Thanks, LaMa, Katy & Hana
Our trip-
Monday- we flew over to Melb, with our son, D & waited for R's flight from Hobart. We then picked up our hire car & headed up the Hume Highway to Wahgunyah, my old hometown. We stopped along the way for a cider in a hillbilly pub in a hillbilly town, visited a winery along the way, booked into our motel where we picked up my sister, went to the pub & then met my brother, his wife, their 2 daughters & 2 granddaughters & had a meal together at the pub of his choice. It was a really old-fashioned pub, with old school food, but it sufficed. Their choices of bubbly were very limited, so I chose a locally produced Sparkling Shiraz. That set the tone for the night. A lot of it was drunk. Pool was played. Fun was had. We left the boys in town & they continued on at another couple of pubs.
Tuesday- I didn't sleep that well but woke up ok & had breakfast in our rooms. We had arranged to meet our 2 nieces P(lives in BC, Canada) & C (lives in Melbourne) at one of our favourite wineries, Chambers at 10am. We were there for about 1.5 hours & the boys bought some wine & R organised to buy an oak barrel & have it & some wine shipped over. I probably have not mentioned it in here, but we have a family tradition of blending Muscat. My grandfather, who owned the general store in Wahgunyah, had a cellar under the shop where he stored big barrels of Muscat. He used to buy young material & blend it with his old & people used to visit him out the back of the shop. They wouldn't drink tea, they would come for a taste of his Muscat. I used to be given some of his old stuff & inherited one of his old barrels, filled with old Muscat & started blending it myself when I was only 18. I have continued the tradition, with G. When we owned a pub(bar really) G & I used to sell our blended Muscat to our regulars. I was brought up in a wine growing district. Look it up if you like. Rutherglen is the main town in the district & there are lots of vineyards.
Lunch(Mum's wake)- Was at the Corowa Whisky & Chocolate Factory cafe. I had invited 2 of Mum's old friends(she didn't have many left), my cousin's widow, another cousin & his wife came with their little GS, my sister's best friend & all of us. There were only 17 in total. We had our own private room (the sunroom) & it was excellent. My mother's older sister(the cousins' mother) had sent a red rose & a nice card & I told my cousin that we would take it to Mum's grave afterwards. I invited them along too, but he declined. I said I would send him a photo & he said he would print it up for my aunt. I gave a speech(1st one since High School) & it went well & I didn't feel petrified. My sister & brother didn't want to say anything. It was a really good send off. No fuss. Mum would have loved it. I promised to keep in touch with Mum's friends & I will.
Single Malt whisky at the grave- G & D had ducked out & bought some glasses at an op shop & selected a single malt whisky from the cafe. Mum used to like a glass of whisky before bed. The family then went out to the grave. We left a crystal glass with some whisky in it next to the headstone & we all had a toast to Mum. H's friend took photos. We then adjourned back to our motel, where we sat outside & polished off the whisky. P arrived back & spent a couple of hours with us, until her sister came back to get her. The day was so good. It went better than I ever thought it would.
Tues night- The 5 of us walked up to the local pub & played pool & the jukebox & mixed with the locals. We then decided we wanted pizza, but none of us could drive, of course, so off we walked towards Corowa. I think we entertained the locals that night. G & I cleaned up at pool btw & did I get some mileage out of that! We ended up finding a wonderful Italian restaurant right up at the top of town. The boys had ducked into a pub along the way as they didn't think the restaurant existed as they hadn't been able to find it the night before. We had been told they did great pizzas. We walked in & it looked lovely & they had GF pizza bases. I thought the waitress hesitated a little when we walked in(apparently they were about to close), but she covered it well. We said there were 2 more coming & that I would ring them & get them there soon). We ordered our pizzas & the boys arrived about 5 minutes later. G, H & I were not capable of drinking anymore, but D & R ordered their pizzas & a drink each. We got talking to the woman who had greeted us initially & she seemed like she was the owner. We got along well. She seemed really nice. It was only next day that we found out we had kept them open. Our pizzas were sensational.
As we were leaving some of the staff, including the boss, were outside having a smoke & D & R got chatting to them. H, G & I said our goodbyes & off we walked back to the motel. There was a little rain & some lightning, but it was great to walk off the day. We got back to the motel about 10. D & R got back about 2.30 apparently. They ended up partying with the boss & a couple of the staff. There was even dancing on the bar, R was offered a job any time he wanted it. Much fun was had. It was R's birthday & it will be one he will never forget. One of the staff dropped them off.
Wed morning- After a great night's sleep (us anyway) we met up with my brother, his wife, my nieces, great-nieces at the Rutherglen bakery for breakfast. This extended our family get together nicely. It was just lovely. We parted there & then G & I drove back to Melbourne with my sister & our 2 sons. H got a bus from the airport back to where she lives, we saw R off on his plane back to Hobart & G, D & I flew back to together to Tas.
I really can't believe how well it all went. It really was as good as it could have been. Absolutely no fuss & a fitting farewell for my Mum. We had quality family time. It really was the best!
BOOM! I weighed myself yesterday. I had gained 2.5kg in the last week. I knew that was not fat, but straight away I had a fast day(<500cals)
Boom-1.5 kg gone. I'm now ready to knuckle down. Fitbit is back on. I left it at home as it would freaked out my sister. She has a thing about WiFi & EMR. It wasn't worth upsetting her.
I had better have a quick look around diaries. Love to all xoxo Cate
