Last Post Ceremony for Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Harold Nelson Richards

 On Saturday 15th October 37 relatives of Harold Nelson Richards gathered at the Australian War Memorial for the Last Post Ceremony honouring Harold Nelson Richards. Harold was the cousin of my mum, Pam Mamouney and he went down on the HMAS Sydney which was sunk of the coast of Western Australia in November 1941- there were no survivors.

My three brothers and wives drove up from Melbourne with my mum. The Goss boys- John ( who lives in Canberra) David and his wife Leanne, Geoff and his wife Fiona, came across from Adelaide, with some of their adult children as well. There were also 7 members of the Dempster family who are related on the Richards side also came.

It was a very special occasion for us and the War Memorial staff do such a great job and were so good to us. The ceremony began at 4:45pm, they began with the Australian National Anthem, followed by the bagpipes playing while family members laid wreaths, then a member of the Armed Services read a tribute to Harold, finally the Last Post was played.

Afterwards we took lots of photos, then  headed down to the Mercure to Olim's Bistro for dinner.

All 37 of us after the ceremony

The Goss Family

The Mamouney's and Frost's

Pam Mamouney

The wreath layers

Michael and Matthew, Charlie and Pam laid a wreath.

The Arboretum with Pam

 The family were visiting Canberra for the weekend. Mum came up with Mike and Leeanne and Kim and Fil on the Friday and mum stayed with us. On Saturday morning, Amy and I took mum up to the Arboretum, it was a lovely sunny morning . There are great views here across Canberra.

The Bonsai Exhibition had some great trees on show.

The azaleas were stunning!

The Wisteria was just beautiful

View From My Window

 Lachlan made this soldier sculpture back in high school, it has been sitting on top of the heater gathering dust, I asked him if he wanted to keep it and he no longer wanted it. I didn't want to throw it in the bin so found it a spot in the garden, I can see it from my bedroom window.

Bits and Pieces for September

 

Bill to the rescue! There are now three cygnets on the little Gordon Pond. A few weeks back Bill called ACT Wildlife as the mother swan had a fishing hook in her beak and couldn't eat. It took ACT Wildlife about a week to get close enough to catch her, then it was 5 days of recuperation after going to the vet to get it removed and having antibiotics. The male swan who is a bit of a fly in fly out father, sat on the eggs for that time, but we weren't sure if they would hatch. Eventually they did and three cygnets were the result, we were very excited!

The father is barely around but the mum is doing a great job and the cygnets are loving the grass!

Amy and I were visiting the Scott's and Anna made us put on the sorting hat. Amy was Slytherin and I was Hufflepuff. 

Here is my lovely soft throw rug I won in a raffle- third prize at the Pearce Spring Craft Market. It is made of silk and merino and I just love the colour.

This was the box of goodies I won, lots of nibbles- two bottles of wine-that the lady picked because she liked the picture on the bottle- wombats! I really love the throw rug.

It was a lovely market- not too big but lots of interesting stalls all home made. I got these cute little mushrooms.

Then there was a stall with beautifully decorated cup cakes, I did manage to knock it over so some of the icing rubbed off but they were just beautiful. It took Amy ages to decide which ones to get,

I brought this triple decker rocky road it was just divine!

Two weeks ago Lachlan and his girlfriend Abbey came over for afternoon tea and they made a lemon tart. Abbey is just lovely and is certainly making Lachlan happy. It was lovely to have them both over and for us to meet Abbey. She loved all our animals and loved Amy's plant collection so had made a good first impression! 

Gary, Ben and Matthew Come to Visit

 Gary was doing some work in Sydney, he had taken the boys with him, so they came to stay with us for th weekend on their way back to Melbourne. They stayed with us on Friday and Saturday night, then stayed with Bindi on Sunday night before heading home to Melbourne. We all had dinner together on the Sunday night at Bindi's.

Ben had a great time with the dogs, who loved him too! He was putting squish mallows on the dogs and patting them.

Jack was very tolerant, here he is with an octopus on his head!

Hanging out with the cousins and dogs while Gary watches the AFL Grand Final

Matthew and Amy played a couple of games of chess which they both enjoyed

Two Sheds Workshop

 Amy and I recently completed a one day workshop with Two Sheds- an organisation teaching women by women woodworking skills and building confidence in using tools. We had a great day and really enjoyed ourselves and very proud of our finished products. I made a caddy to carry garden tools and Amy made a harvest basket. We had such a good time so have signed up to do a 5 week, weekly class.

First off we made a boot remover which was quite simple but taught us basic skills such as measuring, cutting, using a jigsaw, drilling holes, counter sinking and putting in screws.

Amy using the Jigsaw

Hard at work using sandpaper

With our completed boot removers!

My tool caddy

Amy's harvest basket

We had a great day but were really tired by the end of the day- lots of concentration!