Letters to Ann

Dear Ann,

It was the 8th April & the first monthly market sponsored by the Warners Bay Chamber of Commerce. I was more than a little bit excited about it & very much looking forward to it.

However, I had a little bit of a loss attached to it as, before the market was due to start, a kind stall holder came up to me asking if I would like to go to the toilet before the market commenced. As I am on my own, this is a kind offer from a thoughtful person & I took advantage of the offer as I had six hours of trading ahead of me.

However, when I got there I felt my ring finger & so help me could not believe I had lost another diamond & sapphire ring which was quite unique. It was a ring I had purchased in Singapore over forty years ago specifically for my Mother as it was so different & I thought it would suit her finger.

I doubt that she ever wore it & it was given back to me after she passed away. At that time I gave it to my friend, Pat who held it for a time but never wore it. She ultimately gave it back to me because of the value.

When I lost my jewellery which was stolen in my wallet I wore it & if Mum didn’t get attached to it I did. I thought how nice it looked on my finger. When I discovered it missing my heart lurched & I told myself it must be in the car or amongst the goods I had unloaded at the market so I didn’t give up hope. I had a job to do that morning so put it behind me.

I never did find it (well, not yet), but I have got the message that rings & I are not meant to be together & I did not let it affect me & the challenge before me. I forgot about it (sort of)!

When I came home & unloaded the car I was rather tired & elated at the same time. I think the tiredness took over more than the elation at that point, as I had put in two hours of solid line dancing the day before the market.

All in all I was dragging my feet when I noticed my answering machine was blinking. I answered it & received another shock. It was my long time very dear friend, Stephen Ebbeck leaving a message saying his Mum had passed away that morning.

I could hear the tears in his voice, which matched the tears that came to my eyes at that point. I could scarcely believe it. The loss of a lovely ring is not to be compared with the loss of a lovely friend & I was really sad.

Janet has been in a nursing home nearby for the past few years after she had a very major operation on a cancer in her stomach that was successful & gave her a few more years with her family. Apparently, Stephen, who lives in Sydney, was twenty minutes away from picking his Mum up to take her to lunch.

Stephen often came up from Sydney for that reason & very often kindly included me in the outing, which was lovely. With just that short time away from seeing his Mum he received a call from his sister, Michelle who informed him that their Mum had gone.

Poor Stephen, I can only imagine what went through his mind at that moment & so he asked quite puzzled “Where has she gone?” No wonder he had tears in his voice when he rang me. His Mum had collapsed while she was dressing to go out for lunch.

So now it was my turn as I thought about my very dear friend, Janet. I knew Stephen for years before I really knew Janet. She lived in a suburb very close to me.

Janet, Stephen and Gerald Ebbeck

Where I live it’s a very small close knit community, so when I was shopping at the super market I would often see Janet & we would greet each other & say the perfunctory things. This happened so often & I felt as if we should know each other more, particularly as Stephen & I had known each other for many years.

I rang Stephen one day asking if he thought his Mum would like to have lunch with me. He very quickly took me up on that & when I rang her she also very quickly said she would love to.

From that time on, Janet & I enjoyed lunch together every Wednesday & I realised she was looking for company as we so often do as we age.

Janet lived for her beautiful family. I don’t use that lightly either as I found her family of the four remaining children was extra loving & caring. Janet & her husband, Gerald, lost a twin daughter, Louise, with cancer, Mother of two, at the age of 34. I don’t think that the whole family ever really got over that loss, particularly the parents which is understandable.

I recall the funeral many years ago & the grief the family suffered. All Stephens friends were there from Sydney, most of them staying with Max & I at our place the night before the funeral. Stephen is probably the biggest, softest hearted man I know & his grief was such that on the day of his sister’s funeral he was so distraught that he kicked at the hearse. We could all understand the grief they were suffering.

The whole family were close to their Mum, but Stephen seemed to be even more so & over the years treated his Mum, sometimes accompanied by husband Gerald, to holidays in Europe & other places. He loved his Mum very dearly.

Gerald was apt to wander off on his own on these holidays & on one in particular, he wandered off, got on the bus outside while Stephen & his Mum were watching. Janet was known to remark to Stephen “Do you think we should tell him to get off the bus or will we let him travel on to China?”

Another time when Stephen took his Mum to Thailand with him on a holiday he booked her in for a Thai massage, went off & left her. When he returned to collect her she hadn’t had the massage because he hadn’t told her that she had to take her clothes off! Our Janet had a sense of dry humour & her shy smile would almost give her away.

Indeed it was that shy smile that was also her individual definitive Janet smile that we all knew so much, which brought tears to my eyes when I walked into where the funeral was to be held.

On either side of the wall, as we walked into the chapel, were two very large photos of Janet with her beautiful & unique smile looking at us. It was just so lifelike & so Janet that I don’t think anyone would not have felt she was there with us.

I did not think I would cry at the funeral as I don’t do too much of that these days, but I was proved wrong. I went to the funeral with a mutual friend of ours Myrtle, & we were first to arrive.

As we walked into the chapel, I saw part of the family, Lisa, Michelle, Mark, Stephen & before I knew it Lisa was holding me in the biggest hug ever. Lisa is Mark’s partner & we have not met many times, but somehow I feel a special bond with Lisa & when she did this I could feel the tears coming.

It got worse as she let me go & I saw Mark crying beside her. Then I saw my sweet & dear friend Stephen crying too. That really finished me. For the second time in my association with Stephen I have seen him cry like that & it broke my heart.

I recovered a little then walked inside the chapel & saw the lifelike photos of Janet with the lovely smile we all knew. It’s a time when you take many deep breaths & the service that came next was equally as emotional.

As I waited for the service to start I read this:  ‘Miss me but let me go’ & the poem.

‘When I come to the end of the road & the sun has set for me,
I want no rites in a gloom filled room, why cry for a soul set free?
Miss me a little – but not too long & not with your head bowed low,
Remember the love that we once shared – miss me a little but let me go.
For this is a journey that we all must take & each must go alone
It’s all a part of the Master’s plan, a step on the road to home.
When you are lonely & sick at heart, go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds, Miss me, but let me go’.

And so, it was a sad farewell to my dear friend, & I am the richer for not only knowing her but also in knowing the family that she loved so much.

I think this would please her. I think all the family have Janet’s beautiful loving nature. For instance, just after my wallet was stolen last year with my valuable jewellery in it, we had a picnic lunch with Stephen, Mark & partner Lisa, in a lovely park near to us all.

