Nettie's Shortbread

Today has been a rollercoaster of emotions for CCN and I.  Today we said our final farewells to her beautiful mum Nettie and it was so tough for both of us but particularly CCN to be so far away from Bundaberg at this time.  To turn around and retrace our 1400km trip after returning just a couple of weeks ago was asking too much at this point in our lives.  We knew in our hearts that we were saying our final goodbyes to Nettie when we left her this time.

This morning as we were sitting reflecting on a beautiful life something very special happened.  We received an email from USA blipper dbifulco - "Life's Little Moments" in Newton, New Jersey.  Debbi has a nursery for butterflies and this morning she had released two of the majestic Monarch Butterflies in honour of CCN's parents Nettie and Doug.  There's no way I could put into words how much this heartfelt gesture mean't to both of us.  If you go to the link you will be able to see a wonderful video of one of the Monarchs emerging and the description of how Nettie and Doug were released.  How incredible that a blip buddy living on the other side of the world would be so kind as to honour Doug and Nettie in this way.  Debbi has kindly sent us some amazing images of the two Monarchs as they started their journey into the outside world.  From what I have read in Debbi's journal over the past few days, it appears that Nettie and Doug are now well on their way to Mexico.

We also decided that we could life our spirits by making some Scottish shortbread.  I have captured the process in the collage today and we sent an image of the shortbread when it was ready to be eaten to all of our family in Bundaberg.  Now without giving away too many secrets, CCN's sister Ann was devastated when her batch of shortbread was a disaster yesterday.  We knew how much it mean't to her to have some the genuine article available for her guests today so we were happy to send them some virtual shortbread via their mobile phones.  I can also tell you that the real shortbread is now on a plane on its way to Bundaberg.  This little activity gave us great comfort today and we hope they all enjoy it when it arrives some time early next week.

I hope all of our blip buddies have a peaceful weekend.