Sunday, April 30, 2017

 

Happy First Birthday to our beautiful Elodie Mardi!!


 Elodie's First Birthday 'I Spy' Quilt, this is the 8th quilt I've made like this, one for each Grandchild.

Back of quilt is rather la de da isn't it  :-)

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Photo a Day Challenge - 30.4.2017 - This makes me Happy.

Turning into this driveway... always makes me happy :-)

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Saturday, April 29, 2017

 

Happy Birthday to the bestest 'Treasure Hunt' partner ever... Happy 11th Birthday Charlie!


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Photo a Day Challenge - 29.4.2017 - Transport.

The BEST!!! 

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Friday, April 28, 2017

 

Photo a Day Challenge - 28.4.2017 - Get in the Photo.

No way did I want to get in this photo...  I don't actually have a photo like this of me in it... did they give up on me I wonder. 
Mama, Ripley, Harrie, Mr Kelly, Rosie, Tony, Mrs Kelly and in front, Kisser Kelly and Pam.  Must have been about 1947.

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Thursday, April 27, 2017

 

Going Home Some Say

A beautiful song written for the funeral for Brian Pearson the long time Manager at 'Wollogorang'... who, unknown to us had been imprisoned in Changi. 

Just Beautiful.
 

Beautiful colour in our garden on this very grey day...



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Photo a Day Challenge - 27.4.2017 - Smooth.

Nothing can be smoother than Great Aunt Carol's Fudge!   Yum!

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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

 

Three very beautiful family members...

 Tilly has won the Poetry Competition at her school for the second year in a row!   How clever is our Tilly eh!  Love to see the Poem one day Tilly.

 My baby boy's jumper is all finished and looking very grand on him!  Love the colour.

Just look at this beautiful little man, watching the ANZAC Dawn Service from Gallipoli...  he may not have put his shirt on the correct way but he knows how to stand to attention respecting our brave men and women.

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These three very precious toys, belonging to Remy, are very happy to have had their injuries repaired by a doting Grandmother :-)

 Poor monkey missing an arm, Caterpillar missing a leg and Tiger who couldn't Zip up...

Now we have...
 A very happy monkey with not only his arm replaced but hes also had a shave, his face was quite dirty you know.

Caterpillar is much relieved to have had that 26th foot replaced.

And Mr Tiger is all zipped up and ready to Growl!  

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Photo a Day Challenge - 26.4.2017 - Rectangle.

 This tray was presented to my Great Great Grandfather William Long.



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Tuesday, April 25, 2017

 

"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."

 It's not just ANZAC Day that we remember them, we think of our families and friends who fought in Wars often during each year but on this day I would like to post about one of my most loved relatives, my paternal Grandfather Clements Ripley Rodd.

I remember my Grandfather to be a very happy gentle loving man, I remember him well.

That's my Grandfather Clem on the right, a young boy dressing up to look like his big brother Tremayne.   I haven't discovered what these uniforms represent, Tremayne's looks like it could be the Boer War but it isn't... Clem's could be a Boys Brigade or something like that.

 Clem signed up on 7.11.1915.
35th Battalion AIF   (middle row 3rd from left)

WW2 - Clements Ripley Rodd outside his garage which was the local Head Quarters for A.R.P. (Air Raid Precautions).
 
Clements Ripley Rodd  - (1888 - 1961)
Account for Injury Sustained in the Trenches, Zonnebeke, Belguim.
 October 1917

I had been detailed to take a party of twenty men (including Stretcher Bearers) to bring back 48 hours ration for the Battalion.  On reaching the Ration Dump and realizing that there would be too much for the boys to carry, I had the stretchers loaded up with some of the rations and told off two men to assist in the carrying of same, in relays.  The two men assisting were relieved of their rifles, myself taking one of them and slung it across my back.

As on the way to the Ration Dump, we were under constant shell fire and after a very hazardous journey we eventually reached the entrance to the Trench.  I stood beside the entrance to see that everybody got in safely with the Rations.  As the last man passed me I was prevented from following for the moment as Fritz had sent up a Star Shell and I was plainly visible to the enemy.  The general idea is to stand still until the star shell had faded but I was hailed by the Sargeant-Major who said, 'You are in a bad spot, Sargeant, get down'.   As he spoke a German Machine Gun opened fire and I could hear the scream of the bullets over my head and realized that they were getting lower and lower -- I immediately laid down with my hand under my chest ready to rise when the burst finished.  However, before I had time to move another burst came from the Machine Gun and I then saw that during my absence from the trench, that part of the parapet had been blown down and I was still exposed and in the line of fire.  I attempted to push myself over to the left  to gain the shelter of the shell hole.  As I started to rise my left hand shot out from under me.  It had been hit by one of the bullets from the machine gun.  I eventually crawled into the trench and received First Aid from one of the Army Medical boys.  Whilst I was having my hand dressed a remark was passed that I had had a close shave as the bullet had passed through my web equipment and torn my tunic across my chest before shattering my hand, just missing going through my body.  I certainly thought that was close enough, but later I learned the following facts.

