Weekend away

It was lovely at the coast this weekend. The study group I attend goes away every year for a weekend retreat. It is great fun with good food, plenty of relaxing reading, stitching or doing puzzles and walks and swims for the energetic ones! There is a fair bit if chatting too. We began our long weekend with lunch at Batemans Bay!

I did enjoy some lovely stitching time and did a couple of my Stitch Therapy blocks. Here are the ones I have completed lately.

Lovely weekend at the coast

It was so special to have a long weekend down the coast with our Thursday ladies group. We "retreat" to the coast once every year and have such a good time. Friday was still quite warm so some of us, including me, went for a lovely swim. We rent a house just walking distance from Denhams Beach.

 Some of the ladies like to play games and do puzzles. There were many to choose from. We all played a wonderful drawing game called Telestrations which was great fun.

 We also ate very well. There were delicious cakes and slices, chocolate and delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners too.

We all look forward to this weekend every year. Some of us enjoyed some stitching as well.

Great weekend away

I have just been away for a delightful weekend with my dear friends from my Bible study group. We go away each year to Batemans Bay and this time we had 3 nights away. The joke was that eventually it might become a week! It was a lovely weekend of relaxing with great food and beautiful surroundings. We enjoyed fish and chips in town enjoying this view. 

 Denhams Beach is a very nice beach and we were just walking distance away.

 We tend to just relax and do whatever we feel like. I stitched of course and read a little. Some love jigsaws so several were completed and quite a few fun games were played. We chatted lots, watched a few movies, slept in, went for walks and just generally had a good time.

 Several of the ladies love to swim and even the chilly (around 20 C) outside temperatures didn't deter them. They said the water was lovely but I resisted!

 If you look closely at this picture you can see dolphins near the canoe!

 Here we are as we are about to head home.

 We stopped in Bungendore for coffee and cake (have the lime curd tart if you go there...as long as you have someone to share it with as it is big!) and wandered around the woodworking gallery. I just love the embroideries in these beautiful wooden boxes.

Lovely visit to the Bay

I headed to Batemans Bay on Wednesday to catch up with some dear friends. We met at Barbie's place and she had made a delicious cake, slice and her very special Latvian savouries (can't remember the name or how to spell them) for morning tea. A few of us stitched but we mostly chatted, ate and caught up.

We then went out for a delicious lunch in the Bay. We didn't really need lunch after that great morning tea but we managed. This is the view from the restaurant. It brought back lots of memories as when my girls were small we sometimes came to this spot, before the walkway was there and had morning tea or lunch  in an earlier restaurant. The water used to come up to the Peppercorn tree.

Karen was using her needlecase and I admired it and she reminded me that I had made it for her as a gift! I hadn't remembered! It is one of Lynette Anderson's designs.

Karen was binding this lovely quilt. 

I stayed till Thursday and Karen and I went into town for a delicious breakfast prepared for us but her lovely daughter, the chef, at the restaurant where she worked. It was so sunny and mild we were able to sit outside! Couldn't do that here in Canberra!

Lovely weekend away

We had such a lovely weekend away at the coast. It was so special to share lots of laughs, food and chat with this great group of ladies. We stayed in a house north of the Bay at Longbeach. We went for a few walks! I know that is hard to believe but I did go! It was fairly chilly on the weekend so it was quite warming to walk. The view from the back of the house and along the walk was lovely.

Here are some of the girls on the walk with Batehaven, I think, in the background. Brought back lovely memories of living in this wonderful part of the world.

This fruit was interesting. We couldn't figure out what it was.

Another highlight of the weekend was the food! It was delicious and we all ate too much! Here is the fruit at breakfast beautifully arranged on a fish plate.

Caroline made us her delicious french toast using her yummy chooks' eggs.

Some of the ladies love puzzles and managed to complete this 1000 piece puzzle! It was very tricky! A few of the hardy girls went for a swim!!!! 

It was a really restful time for everyone. Lots of chat, reading, some stitching, eating and sharing. It is a bit of a shock to be home and have to think about the "chores"!

A very busy weekend

We headed down to Batemans Bay on Friday to attend the 25th anniversary of the opening of Sunshine Bay Public School. Our girls went to this school for all their primary years and had a wonderful time. I taught there casually and worked with the P and C and seemed to be there for some reason or other on many days. Our girls both enjoyed their years there. Before the Friday night "do" we sat on Denhams Beach and enjoyed the view and the lovely weather.

There was an assembly at the school and this lovely cake. It was a copy of the one they had 25 years ago, I am told.

The assembly brought back many memories of my girls in the choir and of singing the school song and saying the creed.

The courtyard was as pleasant as ever and we shared morning tea and lunch there.

We then headed towards Sydney as our nephew James and his lovely Sarah were being married on Sunday afternoon. On the way we HAD to stop and Berry so I could look at Sew and Tell, which is a wonderful embroidery shop and now has wools too and giftware. Well worth a visit. Here are a few pictures of Berry, which is such a lovely place.

I'd like to stitch this house.

A quick trip to the coast

I went down to Batemans Bay on Friday to catch up with some lovely friends for dinner. We had a very nice night catching up on all sorts of news as we hadn't been together since before Christmas. I then stayed with Fiona and we did a little planning and organising for the stitching days coming up in a few months. The letters or emails will be going out any day soon. I then went up to Burrill Pines to visit the church camp that was happening over the weekend. I only came for the day but it was a lovely hot and perfect day for the campers. I even went for a SWIM! Those who know me well will know that I don't usually bother getting wet. The beach, see below, was so lovely and the water, once I got right in, was just so refreshing. I even caught a wave or two!

These little fellows came so close to everyone at the camp to get their share of the fruit scraps.

I then headed home in the afternoon just ahead of some dark clouds and rain on the coast.