OUR BOOK and an INVITATION

To-day we went to Melbourne to pick up 300 books !

In previous blogs ( story's ) l have mentioned my husbands book that he wrote ( his memoirs) called
" A Small Boy From Italy "

l have also featured some extracts from his book amongst my blogs
As our Ist order of 200 sold out so quickly, we ordered another 300

His book has been so popular, he was asked to be a special guest at the Museum
The other special guests on the day, were the President and the Secretary of the " Royal Historical Society of  Victoria ".
They asked my hubby if he would like to enter the " Victorian Community Awards Competition for the
Year 2011 ".-So we did, sending his book down to be judged along with the application form

But getting back to the book delivery of our 300 books, they were delivered to our daughter and grand  childrens home, so that was double the excitement, as we would be spending  the day with them also.

After a lovely roast lunch and lots of laughs we loaded our books and drove home.

Upon arriving home we checked the mailbox, and noticed we had an invitation,
An official invitation to "PARLIAMENT HOUSE " In Melbourne in The Queens Room
for Afternoon tea -High Tea

The special occasion being " The Ceremony and Presentation of the Winners of 2011  Historian  Book  Awards. "

This probably doesn't mean we have won anything. Just the honour of all the entrants being invited to this special place, is a memory to keep.
We have to dress formal, and upon arrival we have to be scanned, as well as our bags before we enter. the building

l hope we will be allowed to take photos at this beautiful place, l'll have to buy a new dress. !

But really we can't help wondering if we have won something.
The main prize being $5000 and another 4 prizes of $2,000.
l shall keep you informed !.

Licorice Allsorts?

I have always loved licorice allsorts.

The taste, the colours, separating them, and dismantling them piece by piece

and then savouring every bite.

I always get licorice allsorts with my birthday presents, and my mother (who is 91)

always has them on the table, in a lovely round carousel tin container.

My grandchildren don't like them so that's a real blessing.

While I wait for my cup of tea or coffee l make my mothers tin a little lighter.

2 months ago on my hubbys birthday, one of his presents was a pair of jocks (underwear)

 The material being licorice allsorts.

Was my 24 year old daughter trying to tell me something?

RE-UNITING WITH GOOD FRIENDS

My hubby worked at our local radio station for 13 years, and he loved it.

For the last 8 years of these 13 years he was a breakfast presenter and he enjoyed every day.

The only downside was getting up at 4-30 every morning for a 6-30 start, as he had to travel and liked to be organized

He retired 2 years ago and it was great to have breakfast together again instead of with my dog Donna.

No Donna didn't miss out we had breckie all together.

The sad thing about retiring you loose communication with some of the beautiful people you meet.

We decided this was not going to happen and we try to get together every 2 or 3 months for lunch.

This month it was at Julie and Erics with Rae and Marg.

The 6 of us laughed,drank some great wine and the food was delicious.
There is a saying l like !

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One in silver, one in gold.

THE 8th AUGUST-A SPECIAL DAY

Why is the 8th of August a "Special Day"?.

This was the day l had my first date with  my now husband, No, l won't tell you the year,

but l will give you a clue, it was the rock and roll era, a great time to be a teenager .l was 15 and he was 16,

and we have been together ever since.
To-day we had a lovely  peaceful day together,this doesn't happen very often as we still seem to have a busy life
Just a movie, a cappuccino, a lovely meal and a glass of our favourite Brown Bros. wine..Actually l would be lost without my scrumptious husband.

BIRD'S NESTS

About 20 blogs ago (or l like to call them story's ), my story was called "The Orchard ".

The 2 neat little birds nests featured were very interesting all unnatural materials, -

heavy plastic and polystyrene.

My hubby came home to-day with some beautiful apples, and this large birds nest abandoned

amongst the pruned branches on the ground.

This nest is unique entwined with thick utensil wire, and white plastic coated electrical wire.What kind of bird made this ?
l would love to know. Was it a crow?

lt looks large compared to my other 2 little birds nests.

