Dawn Service

ANZAC Day. A dawn service by the beach. Bacon and egg burgers at Mum's house after.

The rest of the day has been spent in my kitchen cooking up a storm and surrounded by dirty dishes, now I'm off to my mum's restaurant to cook up a storm and be surrounded by dirty dishes! 

I hope you have had a good day and had a chance to make some ANZAC biscuits too!

"Lest We Forget"

What we have been up too

Well it seems that things are finally sorted out here with our computer. Fingers crossed.

Hooray!

So what have we been doing with ourselves over the last month, you ask?

• The camellias have bloomed in the garden, making me catch my breath every morning when I open the curtains.

• We received free tickets to a magic show. It was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Afterwards we sat in the sun in the almost deserted main street, eating old fashioned ice-creams - a magnum, a drumstick and a have-a-heart. We don't do that much.

• I have cleaned, culled and tidied 16 cupboards and drawers, but can you believe it? There is still more to do!

• We have had 4 dentist visits and 7 doctors visits... and guess what? There will be more of that too.

• I have made my own laundry detergent. I've had the ingredients in the cupboard... waiting... for nearly 6 months. I love it. I am converted for so many reasons.

• Instead of calling my daughter by her name, I have started calling her 'my memory'. For example:

"Where's my memory? Oh there you are. What was the name of that person/show/place.....? who was that person who said/did/went...?"

She remembers everything, while I am either rather sleep deprived or showing my age, or both.

• This brings me to bedtime. I haven't been to bed before midnight in over a month. I am not a late night person and our household wakes with the sun regardless of what time I went to bed. I am trying to shift this disagreeable sleep pattern. It does not make for a very happy or productive Mummy.

• Because of the said waking hours I have been drinking lots (lots) of homemade cappuccinos. I usually only drink coffee at home on a Sunday morning. The rest of the time I can be found drinking way too many cups of tea. But cappuccinos have been getting me through lately, sprinkled with cinnamon instead of cocoa, the way my Mum and I drank them in Turkey almost 20 years ago.

• I have washed and repacked all of my children's saved baby clothes. It was a nice trip down memory lane.

• The children marched with their school on ANZAC day. We almost passed out with heat stroke and ate way too many ANZAC bikkies.

• Our printer broke down, the vacuum cleaner died and the toaster caught on fire (just a tiny spark - don't worry)

• We have had 4 visits from the tooth fairy.

• I have halved the contents of my wardrobe and I know I can half it again. It's all about mindset. It feels good.

• I have been spending way to much time on Pinterest. I keep telling myself that it is just another way of organising my life. And it is. Instead of things filling up computer space or having piles of paper and lists laying around, I have been pinning things instead. But it is true, that every now and again, I go off on a little tangent. It is a fun place to be.

• The kids ran their cross country.

• I have completely lost count of how many boxes I have taken to the op shop, or brought home from the op shop! I think it's pretty much an even swap so far. I'm not sure if that is what you would call good de-cluttering, or not. Out with the old and in with the new, that's what I say.

• I have finally found an inner strength at the library. Right now I have only 3 books out from the library. Yes! 3! And 3 dvd's. The norm is to have maxed my library card with 30 books, dvd's, cd's, children's books and magazines. And then, if there is no more room on my card I use the kids cards - always. Usually, nothing gets read. At best I might flick through the cooking and homemaking books, but any serious reading books are returned with only the first chapter read! This was not ideal. I have turned a corner, and I am excited.

I have also been thinking a lot about how I want to live my life, right now and in the future. Changing my mindset, taking a step back and re-evaluating things.

Life keeps moving at a very fast pace. I am trying to keep up with it. How about you?

Lest we forget

ANZAC day was cool and rainy. But that didn't stop us and many others, umbrella's in hand, going to the dawn service.



After breakfast, my father showed me the war metals from his family. My grandmother had given them to him in December last year. I had never seen them before. They had belonged to his father and his grandfather. After years of being passed around to different family members, some are missing. So Dad has given me the job of trying to find out which have been lost. I guess a visit to my local RSL will be in order. I would love to see my father proudly march wearing these metals one day.

We watched the ANZAC Day parade in Gympie. We borrowed the large country town as our own for just a moment, when passing through, and enjoyed their community spirit. It was a lovely parade.







Near the eternal flame, just behind the main street we stumbled upon these beautiful mosaic murals of life in war, past and present.

A moving day of remembering and for me, imagining what life might have been like during those war years. One of my Great Grandfathers died in World World I, fighting for British Army, my other Great Grandfather also fought in the same area of France. Both of my grandfathers fought in World war II, in different places. My Grandad was a prisoner of war for 2 years and was already married to my Nana, who waited at home with a daughter he had never seen.

Imagine waiting and not knowing?

So many stories.

ANZAC Day

(My grandfather, second on the left, taken during the war in Malaya 1941. He was later captured and spent two years as a prisoner of war at Changi in Singapore)

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

It was a day for remembrance. We woke early and went to the dawn service. Then back home for a big, aussie, bbq breakfast: bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions. At 10am, it was off to the local ANZAC Day Parade. Spunky Monkey marched with his school. A moving service was held. Pride and tears. Next, Mums for lunch and the afternoon at the beach.

Lots of talk with the kids about wars and freedom, with questions still coming from their bedrooms as I closed their doors tonight.