St Anne

Sorrento..Its a beautiful coastal town on the cliffs of Italy..It was a 'must see city' as we wanted to see Pompeii last year.
Brid had been studying Cambridge Latin and reading about a family and there adventures using this series of books.
We saw Pompeii on a hot day. Well it seemed that it was as it is so exposed.
It was so fascinating and Brid took a mile of photos.
Dermot wanted to see Mt Vesuvius and I just wanted to see those spectacular views along the coast line...And oh those drivers....I think we lost our a heart beat quite a few times driving on those narrow roads. I mean narrow. We wouldn't drive down a road like them in Australia...but they didn't just drive, they sped..Those bikes, they were lethal and dangerous....I lost a heart beat every time on got tooo close.
Anyway, not far from our little hotel accomodation was a little fishing village. As we walked along the sea on the foreshore, we noticed a church and children playing outside. A priest casually talking to the kids and hanging out. A few ladies sitting on a bench as we wntered the Church.
It was called Santa Anna
Gorgeous little obscure church, not on the normal route, but just beautiful inside.
We spent quite a while before Our Lord in Thanksgiving of our holday and our safety and his provision..
I also prayed for one of my friends whose name is Anne...Adorable sweet women.

These are a few photos of this church..

St Anne and Our Lady

 

Roses

Roses would have to be my favourite flower. They remind me of my Grandmother and Our Lady..
We planted our first rose garden in our first home many years ago.
We visited the nursery and selected Roses, Camellias and Azaleas. All my favourites..
We had been watching a program on TV called 'Burkes Backyard'. He had a special segment on Roses and disease resistant Roses.
From this segment we wrote down the names of each Rose we liked, if it had a fragrance and if it was was disease resistant.
Before watvhing the program, I had in mind several I liked, but they wouldn't be the ones we would be planting in our gardens.

I thought you may like to know which ones we like to plant. so the names of these roses are :-

Reds- Mr Lincoln.

mr lincoln

Pink tone - double delight, Princess de Monaco.

princess de monaco 

double delight

Yellow / Apricot- Joey.






joey





We have added a few others since. Namely John Paul II- Beautifully white and Mother Daughter, is a lovely aroma and a pretty strong yellow.

At present we are in the process of building a rose garden- planning stage only.... We will be planting each of these roses shown above, as well as small border plants.
 At present all our rose are in pots, and doing beautifully...Many people suggest Roses are hard to look after.
We would only have a few tips.
1. prune lightly in February and a complete prune in June.
2. spray for thrip or blackspot as necessary.
3. cut the blooms to enjoy them in your home.
4. water arround the plant, not on them- reducing black spot...
5. Enjoy..
Hope you enjoyed viewing at our selection.


 What Plants are your favourite?









 

Queen...Our Lady

Late last year we were Blessed to be able to do a pilgrimage through some cities of Italy and France. We travelled to Lourdes in a hire car- that is another story, and had a wonderful experience. Every night there is a procession in honour of  Our Lady. These below are just a few shots of the procession.We stayed for 3 nights. We attended and walked the procession the first night and sat and participated  the other 2. Beautiful experience.

 

Patience

Have I ever told you how inpatient I am?
Well I am very inpatient..
It is a virtue I have had to learn...
I have a very patient husband who takes his time in doing things....
ME.. I want things done now....

When we were first married he would do everything at a snails pace...No he didn't it was me...I was just super quick, because that's how I am...Inpatient

Our first home was a renovators dream....and we had lots of projects. The basic ones of painting were most annoying.
The people who owned the home before us had used oil base paint over acrylic meaning it bubbled on all the woodwork...
Dermot just patiently stripped each door way down. I would come home, from a high pressure job in Delivery Suite and expect a lot  more to be achieved.
I was so inpatient, so ungrateful..He was trying his best and I was expecting something he couldn't deliver...
As a new hubbie and Dad he was learning everything all at once and I was expecting TOO much..
I have become a lot more patient over the years and appreciate all those little things he does, because they are always done with love patience and care..

