Saturday was a mostly stay-at-home day. Christine showed Louis a lot of the fun movies and photo albums that Google Photos puts together and then they looked at a bunch of her photos. I spent time sorting photos for the blog and catching up posts, and reading the news (ughh!).
Around mid-day we got a message from Margaret, Clare and Daniel. This was the Kandos-Rylstone Show weekend (like our county fair). They had been very busy making cakes and cupcakes for the past couple of days for entry into the cake decorating contest. Clare has been involved with cake decorating for a few years and actually makes custom-order cakes. Since Clare was involved, Margaret also got involved, and of course, Daniel has joined in. The judging was taking place Saturday morning and the message we received showed the success of the Chadwicks in cake decorating – they cleaned up with several firsts for each of their entries and a couple of seconds. Congratulations to Clare, Daniel and Margaret!
We then took a drive to a novelty shop to pick up some lollies that Clare asked for. She has a birthday this week and is having a party and wanted some special sweet treats for the party. It was a huge novelty store; I’ve never seen so much stuff for parties of all occasions. Our friends Eve and Pat would have loved the offerings in this store for all occasions.
Home again, and Christine engaged in one of her favorite activities – clipping in the garden.
Then it was off to dinner. Gloria and Alex, yet again, took us to dinner. This time we went to a lovely seafood restaurant called Woy Woy Fisherman’s Wharf. The restaurant sticks out from the wharf over a lovely channel in Brisbane Water looking across to a small island, Pelican Island. I loved watching the approaching twilight on the water and surrounding area.
It was a very enjoyable evening with Alex and Gloria and a wonderful meal.
We went back to Alex and Gloria’s house for tea and coffee. They have gone out of their way to make time for us and to treat us to many dinners. The day on their yacht was incredible early in our visit. Gloria loaning us her car for two of our journeys was most kind, making our trips very comfortable and safe. Alex showed us some photos online of two cabin cruisers that he’s interested in, a 56-footer and a 70-footer. Alex said that when he buys his new cabin cruiser they’ll take us out for a week. We assured him that we’d take him up on that offer, just let us know when he has his new boat and we’ll come.
Sunday we drove to Windsor to meet up with Margaret, Clare and Daniel. They drove from Rylstone to Windsor, a much longer drive than we had. We were so delighted to be able to spend some time with them. Our visit to Rylstone was much too short. With Clare’s birthday coming up on the 26th, we could celebrate her birthday as well as celebrate the cake decorating winners. What we didn’t know is that we’d be joining Clare’s birthday celebration with a farewell celebration. Margaret made and decorated a cake that showed both celebrations in one cake.
Clare’s side of the cake 
Our side of the cake
What a clever cake! And they presented us with a going away gift of a book telling the settlement history of the area in which they live. We’ll enjoy reading that.
It worked out well meeting at the Pizza Hut in Windsor. We all arrived at the same time, and although the place was crowded when we arrived, everyone cleared out soon and we had the place to ourselves for our celebration.
Happy birthday, Clare 
Our celebration 
I love to see Margaret laughing
After our wonderful cake (it was a shame to cut it, but it sure was good), we drove to a nearby park. Ray had salvaged some floor mats from a gym which Clare and Daniel use for arts and crafts, as well as other things. Ray also had a bicycle which was the same as Clare’s so it can be used for parts (or vice versa). Margaret had a trailer attached to her vehicle because they had delivered a goat on their way to Windsor. They also had packed a surprise for us. In addition to having Neo, the New Year’s Day goat, they had Christine and Linda. We put them on leads and had them out in the grass at the park.
Linda (left) and Christine 
Christine (left) and Linda 
They are 5 weeks old today 
They are adorable 
As twins, they are very close 
Lovely kids 
Linda feeding Linda 
Christine feeding Christine, Clare feeding Neo
It took a while to get all the material transferred from Ray’s vehicle and packed into the trailer. It was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together to get everything in.
Lou and Margaret 
Packing, with Neo helping 
Clare and Daniel inspecting the bike 
Christine and Lou
And all too soon it was time to say goodbye. We so appreciated Margaret giving up a day to drive all the way to Windsor to be with us for a few hours. And we especially appreciated all the effort she put in to the cake, which was genius to combine the birthday and farewell. These Chadwicks are very creative and talented people!
Clare, Margaret and Daniel 
Chadwicks plus Lou
We will cherish our time with Margaret, Daniel and Clare and hope to see them again soon. Thank you all for a wonderful visit and a very nice farewell.
He’ll kill me for posting this photo, but here’s Lou tonight when we got home after six weeks chauffeuring us all over eastern Australia. Come Thursday after we’re gone he’ll need a holiday for resting and relaxing.
So amazing how many friends you have all over the place!!