Hello everyone - lots to catch up on!

Well the Tasmania trip is now just a memory, except that once I get my new computer sorted properly I can finish the blog posts about it.  I'd love it if you visited http://SandraFromSydney.blogspot.com.au and left a comment on some of the posts.  There've been some comments via emails but virtually nothing on the blog :( so I'm not sure what exactly people enjoy or what not to blog about when we travel.

After returning from Tasmania we had a few days in Sydney: enough time to visit my mother, have a problem with the water supply to the caravan fixed and pack for Grey Nomads Camp on the north coast of New South Wales.  We had a wonderful time there and enjoyed seeing three other couples with whom we camp each year.  One of them was the couple that travelled around Tassie with us.

Happy News
We had only been home from that a couple of days when I came down with a nasty tummy bug but the following week we had two new additions to our family in the form of 6-month old kittens who we called Max and Chloe.  They were the second litter to the ginger male and female cats next door and despite it not being good timing I just couldn't resist these two.

 Aren't they gorgeous?  Max is the ginger and Chloe is the tortoiseshell.  At first they were both very shy because they had been outside all the time and only handled a little bit when they were fed.  They were hardly socialized at all.  We are keeping them inside until they are used to us and we have them desexed, microchipped and vaccinated so the surroundings are totally strange to them.  They spent all their time hiding on the dining chairs behind the tablecloth.  But I made a point of patting them when I fed them and after two days Max became quite sociable and this became his favourite perch.  Chloe still wouldn't have any voluntary contact when these photos were taken.

Spoil my cats?  Me?  Never!  They just rule the house, that's all :)  We persevered and after a few weeks Chloe started to watch Max on our knee, as though wondering whether she was missing out.  She began rubbing up against our legs and asking to be petted, especially around the face and under the chin.  Finally about a week ago (ie after 5 weeks) she started tentatively putting one leg on our lap.  And eventually she became really game and now sits on our laps too.  In fact sometimes we have both of them on our lap at once and they wonder why they run out of room ;)

Sad News
In that week after getting over the tummy bug I was able to visit my mother a couple of times and promised to come back again on the Friday.  It was distressing to see how much she had deteriorated in the time we had been away.  But on the Friday I came down with a very sore throat so was banned again.  It quickly turned into bronchitis.  On Sunday 22nd June a week and a half later I was still quite ill with a very bad cough when we had a phone call from the Nursing Home to say that they were worried about Mum's condition.  I was getting ready to go when we had another call to say that she had passed away.

So the next week was very busy with funeral arrangements and preparation, clearing out Mum's room at the Nursing Home, designing and making the Order of Service booklets and the Guest Books, and all the things that have to be done.  My family and friends were wonderful and so helpful and supportive.  I still feel quite numb and detached from everyday happenings, and find it hard to be motivated to do anything.

Trying to do 'normal' things
I ran out of funeral-related things to do then I had had the computer tech fellow here to show me how to move my laptop info from Windows 7 to Windows 8 (grrrrr!) , and during the school holidays we had two of our grandsons here for a couple of days the first week then our oldest granddaughter here for a few days the second week.  We bought her a sewing machine and I taught her how to use it.  She chose a pattern for a tote bag and one for a dress, and fabrics for both and I showed her how to follow the pattern and sew them.  She was so excited and proud of her efforts and we were proud of her too.  I'd post the photos I took of the end results but they are on my phone and it has the sulks after Peter drove over it with the car - twice.  Ooops.

Then I was trying to get my studio more organized, thinking that it would keep me busy.  When I am stressed that's my way of coping - just keep busy.  However I found that I couldn't concentrate on what to do, couldn't decide where to put things, couldn't think.  So I dug out some miniatures and started on those.  I am not getting the same pleasure from doing them that I normally do, but they are keeping me busy and that's the main thing at the moment.  They demand that I keep my mind on them as well as keeping my hands busy and that helps.

I have put off doing the painting on the studio until the weather warms up again.  We have had temperatures down to -2 here in the mornings and the days at the moment are quite cool.  July is our coldest month and we are having a fair bit of wind which brings the chill factor into play.  Last winter I nearly froze doing the main painting on the studio and I don't want to do that again.  After having had the bronchitis I have felt cold all the time unless I am in bed and the cough just doesn't want to go so I'm not going to work out in the wind.  But hopefully I will soon have some mini progress to show you.