I had a lot to learn about this virtue..Dermot was given to me to learn the ways of patience. With Patience comes peace, love joy, so many beautiful gifts...

So what a Blessing my dear Dermot is to me.....such a gift...

 

NBT Open WEEK...

At the end of each school term, our Ballet school has an open week. We are able to sit and watch our children’s ballet classes.

These are just a few photos of her open week.

Monday night class

Saturday open class

saturday open class

A look for Dad

Ready to close the combination


I thoroughly loved watching Brid and her class. There teachers are amazing...oh and did I say patienr and loving and kind and interested in each student........ 

Martigue....

.........A cute little finishing village about an hour from Avignon, France....
We drove to the sea so dermot could swim in the mediterranean.
Here is this cute little town...but no sand or beach for Dermot..

Its a fishing village..and this statue is in the main square

Brid took a great fancy to it...
 

dipping his toe in.....

Louise

Wow, Our first little sweetheart..
She is 25 now. How the time flies.
She was the cutest little baby.

When she was born she knew she was the centre of everyones attention.
There was only her. First Grandchild  for both our Parents.
She was completely doted on.
She would talk with her eyes.

She grew and her vocabulary was brilliant. Lake Macquarie at 18 months, I was impressed.
When Louise was born she was born with gastric reflux.
I would wear her feed every time she was fed. She would wear it too.
Apart from these difficult times when she was uncomfortable, she was quite an easy baby. I just needed to remember to have several changes of clothes if I was away from home.

Don't you just love looking back at photos..So cute, even covered in vegemite.

My koala

When Brid was little, We called her mummys little koala.
Why I hear you say, or maybe you know why!
Brid used to cling like a Koala when she hugged me.
She;d wrap her little legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. I wouldn't even need to hold her.
It was amusing.
It got me thinking ,.
She must have had absolute trust in me that she was safe.
Of course she was.
She would cling like this for ages. Brid loved to be carried and as she was the baby, this continued for a few years.
Thank goodness, she was light.

She loved what she called 3 people hugs. When Dermot Or I would hug each other,there would be this little person squeezing in to get into the middle and "up Up", she'd say for her hug, and her Koals hug.
Rather lovely memories
 

Jete'

 

 

Jete in French is to leap....

For a ballerina it is something they perfect and love doing.

Grand Jet'e are fun..

 

 

 

ITS nearly.........time

Its nearly School holidays....

Its been a long term...
What are you doing in the school holidays?
Brid is Guess what Dancing. Yes you are correct.
She has an open class with The Australian Ballet at the Opera House this Sunday lunch time. We are going to stay on in Sydney for the week after this.
We booked an apartment on the Northern Beaches.
Mum Dad and Louise are all staying for various lengths of time as well..
Should be a lot of fun...
We have friends we will be visiting.
You see its my birthday and Brids birthday next week. We wanted to go to somewhere different but close to home, so family can travel and stay overnight or a couple of days.
At the end of our week in Sydney, we have tickets for The Australian Ballets' Don Quixote. Brid is really looking forward to this.
We are looking forward to our relaxing week.. to sleep ins......Family Fun. ....Walks around the beaches......Coffee times in cafes..
We will visit a ballet shop or two but mostly just connect as a family.

 

Its a safe place

I began thinking about this post a few days ago...the letter H... ummm.
The one word that comes to my mind is

                 HOME

Others are humility, helpness, but every word I think of has the word home in it.
working at Home
Homebirth
Homeschooled
Home Mass

Why is home such a warm word for me. It my peace, its my private place, the real place where I can be me and my family can be just as they want to be. Warts and all.
Its where we learn, Its where we are safe, its where life begins.
I suppose this brings me to why our home is sacred.
We live in such a fallen world and there is a lot of destruction in the world. At home we as a family counter that. We are able to sooth each other and talk issues out.
There is a real sense of peace in our home. Even when tensions rise, its a nice cosy safe place to be.
Its where our Church begins.
Our Domestic Church.
Dermot & I have on many occasions opened our home  to church groups, to Lenten Groups, to talks from various Priests, to meals with Priests, marriage groups, to youth Groups, and Home Mass.
Its a beautiful think to do, to open our home to Community and live the lives of Jesus' disciples, by saying YES to his prompting.
I love the safeness of our home, and if it is violated I feel very uneasy and threatened. 
I like to keep the world out and allow us to be strength and growth for each other.

