The Obligatory New Year's Eve Post

 Apart from being shocked at the very small amount of blogging for 2024, I have mixed emotions about seeing 2024 go by. Warning: this post is very full of memories, so if you wish to bail out now, I don't mind, it is helping me to write this.

It has been a busy year for all of us here at Ivanhoe. I reluctantly ended up on extended leave from my part time Medical Lab Science position. This did allow me to concentrate more on my sideline business of retailing Batik Fabrics for the discerning quilter. Despite the economic conditions forced on us by our federal and state governments, my small business has continued to grow. Am not sure if I am responsible for this growth by my fabric selections and great service or just more people are searching for quality batiks at reasonable prices. The closure of a few more local quilt shops may help my business but, in my area, 3 have been sold and reopened with younger people at the helm. 

The cattle business has thrived and we have been busy planting leucaena. A few hiccups along the way but the special fencing and learning about seed planting depths and weed control has seen some economic advantages in our finished weights. We have continued on with the red brangus breed.

My quilting and art quilts, has been a slow process. I entered this into the Textile Art Biennale but it wasn't selected. It is a combination of piecing, crochet cord, quilting and needle lace stitches. This took me about 8 months to complete, and the long time was partly caused by an issue with my eyesight (seems to be caused by obstructive sleep apnoea) I had never heard of floppy eyelid syndrome until I saw an opthamologist in August. Am currently on a weight loss mission, as well as learning to sleep on my side to see if it improves without a CPAP machine. 

Photographing it certainly taught me some more skills. I made 2 new pieces for our Tangled Threads exhibit in Wondai for Botanicals and that's it for my art quilts.  Next year we have a new Exhibition for June called Time and Place. I am hoping for 1 piece at least. 

In December, after using up my leave, I resigned from my Part Time position and soon will be going back for re training to work as a casual scientist in Microbiology only. This will be a challenge both time wise and thinking wise. The work should be slightly easier as we now have new devices to help us identify bacteria much more quickly than in the past. If I manage retraining, I will be on a 1 weekend every 4 weeks roster.

Family wise, the children and grandchildren are all busy with school, work and living. My father entered full time care (reluctantly at first in January) and has continued to decline ever since. A hip fracture whilst in care in June with subsequent surgery to repair it, has ended his mobility and he has been bed bound since. His dementia has turned him into a different person from the always thinking farmer engineer that he was. Right up until the weekend which saw him taken into hospital he was still building things with timber in his good moments. Sadly as the year has progressed, they have been less and less.

Weather wise, the year has been wet! We received rain when we needed it, then lately it has been when we don't need it. Flooding and dodging the water over our 2 bridges in either direction from home has been the norm lately, but it is better than the mind sapping droughts we have suffered.

One thing I am proud of is my self discipline with swimming. I have managed to reach 2 goals and am continually adding a few more. I managed to swim 5km in under 2.5hrs non stop and can now do butterfly stroke, might not be the prettiest butterfly stroke in the pool but I do get to the other end. I need to channel the same discipline into my art practice. The IT skills I have learnt from having my small business have been quite immense and this is where the discipline has been focused. Currently am teaching myself to use the long ago acquired Electric Quilt 7 with a view to adding PDF patterns to Batik Fabrics Online. I have a mentor in Kingaroy who has been a great help.

During the Christmas week, I spent some time with my Brother and Sister in Law sorting out Dad's house. It was great excitement to find a box of photo slides taken in the 60's. Told you this post was full of memories! I have managed to save them digitally and this is just a few.

Quite a few photos of Mum dressed up, (Dad used to love seeing her dressed up!) and in her swimming togs, which I wont show on here.

Myself at the age of 6. My hair was already doing it's own thing.

A few cousins, sister and brother at our grandparent's house (there were 6 boy cousins missing that day but we had the eldest and youngest of all of us there), where my sister and I learnt to sew! Grandma and Grandpa certainly ran a great holiday house.

My sister and younger brother at the holiday house.

My sister and I off to school. I still have the weird legs, probably the cause of the osteoarthritis which I now suffer from. At least we had a hat and shoes on.

Christmas in 1966, where our tree was always a Box Tree (not sure of the correct genus name, some sort of Eucalypt, not the English version of Box), cut down on Christmas Eve and usually wrapped in crepe paper as we could not afford many decorations. See the little face down the bottom right, my brother who was 2 yrs old. Again my hair was doing it's own thing.

So, it's afternoon on New Years Eve, we are currently flood bound in one direction after another deluge yesterday. Some parts of Kingaroy had 275mm in a couple of hours, so it comes down the Stuart River and floods our low bridge. We drove in last night and posted the orders for fabric so they would not be delayed and smelt the water rising up fast as we drove back over the bridge. I think we had about an hour to spare. Am looking forward to 2025 with some trepidation as it will be a juggling act time wise, physically and emotionally. Wishing you all the best and hope if 2024 has been difficult for you, that maybe 2025 treats us better.