Family Time!!!!!

For the past 3 years we have had a reservation at Harbour Pat's B&B in Antigonish for the weekend of May 4th, Grad Weekend at St FX. And ever since, the RSVP's have been trickling in...

Sister Kathy, and hubby John...

Sister Nancy (Nan) and hubby Garth...

Sister Sandy and hubby Ger...

And Sandy and Ger's grandson and Robbie's second cousin, Logan!
And that takes the count to 9 guests and 1 graduate. Quite the party!

We had perfect weather and the Maritimers commented all weekend long on our good fortune. The weather in early May is not always as accommodating.
Here we are at Antigonish Landing, a 4 km walking/cycling trail along the shore of an estuary.

We enjoyed a very delicious dinner at Gabrieau's Bistro celebrating Robbie and being together.

My sisters are beautiful and loyal, and I love that even though I am separated from them by thousands of miles, we can pick right up where we last left off!

Our b&b hosts, Joe and Pat Stewart are very fond of Robbie. They have fed him many a meal during his four years at St FX. They came up with a wonderful plan to have the mother of all meals, an authentic lobster boil to follow the graduation ceremony. A quick call from Joe to his grandson who owns a lobster boat...

...and presto, we are the owners of 35 pounds of this delicacy, straight from the Atlantic. We even had the fun of meeting the boat at Antigonish Harbour as it arrived in from it's very early morning of fishing.

Later on in the day, the boys returned to the boat and hauled in the lobster catch...

...and here is dinner!

Into the car boot they go and Rob and John head back to Joe and Pat's where the rest of the feast is being prepared.

I am so grateful for other kitchen duties besides this one... But Robbie, Joe and John certainly enjoyed prepping and sampling!

Sandy, Ger and Garth - a watched pot never boils - but they have stern instruction from Joe, so they don't dare take their eyes off things.

Everyone had an apron, a bowl of drawn butter, plenty of potato salad, and famous Pat's Pie for dessert. What a great night, following a great day! Oh how sweet to spend quality time with family! I am happy to say that later on this year, I will be able to write another post or two related to 'family time' because the Aussie Birds are flying 'home' for Christmas'13!

"Whatsoever things are true" Philippians 4:8-9

Recently, Rob and I travelled to Nova Scotia to celebrate Robbie's graduation from St Francis Xavier University. The big finale after 4 years of studying and applying himself! We were so grateful to be able to share this part of his uni experience with him! Being long distance parents, we only had opportunity to visit this campus in Antigonish twice- 2 weekends out of his approximate 104 weekends while studying there- Good thing there really is such a thing as quality time!

We met early morning at the Halifax Airport and settled in at Timmies, of course, Rob's favourite, and the first double double of many, he hopes.

Oh a momma who lives far away from her children- I sit beside him at the table and simply admire and say "thank You God" for this chance to sit within elbows reach! (and reach I do!)
There is such camaraderie between dad and son and this is a delight to see and enjoy. The 'two bulls in a paddock' atmosphere dissipated years ago and now there is mutual respect and affection, peppered with jokes and digs typical of two quick-witted blokes.

The two Robs. Proud Poppa. We are on this occasion, enjoying a tour of the Gerald Schwartz School of Business. It is an impressive $26 million dollar revamp of what was a former science building. Now it is a state of the art facility boasting the ivy-league architecture typical of the St FX campus, and calling attention to itself all over campus with it's golden gilt dome. What a spectacular space!
http://www.bird.ca/Projects/project-st_fx_school_of_business.html

Another accomplishment! Robbie is welcomed into the Presidents Circle of Young Alumni. "This is an honour awarded to outstanding graduating students in recognition of their contribution to student life and achievement". (http://www.alumni.stfx.ca/s/650/standard.aspx?sid=650&gid=1&pgid=656) Can you find Robbie's gorgeous smile in this group photo?

Looking Good Rob(s)! While being fitted for his gown, Robbie secures 9(!), that's nine(!) tickets for the convocation ceremony from this very helpful woman who seemed to be in charge. Just what we required for the extra large family group that has gathered here in Antigonish for graduation weekend. (stay tuned...)

"Whatsoever things are true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think on these things."
The day has arrived where graduates are honoured, encouraged, challenged. Go forth, taking the spiritual and intellectual developments gleaned here and accomplish great things.

