, in the near future. Just have to make time to do it.

I've done some reading, although I'm a bit slow on the reading these days. I like to read in bed before I go to sleep, but often I'm so tired at the end of the day, that after just a small amount of reading I'm off to the land of NOD.

Oh and I haven't been keeping up with my one photo a day for a year .... not sure whether to start again or just continue on from where I left off???? Would that be cheating or just making allowances for having a very busy time.

1959....JUST ANOTHER YEAR TO SOME!!

1959...just another year to some......significant to others!! Whats important about that you might say.....

In 1959 in Australia....

Robert Menzies was Prime Minister



Henry Bolte was Premier of Victoria

Sir Dallas Brooks was the Govenor of Victoria

The film "On The Beach" starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardener was being filmed in Melbourne

Six O'Clock Rock compared by Johnny O'Keefe screened on the ABC

Melbourne defeated Essendon... score 115 to 78 in the VFL Grand Final

(This was before the AFL folks.)

McDougal won the Melbourne Cup

Jack Brabham won the Formula One Drivers Championship

Solo took Line Honours in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

On January 29th Walt Disney released "Sleeping Beauty"

February 3rd Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash in Iowa, U.S.A. - This event was responsible for the coining of the song "The Day the Music Died".

March 9th The Barbie Doll debuted ... 300,000 Barbies were sold in 1959!!

On May 24th British Empire Day was renamed COMMONWEALTH DAY

August 14th Explorer 6 sent the first picture of earth from space ...albeit a blurry picture

And here's one for the ladies......Panty Hose were introduced!!

The Vietnam war began and continued into the seventies - (Who knew someone that was conscripted)

1959 Academy Awards



Best Picture - Gigi
Best Actor - David Niven (Separate Tables)
Best Actress - Susan Hayward (I want to Live)
Best Director - Vincente Minelli (Gigi)

1959 was the year of the Inaugural Grammy Awards

Song of the year

"Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu" or in laymans terms "Volare"

by Domenico Modugno

Aussies that died...

Oct 14 - Errol Flynn ... Hollywood Movie Star

Aug 8 - Albert Namatjira .. Aboriginal Artist

Aussie's Born...

Jan 31 - Anthony LaPaglia..... Actor

Feb 12 - Sigrid Thornton ... Actress

Feb 24 - Mike Whitney ... Cricketer

Oct 11 - Wayne Gardner ... Motor Cycle and Touring Car Racer

Dec 1 - Wally Lewis ... Rugby League player and media personality

and......

My twin sister and I were born

March 11th 1959 to be exact, at the Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. We are identical twins......and were born 50 years ago this coming Wednesday.

We were the first of our parent's children. My mother didn't find out that she was pregnant until she was 4 months pregnant and then she only found out that she was having twins 8 months into her pregnancy. My mum and dad had been trying for about 3 years to have children with no luck, so it was a pretty big surprise to find out that not only was she pregnant, but that she was actually expecting twins. The way that she found out she was having twins was when she went to see her doctor at the hospital clinic and the midwife was examining mums tummy and said to the doctor....I think you should come and feel this, doctor (meaning her tummy): I think I can feel 2 heads. Yikes, my mum must have been pretty scared at that point, actually it initially entered her head that she might be having a two headed baby. Back in those days it was all confirmed with an X-Ray......not something they would even think about in this day and age.

Mum tells me the story of our birth........how my sister, who is the older twin was born 7 mins after she arrived at the hospital in an ambulance....and I, well I was born about 34 mins later, with a breech presentation. Although we were full term we were small for dates and weighed 4lb 1/4 oz and 4lb 5oz respectively. Due to our size we were put into humicribs and remained at the hospital for 6 weeks after we were born. Mum didn't get to see us for 3 days after we were born and only after a nurse found her crying and after asking my mother, found out that she had not seen us, had not even held us. That was rectified very quickly. Certainly that would not happen today. My how things have changed.

I feel that I have been so blessed to have a twin sister. We have always been close and I can't imagine my life without her. She is the most special person in my life. The bond of twins is not one that is easy to explain to others, unless of course you are a twin. We talk on the phone all the time and tell each other pretty much everything. I think my bond with my twin sister is closer even than the bond that I share with my mother.....in fact I know that it is.

A friend once said to me that she thought that twins must have been very special friends that were friends before they came to this earth and they just couldn't bear to be parted so Heavenly Father said "Okay you two can go to earth together".

So this Wednesday we will spend our 50th birthday together........50 years on this earth, 50 years in this life. 50 years that I am eternally grateful for. We came into this world together and we get to spend the day together that celebrates 50 years on this earth. Thank you my sister for the wonderful friend and sister that you have been to me.....and for being the person that you are. I will always treasure the special bond that we share.