News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 9

We have our grand daughters other cat here now that the grand daughter is living with us. This is in addition to the other cat that we were supposed to be looking after for 3 months but has now turned into 6 years.

This little sweetie, Narla, is a very affectionate little girl and loves sitting on either hubbys or my lap while we are at the computer.

But now when we get out of our chairs she thinks that maybe she can help out and has taken to sitting on my desk.

Not sure if she enjoys playing games or thinks she could be CUPs newest designer!

Love her to bits but it is hard trying to work when she has taken a liking to the desk over the chair or ones lap.

Last Saturday night we had the pleasure of attending our second eldest grand daughters 21st Birthday Celebration. Her birthday was actually a few days before but midweek so Saturday was a much better time to celebrate.

Theme for the night was pink and white and everyone was requested to wear pink, white or a neutral colour.

There was about 30 family and friends attending and it was such a lovely night. The food was great and the cocktails/mocktails were fantastic. But her cake…..well that was out of this world.

Not sure exactly what it was but it was like a white chocolate sponge with cream in a heart shape.

It was sooo yummy. Melt in your mouth. Was a wonderful night mixing with everyone and grand daughter looked gorgeous in her pretty pink dress. Although 18 is officially adult age here, we still celebrate 21st birthdays.

This orchid was brought down from Hervey Bay when I moved. I am not even sure where I got it from!

I think it may have been there when we went there and I just let it grow ….and grow it did but I cant remember it ever flowering in the 14 years we were there.

So when I moved I just grabbed it as it has a lot of aerial roots. I just stuck it in the garden, it got moved a couple of times and just sat on top of the ground.

A few weeks ago it started to get buds and I have been waiting patiently to see what happened. My birth mother is into orchids big time and had the most amazing greenhouse full of various orchids. Although she is now in residential care, her/my cousin goes to the house and gets orchids and takes them to her to tend to.

She cuts/repots and can tell you the name of every single one. But this one had her stumped. Thanks to Google I have now found out it is a Holttumara Hari Afghan Orchid. The orchid Holttumara Hari Afghan is a hybrid in the Holttumara genus. It is originated by A.Peh & Peh Eng Kee.

Registered parents (cross) are Aranda Bertha Braga × Renanthera storiei. It was registered in 1982 with the Royal Horticultural Society. It has been in flower now for 2 weeks and the blooms are still nice and healthy. I want to find out more about the plant but there doesnt seem to be too much more information on it.

How cute is this Little Penguin? My daughter and her partner have just had a week driving from Melbourne to Adelaide doing all the tourist attractions along the way.

Phillip Island, Great Ocean Rd and the 12 Apostles (there arent 12 anymore as some have fallen into the ocean), a redwood forest and Kangaroo Island to name a few.

Kangaroo Island is home to the Little Penguin.Little Penguins are the smallest penguin in the world! They are roughly only 33cm tall and weigh around 1 kilogram.

These penguins spend around 80% of their lives at sea looking for food and then returning to their nesting burrows to breed, raise chicks, moult and to take a little break from the many weeks spent swimming!

Little Penguins are the only penguin in the world with blue and white feathers. The blue colour on the back of the penguin camouflage the penguin from flying predators such as eagles.

The light coloured stomach blends in with the sky to camouflage the penguin from the predators underneath in the water, such as seals.

The earliest record of the Little Penguins around Kangaroo Island was in 1826. When she came home she brought me a little souvenir……..the cutest little penguin hand puppet. It is actually the size of the little penguins on Kangaroo Island. I love it.

Well Christmas for another year is done and dusted. I hope everyone had a lovely day. Its been a few years since our family has all been together even though we didnt have our Christmas on Christmas Day.

Due to parents having kids that have to be with another parent on the day and having to spread themselves with other family members we decided that wed have our Christmas dinner on the 24th.

We all went to our new Tavern for dinner and had our celebration there. After that my daughter and her partner stayed over at our place and along with our grand daughter and her partner that lives with us we got to have Christmas Day breakfast together.

So for Christmas lunch there was only us and our grand daughter and her partner. Might have been a little disjointed but it was absolutely wonderful to do the festive thing with them. Hubby spoilt me and I got a new overlocker because mine hasnt been working for years. I cant wait to use it.

This week we are babysitting my daughters dog while they go away for a week. I think this has been the best Christmas for quite a few years for us.