It was Mark who got me to sketch the rings I had lost as he said sometimes things come up on Gum Tree (on the internet).

A few months later, sure enough, an ad came on Gum Tree saying the writer had found three rings & wanted to find the owner. Stephen gave me a call that morning to say Mark had called to say they could possibly be mine as not often it is three rings found together.

All that day, after Stephen rang, I was sure in my heart they were my rings as it made sense & after locating the ad I went to the Charlestown Police Station to show them as, at the time, they showed a lot of care for me when I lost them as the detective involved rang me the next day to see if I was okay.

However, it seemed they were not mine but this iterates my close connection with the family & how caring they are.

Janet is leaving a loving legacy, a truly beautiful family endowed with the same love that Janet had for them all, a precious gift which will continue on,

Those we love, we never forget.

That is exactly why I am writing my letters to you, my dear friend. As Stephen always says to me as we are parted after a phone call or when we are together those wonderful words which I say to you, “I love you & wherever you are you know that.”

You know what was in my heart on that last day I saw you & went back to give you a last hug like Lisa gave me. I knew that day that I would not see you again in person so it was a hug & ‘I love you’ before I let you go. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

I really didn’t do anything over Easter apart from having the girls to lunch & going to Fennels Bay market. My favourite eating place was closed so I simply stayed home on Easter Monday & did a bit of tidying up that was overdue: you know how it is!

I spend a bit of each day sitting in my little wooden rocking chair, which is just outside my lounge room window under the sun. So because Micheles Patisserie was closed for two days I occupied myself at home, deciding that I would write three letters that I have needed to write for some weeks, but had been had been putting them off until I had time to think of what I needed to write, as they were not the ordinary type of letter.

On a visit a few weeks ago to my GP, Dr. Bourke to find out the results of some blood tests he had requested, he was so pleased with the results that he said I should write to my previous doctors & tell them how I was & what I am doing.

He suggested Dr. Relic who nursed me through four & half years of agonising itch before I was sent to hospital & the cancer scare, which went away when they cured my thrush.

He also suggested a letter to Dr. Walsh my cancer specialist & Dr. O’Brien my oncologist. I think Dr. Bourke is a bit pleased with the fact that I don’t sit at home feeling sorry for myself & is also pleased with my activities, which he is well aware of.

So I thought about it & guessed that Dr. Bourke wanted me to give these doctors some positive results that I imagine would give doctors a bit of a lift. So after putting it off for too long I sat down on Easter Monday to write the letters, which took me most of the afternoon.

I will share with you the letter I sent to Dr. Relic. I modified the other two to suit the need. This is what I wrote:

Dear Dr. Relic,

At a recent consultation with my GP, Dr. Syd Bourke, this good man suggested I write to let you know how I am & what I am doing. Dr. Bourke is aware of all my activities & I think he is pleased with the fact that I am not sitting at home bored to tears with nothing to do. The family brought Hammond Care in to do my housework & my garden when I was diagnosed with Mycosis Fungoids, hence I have seven days a week in which to do nothing,

In case you don’t remember me, which I doubt as I was on your doorstep often enough, he also suggested I send a recent photo with this letter. His suggestion for me to write was after he had just received results of a blood test he had requested & in his words he said “blood was excellent, liver & kidneys also excellent”.

In connection with how I feel I can only say that for at least the past eighteen months I have felt extremely well. I think it would be fair to use the expression ‘tip top’ for an aging 87 year old. In addition to that my friends & acquaintances have repeatedly mentioned how well I look, particularly my skin. I just feel so good within myself.

I must add this though that I had a great incentive which I should mention. After I came out of hospital in 2015 my son, David, really thought that I would not live so one evening in the presence of my 22 year old grand daughter, Charley, he made an offer. He said if I felt well enough he would pay for Charley to accompany me, as my carer, to Los Angeles for a six week holiday from November to end of December – that was in 2015.

This was to visit my other son, Philip, who lives there. I seemed to get well at a fast rate! It was a wonderful offer from David & it certainly paid dividends.

I continued on my road to good health & in August, 2016 made approximately 400 Christmas puddings, some for gifts, some for sale to friends & others. Due to a spate of events which happened during 2016 I went to four monthly markets with my puddings just prior to Christmas & had a tremendous response.

Also the kindness of fellow stall holders & the Lions Club was outstanding (not sure whether my age sponsored this or not) but I went up to my son’s place after my first market for dinner & he was quite bemused with my elated sprits. He said he had never seen me quite so elated & was amazed at what it was doing for me, as he had been sure that in 2015 that I would not survive.

The Lions Club wanted me to keep coming this year so I have been making ten batches of my popular Curried Zucchini Relish each month as it’s difficult to sell even th best Christmas Pudding in January. So I bought myself a gazebo, two good folding tables & drive to my venues at Fennels Bay & Warners Bay markets & sell approximately 60 jars of relish each time. It’s not about money, it’s the challenge & activity I am enjoying so much.

I have always enjoyed both & this has given me a new lease of life. Plus it is not difficult to sit out in the nice weather & be with nice people. I have everyone I know keeping their jars for me instead of recycling them as I use over 120 per month.

In addition to this I am back line dancing for two hours every Friday, which is really being active as most of it requires a bit more energy than a waltz. At one stage I thought I would never get back to this activity & missed it all through 2015, but its good to be back now.

I also continue to write my Letters to Ann which I have been writing for ten years. This covers just about the story of my life as it goes on. I started this project after my dear friend, Ann, passed away.

I had been writing to her in Los Angeles frequently. She kept all my letters leaving them to her son. Ultimately my son received them, suggested I keep writing as I was enjoying it & he started a blog for me.

This resulted, to my amazement, in receiving two volumes of my letters in book form from under the Christmas tree the following Christmas. I now have fourteen volumes & hopefully expect two more from under the tree this next Christmas. Whatever I write for the year Philip has them put into book form for me.

Dr. Bourke is not aware of the latter or he may not have made the suggestion of writing to you! However, when he suggested I write to my previous doctors I thought it may bring a nice story into your life with a happy ending. You must see & hear enough of sadness.

I can never thank you enough Dr Relic for the way you sat beside me all the way through those four & half years. You bent over backwards for me & I can never thank you enough. You are not only a wonderful doctor, you are also a very compassionate person which I like to call an angel from God.

Many, many thanks for all you did for me. I write this with fond affection & great respect.

