First stop, Melbourne

I was popping in to show you some photo's of our first few days here in Melbourne, but I can't seem to upload any from the laptop so might have to try again at a later date! 

We have had some lovely days with our son and his fiancee and we've seen some sights that make me realise what a provincial girl I am........ 

Queen Victoria Markets on Friday was awe inspiring - soooo much food, so many nationalities, it made my day although I forgot to take the camera! The amount and types of different fruit and vegetables was staggering - I love food and it was like standing in a sea of delicacies! And the deli section with it's smell of foreign salamis, olives, fresh bread and delicious cheeses - oh boy I could have stood in there for a long time but sadly the family dragged me away before I could do more than purchase two loaves of organic sourdough, a big slab of Stilton cheese and two varieties of tasty Greek olives - my idea of the perfect meal!

Sunday saw us all at the Zoo which was also a pretty neat experience. I grew up with yearly visits to Taronga Zoo in Sydney and wanted the kids to have at least been once in their young lives. I have some strong memories of getting up really early and catching the old red rattlers (trains) into the city for a day at the zoo with my parents and sister - lovely memories which I hope my children will also have when they are older! 

Enough said without pics - will try again when I get a chance! 

Itinerary, of sorts

Only two more sleeps to go! Yikes!!! 

We are leaving on Thursday night on the Spirit of Tasmania (boat) and will reach Melbourne at 7am Friday - a whole night at sea! And what a night it will be! Due to large family syndrome ie small funds, we resigned ourselves to purchasing what the shipping company politely call "ocean recliners'. Ha, they recline a measly 6 inches lower than usual - and we pay to spend an entire night on one of these instruments of torture! They even generously supply you with a scratchy grey blanket that has no doubt been used by several other unfortunates on previous trips. 

Of course, if Lady Luck is smiling upon us, we will have calm seas; but if the swell reaches 10 or more metres....... look out!! Several of us (and half the other passengers) will be 'reclining' with churning stomachs and a spew bag brown paper bag clutched tightly in trembling hands! 

Aaaahhh, the joys of sea travel!

Corrina ferry - west coast Tasmania

We'll spend three days in Melbourne with our son and his lovely brand new fiancee - yes there's a wedding on the cards, our first wedding! My children have had a busy 2011..... I'll be a mother-in-law and a grandmother in one year - and I'm only 39.... and a bit - ahem!!!!

From Melbourne we travel to Canberra, our nations capital. On the way though, we will spend a night on the road, and in true pioneer fashion (for which we are renowned) we will rough it 'somewhere along the way'! This is how it goes - we drive and drive until we all feel we have done our dash for the day, then we pull out the map and usually, I pick a spot. Not too isolated (too scary); not too close to town (possible hoons); not too many other people and so on until we agree on one thats Just Right! Then a cold meal of bread and cheese and fruit and into bed. Ahem, I mean three swags for the older kids under the car, two kids in sleeping bags in the back of the Landrover and the Best Man and I on an air bed in the trailer!! 

Did I mention that we rough it? ....but it's only one night and I feel the adventure of mozzies, moonlight and the Milky Way more than make up for the deprivation of a motel and swimming pool!! Surely?

Marrawa - west coast Tasmania 

In Canberra it will be most of the day at the War Memorial (the older kids choice) and a visit with one of my lovely swap partners! Now, you know, I am looking forward to meeting a 'cyber friend' in the flesh but I'm also a little concerned about first impressions. We will have driven all the previous day and spent a night under the stars and will undoubtedly be wrinkled and travel stained and smelly! I do hope she is very understanding - I also hope we find a nice creek or maybe a restroom, along the way for a bit of a tidy up of the crew!!  

View from Mt Roland (1234m) to the sea - Tasmania

We shall continue on to Kiama to turn the in-laws house into chaos; then Windsor just west of Sydney for a quick visit with my brother; on to Wauchope to visit friends and then our final destination Lismore for a week with my mum and lovely sister. And when all the visiting and celebrating is done we shall turn around and do a very similar journey home! 

