Skip to main content

Christmas Countdown Local 2022 #10/25 - Lambton Park


Lambton Park is our local park , just minutes away from our home . It  is a favourite with   people of all ages - with an historical rotunda, tea rooms, beautiful gardens, majestic trees,  a walking track  ( 2,500 steps)  and an exciting playground for children.   On most weekends, the park is a popular place for sports, birthday parties and picnics… Christmas time is no exception .

 Today there were many groups celebrating, including dog handlers /rangers from City of Newcastle  ( our local Council)  who were promoting pet photos with Santa. I managed to take a photo of them, looking very festive with their companion labrador. 
 
More importantly , it was the chosen site for the Simmons’ extended family Christmas gathering. Here are some of the images of a very happy and relaxed day with much loved family members .










And here's my contribution to the picnic today - Christmas fruit cake, made from my mother's recipe. 



 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Designing with Grids

  Wilma Simmons: Magpie Grid, 2026  Straight lines - no not my style! However, here I am stitching grids to create net like structures.  In a recent Stitch Club   workshop by Eszter Bornemisza,  the brief was to create small, transparent textile samples consisting of airy, net-like structures made from a variety of leftover and recycled materials. Using machine straight stitch, small scraps of material including transparent fabrics, lace, cotton and paper were secured  onto water-soluble stabiliser or a layer of paper napkin tissue, or mulberry paper. In the sample pictured above, I used cotton fabric scraps and some roughly cut out motifs secured to a paper napkin with stitching. I washed away the paper napkin , leaving a net like composition, inspired by magpies strutting about in the garden.   Eszter Bornemisza's s innovative technique has been developed over many years, and her gird designed map like installations are world renowned.  Esz...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...
Post a Comment
Read more