God Bless, My Very Kindest Regards, Dawn.

I also sent to Dr. Relic a kilo pudding for him because I know how much he loves them. I will give one to the other two doctors when I have a check up during the year.

So that’s how I spent Easter Monday & I felt good about it. So at 5.30 p.m. I did what I usually do & got myself ready for bed, sat in front of the tele with a cool glass of good white wine to watch a favourite programme.

Would you believe that just after 6 p.m., after I had eaten my left over salmon patties, the phone rang. It was David to ask what I was doing here & then it hit me. I had had such a busy week before Easter & my mind on other things that I had forgotten the fortnightly family dinner!

Needless to say I missed out on the fabulous Bruschetta which David serves pre dinner & also the melt in the mouth fillet steak he serves for dinner! I survived & they missed me for sure!!

Love you dear heart. Dawn. X O X O

Dear Ann,

What a great Easter it was with the sun shining down on us for the whole of the time. It’s the first Easter in many years when we have seen this happen. It is usually thunder, lightning & rain.

I get the feeling that this is rightly so & a reminder how angry God was at what they did to His Son. It was a sad time but then we get the sunshine to remind us all is well, He lives again & is always with us. I always feel a bit subdued at Easter because of the occasion, but I did really enjoy the sun this year. I think everybody enjoyed – it was lovely.

Michele’s Patisserie was closed for Friday, Sunday & Monday & only open on Sat morning. This has never happened before to that extent, but I can’t blame Rachelle for taking full advantage of the holidays now that little Spencer James has been added to the family. I don’t think I have told you about that.

He was born on 18th March & his Mum kept working at the patisserie until the day before his birth. She was back on the job three days later looking trim, taut & terrific, with no excess fat – it was all baby. What a great girl she is.

So I got a look at little Spencer when he was only four days old lying in his pram looking around his new world & waving his tiny arms about. He is a perfect little baby. I think all of Rachelle’s patrons are welcoming this newcomer into the cafe family at the Patisserie as most of the patrons brought this event into their own lives throughout the preceding months.

Judy, Pat & I had gone shopping the week before to purchase a nice gift for when the new baby arrived as we have been patrons there for many years & feeling part of the event. We sat Rachelle down with us one day & presented her with a very lovely embroidered baby towel set & a little thingamejig for baby to hold & play with or put in his mouth & suck his thumb while he holds the cloth attached to it! I must say that little Spencer is absolutely the most gorgeous baby, we had forgotten how beautiful a new baby is.

Gift for Rachele’s coming baby from the three of us.

I really missed my favourite cafe not being open, but on Easter Sunday I had my Fennels Bay market to attend to, so I trotted off to see where I would be put on this gorgeous sunny warm day. Mr. Lions Man gave me a site to go to, but I missed it, ended up at another site.

I have had five different sites the five times I have been taking part. I queried another Lions Club member as to whether I was at the right site. He mentioned the name of another lass who usually has that particular one but as it looked unlikely she was going to turn up at that late hour (7 a.m.) & I could stay there if I wished.

This suited me fine, on the spot & onto job in hand so he & another member put up my gazebo for me. I was unpacked & ready when the first customer came past at 7.30 & I sold the first jar of relish for the day. With the sun & all, the day looked promising with a $4 sale to start with.

I wasn’t wrong about the day, as I had tucked away 89 times that amount by the time the market ended at 12.30 p.m. Each time I am there the sales escalate, which is a nice feeling after all my hard work, but what I love most is the challenge & the activity, it gives me a reason to get up in the morning.

During the morning a nice looking youngish man came along with a purpose. He didn’t want a sample to taste, but asked could he take a photograph. I didn’t mind, but asked why as I didn’t want my picture on the page of the daily paper selling relish at a market!

He belonged to a camera club who had been given the challenge of presenting some unusual photographs so he turned my large jar of relish around so the label wasn’t in view & took a close up snap. My relish does really look good in their little glass homes. I wish now I had asked him to send me a copy, but I was slow on the uptake. However, it was an interesting little interlude.

Then when the market slowed down & it was time to pack up, another nice thing happened to me. I had been wedged between two elderly chaps selling old tools, fishing lines, that kind of thing, & they seemed very pleased to have a young lady next to them!

They kept talking to me on & off & indeed the one on my right hand side seemed eager to talk to anyone as he would wander away from his site for a chat, sometimes missing out on a prospective sale. He was quite chatty & told me he was 89 years of age. I wasn’t going to let him have it all his way, so I told him I was in my 88th year!

Anyway when I started packing up he said when I was ready he & the chap on the other side would take down my gazebo for me. This they did, God bless them & even folded up the canopy like a housemaid would fold up a linen sheet.

When this was all done, one of them (not the chatty one) said that he was very definitely going to ring the Lions Club & ask that I have that spot permanently, so that they can help me each month. I could see that he really meant it.

Wasn’t that so nice of them? See what I mean about stall holders, they are always there to give a hand to the next one if needed. These two had already bought a jar of relish from me, but I thought it was worth another jar each for them for their trouble! Then I asked to whom was I talking: the right hand 89 year old said he was Bill & my other little helper was Ron.

Well I drove off home with all my left over jars of relish, plus my loot feeling a very happy little vegemite, having found two new friends who want to help a stray lass!

So if I do get site 118 from now on, half my market day worries will be over with Ron & Bill to help me. If their wish comes to fruition & has the okay of the Lions Club I will inform these two nice guys just who I am: ‘the original Pudding Lady’ who makes the best Christmas Pudding in the world. Not just my opinion but that of one of our largest food halls in Australia, David Jones, to whom we supplied for years.

And next Christmas I will promise them both the most delicious pudding they will ever taste! I will also take them some slices next month to prove my point!

So it looks like I won’t have to wait until some stall holder dies to get on the permanent list as I was told. However, we will see what takes place in this regard on the third Sunday of next month but life in the market place sure looks interesting.

Fondest Love, Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

After three weeks or more of steady rain the sun came through & we were blessed with beautiful sunshine. It was the loveliest Easter – weather wise – that we have had in years & we took every advantage to enjoy it.

I like to be rather quiet at this holiest time of year. My only plan was that I had asked Riley & Charley if they would like to come & have lunch with me on a day that suited them. Then when David came down for his visit the Saturday before Easter he suggested that maybe the girls would like to come for lunch on Easter Saturday as there was to be quite an event in Warners Bay which is where I live (Lakelands is part of the bay).

