Thursday, July 16, 2015

Mary

Mary, I too would like to send my condolences on the death of your husband in such tragic circumstances. So many car accidents should never happen, but to think he was taken by an embolism days later is even sadder. Many hugs to you, and I hope you find solace in your quilting and your friendships here.

I cannot recall if I mentioned 7 or 8 months ago that we were considering moving to the 'big smoke' to be closer to the grandchildren, especially when No. 4 had just arrived?  G. mentioned it and the town we wanted to move to, to a builder who was doing work on our back building, and a few days later the man was back, offering a house swap as he had a rental house in just that town. We looked, said yes, and then had to wait an extra 5 months than hoped for until the tenant's agreement ended.  So instead of moving late summer it has been a mid-winter move, and slow because of it. But we are in, and happy to have done it. The house and two garages are a mess of boxes, furniture, tools, machinery, etc but we know the amount of work that we've done already even though it may not look like it LOL  After spending yesterday driving 800 km on a round trip to our previous home to pick up the last bits and pieces, and all morning filling the trailer with cardboard boxes ready to take to the recycling place, we are having a much-earned rest for the remainder of the day.

In the meantime our three sons have had changes in their lives, hopefully for the better.  DS#1 (in Melbourne) has been attending interviews and been on the cusp of employment so many times since graduating with his Masters in Architecture last November, that we were beginning to worry for him. However, a chance talk to an old uni co-student led to a late evening phone call from her father one night, an interview the next morning, and invitation to start work with them the following day (today!).  We are waiting to hear how his first day went, and hoping it will be a good fit for both employer and employee. He and his partner, a lovely Persian girl who is also working in the same field, have just moved into a house and are eager for us to go and stay with them for the first time in the next month or so.

DS#2, father of 2 +2 (read that as you will vbg) was happily working in a fly-in, fly-out situation, paying off car and house and living comfortably enough with partner and chn, when the company was replaced by another one which kept the workers but offered them less pay in their new contracts. For D. this amounted to only 2/3 of his previous pay, so there were several anxious months before he was able to find another job for the same pay as before. This means the FIFO takes a whole day each way, as he is now working up north, on the other side of the country, but he thrives on challenges so..... Their house is just 11 km and 10 minutes' drive away from us, and we are enjoying the visits with the grandchildren which will expand to overnighters hopefully once we have the house organised in a safer manner.

DS#3, Shannon, is on the verge of finishing his PhD in Atmospheric Physics, also in Melbourne. A few months ago he decided he should start working on his interview skills, so sent some resumes and applications out. One university asked for an interview with him via Skype, set for late one evening as it was in the UK.  He did the interview, came home and worried all night about what he hadn't said, and woke to an email offering him the job!! So in October he moves to Reading University in England, where he will be doing post-doctorate research as a weather scientist, working with several other universities, the European and Japanese Space Agencies and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting. It all sounds fascinating, and we are very happy for him, but it's a loooong way to go and visit (one IS planned for the Northern Autumn next year). Thank goodness for emails and Skype!! (His American inlaws, however, will be happy that his wife will just be 'over the pond' after being so far away in their eyes for the past 6-7 years.)

And now I will leave this site and go back to the PDF file of a novel which I am slowly beta-reading for an established author. She's the second one I have volunteered to work for and I really enjoy the challenge. The first one even upgraded me to an 'alpha-reader' (whatever all that means LOL).

Hoping all those in the northern hemisphere are enjoying their summer, and that Bee and Marion in NZ aren't too cold right now, as I am LOL

Fran in Evanston Park, suburb of Gawler, just north of Adelaide, SA, late of Whyalla.



Sunday, July 12, 2015

MaryJo's quilts



The first pic is of the Summer Garden quilt.  When I finished the NY Beauty blocks, they were much brighter than I wanted.  Setting them with green calmed the quilt.  The second NYB quilt is a free form dahlia.  The third one is called Sherbet, love those colors.
MaryJo