We have been Blessed enough to have birth 3 of our children at home. This is inself is special. Tiny babies born in our home, no bright lights, no busyness, just peace and working it out ourselves. Our children waking up to a new little life. Special times.
Our life is at home.
Dermot has always worked from home. Its his workplace. His safe place. He still goes into the world and shines his light at the workplaces of clients. He doesn't hide it under a bush.
None of us do, We are asked to be wirnesses to the world and its the safety and serenity of our home that gives us strength.

Tell me about your Home?

 

The Great game

My Dad and Dermot have a special little bomd. They both enjoy going to see the football team, The Knights..
They meet up at the Home stadium before the main game to watch the juniors and the reserve grade.
Its there thing, and I encourage it.
Dermot doesn't have any family here, so its kinda nice that my Dad and Dermot enjoy the Great game of rugby league together
When Dermot arrived in Australia, back in 1987 the Knights where just about to form there national team.
Dad asked Dermot, " What team will you support?"
The answer " I suppose I will support the local team".
So from then on .........
Dermot and Dad got memberships, jerseys and the like and sat together on the ground on in the grandstand to watch there team.
There was a wane in interest with my Dad after a few years, but Dermot would attend every game, some in the rain.
When the kids were little he would take them with him in there Knights gear to see the Game. It was an exciting day for all. They would sit on the hill and watch the game.
We even had a Footy tipping competition. That was fun. There was enough of us. Dermot would write out the draw on a sheet of paper and everyone would fill theres in and we would be given points for the teams we had marked down, that won each round. The Kids played for a book gift voucher. So every year we would hand out a winning book voucher to the winner of the comp...
A couple of years ago,  Dermot and Dad bought Grand stand season passes.
So now every game they get together at there seats and watch the beloved Knights play the opposing team My Dad takes a packed lunch, dinner  or afternoon tea for them both. Its a great way for them to spend a few hours.

Do you have a sport you follow. ?
      

Free to educate...

Recently, I was chatting a Mum.about educating our children.
She was telling me about school kids just studying for the Test.
This started me thinking, we have been free to Educate Brid just the way that suits us. No studying for just a test. We have educated her to learn and to enjoy learning.
What a concept.
The best example of this would be history. Brid has been formally and informally studying history since she could read.
We have used so many fun ways of learning history.
We haven't timelined either. She has put it all together with a little help from me. I tried timelining, it just wasn't for us.
At present Brid is reading US History using Seton Press. It has a chapter of reading and questions to answer. I didn't want to bog her down with lots of writing.  I asked her to write answers to 4 questions, not the 10 or so they suggested. If there is something of interest she reads it out to me and we discuss it and at times she will research it further.
Catechism is the same. She reads the chapter and with answers in my hand, we sit and discuss the questions. Its been a lot of fun,.
I know that this way of learning suits us well.
I have taken the pressure off and Brid has wonderful general knowledge. And afterall isn't that what we want.
Brid loves Ballet as you know and there isn't a day that goes by that she is either listening to, You Tubing a dance routine or choreographing a new 'variation' of a Ballet. She looks up various dancers, ballets and knows so much about them. Thats how you learn.
 F is for Freedom to educate Brid  as she desires, and as we know works for us..


.

E is for Easter.....

Ok, this one is Easy.

