February End

 The end of the second month 2017 already - Still warm here in Ballarat, and thankful for my airconditioner. Also thankful for only working 3 days a week this year.  I am loving it already.  3 days on then 4 days off - I actually get to breathe and am enjoying the quiet times.  I find that I don't put on radio or TV, just enjoy the peace.

 My Gladioli's are all coming out into brilliant bright flowers right outside my back door.  This photo doesn't tell the full story as they are quite magnificent.

 I am quitetly preparing for The Begonia Quilters Exhibition which will be on the long weekend in March.  I am putting sleeves on the back of quilts for hanging and going through my stash getting ready for the Recycle Your Stash stall.  I am hoping to get rid of a lot of my excess stuff.

In between loving my garden of course.  I have some more dahlia's coming out which I'm looking forward to.  I will definitely be planting more of those next year.

Abraham Darby is one of my favourite roses.  2 at my front door.

Goodbye Feb.

Something Finished at Last

 Here is the finished quilt front on.  A little bubble at the bottom, but I'm happy to have finished something, and have a fresh quilt hanging in my living space.

 I uncovered an old one that was waiting for quilting, so I just might do it too while I'm in the mood.



Sewing Room Attack

 I decided it was time . . .

 I went into the sewing room and looked around.  Then I looked around again and just didn't know where to start.  I made a huge mess on the floor, and then thought . . . what next!

 The only logical thing I could think of was - MAKE A QUILT -

So I set about cutting and piecing and quilting and a week later, it was hanging on the wall.  Satisfaction as a distraction.  Now I still have a mess in the sewing room and will need to face it, but I can always walk around the garden instead.

Happy Tuesday

Family

What is a Family?

When I think about family, it means all sorts of different things to me.  I left home at 18 and lived a long way away from my nuclear family.  Although I kept in constant contact with my mum and dad, who were a great support to me, I needed more than that.  I needed to find people close by who loved me and would be "on hand" so to speak when I needed them - up close and personal.

Initially I sought out Aunties and Uncles, cousins, and made special friends. These people were my family. When I ventured away from the halls of residence, where may I say, those people had become my family by then - I started meeting neighbours, people at work and building networks around me.  This practise has continued through my life and I have had some wonderful neighbours and friends which I consider part of my family still.

When I had young children, and my parents were still very far away, I needed more help - the kind a young mum needs. I would have loved my mum to be close by, but she wasn't.  I found a couple of lovely older women, who supported me as a mother would.  One of them had actually been a friend of my mother's when I had been a baby, so that friend was particularly special.  I considered them part of my family.

Having moved a few times over the years, I have strongly valued the importance of building a supportive network around me.  These people have not been part of my original nuclear family, but have been a very important part of my life.  When my children were young, I totally agreed that:

"It takes a village to raise a child"

Now my father is no longer with us and I am lucky enough to have my mother close by.  My 2 sisters don't see eye to eye, so what does that mean for my family? 

 

I met with my daughter yesterday for the first time in over a year.  We had a milkshake together and talked. Then she said that she no longer had a family and her life was going to be bad forever.

I did point out that she was well, healthy, lived independently, had a job, had a career underway at uni, had a boyfriend, had money in the bank, had a mum and a dad, 2 brothers, a Granny, a Nana and Opa, LOTS of Aunties and Uncles, cousins and friends.  From my side of the table, her life was looking pretty good.

Yes, our nuclear family has been broken - but it's still there and always will be. It just looks different from what I first imagined it to be.

Families come in all shapes and sizes - she's 19 and has very strong ideas of what is right and what is wrong.

When I asked her if I'd see her again . . . she said

". . . maybe . . ."

Parenting is hard!

I need help from the Village