I mentioned to you about David’s Kombi van & all the time, money & effort he had put into it in the past twelve months or so & he is just so proud of it. He wanted to have it in pristine condition for Easter as Kombis were congregating from allover Australia & meeting at Bus Stop at Swansea, which is a suburb a few kilometers from Warners Bay. Bus Stop is the name of the meeting as the next Bus Stop will be held next Easter at Stanthorpe, Queensland.

David belongs to the Kombi Club online & corresponds with other Kombi owners where they share all sorts of things in connection with their beloved vans. David shared with me – the week before the meeting was to take place – that he was quite excited about it. I was pleased for him as he has put a lot of time, effort & money into restoring his 1976 van into looking as beautiful as it ever did.

David’s Kombi on show.

All the Kombi members met & stayed at a caravan park at Swansea for the whole of Easter. David’s news was that on Easter Saturday morning there was going to be a convoy driving to Warners Bay where a whole car park was reserved for them to park when they arrived.

For sure I didn’t want to miss seeing this event & neither did the girls as it would be something one wouldn’t see too often. We also wanted to be there for David too. Riley arranged to pick me up from home & we met Charley at the venue.

It was quite exciting & something different. I must say that the array of Kombis was quite spectacular & they all looked wonderful, the whole 102 of them.

Charley particularly liked the one painted in black & cream like a jersey cow. Indeed, she called it the cow Kombi! I just enjoyed browsing & looking at them all taking a few photos, but I rather liked the pig Kombi!

They all looked wonderful in their lovely colours. We could see inside to view how they were fitted out so that when on holiday they had their own kitchen facilities & bed inside. I guess if the Kombis could talk they could tell some good stories like my dining room table!

Riley and Charley with the Cow Kombi.

David’s love for his van goes back many years to when he was courting Jenni. The van was used for the wedding – with other Kombis – when David & Jenni were married. They spent most of their young life when Charley & Riley came along, going away camping. It holds a myriad of memories both for David & the girls.

So that was how we all spent Easter Saturday morning.

After our little tour David took Lauren & us three to the Warners Bay hotel, just opposite the car park, where we enjoyed a nice cool drink as the day was quite hot. I certainly enjoyed my Lemon, Lime & Bitters, which I always find a very refreshing drink. The hotel is a very nice venue in which to enjoy it.

When the special Chicken Wings arrived for David & Lauren’s lunch we left them to it & returned to my little villa where I had lunch prepared for me & the girls. I had gone to quite a bit of trouble to make some salmon patties.

As it had been years since I had made them I sought the help of my friend, Pat, who gave me the recipe years ago. I have lost the art of cooking these days as I don’t do much anymore. I look back on when I could & would entertain a dozen or more people for dinners at home & wonder how I did it!

However, they weren’t too bad at all (with Pat’s input) served with a tasty salad.

When Charley & Riley get together there is no shortage of conversation. They are like two chirping birds & I love listening to their bright chatter.

I had decided early in the year that I would not give them chocolates for Easter. Charley would like, but doesn’t want to eat them while Riley can have no dairy in her diet, so I did something different.

I had saved all my coins since Christmas & I put them all into two small coffee jars with the glass lids. I filled them up to the brim with the coins. I tied them up in cellophane using silver ribbon for Riley’s & gold ribbon for Charley’s.

I also put a small jewellery gift with each one & was particularly pleased with what I had found for them. Charley’s gift was a very pretty pointed bead with colours inside on a black necklace which I knew Charley would like. I had to search for Riley’s gift as I am not sure what she likes, but I found a very dainty silver bracelet with a little thing hanging from it on which sprouted the tree of life.

Then before I gave them the packages I asked had they seen the magnificent new Gold Ingot chocolate which Cadbury had put on sale. They hadn’t, which I knew as it wasn’t true, but I handed them the really heavy jars of money instead. Riley said “Good one Gran!”

Riley and Charley with their “Small Change”

I told them they could busy themselves counting the money as I had put it in willy nilly & didn’t know how much was there. I didn’t know who had what & I wanted to occupy them while I got the lunch ready.

Riley let out a delighted squeal when she found her bracelet. She just loved it & I was so pleased. Charley liked her necklace too & they both donned there new finery on the spot.

How they kept counting AND talking I don’t know but they have a non stop patter. Charley finished first with a total of $106.05 cents. Riley got the jackpot,:$120 & five cents!

Poor Charley came off second best & little sister offered to share her excess with her big sister who gently refused, as it was all fun. I am sure on the roundabout Charley is not treated too badly by Gran!

So we had a lovely lunch, I enjoyed every minute of their company &, as always, make the most of the time I spend with my very special & very delightful & very lovable grandchildren!!

God Bless you Ann & I send my love. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

I am really into the swing of things now at Fennels Bay market now & getting to know the ropes of selling at markets, so can almost call myself an expert at it. I know a lot from past experiences at big fairs & fetes, but markets are a little different & I found there was still plenty to learn.

I am delighted with the third gazebo I purchased as it’s a lot easier to erect & the Lions Club men do a great job in helping me get set up. I have a ritual on market mornings which goes like this:

1. Wake up on time. Get up & get going.
2. Arrive at the market, line up & book in, as I am not on the permanent list yet. I think someone has to die before I can on get on that, as I believe there is a lengthy list of ‘would be permanents’.
3. When my turn to book in comes around, it is my cue to ask for help to erect my gazebo. Then I have no trouble in waiting as the ‘booking me in ‘ chap gets on his walkie talkie & arranges it immediately. There’s no waiting for things to happen.
4. Get the produce on the tables & organise the financial side. The last thing is bringing out my chair, but I don’t get to sit on it straight away. Believe it or not, lookers are out & about early on Sunday mornings, which makes me think that there is more insomniacs around than I thought. I can’t imagine anyone in their right senses getting up at that hour on a Sunday morning to mooch around a market! However, I am not averse to early morning sales!

Having done two markets at Fennels Bay I was all keyed up for March & had a grand amount of stock all ready. However, the elements had other ideas & for three weeks we had nothing but wet weather, on & on & on.

I wasn’t sure what happened in these circumstances being new to it, so on the morning itself I looked out the window before my get up time. Sure enough, God had not stopped the rain just because I had a market to go to so I went back to bed.

That happened three times when finally I succumbed to ‘plan b.’ I waited till 9 a.m. then got up & drove to the venue – in the rain!