What did you get up to this Easter? How did you celebrate it?
Well we headed to Cataract Park in Appin to a Easter Youth Pilgrimage. Light to the Nations.
It follows the Triduum from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday.
There were around 800 people booked on the weekend. Pilgrims were accomodated in either tents, cabins dormitories or stayed overnight offsite.
It has been held at Galong near Yass for the last 16 or so years. This year was the first year at Appin.
So we packed our car and headed to first, our accomodation, unpacked and then to meet friends new and old at the venue.
It began to sprinkle.. I am sure pleased I kept the rain jackets in our car. I looked at the umbrella and decided against it. It was there if we needed it.
So we headed off to register and line up for dinner- a sausage sandwich. A lovely catch up with many friends and into the massive circus tent to begin the liturgy in three parts.
We met our 9 Priests, many brothers and religious sisters. Wow. It felt really special and I knew it was going to be a wonderful Blessed weekend.
The music was just beautiful, Fr Bonny had spent weeks preparing the liturgy. Wow. He is so Amaziing. Every detail. Everything youwould expect from any usual Holy Thursday in your local church.
Our journey had begun..........

So the Easter  Triduum had begun......
 

The dining table

Finally caught up.
today is D day.
I sat with brid and we mused over what I might blog about.
Dinners., the dining table..was the conclusion...
You might think, what a weird topic to blog about.
I assure you its not.
How our meal times change.
When we were first married we had a makeshift table. The table wobbled, so all drinks needs to go on the floor, or else risk having them spilt.
We got given my parents dining table at one point. It was stable and we were able to share many a meal using this table. When we built our home, we bought our first dining table. Its the one we still have and many memories have been collected around that table. If only it could talk.
When the children were little we would have our meals very early to accomodate them.
We sat with children on our knees, Breastfeeding babies at the table or holding babies was the norm.
I never thought we'd get rid of the high chair. at one point, we thought we'd need 2. At another point we almost needed a new one.
Meal times have always been very important part of the day for us. We would always gather to pray and eat as a fsmly. It would be our daily catch up. A time to share or discuss something important.
When visitors were eatung with us, they soon learnt pray first, then eat.
Meals with visitors can take hours, as we share a conversation. Children playing by our feet or in the next room.
dinner time is a family time. We used take the phone off the hook and we have always turned the TV off.
As our children grew up, our meal times and together time was 6.30 at the latest unless we had a child at sport.
As our family has gotten smaller we have kept to our routines and adapted where we needed to.
Now its changed yet again. We sometimes have our evening meal quite late. 8-8.30pm.
Wednesday is a sacred night, so we usually have something really special. A roast meal of some description.
The changes we have needed to make to our evening meal times, with Brids ballet have been just another change in the journey of family.
I suppose ther will be more changes to come, but we are savouring these moments together. We often get into lots of interesting conversations together. Friendly banter.
The Dinner table is really the heart of the home. Its where we break Bread and be serve as Jesus served. Its Eucharist, Its communion, Its family, Sacred and wrapped up into one

 

