"Choosing The Perfect Gifts"...

...For Mummy, at home..

...Today we all went back again to Woodsies Gem Shop, so that our Grand daughters could choose the perfect gifts for Mum and Dad... and so the perfect gifts were selected there, made from ONYX which comes from Afghanistan, way high up in the Himalayan mountains so Doug, the owner and creator of this Complex told the girls..

..The girls had a great time there and we had personal attention on his very busy day there, but he always looks after us..he took us out to the 'back area' there where all the extra items were so that the girls could have a better choice..instead of the items on show..and pictured above is Amber, John, Teigan and Doug Woods..

...He remembered me, from the pic taken for the local paper on our Mothers Day, in May, with him - pictured here, when we successfully guessed the weight of his home-grown pumpkin of all things..do you remember that?.

...Prior to our visit there - we went to see our lovely Italian friend Caterina, and took her some silver beet, she loves that, she used to give us so much fruit and vegetables when we lived near her, and now, she lives alone in a unit, and cannot have a garden of her own, she is not well..but we had to have afternoon tea with her...she wouldn't let us go.. She loves the girls so much, she knew our daughter, the girls' Mother, since before her birth, almost 40 years ago..

...It's sad to see our friends of old becoming aged...and Cathy is not much older than I am, but worked in the vineyards so hard for all of her life..even in Italy where they had donkeys for transport...

...And prior seeing Caterina - we visited their Mum's little school, the school I was telling you about When The Children Helped (with the Orange picking)..The orange trees are still there, and the school has become much smaller now and is on the brink of closing...and yes, it's sad to see the little schools close isn't it..

...Our children both say they did have a wonderful childhood..running free, and Amber 15, the eldest, said she was so touched to see her Mother's old School, where she played and walked through the orange grove to school, quite safely, and she was only 4 and a half..then when she started..A different world than the Gold Coast in Queensland...

...Yes, it's nice to be able to show the Children - the Times Past....they had such a lovely day and will take home some wonderful memories no doubt...