I hit the jackpot.there was not a sign of a gazebo, a car or a person, so I went back home now knowing what happens with adverse weather! I wasn’t disappointed. Looking at the silver lining was the fact that I had all the stock made for the next Fennels Bay market still another month away.

However, the powers to be intervened on that score as it was not going to be the next market at Fennels Bay, but the local Chamber of Commerce advertised that they were about to start monthly markets at Warners Bay, which is where I live.

They had told me last year at the one market they had that this might come to fruition after they had consulted the Council Chambers & here it was commencing trade only a few days away, on the 2nd Saturday of every month.

I hadn’t received any communication from them & it happened to be Greg who brought it to my attention with an email from LA. I was very quick then to contact my pal, Rhonda, at the C of C who helped me so much last year. She wasn’t aware that I had been missed with the initial notification.

It took a bit of getting all the paper work done, but I made it in time & promised Rhonda I now had a really good gazebo & not like the meccano set I had last year! She had two nice young chaps to help me on that score & she gave me the same site that I had last year, which was really nice of her. I think she likes the original pudding lady!

Now wasn’t that good that Fennels Bay market was drowned out two weeks earlier & I had all that stock ready! There was one big difference in the two markets though as Fennels Bay costs $15 for the site while Warners Bay charge $75. One has to sell a lot of little jars of relish to make that amount up.

I didn’t mind at all as I had to look towards the future when it came to Christmas pudding time. I sold twice as much at Warner’s Bay market last year than any of the others. And so it was, I was bright eyed & bushy tailed as it came around to the new venture again.

There was just a steady flow of lookers & shoppers. I am not backward in offering a taste of the goods on sale – be it Christmas puddings or my popular relish. I have packets of crackers, a big jar of relish opened, serviettes & a spoon to serve it out. You can’t beat giving out samples of the proof of the pudding or whatever else it might happen to be.

I had the table packed with Curried Zucchini Relish. I have noticed the difference with markets is that you think you are not going to sell much as there is not the volume of people in attendance as at other larger venues, so it goes slow. However, on the whole the stock gradually dwindles & all of a sudden there is only one or a few jars left. Its quite interesting.

It wasn’t any different at this market either, they all gradually went. There was one big difference. At Warners Bay I had twice as much stock as the Fennels Bay market, but I also sold it all & my sales were amazing: just double Fennels Bay markets.

Dawn’s Relish Display at Warner’s Bay Market which lead to record sales.

It was worth sitting there from early morning – when the market was due to start at 8 a.m. – until 2 p.m. It was also great when unloading the car after I arrived home! It was a lovely sunny day, the first in weeks & I was rapt. I meet such nice people as well as the wonderful stall holders.

It’s not all about money either. Its about the challenge, the achievement, the activity. My sons say I was born determined! I have a strong notion they are right on that score!

So guess what happened now? I had no stock & Fennels Bay market was the following Sunday. No time to pat myself on the back or anything like that. I needed action.

I left Warners Bay market when it closed & immediately went shopping, as I needed to start making produce fast. I needed the ingredients: zucchini, celery, onions, capsicums & tomatoes.

When I walked into the supermarket I was delighted as capsicums were on sale for $4a kilo down from $9 per kilo. Onions were reduced from $3 to $1. Celery from $3 a bunch to $1 & – wonders of wonders – tomatoes were down to $3 from $7 per kilo. I could make my relish for half price.

I needed enough to make 10 batches of relish, but I bought 30 kilos of tomatoes. I needed 10 kilos for the week’s cooking, but I also peeled all of the tomatoes, chopped them up & stored them in all the large Tupperware containers I had. I put them all into the ferezer deep freeze for use after the current week. My freezer is now chock-a-block: filled to capacity.

So you might say I had a rather busy week as it was the week before Easter & Fennels Bay market was on Easter Sunday. It was quite a week. I not only made all the 10 batches of relish in the next 4 days, complete with labelling & pricing, but also dealt with the tomatoes.

I even went to lunch with Judy & Pat on Monday for 3 hours. I also went to a funeral of a very dear friend & prepared & cooked food for lunch because Charley & Riley were coming to have a meal with me over Easter. Looking back now I wonder how I did it all, but if I had to do it all over again I know I can do it, also knowing I have to be sensible because I am old!

As I was leaving the supermarket with my trolley loaded to the max particularly with so many bags of tomatoes, those at the checkout were asking what was I going to do with it all, make pickles? I told them it was the tastiet relish ever & to trot along to the Warners Bay market on the second Saturday in May & I would give them a taste of the finished product! It could possibly result in a record crowd!

My Fondest Love as Always. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

After writing to you about the mansion & all we experienced while there, I would like to add to this to tell you about the more serious things: the work that the fine ladies who organised the charity event do for the needy, as I can relate to that very well.

I do not know (but intend to find out) how often the ladies meet to do all their craft work & how many there are. They are also to be commended on the ability to work together so well that a function as I described to you in the last letter can be held so successfully as these things don’t ‘just happen’, they have to be well organised.

Riley’s doppelgänger!

I did forget to mention the lovely young lass that was working hard at the fund raiser & looked very beautiful reminding me so much of my Grand Daughter, Riley. I mentioned this to the lass & asked if I could take her photo. I did say it was obvious that she was the film star in attendance!

You will see what I mean when you look at the picture. She didn’t smile when the photo was being taken but afterwards she smiled & thanked me. She looked more than ever like Riley as she revealed the braces on her teeth, just like Riley when when she had them over three years!!

One of the members of the ladies who have been doing this wonderful work is a very good friend of both Cheryl & myself, Yvonne. You will see Yvonne in one of the photos sitting at the table, she is the thin one with the beautiful smile!

Yvonne & Cheryl have been friends for years & used to work together in one of our leading dress shops. The good sales girl she is, she also sells a few Christmas puddings for me among her friends! Yvonne is a real live wire.

When she contracted cancer of the stomach two years ago, she went through a thirteen hour operation that was very successful. I sit opposite her at Prime Timers & her Mum sits next to me. She did say to me one day that she knew her daughter would overcome cancer with her zest for life & she certainly did.

Yvonne in the middle, at the mansion.

She has been given the all clear & even though she lost a lot of weight, she is looking & keeping wonderfully well. In addition to the marvellous medical team that Yvonne had, I must also say that a lot of prayers are offered from our Prime Timers & miracles do happen.

Getting back to the fund raising day. One of the ladies talked to us about the work the ladies do & was very fluent. The talk was excellent & it is quite astounding & outstanding what these ladies have achieved.

