We conned the man at the Mercure Hotel in Rosehill, Sydney, to take our photo. He took so long fiddling with my camera that Mary went to sleep standing up - no, not really, she closed her eyes just as he finally clicked the camera. Unfortunately we didn't realise at the time so couldn't get him to take another one. Not to worry, we were about to start on two wonderful weeks together........ 
We don't have Waratahs in Western Australia so it was with great excitement that I spotted this bush growing across the road from the Three Sisters lookout in Katoomba. I always thought that the flowers would be hard and wiry but they are actually quite soft and more pinky-red than bright red. I am not used to taking photos of flowers so this was a real hit and miss attempt and for a change, it was a hit!!
Mary picked me up from the airport and we spent the first night at the Mercure Hotel in Rosehill near Parramatta. It was fabulous as our twin share room had two DOUBLE beds in it. We shared the first of several nights of giggling and crying like silly school girls at a Brownie Camp!! The next morning we drove from Rosehill to Katoomba via every Op-shop on the way. Mary photographed me doing the tourist bit at the Three Sisters lookout at Katoomba where we stayed the second night at a Bed & Breakfast. I saw my very first Waratah in full bloom and took lots of photos of it........VERY touristy!!
This was one of the highlights of my holiday - meeting my favourite magazine author, Rick Rutherford. Rick started out writing "Australian Country Collections", then moved on to writing "Rick Rutherford's Country". Now he is busy working on a web site and on-line shop which can be found at www.rickrutherford.com and he stocks all sorts of country items from quilts to wooden angels. Rick took Mary and me to a lovely little French cafe in Leura and treated us to coffee and tiny cakes. What started out as a serious conversation finished up in total hysteria as Rick and Mary both have the same wicked sense of humour. It was like the "Rick and Mary Show" for an audience of one, ie. me. I have to admit the laughter was getting a bit loud for such refined surroundings by the time we left.
Mary learnt to tat last year at the Nowra CQ Retreat and she picked it up really quickly, however it still didn't stop her getting all tied up in knots at the Mollymook Embroiderer's Guild meeting! I was experimenting with tatting using two colours and managed to complete an inch of tatting before making a mistake and having to start again. I was happy with the result though - pink clovers joined with green chains. I will blog it once I get past the 1 inch mark.......
During the first week, Mary took me to her local embroidery group, the Mollymook branch of the NSW Embroiderer's Guild. It is held in the Uniting Church hall and on this particular week, the ladies were making that beautiful silk ribbon embroidered evening bag on the table in the foreground. The group was so friendly and made me feel right at home immediately...........come to think of it, I didn't see Mary's bag????
We had a fabulous time in Canberra with the Canberra Crazies. Annie Whitsed very kindly offered us beds in her house which is a veritable museum of yummy collectibles and crazy quilting goodies. We were really impressed by her storage method for her beads, shallow trays with tiny vials of beads, all coloured coded of course! After a lovely lunch on Saturday provided by the Canberra Crazies, we went shopping at the Canberra Needlework Shop which is where I took this photo of Sharon and Annie. Saturday night was great with a meal at Mama's Trattoria in the Canberra CBD where me met Maria and Jos Vialle for the first time.
Well, here they are! Mary Lewis and her husband Peter Gilberd. They both absolutely spoilt me rotten for the whole fortnight - their home was my home and I hope that in a year or so they will be coming to Perth to spend some time with Eddie and me and we can spoil them in return. They have a beautiful home on three levels going down a steep hill and which has views across the trees to the ocean. It was so different to what I'm used to over here in Western Australia, even the birds were beautiful - Rainbow Lorrikeets which I'd never seen before either. Needless to say, I can hardly wait to go back