I really hope I can keep this blog regularly updated while I"m away - I am very much enjoying ranting on here and meeting all you lovely ladies (and men?) Thanks so much for your input and ideas and if you are a new follower, thank you for doing so, as it is very gratifying to know that some one, some where in this vast world of ours is keen to pop over here on return visits. 

Fairy flowers

A fairy went a-marketing

A little flower she did see,

She sniffed it in the sunshine
And planted it under a tree!

Last weekend we went to the markets and Fairy Girl coerced me into buying her a pretty flower for her fairy garden....... this weekend she actually planted it. Sorry about the lousy rhyming - my brain is not in top gear this afternoon and time is in short supply! I actually really like the original rhyme, the name of the author of it eludes me right now though......

We are still working hard at organising The Trip. I wake up in the morning with a hundred things on my internal To-Do list and grudgingly roll out of bed to start accomplishing them. Some days I feel like some have been crossed off and other days just seem to accumulate more pressing matters! Notice that I have an internal list now - all the bits of paper with randomly scribbled Important Items have been superseded by only the really, really Urgent ones! Like cleaning all the windows (why?); planting out 40 strawberry plants; sewing - yes, sewing! a bundle of zippered bags to give as gifts along the way; and maybe trying out a new sticky bun recipe! I ask you, is this a Mad Woman??

Hoping you are all having, or have had a fantastic weekend break! 

On my mind...

 About 6 weeks ago these beautiful swans built a nest on the dam next door and while one of them diligently sat and warmed the eggs, the other wandered over the paddock in search of greens. The eggs must have been getting close to hatching and then last week - Disaster! 

We had a sudden very heavy deluge of rain and hail and the dam water was raised very, very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that the swans' beautifully constructed reed nest was inundated and the eggs washed away or submerged. The poor birds were frantically swimming round and round looking for their prospective offspring to no avail and the next day they flew off, perhaps looking for a better water hole. 

I was deeply disappointed for them about their loss and for myself, as I had been looking forward to seeing the swanlings cygnets at close range every day as they grew up.

They have been on my mind each day as I potter about in the new garden, from which I have a great vantage point of the dam. Happily, for me they have come back and are once again building another nest! With a slightly different position and hopefully without any flooding issues, we might just see the glorious sight of several fluffy grey bundles and two elegant parents. If they are successful, by the time we come home from the mainland they will be close to hatching and while I won't be thinking of them much while I'm away, they'll be a lovely sight to come home to! 

And yes, my packing is on my mind too but it's not have as interesting to tell you about - lots of instructions given and cleaning being done - not interesting at all!!  

I'm joining in with Down to Earths On My Mind and if you pop over to Rhonda's  you can see what others are thinking of today.         

Thrifty baby wipes

You really would think that I had enough to do! In exactly one week from tonight, I need to have packed food, clothing, bedding and everything else that a family of seven need, to go gallivanting across the country for 5 weeks! But no, this mad woman has to encourage a slightly bored 11 year old Action Man to make some washcloths for his new niece or nephew! 

When I made the bunny rugs a few weeks ago, I had quite a few long strips of flannelette left that I just couldn't throw out - I have a lot of strips and short ends of fabrics that I can't bear to ditch, so this is nothing new! But this time I knew just what to do with it.... something else for the baby! 

So I sat the Boy down with instructions to sew them all together ....and then just to keep him occupied a little longer I told him they needed to be zig zagged as well! Naughty mama!  

I used a piece of plain flannelette for the backing so there wouldn't be too many seams. We cut them into squares, stitched around them leaving an opening to turn through, trimmed the rounded corners and then top stitched them closed as well as all around the edge.  

Then came the most exciting part for the Boy - at his insistence - some free-form sewing! Sadly for him luckily, I stopped him from going round and round and round and making a very stiff board of fabric!  

I love this kind of thriftiness - I always feel really satisfied with my self, as if I have achieved something really grand! In fact this kind of sewing is one of my favourites - quick, easy, useful and using up every last bit! Now, do you have any ideas as to what I can do with the small pile of scraps left??

Henster? or Roost-hen?

