Rae's Resort

Well, what a way to spend a weekend! Sun, surf, family and wine, wine, wine - what more could a woman want? Ken's sister, Lynn, and her partner, Eddie, picked us up on Friday afternoon and we drove to their sister Rae's home at Bribie Island. The five of us seem to get along so well, and I am constantly reminded how lucky I am to have been accepted into this family.

Rae's home is so pleasant and relaxing. There are chooks (chickens) in the backyard "Chook Mahal" that Eddie built. And her giant dog, Missy is always entertaining. A table on the patio overlooking the pool was a great spot for afternoon drinks and snacks before dinner. And an evening dip was very refreshing for us girls.

Saturday was a full day of eating (at least 4 times!), swimming in the surf, and much conversation and laughter. Rae, Eddie and I went into the surf and there were some pretty big waves for this Indiana girl! One knocked Rae off her feet and there she lay under the water for a little while. I was terrified! But when I finally saw her face and realized those were tears of laughter, I loosened up a bit. It took us a while to get her back on her feet with both of us laughing, but jeez what a fun time! We also got my favorite picture of Ken and me ever. Thanks Eddie for taking it!

Here is a picture of Ken and his three women on the beach.

And one of Rae, Lynn and Eddie.

Bribie Island is a lovely little place, only an hour away from our house. What a beautiful part of the world I live in! Notice the Glass House Mountains in the distance?

I introduced the gang to "real" Mexican food the Indiana way on Saturday night. Fresh corn tortillas with Mom's taco recipe, fresh salsa and bean and corn salad. It was yummy and I think they really liked it. Or at least they were hungry and ate a lot! There is such a difference between the homemade corn tortillas and the ones we used to buy at the store in Indiana. It makes me so happy to make them too!

Mom sent me a package of Christmas goodies and I'm so glad I received it right before we left on Friday. My new green purse is just the best ever and got me many compliments! I've already finished one of the books she sent and will get started on another tonight. Thanks Mom!

Well, I need to do something productive today. Probably just knit but at least that's producing something! Even if it is a teacozy for myself!

Love,

Court

Merry Christmas Mom! (finally)

After working my short little fingers to the bone for almost 3 months, I finally finished Mom's Christmas present and got it in the mail. Next year, I'll have to start before November! The pattern came from Mary Jane's Farm magazine and Mom gave it to me while I was in Indiana in October. I couldn't wait to get back home and buy the yarn and get started. Since Mom isn't really a fan of a lot of wool, I went with a smoky blue acrylic that is soft and cuddly. Here's a picture of me wearing the sweater shawl:

It's a terrible picture of me, but hopefully it'll give you an idea about the shawl. It feels very warm and cozy, thank goodness Indiana still has so much winter left so she can use it. (Those of you in Southern Indiana may not appreciate that as much as I do.)

I've gotten a good start on my next project - a little red tea cozy. This will be the first thing except for dishcloths that I've ever knitted for myself, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product! It's also the first pattern I've ever used that was fairly complicated. "Real" knitters will probably laugh if they saw what I think is complicated! But I'm definitely a beginner, so anything beyond knit every row or purl every row seems complicated to me. After my tea cozy is finished I'll be starting another project to send back to Indiana, hope it'll be done before it gets too warm also!

I can't feel too guilty about just getting out Mom's Xmas present, because it's definitely something that runs in the family. My box of goodies for Xmas from Mom still hasn't arrived at my door, even though I anxiously await. I have no idea what is in this box, but it'll be so wonderful to get mail from Indiana. It's been a really hard couple of weeks here in the city for me. Ken has been sick with a chest cold, and I'm just a bit witchy (or is that a witty bitch?).

Reading Stori's blog is always wonderful, but it just makes me miss her so much! I end up crying every day there's a new post. We are both experiencing these HUGE life changes and for the first time, we're experiencing them apart. That is so hard to deal with sometimes. We are lucky in that we know nothing will ever change our relationship, not even being on different sides of the world, but it is hard. Seems impossible that I haven't even met Chad and Ian yet! And she only met Ken once, years ago.

In other news, our "farm" is going well. The lettuce is just not thriving in this heat, I'm going to try again later in the 'fall'. But the tomatoes and bell peppers and herbs are thriving! We have two baby tomatoes that just double in size every day. I go out in the evening and water them and have a little pep talk with them. Ken calls me the crazy Indian woman, but it's relaxing for me, and can't do them any harm. Our capsicum (or bell pepper) is full of babies and a couple that are getting the right size. It's an heirloom plant that is miniature and yellow. So they are just tiny little things, but will be so sweet! As you can see in the picture below, one is orange and we watch every day for it to turn just a bit more yellow so we can eat it!

Bella is in school now every day, but we pick her up once a week or so to help out. She really enjoys school and looks so adorable in her little uniform! The highlight of her visits (for me at least) is taking her out and watering the garden. She is such a good helper, and loves to sneak bites of the basil. Thursday we went out after she changed from her uniform, but she had to get an apron from the cupboard to put on over her clothes. It reminded me so much of a picture Mom has of Mackenzie and Shayla in her front garden wearing old aprons. We've come full circle in a way, haven't we Mom? The funniest thing is that it's probably the same apron! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of her, but I'm sure I will another day. She loves wearing the aprons and has already put in an order for what her baby sister will want. We don't know what Aaron and Julie's new baby will be, but there will be an apron waiting. And hopefully, some knitted goodies too.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm going to enjoy the rest of the day with my knitting. Or at least until Ken comes home from the boat. Hopefully with good news! Here are a couple of photos I took earlier this week on my walk to Spotlight:

And one from earlier this morning out my bedroom window:

Love,

Courtney