Quite a while back some of them became aware of the poverty experienced by communities living in the mountain area of the Philippines where poverty was only recognised if they were starving & had no food. They were even selling their own children to get money & the poverty that our people witnessed was appalling.

They started by sponsoring children & putting them through school, which was difficult in itself but education is where one starts. Over the years many of the children have since graduated through university, but of course a lot of water went under the bridge before that happened.

The ladies (I am going to refer to them as the Hearts & Hands Club) must have really banded together because between them all they have gone to the Philippines & up into the mountains to supply these needy people with things they needed in which to use their hands.

This could have been anything to do with craft work like cotton, wool, beads, materials etc. With these necessities they taught them personally to crochet, knit, make jewellery & craft work to sell.

As they raised more money they bought them sewing machines & showed them how to use them. You can imagine how they built the morale amongst these communities. It didn’t end in one community but they ultimately tutored several communities.

Wonderful things happened to these people & they gradually learnt to be self proficient. I am passing over a lot to just tell you the facts. It didn’t all happen over night but took a lot of dedicated time to build morale & confidence.

In the present day the communities who have been blessed with the Hearts & Hands Club now supply craft to a large number of stores. These communities have gone forward in leaps & bounds as they work steadily at their craft work; look after their families & make a worth while life for themselves.

The lass talking to us said they also educated the community in personal hygiene, supplying the necessaries for them to use.

She went on to tell a heart warming story by saying they even showed them how to paint their nails & toenails. On one occasion she went to the Philippines, but didn’t let the people know she was coming. She was delighted when she showed up on this surprise visit to see that all the ladies had painted each others nails, which was proof of how they had really taken to heart all that the Hearts & Hand Club had offered them.

The lass who talked to us in detail for well over half an hour was fabulous & you could tell the dedication within their own Club & how proud they were of their results, which is an ongoing thing as more communities are taken under their wings.

All present at that fund raiser was wrapt in this talk, so much so that Cheryl is going to get her to come along & give the same talk at Prime Timers.

For me, I was more than wrapt as I could relate to so much of what the lass was saying. I have, for many years, been interested in the poverty stricken people of the Philippines. We might moan from time to time about our own fate, but compared to others we live in a God given country which supplies & looks after us extremely well.

Even with loss of properties in floods & cyclones we have people here who rally round to help & we are blessed in so many things that we simply take for granted. Seeing the need in the world makes us realise how fortunate we are.

Years ago my husband & I got interested in the Philippine people. I forget how this happened, but I know we were keen to help the needy & somehow we were led to the Philippines & a lot of people there.

We started off by sponsoring a little girl called Marita with whom we corrresponded & also with her carer, Florence Panlilio. Then, like the Hearts & Hands Club, we decided to go over & meet our little girl.

Max, Dawn and Marika in the Philippines.

I will never forget the day we met her & Florence. It was surreal & a strong bond was held with both of them for many years. We made sure Marita went to Uni & graduated.

We brought Florence to Australia & she stayed for many weeks in our home. We also took her to Tasmania to meet our families. She had a major heart problem & I was fortunate enough to know a medical practitioner who had immigrated from the Philippines to whom I introduced her & we had a lavish dinner in his home.

From then on this good doctor took care of medication for Florence. I am happy to say that recently, I met Juan, her son, on Facebook after losing contact with the family some time back. I am happy to say that Florence – same age as me – is still with us.

I could write a book about all that happened in those years. as your own experiences encourage you to share with others. Philip & his wife at the time, Jenni, sponsored a little girl as well.

Then because I had a position in Tupperware as a Distributor I influenced others to sponsor a child. In all seventeen were sponsored. I also used to make sponge cakes & sell them to the Tupperware girls etc. & so on.

Talking about food, I could relate very well to what our lass was talking about because I made a number of trips to the Philippines in those years. I remember one thing in particular.

We were staying at a noted hotel & Max & I were going on a bus trip up to the mountains after breakfast one day. We wrapped up most of our breakfast that was portable & took it with us.

Half way up the mountain the bus stopped for us to have a stretch & we were inundated with a number of the needy children bombarding us with shell necklaces for sale. However, when we brought out the left over breakfast I will never forget the reaction: sales for the necklaces were forgotten as they rushed for the food!

I went to the Philippines on my own once, which was also memorable. We had a friend in Newcastle called John who was a seaman. He was home for a couple of weeks before he set sail again for the Philippines & the ship was docking in Manila.

At that time I had started doing Christmas puddings in earnest & John offered to take a couple of cartons with him on board for Florence & her needy family & friends. Then it was arranged that I would meet him over there, collect the puddings so I could deliver them to Florence & her flock.

I look back on that trip & realise how much gall I had, although I prefer to call it determination. John had to sneak the cartons of goodies off the ship.

This took two attempts which meant I was meeting him where his ship was docked at the wharf & had to go back a second time. A bit scary on your own in a place like the Philippines!

When he finally got them out we then had to give the guard at the gate a pudding to let us through with them. I will never forget that night. The people who were to receive those puddings knew about them & were anxiously awaiting for their arrival. I know of one man who was yelling out to Florence one night saying “Where IS my pudding?”!! They were hungry!.

John delivered the puddings to my smart hotel with me & left them in my room until it was okay for me to give them to the recipients. Then John took me to dinner & we walked around Manila as he showed me some sights.

Of course, where would a sailor go but to the red light district! Only at that time I was so naive that I didn’t fully recognise it for what it was.

John led me into a little cafe where we sat at a bar & had a coffee. It was there that he explained that the waitress was looking daggers at me because she thought I was taking her man! I did learn a bit about sailors too! Maybe they do have a girl in every port.

However, John was a perfect gentleman with me: he delivered me back to my room; we shook hands & I thanked him in words at how much I had appreciated his help & reminded him he had a wife back home!

I could tell you such a lot about my experiences in the Philippines especially on one trip when my loveable young nephew accompanied me.

It was all coming back to mind when the lass was talking about the Hearts & Hands Club. It could be said that maybe the Club could forego some of the opulence like fresh flowers etc. but I don’t feel like that.

It is my thought from my own experience that those who have plenty & can be opulent should live as they want to live because I know I wouldn’t have given anything up in that regard, but I was quite willing to give money which I could afford.