We have a motley selection of chickens.......  some we bought not long after we purchased our place; some were hatched by those first few birds; and a couple were given to us by friends when they moved house. This past winter we lost a couple to old age and we are now left with the grand total of nine girls and the fancy-pants rooster!  

In her younger days......

But........ about 6 months ago I happened to be awake very early one morning  and heard not one but two, roosters crowing in our chook house! One of course was our Blush, mature and very sure of himself. The other was a more hesitant, juvenile and croaky cock-a-doodle-doo! At first I thought maybe the younger one was from some one else's chook yard and the sound was just carrying in the still night air. When it happened again over several mornings in the following weeks (and I had woken the Best Man to have a listen - much to his displeasure) I decided to make a thorough investigation. 

Thats the changeling on the left not long after we first got her - and yes, she did lay eggs! 

And truly, I was amazed!! One of our hens was looking very rooster like! The Best Man was doubtful that such a change could occur but she was certainly looking very butch with a large comb, dangley wattles - even a manly chest!  

A very different chicken now 

Since we made this discovery a few months back, I've kept my eye on her/him and I have seen her crowing, although only in the dark or when the Real Rooster isn't nearby. S/he also calls to the hens in a most roosterish manner when she finds a titbit, rubs her wing on her leg just like a rooster when he wants to do his stuff and she mounts the chooks! Not often and obviously not for long but never the less, she does half-heartedly try! It's fascinating to watch how they all get on together. She is nice to all the hens and they treat her almost as if they know she is a bit odd but really quite benign - like an eccentric maiden aunt perhaps! She's just one of them, and even if she does mount them now and again, they just continue with what ever activity they were doing or move on. She is the biggest hen - slightly bigger than the rooster - although he is definitely the 'head of the house', so I'm not sure what she is compensating for! 

Foraging with some of her/his sisters

 Blush (the real rooster!) treats her just like one of the girls although he does give her a peck if he's feeling crabby. I have never seen him trying to mount her - which I suppose he wouldn't do seeing as she wouldn't be laying anymore. 

This is up to the minute firsthand reporting -  I wrote this while sitting near the chook house watching all these goings on with acute interest! 

Have you ever heard of this happening before, or perhaps seen it yourself? I must say that if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd find it very hard to believe! 

For Karen - you made a comment on my nice rooster here and I told you his name was Blush without looking back at the pics in my post. Miss Elli informed me later that it wasn't the Real Rooster but this pseudo one..... so obviously I'm not the only one that thinks she is a he!!!

Life Matters

This one is my dreamer....... well, at least he's one of them. There's three in our family, four if you count the Best Man. We have three boys - two of them are Men of Action in a leap-first-think-later kind of way and this sweet one is The Dreamer. He's 16.

Last night went like this - 

Me - "Remo, are you in bed yet?" 

He - "Not yet Mum, I'm contemplating the complex nature of life." 

Of course, son!!! 

To market, to market, to buy...... not much really!

Saturday morning saw the Best Man and I, accompanied by only the two youngest house elves, at the Deloraine Markets. As usual, an impromptu after breakfast executive decision was made and within 15 minutes we were on our way (yes we did wash up the 'dirtys' first)!! 

It was a heavenly day, just the right sort of day to go marketing! 

We didn't stop for a chat with the gatekeeper.....

......we walked right on past the shiny stainless steel buckets and burnt cooking pots......

....the Best Man dragged me quickly away from the vintage fabric stand (sigh)......

.....I only glanced at the nice sparkly vintage bottles because I remembered that I have a collection at home that I mean to clean up and display sometime.....

.....I did stop for a long look at several plant stalls - and I purchased something to take home and grow at three of them! Or maybe it was four....... anyway, we came home with spring onion seedlings, two highbush blueberries, three rhubarb crowns and a little pretty for the Fairy Girl. 

I've planted the rhubarb and the spring onions but I'm not sure where to put the blueberries. I think I'll plant them into a couple of large ceramic pots that I have here, until next year when hopefully, I'll have a clearer picture of how to plant out the house yard. 

Spring is such a lovely time of the year, with so much promise, don't you think?