A JOURNEY TO THE ORCHARD

My husband took me to a friends orchard to pick some delicious Pink Lady apples.

Late autumn pruning had just been completed, this entails removing the leaves from the top of a bunch of apples as they need the light to ripen.

The rows of apple trees were a glorious sight as the leaves had started to turn into their autumn colour with many leaves already showing their display on the ground below. 

Of course my camera goes everywhere!

Walking along the rows with my precious apples in my hands, l spotted an abandoned birds nest and then another.

l bought them home and placed them in the branch forks of my trees and I know my my grandchilden will love them. l was surprised to find bits of plastic and nylon string in them.

lt will soon be winter and the trees will be bare so we have to enjoy the moment now.

THE IBIS BIRD

My husband asked me a question today.

 "Why don't we ever see a baby lbis?" (or would they be called baby chicks?)

The Australian White lbis is a wading bird also known as the "Sheep Bird".

ln flight-flocks of white lbis form a distinctive V shape like airplanes

on maneuver.

Guess what?- l have just found out young birds are similar to adults but have there necks covered with black feathers. 

.

There is also an African lbis that is sacred, a beautiful bright pink bird the colour of a Flamingo.

America has a white and a crested lbis.

My husband remembers the lbis well from when he was a small boy of 8 years.

l have mentioned in previous blogs that l would feature an article now and then from my husbands book of memoirs, called "A Small Boy from ltaly".

He was 8 years old when he came to Australia. He didn't know he would be just as cold and hungry in Australia as he was in ltaly! They often tried to catch an lbis to eat but they where always too fast for them.

This is a part of a chapter from his book called,

"School Days"

l had many bad days at school. We would walk half an hour to school every morning and half an hour back home again in the afternoon. Before we left one morning papa gave me two shillings to buy a packet of broken biscuits to bring home after school. 
As soon as the home bell rang, Fil, Ciro and l went down the street and bought the biscuits. We made our way back past the church to head home but we were ambushed. Three bully boys stopped us and started calling us names. l knew what the words meant because I had been teased and cornered many times, but never as bad as this day. 
They hit me in the face and my nose bled. The boys knocked me to the ground and continued to hit me. My shirt was torn and they took our bag of buscuits.
After they stole the biscuits, they ran off like the cowards they were. Fil ,Ciro and l started walking home without the biscuits and l knew l would be in big trouble as soon as l got home.
On the way back we had to pass a swamp. l spotted some lbis that looked an easy catch, so l waded into the swamp up to my knees to try and grab one. l thought that if l caught one to take home, my mother could cook it and that might make up for not having the biscuits.
l got really close and almost caught one but it took off and l tripped over and fell in the water. l decided the birds were not as easy a catch as l thought they were and we kept walking home. 
When we passed a pear orchard, l snuck in and stole 6 pears, put them in my satchel and hoped that they would be good enough to make up for the loss of the biscuits.
l arrived home all wet with a bloody nose, swampy shoes and a torn shirt. l got in trouble for fighting and for ruining my only shirt. 
We never did have an lbis for a meal!

ITALY

We are saving to go to ltaly for a holiday.

ln order to afford this we have sold our caravan. 

We have invested this money for 6 months so this will be a start.

Passports will be next!

My husband was born in ltaly, San Marco in Lamis the Provence of Foggia.

He came to Australia as a boy when he was a small boy of 8 years

His father had already left ltaly 2 years previously. As there was no work in ltaly and they were very poor his plan was to work very hard to pay for his wife and 5 children's fares to join him in Australia.

ln the 1950's immigrants were not to be a burden on the Government or the Australian Taxpayers.

Also before they could reside in Australia immigrants had to have a home to live in a permanent job and 600 pounds in the bank as there was no government assistance then.

The photograph below is their passport photo.

My husband has just written a book about his life called A  Small  Boy  From  ltaly. 

In some of my future blogs l will feature some extracts from his book.

By writing this book it has made him stop and think, yes l would like to go back to see my home town and heritage.

So hopefully ltaly, Here We Come?