Christmas & January....

Well here we are at the end of January already! Where has the month gone? 
We close at work for 3 weeks over the Christmas / New Year holidays so a small holiday was on the agenda as I headed off to Sydney to spend Christmas with the family....mum, dad, 2 sisters and 1 brother-in-law.....(Megan & partner in England and Hayley & partner in Queensland were missed!) 

Christmas lunch preparations under way and I made a trifle large enough to feed an army! 

Over the following few days...... we spent a whole afternoon at Ikea..... tried taking a selfie.....I don't think my arms are long enough!!

Sister Vivien and brother-in-law found a great place for breakfast one morning......a waterfront cafe at Neutral Bay (in Sydney) called Thelma & Louise....

 It was a fairly hot day so a cooler spot was found inside as we enjoyed a relaxing breakfast and the view.....

It was time for retail therapy a few days later so, with both sisters in tow, we spent a day at Myers and finished off with a well deserved ice-cream on the way home......only a "selfie" of ice-creams this time!

During the week in Sydney the Estonian Arts Festival took place with various events spread over a few days  (art show, theatre performances, etc)...we opted to watch the folk dancing and choir performances as my sisters and I, when we were younger and all lived in Sydney and being of Estonian heritage, had taken part in folk dancing events.....

"Happy New Year"! 

New year's day had arrived and my sister, Linda, and I departed Sydney - I was now spending a week at her place on the mid-north coast.... weather even hotter than Sydney!! We filled in the week with some (very) early morning walks near her home.....

 .....catching up with "old" friends over lunch in Gladstone (near Kempsey)....

 .....enjoying lunch at a Miss Nellies Cafe in Kendall .......

.....another lunch out at an "old-world" cafe in Wauchope......

....and a good "old fashioned" hamburger down by the river!

When indoors (away from the heat!) books were read, board games came out and I learnt to make paper flowers! 

So another relaxing week came to an end and just past midnight (!!) I boarded the train to Sydney (where my car was still at mum & dad's place)......

Another few days in Sydney and a day out with mum & dad for lunch.....

Before I knew it 3 weeks had passed and it was time to come home and back to work! 

Mid-January our Botanical Gardens hosted "Shakespeare in the Park" and together with a friend we thoroughly enjoyed a performance of Midsummer Nights Dream performed by a Victorian Theatre company...

This time there is no creativity to show...... a bit of knitting when the evenings are cooler - which has been on the very rare occasion...am knitting a scarf for Megan in England where they have recently had a light dusting of snow.....

And that, my readers, once more brings me up to date...... I leave you with a photo of a small jug bought from a second-hand shop in England way back in September when I visited Megan...now a vase to hold flowers from the garden....

Happy Stitching 

Asta