ANZAC Day from a present day point of view

Greetings all,
It's fantastic to see crowds at marches & blog posts celebrating ANZAC Day.  I grew up in a military family, including iconic Light Horsemen at Gallipoli, yet they never marched or made a big deal about ANZAC Day.  My father is a very open, warm & friendly gentleman, yet has never spoken about the Korean or Vietnam Wars.  In turn, we children have unspokenly respected it & only asked about all the other adventures of his 32 year career in the Navy.

My children have questioned Grandad if he was a pirate sailing the high seas & admire his medals & memorabilia, including photos with Queen Elizabeth & launching new ships into the fleet.  By coincidence or just a matter of the WW2 generation, my brothers' wives & sister's husband are all children of servicemen too - Greek/ Australian; Austrian & French.  We have a family story of when my eldest nephew was in Kindergarten & took his 'other' Grandfather's medals to school for ANZAC Day, only to be told "that Grandfather was on the wrong team".  I guess the Iron Cross stood out against the Pacific Stars which his class mates brought in.       

You'll find most people remembering/ discussing/ celebrating on this day - the humour, the mateship & the courage they sought to get through war . . . dealing with the horror, the waste & the pain of their experience in a personal private way.  ANZAC Day is a good prompt to show them we appreciate their sacrifices & we're proud.   

 The ANZAC Day commentators say "remember there are still current service men & women deployed to war zones right now" as they talk about all the history of each unit marching.  Why yes, i don't need a reminder thank you.  This is how my husband spent last ANZAC Day, a simple but extremely meaningful ceremony in Afghanistan.

 This ANZAC Day handsome soldier is with us, snuggled up on the lounge, belly filled with Easter eggs & watching family movies, then an afternoon swim with Army friends.  Last year he was in a gun pit overlooking the Chora Valley.

I was uncertain about putting this last image in - as a housewife, mother, lover of all things homemade, crafty, pretty, girlie & nice (read: opposite to battle, guns & war) - this is not how i think of my loving husband & father of our 4 kind hearted children, who plaits hair, plays games, bakes cheesecakes & sneezes around flowers.  Your husbands might be interested - i know my brothers find his line of work & equipment fascinating.  Alas this is what he looks like, a pistol where his wallet should be, a beard (icky), in the desert for 8 month tours.  Today, soldiers have amazing equipment, body armour, resources, technology, support, therapy, education, medical treatment & training . . . war is still war . . . there are decisions, ethics, relationships & cultural factors i could never imagine & we still need a Defence Force.  Love Posie

Happy Australia Day & the Qld Flood Raffles end at midday

Raffle WINNER:  Congratulations # 96 . . . Anna from TillyTom Designs & Sew!Busy!Mama blog, you have an autographed copy of Handmade Living, a pencil roll, fabric & more crafty goodness coming to you!! 

Giveaway WINNER: Congratulations #45 . . . Bronwyn from Whippet Good blog, you have 4 Japanese printed FQ of fabric coming your way!!

Sorry for the delay in the annoucement & to leave 138 very generous entries hanging, my middle girl cut her foot open getting into the shower, i know, safer in the pool, bathrooms are the danger zone!!  Thanks for your patience!!

Greetings all,
Happy Australia Day everyone.  Still flat from my migraine but up for taking the children swimming & having a fun day.  In Canberra we have all sorts of free concerts to celebrate but i find them a bit of a mosh pit & with 4 children on my own, someone always needs the bathroom (um, me)!!  I think swimming, a BBQ, ANZAC biscuits & lamingtons is more our scene this year. 

Like the chalk flag my middle girl drew on the back of the house??  I'm sure Defence Housing will enjoy it too!!  She did it last week while they were playing cricket in the back garden, she was meant to be fielding at silly mid off.

 A happy shot of my 4 with some of their cousins in Balmoral (Mosman) 10 days ago.  Cousins are the best people in the world, my children have 19 of them, aged 4 to 21, all living in NSW.  We have a combination of cousins with Italian, Austrian, Hungarian, English, Irish, Scottish & French heritage, how typically Australian is that??!! 
Wondered why 3 of my children have olive skin??  Paternal northern Italian great grandparents - the genes are strong!!  My husband is very olive, with blue eyes, dimples, oh & his smile . . . sorry, got a bit carried away there . . . i miss him . . . anyway, in Italy everyone speaks Italian to him, he's just a tall sporty style Italian.  

 The iconic kangaroo, we have gazillions around our place & chat to them on our family bush walks.  They are pretty timid & some are enormous!!

 Thanks for a wonderful response to the auctions & raffles run by Make it Perfect (check out the master list!!) we're raising a whole tonne of money for the flood victims in Qld.  Today the raffles end at midday.  The grand total of money raised will be announced late this afternoon, what a wonderful way to show off our Australian spirit, helping our neighbours, on Australia Day!!
 

 I can't wait to draw my lucky raffle winner after lunch (for an autographed copy of Handmade Living, a pencil roll & fabric + craft goodies) & a runner up for 4 Japanese FQ fabrics.  Good luck everyone, over 100 125 entries & counting!!
ALSO, can't wait to see if i've won any raffles too??  Have you seen the competition over at Jodie's Ric Rac raffle for softies or Lisa's The Red Thread raffle for a sewing machine, fabric & patterns . . . i've entered both, several times, fingers crossed!!

Want more ways to support the Qld Flood Appeal??  Lots of designers at Shop Handmade in Canberra are donating 10% of January sales & . . . the amazing Rachel & Julie who own Shop Handmade are matching them dollar for dollar!!  Yahoo, imagine that mega donation??  When my children resume school, i go back to Shop Handmade - come & visit the most beautiful Shop in Canberra!!  Support Australian handmade, small business, local produce with excellent customer service (if i do say so myself). 

Thank you everyone for participating in any raffle, auction, donation, prizes, giveaways, shopping, baking, sandwich making & every other little thing you've done to support the Qld Flood Appeal, victims & volunteers.
Have yourself a wonderful Australia Day, love Posie