The President of St FX gave the graduates' families the OK to make a bit of noise
during the ceremony. Imagine! No stern reminder to 'hold your applause until all the graduates have crossed the stage'. Instead, Dr Sean Riley encouraged an atmosphere of celebration. And the Bird/Collins clan took up the challenge! Remember, there were 9 of us! Sorry Bud.

Congratulations! We are very proud of you!

We love you Robert C. Bird. We are impressed with your accomplishments and think you are amazing. We enjoyed sharing this important milestone with you. It was great fun, and there were many 'proud parents' moments. I hope you felt proud too!

Pisang Goreng and other New Things

We've moved! To another part of this vast city, out of the apartment and into a brand new home. I spent the month of February house hunting, and we now live a mere 5 minutes from Rob's office. Imagine whittling the commute time down like that! Our lives look quite different now. I am on my own much less, we love our new home, new location, but more on that another time.

Aside from a new house, we have new people in our lives. This is Lily and she is holding these HUGE bananas which were a gift from Asri, our driver. Asri made a long bus trip to his family home in Cirebon, West Java this past weekend and carted this load back to Jakarta for me! Very sweet indeed!

There are so many of varieties of bananas in Indonesia. After a bit of Internet research I believe I am working with 'pisang Tanduk' which are best eaten fried. Although I enjoy doing my own cooking here in Jakarta, in this instance, Lily is my Go-to-Girl for advice on the recipe. So here we go! Cut them and fan them (I did this bit).

Lily whipped up a mixture of flour, breadcrumbs, powdered milk, icing sugar and ice water (which makes the batter crispy when fried).

Pisang swimming in an entire litre of cooking oil! Yikes!

I asked if we could dust with powdered sugar - the answer was 'no'.
Am I a fan of pisang goreng? Well... I loved that Asri so thoughtfully gifted them to me, (and to think how cumbersome to carry that laden banana stalk on the bus ride!) I loved working alongside Lily in the kitchen. I really enjoyed the new issue of one of my favourite mags. The special edition coconut-flavoured Nespresso coffee was yum. And next time, maybe a dusting of sugar will help...

Hunter Carpenter

"Hunter Carpenter is the Indie Folk/ Rock project of singer/songwriter Callum Bint".(triplejunearthed)  These musicians from Perth have launched their debut EP which is available for download (even a free download) through bandcamp.com.  Have a listen and hopefully, download, you won't be disappointed! From Facebook , check out Hunter Carpenter's page. We love the music!
Cal's friend, Arron did some awesome watercolours for the album cover and while in Jakarta, Callum and Leah visited one of my favourite shops, "Asmat Frame", to have this artwork and CD framed.
Asmat, is a tiny little studio on a tiny street just off one of the main drags in Kemang.

It may not look like much, but great things happen inside!

You enter this tiny shop and are greeted by a wall of framing samples and the delightful business owners, Ibu Heni and Ibu Ati. Remarkably, when I returned to Jakarta after an eight year absence from this city, Heni and Ati still remembered me, knew my name and the name of my friend Linda - we were 2 pals joined at the hip in those days - and welcomed me with smiles and hugs and enthusiasm.

On this particular visit, Leah and Cal only had opportunity to meet Ibu Heni, as Ati was caught out on the roads in the flood and rain and wasn't able to make it in to work. Callum set to work, choosing options. Heni is an expert at her work and her eye for colour and design is very keen. She knows also that I don't usually choose the typical so she always lets me have a good play in her studio, and today was no exception...

I think that Mr Kelem and Leah, with Heni's guidance, came up with an amazing plan for showcasing Hunter Carpenter's EP. These artworks are going to look amazing!

Looking Well Pleased...

The art is sent off sight to a workshop where the timber is painted, distressed, painted again in whatever technique and colours required to achieve the exact look of the frame chosen in the studio shop. As well, the matting is cut, all is assembled, and a couple of weeks later, a phone call is received from the lovely ladies and this is the result....VERY nice indeed!

While braving the rains and floods to get to Asmat, we had a few other things with us for framing as well. This coffee crisp advertisement is for Robert and is an original magazine cutting from The Star Weekly, April of 1960. (Well sourced Leah!). Coffee Crisp is Rob's FAVOURITE chocolate bar, and authentically Canadian! I can picture this in our Perth kitchen, or Rob's office, but wherever it ends up, it is going to look sweet in its new frame home!