It was enough that I was in a position to be able to afford to do what I could which was a mere drop in the ocean when it comes to the Hearts & Hands Club. No doubt all those trips to the Philippines came out of the donors pockets, as mine did, but they still go there with their hearts full of love & heaps of care as their hands teach other hands to assist them in enjoying a life they never dreamed of.

It can honestly be said that the Hearts & Hands Club give more than material things, they give the best gifts of all to those in need which is Love & Care.

Love from my heart to you too, Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

It was a fortnight ago & my friend, Cheryl asked if I would like to go to something different on Saturday, 25th March.2016. Of course I would.  I am all for something new on the horizon, so she bought the tickets for us to attend a fund raising event.

What was different about this particular fund raiser was that it was to be held in the home of a friend at a suburb called Belmont. It was opposite a well known & very old popular restaurant called Squid’s Ink that Max & I had frequented on occasions, many moons ago. Little did I know that just opposite, hidden by palm trees was the house we would be walking into last Saturday.

Now in no way should I be calling it a house. It was certainly a home but also it was a mansion. No one would have known what was hidden behind those palms.

When Cheryl drove up the dead end side street we took no notice & didn’t even see the house. Partially the reason for this was the fact that so many cars were parked on the side of the road in the little dead end street & we were also looking for a place to park.

Cheryl being the good driver she is, managed to squeeze her lovely car somewhere in between two others. Then we walked down to where we were going where there were two drives leading to the front door, one on either side of the grassy glade with the palm trees in the middle.

I should have taken a photo of this but I had no idea it was going to lead to a mansion as I have never been in one before. I have been in grand homes, but never in a mansion & I was impressed.

Even when I got to the front door I was impressed. There before us was an entrance before we got into the main entrance. This is hard to describe, but I hope you know what I mean & it was almost all glass.

It had a sign outside the front door to let all know that inside was a function to raise money for what is known as “Hearts & Hands’.

We stepped inside the front door into a glass space stepping into the vestibule & what a sight confronted us. I didn’t open my mouth & gape at the grandeur as I consider that I could take my place in Buckingham Palace if I had to but I knew I was in a palatial mansion & it almost took my breath away!

It wasn’t just me that felt like this, but also Cheryl & I told you how beautiful her place is. I also considered that the home Max & I had lived in – prior to moving to where I am now – was not just an ordinary house, but one of note that people wanted to walk into & view it all, which they did! Our home there was considered to be quite opulent, but not to be compared to a mansion.

This was a most beautiful home & I will try to describe what we walked into in the vestibule. To start with it cost us $15 entry fee, & we were very happy to pay that.

All around the vestibule & most beautifully arrayed was a massive supply of all the craft work the ladies belonging to this group had made. I could not begin to even explain how many different crafts were on show, but almost immediately I walked in I saw crotched, knitted & padded coat hangers which looked so pretty.

I have had a yen for those to hang woollens on & every time I have been to the Maeter Hospital when I had to see my cancer doctors I would purchase some from the trade table in the hall. The ones in front of me on this occasion were just so pretty I chose all the pretty colours to match the woollen garments on which I wanted to hang them.

There were truly so many different craft things that I can’t begin to describe what they all were. Just imagine all the different craft work you can think of & I will guarantee the same kind would hsve been in that vestibule & more.

It was all so beautifully arrayed & very tempting. I picked up a cute little medium sized bag handy to use for a few things in mind at the time. Then I went on to purchase raffle tickets for the hand made quilts & so it went on.

I forgot to say, behind all this activity was a big recess with white pebbles for the floor & black pebbles forming the words ‘Tea Party’ with a little table holding tiny cups & saucers & teddy bears sitting on the chairs.

It’s a Tea Party.

By this time we were opposite the lounge room which actually took our breath away. It was huge (the photo I took did not do it justice) & the big bay windows at the end of it looked out onto our Lake Macquarie. I ascertained later that all the windows had been programmed to look out over the lake which was magnificent & what a good reason to get up in the morning to view the scene!

I also ascertained that all the downstairs part of the home that we were in was very demure as it was all cream, white & glass. The lounges & chairs were upholstered in cream, the carpets were cream, the glass tables sponsored little cakes of every kind, & all home made. Cheryl & I whispered to each other, “And they eat over that lovely carpet!”

The view is magnificent.

Cheryl & I spoke to the hostess & I asked if I could take some photos. She was a very humble lady, told us they had lived in their home for 22 years & could honestly say it had been a real home for their family, even the carpet had been down all that time, which was amazing as it was all the way up the staircase which looked grand.

The grand staircase

Now the staircase was equivalent to the one in the film ‘Gone With The Wind’ & very impressive. it was no wonder Cheryl & I were a bit ‘ga ga’ but we didn’t show it. We sadly missed our friend, Sandra who would have also loved it, but she was in hospital.

After we did our shopping spree we walked into the kitchen/ dining area to more ‘sumptuousness.’  Everywhere there were home made savouries & cakes sitting at every table that would have done anyone proud.

I hadn’t seen such a huge amount of cream cakes & all that luscious stuff since the last family reunion (when I was too sick to participate)! However, all these little cakes & tempting delights were in tiny portions.

It was all very much like a ‘high tea.’ Even though I have never been to one except in Harrods of London, but I know what ‘high tea ‘ is. And we made the most of it!

I just have to tell you about that kitchen that was the size of Micheles Patisserie, with about fifteen people making coffee & tea, cutting up more cakes & generally looking after the visitors.

There was a wide bench between the kitchen & the dining room. & the floor in both areas was all white tiles. The dining area held quite a number of tables etc. At the end of the dining part there was a cream carpeted bay shaped area holding two big cream lounges &, of course, looking out over the lake where lots of boats were moored or in use.

Outside this big glass bay window was another big bay area which housed a spa bath set down in the floor, but still overlooking the lake. You could just imagine being in there holding a glass of crisp cool white wine!

To get back to the kitchen, Cheryl & I sat with others around the glass table with all the little sweet & savoury titbits beside us. A lovely lady was working at the bench & made us a magnificent cappuccino with all the proper machines, everything in this home was the real thing, no substitutes!

Beside these working ladies was a table set up with punch bowls with taps on to pour your cool drink – I thought my crystal ones were grand but…!

Marshmallow and strawberries ready for the chocolate fountain.

On the other side of the room near another table of tiny cakes & savouries was another table sporting two fondue machines which continually dripped melted chocolate over the side. Next to this was a huge bowl of strawberries & marshmallows ready for the dipping.

And still I haven’t mentioned the flower arrangements in every possible place. The arrangements were absolutely beautiful & took your breath away.

