A brief reprieve

Sadly I am still coughing and I now have muscles I didn't know existed! The nights are the worst with spasms that last for what seems like hours, so I've started a second course of antibiotics. But the show must go on………so yesterday I ventured outside for the first time in a week (apart from visiting the doctor and finally having the hair done!). Our reason was to meet Emily and Brett to take charge of the little ones so that Em and Brett could have a night off for a special wedding. Kimberly has been a special friend of Emily's for almost 30 years and it was lovely to see some of it from the sidelines……..

 Emily looked gorgeous in this colour…….

 But Miss Maisie was more interested in a cuddle from Poppa……...

And as for Beau…….well he just decided he wasn't really into the wedding crowd despite thinking he was pretty cool in his tie like Daddy's………..

Miss Maisie quite bemused by it all and beneath all this she was cutting some more teeth……we found out about that later that night while on childcare duties!

 But sadly I captured no photos of Sophie and Tim……..so next time for that! The wedding would have been touched by a little sadness as Kim's Mum passed away from breast cancer way before her time. But Kim was blooming and we wish her and Ben all the very best for a long and happy life together.

Winter Wallowing

Yes I am currently 'wallowing' in self pity despite the gorgeous winter blooms in our garden……

 I've been coughing for two weeks now and I fear the quick trip to Melbourne only exacerbated it. I finally went to to the doctor yesterday to be told my lungs were pretty revolting so hopefully a 'once a day super antibiotic' will scare it away otherwise it is testing for whooping cough in five days! But to 'wallow'? Not sure that was the right word so a quick check and Mr Google tells me to wallow is:

Indulge in an unrestrained way in (something that one finds pleasurable). Synonyms: luxuriate, bask, take pleasure, take satisfaction, indulge (oneself), delight revel etc, etc!! 

"Something pleasurable"?? I don't think so but it does lead me to a comment I received from a friend on the phone the other night - "You are always sick Michele"??! I have to say it is not something that one chooses - in 35 years of nursing I never met anyone that enjoys being sick! I only visit the doctor twice a year so maybe my pathetic immune system needs a boost from some yet to be found scientific miracle! But for now I blame Mr Hashimoto for most of it - weight gain, hair thinning and a crap immune system! But honestly one would think we enjoy being sick -  I'm lucky to have avoided much worse scenarios. So what to do when you don't even feel like stitching……share more of those Melbourne exhibitions of course - as promised!

The embroidery exhibition was small but the Pre-Raphaelite one was huge! A little more of those embroideries first……

 There were many samplers on display as well often executed by very young girls……...

I had no idea that the National Gallery of Victoria had such a large Pre-Raphaelite collection - nearly every member represented. Arthur Hughes 1863 'La Belle Dames sans merci'…….

 Edward Hughes 1901 'The Princess out of School'…….

G.F.Watts 1858 'Alfred Tennyson'…….

 Edward Burne-Jones 1895 'Baronne Madeleine Deslandes'…….

 John Everett Millais 1887 'Cecil Webb'. This was a poignant posthumous portrait of the son of Thomas Prout Webb - a distinguished Australian lawyer and King's counsel. It is presumed that Millais used a photo to complete the portrait a year after Cecil died at the tender age of nine……….

 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1869 'La Mandolinata'…….

 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1877 'Christina Rossetti' - a portrait of his sister…...

 William Holman Hunt 1895 'The Importunate Neighbour'…….

 Edward Burne Jones 1886 'The Garden of Pan'…….

  Edward Burne Jones 1860 'Ladies and Death'…….

  Edward Burne Jones 1871-85 'The Wheel of Fortune'…….

  Edward Burne Jones 1874 'The Ascension' design for stained glass window for St Peter's Church, Woolton, Lancashire…….

 Ford Madox Brown 1870-78 'The Entombment'…….

 Ford Madox Brown 1862 'Sheepshearing' - a tile design for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co…...

 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1867 'Alexa Wilding'……..

 William Holman Hunt 1857 'Emily Hunt' - his sister…….

 The highlight for Larry was seeing one of the original editions of Morris's Chaucer and in the cabinet a collection of every single Kelscott Press work……..it was very hard to drag him away from that corner!

 So with that I will hope that you are safe and well in your part of the world x

(And yes Suzie - RipponLea is where Aunt Prudence lived!)