It's always fun to trek to Asmat - always a little creative adventure, always a pleasure to see the girls, always the anticipation of picking up the artwork, always the reliable service and the excellent product. In Cal's case, there was a a hiccup along the way, and the finished artwork required a do-over. (CDs back to front and layout not a mirror image.) That was unfortunate, but in the end we got there, and the 'finished' finished product looks very impressive as the picture above attests!

Mr. Kelem and the Good Sport Girl!

Buckets of rain, a dull grey sky all week,

and flood waters threatening the city and surrounds of Jakarta,

but our week was brightened and cheered by the arrival of Leah and Callum!

The gloomy weather did not dampen their enthusiasm for checking out the city even though getting to and fro was more complicated than usual. We spent a great deal of time in transit, and Leah used the opportunity to get some shots of the floods as we waded through the soggy streets.

We were always grateful to be in the safety of a warm, dry car and very much aware of our fortunate circumstances. So many people in Jakarta must persevere with desperate conditions!

It was an adventure for us (but a terrible catastrophe for the nearly 100,000 homes affected, the 40,000+ people who had to evacuate their homes and the 4 people who drowned this past week).

Thank you God for travelling mercies, for safety, and for the opportunity to spend this past week with our Leah-she is such a bright spark and a good sport, and her Mr. Kelem, also a treasure! Come back soon!!!

Charlotte's Quilt

Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Some of my favourites. When I began working on something special for my dear friend Charlotte's birthday, I knew that I wanted to use my Kaffe collection-delicious looking colours and prints, loaded with 'wow factor'!

When I worked at The patchwork shop, it was quite common to hear, especially from a well meaning husband, "why would you cut up perfectly good fabric only to sew it back together again?" Silly silly question! What fun would it be if we couldn't bust into beauty fabric stacks like this one, sort through and pick favourites, organise colour schemes, decide on the perfect pattern and finally, begin to cut it all up? All the while knowing we are in the process of creating a one-of-a-kind quilt, beautiful and practical, for someone we love?

Charlotte's quilt is for her tv room. It will grace one of her comfie black leather sofas, and I wanted it to suit her contemporary home and be something that even her all-grown-up boys and hubby could use and enjoy. Anna Maria Horner's new feather bed pattern offered the look I was after and the sewing and design challenge that keeps me interested and sparks my creativity.

And doesn't it seem fitting that a quilt made by Mary Bird would be covered in feathers?

To my eye, these feathers just look so pretty all laid out and stacked up!

Now begins the job of sewing the feathers into their backgrounds so they can be set out as blocks.

Six background colours were chosen, quite purposefully, to match Charlotte's wall paint and her room's decor.

Of course, the feathers cannot all point upwards, no, no. Nor can they all be laid out vertically! Mix it up and change it out.

And now another kind of magic happens. Donna Lawrence, of Calico Quilters (click on WA) takes my quilt top and my wadding and backing, pins them onto the long rollers of her industrial quilt machine (keep scrolling down), and quilts the layers in a beautiful pattern. We chose a modern chevron design which turned out to be a perfect compliment for the pieced feathers.

Thank you kids for helping with the photograph and for the delicious coffee!

The Gammill Statler Stitcher and Donna with Charlie.

One final photograph of Charlotte's feather quilt nesting nicely in the bush. We were driving home from Denmark and I persuaded Rob to pull over so that I could take some pictures of a couple of quilts I had in the car. There was a perfect blue sky and really, any part of the route provided a beautiful backdrop.

Just before I left again for Indonesia, I presented Charlotte with her (belated) birthday quilt. I believe it will be going to a good home where it will be well loved.
So there you have it-patchworkers love to cut up perfectly good fabric and sew it back together again. We love the creative process. We enjoy the fellowship of other like-minded women as we work together. We thrive on the success of the 'practice makes perfect' aspect of our art form. We feel a sense of accomplishment as our labour takes shape-busy hands making something to mark and celebrate a milestone, like a treasured friend with a significant birthday. Happy Birthday Charlotte! I wish you health and longevity to wear it out!