Come Saturday Morning

(With apologies to writers Dory Previn and Fred Karlin, and recording artists "The Sandpipers" for all the times I made the word "friend" plural in their song.)

Come Saturday morning (Saturday, March 1st, Sydney Australia), 

L to R: Betty, Janice, Chooky, Leah (Chooky's friend--no blog), Stephanie, Loi and Kevin (my friends and traveling companions), Hubby Gregg, Me, Julie (Chooky's friend and "neighbor" that sometimes joins her in the Chookshed during our Zoom sessions--aka Jules). We all enjoyed lunch and visiting at City Extra at Circular Quay.

I'm going away with my friends.

A Harbor cruise past the Sydney Opera House, and Jules and I dipped our toes in the ocean at Manly Beach, while Janice cheered us on. (How did my pants get so wet if I just dipped my toes?)

We'll Saturday spend till the end of the day.

Leah, Jules, Janice, Betty, Steph, Chooky on the Harbor Cruise to Manly Wharf.

Just I and my friends,

Steph, Betty, Janice, Jules, and Chooky among the flowers outside the Customs House, and Janice, Steph and Chooky listen to the piano player in the QVB.

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles.

Traveling in Sydney, and then dining and visiting back at my hotel.

And then we'll move on,

But we will remember,

Long after Saturday's gone.

The last remaining gals say goodbyes outside my hotel before their Uber picked them up. We had so much fun together. It was an amazing day.

Come Saturday morning (poetic license here--this was Tuesday, March 11, Timaru, New Zealand)

Lou took us to a fun town, Geraldine, and The Geraldine Cheese Company has great ice cream! She knew all the right people and places, and we felt well cared for. She was a delightful guide and fun companion, and felt like an old friend.

I'm going away with my friend.

At the Timaru Botanical Garden--beautiful birds and plants. 

We'll Saturday laugh more than half of the day,

After two fabric stores, ice cream, a couple of other shops and a walk about in the Timaru Botanical Garden, we wet our whistle at a local pub near our shuttle bus pickup. Lou had a hot chocolate, while hubby and I got cold sodas. We know how to party!

 
Just I and my friend, Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things,

Final farewells at the shuttle pickup.

And then we'll move on, but we will remember long after Saturday's gone.



Come Saturday morning (Saturday, March 15, Tauranga, New Zealand), Come Saturday morning,

Me, Raewyn, and Julie on a walk around The Mount in Tauranga.

Come Saturday morning, just I and my friends.

Liquid refreshment and a good chat. So easy to visit, like we had known each other forever.

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles.

A view from our walk, and the Mount in the background when we finished.

And then we'll move on,

Wading at the beach.

But we will remember

Raewyn found a live starfish, and we each had a fully intact sand dollar by the time we finished our shoreline walk in the water.

Long after Saturday's gone.

Come Saturday morning.

Saying goodbyes as we go our separate ways.

                                                                   

Hubby and I spent an epic two weeks in Australia and New Zealand with a couple of our friends. During that time I had the rare opportunity and privilege of meeting up with nine lovely women, most of whom I had already met online via Chooky's Zoom sessions, some of whom I had already "known" for many years through their blogs. What a treat it was, and my deepest thanks go out to all who made the effort and took the time from busy schedules to spend a few hours with me. I will hold these memories dear!

Until next time,

Be creative and be kind.

Janet O.

Sunset over the Rocky Mountains from the airplane window as we approach home.

 

I Love Purple!

I really DO love purple, but that is also the name of a recent line from Judie Rothermel. Just this week this arrived in the mail from a recent acquaintance, and it was like Christmas all over again! Thank you so much to my benefactor!

I promptly went to the Marcus Fabrics website and downloaded the free pattern for a quilt using this line.

Even though I am still in a "no new starts" phase, I am allowing myself one or two small projects this year, because I have been such a good girl for the past 14 months. I think I will make a large baby quilt or small lap quilt from the blocks in this design. You can find the pattern here.

But before I launch on something new, I am making myself get in a couple of finishes. Maybe the quilt shown below will be one of them. You can read more about this one here.

This is a younger sibling to another Mini Burgoyne Surrounded shown below, that I did earlier in a controlled scrappy version. You can read more about that one here.

I have been working on these little red and white blocks recently while Zooming with the Chookshed Stitchers. I have one block left to assemble, and then I can put that last row together and put the border around the whole thing before figuring out how I will quilt it.

Always fun to catch up with these gals from around the world. Lots of laughs, solving world problems, and learning from each other, while we sometimes get some stitching in. And I am thrilled that my new iPad lets me see 16 gals at one time, rather than the 9 that were visible on my iPad mini.

I finally got my Nativities post from last year updated with this year's purchases and gifts. I have made it a "Page" under my header photo. It is the very last one listed, and is (very creatively--NOT) named "Nativities." :) You can just click the link here.

It may be a bit shocking to see a post from me already, since I just posted a week ago after a more than 2 month drought. But I am really going to try to do better! This was my last chance this year, and I made the most of it.

Wishing you all peace and happiness in the new year, and the hope that you will choose kindness!

Until next time,

Janet O.

This was the sunset behind my house when I headed out for my walk this evening. It wasn't expansive, and the color didn't last long, but it was pretty while it was there.