~A Carer's Gathering......Kiama~

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Carer Gathering last week at The Sebel Town House in beautiful Kiama

Lucky for me that afternoon there was a Farmer's Market just down the road from where we were staying

Entrance to the market

and coming out of it.  There were 3 Buskers in attendance so that was pretty good!!!

Alternate menu for the evening for dinner

Being Gluten Free I had Fish without the Batter

Dessert was pretty good!!!

Salted Caramel  Creme Brûlée with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Very yummy but couldn't really taste the Caramel

I'm not a Painter but the next day elected to try Painting with Music

We had to choose 4 paint colours

My choices were (from left) teal, a sandstone colour, we had to choose white and a deep purple

and tada.......my pasterpiece lol

I haven't touched paint since High School in First Year so this was pretty cool

Being right handed my left hand was busting to have a go so I let it!!!

Lots of 'scraping' and 'flicking' happening

Then we did some drawings/sketchings to music

I used an organic charcoal.......never held a piece of charcoal before so this was a new experience for me

The 3rd square's song was Red, Red Wine

and the fourth one was Brown Eyed Girl

The 5th one was a pattern I did in 4th class at school but I just couldn't do straight lines!!!

I tried a music class also

and got to play these wooden blocks and a steady beat to the drum

A little bit of organ guided by pink papers lol

Electronic drums

Even a Base Guitar......a, d, e

That evening was a Mad Hatter's Ball and I wore a velvet hat brought back from Venice by DS together with a velvet silk dyed coat

Table decorations were awesome

A quick photo with Sean at the back and another lady

Goat's Cheese Panna Cotta......yummy

The dinner here

This was funded by The Shaw Building Group, Canberra
and hosted by Carers ACT (Australian Capital Territory)

Thank You so much everyone there

We all had a fabulous time!!!
You Guys Rock!!!

The next day Mr Armchair picked me up and we met at Kangaroo Valley

We had a bit of lunch

Mr Armchair had a Salmon/Salad Sandwich

Portobello Mushrooms for me

And who would've thought

A bowl of Tomatoes towards the end of May

Unheard of in our part of the World!!!

A lovely little get-away for me with Mr Armchair taking over Caring Duties

And the best part.......I got to sleep all night as JoJo has taken to waking during the evening!!!!

Till next time, Dzintra xo

~Bienvenue a Paris/Welcome to Paris...2nd September, 2015~Day 2

Further on from my last post on our trip that my DS James took me on we are now settled on Singapore Airlines which shows us on the map the route Singapore to Paris.
And I can't believe this is happening
Even though I have been back now for 2 weeks it's like a dream and I pinch myself to see that we really did do this epic trip!!!

After aprox 14 hours we land in Paris and I spot the sign

Bienvenue a Paris...........we are here!!!!!!

Prints line the walls

We are then transferred to our Hotel Best Western Folkestone

Looking up around us

We happened upon our first Blackboard Menu

and first sighting of a Parisian Cafe

So excited to see this

After a little wander around we come back to this delightful Cafe and have some drinks while we think about lunch

Pizza for James and the Fillet of Sole and Scallops for me

Followed by a A$10 coffee!!!!!!

Our very attentive Waiter

On our wanders we happened upon a Sans Gluten Patisserie

Eclair Chocolate and Eclair Caramel..........sans gluten

Next door to the Hotel there was a Delicatessen

Goods on offer

Supermarche

Boulongerie/Bread

Palmieres

And Macarons

The next morning we followed the intriguing steps which led to a Breakfast Room

Hot Milk is offered with Coffee as it was in Latvija/Latvia also

Cold Meats are also offered 

The next day we purchase tickets for bus/boat rides that show us some fabulous sights including the Moulin Rouge.......more of this in the next post

I was intending to post about our trip every day or every other day but this has been nigh on impossible as we are having internet/computer issues and working on fixing them. 

Till next time.........Dzintra xo 

~Birthday, Easter and Special Visitors!~

It's been quite a while since I have blogged

A lot has been happening and slowly things are getting back to normal

(till the next play anyway LOL)

and JoJo also requires time and effort on our part to just simply be and be able to participate in all her activities which leaves me having to juggle things around a bit

Following on from my birthday post Mr Armchair took me to lunch unexpectedly to The River Moruya......a 1 Hat Establishment

I was especially excited to go there as one of the girls I went to TAFE with is working there and her name is Megan

Megan and I got on well at TAFE and now I am friends with her Mum Asta who is new to blogging

The Lunch Menu

For Mr Armchair.....

Pork and Grain Mustard Rillettes, Celeriac Remoulade, Crisp Fried Free Range Egg and Truffle Vinaigrette

My choice

Boullaibaise, Crushed New Potato but missing the Bread due to being gluten free

Pan fried Salmon, Truffled Mashed Potato, Buerre Cafe de Paris and Lobster Veloute

For Dessert the Mr had a Chocolate Brownie and Vanilla Ice Cream

I opted for the Maffra Red Waxed Cheddar with Sweet Mustard Pickles and requested some apple slices or something instead of the biscuits on offer (due to gluten issues)

A very delicious meal.......thank you so much for the surprise dear Hubby!!!

The day after my birthday was Good Friday and I did the Latvian tradition of colouring eggs

This time I chose grape leaves and onion skins

Wrapped them together with string and boil

and voila, gorgeous coloured eggs

They can be shinied up with some bacon fat

JoJo was excited that Easter was here

She just loves all occasions and celebrates with gusto!!!

Breakfast on Easter Sunday

Eggs and Chocolate

Above a pic of Daughter Jacqueline and Bill (DH) and my Brother and Wife Erin 

This was a very special time as my Brother has serious health issues and we just love it when he comes to visit

Jacqueline modelling the Snood that I knitted up and she put together

JoJo and God Father Uncle Charlie

And we had a rather busy week looking after the 2 little Munchkins Ryan and Lidija

I haven't been able to get around and comment on everyone's blog as much as usual lately

Thank you to everyone that pays a visit and also to those who do comment

So very much appreciated by me as I do read every single one!!!

Enjoy Sunday

Love Dzintra xo