It was on the ship that I was being repatriated to Australia, as a result of my wound that I met another of my mates from the Battalion -- the very man whose rifle I had carried on the night I was wounded.  He asked how I got on with the wound in my back and when I told him that I only got it in the hand he would not believe me.  The reason why he doubted me (in his own words) was - 'I cannot understand how you missed getting it in your back, because when I went out later to look for my rifle, I found that it had been shot through the swivel and the sling was cut'.

Apparently in the excitement I did not realize that I had not brought his rifle in with me and never thought another thing about it.  Although I had had a close shave with the bullet in front of me it seems that my body was between two bullets and that makes my close shave even closer.

The forgoing is the absolute truth but unless necessary I would prefer to keep my name out of it as if any of the boys should hear this over the air they might think I am doing a bit of a skite.

                                                                                 C. R. Rodd,
                                                                                 61 Rawson Street,
                                                                                 Haberfield.

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Photo a Day Challenge - 25.4.2017 - Black and White.

I made these cushions for Gwil and Emily with fabric then gave me  :-)

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Monday, April 24, 2017

 

Photo a Day Challenge - 24.4.2017 - Fence.

Beautiful fence around the property and veranda of 'Glenroy'  the home my Cobcroft family lived in, the home my beautiful Grandfather Harrie was born in.

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Sunday, April 23, 2017

 

Photo a Day Challenge - 23.4.2017 - Good Together.

It's really good when our family get together, really good...   Phantasmogorical in fact!

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Saturday, April 22, 2017

 

Photo a Day Challenge - 22.4.2017 - Opposites.

All very beautiful and very opposite!   At the St Ives Show.

Our Tabitha Taxi came home with a ribbon back in 1988.

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Friday, April 21, 2017

 

Photo a Day Challenge - 21.4.2017 - Rough.

This piece of the Berlin Wall is rough, so was the fact that a Wall was built.

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Thursday, April 20, 2017

 

Sue, my first cousin once removed.

 
Sue is my mothers first cousin, Sue is only 4 1/2 years older than I am where as Rosie was almost 18 years older.  Sue and I spent a lot of time together at Wollogorang and in Sydney, I remember her taking me to the movies once, we saw the musical 'Rose-Marie' with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald... it was so wonderful.  I must have been about 6 or 7, she was at boarding school and in uniform.

The second movie was awful and I wanted to leave so Sue made me crawl down the isle and across the seats to the exit so that we didn't block the other customers view of the screen!

Sue now has Dementia and lives just up the road from us so I pop in to say hello every now and then which can be very distressing for the first 15 to 20 minutes but then I show her photos such as some below and she comes back to being the cheeky Sue I remember for up to an hour at least.   Fun but quite emotional as well.






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Photo a Day Challenge - 20.4.2017 - I Sat Here.

 I sat in Sir Francis Drake's chair... it was way back in 1968.  Buckland Abbey once belonged to Sir Francis Drake, it was bought by Captain Arthur Rodd in 1946 then he presented the Abbey to the National Trust in 1948 but resided nearby in the Cider House.     Fanny Rodd took us on a tour of Buckland Abbey and insisted that I sit on Drake's chair... which I did of course, I always do as I'm told  :-)    We then had afternoon tea in the Cider house with Arthur Rodd's widow.

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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

 

Facebook thinks it knows a lot about me... Right or WRONG!!!





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Photo a Day Challenge - 19.4.2017 - Retro.

David's Nieces Geraldine and Andree love to dress in Retro clothes.   They do look beautiful.

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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

 

Photo a Day Challenge - 18.4.2017 - Water.

This photo of George enjoying the rain was taken in March 2011 which just happens to have been one of the wettest March on record...

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Monday, April 17, 2017

 

One of the best things about being a Grandmother is...

... being trusted and asked to mend some precious toys!  :-)   Monkey has lost his left arm,  Tiger suit needs a new zip and Caterpillar has lost one leg...

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A beautifully BBQed whole Snapper, Crash Hot Potatoes, with a Super Duper Salad and Yoghurt, Berries and Toffee Shards to finish... Hey... the only chocolate we enjoyed was those delicious Cocolate coated Strawberries sent from Bri and Kate. Yummy Day that's for sure!

 Remy is concentrating on hand picking the Pomegranate seeds from his salad, Remy loves Pomegranate!

 Elodie loves having her photo taken, she's all smiles... but...
Elodie also loves seeing the photo straight after it's been taken  :-)

 Selfie... with the screen up so we can see what we look like before we click!

 I have knitted these dolls with numbers on because names just wouldn't have fitted... so here we have #1 Jackson, #2 Abigail, #3 Charlie, #4 Matilda, #5 George, #6 Remy, #7 James and #8 Elodie...  (I have just noticed an error with the dolls...  after almost one year...  I will have to fix it tonight, can you see my error?

Now can you guess which two of these dolls Elodie grabbed to play with yesterday??  We know she doesn't know her numbers yet so it was a lucky choice, how lovely is she!





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Photo a Day Challenge - 17.4.2017 - Eye Spy.

Eye Spy Elodie wearing the little vest I just knitted her :-)

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