C is for ..cat

Another interesting one.
It could be anything really.
It could be for our Cat, Bailey and Our Rabbit Cinnamon.
Well how about both.
We have 2 lovely little furry friends.
Bailey our Cat and Cinnamon our Rabbit.
Bailey is 9. He sleeps lots of the day. He is adorable. He is a tabby. He was bought for our eldest daughter Louise. She decided to leave him here with us, when she moved out, as we were all attached to him anyway.
He gets pestered by naughty miner birds who seem to think they can squeal and try and pek him.
I get very defensive and will shoo them away. He is only sitting on the chairs asleep.
He is a very polite well trained Cat. When he was very young Louise trained him to sit for his food. He sits completely, tail down and puts his paw out to be shaken. He then eats his food. After he has eaten breakfast we let him out for the day.
He likes his little home in our laundry, but he hates the sound of the dryer-this is hardly used anymore,  and the washing machine. It did restrict when I could wash, but as he has a little seat in the family room next to the fire, he just lies there until the noises have stopped.
So you now know a lot about our little Bailey.
Did you know that when we moved to this house we kept him inside for a few weeks. We set up a bed, his litter and his food/water area in the laundry and he stayed there until he was comfortable enough to move and roam through the house.
He can be a little fragile- I say with my tongue firmly in cheek. whoosy. I would say.
When we moved here, he started loosing fur and shaking. I took him up to vet, to have him checked out. They suggested he stay in a small cosy room so he can readjust to his surroundings. Exactly what I had been doing.
I was being told, by other extended family members that it was cruel to keep him in the laundry.
I was doing the right thing all along.
We very slowly introduced him to the outside world.
I was very scared that he would run away as I had that experience from my childhood with my Cat.
So Bailey is now very well adjusted to our house and its surrounds. Everyday he does his "patrol of the Property".
I look back on photos of Bailey when he was tiny and think how adorable. He is now 9 and in cat years, thats 63.. He sleeps for 20 hours or more a day and is getting rather heavy. He isn't overfed, but older cats can put on weight easily.
In the past, when we would go away on holidays we have him boarded  in a kennel. He wasn't very happy when he came home and it took days to readjust. He wasn't a happy cat. Now we put him in our garage. It has a window, a ledge to sit on, and a screened backdoor. He has plenty of room to roam and sleep. A little lonely, but he is used to the surroundings, the smells, the noises. Our neighbour checks on him and feeds him. But once we are home, he follows us and talks to us for days. He won't leave our sides. He is particularly attached to Dermot.
There is so much to tell you about Bailey. One more little story, most cats won't go near water. We have a pool,  if I am sitting by the pool, and call him, he just squeezes himself under the pool gate and waddles over to me. He makes sure there is no water on the pavers and then will sit with me. So cute and adorable.
I have run out of room to tell you about Cinnamon. So thats for another post.

Brid and Bailey.

The pool was very close, he was very tentative- he is with Kieran

 



So Cute

 

A to Z Blogging....Busyness.....

Busyness....
Ok. Blogging has been a struggle of late. Its been really busy in our family life. Chaos would describe our week at times. This term has been trying a few ideas to juggle the busyness. Reason -Brid has increased her hours at the ballet school to 13 hours a week. So you may see its been a real struggle to fit in everything.
When we are home, its sacred time, so the computer and blogging take a backseat.
So how does this busyness look.
Monday- bookwork- English and Maths. Australian history based IEW. ready ourselves to be at for Ballet  1pm
Home late that evening with a 1and 1/2 hour break midway. Brid doesn't do any schoolwork at Ballet as her first classes finish as the other schooled kids arrive.
Tuesday & wednesday are scared. We go nowhere, except Mass & Youth group Tuesday evening.
Thursday - Brids school day off. Sleep in day
Friday - complete our assigned work, catechism and any reading subjects until 1pm.
Saturdays- Ballet from 9 til 4pm.
Sunday. Our Lords day.

So its pretty busy. So when I am not driving 45 mins each way, I am cooking our evening meal to have that evening or preparing the meal for the next day. Dermot usualy completes the meal once we are on our way home.
I have a scheduled housework list I tick once complete each day. Its been a Blessing. I am so pleased I started setting this up last year.
We have timetables and whiteboards to remind Dermot our comings and goings.
Internet access is limited while we are at the Ballet Studio, so blogging and such doesn't happen.

We are pretty happy doing this. Brid is 14 and this season of our life will change. So its do-able for a short term.
Schoolwork wise, we sat down at the beginning of the year and broke her assigned work  into manageable chunks. Brid has been able to do extra topics, like the Papal election and Conclave etc. I thought it maybe too much for her, but she has commented its not nearly as much to do as she thought it would be.
How do we fit pray in?
Brid gets up early, Dermot & I do the reading in the mornings after breakfast and Rosary ,novenas are at night when we are all here.

I am sure everyone has busy times and we handle the busyness the best way we can.
There is a lovely church nearby that has the Blessed Sacrament exposed 24 hours a day. Its a haven.

So This is B....