Why didn’t I go? Because I had already been booked to teach at Beating Around the Bush long before [...]]]> What I didn’t tell you was that during the school holidays my family was not with me. They all went off to Ethiopia again, to visit the school we were at before, and to visit friends.

Why didn’t I go? Because I had already been booked to teach at Beating Around the Bush long before the trip to Ethiopia was planned. At first I had said that there was no way they were going if I couldn’t go, but then I realised that that was just selfish, so I said that I was ok with them going.

Of course, I really would have loved to have gone with them and I missed them terribly.

But they’re all back now, having had a wonderful time, and I am very pleased that they’re home!

The Perfect Bun was still perfect at bedtime this evening. I think she’s got buckley’s of it still being Perfect in the morning too, but she is ever hopeful…

But to the real results of the day…

1st place on Beam! It was a [...]]]> Just a little extra post to report on today’s gymnastics exploits.

The Perfect Bun was still perfect at bedtime this evening. I think she’s got buckley’s of it still being Perfect in the morning too, but she is ever hopeful…

But to the real results of the day…

1st place on Beam! It was a huge improvement on the trial, where Rainbow Girl came 10th against exactly the same cohort. I think all her hard work on improving during the three weeks between the two competitions definitely paid off!

For those who understand anything about these things, you might be as shocked as I was with her beam score: 15.4! I kept thinking they must have transposed the 4 and 5, and that at any minute a correction would be put up on the score board. But it didn’t so it must have been the right score! I believe it was the highest score on any apparatus, for her division, in this competition.

And instead of her goal of 9th place overall, she actually came 6th, meaning she got a medal for that too, as they award the first six places! We are still unsure of her placings for her other apparatus, but they mustn’t have been too bad to come sixth overall. We’ll probably find out on Monday, unless her coach has a list of rankings tomorrow at training.

Her coach was thrilled with her results. She said, “Rainbow Girl (well, she used her name, actually!), do you realise that means you came 1st in the whole state on beam?” Putting it like that, it does sound extremely impressive!

Rainbow Girl was over the moon with her results. We happened to be coming home past her school at about the time that school ended. We dropped in so that she could show off her “competition hair”, leotard, and The Medals to her friends and teachers at the end of the school day. It was very cute to see her looking so proud. Her teacher has requested that she brings back the medals on Monday for special “news”.

So as always, we are shocked by her amazing results. We are as pleased as punch, and very proud parents!

Thanks for indulging me with this very personal but excited post!

I’m not really sure what the point of it is. Are we supposed to celebrate it? If we are, I don’t know what or how we’re supposed to celebrate. By doing something womanly?

Anyway, if International Women’s Day is important to you, I hope you have a wonderful womanly day.

You will notice that early on in my career I had lots [...]]]> There’s a page on my website that many of you have probably never visited. Its a listing of all the different articles and projects I have had published in various needlework magazines over the years. For the website revision, I have updated it.

You will notice that early on in my career I had lots of projects published in magazines, but this has tapered off quite dramatically in recent years. This is mostly due to the fact that I am now putting more effort into *my* publishing exploits – my books!

However you will also notice that I have written more feature articles in recent years. I guess that’s just because I’ve had more to say! And I really do enjoy writing articles for magazines, because they can be on such a large range of subjects, even within the confines of a needlework magazine!

So please take a look at the listing, and you might just find you have a few more of my projects that you could do than you realised!

The last of our three window sets went in yesterday. [...]]]> I’ve only got about five more pages to go with the website re-do. And then there will be checking, checking, checking. I hope that tomorrow morning’s blog post will be a jubilant announcement that the new website is online. Don’t hold your breath though!

The last of our three window sets went in yesterday. Dad and I did it together. It was a very tight fit. Dad commented that my husband is rather a precision measurer! But we got it in, with a little bit of squeezing (along the lines of “how about we whack that support post a little way in that direction?” It did the trick!).

Now I just have heaps more painting of the windows to do. But with the weather event I’m not sure when that’s going to happen! They say the dam will spill tonight. Apparently the water level rose 3m yesterday and only has about 85cm left to go. We were only able to do the window yesterday because it was on the verandah, completely under cover.

So I’ll keep working away busily until it is done. We’re about [...]]]> I’ve been plugging away at revising the Vetty Creations website. All this is in aid of getting the Portuguese Whitework book up for pre-orders. Due to a number of reasons though, its not easy to put it up until the website is done.

So I’ll keep working away busily until it is done. We’re about to get a “severe weather event” here in Sydney over the next few days – so much rain that the massive dam that services Sydney, which got down to about 30% capacity during the recent drought, will likely overflow over the spillway. So I think inside will be the best place to be!

That’s not to say that we’ll be flooded because of the dam overflowing, just that there’s apparently going to be an awful lot of rain!

I passed on the offers to the wife, and she was thrilled that people would like to help them. I [...]]]> Thank you to those who yesterday suggested that they might be able to send some fabric/threads etc to the Pacific Island prisoners, to go with my books. Your enthusiasm for this project is really lovely.

I passed on the offers to the wife, and she was thrilled that people would like to help them. I plan to keep in contact with the couple, so hopefully we might even see some of the ladies’ work in time.

If there is anyone else who would like to assist, please let me know. I have permission to pass on their details to anyone who would like to assist with supplies. Just let me know if this is something you would like to do.

Thank you again for your generosity and kindness. It is really lovely to think that from so far away, we might be able to improve the lives of others.

From the organisation’s literature, I really appreciated these statements of what they believe (this is just an excerpt – there were more great points):

We believe that the current state of a person is no indicator as to their future.

We believe that the person sitting forgotten in the prison cell has the same worth as the person sitting in the palace.

We believe that in the prisons of —- are some truly great and awesome people.

We spent the day with friends, eating [...]]]> Yesterday here in Australia, it was Australia Day, and for that we get a public holiday. (Australia is often known to Australians as the land of the public holiday, however, having spent time in Ethiopia, I now believe that Ethiopia is the true holder of that title!)

We spent the day with friends, eating great food, enjoying lovely company, doing a jigsaw puzzle. It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon, and we enjoyed it greatly. Back to the grindstone today – more website.