The whole place was opulent & magnificent. It could be said that maybe less could be spent & more money donated to the charity for which they were working. I may say more on this in another letter as I still have lots to tell you in connection with this day.

Suffice to say that I don’t really know the amount raised for their charity, but at a rough guess it was probably a few thousands dollars which is a great effort from some very dedicated people.

With my little camera, my photos do not give justice to what it was actually like as I was trying to take them in & around people which meant I was not always in the right spot. However, I hope you enjoy them & what is not shown in this letter will probably come to the fore in my next letter when I try to explain what these ladies have done for those in need.

I love you dear friend. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

I have often said to you that you have to have a reason to get up in the morning. It was my pudding pal, Pat Cox, who first made this remark. I don’t know what made her say it, but she did say it one day when we were working in the Pudding Kitchen & I thought at the time no truer word was ever spoken.

To say that I have quoted it a few times is an understatement as it is one of my favourite sayings & should be recorded in the book that my dear friend Sharon gave me when I first visited Burbank. It is titled The Quotable Woman & is a delightful book quoting favourite sayings from famous women. My friend Pat may never be famous on a global scale but to me she is worthy of a lot of accolades.

A mutual friend brought Pat into my life many years ago when I was in need of some good stalwart workers in the Pudding Kitchen & she was recommended to me. This resulted in us employing Pat &, along with Judy whom I have told you about.

I could not have had two more diligent & dedicated employees. They never looked at the clock waiting for knock off time as a lot of workers do. They gave more than one hundred percent of themselves & adapted to any task needed doing at the time it was needed. This meant that they could handle any part of the business from mixing, to weighing out, tying up puddings in their little cloths, boiling them, hanging them on the line when it was time & then decorating & despatching them.

Pat and one other decorating puddings in 1992.

As I have mentioned to you in my letter about our star, Judy, she very quickly became the person who was a natural at dealing with orders & getting them packed on time. Pat also very soon came to the fore with the skill of getting the puddings decorated as needed for each individual order & have them done in time for Judy to pack & despatch. The two of them worked together so well you would think they could read each others mind.

There were times when we needed staff to work back to get the orders done in time & decorating was a very important part. Each order had to be decorated as the order stipulated. This could mean different assortments of cellophane or cloths & countless colours in ribbon to cut & of course each cover & each ribbon had to be cut to the size required.

I know there were many times when Judy took material home to cut so that we would have enough to work with next day. Likewise with Pat, she would take ribbon home & bring it back in the morning all ready for use. These commodities amounted to thousands of pieces of material or cellophane & thousands of certain lengths of ribbon.

Husband Max would be out in the office cutting string for dear life to tie up thousands of puddings, plus stamping labels with ‘use by’ date & all that had to be shown. Dawn would probably be walking around a table for 8 hours a day weighing out the correct weight of puddings to be tied up & boiled next. We had to be ahead all the time so that no time was lost in waiting for anything to be done & we needed good workers.

With all that ribbon cutting it didn’t take Pat long to perfect it as she solicited her good husband, Colin, to come up with a few little devices in wood so that the correct length could be quickly wound around it & then cut in bulk. These were introduced to the kitchen.

Sometimes it would be bedlam with getting things done on time, but as I look back over those years the two people who stand out as dedicated people were Judy & Pat.

I remember one time when I was not available, nor anybody else, to do some important decorating for an urgent order. I don’t know if you are familiar with a health problem called Polio Myalgia ,which affects the limbs, but Pat was suffering with this complaint at the time. It was hard for her to even use her arms & hands. She could not even comb her hair, but because there was no one else to do the order, she came back to work one night, in pain & did the job. You can’t get much more dedication than that.

Pat and her 80th Birthday cupcake.

It is no wonder then that Pat, Judy & I have remained friends well after the pudding business was sold in 2003. From then on we met every Monday fortnight for lunch at Micheles Patisserie until I came out of hospital two years ago with the thought of a death sentence from cancer hanging over my head. The two girls then decided we should meet weekly instead.

I remember leaving the table one day for a few minutes & when I returned I was given the verdict! I knew they had conferred in my absence & made this decision, because I was not going to live much longer! It has been my pleasure to prove them wrong.

Ever since we meet every Monday & have spent thousands of hours together & blown out the candle on a little cup cake to celebrate a birthday more times than we care can count!

And so it was that on the 18th March, 2017 we had another cup cake candle to extinguish & Pat was to do the honours. It was her 80th Birthday & there never was a woman born that belied here age so much without cosmetic surgery.

Though there has been huge ups & downs in her life she does not look a day over sixty. This must be due to the placid nature she portrays. Although her friends have been known to get very rattled & upset at times when the going was tough, we have never heard our dear Pat raise her voice.

Judy, Dawn and Pat celebrate Pat’s birthday.

She is one of those gorgeous girls who finds it difficult to be hard to get along with, remaining softly spoken, say what needs to be said without anyone needing to turn over in their grave!

It has not only been the Pudding Kitchen that endears me to Pat. There have been other times as well.

When Max was taken to hospital very ill, just six months after we had moved to this villa, Pat made it her business to tell me to call her at any time, day or night if I needed someone to talk to. She also iterated this after Max passed when she & Colin came almost daily to put the jungle garden I inherited into something more attractive.

I appreciated this more than I can say. Even now that the garden has been given a big face lift the little plants that Colin studiously planted around the garden to make a hedge remains there today, proud & tall. Pat Cox made a big impact on my life.

So on the 18th March it was a privilege to celebrate Pat’s 80th birthday & she blew out her candle in one puff! Judy & I had flowers & an exceptionally lovely 80th card for an exceptionally lovely person. Plus we gave her a photo frame with 80th Birthday written on it holding a photo of the three of us taken on some previous birthday.

Pat with her card and present.

And as I have been writing this & reliving moments mentioned I am not ashamed to say that the memories have choked up my eyes a little!!

Friendships are a very important part of our lives, one could not imagine what life would be without friends. I am looking at my wonderful book The Quotable Woman & I have this little quotation from someone I have never heard of called Letty Cottin Pogresin is worthy of mention:

Friendships aren’t perfect & yet they are precious. For me, not expecting perfection all in one place was a great release.

How very true.

And Ann, the short friendship I had with you I have treasured & it will go with me to my grave. Like you so often said to me. “I wish I had known you twenty years earlier’.

God’s Blessings Dear Heart, Dawn X O X O